The Tang Second Master said nothing.
The Great Guardian said, "Tonight, Xue Xingchuan will assuredly remain in the palace to oversee the Imperial Design. This person's qi and blood are flourishing, and he is at his peak. If I fight him, I don't have much of a chance of victory. Moreover, the Divine Empress is highly likely to give the Frost God Spear to him. If this is true, then he has an ability infinitely close to the Divine Domain."
The meaning of these words was very clear. If Xue Xingchuan held the Frost God Spear, then only an expert of the Divine Domain could defeat him. With the Tang clan's thousand-year resources on the continent, they really might be able to invite an expert of the Divine Domain to act, but the Heavenly Slaughter Array in the Imperial Palace specifically targeted experts of the Divine Domain.
It seemed like an unbreakable situation. Only if the Great Guardian took the risk could they find a sliver of hope.
The Tang Second Master continued to say nothing.
The Great Guardian said, "That Guardian from the Qiushan clan is weaker than me, the Prince of Xiang is a crafty old fox, and he will definitely not rush to the capital before the outcome is decided, and the Prince of Zhongshan is a madman.
"No." The Tang Second Master shook his head. "Our Tang clan will always provide information, judgment, and money. Until the last moment, we will not send a single person."
"Who will break the Heavenly Slaughter Array? If we can't enter the Imperial Palace, even if the Old Master personally comes to the capital, he will not be able to obtain the Imperial Design. "
"That person said to the Old Master that he would resolve this matter."
"This is a matter of great importance. This matter of trusting another has nothing to do with trust, only ability."
The Tang Second Master continued, "That person even makes me feel fear, so if he says he can do it, then he can definitely do it."
He did not explicitly say who that person was.
Tang Thirty-Six naturally had no way of knowing, but for some reason, he was very sure that the person he spoke of was Chen Changsheng's teacher, the former Principal of the Orthodox Academy, Shang Xingzhou.
"Since everyone's goal tonight is to invite the Divine Empress back to the sea of stars, why not save Chen Changsheng along the way?"
He did his utmost to make his voice calmer and more indifferent, to appear as if he did not care too much.
But this could not escape the eyes of the Tang Second Master. He looked at Tang Thirty-Six and said, "These two matters are not related."
Tang Thirty Six said, "If it's the will of the heavens, letting Chen Chang Sheng live will more or less affect the Divine Queen's state of mind."
The Tang Second Master noiselessly laughed, then indifferently said, "First of all, we are not enforcing justice on behalf of the heavens, but talking about human affairs. Secondly, we are surnamed Tang, not Chen. We are not those loyal and righteous officials that followed the seventeen princes back to the capital. We should not care about Chen Changsheng's life or death, because we need to ensure our own survival."
Tang Thirty-Six said, "Second Uncle, have you ever thought about what would happen if you failed?"
The Tang Second Master smiled. "If that person can't break the Heavenly Slaughter Array and help us enter the Imperial Palace, then we can naturally only return to Wenshui."
Tang Thirty-Six calmly said, "Are you so sure that our Tang family will not be affected in any way?"
"Of course, because no one will ever see us appear in the capital."
The Tang Second Master calmly said, "Don't forget what I said before: our Tang clan will never engage in business that might result in a loss."
Tang Thirty-Six said, "But you also mentioned Wang Po's name before."
The Tang Second Master did not get angry. He sighed and said, "Correct, besides Wang Po and Su Li, these are the two most unprofitable businesses the Old Master has ever done in his life. If the two of them were both in the capital tonight, Su Li would trap the Divine Empress in the Mausoleum of Books, have Wang Po calculate the changes in the array, find the weak point, and then enter the Imperial Palace alone to fight with Xue Xingchuan. Would there still be a need for us to personally appear? And the result? One person insists on being a lonely and devoted scholar, covered in a shabby aura. One insists on being a prodigal son who has left the world, unable to cast aside a beautiful wife like a flower. It truly is a pity. "
"Let's not mention the matter of Wang Po being forced out of Wenshui by Second Uncle."
Tang Thirty-Six smiled at him and said, "When the Tang clan needed them the most, they just so happened to not be there. Perhaps it's precisely because they can all see that our Tang clan, no, your Tang clan only knows how to calculate numbers and speak of money, making them feel disgusted, let alone feel reverence."
His smile was very innocent, very pure, and very dazzling.
The Tang Second Master calmly gazed at him, then suddenly raised his right hand and slapped him across the face.
With a crisp slap, Tang Thirty-Six crashed into the wall, the left side of his face swollen and a trickle of blood trickling from the corner of his lips. He seemed to cut a very sorry figure.
But he was still smiling, still smiling so happily, making it seem even more dazzling.
"I said before, I don't want to play these childish games with you," the Tang Second Master said very seriously.
Tang Thirty-Six swayed as he stood up. Taking a handkerchief from his sleeve, he carefully wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and said, "No, it's because you know that I'm right."
The Tang Second Master smiled at him and said, "You really think that Second Uncle doesn't dare to kill you?"
Tang Thirty-Six smiled at him and said, "In front of so many people in the Orthodox Academy, I already said that Second Uncle has always wanted me dead, so how could I think that you wouldn't dare to kill me?"
Without waiting for the Tang Second Master to speak, he smiled and continued, "I trust that the Old Master already knows of our conversation in the Orthodox Academy, and I trust that Grandpa Great Guardian will also send our conversation back to Wenshui. Once I return home, I will also personally tell the Old Master of this matter, so if Second Uncle doesn't kill me today, it really will be rather troublesome."
