Time continued to pass. The two officials of the Department for Purging Officials in the carriage grew even paler. Without further delay, they left Hundred Flowers Lane.
The starlight shone on Zhou Prison, on the crabapple tree, and on Zhou Tong's crimson official's gown. It was like hell, like a fairyland, like a sea of blood.
As he listened to his subordinate's report, his face showed no change of expression, just like a dead man.
The Orthodox Academy had the sword array of South Stream Temple inside and the Orthodoxy cavalry outside. The Li Palace seemed to have done nothing, but in reality, they had long since made preparations — Mao Qiuyu had been in that inn in Hundred Flowers Lane the entire time, his sleeves untainted by the wind, but he had a divine artifact on him. There were still eighteen cardinals in the Orthodox Academy, and in the darkness, there were still a few experts that Mei Lisha had left behind.
Zhou Tong had used the lives of ten-some elite assassins to confirm these facts.
With this sort of force, even if the Divine Empress truly mobilized the Imperial Guard, she still might not be able to kill Chen Changsheng unless she personally moved, and it had to be done in the shortest amount of time. Otherwise, the Pope would assuredly appear — he had never expected to be able to kill Chen Changsheng tonight. He had only probed and concluded that it was no good. He had to find another method.
In a certain manor on the outskirts of the capital, a few people were also discussing the same matter.
"This won't do. It's too difficult to break into the Orthodox Academy without drawing attention."
"The clan has spent so much money in these past few years. Has it all been fed to dogs?"
"If it were anything else, it would probably be possible, but this is no small matter."
"You first have to tell me just how many people we have in the Orthodox Academy."
"We truly do have spies in the Orthodox Academy, and we also have spies in the Orthodoxy cavalry. We can even find friends in the Li Palace who are willing to help us, but Xu You Rong's response was simple but extremely effective. As long as the sword array of South Stream Temple exists, we have no way of approaching the house."
"I don't believe that the sword array formed by those girls can stop us."
Seeing the excited expression on his nephew's face, Tianhai Chenwu slightly creased his brow. He raised his right hand to stop the argument in the hall and asked, "Are you surnamed Zhou, Wang, or Su?"
Zhou was Zhou Dufu, Wang was Wang Zhice, and Su was Su Li.
In the past one thousand years, only these three people had charged into Holy Maiden Peak and broken through the sword array of South Stream Temple. Yet even they had spent a very long time and expended a great deal of effort.
Who in the Tianhai clan could compare to these three legendary figures? And who had the confidence to break through South Stream Temple's sword array before the Pope's divine manifestation, enter the house, and kill Chen Changsheng?
Hearing this, the nephew was speechless. His face turned red and he lowered his head.
Tianhai Chenwu glanced at his son who had remained silent all this time, then said indifferently to his clansmen, "The Saintess is wise, and her skill in deduction is unparalleled. How could there be any loopholes?"
…
…
"The Orthodoxy will naturally protect Chen Chang Sheng. The Holy Maiden thought that with her willingness to protect Chen Chang Sheng, the Divine Empress would perhaps be somewhat fearful and would not personally act, so Chen Chang Sheng would be safe. But she forgot one thing, and that is, Chen Chang Sheng is not a dead person."
Zhou Tong expressionlessly looked at his subordinates and said, "Since he's not a dead person, he assuredly has his own thoughts. If he himself wants to leave the Orthodox Academy, who can stop him?"
The subordinates did not understand and asked, "Why did he come out?"
Zhou Tong stood in front of the courtyard and looked at the crabapple tree, not saying anything.
He had seen the message between the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets and the Imperial Palace.
In the message, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets had said that Chen Chang Sheng was about to die.
He knew that people like Chen Chang Sheng would definitely not die quietly like this.
… …
… …
The wine cup fell on the hard pear wood table, giving off a dull and somewhat clear sound. Tianhai Shengxue, who had just returned to the capital from Snowhold Pass, raised his head and jeered at his clansmen in the hall. Finally, his gaze fell on his father and he said, "We can only wait for him to walk out of the Orthodox Academy himself."
Tianhai Chenwu's expression softened, somewhat gratified. But in the next moment, the gratification vanished with the wind. His expression became solemn once more and his voice became cold.
"He will come out. As long as he takes one step out of the Orthodox Academy, kill him."
… …
… …
The night was just as peaceful as before, as peaceful as ever. It was like those fallen figures were just an illusion, like there had not been many terrifying assassins that had come and then been killed one by one.
Zhexiu calmly gazed at the lakeshore, confirming that the assassins were all dead. However, his mood did not relax. He was still rather worried. He slid down from the banyan tree and walked towards the house.
Countless sword intents remained hidden, secretly following the laws of the world and interweaving in the space around the house. If someone were to intrude, they would assuredly activate countless terrifying sword glows.
Zhexiu turned a blind eye to it and walked over.
Those sword intents were still hidden in the darkness, unactivated as they slashed at his body. The disciples of South Stream Temple were well aware of the relationship between him and Chen Chang Sheng. The Holy Maiden had been invited into the Imperial Palace, so they were truly incapable of making a decision in such a short amount of time.
There was no such thing as a truly flawless plan in the world. Even though Xu Yourong was extremely skilled in divination and her Fated Star Plate had contracted the starry sky, there were still some things that she could not calculate, like the human heart.
