430 Darkness

The crown prince was the natural successor to the position of emperor. If theGreat Zhou had a crown prince, there would simply have been no need for theconflict between the Orthodoxy and the Divine Empress to evolve to its currentdegree and the state of the continent would be much more stable—in fact, theGreat Zhou really did have a crown prince once. He was the son of Emperor Xianand the Divine Empress, and he was precisely Crown Prince Zhaoming. Lamentably, the successive crown princes of the Great Zhou never met a goodend. After Emperor Taizu founded the country, his crown prince died a tragicdeath in the rebellion in the Hundred Herb Garden. The crown prince that hadbeen meticulously raised and educated by Emperor Taizong was also ultimatelyinvolved in some indescribable conspiracy and killed. This Crown PrinceZhaoming also met a rather unfortunate end, but one could also say that it wasrelatively fortunate, because he died when he was very small, rather than beingcut down in a similar tragedy. Not long after Emperor Xian died, Crown Prince Zhaoming died of illness in hisinfancy. But no one believed it. Of course no one believed it. How could the union ofthe blood of the Imperial clan and the Divine Empress produce a son that diedso young? With regards to the reason for the death of Crown Prince Zhaoming, there werecountless theories. There was one theory that was the most broadly spread—back then when the ChenImperial clan joined hands with the conservative faction of the Orthodoxy todrive the Divine Empress from the emperor's seat, in that soul-shaking battlewhere the Divine Empress and the Pope obtained the final victory, severalhundred princes and nobles of the Chen Imperial clan were either killed orbanished. In addition, the teachers and students of the Orthodox Academy werekilled or wounded until there was almost no one left, leaving only the frostedgrass and the broken wells and collapsed walls. However, the Divine Empress hadalso paid an enormous price—in that rebellion, Crown Prince Zhaoming waspoisoned to death by the Divine Empress's enemies. There was also another theory that spread far and wide, but it was impossibleto hear it in the teahouses and the inns. Only in the dark night was ituneasily circulated. That theory was even more cruel, even more callous. There were some people who surreptitiously insisted that several hundred yearsago when the Divine Empress was expelled from the Imperial Palace by EmperorTaizong and lived out her miserable days in the Hundred Herb Garden, she hadgotten to know the Pope and the then-Principal of the Orthodox Academy. Fromthem, she learned the secret to defying the heavens and changing fate. Sheswore an oath to the starry sky that it would be better in this life if herbloodline was to be ended, and from this defied the heavens and changed fate.Crown Prince Zhaoming's death was the curse from her defiance of the heavensand the changing of her fate, or perhaps it could be said to be the wrath ofheaven…it was also possible that it was an action she had done herself tocomplete the process of changing her fate! In those dark rumors, those people narrating seemed to have personallywitnessed that dreadful and bloody scene in the Imperial Palace, describingeverything in vivid detail—how the Divine Empress's hand had passed through theswaddling clothes, reaching for that wailing infant. Her beautiful anddignified face showed no expression, but a single tear flowed down from thecorner of her eye, and then the crying sounds gradually grew quiet. In thedarkness, the palace was so peaceful it could cause the heart to beat in fear. If this was the wrath of heaven invited by the Divine Empress going againstthe heavens and changing her fate, leading her to be without descendants and tolive alone on this world until her death, then the Heavenly Dao and the sea ofstars were truly too unfeeling and terrifying. If the Divine Empress hadpersonally killed off her only son so that she could complete the process ofchanging her fate just so that she could live on this continent isolated andwithout anyone else, then she was truly too unfeeling and frightening. No matter the theory, Crown Prince Zhaoming was already dead, dead for acallous and terrifying reason, dead in a very unfortunate and pitiable manner.Afterwards, there was no one who dared to bring up this topic, including theChen Imperial clan and the Orthodoxy. Only that crazy Lord Hu of the ImperialBoard of Astronomy, even after Zhou Tong had plucked out all of hisfingernails, continued to declare to the world with his blood-filled mouth thatCrown Prince Zhaoming…was not dead. And then, right as Zhou Tong was preparedto rip out Lord Hu's tongue as well, the Divine Empress bestowed her mercy andallowed Lord Hu to return to his