Chapter 428 – Granting Shining Light (1/2)
Chapter 428 - Granting Shining Light
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The person who had come was Prince Chen Liu, the Chen clan's sole representative in the capital, and also the only member of its junior generation that the Divine Empress would accept.
In the capital, Prince Chen Liu possessed an extremely good reputation, believed to be as warm and gentle as jade and yet also possessing an abundance of courage. Back then, this young prince, in spite of the discussion and rumors, had twice assisted Chen Changsheng and the Orthodox Academy. Chen Changsheng had a very good impression of him, but for some reason, Tang Thirty-Six did not like him at all.
Prince Chen Liu gave a junior's bow to the archbishop, looked at Chen Changsheng, and smiled. ”Don't you think that we've met a little too early?”
Mei Lisha ignored the hidden meaning in those words and went straight to the point. ”The Orthodoxy wishes to invite the Empress to express her stance as soon as possible. The Tianhai clan will naturally disagree. Tianhai Shengxue is a smart man, but the people of his clan do not necessarily possess his intelligence. Even if they did, they would also be broken apart by the title of Emperor that seems so close at hand. After all, not all people can resist that sort of enticement.”
Prince Chen Liu unflinchingly declared, ”As the Chen Imperial clan, I and all my brothers in the counties will conduct ourselves in a just and straightforward manner.”
Both of these statements had been said to Chen Changsheng.
”The Orthodoxy will always stand behind the Imperial clan. From the year in which Taizu founded the dynasty, this has always been so,” Mei Lisha said firmly. ”It is also the case now. It is just that because of Zhuang Huanyu's death, there will be some problems on the Heavenly Dao Academy's side. Among the six archbishops, there are still two that have not turned around, because His Holiness turned his views around too quickly.”
Chen Changsheng thought to himself, if it's this way, then what was going on with that bloody incident of the Orthodox Academy? Why would His Holiness support the Divine Empress for so many years? He understood that this was all to give him a breakdown of the current situation, but he was still uncomprehending. Just what could he do? Why had the archbishop arranged for him to meet with Prince Chen Liu?
Mei Lisha's next sentence provided an answer to this riddle, but provided a new riddle in its place, for both Chen Changsheng and for Prince Chen Liu.
”In the future, I ask that the Prince must remember the price that Chen Changsheng paid.”
Prince Chen Liu had a thoughtful look on his face at these words, but nothing came of it.
Chen Changsheng also could not make anything of this, and his thoughts lay elsewhere. He asked, ”What about Zhexiu?”
The Pope had said that Zhexiu would quickly come out, but he was still very anxious—Zhexiu was still in prison, and even worse, it was the Zhou Prison!
It was impossible for him to imagine what sort of dreadful torments that wolf youth had to bear in this period.
Mei Lisha said, ”If the Imperial Court still does not release him, I will personally make a visit.”
Prince Chen Liu said apologetically, ”The second day after Zhexiu was imprisoned, I sent over my card…but you should also know that for a prince like me in front of Lord Zhou Tong, to say something is not very useful.”
Standing under that row of maple trees still brimming with the air of spring, Chen Changsheng gazed in the direction rumored to be where Zhou Prison lay, then he turned in the direction of the Mausoleum of Books, then, finally, he turned towards the Imperial Palace and the Li Palace and sighed.
He was no ordinary youth, but in the end, he was still a youth. In this world, there were some matters that were too complex, too weighty, and somewhat difficult to bear. It even made it rather difficult for him to breathe. Compared to the capital, he felt that the storm in Xunyang City was more relaxed and straightforward. He would rather stand together with that metal blade and simply go off to do some things, even if those things to be done weren't all that simple.
Under the humble gazes of the priests, he left the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, but he didn't return to the Orthodox Academy. Instead, he went to the market to buy some tasty foods and then went to New North Bridge. Borrowing the glimmer of the sun setting in the west, he used his movement technique to become an illusion and jumped into the dried-up well.
The underground space was still chilling to the bone, but the Black Dragon was still asleep. The mountain range that was its massive body quietly rose up and down, and those iron chains were still rusted and inflexibly attached to the stone wall.
Chen Changsheng took out the food he had bought and, using lotus leaves to carry them, arranged them in front of the Black Dragon's body. Finally, he untied the ruyi from his waist and placed it on the ground.
The Black Dragon's spiritual soul was still sleeping in the ruyi and he didn't know when it would wake up.
After doing all this, he thought for a few moments, then wrote a few words in the frost on the ground. Then, he left.
He appeared in the pool, thoroughly soaked. After changing to a dry set of clothes he had prepared beforehand, he once more met the Black Goat in the courtyard of the Imperial Palace. He broke into a smile and crouched down to warmly embrace it, completely disregarding the slightly raised head of the Black Goat and its unwilling appearance.
There was a gust of wind, still chilly, but quickly dispersed several dozen zhang away. The lotus leaves on the frost once again became tender green and the fresh food once again began to emit warm heat.
Her hands held behind her back, the Tianhai Divine Empress had her head lowered as she read the words Chen Changsheng had just left behind in the frost. The corners of her lips revealed a mocking smile.
Without even a glance, her spiritual sense moved and that jade ruyi once again appeared on her waist.
At this moment, the strand of the Black Dragon's spiritual soul awakened and transformed into a chilly intent. By means of the red birthmark between the eyebrows, it returned to the dragon body. The dragon's pupils slowly opened and the ice streamed down. The mountain range of its body shrank at an unimaginable speed, ultimately transforming into a small black-clothed girl. However, the coldness of her appearance had already been greatly diminished by that cinnabar birthmark.
”Did you see, men are all fickle and lacking in affection,” the Tianhai Divine Empress said teasingly to her.
The black-clothed girl saw the words he had left behind, then after a period of silence, said, ”He didn't know when I would wake up and had things to do, so it's only natural that he leaves first. Moreover, he also doesn't know that I'm a girl…”
”You are a female dragon.” The Tianhai Divine Empress calmly said, ”If you were to let him know of this fact, what meaning would there be?”