437 Koi, Sinking into the Pool, and the Brilliance of a Metal Blade

Zhou Tong put down the file and turned to his subordinate, asking, "Confirmed?" The subordinate took a portrait from his chest and said, "Absolutely true." Zhou Tong did not take the portrait, just examined it with his two eyes insilence. The subordinate continued, "According to our records, in Chen Changsheng'sentire year in the capital, he never mentioned this person." Zhou Tong gazed out the window at the daylight for a very long time. Suddenly,he said, "Speak, do you think Crown Prince Zhaoming actually died, or was hesecretly taken away by those traitorous fellows from the Imperial clan thatrefuse to die?" The subordinate didn't know how to answer. Extremely nervous, he said in aslightly hoarse voice, "My lord's meaning is?" Zhou Tong shook his head, then said, "I don't mean anything. I justinadvertently thought about this matter." The subordinate didn't dare respond. "There are some matters which we temporarily cannot investigate clearly thatwe also do not need to care about." Zhou Tong withdrew his gaze from the windowand said, "Why was Liang Xiaoxiao willing to strike a deal with that devilBlack Robe, why did he prefer to commit suicide in an attempt to deal with SuLi and his daughter? Because he wanted revenge. That year, why did Su Li go tothe Longevity Sect and kill so many people and then also run off to XunyangCity and go on a killing spree, causing the Liang Household's strength togreatly decrease? Because the southerners wanted to take advantage of my GreatZhou's internal chaos and invade the north, and so captured his wife tothreaten him, making him go crazy. Why was the Great Zhou in such chaos?Because of that bloody incident of the Orthodox Academy. Thus they say that allthings share a common origin. In the final analysis, all these matters wereconcerned with the problem of the position of Emperor of the Great Zhou. Aslong as we recognize this fact, there should be no mistakes on our side." The subordinate said, "In the past five days, Prince Chen Liu visited theBureau of Ecclesiastic Education three times." "Don't forget, although the Empress has no child of her own, Emperor Xianstill has many sons and grandsons. Even if the Empress really did abdicate andturned the position of emperor over to the Chen Imperial clan, with Prince ChenLiu being so young, just what chance does he have? It's only natural that he'sanxious." "My lord's meaning is that Prince Chen Liu wants to win the Orthodoxy'ssupport?" "Mei Lisha is about to return to the sea of stars. He will not appear for thismatter. As for striving to obtain the good impressions of the priests of the LiPalace, just how do you think he has been able to survive in the capital up tonow, and moreover to live better and better as time passes?" "Although you don't care about the position of emperor, everyone excluding youdoes. Consequently, I believe that the end of all these problems, or perhapsthe source of all these problems, is precisely the position of emperor.Principal Shang's thoughts will also rest upon that throne." After listening to Tang Thirty-Six's words, but before he began to ponderthem, Chen Changsheng first paid notice to that name. "Principal Shang…who is he?" "Your teacher, Shang Xingzhou." Chen Changsheng fell into a long silence. This was the first time he had heard that name, and he had already livedtogether with this name's owner for fifteen years. In recent times, he had many opportunities to learn this name, but he hadnever asked, no matter if it was to Mei Lisha or the Pope. This was because hedid not want to know this name, because he did not want to, after learning thatname, confront those problems he did not want to think about. He also did notwant other people to know that he did not know this name, because this factmade him somewhat sad. Tang Thirty-Six could vaguely guess at his current mood. For some reason, hedeveloped a bad impression of Chen Changsheng's teacher. He asked, "Did youever think about why he accepted you as his disciple?" Chen Changsheng was somewhat at a loss, asking, "Master picked me up by ariver; is there a need for any other reason?" Tang Thirty-Six stared into his eyes and said, "Your surname is Chen." "So?" Chen Changsheng had no reaction. Tang Thirty-Six said,"Could it be that you never thought…that you might be ofthe Imperial clan?" Chen Changsheng was momentarily stunned, then shook his head. "No way, Ifloated down from one of the rivers originating from the Cloud Grave. Myparents are probably descendants of some clan that had committed a crime in thepast." Tang Thirty-Six teased, "And just how old were you back then? You don't know athing." Chen Changsheng replied, "This is what Senior said. Senior has never deceivedsomeone, much less deceived me." These words were said very definitely, and there was no hint of uncertainty inhis clean eyes. Tang Thirty-Six wanted to say something else, but when he saw those eyes, hesomewhat restrained himself. He changed the subject, "What path are youprepared to walk next?" When Chen Changsheng had arrived at the capital from Xining, he had originallythought his path to be crystal-clear. It was to find the secret to defying theheavens and changing fate, and thus escaping from the shadow of death. But now,he suddenly realized that before he could reach that point, he had to confrontmany different side paths. "I don't know." "You need someone to help you." "Who can help me?" "Me." "Okay, then you can help me." It was a very simple conversation, and confidence that made one feel verywarm—this was because the two of them were both youths. Perhaps calm and mature, perhaps arrogant and frivolous, but they were allyouths. There were times when youths were so hot-blooded and naive that it exasperatedothers, but when compared to those elders that had endured many long years oftribulations, their lives were much simpler and the relationships between themwould also be much simpler. Tang Thirty-Six replied, "No problem. First, we should understand all thefactors behind this matter." Chen Changsheng shook his head, saying, "First help me do one thing." Tang Thirty-Six didn't feign any thought. Without any hesitation, he declared,"Speak, tell me this thing." Chen Changsheng looked at him and said, "Can you first take a bath and brushyour teeth?" How did that saying go? ‘I haven't even brushed my teeth…’ In short, asomewhat irritated Tang Thirty-Six was pushed out of the library by ChenChangsheng and was washed sparkling