Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1038 – In White Emperor City, Clouds Rush Out the Gate1 (I)

The important part of the White Emperor’s question was not in ‘Which of your students will lead the Human race’, but in ‘When you die’.

The White Emperor was not interested in using Chen Changsheng and Yu Ren to provoke Shang Xingzhou.

He had frankly, nakedly, revealed his bottom line to Shang Xingzhou.

If Shang Xingzhou insisted on killing the Demon Lord, then Shang Xingzhou would come away from today with heavy injuries, or perhaps not walk away at all.

This naturally led to the question of which of his students the Human race would be passed to.

Why had the White Emperor so confidently asked this question?

Shang Xingzhou understood. Everything arose from the still-unmentioned Madam Mu.

She had been standing high in the clouds the entire time with no intention of leaving.

No matter how one looked at it, the betrayed White Emperor could not possibly forgive Madam Mu.

But Shang Xingzhou knew that the White Emperor could change his stance at any time, even if he would feel disgusted when doing it.

“Some people will live, and some people will die.”

Shang Xingzhou stared into the White Emperor’s eyes as he spoke.

The gray cobblestones cracked as a wave of Qi emerged from the street and knocked over a row of houses.

Countless gazes looked over. They saw Shang Xingzhou, but they did not see the White Emperor.

The White Emperor arrived high in the clouds.

He quietly stood across from Madam Mu.

“You’ve finished negotiating with Shang?”

Madam Mu seemed like she was asking about a very ordinary and trifling matter.

The White Emperor’s answer was also very casual. “The Demon Lord will live.”

Madam Mu looked to the west. “At times, I also wonder about how all this began.”

“Perhaps it’s because you’ve always loved your homeland? Everything originates from one’s own choices, like the choice you made three years ago.”

The White Emperor added, “I didn’t expect that in this play of husband and wife, you really did intend on putting me in my grave.”

Madam Mu indifferently said, “In my entire life, I have never met anyone more hypocritical than you. At this time, you still say these sorts of things.”

The White Emperor smiled. “Did you not use the strength of the seas to seal me into my palace mausoleum?”

Madam Mu turned and looked into his eyes. “Did you not choose yourself the place of your seclusion?”

The White Emperor did not answer, instead asking, “When did you confirm that I was still alive?”

Madam Mu replied, “On that night Old Xiang went to the Starfall Mountains and came back saying that he had sensed your will.”

The White Emperor asked, “Did you not request that he do this?”

Madam Mu answered, “This is about Luoheng’s marriage. Even if I requested it of him, he would not dare agree without your approval.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

The White Emperor continued, “If I remember correctly, he should have defected to your side two years ago.”

Madam Mu jeered, “If my guess is right, this is something that you should have arranged for him to do three years ago.”

Countless years ago, the entire continent believed that the White Emperor and Madam Mu deeply loved each other, a Saint husband and wife envied across the world.

No one could have expected that they had never trusted each other. It was a normal thing for husband to deceive wife, wife to trick husband.

The White Emperor asked, “Why did you doubt him?”

Madam Mu derided, “Anyone with eyes could see that he was your loyal dog, your most fervent believer.”

Perhaps because he had thought of the mountainous figure collapsing in front of the Imperial City, the White Emperor did not respond for a very long time.

A bystander might think that he was reminiscing, grieving, or criticizing himself.

But in Madam Mu’s view, this was a shameless and nauseating affectation of sympathy.

“There’s no need for you to fake your mood. For the last two hundred years, you’ve wanted nothing more than to kill this most prestigious and most senior elder, to eliminate the Xiang clan that he was a member of. But since he and his clan were far too loyal, you could never find an appropriate excuse or reason. This time, you finally managed to use his loyalty to conveniently stain his name, so you would naturally kill him as quickly as possible.”

