Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

Who had lived and who had died? Upon hearing the middle-aged scholar’s words, the tourist-like man fell silent, gazing at the distant mountains to calm his mind. As he gazed at the sea of clouds, he gave off the feeling of one weathered by the trials of time. He indifferently spoke, "Sir and His Majesty are not like him, so logically, you should not have appeared here."

The middle-aged scholar did not directly answer his question, instead saying, "Seeing that you’ve appeared, We finally have confirmed that this is not a plot."

The man asked, "For what reason?"

The middle-aged scholar explained, "If this were a plot planned by you, today, We really might have had some trouble, at least more trouble than now."

The man replied, "Not necessarily. Since he has always been at Your Majesty’s side, how could he not see through one of my plans?"

The scholar shook his head. "He did not agree with Our decision to come, so this time, We came on Our own."

The man was somewhat surprised, asking, "Your Majesty has always followed his advice. Why not this time?"

The middle-aged scholar turned to gaze at the mountains across from the cliff. After a moment of silence, he replied, "Our time is running out."

The man agreed, "Your Majesty’s time truly is running out."

When the middle-aged scholar spoke of time, he was clearly speaking of time on a much grander scale. When this man spoke of time, on the other hand, he was pointing out that the Heavenstone array of Mount Han had already been activated. If the scholar did not quickly depart, he really might end up surrounded by the supreme experts of the human world.

"You plan to delay Us for some time?" The middle-aged scholar did not turn his head. His voice was still apathetic, still confident and tyrannical.

The man indicated that his elderly companion should stand behind him. Then, gazing at the scholar’s back, he said, "In these past few years, I’ve paid no attention to the affairs of the world, and both you and little Tianhai are too lazy to send people to kill me. I very much enjoy this life and have no intentions of changing it."

The middle-aged scholar turned to him and said, "You and he are both people that this emperor would wish to get rid of as quickly as possible. For you to survive to this day is because you are smart enough. Of course, you are strong enough as well. If either We or Tianhai wished to kill you, the two of us would inevitably find it rather troublesome."

The man replied, "Yes, in a little while, Tianhai and Yin will come over and you will be in trouble."

The scholar apathetically replied, "They will not come over. At most, only trash like Zhu Luo will come."

The man suddenly glanced at Chen Changsheng and asked, "Why does Your Majesty want to kill this youth?"

The middle-aged scholar continued to stare at the man as he spoke, "When We act, must We explain it to you? You are certainly not a Chen Emperor."

The man chuckled, saying, "Back then, I got used to asking His Majesty for justification. Today, I got used to asking Your Majesty for reasons, please do not take offense."

In these words and in this entire conversation, the word ’Majesty’ had been mentioned many times, but they weren’t speaking of the same Majesty.

The middle-aged scholar jeered, "No wonder your Chen Emperor never liked you."

The man replied, "All these are stale and trivial matters of the past—what need is there to keep bringing them up? Your Majesty, your time is truly running out."

The middle-aged scholar calmly looked at him and asked, "You wish to preserve this youth’s life?"

The man affirmed, "Correct."

With an apathetic expression, the scholar asked, "In exchange for what?"

"Of course...it’s Your Majesty’s time. Your time is your life," the man pointed out.

The scholar replied, "A thousand years ago, you went to all the trouble of leading cavalry over ten thousand li of snowy plains for the sole purpose of killing Us...today’s opportunity is much better than the one from back then. We do not understand why you’re willing to give it up, just for this unremarkable little fellow?"

"If he really is some unremarkable little fellow, what need is there for Your Majesty to make a special trip to kill him? Although I don’t know the reason, I can at least be sure that he’s very important to humanity."

The man continued, "Your Majesty’s life is naturally even more important than his, but the problem is, I’m not that Sir on the mountain peak that calculates fate, I don’t believe that using this life to exchange for Your Majesty’s life is a correct choice. In reality, it’s always been impossible to place a value on this thing called life."

The scholar replied, "Although these words are absurd, they’re also reasonable."

How could the absurd be reasonable? The average person wouldn’t be able to understand, like Chen Changsheng or that elder timidly hiding behind the man, but the two people in this conversation understood.

They were both outstanding figures that had lived for ages, so their way of doing things was naturally out of the norm. Unexpectedly, the scholar turned without the slightest hesitation and departed without any care whatsoever. His departing Xuelao City to Mount Han had been such an important, such a risky, action, and to have to return without any sort of benefit, how difficult to accept such a thing would be.

Because no matter how hard it was to accept, one still had to accept what had already happened.

The middle-aged scholar knew that the man had spoken correctly. Everything this man had said and done his entire life seemed to have been done correctly.

So he chose to leave.

......

......

Watching the scholar’s figure disappear into the dark mists and hearing the rumbling crashes of thunder fading into the distance, only after a very long time did the tourist-like man confirm that the scholar was far away and would not return. He softly sighed, seeming very sorrowful.

"Can he break through the Heavenstone array of Mount Han?"

The old man that had been hiding behind him all this time finally dared to stand up. Still somewhat overcome by fear, he asked, "If he can’t break it, might he come back?"

