242 The Big Rat in the Pile of Junk

The black rhinoceros pulled the carriage away from the New North Bridge andpulled it to the Orange Garden. One of Zhou Tong’s subordinates knocked on the front door of the OrangeGarden. Mo Yu, who had just been preparing to go to bed, slightly frowned atthe man standing in her main hall. “You may not have to attend the court, but Istill have to wake up early.” Zhou Tong looked around at the famous paintings on the walls and said, “I wasjust with Her Majesty at New North Bridge just now.” These words were very abrupt, and sent without any reason. Mo Yu’s expression suddenly became very serious. “What do you want to say?” “I want to say, I am very afraid.” Zhou Tong said these words calmly and his face held no trace of fear, and yet,for some reason, this Orange Garden, whose spring warmth was maintained by aspell, suddenly dropped a few degrees in temperature. Mo Yu stared into his eyes and realized that the pale whites of his eyes werebloodshot, making them somewhat ghastly. She asked, “Just what are you afraidof?” Zhou Tong gave a nervous laugh and asked, “Are you not afraid?” Mo Yu indifferently replied, “I have no time to keep an adult like yourselfcompany while you go senile.” Zhou Tong forced down his smile and expressionlessly said, “The entirecontinent knows what the greatest problem currently facing humanity is: theposition of the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty. Although Her Majesty has thoughtof returning the throne to the Chen Imperial clan, she is unresolved. She knowsthat if she doesn’t, then the entire Tianhai clan will be completelyannihilated. Even though they say that the Tianhai clan is not synonymous withHer Majesty, Her Majesty still bears the surname Tianhai, so how can she steelherself to see a tragedy such as that play out?” Mo Yu frowned and said, “As you said, the entire continent knows this.” Zhou Tong continued, “So Her Majesty has always hesitated. The Tianhai familyhas taken her hesitation as a chance. In the eyes of Prince Chen Liu and allthe other princes in the counties, this hesitation is the shadow of death. HerMajesty’s continued reticence also has another reason: The Li Palace has nevermade their position clear.” After a moment of silence, Mo Yu replied, “So just what are you trying to tellme?” Zhou Tong expressionlessly said, “I want to say, tonight, His Holiness finallymade his position clear. He does not agree. The Orthodoxy does not agree. Sonow, will Her Majesty continue to hesitate?” Mo Yu did not respond. After the Grand Examination, many people realized who Chen Changsheng’soriginal master was. The Pope had personally admitted it——Chen Changsheng’steacher was the previous principal of the Orthodox Academy, the firmestsupporter of the Imperial clan. Almost two decades ago, he had joined handswith the Imperial clan in an attempt to overthrow the Divine Empress’s regime. Tonight, the Pope allowed Chen Changsheng to become the principal of theOrthodox Academy. The position this decision represented was extraordinarily clear. If the Divine Empress insisted on keeping the Tianhai clan on the throne, thePope and the Li Palace would no longer stand on the same side with her. Theywould assume the same role that the Orthodox Academy played in the past. Mo Yu asked, “You believe…the Empress has already made up her mind?” Zhou Tong was silent, then said, “Her Majesty can willingly abdicate inexchange for the continued existence of the Tianhai clan.” “Preposterous!” Mo Yu angrily declared, “How can the Empress abdicate? And ifthe Imperial clan could be trusted, why would the Empress have hesitated for somany years?” “What if His Holiness acted as a guarantor?” Zhou Tong stared into her eyesand said, “You think that even if Prince Chen Liu ascends to become Emperor,that he would dare to ignore the Orthodoxy?” Mo Yu was somewhat stunned by these words. Only after a long period of timehad passed did she finally speak. “If it really is this way…” She suddenly smiled, “Then that’s also fine.” “For the position of Emperor to be smoothly handed over, for the world ofhumans, of course this is good. For the Tianhai clan to continue existing, evenif not as well-off as it was before, this is also fine.” Zhou Tong looked at her with a smile that was not really a smile. “But for thetwo of us, where is the benefit?” Mo Yu calmly said, “The Empress will naturally arrange things for us.” Zhou Tong replied, “Such disrespectful words. One day, Her Majesty willinevitably board a raft and swim upon the sea of stars. When