Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The girl's appearance was like a painting, her beauty peerless, a newly-bloomed black lotus. Yet her eyes were apathetic, their depths holding cruelty. Paired with those pitch-black vertical pupils, her beauty was particularly strange.

Chen Changsheng could not speak for a very long time—at this point, he had naturally guessed at the identity of this black-clothed girl, especially after seeing that line of blood on her forehead like a bead of cinnabar.

He knew that with the lifespan of the Dragon race, she was just a little girl.

He had once heard Xu Yourong say that she was a little girl.

But he still did not expect that she really would be a little girl.

……

……

After what seemed like a very long time, Chen Changsheng finally stirred from his shock.

He began walking over to her. His actions were somewhat slow because he was rather nervous.

The little girl raised her head to glance at him, seeming somewhat impatient and utterly majestic.

Chen Changsheng saw the apathy and cruelty in her eyes and felt like he was being looked down on from up high. He felt somewhat uncomfortable, but he knew that this was just her nature, not because she felt a deep disdain for him.

It was the instinctual looking down that higher level beings had for lower level beings.

Just like when humans looked at oxen or horses in the field. Perhaps there would be fondness, sympathy, respect, but those would all be granted from up high. This was a matter that was impossible to change.

As Chen Changsheng walked up to her, she slightly lowered her head, seemingly not desiring him to get a clear look at her face, or perhaps because she wanted to conceal the feigned indifference that was a result of uneasiness in her heart. Yet she did not know that to human males, a lowered head was most liable to fill their heads with impressions of tenderness and shyness.

"I didn't know…you…could do this."

Chen Changsheng didn't know what to say. He clearly understood why she was willing to take human form to meet with him. Because as he was going to die, she wanted to show something to him. He wasn't clear on what she wanted to show, but he had a vague guess and so naturally found it hard to not be nervous.

"I will not permit you to die." The little girl raised her head and looked at Chen Changsheng.

She had already restored her composure and indifference. She was clearly sitting on the floor and much shorter than Chen Changsheng, but her gaze seemed to be looking down at him, her tone of voice like that of an order or command.

Chen Changsheng thought to himself, it's not like I want to die.He soon after remembered that earlier in the day, before Yourong left for the Imperial Palace, she had said something similar.

"I said just now that the Scroll of Time should be able to help you break through the restriction and leave. Ever since last year, Yourong and I have been constantly discussing the question of how to rescue you. This time on our journey, she also proposed many ideas. The array I will be laying down in a little while is actually a design drawn by her."

For some reason, Chen Changsheng looked at her and seriously said these words because his vague guess made him not want her to have any sort of complaint against Yourong in the future.

The little girl twisted her head away, not willing to say a word.

She had not expected that Xu Yourong would help her, so she was somewhat shocked, but it was just that and nothing more.

Chen Changsheng said, "I thought that you would at least say 'thank you' to her."

"She's with you every day, but now it turns out that you're going to die, and you feel I should thank her?"

The girl's voice suddenly sharpened, thorny with rage.

Chen Changsheng didn't know how to respond.

Although logically speaking, they had already met many times and were already very familiar with each other, this was the first time he had met her in the form of a little girl, so it was difficult to avoid a somewhat strange and awkward feeling.

"This…Lady Zhizhi."

"I said before that I'm not called Zhizhi!"

The girl glared at him and said, "I have a name."

Chen Changsheng recalled that Xu Yourong had once told him that the little Black Dragon did have a name back then. It seemed to be Zhusha, but before he could open his mouth…

"I am called Hongzhuang," the little girl said impassively to him.

Chen Changsheng would naturally not argue with her over such a trifling matter. He said, "I'm going to lay down the array. Do you want to come with me to see?"

From last autumn to this summer, he had come here many times and researched the array on the stone wall, contemplating how to break it and let the Black Dragon go free. He had never let her come watch before.

It wasn't because there was some secret behind his methods to break the array, but because she had no interest, or perhaps because she had no confidence that Chen Changsheng had the ability to break through the restriction laid down by Wang Zhice.

But today, he had invited her to come and see because there might not be an opportunity in the future.

The little Black Dragon thought it over and then stood up, turned, and began walking towards the stone wall in the distance. Out of convenience, she naturally raised up her black dress, thus revealing her two bare feet.

Her bare feet were white and pure as snow. When her feet pressed against the frost-covered ground, the ice seemed to instantly lose some of its glamour.

Two thin metal chains were tied to her ankles. The chains were pitch-black, their surfaces rusted. The snow-white ankles juxtaposed against these chains made them all the more distinctive.

Several hundred years had passed and she did not even know how many times she had attempted to break through. The chains dug deeply into her ankles. One could clearly see wounds and even white bone.

One could feel the pain just looking at this scene, let alone what the girl was feeling. Chen Changsheng walked in front of her, holding the chains in his hands. Carefully and prudently, he ensured that the chains would not rub against her ankles.

Although her power was shackled down by the array, she still preserved much of the Dragon race's innate strength and was able to travel freely through the underground cavern. Chen Changsheng's speed was also rather astonishing. Logically speaking, they should have been able to traverse the ten-odd li very quickly, but for some reason, they walked very slowly.

