343 The Lost Stone Monoliths and the Powerless Girl

Countless years ago, when the Heavenly Tomes descended in rolling flames, theylanded in the current south of the capital. There, the mausoleum mound formed,and it became the Mausoleum of Books. Countless stone monoliths were scatteredon it, and joined with the earth. It could not be separated at all, and couldnot be moved. Neither the Daoist Canon nor the books of history held anyrecordings of the stone monoliths leaving the Mausoleum of Books. As a result,when Chen Changsheng took one day to comprehend all seventeen Heavenly TomeMonoliths of the front mausoleum and saw the broken monolith in the finalmonolith hut, he thought with shock, just who was it that was actually able tobreak the monolith and take it away? Now, only after seeing the stone pillar outside the mausoleum that gave offclear light and constantly shed layers of rock did he understand that themonolith that had left the Mausoleum of Books was in the stone pillar. If so,then the person who had broken the monolith and taken it away was Zhou Dufu.Fair enough—other than Zhou Dufu, who else in the world could do such thingsthat could offend the entire world? He looked at the other nine stone pillarsaround the mausoleum, and his body became stiffer and stiffer. If those stonepillars were also Heavenly Tome Monoliths, did that not mean that Zhou Dufu hadtaken ten monoliths out of the Mausoleum of Books at that time? As it turned out, this was the greatest secret of the Garden of Zhou. No matter if it was the legacies that were left behind by experts of previousgenerations, or even the Sword Pool or Zhou Dufu’s Halving Blade Technique, noother secret could be compared to the secret in the stone pillars. Just when he thought about the matter in shock, the other nine stone pillarsalso began to exude the Qi that seemed to originate from ancient times, andclear light began shining out of them. The clear light landed on the sky, and it shattered the sky into fragments.The fragments landed on the grassland, and exploded into storms of unimaginableenergy. It caused the world to change color, and the whirlwinds that wreakedhavoc on the grassland to become more and more terrifying. They had even liftedup the monsters that were heavy like mountains and the boulders beneath the wetmud. The shaking of the earth became more and more powerful, and there were nolonger any more monsters that could stand. They all fell on the ground insuccession. The Monster Birds that had some resistance by flying in the skywere unable to leave the grassland in time at all. They were blown away bycountless streams of air. Whether they had died or were still alive could notbe known. The grassland and the world of the Garden of Zhou which was slightly furtherout fell into complete disorder, and was about to be destroyed. Even the grandmausoleum began to tremble, and some boulders were completely smashed by thestorm of energy. They turned into heavy rocks, which began to roll down fromhigh above. The rockslide gave off a rumbling like thunder, and squashed manymonsters that were unable to avoid it to death. The whirlwinds arrived at the mausoleum. Nanke’s eyes were closed, and shewaited for death in the violent wind. She was immediately swept away, anddrifted towards the grassland behind her. The two maids, Ning Qiu and Hua Cui,gave out calls of lamentation, and burned their spiritual bodies as if theirlives depended on it. They transformed into two spiritual lights and arrived byher side, immediately transformed into wings of light, which attached toNanke’s body. The whistling, violent wind swept Nanke into the distance. The wings of lightquickly turned into smears of light, and disappeared with the blink of an eye.Seeing this, Chen Changsheng calmed down, and used the Yeshi Step to breakthrough the tearing of the violent wind. He returned to the main entrance ofthe mausoleum. He used the dagger in his left hand to pierce into the heavystone door, and used his right hand to reach towards Xu Yourong. He was prepared to untie Xu Yourong’s waist band, and bind her to himself. Xu Yourong woke up. She looked at the frenetic grassland, and her expressionbecame slightly perplexed. However, when she saw the clear light that came outof the ten stone pillars before the mausoleum, she worked out everything veryquickly. Her complexion became abnormally pale, and she murmured, “It indeed ishim who put it in the Garden of Zhou.” A ray of clear light landed at a location not far away from the main entranceof the mausoleum. The divine path crumbled, and brought with it a series ofviolent quakes. Chen Changsheng was jolted and hit the stone wall. His right hand grasped thedagger hilt tightly, which was why he did not get blown away by the whirlwinds.However, he was unable to grab her. The Tong Bow in Xu Yourong’s hand swayed in the incoming wind, and turned intoa wutong tree that was covered in verdant, green leaves. The tree roots wereattached tightly to the stone wall, which helped her stabilise herself. In the wild, whistling wind, the green leaves fell one by one. Her black hairfloated past her pale face and slightly absent-minded eyes. Chen Changsheng looked at her and shouted, “How can I make it stop?” Ever since entering the grassland, he was used to listening to her opinions.He knew what kind of intelligence and knowledge she had, and he had alsovaguely heard the words she had just