The Tang Second Master smiled at him and said, "You should understand the Old Master's eyes and temper better than I do."
Tang Thirty-Six chuckled. "An old man, no matter how good his eyes are, they're about to turn muddy, and no matter how bad his temper is, he still dotes on his only grandson. Second Uncle, even if you give birth to one and raise him to my age with such a sweet mouth, it will still take several years. I reckon that there won't be enough time, so Second Uncle, if you want to continue your life as a hedonistic young master, or continue to endure silently, playing the part of a hedonistic young master in a situation where everyone knows, perhaps you really do need to kill me before I return to Wenshui. Otherwise, this game of you hiding things from me and I pretending to hide things from you really won't be able to continue."
As the two spoke, they were both faintly smiling. Two very similar and handsome faces faced each other, but this scene was not harmonious at all. On the contrary, it made one shiver in fear.
Just what sort of uncle and nephew were they?
The Tang Second Master's smile finally faded. He looked at Tang Thirty-Six and asked, "Are you forcing me to fight over the family property?"
Tang Thirty-Six smiled. "Our Tang clan … no, doesn't your Tang clan like to use profit to manipulate the hearts of people? I also want to try. "
At these words, the Tang Second Master once more gave a noiseless laugh, his mouth gaping. He seemed rather terrifying.
"Don't laugh like that, Second Uncle." Tang Thirty-Six suddenly restrained his smile and seriously said to him, "This is very foolish, this really is very much like an idiot."
… …
… …
Because it was closer to the night sky, when there were stars, the peak of the Mausoleum of Books would normally be brighter than the ground. But tonight, there were too many clouds and no stars, so the darkness here was even darker than in other parts of the capital. The scene formed from clear light in front of the Divine Path was also set off even more clearly, making it possible to see even the tiniest detail.
In that period of time earlier, Chen Changsheng had seen the Orthodox Academy up there, had seen that middle-aged man very similar to Tang Thirty-Six. He did not know who that person was, but he could roughly guess. It was just that the current him could not imagine what had happened between uncle and nephew, nor did he know what the people of the Wenshui Tangs were preparing to do in the capital.
The Tianhai Divine Empress probably knew a lot, but she did not care.
She had already expected that the Tang clan would definitely send people, that the Tang clan should have also sent people. How could that elder that she had used her supreme authority to suppress by the banks of the Wenshui for more than two hundred years miss out on tonight's chance?
The people that should have come seemed to have all come.
"The people that shouldn't have come have also come."
The Tianhai Divine Empress's gaze left the scene in the darkness and cast into the distance.
The 'distance' she spoke of here was an extremely distant place.
Previously, whether it was the appearance of Zhu Luo and Guan Xingke, Wuqiong Bi and Bie Yanghong, the seventeen rebellious princes, or the Four Great Clans, none of them had been able to cause the slightest change in her expression.
However, when she looked at that distant place, her expression finally became a little more serious.
The capital was in the center of the continent. The furthest place from here was either the Great Western Continent, the islands of the Southern Sea, or the endless snowy plains to the north of Xuelao City.
Perhaps it was the Cloud Grave.
There was a solitary peak in the Cloud Grave, and three hundred li away from the solitary peak was a sparsely populated little town called Xining.
Outside the little town was an old temple, and behind the temple was a small stream. It was said that this stream flowed from the solitary peak in the Cloud Grave.
At some point, a monk had appeared by the stream.
The monk wore a black monk's robe. It was covered in dust and cracks, yet it gave off an ethereal feeling.
The monk had a delicate and handsome face. It was impossible to tell his exact age, but he was probably middle-aged. There were a few faint wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, but his eyes were serene and deep, brimming with boundless compassion and love. It was like he could see into the infinite distance, see everything.
The monk dipped his feet into the chilly water of the stream and sighed.
The emotions in this sigh were abnormally complex.
His feet had already walked hundreds of thousands of li and were too tired.
He and his clansmen had left the continent for nearly a thousand years, far too long.
A faint smile appeared on the monk's face. Rain suddenly began to fall from the sky above the stream.
The Cloud Grave was the home of all clouds and also the source of all water. This place was very close to the Cloud Grave, so this rain was the newest rain.
Tens of thousands of li away, the capital also began to rain. Misty raindrops pierced through the darkness and fell upon the streets and mountains.
On an ordinary straight street in the southern part of the city, the falling rain slightly deformed, rays of light refracting to and fro.
A Daoist walked out of the rainy night, out of thin air.
He stood on the dark street in the autumn rain, yet he gave off the feeling that he was not here.
He was somewhere, anywhere in the world. His true position was constantly changing, making it impossible to determine.
The drizzle fell noiselessly. On the two sides of the ordinary street, the common people were sleeping, not a single one of them awake.
Only he was awake.
The Daoist gazed even further south at that mausoleum, his expression calm.
At the peak of that mausoleum, the Tianhai Divine Empress was calmly gazing at him in the darkness.
Chen Changsheng was also looking at the Daoist.
He silently called out "master", but did not say it aloud.
Because the Daoist was not looking at him, only at the Tianhai Divine Empress.
He recalled that in the ten-some years he had lived in Xining Village's old temple, his master would often only look at his senior brother, not at him. It was like he had never existed in his master's eyes.
"Empress, abdicate," the Daoist said to the Mausoleum of Books.
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