Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Shouting out Su Li's hidden whereabouts had compelled all the people and matters that had been hidden in the night to be revealed under the light of the sun. Chen Changsheng had not intended for this to happen, but he had acted accorded to his heart's desire, as what he cared the most about was following his heart. However, before he had carried out this action, he had carefully considered what would happen afterwards, and thought that the good outweighed the bad. It was precisely why Liang Wangsun had sighed so regretfully.

This was a sort of strategy, and it was a calculation. All the principles Su Li had taught him on their journey south, like planning for war or sword techniques, had all been used. Looking at it from another point of view, the four words he had shouted into Xunyang City which basked in the spring sunshine were like a thrust from his Intellectual Sword into the pitch-black night, finally tearing a hole through it and finding a little light.

But when he saw Liang Wangsun with his own eyes, he instantly felt like there were some problems with his calculations. The problem here was not as he had said, that he could not beat Liang Wangsun so they had to escape, but rather that Liang Wangsun had appeared at all. Despite being the successor to his family, despite the upheaval of the public will, he had actually emerged into the full light of day to kill Su Li. Just why was this?

"Why?" Chen Changsheng asked Su Li.

Su Li replied, "Because they all have the surname 'Liang'."

Liang Xiaoxiao, Liang Hongzhuang, Liang Wangsun—these three people that had expressed the deepest desire to kill Su Li all had the surname of Liang. Were they all part of the royal Liang bloodline? And what sort of unresolvable enmity existed between Su Li and the Liang Household?

"After being an emperor, is there anyone that would be willing to stay as a prince?" Su Li looked out the window at the faintly visible black lotus upon the massive emperor's carriage. "The greatest desire of generation upon generation of masters of the Liang Household was to return to the capital and once again sit upon the imperial throne. It was just that they never had an opportunity, until finally, more than ten years ago, the capital fell into internal strife. At last, they finally saw a chance."

Chen Changsheng had heard Su Li talk about those events of the past, so he asked confusedly, "Weren't the Longevity Sect the ones seeking to rebel?"

Su Li replied, "In order to seek the world, your plans must be profound. Several hundred years ago, the Liang Household had already begun to infiltrate the Longevity Sect. More than ten years ago, when the Longevity Sect was provoking conflict, it was precisely through their excellent manipulations."

Chen Changsheng still did not understand. That Su Li had slain all the elders of the Longevity Sect in his assault and thus crushed the several-hundred-year conspiracy of the Liang Household was truly something worthy of resentment, but why did it seem like they hated Su Li's guts?

Su Li said, "Amongst those elders, one of them had the surname of Liang. He was probably Liang Xiaoxiao's ancestor. As for why Liang Wangsun and Liang Hongzhuang hate me so much, perhaps it is because after I killed those people in the Longevity Sect, I also happened to come by Xunyang City, where I killed off all those old bastards of the Liang Household."

Chen Changsheng was speechless. He thought to himself, that's the same as killing the entire family. With such a bloody feud between them, it's no wonder that the younger generation of the Liang royal bloodline hold such enmity against Su Li, that Liang Xiaoxiao would not even hesitate to collude with the demons.

From outside the window, the conversation between Liang Wangsun and the bishop of Xunyang City could be heard.

Chen Changsheng silently listened to this conversation, then suddenly asked, "Senior, is it really necessary to kill all these people?"

An expression of derision appeared on Su Li's face. "Preparing to start lecturing again?"

Chen Changsheng shook his head. "I just feel that there should never have been so much blood spilled for this matter in the first place."

Su Li did not directly answer the question, instead saying, "Back then when the Longevity Sect and the Liang Household wanted to have the south invade the north, the capital at the time was in a state of complete mayhem. The imperial court and the Orthodoxy were fractured and ridden with internal strife. The only problem the southerners could not resolve was also their greatest problem. It was the existence of Tianhai. In the end, they found a method to solve this problem."

"What method?"

"They wanted me to go to the capital and kill Tianhai. Even if I could not kill Tianhai, they believed that Tianhai would be severely injured."

"Senior, did you go?" As soon the question left his mouth, Chen Changsheng knew that it was pointless.

Of course Su Li had not gone to the capital to kill the Tianhai Divine Empress, or else history would not have taken its current form. Just as expected, Su Li looked at him like he was an idiot, asking, "Do I look like I'm insane?"

Chen Changsheng thought to himself, it's those southerners that must have gone mad, to actually think of this idea that could never possibly be realized. He asked, "Back then, how did they attempt to persuade Senior?"

"They captured my wife and then imprisoned her in the cold pool in the Longevity Sect. Then they righteously exhorted me."

When Su Li said these words, there was not much expression on his face, but even after the passage of ten or so years, Chen Changsheng still felt like he could sense his fury.

"Nobody likes to kill others, and neither do I."

Su Li ended it with these words, "If too much blood flows, it's very troublesome to clean the sword, let alone the clothes. So I don't like killing. But there are times when there are some people that have to die, when blood has to flow."

Chen Changsheng understood. These matters of the past that he had once heard about had finally been completely explained. By telling him this, Su Li wanted to communicate to him a very simple truth, and also no longer wanted to hear Chen Changsheng's advice.

In living in this world, if you want to live freely and protect those that you love from harm, you have to be strong enough—so strong that the whole world will admit that you are strong, will fear your strength. How can you prove it, and make the world admit this point? You must be willing to kill others, willing to let the entire world bleed.

Su Li was precisely like this. He had slain every last one of the elders of the Longevity Sect, and then almost annihilated the Liang Household, turning the continent into a river of blood. He could not restore his own wife's life, but in the following decade, no one dared to threaten or use him, and no one dared to threaten his daughter.

