Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Pipipingu

Edited by: Nora

Fresh blood flowed along the dagger, but it was blocked by the hilt so it did not reach Chen Changsheng’s hand. However, for some reason, he still seemed to be able to feel the warmth of the blood. He even felt that his hand was slightly sticky, making it very uncomfortable. Afterwards, when he thought about it, this seemed to be the first time he had killed someone. From Xining Village to the capital, participating in the Ivy Festival, the Grand Examination and then entering the Garden of Zhou, he fought many times, but other than the Demon General couple that died before the mausoleum, no one else had died under his dagger. In that sense, the owner of the inn was the first person he had killed.

The inn owner slowly fell down in front of him, his two round eyes full of unwillingness and despair. The mean look on his face had already long disappeared, and there was only the gaze of death.

Chen Changsheng stayed silent for a while, before withdrawing the dagger from his body. Afterwards, he stayed silent for another while and looked at Su Li. His gaze displayed his doubt—no matter how he looked at the owner, he did not seem like an assassin. On the other hand, the waiter was suspicious, so why did the senior want him to kill the owner?

Chen Changsheng was not like an enthusiastic and hot-blooded youth. Although he misunderstood that Su Li was indiscriminately slaughtering innocent people, he still tried his best to maintain calm. As he could not make the decision earlier, the fact that this itself was the best decision, Su Li was very satisfied. He said, “If you ask me why I killed him, it’ll be very hard for me to explain simply.”

Chen Changsheng said, “He had no murderous spirit, nor the signs of true essence that would indicate a cultivator.”

Su Li placed the bowl of porridge onto the table and used the chopsticks to point at the corpse of the inn owner in the puddle of blood. He said, “To open such a big inn in a military stronghold, how could the inn owner not have any murderous spirit at all?”

Chen Changsheng thought about it and understood what he implied. This was indeed suspicious.

Su Li continued, “Also, he was just too similar to a stereotypical big inn owner. Mean, easily angered… but actually, such an image is only an image that conforms to what the people think of a big inn owner. A real owner of an inn who has a shop in such a god-forsaken place can be cold, and will definitely be insensitive. So how can he be in the mood to go lecture a waiter of his inn?”

Chen Changsheng felt like he had just received a lecture himself, so he listened very seriously.

Su Li used the chopsticks to point at the owner’s dead body and continued, “Of course, these are only points of suspicion and not evidence. The evidence is that he didn’t have any signs of true essence, but he had Qi.”

Chen Changsheng lowered his head and rummaged through the body of the owner for a while. He found a magical artifact in the shape of a jade pendant. The magical artifact could cover up the traces of true essence.

“I can’t teach you this. Wait till you reach a cultivation level like mine, and you can naturally feel Qi like that.” After saying that, Su Li picked up the bowl of porridge and continued with his unfinished breakfast. Looking at the changes in his eyebrows, it seemed as if he was very satisfied with the pickled vegetables that the inn provided.

“Originally, I thought it was the waiter because he was over-enthusiastic with us last night. Also, his hand…” Chen Changsheng looked at the waiter in front of the table, and his gaze landed on the web between his index finger and thumb on his right hand. There was a very obvious callous, which may have been the sign of wielding a sword for a long time. The waiter’s complexion paled, and his entire body trembled, clearly frightened.

Su Li said casually while eating the porridge, “Other than holding a sword, the callous on the web of his hand may have been caused by a blade. A kitchen knife is also a blade.”

Although a kitchen knife and a sword were two completely different objects, the handle of a kitchen knife and the handle of a sword really did not have many differences. Chen Changsheng lowered his head and looked at the dagger that was dyed in blood. His breathing became rather rapid because he was suddenly very scared. If it were not for Su Li jabbing him with the chopsticks just then, perhaps he really would have stabbed the dagger into the waiter. That would mean he would have killed an innocent man.

If the wrong person was killed, what could be done? People only had one life, and killing the wrong person would forever remain as a mistake, never to be corrected. This was a truth that he found to be very hard to accept.

