Chapter 175: The Wedding Day, Chen Changsheng She’s Going to Die
Chapter 175 – The Wedding Day, Chen Changsheng She’s Going to Die
Staring at Chen Changsheng, who had already closed his eyes, Chen Shisan suddenly felt a profound sense of unreliability gnawing at his heart.
As for what exactly felt so undependable about this ageless immortal, Chen Shisan couldn’t quite articulate it.
After pondering the matter in silence for a long time, Chen Shisan finally retreated to a dark corner of the temple and drifted into a fitful slumber.
……
The morning sun hung high in the sky.
The entirety of Jinshan City bustled with feverish excitement, for today was the day the Jinshan Yinhai Manor was taking a bride.
Although the second young master was merely taking a concubine, the grandeur of the procession was nothing short of extravagant.
However, a stark contrast to the lively mortal clamor of Jinshan City, Chen Changsheng and Chen Shisan were already trekking through the wilderness fifty miles away.
Crack!
A dry branch snapped beneath his boots. Chen Changsheng stopped his steps, and Chen Shisan halted immediately behind him.
“Aoxue Hongmei is being married off today.”
Silence.
Faced with Chen Changsheng’s words, Chen Shisan simply stood frozen in place like a statue of raw iron.
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng kept his gaze fixed on the horizon and continued.
“The man claiming her is the second young master of the Zhao family, Zhao Ke.”
“Zhao Ke is a creature of base lust; she will be his eighteenth concubine.”
“Furthermore, the lives of his previous seventeen conquests have been rather wretched, as Zhao Ke inevitably tires of his playthings.”
“It is easy to divine that Aoxue Hongmei’s fate within those walls will be a miserable one.”
Hearing this bleak reality, the taciturn Chen Shisan finally parted his lips.
“Once I grasp enough strength, I will rescue her. And I will ensure she is alive when I do.”
“A noble sentiment, but there is a crucial detail I neglected to mention.”
“For the past five years, I have been watching the two of you.”
“My comprehension of Aoxue Hongmei’s Dao heart is perhaps deeper than yours. She is a woman even more unyielding than you are.”
“She holds you in her heart, yet she firmly believes her stained existence is unworthy of you.”
“Now that you have departed Jinshan City, her final tether to this mortal dust is severed. She will not willingly marry Zhao Ke.”
“If my divinations are correct, by the time the crimson palanquin reaches the gates of the Zhao manor, all Zhao Ke will receive is a cooling corpse.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Shisan immediately pivoted on his heel and began marching back toward Jinshan City.
His movement carried not a single shred of hesitation, nor did his face betray the slightest ripple of emotion.
There was only the terrifying, unshakeable firmness blazing within his dark eyes.
Seeing this, Chen Changsheng strolled casually behind the boy, chattering away with an ageless nonchalance.
“Marching back now is an exercise in futility!”
“The Zhao family commands immense influence and manpower. You cannot slaughter them alone. Moreover, they employ true Cultivators; you are but an ant before them.”
“How about this: just bow your head and beg me, and I will resolve everything.”
“That pathetic Zhao family… I could reduce them to drifting ash with a single sigh.”
Faced with Chen Changsheng’s tempting offer, Chen Shisan’s relentless pace did not slow in the slightest.
“I will not beg you.”
“Why?”
“This is my karma. I have no need for anyone’s charity.”
“But if you charge in like a blind fool, Aoxue Hongmei will die.”
“If she dies, she dies. There is nothing to fear in death. Hongmei will die, I will die, and every living soul beneath the heavens will eventually turn to dust.”
“Death holds no terror. The only true terror is bending one’s spine to fate.”
“Today’s calamity is Hongmei’s destined tribulation. If it were not the Zhao family, it would be the Wangs or the Lis.”
“Marching back to save her is my Dao. If I am slaughtered, it merely proves my strength was insufficient.”
“I can be crushed beneath the wheel of fate, but I will absolutely never bow to it. Therefore, I will not beg you.”
Hearing this declaration, the corner of Chen Changsheng’s mouth hooked upward.
“Since you refuse to beg, we can simply forge another transaction!”
“Just like the pact we sealed days ago: I lend you my strength, and you accomplish a task for me.”
