Ze Tian Ji

Edited by: Michyrr

Time incessantly marched forward, and the faces of the two officials of the Department for Purging Officials within the carriage continued to pale. They ceased waiting and departed from Hundred Flowers Lane.

The starlight illuminated Zhou Prison, illuminated the crabapple tree, illuminated the great crimson robe upon Zhou Tong’s body. Like the Netherworld, like a fairyland, like a sea of blood.

Upon hearing his subordinate’s report, his face did not change, just like that of a corpse.

Within the Orthodox Academy was the sword array of South Stream Temple, and outside was the Orthodoxy cavalry. The Li Palace had not seemed to do anything, but in reality, it had long since made preparations—Mao Qiuyu had always been in that inn within Hundred Flowers Lane. His two sleeves swayed in the breeze, yet he had a divine artifact on his person. The Orthodox Academy itself held eighteen cardinals, and the darkness still concealed a few experts that Mei Lisha had left behind.

(TN: Two sleeves swaying in the breeze can also mean ’uncorrupted’ and ’clean-handed’)

Zhou Tong had used the lives of fourteen elite assassins to confirm these facts.

Against this array of forces, even if the Divine Empress really did move the Imperial Guard, she was not guaranteed to kill Chen Changsheng, unless she personally stepped out herself. And she would have to finish the deed in the shortest possible time, or else the Pope was certain to appear. He had never held any hope of killing Chen Changsheng tonight. He only wanted to probe and then conclude that it was no good and that he was required to find another way.

In a manor located in the suburbs of the capital, several people were also discussing the same matter.

"It’s no good, it’s far too difficult to attack the Orthodox Academy in a way that won’t attract attention."

"The clan has spent so much money in the past few years. Did we feed it all to dogs?"

"If it was anything else, we could probably do it, but this matter is no trivial concern."

"The first thing you should tell me is just how many people we have in the Orthodox Academy."

"We really do have agents within the Orthodox Academy, and also within the Orthodoxy cavalry. We even have friends within the Li Palace willing to assist us. But Xu Yourong’s response was simple yet effective. As long as the South Stream Temple sword array exists, it is impossible for us to approach that house."

"I just don’t believe it. There’s no way that a sword array formed by those girls can stop us."

Seeing the excited expression on this nephew of his, Tianhai Chenwu slightly creased his brow then raised his hand to halt the arguments in the hall. He asked, "Is your surname Zhou, Wang, or Su?"

Zhou was Zhou Dufu, Wang was Wang Zhice, Su was Su Li.

In the past one thousand years, only these three people had ever invaded Holy Maiden Peak and broken through the sword array of South Stream Temple, and even they had consumed a massive amount of time and an enormous amount of strength.

In the Tianhai clan, just who could compare to these three legends? And who had the confidence to break through the sword array of South Stream Temple, enter the house, and kill Chen Changsheng before the divine presence of the Pope?

Upon hearing this question, the nephew was struck speechless, his entire face red as he lowered his head.

Tianhai Chenwu glanced at his son, who had never spoken once, then he declared indifferently to his clansmen, "The Holy Maiden is intelligent, her deductive abilities unrivaled. It is impossible for her to leave behind a single gap."

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"The Orthodoxy will naturally protect Chen Changsheng, and seeing that the Holy Maiden is also willing to protect Chen Changsheng, the Divine Empress might have some scruples and at least will not personally act. Thus, Chen Changsheng is safe, but she forgot one matter, and that is that Chen Changsheng is not a corpse."

Zhou Tong impassively gazed at his subordinates and concluded, "Since he is not a corpse, he will assuredly have his own way of thinking. If he wants to leave the Orthodox Academy on his own, who can obstruct him?"

His subordinates did not completely understand, asking, "Why would he want to leave?"

Zhou Tong stood in front of the courtyard, gazing at the crabapple tree, not responding to the question.

He had seen the message between the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets and the Imperial Palace.

In the message, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets said that Chen Changsheng would soon die.

He knew that a person like Chen Changsheng would never just quietly die like this.

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The wine cup fell against the hard pearwood table, giving off a dull yet somewhat crisp sound. Tianhai Shengxue, who had returned from Snowhold Pass to the capital not too long ago, mocked those cousins of his in the hall. His gaze finally rested on his father as he spoke, "We can only wait until he walks out of the Orthodox Academy himself."

Tianhai Chenwu’s expression grew gentler and somewhat appreciative, but in the next moment, this appreciation vanished with the night wind. His expression turned solemn once more and his voice turned cold.

"He will come out, and as long as he takes just one step out of the Orthodox Academy, just kill him."

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The darkness was as before, still peaceful and serene, those collapsed figures just an illusion as if many assassins had not come and then been killed one by one.

Zhexiu quietly gazed at the lakeshore. Upon confirming that those assassins had all been killed, he still did not relax. He was still somewhat concerned and so slid down from the banyan tree and headed towards the house.

Countless inert sword intents lay concealed, inwardly coinciding with the principles of the world and interweaving around the house. If someone without permission were to intrude, they would assuredly arouse countless terrifying sword glows.

Zhexiu turned a blind eye to this and walked on through.

Those sword intents still remained in the darkness, not activating and chopping towards his body. The South Stream Temple disciples were keenly aware of his relationship with Chen Changsheng. The Holy Maiden had been invited into the Imperial Palace and it was truly impossible for the rest of them to make a decision in such a short time.

No plan in the world was truly without flaw. No matter how incredible Xu Yourong’s skills in deduction were or that the starry sky itself was carved upon her Fated Star Plate, there were still some things that she could not calculate, like the minds of others.

