Nightfall

The middle-aged Taoist entered the temple. He was very shocked when he saw the Abbey Dean standing by the window and smiling at the black peach blossom. He hurried forward to help him lie back down on the couch.

He looked at the Abbey Dean gravely and said, “Senior Brother, are you really going to abandon your belief?”

The Abbey Dean smiled and said, “I grew up in the Taoist temple, and the first book I read was the Taoist scriptures. My belief in Haotian has long entered my blood, becoming my every breath. The point of my life is to carry out Haotian’s will. If I give up on my belief, it would mean betraying myself. I can’t do that.”

The middle-aged Taoist asked curiously, “Since this is so, why have you allowed Long Qing to stay in the Zhishou Abbey? Why did you spread the gospel at the South Sea, and why did you treat that person in the Divine Hall of Light…”

The Abbey Dean interrupted, “I believe in Haotian, and not the person in the Divine Hall of Light.”

The middle-aged Taoist was even more confused. He thought to himself that the girl in the Divine Hall of Light was Haotian, this could not be wrong.

The Abbey Dean looked at him and said, “If she were Haotian, who’s the one fighting with the Headmaster in the Kingdom of God? Even though she might have been Haotian once, is the Haotian who came to the mortal world still the Haotian we believe in? Is the Haotian that has been blasphemed against by mortals still the Haotian we believe in?”

The middle-aged Taoist said in a trembling voice, “Belief does not allow any doubts.”

The Abbey Dean said, “What is piousness? It is loyalty to belief. What is loyalty to belief? It’s not just the object of our belief, because faith comes from you and me. It involves you, me and Haotian, andnot a single one of us can be missing in this equation. Then only the Haotian that we believe in is the true Haotian.”

This statement was rather enigmatic, but the middle-aged Taoist understood this, and his clothes became drenched with sweat. He said, “But Haotian would not think like this.”

“I told Long Qing earlier that since she has come to the mortal realm, she is no longer omnipotent and omnipresent. Now that I think about it, the Headmaster is indeed an impressive figure.”

The Abbey Dean looked at the sky outside the window and lamented.

The middle-aged Taoist said, “However, no matter how great he was, he was not able to defeat Haotian.

“Is death really scary? Do humans cultivate just so they can possess eternal self-awareness? The Drunkard and the Buther thought that they would live forever for they have their own Divine Kingdom, but I doubt it.”

The Abbey Dean said, “Haotian is not life, so it has eternal attributes, but each beginning should have an end. Every life should return to eternity that is not life. If life wants to be eternal, then it can only change and become a completely different form of existence. Then how is it any different from death?”

The middle-aged Taoist asked, “Then why do we cultivate?”

The Abbey Dean thought of the hundreds and thousands of blades in Changan and the incident filled with the sensation of the human realm. He thought of how he had landed by a lake south of the city and how the fish had struggled in the pool by his face. He said, “Cultivation is to sense so that we may free ourselves. This is the only way to peace and joy when we die.”

The middle-aged Taoist frowned lightly and asked in confusion, “There are many cultivation sects in the world, should they all walk on this path?”

The Abbey Dean answered, “The people in the Academy are arrogant and lively. They would all eventually take the path against Heaven. They can face death calmly because they have not let down the time they have alive. But only true powerhouses can live like them. The ordinary people in the world are like pigs and dogs, how can they face the end so narcissistically like them? Neither the Headmaster nor Ke Haoran had ever considered these issues, but Haotian Taoism has always been considering them because we know that we are all dogs and pigs under Haotian. That is why we have to search for a way for even ordinary people to face the end calmly.”

The middle-aged Taoist understood this, and he said, “Then that is faith in Haotian and hope for the Kingdom of God.”

“Indeed, Haotian never wanted us to believe in her, but we had to. I need to believe in her, but I only believe in the one who is in the Kingdom of God and not the one who is here.”

The Abbey Dean looked in the direction of the West-Hill Divine Kingdom in the distance silently.

The middle-aged Taoist asked after a moment of silence, “What are you going to do to Long Qing?”

The Abbey Dean retracted his gaze and looked at the black peach blossom in the sand box before the window. He said, “I was really quite disappointed in him. After experiencing so many setbacks and terrible things, he still did not have the courage or desire to challenge rules. Even if he reads the seven tomes now, he will only be a second Drunkard or Butcher, no matter how much effort he puts in and no matter how blessed he is. Then what is the point of it all?”

The Drunkard and the Butcher were booth Grand Cultivators who have experienced the last Everlasting Night and were of the highest status in the cultivation world. Their cultivation state was so high it was beyond charts. They had only appeared in Chang’an and had managed to suppress the Academy and the Tang Empire was forced to sign a deplorable agreement with the West-Hill Divine Palace. However, it was rather surprising to hear that the Abbey Dean would not be pleased with Long Qing even if he became someone like them.

The middle-aged Taoist fell silent. He knew that his Senior Brother had never thought well of the Drunkard and the Butcher. The Abbey Dean’s state encompassed the Taoism, Buddhism and the Devil’s Doctrine skills before he entered Chang’an. After he had attained the State of Pureness, he felt that the deterioration in the Drunkard and the Butcher’s mental states were not worth mentioning. He only had eyes for the Headmaster, who was his goal in life. And he wanted to reach the Limitlessness State that the Headmaster had achieved.

