Nightfall

It was quiet in the small courtyard. After a long time, Seventh Sister suddenly uttered a sneer. However, after the laughter, she still did not speak but picked pine nuts from her handkerchief to peel and blow. After a careful treatment, she handed them to Third Sister next to the couch.

Second Brother frowned slightly, looked at her and said, “Younger Sister, what are you laughing at?”

Seventh Sister threw the pine nuts into her mouth and slowly chewed them for a moment. Then she casually clapped her hands and slightly furrowed her brows, unafraid to welcome his gaze. She said, “Are you sure that Second Brother can’t lie? Then who lied to Prince Long Qing at the cliff that night?”

After a moment of silence, Second Brother slowly replied, “Who said cheating…and lying are the same?”

“Come on.”

Chen Pipi looked at Seventh Sister and snappily said, “Everyone knows the nature of Second Brother. He said he couldn’t lie, so he couldn’t. That night I asked him to help slow down Longqing. What he has said is not false. You didn’t see how nervous Second Brother was. Although he looked quite calm, he has already kneaded a few pieces of hard rock under the tree into powders.”

“If you expect Second Brother to increase Ning Que’s confidence? That smart guy can definitely see through by a glance!”

Fourth Brother said, “The so-called confidence is always too mysterious. He failed to practice Haoran Sword. So we should start from the specific means. A flying sword’s operating curve is easy to be calculated. Though the relationship between air resistance and a flying sword’s speed is a little complicated, it is still feasible to count them out. Ning Que is strong in Mathematics. So he should understand it better if we teach him so.”

“No matter how you count, how to teach, how to engage in, after all, there is no way to solve the most basic problem of Younger Brother. He has only ten acupoints in his Ocean of Qi and Mountain. The Qi of Heaven and Earth he can manipulate is too weak. If you can’t solve this problem, it’s still meaningless even if the teacher and Eldest Brother go home to help Younger Brother into Knowing Destiny State with some magical means. Because he will be the weakest one of Knowing Destiny State in the world.”

After a moment of silence, Second Brother looked at Fourth Brother and said, “You and Sixth Brother should just make those strange things for him first. His natural qualification is not good enough, so he needs to depend more on the help from external factors.”

Ninth Brother suddenly shook his head and said, “Why not let Younger Brother follow me and Ximen to learn to play the vertical bamboo flute and zither? At least he’ll still have a means to earn a living after leaving the Academy in the future.”

Eleventh Brother smiled and quietly said, “Younger Brother recently often asked me about the knowledge of matters. In my opinion, he should follow me to learn. It’s helpful for his state of mind.”

Seventh Sister grabbed some melon seeds from the windowsill and lowered her head to pick up the plumpest melon kernels. She then mocked, “Eleventh Brother, what if Younger Brother starve to death in the future by following you to learn these useless things?”

Eleventh Brother looked at her and earnestly explained. “Senior Sister, my family is rich in the South. In the future I will inherit a large amount of family property. Even if Younger Brother is a loser, I feel no difficulty to raise him for a lifetime.”

At this moment, the topic gradually shifted to other directions in the meeting of helping Younger Brother Ning Que. Many people indulged in various suggestions and advice, passionately discussing and fiercely debating. Some were even deeply concerned about his livelihood issues in the future and showed that they could be responsible for the life of Younger Brother. These fraternity affections actually touched all of them.

“Senior Brothers and Sisters, don’t you think too much?” Chen Pipi looked at the people who were eating melon seeds, drinking tea and having a meeting in the house. He rubbed his back head and depressedly said, “I know better than all of you what kind of person Ning Que is. Although he is stupid in cultivation, he’s by no means a real idiot. Don’t you notice that since he entered the back mountain, all of us have been circling around him? Do we really need to care for him? I dare say that even if people all over the world have died, including the people in the house, he would not die or starve to death.”

