Chapter 1317: Mental Knot! II (1/2)

Chapter 1317: Mental Knot! (II)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Wang Chong walked alone through the streets, buffeted by the night winds. He didn't know what he wanted to do or where he wanted to go, only that his mind felt much more at ease like this.

Arf! Arf!

The sound of barking dogs, men and women, and the crying of children could be heard in the darkness. Wang Chong silently proceeded forward, attracting no interest.

”Father, I'm sorry…”

Nearby, in a home by the street, a lantern was lit, and one could hear the conversation of a father and son through the window.

”I was the one who was wrong. I shouldn't have argued with you! I believed that the King of Foreign Lands was a great hero, that he was right. I didn't think that he was an ambitious bastard who was plotting rebellion!”

Buzz!

Wang Chong felt his heart shudder, and his hands clenched together as waves of pain traveled through his body.

”Ah! All of it is in the past. There exists no grudge between father and son that can last a night. It's fine as long as you understand! Not even I imagined that he would be like this, let alone you.”

The snatches of conversation from the father and son caused Wang Chong's eyes to dim. He passed by the window and continued onward.

The night was bleak and cold, and Wang Chong felt rather chilly as he walked through the streets, which were so deserted that Wang Chong had not seen a single person since he had begun his walk.

”How impressive! The Confucian school has more than two thousand schools in Arabia now. The Caliph of Arabia is truly a trustworthy fellow. We had him all wrong.”

”Aren't there several hundred thousand people in Arabia learning our Great Tang's language at this time? In the future, all the Hu around us might be able to speak the Tang language!”

”Exactly! The son of my neighbor went to Khorasan for business, and I heard that he made piles of money. That's the way of the world. If there's money to be made, who would be willing to fight a war? This is all the fault of that King of Foreign Lands!”

”Right, right!”

Voices came from next to a wall, and then two figures, carrying a bucket of sticky paste and a brush, walked into the distance, having just finished posting something on the wall.

Buzz!

No one noticed Wang Chong standing in the darkness, his face as pale as a ghost's as he gazed at those two men. Once the two of them were gone, Wang Chong stepped forward and saw that this was an announcement from the Confucian school on their accomplishments in the surrounding foreign countries.

'The Eastern Turkic Khaganate has established an additional twenty-four schools with thirteen hundred students!'

'The Western Turkic Khaganate has established an additional thirty-five schools with twenty-eight hundred students!'

'A new open market has been opened in the northwest, with one million taels of gold being exchanged each month!'

'Around the Beiting Protectorate, the Imperial Court has once more negotiated with the Western Turks, and both sides have agreed to pull back their defense lines an additional one hundred li!'

The entire wall was covered by announcements like these. But Wang Chong also spotted a few, much simpler announcements.

'Bring down the King of Foreign Lands!'

'The King of Foreign Lands is a murdering Demon King!'

'Might Makes Right is heresy!'

The corners of these announcements were still wet. It was obvious that they had been posted up by that pair of men.

Wang Chong read these announcements with a pale face, his fingernails digging into his flesh and drawing blood. Each of the words on those announcements was a chisel stabbing deep into Wang Chong's body.

There was no one to see him on this dark night, but this was precisely why he took every one of these words to heart. At this moment, his entire body was awash with pain. He once more felt like he was about to suffocate, that the cold and dark ocean was threatening once more to engulf him. No matter how much he struggled, he only sank deeper and deeper into the abyss.

Taptap!

Wang Chong's pace became faster and faster as he madly dashed through the streets, his surroundings flowing past like streams of water.

He had done his utmost to not think about or mention court matters in this period of time, and Wang Chong had believed that he had forgotten, that he could put his burdens down. Only now did Wang Chong realize that these wounds were still open and hurt far more than he had imagined.

He dashed around like this for a long, long time, and only when he felt mentally and physically exhausted did he finally stop.

In front of him was a strange forest, and there was a dim light in the sky. Wang Chong realized that he had run all the way from the western part of the city to the southern part of the city.

”Who?”

Wang Chong suddenly turned his head, his eyes as sharp as swords as he stared at the forest.

All was quiet, with nary a sound.

”You followed me for so long; do you need me to force you out?”

Wang Chong opened his palm, immediately gathering energy within it into a sharp blade.

Just when Wang Chong was about to strike, a voice came from the trees some twenty steps away.

”Wait!”

Swoosh!