Chapter 510 – Her (2/2)
But the two sides of this battle were Xu Yourong and Chen Changsheng, and this was enough.
They didn't need their identities as the Holy Maiden of the south and the Principal of the Orthodox Academy, nor did they need the engagement, and that conflict between the Tianhai clan and the Li Palace didn't even need to be discussed. None of this had ever been forgotten, because as soon as those two names were mentioned, all these events of the past year would surface again in the minds of the people, and the entire world would become excited.
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Everyone in the capital was awaiting the coming of this battle. Many people in the Imperial Court and the Li Palace were making their preparations for it.
As one of the participants, Chen Changsheng naturally had his own preparations to make. He had already fought with many Star Condensation cultivators, even faced off against the likes of Liang Wangsun and Painted Armor Xiao Zhang, but even though his opponent Xu Yourong was only at the upper level of Ethereal Opening, he would definitely not treat her with the slightest scorn or disregard. He was very sure that Xu Yourong was far stronger than those initial level Star Condensation cultivators that had lost at his hand.
If he wished to emerge victorious against a genius like Xu Yourong, to obtain victory in the face of the bloodline of the true Phoenix, he naturally had to prepare his most powerful techniques.
The moment the match's date was decided, he launched his first sword, the Intellectual Sword—with the assistance of the Li Palace and Wenshui Tangs, he obtained countless files and dossiers pertaining to Xu Yourong. Sitting by the window, he began to seriously study them, attempting to find the information he required from within. With enough information, he could calculate and deduce just how he should use this sword of his.
He first comprehended the techniques of South Stream Temple, the history of Holy Maiden Peak, how the Daoist techniques of north and south began to diverge after the schism of the Orthodoxy, and the fruits of the Holy Maidens’ research into the Heavenly Tome Monoliths. For this purpose, the Li Palace had sent over countless books, even a notebook that Xu Yourong had written in the past two years of her study of the Heavenly Tome Monoliths. Then, he began to comprehend the Divine General of the East's estate, what sort of style Xu Shiji usually led his troops with, Madam Xu's temperament, what sort of life that maid called Shuang'er lived before entered the Xu Estate and also how she had been brought in by Xu Yourong. After he had comprehended and grasped all this information, he could finally begin the most important part: Xu Yourong herself.
There was an enormous amount of information concerning Xu Yourong. Besides the Li Palace, the Wenshui Tangs had also sent over two boxes. However, if all the commonly known information and those examples of battles were excluded, there was actually very little useful information in all of this. Moreover, the vast majority of the information was rumors from when she lived in the capital. There were not many records from her time in Holy Maiden Peak.
The more Chen Changsheng studied those files, the more impossible it was for him to understand Xu Yourong.
This wasn't to say that Xu Yourong was a very enigmatic girl.
In reality, when she was very small, many common folk of the capital had seen her with their own eyes.
They had seen her leap from the stone bridge into the canal. After rescuing her, they had asked why she had jumped. She said that it was because there was a moon in the water.
They had seen her going for a walk at New North Bridge and jumping towards that abandoned well. After barely managing to obstruct her, they had asked why. She said that it was because there was a dragon in that well.
There were many old people that even now had not forgotten a scene that used to take place very often some ten years ago in front of the Li Palace.
It was still the little girl Xu Yourong who would often climb up the stone pillars of the Li Palace to watch the sun, laughing very happily. Below, the Li Palace priests were both anxious and angry, yet didn't dare to do anything. Even their shouts for her to come down were warm and gentle.
She, who from the moment she was born had been determined by the Divine Empress and the Pope to hold the blood of the true Phoenix, was the cherished treasure of the entire capital and all of the Great Zhou. Let alone the hallowed pillars of the Li Palace, even the Princess of Ping who was several years older than her was often beaten black and blue. The Divine Empress did not care, so these Li Palace priests were powerless.
In brief, Xu Yourong in her childhood was a naughty and mischievous young monkey, a daring tomboy. No one could have imagined what she would become.
At the age of five, Xu Yourong's true Phoenix blood awakened.
This was two years earlier than calculated by the Divine Empress and the Pope.
From that day onward, Xu Yourong seemed to transform into another person entirely. Her white dress was no longer stained with dust, remaining beautiful and serene.
Her temperament also became beautiful and serene. No matter what situation she encountered, she remained calm and indifferent.
She no longer uttered nonsense like the canal containing a moon or the well holding a dragon, and she no longer messed around.
She began to quietly study, calmly cultivate, and she was still so small.
At that time, the common folk of the capital would occasionally see her entering the palace, and it almost seemed like they had seen a real fairy.
The capital's burning adoration and worship most likely began from that point.
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Reading these files and imagining those scenes, Chen Changsheng entered a sort of trance.
As it turned out, when she was small, she had been that sort of person.
But why was it that when they were exchanging letters, he had never felt any of this? And why hadn't he felt any of the other her that was so admired by the common folk of the capital?
Gazing at the bamboo dragonfly on the bookshelf, he found himself rather perplexed.
Too many things had happened after he came to the capital, making it impossible for him to preserve any sort of favorable impression towards Xu Yourong. Those fancies that he presumably once had also vanished into nothingness. Furthermore, they were opponents. But even with all this, he was forced to admit that Xu Yourong truly was extraordinary. The moon in the canal, he could not understand, but he knew more than anyone else that under the abandoned well in New North Bridge…there really was a dragon. And she knew this when she wasn't yet five?