Martial Cultivator

The white-robed girl looked at the surface of the sea, reached out and scooped up a handful of seawater. It slowly flowed within her palm, but strangely, no matter how it flowed, the seawater did not spill out of her hand.

”Chen Che, you have made a very big mess. You should know when to stop. I do not believe that after being emperor for so many years, you still do not know what outcome is best.”

The white-robed girl looked at the Great Liang Emperor before her with some dissatisfaction.

The Great Liang Emperor smiled calmly and said, ”He’s not your nephew, of course you can stand there and speak without feeling the pain. Of course, simply cleaning up Lonely Moon Peak a bit and then asking Mount Qiuling for some compensation would be fine, but Chen Chao would not necessarily think it was good, and We am not that kind of person either. Being emperor was something We did reluctantly to begin with. If We could choose, We would of course rather be a feudal prince who rides horses and hunts every day, go home to see Our wife after hunting, and occasionally accompany her strolling around the streets. If we ran into someone blind enough to provoke her on the street, then there would be no need to say anything - beat them first. ”As for the wife complaining afterward, or those blind fellows in the Divine Capital submitting memorials to impeach Us, it would not matter. If We did not go to the Divine Capital, that would be that. But if We did go, We would beat up that group of people who dared to impeach Us again. Of course, doing so would definitely result in docked salary and confinement, but that would not matter either.”

The white-robed girl clicked her tongue and said, ”Alright, alright, so the main point is acting however you please, right?”

The Great Liang Emperor smiled and said, ”Our nephew did suffer hardship before, but that was when We did not know. After We found out, when have We ever let him suffer even once? Leaving such a huge mess for that little fellow to deal with was never easy no matter how you look at it. He did very well, would We not feel guilty? ”He feels wronged, and We feel wronged too. We finally managed to leave that chair behind, and still cannot just follow Our own heart and do a few things, would that not mean coming down for nothing?”

The corners of the white-robed girl’s mouth twitched. ”Fine, fine, Chen Che. You really are someone who has been emperor. I cannot argue with you.”

”When We were emperor, We really did not talk very much.”

The Great Liang Emperor smiled and did not intend to explain. Among the emperors of past generations, there was probably not a single one who used his hands more than words like he did.

He had only sat on the dragon throne for a little over ten years, yet more than one group of officials had committed suicide by crashing into the imperial city gates. Could other emperors have done that?

At the very least, over these past ten-plus years, the people of the Great Liang Dynasty had gained spirit and vigor. That backbone was slowly straightening.

Letting the people eat their fill and dress warmly might be the pursuit of ordinary emperors, but for the Great Liang Emperor, it was not enough.

”You have made a very big commotion. The sects over in the Southern Ridge know about it, and the sects in the north know as well.”

The white-robed girl covered her forehead, finding it very troublesome.

Yet she then saw the culprit himself, the man now covered in injuries, merely smiling as he looked at her, ”And then?”

”The result is that I originally planned to give you a chance to go back and have a look, but from now on, you can no longer go back.”

The Great Liang Emperor raised an eyebrow.

The white-robed girl knew what he was thinking and continued on her own. ”You cannot go back, and they cannot come over either. This is a rule I just set with certain people while on the sea.”

The Great Liang Emperor asked, ”What if someone does not follow the rules?”

The white-robed girl said irritably, ”Beat them to death and be done with it.”

The Great Liang Emperor nodded. Put that way, it was still somewhat reasonable, at least there were some rules.

The white-robed girl frowned and said, ”Do not act on impulse like this again in the future. These people are not who we are supposed to deal with.”

The Great Liang Emperor smiled. “No guarantee.”

The white-robed girl flew into a rage and said, “Chen Che, if you ruin my grand plan, I will kill Chen Chao first!”

The Great Liang Emperor glanced at the white-robed girl and said indifferently, “If you want to kill him, then We will ruin your plans.”

”You...”

The white-robed girl was so angry that she was left speechless by the Great Liang Emperor’s words.

The Great Liang Emperor said, “You people always like to put things out there for others to choose, but We have never been willing to choose. We have always wanted everything.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Chen Che, just how impressive do you think you are? Do you really think that anything in this world will succeed just because you want it to?”

The white-robed girl gritted her teeth as she looked at the man before her, suddenly feeling some regret over why she had chosen him back then.

That little monk was afraid of death, yes, but he was obedient.

Still, he really was not as suitable as the Great Liang Emperor before her.

”Got to at least try.”

The Great Liang Emperor smiled. Many things had to be tried first before one could know they were impossible, just like what that woman had told him back then.

“If Your Highness does not try, how would you know you cannot be a good emperor?”

Thinking of this, the Great Liang Emperor looked toward the sea. The emotions in his eyes faded, becoming very gentle, like a spring breeze brushing across the sea surface.

......

......

Deercry Monastery. The area that had been open to pilgrims in the previous life was still flourishing with incense. It was said that the incense ash glaze from Deercry Monastery was no longer limited to White Deer Prefecture alone. People from several neighboring prefectures were even traveling long distances to come and seek incense ash.

This also indirectly showed that after Chen Chao took up the post of Lord Warden Commander, the entire warden faction had been thoroughly revitalized and had put in great effort to purge demonic threats within Great Liang’s borders, although it had not yet reached the so-called state of universal peace. Comparatively speaking, across the nine prefectures of the Great Liang Dynasty today, demonic threats had at least been reduced by one third.

Otherwise, let alone traveling across prefectures, even leaving one’s own prefecture would require careful consideration.

The true temple grounds of Deercry Monastery remained as quiet as ever. The monks walking within the temple made almost no sound.

Today, there happened to be a light rain. Raindrops first fell onto the green tiles, the collision producing crisp sounds that were rather pleasant. Afterward, rainwater flowed along the grooves between the tiles to the eaves and then dripped down, the sound of it striking the bluestone-paved ground also quite pleasant.

Even so, the temple remained exceedingly quiet.

A black-robed monk walked through the fine rain. When he reached a long corridor, he stepped inside, stopped, and extended his hand to catch some raindrops falling from the eaves. There was none of the sentimental melancholy of a refined scholar; he simply used the rainwater to wash the yellow mud from his hands.

After cleaning them, the monk lowered his head to look at the mud on his shoes. He simply took them off and tossed them aside, then walked forward slowly. After a few steps, he found the monk’s robe on his body damp from the rain and somewhat uncomfortable. After thinking for a moment, he turned back, put the shoes on again, and headed toward the back mountain.

The small temple halfway up the back mountain had always appeared ancient and rundown, but perhaps because of the old monk living there, it did not leak even when it rained.

The black-robed monk entered and, without caring whether his feet brought in mud, plopped himself down on the threshold.

The small temple was not large and was already dim. With the light rain today and poor daylight, his sitting on the threshold was effectively blocking all the light in the entire temple.

The old monk inside lifted his eyelids and glanced over. Then, the candle inside the small temple lit itself.

Even so, the light inside the small temple was still very dim, carrying the feeling of lingering sunset glow.

The black-robed monk glanced at the lit candle and said, seemingly surprised, “You still care about this?”

Though he said that, the black-robed monk had no intention of getting up and continued sitting on the threshold.

The old monk struggled to keep his eyes open as he looked at the black-robed monk. After a long time, he finally spoke. “You... have seen that sword user. He has also crossed that threshold.”

The black-robed monk smiled and said, “Isn’t that something you should be thanked for? Without you, could he have comprehended that sword?”

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