At this moment, Zhexiu was standing by the window, pretending to be lonely, thinking of a certain person. When he suddenly heard these words, he stared blankly for a moment, then very naturally thought of many things — back in the Grand Examination, in that bitter battle in the Tower of Purging Dust, when his hand had attacked his opponent's abdomen, his opponent's face had revealed an expression of shame and anger. In addition, after living under the same roof in the Mausoleum of Books, he had vaguely guessed at something, but he did not dare to believe it. Later on, when he met Xiang Ji in the Garden of Zhou, he carried her on his back and ran towards the sunset.
As he thought about this, his lips curled up into a warm smile.
Tang Thirty Six didn't expect to see this kind of emotion on the face of the wolf tribe youngster who was famous for being cruel and ruthless. He couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. He held his forehead and thought, "What's wrong with this world? Xu You Rong and Chen Chang Sheng actually started dating and Zhexiu was actually thinking about love!"
…
…
"Tang Tang looks like someone."
"Senior Su Li."
Chen Chang Sheng very naturally gave an accurate answer. He looked at Xu You Rong and smiled.
At this time, they had already left the Orthodox Academy and arrived at the Hundred Flowers Lane outside the academy. Snow was falling from the sky and they held up the Yellow Paper Umbrella, making it very difficult for others to see them.
Actually, from the moment they met yesterday on Fortune Peace Road, Chen Chang Sheng had wanted to ask, why was the Yellow Paper Umbrella in her hands, it had to be known that this umbrella was his. However, no matter how ignorant he was, he knew that he couldn't ask such a question when he had already made a mistake, so he could only endure and not say it.
Holding umbrellas, they walked through the wind and snow along the eastern shore of the Luo River. Passing through Eight Willows Lane, they arrived at the Bridge of Helplessness, and they very naturally recalled yesterday's battle.
"If I had known that my opponent was you at that time, perhaps the result would have been different?"
Standing in the middle of the snow bridge, Chen Chang Sheng looked at the direction she came from yesterday and asked softly.
Xu Yourong said, "From the very beginning, you never thought of winning."
Chen Chang Sheng was silent for a while and said, "Because of the annulment of the engagement, I always feel like I'm being unfair to you."
Xu Yourong smiled and did not say anything.
"Your cultivation level is higher than mine. It's already hard for me to win. Also … I don't like being ordered around."
Chen Chang Sheng turned around and looked at the distant Li Palace that was covered in snow.
On that spring day almost two years ago, when he left the Divine General of the East's estate in humiliation, he had a similar feeling on another small bridge.
He cultivated to follow his heart. His fate was not good, so he wanted to grasp it in his own hands.
"No one likes the feeling of fate being arranged." Xu Yourong gazed at the Imperial Palace in the other direction of the snow. "But I really did want to fight you yesterday because I wanted to know what level your sword has reached. Also, I wanted to win against you fair and square. I don't like the feeling of losing."
Last night, in the beef bone shop on Fortune Peace Road, she had said something similar, but today, she said it more seriously, more openly, without any pretense.
The two of them walked down the snowy bridge. When it was snowing, there were not many people on the bridge. Only a stall selling candied haws was surrounded by some people. It seemed a little lively. Most of the people were idlers in the capital who had nothing to do. At this time, they were still discussing the battle from the day before and gossiping.
— For example, engagement, leniency, affection, heartlessness, and even more outrageous teasing.
Those idlers had no idea that the two sides of the battle they were discussing were right next to them.
Xu Yourong slightly lowered her head. Chen Changsheng slightly raised his head. They once again walked across the snowy bridge, but this time, they were no longer opponents. What was that?
The snow gradually grew heavier. Although it could not be considered violent, it gradually blinded the eyes. There were fewer and fewer people on the streets. The snow on the eaves and the edges of the wells grew thicker and thicker. The streets of the capital became a vast expanse of white. The exposed colors of the buildings were like clean lines on white paper, very beautiful.
The snow on the stone pillars of the Li Palace was like a slender stone man wearing a white hat.
The Mausoleum of Books was still lush and green, but the Divine Path was covered in snow, like a frozen waterfall.
No one came to disturb the small courtyard of the Plum Garden Inn. It was very quiet. Seeing the snow that was like a blanket, one could not bear to step on it, so they stood on the veranda and looked at the tree in the center of the courtyard. They talked about the excitement they felt when they came here two years ago to look at the rubbings of the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, and about the bamboo dragonfly.
Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong used an entire day to walk around the capital. They went to many places and talked about many things.
For the majority of the time, it was him, who was not good with words, who did the talking. He introduced her to where this place was, the solitude of the Pavilion of Ascending Mist, the Night Pearls of the Dew Platform. He very earnestly acted as a tour guide, wanting to make her play a little happier.
Xu Yourong quietly listened on the side, a smile at the corner of her lips.
Whether it was the Mausoleum of Books or the Imperial Palace, they were places she had grown tired of playing in since she was a child. The stone pillars of the Li Palace had even been her slide when she was a child.
She did not need a youth who had grown up in Xining Village to explain these things to her.
Chen Changsheng had originally known about these things, but he had forgotten.
She knew that he had definitely forgotten, but she did not want to remind him.
At dusk, they finally returned to Hundred Flowers Lane. Outside the walls of the rear courtyard of the Orthodox Academy, Chen Changsheng wanted to give the Yellow Paper Umbrella to her, but she shook her head.
