Who was Chen Changsheng?
He was Jiang Liu'er that Daoist Ji had picked up from the stream.
He was the young Daoist from Xining who was engaged to the Heavenly Phoenix Xu Yourong.
He was the successor to the Orthodoxy, the successor to the Pope.
He was well-versed in the Daoist Canon, had outstanding talent, and was a genius of the sword.
But just who was he?
He looked into the eyes of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets and very seriously asked, "Am I Crown Prince Zhaoming?"
This was one of the most sensational and most secretive rumors in the capital in the past year.
No one knew the answer.
Everyone said that the Elder of Heavenly Secrets was omniscient, so did he know?
This question was simple and direct, abnormally stern, just like Su Li's sword or Wang Po's blade.
Even though the Elder of Heavenly Secrets had mentally prepared himself for this, he still narrowed his eyes and fell silent for a very long time.
After some time, he finally spoke. "The Empress had me make a special trip to the capital to see you. In truth, she also wanted to ask the same question."
Chen Changsheng thought to himself that this was also the question he wanted to know the most. "The result?"
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, "There was no result, because … your and Crown Prince Zhaoming's ages do not match."
Chen Changsheng did not relax because of this answer, for two reasons.
He had carefully calculated. Although his and Crown Prince Zhaoming's ages did not match, Senior Yu Ren just so happened to match. Moreover, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets's words contained a deeper meaning. Because their ages did not match, there was no result. Did this mean that as long as their ages matched, in every aspect, he should be Crown Prince Zhaoming?
"If you really did match Crown Prince Zhaoming's age, then this matter would instead be wrong."
"Why?"
"Because it was too correct."
Because it was too correct, it was wrong. This sounded rather mysterious, but Chen Changsheng easily understood. If his age matched up with Crown Prince Zhaoming's, then the rumors in the capital could very easily come true. Those storms hidden in the shadows were bound to burst open, perhaps tearing apart the black curtain of the capital, or perhaps blowing him to smithereens.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets's next words startled Chen Changsheng out of his reverie, and his body went somewhat stiff.
"I know that you have a senior brother. His age matches Crown Prince Zhaoming's."
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked into his eyes and said, "There's no need to be nervous. I'm not saying that he's Crown Prince Zhaoming."
Chen Chang Sheng asked, "Why?"
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, "Because he and Crown Prince Zhaoming are completely compatible."
Chen Chang Sheng didn't know what to say.
"I've always admired Dean Shang's myriad of Daoist techniques."
With a calm expression, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets said, "When the false becomes the true, the true becomes the false. Alas, it cannot deceive me."
Chen Chang Sheng didn't ask why he couldn't hide it from him. At this moment, his mind was completely elsewhere.
He recalled a Daoist scripture called the Scripture of Time. Time … was age.
"Could it be that besides age … I can match Crown Prince Zhaoming in every other aspect?"
"Yes, I'm very sure that you're the descendant of the Chen imperial family."
Hearing this, Chen Chang Sheng could no longer remain calm.
In the rumors or rumors that had been circulating in the capital for many years, before saying that he was Crown Prince Zhaoming, they would naturally first mention that he was a member of the Imperial clan.
"Why? Why is everyone so sure that I'm royalty? Is it because my surname is Chen? "
He asked the Elder of Heavenly Secrets, not realizing that his voice was rather high compared to normal.
This sort of agitated state of mind was a very rare occurrence for him.
The garden was shrouded in a thick fog, tightly isolating his conversation with the Elder of Heavenly Secrets. No one would be able to hear it.
"How can I be sure that you're royalty?"
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked at him, the emotions in his eyes rather complex. "Because your body once had a sun wheel."
"Sun wheel?"
Chen Chang Sheng was not unfamiliar with this term, though ever since the Tianhai Divine Empress reigned and all the members of the Imperial clan were sent out of the capital, very few people would mention this term.
When the Chen Imperial clan emerged from Tianliang County and pacified the world, they successively produced peerless experts like Chen Xuanba and Emperor Taizong precisely because the talent of the Chen clan's bloodline had always been different. Their cultivation was different from that of other sects and sects, and the specific differences were naturally the greatest secret of the Imperial clan, but the two words' sun wheel 'had still been passed down.
Chen Chang Sheng thought back to his cultivation process from Xining to the capital, especially his countless times of Meditative Introspection. He shook his head. "No, I didn't discover any sun wheel in my body."
"That's because the sun wheel in your body was destroyed a long time ago. To put it more accurately, it exploded."
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets calmly gazed at him. Perhaps he was mistaken, but Chen Chang Sheng felt that the other's eyes carried a hint of pity.
"How is this possible? If it really is as Sir says, that my body once had a sun wheel and then exploded, why did I not feel anything? "
"That's because when the sun wheel in your body was destroyed, you were still an infant."
"… But even so, why has no one ever discovered the traces of a sun wheel in my body? Why did Sir not discover it when you went to see me in the capital last time? "
Chen Chang Sheng still found it impossible to accept this reasoning, even if the speaker was the Elder of Heavenly Secrets.
"Because at the time, your cultivation level was not high enough. As your cultivation gradually deepened and starlight entered your body, the image of your meridians became even clearer, allowing me to finally confirm it."
"Weren't we talking about the explosion of the sun wheel? Why did you mention meridians? "
"You … did your meridians rupture and you always had problems with the circulation of true essence?"
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked into his eyes and asked.
Chen Chang Sheng was shocked speechless.
Just like blood, the blocked or ruptured meridians were also the greatest secret of his body.
This secret was even more terrifying, because according to his master, the problem with his meridians would cause him to die at the age of twenty.
He had not expected that this secret would be so easily seen through by the Elder of Heavenly Secrets and then spoken of.
But … what did ruptured meridians have to do with him being of the Imperial clan? What did it have to do with the sun wheel?
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets raised his right hand and pointed across the table at a certain place on Chen Chang Sheng's chest.
"When you were an infant, the sun wheel exploded here and then spread out like a spider's web, severing your nine meridians."
"You want to ask what the connection is between the ruptured meridians and the explosion of the sun wheel?"
"Your ruptured meridians are the traces of the explosion of the sun wheel, the most direct evidence."
"Of the countless people in the world, only you have these signs of ruptured meridians."
"So you are of the Chen Imperial clan."
"Of course, you are an extremely unfortunate member of the Imperial clan."
"Logically speaking, the moment the sun wheel exploded, the infant you should have already died."
"But you survived. This in itself is already a kind of miracle."
The garden fell into silence.
The fog became abnormally dense.
The garden that had been as warm as spring suddenly became as cold as the harsh winter.
Chen Chang Sheng said nothing for a very long time.
Only after a very long time did he look at the Elder of Heavenly Secrets and ask, "But … I will still die, right?"
This time, it was the Elder of Heavenly Secrets who was silent.
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