Chapter 690: No Place to Die
After arriving at the Xue residence, Zhou Tong’s tone of voice was especially like that of an elder, particularly when he was lecturing Madam Wei.
Standing in the Xue residence, his demeanor was leisurely, as if he were exceptionally familiar with the place—because he had indeed been there many times, like an elder who had only just returned after years away on business.
In short, it was easy to get the feeling that this place was like Zhou Tong’s home.
This infuriated people, because as everyone knew, the master of the Xue residence had been ruthlessly and shamelessly poisoned to death by him.
The Xue residence steward angrily grabbed a broom and stepped forward, trying to snatch the young lady from those officials, only to be viciously kicked to the ground.
That servant woman screamed in panic and ran into the residence.
The people of the Xue residence rushed over, looking at the scene in the courtyard, their voices trembling slightly as they asked, “Zhou Tong, what exactly do you want to do?”
Zhou Tong stood quietly in the courtyard, gazing at the green plants of the residence before him. Many memories flashed through his mind, stirring up a wealth of emotions.
Actually, he didn’t even know why he had come here or what he wanted to do. It wasn’t until he truly arrived that he understood: he simply wanted to see that person one last time.
He looked at Madam Xue and said slowly, “I’ll burn some incense and leave.”
Madam Xue’s voice trembled slightly, but her expression was exceptionally resolute: “You know that’s impossible.”
Zhou Tong said calmly, “That’s not for you to decide.”
The conspiracy from a few days ago, the poison in the medicine bowl, the corpse exposed outside the official road—all these things were related to the Xue residence, yet also unrelated.
The people in the Xue residence could not decide their own life, death, honor, or disgrace. They could only despairingly accept or wait to be saved.
Today, the Xue residence held a memorial service, but no one dared to come. So who would come to save them from this helplessness and despair?
“Excuse me, please make way.”
A voice came from outside the door.
Zhou Tong’s body stiffened slightly.
The officials of the Qingli Department turned their heads in unison, looking back, thinking: someone actually came?
“What’s wrong with you people, blocking someone’s doorway like this?”
A young girl’s voice followed immediately.
Zhou Tong slowly turned around, looking toward the door, his eyes narrowing.
He wanted to hide his true inner emotions, but also because the scene outside the door felt somewhat glaring to him.
Many young people had arrived on the street.
Those people were male and female. Some had lively eyes, some were honest and simple, some looked around with pride, some had tense expressions. But they all shared one trait: they were very young, full of vitality.
No matter how many emotions or temperaments they had, none could hide that vitality.
This vitality felt glaring to him, even faintly painful—perhaps because he was already old.
In the capital, the place with the most young people and vitality was the Green Vine Six Academies.
Recently, with the tense situation, the Green Vine Six Academies had shut their doors tightly, with only one exception: the National Academy.
Those young people were students of the National Academy.
Chen Changsheng and Su Moyu stood at the very front of the crowd.
Seeing this scene, the Qingli Department officials and the spies representing various factions on the street were stunned into silence.
Chen Changsheng had indeed come.
He had come to pay respects to Xue Xingchuan.
He had come to slap Zhou Tong and the court in the face.
Chen Changsheng walked toward the Xue residence, as if he hadn’t seen the Qingli Department officials blocking his way.
The young people of the National Academy followed him forward.
Those officials blocked the entrance to the Xue residence. If they didn’t make way, a collision between the two sides was inevitable.
Collisions easily led to friction.
Friction escalated into fighting.
Fighting escalated into war.
Would the capital’s recently calmed situation become turbulent and unstable again?
Zhou Tong didn’t speak, so the Qingli Department officials showed no intention of stepping aside.
The National Academy students also showed no intention of stopping, because Chen Changsheng was still moving forward.
Zhou Tong hadn’t expected Chen Changsheng to suddenly change his mind and come to the Xue residence. But so what if he had?
At least half of the Great Zhou court’s secret military force was in his hands—a terrifyingly powerful force.
Chen Changsheng’s status was now very high, but he had little power. Right now, the only ones standing behind him were some ordinary students from the National Academy.
Until he ascended to the position of Pope, he couldn’t mobilize the power of the National Religion.
With just the National Academy, how much of a storm could he stir up in the capital?
But… Zhou Tong’s brow furrowed.
What if he miscalculated? What if something unexpected happened? What if those princes wanted to make a move on Chen Changsheng?
Just as he was thinking about these things, the unexpected had already arrived.
