It was unknown whether or not Zhou Tong had seen that passage of time on Chen Changsheng's body. At this moment, he was looking at the Scroll of Time in his hands.
The Scroll of Time was also known as the Canon of Flowing West. It was the most important and at the same time the most profound and incomprehensible of the Daoist scriptures of the Orthodoxy. It took the meaning of the river flowing west and could not be slowed. It spoke of the wondrous attainments of the Daoist sect related to time. Mei Lisha had not forgotten to look at this Daoist scripture before his death. What did this mean?
Zhou Tong gazed at those cryptic and incomprehensible words in the Canon of Flowing West and silently pondered.
Priest Xin continued to narrate what had happened in that room filled with plum blossoms. "He said that Principal Shang was a very extraordinary person."
Zhou Tong slightly narrowed his eyes, his gaze suddenly becoming cold and sharp. When a person was on the verge of death, their words had to be believed. An extraordinary priest like Mei Lisha had long ago become indifferent to life and death. Why did he look at this Daoist scripture before his death? Why did he suddenly mention that person who had vanished for many years?
Priest Xin paused for a moment, recalling the bishop's final sigh. "He said that he was very curious as to how the life of the next Pope would be recorded in the Daoist scripture."
Zhou Tong's eyebrows rose. There was no wind in the quiet room, but his red official's gown began to rise and fall, like a sea of blood had come to the mortal world.
The exterior depended on the state of mind. This was proof of the mental impact that Priest Xin had relayed to him — because he had faintly grasped a clue from these words and this book.
The next Pope? The entire continent knew that, unless something too extraordinary occurred, the next Pope of the Orthodoxy would assuredly be Chen Changsheng. As the staunchest promoter of this matter, Mei Lisha naturally would not have any other thoughts. So why was he curious about the records of Chen Changsheng's life and found this matter very interesting? Or did he believe that the future history books would have a different view of this matter? Just what was this matter? What was the most important thing in one's life? Meritorious deeds or moral cultivation?
Zhou Tong's official's gown began to flutter more and more intensely. The room was filled with the stench of blood, countless waves rising from the sea of blood, just like his current mood.
Priest Xin's face was deathly pale. He was almost unable to endure this terrifying pressure, but he also did not dare to retreat.
Suddenly, all the pressure vanished without a trace. Zhou Tong's raised eyebrows slowly calmed down, his eyes no longer sharp. His official's robe draped over his body, an unfathomable smile appearing on his face.
"Do you know what is the most important thing in a person's life?"
"The most important thing?" Priest Xin could not understand why the Lord would suddenly ask such a question.
The smile on Zhou Tong's face became more and more sincere, like a blooming flower, but when matched with his sinister Qi, it seemed more and more strange.
"The most important thing in one's life is not one's realm of cultivation, nor is it one's power or authority, but … the date of one's birth and death." He walked to the door and gazed at the two crabapple trees. Listening to the rumbling of wheels coming from the even further alley, he said, "Whether it's the classics of the Orthodoxy or the history books, in order to record a person's life, the first thing that needs to be confirmed, and also the first thing that must be clearly written in the first sentence, is the year and month of your birth, as well as the place. Only by confirming this information can we determine just who that person is."
Priest Xin walked behind him, not knowing how to respond. He could faintly sense that although Zhou Tong appeared very calm, he was actually very nervous in the depths of his heart.
What matter or discovery could make a terrifying figure like Zhou Tong so nervous?
"The crabapple blossoms have already withered, the great prison has its own divine might, but he stands within it, unmoving like a lake."
Zhou Tong's eyes narrowed again, but this time they were not as sharp as swords. Instead, they were filled with confusion and unease that even he himself did not notice.
Priest Xin also wanted to know if the Lord had achieved his most important goal by arranging such a large array, other than clearly seeing the intentions of certain important figures. Zhou Tong wanted to see what kind of person Chen Changsheng was, or rather, he wanted to see … what kind of person Chen Changsheng was. It was just that it was usually said to be unmoving like a mountain, so why did he use the words' unmoving like a lake 'to evaluate Chen Changsheng?
"He's very similar to a person." Zhou Tong's face suddenly revealed a hint of fear. "He's very similar to the Chen Xuanba in the secret records of the palace."
Priest Xin did not understand. In the history books and folklore, Chen Xuanba was the strongest expert of the Chen Imperial clan in the past thousand years, on par with Emperor Taizong. He had always been famous for being violent and crude, so how was he similar to Chen Changsheng? And why did he say it was the Chen Xuanba in the secret records of the palace? The Lord naturally had the opportunity to come into contact with those secret records of the palace. Perhaps the Chen Xuanba recorded in those records was different from the Chen Xuanba in the rumors?
"Our mighty Emperor Taizong changed all the history books and the Daoist Canons that could be changed, so Chen Xuanba naturally became a crude martial artist who did not understand the bigger picture, who did not understand the bigger picture." Zhou Tong said with a mocking tone, "Who could have imagined that the real Chen Xuanba was actually a very quiet person."
Priest Xin felt that these two unrecognized evaluations were somewhat familiar, and then he remembered. These were the evaluations that the Lord had made of Chen Changsheng not too long ago.
Zhou Tong fell silent for a while, then said, "Chen Changsheng is also a very quiet person."
The silence here represented many meanings. For example, when there was no need to speak, he did not speak. He was clumsy in speech but quick in action. He was calm in his heart. He was calm in the face of a major event.
