Nightfall

That was the method that the Headmaster had taught him with a rod on the balcony of the Building of Pines and Cranes. Eldest Brother had also taught him a vague lesson about it in the Wilderness. He had also thought of that method when he was imprisoned in the cliff cave.

The method was simple, clear and was filled with power. However, from another respect, one could also say that it was a foolish one. It was completely at odds with Ning Que’s take on life, which appeared bright on the surface but was actually dark inside.

Standing on the street of Chang’an in the slowly darkening spring day, Ning Que thought about what would happen after autumn. In a while, he felt passionate, and then he felt sad. He did not notice a cloud drifting from the north.

“Are you Mr. Thirteen?”

Ning Que turned around to see a man bowing to him respectfully. The man wore ordinary clothes, but the clothes did not hide the unique tough aura that belonged to someone from the military.

He had become a famous person in Chang’an since last spring. But there weren’t many who have seen his face and could recognise him on the streets.

Ning Que was a little wary, especially due to the identity of the other person.

The man’s next words state his identification.

“General Xu Shi would like to invite you over.”

The Tang Empire was renowned for its military power and martial strength and it counted on its military force to unite the whole country. Naturally, the people of the Tang Empire respected those from the military and revered the four great generals of their empire.

Defender-general of the State, Xu Shi, had fought for the empire on the battlefield for decades and had gained countless victory and glory. He conquered numberless territory for the empire. His efforts in gaining more territory for the empire were unparalleled. Even Xia Hou, who had built his great reputation in the recent years could not compare to him. He was the most highly regarded person in the military of Tang no matter in battle experience or in reputation.

Ning Que knew that the most powerful general in the military did not have a good impression of himself. He did not know the exact reason for his bad impression, but he knew that he would definitely meet the general eventually. He just did not expect he would do that today, and did not expect himself to be followed by the Tang military just as he left the palace.

General Xu Shi did not choose the Military Ministry, but had chosen the General’s Mansion near the Vermilion Bird Avenue as the meeting place. It meant that this was a private conversation.

Ning Que frowned slightly as he followed the man into the looming General’s Mansion. He was aggravated by the chilling aura exuded by the trees and rocks in the mansion.

Entering the depths of the General’s Mansion, he saw the general sitting by a desk on a quiet platform.

The old general did not wear his court uniform or his official robes, or his armor as well. Instead, he put on a simple cloth shirt. He was not gardening or sharpening his sword. Instead, he was eating.

The dishes on the table were simple. There were two bowls of brown rice, a bowl of pork belly and three slices green vegetables.

The man who brought Ning Que into the mansion left silently.

Ning Que stood outside the platform. After a moment of silence, he went up the stairs and bowed slightly to the general.

The old general said, “Sit.”

Ning Que tidied his Academy uniform and sat facing the general.

The old general said, “I did not think that you’d come so quickly. Please, allow me to eat before we speak. Mr. Thirteen, please forgive me for not treating my guest in proper manners.”

Ning Que lowered his head and said, “General, please do not say that. It makes me feel stressed.”

The general did not say anything else and continued to finish his food concentratedly.

The old general’s hair was white and his slightly tanned face was full of wrinkles. He was slightly hunchbacked. In the ordinary cloth shirt, he looked like any old man on the streets of Chang’an. However, when he used his chopsticks to pick up the meat, it looked like he was holding a riffle and piercing it through his enemy’s chest. He looked incredibly mighty.

The general might be old, but he wasn’t an old general.

A general was a general.

Especially before his enemies.

The pork belly sauce mixed with brown rice smelt aromatic. However, it tasted ordinary. But the general enjoyed it as his white beard twitched occasionally. When he crunched the three slices of boiled vegetables, it made great clear sounds, it looked like a devil in the Underworld was chewing human bones.

The general ate very fast, perhaps because he had established such a habit in his military career. The dishes on the table were cleared quickly like a tornado had torn through it. Then, he swirled some tea around in his mouth and gargled.

Ning Que said, “It is bad for your health to eat and drink so hurriedly.”

The general looked at him quietly and said, “You do not have to pretend before me.”

Ning Que was silent. Then, he decided not to pretend to be a gentle and caring young man.

The general said, “A cultivator should leave the human realm, not enter it.”

