493 Once More, I Meet You By the Pool

Chen Changsheng felt shaken to the core because he realized that the chainsand the formation within the wall were actually familiar. He was well-read in the Daoist Canon, and after arriving in the capital andgaining access to no small number of experts of the senior generation, hisexperiences had broadened even more. His nightly chats with Lady Chujian in theGarden of Zhou, his conversations with Su Li in the wilderness—these twogeniuses had taught him much. Yet he still had no means of breaking thisformation, not even a clue on how to start. He could only sense theunimaginably immense strength and terrifying killing intent within. As he struck off the layer of ice and wholeheartedly examined the place wherethe chains attached to the wall, those two deceased generals carved onto thecolossal stone wall also seemed to examine him. After quite some time had passed, Chen Changsheng raised his head to gaze upat the wall. As he gazed up at those two legendary Divine Generals, he was filled withshock. The experts of that time had truly been too powerful. The first generation of blooming wildflowers in the past one thousand yearswas presumably that inconceivable. He was extremely sure that whether it wasWang Zhice that had set up this formation or those two Divine Generals who hadonly left a strand of spiritual sense behind and were still able to hold fastthe chains that bound the dragon, all of them had entered the Divine Domain.Then of the twenty-four meritorious ministers of Lingyan Pavilion, how many ofthem had been in the Saint Realm? In the era of Taizong, how powerful had the human world been? No wonder the demons had been so utterly defeated, ultimately being forcedback to Xuelao City. Then what about now? Beginning several decades ago whenWang Po emerged from Tianliang, many people believed that the human world waswelcoming another generation of blooming wildflowers. He was also amongst theirnumber. Then when would he and the fellow members of this generation finally beable to catch up to those figures of the past? "Take a rest. With your current cultivation, there's no way you can pull thosechains out of the wall." The Black Dragon's voice resonated through the deathly stillness of theunderground space. She spoke in human tongue, so the voice of a young maidencould be heard. It was brimming with ridicule, but it was also relativelycontent. Yes, she was relatively satisfied with Chen Changsheng's performancetoday. When compared to the two simple words of 'thank you', the focus he hadwhen researching the formation in the wall and the chains was intention. With a gust of cold wind, the Black Dragon's mountainous body swiftly movedthrough the underground space. How it had done it was a mystery, but in a veryshort amount of time, its head had arrived in the air in front of ChenChangsheng. It looked down on him from up high, awe-inspiring and deliberatelyapathetic. Chen Changsheng examined the complicated designs of unknown meaning on thechains. He shook his head and then looked up at the Black Dragon. "You mighthave to give me even more time." The Black Dragon replied, "I just said to you, time isn't important to me atall. The most important thing is the result." Chen Changsheng thought, just when did you say that? But upon thinking aboutit a bit more, he realized that the Black Dragon was speaking of that dragoncry. The problem was that he had not been able to understand everything withinthat dragon cry. He raised his head and asked the Black Dragon, "Just what did you say a momentago? What do you want me to do?" The Black Dragon replied, "When you can understand what that means, you willnaturally have an answer." Chen Changsheng didn't understand why these formidable beings of the DivineDomain always spoke in such a cryptic and incomprehensible manner. The Pope waslike this, Zhu Luo was like this, but now that he thought about, Su Li spokemore like a normal person, even though he clearly wasn't much of a normalperson. He could see that the Black Dragon's mind was set. No matter how he asked, itwould not respond. It was just like how in the past, it had refused to tell himwhat had happened on that night he attempted Meditation for the first time. Itwas only today that it, for some reason of its own, suddenly decided to say it.Then it could also be said that on this matter of the dragon cry, perhaps inthe future when it felt like explaining it, it would naturally explain it…buthe was still rather curious. It was at this point that Chen Changsheng realized that having a good grasp ofa language was an incredibly important thing. …… …… In the eyes of outsiders, and even the official records of the court, thisplace was an abandoned palace. Only the eunuchs and maids at the DivineEmpress's side knew that the Empress would occasionally visit this palace tosit or stroll, but nobody understood why. After a certain summer day last year,the Empress began to visit this palace even more, but the people allowed toremain in the palace with her grew less and less. Today, this palace contained only herself. The Divine Empress stood by the water outside the palace, her eyes gazing atthe small pool before her and remaining there for a very long time. From dawn to dusk and then into the night, she reigned over this vast country.She was nominally the master of the entire human world. Every day, she had tohandle countless matters of the Imperial Court. Her time was incomparablyprecious, yet she had spent an entire day staring at this small pool. At the very beginning, it was because her mind was a little restless afterspeaking with that old man. To her, this was an extremely rare occurrence, soshe wished to stand by this water where no one was and calm herself. Then it was because she recalled what had occurred several times when she wasstanding by this pool: meeting with that youth. Later on, it was because she realized that youth had really come. At that moment, she had raised her head and glanced at those many stars whichhad just appeared in the night sky. Her lips perked with a sense of derision,thinking, this thing called fate really is interesting. She had once changed her own fate. She was the person in the world who wouldmost fearlessly confront fate head-on, so she did not leave, instead waitingfor the arrival of fate. In the darkness, the dark green waters of the pool suddenly began to move. Themiddle part of the pool bubbled most fiercely as if it was boiling. She quietly watched that place, allowing the night wind to brush against her. In Taizong's era, she was already acclaimed throughout the world as one of thegreat beauties. Not even Zhou Yuren had been able to steal away her splendor. As she became Empress Consort, she became the supreme beauty of the world inthe eyes of many. When she began to read through the memorials in Emperor Xian's place, managethe affairs of state, and was conferred the title of Divine Empress, no onedared to describe her with the word 'beauty' any longer. Authority would forever be above beauty. But this did not change the fact that she truly was very beautiful. The passage of time had left no marks upon her face. Her so-called serenity,composure, and maturity were merely a matter of temperament. There was nothingthat could be fussed over with regards to her appearance. She was extremelybeautiful, but perhaps because she had reigned over this world for too long,there was a faintly discernible tinge of divine prestige about her appearance,as well as an extremely faint strand of fiendish intent. As the night wind brushed across her face, that beauty and majesty was allwashed away, leaving behind a very ordinary appearance. That fiendish intentwas still there, but it had been pushed deep into the space between hereyebrows. The bubbling and sloshing of water from the pool did not cease, nor did thenight wind. The wind circled around her body, and the sacred gown signifyingher status and identity transformed into an ordinary cloth dress. With a gentle gust of wind, she became an ordinary woman. Only that ebonyhairpin remained stuck into her hair. With a spray of bubbles, Chen Changsheng emerged from the water. He swam over to the side of the pool and climbed out. He walked into a thicketand prepared to change out of his soaking clothes for his spare set of cleanclothes, but then abruptly realized that something wasn't quite right.