Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 1173 – We Exchanged Letters

Tang Thirty-Six’s tone of voice had always been the most loathsome existence in the world. Even when he wasn’t cursing, no one liked to hear it.

But Chen Changsheng liked it, because Tang Thirty-Six was his best friend, and also because this fellow would always appear when he needed him the most. This fellow knew his true thoughts better than he did, and so whenever he didn’t know what to choose, it was never wrong to listen to this fellow.

There was nothing reasonable about Tang Thirty-Six’s words, but they were inexplicably persuasive.

“How did you get here?”

Chen Changsheng was very concerned about Tang Thirty-Six’s health.

Based on Tang Thirty-Six’s complexion, that strange and unrelenting fever had probably retreated, but his body was still extremely weak, or else he wouldn’t have needed to sit in a wheelchair.

Tang Thirty-Six replied, “How could such an important moment in history happen without me?”

The Tang Old Master’s face was a sheet of frost as he prepared to scold his grandson.

“Don’t make me air out the family skeletons.”

Tang Thirty-Six coughed.

Ye Xiaolian quickly patted him on the back.

Tang Thirty-Six waved her away and took out a pure white handkerchief from his sleeve to cover his mouth. His brow slightly creased in pain.

Neither the Tang Old Master nor Chen Changsheng could tell whether this sickly scholar act was real or false, and it was naturally inconvenient for them to question it.

Xu Yourong glanced at Ye Xiaolian, and Ye Xiaolian bashfully lowered her head. From this moment, she knew that this pair had not even reached Mount Han before turning around mid-journey.

Tang Thirty-Six ignored these things and said to the Demon Lord, “I forgot to introduce myself.”

The Demon Lord replied, “I recognize you.”

Tang Thirty-Six said, “Yes, you were really rude to me back in White Emperor City. Didn’t think that I would expose your trick ten years later, did you?”

The Demon Lord calmly returned, “In talking to yourself, you truly are the world’s best.”

Tang Thirty-Six noted, “It seems like you really don’t know who I am.”

The Demon Lord mocked, “Did you think this was enough to make you Su Li?”

Tang Thirty-Six sternly said, “Please permit me to introduce myself. I am Sir’s pen friend.”

The Demon Lord froze. “Pen friend?”

Tang Thirty-Six replied, “Yes. I’ve read all of Your Majesty’s letters, and the first four letters sent to Your Majesty were all written by me.”

The Demon Lord turned to Chen Changsheng and gravely said, “This is a little too much.”

Chen Changsheng earnestly explained, “I’m not good at interacting with people, and we weren’t familiar with each other at the start, so I was afraid that my words would be too awkward.”

The Demon Lord recalled the contents of those letters and sighed, “And I thought that you were treating me as an intimate friend from the start.”

“Your Majesty, I still consider you an intimate friend, and I’m still willing to be the best of friends with you.”

Tang Thirty-Six said to Demon Lord, “So, old friend… please give that object in your hand to me.”

The Demon Lord calmly stared at him. Suddenly, he asked, “Where does your self-confidence come from?”

Tang Thirty-Six replied, ” I don’t know, but not even my grandfather is willing to play mahjong with me.”

The Demon Lord said, “If not even the Tang Old Master is willing to play with you, I can presume that your mahjong skills are quite extraordinary.”

“In truth, my mahjong skills are quite ordinary, and I’m far inferior to Grandfather and the Holy Maiden, but I have a move that can defeat the entire world.”

Tang Thirty-Six sincerely declared, “I’m the best at flipping the table over. If I can’t flip the table over, I’ll bet all my assets.”

“The Tang clan is the wealthiest clan in the Human race. If you bet all your assets against any other human, you’re naturally guaranteed to win every gamble.”

The Demon Lord sneered, “But if you bet all your assets against me, I’m afraid you won’t have enough chips.”

This was true. No matter how much wealth and resources the Tang clan possessed, how could they compare to the ruler of the demon domain?

Tang Thirty-Six seriously returned, “That’s not guaranteed.”

Another voice suddenly offered, “I’ll join in.”

The speaker was Xu Yourong, her expression calm.

Wang Po also bet Scholartree Manor.

More and more people joined.

Chen Changsheng and the Tang Old Master did not speak, but everyone knew what they would do.

Tang Thirty-Six sat in his wheelchair, staring into the Demon Lord’s eyes with an unprecedented solemnity on his face.

What was being gambled was not the Tang clan, not the Li Palace, but the entire Human race.

The Demon Lord was quiet for a very long time. Finally, he asked, “Do the conditions in the letter still hold?”

Chen Changsheng replied, “Of course.”

Tang Thirty-Six added, “I’ll give you the best deal and use the ones in the eleventh letter.”

“Okay.”

The Demon Lord threw the stone pestle to Tang Thirty-Six.

Tang Thirty-Six caught it with his right hand, looked around, and threw it to the Tang Old Master.

