Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The surface of frost grass was covered in an extremely shallow surface of white wool, which was precisely the part that Dragonhorses enjoyed eating the most. The grass after the sandstorm was covered in a dusty coat, but this was true dust, so the horse herd had no place to start eating. They had stood around the stream and looked for a very long time until they had seen everything there was to see. In the end, they could only helplessly turn around and return.

Anyone, whether man or horse, would be unhappy after being presented with a great feast that they were unable to take a single bite of. If they were to see someone laughing happily at this moment, they would inevitably assume that the person was ridiculing them. Regardless of what that person might have thought, it was very obvious that the horse looking towards Chen Changsheng was thinking this.

It suddenly charged towards Chen Changsheng.

As the most outstanding warhorse, the Dragonhorse, no matter how awful its temper, would never randomly strike out against soldiers. The soldiers were well aware that this Dragonhorse only wanted to give Chen Changsheng a fright. Usually, this sort of playing around wouldn't even be worth their attention, but when they thought of how Chen Changsheng had still not recovered and had only just regained his ability to walk, they still warily gripped their staves.

What happened next surprised everybody.

The Dragonhorse did not continue charging forward. When it was still ten-some zhang away, it slowed down into a trot. Its head swayed side to side as if extremely confused, its nostrils constantly flaring as if it was smelling something, the sense of mischief in its eyes quickly replaced by a desire to be friends.

It trotted up to Chen Changsheng and deferentially lowered its head, apparently wishing for Chen Changsheng to stroke it.

The remaining Dragonhorses noticed this activity and began running over, just like the first Dragonhorse. They circled around Chen Changsheng and very carefully began to rub against him, finding it very difficult to suppress their happiness. A bolder Dragonhorse even sneakily licked the hand that Chen Changsheng was using to hold the tree branch.

Upon seeing this sight, the soldiers of Sloping Cliff Horse Farm were utterly flabbergasted, their laughter having stopped long ago. Just what was going on here?

At this moment, the leader of the herd, the finest Dragonhorse of them all, pushed through the surrounding horses and came up to Chen Changsheng. It humbly bent its forelegs and kneeled on the ground.

It was apparently asking Chen Changsheng to mount it, or perhaps asking Chen Changsheng to grant it his blessing.

Gasps of shock rose from the surrounding crowd.

Standing on the outskirts, Luo Bu was no longer smiling. He quietly gazed at Chen Changsheng in the center of the herd, a pensive look on his face.

……

……

On the same night, the starlight remained the same as ever, a pot of meat soup was still boiling on the stove in the room, and yet it was not as noisy as it had been the past few nights.

There was no soldier of Sloping Cliff Horse Farm chatting with Chen Changsheng in the room, as he had a guest tonight.

Luo Bu glanced at Nanke, who was by the stove staring at the pot of meat, then turned to Chen Changsheng on the bed. Without any attempt to hide his intentions, he straightaway declared, "You are naturally not an ordinary person."

Chen Changsheng thought of that essentially perfect array laid out amongst the fields and that study room, and returned, "You are naturally no ordinary person either."

Luo Bu stared into his eyes and asked, "Your falling down from the mountain has nothing to do with me?"

"Nothing." Chen Changsheng calmly returned the stare and said, "From a certain perspective, I truly am a pharmacist."

Luo Bu calmly asked, "So in your stroll around Sloping Cliff Horse Farm, did you see what you wanted to see?"

Chen Changsheng very sincerely answered, "I did."

"What did you see?"

"I saw that this place called Sloping Cliff has a great general."

Luo Bu fell quiet for a while at these words, then said, "Directly state your meaning."

Chen Changsheng looked into his eyes and requested, "I want to invite you off the mountain."

Off what mountain?

The vast mountain range of Mount Han.

Beyond Mount Han was the snowy plains, the true battlefield against the demons.

Chen Changsheng continued, "I don't know if you're aware, but Ning Shiwei is dead, so the Mount Song Army requires a new Divine General."