Upon hearing these words, the people of Second floor of the Academy were all shocked. They thought of their experiences these days and changed their facial expressions. Beigong Weiyang slightly touched his flute and frowned to say, “You’re right. When Younger Brother wanted to listen to a song, he would get into the woods to ask us to play one. If he doesn’t want to hear it, he would firmly refuse. Why do I feel myself turn into a performer in front of him?”

Fifth Brother patted his thigh, shook his head, and said with a lament, “He said playing chess, then we played chess. When I and Eighth Brother just entered the mid-round, he dare to interrupt us to join in the game. He even force us to hold back our temper to teach him, else he’ll threaten to throw the chess pieces away. In front of Younger Brother… We are no more than two outdated teachers of a rural chess club.”

Sixth Brother looked at those thoughtful people and said with a simple and honest smile, “Ning Que treats me pretty well. Although he often has some inexplicable ideas, he helps me to forge iron and carry water. So I don’t need to do so many things.”

Second Brother looked at those Younger Brothers who were telling their painful bloody experiences and slightly raised his brows as he said, “Ning Que is the youngest Brother. You guys as Senior Brothers should take care of him. Why mention these things?”

Listening to Second Brother’s precepts, the other people indoors looked at his serious look and felt scared at the same time, all lowering their heads to show agreement. Even Seventh Sister who had been very casual previously also put the melon seeds back on the windowsill.

“Although I despise Yan Se’s casual attitude, I have to admit that as a Minister of Offerings at the Southern Haotian, he is indeed a super-class or even the most powerful Divine Talisman Master in the world, much stronger than the commoners could have imagined.”

Second Brother slightly lowered his eyelids, looking at somewhere in front. After a short moment of silence, he continued to said in a low voice, “Based on Younger Brother’s qualification, he can only go on the path of Talisman Taoism. He’d better follow Yan Se to learn more from now on.”

All were silent in the house.

Seventh Sister looked up and furrowed her brow slightly. She said, “But after all, Younger Brother is at the Second floor of the Academy and now counted as the teacher’s private disciple. If the others know that an outsider teaches him how to cultivate, won’t it make all of us shameful? Even if we don’t fear the gossip in the world, will the teacher and Eldest Brother be disappointed with us after returning from the tour?”

…

…

No one knew that after coming back to the Academy from the tour whether Headmaster of Academy would be very disappointed when he found that he suddenly had a private disciple with a bad cultivation qualification in No Doubts State who had only learnt a skill of Talisman Taoism from Haotian Taoism. Anyway, Ning Que had no disappointment at all. Although his Haoran Sword skill was only pretty on the outside while the inside was as rotten as shit, he has adjusted his mentality very well. And these days he not only studied in the back mountain of the Academy but also followed Master Yan Se to travel around Chang’an every few days. They were close to Talisman Taoism in a relaxing and interesting way. Therefore, he had a very fulfilling life.

In those days of early summer, and early summer in the fourtheenth year of Tianqi era, residents of Chang’an often saw an old and filthy Taoist wander around with a plainly-dressed, yet cleanly-packed lad.

The old Taoist took the lad to walk across the streets and alleys, seeing those old and broken buildings with the inheritation of hundreds of years, going to various taverns for drinking, occasionally staying overnight in the cheapest open brothel, and for most of the time, watching those must-see scenery by the tourists.

When they walked past that newly-renovated neighborhood in Spring Breeze Pavilion, Yan Se said with full of laments, “It was newly renovated, but has lost the original feeling. Fortunately, the pavilion is still here. Do you feel that pavilion’s eave curves are beautiful?”

Ning Que walked in the streets where he once had laughtered and looked at the ancient Spring Breeze Pavilion in the street corner, feeling somewhat absentminded. Upon hearing the words of the teacher, he woke up and carefully looked at four lines slightly protruding above the pavilion. After a long time of thought, he puzzledly asked, “I can’t say how beautiful it is, but just think it has a very coordinated look. At the intersection of the tiles, the lines slightly go down and later tilt upwards, looking very smooth.”

