Nightfall

The god was dead.

So would Haotian.

When the former was said to the other world, it was like a thunder in the dark sky and awoke people from savagery. The latter said in this world should have borne the same effect. But disappointingly it was only said to four people when uttered for the first time. What less disappointing was, the person inside the stone cottage heard it.

The story that Chu Yuxian told was Ning Que’s story. Even he had no idea of what he was talking about, but simply parroted it word by word as Ning Que had told it. He took it far more seriously than his previous studies at the Academy.

Upon hearing the story, the middle-aged priest was impressed. By the last two sentences, he even showed some emotions. But it was quiet from the beginning to the end inside the stone cottage.

Chu Youxian was prepared for this. He restrained his anxiousness and ignored their reactions. He kept his head low and continued parroting Ning Que’s words. These were the words Ning Que wanted to say to the world and to the person inside the stone cottage.

“It’s better to move on together than to die. There’s no eternity in the world. The world has always been there before Haotian. Then why can’t we live without Haotian? Taoism was founded before Haotian. Taoism wanted to guard this world, hence created Haotian. In that case, the Academy and Taoism have always shared the same goal.” Chu Youxian lowered his head while speaking and his voice was fading because he somewhat understood what it meant and thought Ning Que was being shameless when saying they shared the same goal. When retelling it, he could no longer be that confident. Sweat fell from his forehead to the ground. It did not splash due to the lack of height.

“Since we share the same goal, why should we try killing each other? The Abbey Dean has been the leader of Taoism for a thousand years. Since Haotian will eventually die, Taoism has to plan for its future. During such a turnabout in a thousand years, no one except for the Abbey Dean should take charge. If you are hesitating, why don’t you try waiting for a few more years? Ye Su is your student. If he becomes a sage, you are the master of the sage. Chen Pipi is your son. If he becomes a sage, you are the father of the sage. In the new chapter of Taoism, you will become the trinity of holy mentor, holy father, and holy master. Why not?”

It was quiet on the plateau except for the sound of wind and the voice Chu Youxian. The person inside the stone cottage neither consented nor opposed. He just listened quietly.

Chu Youxian’s voice kept fading but he repeated fluently. He murmured and even added some of his own words subconsciously in the end. “One is your best student, the other is your son. Taoism… will become a family business. You are a family. Why can’t you sit down and have a good chat?”

Upon that, Chu Youxian found himself nosy and suddenly became paler. His sweat was immediately restrained and he sensed the coldness on the plateau.

He felt lucky because he was still alive. He reasoned that if they were going to the Divine Halls after this, he would leave all of the talking to Chen Qi and would not say a single word.

Having heard Ning Que’s words retold by Chu Youxian, the person inside the stone cottage was still very quiet. The middle-aged priest hinted Chu Youxian and Chen Qi to leave. They had finished their task and only wished to leave as soon as possible. So they turned immediately and retreated to the mountain trail like two nervous rabbits.

The gate of the stone cottage opened with a squeak. An ordinary wheelchair came out of the cottage with an old man sitting in it, covered in a grey blanket.

The person in the wheelchair had lived for over a thousand years. He should have been a very old figure. But previous during his very visits to the human world, people found him to have not aged at all. It was not until after the battle in Chang’an where his Mountain of Snow and Ocean of Qi was destroyed, that he started aging immediately.

Grey hair appeared around his temples and he looked more gentle. No matter how old he was or if he was a wastrel now, as long as he was alive he had full control over Taoism and posed as the biggest threat to the Academy.

According to Ning Que, the Abbey Dean was way more important than the Drunkard or the Butcher, not because of his former divine skills, but just because of the fact that he was the Abbey Dean.

The human world in the past thousand years was the Headmaster’s human world, while the thousand years were the Headmaster’s thousand years. But the Abbey Dean had always been there. It had proved a lot.

The middle-aged priest pushed the wheelchair to the edge of the plateau.

