Nightfall

Prince Long Qing slowly stood up and the snow residual on his black clothes fell on his boots. He looked at the other side of the snow cliff and said softly, “You can hide behind Calligraphy Addict all your life. But the question remains. Does she have the ability to shelter you forever? And does she want to do that?”

After he said that, he stepped over the low fence made of wood and blankly walked along the snow cliff to the other side. The snow cliff was extremely narrow, but it looked a little wider because of the snow residual. In fact, it only allowed several people to walk side by side. It seemed to be a natural stone bridge in the sky, dividing a snowy foothill and a verdant valley.

The face of the snow cliff facing the verdant valley was extremely steep. There were some weeds growing randomly on its dark gray rocky wall, making it difficult to climb. Besides, there were no roads on the cliff, making it very difficult to descend.

Within a short moment, Prince Long Qing had walked over 300 meters away. He looked at Mo Shanshan and said mildly, “Sister Shanshan, this time you practiced in the Wilderness. Have you seen Chen Jia? She often mentioned you at West-Hill.”

Mo Shanshan had already woken up from her bewilderment. She looked at him with a dignified and gentle look, prepared to say something. Unexpectedly Ning Que jumped out from behind her, looking at Prince Long Qing, and said first, “Your Highness, as the Priest of the Judicial Department in the Divine Hall, you should know what happened on the meadow and in the palace. Isn’t it a bit too late for you to sweet-talk us?”

Prince Long Qing looked slightly displeased, for he did know the conflicts between Calligraphy Addict and his fiancée. He was a proud person but nevertheless, he was gentle with Calligraphy Addict out of respect for her. If he had tried to play up to them as Ning Que said, wouldn’t that have made him a villain?

He looked at Ning Que in the distance and suddenly frowned. Because he found that Ning Que had improved a lot within months. So he said, “It seems that the back of the mountain has helped you a lot, for you’re almost entering the Seethrough state.”

Ning Que looked at him and laughed. “Your Highness, you’re joking again. If it was of no help, why did we compete with each other so hard and make other people watch us?”

Upon hearing the mockery hidden in Ning Que’s words, Prince Long Qing did not become angry, but looked at him and said calmly, “Sometimes I believe that you and I are predestined enemies. Because we kept running into each other in Chang’an City, in the back of the mountain and in the depth of Tianqi Mountain.”

Ning Que said, “This kind of fate, I’d rather abandon it.”

During the dialogue, Prince Long Qing did not stop walking towards the other side of the snow cliff.

He looked at Ning Que smilingly and suddenly said, “Haotian bestowed thousands of Lucky Chances on people. Whether you want it or not, you can’t avoid it if one Lucky Chance comes to you. Now I’m breaking the realm and entering Knowing Destiny State. And you’re entering Seethrough. Why don’t we gamble on the date of breaking the realm?”

“What if the Headmaster of Academy knew of my gambling?”

Ning Que thought of all kinds of cards in Seventh Sister’s room in the back of the mountain and said seriously, “Furthermore one needs his own cultivation plus a Lucky Chance to break the realm. Why should I gamble with you on the date of breaking the realm?”

Then he looked at the approaching Prince Long Qing and said, “And why should I give you a chance to complete your Taoist Heart? If you’re really my lifetime enemy, I won’t do anything that may be helpful to you.”

The first part was a lie and the second part was a sincere explanation. Prince Long Qing slightly startled and did not expect that Ning Que was actually being frank. He could not help smiling and said, “Do you want me to humiliate you so that you can have this gamble?”

Ning Que said seriously, “Buddhism Sect once said that one doesn’t need to care about the humiliation. Your Highness, if you want to humiliate me, please go ahead.”

Prince Long Qing was really startled and silently watched him for a long time, saying, “Are you really a Tang?”

Ning Que answered, “You can consider me a Yan.”

He was startled again and shaking his head he said smilingly, “Today, I find the name ‘Yan’ is not pleasing to the ears.”

Prince Long Qing was a Yan, whose pinyin “Yan” sounded liked another word which meant to be a eunuch. So he did not want to tolerate it any longer.

He looked at Ning Que coldly and said, “You don’t want to have a fight, but I do.”

Ning Que looked at him and said, “Even if I don’t fight back, you still want to fight. Do you want to kill me?”

Prince Long Qing shook his head and said, “Just to defeat you.”

Ning Que became much more serious, quietly watching that gaunt but handsome face of Prince Long Qing. After a long silence, he said in a serious tone, “Your Highness, please don’t try to defeat me, for I won’t give you the chance. If you touch me, I will kill myself now.”

