Nightfall

It became cold again after the fire died out on the lake.

Tang Xiaotang stopped behind Ning Que and let go of Chen Pipi’s hand. She kneeled down in a flurry of snow. Then she kowtowed to Ning Que heavily.

Chen Pipi was a little shocked.

Tang Xiaotang said with a shivering voice, “Thank you, Youngest Uncle, for killing the betrayer of the Enlightenment Doctrine.”

Ning Que didn’t try to stop her from doing it. Instead, he accepted it peacefully. He knew very well that for the decaying Devil’s Doctrine, his Youngest Uncle was someone to admire and feat. But Xia Hou was a traitor they hated to the bones. If he didn’t let Tang Xiaotang do that, she probably couldn’t find another way to release the myriad of emotions within her heart.

And because he had the fragments of Lotus’s memory, it was more like taking accepting respect on behalf of Lotus. But he still looked at the dark night and said, “There are too many people around the lake and your kneeling down probably would bring us some trouble.”

Tang Xiaotang stood up. Chen Pipi wiped the snow on her forehead away. Her red swollen forehead broke his heart. He replied to Ning Que, “You don’t have to worry about any trouble in Chang’an City.”

Ning Que knew that the Academy had always been protecting him all this time, because there was no interruption at all during the fight. After hearing Chen Pipi’s words, he couldn’t help but smile and feel proud, because he realized that as a student of the Academy, he would never encounter any trouble in Chang’an.

But what should he do next?

All the hatred buried in his heart for fifteen years was out when Xia Hou’s dead body sank into the lake. It was like the vapor on the boiling lake, suddenly disappearing in the air. A normal person would feel very empty inside after experiencing the extreme excitement and joy, and they probably would not know what to do at all.

If Ning Que was still the same person in the City of Wei, he would be like that; after killing Xia Hou, he would feel like there was nothing to do and nowhere to go. But it was different for him now because his home was in Chang’an City. Even though he couldn’t go back to the Old Brush Pen Shop, he could go to the mansion next to the Yanming Lake. Even though the mansion was just a mess, people still could live there. And he could always go back to the Academy and find a hut for him and Sangsang at the back of the mountain.

“Let’s go home first.”

Ning Que and Sangsang supported each other when walking to the mansion on the northern bank of the lake, where the fire had long died out. Although they were not seriously injured, the fight consumed lots of energy, so much that they were like lamps without any fuel. At this time, if they didn’t watch out every step, they would trip as long as they started walking.

Chen Pipi moved quickly and held Ning Que’s arms before he fell to the ground. He scolded him angrily, “Sangsang is also really tried, and you still want her to support you? Why can’t you ask me to help you? Would that kill you?”

Ning Que said, “Don’t show your care for me. Xia Hou is a visiting professor in the Taoism parties, if the West-Hill Devine Palace or the Zhishou Abbey knows about it in the future, you will have some trouble.”

“I never wanted to become a Taoist priest anyway.”

Chen Pipi replied impatiently. Then he dragged Ning Que’s arm, lifted him to his back and started walking towards the bank. Tang Xiaotang and Sangsang followed them.

Only the sound of people walking on the fluffy snow could be heard on the quiet snowy lake.

The morning had arrived.

Tonight, for the thousands of people who had watched the fight at the lake, it was still hard for them to believe what they had seen was real. Looking at the two trails left on the lake and the four people walking, they felt very complicated.

With his handmaiden’s help, Ning Que, who was at the Seethrough State, had killed the powerhouse at the peak state of martial arts. To many, the whole thing was just impossible. Even though Ning Que was a student of the Headmaster, it was still impossible, because it was a fair fight.

It was not rare for a cultivator to die in a fight with a cultivator whose state was lower that of his, because fights were never reasonable. Sometimes, assassination, poison or traps could change everything and even a Seethrough-state cultivator being killed by a normal person was not rare. But it had rarely happened in a fair fight, because that would be a fight of real power.

To kill a Grand Cultivator was especially hard. After they entered the Knowing Destiny State, it would be the most impossible thing in the world for a cultivator at lower states to defeat him in a fair fight.

Because the Knowing Destiny State was a big barrier on the road of cultivation, if one passed it, then, there would be a real distance between him and the mortal world.

According to the record in cultivation world, only when a powerful army had the help of cavalry and well-designed tactics, could it be possible for it to kill a Knowing destiny State Cultivator. There had never been such a case when someone crossed the barrier and killed a Grand Cultivator. It was said that Mr. Ke once did it, but no one had witnessed it. People only knew that after the fight, his enemy was dead and he rode his little black donkey continued his journey in his Seethrough State.

It meant that the fight between Xia Hou and Ning Que was the first time in thousands of years that could be used to prove one could cross the barrier between states and kill a Knowing Destiny State. So it would definitely be recorded in the scrolls in the West-Hill Divine Palace.

During the fight, Ning Que had prepared lots of traps. But because he was a Talisman Master, no one had doubted his way of fighting, they were just impressed by the powerful skills the youngest student in the Academy had learned.

No matter the storm caused by talismans, the Primordial Thirteen Arrows or the thunder at the lotus land, all of them were something that others could not understand, therefore they looked very powerful. Although Ning Que was still in the Seethrough State, the skills he had used were as powerful as the skills of the Knowing Destiny State.

