Nightfall

In the late spring, it was getting hot and humid, but the well was quite cool. Ning Que was sitting on it, waving a kitchen knife in his hand and talking cheerfully.

Sangsang hung up the clothes on the clothesline and wiped her hands on her apron. She walked back to the wall and picked up the brush to complete the last piece. “How will you do it?”

Ning Que stood up and walk beside her. He pointed at something beside the wall and said, “Beat him, and then let him die.”

Sangsang put down the brush and turned around to look at him with a confused expression.

Beside the wall was a wooden man with a base and a black pan on his head which was carved by Ning Que and painted by Sangsang.

“In order to beat him to death, I have to hit his body. It means I have to break through his defense.”

Ning Que said this whilst pointing the knife at the sculpture’s head. Then he scratched his arm with the knife. Blood began to pour out from the wound.

“Since I inherited Youngest Uncle’s legacy, as you can see, I have had an unbelievable strong body. You have no idea, as a former member of the Devil’s Doctrine, Xia Hou has unimaginable body strength.”

He stretched his arm out to Sangsang and explained.

Sangsang filled up a bowl of water to wash his arm and then covered it with a handkerchief.

While she was doing this, Ning Que continued, “Since Xia Hou betrayed the Devil’s Doctrine, joined the Haotian Taoism, and became a visiting professor of the West-Hill Divine Palace, they want to cover for him. Maybe they have taught the secret skills of Martial Arts cultivation to him.”

“Infact, that’s a certainty.”

He looked at the black painting on the sculpture and said, “Xia Hou can envelop his body with the Qi of Heaven and Earth concentrated by his Psyche Power. That defense is like the painting on the sculpture.”

“The most troublesome thing is his armor.”

Ning Que knocked the black pan on its head with the knife and listened to the noise.

All the four generals’ armors are made in the Academy. Xia Hou’s is designed by Professor Huang He and made by the Fourth Brother and the Sixth Brother together. Perhaps it’s not so hard as Xu Shi’s, but it is still incredibly powerful.

“The armor, the protective Genuine Qi, and his strong body are the three things which protect him all day and night, and even my Primordial Thirteen Arrows cannot break through them.”

Sangsang could not understand his humor.

She thought of the attitude of the Academy and said worriedly, “Assassinating the Great General of the Empire, even the Academy would not allow you to do that.”

Ning Que said, “When did I say I’m going to assassinate him?”

Sangsang asked, “Why don’t we expose the relationship between Xia Hou and the Devil’s Doctrine?”

“I promised Eldest Brother I would not tell anybody.”

“That includes his relationship with the Queen.”

Sangsang said, “But you told me.”

Ning Que said, “You are not anybody.”

Sangsang nodded and said, “That’s true.”

After a moment later, she thought about the auction held in the Stone House and asked, “You still have not figured out how to deal with Xia Hou, so why do you offend the Crown Prince of South Jin Kingdom?”

Ning Que did not know what to say to her since he couldn’t tell her that the only reason was because he was angry that the Crown Prince wanted to please the Calligraphy Addict with his Chicken Soup Calligraphy.

Therefore, he changed the subject. “How did you used to see a cultivator?”

Sangsang remembered the conversation between him and her when they were kids in the City of Wei and the burnt Article on the Response of the Tao . She said, “At that time, they were Gods to us.”

Ning Que said, “Then I am a God now. We are Gods.”

Sangsang smiled happily.

Ning Que said with a smile, “I’m not afraid of the Crown Prince of Tang, let alone the one of South Jin Kingdom.”

Sangsang reminded him, “There is no Crown Prince in Tang…”

Ning Que sighed and said, “That is another problem.”

…

…

In the back of the mountain behind the Academy, under the waterwheel.

The Fourth Brother, the Sixth Brother, and Ning Que were sitting in a trance by the side of the stream.

Some time passed by.

The Sixth Brother raised the black iron item against the sunshine.

Ning Que and the Fourth Brother looked up following him.

It was an iron item like a wine pot with a lot of shallow lines on it, most of which were straight and looked meaningless.

The Sixth Brother touched the lines with his sturdy finger and said, “Even enough.”

For a great master like the Sixth Brother, although he was not able to see the difference among the lines, he could feel it. If the touching told him that they were even, they were most definitely even.

“The lines divide the area of the iron kettle into 64 parts, and although they are not exactly the same, they are still similar enough. Especially the depth and degree of the curve will guarantee an explosion.”

The Fourth Brother picked up a branch beside him and pointed at the pot, saying, “Little Brother’s idea sounds reasonable, but we failed when we used the gunpowder last night. Maybe we can deepen the lines to make sure it will definitely burst apart.”

Sixth Brother shook his head and said, “If we deepen the lines, we would destroy the structure of the material. Then, if it explodes, it will be as weak as a firecracker.”

Ning Que hesitated for a while and asked, “What if we try with the real one?”

“Will it work?”

“Maybe.”

“I think it will.”

The Sixth Brother turned to look at the Fourth Brother.

The Fourth Brother nodded.

There was a helical port on the top of the small iron kettle. It was a perfect work of art that the Sixth Brother made strenuously. Ning Que unscrewed it and said, “If it doesn’t work, we can use it as a wine pot.”

The Sixth Brother smirked.

Ning Que put a yellowish Fire Fu into the iron kettle and screwed it.

“How do we test it?” The Sixth Brother asked in anxiety.

The Fourth Brother pointed at the stream and said, “Throw it into that.”

Ning Que felt a little nervous and then he threw the iron kettle into the stream upon hearing this.

“Wait.”

Sixth Brother ran to the smithy and brought back two huge fine iron plates. Then he covered them with the plates.

The Fourth Brother said angrily, “Even if it works, it won’t be that powerful. Why are you so nervous?”

The Sixth Brother answered seriously, “Did you forget what happened when he tested the Talisman Arrows?”

The Fourth Brother thought of the half-destroyed pavilion, so he stood behind the plates with a different expression.

Ning Que found they were both ready for it and he closed his eyes. His Psyche Power flew into the iron kettle under the stream from his sense of perception through the plates.

They landed on the Fu paper.

Using his Psyche Power, he directed some Great Spirit into the iron kettle.

The Fire Fu in the iron kettle began burning furiously under the stream.

However, the fire was stuck in this small space.

A moment passed.

An explosive sound came from the stream.

Boom!

Numerous pieces of iron were shot out of the stream with shrills.

Tuk, Tuk, Tuk!

The sounds gradually subsided.

After a long time, the three behind the plates pulled their heads out.

Their clothes were drenched by the stream. Looking at the debris stuck in the iron plates and imagining what would happen if they were not protected by the plates, they looked pale and fear filled their bodies.

The Fourth Brother who was always calm looked at the dead fishes and the half-destroyed waterwheel in the stream. He said tremblingly, “Little Brother, what the hell was that?”

…