Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

"I was guessing." Xu Yourong gazed towards the distant horizon that was muddled with the twilight and snowflakes, her small face revealing a faint sense of longing. "Since such powerful figures as Teacher and Martial Uncle decided to leave this world, besides a place of legends like the Sacred Light Continent, where would they go?"

Chen Changsheng fell silent, then asked, "How do you get to the Sacred Light Continent?"

How do you get to Fortune Peace Road? How do you get to the Bridge of Helplessness? How do you get to the Orthodox Academy? How do you get to the Li Palace? How do you get to the place that exists only in legends?

This question was truthfully rather preposterous, but his expression was very serious.

Xu Yourong was also very serious. She diligently recalled that conversation the Divine Empress and her teacher had when she was small.

After a very long time, a little unsure, she spoke two words, "Cloud Grave?"

Chen Changsheng fell silent once more. This silence persisted for much longer than the previous one.

The Cloud Grave was the grave of all the clouds of the world, a most remote region of the continent. The region was bereft of sunlight year-round and was incomparably enigmatic and unknown. But he was very familiar with the Cloud Grave. He knew that without the boundless clouds and mist was an incomparably tall mountain. This mountain pierced through the clouds, its final destination unknown. Because this mountain was in the three hundred li behind Xining Village, he had once gone there. He knew that in the mists and clouds of the wetland encircling the peak were countless fierce monsters, countless dangerous and murderous cultivators, as well as several noble clans of previous dynasties who lived out bitter lives.

Only today did he know that this mountain might be a path to other worlds.

"In the future, can we go to the Sacred Light Continent and look around?" he asked of Xu Yourong.

Even if the legend was real, even if there really was a place on the other side of the sea of stars called the Sacred Light Continent, since no one knew about it, it might be the case that there was simply no one who had been able to successfully break through that spatial barrier and discover that other world. He and Xu Yourong were cultivating geniuses, but they were still far away from the Divine Domain. To them, the Sacred Light Continent was nothing more than an ethereal name and some speculations. Yet he had so seriously sent out his invitation, perhaps several centuries in advance.

At this point, he had long forgotten the fact that it was highly likely that he wouldn't be able to live past twenty.

Xu Yourong smiled and agreed. "Fine."

Chen Changsheng thought to himself that it truly was fine.

……

……

Upon returning to the Orthodox Academy and walking into the first floor of the house, he found to his surprise that the door to Zhexiu's room was open and Su Moyu and the rest were all inside.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked with curiosity as he walked in.

Su Moyu replied, "Ever since this morning, Tang Tang has been finding people and asking them whether 'love at first sight' is actually something that can happen in this world."

Tang Thirty-Six looked at Chen Changsheng and bitterly laughed.

Chen Changsheng grew nervous and asked back, "How did you guys end up randomly talking about this?"

"Who knows, he started acting all strange today." Feeling somewhat wronged, Xuanyuan Po complained, "I seriously answered, but all I got from him was a round of curses."

Standing by the window, Zhexiu suddenly asked, "Su Li left, but she should still be at Mount Li, right?"

Chen Changsheng was given a scare, believing that his meeting with Xu Yourong had been uncovered. In the next moment, he realized that this was a request for confirmation.

"The news brought by the southern diplomatic mission should not be mistaken."

As Tang Thirty-Six spoke, he once more shot a glance at Chen Changsheng.

Chen Changsheng ignored him, asking Zhexiu with concern, "What do you plan to do?"

In the present Orthodox Academy, from its principal and superintendent all the way to its head of housekeeping and academic advisor, all were extremely young, none exceeding the age of twenty. They were all youths and so were naturally most concerned about that beauty and sadness most entrenched in the minds of youths—besides the engagement and battle between Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong, there was also the story of Zhexiu and Qi Jian.

Zhexiu looked out the window at the snow, a tinge of ferocity flickering across his weather-beaten yet still somewhat young and inexperienced face.

"After I finish with everything in the capital, I'm going to Mount Li to pick her up."

Chen Changsheng and the rest looked at each other in dismay. They had clearly heard that Zhexiu had not used the word 'see', but the word 'pick'.

They could almost see the countless battles that would take place on Mount Li in the future and those speckles of wolf blood.

This was Zhexiu looking for death, but the problem was that there was as of yet no one in this world that could prevent from seeking his death.

Tang Thirty-Six did not want Zhexiu to descend into madness. Sending a signal to Su Moyu with his eyes, he asked, "What do you need to do in the capital?"

Su Moyu tacitly understood, thinking, regardless of how he responds, we should talk up the difficulty of the matter. Only this way can we delay from sending off Zhexiu to his death at Mount Li.

"I want to kill Zhou Tong." Zhexiu turned and looked at them all with an emotionless expression.

The room was very quiet.

Tang Thirty-Six said nothing for a while, then finally stated, "Then let's just break it up for now. In any case, this isn't something that can be resolved in just eight or ten years."

Not long after they all dispersed, he came to Chen Changsheng's room and, without the slightest concern for his body caked with mud and snow, impolitely sat on that bed so clean that it was hard to even find a hair. He then pointed at Chen Changsheng and said with almost absolute certainty, "There is no such thing in the world as love at first sight."

Chen Changsheng glanced at the muddy water dripping from his clothes, controlled his emotions, and asked, "Just what do you want to say?"

