Nightfall

Seeing that the master was walking towards the direction of the waterfall, Eldest Brother and Second Brother could guess something. But even so, they still thought that the punishment of locking Youngest Brother up at the Back Cliff was too harsh. It was right that when you force someone to suffer a great deal, they will become a whole new person, but not everyone was like Youngest Uncle.

Yu Lian tidied the calligraphy stationery on the table and walked out of the hut. She stopped when passing by Ning Que and said softly, “If you can’t make master change his decision, you should take your handmaiden and follow him. Don’t let him wait for too long.”

Ning Que was staring at the master too, hoping that he would forget about him after laughing for a while. If so, he could just escape from this tragedy. But after hearing what Third Sister said, he realized it was just daydreaming. He sighed, smiled bitterly and then followed her to the chairs on the meadow.

Senior Sister Yu Lian said to Tang Xiaotang, “Follow me, I will arrange accommodations for you.”

Tang Xiaotang nodded happily. She waved goodbye to Sangsang and said, “It seems like I will stay here for a long time. Remember to visit me.”

Sangsang nodded.

Tang Xiaotang followed Yu Lian. She was walking in a light mood, she was so happy that she was walking like a rolling stone, while next to her, Yu Lian was as elegant and quiet as a nice tree. Despite their small figures, their ages and auras were totally different. But when walking together, it looked really harmonious.

Ning Que looked back at Sangsang and said with a smile, “I went to see the master just then. He was so happy to see me that he decided to teach me some secret cultivation skills, so I need to study carefully at the back of the mountain. Why don’t you go home first to look after the shop and I will be back as soon as I finish my things.”

The master had asked him to take Sangsang here today so that there was someone to look after him after he was locked up. But Ning Que would never agree to have Sangsang be locked up there with him.

Sangsang looked at him and said softly, “You were talking very loudly. And you know how good my ears are, so I heard all the talking.”

Ning Que was silent for a while, then he said, “Yes, I am punished to be locked up at the Back Cliff, I really don’t know when I will break the confinement and go out.”

Sangsang looked at him in concern, “What should we do?”

Ning Que looked at her.

She shook her head, “I will definitely go with you.”

Ning Que said after thinking for a while, “Let’s see how it goes. If I will be there for a long time, then you go to the Scholar’s Mansion first. I think no one will stop you.”

Sangsang didn’t say anything.

Ning Que looked at the path stretching towards the wood under the waterfall and the master who was about to disappear in the wood. After being silent for a while, he and Sangsang started walking.

When the hut disappeared behind them, Sangsang looked around and pulled on his sleeve. She asked quietly, “Did the Academy decide to lock you up because you joined the Devil?”

Ning Que replied, “Eldest Brother probably always knows what happened after I got the Great Spirit of Youngest Uncle in the Wilderness. The master definitely knows too. But I am not sure whether the punishment is about this. It wasn’t mentioned in the hut.”

There was an old plum tree on the path.

The flowers scratched Sangsang’s darkish face and made the expression on her face even more serious. She said with a lower voice, “My teacher said you are the son of Yama.”

Ning Que said with anger, “Don’t mention your silly teacher. I have told you I am not.”

Sangsang said with worry, “But is the Academy locking you up because of this?”

Ning Que didn’t want to admit it, but his mood turned heavier.

…

…

Together with his mood, his steps also became heavy. Ning Que had no idea what was waiting for him in the back of the mountain. He took Sangsang’s hand and walked slowly in silence.

The black gown in front was dancing in the wind. Sometimes it disappeared in the wood, and sometimes it reappeared next to the waterfall. The master was always somewhere they could see, although it looked as if he was walking fast.

They walked past Second Brother’s yard and went nearer to the silver waterfall. The sound of the waterfall was thunderous and in the air there was cool fog made by the splashes of the water. It made the air so refreshing.

However, Ning Que was breathing fast because he really wanted to turn around and leave this place with Sangsang. But he knew very well that was impossible. And even if they could escape from the Academy, they would not be happy because all the efforts in the past years were in vain. They would go back to the dim life again.

Following the dancing black gown, they arrived at the waterfall.

Under the waterfall was a quiet lake. There was no water flowing towards the direction of the cliff platform, which proved that this lake was not connected with Mirror Lake. The water overflowed from the lake and onto the stones on the right.

Holding Sangsang’s hand, Ning Que stepped on the stones and walked towards the direction of the flowing water. Together with the streams, he walked into a deep valley.