"Martial Uncle Su wanted me to give this umbrella to you."
Chen Changsheng was very happy. He thought to himself, I and Senior Su Li have argued over this matter for tens of thousands of li. Now it seems that Senior has finally recognized his mistake.
He sent his spiritual sense into the handle of the umbrella and suddenly realized a problem. In shock, he asked, "Where's the sword in the umbrella?"
The foundation of the Yellow Paper Umbrella was the only sword in the past one thousand years that had broken out of the Sword Pool and returned to the world of mortals, the Heaven Shrouding Sword whose name had shaken the continent.
Back then on the snowy plains of the land of demons, Su Li had pulled out that sword from the umbrella. With one strike, he had beheaded a Demon General, and with another, he had cut open a path of life. How mighty had he been?
But now, that Heaven Shrouding Sword was clearly no longer in the umbrella.
"Martial Uncle said that he could give you the umbrella, but he could not give you the sword that left Mount Li. He gave the Heaven Shrouding Sword …"
Xu Yourong paused, then continued, "He gave it to Senior."
She did not explicitly say that it was given to that senior in the Mount Li Sword Sect, but Chen Changsheng knew that she was definitely speaking of Qiushan Jun.
This was the first time that he had mentioned Qiushan Jun's name to her.
Chen Changsheng felt rather uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because she had said the word 'senior' so naturally, or perhaps it was because in the past few years, that name had always been placed together with her name, or perhaps it was because he and she had cultivated and grown together. In reality, she truly was more familiar with him than he was with her.
"What's wrong?" Xu Yourong tilted her head and asked.
Chen Changsheng lowered his head to look at the umbrella in his hand, as if he was studying something. He casually replied, "It's nothing."
The two seemed rather ignorant, but in reality, they understood everything.
"Martial Uncle Su also wanted me to bring you two letters."
Xu Yourong took out two letters from her bosom and handed them over to him.
For some reason, as her fingers gripped the letters, her brow slightly creased.
The moment Chen Changsheng took the letters, he felt like his fingertips were being pricked by needles, stabbing into his heart. He hurriedly mobilized his spiritual sense, and only then was he able to forcefully suppress the urge to throw the letters away.
These two letters concealed a terrifying sword intent!
He glanced at Xu Yourong with some shock.
Xu Yourong nodded her head, then pointed at the two letters in his hand and said, "Martial Uncle Su said that you can open the letter in the yellow envelope at any time. As for the letter in the black envelope, you have to take good care of it. In the future, if you encounter any problems that you can't resolve, then open it."
In the Garden of Zhou, the sword intent of the Heaven Shrouding Sword had reunited with the body of the sword. Outside the Garden of Zhou, Su Li had reunited with the sword. That grandmaster of the path of the sword, because of this opportunity, had once again advanced. His cultivation in the path of the sword had reached an unknown level.
He no longer needed the Heaven Shrouding Sword. He wanted to travel far away with the Holy Maiden, so he left the Heaven Shrouding Sword with Qiushan Jun and returned the Yellow Paper Umbrella to Chen Changsheng.
This seemed very fair, but it was not. Although the Yellow Paper Umbrella was an extremely powerful defensive magical artifact, how could it compare to the famed Heaven Shrouding Sword?
However, Chen Changsheng had no complaints. After all, the Heaven Shrouding Sword was the sword of the Mount Li Sect Master. It was only right and proper that it remain in Mount Li.
He carefully put away the two letters. As he thought about that senior that had already gone far away, he suddenly felt somewhat sorrowful and longing.
From the snowy plains of the demon realm to the south, he and Su Li had experienced many things together. Although there was an incomparably vast difference in cultivation and seniority, they could still be considered friends despite the difference in age.
"Just where did he and the Holy Maiden go?"
"Very far away."
"The Great Western Continent?"
"A place even further than the Great Western Continent."
This answer was somewhat unexpected, but it was also reasonable.
To the ordinary people of the continent, the Great Western Continent, which was isolated beyond the sea, was already the most distant place. However, Su Li had travelled the world for several hundred years, so he had presumably gone there long ago.
Now, for the sake of humanity's future, he had very confidently and easily put down all his grudges and feelings. Bringing the Holy Maiden with him, he floated far away. Of course, he had to go to an even further place.
But was there a place even further than the Great Western Continent?
Chen Changsheng recalled a few very obscure records he had seen in the Daoist Canon. He looked at Xu Yourong and asked in shock, "Could it be that there really are other continents?"
The records of other continents in the Daoist Canon were not the personal experiences of travelers. They were written very vaguely, more like conjectures.
Being well-read in the Daoist Canon did not mean that one knew everything in the world, because there were many things that were inconvenient or even impossible to record with words.
Xu Yourong was the current Holy Maiden. Ever since she was a child, she had lived and studied in places like the Li Palace, the Imperial Palace, and South Stream Temple, so she naturally knew a little more.
"It should be the Sacred Light Continent." She said to Chen Changsheng, "I heard Teacher say that on the other side of the sea of stars, on the incomparably distant shore, there is a continent. That world is bathed in light and lives very similar to ours live there. However, the sea of stars is vast and impassable. If one does not pass through the sea of stars, there is also an extremely firm spatial barrier between the two continents. Only supreme experts who have stepped into the Divine Domain have a chance of breaking through this barrier and entering the other world."
Shocked, Chen Changsheng asked, "Are you sure?"
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The next chapter was at eight in the evening.
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