Ze Tian Ji

Chen Changsheng turned around to look at her and replied, "You’re not much better. Your face is as pale as the frost on the grass."

Xu Yourong was a little at a loss and looked at her reflection in the water. Only then did she realize that her face was abnormally pale, and her hands subconsciously grabbed her cheeks.

In Chen Changsheng’s eyes, the subconscious action was really cute.

"Thank you." She awoke from her daze, and then supported herself on his shoulder and leaned against his back.

"Excuse me." He placed a hand in the crook of her knees and slowly lifted her body upwards.

Just like this, they left that pile of grass. They stamped through the bloody sea of grass and left for some other, cleaner place.

The water in this sea of grass was not all that deep. At its shallowest, it did not pass the knees, whereas its deepest parts barely reached the waist. It was just that the sludge under the water was too soft. Chen Changsheng was carrying a person on his back while his left hand had to hold up the umbrella, making walking rather difficult. Fortunately, the morning sun had already risen some time ago, and the temperature of the sea of grass had gradually grown warmer, making it extremely comfortable. While they walked through the spring water in the spring light, as far as the eye could see was soft and tender green grass. Even if it were even more difficult to wade through, it was still somewhat consoling. If it were not for those noises, then it would seem even more like they were taking a stroll in the spring.

Behind them in the plains, they could faintly hear whistling as something flew through the air. That whistling came from Nanke’s two wings. Whether it was Chen Changsheng or Xu Yourong, after they had gotten a little understanding of these Plains of the Unsetting Sun, neither of them were worried that those demon experts would catch up to them quickly. Contrarily, what made them even more vigilant was the rustling noises around them. Those noises belonged to the natives of the sea of grass—yesterday, Xu Yourong had slain many monsters, but she had paid a heavy price. Simultaneously, she had also known that these plains assuredly had even stronger monsters, even existences that were beyond even Ethereal Opening cultivators.

Chen Changsheng wielded the Yellow Paper Umbrella, sensing the position of that strand of sword intent as he continued forward. The sun had almost reached high noon, but the light was not too harsh, rather it was warm and comfortable like a spring day. Xu Yourong did not understand why he had been holding on to the shabby umbrella and worriedly thought to herself, is he suffering from heatstroke? Or maybe that young cultivator’s black frost Qi is in conflict with the sunlight?

If this had something to with Snow Mountain Sect’s secret cultivation method, it would naturally be difficult to talk about, but there was one matter that she absolutely had to be clear on. "Just where are we going?"

Chen Changsheng replied, "To the Sword Pool."

The sword intent pointed to a destination that, to his thinking, had a very high chance of being the legendary Sword Pool.

If the Garden of Zhou really did have a Sword Pool which had remained undiscovered despite the efforts of so many people, then it was very obvious that its most likely location was within these plains from which no one had ever emerged.

Xu Yourong understood this point, but she did not understand how he was able to be certain of the Sword Pool’s location.

Chen Changsheng did not answer this question. It was not because he did not want to reveal the secrets of the Yellow Paper Umbrella to her, but rather that in the end, the Sword Pool was no ordinary treasure. Having experienced these two days and one night of escaping together, he could entrust his life to this girl and place a sufficient amount of trust in her. However, just because this was the case, was there any need to add on this gambling chip to once again test her character? Character was not something that could be tested. For each test, there was a high chance that the relationship would take one step backwards. Similarly, trust was not something that could be used. Each use of trust was to pare away at it.

As they continued onward, the water beneath this sea of grass began to lessen and the ground began to grow more solid. Now this place was truly beginning to feel like a plain.

Walking through the dense grass and feeling his steps gradually grow more steady, Chen Changsheng began to feel much more stable. However, the beeping’ sounds coming from the plains around them had also increased in number. It was clear that there were many more monsters concealed in the grass around them than there had been on the wetland. These monsters could be even more fearsome.

Xu Yourong took out the Tong Bow and calmly observed the surroundings, ready at any time to take action. Yet for some reason, as Chen Changsheng carried her for dozens of li, none of those monsters ever launched an offensive or even approached them. There were even three times where she had clearly sensed the terrifying Qi of monsters that were observing them from the distance. They had been so strong that even if she were at her peak, she would not have been their match. Why did those powerful monsters not come and kill them? If this were before, she would have thought that it was the aura emitted by her true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix directly suppressing these monsters’ greed. But now she had almost none of this blood left, so what were those monsters afraid of?

The two continued to move forward. The ground grew increasingly dry, while the grass grew shorter and sparser.

Ultimately, they arrived at a patch of grass they had never walked across. This grass was ashen white, and yet it was not dead. It seemed just like an old man’s hair. In the verdant plains, this short and ashen white grass was extremely striking. Moreover, it extended from under their feet to far off into the depths of the plains, forming a very obvious path.

They did not know where the path formed by the white grass went, nor what dangers were concealed there.

Xu Yourong said, "If... that person is really dead, this path most likely leads to his grave."

Chen Changsheng understood why she would make this conjecture.

In the "Essay on the Origin of the Dao", in the "Classic on the Afterlife", there was a saying: With the white grass as a path, onwards to the sea of stars.

If Zhou Dufu had really died, and his body had really been buried in this world, it was highly likely that his grave was in the depths of these plains. The White Grass Path represented a passage for the dead. There was another strong indication for this to be true. Based on the trembling of the Yellow Paper Umbrella, the strand of sword intent was far down the White Grass Path. If that sword intent indicated the position of the Sword Pool, it was extremely in accordance with their logic—the millions of swords which rested in the Sword Pool were Zhou Dufu’s spoils of war. Of course, they would also serve as the finest offerings for him.

“The Garden of Zhou has no sea of stars, so the Sword Pool acts as the sea of stars." He agreed with Xu Yourong’s opinion and said, "It seems that we’ll have to walk to the end of this White Grass Path to know if what’s at the end is death or something else."

Xu Yourong did not think that he would so quickly recognize the origin of her conclusion, so she gave a him a glance of admiration.

Whether going to the sea of stars or to death, they were both very far away, so this White Grass Path was also naturally very long. Chen Changsheng walked on for a very long time, but it seemed like they had not moved a step.

The sun of the Plains of the Unsetting Sun would rise and then fall, but it would not disappear. It would make its way along the perimeter of the plains and then rise once more.

They walked and walked, and walked some more. When they were thirsty, they would drink some clear water from some puddle by the road. When they were hungry, Chen Changsheng would prepare some monster meat to eat. When they could no longer fend off sleep, he would sleep while she calmly sat on the side. When she became exhausted, he would wake up and they would switch places. Chen Changsheng’s injuries improved, but she remained as feeble as ever.

On a particular day, when night fell once more—not a real night but just the light growing gloomier—rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.

Chen Changsheng carried her as he ran through the rain. At some point, she had taken up the umbrella in her hands and used it to block out the wind and rain.

The rain that night was too violent. A single umbrella was incapable of protecting them. It was just that in this flat grassland, where would they find a place to take shelter from the rain?

Just at this moment, they broke through a curtain of rain and saw a temple.