Chapter 155 - 97: The Fall of Liang and the Advent of Zhou
Chapter 155: Chapter 97: The Fall of Liang and the Advent of Zhou
’Does the firmament have a will of its own?’
Su Chen did not know.
Even if it did, he didn’t care.
He held a sword in his hand, daring to cut down any foe in the world—even the firmament itself.
"What are you looking at?"
Lady Shui was drinking her medicine, her eyes fixed on this strange Imperial Physician.
This Imperial Physician was handsome and skilled in medicine, but otherwise unremarkable. Yet he would always gaze so gently at her profile as she drank her medicine.
She didn’t know why.
But it made her feel very much at ease.
"It’s nothing."
"I was just thinking... whether or not to see him off to his grave."
Su Chen murmured.
The Purple-robed Thousand Years. The master of a nation, whose majesty awed the world, made the powerful tremble, and enraged the Zhou People. But from beginning to end, he was just that ordinary Eunuch from the pharmacy.
Xuan... had reached his limit.
Even after becoming a Fallen Demon and stepping into the Grandmaster realm, he had reached his limit.
This journey...
Even if Demon Mountain feared Great Yu, he would still die.
’Success was due to the Heaven-Devouring Demon Technique, and so is failure...’
Ye Xuan’s life was at its end.
Even the Three Methods of Life Extension had their limits.
By personally leading this expedition, he was betting everything on one last gamble!
"You should get some sleep."
"Cyan Sparrow."
Su Chen gently rubbed Lady Shui’s head, just as dotingly as he had rubbed Cyan Sparrow’s head in the Early Years of Xuanlong.
"My name is Lady Shui,"
Lady Shui corrected him.
"Alright."
"Cyan Sparrow."
However, the one Su Chen was looking at had always been Cyan Sparrow, not Lady Shui.
「The next day.」
It was as if the wind and snow knew the Regent Purple-robed Thousand Years was about to set off on his expedition, for they had ceased completely.
Outside the Imperial City.
Armors Like Mountains stood assembled. A hundred-thousand-strong army, vast and boundless, was arrayed before the city walls, awaiting inspection by the Purple-robed Thousand Years.
The civil and military officials, along with all the nobles of the city, had come to see this Purple Robe off. Whether their sentiments were genuine or not, all of them had tears welling in their eyes.
The Purple Robe did not move.
He stared at the Imperial City, waiting.
"Thousand Years, it is time to depart," an official prompted.
"A little longer," the Purple Robe said, his eyes filled with regret.
The hundred-thousand-strong army stood in silence.
The officials and nobles waited in the cold wind.
But it wasn’t just them.
In the shadows, the Celestial Alliance and the Great Yu Royal Family were also craning their necks, watching this place and waiting for someone’s arrival.
Everyone knew who this Purple-robed Thousand Years, this master of the worldly dynasties, was waiting for.
The Wind Snow Sword Immortal, who had vanished without a trace.
Unfortunately, today there was no wind, nor was there any snow.
The wind and snow had not arrived.
And neither had he.
After a long while.
"Thousand Years, it is time to depart."
A Grandmaster, the Commander-in-Chief of the army, came forth to urge the Purple Robe to set out.
"So be it."
The regret in the Purple Robe’s eyes faded, replaced by an unprecedented madness and determination.
He clutched the withered branch in his tunic and spoke to himself with a smile.
’Ye Xuan, oh, Ye Xuan.’
’Between Master Xu, your mother, and your little brother, you made your choice long ago, didn’t you?’
The Demon Shadow, formed from the firmament’s resentment, manifested as a sorrowful old woman and a pair of gaunt siblings, who gazed at him tenderly.
"Set out!"
"This one war to end all wars!"
"I will bring peace to this world of Great Liang!"
the Purple-robed Thousand Years roared.
In that instant, the hundred thousand soldiers of the Liang people, clad in armor, let out a cry like the mountains and the sea.
"This one war to end all wars!"
"Peace to the world!"
The army marched.
A sea of black armor swallowing the land.
SIGH!
A sigh echoed.
Su Chen had come.
But he did not show himself.
Before the moat, he stood dressed in white robes like snow, carrying a medicine box and holding a fishing rod, fishing in the frozen moat.
A fish took the bait.
Yet he never reeled in the line.
He waited until the great army had marched and the Purple Robe had vanished into the distance. Only then did he seem to return to his senses, noticing the heavy weight on his fishing rod.
But alas, when he finally tried to reel it in, the fish was gone.
’It’s better that I didn’t see him off.’
’Saves me from having to attend your funeral later.’
He was silent for a long time.
Su Chen picked up his medicine box, put away his fishing rod, and prepared to leave. But then he noticed a figure not far away, studying him thoughtfully.
The man wore the Daoist Robe of the Celestial Master’s Mansion, his hair in a meticulous topknot. A wine gourd hung from his waist, and he had an otherworldly air about him.
"Daoist, are you also here to see the Thousand Years off?" Su Chen asked with a slight bow.
"No."
"I have little interest in the turmoil of dynasties."
"It’s just that I have a friend who vanished without a word, leaving behind an empty clinic. Whenever I have some free time, I come outside the city to look for him..."
"The man is utterly disloyal."
"Not someone you can trust."
Yu Le shook his head. It was unclear whether he had recognized Su Chen or not. He clasped his hands behind his back and started walking back toward the Imperial City.
"I don’t understand."
Su Chen shook his head, also about to leave.
Just then, Yu Le stopped. With his back to Su Chen, he suddenly spoke.
"Five Hundred Years of Great Yu, nearly four hundred years of Zhou and Liang, almost nine hundred years of dynasties in the Human World... Tell me, why is the world in turmoil? Why do the people suffer so?"
"Should we blame the emperors for their tyranny, or the people for their ignorance?"
he asked.
"Perhaps,"
"it’s a bit of both."
"I don’t know about Great Yu, but it’s true that the Emperor of Great Liang is unkind, and the Flame Emperor of Great Zhou is unjust,"
Su Chen replied.
"The Wind Snow Sword Immortal is walking down a dead-end road."
"He is marching to his death. Do you know that?"
Yu Le continued.
"For life extension, there are the Heaven, Earth, and Human Three Methods."
"The Human World also has Three Fortunes."
"Heavenly Fortune, Mountain River Fortune, and All Living Beings’ Fortune."
"Since the Heavenly Fall three hundred years ago, the Celestial Will has gained a spirit and now exclusively controls the Heavenly Fortune."
"The Mountain River Fortune is tied to the Immortal Arrival. The very top echelons of this world’s titans, the first and second waves, are all eagerly awaiting it. Even the spirited Celestial Will must make way for them..."
"This realm, with its crippled heavens and fractured earth, cannot accommodate the birth of the third fortune."
"In the past, it’s not that there haven’t been emperors who unified the world and promised peace to its people. The first Immortal Ancestor of Great Yu was one such man."
"But alas,"
"he died."
"Later emperors were not without those who held the world in their hearts, including the Grand Ancestor of Liang. But in the end, they all grew afraid. They feared death, so they chose to let the people suffer instead."
"And so, the people have suffered to this very day."
"The Wind Snow Sword Immortal is walking down a dead-end road! If you happen to meet him, tell him to give up."