Nightfall

Ning Que was quite satisfied with his performance. His words made Xu Shi sunk in his own thoughts, too distracted to keep questioning him. But he was surprised to see that his words didn’t change Xu Shi’s mind of finding a person to fight with him.

When seeing that Wang Jinglue take out a challenge certificate issued by the Imperial Center Administration, he knew that a fight was unavoidable. It was really lame, Ning Que thought to himself.

And if Xu Shi had decided to beat him down with a powerhouse from the army, why did he still talk so much with him?

Was Xu Shi really thinking that he could make him regret his crime and confess just by talking with him? That thought was also lame.

But lame or not, Wang Jinglue was still standing here. His determined eyes and mild face all showed that he wanted a fight.

Ning Que had never met Wang Jinglue, but he had heard of him. He knew that he needed to be cautious of anyone who dared to call himself the most powerful person among those below Knowing Destiny State. And he had heard a story from his master Yan Se.

Two years ago at the Spring Breeze Pavilion, when Ning Que was killing someone at Henger Street at that rainy night, Wang Jinglue was waiting in a carriage on the street. They should have met each other, if not for the Jing Fu that separated them.

“I have learned Jing Fu,”

Ning Que said happily to Wang Jinglue. It was more like informing him of a piece of good news, rather than showing off.

But Wang Jinglue wasn’t happy for him. He said with a bitter expression, “It was said that it was Master Yan Se who let His Majesty send me to the general’s army. I am very grateful for that. But why are you using him to insult me?”

“I am just telling you the truth, I don’t mean to insult you. And why do we have to fight anyway?”

Wang Jinglue sighed, holding the certificate in his hand, and said, “This is the first challenge certificate the Military Ministry got from Imperial Center Administration in the last ten years. Do you still think the fight is avoidable?”

Ning Que looked at Xu Shi and said scornfully, “You have found foreigners to challenge me before. But now you find someone from your army. Do you forget that we are all Tangs?”

Xu Shi was silent, looking in the distance outside the railing.

After breaking through the confinement in the cave, Ning Que improved quickly to the upper part of the Seethrough State. If not so, he wouldn’t be able to do that powerful hack. But anyway, his state was still below the Knowing Destiny State.

He was not confident enough to say that he could defeat Wang Jinglue, who was nicknamed Invincible prior to Knowing Destiny.

“I don’t accept the challenge.”

Ning Que said, “It seemed that I have to accept your challenge since the Academy has entered the human realm. But we are both soldiers of Tang, and it will be embarrassing for both of us if other people know that we fought against each other.”

“I have said that I won’t feel embarrassed. It is fine for me,” said Wang Jinglue.

“I am more shameless than you,”

Said Ning Que. He walked to the railing and looked at the meadow and forest outside. “Have you finished that thing?” yelled Ning Que.

A young man a lot fatter than Wang Jinglue walked out from the forest. He rubbed his hands and walked slower than a lady. It was obvious that he didn’t want to go into the building at all.

Ning Que yelled to him again, “If you don’t hurry up, I will be beaten up!”

The young chubby man suddenly became annoyed and yelled back, “Are you not worried that I will be beaten up then?”

Ning Que peered at Xu Shi, who was standing next to the railing, and said, “Someone thinks he belongs to the upper class. He won’t be so shameless to beat a fat man up.”

…

The sound of him walking up the stairs was heard in the attic.

Chen Pipi climbed up the stairs to the attic, panting heavily. He first bowed to Xu Shi respectfully, then he looked at Wang Jinglue and said, “You have to fight with me first.”

Wang Jinglue looked at him and remembered the fight in Chang’an Local Government on new year’s day. He looked even more worried and said helplessly, “Why are you here again?”

Ning Que explained, “Of all the people on the Second Floor of the Academy, he was the only one I could get.”

“Wang Jinglue smiled bitterly, “I am Invincible prior to Knowing Destiny, but still it has to be prior to Knowing Destiny State, I am no match for Mr. Twelve. But I would like to fight with Mr. Thirteen first.”

Chen Pipi shook his head and took out a thick pile of paper from his clothes. He licked his finger, took the paper on the top of the pile and showed it to Wang Jinglue.

“This is a challenge certificate from the Imperial Center Administration.”

“And it was issued and stamped earlier than yours”

“I have got 62 of them and they are all issued earlier than yours.”

“Even if you are going to fight with Ning Que, you need to finish the 62 fights with me first.”

Wang Jinglue was shocked. He took the pile of paper and looked at them. He was never scared of anything and even when Chen Pipi beat him down with only one finger, he was still not scared. But now he was.

Failure was not scary, but what if he failed 62 times?

Chen Pipi didn’t use the Natural Stream Magical Finger with the no-boundary spirit.

But Wang Jinglue felt an urge to vomit blood as if he had been hit by the Natural Stream Magical Finger.

Ning Que looked at the old man and said, “I thought you wouldn’t choose such a lame way like finding a person to fight with me. But I still did some preparation, in case it does happen.”

“According to the related rules in the fourth chapter of the law of Tang, anyone who wants to fight with me has to fight with my Tewlveth Senior Brother first.”

“If you don’t want Wang Jinglue to vomit blood every day and die in the end, you had better not try.”

