Sword intents crisscrossed and sword glows flowed like water. This was the hall that the Orthodoxy resided in, but it was now under the control of Holy Maiden Peak.
Several hundred people stood outside the building, the people of the Orthodoxy at the very front. Upon hearing the words of the South Stream Temple disciple, their complexions became abnormally unsightly as they asked, "Just what does the Holy Maiden want to do?"
This was also the question that everyone wanted to ask.
The crowd had still not completely recovered from their shock. First, why had Chen Changsheng suddenly fallen unconscious? Had he failed to break through and caused the star radiance to flow in reverse? But at the time, everyone had clearly seen that he had clearly succeeded in condensing his Star Domain. In the records of the past, no cultivator had ever encountered this sort of problem.
The second was Saintess Xu You Rong's performance. Just when everyone couldn't react in time and could only watch in shock as the Sword of Heaven Dao fell, she unexpectedly appeared on the field and blocked the sword for Chen Chang Sheng, even at the cost of being heavily injured. Why had she been able to predict this sword in advance? Why had she been willing to block this sword for Chen Changsheng?
The story of the engagement had been passed around the continent for a long time. Everyone knew of the grudge between the Divine General's Mansion and Chen Chang Sheng. Everyone thought that she and Chen Chang Sheng were enemies, even being seen as fated rivals. However, seeing her embrace Chen Chang Sheng in her arms, looking at the world as if it was nothing, revealing helplessness and frailty, who dared to believe those rumors?
Zhexiu did not think of these questions. He only wanted to know Chen Changsheng's current situation. Being blocked outside the building by the sword array of the South Stream Temple disciples was something he could not accept. He did not continue charging into the building because Tang Thirty-Six was blocking his way.
There were very few people in the world that knew of the true relationship between Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng, but Tang Thirty-Six was one of them.
Now, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets also knew, or perhaps confirmed that his previous conjecture was correct, because he was currently in the building, looking at Xu Yourong.
Xu Yourong sat by the couch, no longer as fearful and helpless as before. She had already regained her composure.
But her beautiful face was still filled with worry and concern. Her usual bright beauty had become much dimmer.
Her hand lightly grasped Chen Changsheng's hand.
Seeing this, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets mentally sighed.
Chen Changsheng still had not awoken.
Xu Yourong gazed at the Elder of Heavenly Secrets. She did not speak, but her question was clear.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets shook his head and said, "His meridians have already been severed. There is no medicine or stone that can restore them."
Chen Changsheng was the successor of the Pope, the future of the Orthodoxy. Regardless of the relationship between the Elder of Heavenly Secrets and the Pope, it was impossible for them to watch as something happened to Chen Changsheng in Mount Han. The countless medicines and pills stored in the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets had long since been delivered to him. His bed was even piled high with crystals, but they were of no use to his injuries.
Anyone who heard this would probably feel despair, but Xu Yourong's expression was still as calm as ever. She asked, "How many are broken?"
There are a total of 72 meridians and 365 Qi openings in the human body.
As a Saintess who had been cultivating since childhood, she knew better than anyone else the location and direction of the meridians and Qi openings. She also knew the serious consequences of breaking meridians.
She was very worried about Chen Chang Sheng's current situation, but she needed to understand the specific situation in more detail, so that she could give targeted treatment later.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets fell silent for a very long time, then said, "Everything."
"All of them?" Xu Yourong repeated.
Her delicate and slender eyebrows rose up, like swords.
Her bright and limpid eyes narrowed. It was still swords.
She did not believe the Elder of Heavenly Secrets's words. Even if Chen Changsheng failed to break through and star radiance flowed in reverse, according to the records and medical records, even the most severe backlash suffered by those cultivators would not be able to sever all the meridians in their bodies in such a short amount of time.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets said, "His meridians have always had problems. I vaguely knew before, but I didn't think that the problem would be this serious."
Xu Yourong gazed at Chen Changsheng on the bed, at his tightly closed eyes, his pale face, and asked, "Just what sort of problem has occurred with his meridians?"
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, "His innate sun wheel collapsed in his mother's womb, causing his meridians to be blocked and broken. At the same time, the walls of his meridians are much weaker than those of an ordinary person."
Upon hearing these words, Xu Yourong was quiet for a very long time. A hint of pity appeared in her eyes as she gazed at Chen Changsheng.
"Why would a problem occur now?"
"I also didn't expect that the problem would erupt now. Now that I think about it, when he was breaking through, star radiance surged in and burst the walls of his meridians."
"This problem … why didn't he think of a way to resolve it before?"
"This is an illness that cannot be cured."
"There is no illness that cannot be cured," Xu Yourong calmly said as she gazed at the unconscious Chen Changsheng.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked at her and said with a hint of pity, "This is an illness that he has had since he was in his mother's womb. This is his fate."
Was there an illness in the world that could not be cured?
There was, and that was fate.
… …
… …
The stone seal flickered in and out of existence in the snowstorm.
The Demon Lord stood at the highest point of Xuelao City, gazing at the country he ruled. His expression was extremely indifferent, the broken mountains and rivers on his face already vanishing.
A thin and small figure slowly walked out of the snowstorm and then kneeled behind him.
"Rise." The Demon Lord's voice was emotionless.
She stood up, her expression even more indifferent than the Demon Lord's, her voice even colder. "Imperial Father, I want to go to the capital."
As she said this, she thought of those things she had encountered in the Garden of Zhou, those words that Chen Changsheng had said, and subconsciously frowned.
In this way, the somewhat wide space between her eyes seemed to shrink a little.
"Not permitted," the Demon Lord impassively said to his daughter.
Nanke's expression did not change. "Chen Changsheng will return to the capital."