The National Academy students met the Qingli Department officials, and a collision occurred, followed by the inevitable exchange of curses.
Clang! The sound of cold blades being drawn was especially clear in front of the Xue residence, as if it could cut through the autumn wind.
The Qingli Department officials didn’t strike first; some drew their swords more to intimidate the young people.
They didn’t know that those young people—especially the girls among them—had been waiting for this very opportunity.
“Stop!” Zhou Tong said in a deep voice.
Those young people naturally wouldn’t listen to him.
The Qingli Department officials wanted to listen to him, but they could no longer do so.
Over a dozen clear ringing sounds echoed down the long street.
Countless beams of pure light rose and crisscrossed through the autumn air, both mournfully beautiful and deeply moving.
It was an utterly pure sword intent, paired with an unparalleled coordination.
The cold sword intent wove an invisible net, scattering toward the officials in front of the Xue residence.
Even Zhou Tong himself, faced with this sword intent, could only choose to evade temporarily, let alone those officials.
Muffled groans rang out in succession. Blood sprayed as over a dozen Qingli Department officials were directly slashed by the sword intent, drenched in blood, and then sent flying backward.
In an instant, the stone lions flanking the main gate of the Xue residence were stained red with blood. Over a dozen blood-soaked figures lay on the street, the scene gruesome.
No one remained standing in front of the Xue residence’s gate. A large open space had appeared.
Chen Changsheng walked in.
Ye Xiaolian and over a dozen senior sisters simultaneously sheathed their swords and stood behind him, following him into the residence.
Chen Changsheng walked up to Zhou Tong.
All around, the sound of metal scraping and crossbows being drawn filled the air.
The situation was tense, but Zhou Tong’s expression was calm.
He looked at Chen Changsheng and said, “The future Pope of our Great Zhou dynasty actually needs little girls from Saintess Peak to protect him. If this gets out, it’s truly embarrassing.”
To have severely wounded over a dozen Qingli Department experts in such a short time was naturally not the strength of the National Academy students, but the world-renowned Nanxi Zhai sword formation.
Chen Changsheng didn’t speak. The one who spoke was Ye Xiaolian.
“You court officials can’t even beat us little girls—that’s the real embarrassment.”
Zhou Tong didn’t mind. Even if Chen Changsheng himself spoke, no matter how insulting, he could endure it.
Because he considered himself very mature—so mature he was rotten through. Beneath his blood-red official robe, there was nothing but decayed fruit flesh, and he was never afraid of being sullied.
Before His Holiness the Pope returned to the sea of stars, he wouldn’t give Chen Changsheng any opportunity or excuse to make a move.
Although he wasn’t afraid of Chen Changsheng, just as that vitality felt glaring to him, by the same logic, he didn’t want to fight these young people with raw courage.
As he always said, he was a very mature power minister and a very successful treacherous minister.
But the two sentences Chen Changsheng said next made it impossible for him to maintain his silence or inner peace.
Chen Changsheng wasn’t deliberately trying to humiliate him; he genuinely wanted to know the answer.
That calmness and seriousness made Zhou Tong feel that his soul could no longer remain hidden from view.
Because he couldn’t answer Chen Changsheng’s question.
Chen Changsheng said, “Since I came to the capital, I’ve often heard people say that if you died, only Xue Xingchuan would collect your corpse.”
This was a widely circulated saying on the continent. Zhou Tong had heard it more than once. His eyes narrowed into a cold line.
Chen Changsheng looked at him seriously and asked, “Now that you’ve killed him, when you die in the future, who will collect your corpse?”
This was a very simple question.
A simple deduction could lead to the conclusion.
But Zhou Tong couldn’t answer.
Because he didn’t want such an ending.
No one wanted such an ending.
—To die with no place to be buried.
…
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(First, thank you all. Second, as I’ve said before, during this period—a rather long period—I’ll definitely be writing slowly, and there will be frequent breaks in updates. Then, on Weibo and WeChat, I’ll leave a link for a style vote on the cover of the second volume of the simplified Chinese edition of *Ze Tian Ji*. Everyone knows the first volume’s cover was… well, a bit something. But as they say, with effort, rainbows and all that—if we work together, it’ll definitely get better. Finally, I remind everyone that I personally will never borrow money from readers or anything like that. Please don’t be fooled. I’m relatively well-off now, thanks to all of you—at least enough to maintain a decent life. I also won’t go into business… because another author has encountered such a situation, so I’m letting you all know.)