by Mao Ni
Luoluo's gaze flitted through the hall.
That middle-aged man was the leader of the Qiushan clan, Qiushan Yuanxin.
That old man with a head of white who only had a bowl of clear water and a green pear in front of him on the table was probably Mount Li Elder Xiao Songgong.
That woman with a serene bearing and a white veil over her face, since she was wearing the ceremonial robes of the Orthodoxy and was sitting extremely close to the female professors of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green, was probably a disciple of the Holy Maiden.
Those three youths with indifferent expressions and swords across their knees were probably the rumored Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws.
She had seen before the young students of the five Ivy Academies and the others who had passed the pre-examination.
There were many people in the hall, but no Chen Changsheng.
Luoluo's gaze ultimately rested on a seat at the very front.
This seat was very close to the seats of the hosts, such as Prince Chen Liu, only a bit farther than Qiushan Yuanxin's and Xiao Songgong's seats.
But the person in this seat was a youth.
This youth had a gentle expression, extremely amiable. He had an ordinary air about him, but he was absolutely not normal.
Because his eyes had a light.
When Luoluo saw this person, she knew that he must be Gou Hanshi of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws.
The legendary Gou Hanshi.
Chapter 61 – Please Let Me Say to You a Single Word
The southern diplomatic mission had come to the capital as guests. Based on principle, they should not ask questions on their own initiative, but that woman veiled in white was very familiar with the teachers and students of the Thirteen Divisions of Radiant Green and was also an old acquaintance of Xu Shiji. Seeing the rather abnormal mood, she decided to ask.
The vast majority of the people in the hall had attended the first night of the Ivy Festival, so it was impossible for them to not recognize the girl who had beaten Tianhai Ya'er into a cripple. Hearing this guest's question, a person responded, "She's a student of the Orthodox Academy. For some reason, she arrived a little late."
Hearing this answer, the woman from Holy Maiden Peak softly affirmed, somewhat surprised. As for those three youths with swords sitting across their knees, they simultaneously raised their heads to gaze at Luoluo, their gazes instantly becoming extremely sharp, like swords leaving their sheaths.
Even in the distant south, the people knew that the Orthodox Academy had long since been abandoned. On the journey, they had heard of what had happened on the first night of the Ivy Festival, and only then had they discovered that, this year, the Orthodox Academy had gained two new students. This girl was that genius who had appeared out of nowhere?
These three youths came from Mount Li and were three of the Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws. In their view, defeating Tianhai Ya'er was naturally no great feat, but for this girl to be so strong at such a young age was truly worthy of their regard.
Gou Hanshi also raised his head and glanced at Luoluo, but he only gave a gentle smile, seeming to not care very much.
Luoluo paid no attention to the gazes from these three youths of Mount Li. The Divine Kingdom's Seven Laws were naturally extraordinary, but at the moment, all her focus was on Gou Hanshi. She could clearly sense that this person was truly not simple at all. She was not a match for him, but what of her teacher? Could he defeat him?
The hall was quiet. Standing at the door, she seemed rather striking.
Xu Shiji coldly said, "Your coming late is already lacking in courtesy. Quickly sit down instead of letting guests see this joke!"
Hearing these utterly discourteous words, Prince Chen Liu was somewhat surprised. Then he smiled as he thought, Xu Shiji still hasn't managed to guess at this girl's identity. It seems that even the Divine Empress's trust in him has a limit, far inferior to her trust in Xue Xingchuan.
Prince Chen Liu turned to the Principal of the Heavenly Dao Academy, Mao Qiuyu. Of the people present, only the two of them knew of Luoluo's true identity. However, he saw that Mao Qiuyu had a solemn and respectful look on his face, acting like he knew nothing at all. Prince Chen Liu suddenly had a thought and turned to Archbishop Mei Lisha, but he only saw that the archbishop's eyes were almost shut as if he was on the verge of sleep.
"Elders all truly can maintain their composure…"
Prince Chen Liu sighed. He was well aware that the archbishop kept his own counsel and had probably long since guessed at Luoluo's identity.
Luoluo glanced at Xu Shiji. At any other time, if someone dared to berate her so, she would certainly have not taken it lying down. One could not draw any conclusions from the pleasant and cute act she put up in front of Chen Changsheng. If she truly grew angry, didn't even the Princess of Ping grow afraid?
But tonight, the circumstances were special. Thinking of the silk bag tightly gripped in her sleeve and Chen Changsheng's orders, she took a deep breath and suppressed all her anger. Saying nothing to Xu Shiji, she walked straight to the Orthodox Academy's seating area in the corner.
Just then, ceremonial music sounded out, the curtains lightly waved, and under the escort of ten-odd palace maids and eunuchs, a woman dressed in gorgeous palace attire slowly walked into the palace.
It was Lady Mo Yu.
Although she possessed great authority within the Great Zhou Dynasty, she did not have much of a public persona, so logically speaking, she should have been more low-key. However, in this front hall of the Imperial Palace, everyone knew that she was representing the Divine Empress, so it was no good to quietly sit. One by one, they rose up to greet her.
