Ze Tian Ji Chapter 735-736

Chapter 735 – Concerning Dreams, and Praising Fate

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The unexpected occurred because some human or demon expert appeared on the continent.

These experts were far too powerful, so excessively powerful that the entire world was surprised by their appearance, and they looked down upon the Dragon race.

For instance, the legendary Demon Grand Scholar Tungus particularly enjoyed researching dragon blood. In his long and dull life, an uncountable number of dragons died in that laboratory of his, which never saw sunlight but basked in the moonlight year-round. His reputation was so terrifying that weaker Black Frost Dragons would fall from the sky in fright if they heard his name. Another example was the previous master of the Mountain Sea Sword, who had once fought several battles amongst the mountains and seas with evil dragons. It was said that the sea cucumbers harvested from that sea dyed red with blood were particularly valuable. There was also the strongest Black Frost Dragon in a thousand years that became friends with the Demon Lord of Xuelao City, but was ultimately transformed by Zhou Dufu into that mountain range within the Garden of Zhou.

And yet another example was the person called Su Li.

Back in the hot springs on the snowy plains, when the little Black Dragon saw Su Li for the first time, she was almost scared to death.

She could clearly sense that this person had killed many dragons.

Those people who dared to slaughter dragons were not necessarily fierce, as there was still the chance of failure. Only those who succeeded in slaughtering dragons could be called powerful.

Then what could a person like Su Li be called, someone who had journeyed especially to the Southern Sea to see how powerful the Dragon race actually was and had killed countless dragons with his sword?

Well, he had always been a surprise difficult to describe, an almost insane example that could not be understood with common sense.

The little Black Dragon did not know who Shang Xingzhou was, but she could sense that this powerful Daoist was also probably one of those unexpected individuals, so she had intentionally mentioned that matter from the past. Even if the vicious reputation of the Dragon race could not make her opponent retreat, the legendary name of Wang Zhice should make him feel some veneration.

Shang Xingzhou’s response was very calm and indifferent, completely defying her expectations.

“The you in the rumors is very vicious. If a single word was out of line, you would eat someone. After you made landfall in the south, you transformed countless towns and villages into ruins.” He calmly looked at her like an elder looking at a naughty child as he indifferently continued, “But when I saw you at the time in Frost Flower Market, I knew that the rumors were not true.”

Frost Flower Market was a very obscure place in the capital. Chen Changsheng only knew of it because that was where Mo Yu’s Orange Garden was. It was otherwise very difficult for ordinary people to remember. But why could the little Black Dragon remember it? Several hundred years ago, it was there that she had been captured by the experts of the Imperial Court, where she had gasped for breath, void of strength. The small bridge there had been covered in a shallow layer of frost. That wretched scholar surnamed Wang walked across that bridge, his footprints like blooming flowers…

Perhaps this was the origin of the name ‘Frost Flower Market’.

“You…met me back then?” The Black Dragon stared at Shang Xingzhou, the unease and faint fear in her heart transforming into an intense vigilance.

“Of course I met you before. The chains that Wang Zhice used to bind you were borrowed from me.”

Shang Xingzhou’s gaze moved down to her feet.

Those two chains at her ankles which seemed rather short, but were actually incredibly long, made a stark contrast against the white snow.

Her bare feet stood on the snow-covered ground as if she could not feel the cold, but when she heard Shang Xingzhou’s words, she began to feel cold.

Shang Xingzhou continued, “This chain is a treasure of the Li Palace. Junior Brother was able to pull it from the wall, but he was unable to break it.”

The Black Dragon and Chen Changsheng wordlessly glanced at each other.

Everyone said that time was the strongest and history was the heaviest, and now all this heavy strength lay within Shang Xingzhou’s words.

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets had passed, 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. No one existed now who had the right to speak with him about the past.

From a certain perspective, he was history and time. It was just that he had not written his own name down all those years ago.

“My companions and comrades-in-arms have died one by one, and there’s still one hiding like a ghost in the mountains, so I can no longer continue to conceal myself.”

Shang Xingzhou looked at the pair and felt rather sorrowful. As if thinking about stories from long ago, he leisurely said, “Because we are all Protectors.”

Chen Changsheng understood his meaning.

No matter how much they schemed against each other and how cruel their plots, no one could deny that at the very beginning, Emperor Taizong and his ministers in the Lingyan Pavilion were dreamers through and through. They had offered their lives and spilled blood precisely for the sake of ending the chaos in the world, to drive out the demons, to act as Protectors for the continent.

Shang Xingzhou was not merely a witness to that magnificent generation, he had been a part of it.

He had originally been one of these dreamers. His name had not been conspicuous, but he had played an extremely important role. Emperor Taizu’s alliance with the then-Pope, Emperor Taizong’s ultimately obtaining the full support of the Li Palace in the coup of the Hundred Herb Garden, and those cruel stories of the Lingyan Pavilion had probably all involved him.