“That is a water line.” Master Yan Se pointed at the eaves lines and said, “The rain fell on the tiles and flew down following the direction of tiles stacks. It doesn’t go across the water line, but the water line’s shape owns the Talisman power of falling rain. So you will feel they’re very smooth.”

“Master, what can the eave water lines explain?” Ning Que asked, “This pavilion was built many years ago. Those craftsmen at that time couldn’t be Talisman Masters. Did they also understand the law of Qi of Heaven and Earth?”

“What is the law? The law is a regular pattern controlling things’ operations. The craftsmen who had built Spring Breeze Pavilion might not have mastered the laws governing Qi of Heaven and Earth. But there is indeed some kind of wisdom hidden in the eaves-building knowledge that has passed down for countless generations.”

Master Yan Se walked with him to the pavilion and said, “How does the rain flow after falling down? Why does it flow this way? The craftsmen building the pavilion did not know. Perhaps their ancestors only knew the answer to the first question, not the second one. But does it even matter? The first step of learning is always imitation for humans. With more imitations, they would be like the eaves where the essence of the simplest truth will be extracted, namely the undulating line.”

When they walked into Spring Breeze Pavilion, Master Yan Se turned around and looked at Ning Que to say, “The first step of Talisman Taoism cultivation is to imitate. I asked you to read the Talisman Classics left by the predecessors and carefully feel the nuances among Qi of Heaven and Earth. It’s very similar to the architectural experiences accumulated by the artisans over the years, except that they are subconscious outcomes and consume the time of several generations. But you have to take the initiative to master and feel. The less time you need, the better it’ll be.”

After watching Spring Breeze Pavilion, the two left the street and the alley, as they kept walking along the gray wall next to a big courtyard till they were far away.

When Ning Que stepped on the slightly protruding bluestone road and watched the babbling water near his feet, he naturally remembered the rainy night, the ditch that had once stained with blood and these incomplete dead bodies piled on the bluestone road.

Behind the gray wall was Chao Xiaoshu’s mansion. Ning Que looked up. He saw some green trees in the courtyard and occasionally heard some noises. He wondered whether Chao Xiaoshu’s family still lived here and where Chao Xiaoshu had been.

Master Yan Se, who has put sleeves behind his back and walked in front, seemed to guess what Ning Que was thinking in the mind and asked with a smile, “Chao Xiaoshu saw the calm lake and then entered Knowing Destiny State. His perception and opportunity are rather rare. In terms of his qualification, if his Majesty has not forced him to stay with dark nights and muds in Chang’an City, it would be impossible for him to burst into such a splendid glory.”

This was the first time Ning Que had known that Chao Xiaoshu was a Grand Cultivator in Knowing Destiny State. When he recalled that scene that he had followed the middle-aged man to go on a bloody battle at a rainy night, he could not help raising his brows slowly and had a kind of unexpressed arrogance feeling.

“I believe you have seen Chao Xiaoshu’s Swordsmanship.”

“Yes, Master.”

“What’s special about it?”

“As fast as lightning.”

Ning Que thought of that crooked wooden sword flying around the lake of the Academy’s back mountain, feeling very ashamed.

Master Yan Se smiled at him and said, “Anything else?”

Ning Que remembered one thing, but he licked his lips and did not say it. Although Yan Se was his Talisman Taoism Master, that thing was most likely to be Chao Xiaoshu’s secret skill to keep alive. Therefore, he should not mention it to anyone.

“It turns out that you are such a loyal person.” Master Yan Se felt somewhat surprisedly glanced at him.

Ning Que laughed and replied, “Brother Chao treated me well and still thought of my livelihood issues after leaving Chang’an. He leaves much money for me every month. Those heavy taels of silver can prove our friendship.”

Yan Se laughed and said, “Chao Xiaoshu can turn a sword into five. Even if you don’t say it, I also know this thing. The reason why I mention this matter is that I just want to tell you something. When the five pieces blades of sword shrouded his body like meteors, have you ever wondered why they could still listen to him when his Natal Sword was divided into five parts?”

