Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 173: Restrictions and Shackles

Zhao Changhe bitterly went to wash his face, cursing himself for being too brainless and going too far with his teasing. Now, the perfect scene of having a beauty by his side as he did some work was just a pipe dream.

He had touched upon a topic that should have been avoided between the two of them. This was not something that could just be cooled off by meditation or cultivation.

It could be said that one of the major reasons that Tang Wanzhuang hoped Zhao Changhe would take on the identity of a prince was because he had clearly expressed his refusal to the marriage alliance, which aligned with what she wanted. A few flirtatious and teasing remarks could be brushed off, and a twenty-eight-year-old lady like her was not someone who could not handle some teasing; after all, she had even retorted with a few remarks of her own. However, that topic was off-limits.

After mulling it over, Zhao Changhe regretted it deeply. Not only had he lost an enjoyable moment, but he also feared that their future interactions would turn strictly serious again.

He finished washing his face, and he sighed as he went back to writing. Just as he sat down at the table, however, a fragrant breeze swept by as Tang Wanzhuang came in again.

Zhao Changhe: “?”

“Do you know how to paint?” Tang Wanzhuang asked with a straight face.

“...No.”

“The sword manual will surely need illustrations and examples, not just textual explanations. Since you can’t paint, how do you plan to handle that?”

“I’ve painted examples of the Vicious Blood Saber before. Although it looked quite rough, there should not have been any major deviations.”

“A small deviation can lead to a huge error. What do you mean by ‘should not?’ This is going to be exchanged with the Ancient Spirit Tribe for their gu arts, if there are any mistakes, it will be a huge deal. Are you confident that your painting won’t have any flaws?”

“Um...” In fact, Zhao Changhe felt that the Heavenly Tome would be able to detect any major flaws, but he was not entirely sure. Also, since he could not really just talk about the Heavenly Tome, he could only remain silent.

Tang Wanzhuang tossed him a sword and said, “Alright, you demonstrate it, I’ll paint it.”

Zhao Changhe sniffled and obediently got up to demonstrate.

If he had not gone too far just now, he might have been able to get her to teach him how to paint hand in hand, but now, that was out of the question.

Tang Wanzhuang sat at the table, and turned her head to watch Zhao Changhe demonstrate. At first, she tried to hide her surprise behind a casual expression, but gradually, her eyes could no longer conceal her admiration.

Since he was like a big bear when he tried playing the guqin, she had thought that he would do horribly demonstrating the sword poses and moves as well. She really had not expected him to move with such elegance. Aside from the fact that he seemed a bit unfamiliar with the sword, he appeared to have truly mastered the basic movements of the Sword Emperor’s beginner-level sword art.

It had to be said that even if this was just a beginner-level sword art, and even if someone had spoon-fed him every detail, to learn the sword to this extent in just a single night, for someone who had only practiced the saber beforehand, showcased truly remarkable talent.

Given enough resources and a proper stage, he could truly become the next Xia Longyuan, both in terms of martial prowess and position.

The beginner-level sword art did not have many techniques, and Zhao Changhe soon finished his demonstration. Tang Wanzhuang snapped out of her reverie, only to realize that she had not even done a single stroke.

Zhao Changhe glanced over.

Tang Wanzhuang casually covered it up and said calmly, “I can’t paint that fast. Why don’t you go through it again... Hmm, I think I need to see it another two times. I’ll paint in the meantime.”

Zhao Changhe looked at her suspiciously, and her face felt a little hot. She knew that this stinky bear was not easy to deceive—he had solved those cases, after all. Just because he wasn’t saying anything didn’t mean that he was clueless...

Fortunately, Zhao Changhe did not tease her this time. He obediently went back to demonstrating the movements.

Tang Wanzhuang breathed a sigh of relief and quickly started painting.

By the time Zhao Changhe finished his demonstration for the second time, Tang Wanzhuang just so happened to finish her work. The timing was as precise as a well-designed program.

Zhao Changhe tried to look over again, but Tang Wanzhuang refused to let him see it. She simply tidied up the manuscript and compiled it into a booklet before saying expressionlessly, “I need to bring this over to calm Sisi’s worries for the time being.”

Zhao Changhe was silent for a moment and murmured softly, “Yes, otherwise, she might become anxious.”

