Chapter 184 – Matters of the Past

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Countless flowers dropped from the sky onto the carriage. Chen Changsheng drew back his gaze, removed the petals from his clothes and then nodded to the surrounding crowd, thanking them for their generosity and enthusiasm.

Deep within the Imperial Palace was an abandoned garden where flowers were also falling. The cold-resistant plum trees were blown about by the wind, sending tiny pink flowers cascading to the ground, forming a shallow layer on the edge of the pond and producing a beautiful scene.

The Pope and the Divine Empress stood amongst the falling plum blossoms, gazing at the Black Dragon Pond before them.

"The day before yesterday, when he was in the Education Palace partic.i.p.ating in the Grand Examination, I think he had entered the top sixteen? At the time, I had said that he would go just up to there…but I didn't expect that this child would actually not stop."

The Divine Empress gazed at the flowering trees growing along the edge of the pond, calmly sensing the scent of history coming from the Tong Palace as she slowly spoke. If she did not want Chen Changsheng to take the Grand Examination's first rank of the first banner, she had countless methods of stopping him. For instance, logically speaking, Mo Yu, who was present on the match grounds, could have done something, but she ultimately had done nothing.

She arched her brows at the Pope and said, "Now that I think about it, on the night of the Ivy Festival when Mo Yu brought that child here and attempted to use the Tong Palace to imprison him, that was also your doing, no?"

The Pope calmly replied, "In the eyes of that child Mo Yu, I and you, Empress, are one and the same. She respects me the same as she respects the Empress. Even if she realizes later on that this was somewhat inappropriate, she could not speak of it."

"Mei Lisha has been silent for more than two hundred years, but when Chen Changsheng entered the capital last year, he suddenly came to life. At the time, I felt that something was not quite right."

The Divine Empress held her hands behind her and walked to the edge of the pond, gazing at the roof of the palace, the blue sky, and drifting clouds reflecting in the waters. She indifferently said, "I naturally knew that Chen Changsheng and the Orthodox Academy were the manifestation of the unwillingness of several elders, and I had made my arrangements, but I had never much cared. As I said to Mo Yu one night, my heart can hold this entire world, so how can it not hold a trifling Orthodox Academy and one youth?"

Upon saying this, she turned around and calmly stared into the Pope's eyes. "But you suddenly made your stance known, and you did it twice in a row. This has forced me to be vigilant."

The Pope said nothing.

The peace and power that the Great Zhou, indeed, the entire world had experienced for more than two centuries primarily rested on the trust and friends.h.i.+p between the Five Saints. The most crucial of these relations.h.i.+ps was naturally the friends.h.i.+p between the Divine Empress and the Pope. Many years ago, when Emperor Xian began to ignore matters of government and the Divine Empress began to read memorials in his place, acting as his surrogate in matters of state until she eventually came to govern behind the curtain, she had incurred countless furious protests and a.s.saults. The reason those who opposed the Divine Empress had never been able to succeed primarily rested on the fact that whenever the conflict would intensify, the Pope would bring his Orthodoxy and firmly stand at the Divine Empress's side.

Ten-some years ago, Emperor Xian's illness worsened. In order to prevent the Great Zhou from truly being ruled by a woman, many important figures in the Orthodoxy and the Chen Imperial clan resolved to somewhat hurriedly start a rebellion. On that day, the Orthodox Academy was bathed in blood, its princ.i.p.al slain at the hands of the Pope.

Everyone believed that the destruction of the Orthodox Academy was proof of the friends.h.i.+p between the Pope and the Divine Empress, and a display of their power. Those people in the Orthodoxy who dared to oppose the Pope, those members of the old Imperial clan who dared to rebel, had all been slaughtered to a man within the Orthodox Academy.

So why had the Pope now changed his stance?

"Chen Changsheng…is my martial nephew," the Pope calmly said to the Divine Empress.

The abandoned garden fell even more quiet. The chill off the Black Dragon Pond a.s.sailed them, the pink plum blossoms like bits of snow.