The man smiled, saying, "Heavenly Secrets has always regarded himself highly, it’s inevitable that he’s somewhat overestimated himself."

The old man understood his meaning: he was saying that as long as the scholar was not disturbed, he would need only a short time to break through the array and leave. He couldn’t help but be somewhat confused, asking, "This being the case, if Sir were to act just then, that really was the best opportunity to kill him."

"A thousand years ago, no matter if you were a human or demi-human expert, what you wanted to do the most was to kill him, but...the situation now is different."

"What’s different?"

"He lost a round to Big Brother and ceased to be invincible, and he’s also already old."

"But...I still think it’s such a pity."

"In addition, if we were to fight, what would happen to this little fellow?" The man pointed to Chen Changsheng as he spoke.

The old man also turned to Chen Changsheng and said with coldness and scorn, "It’s all because of this little fellow that Sir’s hands and feet were tied."

Before the middle-aged scholar, the old man had been particularly humble. To the man beside him, he was very reverential. Yet the words and expression he aimed at Chen Changsheng were all very rude.

After the Grand Examination, when it was faintly established that he was the successor to the Pope, no one in the world dared to treat Chen Changsheng with such rudeness. Even his opponents would also maintain the appropriate courtesy. It could only be said that in the past, this old man had seen far too many powerful figures, so he would not hold anything back for the sake of Chen Changsheng’s identity.

Chen Changsheng did not respond because he was currently too stunned, utterly incapable of working up any sort of response. In reality, when this tourist began speaking with the scholar, Chen Changsheng found himself utterly speechless. To be able to make the middle-aged scholar retreat with a few words, just where in the present world could such a powerful figure be found?

He knew who the middle-aged scholar was, and after hearing the conversation, he could already guess at the true identity of this tourist-like man.

He was too astonished, not daring to believe his conclusion.

The man had previously said to the scholar that they shouldn’t mention those old and trivial matters of the past anymore...no, those matters were grand events recorded in the annals of history! They were all by necessity grand figures recorded in the history book, and the records concerning them assuredly took up the most space and the most important position!

"Little friend, why did he want to kill you?"

At this moment, a gentle voice resounded amongst the cliffs, awakening Chen Changsheng from his shocked stupor.

He stared at the man that had walked up to him, his mouth agape, unable to speak for a long time.

The man was elegant and handsome, his two brows somewhat speckled with wind and frost. As he spoke, his lips seemed to exude an elusive scent of books and scrolls, giving off an indescribable sense of wisdom.

As Chen Changsheng stared at this face, he found it simply impossible to think of a response. He could only stare in astonishment, and even the hand gripping his dagger slightly trembled.

Anyone who suddenly saw a legend, thought dead by all, appear in front of them would probably feel the same. This wasn’t even mentioning the fact that this legendary figure had always been his most admired and respected model.

His voice trembling, he said, "Sir is..."

The man smiled and shook his head, indicating that he didn’t need to ask.

"It cannot be said, or else we will invite the wrath of the heavens," the old man on the side warned. His expression was very serious and he didn’t seem to be making a joke.

Chen Changsheng did not understand, but he very obediently shut his mouth tight, afraid that if he really did randomly speak, he would divulge some heavenly secret and thus bring the man some sort of trouble. Then, he rolled up the front of his gown and prostrated himself before the man, preparing to kowtow.

The man did not allow him to kneel down. He grabbed both his arms, smiling in silence.

His gaze seemed to pick out something on Chen Changsheng’s body and his brows slowly rose up as if he had seen something very interesting.

Ultimately, he shook his head, lightly sighed, turned, and began walking away from the cliff.

The old man followed behind.

Chen Changsheng hurried over, but to his surprise, the man and the elder had walked straight into the abyss beyond the cliff.

At this time, the darkness that had enveloped Mount Han was gradually fading, almost like Mount Han was welcoming a second dawn.

A white cloud had come from some place to rise up from the stream below.

The man and the elder had walked away from the cliff and fallen upon this cloud.

The white cloud leisurely drifted off into the distance.

This was what was meant to wander amongst the clouds.

(TN: 云游 usually translates to wander/roam, but it literally translates to ’traveling the clouds’.)

......

......

The mountain wind was slightly chilly as the day emerged once more. Presumably, the middle-aged scholar had already broken through the Heavenstone array and returned north.

Chen Changsheng did not feel like rejoicing over his new lease on life, nor even think about such a thing. He only stood on the cliff, blankly staring in the direction that the white cloud had disappeared.

Previously, after waking from his stupor, he had so many things he wanted to say to the tourist-like man, but it was a pity that there was no time. He had wanted to say, "I went to Lingyan Pavilion, I saw Sir’s portrait there and also read Sir’s notebook and took away the black stone Sir left behind..."

Thinking this, he caressed the string of stone pearls and gazed at the black stone, not speaking for a long time. Afterwards, he clasped his hands and made a deep bow in the direction the white cloud had vanished. He then turned and began walking towards the cliff, in the opposite direction of the sea of clouds, yet before he could walk two steps, he collapsed on the ground.