that day finallycomes, where will the two of us go?” Mo Yu had no answer. Zhou Tong continued to look into her eyes as he continued speaking, “Under HisHoliness’s orders, you have done many things. Why has the Empress never blamedyou? Because the Empress can sense very clearly the unease in your heart, justlike the fear in mine…Those people in the Li Palace have never liked either ofus, so you planned to ease your way into good standing.” Mo Yu met Zhou Tong’s gaze and calmly replied, “So what? When that day reallycomes, there’s really no way for you to survive. There are simply too manypeople who want you dead. As for me…I only want to live, I don’t care aboutmuch else.” Zhou Tong once again gave that forced smile. “Is that so? When some member ofthe Chen Family becomes Emperor, and you’re given a choice between death andbecoming his woman, would you be willing? Then I don’t care either.” There was a subtle change in Mo Yu’s expression. Somewhat jittery, sheshouted, “Just what are you proposing?” Zhou Tong replied, “First, at the very least, we must ensure that Her Majestydoes not decide rashly.” Mo Yu pensively said, “You want to break the tacit understanding between theEmpress and His Holiness?” Zhou Tong replied, “I wouldn’t dare to. I only want His Holiness’s position tolose its effectiveness.” Mo Yu shook her head. “You can’t kill him. The Empress would absolutely notallow it. He has done too much for the Zhou Dynasty. At the very least youcan’t go and kill him now.” Zhou Tong said expressionlessly, “I’ve killed many meritorious ministers andgenerals.” Mo Yu stared into his eyes. “But he has made an even greater contribution. To break through from the Meditation realm to the Ethereal Opening realm wasthe most difficult to pass of the three bottlenecks of cultivation. This wasbecause it was the first time most cultivators would experience a life or deathsituation. With the slightest lack of caution, one could easily end up goinginsane. If the mind was unclear, one might die on the spot. The proportion ofpeople that died this way was extremely high. For countless years, there hadbeen many cultivators that were on the threshold of Ethereal Opening, but didnot dare to attempt to step over it. When Chen Changsheng had deciphered all seventeen monoliths of the frontmausoleum, he had triggered that starlight phenomenon. This indirectly helpeddozens of monolith viewers break through. In only one night, humanity suddenlywelcomed many more Ethereal Opening cultivators into its ranks. Even the sum ofall the disciples who broke through to the Ethereal Opening realm every yearfrom the Six Ivies, the Scholartree Manor, and the Holy Maiden Peak could notexceed the number that broken through into Ethereal Opening in that one nightalone. In the future, just how many of these people would enter Star Condensation andbecome true experts? As Gou Hanshi had said, everyone should be thanking Chen Changsheng. Everyschool and sect should be thanking him. The Zhou Dynasty and all of humanityshould be thanking him. Tonight, when the Pope had directly appointed ChenChangsheng as the new principal of the Orthodox Academy, there was not a singleword of protest within the Orthodoxy. Presumably, tomorrow there would be noone outside the Orthodoxy who would protest. This was because they allunderstood that this was merely repayment for a meritorious service. Zhou Tong went silent for a very long time, then suddenly said, “Tonight, HerMajesty said that he was a real person.” Mo Yu was astonished at these words. She had not imagined that the Empress’sevaluation of Chen Changsheng was so high. “He has merit, and so I’m not allowed to kill him. He’s a real person, so I’mnot able to kill him, but in the end, something must be done.” Zhou Tong shook his head and walked out of the Orange Garden, incessantlymurmuring to himself like a nagging old lady. Mo Yu gazed at his back with some concern. In the Orthodox Academy’s small building, that warm bedding truly did smellvery good. She did not wish to never be able to smell it again. Even if the bedding was even warmer and more comfortable, it would still notbe enough to break Chen Changsheng’s schedule. At five in the morning, he promptly woke up, opened his eyes, washed his face,and rinsed his mouth, then went with Xuanyuan Po to the Mausoleum of Books. The soldiers responsible for watching over the mausoleum probably had notheard about the Orthodoxy’s new appointment, so they were the same as ever. One after another, people emerged from the Mausoleum of Books. There