Martial Cultivator

The Divine Capital saw another sudden downpour.

The rain came swiftly. From the first faint sounds on the black-tiled roofs to the moment it poured down like large and small pearls striking jade, only a short time had passed.

Chen Chao stood beneath the eaves of a side hall, gazing at the curtain of rain in the distance, watching the raindrops continuously falling from the eaves. He thought of his disciple, who loved catching raindrops under the eaves.

Not far away, several eunuchs and palace attendants watched Chen Chao from a distance. They had been anxious in the past few days. The Great Liang Emperor's departure had left them feeling insecure. But after witnessing what Chen Chao did today, they suddenly felt reassured.

Footsteps sounded nearby.

A young man slowly approached.

Before long, he arrived at Chen Chao’s side. After hesitating for a moment, he opened his mouth to say softly, “Elder Brother.”

The one who came was naturally His Highness the Crown Prince. This was his first meeting with Chen Chao in the past month. The two of them should have met many times within this month.

But for various reasons, this ended up being the only meeting between the two.

The Crown Prince also remained silent. He seemed to have many things to say, but for some reason, in front of this elder brother, he could not utter a single word.

No one knew how much time passed before Chen Chao finally turned around, looked at the Crown Prince before him, and said, “Your Highness, do you know why Eunuch Li cannot be found?”

In the Imperial City, Li Heng had the highest cultivation. He was an existence at the end of Nepenthe. With him guarding the Imperial City, today's events should never have happened.

The Crown Prince's eyes held some confusion, but he still shook his head.

Chen Chao said, “Your Highness, even if Eunuch Li was not in the Imperial City, there should still have been some experts to deal with those daoists. There was no need to wait for this subject to come.”

Although the Great Liang Dynasty might not truly have that many powerhouses, it was certainly not a place where a single Nepenthe Realm cultivator could roam freely and act recklessly in the Imperial City.

The Crown Prince remained silent. Before he could speak, Chen Chao shook his head and said, “This subject knows what Your Highness is thinking. Killing two daoists is easy, but dealing with the Infatuation Daoist Temple behind them is not. Now that the decision has been made, the Great Liang may face repercussions afterward. The empire that His Majesty left behind may not be preserved.”

The Crown Prince spoke with some anguish, “Oftentimes, I don't know what to do.”

His imperial father had entrusted this empire to him, and he naturally had to guard it well. If a wrong decision led to the empire's collapse, and this world to change, he would have no face to meet his imperial father, nor his ancestors.

So for the past month, he had been cautious, akin to treading on thin ice, afraid that any mistake would bring disaster upon Great Liang.

Chen Chao looked at the Crown Prince, then pointed toward the curtain of rain and said, “If you step outside, even a single step will put you in the downpour, leaving you drenched. There was never a path to retreat in the first place. Others are still pressing forward. If Your Highness only thinks of giving in, it will not end well.”

The Crown Prince asked in confusion, “But if I were to act as Elder Brother did, it would mean an irreconcilable enmity with the Infatuation Daoist Temple. Is that truly good for the Great Liang?”

Chen Chao replied, “If we had allowed that daoist to kill the commoners, kill the Grand Historian, and then leave the Divine Capital unscathed, Great Liang might have gained a temporary reprieve. But what would the consequences be? Your Highness would lose the people's trust. It's difficult to unite the people's support but it's easy to scatter. His Majesty spent over a decade bringing all of Great Liang together, and with this one act, all that effort will be wasted on the brink of success. By then, even without the intervention of the foreign lands, the Great Liang will naturally crumble on its own."

Chen Chao stared into the Crown Prince’s eyes and said calmly, “Your Highness can rule the country with benevolence and righteousness, but when facing outsiders, only iron and blood will suffice.”

“But if that leads to Great Liang's downfall...”

There was a struggle in the Crown Prince's gaze, he simply could not understand.

It was not out of weakness that he had chosen to back down before, but for the sake of the Great Liang.

“Then let the Great Liang fall.”

Chen Chao reached out to catch some rainwater, using it to wipe the blood from his robe.

“What did Elder Brother just say?” The Crown Prince looked at Chen Chao in disbelief, as if he did not expect such words would come from him.

But Chen Chao was very calm, “Your Highness and His Majesty share the same blood. At this point, can you still not see what His Majesty wanted?”

The Crown Prince looked confused. He had never truly understood his imperial father. He had always vaguely thought that perhaps, because his imperial father had not rightfully inherited the throne, he had wanted to accomplish as much as possible so that when people spoke of him in the future, they would forget the bad things he did and remember only his great deeds. ꞦΆƝȫＢĘ𝙨

Chen Chao knew what the Crown Prince was thinking and shook his head. “How could a man like His Majesty be bound by such concerns? What he wanted to do was never about whether the world bore the surname Chen, nor whether this country was called Great Liang. What he cared about was that the people could survive and, furthermore, live on with dignity. Not with bowed heads, not on bent knees. Not forced to greet their oppressors with a smile while being struck. A life like that is meaningless.”

“The world His Majesty envisioned was one where those from the foreign lands would no longer dare to humiliate the people of Great Liang at will. Where the demon race would return the thirty thousand miles of desolate north and never again cross South to prey on humans for food.”

