The Daoist that had appeared out of thin air in the rainy night was the previous Principal of the Orthodox Academy, Shang Xingzhou, and also the extremely mysterious Daoist Ji of Taizong's era.
He was the leader, the mastermind, of tonight's events in the capital.
After he appeared, the only sound that could be heard was the Tianhai Divine Empress's conversation with him.
Whether it was Zhu Luo, Guan Xingke, or the fifteen princes that had already entered the capital, they all maintained their silence. This represented respect, perhaps reverence.
But the heavens and earth were very vast, the world very large. In the end, there would not only be one or two voices. There would always be other voices.
"Is there a need to do this?"
A voice arose from the canal to the southeast of the capital.
The large ship sailing through the canal slowly came to a stop.
The expression of the Daoist nun at the bow of the ship suddenly changed. She stretched out her hand like lightning, but she grabbed nothing.
A different smear of red had always rippled in the gloomy waters of the canal, but it was now gradually fading.
In the next moment, a ray of light suddenly appeared in the night sky outside the Mausoleum of Books. It clearly illuminated the rain falling from the sky, and also illuminated a figure within it.
This was not a bolt of lightning descending from the dark clouds, but the Qi produced when that figure encountered the seal of the Mausoleum of Books.
This figure slowly floated down from the rainy sky, landing on the riverbank outside the Mausoleum of Books.
It was a middle-aged scholar. His long gown was already drenched by the rain, but he did not seem the slightest bit disheveled. His calm eyes possessed an enchanting elegance.
A small red flower was tied to the pinkie of his right hand, lightly swaying in the rain.
Bie Yanghong.
This expert of the Divine Domain had also failed to break through the seal of the Mausoleum of Books and had been isolated outside.
But since he had already spoken, he would continue to speak.
A shrill sound pierced through the air.
Bie Yanghong's figure suddenly faded, a clear path appearing in the heavy curtains of rain. A straight wave appeared on the river outside the Mausoleum of Books.
In an instant, he had charged into the Mausoleum of Books and arrived at the very bottom of the Divine Path, in front of the stone plain.
But he could not continue forward, because the Tianhai Divine Empress glanced at him.
A bolt of lightning descended from the sky, landing in front of Bie Yanghong.
A patch of dazzling white light directly evaporated all the water in the shallow canal, and several extremely thick scorch marks appeared on the hard black stone.
Bie Yanghong gazed at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books at the end of the Divine Path, his expression grave.
Just a moment ago, he had sensed a faint change in the aura of heaven and earth. He had stopped, or else he might have been struck by that bolt of lightning and suffered heavy injuries.
The Tianhai Divine Empress only glanced at it.
The realm that she revealed was simply too terrifying. She actually had a vague feeling that she could already mobilize the laws of heaven and earth!
Everyone knew that the Tianhai Divine Empress's cultivation was unfathomable, but only now did they realize that all their speculations had still been underestimating her!
On the official road to the northwest, Guan Xingke raised his head and pushed up his bamboo hat, revealing an ordinary and unremarkable face, his eyes somewhat stern.
Zhu Luo, who was in the wheelchair, looked at that place quietly. He used his left hand to gently tap the scabbard of his sword. That was his only hand right now.
"The capital is my home ground. You shouldn't have chosen this place."
The Tianhai Divine Empress calmly said to the world.
Bie Yanghong stopped, but he could still speak. "No matter where it was, we still had to come."
"We did not wish for you to come." The Tianhai Divine Empress calmly said to him, "Because We do not want to kill you."
Bie Yanghong replied, "Since one reads the books of the Sages, one must always seek peace of mind."
The Tianhai Divine Empress replied, "Truly worthy of being Bie Yanghong. Our heart is greatly comforted. Amongst these people, We have always felt that you were not bad. You have a different color, a different bearing."
The rain suddenly fell into disorder, transforming into countless ripples. The waves in the river outside the Mausoleum of Books became unbridled, the Qi a little disordered.
The Daoist nun had also come to the Mausoleum of Books. Standing at Bie Yanghong's side, she warily looked up.
"The most foolish thing you did in your life was to marry this thing."
The Tianhai Divine Empress mocked Bie Yanghong.
The Daoist nun was his wife, another of the Storms of the Eight Directions, Wuqiong Bi.
Wuqiong Bi was furious at these words. She felt that the voices of the rain and that woman were very vexing, but she did not dare express it.
At a time like this, Bie Yanghong also could not say anything. After a moment of silence, he said, "Empress, since he will die in the end, why does Empress not give him a quick death?"
He did not finish his sentence.
The second half that he did not finish was: 'And then, we will fight to our heart's content.
… …
… …
Pleasure, on rare occasions, could be understood as pain and pleasure.
Chen Changsheng was currently in extreme pain, unable to feel any pleasure, even if the night wind in the rain came from a thousand li away and grew stronger and stronger.
Hearing Bie Yanghong's words, the Tianhai Divine Empress turned to glance at him. It was only an indifferent glance, but she clearly saw the situation within his body.
According to the calculations of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets, before he was even born, his sun wheel had been destroyed, his nine meridians severed.
At the moment, Chen Changsheng's seventy-two Daoist meridians had all been severed and his three hundred and sixty-five Qi openings had all been ruptured.
He was currently enduring an unimaginable pain, just like when he was in her womb. But back then, he had still been ignorant and senseless. The only person in the world who could feel his pain was her.
The Tianhai Divine Empress thought of the pain she had felt when he was in her womb, the pain she had felt when he was born. Her brow slightly creased in loathing.
