Chapter 657: The Radiant Shrine Emits Light
The conversation and confrontation by the old temple stream in Xining Town continued.
Around the Heavenly Book Mausoleum, there was a deathly silence. No sound could be heard.
Everyone was stunned.
No one could have imagined the battle would unfold like this.
This was the first time the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress had made a move.
In the span of a single breath, the Stargazer was dead, and Bie Yanghong was severely wounded.
There were very few Sacred Domain experts in the world, and in the eyes of the common people and cultivators, they were like gods. Yes, everyone knew that a sage like the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress should be a cut above the Eight Winds and Rains, but who could have imagined she could accomplish such a feat so effortlessly in such a short time?
In those few breaths of battle, the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress had fully displayed her dominance, her unimaginable power and Daoist arts, and her ability to deduce and calculate as if reading fate itself.
To alter Chen Changsheng's fate against the heavens, her cultivation had been damaged, no longer at its peak, and she was still entangled with the Heavenly Dao in some unseen way. Yet she could still keep one eye on the strong man from the Holy Light Continent by the stream in Xining Town, while intimidating the Daoist Calculator west of Luoyang City. In an instant, her divine soul returned, killed, and then traveled ten thousand miles away!
The Daoist Calculator west of Luoyang City stared at the black dragon in the night sky, silent.
When the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress's divine soul returned from ten thousand miles away, he sensed it immediately and thought her target was him, so he condensed a clear light with his Daoist arts, ready for battle.
No one expected her first target to be Wujiong Bi.
Wujiong Bi thought she was going to kill her.
Bie Yanghong and the Stargazer thought she was using Wujiong Bi's death to kill Bie Yanghong.
In truth, from the very beginning, her goal was to kill both Bie Yanghong and the Stargazer in one fell swoop.
They were no ordinary experts; they were two of the Eight Winds and Rains who had entered the Sacred Domain years ago!
What a confident idea, what a domineering momentum!
She dared to think it because she could do it.
She thought it, and she did it.
Chen Changsheng looked at the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress's back and remembered the words she had spoken to him at the very beginning.
"I won't let you die, so you cannot die."
Yes, if she wouldn't let Chen Changsheng die, then Chen Changsheng couldn't die. So if she wanted someone dead, how could they possibly live?
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress stood at the edge of the Divine Path, gazing down at the world below. Her expression was calm, as if she had done nothing at all, let alone left.
Only Chen Changsheng could see that her hands were trembling slightly.
In a single exchange, she had destroyed two of the Eight Winds and Rains. Even for the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress, there was a price to pay.
But the battles of sages were never about reason, only about intent, and above all, momentum.
Now, with the night phoenix in the sky, her momentum was at its peak, a glorious and magnificent scene.
Zhu Luo and the Stargazer were dead, Bie Yanghong was severely wounded, and Wujiong Bi was terrified. Even if the hidden experts from the noble families and the strong from the National Religion appeared, they could not defeat Han Qing and ascend the Divine Path.
Her opponents were never the Eight Winds and Rains, but the monk by the old temple stream in Xining Town, the Daoist about to slip into Luoyang, and...
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress turned her gaze to the Radiant Shrine.
She had not forgotten where her strongest opponent was.
Since the battle began, the Radiant Shrine had remained silent, except for the two sentences the Pope had spoken when the Daoist Calculator revealed Chen Changsheng's origins.
Other than that, it had been silent until now.
The place that could decide the outcome of tonight's battle was there.
The entire world was waiting for the Pope's choice.
Just then, beneath the night sky, the capital suddenly burst into brilliant light.
The light came from the Radiant Shrine, from the Hall of Light and Righteousness.
Looking at that holy light, the Heavenly Sea Saint Empress's phoenix eyes narrowed, sharp and cold to the extreme.
In truth, she had long known the Pope's choice, because her supporters within the National Religion, like the Tianhai family, had never appeared.
If the nephews of the Tianhai family had changed their stance because she had altered Chen Changsheng's fate, revealing her intention to let him succeed the throne, then Linghai Zhiwang and Siyuan Daoren should have been the ones most eager to see Chen Changsheng inherit the Great Zhou throne, as it meant he would not inherit the position of Pope.
Yet neither Linghai Zhiwang nor Siyuan Daoren made any move.
So naturally, someone had made a move.
As a giant of the National Religion, the only person who could prevent Linghai Zhiwang and Siyuan Daoren from acting, or even speaking, was one.
That was the Pope.
"Why?" she asked, looking at the Radiant Shrine.
This was the first time she had sought an explanation or reason.
Because she and the Pope had worked together for many years, shared old ties, and once walked the same path.
"Because our views of this world have gradually diverged onto two different roads."
The Pope's voice rang out from the Radiant Shrine: "In the twenty years since your ascension, you have used too many people like Zhou Tong. I know you want to safeguard your power to ensure you can realize your ideas. But the problem is, power cannot solve all problems, and your ideas are not necessarily the ideas of the people."
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress said, "You are wrong. I do not seek power, but I cannot give power to these useless people."
The Pope said, "But nothing lasts forever."
This statement referred to her, to him, to all things in heaven and earth.
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress was silent for a long time before saying, "Perhaps you could wait for me a little longer."
This was the first time she had made a concession, even if only in words.
As said before, it was not because she feared anything, but because she and the Pope had worked together for many years, shared old ties, and once walked the same path.
"If it were before, of course."
The Pope's voice paused for a moment before sounding again, filled with more emotion: "But I have no time left."
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress's brow slightly raised, and she asked, "Why do you have no time?"
The Pope said calmly, "Because I am about to die."
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress's brow rose higher, like a sword about to pierce the night sky, and her voice became sharp: "Why are you going to die?"
The Pope said, "Too old, naturally I will die."
The Heavenly Sea Saint Empress's brow slowly lowered like a phoenix's wing, and her voice became somewhat desolate: "True. Tianji is about to die, you are about to die. In the end, everyone dies."
The Pope said, "And tonight, if I do not act, too many will die, far too many."
...
...
The Hall of Light and Righteousness was filled with rays of light. The stone walls, pale and dazzling, silently parted to both sides.
The images of sages and gods on the stone walls watched with complex expressions as the person emerged from within.
Tonight, the Pope was not wearing a hemp robe but a sacred vestment, with a divine crown on his head. In his hand, he held not a divine staff but a pot of green leaves.
Linghai Zhiwang and Siyuan Daoren knelt at the foot of the stone steps, clearly under some kind of restriction, unable to move.