Chapter 631 – Tonight (2/2)
”Why do you want to know who your enemies are?”
”Normally, those people hide themselves very well. Seizing this opportunity, I'll seek them all out, and then kill them all.”
”And if the entire world is your enemy?”
”Then I'll kill off half the world, and then the other half naturally won't dare to be my enemies anymore.”
Chen Changsheng fell silent, finally understanding what she wished to do.
Truly a terrifying woman that inspired fear in others.
He sat on the ice-cold ground, leaning against the steps, gazing at the seemingly quiet and beautiful world below the Mausoleum of Books, shrouded in darkness. He thought to himself, just how many people will die tonight? This depends on how many people appear today in the capital, or perhaps she said, it depends on how many people appear someplace in the darkness to stealthily watch the capital.
The Tianhai Divine Empress waved her sleeve and a clear stream of light flashed out. A surface of light several feet in radius appeared in the night sky in front of him.
This surface of light was not near or far. It was placed at the perfect distance so that the two of them could see it clearly.
The scenes in the night sky incessantly fluctuated: at times the Imperial Palace, at times the Orthodox Academy, at times the official road outside the capital, at times, a black silhouette barely visible against the darkness.
The scenes changed too quickly fo Chen Changsheng to see them clearly. He only knew that, in a little while, all the people that appeared in these scenes would be killed by her.
Tonight was an ordinary evening in early autumn.
But after tonight, this night would inevitably become the most important evening of the Great Zhou Dynasty's Zhengtong era.
Tonight, the people who had the qualifications, or the daring, to come to the capital and save Chen Changsheng were undoubtedly not ordinary people. Those people concealed in the darkness, watching the situation in the capital, were also not ordinary people.
The dark clouds in the night sky grew thicker and thicker, the lights in the streets of the capital growing dimmer and dimmer. The world grew gloomier and gloomier, the atmosphere more and more tense.
Certain places in the capital seemed to grow somewhat turbulent and then quickly calmed back down, ultimately returning to a deathly stillness.
Suddenly, in the night sky to the northwest of the capital, a light appeared. This light was not very dazzling, seeming like someone had torn out a chunk of the clouds in that place, revealing the many stars behind it. Behind these numerous stars was sparkling and translucent splendor, perhaps the moonlight rumored to only be visible to demons?
In the official road at that location, the willows on both sides rustled despite the lack of wind, as if bowing towards the center of the road.
There was no army in the center of the road, no convoy of carriages, only two people.
A man in a bamboo hat was pushing a wheelchair, seeming to slowly proceed along the official road towards the distant capital.
Traveling from the shambles of the Myriad Willows Garden in Tianliang County to this place required a very long time. To the man in the wheelchair, he had been already been walking for two-hundred-some years.
Two hundred years ago, Emperor Xian could not appear in court due to his illness, and so Tianhai began to formally manage the government. From that moment, the man in the wheelchair came to the capital no more, because he feared her.
Tonight, he had finally come, probably because he realized that he did not have much time left on this world. Before death, all other fears dulled.
Two of the Storms of the Eight Directions, Zhu Luo and Guan Xingke, had come to the capital.
……
……
Seeing the scene in the night sky in front of him, seeing Zhu Luo in his wheelchair, seeing the famous sword at his waist, Chen Changsheng very naturally recalled that battle in the rain at Xunyang City.
He remembered very clearly how Su Li had once jeered at Zhu Luo, saying that because he was afraid of Tianhai, he didn't dare take one step into the capital.
For Zhu Luo to come to the capital tonight, perhaps he had already resolved himself to die. Together with his fellow Storm Guan Xingke, although they were only two, the momentum they traveled with surpassed an army of a thousand soldiers and ten thousand cavalry.
”Guan Xingke's personality is too calm and tranquil, bearing no love or hate for anything in this world. His heart rests amongst the stars, so lonely as to make others feel sorrow. He can advance no further in this life and is not worth any anxiety.”
The Tianhai Divine Empress held her hands behind her back as she examined the two people on the official road, saying, ”Zhu Luo has had his courage frightened out of him by Su Li, yet he still dares to come to the capital. Perhaps this might change a few variables, but in the end, he has already been crippled. His coming is just sending himself to death and nothing more.”
Zhu Luo and Guan Xingke were two supreme experts of the Divine Domain, ranking within the Storms of the Eight Directions, yet in her evaluation, they were completely useless people.
The scene in the night sky changed once more, the light falling upon the Divine Path following suit. Chen Changsheng's complexion flickered between bright and gloomy, his mood the same, because now, the scene had turned to a waterway to the southeast of the capital.
This was a canal between Luoyang and the capital, using for transporting grain. The canal was extremely wide, but according to the laws of the Imperial Court, boats were forbidden from traversing it at night. Now, however, an extravagantly large ship was traveling through this canal. As this great ship broke through the water, it raised wave after wave. The originally clear canal became a rather dark blue in the darkness, yet it could not obscure that dark red in the water.
……