Understanding did not mean acceptance, but Chen Changsheng had no means of saying anything else to Su Li, so he thought he might as well go talk to someone else. He walked to the window and pushed aside the curtain. He looked at Liang Wangsun seated on his black lotus on the emperor's carriage and very simply declared, "I want to protect him."

On Liang Wangsun's handsome and noble complexion appeared a smile that said he didn't understand. "Many people thought that you died in the Garden of Zhou. I did not think that you would actually die in Xunyang City."

Chen Changsheng's declaration was very simple, and Liang Wangsun's response was also very simple. Since he had come under the watch of countless gazes to kill Su Li, it indicated that he did not care for the threats of any man, even from the Orthodoxy.

"Back then, he did not kill you, he did not kill Liang Hongzhuang, nor did he kill Liang Xiaoxiao."

Chen Changsheng continued, "He left the Liang Household a path to retreat, so perhaps the Liang Household can also leave him a path to survive."

"But back then, very few people survived. Moreover, did you really think that counted as a path of retreat? No, what my household lost was the hopes and dreams of countless people and countless centuries. But maybe I can give him a way to survive." Liang Wangsun callously declared, "If you let me chop off his four limbs and cripple his meridians, then I can let him live."

Chen Changsheng silently considered this for a few moments, before finally answering, "This is not fair."

Liang Wangsun answered, "Using blood to return blood, to use death in return for death, this is the fairest."

Chen Changsheng said, "Senior only went to the snowy plains for the sake of humanity. He was surrounded by the demons and severely wounded, or else you wouldn't even have the possibility of killing him. So at the very least, he should not die at the hands of humans, at least not this time, at least not this way. Regardless of how many people he once killed, even if he might really be a bad person."

At these words, the priests around the inn, as well as the Liang Household's suicide squad, felt their emotions change.

Liang Wangsun gazed at the window at Chen Changsheng and calmly said, "Perhaps what you say is reasonable. For a legend of a generation to die like this, I that killed him would presumably only leave behind in the annals of history the reputation of a thief or scoundrel, but…I don't care, and this world won't care. Because this is the only opportunity to kill him, and everyone in the world wants him dead."

Chen Changsheng asked, "Even if this is the equivalent of conspiring with the demons?"

"This is a shameless murder. Don't even speak about conspiring with the demons; even if it was making a deal with the devil, so what?"

Liang Wangsun's tone was just and satisfied. As the buildings all around the inn collapsed one after another, the figures of cultivators began to appear.

Although the gates of Xunyang City were shut, how could this fact possibly obstruct those people who wanted to kill Su Li?

Suddenly, a fiery streak of light flashed through the sky. Accompanied by a sudden rise in temperature, a Red Cloud Qilin landed on one end of the long street. Xue He sat upon it, his armor still stained by the blood from that day. Soon after, Liang Hongzhuang, arrayed in his red dancing dress, appeared at the other end of the street. His charming complexion was still caked with dust, and the sword wounds were still distinctly visible on his body. It was a complete mystery how he had managed to hold on and rush so quickly back. Seeing Liang Hongzhuang appear, Hua Jiefu wrinkled his brow. On that day, it had been precisely this bishop of Xunyang City that had secretly told Liang Hongzhuang of Su Li's whereabouts.

"You see, even the Orthodoxy actually really wants him dead." Liang Wangsun looked at Chen Changsheng and said, "And how can you hold off the entire human world?"

Chen Changsheng looked all around at those figures in the surrounding streets and alleys. He did not know who these people were, what sort of reputation they had in the north, or what sort of sect or school they belonged to. He could only tell from their Qi just how frightening these people were. These people had come to kill Su Li. Xue He was a Great Zhou Divine General, so he would probably not take action. Liang Hongzhuang probably did not have the strength to attack. But these other people would attack. This was not even mentioning the fact that there was still that famous assassin, Liu Qing, concealed in the darkness. Today, in this battle, besides Liang Wangsun, the most frightening person was probably that assassin.

Su Li was heavily injured. This was like an invitation to the entire continent to attend a feast. Now, all the guests taking part in the feast had arrived. They would use their swords as chopsticks and prepared to drink a cup of blood in substitute for fine wine, then enjoy a banquet of human flesh. Chen Changsheng did not know if there would be any more guests to this feast, but he wanted to try to rip the dining table to shreds.

He stood by the window, gazing at Liang Wangsun in his emperor's carriage. His expression did not change, but his Qi slowly circulated. His spiritual sense rested upon the sheath of his dagger, connecting to the Black Dragon's spiritual soul, awakening those swords that had slept for many days.

Countless swords.

He began to make his calculations, prepared to ignite his true essence, and prepared to have his ten thousand swords sortie.

The Intellectual Sword and the Blazing Sword were the swords that had been taught to him by Su Li, while the ten thousand swords were his swords.

He wanted to see if he could use his improvements in the path of the sword to make up for the sword intent that had been used by the ten thousand swords, thereby repeating that scene in front of the Mausoleum of Zhou. Following that, he would directly kill Liang Wangsun in one strike.

Chen Changsheng was a genius of the upper level of Ethereal Opening. Liang Wangsun was a true expert at the top of the Proclamation of Liberation. No matter who looked at it—even he himself—they clearly understood that the distance between their strengths was like the size of a city.

But he still wanted to try and see if he could kill his opponent.

Because the situation was now decided. Only by killing Liang Wangsun could Su Li remain alive.

This was perhaps the newest truth Su Li had taught him.