Those comrades-in-arms and companions had died, or been killed by him and Emperor Taizong, or had left. In short, after the long span of one thousand years, only he was left. Even if he was the only one left, precisely because he was the only one left, he had to bear the fate and responsibilities of his companions on his shoulders.

He wanted to become the Protector of the continent, to carry out Emperor Taizong’s dying wish, to realize the dreams of his companions:

Humanity united, the demons bowing in submission, and the world in harmony for ten thousand generations.

“No one can stop me.

“Nor should anyone stop me.

“Including you.”

Shang Xingzhou calmly and firmly said to Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng didn’t know what to say.

Just then, the cry of a crane resounded through the night sky.

A white crane had returned across vast distances from the south and answered for him.

……

……

A wind blew past. It might have been very cold to ordinary people, but to the two humans and one dragon standing beneath the great banyan tree, it was only chilly.

The snow over the lake was blown about, rustling like the dried leaves that had been buried long ago under the snow.

This starless night was still not cold or dark. This was because no matter how the court changed, the lights of the thousands of homes would always illuminate the world, just as they had done for countless years.

The White Crane carried Xu Yourong’s letter expressing Holy Maiden Peak’s fearless stance.

Madam Mu had departed on her carriage, expressing White Emperor City’s stance.

The stances of Mount Li and Scholartree Manor did not need to be asked.

As for the crucial stance of the Orthodoxy, even if many people were willing to support Shang Xingzhou, just who would dare to blatantly oppose Chen Changsheng in the face of the Pope’s final order?

After a somewhat oppressive silence, Shang Xingzhou spoke once more.

“Back when I first picked you out of the stream, I said that your fate was very bad.”

He looked at Chen Changsheng and said, “Now it seems that I was wrong.”

The young Daoist from Xining Village had now become the youngest Pope in history.

His sun wheel had been shattered in the womb, originally limiting his life to twenty years. Now his meridians had been rebuilt, his star openings were perfect, and the path of cultivation before him was level and smooth.

He had the support of the entire Orthodoxy, the support of many factions, and he also had a Protector.

Anyone could see that his fate was very good and worthy of praise.

What next?

Chapter 736 – Better to Not Have Met

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

In the past, Chen Changsheng’s fate had been very poor. Later on, his fate had become very good. To put it another way, his fate had been changed.

On that night, at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, the Tianhai Divine Empress had defied the heavens and changed his fate.

From that moment forward, his path of cultivation was smooth and that shadow hanging over his head for ten-some years vanished, leaving only light.

Of course, as his fate and status changed, he encountered a set of new trials that he had never imagined. Even with the Divine Staff in hand, wanting to become the master of the Orthodoxy was still incredibly difficult. Fortunately, the Pope had made many arrangements for him before returning to the sea of stars, had already smoothed the road as much as he possibly could.

From a certain perspective, the Pope had also changed his fate.

For the sake of passing this grand inheritance into Chen Changsheng’s hands, the Pope had made the most meticulous of plans. Not even mentioning the rainbow in the Li Palace and the figure that had vanished from the prayer mat in the Orange Garden, the starlight in the cavern below New North Bridge and those three green leaves were enough to see how much thought he had put into this plan.

The Pope had chosen the little Black Dragon to be Chen Changsheng’s Protector for several reasons. Naturally, she was strong enough, as besides experts of the Divine Domain, few people on the continent could defeat her. The more important reason was her identity, because she was the princess of the Black Frost Dragon clan that had helped the demi-humans establish their kingdom countless years ago.

The White Emperor couple had probably known long ago that a Black Frost Dragon was imprisoned near the Imperial City, but they had never complained. Perhaps it was because that piece of history was too long ago, or perhaps it was because ‘friendship’ could never overcome ‘worth’. The Pope did not care about their opinion. He rescued the Black Dragon for the explicit purpose of forcing White Emperor City to accept this favor.

Even if the White Emperor couple wanted to play deaf and mute, the tribes along the two shores of the Red River and their elders would not agree.

The Pope conducted himself like the cool breeze or the bright moon and was never much one to scheme or plot, but he was still someone that had lived on this world for a thousand years, so he had a deep understanding of the human mind.

And in this aspect, humans and demi-humans were no different.

He had calculated correctly.

The little Black Dragon had crawled out of the well of New North Bridge and walked through the snow to the Orthodox Academy.

Madam Mu had sighed and boarded her Rainbow Deer carriage to leave the capital.

Even now, Chen Changsheng was still unable to completely understand how much thought and effort the Pope had poured into this plan. He was too young, and even though he was well-versed in the Daoist Canon and knew many legends and stories, he found it difficult to connect them to the present. Thus, even after he heard what Shang Xingzhou had to say next, he needed to contemplate those words for a very long time before finally understanding what they meant.

“Do you know who Yin’s Protector was?”

“I don’t know.”

“Chen Xuanba.”

