Chapter 645 – Originally, You Were Nothing at All (2/2)
All this had been for the purpose of making him more dazzling, to have the Divine Empress discover him even faster and then focus on him, to suspect him and investigate him.
Because he was Chen Changsheng, a member of the Orthodoxy's legitimate line of succession, the Principal of the Orthodox Academy, a genius of cultivation, the inheritor of the Orthodoxy, Crown Prince Zhaoming.
Of course, all that had been fake.
He was nothing at all.
He was a fruit.
He was just a fruit.
A fruit that was naturally poisoned.
From the moment he was born, fate had already planned out his life for him, to ripen and then be eaten.
This was his destiny.
When his fate eventually concluded with the passing of time and all settled down again, the true successor of the Great Zhou Dynasty would walk onto stage and receive all this.
Who was that person? Master? The Pope? Or...the true Crown Prince Zhaoming?
At this time, Chen Changsheng should have felt sorrow, but he did not.
He was already numb.
He looked in a daze at the world beneath the Mausoleum of Books.
If everything was fake, what was real?
Suddenly, he was filled with a deep yearning for that old temple in Xining Village. He thought back, pretending that he had never come to the capital, that he was still sitting next to the stream by his senior brother, reciting and memorizing...
Senior...did he know of these things?
......
......
Finally, many people, including those fifteen princes of the Chen clan that had infiltrated the capital in the darkness, had begun to react, to realize just what had occurred.
Still shaking off their shock, they began to ponder what sort of blow this matter would inflict on the Divine Empress and what sort of effect it would have on the world. At the same time, they naturally began to think of a very important question.
Since the Divine Empress had still not reached perfection, Crown Prince Zhaoming assuredly lived. If Chen Changsheng was not him, then where was the real Crown Prince Zhaoming?
This shocking news spread countless times faster than the speed of a Red Falcon.
On the road from Luoyang to the capital, the bloated Prince of Xiang suddenly jumped off the ground and yelled a stream of abuse in the direction of the capital.
No one could clearly tell just who he was cursing at, Daoist Ji or Chen Changsheng, but his attendants were very sure that he did not devote a single word of this abuse to the Divine Empress.
He then gasped for breath and walked back into the imperial carriage, saying, ”After entering the capital, we will investigate where my pitiful younger brother is.”
On the canal from Jiangnan Province to the capital, the Prince of Zhongshan gave his subordinates a similar order, but he was much more direct than the Prince of Xiang.
”If we can secretly kill him, kill him. If we can't, then assist this prince in being the first to pledge loyalty and place myself in his hands.”
Many princes also had similar ideas.
The Prince of Xiang raised the curtain of the carriage window and gazed towards the capital.
The Prince of Zhongshan stood at the bow of the ship, gazing towards the capital.
They could not see the scene at the peak of the Mausoleum of Books, but they felt like they could see it.
Even these two extremely ruthless princes could feel how wretched Chen Changsheng must feel at this time.
Simultaneously, they felt that Principal Shang was extremely frightening.
......
......
The clouds had truly scattered.
Chen Changsheng searched in the darkness for the figure of his master, but his efforts were fruitless. Slowly, he lowered his head, raindrops slowly dripping down from his soaked hair.
The Tianhai Divine Empress gazed up at the infinite stars in the sky, remaining silent for a very long time, then finally speaking five words.
”So that's how it is.”
Then she drew back her gaze and turned to the dark capital, her sneering voice saying four more words.
”And what of it?”
......
......