Chapter 691 – A de with a Dao
Tranted by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The news that Wang Po might being to the capital spread very quickly and caused much consternation.
After Su Li’s departure, Wang Po had be the greatest idol in the minds of the young cultivators of the continent.
He was not as confident and easygoing as Su Li, nor did he have a particr bearing like Su Li, yet his aloof and emotionless self had attracted the reverence of others. He was simr to Su Li, however, in that he was a cultivating genius rarely seen in a hundred years. He had oncepelled Snow-Treading Xun Mei to shut himself up in the Mausoleum of Books and he had never given Painted Armor Xiao Zhang or Liang Wangsun a chance to surpass him. There were many experts below the Divine Domain, such as Xue Xingchuan, yet it was him, ranked first on the Promation of Liberation, that was publicly acknowledged as the strongest of the lot.
Moreover,pared to Su Li, he was more in ordance with themonly epted definition of a hero, an example of this being his actions in that dark rain within Xunyang City.
Most importantly, the aura of a legend was too thick about him. As the sole descendant of a fallen n, he had grown up in the vilest of conditions, far more arduous than any other cultivating genius. In the Wenshui Tang n, he had yed the part of an ountant for several years, and then he began to travel the world. In the space of ten-some years, he had set up Schrtree Manor in the south and be a wealthy power.
Just like Su Moyu, the greatest question people had after learning this news was this: Why was heing to the capital, and what was he prepared to do?
The story of Wang Po of Tianliang was a story known by the entire continent. As thest descendant of the Wang n, he had chosen Wang Po to be his name. The meaning of this name was known without needing to ask, and perhaps it was for this reason that the Imperial Court had always been wary of him and had attempted to suppress him countless times before. He was also aware of this, so he very rarely appeared in the capital.
Wang Po’sing to the capital was naturally a major event.
In the past, even if he dide to the capital, he woulde without a sound and in a very low-key fashion, such as the night of Xun Mei’s death.
Now, the situation and time were bothpletely different. He wanted to enter the capital in a low-key fashion, but it was impossible for him to do so.
That night on the Mausoleum of Books, Zhu Luo had pushed himself to attack while heavily injured, opening this majestic campaign of the entire world against Tianhai, paying with the death of his body and the vanishing of his soul. He had done this all to extract a promise from Shang Xingzhou, who represented the new government: Let the Wang n never rise again.
The Wang n was precisely Wang Po.
If Wang Po remained in the south and quietly stood guard over Schrtree Manor, then with the mutual protection of the Mount Li Sword Sect and the collective voice of the other powers of the south, the Imperial Court would not have been able to touch him. After all, with the confluence of the north and south in the background, some harmony had to be maintained on the surface. However, if he were to leave Schrtree Manor and enter the capital alone, the Imperial Court would not let this chance slip by.
No matter how strong he was, he was no match for the Great Zhou Imperial Court.
If he appeared in the capital, the Imperial Court had numerous methods to kill him.
No one understood why he wanted toe.
Chen Changsheng understood, because he had once endured a storm together with Wang Po in Xunyang City.
He deeply admired this expert. In the past two years, he had applied some of what he had learned from Wang Po to his own behavior, a matter which had once deeply concerned Tang Thirty-Six.
Besides Chen Changsheng, there was one other person that clearly understood why Wang Po hade.
It was Zhou Tong himself.
Consequently, once he learned of this news, the first thing he did was enter the pce and request a meeting with Shang Xingzhou.
Not long after he entered the pce, the capital once more became tense. From the military to the Ministry of Justice, from the Department for Purging Officials to the City Gate Department, countless experts and assassins began to sweep through the streets of the capital.
Chen Changsheng was somewhat concerned. After a night of contemtion, he took a chance and had the people of the Orthodoxy assist with the search, but they turned up nothing.
The Imperial Court’s search was also fruitless.
No one had been able to find Wang Po.
He had just vanished.
......
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As time slowly passed, the autumn began to settle in.
