239 The Cinnabar Birthmark Between Her Eyebrows Part One

Mei Lisha walked back into the hall, then asked the Pope, “What did the two ofyou talk about?” The Pope thought about it, then said, “We talked about everything, but… it waslike we did not talk about anything.” After he said those words, he shook his head. “That child asked about thingsthat had nothing to do with him. I heard none of the questions that I thought Iwould hear. He did not ask about the Orthodoxy, or about the stars. He did notask about the Heavenly Tome Monoliths, nor did he ask about the so-calledintentions.” In the entire continent, the greatest authority on deciphering the HeavenlyTome Monoliths was this hemp robed old man. Not even the southern sects’ HolyMaiden could exceed him in this aspect. In the Mausoleum of Books, ChenChangsheng had been enlightened on some matters, but he also had manyquestions. Yet today in the Li Palace, he had not mentioned a single word aboutit.” “He still lacks confidence.” Mei Lisha said in his coarse and slow voice. “Although the child has not lived for many years, he is not stupid. Tosuddenly experience so many earth-shaking events, there is no way that he couldwholeheartedly trust us.” The Pope was unconcerned and smiled, “Later on, he will naturally find outthat all that we have done has always been for his own good.” Mei Lisha became silent at those words. Then he said, “Before, I worried thathe was maturing too slowly. But now, it seems that he has grown far faster thananyone had imagined. Should we not constrain it somewhat?” The Pope did not answer. Leaving the Li Palace, Chen Changsheng felt that his waist was somewhat sore.Previously on the Divine Avenue when all those hundreds of priests had beengreeting him one after the other, even though he had only given them a slightbow in return, it was still somewhat strenuous. Leaving those countless gazes and returning to his company of one, he feltsomewhat disoriented. He turned around to look back at the Li Palace. Seeingthose silent and speechless stone pillars, he also became silent andspeechless. Within that palace, he had enjoyed countless sceneries, yet forsome reason, he had a faint sense of unease, even fear. He had long ago guessed that his master was no ordinary man, but he had notguessed that his master was this special. Moreover, for the past year, he hadput his heart and soul into cultivation and the Grand Examination and he had notime to think about these things. It turns out that tonight, the truth about itall came to light in the Li Palace. The shock was so severe that it made hisbody turn cold. Just as the Pope and Mei Lisha had just discussed, there were many things ChenChangsheng had not mentioned in the Li Palace, and many question that he hadnot asked. For instance, he had not brought up that he had a senior. If theOrthodoxy truly needed a successor, then his senior was far more suited for theposition. He had also not brought up the special situation in his body. ThePope’s eyes were as deep as the ocean, seemingly able to see through all.Perhaps the Pope already knew everything about Chen Changsheng, like the twodaoist youths in Xining Village’s old temple. Like the knowledge he hadcomprehended from the Heavenly Tome Monoliths. Like how the meridians in hisbody were all broken. Yet the Pope did not mentioned them. The Pope and Mei Lisha had both said that nothing would happen to the XiningVillage, but how could that be possible? The Divine Empress would absolutelysend someone to hunt down and kill his master and senior Yuren. He wasuncertain if master and senior would be able escape. Furthermore, nearly twodecades ago, the Orthodox Academy was destroyed by the Pope and the DivineEmpress. The Pope even personally took action. Why did the Pope care for him somuch? Was it because of those reasons? In his old age, was the Pope gettingnostalgic? Those sorts of reasons were very hard to believe. He could notcompletely trust the Pope, even though the Pope seemed so compassionate, soworthy of his trust. Phrases like tongue twisters bounced around in his head. To believe or to notbelieve, why and why not, his expression became somewhat frustrated. Heabsent-mindedly thought, if what the Pope said was really true, then fromtonight on, his life had apparently entered a completely different stage. From Xining Village to the capital. From the old temple to the OrthodoxAcademy. By the will of others or by his own will. The greatest shadow thathung over his head through all this was the Divine Empress. The Divine Empress herself was a peerless expert of the Saint Realm. Sherelied upon the thirty or so Divine Generals to control the Great Zhou’smillions of soldiers. She had the devotion and loyalty of Yu Wenjing, ZhouTong, Mo Yu, and the Tianhai Clan as well as the love and reverence of themasses. It could be said without a doubt that she was the continent’s mostpowerful human. If it was any other person in Chen Changsheng’s situation, they would havecommitted suicide long ago. However, it was just as the Pope had said, even the Divine Empress wasunwilling to come in direct conflict with the Orthodoxy. This was because inthis world, the only establishment that could be considered her equal was theOrthodoxy. The Orthodoxy had been the religion of the Zhou Dynasty from itsfounding and it possessed countless believers and millions of priests. This waswhy the Pope could speak with such confidence. And he... he was now the successor to the entire Orthodoxy. As Mei Lisha had told him on the Divine Avenue, he no longer needed to lowerhis head to anyone. However, this good fortune had arrived just too suddenly, so how could hebelieve it? It all returned to trust and reason. Why? These matters were all too complex. Although Chen Changsheng was an eruditescholar of the Daoist Canon, even knowing the most profound andincomprehensible scriptures by heart, he still was not very good at this sortof thing. This was because all of this had to do with the will of the people. He wanted to find someone to consult with, but Tang Thirty-Six was still inthe Mausoleum of Books. Even if he were here, he would definitely just say theopposite of whatever Chen Changsheng said. Luoluo’s status was too special andsensitive. Even if her status was disregarded, no matter how Chen Changshengwould say it, she would definitely take him at his