Just like this, Zhexiu walked past the sword array of South Stream Temple and entered the house.
And then, he saw Tang Thirty-Six.
Tang Thirty-Six was very worried about Chen Chang Sheng, so it was only natural that he would appear here. It was obvious that all the arrangements Xu Yourong had left behind were of no use against him.
"What is he doing? Zhexiu asked Tang Thirty-Six.
Only half a day had passed, but Tang Thirty-Six was already very tired.
The fact that Chen Chang Sheng was about to die had placed an enormous psychological pressure on everyone. As Chen Chang Sheng's best friend, Zhexiu's mood had been greatly affected.
Tang Thirty-Six did not reply. He gazed at the tightly shut door, his expression somewhat gloomy.
Zhexiu said no more. He walked up and pushed open the door.
There was no one in the room.
Seeing the empty bed and the unoccupied desk, his and Tang Thirty-Six's complexions instantly changed.
After a while, Su Moyu, who had received the message, also arrived.
"What do we do?"
Su Moyu had a very worried expression. "We have to quickly report this to the Li Palace."
After a moment of silence, Zhexiu replied, "Don't."
"There is a type of Colossal Beast that, when it knows that it is about to die, will walk to a very distant place and calmly wait for its final moment to arrive. It is not willing to be seen by anyone, perhaps because it feels that only by doing this can it preserve its final dignity."
Tang Thirty-Six said, "Chen Chang Sheng probably thinks this way."
Zhexiu said, "Before a cat dies, it will also do this."
The bedding on the bed was neatly folded, like a piece of tofu. The desk and bookshelves were spotless, as if they had just been bought today. When Chen Chang Sheng had left, it seemed like he had not brought anything with him, including those old books on the bookshelves and that rotten bamboo dragonfly. It was just that Xuanyuan Po was not present at this time, or else he might have discovered that the Orthodox Academy's kitchen was missing a cleaver for chopping bones.
In addition, when Ye Xiaolian entered the library to rest, she discovered that a small box had appeared by her bedding. Opening the box, she saw a letter, signed by Chen Chang Sheng. He said that it was for Xu You Rong.
An hour before these events, in the middle of the night, Chen Chang Sheng had jumped out of the window of the library. Passing through the dense forest, he arrived at the kitchen on the other side of the lake. Taking out a cleaver, he opened the Yellow Paper Umbrella, climbed over the newly built wall, and left the Orthodox Academy.
The female disciples of South Stream Temple discovered that the target they had been protecting had disappeared. Not too long after, this news reached the manor on the outskirts of the city and the courtyard in the alley of the Northern Military Department.
The crabapple tree in early autumn had naturally not bloomed, nor had it had time to shed its leaves. Its verdant leaves were like a carpet, gently brushing by the night wind. Starlight fell on the crimson official's gown and then reflected off the crabapple tree. The green leaves that rose and fell were plated with a scarlet luster, as if they had become a sea of blood.
"I do not like any variable that escapes my control. I hope that you can eliminate this variable as soon as possible. In other words, you only have one night to find him."
Zhou Tong stood on the steps, gazing at the dense mass of kneeling officials in the courtyard. He expressionlessly said, "And then, I don't care what method you use, you must kill him."
The officials in the courtyard silently dispersed like a tide, leaving behind only the solitary crabapple tree and two officials dressed in crimson official's gowns.
There were very few officials that had the right to stand side by side with Zhou Tong, but Cheng Jun was one of them. As a powerful minister similarly deeply trusted by the Divine Empress, he was only ranked below Zhou Tong in the Eight Tigers of the common people.
"Intruding into the Orthodox Academy at night to assassinate him is one thing, but he has left the Orthodox Academy. If we still want to kill him in the capital, this is an open murder … the Pope will not let us go."
Cheng Jun was an official of the Grand Court of Revision, but he did not have the slightest of the solemnity bestowed upon him by the laws of the Zhou Dynasty. His triangular eyebrows hung down, his nose sunken, and his lips thin. Just from his appearance, one would find him extremely repulsive.
The officials that the Divine Empress had used at the very beginning were all rejected by the bureaucracy, once frustrated people. This was because at the very beginning, there was not a single official that truly possessed both ability and integrity that was willing to pledge loyalty to her.
"Besides the Empress, who in the world was willing to let go of people like us?"
A faint smile hung on Zhou Tong's face. Under the illumination of the starlight, his face seemed somewhat pale, as if he was not a living person. His smile also seemed strange and terrifying.
… …
… …
The news that Chen Changsheng had left the Orthodox Academy was sent to that manor. The Tianhai clan's meeting was hastily concluded and the people quickly dispersed. The will of the clan was subsequently spread throughout the capital. From the Imperial Guard to the capital government, countless people entered the darkness in an attempt to find Chen Changsheng and then kill him.
Tianhai Chenwu walked under the autumn tree and gazed at that bright ball of light in the distance. He remained silent for a very long time — that was the Dew Platform, the Empress's favorite place to stay.
Gazing at his father's back, Tianhai Shengxue also remained silent. He felt that something was wrong today. Killing Chen Changsheng was naturally not an easy task, but it was not right to have the entire Tianhai clan erupt into such a frenzy. This was because this was too great of a force, because this was not necessarily enough to find Chen Changsheng. On the contrary, it was easier to alert the people on the other side, even somewhat like a notification. Why?
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