Xu Yourong looked out the window without saying a word. She waited for that person to come out of the Garden of Zhou. Although the blue curtain on the window was down, it could not block her view.
Time continued to mercilessly pass. The sun slowly rose and the light of the sky gradually moved, moving from the walls of Hanqiu City to the official road until it illuminated the entire world. It also passed through the curtain and shone into the carriage, falling on her face and causing it to grow paler and paler.
After leaving the Garden of Zhou, the first thing she did was tell bishop Mei Lisha and Zhu Luo what had happened inside. The sky of the Garden of Zhou was collapsing. The reason why these people had the time to leave was because there was a youth on the Mausoleum of Zhou in the plains, using an umbrella to hold up the sky. They had to think of a way to save him as soon as possible.
If she were not Xu Yourong, Mei Lisha and Zhu Luo would definitely think she had gone crazy. However, even if she were Xu Yourong and Mei Lisha and Zhu Luo believed her, they still had no way of saving that youth who was holding up the sky above the Mausoleum of Zhou — only those at Ethereal Opening could enter the Garden of Zhou. Moreover, just as she had said, if they wanted to save that youth, they needed an expert of an even higher cultivation. Perhaps Zhu Luo had this ability, but the Garden of Zhou was currently collapsing and extremely unstable. As long as he walked into the Garden of Zhou, that miniature world might instantly be destroyed.
No one could save the young man, only the young man himself, so Xu Yourong couldn't do anything but wait for him. At this moment, a senior sister from the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green hurried over to the window and said to her through the blue curtain, "There's no one called Xu Sheng, and I've also investigated. No one from the Snow Mountain Sect has come this year."
Xu Yourong was silent for a while, then asked, "How many people have not come out?"
"Forty-something people." The senior sister from the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green hesitated for a while, then said in a low voice, "The Orthodox Academy's Chen Changsheng … has also not come out."
As she said this, she was very worried about Xu Yourong's situation. She thought that Xu Yourong was worried about her fiancé's safety, so she had asked her to investigate these matters. However, Xu Yourong did not have any reaction, which made her rather surprised.
The person Xu Yourong was waiting for was not Chen Changsheng — there was no disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect, Xu Sheng, on the register of cultivators that had entered the Garden of Zhou. However, she was keenly aware that this disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect, Xu Sheng, was in the Garden of Zhou. Moreover, he was currently on the Mausoleum of Zhou, holding up that great umbrella of ten thousand swords.
Entering the Garden of Zhou and using an alias, even changing sects with the tacit approval of the Li Palace, was a very common thing. In her view, since Xu Sheng was a genius disciple of the secret sect that the Snow Mountain Sect had placed its hopes on, it was very likely that he had entered the Garden of Zhou with a different identity like her, and could not be found on the register.
In reality, she had never hoped to see that youth's name on the register. After leaving the Garden of Zhou, she sat silently by the window of the carriage, looking at every person that walked out of the mist from the depths of the forest or was carried out. She was very sure that she did not miss a single person, because she did not even blink.
She saw many senior and junior brothers from the Longevity Sect, saw a few fellow disciples from the South Stream Temple, saw those injured people that she had treated at night, saw that wolf youth that had knocked down four trees while carrying Qi Jian on his back, and yet she did not see him.
Finally, several figures supported each other as they walked out of the mist. Then, an unimaginably terrifying Qi exploded from the mist. The rainbow that had fallen into the mist instantly began to tremble uneasily, as if it would break at any moment. At the same time, the magnificent courtyard of the Garden of Zhou that was faintly discernible in the mist suddenly twisted into countless images, as if they were about to disappear.
Seeing this scene, Mei Lisha became even older. Zhu Luo floated up and flew into the sky above the mist. When the rainbow finally broke, a bright and beautiful sword glow chopped down from his hand onto the ground. It immediately formed an incomparably powerful barrier, separating the world behind the mist from the real world.
There was a massive boom, which echoed for several hundred li around Hanqiu City.
Even though Zhu Luo was one of the Storms of the Eight Directions, one of the strongest experts of the continent, this sword strike that he had slashed down with all his strength was actually unable to completely seal off the sputtering of that powerful Qi. A hurricane swept up the green leaves and earth, roiling towards the forest. It whistled without end, instantly swallowing up the official road. Only when it collided with the sturdy walls of Hanqiu City did it finally stop.
