Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Xue Xing Chuan led the Red Cloud Kylin through the entrance. This elite who ranked second among the thirty eight Generals in the continent now appeared to be extremely respectful and submissive. The Red Cloud Kylin beside him looked even worse. Its body kept on shaking and it couldn’t stand still. The hammer-like kylin tail kept on waving back and forth. It seemed distressed.

The middle aged woman wrinkled her eyebrows.

Xue Xing Chuan didn’t understand why his mount was behaving so strangely tonight. He stood up and tried to explain, “the power of the Queen is boundless……”

The middle aged woman was the Divine Queen of Zhou Dynasty, the most prestigious individual in this world.

“It’s unrelated to me, you don’t have to worry,” she thought back to the moment when the youngster of Tradition Academy stood near the door and held his sword handle. She rubbed the neck of the kylin lightly. In just a moment, the Red Cloud Kylin calmed down.

“Next time don’t bring it so close, or else it may actually die from exhaustion,” she looked at Xue Xing Chuan and said.

Xue Xing Chuan was confused. He thought to himself, “Is the weird behavior of kylin due to the ordinary youngster named Chen Chang Sheng?”

“You really think he’s ordinary?”

The Divine Queen seemed to read through his mind and said indifferently, “If he’s actually an ordinary youngster, how could he break even with Gou Han Shi at the Ivy Festival? Without some skills, why would the elders use him to distract me?”

Xue Xing Chuan was silent, because at this moment, it was unfitting for him to speak. Especially since the Divine Queen had expressed her dislike of the Tradition Academy today, it meant that he had made a big mistake dealing with the public riot in front of the Tradition Academy the way he did.

Only one Night Pearl on the Nectar Platform was lit up. The black goat named Hei Yu was standing besides the Night Pearl. It was rubbing its head against the pearl, while Mo Yu was grinding ink in front of the desk. The wind was blowing the hair on her cheek causing it to be a little messy.

Hearing the voice, she turned around and saw the Divine Queen walk up the platform. She immediately went over to walk by her.

“Queen, the fall rain washed the sky several times. Tonight was the right time to observe stars but you came late.”

Divine Queen said, “I have already seen it tonight.”

Mo yu was surprised, asked, “Where did you see it?”

Divine Queen said, “In the Herb Garden.”

Hearing these words, Mo Yu felt a little shocked thinking that anyone in the palace would know that ever since the previous emperor passed away, the Queen had never visited the Herb Garden. Why did she break the rule tonight?

“You went to the Tradition Academy today?” The Divine Queen seemed to ask casually.

She didn’t say “I heard you went to the Tradition Academy,” because she was the Divine Queen; she didn’t need to ask indirect questions.

The coldness in Mo Yu’s heart grew. She thought to herself, how would she even dare to hide anything but she responded with a low voice, “Yes.”

The Divine Queen raised her left hand and lightly touched Mo Yu’s soft cheek. She said, “Did you do these things?”

Mo Yu knew what kind of positions the Queen and Tian Hai Family played in the two consecutive blood baths that happened today.

She didn’t understand the Queen’s attitude, so she didn’t dare answer recklessly. Mo Yu answered lightly, “I dare not.”

“Without your permission, they dared to act? The Tradition Academy is pretty close to the Royal Palace.”

The Divine Queen looked at her and said lightly. Her right hand was still rubbing her face.

Mo Yu noticed the smile on the Queen’s lips and her heart froze. She was terrified.

How would she know that the Divine Queen was just thinking about the youngster and was comparing the smoothness of their faces?

Mo Yu lowered her head and said, “The whole business about this marriage still needs a conclusion……Xu You Rong used the marriage vow as an excuse to not marry Qiu Shan Jun. The bond between North and South….”

“What about the bond between North and South? I said it before, if Xu You Rong doesn’t want to marry, then let her be, but……no one believed me.”

The Divine Queen lowered her hand and walked to the Platform of Dew while glancing at the capital under the night sky. Her voice showed a trace of loneliness, “Everyone always thinks I value the world the most and that sacrificing a girl’s dream is trivial by comparison. Therefore you didn’t believe me, even Xu You Rong didn’t believe me. For this……you used all that you can.”

Mo Yu was silence for a moment and said, “Regardless of the marriage vow, I still think the youngster is a little strange. He appeared in such a precise moment and critical situation.”

The critical moment she was referring to was the bad influence the marriage vow had on the policy of Zhou Dynasty. In addition, he was now a symbol of the old force of capital to strike against the Queen.

The Divine Queen didn’t turn around and said indifferently, “Aren’t you the one who put him into the Tradition Academy?”

Mo Yu’s expression turned serious, “Yes, but I’m thinking perhaps someone was pushing the wave in disguise and used the Dong Yu General’s Mansion and Xu You Rong’s letter to prevent me from making the correction decision, and this decision helped Chen Chang Sheng appear in front of the public of the capital.

“So what if he appeared?”

“His last name is Chen. Perhaps someone is trying to make the capital’s public think back to the royal family.”

“……..how did your research go?”

“His teacher is Taoist Ji…..and besides this, there are no more clues. According to the message from Xi Ning, the old temple is still there but no one is in it.”

