On that day when Eunuch Lin had received the decree to enter the Orthodox Academy, Chen Changsheng had said something similar.
Shang Xingzhou had been in the Li Palace at the time, conversing with the Pope. His reaction to this was very similar.
"Truly childish."
Chen Changsheng's face still had a hint of childishness, but anyone could see the firmness within.
He knew that his view was correct.
The Tianhai Divine Empress was dead, the Pope had returned to the sea of stars, the Demon Lord had fallen into the abyss, and Wang Zhice had secluded himself from the world. There were very few people in the world that could contend against Shang Xingzhou.
His Dao heart was brightly lit, his Dao unhindered, and his cultivation unfathomable.
He ruled over the Great Zhou Dynasty and possessed the friendship of White Emperor City.
He seemed invulnerable, almost perfect.
But he still had a flaw, a flaw.
This flaw was none other than his youngest disciple, Chen Changsheng, whom he had always disliked.
Beside Xining Village's old temple was a small stream. Flowers drifted along the stream.
The temple hid three thousand Daoist scriptures, but master and disciple only cultivated one: following one's heart.
Following one's heart was an extremely powerful divine ability of the Daoist faith.
Only by standing under the starry sky, with a clear conscience and no regrets, could one be fearless, fearless, their Dao heart brightly lit, their Dao unhindered.
In his ten-some years in Xining Village's old temple, Shang Xingzhou had never taught Yu Ren or Chen Changsheng any Daoist techniques, only had them recite the Daoist scriptures. But once they began to interact with specific cultivation methods, they would advance at an astonishing speed. Chen Changsheng's breakthrough into Star Condensation in three years and Yu Ren's ability to freely walk among the Heavenly Tome Monoliths were both because of this.
Correspondingly, this Daoist technique had an extremely high demand on the mind. It was like a snow lotus at the summit of a mountain that could not be contaminated by the slightest dirt.
How could one not be confused by external objects, how could one possess an unshakable will and self-confidence?
One word to remember: the heart.
You only needed to be able to convince yourself.
If you could convince yourself that what you were doing was right, that it was in accordance with your heart, then … it would naturally follow your heart.
This sounded very simple, but it was actually not.
If one looked into the depths of the soul, if one were in a hidden room cut off from the world, how many people could truly say 'no regrets'? Who can firmly believe that everything he does is right?
Several hundred years ago, Shang Xingzhou was still one of the legitimate successors of the Orthodoxy. He originally could have followed the predetermined path until he became the Pope, but he chose a different path. He used the name of Daoist Ji to live in this world, and when Daoist Wu painted one portrait after another in the Lingyan Pavilion, he was responsible for returning the people in those portraits to the sea of stars. The people in those portraits were all heroes of the human race, all meritorious subjects of the Great Zhou, but they had died just like that in a conspiracy. Some of them, like Qin Zhong and Divine General Yu Gong, were willing to die, but what about the other dukes?
The Heroic Spirits in the Lingyan Pavilion had been watching Shang Xingzhou this entire time. Perhaps the resentful souls that had died even earlier in the Hundred Herb Garden were also watching Shang Xingzhou. The innocent people who died in the chaos today would surely be looking at him. But these things still could not affect Shang Xingzhou's Dao heart, because he had many reasons to convince himself.
He looked down on those so-called ambitious and ruthless people, and loathed schemers like Black Robe who did not dare to see the light of day the most. He viewed himself as Emperor Taizong's successor, and with the world in his heart, he could naturally disregard the trifles. For the continued existence of the Great Zhou Dynasty for ten thousand years, for the bright future of the Human race, this was an inevitable price.
But there was one thing that Shang Xingzhou still had not found a suitable way to convince himself: Chen Changsheng.
Yes, the wooden basin floating in the stream, the infant in the basin, the drooping whiskers of the Golden Dragon — all of it was a conspiracy.