The small courtyard was quiet for a very long time.
Zhou Tong finally said, "In addition, he is also surnamed Chen."
Priest Xin left, carrying an enormous psychological pressure and fear as he left the alley of the Northern Military Department. This psychological pressure had nothing to do with his dual identities, but came from the information that Zhou Tong had faintly revealed. Could Chen Changsheng really be a descendant of the Imperial clan?
He did not dare to think about it, much less think about it too deeply. This was because it was very obvious that even Lord Zhou Tong had become nervous because of this matter.
Zhou Tong truly was very nervous, because he knew much more than Priest Xin. Moreover, with his status, he had to think about these matters, and he had to think about them clearly.
He stood on the stone steps of the small courtyard, gazing at the two crabapple trees whose flowers were about to wither. He silently thought for a very long time, paying no attention to the clamor outside the courtyard.
Before Mei Lisha died, he had said that the traitor Shang was a very extraordinary person.
Before Mei Lisha died, he had read the Canon of Flowing West, and watched time flow like water.
Yes, the traitor Shang could help the Empress change her fate, but what did stopping an infant from growing for four years count for?
Perhaps Chen Changsheng was just a youth who had matured? But to be so obscure and dull, so old, could he really be a sixteen-year-old youth?
The age of the disciple that the traitor Shang had taken away from Xining Village did match, and it was said that he was crippled and mute, which was more in line with the rumors.
But that was too conspicuous, too clear, and thus too untrustworthy.
Or perhaps that disciple was a method to deceive the Heavenly Dao?
Had the true person's lifespan long since been altered by the traitor Shang using the Canon of Flowing West?
Zhou Tong felt his body grow colder and colder.
He knew that the chief eunuch most trusted by the Empress had been investigating that old case in the palace for the last several months.
The Empress not having him investigate did not mean that she no longer trusted him, only that the Empress did not want anyone to know of this matter.
Crown Prince Zhaoming really might still be alive.
If the Empress really had defied the heavens and changed her fate, and if it was just as the rumors said, she had paid an unimaginably bitter price for the sake of doing so …
She was doomed to die without descendants, her bloodline completely gone. Only then could she truly become a person cut off from the world.
If Crown Prince Zhaoming was still alive, that meant that the Empress's change of fate had not truly ended!
At the very least, it meant that the Empress's change of fate still had a weakness!
If all of this was true.
Then did it mean that Crown Prince Zhaoming's existence had to be wiped out before everything could return to peace?
Zhou Tong felt the temperature of the small courtyard lower and lower. It was clearly the beginning of summer, but it seemed like it was about to enter a harsh winter.
Even he, the most cold-blooded and terrifying in the eyes of the world, couldn't help but feel that this was too cruel when he thought of those stories from back then and what might happen now.
But why had those people sent Chen Changsheng to the capital? Did they think they could hide it from the Empress forever? Could they hide it from me?
Zhou Tong's complexion turned extremely unsightly. He realized that there were still many things that could not be clearly explained in this riddle.
… …
… …
The Divine Empress stood on the Dew Platform, gazing at the sky.
In the early morning, the sky was azure. Later on, a fight had occurred at the gate of the Orthodox Academy and the carriage had gone to the Department for Purging Officials. A cloud had drifted over from some place and the sky had turned gray and hazy. The gloomy sky seemed to cover all the truth, but how could it cover her eyes?
The vast majority of people in the world were unable to see the stars in the daytime, but she could. It was just that she had never liked looking at them in the daytime, because it would make her think of Emperor Xian, think of Taizong, think of many people surnamed Chen. Now that she was looking at the sky, it was precisely because of a … youth surnamed Chen.
She knew that Zhou Tong had guessed at something, investigated something, and began to grow suspicious. This was why the capital was bustling with activity today.
She did not care about this, much less get angry, because there were many things that she was not certain of.
The stars in the daytime were hidden behind the radiance of the sun, but compared to the stars in the night sky, their positions had not changed in the slightest.
She quietly looked at the Fated Star that belonged to her, the brightest star in the sky. She quietly thought about how, hundreds of years ago, she had used an unimaginable power to change the position of that star. At the same time, she had changed the brightness of that star. Naturally, the countless stars around that star had changed as well.
The change in the fate of a single person would ultimately affect countless people, even the fate of the entire world.
With two flaps of a butterfly's wings, the Great Western Continent would give birth to a storm, let alone when she proudly stood in the clouds.
But when all these fates were gathered together, just what sort of power was it that determined them? Was it the Heavenly Dao?
If Zhaoming really was still alive, what sort of retribution would she face from the Heavenly Dao?
If Zhaoming had already died, what sort of retribution would she face from the Heavenly Dao?
Several hundred years ago, when she made a sacrifice to the starry sky, she had furiously and unyieldingly rebuked the Heavenly Dao Academy. At the time, she was angry, despairing, and heartbroken. She had no love or hate for this world, so she was so powerful that not even the Heavenly Dao dared to look her in the eye.
Yet she had not imagined that Zhaoming would actually be born.
From that moment, she knew that she would have to directly confront the Heavenly Dao, but before she had the time to do anything, the Heavenly Dao had silently retreated into the darkness.
Until last year, when a star radiance descended upon the Orthodox Academy and someone lit up a Fated Star.
The Heavenly Dao seemed to have come to find her.
The Fated Star really might be the bane of one's fate.
… …
… …
(Solving question.)
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