Chapter 573 – The True Crux of the Matter
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“What’s wrong?” Tang Thirty-Six asked.
Before, when he was in front of the cliff, Chen Changsheng had wanted to verify whether or not this tourist-like man was actually the legendary Wang Zhice. The man had only silently smiled and shaken his head, but the old man that followed him had very seriously warned him that this was a heavenly secret that could not be broached without risking the wrath of the heavens…
“This matter…it seems that I shouldn’t have spoken about it.”
Chen Changsheng turned to Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu, asking them anxiously, “You guys can’t talk about this to anyone else.”
Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu looked in each other’s eyes for the third time today.
The room once more descended into silence.
After some time had passed, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu nodded.
Upon seeing this, Chen Changsheng relaxed. He was keenly aware that if these two friends of his promised something, they would definitely carry it out.
“Your fate…is really good.”
As Tang Thirty-Six spoke, his tone seemed to be very regretful, even tinged with a hint of almost indiscernible envy. Money was all-powerful and there were very few things in this world that he could not do, so he very rarely envied others. However, Chen Changsheng’s luck and good fortune were sufficient to make him envious.
The legendary Wang Zhice was actually still alive and had reappeared in the world with only Chen Changsheng to witness it. Moreover, it just so happened to be when the Demon Lord was attempting to kill him. At that moment, other than a person like Wang Zhice whose appearance was utterly impossible, who could have saved him?
Ever since he had arrived in the capital from Xining, Chen Changsheng had heard far too many times that his fate was good. Of course, he knew that his fate wasn’t good, but after hearing this evaluation so many times, he couldn’t help but occasionally think that perhaps all these lucky encounters of his were the starry sky’s way of compensating him for his fate.
Tang Tang Thirty-Six, rather puzzled, asked, “Since Lord Wang is still alive, why has he never appeared in all these years?”
Zhexiu expressionlessly replied, “Why does he need to appear?”
Tang Thirty-Six retorted, “Whether it’s opposing the demons or strengthening my Great Zhou…”
He trailed off as he understood the meaning of Zhexiu’s words. Nobody knew what happened before Wang Zhice’s disappearance, but the entire continent knew that Emperor Taizong had truthfully never much liked him. In addition, if he really did reappear, how would the Great Zhou Imperial Court treat him?
As for opposing the demons…Wang Zhice had already done too much, and no one in the entire human world was qualified to demand that he do any more.
“How many days was I unconscious?” Only at this point did Chen Changsheng remember to ask this question.
Tang Thirty-Six was still lost in the shock from the fact that Wang Zhice was still alive and did not respond to his question.
Zhexiu revealed five fingers, showing his entire palm.
It turned out that he had been unconscious for five days. In these five days, who knew what had occurred on Mount Han? Chen Changsheng asked, “Is there anything new?”
Zhexiu thought this question over and discovered that he would need to say far too many things. As a result, he shook his head and slapped his palm on Tang Thirty-Six’s back, rousing him from his daze.
Tang Thirty-Six talked about the tense situation around the continent and also about the nervous mood of Mount Han.
“Then…will the Boiling Stone Summit still be convened?”
“Based on Mao Qiuyu and Linghai Zhiwang’s position, if you were to remain in a coma, they would take you back to the capital and the summit would naturally conclude, but now, you’re awake.”
“Everyone attending the Boiling Stone Summit has arrived? They didn’t encounter any dangers?”
Tang Thirty-Six gave him a very profound glance, then said, “Everyone that should have come has arrived, no problems.”
Upon hearing the news that Chen Changsheng was awake, Mao Qiuyu and Linghai Zhiwang entered the house to inquire. Upon confirming that his condition was fine, they withdrew the proposal of returning to the capital. Important figures of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets also came to visit, their attitudes very respectful, even humble. They even said that in a few days, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets would come personally to do this and that…
Chen Changsheng was rather confused. Even if he was the successor of the Pope, there was no need for the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets to fuss over him so. This wasn’t even mentioning the fact that the Elder of Heavenly Secrets was the leader of the Storms of the Eight Directions, such a high position. And wasn’t it possible that when the Demon Lord broke through the array a few days ago, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets suffered considerable injuries?
