Chapter 319: A Point of Insight

Bian Liang Huangcheng, the night was deep and dark.

Inside the Imperial Study behind Purple Hall, the candles were bright, stretching Chen Wen's hunched silhouette long.

On the imperial desk lay spread memorials from all sides, as well as frontier military reports.

But at this moment, his focus was entirely on the strange fragment in his hand—no bigger than a fingernail, dull in color, with uneven edges.

This was the "information fragment" obtained from the faceless leader's remnants after the Jin Province battle's end.

It felt cold to the touch, neither metal nor jade, its surface covered in extremely fine patterns that seemed naturally formed; looking closely, those patterns faintly formed some incomprehensible, dizzying design.

For months, whenever he had a moment, he would take it out, trying to decipher more information from it.

At first, aside from the chaotic, vague concepts that flooded his mind upon first contact—'node', 'deviation', 'clearing agreement', 'variable', 'end'—he gained almost nothing.

This fragment was like a stubborn stone, silent and hard.

Chen Wen did not give up.

He faintly felt that the information contained in this fragment might pertain to the true reason the Iron Crow Army is so obsessed with being his enemy, and might even touch upon deeper secrets of this world.

Recently, as the False Song was established, news came that Zhao Kuangyin strictly followed the trend of the 'historical process', and Chen Wen's faint realization in his heart grew ever clearer.

He stared at the fragment, his gaze seeming to pierce its material surface straight to the core.

In his mind, those originally vague concepts began to correspond one by one with events unfolding in reality, linking together.

'Variable…' he murmured, chewing the word, his eyes sweeping over a secret report on the False Song's recent movements atop the imperial desk.

'Does it refer to me?'

'Because I didn't die in that great illness?'

'Because I rose in Jiao Tu Zhen and founded this Great Chen?'

'Because I changed Lord Chai's fate, reversed the Battle of High Flat, causing what could have been a unified process to completely deviate?'

A thread of context gradually formed in his heart.

Then, 'deviation'… refers to all I have done, causing the historical trend to diverge greatly from the Iron Crow Army—or rather, from the 'set course' they uphold.

His brow furrowed slightly, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the fragment's cold surface.

And the 'clearing agreement'… is the action they take to correct this 'deviation'.

From the initial pursuit in Jiao Tu Zhen, to the Blood Moon plan in Jin Province, and now… supporting that mirror false court…

Thinking this, his gaze fell once more on that secret report.

It detailed how, after the False Song's founding, Zhao Kuangyin swiftly 'released military power over wine', how he established the Privy Council and the Three Guards to divide military authority, how he set era names and rites—everything seemed to be carried out meticulously according to a pre-written script.

Even some officials' appointments and removals matched astonishingly what Zhang Cheng and Wang Ru had predicted based on the Later Zhou and previous dynasties!

Were it not for the geographical isolation and the light barrier, one would almost think that was another time-space where the 'Song' dynasty ought to have developed normally!

'Script… node…'

Chen Wen's eyes flashed with sharp light, as if a bolt of lightning split the mist.

He suddenly grasped the key!

'Yes!'

'The Iron Crow Army's goal is not simply to destroy me, or to destroy Great Chen.'

'What they truly care about is ensuring certain things happen according to that 'script'!'

'Those crucial events that must happen are exactly what the information fragment points to—the 'node'!'

He rose to his feet, paced slowly within the Imperial Study, his heart surging.

'Chai Rong's ascension to emperor might be a node, but I helped him hold Chan Province, and had he not become emperor…'

'The Chen Bridge mutiny, the yellow robe bestowed—originally it should have been Zhao Kuangyin, but it became me…'

'The Battle of High Flat, its outcome too was twisted…'

'These important 'nodes' have all deviated—or been completely altered—because of me!'

'That is why I have become the 'variable' they must eliminate!'

Once the train of thought opened, many things that had previously seemed confusing suddenly became clear.

Why does the Iron Crow Army obsess over him, relentless?

Why would they spare no great cost to replicate a 'mirror Central Plains', and strictly push forward according to the historical script?

Because they want to 'repair' the 'nodes' he has destroyed!

That mirror world is a huge 'test field' and 'backup' to ensure the 'nodes' occur exactly as originally!

Zhao Kuangyin is merely the piece they selected to carry out this script!

And that so-called 'revenge', in the Iron Crow Army's eyes, is likely merely fodder to drive this piece to better fulfill its duty.

'Good means… truly good means…' Chen Wen stopped his steps, gazing out at the deep night beyond the window, a hint of a cold smile curling his lips.

'To start anew, reenact history, to prove that all I have done is merely 'deviation', merely 'error'?'

'Or rather, to accumulate some kind of… 'momentum'?'

He recalled Qian Gui's analysis of the Iron Crow Army master's authority recovery condition—if the False Song successfully advances a major historical node, it can help restore its strength.

This confirmed his conjecture.

For each 'node' the False Song successfully pushes forward, the Iron Crow Army's strength might recover a bit, and its ability to interfere in the real world might also increase.

'And the very existence and strength of my Great Chen continually proves that the trajectory without a 'variable' is not the only one!'

'Our efforts, the order we have built, are not 'deviation' but another possibility!'

'This in itself is the greatest negation and interference of their 'script' and 'nodes'!'

Chen Wen felt a clarity unlike any before.

Previous battles were more survival instinct, the belief in protecting home and ending chaos.

And now he realizes more clearly that this struggle is far more than battlefield slaughter and national power comparison.

It is also a struggle over the meaning of existence.

Is it to follow the set script, becoming a puppet on strings?

Or to break the shackles and walk a path of one's own?

His choice has never changed, and will never change!

You perform your play, walk your old road—that's your affair.

But I, Chen Wenzhong, and my Great Chen, will never follow your script!

The fate of Zhongyuan should be written by the people living on this land themselves!

He gripped the information fragments in his hand; that icy touch, at this moment, seemed to ignite the fire in his chest.

His insight into the node made his future direction clearer.

Every step node that False Song will take, he needs to closely monitor.

If he can interfere, he will certainly not let it succeed easily.

This not only can strike False Song, but also weaken the strength of the Iron Crow Army behind it.

What Great Chen must do is to steadfastly develop itself, strengthen national power, and prove the correctness and vigor of this new path.

Let this variable become an immovable constant.

At the same time, he also realizes that the 'end' mentioned in the information fragments is likely a deeper, more ultimate threat than the node.

Perhaps it is the Iron Crow Army's final means to uphold this set of rules, or some underlying mechanism of how the world operates.

Now to think about it is still premature.

The most important thing now is to respond well to False Song's challenge, and use the new understanding of the node to seize the initiative in this invisible contest.

Chen Wen returned to the imperial desk, took up his brush, dipped it in ink, and slowly wrote two characters on a blank sheet of xuan paper—node.

The brush and ink flowed freely, the force penetrating the back of the paper.

He stared at those two characters, his gaze sharp as a blade.

Let me see how long your script can still be performed.

And whether it can withstand my variable's tossing about.

The night wind swayed the candlelight, shadows flickering.

In the imperial study, the emperor's thoughts have drifted beyond that light curtain, beginning to plot how to make the next move in the great game concerning the script and the node.

And this first step is to proactively understand what the next important node in the mirror world will be.