Nightfall

Compared with the last time Ning Que saw him in Linkang City, Ye Su appeared to be skinnier, paler but calmer, and he completely lost his cocky expression.

There were hundreds of people listening to his preaching and they completely packed the street. No one made a sound.

His voice hung over the quiet lane in front of the decrepit house, mixed with occasional painful coughs. The content of his preaching was mainly the West Hill literary canon, but the way he explained it was quite different from that of divine priests.

Ning Que looked at the people who were listening to the preaching. Although most of these followers were simply dressed, some of which even had patches on their clothes, their clothes were all very clean and neat. Dozens of people sitting on the southeast side were obviously dressed in finery, but they sat quietly on the white futon like others.

Through observation, he found that Ye Su’s preaching was much smoother than he thought, and he was even more worried, for Sangsang said that these people should be burned to death, and he knew she was capable of doing so.

Soon after Ye Su began his preaching in Linkang City, Ning Que came here, knowing well that this was Ye Su’s self-redemption and also the redemption he wanted to lead the world to pursue.

Taoism required its followers to turn their desires into offerings and place their hopes on the Divine Kingdom based on their faith in Haotian. However, the redemption Ye Su mentioned was to save oneself.

For Haotian Taoism, the change seemed to be trivial, but it was actually a very shocking revolution, for the revolution originated from the bottom of the society, replacing the yearning for the Divine Kingdom with the love for the human world and asking the followers to save themselves. If it ever succeeded, then where was Haotian’s position in the human world?

“Haotian is watching you.” Standing in front of the decrepit house, Ye Su looked at the followers calmly and said, “Whatever you do, whatever you are thinking, you are being watched by Haotian. So you must always reflect on your behavior from the early morning to the nightfall and from waking to sleeping. Did you ever violate the doctrine of Haotian, ever do charity and control your evil?”

Hearing this, Ning Que couldn’t help but look at Sangsang by his side.

Sangsang was watching Ye Su.

Haotian was watching him.

She said nothing, just quietly listened to him preaching, without any expressions.

“Actually… what he said is not completely unreasonable.” Ning Que said, “Lose the intermediate link of the Divine Hall and the followers directly dedicate their love to you. From the perspective of logistics, it can improve efficiency and save costs.”

Sangsang said, “Divine Kingdom to Divine Kingdom, human world to human world. Then the Haotian whom they believed in was me or themselves?”

Ning Que couldn’t answer this question. Ye Su’s preaching had fundamentally overthrown the doctrine of Haotian Taoism and spread the specific meaning of the faith into self-recognition.

From this point of view, the faith of these followers were not the faith that Haotian needed, for it was most likely that Haotian would no longer be able to absorb the power of their faith.

While they were talking, the doctrine lectures ended, and hundreds of followers left in a very orderly manner, leaving a group of children to start arranging the venue and preparing for the afternoon craft courses.

Ye Su covered his lips with his hands and coughed twice slightly. While taking off the blackboard hanging in front of the window, he suddenly saw Ning Que and Sangsang outside the crowd and froze involuntarily.

…

…

The door of the decrepit house was pushed open, and Ning Que and Sangsang walked in. They were surprised to see Chen Pipi lying in the bed and Tang Xiaotang cooking in the corner.

Chen Pipi opened his eyes and smiled at Ning Que, but he froze before he was able to wave his hand, and the spatula that Tang Xiaoyu was holding also froze in the air. They had never seen the new image of Sangsang, but they knew the girl must be her since she was with Ning Que.

Ye Su had already lifted up the front part of his robe and kneeled in front of Sangsang obediently.

Sangsang held her hands behind her back and looked around the room with indifference.

She said nothing, so Ye Su continued to humbly kneel.

Sangsang’s gaze fell on him without any trace of warmth.

“Twenty years ago, you called the Tang an evil devil and Qi Nian a heretic outcast of the Wilderness. If the man who you were back then ever were see you now, what will he think of you?”