This was truly an answer that no one could have imagined.

In the past one thousand years, two names shone the greatest over the continent.

One was Zhou Dufu, and the other was Emperor Taizong.

But before Chen Xuanba died, nobody dared to claim that either Zhou Dufu or Emperor Taizong could dominate the world. In those ten-some years, an abnormally short period in the long river of history, he competed with those two in different areas, and in each aspect, he excelled and dazzled with astonishing talent.

This sort of person could be called unequalled throughout the world.

Even if the Pope had been a legitimate to the successor of the Daoist teachings back then, he still was not worthy of having a hegemon of the generation serving as his Protector.

Unless there was still some other secret behind this matter, of course.

“Chen Xuanba should be your ancestor. There is even a chance that you were made using the last drops of essence blood he left in this world, so Yin is settling a debt.”

Shang Xingzhou asked, “Now do you understand his meaning?”

Chen Changsheng fell silent for a very long time, then nodded his head.

The Pope’s love and pity could have come from many places. Perhaps he was settling a debt, or perhaps he was ashamed, or perhaps he had made a promise.

He had never seriously considered this before, but he had always understood the meaning behind the Pope’s plans.

His master did not like him and wanted him to die, but this did not mean that he wanted his master to die.

This also meant that the relationship between him and Shang Xingzhou did not need to be one in which one had to kill the other.

If he remained in the capital, he would assuredly become the source of disorder unless he decided to lead the Orthodoxy in battle against the Imperial Court.

He would naturally not do this, as he could not find a single reason for doing so.

Did he really want to seize the throne from his senior brother?

As for evils…he was well aware that Shang Xingzhou had enough confidence to return his accusations with questions. The Imperial Court was newly established, so even if it wanted to commit evil, it hadn’t even had a chance. The ugly evils at present were all Zhou Tong’s, and no matter how much affection Chen Changsheng felt for her, it was appropriate to attribute the majority of Zhou Tong’s evils to the Tianhai Divine Empress.

Chen Changsheng looked at Shang Xingzhou and asked, “And you, Master? Does Master understand Martial Uncle’s meaning?”

Shang Xingzhou did not reply.

After his long conversation with the Pope on that night, and then when he saw the Black Dragon walk out of the snow, he came to completely understand Yin’s meaning.

Just when had Changsheng become his heart obstruction? Perhaps it was also on that night in the Mausoleum of Books?

When he had picked that infant out from the wooden basin in the stream and sorrowfully said that his fate was bad, it was because he already knew the fate of this infant.

Before Chen Changsheng was even born, his sun wheel had been shattered, and then his body had been filled with an unimaginable quantity of Sacred Light by the people of the other continent, ensuring that he could never live past the age of twenty.

When he had spoken to Chen Changsheng about defying the heavens and changing fate, he had naturally been deceiving him. He had never once thought that Chen Changsheng could succeed in changing his fate, no matter how astonishing his talent. He had only had several years left between the time he left Xining Village and the age of twenty. Even if Zhou Dufu were reborn or Wang Zhice regained his youth, they could not have possibly accomplished such a feat.

Reality proved that his view was correct. By the night in which the coup of the Mausoleum of Books took place, Chen Changsheng was still unable to successfully defy the heavens and change his fate, and was bereft of even a sliver of hope. He believed that Chen Changsheng would die, or be eaten by Tianhai, or reach the natural termination of his life. Yet unimaginably, Tianhai, taking everyone by surprise, took another choice.

If one said that this was a chessboard that he had laid down, Tianhai’s death was the winning play. He thought that he had gained victory in this chess game, yet when he looked upon the chessboard, he realized to his shock that a piece that should have died was still standing on the board.

A chess piece that should have died was still alive, and the once-dull endgame had instantly undergone countless transformations.

This piece on the chessboard already seemed to have escaped the bounds of the board, a fact that deeply disconcerted Shang Xingzhou.

Thus, on the Divine Path in the face of the rising sun, he made a decision.

He needed Chen Changsheng to die as quickly as possible, for this chess piece to disappear as quickly as possible.

So on the Divine Path, he did not even glance at Chen Changsheng.

And thus, so many events took place in the aftermath.

Only after that long conversation did he begin to vaguely understand.

Because of this chess piece’s relationship to him, because of the Dao that he cultivated, he had placed too much importance on the chess piece and wasted far too much energy on it.

Yin had spoken correctly.

Since both sides loathed each other…

Meeting was far inferior to not meeting.

Shang Xingzhou turned and began walking out of the Orthodox Academy.

Just like on the Divine Path of the Mausoleum of Books, he did not look again at Chen Changsheng.

Then ten-some blue-clothed Daoists followed him.

All of this happened too suddenly without the slightest sign.

Just then, a voice rose up without warning in Chen Changsheng’s sea of consciousness.

“Walk a little farther.

“Do not let the capital see.

“Do not let the world see.

“Do not let me see.”