Nightfall

Ning Que did not react at all.

He did not fully gather his wits until the invisible aura of finger had scratched his shoulder and struck a deep dark hole in the wall. A wave of freezing cold poured over him.

He did not know that this finger of Chen Pipi was the Natural Stream Magical Finger of the Zhishou Abbey. What made him shocked was not the power of the aura of finger, but the unpredictable various changes when Chen Pipi used it.

He clearly saw that Chen Pipi had pointed to the sky, so how did it land behind him?

Was that the no-boundary spirit of the Academy?

“What cultivators practice is the control of nature and themselves. We need to use our inner Psyche Power to control the Qi of Heaven and Earth. Our bodies are just like wood; the Psyche Power is like fire; nature is the stove; Primordial Qi is the ingredients; and the method of combat is how you combine the ingredients well together. Except for the factors mentioned, the key is the temperature at which you cook.”

“If you ask a chef how they control the heat, the common ones would tell you what kind of wood should be used and when to use it, or how long you should cook for. While only the top chefs would not tell you any theories because they know how the food on the stove is just by waving their hand in the steam. Such experience could only be obtained by numerous attempts and is hard to explain using words. Sometimes, people would feel that it is not realistic, but it can only be experienced by yourself.”

Looking at Ning Que in the cliff cave, Chen Pipi said, “The temperature of the heat is the intention.”

After thinking for a while, Ning Que understood what he meant. He knew better of the book which talked about the no-boundary spirit of the Academy.

He remembered the example that Chen Pipi had mentioned in the letter when he went to the old library in the Academy for the first time, and said, “The desire for food and sex is part of human nature, using these as examples made it easier to understand.”

Third Sister and Chen Pipi were appointed by the Headmaster of the Academy to teach classes on the cliff, mainly to solve Ning Que’s questions about the contents of these books. However, he could only learn about and absorb these by himself. After Chen Pipi had answered his questions, Ning Que decided to review all of these in the evening. For now, any further discussion would not help anymore.

He had been grounded in the cliff cave for ten days, having no idea what had happened outside the Academy. He asked, “Is it still peaceful in Chang’an City?”

Chen Pipi said, “When has Chang’an City not been? Why are you worried?”

Ning Que said, “It seems like someone in the imperial court has something against me. I know someone even tried to take Sangsang to the Military Ministry for questioning before we arrived back in the capital. You were there as well.”

Chen Pipi nodded and said, “That was solved easily, don’t worry about it.”

Ning Que shook his head and said, “Then what about the two sadhus we saw on the street in the morning a few days ago? Even though Dao Shi is from the Xuankong Temple, he isn’t capable of finding me so easily in such a large city like Chang’an. That is more likely to be designed by someone.”

Chen Pipi slightly frowned and said, “What are you suspecting?”

“Only the Imperial Center Administration and military departments can find out where I am.” Ning Que said, “Maybe someone from either one of them notified the Xuankong Temple.”

Listening to this, Chen Pipi frowned even more and said, “Supporting others to challenge someone who is entering the human realm in the Academy? Even the military departments don’t dare to do such a thing. Aren’t they afraid they’d be spurned by the citizens of Chang’an City if their deed was discovered?”

Ning Que had lived in the Tang army for many years, and he was clearer than anyone else on how the military operated. He said, “As long as it is favorable to the empire, the generals will be willing to do anything at any cost to get it done.”

…

…

After having a free meal of meat hot-pot, Chen Pipi wiped his mouth and ignored the dirty bowls and hummed all the way down the cliff. Although Ning Que had tried his best to curse him, he still did not fall off into the abyss.

Ning Que shouted at Chen Pipi while he looked at the floating clouds, but he could not be heard outside the clouds, which made him feel disappointed.

He stopped wasting time on this and went back into the cave, sitting cross-legged on the worn futon and closing his eyes, and continued to practice the Great Spirit as taught in the book.

The floating clouds between the cliffs seemed like they had no feelings at all. Sangsang, who was washing bowls by the edge of the cliff, clearly felt the changes in the cave. She looked back but could not see what she had seen previously, as there was no mist in the morning.

When the night came, Ning Que opened his eyes slowly and completed the day’s practice of Qi Refreshing. Looking at Sangsang, who was holding the dishes, he shook his head and said, “I’m not hungry yet, you can put them aside. Get some sleep if you feel tired, or talk to me if you’re bored.”