The rain gradually increased in intensity, but the stars faintly glimmered, as well as that even more tranquil and gentle splendor.
Guan Xingke pushed Zhu Luo in his wheelchair into the Mausoleum of Books.
Wind and rain came from all directions.
The Daoist was in some place in the rain.
The monk was by a stream tens of thousands of li away.
Tonight's events in the capital had always been the Tianhai Divine Empress's plan. Now that everyone had arrived, Chen Changsheng no longer had any value in his existence, so he could naturally die.
The rain falling from the night sky grew heavier and heavier, connecting into lines and then gradually becoming a torrent. The wind it carried also grew stronger and stronger.
Thunder rumbled from the depths of the storm. Occasionally, true lightning would illuminate the night sky, illuminating the scene at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books.
The Tianhai Divine Empress stood with her hands held behind her at the edge of the Divine Path, her beautiful face devoid of any unnecessary emotion. Her black hair danced behind her, making her seem like a demon god.
The torrential rain was incapable of wetting a single hair of hers, but it soaked Chen Changsheng's clothes.
Chen Changsheng's face was pale, his entire body drenched. He seemed abnormally weak and pitiful.
He gasped for breath, using his hand to support himself on the puddle-covered ground. With great difficulty, he raised his head and looked at her.
At this moment, he was truly very calm, because he was already numb, already utterly disappointed in this world.
The Tianhai Divine Empress sensed his movements and indifferently said, "Yourong wanted to save you, so I sent her away."
As she said this, she did not turn to look at him.
Chen Changsheng's body, which had become somewhat numb from the cold, pain, and disappointment, slightly softened upon hearing these words, a final bit of warmth remaining in his chest.
Yes, in the end, there were still people in this world who cared about him, like Yourong, like the people in the Orthodox Academy, like Luoluo in the distant White Emperor City, like his senior brother who was somewhere unknown …
"Thank My Lady," he said to the Tianhai Divine Empress's back.
He thanked her for saying these words in the final moment of his life, thus helping him remember that there was still some beauty in life.
This way, when he left, perhaps he would be somewhat reluctant to part from his nostalgia, but at least he would not be sad because he had nothing to cherish.
The rain grew heavier and heavier, flowing down the sides of the White Stone Divine Path and down the Mausoleum of Books. More and more of it converged, ultimately becoming a waterfall with astonishing momentum.
The sound of the night rain was vexing, the torrential rain a disaster. In the forest, one could faintly see the figures of many wild beasts fleeing, but it was no longer possible to hear the cries of autumn insects.
A squirrel leapt through the forest, seemingly wanting to find a suitable place to take shelter from the rain, yet unable to do so, it was quickly drenched. The rain was too heavy, so heavy that the squirrel's originally oily and waterproof fur could not completely endure it. Its fluffy tail drooped down, its gray fur sticking to its body, making it seem very pitiful.
If its gray fur were dry and fluffy, perhaps this squirrel would have seemed very fat.
Just like the squirrel in the Hundred Herb Garden's forest.
The Tianhai Divine Empress's gaze followed the squirrel as it moved through the forest. Only after a very long time had passed did she withdraw her gaze.
In the Mausoleum of Books, experts had already gathered. The capital seemed calm in the rain, but countless undercurrents were surging.
Her rule over the Great Zhou Dynasty was currently suffering the most powerful challenge.
Yet at this moment, she was very focused on watching a squirrel take shelter from the rain.
Just what was she thinking?
"Two years ago, in the palace, you should have seen a squirrel."
All of a sudden, she uttered these words.
There was no beginning or end to this sentence.
Chen Changsheng was somewhat absent-minded, not knowing what she was talking about.
Then, he vaguely remembered a few things.
It truly was something from a very long time ago. On the night of the Ivy Festival two years ago, he had been lured into the Cold Palace by Mo Yu and imprisoned by the array of the Tong Palace. In order to escape, he had risked entering the underground through the Gate of Life, but he had encountered the Black Dragon. With great difficulty, he had returned to the surface, but he had ended up in a pond in the Imperial Palace.
At the time, a middle-aged woman had been standing by the pond, perhaps preparing to wash her hands or wash her clothes.
At the time, he had been in the pond, his entire body soaked and his appearance in a sorry state. It had also been late at night, so the middle-aged woman had been frightened. She had taken a step back, her wooden clogs clattering against the stones.
At the time, in the forest by the pond, a squirrel had been eating. In fright, it had thrown down its fruit and jumped to the second floor of the side hall. As it ran along the railing, its swaying tail had knocked a flower pot askew.
At the time, the middle-aged woman had been directly under the flower pot.
At the time, Chen Changsheng had just escaped from his predicament and was still deep in the palace. He was extremely nervous and could not be discovered by anyone, but when he saw this sight, he had rushed over without even thinking.
He held the middle-aged woman in his arms and spun her around. That way, even if the flower pot fell, it would only hit his back and not the woman.
Fortunately, the flower pot had not fallen.
Now that he thought about it, none of this was real, because she was no ordinary middle-aged woman. She was the Tianhai Divine Empress, so how could she be frightened?
His actions at the time had definitely been very unnecessary in her eyes, very laughable, right?
But why had she suddenly brought up that squirrel?
When he thought of the time, Chen Changsheng felt somewhat perplexed.
… …
… …
(In the Great Dictionary of Appreciation of Tang Poetry, there are different interpretations of those two lines of Li Shangyin's poem. I agree with that interpretation. If one can wait, one can wait. Only, it is, it is.)
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