Tang Wanzhuang suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned back with a slight smile. “Is that why you stayed up all night studying the sword seal?”

Zhao Changhe sighed. “Why be so petty? Since I promised her that I’d give her the sword arts in exchange for her knowledge of gu arts, I have to follow through.”

“I couldn’t tell just now. Every time I mentioned Sisi, you changed the subject.”

“I’ve done what needs to be done. What’s the point of dwelling on it? The things you spoke of made it seem as if you were trying to evoke sympathy from me. Even when a child says they’re breaking off a friendship, it’s not something so easy to reconcile. What is even going through your mind? Are you really trying to push a wife onto me so that there’s no chance you’ll get caught up with me? I do have a girlfriend, you know? There’s no need for that.”

Tang Wanzhuang couldn’t say anything in response.

Actually, even if she did want to push a wife onto Zhao Changhe, the best choice would be Cui Yuanyang, not some foreigner.

However, her behavior indeed made it easy for people to think in that direction, and she could not be bothered to argue.

“You can go for now. I’ll see if I can write down the two sets of higher-level sword techniques,” Zhao Changhe said. He paused for a moment and then slowly said, “I feel like writing them down shouldn’t be a problem, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to demonstrate them.”

Tang Wanzhuang stared at him with her beautiful eyes for a while before replying, “You can...as long as you don’t treat this as a task but as your own learning process. Don’t rush to say that you don’t want to learn the sword. You once integrated my Spring Water Sword Intent into your saber arts. Why can’t you do the same for the sword arts of the Sword Emperor? You have too few finishing moves. If you can transform the Sword Emperor’s techniques into your own saber techniques, no one in the world will be able to recognize them, and that can compensate for your shortcomings.”

Tang Wanzhuang left, leaving Zhao Changhe with a slight headache.

It was not that he had not thought about that before, but the difficulty really was just too great. Integrating a smidge of sword intent into his style and transforming an ultimate sword move into a saber move were on two completely different levels of difficulty.

But what Tang Wanzhuang said did have some merit to it, and no matter how difficult it was, he had to try.

Even though the Scattering the Gods and Buddhas had been modified by the Heavenly Tome, an ultimate move designed for the third layer of the Profound Gate had long since ceased to be considered an ultimate move for him. At the moment, apart from the berserk buff, he currently had no technique that enabled him to finish off an enemy in one strike. Once he had a genuine ultimate move again, in particular one that his enemies didn’t know, his combat power would effectively double.

He decided to act on it immediately. He locked the doors and windows and brought out the golden foil once again.

Instead of immediately delving into the higher-level sword arts, he started from the beginner level before slowly going on to watch the more advanced levels.

This kind of thing could not be rushed. Without mastering the lower levels, one could not even understand the higher ones.

As he studied, Zhao Changhe thought that what he was doing was trying to turn sword arts into saber arts. What didn’t cross his mind was that he was actually systematically learning sword arts at the same time. He was essentially going through a proper sword art curriculum from start to finish, directly learning the complete system of the Sword Emperor. By the time he could turn the sword arts into saber arts, he would have mastered all the sword moves, sword intent, and the principles of the sword.

At that time, he would essentially be the true successor of the Sword Emperor.

Tang Wanzhuang, who was obviously a swordsman herself, had never even thought of touching the sword seal. It was not because she didn’t care for it; rather, it was all for the sake of preserving the legacy of the Sword Emperor and allowing it to be concentrated on Zhao Changhe.

*

In the Sword Emperor’s tomb, Sisi sat by the edge of the hole in the gate of the main tomb, hugging her knees. She was lost in thought as she watched the members of the Demon Suppression Bureau carefully survey the surroundings. Her mind was elsewhere.

The hole was no longer just a dog-sized hole. It had expanded to allow for normal movement. It was no longer dark either, as some of the restrictions had been lifted and there was no longer a major issue with using luminous pearls to illuminate the area. With all of that going on, the place no longer seemed as eerie as it originally had.

Also, Tang Wanzhuang had not imposed any restrictions on her. The door was right behind her and she could leave at any time.

But she was waiting for the sword arts.

She had gone through so much hardship over the past year during her journey through the divine land alone all for this moment, so how could she leave now?

Zhao Changhe had promised her, and she trusted that he would not deceive her.