Ning Que really did not think about this issue after the bloody battle last spring. Because at that time he did not understand what was cultivation. Later, he still did not think about it, for he did not think of any problems within it at all. Until this time when they walked away from Spring Breeze Pavilion to the street, Ning Que was suddenly caught in contemplation after hearing the Master’s question.

Master Yan Se was not that kind of teacher who used a variety of problems to embarrass his student so as to get a great sense of superiority and sense of vanity and abusive pleasure. Master Yan Se saw Ning Que frown and fall in a painful thought. He straightforwardly explained, “Chao Xiaoshu’s Natal Sword was divided into five small swords. The interaction between these five small swords depended on a kind of array tactical… I’ve told you before that array tacticals can actually be seen as a sort of distorted talisman, big talisman that relies more on materials.”

Then he continued to say, “The Taoist sword knack is talisman, so is Buddhism Emblematic Gesture. And these two are both infinitives. Though the ornamentations on generals’ battle armors are mostly fragments, they’re also talisman, a kind of infinitive talisman.”

Ning Que glanced at him and could not help saying with a bitter smile, “Master, I know you are the world’s most powerful Divine Talisman Master and each Talisman Master should have the deepest, most sincere feelings and passion for Talisman Taoism. But… If it’s really like what you said, can all the cultivation means in the world be attributed to the Talisman? Isn’t this… too bullsh*ting?”

Master Yan Se stopped and looked back as he confusedly asked, “Too? Too what?”

Ning Que hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice, “Too narcissistic.”

Master Yan Se bursted into a laughter, causing all the pedestrians in the street to look at them.

When the laughter gradually stopped, he looked at Ning Que and seriously said after a short moment of silence, “Cultivation focuses on disposition and need people to dare to think and do. In your lifetime, if you don’t believe that you can come to an end, how can you step through those arduous risky peaks on the path of cultivation? The more outstanding a cultivator is, the more self-confident he is. And those best cultivators are bound to be self-confident to a extremely exaggerated state, probably that is narcissism like what you’ve mentioned.”

Ning Que opened his mouth slightly and could not speak for a long time. He wanted to prove what his Master had said was wrong, but after a careful pondering, he thought that these words really made sense, especially when he remembered two extremely narcissistic proud guys like Second Brother and Chen Pipi in the Academy.

…

…

After leaving Spring Breeze Pavilion for Moshan workshop in Eastern City, two of them came to an open road. Not far from them were Yulin Royal Guards riding horses to patrol. There were much less pedestrians on the street, thus the beautiful scenery of green trees and clean river was serene. It was visible for that magnificent imperial city not far, and even for some traces on the red wall caused by the wind and rain.

Master Yan Se was totally not affected by the solemn atmosphere here and still held his sleeves, stepping with his old shoes, and wandered around leisurely on the street. He did not care about those Yulin Royal Guards’ alerting and loathing eyes against them.

Ning Que forced himself not to laugh and followed Master Yan Se. He suddenly remembered the engraved armors in the previous dialogue and recalled Old Lyu Qingchen’s introduction on the trip last year. His eyes suddenly became bright. So he moved forward a few steps to the front of Master Yan Se and said in a very respectable and tender tone, “Master, I want to ask for a Talisman from you.”

Yan Se turned around and asked, “Ask for a Talisman? What happened to your house? Have you seen something unclean, or being pressed on your bed?”

Ning Que opened his mouth and did not know what to say, feeling very helpless.

Master Yan Se obscenely narrowed his triangle-shape eyes and said: “Just joking.”

Ning Que sighed and said seriously, “I want to engrave a Talisman on my own knife.”

After a moment of thought, Master Yan Se shook his head and said, “Some Talismans can indeed be used independently without a Talisman Master, such as books, armors and weapons. This kind of Talisman engraving is common, but only a low-level means after all. It’s not pure and its power is not so strong. What you own is the best. If it is your personal weapon, you’d better make your own Talisman.”