home to recuperate. In the view of many, this was not mercy, it was a guilty conscience, orperhaps a sort of self-consolation. Just what went on in the Imperial Palace inthat year? Just how did Crown Prince Zhaoming die? Why would the Empress have aguilty conscience? Thus, that cruel and horrifying theory spread more and more.Of course, it still only did so in the dark night. At night, the Imperial Palace was very peaceful, but this night at thebeginning of summer was actually endlessly cold. The chief eunuch lowered his head, not even daring to glance at the DivineEmpress. The quiet courtyard, in a flash, transformed into a frigid snowy plain. Therewas no sign of any snowflakes, but the surface of the pool was graduallyforming a layer of ice. With a single thought, a Saint could move heaven and earth. If they were in arage, the waves would rage and the sea would be in turmoil. If their mood wasdark, the curtain of the night would fall over the sky. If their emotions wereboth downcast and extremely melancholy, there would naturally be wind and snowfor days on end. Just as the chief eunuch felt like his sea of consciousness would freeze andsnap, the Divine Empress's voice finally rang out once more. Her voice was verycalm and very indifferent, just like the water of the pool under the sheet ofice. "All the world's people are my sons. The Prince of Xiang (相) and thePrince of Xiang (象) are also my sons. Zhaoming's death has never beenimportant." (TN: The two Princes of Xiang have different Chinese characters fortheir names. The first one uses '相' while the second uses '象') It had never been important, so it had also not been important in the past. The chief eunuch lowered his head even more, as if it was almost about totouch the cold surface of the ground. He slowly began to retreat backwards intothe darkness. From outside the garden slowly ambled a black goat, its fur as glossy black asjade. It had walked out of the darkness as if it carried a piece of thedarkness with it. Was everything obscured by the darkness true? Then what about darkness itself? The Divine Empress gazed expressionlessly at the goat and asked, "And whatabout you? Why are you willing to be so close to him? Just who is he?" Tonight was Chen Changsheng's first night in the Orthodox Academy after hisreturn. Just like all those previous nights, after eating dinner and strollingaround the lake, he very naturally walked into the library. Luoluo had returnedto the Li Palace and Tang Thirty-Six was still in the Mausoleum of Books.Xuanyuan Po was hitting trees and Zhexiu was still in Zhou Prison. He didn'tknow what else to do, so he decided to just continue cultivating. The starlight passed through the colored glass and the snowflakes passedthrough the sparse leaves, not stopping at his clothes or skin but directlyentering the depths of his body. The mantle of snow on the plains was growingever thicker. Although the lake surrounding his spirit mountain was still farfrom transforming into a vast ocean, the force of the water was much greaternow. The stone door of the Ethereal Palace at the end of the slanted stonesteps in the spirit mountain was already fully open. A gentle light shot out ofthe dwelling and scattered all over the water, giving a very tranquil sensation. In his current state, he would naturally not be as perplexed as before,believing that the starlight he had absorbed had all gone to some other place.He calmly perceived that star of his in the distant starry sky and perceivedthe changes in his body. Time slowly passed, and after some time, he opened hiseyes, awakening from his trance and beginning to sort out his gains from thistime. When he had left the Mausoleum of Books, he was already at the upper level ofEthereal Opening. After encountering so many powerful enemies in the Garden ofZhou and on the journey back south, his sword heart had gradually completelyharmonized and his cultivation had grown much more stable, even almost faintlyabout to climb to the peak of Ethereal Opening. Adding on how long he hadfollowed Su Li for, his swordplay had advanced even more. With both of these,he could said to be unrivaled amongst all cultivators below the StarCondensation Realm. Even if he were to encounter cultivators at the initiallevel of Star Condensation, he would still have a chance of winning. This factwas rather comforting for him, but it did not allow him to relax at all,because he had never once forgotten that piece of darkness. His time was truly not abundant. Even if he could be considered the fastestperson to cultivate to the peak of Ethereal Opening, there was a still aboundless distance to the Concealed Divinity Realm. Just how long would thattake? So he absolutely had to value his time—after concluding his meditation,purification, and self-introspection, he