spoken. Although, he did not understandwhy she understood this matter so well that she only needed a glance to knowwhat was happening. At the Holy Maiden Peak, Xu Yourong had spent all her time studying theHeavenly Tomes. She was also extremely close with the Divine Empress, which waswhy she knew the secret that almost no-one knew. Looking at the ten stonepillars, she was as shocked as she possibly could be, and only returned to hersenses a while later. She muttered to herself, “...there’s still two missing.” Back then, Zhou Dufu broke off twelve Heavenly Tome Monoliths in the Mausoleumof Books. There were only ten monoliths surrounding the mausoleum, so wherewere the other two? Even at such an intense moment, she who spent all her timewith the meaning of the Heavenly Tomes subconsciously thought of this questionfirst, before finally hearing Chen Changsheng’s voice. Her finger quickly drew on the floor, calculating the relative position of theten pillars in the surroundings of the mausoleum and deducing the connectionsbetween the stone pillars. Originally, she was already extremely weak and spentall the time sleeping. As soon as she woke up, she began to do such complicatedcalculations, so she expended an extremely great amount of energy. In just amoment, her complexion became pale like snow. The violent wind blew the pieces of rock that landed on the mausoleum, whichgave out an extremely terrifying sound. Countless holes immediately formed inthe tough rock, and even the wutong tree transformed from the Tong Bow began tototter. The green leaves constantly fell, and it seemed about to collapse.Seeing this, Chen Changsheng did not think at all, and took the risk of drawingthe dagger from the wall. With difficulty, he moved to Xu Yourong’s side, andopened up the Yellow Paper Umbrella, helping her to block the rock shrapnelthat was like arrows. The Yellow Paper Umbrella constantly gave out thick and disorderly sounds ofbeing hit. In the next moment when the Yellow Paper Umbrella became quiet, ChenChangsheng did not say anything. He did not want to interrupt her calculations. After an unknown amount of time, Xu Yourong shook her head and said, “Can’tcalculate it.” Chen Changsheng peered over the edge of the Yellow Paper Umbrella, and hisgaze landed on the stone pillar in front of the mausoleum. He said, “Therealways should be a method.” It was not blind hope, but stubborn belief. Since Zhou Dufu could suppress theHeavenly Tome Monoliths before, they definitely could also do it. Their currentlevel of cultivation obviously could not be compared to Zhou Dufu from beforein the slightest, but the method should have been there, waiting to bediscovered by them. “The relative positions and mutual relations of the ten stone pillars arerather subtle. It should be a type of formation that can equalise the surge ofQi between the stone pillars and form a type of balance. Logically, it shouldnot be as violent as it is now. I can’t calculate what has gone wrong.” At the moment, Xu Yourong was very weak. However, when she said that, sheactually revealed a glimpse of frustration that was rarely ever seen. Chen Changsheng said, “Before, it should have been the Sword Pool that wasresponsible for suppressing and balancing, but now, I have taken away the SwordPool. If I return the ten thousand swords right now, will it still be of anyuse?” Without too much exact detail, Xu Yourong understood what had happened whenshe was asleep before through his few, simple sentences. Before she could feelthe astonishment, she began to deduce and calculate once again. However, evenafter adding in the variable of the Sword Pool, she realised that the matterstill did not make sense. If they wanted the stone pillars to settle down, the great formation to regainits function and allow the world to be balanced again… they needed even moreHeavenly Tome Monoliths. However, where could she find Heavenly Tome Monoliths? Who knew where theremaining two monoliths of the twelve that Zhou Dufu had taken out of theMausoleum of Books back then were? Also, even if the two Heavenly TomeMonoliths were found, the world of the Garden of Zhou was currently fallingapart, so just who could stop the sky from falling down? As a result, it was useless. No matter if the Sword Pool appeared again, or if the stone pillars settleddown once again, it was already useless. The Garden of Zhou was about to be destroyed, and the humans, demons andmonsters within it would be turned to ashes, or sucked into void space. Xu Yourong lowered her head and looked at her finger that trembled slightly.Her lips were tightly pursed. She seemed a staunch and unyielding girl who wascurrently grieving. She felt that she was very useless. Chen Changsheng understood it, and did not say any more. At this moment, heheld the dagger in one hand and the umbrella in the other, and could not pather shoulder to comfort her, much less hug her to give her warmth. As a result,he could only move slightly towards her, and sit closer to her. His shoulderleaned on hers gently, hoping that it could give her something to rely on. The whirlwind sucked up countless rock fragments which rained on the surfaceof the Yellow Paper Umbrella. It brought an extremely terrifying vibration ofsound, like that of a giant beating a battle drum. If the defensivecapabilities of the Yellow Paper Umbrella were not so great, they would alreadybe dead at that moment. It was very quiet in the umbrella.