It wasn’t just the Limitless State he wanted, but he wanted to be limitless. Because of his faith, the Headmaster would never be able to understand it. This was why he had taken Long Qing as his disciple because there was hope for him to break through to this state and also because Long Qing had once turned his back against his faith. He hoped that Long Qing would have the opportunity to take the path, but it was a pity that he had not succeeded.

“This is a very cliche story, but all stories are like this.” The Abbey Dean said, “Haotian has foreseen the stories happening in the world today many years ago. That is why she bestowed upon the mortal world the seven Tomes of the Arcane. I’m not talking about the prophecy on the “Ming” Handscroll, but about the names of the seven tomes.”

The middle-aged Taoist had been guarding the seven Tomes of the Arcane in the Zhishou Abbey and thus knew of their names. He said shakily, “When the sun falls and the sand lights up… the heavens will fall apart?” (Ri, Luo, Sha, Ming, Tian, Dao, Kai)

The Abbey Dean looked at the sky outside the window and said expressionlessly, “Indeed, she will split the skies apart once more.”

The middle-aged Taoist seemed to have suffered a blow. His face was pale as he said, “Then, what will happen to the mortal world?”

The Abbey Dean ignored his shock and uneasiness, and slowly closed his eyes. He continued, “She wants to return to the Kingdom of God, so the Divine Hall is holding the Light Sacrifice, hoping to use the pure blood of the Chen family as a sacrifice to open the path to Heaven. This will inevitably fail because the Academy will go to Peach Mountain. The people in the Academy are already there. However, the Academy will fail because she is all-knowing. She has always been waiting in the Peach Mountain for those from the Academy. But she has also failed because she thought that she could do it alone, but she can’t. In the end, everyone will fail and no one will win.”

This statement was a description of a matter that had already happened, but this story had yet to happen. It felt inexplicably like a prophecy.

The middle-aged Taoist said in shock, “There is something Haotian cannot do?”

The Abbey Dean opened his eyes and looked at his Younger brother beside the couch. He said, “Even if the sun falls and the sand lights up, and the heavens fall apart, she still needs to let go of her life in the mortal world so she can return to the Kingdom of God. But would she understand that it is not easy to get rid of both the aura of humanity the Headmaster left in her and her life in this world?”

The middle-aged Taoist sweated profusely as he listened. He thought that his Senior Brother’s words were highly disrespectful to Haotian and he said in fear, “Haotian is all-knowing, and would know what you intend to do.”

The Abbey Dean said blandly, “I don’t even know what I will do now. Even if she is all-knowing, how would she know about something that does not exist?”

Ning Que shut his eyes on the precipice, but the precipice was still looking at him. This was called sensing. Even though he had used the skills of the Buddhism Sect, he could only calm his mental state but was not able to cease its existence. In fact, there was not a single person who could make his mental state cease to exist in order to escape from Heaven’s plans.

However, the Abbey Dean had mentioned it and was able to do it.

Because while he was a wreck, he was a wreck in the State of Pureness. There had never been such a powerful wreck in the history of mankind.

The middle-aged Taoist asked, “Senior Brother, what should we do?”

The Abbey Dean answered, “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. What happens in the Kingdom of God stays there, and what happens in the mortal world stays here.”

The middle-aged Taoist said shakily, “This is a gamble.”

The Abbey Dean looked at him and said, “Do you know why you can only enter the Zhishou Abbey by taking seven steps forth and 13 back?”

The middle-aged Taoist shook his head.

The Abbey Dean said, “This was before the countless Everlasting Nights. Its because the first Abbey Dean of the Zhishou Abbey was a gambler before he started cultivating. He was always troubled that he had to spend 13 coins to win seven.

The middle-aged Taoist was hearing about their sects first leader for the first time and was stunned speechless.

He started Haotian Taoism after he succeeded in cultivation and learned about peace. He could have left everything behind, but he pitied the mortals and represented mankind in choosing Haotian to become our faith. From that moment on, the mortal world they lived in became Haotian’s world. All were protected by Haotian and had survived for millennia.

The Abbey Dean said, “This is the largest gamble that the mortal world has ever taken. Haotian Taoism has already represented mankind in gambling for several generations, so why cant I continue the gamble?”

The middle-aged Taoist said after a moment of silence, “That is why Haotian Taoism has to be wary of her.”

The Abbey Dean said, “Indeed. If she cannot let go of her life in the mortal realm, then we have to do it for her. If not even Haotian Taoism can do that, then we have to find a way to get rid of her.”

“Then… Pipi?” The middle-aged Taoist asked.

The Abbey Dean answered, “He is a son of Haotian Taoism, and if he could really help her to return to the Kingdom of God and return to her position as Haotian, his death would be meaningful. If the Light Sacrifice turns out to be a joke, then he would not die, and if he does not die, he would encounter great opportunities. My blood flows in him and he is a student of the Headmaster. He will make something of himself alive or dead.” –