Just like that, Zhexiu crossed through South Stream Temple’s sword array and walked into the house.

Then, he saw Tang Thirty-Six.

Tang Thirty-Six was very worried about Chen Changsheng, so it was only right that he appear here. It was very obvious that the arrangements Xu Yourong had left behind were of no use against him.

"What is he doing?" Zhexiu asked Tang Thirty-Six.

Only half a day had gone by, but Tang Thirty-Six was clearly exhausted.

The fact that Chen Changsheng was on the verge of death had placed a massive psychological pressure on everybody. As Chen Changsheng’s best friend, his mood had been even more greatly affected.

Tang Thirty-Six did not respond to Zhexiu’s question. He only gazed at the tightly shut door, a rather gloomy expression on his face.

Zhexiu spoke no more, walking straight over and pushing open the door.

There was nobody in the room.

Seeing the vacant bed and the unoccupied desk, his and Tang Thirty-Six’s complexions instantly changed.

After a while, the just-informed Su Moyu quickly hurried over.

"What do we do?"

Su Moyu’s expression was very concerned. "We have to quickly inform the Li Palace."

After a moment of silence, Zhexiu answered, "Don’t."

"There’s a sort of massive beast that, upon learning that it will soon die, will travel to some place very far away to quietly await the final moment, unwilling to let anyone see it. Perhaps it feels that only this way can it preserve its final bit of dignity."

Tang Thirty-Six concluded, "Chen Changsheng is probably thinking along these lines."

Zhexiu commented, "When cats are about to die, they’ll do something similar."

The blankets on the bed were folded neatly into a square, looking just like a piece of tofu. The desk and bookshelves were free of dust as if they been bought today. When he left, Chen Changsheng seemed to not bring anything with him, including the old books and water-damaged bamboo dragonfly on the bookshelf. However, Xuanyuan Po was not here, or else he might have discovered that a kitchen knife used for slicing bones was missing from the Orthodox Academy’s kitchen.

In addition, when Ye Xiaolian entered the library to rest, she realized that a small box was sitting by her bedding. Upon opening the box, she saw a letter. The name on it was Chen Changsheng’s and he said that it was meant for Xu Yourong.

An hour before all this occurred, at midnight, Chen Changsheng jumped from the window of the library, passed through the dense forest, and reached the kitchen on the other side of the lake. Taking a kitchen knife, he then opened the Yellow Paper Umbrella, jumped over the newly built section of the wall, and left the Orthodox Academy.

The South Stream Temple disciples realized that the target of their protection had vanished. It did not take too long for this news to reach the mansion in the suburbs of the capital and the courtyard in the alley of the Northern Military Department.

Early autumn crabapple trees naturally had no flowers to blossom, and it was still too early for leaves to fall, so its dense foliage gently rustled in the night wind. The starlight fell upon the crimson official’s robe and then reflected to below the crabapple tree. The leaves gently rising up and down were plated with a blood-red luster, transforming into a sea of blood.

"I don’t like any sort of variable that is beyond my control, and I hope that all of you can remove this variable as soon as possible. In other words, all of you have only one night to find him."

Zhou Tong stood on the steps, gazing expressionlessly at the dense mass of kneeling officials in the courtyard. "Afterwards, I don’t care what method you use, but you must kill him."

The officials in the courtyard silently dispersed like a tide, leaving behind only a solitary crabapple tree and two officials dressed in crimson official’s gowns.

There were very few officials who were qualified to stand on the same level as Zhou Tong, and Cheng Jun was one of them. As a powerful minister similarly deeply trusted by the Divine Empress, in the so-called Eight Tigers discussed amongst the populace, he was only beneath Zhou Tong.

"To invade the Orthodox Academy in the middle of the night to assassinate someone is one thing. He’s left the Orthodox Academy, and if we still want to kill him in the capital, that would be an open killing...the Pope will not let us go."

Cheng Jun was a high official of the Grand Court of Revision, yet he had none of the dignity of someone charged with maintaining the laws of the Great Zhou. His face was like an inverted triangle, his nose drooped and his lips were thin. Merely based on his face, he was an extremely loathsome person.

The officials that the Divine Empress used at the very beginning were all those who had been excluded from the bureaucracy, the once-disappointed. This was because, at the very beginning, those officials who truly possessed integrity and talent were not willing to vow their loyalty to her.

"Besides the Empress, who in the world would be willing to let us go?"

A faint smile hung over Zhou Tong’s face. Under the starlight, his face seemed even paler. He did not seem like a living person and his smile was all the more strange and terrifying.

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When news that Chen Changsheng had left the Orthodox Academy arrived at this mansion, the Tianhai clan’s discussions hurriedly concluded as they all speedily dispersed. With this dispersal, the will of the clan was spread to the entire capital. From the Imperial Guard to the mansions of the capital, countless people plunged into the darkness in an attempt to find Chen Changsheng and then kill him.

Tianhai Chenwu walked under an autumn tree and gazed at an extremely distant ball of light, not speaking for a very long time—that place was the Dew Platform, the place where the Empress most enjoyed spending time.

Gazing at his father’s back, Tianhai Shengxue was also quiet. He felt that there was something off about today. Killing Chen Changsheng was naturally not a very difficult task, but it should not have made the entire Tianhai clan suddenly stir to life like a hurricane, because this array of forces was too great, because they would not necessarily find Chen Changsheng. On the contrary, this would only put the other side on their guard, even giving them a sort of notification, but why?