Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Countless years ago, when the Heavenly Tomes descended in rolling flames, they landed in the current south of the capital. There, the mausoleum mound formed, and it became the Mausoleum of Books. Countless stone monoliths were scattered on it, and joined with the earth. It could not be separated at all, and could not be moved. Neither the Daoist Canon nor the books of history held any recordings of the stone monoliths leaving the Mausoleum of Books. As a result, when Chen Changsheng took one day to comprehend all seventeen Heavenly Tome Monoliths of the front mausoleum and saw the broken monolith in the final monolith hut, he thought with shock, just who was it that was actually able to break the monolith and take it away?

Now, only after seeing the stone pillar outside the mausoleum that gave off clear light and constantly shed layers of rock did he understand that the monolith that had left the Mausoleum of Books was in the stone pillar. If so, then the person who had broken the monolith and taken it away was Zhou Dufu. Fair enough—other than Zhou Dufu, who else in the world could do such things that could offend the entire world? He looked at the other nine stone pillars around the mausoleum, and his body became stiffer and stiffer. If those stone pillars were also Heavenly Tome Monoliths, did that not mean that Zhou Dufu had taken ten monoliths out of the Mausoleum of Books at that time?

As it turned out, this was the greatest secret of the Garden of Zhou.

No matter if it was the legacies that were left behind by experts of previous generations, or even the Sword Pool or Zhou Dufu’s Halving Blade Technique, no other secret could be compared to the secret in the stone pillars.

Just when he thought about the matter in shock, the other nine stone pillars also began to exude the Qi that seemed to originate from ancient times, and clear light began shining out of them.

The clear light landed on the sky, and it shattered the sky into fragments. The fragments landed on the grassland, and exploded into storms of unimaginable energy. It caused the world to change color, and the whirlwinds that wreaked havoc on the grassland to become more and more terrifying. They had even lifted up the monsters that were heavy like mountains and the boulders beneath the wet mud. The shaking of the earth became more and more powerful, and there were no longer any more monsters that could stand. They all fell on the ground in succession. The Monster Birds that had some resistance by flying in the sky were unable to leave the grassland in time at all. They were blown away by countless streams of air. Whether they had died or were still alive could not be known.

The grassland and the world of the Garden of Zhou which was slightly further out fell into complete disorder, and was about to be destroyed. Even the grand mausoleum began to tremble, and some boulders were completely smashed by the storm of energy. They turned into heavy rocks, which began to roll down from high above. The rockslide gave off a rumbling like thunder, and squashed many monsters that were unable to avoid it to death.

The whirlwinds arrived at the mausoleum. Nanke’s eyes were closed, and she waited for death in the violent wind. She was immediately swept away, and drifted towards the grassland behind her. The two maids, Ning Qiu and Hua Cui, gave out calls of lamentation, and burned their spiritual bodies as if their lives depended on it. They transformed into two spiritual lights and arrived by her side, immediately transformed into wings of light, which attached to Nanke’s body.

The whistling, violent wind swept Nanke into the distance. The wings of light quickly turned into smears of light, and disappeared with the blink of an eye. Seeing this, Chen Changsheng calmed down, and used the Yeshi Step to break through the tearing of the violent wind. He returned to the main entrance of the mausoleum. He used the dagger in his left hand to pierce into the heavy stone door, and used his right hand to reach towards Xu Yourong.

He was prepared to untie Xu Yourong’s waist band, and bind her to himself.

Xu Yourong woke up. She looked at the frenetic grassland, and her expression became slightly perplexed. However, when she saw the clear light that came out of the ten stone pillars before the mausoleum, she worked out everything very quickly. Her complexion became abnormally pale, and she murmured, “It indeed is him who put it in the Garden of Zhou.”

A ray of clear light landed at a location not far away from the main entrance of the mausoleum. The divine path crumbled, and brought with it a series of violent quakes.

Chen Changsheng was jolted and hit the stone wall. His right hand grasped the dagger hilt tightly, which was why he did not get blown away by the whirlwinds. However, he was unable to grab her.

The Tong Bow in Xu Yourong’s hand swayed in the incoming wind, and turned into a wutong tree that was covered in verdant, green leaves. The tree roots were attached tightly to the stone wall, which helped her stabilise herself.

In the wild, whistling wind, the green leaves fell one by one. Her black hair floated past her pale face and slightly absent-minded eyes.

Chen Changsheng looked at her and shouted, “How can I make it stop?”

Ever since entering the grassland, he was used to listening to her opinions. He knew what kind of intelligence and knowledge she had, and he had also vaguely heard the words she had just spoken. Although, he did not understand why she understood this matter so well that she only needed a glance to know what was happening.

