Chen Changsheng stood in the courtyard, gazing at the two people in the room. He had only met Zhou Tong a few times and was not familiar with him. He did not even recognize the other person, but there were not many people that could sit and drink tea with Zhou Tong in the middle of the night. He could roughly guess at that person's identity, so he had a reason to die.
He had come to kill Zhou Tong, because he was about to die.
Before death, one had to do a few things, a few things that followed one's heart. This could be called one's final madness, and it could also be called a firework before the curtain fell.
He was the successor to the Orthodoxy. Actively or passively, he had many enemies and opponents, but there were truly not many people that he wanted to kill. He had no enemies. There were no demons in the capital. Liang Xiaoxiao had committed suicide, Zhuang Huanyu had committed suicide, so only Zhou Tong was left.
Zhexiu had been imprisoned in Zhou Prison for a very long time and tortured to a state too horrible to look at. When he saw the wounds on Zhexiu's body in the carriage, he had secretly resolved to kill Zhou Tong.
Everyone in the Orthodox Academy knew that Zhexiu had stayed in the capital to do this. Chen Changsheng had decided to do this for him, because Zhou Tong had tortured Zhexiu precisely because of his relationship with the Orthodox Academy. Besides this, there were many other reasons to kill Zhou Tong, but there was no need to mention them. In the end, it was just a wish.
Chen Changsheng just wanted a person like Zhou Tong to die.
In this world, countless people wanted Zhou Tong to die. They had wanted this for many years, but not many people dared to do it.
Chen Changsheng dared.
According to Zhexiu's plan, he had snuck under the carriage and smoothly passed through several inspections. He had relied on his special physique to hide from those sinister and terrifying Cerberuses and had not triggered the array of Zhou Prison. Finally, he had succeeded in arriving at this small courtyard and standing in front of Zhou Tong. But could he kill him?
Zhou Tong's terror did not merely lie in his personality and methods. In the last few years, he had raided the manors of countless princes and dukes, obtained countless techniques and secret manuals, and had long since entered the upper level of Star Condensation. There were even rumors that he had cultivated to the peak of Star Condensation. The Great Crimson Gown's secret mental technique was sinister and terrifying to the extreme! In the years before the Divine Empress had ascended to the throne, the experts dispatched by the Imperial clan and those people with lofty ideals who swore vengeance for the innocents who had died miserable deaths in Zhou Prison had attempted to assassinate him countless times, but he was still alive and well.
The facts of the last few years had long since proved that no one could kill Zhou Tong. No matter how astonishing Chen Changsheng's talent in cultivation was, he was still too young and his cultivation was only at the peak of Ethereal Opening. Moreover, after failing to break through on Mount Han, his injuries had not yet healed, so what gave him the confidence to charge here and kill Zhou Tong?
Cheng Jun looked at the young man in the courtyard and thought about these things.
Chen Chang Sheng was also thinking about these things.
They were all mental activities, silent and unmoving.
As he thought of these things, Chen Changsheng's movements did not stop. He unsheathed the Stainless Sword and reversed its sheath.
Back in Xunyang City, when confronting Zhu Luo, Wang Po had done this, and he had also done this.
The short sword grew longer and sharper. It was like a spear in his hand, ready to face the battlefield.
This showed that he was very cautious and very determined.
He looked at Zhou Tong.
He didn't even glance at the person next to Zhou Tong.
He didn't know that this person was the leader of the redcoated cavalry, Cheng Jun, also a middle level Star Condensation expert.
This was not contempt, this was disregard.
The person he wanted to kill was Zhou Tong. Anyone who blocked his sword had to die, no matter who or how strong.
Cheng Jun sensed that killing intent. He had never imagined that on such a young, even somewhat inexperienced face, he could see such a calm and firm will. And he had never imagined that in this small courtyard of the Department for Purging Officials, there would actually be someone who dared to release such a certain killing intent towards Zhou Tong.
This killing intent was not directed at him, but he was right next to Zhou Tong, even a little closer to Chen Changsheng than Zhou Tong. As a result, his face instantly paled. Not because of fear, but because of wariness, because of the heaviness of his heart, and also because he took a deep breath.
He was originally one of the few middle level Star Condensation experts of the capital. At this moment, his true essence exploded, and as he breathed, the crabapple trees in the courtyard madly swayed despite the lack of wind.
Countless strands of the night wind were sucked into his lungs. His abdomen slightly bulged like a war drum!
A shrill cry, like the cry of an eagle, burst from his lips! This shrill cry instantly tore through the night sky, spreading throughout all of Zhou Prison, perhaps even to every corner of the capital!
Cheng Jun felt that he should not be afraid of Chen Changsheng, even if he was the future Pope. This was because Chen Changsheng was too young. His cultivation level was already inconceivably high among his peers, but it was still far inferior to Cheng Jun's. Moreover, the injuries in his body had probably not healed … but he was very afraid of death.
As the leader of the Great Zhou Dynasty's redcoated cavalry, he had colluded with Zhou Tong in the last few years, carrying out the Empress's decree or falsely using the Empress's decree to kill countless nobles and ministers, scholars and priests, wealthy merchants and celebrities, and innocent commoners. He had seen far too many dead people, so he grew more and more afraid of death.