“There is no need.”
“And why is that? A man should possess unyielding bones, but blind arrogance is just foolishness.”
“Are you truly willing to watch Aoxue Hongmei perish just to cradle your pitiful mortal dignity?”
At these words, Chen Shisan halted his march and turned his dark, feral gaze directly onto Chen Changsheng.
“I do not want to see Hongmei die. To prevent that, I would gladly pay any price.”
“But I have already sworn my life to our previous transaction. My blood and my future no longer belong to me.”
“Therefore, I have absolutely nothing left of value to trade.”
“Others might fabricate some hollow excuse to cheat you into a deal, but I will not.”
“To bow is to bow. No matter how beautifully one decorates the words, it cannot alter the truth of a bent spine.”
“I know you will save my life at the critical moment, for our transaction remains unfulfilled.”
“And I know Aoxue Hongmei will die because I rejected your charity.”
“But one day, I will personally return to carry her away, even if she is nothing more than dry bones by then.”
“Fate may butcher me, but I will not succumb to the terror of it by crying out to an existence beyond fate for salvation.”
“This is my nature, and it is Hongmei’s as well.”
Staring into the abyssal firmness of the youth’s eyes, Chen Changsheng laughed. He laughed with a genuine, echoing joy.
“Very well. I have always respected the Dao chosen by others.”
“Walk the path you wish to walk. I will not lift a single finger to save you, nor will I save Aoxue Hongmei.”
“If you truly fall, I will merely write this off as a failed investment.”
“Thank you,” Chen Shisan replied softly. “If I survive this tribulation, I will undoubtedly fulfill my end of our pact.”
With that, the youth turned his back and resumed his march toward Jinshan City.
“Catch!”
Yet before Chen Shisan could take more than three steps, Chen Changsheng’s voice called out from behind.
Chen Shisan reached out and snatched the flying object from the air. Looking down, he realized his fingers were wrapped around the hilt of a snapped sword, its tip completely sheared off.
“You claim the path of the sword. How can a swordsman lack a blade in his grasp?”
“I am no grandmaster of the sword, so I carry no divine blades in my void-pouch. You will have to make do with that rusted iron.”
“Consider it a loan. You are expected to return it to me in the future.”
Gripping the jagged weight of the broken longsword, Chen Shisan nodded.
“It will be returned.”
Without another word, he gripped the hilt tighter and strode toward the towering walls of Jinshan City.
Watching Chen Shisan’s lonely, retreating silhouette, Chen Changsheng smiled lazily in his mind. “System, I originally found this brat’s stubborn temper insufferable.”
“But now, the longer I watch him, the more he grows on me. Perhaps I have truly unearthed the one variable capable of surpassing the strongest existence beneath the heavens.”
The moment Chen Changsheng’s thought concluded, a formless, emotionless voice echoed in his consciousness.
“Chen Shisan’s disposition is remarkably similar to the Host’s true nature. It is logical that the Host feels an affinity for him.”
Hearing this clinical assessment, Chen Changsheng’s face instantly darkened.
“System, if you’re going to hurl insults, at least have the decency to be creative!”
“I, Chen Changsheng, am a master of flexibility and tact. How could I possibly be compared to a foul, unyielding stone dredged from a latrine?”
“Immortality is, from a certain perspective, a profound curse. Having weathered countless eras, has the Host ever bowed to this ‘curse’?”
“Nonsense, that’s an entirely different concept. How does one ‘bow’ to living forever? It isn’t as if I can just off myself to prove a point.”
“If I scattered my own soul just to spite my longevity, that wouldn’t be yielding; that would be clinical insanity.”
“Withdrawing to a forgotten corner of the world, enduring the endless river of time in absolute, lonely solitude—that is the definition of yielding to immortality.”
“The Host has the capability to surrender to this quiet existence, yet you stubbornly choose to—”
“Blah, blah, blah!”
“I’m not listening! I can’t hear you!”
“Regardless, I am not a stubborn mule. Whoever wants to claim that title can have it.”
Chen Changsheng literally clapped his hands over his ears, shamelessly drowning out the System’s logic.
System: “……”
Do all entities who endure the endless grind of time eventually devolve into such infantile behavior?