Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-304

Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng were purposely irreverent.

This did not mean that they were actually calm. It was actually that the amount of indifference they showed was the only way for them to calm down in the shortest amount of time.

On Xu Yourong’s face was a smile of satisfaction and peace. She had finally seen the legendary mausoleum before her death, approaching the true secret of the Garden of Zhou. Of course she would be happy.

Chen Changsheng glanced at the Yellow Paper Umbrella several times, and confirmed that there was no more activity. The sword intent had already disappeared when he saw the mausoleum. He did not know what it meant.

Did that sword intent already finish its job of leading the way? Was the Sword Pool close to the mausoleum? The surroundings of the mausoleum were endless plain of white, and over ten li away in the opposite direction, a few old temples could be seen. They were not sacrificial temples, and should have been matching temples. There were no lakes or pools, so where was the Sword Pool?

Chen Changsheng did not think for too long, and walked towards the mausoleum with Xu Yourong on his back. Not long after, they arrived in front of the long path made out of stone that seemed like a path to heaven.

When he stepped onto the stone path, some dust arose from the bottom of his shoes. For some reason, he slowly began to increase in speed, until the end where he actually began to run.

Xu Yourong hung onto his neck and thought with a smile. After all, he was a young man in his twenties, so no matter how calm and unhurried he seemed, it was always an act. Fair enough, the Snow Mountain Sect was known for the bloodline of the Black Frost Dragon, and such dragons were renowned for loving treasure. This mausoleum must definitely have countless treasures, so why would he not hurry?

Chen Changsheng’s injuries had slowly healed. Although he was still tired, his speed was very fast. Not long after, he reached the end of the divine path of several thousand zhang in length with Xu Yourong on his back, arriving in the center of the huge mausoleum. Looking at the heavy stone door of over ten zhang in front of him, he exhaled, and then pushed forwards with both his hands. He discovered that it was easier than he had thought.

Without a sound, the door of the mausoleum opened. Soft dust and gravel flew out from the crack that grew wider and wider,

Chen Changsheng pulled out the dagger, and wielded it in front of him. He walked into the mausoleum, remaining very alert.

Xu Yourong leaned on his shoulder, and her expression was also solemn. Her fingers constantly extended and retracted, silently making calculations.

This mausoleum could be called the most mysterious place in the Eastern Continent. Buried inside was the man that once caused the entire world to fear.

Now, they naturally already knew that the mysterious Plains of the Unsetting Sun was only the garden of this mausoleum.

Even the mausoleum garden was so vast and dangerous; the mausoleum itself would undoubtedly be more so.

Nobody knew what was inside the mausoleum.

As soon as he walked in, after just a few steps, a smear of light suddenly glowed in the distant darkness. It was like someone had lit a bonfire in the wilderness on a starless night.

Chen Changsheng stared into the distance. He was ready to fight or run away at any time.

In the next moment, a second smear of light flared in the depths of the mausoleum. More and more radiance continued to appear, spreading towards them. It transformed into two bright lines of light.

Finally, the radiance arrived in front of him. As it turned out, the luminous pearls mounted on the walls of the passageway had turned on.

The luminous pearls were perfectly round, translucent and transparent. Each one was the size of a bowl.

The luminous pearls were not as pretty as the one he had received from Luoluo, but they definitely were not smaller than the ones on the Dew Platform. Also, this passageway was very long, leading into the depths of the mausoleum. The number of luminous pearls on the wall would have reached at least in the thousands, which really was hard to believe. Back then, when Zhou Dufu built the mausoleum for himself, where did he find so many luminous pearls that were almost completely the same?

Under the soft light of the luminous pearls, Chen Changsheng carried Xu Yourong into the depths of the mausoleum.

The passageway that led into the depths of the mausoleum should have been the nether path specially built for emperors, which symbolized the meaning of leading into the Netherworld. Of course, in the Daoist Canons of the Orthodoxy, the passageway was commonly known as the path of radiance, which symbolised the meaning of leading into the Divine Kingdom of Infinite Radiance within the sea of stars. Just like how the pointless stone path of several thousand zhang in length outside the mausoleum was known as the divine path. They carried similar meanings.

Walking in the long passageway, only the echoes of footsteps could be heard. Although the luminous pearls illuminated the way, it still seemed rather gloomy and scary.

Chen Changsheng suddenly felt a vague chill spread from within his heart. Sending in a sliver of spiritual sense, he discovered that in the cold lake within the Ethereal Palace, the Black Dragon seemed to show signs of waking up. He could not help but stare blankly for a moment, curling the corner of his mouth for a smile. He thought it no wonder, as it was the legendary Black Frost Dragon that loved treasures—even in sleep, it could feel the existence of these luminous pearls.

Xu Yourong saw his face suddenly reveal a smile. She was very confused, and felt that it was slightly weird, so she asked softly.

Chen Changsheng did not know how to explain, so he could only smile. He seemed a little dumb.

Surpassing both of their expectations, there were no traps in the passageway, nor did they meet any fierce beasts that guarded the mausoleum. Very soon, they reached the deepest part of the mausoleum, with nothing occurring at all.

At the end of the path of radiance was another stone door.

When Chen Changsheng placed his hand onto it, he very naturally thought of when he was first trapped within the Tong Palace on the night of the Ivy Festival. He thought of the image when he reached the bottom of Black Dragon Pond, and when he pushed open the stone door. At that time, he carried a thought that he would definitely die when he opened the stone door, but he had never thought that behind the stone door, he would meet the Black Dragon, which had already saved his life several times since they had met.

