Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

"Why?"

"Six hundred and seventy-seven years and three hundred and sixty-four days ago, you secretly left the Hundred Herb Garden to meet with me and my junior brother. At the time, you stated what you would do if we assisted Emperor Xian in ascending to the throne. Two hundred and fourteen years and sixty-nine days ago, Emperor Xian’s eye disease increased in severity and he became incapable of sight, so he decided to have you represent him in correcting and criticizing the memorials to the emperor. When I and my junior brother were asked for any objections, you said that it was only temporary. This temporary period has now lasted for two hundred and fourteen years and sixty-nine days. Twenty years ago, before Emperor Xian returned to the sea of stars, you said to Emperor Xian that you would only hold court for a single year and then return the imperial throne to the Chen clan, yet..."

"Your meaning is that We should comply with our promise from back then and transfer the imperial throne...to one of these pieces of trash?"

The Tianhai Divine Empress gazed at the fifteen imperial carriages that had already entered the capital, and at the princes of the Chen Imperial clan within these carriages. A derisive smile appeared on her face.

"This is a very good reason. Acting for the sake of the so-called common people seems more important than any one person’s promise, and you will also say that you must consider the continued existence of the Tianhai clan."

The Daoist stood in the rain and looked towards the Mausoleum of Books, calmly saying, "Twenty years ago, these reasons could be used, but now they cannot, because I have already considered them for you."

The Tianhai Divine Empress drew back her gaze towards the scenes on the screen of light, saying, "Then in your view, who should We pass the throne to?"

The Daoist was on the screen, most likely on some street in the southern part of the capital, yet he was also somewhere else at the same time.

No person could be sure of his true position, because he was not at all guaranteed to have a true position. He was like a swallow in the rain, seeming to be within the rain but perhaps above it.

He said, "The imperial throne of the Great Zhou should be passed on to the sole son between you, the Empress, and Emperor Xian."

Chen Changsheng was right behind the Tianhai Divine Empress, but she did not turn around as she indifferently spoke, "Pass it on to this child about to die?"

"Emperor Xian had many sons, but Empress, you only have one, and he is the right and inevitable Crown Prince. In his body flows the blood of the Imperial clan, and also the blood of the Tianhai clan. After he ascends, he will naturally care for his mother’s family. If he inherits the imperial throne, the Imperial clan will have no objection, nor will the Tianhai clan. Isn’t this just perfect?"

The Daoist continued, "The confluence of the north and south has already succeeded, the Great Zhou Dynasty’s existence for many generations is assured, and the only matter left to be done is for the Empress to abdicate, nothing more."

’Abdicate, nothing more’ was just three words and nothing more.

A fine ’nothing more’.

The Tianhai Divine Empress quietly gazed at the Daoist in the rain.

The Daoist quietly stood in the rain. He had said everything he wanted to say, so he no longer spoke, and the conversation between the two of them had most likely been heard by the entire continent.

For some reason, the Tianhai Divine Empress suddenly began to laugh, an extremely cheerful laugh, yet thick with ridicule.

"From the time two years ago that you sent him to the capital until now, you’ve seemed to always be doing one thing, to have Us see him."

Chen Changsheng sat on the ground, gazing at her tall and lofty back. Hearing her words, he realized that they were actually true.

No matter if it was the engagement with the Divine General of the East’s estate, the new life of the Orthodox Academy, the Ivy Festival, or the announcement on the Divine Avenue, all the many events that had happened in that period of time now seemed for the sake of having him quickly mature while simultaneously placing him in the Divine Empress’s gaze.

Many matters had been pushed along by Archbishop Mei Lisha, but behind him was inevitably the figure of that Daoist.

"Seeing him, there will be curiosity, a need to probe, suspicion."

The Tianhai Divine Empress held her two hands behind her as she gazed at the Daoist in the rain, slowly speaking to the rain-covered world. "He is just like an underripe fruit, bred and nurtured by the lot of you, then left for Us to quietly see, until finally, it ripened and exuded its fragrance. Anyone who smelled this fragrance would be overcome by the urge to eat him."

"To this entire world, this is the most alluring fruit, and to Us, it is even more the case."

Tianhai turned her head to glance at Chen Changsheng, then said, "This is the result most satisfactory to the cycle of the Heavenly Dao, the perfect conclusion to this set of causes and effects."

She turned to gaze at the entire world in the rain, a mocking smile dancing on the corner of her lips. "But...We simply won’t eat."

The entire world was silent. In the Mausoleum of Books and in the capital, only the sound of rain splashing against the ground could be heard.

She continued, "This fruit of longevity perhaps can make a mortal an immortal, but presumably, it can only provide disadvantages to me."

Finally, she had a look of regret, sighing as she said, "An immortal bestowed on me a fruit of longevity...unfortunately, none of you are immortals, only humans, nothing more."

Humans, nothing more.

Nothing more.

......

......

There is a garden in the Divine Kingdom, and in this garden is a tree, and from this tree hangs a fruit.

This fruit contains infinite amounts of vitality. By eating it, one can transcend the mortal world, obtaining unimaginable spiritual experiences and gains.

