That crane cry resounded through the wind and snow, spreading to both shores of the Luo River.
The crowd began to stand up, their voices rising from every direction. Some people stood on tiptoe, wanting to get a clearer view of what was happening on the distant bridge, while others simply climbed onto the branches of the scholar trees by the river. However, the trees were already rather brittle in the winter, so how could they bear the weight of so many people? With a crack, ten-some scholar trees snapped and at least several dozen commoners fell into the cold river. Fortunately, there were many priests of the Li Palace and the Zhou Army standing guard today, and there were also boats waiting downstream. It didn't take long for those commoners to be rescued from the river. Their lives were not in danger, but after being struck by the bone-chilling cold of the river, a bout of illness was unavoidable.
The match on the Bridge of Helplessness had not yet begun, and no one had even seen Xu Yourong's figure, but the scene was already in chaos. One could imagine just how much anticipation the crowd had for this match.
The large ship was somewhat closer to the Bridge of Helplessness, so the important figures on the ship had already seen the figure beneath the bridge. There was a slight disturbance, and then they quieted down.
At this moment, Tang Thirty-Six and Zhexiu had somehow boarded the ship. After meeting up with Su Moyu, they began to search for a suitable place to watch the match. The captain of the ship was a powerful figure and an elder. No matter how arrogant he was, it was not appropriate for him to cause trouble at a time like this. After looking around, his face suddenly lit up and he brought the other two to Mo Yu's side. Mo Yu glanced at him, but said nothing.
Tang Thirty-Six gazed at the distant Bridge of Helplessness and asked, "Are they really going to fight just like this?"
Mo Yu looked at the youth on the bridge and the girl below. She said nothing, her emotions rather complex.
This match was a contest between the leaders of the younger generation of the Orthodoxy's northern and southern factions, and also a contest between the Orthodoxy's new and conservative factions. More importantly, this match represented a confrontation between the wills of the Divine Empress and the Pope.
On the bridge, Chen Changsheng watched the flowing water, watched the snow fall into the water and then disappear. The tension and anxiety in his heart were like those snowflakes, gradually vanishing without a trace.
He sensed something and turned to look at the snowstorm.
This was a simple movement, not heavy, but very slow, because this turn had already taken many years.
Through the snowstorm, he saw the girl beneath the bridge.
This was the first time he saw Xu Yourong, his former fiancée, the owner of those letters and the bamboo dragonfly.
Just as he had thought before on the bridge, his life had changed in a way because of this girl.
Too many things had happened because of her, but this was the first time they had met.
Before meeting her, he had already heard far too many things about her and praises for her, but he would still wonder just what she looked like. Did she have long, black, and beautiful hair, was she really that beautiful … right now, he could not see her face, could not see her black hair, but he discovered that the person standing under the bridge in the snow was exactly the same as he had imagined.
She wore a white dress and didn't hold an umbrella. Instead, she wore a curtained hat with a gauze hanging down from the brim of the hat, covering her face.
He could only vaguely see some of it. It was not clear, but it should be very beautiful.
Invisible, but also very beautiful, because it was a kind of indescribable beauty.
Yes, even if her face was covered by a veil, just by standing there quietly, she made people feel that she was indescribably beautiful.
She stood in the snowstorm as if she could disappear with the wind and snow at any time.
She didn't belong to this world. She should be alone on a cliff without any trace.
Seeing this girl in the snowstorm, Chen Chang Sheng finally understood why Xu Shi Ji and Tang Thirty Six thought that he would change his mind when he saw her, why Tang Thirty Six said that many people would lose their lives after seeing her, and why she made people speechless.
… …
… …
The veil on Xu Yourong's face was fluttering in the snowstorm. She was nodding her head in greeting.
Chen Chang Sheng nodded his head as a return greeting. He thought he should say something at this time, but the next moment, he realized that he had been thinking too much.
The girl in the snowstorm obviously didn't want to say anything. She just stood there quietly.
Both sides of the Luo River were silent.
Only the sound of the river flowing around the ship could be heard.
Even the sound of snow falling could be heard.
Everyone, like Chen Chang Sheng, felt that he should say something at this time. They wanted to hear what he and Xu Yourong would say before the battle.
To the important figures of the Imperial Court and the Li Palace, this battle on the Bridge of Helplessness might mean many things. The common people of the capital were also well aware of this, but they didn't care too much — who would inherit the Divine Empress's authority, who would be the next Pope, really didn't have much to do with the lives of ordinary people. After the coup of the Hundred Herb Garden and the bloody incident of the Orthodox Academy, the capital was still the same capital.
The people were more concerned about the grudges between the two sides of this battle.
Chen Chang Sheng and Xu Yourong had an engagement, or perhaps it was as the rumors said, the engagement had been forcefully annulled by the Pope, but none of this could change their relationship.
They were originally engaged, should have been husband and wife.
This made people sigh with sorrow. Last autumn, because of this engagement, the people of the capital had besieged the Orthodox Academy and cursed Chen Chang Sheng like a dog. They had even invented a special proverb, but after just one year, the people of the capital had changed their attitude. They hoped to see this marriage succeed. Because in their view, Chen Chang Sheng was already completely worthy of Xu Yourong, and he was also a Zhou person — Xu Yourong might as well marry him than marry Qiu Shan Jun.
What the people on both sides of the Luo River were thinking, what they were waiting for, Chen Chang Sheng and Xu Yourong didn't know, and probably didn't care.
They only calmly stared at each other through the wind and snow, not speaking.
For a very long time, they didn't speak.
Until the end, he and she didn't speak.
The silence of the Bridge of Helplessness, in the end, could not be broken. It was only awakened by a movement.
Xu Yourong extended her hand and gripped her sword.
The sword she used was obviously not a normal sword, but a famous sword.
The temple sword of Holy Maiden Peak, after several hundred years, had finally returned to the hands of the current Holy Maiden.
Her hand, which gripped the hilt, was very white, somewhat whiter than snow.
Chen Chang Sheng did not notice this. He only looked into her eyes, yet he discovered that he could not meet her gaze no matter what.
The gauze draped over the curtained hat seemed rather strange.
Xu Yourong unsheathed the temple sword from its sheath.
A sword cry rose from the Bridge of Helplessness, drifting up and down the Luo River.
Ripples began to appear on the calm surface of the water, and then the waves became great waves, incessantly slapping against the bow of the ship and the banks of the Luo River.
At the same time, countless waves arose in Chen Chang Sheng's sea of consciousness.
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