The night sky of stars that was the collection of Night Pearls embedded on the roof began to go out, leaving only the distant stone wall with some remaining rays of light. She carried her dress, he carried the chains, and just like that, they vanished into the darkness.

The dusky light fell upon the stone wall, casting the faces of those two legendary Divine Generals into gloom. The chains in their hands seemed to be covered in the poison of the Shaman tribe, a chilling sight.

Chen Changsheng stood in front of the wall, examining these two generals and the array that was once concealed within the stone wall. After calculating and contemplating for a while, he removed some items he had long since prepared from his sheath and began to lay down an array.

As time slowly passed, he worked with extreme focus. His brow would occasionally crease, but only he knew whether it was because he had encountered some difficulty or because of the pain caused by his injuries acting up.

The little Black Dragon habitually sat herself down on the ice-covered ground and raised her head to gaze at those images on the stone wall. She was somewhat in a trance as she thought about something, regret and frustration faintly visible in her apathetic eyes. Only when she gazed at Chen Changsheng did those negative emotions gradually dull.

After what seemed like a long time, Chen Changsheng finally finished laying down the array. He carefully looked it over twice to ensure there were no flaws or problems before finally taking a sigh of relief. Ever since that night two years ago when he had reached this place through the Imperial Palace, he had researched these chains that imprisoned the Black Dragon for a very long time. It could be said that he put all the Daoist techniques and knowledge he had learned throughout his entire life into this effort, and having been greatly assisted by Xu Yourong for more than half a year, he was absolutely confident that it would be effective.

He took the Scroll of Time and placed it in the Black Dragon's hand. Then, looking at her expression, seriously said to her, "Do you have any method of temporarily falling unconscious?"

The little Black Dragon's eyes went round as she thought, what sort of request is this?

Chen Changsheng had originally planned to say something more, but upon seeing the look on her face, he knew that she would not agree, so he could only say, "No matter what happens in a little while, it's best if you can endure."

The little Black Dragon suddenly felt that something was wrong and extended a hand to knock him down, but she was too late.

Noiselessly, like the leaf of a willow tree cutting apart a breeze of the early spring.

The incomparably sharp Stainless Sword emerged from the sheath and descended.

Chen Changsheng made a small cut on his wrist and blood rushed out.

There was clearly something wrong with his blood. It was suffused with a light golden sheen as if it contained a boundless energy. It was sacred and pure beyond compare, yet it also gave off an aura of extremely bewitching beauty.

His blood of Sacred Light also contained Xu Yourong's true blood of the Heavenly Phoenix.

As he cut upon the wound and his blood encountered the cold wind of the cavern, an indescribable scent spread throughout the cavern with an incomprehensible speed.

This scent was very much like the scent of grass, or the dew upon the grass, or the fragrance of newly born fruit, or fruit that had just ripened and been blown about by the wind for an entire night.

If this situation were allowed to continue, this scent would spread out from New North Bridge to the rest of the capital, and then the entire populace of the capital might go mad, and even the birds of the Mausoleum of Books would madly fly towards this place.

Fortunately, or perhaps long since prepared for by Chen Changsheng, the array he had just laid down also contained some of the power of the Tong Bow that Xu Yourong used in Mount Han to cut off the scent of his blood from the world. Using the Sacred Light within his blood as the foundation, it could effectively eliminate his blood's scent. Put together with the extreme cold naturally emanated by the Black Dragon, it could be guaranteed that the scent would naturally dull before spreading beyond New North Bridge.

But there was a problem.

The little Black Dragon was right next to him, right within the area enclosed by the array. She had always been watching him work, so she naturally smelled that scent.

Clank!

The chains were drawn taut as her body floated into the air. Her black hair madly danced around, as did her black dress. Her beautiful face was impassive and inhuman like a god or devil.

Countless emotions poured out from her bewitching vertical pupils, complex to the extreme and conflicted to the extreme. It was the natural intimacy a higher being had for a supreme sacred energy, and also the infinite desire an expert had for true eternity, and also that instinctual craving of all living beings.

She gazed down at Chen Changsheng from above, avaricious yet uneasy, craving yet sorrowful. She constantly struggled until finally, she calmed down.

Calm did not represent safety.

Although she was a noble and powerful Black Frost Dragon, she was still very young. Furthermore, she had come ashore from the South Sea when she was only a child, never receiving the complete education of the Dragon race. As a consequence, she had never learned how to control her desires, how to prevent her mind and will from being controlled by this sort of desire.

Her expression was very calm, her eyes very ruthless.

She decided to eat Chen Changsheng because he was far too tasty. And she had more than enough reason to eat Chen Changsheng. Even if the starry sky descended and the will of the Heavenly Dao came to ask her, she would not feel the slightest bit ashamed.

"You heartless thing, I even gave you my first blood and you still play around with other women! In order to carry out that oath we made at the very beginning, I will swallow you alive in one bite!"

After saying this, her Qi rose up with terrifying speed, instantly breaking through several levels until it reached the Divine Domain. Then, she dived towards the ground at Chen Changsheng.

……