The fact that Sangsang turned the night into daytime also made everyone silent.

Many people who had watched the fight in Chang’an were more powerful than Ning Que. But they were very much shocked, especially Ye Hongyu, who had watched the fight on the wooden bridge at the western bank.

In today’s world, of all the young people in the Taoism sect, the Buddhism sect and the Devil’s Doctrine and even the Academy, she was always the most powerful one. Even Prince Long Qing, Guan Hai Monk and Tang Xiaotang could not compare with her. But when seeing the performance of Ning Que and Sangsang, she suddenly realized something. So she closed her eyes and thought silently. Her eyelashes fluttered in the wind and she seemed to have understood something.

On the city wall, Ye Su looked at the direction of the Yanming Lake and said after a long time of silence, “The Academy is really powerful, so is this guy.”

After watching the fight for the whole night, Ye Su had witnessed powerful thunder, the dancing snow and the collision of all sorts of weapons, which made him change his opinions of Ning Que.

In the beginning, Ning Que was just a normal person in his eyes, then he seemed not bad, and then he seemed very good. In the end, when he managed to kill Xia Hou, Ye Su realized that he still didn’t see him clearly. He couldn’t even hide his admiration and appreciation to Ning Que.

Of course Ning Que was still no match for him, the successor of Zhishou Abbey. But he was so young and could already kill Xia Hou, which was impossible for most people. After a few years’ learning in the Academy, no one would know how powerful he could be at that time.

Would he become another Mr. Ke?

The death of Xia Hou didn’t change Ye Su’s mood at all, and even though Ning Que could be another Mr. Ke, he would be another admirable opponent and it would only make him happy. The important thing was that he didn’t think Ning Que would become another Mr. Ke.

He turned to Eldest Brother, “Are you still unsure?”

Eldest Brother asked, “The West-Hill Palace had already called that a rash judgment. Why do you still insist on saying that?”

“I have said that I believe the God of Light might make wrong decisions, but he would never make a rash judgment. At that time, maybe my teacher realized that the son of Lin Guangyuan couldn’t be the Son of Yama, so he thought that the God of Light made a big mistake. And then the Divine Palace apologized to Tang. But what if the God of Light was right, the Son of Yama was in the General’s Mansion, and if he is not the son of Lin Guangyuan, then who is he?”

Xia Hou looked at him and said expressionlessly, “You know very well who he is.”

Eldest Brother said, “If there is no proof, then it is not true.”

Ye Su said, “Everyone apart from Ning Que was dead. This is proof.”

Eldest Brother did not say anything.

Ye Su’s words were simple. It seemed like his words didn’t even make sense, but you couldn’t argue with him.

He could survive under any circumstances, even if there was no way that he could escape from death. If he was not the son of a God who was protected by Haotian, then he would be the main character in the story.

The black line had come to the world for fifteen years and the story had started and gone on for fifteen years. And the main character in the story was the Son of Yama.

Ye Su thought that Ning Que was the Son of Yama.

The city wall was quiet when sunshine appeared at the east.

After a long time, Eldest Brother said, “Master once said that for any strange occurrences, if we are not sure of its authenticity, then we should be alarmed and frightened, but at the same time, just ignore it. This is the right way to deal with it.”

He looked at Ye Su and said, “I am not sure whether Ning Que is the Son of Yama, I believe he is not. But I am sure that he is my Youngest Brother in the Academy.”

Ye Su thought about the words of the Master.

Then he looked at the Winter Forest at the Yanming Lake, and said, “Even if the Taoism sect doubts it, they couldn’t do anything without having real proof and the message from the god. I think that mute needs to hear these words more than I do. But since he cannot talk, I doubt whether he could still hear it.”

The mute was not really a mute, so he would not be deaf as well. When they were talking about whether he can hear it, they actually meant whether he would like to hear it and to believe the Academy.

Eldest Brother looked at the Winter Forest and thought about the World Wayfarer who was famous for his determination. His face looked a little worried when he remembered that that Buddhism World Wayfarer only came to Chang’an because of the Son of Yama. Since he had revealed his trace, then he would not be afraid of the Academy and would definitely harm Ning Que.

He didn’t know how to deal with the mute monk, because he was not good at fighting, which was a truth that he had kept saying, but no one had believed.

Ye Su looked at the quiet forest and he couldn’t help think that there was something wrong about it. During the previous fight, he had felt that there was someone else in the forest, because the mute monk didn’t do anything during the whole fight.

But who could hide his trace from him and Mr. First?

At this time, there was a gust of heavy wind in the Winter Forest. And along with the wind, there was the sad sound of cicadas, which seemed a little joyful at the same time.

Listening to the sound, Ye Su’s face turned pale.

He was not scared, he was serious. His expression showed his respect to his strongest enemy.

Then there was a clear roar.

Along with the roar, the wooden sword on his back also rushed out from the sheath.

His sword was like a ray of light. It ran out of the city wall and rushed to the Winder Forest in the dim light of the night.

Then Ye Su jumped down from the city wall and chased his sword. His long robe was dancing in the morning wind and he moved as fast and elegant as a snowflake. His speed was nearly as fast as that of the sword.