"Zhou Tong is just a dog, a servant."
The Tianhai Divine Empress indifferently said to him, "And you are my son. Even if you are about to die, even if you are about to die by my hand, even if you can only live for one more day, as long as you live, you will be a thousand times, ten thousand times more important to him. If you don't even have this understanding, what right do you have to be my son?"
Chen Changsheng recalled that Prince Chen Liu had said almost the exact same words in the carriage. He did not sigh over this, only felt that these words were rather strange, not conforming to his understanding of the world. Since you want to cold-bloodedly and mercilessly kill me, why do you care if I have the right to be your son?
He didn't know what to say, so he fell silent once more.
The Tianhai Divine Empress extended a hand to caress his face.
Two years ago, this sort of scene had occurred. He was very opposed to it and found it very difficult to get used to it. Now, he felt somewhat disgusted. Who were those doting and tender eyes meant for? And why had this intimate caress appeared? Was this hypocrisy, or was this self-consolation? Or did you just want to use this to soothe your Dao heart, to ensure that after killing your son, your mind would not be affected?
Chen Changsheng felt like a venomous snake was slowly slithering across his face. This feeling of extreme loathing caused his body to uncontrollably tremble.
He could not continue to endure it. He wanted to avoid it, but his body could not move. He wanted to take out the letter Su Li had left behind, but he could not even move his fingers.
"You want to kill me?" the Tianhai Divine Empress looked into his eyes and asked.
For some reason, even though she had sensed Chen Changsheng's intentions, she did not get angry. Instead, a hint of a smile appeared in her eyes that were like the stars.
This was a smile of praise, as if she was very gratified that Chen Changsheng had such rebellious thoughts about his mother.
Chen Changsheng only wanted to leave, but he had no such thoughts. Seeing her eyes, he knew that she had misunderstood something, but he did not understand why she would have this sort of reaction after misunderstanding.
"The cycle of the Heavenly Dao, the principles of the heavens, human relations, they are all fake. Mother and son killing each other, father and son killing each other, have already happened countless times in this world. I also very much want to kill you, so I do not feel that there is anything wrong with you wanting to kill me. On the contrary, if you can disregard those hypocritical and uninteresting morals and principles and want to kill me, only then can you truly be qualified to be my son. "
The Tianhai Divine Empress looked at him and said.
Chen Chang Sheng looked at her and asked seriously, "You ….. really want to kill me?"
The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "I said before, those were all fake. This being the case, why can't I kill you?"
After a moment of silence, Chen Chang Sheng asked, "Then what is the truth?"
The Tianhai Divine Empress gazed at the Imperial Palace, remaining quiet for a very long time.
She was now in the Herb Garden.
The Imperial Palace and the Herb Garden were the places where she had lived for countless years.
Many years ago, she saw a dragon horse that was difficult to tame in the Imperial Palace. Emperor Taizong asked everyone how to make this dragon horse obedient.
She volunteered to go forward, and then … she was banished to the Herb Garden.
For the rest of her life, she would never forget the contempt and loathing in Emperor Taizong's eyes when he looked at her.
In the Hundred Herb Garden, she lived an unimaginably bitter life, and her clansmen were even more miserable. Just when she thought she was going to sink into oblivion, the former Emperor did not forget about her and quietly came to this place. Then, she understood one thing. Emperor Taizong despised and loathed her so much … this meant that there was definitely something on her that made him feel uneasy. What was it? Was it strength, the potential for formidable strength, the rarely seen bloodline of the true Phoenix, an omen faintly revealed by the Heavenly Dao?
In terms of understanding of the Heavenly Dao, there was probably no one in the world who had a deeper understanding than her. But even she would sometimes feel a little exhausted. Yes, not frustration, not confusion, but exhaustion. Because reaching the other shore, entering the world of true freedom, required far too many years.
She turned to Chen Chang Sheng and prepared to say something, but she realized that Chen Chang Sheng's face had paled, and at the same time, an abnormal smear of blood appeared at the corner of his eyes — his injuries had finally erupted. His blood, which contained his soul, Sacred Light, or the energy of life, had broken through his meridians that were already riddled with holes, constantly seeping through and flowing through his internal organs. The Sacred Light on the surface of his body was no longer able to completely conceal this smell. In the dark forest of early autumn, the cries of countless insects suddenly rang out.
The Tianhai Divine Empress calmly gazed at him, seeming particularly callous.
"Such a dense Qi of life. The smell is truly not bad. I truly did not make a mistake."
This was the conclusion she had reached when she had extracted a strand of Qi from Chen Chang Sheng's body.
"So those remnant races really did go to the Sacred Light Continent. No wonder even with Emperor Taizong's abilities, he still could not find them after two hundred years."
Chen Chang Sheng felt particularly uncomfortable at this moment, as if tens of thousands of small knives were scraping at his bones. But when he heard these words, his attention was still somewhat diverted.
He knew who she was speaking of.
The remnant races referred to a portion of the Chen Imperial clan that had fled the capital after the coup of the Hundred Herb Garden. This portion of the Chen Imperial clan was either the Crown Prince's family or members of the Imperial clan close to the Crown Prince. This naturally included the family of Chen Xuanba. According to the records in the Daoist Canon, this portion of the Chen Imperial clan had no less than a thousand people, and they were all extremely talented and talented.
The Elder of Heavenly Secrets had said that his body contained countless strands of Sacred Light, which was assuredly related to the Sacred Light Continent. His senior brother had said that he had been picked up by a stream, and that stream had flowed out of the Cloud Grave. Xu Yourong had once said that the solitary mountain in the Cloud Grave might be the path to the Sacred Light Continent …
When these pieces of information were put together, the original appearance of this matter was gradually beginning to appear.
