Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

712 – A New Chapter for the South

The river was filled with ice floes and flowed slowly, so the brightly-colored blood was not swiftly washed away.

The splatters of blood on the white paper paired with those black holes made Xiao Zhang even more frightening than before.

As they stared at the man in the river, the Imperial Guards felt a fear that they had never felt before. The two Divine Generals stared at the bent spears in their hands, a hint of astonishment flashing through their eyes. They had known that this man was strong, but not to this level.

“Damn it, have you gone crazy!” The Tang Second Master stood on the dike and shrilly shouted at the man standing in the river.

His face was exceptionally gloomy, his eyes burning with a raging fire. He was both incredibly shocked and apoplectic.

Wang Po had severed his arm to break through and then used one blade to kill Tie Shu; this was a fact that he could not accept.

But he found it even more unacceptable that just as Wang Po was about to die, he was saved.

There was simply no reason for this person to save Wang Po.

Painted Armor Xiao Zhang, second on the Proclamation of Liberation, was only beneath Wang Po.

In the eyes of many, he was also the second strongest expert of the middle generation, but still beneath only Wang Po.

In the past few decades, this crazy and violent genius was undefeated in fights amongst his peers. Only against Wang Po was he winless.

Of course, he was the person that most wanted to defeat Wang Po, and after the coup of the Mausoleum of Books, everyone knew that he stood on the side of the Imperial Court. He had every reason to want Wang Po dead, and there was no reason that could explain why he would take such enormous risk to save Wang Po.

A cold wind howled across the river, ruffling the paper on Xiao Zhang’s face and causing a few drops of blood to fall.

In the black holes on the paper, one could faintly see Xiao Zhang roll his eyes.

This was naturally aimed at the Tang Second Master’s shocked and angry question.

Are you crazy?

Your daddy has always been crazy; do you still need to ask?

Of course, anyone could tell that the Tang Second Master had asked this question so he could hear Xiao Zhang’s reason.

Xiao Zhang did not care, regarding him with contempt. He thought, you don’t even understand this, so what right do you have to talk with me?

If it were Xun Mei, Xiao De, or even Liang Wangsun that was here, none of them would ask such a question, because they understood.

Wang Po also understood, but the Tang Second Master did not. Wang Po had earlier said that he was far inferior to Xiao Zhang and the others precisely because of this. Even if the Tang Second Master was an outstanding schemer who would one day become a formidable character capable of influencing the entire continent, on the path of warriors, he would never be able to catch up to their group, because he just did not understand.

Xiao Zhang had never liked Wang Po so he wanted to defeat Wang Po, and he also wanted Wang Po to die. However, all this was based on a single premise:

He had to personally do it. No proxies were allowed.

For decades, he had never been a match for Wang Po. Today, Wang Po had slain the Divine with a single blade, casting him even further behind.

It was precisely for this reason that he could not allow Wang Po to die. Otherwise, he would never get a chance to defeat Wang Po for the rest of his life.

Even if he also entered the Divine Domain and even cultivated beyond that, he would forever be inferior.

Xun Mei had chosen to abandon his old desires and brave death to step upon the Divine Path on that night, and now Xiao Zhang had gone against his will and put his life on the line to save Wang Po, both for the same reason.

“Get going.”

More and more people were gathering on the banks of the river. Seeing those soldiers preparing to fire their bows again, Xiao Zhang said those two words.

His face was covered in that white sheet of paper, so it wasn’t possible to see the expression on his face. However, based on how cold the voice coming through the paper was, Xiao Zhang was probably expressionless.

Of course, he didn’t turn around, even though those two words were clearly meant for Wang Po.

Wang Po knew Xiao Zhang’s personality and so did not find this strange. He turned and began walking upstream, as the Imperial Guard had not reached the banks of the river there.

Due to his severe injuries and the fact that he was in the water, he moved rather slowly, but his attitude was straightforward and he displayed no hesitation.

On the contrary, Xiao Zhang felt rather strange. He turned and asked, “I say ‘leave’ and you leave?”

