307 Waiting for the Arrival of Fate

Chen Changsheng did not know what Xu Yourong was thinking at this moment, muchless the fact that her emotions underwent such great change in such a shorttime. He removed the fireflow pill from the jade box, and directly placed it toher lips. Afterwards, almost instantly, or even somewhat roughly, he shoved itin. Xu Yourong’s lips opened slightly. She was about to say something, toexpress her gratitude… and her moved feeling to him. However, she did notspeak. It was directly blocked by the pill. “An hour before and after consumption, you cannot drink water, otherwise itwill decrease the essence of fire within the pill.” Chen Changsheng stared ather, who was currently red-faced from being choked off, and spoke seriously.However, some worry bloomed in his heart. The fireflow pill was very large. Xu Yourong was unable to speak at all, andonly swallowed after a very long time. It was very tiring, and afterwards, shebegan to cough. A while later, when she recovered slightly, she looked at himand said in an irritated manner, “Even if I can’t drink water, give me areminder. Don’t you know that coughs are uncomfortable?” Although she spoke irritatedly, her voice was instead slightly peaceful. Itwas a grumble, but it slightly seemed similar to a spoiled child throwing atantrum. Chen Changsheng was unable to tell and said with his eyebrows slightlyfurrowed, “Sorry, I was slightly anxious. However, there is nothing to fearabout coughing. It is not choking. It should be a common sign of expellingpoison. Even Xu Yourong herself did not realise that she had revealed a spoilt lookjust before. However, she felt slightly embarrassed, and said quietly, “I don’tknow whether it is the effects of the medicine, but I feel slightly sleepy.” How could it be a common sign of expelling poison? She was just looking for anopportunity to speak. How could the medicinal effects kick in so quickly, itwas only because he did not how to respond to it. In the end, it was still likewhat Tang Thirty-Six had said in the Plum Garden Inn, he and she were reallytwo people that caused others to be speechless. Whether it was because of the medicinal effects, or for some other reason, XuYourong did feel slightly sleepy. Chen Changsheng carried her out of the stone room and into the corridor  totake shelter from the wind. He removed some cloth from the seventh stone roomand covered her. All of the most valuable silks and satins in the mausoleum,including the extremely rare silk created by the snow silkworm, had all turnedinto broken fragments. Interestingly, the most worthless sackcloth remained asit was before. What he lay on her was the curtain screening made out ofsackcloth. Gazing at the sleeping girl, he secretly prayed that the fireflow pill stillcontained enough efficacy. Afterwards, he walked into the stone room again, andopened that jade box again, carefully sniffing it. The worry in his heart didnot disappear, instead, it grew stronger and stronger. Only after discovering and collecting the different types of spirit medicinesthat had not completely deteriorated did he finally have time to have a look atthe harvest from the stone rooms. Using his spiritual sense to scan over itslightly, the items he inspected first were the secret manuals and techniques. He read through the Daoist Canons since childhood. After arriving in thecapital, he had also read all of the several tens of thousands of books withinthe Orthodoxy Academy library diligently. As a result of this, when he readthrough the secret manuals and techniques, he only needed to see the name toknow which school or sect it belonged to. Contrary to what ordinary people imagined, the secret manuals and techniqueswere not rare in the slightest, and he was naturally unable to master all thesetechniques in a night. Speaking of which, the experts that had thequalifications to be Zhou Dufu’s opponent had all originated from famousschools and sects. They had all become ghosts under Zhou Dufu’s blade, but thelegacy of the schools and sects were not broken. Similar to how Mount Li remained strong even though the secrets of the MountLi Sword Style were taken by the White Emperor Clan. However… it was just likethe secrets of the Mount Li Sword Style; thee secret manuals and techniquesnaturally were extremely valuable, or at least to those schools and sects, asthese were all the original copies. Afterwards, he began inspecting the magical artifacts. Over time, anoverwhelming majority of the magical artifacts had decreased in power. Underthe directions of Xu Yourong, he collected a few artifacts that still had somepower, but they were still far from as they were years ago, and could not becompared with the divine weaponry on the Tier of Legendary Weapons at all. Onlythe black Soul Pivot was an exception. Time was indeed the greatest magical artifact in the world. Chen Changsheng suddenly had a theory. Zhou Dufu was the true legend of thecontinent, an unrivalled existence. The