The several hundred people within the hall stood up one by one, including the important figures of the southern diplomatic mission. Under the light of the Night Pearls, they seemed like an ocean wave.
Two people did not stand.
One was the Archbishop of the Bureau of Ecclesiastic Education, Mei Lisha. The old man's eyes were closed, and there was a faint smile on his lips. It seemed like he had really fallen asleep.
The other was Luoluo in the corner. She quietly stared at Mo Yu's face, seeming quite rude.
Everyone had stood up except for two. They naturally stood out, so everyone turned their gazes to them.
Xu Shiji had a rather dark complexion. Although he clearly knew that this girl called Luoluo had an unusual background, tonight was the night on which the southern diplomatic mission would propose, so he had to ensure that everything remained under control. As a result, he had scolded her just a while, all because he needed to see if any variables would appear.
It seemed that the variable had arrived.
The archbishop's status was different, so he could not express his rage, and could only aim it at the only target left.
He coldly glared at the Orthodox Academy's seats in the corner.
For similar reasons, nobody dared to directly stare at the archbishop's seat above, so everyone's gazes rested on the corner, falling upon Luoluo.
Luoluo cared not for these gazes. She stared at Mo Yu, her eyes calm, her expression solemn, an aura of warning about her.
The crowd inwardly trembled with fear, not knowing what would happen next.
Xu Shiji was just prepared to deliver a heavy rebuke when a melodious voice suddenly rang through the hall.
"There's no problem."
Mo Yu smiled, her arms extended to her sides, her two wide sleeves hanging down, indicating that everyone should sit.
These words were for the crowd, for Xu Shiji, displaying her lenient and humane heart.
Only Luoluo knew that those words were meant for her.
She was promising Luoluo that absolutely nothing would happen to Chen Changsheng.
Luoluo knew that Mo Yu would not lie, especially at this moment. She already knew that Mo Yu had done something, even after being warned.
Her emotions relaxed somewhat, but she did not.
Sh
e sat in the corner, quietly watching Mo Yu, her gaze never moving.
She was just like a tiger hidden in the mountain forests, quietly watching its prey, ready to leap out at any moment and tear its target to pieces.
Mo Yu sensed the gaze from the distant corner and slightly perked her brows, somewhat surprised. Just like the Princess of Ping, she had thought that her supposedly attending school at the Orthodox Academy was just because she felt that staying in the Hundred Herb Garden was too boring and so wanted to play around a bit with an ordinary human.
Even if she was friends with Chen Changsheng, it still didn't make sense for her to value him this much.
Even Mo Yu could sense her gaze, so the many experts in the hall had naturally noticed as well.
This was especially true for the people around the Orthodox Academy's seating area, who suddenly felt rather cold.
* * *
Chen Changsheng thought that he had died, but he had not.
The Black Dragon had paused in the air in front of him, no longer moving forward.
The two were separated by ten-odd zhang. Because the Black Dragon was so excessively large, this distance was extremely close, so close that he could even see the accumulated snow on the roots of the dragon's teeth. The Black Dragon was taking slow and long breaths. Countless cold winds howled, countless grains of snow and shards of frost roiled and danced in the wind.
Chen Changsheng felt that he was standing outside of Xuelao City in the distant north.
What made the Black Dragon slowly come to a halt was not his courage or the words he said before dying, but rather the dagger in his hands.
That seemingly very ordinary dagger.
When it saw the dagger in his hands, it seemed like countless stars successively ignited in the depths of the Black Dragon's eyes and then extinguished once more.
Every star was an emotion.
Frustration.
Confusion.
Shock.
Unease.
Resentment.
Parting.
Meeting.
Closeness.
Wariness.
Anger.
Vastness.
Indifference.
Inability for indifference.
Wanting to forget.
Difficulty of forgetting.
Disappointment.
Despair.
Hope.
Still hope.
* * *
Countless complex emotions appeared in the Black Dragon's cold and cruel eyes.
As a human, it was difficult for him to understand how the eyes were able to hold so many emotions in a single instant.
Chen Changsheng could not understand, so he stood there with his body covered in snow and a dagger in his hand, staring at the Black Dragon in silence.
The Black Dragon calmly stared back, staring for a very long time.
The Black Dragon suddenly… let out a low roar!
The cold wind howled, causing the snow accumulated on the distant walls to rumble down, and the snow on the silver sea to fly about in disorder.
This low roar was a word, because it had a specific meaning.
This low roar was more like a pure sound, because it was a sound, a single syllable.
It was an extremely brief sound, but enormously complex.
It was just like a hurricane. On the surface, it seemed frantic and monotone, but there were countless streams of turbulence within, going in countless directions.
This was Dragon language.
The Dragon language that had vanished from the human world for several thousand, even ten thousand years.
In the present world, there was perhaps no human to be found that had heard Dragon language. As for a human that spoke Dragon language… it was impossible to know where to start looking for such a person.
