Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Chapter 667 – A Cleaning Rag

Three days later, the capital had already returned to peace.

The Imperial Palace was heavily guarded by the Imperial Guard, their expressions as cold and resolute as ever. Only the most careful of observers might be able to notice the exhaustion and slight frustration on the faces of these soldiers. Under strict orders, the soldiers of the City Gate Department constantly patrolled the markets of the city, arresting many traitors who wished to take advantage of the chaos to rebel, so there was no problem with regards to safety and security.

The populace began to once more busy themselves with their lives. In their leisure, they no longer favored going to tea houses to discuss politics while secretly cursing the Demon Empress for her mismanagement of the country. Instead, they returned home early and locked the doors to their courtyards, treating all the storms outside their little courtyards as having nothing to do with them. The people of the capital had seen far too much, heard far too many stories. Without even mentioning the coup of the Hundred Herb Garden, in that bloody incident of the Orthodox Academy in the capital twenty years ago, many people had personally witnessed even more gruesome scenes. Whether it was a coup, rebellion, an extermination of evil ministers at the emperor’s side, or the advent of a new era, they had experienced far too much. Thus, these matters had absolutely nothing to do with them, and they would silently wait for the initial crises to dissipate.

The weather over these past few days had also been particularly good. In the clear and refreshing autumn atmosphere, the bright sun hanging over a clear sky and the gentle rustling of fallen leaves, it was like nothing had happened at all. But there were no pedestrians on the street and the quiet capital could not be described as serene, only with a deathly stillness. Ultimately, a lot had changed.

On the morning of the Tianhai Empress’s death, a young Daoist, accompanied by Shang Xingzhou, the previous Principal of the Orthodox Academy, the princes of the Chen clan, and countless ministers, proceeded from the Mausoleum of Books into the Imperial Palace. Then, in the Imperial Court, he once more received the obeisance of the ministers and formally ascended to the throne.

It was said that this young Daoist was precisely the Crown Prince Zhaoming who had escaped from the palace many years ago.

The first thing the new monarch did upon ascending to the throne was to issue an edict. This edict had many words and was very complex. Not even the officials of the Ministry of Rites could remember all the details, but even the clumsiest fool could understand the basic intentions of this proclamation: everything the Tianhai Divine Empress had done in the past few years had been wrong. Everyone she punished had been innocent. Following this were rewards and naturally punishments as well.

All those rewarded were officials of the Imperial Court. In any case, all those ministers loyal to the Tianhai Divine Empress had been imprisoned. Divine Generals were also honored, as those Divine Generals loyal to the Tianhai Divine Empress were either dead, heavily injured, or had changed sides. Punishments were much simpler: just the word ‘kill’.

It was said that autumn winds and autumn rains were excellent for killing people. In this clear and cold autumn of the past few days, there were no bleak winds and no miserable rains, but many people had still died.

After all the people that should be killed and had to be killed were killed off, many people began to cast their gazes to a certain place. Logically speaking, everyone’s gazes should have been falling upon the Imperial Palace and the Li Palace, but everyone just could not help but look towards that place, all carrying different sorts of feelings.

The aforementioned place was the Orthodox Academy.

Very few people knew that on the morning of that day, Chen Changsheng had carried the body of the Tianhai Divine Empress and returned to the Orthodox Academy. From that moment onwards, the gate of the Orthodox Academy never opened again. Even the fruits and vegetables that Clear Lake Restaurant had risked sending over were not brought in, because the academy gate never once opened, and also because the Orthodox Academy had already been surrounded.

Two thousand black-armored horsemen tightly surrounded the Orthodox Academy and both Hundred Flowers Lane and the Hundred Herb Garden were filled with cultivators. Very few people knew that the first thing the new sovereign did upon ascending to the throne was not to issue an edict to the world, but to send out a decree ordering the Orthodox Academy to be put under watch, forbidding anyone from entering or exiting. Any violators would be executed.

A somewhat subtle detail was that the people in charge of guarding the Orthodox Academy were Tianhai Shengxue and the Prince of He County.

The Prince of He County was the Prince of Xiang’s younger brother from the same mother and the two had always shared a close relationship. In the past, he had even once given vent to the Prince of Xiang’s anger and executed an official dispatched by the Imperial Palace. Tianhai Shengxue was the most outstanding descendant of the Tianhai clan and had an old grudge with the Orthodox Academy, although it already seemed to be resolved. Crucially, why had the Imperial Palace sent the two of them to handle this matter together? The Tianhai Empress was already dead, so did the complicated relationship between the Tianhai clan and the Chen clan have to continue?

Those who knew the actual story all maintained their silence. The gazes they aimed at the Orthodox Academy were very complex, because the Tianhai Divine Empress’s body was within. Those who did not know the story held private discussions in their estates, and the gazes they aimed at the Orthodox Academy were all brimming with either ridicule, sympathy, or joy at the suffering of others.

That night three days ago had truly been very long. It had begun when Chen Changsheng left the Orthodox Academy and beat Zhou Tong half to death in the crabapple courtyard within the alley of the Northern Military Department. Afterwards, he had been sent back to the Orthodox Academy by the Orthodoxy, then brought to the peak of the Mausoleum of Books by the Divine Empress. Just when everyone believed the Divine Empress would kill him, the Divine Empress, for some inexplicable reason, let him go. Afterwards, all the experts of the world had gathered in the capital and the Divine Empress’s soul ultimately returned to the sea of stars…in one night, far too many world-shaking events had occurred, and so some relatively unimportant events and details were naturally easy to forget. However, the entire world could never forget Shang Xingzhou’s words.

Chen Changsheng…was not Crown Prince Zhaoming. He was not the Divine Empress’s son. He was just a pretense used to safeguard His Majesty’s life, bait to weaken the Divine Empress. Now, the Divine Empress was dead, and His Majesty had succeeded in inheriting the imperial throne, so what more use did he have? Without his backing or identity, what use did Chen Changsheng’s incredible talent in cultivation have? Anyone would admit that when attempting to kill Zhou Tong, he had displayed an extremely rarely seen ability and bravery, but…if nothing out of the ordinary occurred, Lord Zhou Tong, who had played the most critical role in this rebellion, was assured an even more important role in the new structure of the Imperial Court. When that time came, where would Chen Changsheng be able to go?

When those powerful figures thought of the black-armored cavalry surrounding the Orthodox Academy, they believed that in a short while, a new, more precise decree would be passed down and Chen Changsheng would lose everything he once possessed. Principal of the Orthodox Academy? The successor to the Pope? All of it was just the river of stars reflected in the Luo River. In the end, none of it had been real.

Watching the tightly shut gate of the Orthodox Academy, Tianhai Shengxue thought of the mocking smile on his father’s lips over the past two nights, thought of the look of joy on the faces of Tianhai Ya’er’s family. Two abnormal patches of red appeared on Tianhai Shengxue’s pale face as he said, “Throwing him away as soon as matters are concluded, isn’t this truly just treating him like a cleaning rag?”

The Prince of He County knew that he was speaking of Chen Changsheng and jeered, “Who knows whose bastard he is, but just because his luck was good, he was picked by the esteemed Principal Shang to serve as His Majesty’s body double, stirring up so many storms after entering the capital. But, in the end, a chess piece is still a chess piece. Could he still possibly think of holding onto those things he has no right to hold?”