“Murder, murder!”

At this moment, the waiter seemed to have returned to his senses. He looked at the corpse of the owner in the puddle of blood and gave out a scream of extreme fear. He dashed towards the exit, but because of his fear and how frantic he was, he tripped over the dead body of the owner and landed heavily on the ground. He ignored the pain and attempted to stand up frantically, but instead he slipped on the sticky blood. He seemed to be in an extremely sorry shape.

Chen Changsheng felt rather sorry for him and was about to go up and help him up off the ground. Right at that moment, Su Li finally finished his breakfast. He wiped his mouth with satisfaction and put the empty bowl on the table again. Afterwards, he threw away the chopsticks in his hand. He seemed very unrestrained and exceedingly like a hedonistic son of a wealthy family. It was just that although his chopsticks seemed to be casually thrown, they perfectly hit an area on Chen Changsheng’s neck.

A very weak but very clever power entered Chen Changsheng’s body. It controlled his actions, making him turn slightly. At the same time, his right hand extended out like lightning.

The dagger that was covered in blood was still in his right hand.

With a squelch, the sharp dagger pierced through A seemingly tough soft armor without any resistance and deeply stabbed into the chest of the waiter. It directly punctured his heart.

The face of the waiter was full of shock and ‘ah ah’ sounds were produced by his throat. Fresh blood flowed out from the corner of his lips, and he slowly fell forwards, dead.

This time, Chen Changsheng really did become blank-minded, and his complexion immediately paled.

At that moment, the dagger, which was still held in his hand, was still deeply embedded into the chest of the waiter. He seemed to be able to feel the entire process of the heart slowing down until it stopped through the edge of the dagger.

He glanced at Su Li rather uneasily. If Su Li could not provide enough evidence this time, at least, greater evidence than he had given for the owner, it would be very hard for him to accept everything. Since he needed powerful evidence, he searched for it himself. He used his trembling hands to search the corpse, and when he saw a small crossbow that obviously contained a great poison in his hand, he finally relaxed a little.

“Senior, you… just how did you tell this time?”

The gaze he used to look at Su Li was no longer uneasy, but instead full of admiration.

Su Li said, “Didn’t you hear what the owner was always yelling at the waiter for?”

At that time, Chen Changsheng’s attention was entirely focused on the movements of the owner and waiter and he did not pay attention to what they were talking about.

“The owner yelled at him very brilliantly, and their conversation was full of content. I am talking about the exact details, such as the waiter being lazy… what does this prove? It proves that he really knows him.” Su Li stood up and he said as he looked at the two dead bodies, “Perhaps they are friends who grew up together? Who knows? In any case, I know that the companion of an assassin is definitely also an assassin.”

Chen Changsheng felt feelings of admiration well up again and thought that it was indeed the small details that determined success or failure. It was just that these were still partial guesses… what if he killed wrongly?

“Killing wrongly? Then that’s just a mistake, what else can you do?”

Su Li said expressionlessly and then spread his arms. He said, “What are you waiting for? Hurry up and come over.”

Chen Changsheng returned to his senses and asked, “We are just leaving like this?”

Su Li said in a bad mood, “Perhaps you feel the need to wait for the soldiers of the stronghold to come?”

Chen Changsheng did not dare to say anymore. Taking advantage of the time before the murder in the inn disturbed the people in the stronghold, he carried Su Li and left in the snow and wind, traveling south.

In a dark willow forest southeast of the military stronghold, the two stopped and rested for a while.

Chen Changsheng was actually very confused. Since the people who wanted to kill Su Li already knew his tracks, why did the two of them still have to conceal their identity and not directly contact the Northern Great Zhou Army to gain protection?

Su Li said, “Those two guys were only assassins who did not make the cut. They probably don’t even know who I am, and just happen to be active in this region.”

Chen Changsheng asked, “Who are those two assassins?”

Su Li really was a little annoyed and said, “I already said that their people who didn’t make the cut, so how would I know who they are?”