This important divine artifact that could alter the fate of the world was thrown around in their hands like a worthless toy.

No one was surprised by Tang Thirty-Six’s actions.

He had never treated any sort of precious object as a big deal. Many years ago in White Emperor City, he had just as casually thrown the Orthodoxy’s Divine Staff to Chen Changsheng.

Only Ye Xiaolian, who was pushing the wheelchair, knew the truth of the matter.

She could clearly see that when Tang Thirty-Six caught the stone pestle, the back of his clothes had become instantly drenched in sweat. It was obvious that he was extremely nervous.

The Demon Lord looked at Tang Thirty-Six and asked, “Are you really not afraid?”

Tang Thirty-Six boldly said, “It’s not like I’m an idiot, so how could I not be afraid!”

The Demon Lord was confused. “Then why did you act so calmly and flawlessly?”

“Perhaps it’s because I’ve been richer than most since I was little.”

Tang Thirty-Six added, “Both physically and spiritually.”

……

……

In that last conversation that night, Shang Xingzhou had mentioned that Black Robe might have other tricks, but he said that Chen Changsheng did not need to worry too much.

It now appeared that Black Robe’s final trick was probably this, but she had not expected the Demon Lord’s opposition to be so intense.

Whether the Astral Executioner was still usable or not, it was now in the Tang Old Master’s hands. Not even Black Robe would be able to take it back.

But the sacrificial altar was still there, which meant that the threat had not been completely vanquished.

“Where is the sacrificial altar?” Chen Changsheng asked.

The Demon Lord lightly waved his sleeve, and the demon flames flowed, gradually revealing an image within, the flickering sight of Xuelao City.

At a certain place, the demon flames were of a darker hue. It was like true darkness, devoid of any light.

The sacrificial altar was there.

Wang Po memorized this location, then turned and left the Demon Hall.

“The Demon Commander and the Second Demon General? And where is Black Robe?”

Chen Changsheng looked at the Demon Lord and asked, “Since we’ve already reached an agreement, why spill more blood on both sides?”

The Demon Lord’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Can you not see that I am already a man alone in splendid isolation?”

……

……

‘Alone in splendid isolation’ was a phrase often used to refer to the emperors of the Human race, and it was rather unsuitable for the Demon Lord.

It was just like how these black square monoliths set up on the hill, both big and small, were unsuitable to use as gravestones.

Several thousand black monoliths signified several thousand upper-class demons who had died on the battlefield.

The higher they were to the peak of the hill, the more esteemed the identity of the demon.

Of course, other than that unfortunate successor of the Gruel clan, very few of the dukes of Xuelao City had died on the battlefield.

The graveyard was filled with wailing and weeping. The noble ladies wept over their deceased sons and the cut-up bodies of their husbands.

There were also many nobles looking up at the night sky with stupefied expressions, their faces covered in dust.

They knew that this graveyard had been made into a sacrificial altar by the Military Advisor that had sent information from this side to the Sacred Light Continent, so why had no pillar of light descended to bring them away?

The human army had already killed its way into Xuelao City, so why were they still standing here?

The shouts and stamping horsehooves in the distance were probably the human cavalry cleaning up any resistance in the city.

The nobles were so numb that they didn’t even feel fear, couldn’t even hear those sounds.

Wang Po stood on the summit of the hill, silently gazing at the weeping wives and the nobles who were more like walking corpses.

His gaze moved over the graveyard, feeling the energy hidden in those black monoliths. He confirmed that the Demon Lord was not lying: this place was probably a sacrificial altar.

But he still felt like something was wrong. This sacrificial altar was probably not enough to break through space, and it certainly could not connect the two distant continents.

Was it as the Demon Lord said, that the sacrificial altar needed to work with the Astral Executioner to be completely effective?

While Wang Po was thinking of these questions, a shabbily-dressed and hunchbacked gravedigger on the east slope of the hill was about to leave.

This gravedigger had just dug out a fresh hole and placed a very ordinary body of a higher-class demon inside.

Both the gravedigger in a graveyard and a corpse in a grave were very normal things, but when one remembered that Xuelao City had just been invaded, they became extremely unusual.

A calm gaze descended upon that gravedigger and watched as they slowly walked down the slope.

Just when that gravedigger was about to disappear where the slope met the night sky, Wang Po spoke.

“Another round?”

The gravedigger stopped.

The wind ruffled the shabby clothes, revealing that the gravedigger was not a hunchback. She was just very short.

After some time, she finally turned around. “Okay.”

Her voice was still gratingly hoarse.

The rust on her helmet seemed abnormally bewitching beneath the starlight.

Their first meeting had been in the plains in front of Mount Nuorilang, and their second in the swamp in front of Xuelao City.

Tonight, they had met once more in the graveyard, perhaps for the last time.

The Demon Commander pulled out her giant blade from the night wind and walked over to Wang Po.