Ning Que did not think that this conversation would be so direct that without any lead-ins or warning ,it got the key point at the start. He was slightly shocked and did not know what to do.

He had thought that this would be a long conversation that was like boiling chicken soup. He thought it needed gentle flames, but did not expect that the fire was so strong and grew so rapidly. If he did not pay attention, the vegetables in the wok would char and become inedible.

“Why shouldn’t we enter the human realm?”

Ning Que asked after a pause.

The general looked into his eyes and said blandly, “Because to cultivators, mortals are too weak. They are like ants to them. A cultivator who enters the human realm will become arrogant and proud.”

Ning Que raised his head and looked back to the general’s calm and pressing gaze. He said. “General, you have fought for the Tang Empire and have been living in the secular world for decades.”

“My identity as a soldier comes before my identity as a cultivator.”

The general said calmly, “This is the greatest difference.”

Ning Que said, “I am also a soldier.”

The general shook his head slowly and said, “You were a soldier, and you were an outstanding one. But regretfully, you were not a cultivator when you were a soldier.”

“What is the difference?” Ning Que asked.

The general squinted and said in a low voice, “If you were able to cultivate in the City of Wei, I would have trained you well into an impressive martial cultivator. You’d then be able to understand what the battlefield is and then there would be no more stories that had happened later.”

Ning Que said after a short moment of silence, “I do not understand what you mean.”

“I have seen all your files.”

The general’s voice did not convey any extra emotions but remained cold and calm. He said, “You were not a bad soldier, but you did not have true battle experience with cultivators.”

Ning Que fell silent once more. He had joined the army in the City of Wei when he was very young. However, the Tang Empire was strong and not even the cavalry of the Golden Palace on the Wilderness dared to challenge them. He had indeed not experienced true battles. He had not seen the performance of cultivators on the battlefield in the years he was in the army at the frontier fortress.

The general said, “Those of the secular world think that cultivators are strong. But they do not know that on the true battlefields against cavalry that come at you in waves, cultivators are equally weak.”

Ning Que thought about cultivators like Second Brother and could not agree.

The general seemed to know what he was thinking and said coldly, “Even cultivators in the Knowing destiny State have no other choice but to die when faced with arrows raining down on him and thousands of armored cavalry against him. This has been proven on the battlefield countless times. Do you know why?”

Ning Que shook his head.

The general said, “That is because the body of a cultivator is too weak. Unless they can cross the threshold and pass through the fifth state and into the Limitless State, they cannot disregard the arrows raining down on them. Unless they enter the Tianqi State, and apprehend the dignity bestowed upon them by Haotian, they cannot overlook any impact by the cavalry. A single cultivator can never be the match for an army. ”

“What about those in the Peak state of Martial Arts like you, or General Xia Hou?” Ning Que asked.

General Xu Shi said, “Martial cultivators use their Psyche Power to control the Qi of Heaven and Earth and train their bodies. They use their Psyche Power to condense the Qi of Heaven and Earth on their bodies. However, all humans have a limit to their sense of perception. One’s psyche power is limited. If a cultivator who cannot be killed by one or 100, then I will send 10,000 people. Anyway, he will die in the end. You have to remember, that if cultivators in the Peak state of Martial Arts were really undefeatable, why would the empire have so many cavalries?”

Ning Que placed his right hand on the table and looked into the general’s deep-set eyes. He said, “One cultivator’s life can exchange for the life of 10,000 ordinary soldiers. Can’t he be considered as powerful?”

The general looked at him with a straight face and said, “There will not be an ordinary cultivator in that 10,000 people. There are few Grand Cultivators in this world who have to be defeated by ten thousand people. Exchanging the lives of 10,000 soldiers for the death of a cultivator like that is a bargain in war.”

Ning Que became silent for the third time.

He turned around to look at the trees standing straightly in the garden and at the rocks that were piled up randomly. He had to admit that the strongest man in the military had a viewpoint that was both correct and incisive. It could not be refuted.

He knew the reason for this conversation between General Xu Shi and himself. That was why he felt that he could not be persuaded like this. He frowned slightly and said, “But general yourself and General Xia Hou are cultivators, too.”

The conversation had gone in a round-about and returned to where it had started.