Ning Que said with a bitter smile, “Then I’m gonna wait for a long time before I can make it.”

Master Yan Se patted Ning Que’s shoulder and said with a comfort, “I firmly believe in your talent in Talisman Taoism. Now you just haven’t seen through that window paper. If you feel it slowly, you’ll find hope appearing in front of you.”

“Look over there carefully.”

“What is there?”

“Look at it yourself.”

“Master, I only see a lot of trees.”

“What’s behind the trees?”

“The sky is behind the trees.”

“I do not want you to see these things!”

“Master, should I say I see the hope?”

“I really can’t say such mushy words.”

“Master, why don’t you speak? To be honest, I really think that it is not appropriate for you to play a role of spiritual mentor based on your casual nature.”

“Ning Que.”

“Yes? Master.”

“If you go on, I’ll use Grass Emblem to make you blind forever.”

In front of them was not the hope, but a Taoist temple in the green trees at the foot of the imperial city.

Master Yan Se did not bring Ning Que into the South Gate Temple, for the both of them shared only a private teacher-apprentice relationship. Ning Que, after all, was a student of the Academy. No matter what, it would be very inappropriate for Master Yan Se to get too close to Haotian Taoism.

“I want you to see that cornice of the GuangMing Hall in South Gate Temple.”

Because of the previous conversation, Master Yan Se looked very angry, with a blunt tone.

Upon hearing that, Ning Que looked over and faintly saw that cornice of the Taoist temple stretching up to the blue sky behind the gray wall and green trees.

“Master, why do you want me to see this cornice? Should I once again understand the law generations of artisans subconsciously concluded from the falling rain?” “I’ve seen Spring Breeze Pavilion enough, should we see it forever? We have seen many ancient temples, old pavilions, small bridges, flowing rivers and houses in Chang’an City these days. If we continue to see, I am worried that Chang’an Local Government will doubt that we are a pair of young thief and old thief.”

“Grass Emblem… ”

“Master, my bad.”

Master Yan Se suppressed the anger in his mind after a long while, pointing to the cornice deep in the Taoist temple, and then said with an unhappy look, “This time I don’t want you to see the cornice, but those animal-carvings on eave squatting above the cornice. You release the Psyche Power to touch them and see what’s there.”

Ning Que suddenly looked serious and slowly released the Psyche Power after a moment of silence. He touched the several semi-squatting animal-carvings on eave above the cornice from a distance. The presence of animal-carvings on eave went through Qi of Heaven and Earth back to the Qi of Ocean woven by Psyche Power and then became very clear. However, in the next moment, those animal-carvings on eaves seemed to be alive so that he could even see their eyes!

His heartbeat began to accelerate and his breathing became heavier and heavier. But the animal-carvings on eave among the Qi of Ocean and in his sight became clearer and passed over heavier pressure to him, which directly made his face turn pale and his body rather stiff.

Master Yan Se stood beside him and did not worry when watching his reaction but felt calm and slightly joyful. Ning Que had such a sensitive response to the animal-carvings on eave, which slightly diluted Master Yan Se’s anger caused by the previous ridicule.

Ning Que shook his head and escaped from his earlier state, rubbing his eyes with both hands and looking at Master Yan Se. He said, “Master, I feel it and I also get it.”

Master Yan Se frowned slightly and seemed to haven’t expected that Ning Que actually was able to extricate himself from the pressure of animal-carvings on eave.

Ning Que took a look at the animal-carvings on eave that has become small again and said, “Master, do you want to tell me that these stone-made animal-carvings on eave are also Talismans and Divine Talisman Masters gave power and near-mighty pressure to them?”

Master Yan Se said, “Yeah. But I’m now even more curious why you actually didn’t panic at the first contact with animal-carvings on eave.”

Ning Que looked at him and honestly replied after a moment of silence. “I have been contacted with animal-carvings on eave.”

