Nightfall

After Chen Bachi was lifted from outside the tent, no one believed that he was previously the serious commander of cavalrymen of Divine Hall with a bright future. It seemed that both the Emperor and the Saints would be tragic prisoners as long as they were stripped of their clothes and flesh was torn out from their backs forming an inexplicable blood painting.

The Revelation Department Priest glanced at the fleshy body on the blanket and his facial expression did not change in the slightest. He spoke in a harsh tone, of course mainly reiterating the laws of Divine Hall and warning everyone that Haotian’s eyes of fairness would always watch the world and anyone who dared to offend him would be punished.

Ning Que did not seriously listen to the remark. This was not because he was disgusted with this bigwig of Divine Hall or because he wanted to express strong contempt for hypocrisy but because in his view, sometimes hypocrisy was also a good character to have. The reason why he could not concentrate on it was that the person mournfully lying on the blanket was staring at him.

Chen Bachi, whose blood was flowing like a stream and whose tendons were twisted together, looked up at Ning Que’s eyes with his unblinking gray pupils. There was nothing emotional in his eyes other than indifference. But it was this kind of indifference that deeply demonstrated his hatred towards Ning Que.

As a commander of Divine Hall Apologetic Divine Forces and a strongman in Seethrough, he had never suffered such humiliation before.

He knew that he was not qualified to hate the Academy and he was even less likely to launch a cold revenge on Ning Que. At the same time, he also believed that the two Priests of Judicial Department, especially Prince Long Qing, would certainly avenge him in the future. So even though he was in pain and his mind slightly hazy, he still stared at Ning Que because he wanted to remember his face clearly.

The matter of the Horse Gang on the meadow had ended with Divine Hall’s severe punishment on the commander. Therefore, even if Chen Bachi stared at Ning Que, Ning Que no longer had any other means to deal with this. Ning Que could not beat him like those bullies in Chang’an West City just for staring at him.

However, Ning Que was not afraid of anything and he knew the hidden meaning behind that indifferent look in the eyes of that bloody man lying on the ground. So he slowly squatted down to his level and unceremoniously glared back at the man. He said, “Sir, your gaze shows your hatred towards me. But unfortunately, you can’t kill me with your gaze.”

“You should know that when we were in the camp, we anxiously pined for you to come down from the meadow.”

Suddenly, he remembered that Master Yan Se once told him that a real Grand Cultivator, such as Second Brother, could kill someone with just one glance. He then thought of how he himself needed to rely on an ID token and the reputations of the Academy and the Headmaster of Academy to bully people. He could not help feeling somewhat resentful, for he could only rely on the Academy’s reputation to scare others.

No one could detect Ning Que’s resentful mood at the time. On the contrary, many people in the tent were angered by his presence. Especially when they saw that the miserable commander of cavalrymen of Divine Hall had blood and rotten flesh all over his body and listened to Ning Que’s continuous harsh mockeries. In the eyes of all sects’ disciples, Ning Que who had ordinary eyes and brows as well as a lovely countenance could not really be regarded as an evil person but simply a scum who bullied people.

Aunt Quni Madi could no longer repress her anger and slapped her chair. Then she shouted out loud, “Enough!”

Ning Que got up and looked towards Quni Madi. He shook his head and said with a smile on his face, “Not enough.”

There were nervousness and silence in the tent. Everyone looked at this young man who had a cute little dimple on his cheek when he smiled and they could not wait to take a pair of scissors and poke through that dimple. They thought that Divine Hall had punished the subordinate and everyone had kept silent. Was that not enough?

“Earlier on I came into the tent and stopped Hill Master from launching a life and death fight with you. My interruption was a bit rash because I knew that you Aunt was getting old and weak. If Hill Master really misused her power to hurt you, someone would gossip about it. But I didn’t think that she did anything wrong.”

Ning Que looked at the old woman’s cold look on her wrinkled face and the disdain as well as anger in her eyes. He thought of those scenes he had seen with his own eyes after coming to the frontier fortress of North of Yan Kingdom. He thought of how the despicable shameless old woman bullied, framed, and used her power as well as prestige to push Great River Kingdom girls into a dangerous situation. He frowned and said:

“I should first ask you, when the food team camp was besieged by the Horse Gang, the cavalrymen of Divine Hall stood by as onlookers. Aunt you were also in the meadow. Did you know about this? If you knew, why didn’t you meddle?”

Before his voice spread, he quickly asked again, “Earlier when Divine Hall punished its subordinate, aunt you said ‘enough’… weren’t you also meddling in things of Divine Hall? If so, why didn’t you meddle that day on the meadow?”

Ning Que looked at Quni Madi’s old muddied eyes. His tone was very serious. He definitely was not joking. Though his puzzled expression looked mild and he said those words slowly, there was a very tough meaning within them.