The valley was very narrow, and only of 100 feet high. On the top, the rocks bent inwards and connected together, making it look like a natural cave. The air in the cave was humid and there was moss on the walls. The streams flowing out from the lake were still teeming between the stones.

In front of the valley was blue sky. And the valley cut it into the shape of a beautiful blue plate. Ning Que and Sangsang walked towards the blue hole.

As they walked further, the valley became even narrower. And the streams between the stones also became rapid, washing against the moss on the stones.

Once they left the valley, they were faced with a steep cliff. The rapid water rushed and danced when flowing down from the cliff. And the line of the water cut the blue sky into two halves.

Sangsang held Ning Que’s hand tightly. She became speechless when looking at the beautiful scenery.

The end of the dark path was an impressive view.

The wind was howling between the mountains. Standing at the edge of the cliff and watching the waterfall falling down, you couldn’t hear any sound. It was as quiet as if the cliff would never end.

Ning Que couldn’ t see the abyss. Actually, apart from the sky, he couldn’t see anything.

The cliff stretched towards the two ends of the sky. It was as big as the huge desert in the north of the palace in the grassland. But this desert was in the sky.

Compared with the endless cliff, the mouth of the valley where they were standing was just a tiny place, and the waterfall was just a thin line. Ning Que looked at the distance and saw several waterfalls hanging down from the cliff, which were all different and special. Together they made a very beautiful scene.

An endless cliff stood against the blue sky, from which thin waterfalls dropped down. They made a huge world, and anyone who stood here would be impressed by this beautiful scenery and no matter how powerful they were, they would always feel that they were so small.

Ning Que walked one step towards the cliff and he looked down with Sangsang’s hand in his hand. The cliff was shrouded in fog, with no end visible. No one knew how deep it was.

The several waterfalls dropped from the cliff to the fog and cloud, splashing circles of clouds up. And then they disappeared. It was so mysterious that it seemed as if there was another world beneath the cloud and fog.

The Back Cliff in the back of the mountain was a beautiful new world.

But the beautiful world would easily make people feel so impressed that they didn’t know what to do.

Standing at the edge of the cliff, watching the cloud moving around and seeing the waterfalls dropping into the cloud didn’t make Ning Que delighted and felt that he was in heaven. Instead, it made him scared.

Thinking about the road he took, he was sure that this was the west of the mountain, and that was why during the last two years, on the way from Chang’an to the Academy, he had never seen this mountain before.

Although the cliff seemed very steep, there were narrow paths on it. Ning Que looked up and saw the master walking quickly on the cliff, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right. But no matter how concentrated he was, it was still hard to know which side the master was on.

Holding Sangsang’s hand, Ning Que started walking up. They grew up in Min Mountain and were very familiar with climbing cliffs. So when facing this cliff, they were very calm as if they didn’t see the steep cliff and the high sky.

Higher on the cliff, less green was seen. At this place, there was no lake or hut, no laughter or music, no pines or meadows. This was a totally different world, only a cliff stood here, facing the sky silently for thousands of years.

At the end of the path, there were a platform meadow and a humble straw hut. At the edge of the cliff was a cave, and the master was sitting on the edge, looking in the distance.

Ning Que walked behind the master and looked in the distance too.

Far away from the clouds, he could even see Chang’an city. At dusk, the golden rays shone on the dark city walls, reflecting a holy luster.

That was the most majestic city in the world, the perfect creation of mankind.

The image of the city at dusk filled Ning Que with some complicated feelings. He was speechless for a long time and then said quietly, “Chang’an is really beautiful at this time.”

The master said, “Chang’an is always beautiful.”

Ning Que said, “The people who built it were really amazing, aren’t they?”

The master opened the meal box and took out of two urns full of liquor. He said, “They are not amazing, the people who are protecting the city are amazing.”

Ning Que was surprised.

The master drank up all the liquor and ate a slice of mutton. He stared at Chang’an in a way that as if he would never become bored with watching it and smiled.

Chang’an was at dusk.

The master was watching the city.

He was watching his own Chang’an City.

Looking at his master, Ning Que felt a complicated feeling. It cleared away all the worry and negative feelings on his mind.

What did it feel like when looking down at the world from the top of the clouds and looking down at the secular world from the supermundane world? Was the master protecting this city, or was he protecting the whole empire, or the whole world?

…