The Abbey Dean stared calmly at the floating clouds and snow along the cliffs. He said slowly, “Ning Que was stuck in Chang’an for half a year. Many thought he was doing nothing but keeping himself imprisoned as he did previously. But actually he was thinking a lot. That’s what he did.”

It was true that Ning Que had been thinking. He was thinking about how to solve the problems in the human world and consequently in the Divine Kingdom. His conclusion was that in order to solve them he had to convince the Abbey Dean.

Not to conquer, or to kill, but to convince. He believed that the Abbey Dean could be convinced. Because he was not someone obsessed with survival like the Drunkard or the Butcher. He was above human desires and of high aesthetic values. He possessed a strong willpower as the Headmaster did. That was indeed some compliment.

Through the teachings of the Headmaster and the years he stayed with Sangsang inside the Buddha’s chessboard, Ning Que had acquired a much deeper understanding of belief. He figured out the origin of Taoism as well as Haotian. Therefore he was certain that the Abbey Dean was not some stupid figure who would burst into tears upon seeing the Divine Flames. The Abbey Dean did not believe in Haotian, but rather his own faith. That faith was the biggest secret ever since the founding of Taoism.

To guard the world with Haotian. The world was the ultimate goal and what Taoism had been guarding.

It did not matter that the Butcher founded Taoism, or that Abbey Dean reigned Taoism today, for they never saw Haotian as an innate holy figure. Therefore Ning Que tried very hard to bring the story and the last two sentences to the Abbey Dean. He knew that the Abbey Dean did not need to be reminded. But he still wanted to try. The god was dead, so would Haotian.

In the new world there would be the New Stream, and Taoism would open a new chapter. To wave to the old world and welcome the new, as long as Taoism could embrace this trend, it would still have an important role in the new world. Taoism could still guard this world, but in a different way.

Ning Que wanted to remind him that this world itself was much more important than Haotian. It was not just the Academy’s perception, but also the fundamental faith of Taoism. Then why couldn’t the Academy and Taoism share the same goal? Ning Que chose to negotiate with the Abbey Dean because he knew he could understand. He knew that the Abbey Dean was a man of true wisdom. Only a man of true wisdom could make such an important decision.

“The Headmaster was indeed a great man. Only he could have educated such a student.” The Abbey Dean said calmly, “Ning Que could see the truth of Taoism and my faith. This is extraordinary.”

The middle-aged priest was impressed. Because the Abbey Dean had given the highest compliment to Ning Que. It was also because the Abbey Dean had somewhat revealed his true belief. The Abbey Dean watched toward the cliffs and pondered for a long while.

The middle-aged priest found his hands trembling on the wheelchair. Even he could not help from being extremely nervous now. Because what would happen next would change the entire human world or even the fate of Haotian’s Divine Kingdom.

There were many clouds along the cliffs. The white clouds floated around like random waves in the ocean. But they were actually shaped by the wind and controlled by gravity.

The Abbey Dean stared at the clouds and said calmly, “Yet… it is a pity that he still cannot see through himself.”

…

…

Chu Youxian had no idea either. He was just a storyteller, just like a parrot. He had no idea who the god was, or what the Crusades were or what they had to do with Taoism. What was Ning Que trying to tell the Abbey Dean? How could Haotian die eventually?

Leaving the plateau, they found Zhao Nanhai and dozens of divine cavalrymen waiting down there. It was tense but Chu Youxian was not scared. He pointed at the couple of stone cottages behind and said,”I’ve made it there and came back alive. Therefore you cannot kill me.”

Zhao Nanhai stared at the stone cottage and said nothing. No one knew what he was thinking about. Eventually he did nothing and escorted Chu Youxian and Chen Qi toward the peak.

The white hall on top of Peach Mountain was the main hall of West-Hill. It was the most elevated architecture of Haotian Taoism and the place for their negotiation today.

The Divine Hall was floored with silky stone bricks. They were reflecting the sky lights as a mirror and as if they were made of gold. It was spacious inside. There were mysterious religious murals on the stone walls that were fully decorated with gems. It seemed to be the place that gathered all the fortune and respect from this world, extremely imposing and holy.