The dragon was this world's most high-class being, possessing a perfect body and soul. Only with their incomparably firm and incomparably complex body structure and their incomparably formidable souls working together could they use such an unimaginable method to communicate.
So simple that it became absolutely complex, supreme.
"Is this the legendary Dragon language?"
Chen Changsheng was shocked beyond compare.
Even if he weren't held down by the wind and snow, he would presumably have gone completely stiff at this moment.
Because he was truly very stupefied.
His stupefaction was different from the shock anyone else would feel from hearing a dragon cry, or perhaps, his shock was at another level.
He had heard this sound before.
In Xining Village's old temple, he and his senior had read the three thousand Daoist scriptures. The final book contained one thousand, six hundred and one characters. According to legend, within these characters was the final meaning of the Heavenly Dao. They had not recognized the words in this book, so they had gone to ask their master. Their master had also not recognized them, but he… could read them.
Thus, he and his senior began to read those words.
They did not know the meanings, but they knew the sounds.
He had always been mystified as to what those bizarre words were.
Until many years later, beneath the Great Zhou Imperial Palace, in front of a Black Frost Dragon, he finally understood.
It was Dragon language.
It turned out that the final book of the three thousand scriptures of the Great Dao was written in Dragon language.
Silence.
A long silence.
The Black Dragon quietly stared at Chen Changsheng, seemingly waiting for something.
Chen Changsheng did not know what it was waiting for, so he remained silent.
Countless stars once more flared to life in the Black Dragon's eyes, and then extinguished.
It fell silent once more, and then let out another low roar.
This roar was very low. There was no cold, but an aura of silent extinction.
Chen Changsheng's eyelashes floated.
His Daoist topknot was blown apart, his black hair drifting behind him and then floating.
His clothes were blown to shreds and then began to float.
This dragon roar was low and heavy, the anger ultimately transforming into disappointment, then despair.
Chen Changsheng knew that he was going to die again—the word 'again' here was not laughable, but sorrowful.
The Black Dragon seemed to have some hopes in him, so he had lived for a few more moments.
But that hope was no more.
Chen Changsheng suddenly felt very sorrowful, not because there was no hope, not because of him.
For some inexplicable reason, when he heard the Black Dragon's low roar, he felt an indescribable sorrow.
He seemed to see innumerable years, boundless solitude.
A dark underground cavern, trickery and deception, guarding and despair.
He had also experienced those before.
The shadow of death was just like the pitch-black night, painfully torturing at all times for several years.
He had no person to speak to, no place to tell it. Alone, he waited for the final judgment.
He suddenly wanted to comfort this Black Dragon.
He didn't know what to say, but he felt that he should say something.
Thus, he said a single word to the Black Dragon.
He didn't know the meaning of this word.
When he was young, this was the first word he had learned in the final book of the three thousand scriptures of the Great Dao.
It was a single syllable, its pronunciation extremely strange.
A moment seemed to contain infinite information.
At this word, the Black Dragon's eyes suddenly shot out countless frenzied rays of light!
Yet the entire world turned silent.
Chapter 62 – Zhizhi
Silence, absolute silence, interminable silence. There was no whooshing of wind, no dripping of water, no sound of
breathing. The Black Dragon and Chen Changsheng were both holding their breaths in silence. It seemed that it was because they were nervous, and they were nervous because they had finally seen hope.
He didn't know what the Black Dragon's hope was, but his hope was naturally to escape death. When he saw the Black Dragon's whisker slowly drift over and silently press between his eyebrows, he found it impossible to know just what would happen next.
The whisker was extremely thick where it connected with the jaw, but it gradually thinned until at the foremost end, it was about the size of a human's pinkie finger. It looked rather sharp, its surface black as the night. However, it was also transparent as jade, with black specks of light tumbling within like dark clouds.
The tip of the dragon's whisker seemed to touch yet not touch his forehead, so close that it was impossible to tell whether it had actually struck or not. Chen Changsheng grew more and more nervous. Having just returned from the precipice of death, he felt fear even more easily. Sweat poured out of the hand holding the dagger and then was swiftly frozen by the low temperature of the environment.
Noiselessly, the black whisker lightly poked between his eyebrows.
It was a very strange sensation, not at all sticky or frightening. On the contrary, it was a little cool and refreshing and actually caused him to sober up and faintly understand the Black Dragon's meaning.
It wanted him to continue.
Without hesitation, Chen Changsheng spoke a second word—still a word from the last book of the three thousand scriptures of the Great Dao.
This word's pronunciation was also extremely strange and extremely difficult to sound out. Even though his face was covered in snow, it was still easy to see that his face was somewhat red, his lips somewhat pale. It seemed like speaking this single word had consumed an enormous amount of energy.
The black whisker lightly drifted about, its pitch-black tip pulling away from his brow and giving a light flick before lightly prodding it once more.
Chen Changsheng understood, so he said a third word, and then a fourth word, a fifth word…