Garden of Zhou was his world, and thiswas his mausoleum. Logically, there should have been some objects of evenbetter quality, that had the qualifications of being picked to be buried withhim. Were these objects taken by someone? In the long corridor before the nine stone rooms, there was a thin layer ofdust which had many disorderly footprints. However, these footprints were allleft by him, and all the magical artifacts, treasure and secret manuals stillremained. This was proof that nobody had entered before. In the past several hundreds of years, there were countless cultivators whowanted to locate Zhou Dufu’s mausoleum, and wanted to receive his legacy aswell as the the treasures from it. These cultivators were either brimming withtalent, or they had made extremely sufficient preparations. These people wereall at least peak level Ethereal Opening before they dared to enter themysterious Plains of the Unsetting Sun, yet, they never arrived there, andinstead died on the journey. For him to be able to enter this grassland, andarrive at this mausoleum, it was not because he was more outstanding andstronger than these seniors, it was due to the fact he had the Yellow PaperUmbrella. After a moment of pondering, he gazed at the Yellow Paper Umbrella in hishands once again. After entering the mausoleum, he did not put the umbrella away. If he did not have this umbrella, or if he had not chased after the faintlydiscernable sword intent which led their way, it would be impossible for themto arrive here in the first place.  There was a higher possibility that theywould have already become lost in this dangerous grassland, becoming the foodof the groups of monsters. However, how would they leave afterwards? Would theystill have to rely on the Yellow Paper Umbrella? Or would they have to look forthe strand of sword intent? He had always felt that the Yellow Paper Umbrella bringing him here was thebeckoning of fate. Yes, he believed in fate. This seemed extremely  preposterous, because when he came to the capital fromthe old temple in Xining Village, he objective was to change his own fate.However, in the deepest region within his consciousness, he truly believed inthe existence of fate, and even believed in it more than anyone else. There must be a mountain in front of him for him to climb the large mountain. There must be a large, rough river for him to cross the river. There must be an objective for him to strive towards the objective. There must be fate for him to change fate. The final words of Wang Zhice’s diary had said, “There is no fate.” These four words could shake the world, but to him, it was just a new view. His view was different from Wang Zhice’s. It had to be different. He wanted tosee his own fate clearly before changing it. If fate allowed him to meet so many people, to do so many things in thecapital before finally bringing him to the Garden of Zhou, then in the Gardenof Zhou, what kind of fate was awaiting him? The Yellow Paper Umbrella hadsensed that strand of sword intent and brought him to this mausoleum. There wasdefinitely some deep meaning hidden behind it. If he wanted to leave the Gardenof Zhou, did it mean that he needed to find the strand of sword intent? Was the sword intent in the Sword Pool? Where was the Sword Pool? Walkingthrough the long passageway and arriving outside the mausoleum, he stood on thetall platform. Chen Changsheng used his left hand to support his back while hisright hand held onto the Yellow Paper Umbrella, and gazed  at the grasslandbefore his eyes. It was already sunset. The distant sun had already arrived in its fixedposition for every night—the edge of the grassland, above the horizon. Underthe warm and red light, the endless grassland seemed to be burning. The pondshidden within the grasslands were similar to countless small rivers, reflectingthe appearance of the sky. Behind him was the mausoleum of Zhou Dufu. If the person who saw this scene at this moment was a gifted scholar who hasgrieved for the changing seasons, he would probably feel even more sorrow, andsigh sorrowfully because everything in the world could not win against time.However, he did not. The setting sun remained at the distant edge of the grasslands, however, thesurroundings of the mausoleum suddenly began to rain. Chen Changsheng raised the Yellow Paper Umbrella. Drops of rain pitter-pattered on the surface of the umbrella. The dropletstransformed into countless small splashes, constantly leaping up before fallingdown. He released his spiritual sense, extending it from the shaft of the umbrella,all the way up to the canopy of the umbrella. Finally, like the leaping smallsplashes of water, the spiritual sense left, dispersing into the surroundinggrassland of the mausoleum. He was well-versed in the Daoist Canons, and was confident about the fact thatthe sword intent could not gain an individuality. Since it did not have anindividuality, it was impossible for it to change its own state of its