Nightfall

The Headmaster lowered his finger, and looked at the re-boiling pot and the scraps of meat on the chopping-board that were still like a light snowfall and sulkily said, “If I know everything, do I need to act like a panic-stricken stray dog?”

Eldest Brother was cutting the tasty but slightly tough lamb, and then secretly thought with a smile, “Headmaster, are you really this disquieted in life?”

The Headmaster put the bowl and chopsticks on the cutting board, rolled up his sleeves, and easily took the sharp knife from Eldest brother’s hand. After several Shua sounds, all the mutton slices were flying in the air and instantly piled up into snowy peaks.

Mutton could be easily cooked in the boiled water. The Headmaster was scrambling and eating alone with relish, with the soup dripping down his beard. He did not even consider to give precedence to his most loving disciple. The old yellow bull that was lowering its head and eating grass on the meadow looked up at him and displeasedly snorted twice.

Looking at the teacher’s happy appearance, Eldest brother shook his head, wiped his hands, and then walked slowly to the tree that was about to wither in winter. Staring at the blue lake not far away from the meadow and those distant Horse Gangs that were barely visible on the opposite side of the lake, he gradually raised his eyebrows and thoughtfully asked, “Master, Is this the Shubi Lake where Younger Brother lived?”

Gradually with the passing of time, some unknown things would naturally be known one way or another, for instance, the one who was finally capable of entering the Back Mountain of the Academy was a lad named Ning Que and not Prince Long Qing.

The Headmaster was slowly drinking the lamb soup in the bowl. He felt so cozy that his long eyebrows seemed to fly in the winter wind. He then said looking at the near lake and some distant place, “He grew up in the City of Wei, and became a man in Shubi Lake.”

Eldest Brother nodded his head and looked back at the headmaster, asking, “Headmaster, why did we come to the City of Wei?”

The Headmaster, carrying the soup bowl in his hand, watched those Horse Gangs who were busy making a living in the Shubi Lake, and said, “After all, he’s my student, though we haven’t met yet. But since we’re on the way there, let’s call it a home visit .”

Recalling the scene when he left the Academy in Chang’an last spring and remembering the words that the Headmaster said at that time and the big black umbrella that the lad carried on his back, Eldest Brother asked, “Headmaster, have you known for long that Younger Brother will become one of the Younger Brothers in the Academy?”

The Headmaster put down his soup bowl and uttered a satisfying sigh, touching his belly. He said shaking his head, “There’s no such thing as predestined. How can you predict it?”

“Even Haotian can’t arrange everything.”

The Headmaster looked up at the clear sky hanging over the grassland in the winter, as if he could see that trembling little boy who was holding a chopper in a woodshed a dozen years ago, and then he said emotionally, “Many years ago, I met your Younger Brother once, and I felt he was just like one of my old friends. I never expected that he would actually survive and come to my side.”

Eldest Brother stared at the grassland, and anxiously said, “I’m wondering whether Younger Brother can handle entering the Wilderness on his own.”

The Headmaster replied, “The child doesn’t have an easy life. The wilderness is his home, so he won’t be too embarrassed there. If not, doesn’t he still have you, his Senior Brother?

Eldest Brother bowed his head down with a smile as warm as the spring breeze.

…

…

The piercing sound of mighty arrows, like a sharp whistle, instantly tore the twilight over the camp.

Because of the distance, when the arrows flew out of the camp, they were already out of shape and slow. They were Just like a drunkard who fell on the ground unharmed, but the campers knew that the sound of the arrows was intended to warn or show off, so their mood did not lighten up.

In the distance of the grassland, the cloud of smoke gradually dispersed, revealing more than 100 horsemen. On horseback, the savages in furs and cotton-padded vestments could be seen. They held the reins and barked wildly and excitedly, as though they had found a large number of prey.

One branch of the Yan Kingdom cavalry in the camp was sent to meet them. When they were several arrows away, the prairie savages whistled as they circled the camp’s shallow waters, refusing to approach, but having no intentions of leaving.

Ning Que was the first one to find the trace of Horse Gangs. He jumped out of the horse carriage after giving out the first warning. He was silently leading the Big Black Horse, and always ready to get on the saddle. Yet he gradually wrinkled watching these grassland barbarians who were whistling and walking around- on the grassland in winter, it could be called a large group of Horse Gangs consisting of more than 100 fine cavalries. He did not know when they began to eye the grain team, and he subconsciously looked aside.

The young men and women of Black Ink Garden lived in the Grand River Country in the far south for a long time. Only in legend did they hear of the savage terror of the northern Horse Gangs.This was the first time in their lives that they had ever faced these Horse Gangs on the grassland. Although all the disciples from Black Ink Garden including Cat Girl, occasionally showed anxiety on their silent brows, they were absolutely not flustered, each holding the long hilt of a knife, waiting for the battle later.

At this time, three cavalries galloped out with the dust from the north of the camp, and quickly scattered away with the final flaming twilight.

The disciples of Black Ink Garden of Great River Kingdom were in-charge of escorting the grain to the Left-Tent palace on the grassland, but cavalries of Yan Kingdom who were responsible for the security of the grain team did not obey the order. They were ambiguous, disobedient and displeased with each other, yet Zhuo Zhihua could not help but admire the three galloping cavalries.

