506 The Divine Empress's Teachings

After Mo Yu finished laying out the food, she scooped out a bowl of rice forherself and sat down across from Xu Yourong. The two glanced each other in the eye and smiled. Chen Changsheng and Tang Thirty-Six would have found this strange atmosphereunbearable, but they had long been used to it. Just like it had been many years ago, when the Empress ate, she was verystrict, forbidding anyone from speaking. They could only communicate with theireyes. Xu Yourong and Mo Yu didn't know how many times they had communicated withtheir eyes. A tacit understanding had formed between them long ago and it wasvery easy for them to see what the other person was thinking. It was just that their communications often talked about things like 'today,this dish was quite tasty, that dish wasn't tasty'; 'the Empress's mood seemsrather good today, she's already eaten three chopsticks of swallow tongue';'the Empress said last night that she was going to deprive the Prime Ministerof his position, it seems that it's going to come true, or why else would hermood be so melancholy that she can't even drink down her favorite jade soup?'But today, they were communicating with each other over another matter. Mo Yu blinked her eyes at Xu Yourong, asking just what she thought about ChenChangsheng and that engagement. Xu Yourong drooped her eyelashes as if she didn't notice, but the fingersholding her chopstick moved forward a little. Mo Yu noticed this detail and began to sympathize with Chen Changsheng. She clearly recalled that when Xu Yourong was small, whenever she was unhappy,she would subconsciously tighten her grip on her chopsticks. The tighter shegripped, the more her finger would move. There was one year when she saw littleXu Yourong grip her chopsticks like this. On the afternoon of that day, thepalace where the Princess of Ping lived gained a dozen or so non-poisonoussnakes, and that very night, the Princess of Ping's face was painted like thatof an actor in an opera… …… …… The eunuchs and maids guarded the palace hall from a distance. They were notat all surprised by the scene within the hall and their expressions wereunchanging. There weren't many people worthy to eat together with the Divine Empress, andXu Yourong was one of them. This had nothing to do with her current status of Holy Maiden of the south.Ever since she was small, the Empress would often welcome her into the palaceand then have a meal together. Back then, besides Xu Yourong, there was also MoYu, the Princess of Ping, and Prince Chen Liu. Later on, after Prince Chen Liuturned sixteen, he very rarely stayed overnight in the palace, and theoccasions where he shared a meal with the Empress also decreased. As for thePrincess of Ping…apparently, she had gone tonight out of the city to WestMountain Temple to burn incense. Anyone could see that this was because thePrincess did not wish to see the Xu Yourong that she had envied and admired forso many years and had thus escaped. After lunch, Mo Yu remained in the palace to organize files. The DivineEmpress stood up and said to Xu Yourong, "Come with me." Xu Yourong followed her as they went straight to the highest point in thecapital. Standing on the Dew Platform, seeing the streets and markets of the capitaland the distant Mausoleum of Books, Xu Yourong recalled those scenes when sheused to play here in her childhood, and a heartfelt smile appeared on her face. "This is the first time you've smiled today." The Divine Empress, her hands held behind her, stood at the edge of the DewPlatform, not having turned her head. Xu Yourong restrained her smile and walked behind her. She slowly said, "Thepressure came too suddenly and I don't know how to respond." She was naturally speaking about succeeding to the position of Holy Maiden. The Divine Empress declared, "The so-called Holy Maiden is merely a sacredidol. With your comprehension and ability, what's so difficult about it?" Xu Yourong knew that this had always been the opinion of the Divine Empresswith regards towards the position of Holy Maiden. Powerless to change it, shechuckled and said nothing. "I actually do have some idea of where this pressure of yours is coming from."The Divine Empress turned around and stared at her. Remembering the scenes fromthe Garden of Zhou she had seen at the pool in the cold palace, she gave afaint smile. "The word that inflicts the most suffering is 'love'. If you canavoid it, you should avoid it." Xu Yourong was a little startled. She felt that the Empress had seensomething, but…that matter shouldn't have been known by anyone. Even he…didn’tknow, right? The Divine Empress did not continue on this subject. Her gaze looked past XuYourong's shoulder and rested on those distant mountain peaks in the south thatwere gradually being covered in snow. She asked, "Before she left, did sheleave any message for me?" Xu Yourong calmly replied, "Master said that she hoped Empress would notconcern herself too much with matters of state and to live a few more days foryourself." The Divine Empress was rather displeased with these words. Her voice a littlechilly, she declared, "Truly a fool." As it involved her own master, although Xu Yourong felt rather helpless, shestill had to say a few words in defense. The Divine Empress reminisced, "I recall that back then, the Chief Princess ofthe Great Western Continent was exceedingly excellent, so much so that her ownyounger brother dreaded and feared her. At the end, that piece of trash wouldeven faint straight away upon glancing at her. Ultimately, though, she could donothing. It was also because of the attitude of her parents that she grewdiscouraged and married off to the distant White Emperor City…it seems to methat your master is just as much a fool as she was." Xu Yourong quietly thought, if the Chief Princess became Queen of the GreatWestern Continent, then compared to her current position as Empress of WhiteEmperor City, just which life would be happier? Besides herself, who could sayfor sure? "For a woman to survive in this world is not easy. For them to possess theirown place is even harder. To be like us and stand at the peak of the world,that is an incredibly difficult challenge. Putting aside that idiot Wuqiong Bi,your master's talent, perception, and intelligence are one in ten thousand. Ioriginally thought that she would be different from the rest of those sillywomen, but the result? Such a smart woman, why can't she overcome thetemptation of love?" The Divine