At the Holy Maiden Peak, Xu Yourong had spent all her time studying the Heavenly Tomes. She was also extremely close with the Divine Empress, which was why she knew the secret that almost no-one knew. Looking at the ten stone pillars, she was as shocked as she possibly could be, and only returned to her senses a while later. She muttered to herself, “...there’s still two missing.”

Back then, Zhou Dufu broke off twelve Heavenly Tome Monoliths in the Mausoleum of Books. There were only ten monoliths surrounding the mausoleum, so where were the other two? Even at such an intense moment, she who spent all her time with the meaning of the Heavenly Tomes subconsciously thought of this question first, before finally hearing Chen Changsheng’s voice.

Her finger quickly drew on the floor, calculating the relative position of the ten pillars in the surroundings of the mausoleum and deducing the connections between the stone pillars. Originally, she was already extremely weak and spent all the time sleeping. As soon as she woke up, she began to do such complicated calculations, so she expended an extremely great amount of energy. In just a moment, her complexion became pale like snow.

The violent wind blew the pieces of rock that landed on the mausoleum, which gave out an extremely terrifying sound. Countless holes immediately formed in the tough rock, and even the wutong tree transformed from the Tong Bow began to totter. The green leaves constantly fell, and it seemed about to collapse. Seeing this, Chen Changsheng did not think at all, and took the risk of drawing the dagger from the wall. With difficulty, he moved to Xu Yourong’s side, and opened up the Yellow Paper Umbrella, helping her to block the rock shrapnel that was like arrows.

The Yellow Paper Umbrella constantly gave out thick and disorderly sounds of being hit.

In the next moment when the Yellow Paper Umbrella became quiet, Chen Changsheng did not say anything. He did not want to interrupt her calculations.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Yourong shook her head and said, “Can’t calculate it.”

Chen Changsheng peered over the edge of the Yellow Paper Umbrella, and his gaze landed on the stone pillar in front of the mausoleum. He said, “There always should be a method.”

It was not blind hope, but stubborn belief. Since Zhou Dufu could suppress the Heavenly Tome Monoliths before, they definitely could also do it. Their current level of cultivation obviously could not be compared to Zhou Dufu from before in the slightest, but the method should have been there, waiting to be discovered by them.

“The relative positions and mutual relations of the ten stone pillars are rather subtle. It should be a type of formation that can equalise the surge of Qi between the stone pillars and form a type of balance. Logically, it should not be as violent as it is now. I can’t calculate what has gone wrong.”

At the moment, Xu Yourong was very weak. However, when she said that, she actually revealed a glimpse of frustration that was rarely ever seen.

Chen Changsheng said, “Before, it should have been the Sword Pool that was responsible for suppressing and balancing, but now, I have taken away the Sword Pool. If I return the ten thousand swords right now, will it still be of any use?”

Without too much exact detail, Xu Yourong understood what had happened when she was asleep before through his few, simple sentences. Before she could feel the astonishment, she began to deduce and calculate once again. However, even after adding in the variable of the Sword Pool, she realised that the matter still did not make sense.

If they wanted the stone pillars to settle down, the great formation to regain its function and allow the world to be balanced again… they needed even more Heavenly Tome Monoliths.

However, where could she find Heavenly Tome Monoliths? Who knew where the remaining two monoliths of the twelve that Zhou Dufu had taken out of the Mausoleum of Books back then were? Also, even if the two Heavenly Tome Monoliths were found, the world of the Garden of Zhou was currently falling apart, so just who could stop the sky from falling down?

As a result, it was useless.

No matter if the Sword Pool appeared again, or if the stone pillars settled down once again, it was already useless.

The Garden of Zhou was about to be destroyed, and the humans, demons and monsters within it would be turned to ashes, or sucked into void space.

Xu Yourong lowered her head and looked at her finger that trembled slightly. Her lips were tightly pursed. She seemed a staunch and unyielding girl who was currently grieving.

She felt that she was very useless.

Chen Changsheng understood it, and did not say any more. At this moment, he held the dagger in one hand and the umbrella in the other, and could not pat her shoulder to comfort her, much less hug her to give her warmth. As a result, he could only move slightly towards her, and sit closer to her. His shoulder leaned on hers gently, hoping that it could give her something to rely on.

The whirlwind sucked up countless rock fragments which rained on the surface of the Yellow Paper Umbrella. It brought an extremely terrifying vibration of sound, like that of a giant beating a battle drum. If the defensive capabilities of the Yellow Paper Umbrella were not so great, they would already be dead at that moment.

It was very quiet in the umbrella.

Xu Yourong leaned on his shoulder, and seemed very powerless.