The derision on Madam Mu’s face grew deeper and deeper. “Now that I think about, you and that old friend of yours, Shang Xingzhou, are really very similar, both hypocritical to the extreme. He wants to kill his own student, but he also doesn’t want to dirty his own hands, so he wanted to borrow mine. And you are just the same.”

The White Emperor’s expression did not change. “Since you knew that I was still alive, why did you not stop me from coming out?”

“If you wanted to come out, you would naturally come out. If you didn’t want to come out, then it meant that you wanted to continue watching the play.”

Madam Mu impassively said, “We’ve been husband and wife for so many years, so we have at least a little tacit understanding. When you were never willing to come out, it meant that you silently agreed to my plan, that you wanted to watch me and Black Robe do these things. The only thing I don’t understand is why you stopped me from moving against Chen Changsheng.”

It was now obvious that the incomprehensible energy that had put Chen Changsheng on edge had come from the White Emperor.

And it was only this way that the White Emperor could alter the stance of the entire Demi-human race overnight without showing himself.

Madam Mu did not need the White Emperor to answer this question, as she managed to quickly derive it for herself.

“Presumably, it’s because you knew that Shang Xingzhou could appear at any time.”

The White Emperor said, “Correct. In the end, I still underestimated my old friend’s daring and methods. I didn’t expect that he would invite Xu Yourong to assist him.”

“No one is willing to stand on the stage and judge life and death, but you sit in the audience, tasting tea.”

Madam Mu sneered at him. “I didn’t want to let you keep watching the play, nor did Shang Xingzhou. Everyone wanted you to step on stage and give us a song.”

The White Emperor said, “I also underestimated Chen Changsheng’s resolve and persistence.”

Madam Mu recalled that figure moving between the Imperial City and the Starfall Mountains, and shook her head.

She also had not expected that Chen Changsheng had the ability, as well as such an admirable patience, to use his sword array to grind away at the seal.

From that moment, the White Emperor could no longer play the part of the suffering sovereign, imprisoned from the world.

All the conflicts exploded from that moment, the beginning of all stories. All the roles put on their makeup and stepped on stage.

This was what was meant by seeing all living things.

Madam Mu taunted, “Even though you ended up being pushed out like a clown by that master and disciple, I won’t sympathize with you.”

The White Emperor calmly replied, “I do not require sympathy.”

“Then what about him?”

Madam Mu lightly caressed her belly as she looked at the White Emperor. “Does your son need sympathy?”

A little life that still had not been able to see the world, see all living beings; only one who could not see these things required sympathy.

That is to say, it had come to a premature end.

The White Emperor’s gaze fell on Madam Mu’s belly.

Madam Mu’s belly was very flat.

“It is not easy to pass on the bloodline of my White Emperor clan. Pregnancy requires five years, and getting a son could even be considered challenging.”

The White Emperor calmly gazed at her as he added, “But we already have Luoluo.”

Madam Mu stared into his eyes. “But in the end, she is just a daughter.”

“This is your greatest mistake. I’ve never felt there to be any difference between a daughter and son, so I’ve naturally never thought about getting a son. I’ve never understood where this viewpoint of you people from the Great Western Continent came from.”

The expression on the White Emperor’s face became more and more derisive, his tone increasingly harsh.

“Because daughters must be married off and can’t assist the parents in one’s old age, or is it because women are extroverted? But you’ve been married off to my White Emperor City for so many years, and you’ve always been thinking about your parents’ clan. You’ve never treated this place as your home, never treated me as a part of your family. This being the case, what are you worried about?”

1. This title is a line from a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, the title of which is simply ‘White Emperor City’. It refers to the actual White Emperor City, usually known as Baidicheng, where Du Fu resided for several years. The city, actually a temple complex, was often shrouded in mists, hence the clouds rushing out of its gates. However, it should be noted that the White Emperor called Madam Mu ‘Yun’er’, which means ‘Little Cloud’, so you can also interpret this title as ‘In White Emperor City, Madam Mu leaves’.