word. What sort ofconsultation would that be? Despite the vastness of the capital, he could not find anyone to speak withabout what had occurred to night. This made him feel very lonely. In the deep night, the lights of the Li Palace still shone as brightly asever. Chen Changsheng turned into a dark and quiet alley, his right handresting against the hilt of the dagger at his waist. He circulated the Qi in his body, and his breathing gradually calmed. There was a faint noise, like a choked bang. However, the dagger had neverleft the sheath. It was only sword energy. It was a sword energy of the Wind and Rain Sword of Mount Zhong. Borrowing this sword energy, Chen Changsheng also used the Yeshi Step. Amidstthe chilly wind, his figure suddenly disappeared. With his deceptive movements,he suddenly disappeared into the night, his destination unknown. After a while, several people suddenly appeared around the dark alley. The eyes of these people had the remnants of shock. They all looked each other in the eyes and immediately knew who each of themworked for. Without any sort of warning, they all scattered. The technique that Chen Changsheng had used to leave seemed simple, but it wasactually rather complex. Those people that the great powers of the capital had sent to monitor him wereunable to track him down. At last, Chen Changsheng had finally entered the ranks of the experts. The ringing of the bell in the Li Palace announced to the entire continentthat Chen Changsheng was the new principal of the Orthodox Academy. This newsshocked the people of the world once again. From the Imperial Palace to the Tianhai Clan, to the Divine General of theEast’s Mansion, there were many people who could not sleep because of thisnews. They incessantly analyzed exactly what this would mean. As the target of all this speculation and discussion, Chen Changsheng wascurrently in the southern part of the capital, strolling through a bustlingnight market. He first went to the famous Quyuan Roast Lamb restaurant at the head of thestreet and ordered an entire roast lamb. Afterwards, he began to purchasethings from the vendors on the street. Half an hour later, he appeared under tree outside the New North Bridge. It was a late spring night, but the temperature was not as cold as it had beenthe past few days. There was not much dew on the blades of grass. In the distant imperial city, the lights in the corner of the wall illuminatedthe ground. The light made the tender buds sprouting from the trees seemparticularly green, like freshly-picked tea leaves. This place was very close to the walls of the Li Palace and it was thusheavily guarded. The night ospreys atop the wall who monitored nighttimeactivity were especially watchful, their eyes shining like pearls in thedarkness. Chen Changsheng hid his body in the shadow of the tree and began to feel outhis surroundings. When the squadron of imperial guards was off in the distance,when the night osprey perched on the southeast corner of the wall turned itshead left on schedule, he suddenly made his move. With the tiniest of puffs ofsound, two balls of dust rose up from under the tree. Two clear footprints hadbeen left behind, but he had already disappeared without a trace. After a while, the dust gently fell back down, and coincidentally covered upthose footprints. During all this, his body was like a ghost, arriving above the mouth of theabandoned well. To arrive at the well from under the tree had only taken him one step. Right then he only had time to think, if the Pope was lying, he would mostdefinitely have fallen into an extremely miserable situation. Would this beconsidered a sort of test of his trust? Whoosh. He landed perfectly in the abandoned well, not even his clothes had touchedagainst the wall. This sort of accuracy was truly somewhat shocking. The bottom of the well was once again dug up. Chen Changsheng fell from the bottom of the well directly into that seeminglyabyssal underground space. He immediately became enshrouded in endless darkness. He could only see theextremely faint glimmer of starlight, and he could only hear the increasinglyharsh whistle of the wind. He fell for an unknown amount of time. The air around him suddenly becameviscous, and the speed at which he descended naturally began to slow. At the end, he floated down to the ground like a leaf. As he put his footdown, there was a cracking sound. He had probably stepped on a piece of ice. He had already come here multiple times, so he was not alarmed. Taking out anight pearl, he began to illuminate his surroundings. Along with the shine from the night pearl, the several thousand night pearlsthat studded the ceiling of this subterranean space slowly began to glow. Thepitch-black world became as bright as day. There was a groaning sound. That was the sound created from the distortion ofspace. Chen Changsheng lifted his head and saw the mountainous body of the BlackDragon slowly float over. The body of the Black Dragon was truly too enormous. As it moved, the sound ofthe cold wind became increasingly mournful. The Black Dragon stopped in front of him, and its palace-sized head filledChen Changsheng’s vision. Chen Changsheng happily smiled, then waved at it and said, “Zhizhi, I’ve cometo see you.” The Black Dragon’s eyes were indifferent, its whiskers lightly moved to andfro. As they moved, countless flakes of frost fell from its body, before beingblown by the wind into Chen Changsheng’s face. Chen Changsheng used his hand to wipe off the frost, not at all distressed. He saw the mischievous look in the dragon’s eyes and he knew that it was justteasing him, or else punishing him for coming to see it in so long. After, he saw the wound in between the dragon’s eyes. In comparison to the Black Dragon’s head, this wound was very small. However, in Chen Changsheng’s eyes, this was a fierce and terrible wound. He clearly remembered that the Black Dragon never had this wound before. “Who did this?” He asked gravely. Even if the Black Dragon was imprisoned under the Imperial Palace, that didnot mean that it could randomly become the target of insult and torment. To leave such a frightening wound on its brow, it was imaginable how powerfulthat person was. However, Chen Changsheng did not care. He only thought of demanding justicefor the Black Dragon. That was because right now, he was very angry.