Chapter 978 – The Rivers and Mountains Are Truly Like a Painting
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In the last five years, Luoluo had only received a very small number of letters.
There was no place she could put her memories, and her concerns could only be known to herself. Fortunately, she had lived for a long period of time in the Li Palace, had been under Mao Qiuyu's formal tutelage, and also had somewhat of a friendship with Archbishop An Lin. As a result, she was able to learn a good deal of news concerning Chen Changsheng.
And after Chen Changsheng left the snowy mountain and reappeared in society, An Lin often wrote her letters.
She knew everything that had happened in the last few days.
She knew what he had done in the Mount Song Army headquarters, knew that he had passed through Hanqiu City, knew that he had gone to Wenshui, and knew that he had killed Daoist Baishi in front of the Daoist church.
A pear tree was planted behind the holy gate of Wenshui's Daoist church. On one winter night, deep in the winter, Wenshui welcomed a sudden spring breeze, causing the tree to bloom with flowers.
The cool breeze swept past, causing countless tiny white flowers to drop down and fall on his shoulder, as clean as fresh snow.
An Lin had described this scene in her letter.
Luoluo liked it, so she had diligently painted it, upon which she found that she liked it even more.
Madam Mu did not know that such a scene truly had taken place in Wenshui's Daoist church, so she naturally did not know why her daughter loved this painting so.
After some pondering, she concluded that her daughter was just feeling a little romantic with the coming of the Heavenly Selection ceremony.
Even in midwinter, White Emperor City was still warm. It would not be too fantastical for the pear tree on the observation platform to suddenly bloom.
Thus, a spring breeze swept across the shores of the Red River, causing the branches to burst with white flowers. And so the Demon Lord had climbed the steps to the Imperial City and stood under the pear tree, remaining there until now.
All this for a painting.
Just like Luoluo had said, this was truly a beautiful painting, whether it was the blossoming pear tree or the Demon Lord himself.
Madam Mu's arrangements had truly been meticulous, her methods extraordinary.
Regretfully, she had still failed to make the Demon Lord the person in the painting.
Because Luoluo's painting already had a person, a person that was impossible to replace.
"You can paint a new painting with whatever scene you please."
The Demon Lord faintly smiled at Luoluo.
It had to be said that even now, his manners were perfect, without the slightest flaw.
'Whatever scene you like, I can become a part of it.'
This was a very touching statement of love.
Alas, it still failed to move Luoluo.
She replied, "My apologies. All the scenes I like do not include you."
The Demon Lord arched his brow. "But they must include him?"
Luoluo answered, "I love the spring breeze, the fresh snow. Teacher is the fresh snow, the spring breeze, but you are not."
The Demon Lord's inky brows rose higher and higher, a chilly aura rising as he asked, "Why?"
Luoluo replied, "Fresh snow and the spring breeze are the cleanest of all. Teacher is precisely this sort of person."
A deathly stillness settled over the observation platform.
The meaning of these words was exceptionally clear.
The Demon Lord laughed at himself and shook his head.
There was no joy in his eyes, only an icy cold.
So-called scenery had always depended on the mind of the person viewing the scene.
The person in the painting was naturally the person in the mind.
If he continued to entangle himself in this conversation, he would end up losing some face.
He was the master of the demon lands, one of the most revered Divine race. How could he endure such humiliation?
"So what Xuanyuan Po said was true—you had a secret relationship with Chen Changsheng."
His lip curled with derision as he said, "You are his student and he dares to make moves on you? How could such a person be called clean?"
"You are wrong again. I truly do love Teacher, but Teacher has always treated me as a student, so what wrongs has he committed?"
The observation platform remained quiet, with only Luoluo's voice to be heard.
Her words were for the Demon Lord, for the surrounding demi-human personages, and for the entire continent.
Her hands were tightly clenched as she said this, her voice shaking, but there was no shame in her voice, only a strong resolve.
The Demon Lord impassively said, "To actually love your own teacher, do you know the meaning of shame?"