As he thought of these problems and thought even more about those other problems, time passed. It was now late in the night. Everyone within and without the small house was asleep while the Orthodoxy and experts of the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets vigilantly patrolled nearby. Everything was quiet and one could hear the sound of the lake water slapping against the rocks.
Upon waking, Chen Changsheng had asked Tang Thirty-Six whether all the people attending the Boiling Stone Summit had arrived and whether or not they had encountered any dangers. When Tang Thirty-Six had replied that everyone that should have come had arrived, his words seemed to contain a deeper meaning. This was because he clearly understood just who Chen Changsheng really wanted to ask about.
When everyone on the peak was asleep, the person that should have come finally arrived.
The window was pushed open. The warm breeze off the lake drifted, bringing with it a lithe and graceful figure.
This figure drifted along with the breeze until it drifted all the way to his bed, sat down, and softly asked, “How are you?”
Chen Changsheng looked at her eyes like two pools of limpid autumn water, saw the deeply concerned expression in her eyes, and suddenly realized that being injured was not a difficult thing to endure.
“I’m okay, really.”
The visitor was naturally Xu Yourong.
Even hearing Chen Changsheng say he was okay did not allow her to relax. She closed her eyes, raised her right hand, and placed it in the air precisely over the point between Chen Changsheng’s eyebrows.
A sacred and pure light descended and flowed into Chen Changsheng’s body.
The number of people that could use the Sacred Light technique at this level was extremely small. Other than the Pope and the three cardinals of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green, she was probably the strongest.
Chen Changsheng only felt like he was caressed by the spring wind that then entered his body. His true essence flowed happily through his meridians like the water in a stream on a spring day and his injuries gradually recovered.
“Thank you.”
“Just who was that person?”
The previous Holy Maiden had gone off together with Su Li, and with South Stream Temple under the leadership of the young Xu Yourong, some news really could not be known too accurately.
“It should be the Demon Lord,” Chen Changsheng replied.
The room was very quiet. After a long time, Xu Yourong reached out her hand and patted the back of Chen Changsheng’s hand, saying, “As long as you’re fine, it’s okay.”
It was very obvious that she had never consoled someone before, so whether it was her patting hand or the tone of her voice, it was all rather awkward and clumsy.
She did not ask Chen Changsheng how he had survived, but Chen Changsheng was not prepared to hide it from her, even though he had said during the day to Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu that this matter should not be mentioned to others.
“I might have met Lord Wang Zhice.”
After hearing this, Xu Yourong was truly shocked. From the countless gory and frightening scenes the middle-aged scholar had created by the stream, the incomparably powerful strength he had displayed, and the response of the human world’s experts towards him, she had long ago basically concluded that the scholar was the Demon Lord, she just needed to hear it from Chen Changsheng’s mouth to finally confirm it. However, she had not imagined that she would actually hear the heaven-shaking news that Wang Zhice was still alive from Chen Changsheng.
To her, this news was even more shocking than the reappearance of the Demon Lord.
Wang Zhice had a very special place in the history of the human world. Back when the humans and demi-humans joined hands to oppose the demon cavalry, Emperor Taizong had been commander-in-chief, the leader, while Wang Zhice had been the vice-commander. He had personally led the allied armies across the tens of thousands of li of snowy plains, pressing up all the way to Xuelao City. Purely on merit alone, he was not one bit below Emperor Taizong, and could even be his better. If not for the coup of the Hundred Herb Garden and other complex reasons, if not for the fact that Emperor Taizong harbored a deep dislike and fear towards him, he would have absolutely been worthy of occupying the first position in the Lingyan Pavilion.
Although this news was very shocking, Xu Yourong awoke very quickly from her stupor. She asked, “Why did the Demon Lord come to kill you?”
To Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu, how Chen Changsheng had survived his encounter with the Demon Lord was the most important matter and they also believed that was the question that everyone was the most worried about. However, Xu Yourong was much more cool-headed, much soberer, so she directly asked about the true crux of the matter.
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