Chapter 648 – The Entire World Rebels Against Tianhai (2/2)
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In the autumn forest in the Capital Garden of Peace, the statue of a past sage made from obsidian slowly sank back into the ground, yellowed grass quickly growing back on the muddy ground.
In the center of the southern part of Red House Street, the crack in the ground slowly closed. The scorching Qi rising from its depths was gradually cut off. The wind gradually blew more harshly, constantly howling as if wailing in unwillingness.
In the north part of White Paper District, the rotted buildings of that courtyard could not be reconstructed, but the clear water in the canals flowed back into the shattered well.
In the North Li of Achieving Merit on that mound, green pines grew back up from the muddy earth, the bones and corpses buried once more. Lightning constantly flashed down and the golden luster that soared into the sky was once more stained by resentment, no longer as dignified and divine as it once was. All returned to silence, from beginning to end a grand tomb which no one was aware of!
The light emitted outwards by the Lingyan Pavilion instantly vanished and returned to darkness, just as it had been for the last one thousand years.
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The awe-inspiring array energy shrouding the capital gradually dispersed into the world.
The unrest in the darkness that had been suppressed for so long gradually began to surface.
The Prince of Louyang anxiously remained hiding in the mansion right outside the Imperial Palace. The other Chen princes, however, headed towards their own residences or the residences belonging to students or old friends of their parents.
The assorted ministries of the Great Zhou Imperial Court all became abnormally silent, no one knowing what sort of change would occur next.
The Ivy Academies were also in a state of absolute silence. The cavalry of both the Imperial Court and the Orthodoxy had all withdrawn, heading towards places where the situation was even more tense.
No one knew that the Principal of the Heavenly Dao Academy, Zhuang Zhihuan, was at the residence of the Minister of Rites.
The Minister of Rites who had only displayed his true attitude during the battle on the Bridge of Helplessness had a very lofty reputation in the Imperial Court, so although he had endured an extremely difficult period in the last year, the Divine Empress had not treated him as she had treated other ministers, expelling them from the court and granting them death.
Perhaps for this reason, his stance was not as fierce as others had imagined.
”If people don't have to die, it's best to not have them die. If a little less people can die, then a little less people should die.”
The Minister of Rites extracted a thick stack of papers from his sleeve and placed it in front of Zhuang Zhihuan. ”I've been standing guard in the court for more than two hundred years, guarding until the clouds finally parted. What I was waiting for was not for a dynasty to gain power and for blood to flow. I deeply esteem the Empress, and I somewhat pity those ministers. Not everyone is Zhou Tong or Cheng Jun, not all of them are evil.”
After Zhuang Huanyu's suicide, the Principal Zhuang who had lost his only son had grown even more taciturn. Tonight was no exception.
He took the stack of paper, glanced at the name written upon them, then left the mansion. He made no promises to the Minister of Rites.
Gazing at his back, the Minister of Rites sighed. He knew that after tonight, whether the Divine Empress won or the other side won, an extremely tragic situation would ensue.
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The situation in the capital tonight was abnormally tense, but it was also particularly strange.
Of the several factions that could sufficiently influence tonight's situation, some had not yet made their voices heard.
The Li Palace's silence might indicate that the Pope was still hesitating, just like the Green Leaf was still swaying.
But what of the Tianhai clan who had operated for so many years in the capital, who had great strength hidden in both the court and the army...why had they continued to maintain their silence?
The darkness around the Tianhai clan's mansion and estate concealed at least ten thousand cavalry, and many cultivators would occasionally come in a rush of wind.
These cavalry and cultivators were the strength under the control of the Tianhai clan. The problem was that this strength should have appeared in the Imperial Palace, appeared in the various ducal estates, appeared in the offices of the Imperial Court. They should not have remained here, and even after such a long time, there was no sign that they planned to mobilize.
This apparent silence was truthfully only external. Within the mansion and estate of the Tianhai clan, many things had already occurred.
These things were very bloody, very cruel, but the two sides of the conflict were clansmen, family members, relatives, father and son...
The blood on the floor of the courtyard was particularly dazzling under the light of the lanterns.
Tianhai Shengxue narrowed his eyes. His stomach still churned with disgust and he felt rather dizzy.
In this period of time, message after message had come. A few of the younger descendants of the Tianhai clan that still insisted on not complying with orders and sending out the troops were cruelly suppressed by the strength of the clan head.
A few of his cousins had probably already been subdued, even killed.
His own younger brother had just now, right before his own eyes, had one of his arms chopped off by his father.
”Why?”
He raised his head to look at his father, his voice shaking. ”Why do you have to do things this way?”
”What 'why'?”
In the spacious hall, the chair seemed particularly lonely. Tianhai Chenwu sat upon this chair and also seemed very lonely, but this did not mean the look on his face would change in the slightest.
He looked at his own son and expressionlessly asked, ”Just what exactly do you wish to know?”
”I want to know a lot of things!”
Tianhai Shengxue angrily cried out, ”Just what do you plan on doing!”
After experiencing the earlier part of the night's turmoil and the gory suppression, this hall was now devoid of others. Only father and son were present, a loneliness that was somewhat horrifying.
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