ownaccord. At the very beginning, he could feel its existence beside the coldpool, because the sword intent had always existed, waiting to be discovered. Inthis case, the sword intent should not have been able to disappear on its ownaccord. If an object could not disappear on its own accord but was unable to be found,then it must have been hidden by someone. Chen Changsheng stood in the rain, and released his spiritual sense into thegrassland. He searched for the target, and at the same time, he began to combout the changes that occurred when he approached this mausoleum—in the instantXu Yourong laid eyes on the mausoleum, the sword intent disappeared. At thattime, he thought that the sword intent had already completed its orders ofleading the Yellow Paper Umbrella, so it naturally disappeared. After he hadcalmed down, and arrived at the same conclusion, he had naturally confirmedthat this was not the case; the strand of sword intent should have been hiddenaway by a certain ‘person’. And that ‘person’ should have been the mausoleum. He turned around and gazed at the mausoleum behind him. The mausoleum formed from piles of huge rocks grew steeper the higher it was.It was unbelievably tall. Chen Changsheng stood at the centre of the mausoleum; the mausoleum seemedeven taller, as if it pierced the layer of clouds in the sky. His gaze followed the upper component of the mausoleum and landed on the greyand dull clouds. He only saw the dark clouds surge, and in the depths were thefaint but constant flashes of lightning, they seemed especially terrifying.Even though they were separated by thousands of zhang, he could clearly feelthat there was a great Qi within the clouds that was capable of destroying theworld—the mausoleum was the core of the Garden of Zhou. This Qi should havebeen the tangible form of the rules of the Garden of Zhou. The rain gradually fell heavier and heavier, and most of the huge rocks withinthe mausoleum were wet.  Between every layer of rock, there would be countlessthin streams of waterfalls flowing. If one were to look at it from outside themausoleum, he would definitely feel that this scene was very spectacular, witha hair-raising beauty. However, for he who stood within the mausoleum, he couldonly feel his hair rise and naturally could not feel the beauty. “If there is time, I must leave the area of pressure from the mausoleum, andsee if that sword intent will appear once again or not.” He thought silently, and then heard a vague sound of someone calling for him.Holding the Yellow Paper Umbrella, he once again walked into the mausoleum. Xu Yourong had awoken. Her complexion remained pale, but she appeared slightlybetter, and seemed to have recovered some energy. He asked, “Were you calling for me?” The rain outside the mausoleum was extremely heavy, and even though he had theumbrella, he was still wet. He appeared to be in a rather sorry condition. However, Xu Yourong did not laugh at him and shook her head. She said quietly,“You heard wrong.” Chen Changsheng thought that it was probably due to the fact that he was fartoo worried about her injuries and had really misheard it. Xu Yourong looked at him silently. Her two hand beneath the sackcloth wereslightly clenched. When Xu Yourong first woke up, she could not see him by her side. Thesurroundings were gloomy, actually causing her to feel scared, or moreaccurately, flustered. Ever since her bloodline had awakened by itself, she had never felt flustered. She knew, that this was unrelated to her dependence on Chen Changsheng, andwas also unrelated to other things. This was the manifestation of the low spirits of will. She had become weakerand weaker, even her bright lit will of Dao slowly began to grow gloomy. This was a sign of death. Chen Changsheng crouched down beside her, and extended his hand to feel herpulse. He stayed silent for a long time, before saying with a smile, “Yes, themedicinal effects are currently dispersing. The poison can be considered to benot completely gone, but there should be no more major problems.” The art of lying paid particular attention to ninety percent real and tenpercent false. Not a single word he had said was real. Xu Yourong looked at his eyes and said indifferently, “Do you know that yoursmile is really fake?” Chen Changsheng’s body became slightly rigid and laughed, “How can smiles befake?” Xu Yourong smiled slightly, “It indeed is not fake. It’s idiotic.” Chen Changsheng acted as though he was slightly annoyed and replied, “I justhate your cold and arrogant way of speaking.” “I will notice it… at least, on your face.” Xu Yourong said something that hedid not expect. Chen Changsheng stared blankly. Xu Yourong smiled and continued, “Your smilejust a moment ago looked as if you were crying. It is indeed very idiotic, andanyone can tell it’s fake.” Chen Changsheng was speechless. He lowered his head, and extended his hand topull the edge of the sackcloth, helping her cover her legs. “The medicine was useless, right?”