Moreover, he was a very intelligent person who understood his own position and would never look down on any opponent. Everyone said that Chen Changsheng had failed at Star Condensation in Mount Han, but he was still the future Pope, a true genius. Cheng Jun felt that no matter how much importance he placed on this young man, it was not excessive. Thus, he immediately chose to shriek and move the capital.
With the shriek, Chen Changsheng moved!
Before the sound of his footsteps could even be heard, they were torn apart by the crushed stone tiles beneath his boots, and then pierced through by the flying gravel, leaving behind only a few buzzing sounds.
His body suddenly became illusory. With a howl of wind, he shot up the stone steps like an arrow, the sword in his hand thrusting straight forward.
Swish!
The sound of this sword was extremely pure, without the slightest noise, seeming especially clean.
Because his sword had just thrusted straight forward, without the slightest deviation or variation.
To put it another way, this sword of his had no technique.
Chen Changsheng's swordplay had been inherited from Su Li, but it had its own style. After the stormy battle in Xunyang City, especially the several dozen sword battles in front of the Orthodox Academy last autumn and his battle with Xu Yourong on the Bridge of Helplessness, the entire continent had no choice but to admit that his talent in the path of the sword had already reached a world-shaking level. If not for the fact that he was too young, he would even have the right to be called a grandmaster of the path of the sword.
But tonight, when he came to assassinate Zhou Tong, his first sword was actually so simple, without any sword technique to speak of. It was just that it was incomparably straight, incomparably swift. It was like a straight line had been drawn between the lights of the courtyard and the room, and at the end of this straight line was Zhou Tong.
At this moment, Cheng Jun was still standing in this line. Chen Changsheng's sword was very fast, very sharp, but to a middle level Star Condensation expert like him, it was not difficult to deal with. He could rely on his movement techniques to temporarily dodge and then seize the opportunity to counterattack. Of course, the simplest method was to use his Star Domain to forcefully receive it.
But Cheng Jun chose to dodge without the slightest hesitation.
Because the will of Chen Changsheng's sword was too powerful, its edge too brilliant.
The dim yellow light in the room suddenly dimmed. Cheng Jun's body was like a wisp of black smoke, drifting to the right, avoiding this sword. His face was somewhat pale, his expression somewhat panicked.
This was precisely the scene that Chen Changsheng wanted to see the most.
He had never imagined that this sword could stab this person to death. This sword of his had never been aimed at this person. He did not know this person's name, so he did not mind casually stabbing this person to death. However, this was a sword that was filled with his mind and will. Landing it on this person's body was a complete waste.
His sword had to land on Zhou Tong's body.
Perhaps it was because the sword light was too bright, but the dim light in the room suddenly became much brighter.
Seeing the sword coming at him, Zhou Tong's face also paled, not out of fear or unease, but out of disdain and anger.
He was keenly aware that this seemingly simple sword of Chen Changsheng's was actually not simple at all. Countless transformations were concealed behind it.
Those transformations were assuredly extremely exquisite and complex, containing all of Chen Changsheng's comprehension of the path of the sword. Not even he could see them clearly in advance.
But he was not afraid, not even worried. He remained calm, composed, and confident.
Because the difference in cultivation between him and Chen Changsheng was too great. No matter how inconceivable Chen Changsheng's cultivation in the path of the sword was, it could not make up for this.
He simply would not compete with Chen Changsheng on the path of the sword. He simply would not give Chen Changsheng the chance to display the sword energy concealed in this straight sword and the subsequent sword techniques. He directly chose to use his unfathomable cultivation to crush his opponent into a ghost in a sea of blood.
A clear clang resounded through the room.
It was the sound of Zhou Tong's pale fingers tapping on the teacup.
The porcelain teacup and the fingertips that had dug out who knew how many eyes met, but the sound it produced was so clear and bright.
The tea in the cup began to ripple.
The tea was a tribute from the south, the best Great Crimson Pao.
Tonight, this tea had already been brewed for too long. It was a little excessive, the color of the tea extremely red, just like blood.
When the tea swayed, the sea of blood rippled.
The light in the room suddenly turned red.
A sea of blood appeared in the room. The table, the teapot, and the teacup were all swallowed by the sea of blood. The pungent smell of blood, along with the roiling of the sea of blood, spread in all directions. Even the green leaves of the crabapple tree outside the courtyard had turned red, as if they had been watered by blood for countless years.
In this world of blood, Zhou Tong's pale face seemed especially dazzling and abnormally terrifying.
In the blink of an eye, his spiritual sense had already enveloped the world in a circumference of several hundred zhang, turning the real world into a sea of blood.
This sea of blood constantly soaked into the red official's robe on his body, causing the color of the official's robe to grow deeper and deeper, causing one to feel nauseous upon seeing it.
Within the sea of blood, there seemed to be countless vengeful spirits wailing and cursing for help.
Chen Changsheng's sword was still three feet away from Zhou Tong, but these voices had already entered his ears.
At the same time he heard these cries of pain, a powerful and terrifying Qi, brimming with killing intent and pain, directly invaded his sea of consciousness!
This was Zhou Tong's most terrifying secret mental technique — Great Crimson Pao!
… …
… …
(Everything has already been decided, everything has already been decided. I never fight a battle unprepared.)
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