But the Chen Changsheng he first saw was not the Duke of Wei, not Wang Zhice, not Tianhai, not a general of great authority, not a tycoon whose wealth was unparalleled in the world, not a noble consort with long sleeves and dancing, not a repulsive eunuch, not an impassioned scholar whose eloquence would harm the country, not an experienced and prudent minister who cherished his reputation. It was just … an infant.
An infant that could not even open its eyes, an infant that was ignorant and senseless, an infant that had no good, no evil, and no thoughts.
He could not find any reason to convince himself that this was the right thing to do.
In these fourteen years, every time he saw Chen Changsheng, a question would arise in his mind, a shadow cast over his Dao heart.
Life in Xining Village's old temple was very simple, and not seeing each other was countless times more difficult than meeting.
Chen Changsheng had gone from an infant to a youth like the spring breeze.
The shadow over Shang Xingzhou's Dao heart was already as thick as the night.
… …
… …
"I know that Teacher does not feel any guilt towards me. This matter has nothing to do with good or evil. It is just that you are unable to convince yourself, and convincing yourself will always be the most important thing."
Chen Changsheng looked at Shang Xingzhou and said, "So, my existence is a very frightening thing to you."
Before the Buddhist Sect was destroyed, there was a saying about the heart barrier.
He was currently Shang Xingzhou's heart barrier.
Shang Xingzhou wanted to do everything he could to get rid of this heart barrier. Only by doing so could he truly maintain the brightness of his Dao heart.
He wished for Chen Changsheng to die, but he could not personally do it, as that would have no effect. It would only make the heart barrier grow deeper and deeper, and there would be no chance to get rid of it.
Several days ago, even if Yuren had not used such a decisive method to keep him in the Snow Palace, he would not have gone to the alley of the Northern Military Department, but to the Li Palace.
Back on the Divine Path of the Mausoleum of Books, when he walked down the Divine Path, he did not even glance at Chen Changsheng, nor did he stop Chen Changsheng from taking away the Tianhai Divine Empress's remains. He had already thought through his future plans.
He wanted to use these matters as an excuse to very naturally have Chen Changsheng die at the hands of others.
There were quite a few times when he was already very close to success.
For instance, Eunuch Lin wanted to sweep away the threats and obstacles to the young emperor's rule. He wanted to use the matter of the Tianhai Divine Empress's remains to cause trouble and privately attempt to kill Chen Changsheng, but he did not succeed.
Or perhaps he wanted to use Xue Xingchuan's encounter to use Zhou Tong as a bait to have Chen Changsheng strike first, and then kill him.
"Alas, none of them succeeded," Chen Changsheng said.
"I did not expect that you had already seen through all this, but it doesn't matter."
Shang Xingzhou's expression was somewhat regretful. "If not for Wang Po, you would have already died to Tie Shu that day."
When Eunuch Lin suddenly attacked in the Orthodox Academy, Chen Changsheng had already understood everything, but now that he saw his master's regret, he still felt rather sad.
Shang Xingzhou looked at him and continued, "I swore to your martial uncle that I would not act against you, and this is the truth. Whether it's Lin or Zhou, neither of them were deliberately arranged by me. Everything happened naturally. If you had insisted on staying in the capital, these sorts of things would have happened more and more, and they would not have been affected by my intentions."
It was difficult to determine whether these words were true or false, but there was no need to determine whether they were true or false.
A person's intentions would always fluctuate between what was true and what was false. Even if one could see through the color and fragrance of flowers, one would still find it impossible to see through these things.
On the wall across from the lake, ten-some blue-clothed Daoists appeared.
These blue-clothed Daoists possessed unfathomable cultivations, and as their sleeves fluttered in the wind, they faintly exuded killing intent.
… …
… …
(Successful completion of the Genesis Update! Right now, I'm just worried about whether or not it will synchronize to the starting point … if this is the case, there will be duplicate chapters. Tomorrow, during the day, I will ask the technical staff of the website to help me deal with this. If there really is a duplicate subscription, I will think of a way to make it up to everyone.)
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