Chapter 135: The Sovereign Chen Changsheng, Forging Demand From the Void
Chapter 135 – The Sovereign Chen Changsheng, Forging Demand From the Void
Confronted with the desperate pleas of the disciples, Chen Changsheng clicked his tongue and spoke with detached calm.
“I will not render judgment on this matter blindly. The exact state of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion remains unknown to me.”
“Walk with me to the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. Once I have deduced the truth of the registry, you shall have your answer.”
“We bow to the Holy Son’s decree!”
Having suppressed the rising unrest, Chen Changsheng led the sprawling throng toward the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
Along the jade-paved paths, numerous disciples cast covert, evaluating glances at this legendary heaven-chosen.
Two months had bled away since the slaughter at the Heavenly Talent Assembly, and the tales of Chen Changsheng’s visceral dominance had naturally saturated the Purple Mansion Holy Land.
Despite his abrupt descent upon their sect, the disciples welcomed his sovereign presence.
After all, the more terrifying Chen Changsheng’s might, the sharper the Purple Mansion Holy Land’s fangs would be against the outside world.
To walk beneath the shadow of such a predator was an absolute blessing in this chaotic age.
……
Soon, Chen Changsheng and his retinue arrived before the towering gates of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.
Perceiving Chen Changsheng’s terrifying aura, the outer sect Elder governing the pavilion hurried forward to bow.
“Dispense with the pleasantries, Elder.”
“The disciples claim the pavilion’s edicts have run bone-dry. I have come to weigh the truth of this.”
Hearing this, the Elder offered a bitter, exhausted smile. He withdrew a thick registry he had already prepared and presented it with both hands.
“Holy Son, the flow of edicts over the past two months is entirely recorded within.”
“You may sweep it with your divine intent. Words fail to capture the sheer absurdity of it.”
Taking the jade-bound registry, Chen Changsheng swept his spiritual sense over the records.
The truth was stark. Within a single glance, forty percent of the completed blood-trials bore the names of Gongsun Huaiyu and Zi Ning. Another thirty percent had been mercilessly devoured by Ye Hensheng and Su Tian.
As for the remnants, they were nothing but menial labor—tending to spirit herbs or shoveling filth for spirit beasts.
Such tasks yielded pitiful scraps of spiritual essence while bleeding away months of time.
Had they been even slightly profitable, Chen Changsheng had no doubt the four of them would have scraped the registry completely clean.
Retracting his divine intent, Chen Changsheng closed the registry.
An outer sect disciple immediately stepped forward, his tone pleading. “Holy Son, we do not seek to ignite chaos without cause.”
“But the Saintess and her companions have severed our paths of survival!”
“Every edict bearing a drop of true wealth has been plundered. We are starving for resources.”
Acknowledging their raw desperation, Chen Changsheng cast a fleeting, cold glance at Zi Ning’s group before locking eyes with the pavilion Elder.
“Elder, can the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion forge a new influx of edicts?”
“We cannot.”
“Edicts are born only when the Holy Land requires blood or labor to fulfill a specific need.”
“Such grand necessity does not spontaneously generate. You, of all people, must grasp the Dao of this exchange, Holy Son.”
Chen Changsheng gave a slow, measured nod.
“The underlying law is sound. Yet, if necessity is absent, we simply carve it out ourselves. If there is no demand, we forge the demand.”
“We breathe in an era of apocalyptic chaos. I am certain the Purple Mansion Holy Land has countless karmic ties to sever.”
“This pavilion does not merely dispense bounties; it acts as the all-seeing eye, governing the intelligence network of the entire sect.”
“Tell me, Elder. What waves have crashed through the Middle Heavens over these past two months?”
Shrewdly weighing the question, the Elder stroked his beard and spoke.
“The Middle Heavens are boiling. The Yaoguang Holy Lord has Perished, and their Holy Son has ascended to the sovereign throne.”
“Simultaneously, the great orthodox factions have united to hunt down the Undying Bone. Beyond these upheavals, there remains one… delicate matter.”
The Elder’s voice trailed off, his gaze flickering with hesitation.
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng smiled—a razor-thin curve of his lips. “Speak your mind, Elder. Do not choke on your own words.”
