Nightfall

Countless Haotian believers entered the West-Hill Divine Kingdom to participate in the Light Sacrifice. Diplomatic corps from various countries had also arrived one after another, and the Divine Hall arranged for them to stay in the Taoist temples in the gardens surrounding Peach Mountain. Those who were of noble status stayed at the Revelation Institute.

Liu Yiqing represented the Sword Garret of the South Jin Kingdom. Ning Que stood on the cliffs and watched as Priest Moli led the blind swordsman into the Revelation Institute. He thought of the battle outside the side gate of the Academy and could not help but lament.

The earlier part of Liu Yiqing’s cultivation path was relatively unknown, and he only become slightly more famous when he entered the Sword Garret. Many thought well of his talent in Sword Taoism. Second Brother even said once that if Liu Yiqing did not miss any opportunities, he might even reach his brother, the Sword Sage, Liu Bai’s standards.

Liu Bai also thought highly of him and wanted him to go to Chang’an to find and challenge the person who had entered the human realm on behalf of the Academy. He wanted to use this opportunity to polish his spirit and he would benefit from it even if he lost. However, they had not expected that the West-Hill Divine Palace’s Judicial Department would meddle in it and that the battle would turn out to be one of life and death. Ning Que, who had emerged from seclusion had blinded Liu Yiqing with a blade.

If he had been an ordinary cultivator, Liu Yiqing would have given up when he encountered such a massive failure. However, he did not let Liu Bai or Second Brother down. He cultivated in seclusion in the Sword Garret for many years after he was blinded, and he improved tremendously, entering the Knowing Destiny State. Perhaps one could say that him being blinded by Ning Que was the opportunity that Second Brother had mentioned.

In the battle of Verdant Canyon, Liu Bai had cut off Second Brother’s right arm and had suffered rather serious injuries. He returned to the Sword Garret to recuperate, and Liu Yiqing was not in charge of managing affairs in the Sword Garret. It was rumored that the Sword Garret had been angered and had killed the Emperor of the South Jin Kingdom, being Liu Yiqing who had entered the palace alone and done it.

Ning Que had once met a powerhouse called Cheng Zhiqing in the Knowing Destiny State from the Sword Garret when he was at Lanke Temple. However, he did not see the person in the Sword Garret’s convoy. It seemed that Liu Yiqing’s position in the Sword Garret had stabilized.

He still could not understand why the Sword Sage, Liu Bai, had not come. Even though the rumors said that the had not recovered from his injuries, the Light Sacrifice was a grand event. Liu Bai was the Adviser of the Divine Hall and should have come personally.

Following that, Ning Que saw the diplomatic corps from the Golden Palace. They only took up a single carriage, with only an old man who had a face full of wrinkles and was wearing a cloth shirt sitting in the carriage. No horses were pulling the carriage. Instead, a heavily built man from the grassland, who possessed muscles as hard as stone, pulled the carriage. It looked pathetic to an extreme.

However, when people found out who the two were, they no longer thought that the scene was pathetic. The man in a cloth shirt sitting in the carriage was the most esteemed Nation Master, Master Bao Ding of the Golden Palace. The muscular man pulling the carriage was a powerful Martial Arts cultivator from the Golden Palace, General Le Bu!

Even if only one of the two of such noble status had turned up, it would have been sufficient to show the respect that the Golden Palace had for the West-Hill Divine Palace and how important they thought the Light Sacrifice was. What shocked the Divine Hall the most was that the Nation Master of the Golden Palace and Le Bu had entered the West-Hill through the Tang borders instead of coming from the Yuelun Kingdom.

Ning Que had met the Golden Palace’s Nation Master on the Wilderness before. He knew how high the cultivation state of the man dressed in ordinary clothes was. He did not even dare to take a second look at the old man.

The diplomatic corps of the Yan Kingdom had also arrived. Emperor Chong Ming, who had only ascended the throne early in the year had abandoned all matters of the state and brought hundreds of his staff with him, traveling miles just to come.

Following them, were the representatives of the Buddhism Sect. The abbot of the Lanke Temple, Monk Guan Hai came alone, and Monk Wu Dao was nowhere to be seen. Many Ascetic Monks from the White Tower Temple had come as well. But what made Ning Que most wary was that the Xuankong Temple, located in the distant Western Wilderness, had also sent representatives. And it was no other than the World Wayfarer of the Buddhism Sect, Qi Nian!

The noble royal families of the mortal world and the most powerful cultivators had all come to the West-Hill Divine Kingdom in preparations to participate in the Light Sacrifice. Its vastness and grandeur of the even had far surpassed that of the Yue Laan Hungry Ghost Festival organized by the Lanke Temple. Only the Tang Empire had not sent an official delegation. The House of Red Sleeves was sent as a token and no one from the Academy had come.

The war fire had just ceased, so many could understand why the Tang Empire and the Academy had not sent anyone to participate in the Light Sacrifice. However, what they could not understand was that even the Unknown Place of the Buddhism Sect, the Xuankong Temple, had sent representatives. Why did the Zhishou Abbey not send anyone? After all, the mysterious abbey was the Unknown Place of Haotian Taoism.

Many came to the West-Hill Divine Palace. Some waited inside while others chose to leave because there wasn’t anything they wanted here. One of those people was Prince Long Qing.

Long Qing left the Peach Mountain for the Zhishou Abbey. As a mysterious Unknown Place, not many knew where the abbey was located, even in the West-Hill Divine Palace. However, Long Qing had once stayed in the abbey for a long period of time and naturally knew the way back.