What would he meet this time upon pushing open the stone door?

With an extremely soft grinding sound, the stone door was slowly pushed open.

The stone door had not been opened for several hundreds of years.

Behind the door was a world where no one had visited for hundreds of years.

Stone pillars of several dozen zhang in height held up the dome.

The space seemed incomparably huge.

As it turned out, in the depths of the mausoleum, there was not a coffin chamber, but rather a palace.

In the deepest part of the palace was a black stone coffin.

Chen Changsheng approached the black stone coffin with Xu Yourong on his back. Only then did he discover that the black stone coffin was extremely huge, like a black mountain.

Standing in front of the black coffin, the two of them seemed very insignificant.

The stone coffin was made out of obsidian. Its surface was dull and without lustre, giving out a deep and solemn feeling. There were no visible cracks or signs of being pieced together, making it extremely possible that it was entirely made of a single piece of obsidian.

Chen Changsheng thought silently, was this perhaps really a black mountain?

There was no patterning on the surface of the obsidian coffin, and it did not have any words that identified the owner. However, because of that, it seemed even more solemn.

The man who currently laid within the obsidian coffin quietly did not need any sort of patterning to add splendour, and did not need any words to sing the praise of his deeds.

When this man was a teenager, he was once known as the supreme expert of River Luo.

Later, when he dealt Emperor Taizong a heavy defeat outside of Luoyang City, he was known as the supreme expert of the Central Plains.

Next, he travelled to the south, successively defeating countless experts from the Longevity Sect and the Scholartree Manor. He flattened the mountain gate of the South Stream Temple, and ripped off the veil of the current Holy Maiden. After that, he was known as the supreme expert of the Human race.

Afterwards, he stood amidst the countless demon experts, heavily injured the Demon Lord and then travelled far away. As a result, he was known as the supreme expert of the continent.

The supreme expert of the continent mentioned here did not even have a limitation of time. It was not limited to that age, and instead, whether looking forwards five hundred years or looking back five hundred years, he was always the strongest without equal.

As a result, he gained another title, the Thousand Year Supreme Expert.

He had peerless strength within the universe. Perhaps it was this type of loneliness that had caused him to disappear, leaving behind an irreplicable legend.

In the end, he was known by the people as the supreme expert under the stars.

He used an entire obsidian mountain to make a coffin. He used a grassland that had a sun that did not set as his mausoleum garden. He used a world as a mound to bury himself. How would he need a gravestone, or engrave his name on a gravestone?

He was Zhou Dufu.

He could only be Zhou Dufu.

Standing before the huge coffin of obsidian, Chen Changsheng stayed silent for a while, and gave a plain bow. Afterwards, he continued onwards carrying Xu Yourong on his back, and did not stay for any longer.

Xu Yourong was unable to understand why he was so calm and said, “You should know who is inside the black stone coffin.”

Chen Changsheng spoke as if he was reciting from memory, “The supreme expert under the stars, the undefeatable legend, the person who swore brotherhood with Emperor Taizong of the Zhou Dynasty.”

“If it is only power, it is not enough for him to be remembered by the people for so long.”

Xu Yourong said, “For the Human race to be victorious over the Demon race, there is actually a reason of utmost importance, which is always forgotten purposely by the annals of history and the people. That is, Zhou Dufu defeated and heavily injured the Demon Lord.”

Chen Changsheng did not stop his footsteps, and instead walked faster. He said, “I know that, and also understand the importance of it.”

“So, other than that he is a legend, he is even more a hero,” Xu Yourong said. “An overwhelming majority of the cultivators of the younger generation that I have met view him as an idol, feverishly admiring him. If they could arrive before the coffin of Zhou Dufu, they will definitely earnestly kneel and worship, unlike how indifferent you were.”

“If it were some other time, I would probably also do so.” Chen Changsheng said, “But right now, we have no time to dwell on the past. After all, he is already dead.”

Xu Yourong asked, “So?”

Chen Changsheng said, “No matter how heroic, no matter how legendary, it is impossible to wake up after being dead, unable to tell us how to continue living. Our current situation is very bad, and if we grieve for the senior at this time, then we will very soon become the target of grieving. Of course, it is even more possible that we will be forgotten by people very quickly.”

Saying that, he had already arrived before the steps at the back of the palace. In front of him was a door. The ground in front of the door was covered by a thin layer of dust, and it did not seem to have any marks at all, not even the marks of wind. Judging by it, the mausoleum truly had not been opened before, let alone had people enter it. They were its first visitors.

Just like the main door of the mausoleum, the doors of this stone room did not have locks.

Upon entering into the first stone room, they were assaulted by a putrid gust of a rotting smell, causing them to hold their breath, squint their eyes and use the light that spilled from behind them to gaze into the room. They only saw that within the stone room, there were many rotting shelves made of wood, and on the shelves were at least a hundred magical artifacts. They were scattered messily everywhere, and judging by their shape, the magical artifacts were definitely out of the ordinary. It was just that they were left lying idle for too long, and the Qi of the magical artifacts had already scattered. They were no different from scrap metal.

Suddenly, Xu Yourong called out quietly in surprise.

Chen Changsheng followed her gaze, and only saw that in the rotten wood closest to the corner, there seemed to be something there.