Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

There were many reasons to cough, with the most common being illness.

Cold air harming the lungs was one of the most lingering illnesses. Even an expert of the Divine Domain would find it very troublesome.

Shang Xingzhou had no idea that the White Emperor would be coughing throughout the following years and months, coughing for many years.

But he did know that the White Emperor had suffered significant injuries, just as he had.

The two Angels of Sacred Light and Madam Mu were extremely powerful opponents.

He and the White Emperor were the strongest of the current era, but they also had to pay a certain price.

That he chose not to exercise all the options available to him at this time was based on this reasoning. It was also because he knew that Chen Changsheng and Xu Yourong would not support him. He and the White Emperor could alter their wills according to the situation at any time, but that young couple would not.

He said to the White Emperor, "But, in the end, it still came to this day."

"She was talented, of a good bloodline, capable, extremely intelligent, and also beautiful. By marrying her, I could father the best descendant."

The White Emperor added, "For this, I could endure many things, including her ambition, but I didn't realize that her ambition was so great."

Shang Xingzhou understood what he meant.

If Madam Mu had only plotted to gain a few advantages for the Great Western Continent, the White Emperor would remain silent, but her recent actions had now even involved the fate of the entire Demi-human race.

"In truth, I always knew that she couldn't stand me, that she always felt that I was a monster that didn't understand art."

The White Emperor indifferently said, "None of this matters. I could endure her, but I could not endure like Bie Yanghong. Most importantly, Luoluo was the one I chose to be the next White Emperor. You should also be aware of how pure and formidable her bloodline is. And she wanted to marry her off to Xuelao City just because that's what the Great Western Continent thinks should be done with daughters? She really went crazy."

Shang Xingzhou commented, "In this entire matter, this is the part that I don't understand about you. Your descendant was also in her bosom."

The White Emperor indifferently said, "In the matter of sons and daughters, I've never cared about quantity, only quality. An excellent child like Luoluo is already enough, so what use is there in having more pieces of trash? This is the reason my clan has always been very small since ancient times. Not everyone can be like that emperor of yours, having so many sons and letting them slaughter each other to see which one will survive in the end and claim the throne. What do you consider that? Raising Gu1? There are times when I really don't know what to say about your Human race."

The emperor he was referring to was naturally the mighty Emperor Taizong.

Shang Xingzhou said, "This being the case, why do all this?"

"Back in the snowy plains to the north of Mount Han, you borrowed my hands to heavily wound the Demon Lord, and also delayed me for five years."

The White Emperor gave Shang Xingzhou a deep stare.

"These five years were enough for you to do too many things. You unexpectedly managed to seize back the rule of the Human race from Tianhai's hands… I was forced to ponder a problem. If Xuelao City is destroyed and you unite the world, where will my race go? So I could only strive to slow your pace."

Shang Xingzhou calmly said, "I am not His Majesty Taizong. I do not have the ability to defy the heavens and change fate. All of you have overestimated me."

The White Emperor replied, "You are my friend, so I know how frightening you are. And you even managed to raise two excellent students."

Shang Xingzhou did not respond to this comment. "So you made this plan?"

He was still referring to his previous question.

'Why do all this?'

He was talking about everything that had occurred.

This was the White Emperor's city.

Everything that happened in this city had all obtained his agreement, or tacit approval, or even secret promotion.

Whether it was Madam Mu's deeds or the Xiang clan elder's deeds, whether they were for good or ill.

Like the Heavenly Selection, or the dangers that Chen Changsheng had faced, or this plan, or the deaths of Bie Yanghong and Wuqiong Bi, or that most important of matters.

The White Emperor would not agree to marry Luoluo off to Xuelao City, but this did not mean that he had not initially considered allying with the demons.

"You used your daughter as a betting chip to make both sides fight while you watched from the sidelines. No matter what the result was, you would come out in the end to mount the stage and shout, bringing everything to a perfect close."

Shang Xingzhou continued, "For people like us that have lived too long, we have far too much time to think, and our schemes naturally won't have many flaws. But you did not expect Chen Changsheng to arrive so early, altering the course of the situation, and you also did not expect him to be so obsessed with digging you out of that mountain."

The White Emperor said, "As I said, you raised two excellent students. And besides, you also came."

Shang Xingzhou said, "For such a major event, I had to personally step on stage."

The White Emperor knew that the 'major event' did not merely refer to the Demi-human race's intention to ally with Xuelao City, but more to those two Angels of Sacred Light.

To individuals like him and Shang Xingzhou, who dwelled at the peak of the continent, the only truly major events were events beyond this world.

They all walked the path of the Great Dao, and their Dao was this side's Dao.

To use Wang Zhice's words, positions were relative, so it was only natural that their standpoints be foreordained from their birth.

The actions of the demons had already touched their bottom line.

"It probably has nothing to do with the Demon Lord."

The White Emperor determined, "Only people as mad as her and Black Robe would do something like this."

Shang Xingzhou said, "Women are all crazy, so you can't let them stand too high."

He had opposed the marriage of the White Emperor and Madam Mu many years ago on the basis of this reasoning.