Wang Jinglue’s face looked terrible.

Chen Pipi walked to Xu Shi and bowed again. He said, “Second Brother wanted me to deliver a message to you. He said that the Academy is not allowed to interfere with the Imperial Court’s affairs, in that case, the Imperial Court should better not do that to the Academy as well.”

Xu Shi had been silent since Chen Pipi showed up.

As the most powerful person in the Military Ministry, he certainly didn’t care about Chen Pipi. But he was still respectful to some of the people in the back of the mountain in the Academy, such as the very bold Second Brother.

“Please also take my words to him,”

Xu Shi said, “What should I do if someone in the Academy has already interfered with the business of the Imperial Court?”

Chen Pipi was silent for a moment, and then he said, “Second Brother had expected such a question. He said that even so, the Academy would deal with it. But of course, if you have some solid proof that can show someone from the back mountain really did it, he would first tell the Headmaster and then discuss it with the Imperial Court.”

…

Chen Pipi and Ning Que walked down from the building and went back to the forest and the meadow.

Chen Pipi said suddenly, “General Xu Shi is good.”

Ning Que looked at a tree standing before the stone path for carriages and said, “He is a hypocrite.”

Chen Pipi shook his head and said, “No, he isn’t.”

Ning Que said, “He seems to care about justice, but actually he let evil people get away with crimes many times. Does that not make him a hypocrite?”

Chen Pipi said, “The Headmaster once said that if one is good in nature, and he just gives in for something more important, then you can say he is not brave enough, but you can’t say that he is a hypocrite.”

Ning Que kicked a stone away and said, “I consider the best man in the world an evil guy if he is not kind to me.”

Chen Pipi thought about it for a moment before answering, “That makes sense as well.”

Ning Que sniffed and looked at him, confused, “Why are you so sweaty?”

The clothes on Chen Pipi’s back was drenched by sweat.

He explained, “Fat people can’t stand the heat.”

Ning Que shook his head, showing that he didn’t buy that explanation.

Chen Pipi said annoyedly, “Your sweat had turned into salt. How dare you laugh at me?”

Ning Que said slowly like Eldest Brother, “I am just someone at the Seethrough State and I am the one involved in this whole thing. It is normal for me to be scared. But you are a Grand Cultivator at the Knowing Destiny State, how embarrassing is it that you are so scared!”

Chen Pipi suddenly stopped walking and looked at him. He said seriously, “Do you know who Xu Shi is?”

Ning Que shook his head.

Chen Pipi said, “He is one of the most powerful people in the world. Just then in the attic, if he wanted, he could kill lots of people like us easily.”

Ning Que thought to himself, why didn’t he feel that?

“The scariest thing is his identity as the Defender-general of the State. He rules the Military Ministry of Tang, where there were countless powerhouses and thousands of cavalry. He was invincible indeed.”

Chen Pipi continued, “Why can’t I be scared when facing such a bigwig?”

Ning Que mocked him, “Then why am I not scared?”

“Because you are an idiot.”

Cheng Pipi shouted at him, “Even Liu Bai would be terrified if it was him facing the whole Military Ministry. But you didn’t take it seriously. What else are you if not an idiot?”

Ning Que asked, “What was our Youngest Uncle facing against?”

Chen Pipi said, “He was facing against the whole world. But what makes you think you are as powerful as him?”

Ning Que said, “I am no way as powerful as him, but I know more tricks than him.”

Chen Pipi corrected him, “You should say that you are more shameless than him.”

Ning Que didn’t bother to correct him. He suddenly asked seriously after remembering the talk in the General’s Mansion yesterday, “Are cultivators really not as powerful as the army?”

Chen Pipi said, “Yeah, something like that.”

Ning Que shook his head and said, “But I don’t believe it.”

Chen Pipi pointed at the wild geese flying in the sky and said, “If those wild geese turned into thousands of sharp arrows and fell towards you, what would you do? Would you turn the direction of the wind by using the no-boundary spirit? Or would you try to stop them using the Great Spirit? No matter what you do, you would die in the end.”

Ning Que said, “Of course I can’t. But what if it was you?”

Chen Pipi exclaimed, “If I can defeat the cavalry of Tang single-handedly, then I should change my name into the Headmaster of the Academy.”

Ning Que said, “When I saw you easily fly for a long distance into the woods to escape from Second Brother, I thought that a shower of arrows should be a piece of cake for you.”

Chen Pipi said proudly, “Of course I was fast and it was easy for me.”

Then his expression became bitter and he said, “But you can’t always be fast and it isn’t always easy. You always need to stop to rest and meditate. What will you then?”

Ning Que did not say anything.

Chen Pipi asked, “What are you thinking about?”

Ning Que said, “I wonder whether you and Second Brother have ever violated the law of Tang Empire.”

Chen Pipi looked a little nervous. He asked, “Why are you thinking about that?”

Ning Que replied, “Because if you did, I will tell the local government and let Xu Shi fight against you.”

Chen Pipi said, “I will be scared. But maybe Second Brother won’t.”

Ning Que said, “Xu Shi claimed that even someone as powerful as Second Brother couldn’t survive the attack of armored black cavalry.”

Chen Pipi said, “I never thought that the Defender-general of the State likes to brag too.”