533 Returning the Umbrella and Asking for the Way Ou

Zhexiu was by the window, a model of loneliness, longing for some person. Uponhearing Tang Thirty-Six's question, he fell in a daze, very naturally thinkingabout many things—at the Grand Examination, in that bitter battle in the Towerof Purging Dust, the anger and bashfulness revealed on his opponent's face whenhis hand attacked their chest. Later on, they had lived together under the sameroof in the Mausoleum of Books, letting him vaguely guess at something but notdare voice his suspicions. Later still, they met once more in the Garden ofZhou and he carried her on his back and ran towards the setting sun. As he thought about these things, the corners of his lips turned up and herevealed a warm smile. Tang Thirty-Six was completely unable to expect that this wolf youth famed forbeing unfeeling and ruthless would show such an emotion on his face. For amoment, he was dumbstruck. Holding his forehead, he thought,just what's gonewrong with this world? Xu Yourong is actually dating Chen Changsheng whileZhexiu is yearning for love! …… …… "Tang Tang is very similar to a person." "Senior Su Li." Chen Changsheng very naturally gave out the correct answer, then exchangedglances with Xu Yourong and laughed. At this point, they had already left the Orthodox Academy and come to theHundred Flowers Lane outside it. Snow was falling from the sky and under theYellow Paper Umbrella, it was very difficult for them to be seen by others. In fact, from the moment they met at Fortune Peace Road yesterday, ChenChangsheng desperately wanted to ask why the Yellow Paper Umbrella was in herpossession. After all, this umbrella was his. However, regardless of howignorant he was of worldly affairs, given that he had just made a mistake amoment ago, he knew that he could not ask the question this way, so he couldonly endure it for now. Holding up the umbrella, they walked through the wind and snow along theeastern bank of the Luo River. After crossing Eight Willows Lane, they arrivedat the Bridge of Helplessness. It was only natural that they began to thinkabout yesterday's battle. "If at that time, I knew you were my opponent, would the result be different?" Standing on the center of the snowy bridge, Chen Changsheng whispered as hegazed in the direction she had come from yesterday. Xu Yourong replied, "From the very beginning, you never had any intentions ofwinning." After a moment of silence, Chen Changsheng said, "Because of the matter ofannulling the engagement, I always felt that I was being somewhat unfair toyou." Xu Yourong faintly smiled but said nothing. "Your cultivation level is above mine, so it was always difficult for me towin, and also…I don't like acting according to the plans of others." Chen Changsheng turned to gaze through the snow at the distant Li Palace. On that spring day almost two years ago, he left, humiliated, from the DivineGeneral of the East's state. On another, smaller bridge, he had once sighedwith similar emotion. He cultivated the Dao of following his heart. His fate was not good, so hewished even more to grasp it in his hands. "No one likes the feeling of being part of fate's plans." Xu Yourong turned inthe other direction towards the Imperial Palace. "But yesterday, I really didwant to fight with you, because I wanted to know what level your sword hadreached. Moreover, I wanted to win in a fair and upright fashion. I don't likethe feeling of losing." Yesterday, in the beef rib restaurant on Fortune Peace Road, she had saidsomething similar, but today, she spoke more seriously and openly, her wordsunvarnished. The two descended from the snowy bridge. As it was snowing, there weren't manypeople walking on the bridge. Only a stall selling tanghulu on the side wassurrounded by people and seemed rather lively. The majority of this crowd wereidlers with nothing to do. They were currently discussing yesterday's battleand chatting about all sorts of gossip. Like the engagement, like showing mercy, like being in love, like beingmerciless, and there were even a few quite shocking jeers. Those idlers were clueless to the fact that the two subjects of theirconversation were standing by their side. Xu Yourong's head was slightly lowered, Chen Changsheng's slightly raised.Once more, they walked across the bridge, but this time they were not enemies,so what were they? The snow was falling faster, and although it could not be described as fierce,it was enough to gradually confuse the eyes. The pedestrians on the street grewfewer and fewer, the eaves on the roof and brims of the wells being layeredthicker and thicker with snow. The streets and alleys of the capital weretransformed into an expanse of white. The original colors of the buildingpeeking out from the snow were like clean lines on a white sheet of paper, verypleasing to the eye. The snow on the stone pillars of the Li Palace was like white hats on top ofslender stone men. The Mausoleum of Books was still verdant and lush, except that the DivinePath, burdened with snow, seemed like a frozen waterfall. No person came to disturb the small courtyard of the Plum Garden Inn. It wasvery serene, the snow-covered ground like a piece of felt. They couldn't bearto step on it, so they stood under the porch, gazing at the tree in the verycenter of the courtyard while they chatted about the excitement he felt twoyears ago when he first saw the rubbings of the Heavenly Tome Monoliths as wellas the bamboo dragonfly. Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong used the entire day to walk the entire capital,going to many places and speaking about many things. For the majority of the time, he who was unskilled with words was speaking,introducing the places they visited: the loneliness of the Lingyan Pavilion,the Night Pearls of the Dew Platform. He very seriously carried out the role oftour guide, wishing for her tour to be all the happier. From beginning to end, Xu Yourong listened quietly at his side, a smile on herlips. These were all places she had played until she was bored in as a child, eventhe Mausoleum of Books and the Imperial Palace. She had even treated the stonepillars of the Li Palace as slides. There was no way she required a youth who had lived his childhood in XiningVillage to explain it to her. Chen Changsheng had originally known about these things, but he forgot. She knew that he must have forgotten, but she didn't want to remind him. At dusk, they finally returned to Hundred Flowers Lane. At the back wall ofthe Orthodox Academy, Chen Changsheng wanted to return the Yellow PaperUmbrella to her, but she shook her head. "Martial Uncle Su wanted me to give this umbrella to you." Chen Changsheng was very happy, thinking, I and Senior Su Li argued about thismatter for tens of thousands of li, but now it seems that Senior has finallyrecognized his error. He sent his spiritual sense into the handle of the umbrella and suddenlynoticed a problem. In shock, he asked, "What about the sword in the umbrella?" The foundation of the Yellow Paper Umbrella was that sword of Mount Li's SectMaster that was the only sword in the past thousand years to break out of theSword Pool on its own, the Heaven Shrouding Sword that had once shaken theentire continent. Back on the snowy plains of the demon realm, when Su Li had pulled it out ofthe umbrella, such was its might that one stroke had been enough to slay aDemon General, and one more was enough to slash open a path to survival. But now this Heaven Shrouding Sword was clearly no longer within the umbrella. "Martial Uncle said, the umbrella could be given to you, but the sword camefrom Mount Li and couldn't be given to you. He gave the Heaven Shrouding Sword…" Xu Yourong paused, then continued, "To Senior Brother." She didn't state that it had been given to that senior brother of the Mount LiSword Sect, but Chen Changsheng knew that she was definitely speaking ofQiushan Jun. This was the first time either of them had touched upon the name of QiushanJun. Chen Changsheng felt somewhat uncomfortable, perhaps because of how naturallyshe had said the words 'senior brother', perhaps because it was his name thathad been paired with hers in the past several years, or perhaps it was becausehe had grown up and cultivated the Dao with her and was truthfully much morefamiliar with her then Chen Changsheng was. "What's wrong?" Xu Yourong asked, inclining her head. Chen Changsheng's head was lowered as he gazed at the umbrella in his hands,as if he was studying something. He casually responded, "It's nothing." The two seemed somewhat ignorant, but in reality, they understood everything. "Martial Uncle Su also wanted me to bring you two letters." Xu Yourong took from her bosom two letters and held them out in front of him. For some reason, as her fingers gripped the letters, her brow was slightlycreased. The instant Chen Changsheng took the letters, he felt like his fingertips hadbecome pincushions, pain piercing through his body. At once, he moved hisspiritual sense to forcefully suppress the impulse to throw these letters away. These two letters contained a monstrous sword intent! He glanced in astonishment at Xu Yourong. Xu Yourong nodded. Pointing at the two letters in his hand, she said, "MartialUncle Su said that you could open the yellow envelope at any time. The blackenvelope, on the other hand, you should keep safe. In the future, if youencounter any situation you find impossible to resolve, open it then." In the Garden of Zhou, the Heaven Shrouding Sword's sword intent and swordbody had reunited. Outside the Garden of Zhou, Su Li and this sword hadreunited. That grandmaster of the path of the sword, because of this luckychance, once more experienced an increase in power, cultivating to unknownheights of strength on the path of the sword. He now no longer needed the Heaven Shrouding Sword. He wanted to go travelingwith the Holy Maiden, so he left the Heaven Shrouding Sword to Qiushan Jun andthe Yellow Paper Umbrella to Chen Changsheng. This seemed very fair, but it wasn't really. Although the Yellow PaperUmbrella was an incredibly potent defensive magical artifact, how could it bediscussed on par with the famed Heaven Shrouding Sword? However, Chen Changsheng had no complaints. In the end, the Heaven ShroudingSword was the sword of Mount Li's Sect Master. It was only right and properthat it be left at Mount Li. He carefully put the two letters away. Thinking of that senior who had alreadygone far away, he suddenly felt rather emotional, felt like he missed him. On the tens of thousands of li from the snowy plains to the south, he and SuLi had experienced much together. Although, in terms of cultivation andgeneration, the two were incomparably distant, they could be considered to befriends in spite of the vast difference in age. "Just where did he and the Holy Maiden go?" "A very distant place." "The Great Western Continent?" "Even farther than the Great Western Continent." This answer was somewhat surprising, yet it was also within reason. To the ordinary people of the continent, the lonely Great Western Continent inthe ocean was already the most distant place, but Su Li had traveled the worldfor several centuries and had presumably already visited long ago. Now, for the sake of humanity's future, in an extremely free and easy manner,he had placed down all his grudges and hostility and taken the Holy Maiden todrift far away. Of course, they had to go to an even farther place. But was there a place even farther than the Great Western Continent? Chen Changsheng recalled some extremely obscure records within the DaoistCanon and asked Xu Yourong in shock, "Could there really be other continents?" The records within the Daoist Canon concerning other continents were not atall like the personal experiences of travelers. The writings were exceptionallyambiguous, seeming more like conjectures. To be well-read in the Daoist Canon did not mean that one knew all thingsabout the world, because there were many things that were not, or could not be,recorded in words. Xu Yourong was the current Holy Maiden. As a child, she had grown up andstudied in places like the Li Palace, the Imperial Palace, and South StreamTemple, so she naturally knew a bit more. "It should be the Sacred Light Continent." She explained to Chen Changsheng,"I heard Teacher say that on the other side of the sea of stars, on theincomparably distant other shore, is another continent. That world is bathed inlight and inhabited by beings very similar to us. But the sea of stars is vastand impassable. If one does not pass through the sea of stars, there stillexists an extremely firm spatial barrier between the two continents. Onlyexperts that have stepped into the Divine Domain have the opportunity to breakthrough this barrier and enter the world on the other side." Amazed, Chen Changsheng asked, "You're sure?" ……