Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 404 A Sword About to Wake Up

In Xunyang City, there were currently only two parties with the qualifications, or perhaps the confidence, to oppose Zhu Luo’s might. Those were Xue He with the Northern Zhou army and Hua Jiefu with the Orthodoxy branch. From Zhu Luo’s appearance, the Li Palace’s attitude was exceptionally clear. Now the Divine Empress had agreed that Su Li should die, so Su Li really was going to die, only…Zhexiu was still imprisoned in the Zhou Prison. Mo Yu found herself somewhat incapable of confirming just what the Empress thought of Chen Changsheng. In the end, she could not hold it back and raised up the doubt in her heart. “If Chen Changsheng persists in defending Su Li, what then?”

The Divine Empress calmly replied, “You must not forget what sort of person Zhu Luo is.”

Of the four surnames of Tianliang, Liang Household had silently endured for a thousand years, and then in that great chaos ten-odd years ago, their spirit had been snatched away by Su Li’s single sword. Although the present Liang Wangsun was very outstanding, it was already impossible to reconstruct the former magnificence of the Liang Household. The Wang clan was already half-collapsed. Its old mansions had long since become a stretch of ruins. Even with a person like Wang Po of Tianliang, they had still been compelled to move south. Only Zhu Luo had good relations with the old Imperial clan and was also extremely close to Mei Lisha. His moving against Su Li in Xunyang City, without even needing to ask, was assuredly the will of the Li Palace. As a matter of course, he would definitely not allow Chen Changsheng to die.

As for what if an accident occurred? The Storms of the Eight Directions were exceedingly outstanding experts. After Su Li was heavily injured, Zhu Luo was the sole supreme existence in Xunyang City. He had complete grasp over the situation, so how could an accident occur? Mo Yu understood everything and only then did she truly relax. Gazing at the Empress’s beautiful and dazzling profile, she thought to herself, and what about you?

Does the Empress want Chen Changsheng to live or to die?

Some people die in order to kill others, like Liang Xiaoxiao. Some people meet death in order to save others, like Chen Changsheng or Wang Po.

There was also someone who was doing their utmost to live so that they could help others live.

That person was Qiushan Jun.

When the clues about the Garden of Zhou had appeared on the continent, as the number one Ethereal Opening cultivator, Qiushan Jun received the plans of the Five Saints and entered some place. Under the encirclement of several demon experts at the same level of cultivation as him, he wrested away the key to the Garden of Zhou. For this affair, he had disappeared for many days, missing out on the opportunity to attend the Grand Examination and enter the Mausoleum of Books to view the monoliths. He also did not know that the Mount Li Sword Sect and the Qiushan clan were determined to visit the capital to propose. In addition, he had been heavily injured during this affair and it was difficult for him to completely recover. But this was all worth it, because the Garden of Zhou had landed in the hands of the humans, because by encountering desperate straits, he had exploded with an unprecedented energy. The true dragon blood within him awoke once more, letting him successfully break through into Star Condensation in one go. Just like before, he had once again shocked the entire world.

Who could reach Qiushan Jun? Chen Changsheng had taken the first rank of the first banner in the Grand Examination; in the Mausoleum of Books, he had attracted an entire night of starlight; together with Xu Yourong, they were the youngest upper level Ethereal Opening cultivators in history; but he still could not catch up to Qiushan Jun. There were some priests of the Li Palace as well as people like Tang Thirty-Six that thought about this differently. In their view, Chen Changsheng was still young and he had only cultivated for one year, yet he was able to reach such a level of cultivation. If he wanted to catch up to Qiushan Jun, it was something that would happen sooner or later, even so much that they believed that when Qiushan Jun was compared to Chen Changsheng, it had the feeling of the big bullying the small.

But the fact of the matter was that Qiushan Jun was still not yet twenty and he was younger than Gou Hanshi by one year. It was just that his true dragon blood and cultivating talent were too earthshaking, his conduct and bearing too perfect, and he had grown famous too early, up to the extent that Chen Changsheng’s supporters and Qiushan Jun’s worshippers alike forgot this fact.

To not yet be twenty and possess a Star Domain, just what sort of concept was this? This was a legend. As long as he could cultivate and live as tranquilly and courageously as he had in these past twenty years, then there was a high chance that he could become the second Su Li. No, in the view of countless people, he was more earnest than Su Li, more trustworthy. The human world required even more his type of person.

But first, Qiushan Jun would have to survive.

Black Robe had disturbed that rainbow that crossed ten thousand li and had also caused Qiushan Jun’s injuries to worsen. Soon after, in order to stabilize the rainbow, to reopen the Garden of Zhou as quickly as possible and let the human cultivators leave, Qiushan Jun had spent night and day incessantly pouring his true essence and the Qi in his blood into the rainbow, regardless of his severe injuries. When the main gate of the Garden of Zhou finally reopened, his mind relaxed a little. He could no longer endure and after closing his eyes, he fell into a deep sleep on the prayer mat.

He did not truly fall unconscious, but rather used a secret technique of the path of the sword that only he knew in all of Mount Li—Sword Rest.

When Martial Granduncle Su Li had taught him swordplay for one month, the first thing Qiushan Jun had been taught was Sword Rest. A person in Sword Rest looked just like he was in a coma. The difference lay in the fact that a person in Sword Rest could still hear noises from the outside. But because all of his true essence and essence blood had to be used to suppress and mend his injuries and clear his Dao heart, there could be no other differences. Even if a single drop of essence blood was used to maintain movement, even if he wanted to just move a finger, it would cause his injuries to completely break out. To describe it in another way, the current Qiushan Jun was like a blind and paralyzed youth on a bed.

The reason Qiushan Jun had so resolutely poured all his essence blood into the rainbow was that he was concerned about his fellow cultivators in the Garden of Zhou, and worried about Junior Sister Xu Yourong. It was also because he clearly understood that even though he was making his injuries worse, he only needed to maintain forty-nine days of Sword Rest to completely mend all his injuries.

At present, many days had already gone by.

The time when he would awaken from his Sword Rest was still several days away.

He wanted to wake up in advance. Even if he were to suffer heavy injuries, he still wanted to wake up.

Because for many days, many noises had been continuously transmitted into his ears.

There were cries of alarm, voices of concern, voices of discussion, and then once again cries of alarm.

Third brother…died? Liang Xiaoxiao…died? His Dao heart received a heavy blow. He was aggrieved to the extreme, and at the same angered to the extreme. Just who was it, just who dared to slay a fellow disciple of Mount Li! Just who dared to kill one my Seven Laws! Just who dared to kill my…junior brother!

But he could do nothing. He could only listen to the trembling voice of the Sect Master as well as the quiet voices that were gradually getting further away. In the dark world of the Sword Rest, Qiushan Jun gradually regained his calm and was faintly able to perceive that there was something wrong with this matter.

After some days had passed, Junior Brother Qi Jian was brought back. He was carried into the Sect Master’s dwelling, right in the bed in front of him.

Right now, in the highest peak of the mountains of Mount Li lay two unconscious disciples.

Just who had done it? Just what had gone on in the Garden of Zhou? Qiushan Jun calmly and even callously pondered this. He was like a sword that was resting in its sheath, ready at any time to reveal its edge.

He closed his eyes and heard many names.

Zhexiu, Zhuang Huanyu…Chen Changsheng.

Was it like this?

So it was originally like this.