Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-345

Chapter 345 – The Missing Black Rock

An elegant hand extended towards the pheasant, and gently rubbed its head. The pheasant was slightly unhappy, but it did not dare to show any signs of unhappiness. It extended its neck in a clever and sincere manner, and allowed the hand to rub it. It seemed just like a quail.

It was Xu Yourong’s hand—the pheasant knew very well what kind of blood flowed in the girl’s body. It disliked it very much; it had to admit that the blood was its bane.

Chen Changsheng also extended his hand towards it, as if he also wanted to touch it. The pheasant also knew very well just how strong the teenager was. Most importantly, he was the owner of the Yellow Paper Umbrella. If it wanted to survive the terrifying storms of energy, it could not offend him. Being rubbed a few times should be a small price to pay—even if it was shedding all its feathers, it could endure it. However… for some reason, the pheasant gave out a sharp screech, and like lightning, it pecked down on the back of Chen Changsheng’s hand.

A clear sound that was like the collision of gold and jade resounded.

The pheasant stared blankly. It did not know why it had behaved so violently. Chen Changsheng also stared blankly, and then remembered that although the injuries on his body had already basically healed and that the smell of the blood that flowed out had already become extremely faint, animals and monsters were still unable to reject the enticement.

“Although a great peng in dire straits is not as great as a pheasant, it is still a great peng afterall. It has its own pride,” Xu Yourong said while looking at him. This was not the original common saying. The original saying was ‘a phoenix in dire straits is not as great as a hen’, but she would definitely not say it like that.

Just like she had said, the messy bird that seemed like a pheasant was the Golden-winged Great Peng that had enveloped the entire sky before, but no longer so mighty. In the first moment that it had taken shelter behind the Yellow Paper Umbrella, Chen Changsheng knew that it was the Golden-winged Great Peng, because of its Qi and because of the violent sacred flames in the deepest parts of its pupils. No matter how well it had disguised itself, to be able to pass through the storm of energy and whirlwinds, as well as know that the Yellow Paper Umbrella could protect it, it definitely was that Great Peng.

The original body of the Golden-winged Great Peng had perhaps left and died with Zhou Dufu’s death. Only when Nanke arrived in the Garden of Zhou with the Soul Wood did its spirit that always slept in the shadow of the grassland awaken once again. Right now, the Golden-winged Great Peng was only a fledgling, and did not have the power and level of when it was at its peak. No wonder it could only form a shadow in the sky, and had only recovered the majority of its divine aura after Nanke had used the power of her soul and the Soul Wood to fuse with the Great Peng.

Chen Changsheng did not attempt to touch the baby peng again. The baby peng slowly became quiet, and was no longer as nervous and alert as before. The feeling of violence in two smears of sacred flame disappeared, and it was replaced by some sort of complicated emotions.

Chen Changsheng understood what it wanted to convey, and could not help but stare blankly. The message the baby peng conveyed was all in its eyes. It was beseechment, request and imploration. It was sorrow, pain, sadness and despair—the countless monsters in the Garden of Zhou were all its companions and subordinates. The monsters had lived in the grassland for centuries, separated from the outside world and without any conflict between each other. The grassland was their home town, and right now, their home town was about to be destroyed.

Chen Changsheng said in his heart that it did not need to request him to do anything. He would try his best to preserve the world. The baby peng seemed to hear what he had said in his heart, and became even more quiet. It seemed extremely lovable. However, what was interesting was that it was still unwilling to approach him, and instead seemed to be willing to take a few steps towards Xu Yourong who was supposed to be even more feared and disliked. It leaned against her body in a well-behaved manner.

Chen Changsheng’s remaining attention was always focused on the wind and sand in the surroundings of the mausoleum. When he conversed with Xu Yourong and communicated heart-to-heart with the Great Peng, he was always doing calculations in his heart. According to what Xu Yourong had said before, the relationship between the ten monoliths belonged to some change in some formation. Now, because the Sword Pool had been removed, the balance in the formation had been broken, and could not be recovered ever again, unless he could find the empty spot that had been filled in with the Sword Pool.

Yes, in the formation, the Sword Pool was only a replacement object. What was the Sword Pool replacing? Xu Yourong said that Zhou Dufu had taken twelve Heavenly Tome Monoliths, but there were only ten stone pillars here. So where were the other two?

From the very start, Chen Changsheng always felt that he had forgotten something. It was the blank memory in his final moment of comprehending the monoliths in the Mausoleum of Books. Afterwards, he remembered something vaguely so an unrestrained idea appeared in his head.

In order to prove the idea, he always focused on the surroundings of the mausoleum, to find the evidence that could prove his idea—he needed to get enough confirmation before following along with the idea, because it was an extremely dangerous act. People only had one life, so it was the last chance.

Sand and wind covered the skies. From time to time, sand dunes that were like small mountains formed on the ground in the surroundings of mausoleum, and other times, even the tough gray stone ground would be flipped. He always focused on that area, which was also the area that Xu Yourong had calculated. It was the area that was once covered in white grass, and now covered in sand and monster corpses. It finally revealed its true appearance after hundreds of years.

There was a ruined stone wall. It seemed like a base—a base for a monolith.

There should have been a Heavenly Tome Monolith there—Chen Changsheng confirmed the fact, and with a slight movement of spiritual sense, he took out an object and held it in his hand. He then looked at the baby peng. The baby peng originally felt uneasy, and wanted to look at something else. It did not want to meet gazes with him, but it discovered that because it was too nervous, its neck actually became stiff.

A human and a peng gazed at each other. The atmosphere was slightly weird. The baby peng thought in his head, just why is it me? Chen Changsheng spoke in his heart: it’s because you’re an impressive Golden-winged Great Peng. Only you can withstand the havoc of the storms of energy, at least for a moment. The baby peng thought with resentment, why can’t you do it? Chen Changsheng squeezed the handle of the umbrella and said in his heart: even if I am correct, the Garden of Zhou will still collapse. I have even more important things to do. The consciousness of the baby peng became quiet, and then it accepted his explanation.

Chen Changsheng opened his palm. In the centre of it was a black rock.

The black rock was around half a finger long, and its shape was slender. It was entirely inky black, and the surface of the rock seemed to be hidden by a layer of faint fog. It was like a night sky that did not have stars, but had starlight. It caused people who had seen it to become intoxicated, and truly want to sink into it. It obviously was not an ordinary object. It was the black rock that he had found in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist, behind Wang Zhice’s portrait.

When the baby peng saw the black rock, a feeling of dread flashed past its pupils. Only after a while did it calm down, and it opened its beak to pick up the black rock.

Chen Changsheng turned the Yellow Paper Umbrella towards the side, providing a path for the baby peng.

When he did that, he always used his body to block Xu Yourong’s line of vision. It was not because he did not want her to learn his secrets, nor was it because she was preventing him from doing what he soon needed to do.

A breeze formed, and the baby peng transformed into a black shadow. It flew out from the Yellow Paper Umbrella, and passed through the violent winds that wreaked havoc and the terrifying cracks in space. It followed the guide of Chen Changsheng’s gaze from before, and arrived at the very inconspicuous base for a monolith in the sky full of wind and sand. It loosened its beak, and closely afterwards… the black rock landed accurately on the monolith base.

It was as if the starry sky had arrived in the Garden of Zhou that never had a starry sky.

It was very dark, but it was also very tranquil.

A great but tranquil Qi arose from the monolith base.

In the next moment, a black Heavenly Tome Monolith appeared on the broken monolith base.