The Crown Prince was the natural successor to the throne. If the Great Zhou had a Crown Prince, perhaps the conflict between the Orthodoxy and the Divine Empress would not have developed to its current level. The situation on the continent would have been much calmer. In reality, the Great Zhou truly did once have a Crown Prince. He was the son of Emperor Xian and the Divine Empress, Crown Prince Zhaoming.
Alas, none of the successive Crown Princes of the Great Zhou had a good ending. The Crown Prince that Taizu had established died tragically in the coup of the Hundred Herb Garden, and the Crown Prince that Emperor Taizong had meticulously raised was ultimately executed for some inexplicable rebellion. This Crown Prince Zhaoming's fate was also very unfortunate, but it could also be said that he was relatively lucky, because he had already died when he was very young.
Not long after Emperor Xian's death, Crown Prince Zhaoming died of illness in his swaddling clothes.
But no one believed it. Of course, no one believed it. The bloodline of the Imperial clan and the Divine Empress was compatible, so how could it be a premature child?
As for the cause of Crown Prince Zhaoming's death, there were countless theories.
There was one that was the most widespread — back then, the Chen Imperial clan allied with the Orthodoxy's old powers, intending to drive the Divine Empress from the throne. In that soul-stirring struggle, the Divine Empress and the Pope obtained the final victory. Several hundred nobles of the Chen Imperial clan were either executed or exiled, and the teachers and students of the Orthodox Academy were nearly wiped out. All that was left were the desolate frosty grass and broken wells and crumbling walls. However, the Divine Empress had also paid an enormous price for this — in that rebellion, Crown Prince Zhaoming was poisoned to death by the Divine Empress's enemies.
There was another theory that was also extremely widespread, but it could not be heard in tea houses or inns. It could only be restlessly spread in the dark. This theory was even crueler, even more callous.
There were people who believed, and even secretly spread, that several hundred years ago, the Divine Empress was expelled from the Imperial Palace by Emperor Taizong and spent her days in misery in the Hundred Herb Garden. She became acquainted with the Pope and the previous Principal of the Orthodox Academy and learned of the secret of defying the heavens and changing fate. She swore to the starry sky that she was willing to sever her bloodline in exchange for defying the heavens and changing fate. The death of Crown Prince Zhaoming was the curse of her defying the heavens and changing fate, or perhaps the wrath of the heavens. It was even possible … that it was something that she had done on her own initiative in order to defy the heavens and change fate!
In those dark rumors, the narrators seemed to have seen with their own eyes that bloody and frightening scene in the Imperial Palace. They described it vividly — how the Divine Empress's hand passed through the swaddling clothes and extended towards the incessantly crying infant. There was no expression on her beautiful and dignified face, but a single tear rolled down from the corner of her eye. Then the crying gradually quieted, and the silence of the night palace made one's heart palpitate.
If the Divine Empress had triggered the wrath of the heavens when she defied the heavens and changed her fate, causing her to end her line and die alone, the Heavenly Dao and the sea of stars were truly too cruel and terrifying. If the Divine Empress, in order to change her fate, had personally killed her only son and wanted to become a loner on this continent, then she was a little too callous and terrifying.
Regardless of the explanation, Crown Prince Zhaoming was already dead. He had died for a cruel and terrifying reason, his death very innocent and pitiful. From then on, no one dared to mention this matter, not the Chen Imperial clan or the people of the Orthodoxy. Only that insane Imperial Astronomer Hu, even though Zhou Tong had plucked out all his fingernails, still used his bloodstained mouth to tell the world that Crown Prince Zhaoming … was not dead. Then, just when Zhou Tong was prepared to pluck out this Lord Hu's tongue, the Divine Empress showed her benevolence and allowed Lord Hu to return to his hometown to rest.
But in the view of many people, this was not benevolence, but a guilty conscience, or perhaps a form of self-consolation. Just what had happened in the Imperial Palace back then? Just how had Crown Prince Zhaoming died? Why had the Empress felt guilty? Thus, that cruel and terrifying explanation spread even more widely. Of course, it was still spread deep into the night.
… …
… …
The Imperial Palace was very quiet at night, but the night of early summer was infinitely cold.
The chief eunuch lowered his head, not even daring to glance at the Divine Empress.
The quiet courtyard instantly transformed into a frigid plain of snow. Not a single snowflake could be seen, but a thin layer of ice gradually began to form on the surface of the pond.
A Saint's thoughts moved the heavens and earth. Their emotions surged, creating raging waves. Their moods were gloomy, and the curtain of night hung over the sky. Their moods were gloomy yet violent, and naturally, wind and snow covered the sky.
Just when the chief eunuch felt like his sea of consciousness was about to be frozen and split apart, the Divine Empress's voice finally rang out once more. Her voice was very calm, very light, like the water in a pond beneath a thin layer of ice. "All the people of the world are my sons. The Prince of Xiang and the Elephant King are also my sons. Zhaoming's life and death have never been important."
It had never been important, so it was possible that it had never been important.
The chief eunuch lowered his head even more, as if his head was about to touch the cold ground. He gradually retreated into the darkness.
A Black Goat slowly walked over from outside the garden, its fur as glossy and pitch-black as jade. As it walked out of the darkness, it seemed to bring with it a part of the darkness.
Was everything covered up by the darkness the truth? Then what about the darkness itself?
The Divine Empress impassively asked it, "Then what about you? Why are you willing to get close to him? Just who is he? "
… …
… …
Tonight was Chen Changsheng's first night after returning to the Orthodox Academy. Just like on the previous nights, after eating dinner and taking a stroll along the lake, he very naturally walked into the library. Luoluo had returned to the Li Palace, Tang Thirty-Six was still in the Mausoleum of Books, Xuanyuan Po was smashing trees, and Zhexiu was still in Zhou Prison. He didn't know what he should do, so he just continued cultivating.