Sangsang knew that he was always worried that she would feel bored. She also knew him well enough to know that he would be in no mood or have time to chat until this problem was solved. She shook her head and smiled, put the meal box beside him, and then went back to the hut on the edge of the cliff.

Ning Que was still sitting cross-legged. He spread out his hands on his knees. A light yellow Fu paper appeared in his left hand, falling apart slowly and releasing the talisman intent into the air. There was nothing in his right hand, but the light of the oil lamp changed slightly.

The auras between his two hands are different from each other. On the left hand, it is the Qi of Heaven and Earth that condensed by the Fu paper. And on the right hand, it is the overflowing Great Spirit.

He looked at the two invisible auras closely in front of him, using his strong Psyche Power to carefully touch every single detail in the aura and wondered if he could discover something from it.

Although the Qi of Heaven and Earth over his left hand and the Great Spirit over his right hand were both like invisible air, he could still tell them apart by using the perception of Psyche Power.

Ning Que had read the two books and ruminated and practiced consistently since he had been grounded. Ning Que was now able to tell the auras apart, which looked the same but still had slight differences. However, he still could not find a way to unify the auras with different forms into the same, or even a similar status. He barely had any clue in this aspect.

According to the concepts in the book, the original aura inside cultivators of the Devil’s Doctrine, as well as the Great Spirit inside him, was all a kind of Qi of Heaven and Earth. If he could learn the original status through the current status, then he would be able to change the Great Spirit into the original form so as to break the inhibition in this cliff cave.

However, he was still far from reaching that level, let alone learning the specific skills.

He remembered that, on the day when he was challenged by Monk Guan Hai, he had found a way of using the Great Spirit with talisman after quite a while of thinking by the lake under Yanming Mountain, which worked effectively. The disorder of the Primordial Qi caused by talisman could be utilized to cover the aura of the Great Spirit effectively. However, Grand Cultivators could always see through the skill.

As the core disciple of the Headmaster of the Academy and a student from the Second floor of the Academy, he probably would not die immediately even if someone realized that he had joined the Devil. But what if he was seen through by other existences?

Sitting on the futon deep inside the cliff cave, Ning Que looked at the two auras in his hands and fell into a long period of thinking. Although he still looked calm, he felt terrified.

Sangsang came back from the hut at the edge of the cliff, found a dry place, and fell deeply asleep. Ning Que walked over to her, looked at her small dusky face for a long time, and tucked her in. Then he turned and walked deeper into the cliff cave.

He had been focused on answering questions these days and almost had forgotten the cliff cave. He decided to forget the confusion at the moment and started roaming.

The cliff cave was not big. The gate as tall as two people, entering which led to a small space. The wall was not very smooth and did not have any rocks on it. It could not be more normal. Continuing to explore deeper, there were two long caves on both sides.

These two caves were relatively narrow, and they reached the end within only around ten steps. There was tough granite all over the walls at the end of the caves, providing no chance for them to go any further.

Holding the oil lamp, Ning Que looked toward the wall. There were numerous fine cut-marks, which were more likely caused by sharp metal rather than having been naturally formed.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

In the deepest place of the Tianqi Mountains in the Far North of the Wilderness, in the palace of the Devil’s Doctrine, he once saw the sword marks on the wall left by his Youngest Uncle. It was the sword mark that had helped him understand what the Great Spirit truly was. He inherited the Youngest Uncle’s skills and that was why he was able to beat Master Lotus.

During the three years of the Youngest Uncle’s imprisonment, he must have been extremely bored, as no colleagues had ever visited him. Was it possible that it was he who had made these two caves with a sword?

If that was true, then would these marks contain some aura with some special meanings, just like the sword marks he had seen in the Devil’s Doctrine?

Holding the oil lamp, Ning Que stood in front of these cut marks, feeling more excited.

He went to grab a wooden stick and carried the oil lamp to the entrance of the narrow cave. Under the dim light, he started to carefully check the small wave-like marks on the wall.

No matter if he was right or not, it deserved to be tried.

He looked at it for a fairly long time, but still did not find any aura in those cut marks or any rules of those lines. But he did not give up. He put his hands on the wall after a while of silence, slowing touching the wall and feeling the roughness of it.

From the entrance of the cave to the bottom of the cave, from the ground to the top of the wall, he closely examined every cut mark for the entire night. A new day had come. He was exhausted but showed no sign of giving up.

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