Hearing the name of Taoist Ji, Divine Queen was silent for a long time and she suddenly said, “Stop the investigation.”

Mo Yu was surprised, she didn’t understand why the Divine Queen ordered this.

Divine Queen looked at the starry sky quietly. There is fate, but no one can see through their own fate, even she can’t.

But she had the confidence to control her fate and even the heaven cannot stop her from doing so.

That youngster was her nemesis?

Hilarious.

She said, “The capital is vast.”

Mo Yu was little surprised, she didn’t understand what the Queen meant.

“The continent is vast, the sky is wider, but none of them can compare to my heart.”

She said slowly, “And you think I can’t allow the existence of a single academy?”

Mo Yu was shocked, even if the Divine Queen wouldn’t be happy, she was ready to object.

The Divine Queen didn’t turn around and she raised her right hand to gesture that there was nothing more to say.

This was her first time expressing her attitude towards Tradition Academy, and it will be her last time.

Her attitude towards the Tradition Academy depended on her attitude towards Chen Chang Sheng. She knew about Chen Chang Sheng’s sickness and sympathized. No matter who was using him and why, she decided to give him a chance — a chance to prove that he once lived.

“Don’t disturb that youngster, at least not before the Great Trial.”

Mo Yu was yet to recover from her shock. Upon hearing the Queen’s request, she asked confusingly, “Why the Great Trial?”

The Divine Queen said, “A kid who still can’t xiuxing as of now wants to claim the championship of the Great Trial. Don’t you think this is kind of interesting? Don’t you think this child is interesting?”

Mo Yu thought back to Chen Chang Sheng’s stiff expression. She was confused of how he was interesting to the Queen.

Looking at the figure standing on the Platform of Dew, Mo Yu suddenly thought that there was something strange about the Queen today but she couldn’t figure out what.

“Those people moved to Li Palace. I won’t let anyone live there and disturb the peace. So stop appearing in my dreams…….well, even if you do appear, please talk about something joyous and stop complaining all the time.”

The Divine Queen quietly looked at the night sky and stared into a blank spot. She said in her heart, “I went to drink some tea in Herb Garden.”

That spot in the night sky was now in darkness, but twenty years ago, it was the spot of the brightest star.

It was a star of Emperor.

That star meant a lot to her, just like the Herb Garden.

Several hundred years ago, she was forced out of the Royal Palace and she xiuxinged in the Herb Garden. Several years passed just like that.

During those years, the former emperor would come out of the door and visit her every night.

She was a Taoist and because of certain things, she was inspected by many in the court. Even the closest ones to her could be spies from different factions. Even if she dared to meet with the former emperor, she couldn’t do much.

The things she and the former emperor did at the Herb Garden was drink tea and converse.

Even if they met in the dark of the night when no one was around, the closest she and the former emperor got to was touching each other’s faces and staring at each other’s eyes.

“Tonight, I saw a youngster who was just like you.”

The Divine Queen looked at the night sky and smiled.

A moment later, her smile vanished and her voice became cold, “Coincidentally, his last name is also Chen.”

The autumn rain was unpredictable. It’s not as lovely as the spring rain, and its coldness was irritating.

Although the autumn was still here and nothing seemed to have happened, in reality, a lot has happened.

Although the Divine Queen didn’t say a word about the troubles in the capital, all the people who were qualified knew her attitude.

Therefore peace once again returned to the capital.

The ambassadors of South lived exclusively in the Academy of Li Palace.

Princess Luo Luo, who was in the spotlight, was not heard from again. But rumors says that she’s also living in Li Palace.

Family of Tian Hai started searching for treasure around the world to prepare for the marriage between Tian Hai Sheng Xue and Princess Ping Guo next year. Tian Hai Sheng Xue returned to the Yong Xue Gate.

Some of the students who passed the semi-trials were accepted into the Six Ivies, while the others were preparing vigorously in their taverns.

The central topic of capital is slowly transitioning to the approaching Great Trial.

As with the previous months, the Tradition Academy was now very quiet.

After that autumn rain, no one dared to disturb Tradition Academy and the Tradition Academy didn’t fix their door either. The broken entrance just layed there and mocked the Family of Tian Hai silently.

Countless people reminisced about the old Chen period and hated the Family of Tian Hai. Slowly, the broken entrance of the Tradition Academy became a famous tourist attraction. Everyday people would visit and express their opinions about the Tian Hai Family, or even towards the Divine Queen.

The guard of the Tradition Academy was part of the attraction – a figure who participated in the previous war against Demon Race. A legendary figure like Jin Yu Lu cannot be seen anywhere else so easily.

With regards to the youngsters of the Tradition Academy…….the people still talked about the fiance of Xu You Rong. Disdain and scorn filled their expression when doing so but their voices of discussion were always low, and no one dared to curse.

Because now the entire capital knew that there were a lot of rocks in the Tradition Academy.

The entrance of Tradition Academy became an attraction, but not many people dared to enter the attraction.

Of course, some people didn’t care for such things. They could even sleep in this attraction.

The autumn leaves outside of the window were reflecting the golden sunlight. The view was beautiful.

Chen Chang Sheng looked away from his window and glanced at the long and smooth dark hair on his bed. He didn’t understand. How did the situation come to this?