Master Yan Se slightly raised his brows and asked, “When? Where?”

Ning Que said, “Last spring, in the imperial palace. When my horse carriage passed the laundry bureau, I did not know why I suddenly felt that they had survived when I saw animal-carvings on eave above the canopies of the palace. At that time, I was particularly uncomfortable.”

Master Yan Se became silent for a long time and suddenly reached out his hand to touch Ning Que’s head. His eyes were full of mild appreciation.

“When I listened to you and talked to you, I always feel that your disposition and state were really not suitable for Talisman Taoism cultivation. I even thought whether I had been misled by your memo and gotten the wrong person.”

As a superb Divine Talisman Master in the world, the old Taoist knew very well if a lad who has not been in contact with cultivation could actually feel the pressure of animal-carvings on eave, it showed what kind of qualification he possessed in Talisman Taoism.

“I’m very glad that you once again proved your qualification and ability.”

Ning Que smiled and said, “Master, qualification and ability are within the body. I don’t need to prove their presence. In fact, they have always been there.”

“Today you’ve said a lot of nonsense. But this sentence indeed makes sense.” Master Yan Se laughed and then continued to concernedly ask, “Is it the first time you have felt the pressure of animal-carvings on eave in the Imperial City’s laundry Bureau?”

Ning Que fell into a long silence for this question.

He remembered the spring of last year, he and Sangsang had held up the big black umbrella, standing in the straight spacious street and in the drizzle, and then had became motionless for the Vermilion Bird figure carved in the center boulevard.

After a long time, he looked up at Master Yan Se and said, “Actually… earlier on Vermilion Bird Avenue, that stone-carved Vermilion Bird figure has given me the same feeling. But I don’t know whether it can be counted in.”

Master Yan Se listened to the answer, with his eyes narrowed into two slits, and then suddenly said, “Do you want to see it again?”

…

…

Of course, Ning Que did not want to see it. It was not because the Vermilion Bird engraved in the stone had no nothing charming but fake. Because he was just subconsciously fearful of the Vermilion Bird figure on the stone road – Perhaps in the spring rain day last year he had been terrified by the extermination sense of the Vermilion Bird figure on the central avenue. Perhaps he subconsciously remembered that near-death experience when he had fled to the streets at the hot summer night last year. In short, that fear inside his heart was at its height.

As a good student, however, he knew very well that every time a teacher asked a student whether he or she wanted to do it, the teacher just needed to show an attitude of respecting the student’s wishe. In fact, the teacher would not want to hear any other answers except an affirmation. So when Master Yan Se asked him, Ning Que had to reply that he wanted to see it.

The two of them walked from the foot of the Imperial City to the south all the way along the spacious and straight Vermilion Bird Avenue, as if walking on a grey ribbon embroidered with green laces, from Chang’an City the giant’s head to his chest.

Looking at the Vermilion Bird figure carved in the stone floor on the central avenue, Ning Que felt his mouth was somewhat dry and subconsciously put his hands into his cuffs. Then he gripped his hands tightly and felt his body a bit stiff.

The Vermilion Bird figure was solemn and beautiful as usual. Its wings did not fully expand, which showed that it was about to spread its wings. The two non-angry but serious eye pupils have been carved well, for no matter from which point of view, everyone would feel that it was staring at himself. This was an attraction the Tang Empire residents must see after coming to Chang’an City. Besides, its eyes were also a marvelous figure all the tourists were interested to discuss about.

Ning Que stood in the crowd of people with different clothes, looking at the Vermilion Bird figure in the middle. Perhaps because of the noisy environment around or its popularity, Ning Que felt less fear in his heart.

However, his body was still stiff, with still cold hands and feet. Because he always felt that this pair of eyes that has been staring at himself indifferently had nothing to do with the craftsmanship of the sculptors. The eyes seemed to tell him that this Vermilion Bird with a history of thousands of years… was alive.