The celebration of the confluence of north and south was about to take ce. The Great Zhou Imperial Court had made many preparations. The famous buildings of the capital were all repaired to be like new, and even the Mausoleum of Books was cleaned up.
The mood in the capital was still notpletely cheerful and rxed. The ripples from the coup of the Mausoleum of Books had yet to fade, the Orthodox Academy still refused to bring out the Divine Empress’s body, and Wang Po had still not been found.
At this time, the Orthodox Academy received two letters. One letter was from Holy Maiden Peak, written personally by Xu Yourong.
She had returned to South Stream Temple. Logically speaking, she should be summoning back the disciples of South Stream Temple, and she did mention this in the letter, but she still left eighteen disciples for Chen Changsheng.
Chen Changsheng was well aware that these female disciples had a grasp over the soul of the South Stream Temple sword array. If they disyed their full strength, Chen Changsheng was safe as long as it was not an expert of the Divine Domain or a grand army attacking.
The other letter was from Wenshui and was personally written by Tang Thirty-Six.
Besides Chen Changsheng, no one knew the contents of this letter, not even Su Moyu.
Su Moyu and the teachers and students of the Orthodox Academy only knew that after Chen Changsheng read the letter, he became very depressed and fell into a long period of silence.
Golden ginkgo leaves covered the ground of New North Bridge.
Nearby was the Imperial Pce. Lantern lights shone from this ce, and as they shone onto the ground, it was like the setting sun had returned.
Standing under the tree and seeing this sight, Chen Changsheng silently thought, the setting sun can’te back once it sets under the mountains, and it seems that departed friends also won’t get a chance toe back.
The entire world seemed to be painted gold, making the color of the well seem even more serene and deep.
When the lights from the Imperial Pce momentarily dimmed, Chen Changsheng’s figure vanished from the tree. A breeze stirred around the edge of the well. As the golden leaves were curled up by this wind, they presented a beautiful sight.
The ginkgo leaves outside the Imperial City were a famous sight of the capital.
Very few people knew that outside the capital was a Daoist temple called Tanzhe. There was a simr sight there that was perhaps even more beautiful. (TN: Tanzhe Temple is an actual Buddhist temple located on the outskirts of Beijing. The name literally trantes to ’Pool and Mulberry Temple’, referencing the pool within the temple and the mulberry trees growing in its environs. It is home to two particrly old ginkgo trees, around 1000 years old.)
In the center of the courtyard at the back of this temple grew an extremely old ginkgo tree, said to have been nted by Emperor Taizong himself. In the autumn, this ancient tree was covered in golden leaves, like a golden cloud or a firework. Beneath the tree were thick piles of leaves, a golden cloud descended to earth. If viewed from a distance, it looked like a golden waterfall.
In the depths of the golden ginkgo leaves was a stone table. By the table was a stone stool, and a person was sitting on this stool. He was not drinking tea, butprehending the de.
The entire continent knew that he hade to the capital and countless people were seeking him out within it, but they had failed. This was because although he hade to the capital, he had not entered the city.
If people were to know of this, they would assuredly be astounded, as this waspletely different from his past behavior and conduct.
Everyone believed that since he hade to the capital, he would certainly enter, as this was very much like his path of the de, straight and true.
Zhou Tong had also thought this way, but turned out to be wrong.
Wang Po had already stayed in Tanzhe Temple for eleven days.
He would spend each day quietly seated under the ginkgo tree.
He wasprehending the de, not practicing the de. The metal de remained in its sheath, and the sheath sat on his knees.
The ancient tree continued to shed leaves, covering the earth. It seemed particrly pure and exuded a dazzling beauty, so much so that it was difficult to imagine what it looked like beneath the leaves.
Those golden leaves also naturally fell on his body, umting on his clothes and gradually covering his sheath, so much so that it was difficult to imagine the edge of the de within the sheath.
The Dao of Wang Po’s de, in this world of yellow leaves, faintly began to transform.