“Cultivating in Martial Arts is both difficult and clumsy. One cannot see any results unless they cultivate for decades. Many people practice it and become strong, but give up halfway when they gain some muscle and become the followers of Sword or Psyche Masters. That is why Martial Arts Cultivation is meaningless to many cultivation sects.”

The general said, “Only in the military can the martial cultivator have a chance to grow through war. To reach the peak of cultivation, you don’t know how many you have to kill and how many injuries you have to suffer.”

Ning Que asked, “What has this to do with the thing that you want to tell me?”

“What I want to say is, martial cultivators are all in the army. Just like what I told you at the beginning, they are firstly soldiers who adhere strictly to the laws in both the eyes of man and themselves. Their cultivators identity is secondly important. They do not use umbrellas in the summer, nor wear heavy clothes in winter. They do not have many desires.”

“I understand.”

Ning Que looked at the leftover in the plate that was containing the vegetable dish. Then, he said, “But I do not understand why you would want to tell me this. What do you really want to tell me?”

The general looked at him with a face devoid of all expressions. He said, “What I want to tell you is that you are very weak. No matter how fast your state rises, you are still weak in my eyes and in the eyes of the Tang army. Should I give an order, the armored black cavalry can crush you. You only have 13 arrows, and how many tricks can you play with a sword like Liu Yiqing’s? So do not become arrogant and you need to learn to respect the laws of the Tang Empire.”

Ning Que raised his head and looked at the general’s wizened old face. He said, “I have always been law-abiding.”

The general said coldly, “I have said, that I have read all your files. Since I have read all of them, they are not restricted only to what happened in the City of Wei. I know how many Horse Gang members have died under your blade by the Shubi Lake. There were three families of hunters in the Min Mountain that have been killed in the arson you committed. I know that as well.”

“I have said, do not pretend before me.”

The general’s voice was frigid when he said, “It is fine to kill the Horse Gang, as the law of the Tang Empire do not protect citizens outside of its boundaries. However, how are you going to answer to what happened in the Min Mountain? There was a newborn in one of the families who died in the fire. How will you explain that?”

“No matter how much you try to hide before the Headmaster and His Majesty, and no matter the image you present to the world and no matter how you pretend to be the frivolous fool after you came to Chang’an, you can’t change that fact. You are an unscrupulous, shameless, greedy, and savage villain.”

Ning Que lowered his head once more and did not say anything.

He did not expect that the military would trace so far back in his history once they began checking. He felt that all his clothes had disappeared and that he was standing naked.

This was not shame or guilt in his heart, but wariness and vigilance. He had never thought that he was a good person and had never wanted to be one.

He would do anything to ensure that he and Sangsang lived. Killing and committing arson were nothing. The unscrupulous acts of the past that the military had uncovered were but just snippets of his past that was filled with blood. How could someone like him be a good person?

Xu Shi looked at him and said in disgust, “Ning Que, you are not worthy to be a man.”

All was silent on the platform.

Ning Que suddenly raised his head and looked at Xu Shi who was across him. He smiled and asked, “General, is everyone on earth sinless and as clean as snow?”

The general looked at him and mocked, “Are you using the sin of others to comfort yourself about your filthiness?”

Ning Que shook his head and said, “General, you said that it is not easy to become a martial cultivator and that the soldiers of Tang have their own difficulties. These are not interesting to me, because you have not experienced my life and you do not know what I have gone through, so you cannot understand my choices at that time.”

He looked at the general and smiled, “You were caught by a hunter in the forests of the mountain. You did not know why. Perhaps you stole a rabbit from his trap ten days ago, or because the hunter was a damn rabbit himself. Or perhaps the hunter was a relative of that damnable old hunter. He wanted to kill you. What would you do?”

The general frowned.

Ning Que did not wait for the general’s reply. He smiled and continued, “Do not forget. You were not even ten, at that time. You were tired and weak from malnourishment and you took a five or six-year-old girl with you. You were injured and did not have any weapons. You only have a lighter in your pants and you are imprisoned in the woodshed.”

“I do not know what you would do.”

“But I would definitely light up all the dried grass and firewood in that woodshed.”

“I do not care if that hunter would die. I don’t care if there was a baby in the room. I would set fire on that pile even if there was a paralyzed centenarian in that room.”

Ning Que’s smile was gentle and his eyes were calm.