“Unless it breaches the sect’s deepest taboos, there is no harm in airing it beneath the sun.”
“This intelligence was strictly meant for your ears, Holy Son. But as you have been in Secluded Cultivation, no opportunity presented itself.”
“Since you command it, I shall speak plainly.”
“Whispers are poisoning the Middle Heavens. They claim that you, Holy Son, deliberately unearthed the Undying Bone to orchestrate the mass slaughter of the heaven-chosen.”
Upon hearing this, the eyes of the surrounding disciples darted away, suddenly finding the floor tiles fascinating.
The blood-soaked truth of the Heavenly Talent Assembly was an open secret. With so many lethal coincidences aligning, only a fool would fail to suspect Chen Changsheng’s predatory hand in the massacre.
However, he was now their sovereign Saint Son. The sect’s collective silence was bought with his protection.
“Do they possess proof?”
“Proof?”
The Elder was momentarily stunned by the sheer, brazen coldness of the question. Anyone with a brain would suspect him.
By all logic of the Dao, Chen Changsheng should have buried his head and waited for the karmic storm to pass.
Yet this predator stood in the open, casually demanding evidence. How was one supposed to answer such arrogance?
Observing the Elder’s bewildered silence, Chen Changsheng reiterated smoothly, “Elder, do the tongues wagging in the dark hold a single shred of physical proof?”
“You jest, Holy Son. Since they are formless whispers, naturally, there is no proof.”
“Then has our Purple Mansion Holy Land unearthed any?”
“None!”
“Our network has procured nothing to link your hand to that apocalyptic slaughter.”
“If the eyes of our Holy Land remain blind to it, the other sects are equally blind.”
Chen Changsheng nodded, a dark satisfaction in his eyes.
“The absence of proof is paramount. Tell me, Elder, have you traced the source of these poisoned waters?”
“The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion has deduced the origin with absolute certainty. The rumors bleed outward from the Mad Dragon Fort.”
Hearing the familiar title, Chen Changsheng tilted his head, his calculating gaze falling upon Gongsun Huaiyu.
“Huaiyu. If memory serves, an arrogant fool from the Mad Dragon Fort bled at the Heavenly Talent Assembly.”
“You decreed that the Seventy-Two Wolf Smoke would march upon their gates. Does the Middle Heavens harbor a second Mad Dragon Fort?”
Gongsun Huaiyu slapped her forehead, groaning in sudden realization. “Sir, if you hadn’t spoken, I would have completely forgotten!”
“The slaughter was so chaotic, I neglected to transmit the kill order…”
Her words died in her throat. The surrounding disciples were staring at her, their expressions a mix of horror and profound unease.
Everyone: “……”
They all knew she was the terrifying heir of the Seventy-Two Wolf Smoke, and they understood the unspoken blood-pact her presence signified.
But there was absolutely no need to flaunt it so brazenly.
After all, the Seventy-Two Wolf Smoke was still the heavily despised public enemy of the entire Middle Heavens!
Bathing in their collective shock, Gongsun Huaiyu coughed dryly, forcing a mask of mortal innocence.
“The karmic interference at the assembly was heavy… My heavenly divinations were slightly delayed. Sir, grant me two days.”
“I wager my divinations will manifest perfectly within two days.”
“The past is dust. There is no need to dwell on such trivial omissions.”
Swiping the matter away, Chen Changsheng refocused on the Elder. “Elder, as the ruling Saint Son, I possess the sovereign right to forge edicts, do I not?”
“You do.”
“The Holy Son may issue private bounties, or command the full weight of the sect by issuing edicts in the Holy Land’s name.”
“However, edicts leveraging the Holy Land’s authority are capped at a bounty of one million points.”
“I see the shape of the Dao now.”
“Then I shall personally bleed twenty million lbs of God Source from my own spatial ring. I trouble you, Elder, to scribe a new edict.”
“The mandate is elegantly simple: sever the roots and eradicate the Mad Dragon Fort from the face of the world.”
Hiss—
The moment the words left his lips, the surrounding throng inhaled a collective, shivering breath of cold air.
Was he truly playing the game with such visceral ruthlessness?
Casually crushing a mortal faction with a mountain of twenty million lbs of God Source… their newly descended Holy Son was a terrifying sovereign indeed!