The Word of Heaven

Chapter 356 Later
The war is over.

As expected, nothing happened again. There was no reluctance, not a single word was spoken. In the instant that the sword light cleaved the desolate mountains in two, everything was settled.

The soldiers of Qin accepted defeat in silence.

The people of the wilderness wept silently, bewildered by the loss of their faith.

The Taoist reinforcements and the rebellious barbarians could not feel joy, but were instead filled with bewilderment and shock.

In this grand silence, the long wind, like a mighty river, carried Gu Zhuo back to some place in the wilderness.

Pei Jingge was right there.

She looked at the black robe fluttering in the wind, raised an eyebrow, and thought to herself, "How can you still be so ethereal at a time like this?"
Was it really won effortlessly?
Thinking this, Gu Zhuo, who had come to stand in front of her, suddenly collapsed, as if an iceberg had been hit and broken.

Pei Jingge was stunned.

She only realized what was happening when Gu Zhuo knocked her down and she fell into the water-filled ground, causing her to feel pain all over her body.

In order to unleash that strike, she paid a heavy price, nearly falling from her cultivation level, and was undoubtedly severely injured at this moment.

However, Gu Zhuo's injuries were more severe than hers.

Only one line remains.

With death.

"Can you get up?"

Pei Jingge asked with a pained expression.

Gu Zhuo tried to tilt his head back to look into her eyes, but then realized that it seemed impolite.

His movements were slowed down by his injury, making the soft touch all the more distinct.

"It's hard."

"I understand."

Pei Jingge looked at him and said, "Why did you come here?"

Gu Zhuo understood.

Thinking of the wind that had already dissipated, his emotions became somewhat complicated. He thought to himself, "You really are the best disciple I've ever taken on."

Pei Jingge didn't say anything more. She carefully helped him turn over and then helped him sit up by supporting his waist.

Throughout the entire process, Gu Zhuo did nothing and was unable to do anything.

"Is this okay?"

"Ah."

"Why are you still pretending when you're injured like this?"

Pei Jingge was very puzzled.

Gu Zhuo thought for a moment and then lied: "As a teacher."

After all, he couldn't very well say, "This is my apprentice's idea."

Pei Jingge seemed quite satisfied with the answer. She tilted her head, looked him up and down carefully, and said, "Would you like me to help you tidy up?"

Gu Zhuo said, "Thanks."

Pei Jingge rolled her eyes and said, "You're really not being polite."

She endured the pain and used her own aesthetic sense to make Gu Zhuo no longer look disheveled.

The two began to talk.

Regarding the final moment, the conversation in the sky, and the origin of that final sword light.

Gu Zhuo had no reason to hide it.

Pei Jingge listened very attentively.

At the end of her sentence, she suddenly asked, "Do you have any thoughts? Right now?"

Gu Zhuo was silent for a moment, then laughed.

"some."

"I want to hear it."

"Awakening from a dream, I see a light rain falling on the earth."

"poetry?"

Pei Jingge was very surprised.

Gu Zhuo looked out at the world in the rain.

A gentle breeze brushed past his hair, ruffling his tattered clothes, and he was filled with emotion: "The landscape remains as gentle as ever."

……

……

What happens next is simple.

When the Taoists arrived, Gu Zhuo, like his old friend, sat in a wheelchair, but the person pushing the wheelchair was not Pei Jinge or Lin Wanyi, but Qiu Zhi.

The young assassin, no longer naive, was quite pleased with his position, but dared not show the slightest hint of smugness; his expression remained even more serious.

Death did not come again, because Gu Zhuo always abhorred killing.

The Qin cavalry laid down their weapons and removed their armor.

The barbarians, having lost their faith, need a new spiritual pillar, but Gu Zhuo has no interest in this.

But before leaving, he said something very seriously.

"But spring has already come, hasn't it?"

The people of the wilderness looked back at their homeland in the rain.

The mountains gradually turn green.

The barbarians wept bitterly.

Laughing through tears.

……

……

Above Xuandu.

Yu Sheng withdrew her gaze from the north, a smile playing on her lips.

The sunlight illuminated her features, making her look absolutely beautiful.

Lin Qianshui asked casually, "You...don't need to accept my condolences?"

"I still want it."

Yu Sheng smiled and said, "But at least I don't have to be sad today."

……

……

The royal procession departed from Baidi Mountain, stretching for several miles, heading back towards the capital.

The White Emperor sat in one of the carriages, with fragments of the morning and evening bells laid out in front of him.

He quietly observed the Dao patterns on the bell, without glancing even once more in the direction of the wasteland.

Until Bai Langxing couldn't help but speak up.

"Father, why did you ultimately help Gu Zhuo?"

Why not help?

The White Emperor asked the question without hesitation.

Bai Langxing was stunned, unable to understand the sentence at all. He thought to himself, "Isn't that the best opportunity to kill Gu Zhuo?"

More importantly, wasn't everything that happened last night a result of this?
Bai Yingzhou calmly said, "Nothing is absolutely unchanging. If there is anything that is, it is only time."

Gu Zhuo's death is certainly important.

But compared to Yuan Dai's survival, this is something that can be given up.

Besides, he wouldn't mind having another fling with Gu Zhuo.

……

……

The scenery at Qingjing Temple is renowned throughout the world, with the rain under the eaves being the most spectacular.

A poet once praised: "With whom do I sit? In the night rain and gentle breeze, it is me."

The sky was dimming, and the distant mountains appeared bluish-black, as if painted with ink. Gu Zhuo sat under the eaves in his wheelchair.

Wei Qingci stood in the rain, letting his clothes get soaked, without saying a word.