Luo Bu fell silent, then asked, "Is my understanding correct? You admire me so much that you have decided to push me onto the position of Divine General of the Mount Song Army?"

Chen Changsheng said nothing, tacitly affirming that this truly was what he thought. At the same time, he noticed that although Luo Bu had been demoted to the remote Sloping Cliff Horse Farm, he seemingly had a grasp of news from the Mount Song Army headquarters and from even higher-level places. This made him even more curious to this person's background.

"Even a pharmacist is able to decide who becomes a Divine General. I can roughly understand why the Great Zhou Dynasty is going downhill."

Luo Bu looked at him and smiled. "So are you someone from the Prince of Xiang or the Tianhai clan? Or are you a secret agent from that Daoist monastery in Luoyang?"

The secret agents of that Daoist monastery in Luoyang mentioned here were those blue-clothed Daoists standing at the venerable Shang Xingzhou's side.

After two years, Chen Changsheng felt a little emotional to hear his master brought up once more.

He did not explain his origins to Luo Bu, nor did he explain why he wanted to do this.

Because he did not represent the Prince of Xiang, the Tianhai clan, or any faction in the Great Zhou Imperial Court. He represented the Li Palace, the Orthodoxy, the world.

He was the Pope, so he had to bear the weight of the world, so it was only right that he ponder the future of the Human race.

In his view, a person like Luo Bu being left in a place like Sloping Cliff Horse Farm was truly a waste as enormous as the heavens.

"I basically understand what you're thinking. 'Waste of talent', 'unrecognized' and all those other banal phrases."

Luo Bu calmly said to him, "But you don't know that I came to Sloping Cliff Horse Farm to seclude myself. Perhaps it might be better to say that I was forced into seclusion, but it was still something that I accepted."

Chen Changsheng seriously said to him, "If you were forced here by external pressures, perhaps I can help you resolve some of it."

For some reason, the more serious Chen Changsheng became, the more relaxed Luo Bu looked. Perhaps it was because he was thinking of those serious companions of his, which made him recall that time in which sword Qi filled the mountains. He subconsciously looked at his own chest and thought to himself, in the end, there are some matters that I have to resolve on my own. S so he shook his head.

"I don't like trouble."

"I also don't want to give you any trouble."

"So I will not leave the mountain."

Luo Bu calmly and concisely ended their conversation over this, then said, "In another two days, when your injuries are better, I will have someone send you off."

Chen Changsheng thought this over, then said, "Very well. In the future if you have a problem, come and find me."

Luo Bu smiled. "I don't like finding others—it's quite troublesome."

These indifferent words of his concealed an extremely elegant self-confidence, just like the signatures on those two paintings.

Chen Changsheng replied, "The favor of saving a life must be repaid."

Luo Bu replied, "Do whatever you please, there's no need to say it."

Chen Changsheng replied, "A friend taught me that there are some matters that should be done if they need to be done, but it's even more important to talk about them if they need to be talked about."

Luo Bu felt that these words were rather meaningful and replied, "That friend of yours is either a false gentleman or a truly low person."

Chen Changsheng thought of that friend that he had not seen for two years and had not received a letter from for half a year. Concern suddenly bubbled forth from his heart and became impossible to suppress.

He explained very sincerely to Luo Bu, "That friend of mine is a false low person and a true gentleman."

Luo Bu laughed at his words, then he turned to Nanke and asked, "Is she really your younger sister?"

A deeper meaning lay in these words.

Chen Changsheng heard this meaning loud and clear, but he could not abandon Nanke, so he nodded his head.

"At times, a liar is not necessarily an ignorant and fake person. On the contrary, they might be a true person."

Luo Bu smiled at him and continued, "I don't know who you are, who you represent, or whether you mean good or bad, but I know at least that in this aspect, I deeply admire you."

The room fell quiet, the only sound being the gurgling of the meat in the pot.

Nanke ladled out a bowl of meat soup and walked over to the bed.

Hurried footsteps came from outside the room.

The door to the room burst open and a bodyguard charged in, shouting out something in shock, completely unaware that he was about to run into Nanke.