This was a legend, a legend of the Sacred Light Continent.

The people of this world had probably never heard of it before, but he had.

By the stream, the monk who had come from afar slowly raised his head towards the distant capital, his clear eyes tinged with solemnity.

......

......

The Daoist stood in the rain, still very calm, yet his true feelings were a mystery.

The surrounding street was very quiet. In the extremely dark night, people were still sleeping. Only he was awake, but was he lucid?

He had emerged from the empty air of the rainy night. From the moment he stepped out, not a single strand of rain could fall upon his Daoist robe, yet at this moment, several beads of water appeared on his hair, sparkling and clear.

Yes, that fruit of longevity was a scheme, a trap.

Besides the Canon of Flowing West concealed behind this entire matter, there was nothing too abstruse about it. It was very simple, not at all complex.

When he began designing this trap twenty years ago, he had very lucidly recognized this point.

This trap could never have been too complex, as it involved the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao. Moreover, the more complex the trap, the more prone it was to attract the vigilance of Tianhai and other similar figures.

But he believed that besides several gods in that distant continent, no person could see through the problems with this fruit of longevity, and neither could Tianhai.

And he also believed that this fruit of longevity presented the most irrepressible urge to any person, especially to Tianhai.

This was a lethal trap in accordance with the Heavenly Dao. There was not a single reason for it to fail.

Yet Tianhai did not fall into the trap.

She did not see the problems with the fruit of longevity, she only acted in accordance with her will.

Did she want to eat this fruit of longevity? Of course.

However, she was keenly aware that those people had wasted vast amounts of energy and twenty years of time to send him before her. On the surface, they had used the Canon of Flowing West to cut his age by three years, as if not wanting to have her find out who he was, but how could those people not know that she would certainly know who he was? So those people wanted precisely for her to eat him.

The entire world was quietly waiting for her to eat him.

The entire world was prepared to see her eat her own son.

So she just wouldn’t eat.

Even if this fruit might have no problems at all, even if eating this fruit might truly allow her to break free of life and death and enter the true realm of Grand Liberation, she still would not eat it.

Not out of vigilance or prudence, but out of loyalty to her own will.

She was her will.

Her will was that if the entire world wanted her to do something, she would absolutely not do it.

......

......

Behind Xining Village’s old temple.

The monk vaguely understood something and slightly turned his head, looking upstream.

The night was dark and no lanterns were lit in the desolate village. Everything was pitch-black.

However, in his eyes, the surrounding sights were still clear as day. He could see the fish quietly floating in stone crevices, could see a petal gradually drifting away with the stream.

When the petal drifted towards his bare feet, it slowly turned.

He smiled and sighed.

Somewhat sorrowful, but not disappointed.

......

......

"Perhaps longevity, perhaps a perpetual descent into an abyss—this is the gamble. Not eating him does not mean that your gaze can see through the supreme Heavenly Dao, only that you fear it."

The Daoist in the rain felt no disappointment, because it had only just begun.

He continued, "You know that this is the Heavenly Dao’s trap. Your opponent is not me, but the Heavenly Dao, so you don’t even dare to step onto the stage."

Hearing this, the Tianhai Divine Empress’s brows slightly perked like a Phoenix about to take flight.

"Since you fear the Heavenly Dao, how can you not be afraid of the Heavenly Dao’s backlash?"

The Daoist calmly said to her, "Don’t forget that when you swore the blood oath to the starry sky, I was also there."

"Even if the Heavenly Dao descends, the person to die is still him."

The Tianhai Divine Empress calmly continued, "We will personally watch as he dies, ensuring that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary occurs."

The Daoist sighed, "As expected, you are still the world’s most cold-hearted person."

The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "The same to you."

The two spoke as if they were standing right in front of each other, yet they were actually separated by several dozen li, and at times it even felt like several thousand li.

Because the Daoist’s position in this world was still illusory and ethereal, impossible to pin down.

Chen Changsheng also did not know his position in this world.

He had once believed that he was a young Daoist of Xining Village’s old temple, his master’s student, yet he now discovered that he was nothing but a fruit.

If eaten, he would have some value. If not eaten, then he would be disregarded, only able to wait until he fully ripened, fell and turned into pulp.

He was the Tianhai Divine Empress’s own son, but she was so calmly watching him die.

Logically speaking, the two people carrying out this conversation before the entire world should have been the two people he was closest with.

One was his birth mother, the other the master who had raised him into a man.

Yet when they spoke, they did not even give him a glance.

When speaking of cold-heartedness, who had ever felt it more vividly, deeply, than he had tonight?

This indifferent, sorrowful, and somewhat laughable feeling—what sort of feeling was it?

It bored into his bones.

A pain akin to something boring into his bones exploded out from every part of his body in a very short amount of time.

With several small pops, the needles in his neck were sent flying, deeply stabbing into the stone tiles.

His blood containing limitless energy flowed between his internal organs like a surging deluge.

The leftover true Qi in his ruptured meridians scattered, incessantly seeping into his bones and flesh.

Spider webs of cracks began to appear on his internal organs.

His face was pale.

He was in terrible pain.

He was going to die.