Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)
chapter-644

Chapter 644 – True Words Like Blood

With the movement of the Imperial Design and the imminent return of the army, the situation underwent thousands of changes and fell once more into the Divine Empress’s control.

Standing on the summit of the Mausoleum of Books, she gazed at a certain place in the capital and asked, “What did all of you come here for?”

From the moment the Qiushan clan head and its Guardian entered the capital, they had remained silent and low-key, making it very easy for others to forget their existence.

But since the Tianhai Divine Empress had spoken now, they could no longer continue to pretend that they didn’t exist.

“This matter has not one bit of relationship with my Qiushan clan.”

The Qiushan clan head looked at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, his attitude abnormally humble. “The Empress knows well that we came to the capital in preparation to enjoy the maples.”

No one believed this explanation. It was especially clumsy, even silly.

But it did not matter, because the Divine Empress only required an explanation, a stance.

The Qiushan clan head’s stance was very straightforward, and the sillier his reason, the more straightforward his stance.

The Tianhai Divine Empress was quite satisfied. Turning to two other places in the capital, she asked, “And the rest of you? Are you also here to enjoy the maples?”

A carriage was stopped outside the Gate of Past Purity. The Old Lady of the Mutuo clan stood by this carriage, her hand holding a dragonhead walking stick.

The old lady’s feet were bound, yet they stood on the drenched street like two nails, not trembling in the slightest. Her voice, however, was somewhat shaky.

“This old body has not come to the capital in a long time, so came north to take a look. Conveniently, there were some matters that needed attending to. The Empress knows that my great-grandson’s wife is about to give birth.”

The Gate of Surpassing Virtue was tightly shut. The Wu clan head stood in front of it as he seriously explained in the direction of the Mausoleum of Books, “Empress, do not misunderstand, I came to visit my son-in-law.”

These were similarly clumsy and silly explanations, but different from the Qiushan clan head’s, because they both mentioned people.

The Old Lady of the Mutuo clan and the Wu clan head departed the capital in the darkness.

The Tianhai Divine Empress did not speak. What was she thinking about? Did she feel that the stances of these two clans were not straightforward enough, or was she thinking about the only member of the Four Great Clans that had not appeared, the Tang clan?

Regardless, none of it mattered. Even if the Four Great Clans actually made their stances clear, it was not possible for them to change the present situation.

She had not killed Chen Changsheng, let alone eaten Chen Changsheng, so no matter how unfathomable the trap that Daoist had laid in the darkness over these past twenty years, none of it had any power over her.

With the Imperial Design activated, an awe-inspiring Qi enveloped the entire capital. Besides Daoist Ji, and the Old Lady of the Mutuo clan and the Wu clan head who had not dared to step into the capital, everyone else was unable to leave.

Not even the four experts of the Divine Domain in front of the Mausoleum of Books were able to.

Her Great Zhou cavalry were currently entering the capital.

In the capital, there were still many ministers and generals loyal to her.

The conclusion seemed decided. At the moment, all that was required was a single order.

Just then, a voice arose from the capital.

This voice was very soft as if speaking to itself, but then it gradually rose in volume until it became an extremely pointed question. There was also laughter in this question, dense with ridicule, yet after a while, one would gradually feel that this was ridiculing itself, this laughter containing limitless regret and reverence towards some things. Ultimately, it all returned to peace and calm.

It was such a complex voice and thoughts, but in reality, it was just a simple set of words.

“Do you think that you’ve truly won?”

The speaker was Daoist Ji.

He stood in front of some out-of-the-way market in the capital, his feet treading upon rather filthy water, a lamb butcher’s shop stinking of blood behind him.

Butcher shops were often the first place to wake up in a city’s market. With it being so late at night and dawn about to come, the lights of the butcher shop were the first to be lit.

Kakakaka, the clear sounds of chopping meat came from the butcher’s shop.

The people in the butcher’s shop had no idea of the awe-inspiring aura of the Imperial Design rising up nearby, nor were they were aware of the man standing outside their store.

Daoist Ji gazed in the direction of the Mausoleum of Books and ruefully sighed, “I always thought that tonight, it was me planning a trap for you, but now I know that this is not the case.”

At the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, Chen Changsheng gazed at the scenes in the darkness and saw his master on this screen of light. His mind was still as perplexed as before, but there was also an indescribable feeling.

Perhaps it was because the Tianhai Divine Empress stood in front of him, and she had just changed his fate for him?

“But…this is also not your trap.

“I am a person in the trap, and you are also in a trap, and this is still a trap.

“This was not a trap planned by me, nor is it a trap planned by you. This is a trap arranged for you by the Heavenly Dao.

“The Heavenly Dao’s trap.”

Chen Changsheng did not understand the meaning of these words.

The Tianhai Divine Empress indifferently replied, “You are just the same as you were several hundred years ago, always fond of speaking such profound and incomprehensible words, but a swindler is still nothing but a swindler. Do you want to use these words to shake Our will? There’s no trap of the Heavenly Dao, it’s just a little scheme planned out on your little abacus.”

“Correct, this is my trap, so it should be perfect. No matter if you chose to kill him or eat him, I made the corresponding preparations, but I never imagined that you would choose to save him, because I never imagined that a callous woman like you would actually have a moment where your heart went soft, and I found it even more impossible to imagine that you had already entered the Concealed Divinity Realm.”