The Zhishou Abbey was within the West-Hill Divine Kingdom and was not far away from the Peach Mountain where the Divine Hall was located. There were several tall mountains between the two, and when the weather was good; one could even see the Divine Hall from the Abbey.

Long Qing turned his gaze away from the Divine Hall and looked at the simple and rundown door before him. Just like the last time he came, the wooden door of the abbey was tightly shut and nothing could be heard inside.

The Zhishou Abbey was an Unknown Place of Haotian Taoism, and was naturally, not as ordinary or rundown as it appeared to be. There was a powerful array in the abbey, and once it was ignited, one would not be able to enter the abbey by climbing the walls or through the window. The only way in or out was through its doors. And when the abbey is closed, no one else could enter or leave. The abbey thus became a prison shielded from above by the sky and below by the earth. Not a single person could escape from it.

After the Zhishou Abbey appeared in the mortal world, no one else had dared to break into it other than the Headmaster. Last autumn, when Eldest Brother of the Academy and the Abbey Dean fought, they had once gone there and then left promptly. They were not imprisoned by the array in the abbey, but that did not mean that Eldest Brother’s cultivation state was high enough to ignore the array. It was because someone well versed in arrays had meddled with it beforehand.

That person was Chen Pipi, who had lived in the Zhishou Abbey since he was a child. Long Qing knew of this matter, which was why he had taken the risk to visit Chen Pipi in the You Prison, as a way to find out how to enter the abbey.

Chen Pipi told him that the way to enter the abbey was to use the, ‘seven forth and thirteen back’ method.

Long Qing did not know what he meant, and after mulling over it in the past days, he guessed that seven forth meant the seven thatched cottages by the lake housing the Tomes of the Arcane. They represented the seven paths of the tactical array. And 13 back meant the 13 doors of the tactical array that circled between life and death.

He had not studied tactical arrays much, but was brave and determined. Long Qing looked at the mossy stone steps in front of the abbey. He took a deep breath and walked on them, reaching to push the abbey door open.

Before his palm could land on the door, a powerful aura took over his body and soul immediately. Several streaks of black colored blood flowed from his nose and eyes. He had been heavily injured silently. If he had meant harm, he would have already been dead!

Long Qing retreated to the bottom of the stone steps and looked at the ordinary wooden door. His face had become extremely pale. He had not expected to enter the abbey in one try, but had not imagined that the tactical array was so terrifying.

After a moment of silence, he left the abbey door and walked to the back of the abbey. He looked at the short grey stone walls, but did not have the courage to climb them. Then, he saw the mountain behind the abbey.

Long Qing was very familiar with the mountain. He had traveled between the abbey and the mountain several times, and he had gone several times through the caves in the mountain that were like ant tunnels. He knew that the mountain looked green because there was a dense layer of moss covering it. And he knew that many scary people lived in it.

The green mountain had collapsed, turning into a mud mound that was about ten feet tall. There was green grass growing over it, and it looked like an old tomb that had been abandoned for years.

Long Qing looked at the green hill and noticed that the top of it was very flat. It gave one the sense that a giant had stepped down from the skies and squashed the original mountain into its current state.

The caves that were like ant tunnels inside the green mountain were long gone. The absolute powerhouses of Haotian Taoism who once lived in those caves have also become ashes in the large tomb.

He recalled the torture he had experienced in the caves and the power he had once experienced, as well as the Halfman Taoist who was so powerful that it could not be described. Long Qing could not believe what he had seen and was shocked speechless. He hated those old Taoists, but they represented the power of Haotian Taoism. That experience was the source of Long Qing’s pride and confidence. However, how ludicrous was his pride and confidence before this image that was like a miracle?

He returned to the front of the Zhishou Abbey and sat down with his knees crossed. It took a long time for him to rid the shock in his heart and to regain peace. He started to think about what Chen Pipi had said.

Seven forth and 13 back. What exactly did this mean? He pondered it through the night, and finally opened his eyes again when dawn broke. The mossy stone steps entered his sights once more.

He suddenly noticed that there were six steps on the stone stairs.

13 minus 7 was 6?

After a moment of silence, Long Qing stood up and walked to the stone steps. He turned around and retreated, taking six steps up, and then six steps down. Then, he turned again and took seven steps up.

There were only six steps on the stone stairs outside the abbey. After taking seven steps back, his back should have collided with the wooden door. However, he did not come into contact with anything because he had entered the Zhishou Abbey.

To move forward, one had to move forward while retreating.

To understand masculinity and defend feminity, that was the Zhishou Abbey.

To understand the need to move forward, and to defend retreating. To retreat so that one might move forward. This was the way to enter the Zhishou Abbey.

To take seven steps forward and 13 back. Perhaps, this was the meaning of it.

Walking into the Zhishou Abbey, Long Qing followed the familiar path around the lake and arrived at a familiar house. The door opened before he could knock. A middle-aged Taoist looked at Long Qing and said, “You arrived faster than I thought you would.”

Long Qing bowed to the Taoist and said, “Greetings, Uncle.”

The middle-aged Taoist waved his hand and said, “Enter.”

Long Qing entered the house and smelled something faintly unpleasant coming from the person on the couch.

He had smelled this once in the black wind in Chang’an.

Long Qing looked at the man on the couch, feeling a myriad of emotions. Yet, his facial expression did not change. He walked to the couch and knelt, saying, “Your disciple is useless, please punish me, teacher.”