"Ah, I didn't speak accurately enough. Of course, there's a possibility that you fell in love with Xu Yourong at first sight. A guy like Qiushan Jun, so perfect that even I'm a little jealous of him, has a deeply-rooted affection for her, so it's no surprise that a little kid who's never experienced romance would fall in love."

Tang Thirty-Six looked at him and continued, "But it's impossible for her to fall in love with you at first sight, so there's something fishy about this matter."

Chen Changsheng didn't care very much about this problem, but he was just rather curious. "Why is it that she can't?"

Tang Thirty-Six pointed at the dressing table by the wall, saying, "Go look in a mirror."

Chen Changsheng obediently walked over and examined himself in a mirror. "I'm not ugly."

Tang Thirty-Six's mouth dropped, powerless to speak.

He once more confirmed that Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng really were people that made others speechless.

As Chen Changsheng looked at himself in the mirror, he chuckled.

Tang Thirty-Six angrily roared, "In any case, it's impossible for her to fall in love with you just after seeing you on the Bridge of Helplessness! Even if she imagined you countless times because of the engagement, it's still impossible, because it's not that you're ugly, but you're far from being described as handsome, let alone as handsome as me!"

Chen Changsheng turned around to him and asked, "And then?"

Tang Thirty-Six stood up and walked in front of him. Staring into his eyes, he said, "I'm worried that she has some sort of plan for you."

No matter who it was, as long as they didn't know of that story of the Garden of Zhou, they would definitely think something was wrong upon discovering that Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong were dating.

Chen Changsheng understood, so he wasn't conflicted, much less angry. He attempted to ease these anxieties, saying, "Relax, there's nothing going on."

He spoke naturally, but firmly.

Seeing his expression, Tang Thirty-Six fell silent, then suddenly announced, "You've met before."

Chen Changsheng thought of Xu Yourong's order and shook his head.

Tang Thirty-Six sneered, "She would not fall in love with you at first sight, yet she still loves you. This can only mean that this was not your first meeting."

This conclusion could be said to be full of mistakes, yet invulnerable. Chen Changsheng didn't know what to do, attempting to explain, "We used to exchange letters when we were little, so we can't be considered strangers."

"Lie, you continue to lie," Tang Thirty-Six emotionlessly declared to him.

Chen Changsheng was truly at a loss. He very seriously requested, "You absolutely must keep this a secret. You can't tell anyone else."

Tang Thirty-Six's face instantly relaxed. He moved forward to Chen Changsheng's shoulder, not forgetting to close the window, then raised his brow and said, "Who am I? You still can't rest assured around me?"

If all the details of this story, big and small, were to be narrated once more, how much time, how many words, how many…

After hearing what had happened in the Garden of Zhou, Tang Thirty-Six stood in a shocked daze for a very long time.

Finally, he looked at Chen Changsheng and once more sighed with that identical question, "Are you a pig?"

Chen Changsheng was quite ashamed, lacking any confidence to refute these words. He thought of another thing and stated, "I don't understand why she doesn't want me to tell of this matter to anyone else."

Tang Thirty-Six found himself without words to explain. "You don't understand? You truly are a pig."

After being insulted twice in succession, Chen Changsheng finally felt a bit uncomfortable. "Wasn't she the same in not recognizing me in the Garden of Zhou?"

"So they say that fate is ordained by the heavens, and you two are called a match made in heaven."

Tang Thirty-Six opened the window. Gazing up at the starry sky after the snow had stopped and the clouds had dispersed, he deeply sighed.

Chen Changsheng was very happy at these words, saying, "Thank you for your blessing."

Tang Thirty-Six turned around and said sternly, "You and Xu Yourong are a pig husband and pig wife—of course you're very suitable for each other."

……

……

Su Li's two letters were strange, a fact Chen Changsheng had affirmed the instant he had taken them. Thus, he had not opened them in front of Xu Yourong. He waited until late at night when no one was around to walk alone to the kitchen by the lake. After making his preparations, he used the Stainless Sword to open the letter.

The Stainless Sword could be called the sharpest sword in the world. It easily cut a thin line through the yellow envelope.

However, his brow still wrinkled because he could clearly sense that as the Stainless Sword cut through the envelope, it encountered innumerable fine yet tenacious strands of Qi. Those strands of Qi were like strips of metal. If the Stainless Sword were not sharp, then it might have simply been impossible for him to open the letter with his current level of strength.

He took in a few deep breaths to calm his mind, then took the letter out of the envelope.

This was a very thin and commonplace sheet of paper, but when he unfolded it to read over it by the light of the fire, countless thin strands of sword intent shot out of the paper. They transformed into snowflakes like those outside and also like the willow leaves on the Luo River at the end of summer.

Swishswishswishswish! Countless sharp and even shrill sounds resounded about his body.

It was all sword intent. The iron pots on the stove were instantly cut into numberless pieces, the ceramic tiles embedded on the stove were cut into countless pieces, and soon after, the firewood in the kitchen was also cut into countless pieces. The blazing firewood in the kitchen oven was also cut into pieces, sending sparks everywhere. Even the burning flames seem to be cut into pieces.

Chen Changsheng stood within the room filled with sword intent, his expression grave, not daring to move a muscle.