He truly was the Chen Imperial clan's hope, or perhaps the method, to reclaim the imperial throne.
The Tianhai Divine Empress sensed the thickening scent of the autumn forest and her brow furrowed deeper and deeper. The bright star in the depths of her eyes faintly wavered, the light also growing somewhat dim. At the same time, her face revealed callousness, loathing, and other emotions that were not completely opposite, but should not have appeared at the same time.
In the next moment, she closed her eyes.
When she opened them once more, those emotions had completely vanished, leaving behind only calmness and indifference.
She lightly waved her sleeve and an indescribable pressure instantly enveloped the entire autumn forest. Several rays of clear light spilled out from her sleeve and fell on Chen Chang Sheng's body.
That Qi that was enough to make all living beings in the world crazily crave and crave was temporarily cut off by these rays of clear light.
The insects in the Hundred Herb Garden that had been desperately calling out gradually ceased their cries in confusion. The autumn forest once more returned to silence.
The Tianhai Divine Empress gazed at Chen Chang Sheng's expression and mocked, "Now you know that you've been used by someone, right?"
Chen Chang Sheng was quiet for a very long time. With some difficulty, he raised his right hand, trembling from pain, and gripped the already empty teacup. "I've never seen those people."
The people he spoke of naturally referred to the descendants of the deceased hidden in the darkness, those descendants of the Chen Imperial clan that had already left the continent for many years.
"There are some people that you don't need to see to know how despicable, despicable, and shameless they are, because their blood is stinky."
The Tianhai Divine Empress held her hands behind her back and gazed into the distant east, emotionlessly saying, "A father killing his own son, a younger brother killing his older brother — this sort of thing has happened far too many times in this clan. I still remember that when Taizong reigned, when Crown Prince Chengqian was executed, Wei Wang Tai entered the palace to see Emperor Taizong. The moment he saw Emperor Taizong, he threw himself into Emperor Taizong's bosom and cried out, 'Only from today onwards can I be considered Your Majesty's true son. I have a son, and when I die, I will definitely kill him for Your Majesty's sake and then pass him on to your beloved Prince Jin."
At this point, she turned to Chen Chang Sheng and asked, "After hearing these words, how do you feel?"
Chen Chang Sheng's body was still trembling, both because of pain and because of his emotions. "I feel … very nauseous, and also very cold."
With a faint smile, the Tianhai Divine Empress said, "At the time, everyone who heard these words felt the same as you, but … our Emperor Taizong didn't seem to think this way. He felt very gratified, even saying, 'Who doesn't love their son?' When We saw Wei Wang like this, We felt great pity for him."
Chen Chang Sheng thought to himself, Emperor Taizong is hailed as a wise sovereign throughout the ages, so how could he be tricked by such childish and absurd words?
"Emperor Taizong naturally wouldn't be tricked, but he truly admired Wei Wang's shamelessness — he had just killed his older brother and already wanted nothing more than to burrow into his father's bosom and suck on his breast. This sort of thing is not something that just anyone can do … everyone says that the son is like his father, and Emperor Taizong also did this back then. How could he still have the nerve to criticize Wei Wang?"
When the Tianhai Divine Empress mentioned Emperor Taizong, her words became rather harsh, even rather vulgar.
Chen Chang Sheng raised his head to look at her. "Why is my lady saying these things to me? Previously, when my lady thought that I wanted to kill you, you felt very gratified. Is it for the same reason? "
The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "I just want to tell you that the Chen Imperial clan, whether it's Taizong's lineage or those descendants of the deceased, are all hypocritical and disgusting things."
After a moment of silence, Chen Chang Sheng said, "The blood of the Chen clan also flows in my body, so I must also be hypocritical and disgusting?"
The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "You can understand my meaning this way."
Chen Chang Sheng looked into her eyes and said, "In the end, my lady only wants to kill me, so you're just finding a reason or an excuse."
The Tianhai Divine Empress looked at him and mocked, "If I want to kill someone, when have I ever needed a reason or an excuse?"
Chen Chang Sheng replied, "But in the end, I am different."
The Tianhai Divine Empress arched her brows. "How are you different?"
Chen Chang Sheng replied, "In the end, I am your son. If you are like Emperor Taizong, caring about how the history books of later generations will write it, then you will still have to give an explanation."
The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "I, a woman, sitting on the imperial throne, have never had the extravagant hope that the later generations will give me a good evaluation. Do you think that I am someone who cares about discussion?"
Chen Chang Sheng thought about the callous methods she had used to handle the affairs of the Imperial Court after ascending to the throne. This truly was the case, but there were still some other problems that needed to be resolved.
He said, "Every person has to give an explanation for their own choices. Even if they don't care about how the world sees them, they still have to convince themselves."
The Tianhai Divine Empress calmly gazed at him and said, "Perhaps it's like this."
Chen Chang Sheng asked, "Since I've already finished speaking, what is my lady waiting for? Kill me or eat me, complete the heaven-defying change of fate, complete all karma, and assist my lady for thousands of autumns and tens of thousands of generations. "
The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "Reasonable. You were originally a piece of meat that fell out of my stomach. For me to eat you into my stomach is truly a matter that is justified by the heavens and the earth."
… …
… …
(Because I was afraid of disturbing everyone's reading, I've always restrained myself from nagging everyone. Now, let me say something. I really did write with great care, even though the number is not much. In truth, I've always been saving up drafts for the terrifying October itinerary. At the beginning of October, there might be a … signing. Yes, it's that legendary … signing that I would never do even if I was beaten to death in the past.)
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