Luoluo stared into his eyes and said, "You killed your father and all your brothers. Do you have the right to teach me the meaning of shame?"
The Demon Lord remained expressionless, but the flames of rage had already begun to burn.
He realized that the girl in front of him had a strange, but real charm.
Every word she said was spoken with absolute sincerity that compelled trust—even when she was attacking.
It was also this sincerity that incurred his rage.
No one other than Luoluo could see what the Demon Lord was truly feeling at this moment.
She very earnestly and curiously asked, "You want to kill me?"
The Demon Lord froze, once more discovering a special trait of this girl.
She seemed able to clearly perceive the emotions of the people at her side no matter how well they were concealed.
Of course, her curiosity was also real. She wished to know whether the Demon Lord really did dare to kill her.
Luoluo's question prompted the generals and guards around the observation platform to aim their wary gazes at the pair.
The Xiang clan leader's gaze seemed to have become countless times heavier as it descended upon the Demon Lord.
This was White Emperor City, and not even the Demon Lord was allowed to treat her poorly.
And besides, the Demon Lord had once more grown interested in her.
"You spoke correctly. This scenery and painting were your mother's design."
The Demon Lord continued, "It can be seen that she did not want you to be too sad, so she hoped to marry you to a man that you loved."
Luoluo replied, "I can see that you don't love me."
The Demon Lord agreed. "Correct. My willingness to cooperate was out of respect for you."
Luoluo said, "I like this sort of frank conversation."
The Demon Lord replied, "I also do not like those empty and deceptive things, so I hope that you can understand, you will marry me. This point cannot be changed."
Luoluo's voice was somewhat soft. "Just for the alliance?"
The Demon Lord's voice was very calm and indifferent. "Chen Changsheng stole away the woman I fancied, so for me, taking you back to Xuelao City counts as a minor revenge."
Luoluo helplessly sighed. "If you have the skill, go to South Stream Temple and steal away Teacher's wife. To say these words and do these things is really not in accordance with your status."
"Then let us speak of what we should be talking about."
The Demon Lord walked up to the rail, looking down at the streets of White Emperor City and the mountains on the other side of the Red River. "In a little while, your decree will be announced to the world. At the same time, my divine decree will leave Xuelao City to be spread all over the continent. In at most four hours, the Cong Province Army headquarters will begin to marshal its troops, and then an order will arrive at Blue Pass. Before tonight, the Mount Song Army will send a transfer order to Sloping Cliff. Within three days at maximum, the Human race will gather an army of millions, arrayed before ten-some mighty passes, ready to begin a great war."
If a normal person said these words, they would not hold much weight. It would be like someone lightly narrating history.
But since these words came from his mouth, they had a completely different feeling.
Because he was the Demon Lord, ruling the vast snowy plains of the continent, whom countless powerful demon warriors had sworn to follow to the death.
Luoluo knew that these words were highly likely to become true, and her small face paled.
"But this war will not begin, because the humans will not dare to start it."
The Demon Lord continued, "The story between Shang Xingzhou and Chen Changsheng has not been made clear, and more importantly, they do not have the experience, so they do not have the courage."
By 'experience', he referred to the fact that the Human race was not experienced in fighting both the Demi-human and Demon races at the same time.
Even before Emperor Taizong's era, even if one looked back tens of thousands of years and even further back in history, the Human race had never experienced such a thing.
The Demon Lord said, "As long as you marry me, there will be no war, and because of you, several million beings will continue living on this continent."
Luoluo gazed at his back, silently thinking for a long time. Finally, she softly asked, "Are you threatening me?"
"No, I am speaking of the scenery."
The Demon Lord gazed at the distant mountains and said, "For people like you, me, and Chen Changsheng, the only scenery that is worthy of our eyes is the rivers and mountains. If you only want to see the scenery with him, then these rivers and mountains as beautiful as a painting will be burned to ash by the fires of war. This is truly a bit too selfish."