The starlight pierced through the glass and the snowflakes pierced through the sparse leaves. They did not stop on his clothes or skin, but directly entered into the depths of his body. The layer of snow on the plains grew thicker and thicker. Although the lake outside the Spirit Mountain was still far from becoming a vast ocean, the flow of water had already increased significantly. The stone gate of the Ethereal Palace at the end of the sloping stone steps in the mountain had already been completely opened. Calm and gentle rays of light seeped out from the cave and scattered everywhere in the water, giving off a very peaceful feeling.
The current him would naturally not be as perplexed as before, thinking that all the starlight had gone elsewhere. He quietly sensed his own star in the distant starry sky, sensed the changes in his body. Time slowly passed. At some point, he opened his eyes and woke up. He began to sort through his gains from the past few days.
When he left the Mausoleum of Books, he was already at the upper level of Ethereal Opening. After his journey to the Garden of Zhou and his encounter with so many powerful foes on his journey south, his sword heart was gradually becoming more complete and his cultivation was even more stable. He was even faintly on the verge of climbing to the peak of Ethereal Opening. Coupled with the fact that he had followed Su Li for so long, his progress in swordplay was even greater. With the two added together, he could be said to be invincible under the Star Condensation realm. Even if he encountered those experts who had just entered the Star Condensation realm, he still had a chance of defeating them. This fact made him feel somewhat gratified, but he would not relax in the slightest, because he had never forgotten that night.
He truly did not have much time. Even if he could be said to be the fastest person in history to reach the peak of Ethereal Opening, there was still an endless distance from the distant Concealed Divinity realm. Just how much more time would he need? As a result, he had to treasure his time — after concluding his meditation, Purification, and Meditation, he immediately began to practice his swordplay.
The snowy plains and the lake water in his body indicated that he had already accumulated an extremely large amount of true essence, far surpassing that of ordinary cultivators of the same age. The problem was that his meridians were broken, so he could not completely utilize that true essence. The Blazing Sword that Su Li had taught him could only resolve a portion of this problem, and the price that the Blazing Sword had to pay was far too great. With his current level of cultivation, he could only use three strikes at most.
Moreover, the Blazing Sword could not be practiced. It was harmful to the body. The Intellectual Sword could not be practiced either. It was harmful to the mind. He could only practice the Stupid Sword. He stood on the floor, constantly drawing the sword, holding it horizontally, and constantly repeating this simple and tedious process. It truly did seem rather clumsy.
After finishing a thousand times, he once more sat down cross-legged and sent his spiritual sense into the sheath.
In the world of the sheath, there were ten thousand broken swords calmly floating in the air, not disturbing each other.
These swords no longer possessed the power they had when they had first appeared in the Garden of Zhou, but they were still divine swords whose names had once shaken the continent. Their sword intents were still powerful, and the seemingly empty space had long since been occupied by sword intents.
His spiritual sense passing through the ten thousand sword intents was actually a very dangerous matter, especially since he was not attempting to use his spiritual sense to control the ten thousand swords, but to directly use his spiritual sense to interact with the ten thousand swords.
He wanted to use the sword intents of the ten thousand swords to sharpen his sword heart.
His sword heart was already perfectly fused. If others were to know of this, they would assuredly sigh in shock and praise, because this was an extremely difficult matter. Taking another step forward was the true Enlightened Sword Heart. However, the Enlightened Sword Heart required too much talent in the path of the sword. Across the entire continent, there were only a few people who could achieve the true Enlightened Sword Heart.
The problem was that in this period of time, Chen Changsheng had only met two people who had achieved the Enlightened Sword Heart: Su Li and Lady Chujian, so he naturally could not be satisfied.
Those sword intents were the whetstones, and his spiritual sense was the edge of the sword. The sword intents, whether sharp or tyrannical, constantly touched, grinded, and cut against his spiritual sense.
This process was very painful. He closed his eyes and did not sweat, but his face gradually paled.
The edge of a treasured sword was sharpened, and the fragrance of a plum blossom came from the bitter cold. Without experiencing the wind and rain, how could one see the rainbow?
He thought of the famous sayings of his predecessors and endured the unimaginable pain, all the way until that strand of spiritual sense that had entered the sheath grew thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker, as if it could dissipate at any moment …
Suddenly, he sensed that behind the ten thousand sword intents, there was something that was attracting his spiritual sense.
The moment he sensed that attractive force, his originally weak and gradually dissipating spiritual sense suddenly became much more stable, once more powerful.
His spiritual sense passed through the ten thousand sword intents and slowly drifted into the distance.
After some time, the light boat finally passed through the ten thousand mountains, and his spiritual sense arrived at the other shore of the ocean of sword intents.
The shore of the ocean of sword intents turned out to be a real shore. On the shore was a black stone monolith, but it was not a real monolith, only a phantom.
The black monolith was rather familiar, just like the darkness of the night.
The moment he saw the black monolith, Chen Chang Sheng naturally had a feeling that this monolith's shadow should be a door that led to another place.
What world was on the other side of the black monolith? What was behind the darkness of the night? Suddenly, he remembered. The reason why this black monolith was familiar was not because he could see it every night, but because this black monolith was exactly the same as the Heavenly Tome Monolith that he had obtained from Wang Zhice in the Pavilion of Ascending Mist. It was also the same as the Heavenly Tome Monoliths around the Mausoleum of Zhou.
Could it be that this black monolith led to the Garden of Zhou? Could it be that the Garden of Zhou had still not been destroyed?
… …
… …
(There will be a second chapter, but it will be much later.)
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