Chapter 142: So You Are Nothing at All
Whether it was the Mausoleum of Books or the streets of the capital, all had fallen into a deathly stillness.
Countless people stared with mouths agape, unable to utter a single word. They thought they had misheard, or perhaps the howling night wind had suddenly grown fiercer, making it impossible to hear clearly?
The Holy Maiden Tianhai's eyes were beautiful, bright as stars, truly like the eyes of a phoenix.
A flash of light passed through her pupils, a faint ripple of divine thought.
She gazed toward a certain spot in the Mausoleum of Books, not seeing it clearly, yet perceiving everything with perfect clarity.
That feeling still existed—it had always been there, and now it was here.
Crack! Several bolts of lightning, thick as great trees, fell from the night sky, striking around the summit of the Mausoleum of Books, illuminating every scene with blinding clarity.
Black clouds churned wildly in the night dome, twisting endlessly, as if countless dragons were locked in battle within them. It seemed the celestial mechanism was about to shift, the will of heaven about to descend.
An extremely faint aura seeped from the Holy Maiden Tianhai's body, drifting upward, piercing through the layers of clouds, returning to the depths of the star-filled sky now invisible to the naked eye.
She lifted her head to look at the heavens, her expression indifferent, speaking not a single word.
……
……
"What does this mean?"
"Chen Changsheng is not the Holy Maiden's son with the late Emperor?"
"Is he not the Crown Prince Zhaoming?"
With Ji Dao Ren's words, the entire capital was plunged into boundless shock.
When the rumor first spread last year, few believed it. But the many events that followed forced people to accept it, the most crucial point being the attitude of the National Church and the Holy Maiden herself.
For his sake, the court and the National Church had been locked in confrontation after confrontation, the two great powers on the verge of a decisive battle this very night. The Holy Maiden had not hesitated to lower her cultivation realm, all to reverse his fate, break the blood oath of years past, and perfect her heart. But if he was not the Crown Prince Zhaoming, then everything she had done was utterly meaningless.
The most shocked person, of course, was Chen Changsheng himself.
A strength born from somewhere unknown allowed him to struggle to his feet. Using his sword scabbard to support his body, he gazed toward the capital in the darkness.
He wanted to see where his master truly was. He wanted to know what his master's words really meant.
The Holy Maiden Tianhai did not turn around, nor did she acknowledge him.
The silence within the heavens lasted a long time.
His face grew paler and paler, his youthful brows filled with bewildered emotion.
Was this real?
So it had all been false.
Suddenly, he understood.
Yes, everything was false.
When falsehood is taken for truth, truth becomes falsehood.
His master had told a colossal lie, deceiving the entire world.
Both the Holy Maiden and himself had been deceived.
The Scroll of Time might truly be able to shorten time, but that did not mean it was necessarily meant for him.
The Western Flow Canon might change many things, but it could not change the great river's ultimate course westward.
……
……
In a very short time, Chen Changsheng had figured out many things—indeed, almost everything.
Those things had once puzzled him, puzzled Tang Thirty-Six, puzzled Xu Yourong, and were also the things they had vaguely feared.
Yes, if he truly was the Crown Prince Zhaoming, how could his master have let him enter the capital and appear before the Holy Maiden's eyes like this?
In the spring two and a half years ago, he had left Xining Town and arrived in the capital.
He failed to break off the engagement, failed to enter the Ivy Six Academies, and finally ended up in the abandoned National Academy. Regardless of whether His Holiness the Pope knew at the time, or whether Mo Yu's documents were related, looking back now, he was destined to enter the National Academy. Because his master was the former dean of the National Academy, and being there made it easier for people to make that connection.
Did His Holiness the Pope know about this from the beginning? Probably not. What about Cardinal Merisal? He should have known.
That aged cardinal, sitting in the plum-blossom-filled room of the Pontifical Council, shielded the National Academy from wind and rain, and paved the way for Chen Changsheng. He allowed Chen Changsheng to grow and mature at an unimaginable speed. He declared on the Divine Path that Chen Changsheng would take first place in the Grand Examination. He made Chen Changsheng stand out from the forest, basking in infinite glory on the perilous peak.
All of this was only to make him more conspicuous, to make the Holy Maiden discover him faster, take notice of him, then grow suspicious, and begin investigating.
Because he was Chen Changsheng, the orthodox successor of the National Church, the dean of the National Academy, a cultivation prodigy, the heir to the National Church—he was the Crown Prince Zhaoming.
Of course, all of this was false.
He was nothing at all.
He was a fruit.
Just a fruit.
A fruit born with poison.
From the moment of his birth, his fate had already been arranged: to be eaten once he was ripe.
This was his destiny.
When his fate came to an end and everything calmed down, the true heir to the Great Zhou Dynasty would step onto the stage and take over everything.
Who was that person? His master? The Pope? Or… the real Crown Prince Zhaoming?
Chen Changsheng should have felt sorrow at this moment, but he did not.
He was already numb.
He stared blankly at the world below the Mausoleum of Books.
If everything was false, then what was real?
Suddenly, he missed the old temple in Xining Town. He wanted to go back, to pretend he had never come to the capital, that he was still babbling with his senior brother by the stream…
Senior brother… did he know about all this?
……
……
It was only at this moment that many people, including the fifteen princes surnamed Chen who had secretly infiltrated the capital under cover of night, finally realized what had happened.
Beyond their shock, they began to consider the impact of this matter on the Holy Maiden and the overall situation. At the same time, they naturally started pondering a very important question.
Since the Holy Maiden had not yet achieved perfection, it meant the Crown Prince Zhaoming was still alive. Chen Changsheng was not him, so where was the real Crown Prince Zhaoming?
This shocking news spread countless times faster than a red hawk.
On the official road from Luoyang to the capital, the corpulent Prince Xiang suddenly sprang up from the ground and launched a torrent of curses toward the capital.
No one could clearly tell whom he was cursing—Ji Dao Ren or Chen Changsheng—but his attendants were certain he did not utter a single word against the Holy Maiden.
Then, panting heavily, he walked back to his carriage and said, "After we enter the capital, find out where my poor little brother is."
On the water route from Jiangnan Prefecture to the capital, Prince Zhongshan issued similar orders to his subordinates, only he was far more direct than Prince Xiang.
"If you can kill him secretly, then kill him. If not, then pledge loyalty and surrender on my behalf first."
No one knew how many other princes harbored the same thoughts at that moment.
Prince Xiang lifted the curtain and gazed toward the capital.
Prince Zhongshan stood at the bow of his ship, staring toward the capital.
They could not see the scene atop the Mausoleum of Books, but they felt as if they could.
Even they, ruthless and merciless as they were, felt that Chen Changsheng was pitiable at this moment.
At the same time, they found Dean Shang terrifying.
……
……
The clouds had truly scattered.
Chen Changsheng searched the darkness for his master's figure but found nothing. Slowly, he lowered his head, rainwater dripping from his wet hair.
The Holy Maiden Tianhai looked at the star-filled sky, silent for a long time, then spoke four words.
"So that's how it is."
Then she withdrew her gaze, looked toward the capital in the night, and spoke four more words with a tone of mockery.
"So what?"
……
……
(There will be another chapter at eight in the evening.)