The sound of footsteps came from behind her, and Tang Wanzhuang sat directly beside her and handed her a booklet. “He’s quite efficient. He has already completed the first volume for the beginner-level sword arts. I’m giving it to you first so that you can take a look at it. He should be working on the more advanced sword arts at the moment. Within three days, I believe that we’ll have one complete system. Will that be enough?”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to see it for myself first...” Sisi took the booklet, opened it, and quickly scanned through it. Her expression soon turned strange.

Why does the illustration look exactly like Zhao Changhe?!

“What are you trying to do?” Sisi said expressionlessly. “Are you trying to humiliate me? We just broke off our friendship, and now you bring me this so that I get reminded of it again and again?”

Tang Wanzhuang smiled. “The one demonstrating the moves looks like him because it is him. When I was illustrating it, I ended up subconsciously drawing his likeness. If it makes you uncomfortable, then just erase his face.”

“...” Sisi fell silent for a moment, then directly put the booklet away before continuing to hug her knees and turning silent.

Tang Wanzhuang also remained silent, as if she had nothing else to do but sit with her.

Sisi looked at her strangely, then another, and after a while, she could not resist asking, “Why... Why didn’t you impose any restrictions on me?”

Tang Wanzhuang said, “Because we’re actually the same kind of people. I’m all good anyway. When I get angry, I calm down soon enough. What’s the point of staying angry?”

Huh? That doesn’t explain why she didn’t impose any restrictions on me? Isn’t she afraid that I’ll really cause some trouble? Sisi kept looking at her interlocutor strangely, but aside from finding her beautiful, she could not discern anything else.

“Why do you say that we’re similar types of people? What makes us similar?”

“For the goal of the Great Xia, I won’t care about the life or death of foreigners. To you, aren’t we foreigners as well? What fundamental difference is there between you and me? It’s just that I’ve had a few more years of experience and I wouldn’t act as recklessly as you did,” Tang Wanzhuang said softly. “From this perspective, even if you really tried to seduce and deceive Changhe, it would actually be quite normal. But you didn’t, so it’s hard for me to dislike you.”

Sisi pursed her lips.

She knew that they weren’t quite the same. Their perspectives on life were, in fact, fundamentally different... But Tang Wanzhuang’s willingness to see things that way still made her feel better. Only a fool would argue against it.

“I asked about your past actions. You’re clearly an extremely shrewd person. But this time, you acted recklessly, without considering the consequences, from beginning to end. You even missed something as obvious as people being stationed outside and you thought that mere terracotta warriors could isolate us. Well, I get that it was because you felt guilty about betraying Changhe’s trust. Your mind was in turmoil, and you were just eager to explain.” Tang Wanzhuang gently patted her shoulder. “In the end, you’re just a young girl.”

Sisi pursed her lips in dissatisfaction, but she knew very well that Tang Wanzhuang was right this time. Her mind had really been in turmoil back then, and that had caused her to act recklessly. Looking back, she felt like a complete fool.

Why had Tang Wanzhuang not imposed any restrictions on her? It seemed that there was no need to dwell on it any further.

Such actions would only arouse someone’s resentment and rebellion, which would make them try everything to break free. Even if they couldn’t break free, they would want to bite back, making it especially easy for them to go astray.

Why bother imposing a restriction when there already was a much stronger one in place?

Love was a restriction, and the heart was a shackle.

Sisi was smart. She understood very well what Tang Wanzhuang was doing, but she felt speechless to find that although she thought Tang Wanzhuang was overthinking things, she still could not muster any resistance.

After all, not imposing a restriction on her was ultimately an act of kindness. Being misunderstood as having a crush was much better than forcibly being placed under control.

Sisi could only angrily retort, “I don’t like him! If I really liked him, I wouldn’t have put him in danger! I just treated him as a friend. We, the Ancient Spirit Tribe, value loyalty, so I was in turmoil. We’re not like you people of the divine land, heartless and without loyalty!”

Tang Wanzhuang chuckled wryly. “Oh, I see.”

Sisi glanced at her, “Although you’re twenty-eight, you’ve never even been with a man. Why pretend to be such an experienced older sister? I bet you don’t even understand them as much as I do! I even dared to kiss him, would you do that?”

Tang Wanzhuang’s smile froze on her face.