Nightfall

Looking at Ye Hongyu, Ning Que said, “Since you have got it, you are going to leave Chang’an.”

“Yes,” Ye Hongyu replied.

“But you haven’t thanked me yet,” Ning Que said.

“This is my sword,” Ye Hongyu argued,”so you should thank me.”

“Call it even,” Ning Que said.

“Call it even,” Ye Hongyu said.

With that, she turned around and walked away, her blue coat floating in the swirling snow.

Watching the figure of the maiden priest gradually receding in the blizzard, Ning Que remained in silence.

The Tao Addict and him had fought against each other in the Wilderness, then again in the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine, to later live together for half a year in the house by the Yanming Lake. They were far from being friends, but were already familiar with each other. Therefore, Ning Que could not help but heave a sigh when he pictured that they might become foes again if she could survive and come back, one remaining alive while the other died.

“I admire this woman,” he finally said to Sangsang.

The fight between Ning Que and Xia Hou in the Winter Lake attracted many powerhouses to Chang’an, creating a quite spectacular scene, despite the absence of those big shots such as the abbey dean of the Zhishou Abbey, the chief monk of the Xuankong Temple, the hierarch and the Great Divine Priest from the West-Hill Divine Palace, and the Bhadanta from the Buddhism Sect.

Both the World Wayfarers from the Taoism and Buddism sects, and the Minister of Offerings from the Qinghe County appeared on the shore of Yanming Lake. Though the Sword Garret of South Jin Kingdom only dispatched an obscure messenger, everyone knew that he was Liu Bai’s representative. Most surprisingly, Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation, the head of the Devil’s Doctrine reappeared in the world.

As so why many powerhouses gathered in the city of Chang’an, what they were most concerned with was obviously what end the visiting Elder professor of the Taoism sector, Xia Hou, would meet; and the story about Ning Que being the Son of Yama. However, looking further, one would find that it seemed to be a prudent probe of the cultivation circle to gauge the Academy.

Faced with this probe, the Academy did nothing special. Mr. Second just sat on the Snow Bridge for a whole night, while Mr. First chatted with Ye Su all night long before he talked to Qi Nian for a long while.

Finally, Ning Que defeated Xia Hou, shocking the whole cultivation world. Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation mysteriously disappeared again and Qi Nian from the Xuankong Temple, after hearing some words from the Eldest Brother of the Academy. He meditated in the Wanyan Tower for ten days and then left Chang’an city.

All that demonstrated the almost infallible truth that the Academy was unshakeable.

Chang’an city saw the departure of the people from General Xia Hou’s Mansion as well as Ye Hongyu. Several days later, Ye Su was also ready to leave, so the Eldest Brother of the Academy came to see him off.

Ye Su felt somewhat pleased when he looked at the rebuilt Taoist temple, thinking of the sweat that he could have spilled on the black tiles and the thick beams. But his smile disappeared soon and said, “I’m still very confused.”

Knowing what he meant, the Eldest Brother responded smilingly, “With Tang’s fist, Liu Bai’s sword, Yan Se’s Fu paper, the back of the mountain’s sword and arrow, and Sangsang, the successor to the Divine Priest of Light, how could Xia Hou possibly win… Besides, as he is a member of my Academy, how could he possibly lose?”

After a long time of silence, Ye Su suddenly burst into laughter, “A member of your Academy. How could he possibly lose… Nonsense, sheer nonsense.”

The snowing street reverberated with his laughter. The conceited successor of the Zhishou Abbey succeeded in reaching a higher level from the original amazing state after he had entered the human realm to cultivate in Chang’an city and encountered the Lucky Chance by the wooden ladder under the run-down eaves and before the ruins of the Taoist temple. But after hearing those words from the Eldest Brother, he suddenly realized what the real reason was and then went away.

Since he had made sure that Chang’an city had regained its peace, with no one trying to probe into the Academy, there was no reason for Ning Que to remain in the house by the lake, so he went to the House of Red Sleeves with Sangsang.

“You’ve become increasingly like him,” Mistress Jian sighed.

Ning Que shook his head and said, “There is nothing similar between my Youngest Uncle and me.”

“You have not met your Youngest Uncle,” Mistress Jian said.

“But I know we are different. Because he was wild and unrestrained, while I could never live his way,” Ning Que smiled, “Of course, I can try to learn from him in the future.”

Then they left the House of Red Sleeves by the black horse carriage. After going out of the Vermilion Bird Gate, they went along the straight state road covered with unmelted snow to the mountain at the south of the city and drove directly to the Academy.

Ning Que did not know the details and truth of those things which transpired in Chang’an city while he was in the decisive battle with Xiahou. It seemed that the Senior Brothers of the Academy did not help him, but he was clearly aware that they must have silently contributed a lot despite all the difficulties.

Together with Sangsang, he bowed his thanks in the thatched cottage, to the Eldest Brother, the Second Brother, the Fourth Brother, the Sixth Brother, and the Seventh Sister, for the Talisman Arrow, the iron sword and the array on the bank of the lake.

His Senior Brothers and Sisters accepted Ning Que’s solemn etiquette, in a calm, reserved, and proud manner. Even Second Brother, who was the most different one in daily life, now looked quite benign. Perhaps because of the truth that Ning Que, his Younger Brother, had won and killed Xia Hou made him, as a Senior Brother, feel quite proud and honored.

The third Senior Sister, Yu Lian, was not at the back of the mountain. As usual, she was by the window of the old library, writing Hairpin-style Small Regular Script, looking calm and attentive. Suddenly, she raised her head to take a look at the swirling snow outside the window. With a smile on her face, she gently blew on her hands and felt much warmer.

Tang Xiaotang, her apprentice, was grinding the ink stick in the old library since she had no homework today. At the moment, the girl’s face was full of sweet smiles despite the aching wrist.

Third Senior Sister was puzzled, “What makes you so happy?”

“My brother had always desired to kill the traitor. I heard that he was seriously injured in the Wilderness in order to kill him. Now he must be very happy to learn the news.”

Tang Xiaotang wiped away the tears of happiness with her arm. Then she nodded toward her teacher and said smilingly, “The suzerain would have also been very happy if he were alive.”

One day, the snow in the Chang’an City suddenly became extraordinarily heavy, drifting profusely and disorderly down to the court. Ning Que happened to visit a grave on that day, so he had to go out of the city in the blizzard.

He and Sangsang first went to the grave in the long grass near the Academy, where he chatted wildly with his master, Yan Se, and poured an urn of new wine before the grave. Then he took out from his bosom an undercloth with some remaining aroma and burned it while sheltering it from the blizzard.

“Dewdrop will be angry, won’t she?” Sangsang asked uneasily.

“How can she know it if you don’t tell her,” Ning Que responded.

After that, he and Sangsang headed for another grave by carriage. Following the address given by the Bodyguard office, they finally found Darkie’s grave after rounding a lot of corners in the stele forest.

Ning Que gently brushed off the snow on the gravestone. Staring at the name on it, he said with a sense of guilt, “We made a promise to each other in our childhood. If one of us died first, the other must bring the head of Xia Hou after killing him to worship the former. I’m so sorry that I failed to do so.”

“Xia Hou’s body was sealed into the coffin after being picked up by the military people from the lake. I could not just break the coffin to cut off his head. But I heard that the body looked miserable, like rotten meat in a pot.”

Having said such disgusting words, Ning Que laughed happily. Then he took the two halves of the heavy black spear from Sangsang and stuck them into the frozen earth, like two sticks of incense.