…

…

The snow cliff was very narrow and seemed to be very long. But they still walked to its end.

Prince Long Qing stood opposite Ning Que as well as Mo Shanshan on both sides of the snow cliff. It started snowing gradually.

On this occasion, Ning Que had made such a speech.

If you do not buy me a gem, I will kill myself right now. If you do not make me breakfast, I will kill myself right now. Such quarrels were quite common and such words were usually said by some old ladies. Because only when they quarreled in the marketplace, would they use such terrible means.

However, Ning Que said it solemnly and in a serious tone. Unlike a bad-tempered lady who hit her husband and cursed her neighbors, he was like a calm and generous gentleman who picked up a slightly yellow leaf in the wind and was about to travel away with a sword.

Ning Que had made too many life and death choices in his life. So he was calm when he uttered the words “kill myself” which in turn made them sound more powerful than those of anyone else.

The intractable and sturdy Big Black Horse had been arrogant throughout the sturd-farm. However, when it heard of Ning Que’s threatening words in the meadow of the Academy, it was suddenly shocked with numb limbs and was loyal to Ning Que after that.

Prince Long Qing was a human being. Of course, he could understand Ning Que’s remark—I just did not want you to complete your Taoist Heart. Defeating me and killing myself were two different things—More crucially, from these seemingly calm words, he could feel that Ning Que would really dare to do such a thing. If Prince Long Qing forcibly launched a fight, Ning Que would really kill himself.

In the Judicial Department, he had seen many people, who were not afraid of death and did not care about the lives of others. They were his subordinates, Devil’s Doctrine survivors and the betrayers. But he had never seen one who was so vicious or careless with his own life.

Mo Shanshan also understood Ning Que’s words and her cheeks wrapped in a scarf looked slightly pale.

Ning Que looked at Prince Long Qing and said, “The Academy and the Divine Hall don’t get along well, but they have no interest in fighting with each other. But if I died here today, it would become very troublesome. So I must remind you that Yan Kingdom is too weak and my Second Brother has always been unreasonable.”

Prince Long Qing looked at his face and slightly frowned, saying, “You either hide behind a woman or behind the sect. I am beginning to wonder if you’re a Tang. I even doubt whether you’re a man.”

“What you said means nothing to me.”

Ning Que looked at him and replied earnestly. “Except a few people in this world, most people would like to hide behind a sect. If today you were banished from the Divine Hall and expelled from the Peach Mountain, and those Devil’s Doctrine survivors who had a grudge with you all these years and those people who dared not to offend you both wanted to kill you. Can you take it?”

Prince Long Qing silently looked at him and suddenly found that this young guy had actually seen this world through a dark lense, no trace of passion like the common young people.

Mo Shanshan looked at Ning Que’s back and also fell into silence. She had quietly listened to their dialogue for such a long period of time and naturally thought of Ning Que’s instruction in the carriage on the trip to the palace.

“What if I couldn’t defeat my opponent?”

“Run away.”

“What if we met?”

Ning Que said, “You can pretend to be hurt and beg for mercy, trying your best to weaken his mind. You can hit his mother, kill his family, slap his children in the face, and try every way to anger him. If you wear shoes, go to a thorny land. If you wear thick clothes, choose a cold place… ”

Today, she saw Ning Que’s response. These seemingly absurd and funny words showed that Ning Que was a cold-blooded person who could use unscrupulous means and ignore any honor or dignity for a victory. Ning Que must have gone through many tests of life and death as well as humiliation in his life to get to such a point.

…

…

Prince Long Qing looked at Ning Que’s face and suddenly laughed. His black hair on his shoulders gently swung along with the cold wind, as if he was about to drift away. But the words slowly slipping from his thin lips did not show that he was about to leave.

“I can see from your response that you seem to be a shameless rogue, but you actually have a great tough will. If one understands you, he will want to drink with you three thousand cups. Unfortunately I know you can’t drink too much. By the way, I can never forget your little handmaiden with a good drinking capacity. If you agree, I’m willing to give you three cities of Western Yan Kingdom in exchange for her. It’s quite good to have a drinking partner in the future.”

For no reason, the Son of god in West-Hill mentioned Sangsang who was in Chang’an City, naturally not for a real lament but a tough attempt at trying to pull away the fence in his Taoist Heart.

Ning Que slightly tilted his head and looked at Long Qing very carefully and meticulously, with no trace of emotion in his eyes. He was thinking who in Chang’an City had told Long Qing to test him with Sangsang.

Then he smiled and said, “She’s worthless. But I wouldn’t trade her for a country.”

