Nightfall

The next day, Sangsang visited the House of Red Sleeves again and called down Xiaocao from upstairs. They went together to a secluded place. Looking at Xiaocao, Sangsang intended to say something but stopped on the second thought, her thin fingers constantly twisting her clothes, which indicated her nervousness.

“Why are you looking so secretive?” Xiaocao gazed at her and asked, “What’s wrong?”

After a long time of hesitation, Sangsang said in a lowered voice, “Last night… my young master suddenly asked about my age.”

Xiaocao confusedly rubbed her head and asked, “Then?”

“Nothing then.” Sangsang shook her head and thought for quite a while with her eyebrows frowned. Then she continued, “I feel that young master is somewhat strange these days. For the past few days, he often said I was not sentimental.”

Xiaocao was too startled to take a breath. She gazed at the darkish face and thin figure of Sangsang with her eyes widely opened, saying undisputably, “You are so dark, so thin, and too young! He even thought of you in that manner! What a monster he is!”

…

…

At the Back Mountain of the Academy, Ning Que pushed open the fence and entered the yard accompanied by the roaring of the waterfall plumping into the pond. He vigilantly waved his hand to drive away the white goose. When he saw Second Brother walked out, he couldn’t help frowning his eyebrows. He thought to himself about the way Mistress Jian addressed Second Brother yesterday. “Did Second Brother really do something despicable, or something even worse, to Mistress Jian?”

Second Brother handed over several books to him and said, “Days before, I came upon several books about old art of carving talisman in weapons in that cave, and then I remembered you were keen on carving talisman in weapons and thought that you would need them. So I call you to come and take a look at these books.”

Ning Que took the book to show his gratitude, yet didn’t leave immediately after that. Instead, he looked at Second Brother’s face with an intention to say something but finally refrained himself from doing so. And then after a long time of hesitation, he eventually couldn’t help opening his mouth and asked, “Second Brother, has anyone called you Little Momo?”

It was totally beyond imagination to associate the serious, straight and good-mannered Second Brother to nickname like Little Momo. When Ning Que finally mustered his courage to speak it out, he was prepared to be heavily beaten by Second Brother for fifty times. However, he never expected that when Second Brother heard the name Little Momo, he just froze suddenly instead of showing indignation, who thus looked lost in his thought, seeming to recall something.

After quite a long time, Second Brother stared at his eyes and asked in a muffled voice, “You know Aunt Jian?”

The reaction of Second Brother obviously revealed that he was an acquaintance with Mistress Jian. Ning Que shouted excitedly in his heart, thinking to himself, I was about to explore the truth behind the scenes hidden in the dark history of the Academy?

“Don’t think too much.” Second Brother frowned and said, “Aunt Jian was familiar with the Youngest Uncle years back, so she is our elder.”

Ning Que slightly stiffened, never expecting that the truth was far from the possibilities he had figured out. This was the second time he heard about the Youngest Uncle in the Back Mountain of the Academy. Be it Chen Pipi who mentioned him previously, or Second Brother, they all looked serious and respectful when talking about the Youngest Uncle.

It could be imagined how strong this figure, who was admired both by the proud and arrogant talents-Second Brother and Chen Pipi from their heart was. Ning Que wondered how unprecedentedly brilliant that mysterious Youngest Uncle was.

“Senior Brother, what kind of person is … our Youngest Uncle?”

“Youngest Uncle… He is an extraordinary man. ”

“More extraordinary than the Headmaster of Academy?”

“That’s different kinds of excellency.”

“Where is he now?”

“He is dead.”

…

…

The story about that Youngest Uncle didn’t have a good end, so besides a bit of simple introduction, Second Brother didn’t tell Ning Que much about his past. Naturally, Ning Que would feel disappointed, but no matter what, he couldn’t be hugging the thigh of Second Brother and begged him to disclose something more like what Sangsang did to him when they were young…

Leaving the yard, Ning Que went to the middle part of the cliff terrace in the opposite direction of the waterfall. He went under a green tree and felt a bit hot and dry, so he drew out a piece of tiny-tailored talisman paper and clapped with his both hands, after which he folded his hands and then unfolded them. The moment the talisman in his hands disappeared, a half handful of clear water appeared.

He used the water to wash his face and felt comfortably cool on his wet cheek against the breeze beside the tree. He sighed satisfactorily and then helplessly, speaking to himself while shaking his head, “Although it’s cool and enough to be used as a magic to tease girls, but it seems to be useless in fight.”

Master Yan Se, the Divine Talisman Master, would of course make the right judgement. Ning Que really had the rare potential or qualification in Talisman Taoism. These days, he immersed in the world of talisman and made an amazing and unbelievable progress. Although he just started his Tao enlightenment from that rainy night, he had mastered more than two hundred effective talismans by the time.

It was a pity that his speed to exert the Talisman Taoism was too slow, by which it would be difficult to win a fight. What’s more, the cultivation state of Ning Que was still too low, who was lingering in No Doubts State. If he relied on throwing talisman to fight against the enemy, he would already be chopped into hundreds of pieces by the flying sword. In addition, he had just started using talisman and he even carefully evaluated that he would rather use the three knives on his back to fight currently than rely on Talisman Taoism.

Those words that had been mentioned unintentionally by Master Yan Se were kept in his mind. In a quick fight, a talisman must rely on infinitive talisman to win a cultivation fight with a Talisman Master at the same state. However, only Divine Talisman Masters could draw that infinitive talisman!

After ten years, he could be a Divine Talisman Master… But what could he do if he encountered enemy during the ten years? Although Talisman Taoism would play a more important role in a fight after one entered the Seethrough State, it would after all only be used as an assisting skill.

