Nightfall

The middle-aged priest turned pale. His Taoist Heart used to be so firm that no storm or wind could have disturbed it. But all of a sudden it could not refrain from trembling and even was about to collapse.

Upon hearing those words, he realized what was not said and what the Abbey Dean was thinking about. It was something so cruel and horrifying for the followers of Taoism.

People used to say that the Great Divine Priest of Light was the person closest to Haotian. But he always knew that ever since a thousand years ago, it had always been the Abbey Dean.

Haotian came to the human world a few years ago and met with the Abbey Dean. Ever since then, they were no longer merely theologically close, but rather physically close, or even distance-less.

Did he become fearless because he saw her in person? The answer was no. It was after seeing her that he no longer feared. Then he dared to reason, to kill, or even to replace. Compared with him, Lian Sheng’s wild desire, the Academy’s aspiration, or even Haotian’s own will was inferior, not to mention Ning Que’s funny words.

The middle-aged priest would never challenge the Abbey Dean. He looked at the remaining snow and roaring wind among the cliffs and felt somewhat at loss. Because he could predict the destruction of the old world, which he cared so much about and tried so hard to protect.

“Is there indeed… no other choice?”

“The fire of the New Stream is spreading throughout the human world. The old Taoism and the decaying Divine Halls are all going to be sacrificed in its flame. Even if the Headmaster would eventually lose, the Academy and Tang being wiped out, there’s no way Taoism could turn the tides. Why should we feel sad? It is our Nirvana. We should rejoice.”

“So the Nirvana the Buddha mentioned will happen this winter?”

“The Buddha cared only about himself. Why would he worry about the human world?”

“Then what should we do next?”

“The fate of the human world used to be decided by Heaven…”

The Abbey Dean turned his eyes away from the night sky to the stormy world. He watched for a while and said slowly, “Now it’s here. Therefore we have to find her first.”

Ning Que said that he should pay more attention to the human world. Actually he had always been paying more attention than anyone else did. The one who should have been up there was now in the human world. How could he not paying enough attention?

The Abbey Dean did not say anything further and looked out to the storm, the villages and fields, and the moon light that broke through the storm. He smiled silently.

In the dark sky, clouds swung from the east to the west. They kept pouring out snowflakes but could no longer block the moonlight from shining over the entire human world.

Above the cliffs, snowflakes were dancing in the roaring wind together with the moonlight. The night was deep and chilling. The Abbey Dean had been sitting there for a long while but still seemed vigorous.

Many years ago, he was seriously wounded by the God-Stunning Array in the fight in Chang’an and was later on severely punished by Haotian. He had become a paralyzed old man with his Mountain of Qi and Ocean of Snow completely destroyed. It should have been harsh for him to sit there in a chilling night. However he kept sitting there quietly without coughing or becoming pale. His cheeks even seemed rosy and he remained extremely calm.

He seemed to be full of longing for the beautiful sceneries in the world and was curious about the moon, the snow, and the sky, as if he was an innocent child.

Hengmu and A Da, the gifts to the human world form Haotian, had also shown such innocent looks from time to time. But their innocence came from their alienation from the world and their youth.

But the Abbey Dean was different. He looked at the human world and thought about it. He seemed ignorant while omniscient, dumb, and clumsy, but not annoying. He was different from people like Hengmu, and also different from his previous self. He was unworldly as a randomly floating cloud, pure and admirable.

When he visited Chang’an years ago, he was riding on winds, like immortals. People thought he was immortal. Then he was paralyzed and became mortal. From immortal to mortal, he became a real human.

The middle-aged priest looked at the Abbey Dean in the wheelchair and sensed his innocent energy. He seemed to have realized something and wondered if there was another world above State of Purity.

The Abbey Dean suddenly made a movement. He raised his hands from his knees and placed them on the armrests. Some snow melted beneath his palms and dripped as if it was springtime. He also looked refreshed as spring.

The middle-aged priest was stunned because his speculation was coming true. The speculation that thrilled him was about to come true.

His hands trembled on the wheelchair. The Abbey Dean was wounded by the Academy in Chang’an. But the one who destroyed him was Haotian. So what would happen now?

The Abbey Dean stood up and left the wheelchair, as if he was taking the first step tens of thousands of years ago.

The snowflakes fell onto the plateau slowly together with the moonlight. The cold wind was roaring and drifted the Abbey Dean’s indigo gown. But it could not tumble his grey hair.

“Look, it’s really like a dog,” the Abbey Dean stared at the starry night and said slowly.

The middle-aged priest was confused. He did not know that the Headmaster had said something similar in a different way when he toasted the sky in the Back Hill of the Academy twenty years ago.

Upon that, the Abbey Dean walked down the plateau. His indigo gown floated in the snow. The wind was roaring and the night was deep. Then he disappeared from the Peach Mountain.

Staring at the Abbey Dean’s footprints on the snow-covered plateau, the middle-aged priest remained silent. The Abbey Dean had already left Peach Mountain and he was filled with awe.

After a long while, he pulled himself back to reality. He looked at his hands on the wheelchair and smiled. Walking to the edge, he pushed the wheelchair off the cliff.

The cliff was extremely high. There might be sounds when snow fell. But the sound of the wheelchair falling into the valley could never be heard. And the Abbey Dean had left the Peach Mountain for the human world. No one knew when he would be back.

The middle-aged priest calmed down immediately. Because he was a powerful cultivator who had absolute faith in the Abbey Dean. Although there had been countless important figures throughout the history of Taoism and that in the most recent thousand years it was always about the Headmaster and the Academy, Taoism was after all aosim and the Abbey Dean was after all the Abbey Dean.

The middle-aged priest left the plateau for the Divine Hall of Revelation. No one knew what he said to Zhao Nanhai in the Divine Hall. But then Zhao Nanhai followed him silently to the Divine Hall of Judgment and found that the Hierarch had already arrived.

He looked at the woman in the Gown of Judgment and seemed to be enjoying the sight of her. She walked in the moonlight to the Seat of Heavenly Black Jade and bloomed like a scarlet flower.

He secretly admired her ever since she was little. But he had to kill her today. The Abbey Dean had made a decision on her and her brother’s fate.

“I need a serious explanation.”

“My apologies, but I cannot tell you.”