Daoist Ji’s voice and the sound of chopping from the lamb butcher’s shop mixed together. However, rather than making it unclear, his voice became extremely distinct, resounding through the peak of the Mausoleum of Books.

Besides this, not a single other sound could be heard in the capital.

The Li Palace was silent, the Mausoleum of Books quiet and tranquil.

The Divine Empress had already entered the Concealed Divinity Realm?

Many people had speculations on this matter, but only tonight did they finally receive proof. This news was sure to shake the entire continent.

“You truly are very strong. Even if you ate the fruit that is Chen Changsheng, even if the divine punishment from the starry sky truly descended, none of it would be guaranteed to injure your foundation.”

Daoist Ji’s voice resounded through the night.

The chilly wind blew across the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, carrying the Divine Empress’s black hair with it.

Just by quietly standing here, standing at the highest place in the world, she was like a demonic god, giving an aura of invincibility.

No matter if it was the nearby Chen Changsheng, Wuqiong Bi or Guan Xingke at the bottom of the Mausoleum of Books, or the monk by the stream tens of thousands of li away, they all vaguely had the same thought: even if the Heavenly Dao changed, even if fate were thrown into disorder, even if lightning fell upon her body, she could disregard it all.

“The only thing that can injure your foundation, that can make you weaker, is yourself.”

Accompanied by the sounds of chopping meat from the butcher’s shop, Daoist Ji’s voice became tough and cruel.

“In your view, your will is even more important than the Heavenly Dao, even more powerful. If the Heavenly Dao wished to kill him, you would insist on him living. I am forced to admit your self-confidence is still just as worthy of admiration, but did you ever think, when you made this futile attempt to place your will above the Heavenly Dao, what sort of reply the Heavenly Dao would give?”

The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, “We have never regarded the opinions of another with any importance, even if it is this starry sky.”

Daoist Ji’s voice was very sorrowful. “So…you chose to save him.”

The Divine Empress asked, “And so what if I saved him?”

“You are perfect and powerful, we originally had not a single chance of winning, but tonight, you chose to change his fate. Presumably, you paid an extremely great price for this.”

Daoist Ji’s voice turned cold and firm. “For example, your cultivation has already dropped and you are no longer without equal, and this…is the Heavenly Dao’s answer to you.”

Hearing these words, the countless people concealed in the darkness began to stir from their shock and consider this statement.

Was what Daoist Ji said true? Had the Tianhai Divine Empress, for the sake of bringing Chen Changsheng back from the edge of death’s abyss, truly paid such an enormous price?

Chen Changsheng gazed at the Divine Empress’s back, gazed at the two hands held behind her. His mood was somewhat strange, his expression somewhat lost.

The chilly breeze blew through the streets, carrying with it warmth and the faint scent of blood.

After this period of silence, the Divine Empress’s voice rose up once more, very cold, very overbearing, and carrying a faint tinge of derision.

“What We want to do, you mortals will never understand.”

She gazed at this world shrouded in the darkness and said, “Our intentions are such that not even the so-called Heavenly Dao is able to grasp them.”

These were not spoken tyrannically, yet a sense of absolute confidence seemed to run through them.

She did not deny Daoist Ji’s words. For the sake of reconstructing Chen Changsheng’s meridians, defying the heavens and changing fate, even she who had entered the Concealed Divinity Realm had to pay a great price.

So then where did her current self-confidence come from?

“Yes, I spoke incorrectly. Empress, you would not drop your cultivation to save him for such a laughable reason as a compassionate mother pitying her son.”

Daoist Ji stood in the rain and calmly said to the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, “You wished to use this action to resist the blood oath you made back then when making a sacrifice to the starry sky, wanting to wipe away the shadow over your heart left by the words ‘defying the heavens and changing fate’. Only this way would you have the chance to obtain true Grand Liberation.”

This simple and short conversation could not be understood by everyone.

Only Zhu Luo and the other experts of the Divine Domain, or those experts on the threshold of stepping into it, could hear the true meaning of these words.

The Tianhai Divine Empress was the supreme expert of the current continent, possessing a nigh unimaginably formidable will.

Her sole weakness might be that gap in her heart, precisely that oath she swore to the starry sky for the sake of defying the heavens and changing fate.

This was not the oath itself, but the action of making the oath. Just as she said to Chen Changsheng, the her of back then had once lowered her head to the Heavenly Dao.

What she wanted to do now was to wipe away that old matter of the past, to cover up that dust on her heart.

She wanted Chen Changsheng to live.

If she could do this, she would be perfect, no longer without weakness.

In this state, even if she dropped from Concealed Divinity to Saint, she would still be invincible!

The Divine Empress replied, “You’ve thought too much, and also spoken too much. You only seem very uninteresting this way.”

Daoist Ji replied, “Is that so? Then if I were to say that Chen Changsheng is not at all Empress’s son, would this make it somewhat more interesting?”

His voice was calm and devoid of emotion. As a result, it seemed particularly cruel.

In the deepest room of the butcher’s shop at the side of the street, a thick knife covered in oil heavily smacked against the cutting board as sheep were continuously butchered, blood splashing everywhere.