“Yan generals showed their quick response as they were the first to send envoys to the palace to give a message.”

Listening to these words, Ning Que shook his head and walked to the Big Black Horse’s side, saying, “These barbarians may look like Horse Gangs, but they may actually be cavalries from the Left-Tent palace.”

Zhuo Zhihua and the girls next to the horse carriage were all amazed at his words.

Ning Que did not explain but looked at those grassland Horse Gangs wandering in the deserted wilderness and the three Yan cavalries speeding out like arrows, and said, “It might be successful to send messages by envoys in the frontier fortress of Yan territory in the south, while they are deep in the grassland, it will be impossible to out run the three cavalries. ”

After they defeated the monk in the lakeside of Shubi Lake, in addition to their shared experiences recently, girls from Great River Kingdom increasingly trusted in Ning Que. They subconsciously believed his judgment. Cat girl even surprisingly jumped on the horse carriage, watching with worry as the distance between the three Yan cavalries grew farther and farther.

The reaction of the generals from Yan Kingdom was not slow, but it was precisely because of the fast speed that Ning Que was unable to change the fate of the three cavalries, not to mention that he was now just an ordinary disciple of Black Ink Garden of Great River Kingdom.

…

…

As the sun gradually set, the daylight on the grassland became dimmer as the twilight became thicker. The three cavalries turned into tiny silhouettes on the blood-red canvas. No one knew whether they were shot by arrows or stopped by nooses, but they then suddenly fell to the ground, and there was no movement later on.

Some time later, dozens of Horse Gangs came over from the grassland, and the bodies of the three former envoys were dragged by ropes behind the horses occasionally hitting the low-lying area and mounds on the ground. They were so badly mutilated that others could hardly bear the sight.

The two groups of grassland Horse Gangs converged and burst into loud laughter, the so-called braying.

This sort of scene on the grassland was not new to Ning Que. That year he had also seen the corpse of the chief of Horse Gangs dragged at the Shubi Lake as a demonstration for a week, so he was not moved by this scene. However, such a ghastly secne might make the young girls and civilians in the grain-delivery team have nightmares at night, and Ning Que could hear their breathing getting more fiercer and flurried.

As for the 200 cavalries of the Yan Kingdom, the sight of their comrades being brutally killed and humiliated caused a great commotion and they were only able to settle down under the force of their officers, who fought on the grassland. No one was an opponent of these savages, at least until the Desolate Man moved southward. The previous scene was proof that although the Yan forces and the disciples of Black Ink Garden were superior in numbers, the crowd could only hold back their anger and fear and set up a rough formation of wagons with their grain convoys and set up defensive offensives as fast as they could, waiting for the grassland Horse Gangs to attack.

The atmosphere in the camp became extremely depressing, as did the dozens of Yan cavalries after they had returned to camp. For all men, if not themselves, had heard of the cruelty of the grassland Horse Gangs on the grassland, especially when the peasants on the grain-delivery team looked ashen and trembling and unable to carry out even the simplest work.

Surprisingly, these Horse Gangs did not attack at sun-set when the crowds in the camp had lost morale. Instead they just looked coldly on the busy crowds, staying a few arrows from the camp while holding the reins in their hands. Three of the Horse Gangs who looked like chiefs stopped in the forefront were waving their horsewhips, pointing and making judgements with arrogant looks on their faces.

As night gradually fell, the bonfire in the camp was lit, and the Yan general himself set up a surveillance post. The soldiers looked nervously at the outer edge of the pitch-black periphery of the grassland, thinking that they would never awaken once they fell asleep owing to the danger close at hand. It was almost certain that no one would be able to sleep peacefully as they feared that there would be a surprise attack by the Horse Gangs at night.

Ning Que understood the behavior style of Horse Gangs. Be it the true Horse Gangs or the palace cavalry disguised as Horse Gangs, once they got on the horses and became thieves, they would firmly act in accordance with the behavior style of Horse Gangs – Horse Gangs would not launch an attack in the evening – Ning Que set up a tent for himself next to the carriage, and got ready to have a nice sleep, in order to meet the bloody battle tomorrow morning.

The night wind blew, and lifted the curtains of the carriage, and his eyes narrowed, for he saw that the carriage was empty, and that the girl in white,Mo Shanshan, was nowhere to be found.

He quietly climbed to the top of the carriage, looking out to the periphery of the camp by the dim light. There was a a circle of burning bonfires there, and a faint figure could be vaguely seen on the other side of the flames.

No one but he, who had a keen eye, could have seen the thin figure on the Winter Plains.

Under the light of the flames and the starlight, the white clothes on the figure seemed thinner as if they would fly away with the night breeze. It was like a ghost or a spirit, and no one knew what it was doing.

Ning Que stared in silence, deep in thought.

Then he jumped off the carriage and fell asleep with his clothes on.

As the night came to an end, suddenly there were several screams from the southwest part of the camp as well as the wild howling of horses. Cavalry of Yan Kingdom in the north who had been vigilant looked blankly towards that place in a state of horror.

Ning Que sleeping in the tent next to the horse carriage had awakened.

He listened for a moment, and looked through the cracks in the curtains at the girl’s figure cut out by the candlelight in the carriage. Gradually the light came on. He smiled, and then closed his eyes and went back to sleep peacefully.

In his dream he wondered when he became capable of writing such a powerful fire talisman.