Ning Que was fighting all the time in his life. He fought for the survival and for eliminating the blood in his hand. Therefore, although he had been living a happy life in the Academy and Chang’an City all these days, he never forgot to get prepared for possible danger in the future.

Hardship had fostered his gloomy character behind his cynical appearance, and countless fatal tests had made him accustomed to guard against the arrow possibly shot from behind and the potential danger he might encounter in the future all the time.

“If… Xia Hou is now standing by the tree, what can I do?”

Looking at the big green tree, Ning Que seriously asked himself. Then he sank in a long time of silence, his thought constantly alternating between Talisman Taoism and Martial Art with the purpose of finding the way to strengthen his fighting capability.

It was unknown how long had passed before he stopped thinking. Then he walked upwards along the flat stone pavement on the right of the big green tree and traced the water vapor and the smell of stove to reach the iron-forging house of Sixth Brother.

After entering the room, he didn’t pick up the heavy hammer to help Sixth Brother with his work at first. Instead, he went into the dim corner and found Fourth Brother, to whom he bowed to say something.

Fourth Brother slightly frowned. And then he nodded and stood up, leading him to walk out of the house.

Behind the house was a clear stream, where all kinds of fancy carp were swimming almost motionlessly, as if they were jade statues frozen in water.

The sky of the Academy was clear, and the fish of the Academy was happy. Although they needed to worry about those surprise attacks from birds, at least they need not work hard to find their food. And at regular time every day, a white goose would come to feed them. Therefore, such a carefree life had led to their fatness and laziness.

Waterwheel moved on with squeaks to continuously draw stream water into a bamboo pipe, which was then sent to the iron-forging house.

The two sat beside the stream not far away from the waterwheel. The bamboo woods had sheltered them from sunshine and endowed them cool and refreshing surroundings.

Fourth Brother took out a pile of delicate carving graver, foot line and pigment from the pocket, and picked up a round stone from beside the stream. And then he began to carve on the stone with carving graver attentively.

Ning Que imitated him to take up a round stone and carefully drew on it with a paint pen that had been dipped in stream water. With the movement of the tip of the pen, many complicated lines connecting the front and back part appeared on the stone. Suddenly he felt it intractable and didn’t know how to continue, so he couldn’t help looking up to see the stone in Fourth Brother’s arms.

“Senior Brother, I think there is something wrong with the lines you drew. How can the Wind Talisman be carved so widely?”

Without raising his head, Fourth Brother said, “The stone is too heavy. If you want to borrow the breath of wind to lift the stone, you have to carve more, deeper and wider lines, thus stimulating more breath of wind.”

Looking at the stone in his arms as well as those lines on that stone, Ning Que frowned and said, “But more, deeper and wider lines also mean the breath of wind condensed in those lines will leak at a faster speed. How to solve the problem?”

Fourth Brother raised his head and asked after a long time of silence, “Do you have suggestions?”

Ning Que hesitatedly replied, “How about… using wood talisman to make a bridge to block it before hand?”

“If you block it first, then how to condense the breath of wind into the talisman later?”

“Open a small acupoint.”

“Open a small acupoint… After condensing the breath we block it completely. When it has to be stimulated, the acupoint of wood talisman will automatically open. It seems workable.”

“Then let’s have a try?”

“Ok.”

Beside the clear stream, the waterwheel turned over with squeaks and the rhythm of beating iron was also heard from the house behind the stream. All these sounds, mixed with the soft-voiced discussion between Ning Que and Fourth Brother, contributing to a peaceful and tranquil picture.

It was unknown how long had passed before Fourth Brother finished carving talisman in the round stone. Soon after, Ning Que also finished his work. The two looked at each other and put their stones on a flat ground beside the stream.

Then they slowly closed their eyes, starting to percept, touch and stimulate the talisman they had carved in the stone.

Then a gust of wind rose from above the two round stones by the stream, and under the stones, ants and bamboo leaves all rustled to move.

However, the stones remained motionless by the stream, which was as still as those lazy and fat fancy carps in the stream, which hid themselves in the shadow of waterwheel and bamboo leaves, reluctant to move an inch.

Ning Que and Fourth Brother almost opened their eyes at the same time. They just gazed at each other, stunned.

“We are just daydreaming.” Fourth Brother sighed, “If you want to lift a heavy object, you have to draw array tacticals made of numerous talismans. Yet you should dream to achieve the same effect by using such a simple talisman, that’s really… a daydream.”

Ning Que regretted to say, “I was thinking that since we had so many keen men in the Academy, there would be some miracles.”

“But it doesn’t necessarily mean your method is not workable.”

Fourth Brother threw his stones into the stream water, and indicated Ning Que to do so.

“Bump! Bump!” Water was splashed all around. Those fat fish which just eat and sleep everyday were scared to escape to all directions. They finally have the opportunity to do exercises. The stream water under the shadow of the waterwheel and the bamboo leaves became empty in an instant.

“Try it again.”

Fourth Brother said to Ning Que.

Ning Que stood by the stream and looked at the round stone at the bottom of the stream. Staring at the faint lines on the stone, he took a deep breath with his eyes lowered, and used his hands outside his sleeves to make a Psyche bridge. The Psyche Power in the Ocean of Qi was all integrated into the Breath of nature around him, which enabled him to clearly feel the round stone in the stream water.

Suddenly slight ripples appeared on the shallow stream. It seemed that tiny flows of Qi spouted out from around the round stone and slightly swayed the water weed. Then the round stone somewhat quivered, as if it were about to walk.