Without turning around or stopping, Wang Po replied, “You said for me to leave, so, naturally, I’m leaving.”

Xiao Zhang was rather unhappy, blurting out with his raspy voice, “You’re not even saying ‘thank you’?”

Wang Po still did not turn around, just raised his hand in the air and waved it around to show his thanks.

Xiao Zhang was furious, commenting, “What sort of person is this?”

He didn’t know that right now, a warm smile had appeared on Wang Po’s face.

After Xun Mei’s death, he had stopped saying ‘thank you’ to other people.

At the activity in the river, the crowd on the shore became restless. Two-hundred-some cavalry split off from the Imperial Guard and galloped upstream along the willow-lined official road.

It was obvious that these cavalry intended to intercept and kill Wang Po. Even if Xiao Zhang was able to hold back the two Divine Generals and the Tang Second Master, he could not hold everyone back.

Dust rose amongst the willows and hooves thundered, the mood extremely tense and dangerous. Crucially, the sound of hooves could also be heard from the other shore.

The capital was vast and the Luo River long, but it seemed impossible for Wang Po to find a place to come ashore today.

With his heavy injuries, he could still die at any moment.

Suddenly, a sword glow flashed amongst the willows, a sword intent appeared.

The sword glow was bright like Golden Crows flying into the sky as they sought to set all ablaze. The sword intent was very upright, just like a mountain gate.

The willows splintered and warhorses crashed to the ground. The sounds of a sword tearing through metal and the wretched cries of the wounded rose up from the road.

As the dust settled, it revealed a person with his sword bared standing on the road, with ten-some cavalry collapsed before him in pools of blood.

This person was a youth.

To break through into Star Condensation at such an age was a rare sight, even amongst Wang Po’s generation.

To refine the Mountain Gate Sword and the Sword of the Golden Crow into a single technique…even in the Mount Li Sword Sect, his talent in the sword was only below Qiushan Jun’s.

He was the Fourth Law of the Divine Kingdom’s Seven Laws, Guan Feibai.

Soon after, several more people charged out of the willow forest. Without hesitation, they leapt into the icy cold Luo River and swam with all their might to Wang Po.

They were students and teachers from Scholartree Manor.

With the sound of wheels rolling across stone, three extremely luxurious carriages arrived on the shore of the Luo River.

A middle-aged man descended from the foremost carriage. It was the leader of the Qiushan clan.

The other two carriages remained quiet and nobody descended from them. However, anyone could see that they were probably the leaders of the two noble clans of the south on a similar level to the Qiushan clan.

Mount Li’s Guan Feibai, the teachers and students of Scholartree Manor, and the clan heads of the south’s noble clans had all attended the celebrations for the confluence of the north and south.

After the conclusion of the festivities, they did not leave, instead temporarily remaining in the capital.

In the past, if such a situation were to occur, the people of Scholartree Manor would naturally put everything on the line to save Wang Po, and with Guan Feibai’s personality and the Mount Li Sword Sect’s style of doing things, he probably also would have acted. However, the Qiushan clan head and the other two clan heads would never have appeared amongst the willows lining the Luo River.

In the past, Wang Po was famed for his talent in cultivation, but this fame would not have been enough for these noble clans to offend the Great Zhou Imperial Court with the confluence of the north and south in the background.

However, now was different. Wang Po had entered the capital and comprehended the blade, breaking through and slaying the Divine, proclaiming to the entire continent his power.

An expert of the Divine Domain who had proved his power and a cultivation genius with boundless prospects were two completely different things.

With the departure of Su Li and the Holy Maiden of the south, the most intractable problem facing the south which made them uneasy and even fearful was that they lacked a supreme expert to keep watch.

Now they had one.

Although Wang Po was heavily wounded and could die at any moment, if he could survive, the south would have one more expert of the Divine Domain.

No, he was the south’s only expert of the Divine Domain.

Thus, the Qiushan clan and all the people of the south would not permit Wang Po to be killed by the Imperial Court.

They absolutely would not.