Chapter 152: The Li Palace Shines Bright
The conversation and standoff by the stream at the old temple 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 Saintess had made a move.
In the span of a single breath, the Stargazer was dead, and Bie Yanghong was gravely 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 Saintess should be a cut above the Eight Winds and Rains, but who could have imagined she could accomplish such a feat in such a short time, so effortlessly?
In those few breaths of battle, the Heavenly Sea Saintess had fully revealed her overwhelming strength, her unimaginable power, and her deduction techniques that rivaled the will of heaven.
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 a mysterious way. Yet she could still keep an eye on that powerful figure from the Holy Light Continent by the stream in Xining Town, while intimidating the Daoist Calculator west of Luoyang City. With a single thought, her divine soul could kill, then travel ten thousand miles away!
The Daoist Calculator, west of Luoyang City, stared at the black dragon in the night sky, silent and speechless.
When the Heavenly Sea Saintess’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 Dao techniques, ready for battle.
No one expected her first target to be Wuqiong Bi.
Wuqiong Bi thought she was going to kill her.
Bie Yanghong and the Stargazer thought she was using Wuqiong Bi’s death to kill Bie Yanghong.
In truth, none of that was the case. From the very beginning, her goal was to kill both Bie Yanghong and the Stargazer in one fell swoop.
And those were no ordinary experts—they were two of the Eight Winds and Rains who had entered the Sacred Domain for many years!
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 Saintess’s back and recalled the words she had said to him at the very beginning.
“If I don’t let you die, you cannot die.”
Yes, if she didn’t let Chen Changsheng die, he couldn’t die. So if she wanted someone dead, how could they possibly live?
The Heavenly Sea Saintess 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, as if she had never left.
Only Chen Changsheng could see that her hands were trembling slightly.
In a single encounter, she had destroyed two of the Eight Winds and Rains. Even for the Heavenly Sea Saintess, there was a price to pay.
But battles between sages had never been about reason, only about intent and momentum.
Now, with the Night Phoenix in the sky, her momentum was at its peak, a glorious and magnificent era.
Zhu Luo was dead, the Stargazer was dead, Bie Yanghong was gravely wounded, and Wuqiong Bi was terrified out of her wits. Even if the hidden experts from the noble families and the powerful figures from the National Religion appeared, they could not stop Han Qing from ascending the Divine Path.
Her opponents were never the Eight Winds and Rains, but the monk by the stream at the old temple in Xining Town, the Daoist about to sneak into Luoyang, and…
The Heavenly Sea Saintess turned her gaze toward the Li Palace.
She had not forgotten where her strongest opponent was.
Since the battle began, the Li Palace had remained silent. Only when the Daoist Calculator revealed Chen Changsheng’s background had the Pope spoken two sentences.
Other than that, it had been silent until now.
The place that would decide the outcome of tonight’s battle was right there.
The entire world was waiting for the Pope’s choice.
Just then, under the night sky, the capital suddenly blazed with brilliant light.
The light came from the Li Palace, from the Hall of Light and Righteousness.
Looking at that holy radiance, the Heavenly Sea Saintess’s phoenix eyes narrowed, sharp and icy to the extreme.
In truth, she had long known the Pope’s choice, because her supporters in the National Religion, like the Tianhai family, had never shown up.
If the younger generation of the Tianhai family had changed their stance because she had altered Chen Changsheng’s fate and revealed her intention to let him succeed the throne, then Linghai Zhiwang and Siyuan Daoren should have been the 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 from speaking, was one.
That was the Pope.
“Why?” she asked, looking at the Li Palace.
This was the first time she had sought an explanation or reason.
Because she and the Pope had worked together for many years, had old ties, and had 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 Li Palace: “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 everything, and your ideas are not necessarily the ideas of the people.”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess said, “You’re wrong. I don’t want power; I just can’t give power to these useless people.”
The Pope said, “But nothing lasts forever.”
This statement referred to her, to him, to everything in heaven and earth.
The Heavenly Sea Saintess was silent for a long time before saying, “Perhaps you could wait a little longer for me.”
This was the first time she had made a concession, even if only in words.
As said before, it wasn’t because she feared anything, but because she and the Pope had worked together for many years, had old ties, and had once walked the same path.
“If it were the past, of course, I could.”
The Pope’s voice paused for a moment before sounding again, filled with more emotion: “But I have no time left.”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess’s brows slightly lifted as she asked, “Why do you have no time left?”
The Pope said calmly, “Because I am about to die.”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess’s brows lifted higher, like swords about to pierce the night sky, and her voice turned sharp: “Why must you die?”
The Pope said, “Too old, so naturally, I must die.”
The Heavenly Sea Saintess’s brows slowly lowered like phoenix wings, and her voice became somewhat desolate: “That’s right. Tianji is about to die, you are about to die—in the end, everyone must die.”
The Pope said, “And if I do not act tonight, too many people will die. Far too many.”
…
…
The Hall of Light and Righteousness was filled with rays of light. The stone walls, bleached pale by the brilliance, silently parted to both sides.
The portraits of sages and deities on the walls watched with complex expressions as the person emerged from within.
Tonight, the Pope was not wearing his hemp robe but a sacred vestment and a divine crown. 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.