Similarly, he thought the same of the Tianhai Divine Empress.

"So I cannot understand why you were willing to request Xu Yourong's assistance."

The White Emperor said, "She's a woman, and she's also your student's fiancée."

Shang Xingzhou replied, "Defeating you is an extremely difficult task."

"Yes, in the end, I still lost to you and your student."

The White Emperor added, "This convinces me of the soundness of that statement."

He was naturally referring to that statement circulating around the continent.

'A temple of Xining rules the world.'

'Rule' could mean 'govern', but it could also mean 'conquer'.

If Shang Xingzhou combined forces with his two students, they could conquer all who did not accept their rule.

"If I remember correctly, it was you who said this, right before you entered seclusion."

"Correct."

"I have never conceded."

Shang Xingzhou calmly said, "So after I exterminate the demons, how do you plan to deal with me?"

"In the past I truly was very worried, but I feel a little better now, because before you can visit White Emperor City again, you have to defeat that excellent student of yours."

The White Emperor commented, "I've discovered that that student of yours is even better than I imagined. For you to beat him will truly be very difficult."

Just like Shang Xingzhou said, for individuals like them who had spent too long soaking in the river of time, as long as they calculated, their plans would be without flaw.

Luoluo would become the next White Emperor, so as long as Chen Changsheng reigned over the world, the safety of the demi-humans would be assured, no matter how much the humans flourished.

Madam Mu had once said to Luoluo that the relationship between teacher and student was not so firm and that she would only feel at ease if Chen Changsheng was willing to marry Luoluo.

The White Emperor did not think so. He was almost certain that it was precisely because Chen Changsheng could not marry Luoluo that he would treat her even better.

This was not an inability to fulfill one's desires. Rather it was an incomparably intense desire to protect that resulted from a fusion of apology and the joy of being adored and loved.

Of course, these plans were founded on the idea that Chen Changsheng would not be killed or lose out to Shang Xingzhou.

"You view that student of mine who can't grow up to be useful so optimistically?"

This was the first time in this conversation that Shang Xingzhou admitted that Chen Changsheng was his student.

"In truth, it all originates from your attitude to him."

The White Emperor calmly said, "If you did not so highly regard him, how could this world have so highly regarded him at the start?"

Shang Xingzhou asked, "And if this high regard did not have the meaning that all of you believed it to have?"

The White Emperor said, "We can talk about it when the time comes. And besides, if someone can promise me even more in the future, I'll naturally change my mind."

Shang Xingzhou said no more. Turning, he left the street.

Chen Changsheng had been watching on the side this entire time.

He said nothing as he watched Shang Xingzhou mix into the crowd.

On the Divine Path of the Mausoleum of Books, he was carrying the Tianhai Divine Empress's body down and Shang Xingzhou was coming up. They had passed each other, not saying a single word, not giving a single glance.

At the time, he had not said anything, nor had he mentioned this matter in the future, but in truth, he had found the emotions from that time somewhat impossible to bear.

Today, Shang Xingzhou had glanced at him twice, but he still felt the same.

Shang Xingzhou's gaze was no different from the way one looked at a stranger.

Two hands fell on Chen Changsheng's shoulders.

Not to burden him, but to comfort him.

Chen Changsheng looked at Tang Thirty-Six and smiled, then he turned to Xu Yourong and said, "I'm fine."

……

……

Winter on the snowy plains was as cold as the abyss. The air exhaled by demon beasts was quickly frozen into crystals.

The wind was fierce and devoid of warmth.

Black Robe calmly gazed to the west, then said suddenly, "We lost."

Upon hearing these words, the gigantic Mountain-toppling Fiend nearby let out a painful roar. It was not because the Mountain-toppling Fiend could understand his words and knew that the most important scheme of the Demon race in the last few years had failed, but because the Demon Commander on its head had angrily snapped off a part of its horn.

Behind Black Robe and the Demon Commander were ten-some Demon Generals, and even farther behind were several massive and enigmatic figures, shrouded in black mists.

The demons had not gone to White Emperor City to offer their aid for several reasons.

Black Robe believed in the power of the Angels of Sacred Light, believed in his understanding of the situation in the capital, but it was also because there was not enough time.

But the more important reason was a person.

A middle-aged scholar stood in the snow.

It was the most famous scholar in the world since the dawn of history.

Wang Zhice.

"I didn't expect that he would even manage to get you to move. Now that I think about it, that you were able to escape little boy Jiexing's murderous intentions back then probably involved no small effort from Daoist Ji."

The gusting winds revealed Black Robe's sickly green cheeks, but his voice remained flat and emotionless.

This name that he had not heard in ages caused Wang Zhice to sigh. "Have several hundred years of wind and snow still not been able to wash away your hatred?"

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1. Gu, 蛊, refers to a particular custom of placing a variety of poisonous insects into a jar, where they will fight and kill each other. The final survivor was considered to have concentrated the toxins of all the insects killed in its single body, and the highly lethal toxin was extracted from the final insect to be used in assassination.