After a long silence, the Divine Empress asked, "Daoist Ji?"

The Pope replied, "Since he is Daoist Ji, he naturally did not die on that night."

"So this was the case, it truly was this way…but so what? Could it be that you are still viewing your senior brother with the affection between fellow disciples? Do not forget the reason we decided to kill him back then."

The Divine Empress pointed at a tree on the sh.o.r.e of the pond, where a black raven sat perched on a branch.

"In these ten-some years, signs of Black Robe's activity have always been around Xuelao City, not Xining Village. What that child of the Qiushan clan did a few days ago has already proved this point."

The Pope sighed, "Perhaps we really did kill the wrong one that year."

The Divine Empress was expressionless. "Even if your senior brother was not Black Robe, does that mean that he should not die?"

The Pope did not answer this question, saying, "Regardless, matters of the last generation should not affect the next. Chen Changsheng is still my martial nephew, and that child has no knowledge of those matters of the past. Besides, there is currently no one that dares to offend you, so why do you still need to remember those matters of the past?"

After hearing this, the Divine Empress fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, she gave a bright laugh and said, "This way is also fine."

The Pope was not moved in the slightest at her laugh, and his true feelings could not be seen on his face. He asked, "What is your view on the Garden of Zhou?"

The Divine Empress walked along the sh.o.r.e of the Black Dragon Pond to the opposite sh.o.r.e as she said, "Star Condensation as the upper limit, Ethereal Opening as the lower limit, appearing in midsummer once every ten years—nothing has changed."

The Pope followed her, saying, "We still have to see the results from comprehending the Mausoleum of Books. Today is a great year; who knows how many examinees will be able to break into Ethereal Opening?"

The Divine Empress stopped and said, "I will have to trouble Your Holiness with this matter."

On the same night, the elderly chief eunuch in the Imperial Palace began to investigate an old case by the secret order of the Divine Empress, beginning to silently and furtively transfer old files. The Divine Empress had not a.s.signed this matter to Mo Yu. It had nothing to do with trust, but was primarily because this matter was too old and Mo Yu had been too young at the time. Moreover, this matter was very tragic, and since Mo Yu did not know, it would be fine if she never knew.

This old case was the cause of the bloodbath in the Orthodox Academy ten-some years ago.

Emperor Xian had been lingering on his sickbed, leaving the Divine Empress burning with anxiety. She was also busy with government affairs, and so in a moment when she was both physically and mentally exhausted, haggard to the extreme, the old Imperial clan attempted to kidnap her only prince.

This was an incredibly terrifying matter, and what was even more terrifying was that those members of the old Imperial clan had succeeded. The prince vanished, after which no one knew whether he was dead or alive.

This matter caused the Divine Empress to lose control of herself. In her fury, she killed everyone involved in the incident, even executing two county princes, while the Orthodox Academy was filled with the bodies of the beheaded. Now, the Pope had confirmed that the Princ.i.p.al of the Orthodox Academy was still alive, that he was Daoist Ji. Then could that prince also be alive?

If not for the fact that Chen Changsheng's age was not right, the Divine Empress might have thought of even more.

At dusk, Chen Changsheng finished all the activities related to the announcement of rankings for the Grand Examination. He returned to the Orthodox Academy, changed into a clean set of clothes, and then left Hundred Flowers Lane. Crossing the various bridges concealed in the alleys of the capital, crossing the Luo River three times and going over even more nameless ca.n.a.ls, he reached the Divine General of the East's estate.

In the spring of last year, he had also visited the Divine General of the East's estate once, and that had been the only time he had visited. Almost a year had pa.s.sed since that time, and many things had already changed, but there was also many things that had not changed. For instance, the Divine General's estate was still somber and quiet, and the river was still gurgling beneath the stone bridge.

Drawing his gaze back from the end of the ca.n.a.l, Chen Changsheng walked down the stone bridge and came to the gate of the Divine General of the East's estate. Upon stating his ident.i.ty to the guards outside the estate, he was quickly ushered inside.