immediately began to practice hisswordplay. The lake and snowy plain within his body indicated that he had alreadyaccumulated an enormous amount of true essence, far surpassing that ofcultivators of the same age. The problem was that his meridians were stillbroken and it was impossible for him to completely utilize this true essence.The Blazing Sword taught to him by Su Li could only address one part of this.In addition, the price required by the Blazing Sword was too great. With hiscurrent level of cultivation, he could at most perform three strikes. Moreover, the Blazing Sword was impossible to practice; it injured the body.The Intellectual Sword was also impossible to practice; it injured the mind. Hecould only practice the Stupid Sword. Standing on the floor, he pulled out hisdagger and bared it horizontally in front of him, incessantly repeating thissimple and dry routine. It truly did look rather stupid. After doing it one thousand times, he once more sat cross-legged on the floorand sent his spiritual sense into his sheath. The world within the sheath contained ten thousand damaged and broken swords.They peacefully floated in that space, not disturbing each other. These swords no longer possessed the might they had when they first appearedin the Garden of Zhou. However, these were divine swords whose names once shookthe world after all, and their sword intents were still powerful. The seeminglyexpansive space had long since been occupied by those sword intents. His spiritual sense passing through the ten thousand sword intents wastruthfully a very dangerous thing, especially because this time, he was notattempting to use his spiritual sense to control those ten thousand swords.Instead, he was having his spiritual sense come in direct contact with thoseten thousand sword intents. He was using the sword intents of the ten thousand swords to hone his swordheart. He was currently already harmonized with his sword heart. If this was madeknown to others, it would inevitably incur stunned cries of admiration, becausethis was an incredibly difficult task to accomplish. The next step was to trulymake the sword heart brightly lit. And yet to make the sword heart brightly litrequired too high of a talent in the path of the sword. Surveying the entirecontinent, only a scant few possessed sword hearts that were truly brightly lit. The problem was this: in the past few weeks, Chen Changsheng had met twopeople with brightly lit sword hearts—Su Li and the girl called Chujian—so itwas naturally impossible for him to be content with this. Those sword intents were a grindstone and his spiritual sense was the edge ofa sword. Sometimes sharp and sometimes tyrannical sword intent constantlytouched, grinded, and cut away at his spiritual sense. This was a very painful course of events. He closed his eyes and didn't exudea bead of sweat, but his face gradually grew paler. The edges of a sword are only produced through incessant honing, and only byenduring the bitter winter can the plum blossoms give off a beautiful scent.Without experiencing a storm, one cannot see a rainbow. He thought of these famous sayings of the people of the past while enduring analmost unimaginable suffering, until that spiritual sense that had entered thesheath grew increasingly thin and weak, like it could scatter at any moment… Suddenly, he felt that hidden behind those ten thousand sword intents,something was attracting his spiritual sense. As soon as he sensed that attractive force, the spiritual sense that was thinand weak and about to scatter abruptly stabilized and regained its formerstrength. His spiritual sense moved past the ten thousand sword intents and slowly madeits way over to the distant other side. Eventually, the light boat finally passed the ten thousand heavy mountains andhis spiritual sense finally arrived at the shore beyond the ocean of swordintents. The other shore of the ocean of sword intents turned out to be a real shore.On the shore was a black stone monolith. Not a real stone monolith, but anillusion. That black monolith was somewhat familiar. It seemed just like a piece ofdarkness. The instant he saw that black monolith, Chen Changsheng very naturally had acertain feeling. This illusion of a monolith should be a door to another place. What world was on the other side of the black monolith? What lay behind thedarkness? Suddenly, he remembered that the reason this black monolith seemed sofamiliar was not because it was the darkness that he saw every night, butbecause that black monolith looked exactly like Wang Zhice's black stone, whichhe had taken from the Lingyan Pavilion and was transformed back into a HeavenlyTome Monolith. It also looked exactly like the Heavenly Tome Monoliths that hadbeen placed all around the Mausoleum of Zhou.