Chen Changsheng thought about it and said, “You mean that the two assassins from before only knew how to kill and steal, but if your identity was found out, those that come will not be so weak, but rather be true experts?”

Su Li said, “It’s a very simple concept, do you still need me to explain it in detail? Why is such a small guy like you such a chatterer?”

Chen Changsheng thought that although he could not be considered as habitually silent, he was not very talkative normally. It was only because the senior did things so mysteriously, so he always felt as if he did not understand all of it, he was rather uncertain.

He persevered, “Since it’s like that, then why don’t the demons just reveal your tracks?”

Su Li said, “Because Black Robe is also uncertain of my location. All the people he has connections to in the human world, or in other words, the people that he has a mutual understanding of, are currently only running all over the place, looking for me. Of course, even if those people confirm my location, they won’t release this information.”

Chen Changsheng asked with confusion, “Why’s that?”

Su Li said, “Because other than the many people that want to kill me, there are also many people that want to help me.”

Chen Changsheng did not understand. Did it mean that if this senior’s location was known by the entire world, many people would rush over from thousands of li away to come help him?

“Who am I?” Su Li looked at him and asked seriously.

At this moment, Chen Changsheng had already gotten used to how to answer questions like this. He was rather sick of it, but also rather numb to it. He answered like a machine, “Mount Li Junior Martial Uncle, expert of the path of the sword, the idol of the younger generation of cultivators.”

Compared to the Black Dragon, Su Li obviously only cared about appearances and did not criticize his response for being unmindful. He said proudly, “Isn’t this enough? Since I am the idol of many people, if they know I am injured and I have difficulties, won’t those people hurry to save me?”

Chen Changsheng did not want to continue this topic. He asked, “Senior, what do we do next?”

Su Li said, “Obviously have you secretly deliver me back to Mount Li under the gazes of everyone in the world.”

Chen Changsheng thought that Mount Li was in the south of the continent, and was over several tens of thousands of li away. Just how difficult was delivering him back to Mount Li, and to make it so that no one knew… also, just how worried would the people who cared for him become?

“Senior, why not let people from Mount Li come and pick you up?”

“Idiot, Mount Li is the furthest from here. If I wait for the disciples and grand-disciples to come, it’ll be too late.”

Chen Changsheng thought that the closest was the Northern Great Zhou Army, but Su Li just happened to not want to go look for them. He could not help but speak seriously, “Senior, I don’t understand why you don’t want to ask the Northern Great Zhou Army for help. If it is because of dignity, I can go ask for the help. They will definitely send people to send us back to the capital.”

Su Li looked at him and sneered, “Your position as the principal of the Orthodox Academy is really that outstanding?”

Chen Changsheng replied that although his own identity of the principal of the Orthodox Academy did not mean anything in front of the senior, it still had some importance to the Great Zhou.

Su Li said, “However, have you ever thought about how if everyone’s eyes are on you, how am I supposed to conceal my identity?”

Chen Changsheng looked at him and said earnestly, “Since the people who want to kill you have already appeared, your identity and location will definitely be exposed. What we should strive for is time. Mount Li is indeed too far away, and so is the capital. However, the Great Zhou Army really is very close. As long as you reveal your identity, why should you be worried anymore?”

After saying everything, they returned to his opinion from the very beginning. It was also the matter he did not understand the most.

Su Li looked at him and sighed, “I really don’t know if you’re naive or just an idiot.”

Chen Changsheng stared blankly. He did not know what he meant.

Su Li looked at him and said in a manner that was like a smile, yet not like a smile, “You are always saying that I should ask the Great Zhou Army for help. Perhaps you’ve never thought… the people that want me to die the most in this continent are you Zhou people?

As he finished speaking, the snow on the black willow tree suddenly fell with a rustle.

The world was cold.

The ground trembled slightly, and several hundreds of iron cavalry raced across the snowy plains.

Those were the most elite Snow Cavalry of the Northern Great Zhou Army. They seemed to be currently looking for something or someone.