Aunt Quni Madi was so angry that her whole body started trembling. She did not expect that the new disciple of the Academy’s Back Mountain would actually completely ignore to respect an elder and instead wanted to teach her a lesson after the commander Chen Bachi had paid such a bloody price.

The Revelation Department Priest frowned slightly. In his opinion, even if Ning Que was a core disciple of the Headmaster of Academy and might represent the attitude of the Academy’s Back Mountain, Divine Hall absolutely did not allow him to launch an attack on Aunt Quni Madi, for Divine Hall had expressed its wish for harmony after the humiliation and bloodshed of a strongman.

Divine Hall was doomed to maintain her dignity because of the relationship between the Taoist power and the kingship of Yuelun Kingdom, Aunt Quni Madi’s status in the cultivation world and the Buddhism Sect powers behind her.

So the Priest cast a very casual glance towards Sword Garret of South Jin Kingdom.

…

…

Both the Headmaster of Academy and the students on the Second floor of the Academy seldom appeared in this secular world. But those worldly sects still greatly revered the Academy, for there were many legends about the Academy that were popular among different countries and sects that had been passed down from generation to generation. And the legends actually had formed a certain cogitation pattern. Besides, absence made the heart grow fonder thus, the longer the people did not see the Headmaster of Academy and people in the Back Mountain, the more mysterious people in the Academy became.

Now, they finally saw a disciple on the Second floor of the Academy. But there was nothing extraordinary about him, for he could not summon winds by opening his lips or call the rain by raising his hands. Besides, he showed such pride that their esteem caused by a mysterious and profound sense naturally faded away. Especially for those South Jin Kingdom Sword Masters, they were extremely proud to have the world’s first strongman Sage of Sword, Liu Bai, and also knew that this lad named Ning Que was the culprit who had killed a certain Senior Brother last year. It was more appropriate to say they were hateful rather than awe-inspiring.

Of course, that glance of the Revelation Department Priest was so as not to let a South Jin Kingdom Sword Master jump out and kill Ning Que. South Jin Kingdom Sword Masters would not do such a stupid thing. With just one thought of the legend about the Peach Mountain, one would know that even if the Sage of Sword, Liu Bai, was here in person, he would not offend the Academy for no reason.

A South Jin Kingdom Sword Master said in a low voice, “Mr. Thirteen, you are not a man of Divine Hall. How can you meddle in the matter of Divine Hall?”

Under the Priest’s gaze and the hatred of the South Jin Kingdom Sword Master towards Ning Que, this Sword Master could only utter a question and a rebuttal. Of course, since no one dared to question the Academy, it was also considered as a brave thing.

This sentence was naturally aimed at Ning Que’s censure to Aunt Quni Madi.

Ning Que glanced at that South Jin Kingdom Sword Master. He shook his head and said, “Are you an idiot?”

As soon as he uttered these words, he was shocked.

Sangsang had asked him if he thought everyone but himself was an idiot. He said there were indeed many idiots doing stupid things in the world. He used to refer to people as idiots behind their backs in front of Sangsang. Those idiots even included the Tang Princess. When he eavesdropped on the Emperor calling others idiots in the imperial study, he got a similar feeling from the Emperor. He and Chen Pipi had formed a bad habit of insulting each other as idiots via letters.

Only that… when he started cultivation, went into the Back Mountain and walked the road of becoming a bigwig, he seldom experienced such delight. So this time he felt a familiar longing and missed the word ‘idiot’ for he had not said it for a long time.

He smiled and looked at South Jin Kingdom Sword Master and continued in a soft and gentle voice. “Such an idiot. My master Yan Se is Great Divine Priest of West-Hill Divine Palace, with three levels: Gods of Revelation, Light and Judge. As his only successor, I saw someone corrupt Divine Hall’s reputation. If I didn’t meddle, wouldn’t I let down my master’s teaching and shame Haotian?”

At this time, one would probably turn back to ask the Revelation Department Priest: Your Excellency, do you think I should meddle or not? However, Ning Que did not ask, for he knew that his arrogance or his profiting at others’ expense was proper, but the excess arrogance and profiting too much would only bring him more trouble. At this time, obviously, the Revelation Department Priest did so in the name of equality. He had hunted in Min Mountain for many years and was very clear on what to do when he encountered a similar situation. So he no longer objected it.

The questioning full of courage and perseverance from the South Jin Kingdom Sword Master was blocked back by Ning Que’s casual words. In the tent, no other person questioned his qualification of caring about the Divine Hall’s affairs. Although the whole world knew that only based on political considerations, West-Hill Divine Palace granted the two Great Divine Priests of South School of Haotian Taoism. However, if they questioned this at this time, weren’t they not going against West-Hill Divine Palace in its presence?