The wind stopped, the dust settled, and the world regained its clarity. The forest was filled with groans and coughs. Everyone looked behind the forest and saw that the thick mist had already dispersed. However, the green mountain that should have been behind the mist … had actually disappeared without a trace!
The gate to the Garden of Zhou had disappeared, and the Garden of Zhou had also disappeared. It was unknown whether or not there would be anyone who would be able to open the gate to the Garden of Zhou in the future. Even if it could be opened, it was already meaningless. Before the collapse of the Garden of Zhou, the energy that had seeped out had directly transformed into a real green mountain. How could the Garden of Zhou still exist?
The forest was absolutely silent. Those startled birds had been shaken to death by the Qi that had sprayed out when the Garden of Zhou had been annihilated, dying stiffly amongst the fallen leaves and earth.
The silence was broken by sorrowful weeping. The teachers of many sects and academies wore sorrowful expressions, and there were also many young cultivators who knelt beside the corpses of their schoolmates and fellow disciples, weeping without end. The priests and officials of the Li Palace collected their thoughts and once again began to count. They confirmed that of the human cultivators that had entered the Garden of Zhou, there were still twenty-seven people who had not come out. However, they did not know whether those people had long since died to the schemes of the demons, or whether they had lost their lives in the destruction of the Garden of Zhou. At this moment, in the forest, there were still ten-odd corpses.
The curtains were covered in a thick layer of dust, blocking out the light and also blocking out the line of sight. This caused Xu Yourong's face to darken somewhat.
She closed her eyes, her long eyelashes gently blinking.
She did not say anything. Her right hand lightly stroked the pheasant at her side, trembling slightly.
"Let's go," she whispered.
The carriage of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green followed the official road into the distance.
The wind on the official road blew the dirt off the curtains. She could see the scene on the side of the road. Those injured lying on stretchers were all moaning.
This made her somewhat sad.
In the first few nights of the Garden of Zhou, she and Chen Chang Sheng had never met. They had constantly saved people. These injured people were saved by them together.
As for Chen Chang Sheng, he also did not leave the Garden of Zhou.
Only now did she understand a fact. The young Daoist on the other end of the letter from several years ago … had also died.
She had originally thought that she would not feel sad because of him, but now she realized that she still felt somewhat sad.
If not for this engagement, he would not have come to the Capital, would not have participated in the Grand Examination, would not have entered the Orthodox Academy, and would not have come to the Garden of Zhou. Naturally, he would not have died. He should still be in that old temple in Xi Ning Village, facing the three thousand scriptures of the Way every day, right?
She had originally forgotten about those letters, but now, for some reason, she suddenly remembered that Chen Chang Sheng had once said in the letters that he had to memorize the scriptures every day. It made him feel very tired, but … no matter how tired it was, it was still better than dying now, no?
The wheels of the carriage rolled over the official road, giving off a rumbling sound. This was parting.
Everyone had to learn how to part.
Parting always made people sad. Even if she was Xu Yourong, she was still only a fifteen year old girl.
What made her most sad was that the person she was waiting for, in the end, still did not appear.
Are you really called Xu Sheng? Are you really a disciple of the Snow Mountain Sect? Do you still not know that I am called Xu Yourong? Does anyone know that we once stood shoulder to shoulder in the grasslands, went through life and death together, quietly facing each other? Perhaps your family and teachers will grieve for you, but I … do not even have the right to grieve. This is a truly sorrowful matter.
… …
… …
Not long after the carriage of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green left, in the forest outside Hanqiu City, another sorrowful matter occurred.
Someone was about to die.
In this year's opening of the Garden of Zhou, because of the demons' schemes, the human cultivators had suffered disastrous casualties. Logically speaking, death was a very normal matter.
But the person who was about to die was Liang Xiaoxiao of the Mount Li Sword Sect.
This matter was no longer normal, it was very sorrowful.
Then, this sorrow would very quickly transform into anger.
Because everyone present believed that the one who killed Liang Xiaoxiao was not a demon, but Zhexiu.
… …
… …
(See you tomorrow.)
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