Empress's expression turned abnormally cold. "What does it mean tolive out one's days? For what reason should women just live out their days?" Xu Yourong remembered a matter from just before and softly said, "MartialUncle Su said that the Empress would definitely speak this way. Even thewording is almost identical." The Divine Empress perked her brows. "Oh? What did that little, little Su say?" In the present world, amongst the experts that had stepped into the DivineDomain, Su Li and the Holy Maiden of the south were half a generation laterthan the Pope and the Divine Empress. Coupled with their complex attitudestowards Su Li, the Saints, with the exception of the Holy Maiden, would alwaysaddress him as little, little Su. It was like only this way could they revealtheir anger towards Su Li. Because in their view, Su Li was an annoyance. "Martial Uncle Su wanted me to say to the Empress…" Xu Yourong glanced at her,then continued, "To live a solitary life is no good. What need is there toforce yourself to do it?" Hearing these words of Su Li, the Divine Empress fell silent for a very longtime. Suddenly, she began to laugh, her laugh brimming with openness and scorn. "Empress, you also shouldn't blame Master. For her to persuade Martial UncleSu to travel with her around the world is already not easy." Last year at the beginning of autumn, both the Great Zhou Dynasty and thevarious powers of the south began to make their preparations as if theconfluence of the north and south was inevitable. At the time, many people,including such important figures as Xue Xingchuan who were involved inexecuting this matter, were puzzled as to why the Saints were pushing thismatter when Su Li was still clearly at Mount Li. Yet not one pondered Su Li'sattitude. As it turned out, it had been because the Holy Maiden had persuaded Su Li totravel away with her from the grudges and quarrels of the secular world and tono longer care about these things. The Divine Empress had said that the Holy Maiden of the south had failed toovercome the temptation of love. In truth, Su Li had also failed to overcome it. The word 'love' had served as a restraint, as the prerequisite for theconfluence of north and south. The Divine Empress felt quite strongly on this matter, so her words wereextremely tough and derisive. "The finest years of your master's life werespent pent up in Holy Maiden Peak, while he was outside, eating, drinking andbeing merry. For so many years, he lived such a free and happy life, finding aDemon Princess for a lover and even having a daughter. Nothing was delayed forhim, and finally, after he got tired of playing around, he turned his head backto find her again, and then went once more to watch the sunset in the twilight!Tell me, how beautiful is that! Everyone says that ruling the country is likeplaying Go, but even if it is, I wouldn't take such an exchange with my enemy.It just isn't worth it." In this world, the number of people of the same sex as her that she couldcommunicate with in the spiritual world was just two. Just like that, there wasnow one less, and it was even because of a man, the reason that she found themost impossible to accept. Xu Yourong did not respond because it was her elder that was being discussed,and also because…there were truthfully times when she felt the same. "She just left like this, leaving a little girl like you behind. Could she notbe worried?" The Divine Empress gazed at Xu Yourong and arched her brows. "Ultimately,isn't it up to me to be concerned? Truly, one turns stupid after getting with aman. In comparison, there's no one smarter than me." Xu Yourong smiled. "In any case, I was also taught by the Empress. It's alsofine if the Empress teaches me for a few more years." "Not teach, exchange." The Divine Empress nodded her head at her. This was a sign of respect. Xu Yourong was shocked, but quickly calmed down and returned the nod. She was not a Saint, but she was already the Holy Maiden of the south. From this moment on, she and the Empress conversed on equal levels, even ifonly on the surface. "Since you're the Holy Maiden of the south, you must think for the sake of thesoutherners, as this is your true foundation, even if…you must oppose me in thefuture." "I understand." "Just as I said in the beginning, men cannot stand seeing us standing so highabove. As a result, all the Holy Maidens before your master would basicallyrarely leave South Stream Temple. On the surface, they studied the HeavenlyTome Monoliths  and forgot worldly affairs. In reality, they all clearlyunderstood that to guarantee their continued existence was good, but that theyalso couldn't let their existence grow too strong. If you don't wish to becomea sacred idol, you cannot act this way." "Then how should I act?" "Men do not like to see us standing so high above, so we must stand highabove, and we have to step on them until they can't even speak or even dare torespond." The Divine Empress expressionlessly declared. Xu Yourong knew that these seemingly crude and simple words were the Empress'swill, a warning concerning her future life as Holy Maiden, but…it was even morea demand for the battle that was soon to come. She could not lose to Chen Changsheng. …… …… Chen Changsheng sat by the Orthodox Academy lake, in a daze. The White Crane stood next to him, also in a daze. Tiny snowflakes flew down from the sky and fell upon the White Crane,increasing its sacred aura. They fell upon his body, making it seem like hishair had gone white from worry. "What should I do?" Depressed, he looked to the White Crane and asked, "If Ireally can't avoid it, if I really have to fight her, how should I fight?" The White Crane slightly tilted its head and looked at him. It was like it wassaying, "You should be asking this of her, not me." He thought it over for a very long time. Ultimately, he softly whispered tohimself, "If it's really no good, then I should just lose to her?" …… …… In the shower of snow, Xu Yourong walked amongst the streets of the capital,an umbrella in her hand. There was no South Stream Temple disciple at her side, nor was there anypriest of the Li Palace or bodyguard from the Imperial Palace. She walked alone. For some reason, even though she had not changed her appearance, elegant andbeautiful as a fairy, she attracted the gaze of no one and no one realized heridentity. The people in the food stalls by the streets, the workers eating noodles ontheir doorsteps—it was like none of them could see her under the umbrella.