were somemonolith viewers that had entered in previous years, but there were even moreof this year’s Grand Examination examinees. These people were like ChenChangsheng, preparing to go to the Garden of Zhou. When they saw ChenChangsheng standing outside the stone doors, they were like the soldiers, notknowing that he was the Orthodox Academy’s new principal. However, regardlessof that, they all sincerely paid respects to him, even if some of them hadunnatural expressions on their faces. Only after Gou Hanshi had sent Qi Jian and Liang Xiaoxiao out did ChenChangsheng learn that Tang Thirty-Six was still on that mental journey of his.Regretfully, he had no other choice but to turn back and leave. That same night, after Chen Changsheng had treated Zhexiu with acupuncture,Zhexiu went to the library to meditate. Chen Changsheng and Xuanyuan Po beganto tidy up the kitchen— It was unknown when Tang Thirty-Six would leave theMausoleum of Books, and Chen Changsheng and Zhexiu would probably stay in theGarden of Zhou for at least a hundred days. As a result, the kitchen would mostlikely be unused for an extremely long time, so there were many things thatneeded to be tidied up before they left. “I can’t go again. I’m really useless.” Xuanyuan Po said these muffled words as he sat by the basin and washed dishes,his back facing Chen Changsheng. Only cultivators at Ethereal Opening were permitted to enter the Garden ofZhou. Chen Changsheng looked at the demi-human youth’s tall and sturdy back andrecalled how similar it was to how he found him last year at the night market.Consoling him, Chen Changsheng said, “It’s no problem, you just need a littlebit more time.” Indeed, Xuanyuan Po innate talent was very exceptional, or else he would nothave been so well-treated by the Star Seizer Academy. Only that on the firstnight of the Ivy Festival, he had been too severely injured by Tianhai Ya’erand his entire right arm had been crippled. Although under Chen Changsheng’streatment it had slowly recovered, he still had to train it from scratch, butit would only be a matter of time before he returned to his former strength. Inaddition, with Chen Changsheng’s research on methods for the demi-humans tocultivate with human methods, he would certainly explode with power one day. Chen Changsheng naturally began to think about Tianhai Ya’er, the littlemonster that had once caused many people to feel nervous. He could not help butshake his head. He found it impossible to disperse that sense of loathing hehad. It was just like how some women would always be afraid of rats. Regardlessof if they were experienced and knowledgeable, or if they never left the wallsof their own home, even if they were a Star Condensation expert; they had allat one point shrieked at the sight of a rat. A sudden scrambling sound arose from the corner of the kitchen, followed bythe sound of squeaking. This sound was very weak. If Xuanyuan Po and ChenChangsheng had not been cultivators, they probably would not have been able tohear it. “Eh? I just cleaned this place a few days ago, how can there be mice again?” Xuanyuan Po stood up and wiped his hands off on his clothes. He randomlypicked out a thick piece of charred firewood from the stove and walked over tothe corner. Amidst the pile of junk in the corner, there was something faintly moving. “It’s pretty big!” Xuanyuan Po’s eyes went wide. He tightly held the firewood and slammed it downwith all his strength. Chen Changsheng thought to himself, did it really require such strength? Evenif the rat was beaten to death, the floor would suffer a few cracks aswell…suddenly he felt that something was not right. That sound had feltsomewhat familiar. He opened his mouth and moved his hands to stop Xuanyuan Po,but he was too late. With a muffled bang, all the junk was turned into dust. The upper half of thefirewood suddenly disappeared. That terrifying strength sent dust flyingeverywhere. As the dust settled, Xuanyuan Po stared at the still-moving thin and longblack-colored animal on the ground. In complete shock, he yelled, “What in theworld is this? It’s actually not dead!” That black-colored animal flew in front of Xuanyuan Po’s eyes. Xuanyuan Po thought it was a snake or some limbless lizard, but… how could itfly? There was a slap as the black animal used its tail to give him a slap. Xuanyuan Po stared blankly at this scene before him. His mouth opened widerand wider, his tongue grew increasingly clumsy. Losing his mind out of fear, heyelled, “Dragon…dragon…dragon…dragon!” He then fainted straightaway.