Chapter 1063 – A Good Person (2/2)

”There's fewer and fewer people.”

Mao Qiuyu had a very melancholy expression.

Chen Changsheng understood his meaning.

Of the original Six Prefects of the Orthodoxy, the first to leave was Mei Lisha, and then Mu Jiushi had had her Orthodoxy cultivation crippled by the previous Pope and been driven out of the Li Palace. Afterward, Daoist Baishi was executed in Wenshui, and last night, Archbishop An Lin was silently removed from her post.

Now, even if Mao Qiuyu and Hu Thirty-Two were added, they could not make up the number required to use the Li Palace's grand array.

And now, Mao Qiuyu was about to leave.

Chen Changsheng said, ”Martial Uncle had me come here to do this task, and so there are some things that have to be done.”

The task he referred to was wielding the Orthodoxy's Divine Staff as Pope.

By 'some things', he referred to those bygone events, like those departures.

”I heard about Your Holiness's words from last night.”

Mao Qiuyu asked, ”Your Holiness will bear all the crimes that Your Holiness should bear?”

Chen Changsheng replied, ”Yes.”

Mao Qiuyu turned to examine his profile and asked, ”But who has the right to judge whether Your Holiness has committed a crime?”

Chen Changsheng pondered this for a long time, and then he gave an answer that surprised Mao Qiuyu.

”Why did none of you ever ask my master or Martial Uncle this question?”

He did not speak of the will of the people, nor of history, and certainly not the history of humanity. Instead, he had given another question.

Mao Qiuyu noticed the sincere look in his eyes and his determined expression, and then, he discovered that he could not answer this question.

Chen Changsheng had also never thought about getting an answer. He continued, ”Perhaps it's because I'm younger? Tang Thirty-Six once said that to be young is to be correct. This statement isn't correct, because correctness has nothing to do with age, so being old also does not mean one is correct.”

Mao Qiuyu replied, ”By seeing and experiencing more, perhaps one can take fewer detours.”

Chen Changsheng said, ”Between two points, a straight line is the shortest. There will naturally be no detours.”

He was speaking of his sword that had learned from Wang Po's blade.

”Drive is admittedly important, but ruling the world is like cooking a delicate fish. One cannot act lightly.”

Mao Qiuyu solemnly said to him, ”This was the previous Pope's Dao.”

This was the greatest difference that set the previous Pope apart from the Tianhai Divine Empress and Shang Xingzhou.

He did not care about the conflict between the Orthodoxy's new and conservative factions, nor did he care about the conflict between the Chen Imperial clan and the Tianhai Divine Empress.

He only supported the methods that would lead to a peaceful world.

Twenty-some years ago, Shang Xingzhou had conspired to rebel and the world seemed about to fall into chaos, so he objected.

Twenty years later, the Tianhai Divine Empress remained unwilling to return the government to the Chen Imperial clan and the world seemed about to fall into chaos, so he objected.

Mao Qiuyu gazed at that figure walking away through the snow and said, ”The Holy Maiden's actions will certainly throw the world into chaos. The previous Pope would assuredly have fully opposed her, but you have chosen to act as if you do not see it. I truly do not know which is right.”

Just now, when Xu Yourong was persuading him, she had engaged in an extremely complicated calculation and then said one sentence.

”Since your two sleeves sway with the breeze, there is no harm in putting your hands in your sleeves and looking from the sidelines.”

'Two Sleeves in the Breeze' was Mao Qiuyu's Daoist name.

”In truth, I've always believed that Martial Uncle's methods were not necessarily correct.”

Chen Changsheng thought back to that night in the Mausoleum of Books. His martial uncle the Pope stood in the flooded, impoverished southern part of the city, fighting the Tianhai Divine Empress while still protecting the innocent commoners. He was touched by this and admired his martial uncle for this, but he also felt a more complex emotion.

His martial uncle the Pope was a good person.

But did a good person have to endure such suffering?

Mao Qiuyu knew what he was thinking and earnestly advised, ”Your Holiness, we should still be good people.”

”I have no need to be a good person, because I have always been a good person.”

Chen Changsheng sincerely said, ” But I hope that a good person can be rewarded with good.”