The Demon Lord fell silent at these words.
Just a moment ago, a persimmon on the persimmon tree he had brought back from the stream in Mount Han had ripened. It fell onto the white jade steps and smashed into a puddle of pulp, looking just like a crushed head.
He had sensed it, so he had come into the snowstorm to observe his own country and ponder the matter of longevity.
His Changsheng and the human called Changsheng.
"I'm very curious as to who will eat that fruit in the end."
The Demon Lord continued, "No one can resist that temptation, just like your brother."
A ripe fruit would exude a fragrance, just like the throne of the Demon Lord that represented supreme authority.
Nanke calmly said, "I will kill him."
It was hard to say whether the 'him' here was referring to Chen Changsheng or her brother.
… …
… …
Daoist Ji and Xu Ren entered the capital, but did not enter the capital.
They went to the Mausoleum of Books and found a grass hut in an orchard on the eastern side of the mausoleum.
Perhaps because of the existence of the Mausoleum of Books, no one in the capital noticed the return of this person involved in the bloody case of the Orthodox Academy.
At the end of the Divine Path of the Mausoleum of Books, under the pavilion, the Mausoleum Guardian, the number one Divine General of the continent, Han Qing, also seemed to be asleep.
Summer crept by and autumn was about to arrive.
Yuren went to the abandoned garden outside the garden to pick green peppers. Because his legs were inconvenient, he did not walk very far before getting tired. He stretched out his hand to support himself against a tree trunk to rest.
With just a light support, quite a few fruits fell from the tree and rolled everywhere. One could imagine just how ripe they were.
Yuren's face lit up with joy and he crouched down to pick up the fruits, preparing to let his master have a taste tonight.
However, the moment his hand fell on the fruit, his expression changed.
He also did not understand why, but he felt especially sorrowful.
He suddenly very much missed his junior brother.
… …
… …
The Heavenly Tome Monoliths were the source of all the Orthodoxy's knowledge.
The starry sky was the direction of all the Orthodoxy's spirit.
These were all fate.
There was not a single believer who did not feel reverence towards this.
Holy Maiden Peak was a true disciple of the Orthodoxy's southern faction, so it was naturally no exception.
Xu Yourong had received this sort of education since she was a child, and this sort of thinking had long since seeped into her bones. It was impossible for her to be like Wang Zhice and Chen Changsheng and say that they did not believe in fate.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets had said that there was no cure for Chen Changsheng's illness, that it was fate.
She lowered her head, her eyelashes lightly trembling.
"I want to bring him back to the capital. The Empress and His Holiness the Pope are both there. There will be a way to cure him."
"No one can cure him."
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked at her, his expression grave and stern. "The Empress can defy the heavens and change fate, but can you?"
Xu Yourong was quiet for a while, then said, "Perhaps not, but I want to try."
She believed in and revered fate, even calmly accepting all the fate that was bestowed upon her, whether it was good or bad.
But she could not accept the many tragedies and injustices that fate had inflicted upon Chen Changsheng.
She released Chen Changsheng's hand and lightly placed it on his forehead.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets knew what she wanted to do and warned, "Do not use the Sacred Light technique. That will only worsen his injuries."
Xu Yourong did not respond, nor did she have any intention of moving her hand away.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets's voice became rather cold. "You don't believe me?"
Xu Yourong indifferently replied, "Yes."
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets fell silent, then asked, "Why?"
Xu Yourong raised her head to look at him and calmly replied, "Because you did not attack just now."
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets had just admitted that he had seen the problem with Chen Changsheng's meridians, indicating that he had already made preparations for this matter.
When Guan Bai's Heavenly Dao Sword descended, logically speaking, only he could have changed the final result.
But he did nothing, calmly sitting on the high platform.
Xu Yourong calmly gazed at the Elder of Heavenly Secrets.
In terms of seniority or strength, she was far inferior to the leader of the Storms of the Eight Directions.
But she was the Holy Maiden of the south, representing an extremely powerful faction in the Orthodoxy.
Her calmness had its own majesty, and her question had its own sharpness. "Do you really want him to die?"
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets gazed at the unconscious Chen Changsheng on the bed. After a moment of silence, he said, "I already told him that if he continued to cultivate, problems would definitely occur, but he did not listen, so he will become the Empress's problem. If you let him continue to live, then in the future, who will resolve this problem for the Empress?"
He did not directly answer Xu Yourong's question, but he had already tacitly agreed.
Xu Yourong looked into his eyes and asked, "What does his problem have to do with the Empress?"
"Although I am called Heavenly Secrets, even if I exhaust my mind, I can only pry into one or two of the secrets of the heavens. I know the way, but not the reason."
Saying this, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets held his hands behind his back and walked out of the building.
As the oldest member of the Divine Domain in the current generation of the Demon Lord, he truly was very old, his back somewhat stooped.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets actually enjoyed interacting with young people. His willingness to support the Divine Empress was for the same reason. He was very fond of Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng. He originally wanted to explain to Xu Yourong that a few days ago, he had used the Heavenstone array of Mount Han to imprison the Demon Lord. In the end, the Demon Lord had broken the array and escaped, inflicting heavy injuries on him.
But in the end, he said nothing.
Because it was a fact that he had been heavily injured, and it was also a fact that he wanted Chen Changsheng to die.
As she watched the Elder of Heavenly Secrets leave, Xu Yourong's mind finally relaxed somewhat. Her face that had been as sharp as a sword once more became calm and gentle.
At this moment, the female disciple of South Stream Temple, Ye Xiaolian, arrived outside the hall. Kneeling in front of the door, she said, "Temple Master, there is an urgent matter to report."
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