A few days ago, Qiu Zhi personally delivered a letter to the Yi River, which only mentioned one thing.

—You have a chance to strike.

Upon seeing this sentence, Wei Qingci abandoned his thought of committing suicide by drawing his sword and went to Qingjing Temple alone.

Gu Zhuo withdrew his gaze, no longer looking at the distant green mountains that resembled ink wash paintings, and said, "Draw your sword."

Wei Qingci silently handed over the sword in his hand.

The sword pierced through countless raindrops and arrived in front of Gu Zhuo in the blink of an eye.

Then it stopped moving forward.

It stopped between Gu Zhuo's two fingers.

Wei Qingci laughed, looking at the young man in the wheelchair as if he were seeing that old man, and asked mockingly, "Why give me this so-called opportunity?"

"I never intended for you to live."

Gu Zhuo loosened his grip, his gaze lingering on the sword, and said softly, "I just want to see one thing clearly."

Wei Qingci laughed even more unrestrainedly, probably finding the words too insincere, and said coldly, "What in this world do you need to see clearly in this way right now?"

Gu Zhuo wasn't angry; he calmly said, "Your sword."

"To be precise..."

His tone was gentle, with the air of an elder: "Can your sword be transformed?"

Wei Qingci was stunned.

The next moment, Gu Zhuo uttered the same judgment that he had guessed: "The answer is yes."

A moment of silence.

Wei Qingci suddenly opened his eyes wide, released his grip on the sword, and staggered backward in the rain.

The water on the bluestone slabs was constantly being broken by footsteps, producing a heart-stopping sound and echoing with anger.

"If you want to kill me, just kill me. Why humiliate me like this?!"

Gu Zhuo shook his head and said, "I'm really not that bored."

Wei Qingci was furious. She waved her hand to disperse the rain and shouted, "You're just humiliating me! Otherwise, why are you only saying these things to me now? Do you think you can get away with this? I won't regret any of the choices I've made..."

The conversation abruptly stopped when Gu Zhuo said something that seemed completely bewildered.

"I only saw your sword today. How could I, in the past, possibly make a judgment?"

Silence reigned, with the sound of rain pattering incessantly.

Wei Qingci recalled many things.

Yes, he never drew his sword in front of Gu Zhuo.

Whether in Cangzhou or during that unpleasant meeting outside the Yi River... he never drew his sword.

It hasn't even happened once.

why?

Wei Qingci couldn't figure it out and couldn't give himself an answer.

So he went crazy.

……

……

Why did you tell him these things?

Lin Wanyi asked, puzzled.

Gu Zhuo said, "Wang Ji is a good friend of mine, and he mentioned the name of Wei Qingci's sword."

Lin Wanyi asked curiously, "And then?"

Gu Zhuo said with regret, "Li Zhu is a very beautiful name."

……

……

The injury gradually improved as the rain stopped.

Chu Jun and Xie Yinglian returned from the south, but the latter had nothing to do.

The former pushed the wheelchair through familiar scenery, allowing his master to relax.

Lin Wanyi, however, opened her umbrella in the rain and walked northwest, determined to fulfill her grand ambition of swordsmanship.

When saying goodbye, she tried to persuade Qieman to stay, but Gu Zhuo refused.

She was very angry about this and even wanted to slap him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Just like before Lin Wanyi left.

Now the whole world knows that Gu Zhuo will eventually step into Weiyang Palace again and end the nearly two-hundred-year-old feud with the White Emperor.

Nobody knows what that day will be like.

Until the results are in, people can only wait and put everything else aside.

One day, Pei Jingge, who had recovered from her injuries, came with a letter written by Yu Sheng.

"Her Highness the Princess will not interfere in your affairs."

"Ah."

Gu Zhuo smiled and said, "If it were me, I wouldn't want to get involved either."

Pei Jingge looked at his profile and said, "This is also my attitude."

Gu Zhuo said, "Okay."

Pei Jingge suddenly asked, "Disappointed?"

Why be disappointed?

Gu Zhuo turned his head to meet her gaze and said, "I'm very happy."

Pei Jingge frowned slightly and said in a cold voice, "What's there to be happy about?"

Gu Zhuo said earnestly, "I like you."

Pei Jingge was stunned for a moment, then said with a somewhat angry expression, "You are the husband of the Princess, so please don't say such absurd things to me."

Gu Zhuo looked at her and asked with a smile, "Is this your reason for not liking me?"

Pei Jingge suddenly fell silent.

Gu Zhuo smiled and said, "You promised me that day that you would tell me why I didn't like it after I survived."

Pei Jingge was furious, but couldn't say a word.

Gu Zhuo thought for a moment, then his smile faded, and he said sincerely, "I am very happy to know that you like me."

Pei Jingge took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down, and said, "And then?"

"Even if it is true, I have no face to stand in front of Her Highness the Princess."

She bit her lip, stared into Gu Zhuo's eyes, and said, word by word, "Can you change this fact?"

Gu Zhuo didn't have time to answer.

Xie Yinglian, who was standing next to her, spoke first, her tone extremely matter-of-fact.

"It's very simple. What's so difficult about it? Just make him marry Lin Wanyi too, right?"

"If you feel ashamed on your own, then two people can put together one face."

……

……

Silence reigned under the eaves.

The air was as still as if it were dead.

Chu Jun gasped, instinctively glancing at Xie Yinglian, thinking, "Are you trying to die?"

Thinking of the friendship they had shared in the past, she couldn't ignore it and asked Gu Zhuo a question as quickly as possible.

"Master, what exactly is the third question the abbess left you with?"

(End of this chapter)