clean with the aid of two large basins ofhot water. After assuring that he didn't have a single speck of dirt from theMausoleum of Books, he was allowed to change into a clean set of clothes.Afterwards, he took a steamed bun that Xuanyuan Po had just finished making andwalked to the lakeside. Chen Changsheng place Sir Xun Mei's notebook on the bookshelf and recorded itdown, then went to wash Sir Xun Mei's bedding and Tang Thirty-Six's fur skin.It took him an entire hour to wash them clean, after which he hung them up onthe great banyan tree. Hanging from the tree, they looked just like two swings. The rain in the morning had long since ceased and the sun of the early summershone over the lake. It didn't bring up too much mist from the lake and therewas no feeling of stuffiness. No more were the curses of Tianhai Ya'er. The Orthodox Academy was a pictureof serene beauty. Standing by the lake and gazing at the scenery on the other shore, TangThirty-Six said, "My grandfather once said that His Holiness is a good man, soyou also shouldn't worry too much." As he spoke, he absorbed himself in tearing the steamed bun in his hand topieces. The Pope was Chen Changsheng's martial uncle. Logically, he should be veryhappy to accept these words, but on his journey from the snowy plains to thesouth with Su Li, he had encountered far too many assassinations and plots. Itwas truly difficult for him to convince himself that the Pope really was a goodman. "Zhu Luo and Guan Xingke were most likely requested by His Holiness to go." Chen Changsheng looked at the reflection of the blue sky and white clouds inthe lake, which looked as if it had met with that perfect and seemingly unrealsky of the Green Leaf World. He shook his head. "How could a good man becomethe Pope?" "This sort of way of viewing the world seems very mature, but it's actuallyvery crude." Tang Thirty-Six threw the torn-up pieces of the steamed bun into the lake andsaid, "His Holiness was never famous because of his intelligence. He was ableto become the leader of the Orthodoxy because, in the past, he was very closewith the Divine Empress. Of course, the most important factor is still becausethat old man's strength is unfathomable. Even your teacher Principal Shangultimately lost to him." Chen Changsheng said, "But…he wanted to kill Su Li." "We've come back around again." Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and saidteasingly, "I'm going to say something you're not going to like. In his life,Su Li has killed so many people, and countless people want him dead. Could itbe that all those people are bad guys? In reality, in the eyes of those people,you protecting Su Li on his journey south makes you the real bad guy." Chen Changsheng thought to himself, is that really true? "We first have to make clear for what purpose Principal Shang let you enterthe capital." Tang Thirty-Six continued, "You must know, my grandfather once said, thepeople that can truly make him feel afraid in this world number only three anda half. Your teacher is one of them." Chen Changsheng's curiosity was piqued. He asked, "And the other people?" Tang Thirty-Six replied, "The Empress, the Divination Elder, and also BlackRobe." Chen Changsheng counted up those powerful figures of the continent and askedin confusion, "What about the Demon Lord?" Tang Thirty-Six answered, "The Demon Lord's not a human." "Then that half a person…who is that?" "Black Robe. Since he's devoted his life to the Demon race, it's only naturalthat he no longer be counted as human." Chen Changsheng had seized upon the most vital point of this sentence. Hequestioned, "Does the Tang Old Master know Black Robe's true identity?" Tang Thirty-Six did not answer this question. Time gradually passed and the sun also gradually moved across the sky. Theazure sky gradually turned red and twilight suffused the sky. In the sky behind the great banyan tree, one could already see a smear of thecoming night. They stood by the lake, softly discussing these matters which theyfundamentally had no interest in. Back then in the Plum Garden Inn, Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six hadtheir first meaningful conversation. At that time, they had both subconsciouslywanted to seem more mature, to imitate the conversation and social intercourseof adults. But all this did was make them seem rather cute in an awkward andchildish manner. Now that they had finally touched upon these things, they abruptly realizedthat they didn't want to mature anymore. Because maturing often indicated decay, indicated complexity and exhaustion. Several dozen koi kicked their tails in the water. Because they had eatentheir fill of steamed bun, they seemed lacking in strength. One of the fattestkoi was even slowly sinking into the mud at the bottom of the pool. The atmosphere of the lake was somewhat heavy. "The world has always been very big and the minds of men have always been verycomplex. The dark times will always exceed the night, the uninteresting timeswill exceed the Heavenly Dao Academy, especially those old folks that rule thisworld. Their bodies exude the smell of dust from every pore." Tang Thirty-Sixlooked at him and said, "But those things aren't really important, because wearen't that sort of people." Chen Changsheng gazed into the water at his reflection, examining his ownface. Somewhat uneasy, he asked, "Did you ever think…in the future, we mightchange into that sort of abhorrent people." Tang Thirty-Six sneered, "That's every single person's own problem. Could itbe that even if you turn into a pile of shit, you still have the face to blamethe world?" He continued, "You must understand, if we want to become a certain type ofperson, then our world will change to that type of world." Chen Changsheng thought that these two sentences were exceedingly reasonable. Before he departed from Xunyang City, Su Li had said some words to him. Onlynow did he completely understand them. Raising his head, he looked at TangThirty-Six and said, "Thank you!" According to Tang Thirty-Six's character, he should have indifferently repliedright now with a 'you're welcome', but for some reason, he didn't. A refreshing night breeze blew across, slicing the golden ripples on the lakeinto countless pieces. It was almost like he had returned to Xunyang City, on that long and stormystreet with cracks in space everywhere, the edges of those cracks giving off ablinding light. A metal blade was bared before the storm, absolutely unwavering. "I want to become a person like Wang Po."