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Edited by: Michyrr

The countless threads of wind on the lake, through some inexplicable means, passed through the array and gusted onto the scene, brushing the mist away and lowering the temperature.

A reflection of the moods of the two people conversing.

"My medical arts are inferior to Shang’s, and also to Yin’s."

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets gazed at Chen Changsheng and said, "If those two had no means, then I also do not know how to begin."

Chen Changsheng gazed into the distance. Where the wind had scattered the mist, he could faintly make out the beautiful sight of the dark blue lake.

"However, based on my speculations, since this problem of yours lies in the fact that the explosion of your sun wheel when you were an infant caused your meridians to be blocked up, if you no longer attempt to cultivate, even completely disperse all the true essence in your body, perhaps you could barely maintain your present condition for a while, or at least...delay the breaking out of your injuries."

Upon hearing these words, Chen Changsheng drew back his gaze and asked, "Senior, what is the chance of success?"

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets had already spent a great deal of time calculating this when Chen Changsheng was in a coma, so he answered straightaway, "Twenty percent."

Twenty percent was a rather awkward number. If one said it was hope, it was a rather remote one. One could call it despair, yet a path forward was clearly visible.

Today, Chen Changsheng learned of many things, things that concerned him, yet the end of the path ahead was still a great shadow.

If it were anyone else, going back and forth between hope and despair might have already made them go insane, but he did not.

He even managed to very quickly escape from his previous mood and return to true calm.

The expression of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets did not change, but his mind tossed and turned with great waves—with this child’s personality, if the heavens had not appointed him to such a fate, how could he not obtain the Great Dao?

Chen Changsheng’s will truly was very frightening. With unimaginable speed, he had regained his composure, even forgetting the conversation that had just occurred.

Then, he asked a very childish and naive question.

"Senior, which side are you on?"

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If another person were to ask the Elder of Heavenly Secrets this sort of question, the end would assuredly be very miserable.

But Chen Changsheng’s status was very special, whether it was his relationship to the Pope and Shang, or his possible relationship to the Divine Empress.

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets actually gave him the answer in full detail.

"My relationship with the Li Palace has always been good, but my relationship with Yin is not. My relationship with your Zhou Empire is not good, but my relationship with the Empress is good."

"Then...if I really am Crown Prince Zhaoming...will the Divine Empress kill me?"

Chen Changsheng’s following question was not only naive and childish, it was also somewhat excessive.

Even more excessively, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets actually answered him once more.

"Given my understanding of the Empress, she ultimately will. She has already waited for two years, but she cannot wait forever."

"Why?"

"Have you heard of the rumor about defying the heavens and changing fate?"

"I’ve always believed that it was just a rumor."

"Rumors often arise from the truth, and at times, the truth may be even more bizarre than the rumor."

Chen Changsheng fell silent.

There had always been a rumor circulating across the continent.

Several hundred years ago, the Divine Empress was expelled from the Imperial Palace by Emperor Taizong. In the Hundred Herb Garden, she made two friends and comprehended the secret to defying the heavens and changing fate.

Those two friends were the current Pope and his master, the Principal of the Orthodox Academy, Shang Xingzhou.

The Divine Empress swore an oath to the starry sky that she was willing to sever her bloodline in exchange for the most extraordinary of achievements.

"The severing of a bloodline..." he murmured to himself.

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets looked into his eyes and said serenely, "This fellow called fate has never made a one-time deal. Defying the heavens and changing fate has no such thing as an end. From the moment you offer sacrifices to the starry sky until the day you return to the sea of stars, it is being carried out at all times. If the Empress wishes to perfect her change of fate, she cannot have a single bloodline descendant."

"If she does?"

"If she does, then there is a gap in her fate which is simultaneously her greatest weakness."

"But...if I really am Crown Prince Zhaoming, then the Empress...she’s my mother."

Chen Changsheng thought of this problem and his emotions were tinged by an irrepressible complexity.

The elder was calm, even somewhat cruel. "The Empress once had many sons and daughters, but they all died."

Chen Changsheng asked, "What about the Princess of Ping?"

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets answered, "Quite a few people, I included, know that the Princess of Ping is not the Empress’s own daughter, but the princess herself does not know."

To suddenly hear this sort of information, Chen Changsheng was shocked beyond words. Then, he realized that many things that he did not understand were now answered.

Like how the Divine Empress had doted upon the Princess of Ping and taught her quite well.

Like how when the Princess of Ping wanted to vie for favor with Xu Yourong, she would always come out the loser.

"If one could say that the Empress had any descendant in the world, that could only be Xu Yourong."

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets seemed to know what he was thinking. "Even though this is only a successor in terms of spirit and innate gift."

Chen Changsheng said nothing for a very long time, then asked, "Since Sir has a good relationship with the Empress, why is Sir telling me these secrets?"

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, "Because I hope to assist you in making the right choice."

As he spoke, he glanced at the peach in Chen Changsheng’s hands.

The peach had already been peeled for quite some time. Although the color of its flesh had not changed, it was no longer as fresh as it once was.

Chen Changsheng fell silent, then asked, "What can I choose?"

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, "You can act like you know nothing, return to the capital, and then be killed by the Empress. Or else you can choose to leave, bury your name, and disappear from sight."

Chen Changsheng raised his head and asked the elder, "But why is it up to me to choose?"

"Because...I do not wish for the Empress to confront such a difficult multiple-choice question again." With immeasurable sorrow, the Elder of Heavenly Secrets sighed, "From the moment you entered the capital, she has always been hesitating, or else you would already be dead... A tiger eating her own son—there is nothing more tragic."

Chen Changsheng’s nostrils flared and his breathing grew coarser.

Only those who knew him well understood that this was a sign that he was currently in an extremely poor mood.

In this period of around two years, he had rarely acted in this manner.

So Luoluo knew, Tang Thirty-Six knew, but not even Xu Yourong knew.

"Then what of the child devoured by the tiger? Of all the sons eaten by the tiger? Could they not be even more tragic and miserable?"

He looked into the eyes of the Elder of Heavenly Secrets as he spoke, "Moreover, it’s not necessarily the case that I’m Crown Prince Zhaoming, and even if I am, it shouldn’t be up to me to make the choice, it should be hers. Sir wants me to bury my name and disappear, but why can’t she act like she knows nothing and do nothing?"

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets replied, "You’ve already appeared in the capital; how can she act like she did not see you? From the Orthodox Academy to the Ivy Festival, from Mei Lisha’s announcement on the Divine Avenue of the Li Palace to first rank on the first banner of the Grand Examination, too many people have intentionally allowed the Empress to see you."

Chen Changsheng replied, "So what if she sees me?"

The Elder of Heavenly Secrets answered, "If you really are Crown Prince Zhaoming, then you are the most fatal gap in the Empress’s changing of fate. If you stop over in the capital for another day, she will see you for another day. To her, this is an unimaginable torment. If she just leaves you alone and disregards your existence, you will ultimately become the baneful star over her fate. Two years ago, on the night you fixed your Fated Star in the Orthodox Academy, many people actually sensed it, and in the past few days, I’ve constantly calculated and ultimately confirmed that I am not wrong."

After hearing this, Chen Changsheng fell silent.

The starry sky, fate—these things had all appeared on the Heavenly Tome Monoliths. Defying the heavens, changing fate—these things had been recorded in Wang Zhice’s notebook. He had seen them before, read them before. He remembered very clearly that the lines formed by the stars on the Heavenly Tome Monoliths were not fixed, that on the opening page of Wang Zhice’s notebook, he had written: there is no such thing as fate!

"There is no such thing as fate," he whispered.

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