Chen Chao took a deep breath and slowly said, "In that world, whether or not the throne is occupied by the Chen family imperial bloodline, to His Majesty, it doesn't matter at all. Even whether his name is recorded in the historical records, he doesn't care."

Hearing this, the Crown Prince suddenly seemed to wake up from a dream and said, "So this is what Imperial Father sought."

Chen Chao was not in a hurry to speak; he was just thinking of that man, whose temples had begun to turn gray. He knew that if possible, that man would not want to sit on the throne, nor would he want to be the ruler of the world. The thing he most wanted to do was to accompany his beloved, whether hunting or doing other things, it would be much more interesting than being an emperor.

"So, Your Highness, don't keep yielding for the sake of the survival of the Great Liang. If you really don't know what to do, it's very simple. Just ask the people, ask them what they want, how they want you to act, that's all."

Chen Chao spoke softly, "No one wants to be treated like pigs or dogs after being treated as humans for more than ten years. His Majesty has done half of what he wanted, the rest, Your Highness should help complete."

The Crown Prince said, "But it's really too difficult."

Chen Chao did not speak, just looked at him with some affection in his eyes. In truth, he understood that the Crown Prince, despite standing at the highest position in the Great Liang, was still just a teenager. There were many times when he would be lost and not know what to do.

He should not have to bear such a heavy burden in the first place.

"Elder Brother, why don't you take over?"

The Crown Prince suddenly looked at Chen Chao very seriously, his eyes full of sincerity, "Elder Brother, you and Imperial Father are the same kind of person. It seems only you can truly carry out Imperial Father's will and do these things."

After experiencing the previous events, the Crown Prince was utterly exhausted, both in body and mind, and had even begun to entertain thoughts of yielding his position.

Chen Chao looked into his eyes and saw no other emotions other than sincerity.

He truly wanted to relinquish the power in his hands.

Chen Chao looked at the Crown Prince and gave a bitter smile. “I really have no desire to be emperor.”

Before this, Chen Chao had several opportunities to become the true emperor of Great Liang, but he had refused every time.

He had never wanted to be emperor.

That was true in the past, and it remained true in the future.

The Crown Prince said earnestly, “If Elder Brother governs, I'll give my full support.”

If Chen Chao truly became the ruler of Great Liang now, there would undoubtedly be many obstacles. But with the Crown Prince representing the legitimate authority and willing to fully assist him, matters would likely become much simpler.

At the very least, no major upheaval should arise.

Chen Chao looked at the Crown Prince and shook his head. “This subject will be the mountain and the blade of the Great Liang Dynasty, but I will not be that person. Your Highness need not try to persuade me.”

The Crown Prince seemed somewhat disappointed.

Chen Chao suddenly patted him on the shoulder and smiled. “After we finish these matters, this world will be yours to govern. That's actually a good thing. But before that, we need to see these things through first.”

The Crown Prince remained silent.

Chen Chao withdrew his hand.

"This time, it was this subject who acted on my own initiative. From now on, this subject hopes Your Highness can make decisions yourself. This subject is the Lord Warden Commander, and will simply fulfill my duty."@@novelbin@@

Long ago, the Great Liang Emperor had already given the Lord Warden Commander's seal to Chen Chao. At that time, they had an agreement that once Chen Chao became a Nepenthe martial artist, it would be announced to the world.

With this recent closed-seclusion breakthrough, Chen Chao had stepped into this realm, which also meant that the time had come.

Crown Prince suddenly said, "Elder Brother, I will do my best to fulfill my responsibilities."

Chen Chao nodded and glanced at the rain. The rain was about to stop.

Killing that daoist sage was nothing to Chen Chao, he had his own ways of resolving the problem. It was just a little troublesome.

As for the Infatuation Daoist Temple, they already had an irreconcilable enmity with the Great Liang.

Leaving aside the fact that the Wei Family was the handiwork of the Infatuation Daoist Temple, just the fact that his father had died at the hands of the Wei Family meant that Chen Chao would eventually make a trip there.

The enmity of killing one's father was a blood feud that could never be forgiven.

This was not something that could be resolved with a few words.

It was just that the time had not yet come.

Chen Chao rubbed his face. For the first time, he felt utterly exhausted.

This kind of fatigue only truly set in when he arrived at this place and realized how many things required his judgment.

Even now, he already felt so drained, how could he possibly be emperor? He would rather die than take that role.

Leaving the side hall, Chen Chao slowly walked along the palace path alone.

Li Heng watched him from a distance.

Chen Chao also looked at this chief eunuch. The two exchanged silent glances.

Li Heng soon walked over and said to Chen Chao, "You're quite bold, very much like His Majesty in his younger years."

Chen Chao chuckled. "If you had acted, this matter would have been easily resolved."

"At the end of the day, I'm just a servant. How could I take action so casually?"

Li Heng smiled and asked, "Was today satisfying? Care for a drink?"

Facing this chief eunuch's invitation, Chen Chao shook his head and murmured softly, "No. I just want to eat roasted sweet potatoes."