Prince Long Qing slightly tilted the corners of his lips and said, “It seems like this little handmaiden really means a lot for you.”

Mo Shanshan slowly furrowed her thin and dark brows. She looked at Prince Long Qing and heard the implicit threat in his words as well as his determination to enrage Ning Que.

And then she felt some subtle changes in Ning Que, from a previously unscrupulous person to a stubborn young man left in the snowstorm.

She knew that Prince Long Qing finally found Ning Que’s weakness and could not help slightly lowering her eyes. And then she quickly entered into an absolutely peaceful state of mind. The Fu paper in her fingers started trembling despite the lack of wind.

Ning Que suddenly said, “I have a horse.”

The blizzard suddenly disappeared on the snow cliff and it became quiet.

“It’s a dark horse.”

Ning Que straightened his body, watching Prince Long Qing, and continued calmly. “Your fiancee Princess Chen Jia also has a horse.”

“A white horse.”

“Whether it’s a dark or white horse, a stallion or a mare, it’s a good one as long as I can ride it .”

Upon listening to these words, Prince Long Qing suddenly became angry and took another step forward. The snow residual on the cliff became a snowstorm floating from the ground toward the sky.

Mo Shanshan slowly looked up at the gradually approaching Prince Long Qing and thought of Ning Que’s last sentence in the carriage. A cold wind blew by and her face became stiff but charming.

Prince Long Qing blankly looked at her and said, “Ink Lake really wants to fight the Divine Hall? But I’m really curious about how powerful Calligraphy Addict’s Half Divine Talisman is.”

“Did I say I wanted to fight with you? Did I say she wanted to fight with you?”

Ning Que suddenly raised his right arm pointing at his face and said, “In the palace, my black horse defeated your white horse. And I also want to see if I can defeat you. So I accept the bet you mentioned earlier.”

…

…

Mo Shanshan looked at the side of his face in a puzzle and wondered why he accepted it now when he had rejected it earlier.

Prince Long Qing did not want to agree, but he saw an embroidered purse… hanging on Ning Que’s wrist.

It was silver-blue and embroidered with simple decorations. It gently shook in the blizzard and looked very simple.

However, Prince Long Qing knew that it was not simple at all, for he could feel the powerful aura that came out of that purse. So he decided to wait and hear what Ning Que wanted to say.

In any situation, a complete Divine Talisman was worth waiting a moment for.

He said blankly, “You continue.”

Ning Que said, “We gamble on the date of break the realm. The one who breaks the realm wins. The loser destroys his own Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi. If I lose, I’ll leave the Academy. If you lose, you’ll leave the Divine Hall.”

He said in a very common tone, but the bet was extremely uncommon.

After destroying Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi, one cultivator would become a useless person. The additional conditions were extremly vicious, making one cultivator’s life worse than death. He was actually gambling with the two most precious things of a cultivator.

Ning Que looked at him and said, “This gamble is good for you, for you need to remove me from the path to cultivate your Tao Heart. You don’t need to thank me. Though you were never an obstacle to my cultivation, I still wanted to kill you from the beginning. However, I didn’t want to take a risk but now I will give myself a chance to kill you.”

Prince Long Qing quietly looked at him and suddenly laughed facing the blizzard on the cliff.

On the snow cliff, a dangerous gamble began.

“In the name of Haotian.”

“In the Headmaster’s reputation.”

Ning Que looked at Prince Long Qing and said with a smile. “I hope you’ll be alright the next time we meet.”

And then he gradually hid his smile and said slowly and firmly, “If you’re well, I’ll be a super idiot.”

After finishing the sentence, he took Mo Shanshan and they jumped off the snow cliff towards that verdant valley. A short moment later, a flower-like black umbrella suddenly appeared among the steep rock walls and they suddenly fell down in a slower speed.

Prince Long Qing walked to the edge of the snow cliff and watched the bottom of the rock wall. He remembered that it was obviously a Divine Talisman made by uncle Yan Se in that purse. Soon he felt a little disappointed.

Ning Que had a low state and a bad moral quality. But after all, he still was the World Wayfarer. Although Prince Long Qing was the Son of god in West-Hill, he could not arbitrarily kill Ning Que. Unless he really did not care about provoking a war between the Academy and the Divine Hall—Fortunately, today he tried his best to push Ning Que to make a gamble with him. The Academy should not meddle in it.

He thought that he finally could remove that firewood from his Tao Heart, which made him calm down. He slowly walked back along the snow cliff and sat cross-legged behind that wooden fence, meditating in the snow and wind. As time went by, he gradually became a snowman, waiting for the day of breaking the realm.