Aunt Quni Madi’s face was so dark that her body slightly quivered when she stared at Ning Que’s eyes. Suddenly she laughed hoarsely and croaked. She said loudly, “A woman doesn’t serve others but her husband. But a disciple has two masters. I won’t ask Yan Se. But when I meet the Headmaster of Academy in the future, I’d like to ask him what he was thinking. Will he ruin his one-hundred-year reputation for a despicable and disgraceful disciple?”

Although there was no explicit statement, the implied meanings of the words were directed at the two masters. Although Ning Que had not seen the Headmaster of Academy, he had lived in the Back Mountain for a long time and did not allow anyone to be so presumptuous.

And he knew that today he could not control this shameless old woman. So he felt displeased for having no other way. However, he did not expect that she would show her weakness at this time. So he decided to take advantage of this chance to punish her.

Ning Que’s smile slowly faded away and he calmly said, “Previously you asked who my master was and wanted to teach me on behalf of my master. Now you know who my teacher is. But it seems that you also want to teach him.”

He slapped his palm on a table next to him, making the table fall down and the tea cups flew around splashing tea all over!

Ning Que pointed at Quni Madi’s nose, changing his facial expression like turning over a book, and furiously said, “According to the rules of seniority, you as an old lady should call me uncle! How dare you try to teach me? Don’t you know how to respect an elder? Do you want to ask the Headmaster? Do you think you can see the Headmaster at will? Do you want to teach him? Do you even want to bully your ancestor?”

Previously the commander of cavalrymen of Divine Hall blankly stared at Ning Que and thought this was the greatest humiliation he had ever had in his life.

At this moment, Quni Madi stretched out her trembling fingers and pointed at Ning Que, thinking that never before in her life had she been humiliated like this. However, due to the silence in the courtroom at this time, the old lady quickly understood that there was no way for her to get revenge today. Because Ning Que could simply not be reasoned with.

Ning Que was unreasonable.

He only talked about seniority.

…

…

As the sister of Yuelun Kingdom Emperor, she had the incomparable strength and extremely high status among the people of the Buddhism Sect. In the past decades, when she met people who were less powerful in strength, she bullied them with her strength. In case she met powerful people, she bullied them with her seniority. Besides, everyone respected her, so she had fared on smoothly all the way and gradually developed this kind of temperament. It could be regarded as hating evil in a good version or being arrogant and narrow-minded in a bad version.

She did not expect that someone would actually use this tactic to deal with her, and the only thing that she could do was listen to his words honestly, because there was nothing wrong with the other party according to her normal habit of speech and action.

The seniority of the Headmaster of Academy was indeed very high. Even if she was an elder woman with the highest seniority in Buddhism Sect, they had a gap of two generations. This meant that she should respectfully call Ning Que uncle if it was strictly required.

She humiliated her uncle and questioned her ancestors… This was equal to deceiving her teacher and bullying her ancestor.

Quni Madi was so exasperated that she felt dizzy in her mind. She actually seemed to vaguely see those fellows who dared not to look up under her fierce censures and pressure of seniority all these years. She wondered if she had to suffer the same humiliation today.

She stared at Ning Que and her skinny old hands hanging outside her sleeves started trembling violently. There was a strong wave of Qi of Heaven and Earth surging in the tent.

Ning Que looked up and watched her from a higher position. He calmly put his hands behind his back, there were no traces of aura fluctuations around his body.

He did not need to say anything, for he had clearly expressed his meaning.

“Come and hit me. Come and hit me. Do you dare to kill me? If only you old woman really got mad and dared to hit me in front of so many people. I don’t need the supermundane killers like Eldest Brother and Second Brother. All I need is to send Mr. Twelve Chen Pipi to kill you with only a glance.”

This respected aunt had not entered Knowing Destiny State.

Ning Que looked at her and shook his head. He sighed and said, “As a mighty person of Buddhism Sect, you actually don’t know how cheap your life is. No wonder you an elderly woman has such low morals and till now you still haven’t entered Knowing Destiny State.”

Although Quni Madi had a royal identity, she had perseverance and fortitude on cultivation, distinguished status, noble seniority and powerful strength. The most painful and regrettable thing in her life was that she could not step over that high threshold.

After continuous stimulation, she almost let her anger get the best of her. But she knew she could not attack Ning Que here. So she had been suppressing herself. But she never expected to hear such a sentence in the end!

Aunt Quni Madi forced herself to swallow the fresh blood that was about to pour out of her dry lips and used her last soberness to have a blackout. Whether this was true or not, she just fell down backward.

Everyone exclaimed in the tent.