Thousands of deacons stood in lines silently inside the Divine Hall. No one dared to say a word. It was as quiet as an ocean.

Chu Youxian and Chen Qi walked through the crowd as if they were walking through an ocean. They could not help from sense a cold storm hidden in the crowd.

After a long walk, they ended up on the highest stage in the innermost part of the Divine Hall. A radiating screen hung above the stage. And a lofty and holy figure was shown on the screen. The voice of the figure was like thunder and awe-inspiring.

That was the person said to be as mysterious as the leader of Devil’s Doctine, the Twenty-Three Year Cicada. But since he was seriously wounded in the battle by Yu Lian, he could no longer remain brilliant in front of the people. And after being shot into misery by Ning Que during the Rite to Light, he was already much less important to the followers of Haotian.

But he was after all the Hierarch of the Divine Halls of West-Hill, someone who had surpassed the Five States and reached Tianqi. And he was also the leader of Taoism acknowledged by the Abbey Dean.

Chu Youxian and Chen Qi showed the utmost respect to that lofty figure and made flawless bows. However, even the dumbest divine priest could tell that they were paying much more attention to the chair down the stage rather than of the Hierarch behind the screen. It was not because the precious chair was made of a whole chunk of dark jade from the South Sea but because of the woman sitting in it that made it the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade.

She sat there with her eyes closed and wore a bloody red gown. The world around her seemed to have become an ocean of blood. She was the fairest as well as the most ruthless in the world. And she was Ye Hongyu, the most powerful figure in Taoism and the inviolable Great Divine Priest of Judgement.

Ye hongyu, the Great Divine Priest of Judgement, was the one Ning Que wanted to talk to, and the one Chu Youxian and Chen Qi had been waiting to meet. They were finally taken to her today.

Chu Youxian and Chen Qi were awkwardly quiet. As discussed last night, they were now in front of her but could still not meet with her. How could they avoid the attention of the Hierarch and everyone else and pass Ning Que’s words to her?

The ceremony was about to be finished with a salutation. They did not have much time left. It did not matter whether the negotiation between Tang and the Divine Halls could be carried on or not, for they had to leave shortly. But those words were still untold.

Chu Youxian looked at Chen Qi and recalled what they discussed the previous night. He found his lips and tongue a bit dry and said hesitatingly, “Are we really doing this?”

Chen Qi stared at Ye Hongyu and said, “What else can we do now?”

Chu Youxian paused for a while and finally collected enough courage to step forward. While people were staring at him, he cleared his throat and interrupted the prayer of some red-robed divine priest.

“We have something to say.” He was nervous in front of the crowd in the Divine Hall and sounded hoarse. “We came with an intent for peace. Shouldn’t you spare a moment for us to talk?”

Thousands of divine priests and deacons looked at them emotionlessly. Their red or violet robes seemed like oceans of various colors. It formed an invisible but overwhelming pressure and almost choked Chu Youxian.

Right then Chen Qi took one step forward too. It became even more tense inside the hall. Chen Qi seemed to be not influenced at all. He looked at the ordinary chair and the ocean of blood, and posed a question calmly and resolutely, “Are you willing to hear this?”

The negation was a joke. If there were to be some sort of negotiation, it should have happened on the plateau in front of the stone cottage. She seemed impatient and kept her eyes closed.

Chen Qi gazed at her and said hoarsely, “Everyone knows that … Ning Que wants a talk with the world. But actually he just wants to talk to you.”

Indeed, everyone knew that if Ning Que were to talk to someone, the Great Divine Priest of Judgement must be one of them. The Hierarch knew, and so did Zhao Nanhai and the divine priests and deacons, and even those servants.

That was why Xiong Chumo planned to kill these two while they were in Qinghe Prefecture. And that was also why they could not run into Ye Hongyu on Peach Mountain.

It was not until then, in front of thousands of divine priests and deacons, in the gathering of countless powerful figures, that they finally met Ye Hongyu. Therefore they had to talk and pass his words to her even if they would be killed in the next moment.