On the day, Sangsang was born in an official’s mansion in Chang’an, Ning Que climbed over the wall with a bloody hatchet in hand, and a black line appeared on the Wilderness.

The expression of Ning Que was a bit complicated.

Ye Su was silent for quite a while, and then said calmly and firmly, “I do not think what I’ve done is foolish, and I believe the man who I used to be will never see what I am doing now as evil.”

Sangsang asked, “You don’t see blasphemy as evil?”

Ye Su answered, “Human beings are insignificant in your eyes, but they deserve better lives.”

Sangsang argued, “I have never punished them.”

Ye Su asked, “How do you explain the Ever Night?”

Sangsang said, “Just pruning.”

Ye Su said, “But even branches and leaves are lives.”

Sangsang said, “That’s the Buddha’s lie.”

Ye Su disagreed, “Even the Buddha said nothing, a life is still a life.”

The voices of Sangsang and Ye Su hung over the decrepit house, and the atmosphere became more and more serious and depressed. Tang Xiaotang stood in front of the stove with the spatula in her hand, and a faint burned smell spread out in the room.

As a former traveling disciple of Taoism, Ye Su kneeled in front of Haotian at this moment and dared to directly point to her sins and adhere to his own views. Although Ye Su had lost all his power, he was stronger than most people in the world.

Sangsang asked, “If humans want me to love them them, why do they bother saving themselves?”

Ye Su answered, “If Haotian do love humans, why not allow them to save themselves?”

Sangsang glanced at Ning Que, and then said to Ye Su, “Why should I love humans?”

She once asked Ning Que the same question, but the latter couldn’t answer it. Ye Su was far better than Ning Que in terms of knowledge, but he still couldn’t answer it. So he decided to ask another question in reply. “In this case, why should human beings love Haotian?”

Sangsang’s willow-shaped eyes were suddenly bright and extremely cold.

With a sound of frying, the vegetable leaves that Tang Xiaotang was cooking in the iron pan were finally burned.

Ning Que clapped his hands heavily and shouted, “I’m staving, I want to eat!”

Chen Pipi sat up from the bed and yelled at Tang Xiaotang angrily, “I can’t believe you burned the vegetable leaves! Are you trying to starve your husband to death?”

Tang Xiaotang knew that they just tried to lighten the atmosphere but still felt wronged. She waved the spatula and shouted indignantly, “I’ve never cooked back in the tribe and the Back Hill. Why are you making me cook now?”

Ning Que walked to Sangsang and asked, “Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?”

Chen Pipi got out of bed quickly and helped Ye Su to stand up and sat him down. Then he looked to Sangsang and suggested, “Seriously speaking, I haven’t eaten your cooking in years. Do you feel like cooking today? ”

Being ignored, Tang Xiaotang felt wronged, and she kept turning over the spatula in the iron pan to make some noises, showing her dissatisfaction.

In an instant, the room was noisy and filled with the earthly smoke and fire and a table of meals was ready in a twinkle.

Sangsang did not adapt to the change and seemed a bit stunned. Before figuring it out, she was taken to the table by Ning Que and was holding a bowl of rice that Tang Xiaotang had put into her hand.

Looking at each other, Ning Que and Chen Pipi saw the lingering fear in each other’s eyes and wiped off the cold sweat on their foreheads. They might be the only two people in the whole world who dared to fool Haotian like this.

Sitting at the dinner table, Ning Que said to Ye Su, “I officially introduce my wife, Sangsang.”

Ye Su was still stunned, and nodded in the subconscious. The he said to Sangsang, “Just some home-cooked food. Please make yourself at home.”

After saying this, he felt that it was a bit weird.

Sangsang kept quiet, just staring at the bowl of rice in her hand and the green vegetables within.

Worrying that Sangsang might suddenly realize that she was fooled, Chen Pipi desperately squeezed his eyebrows and signaled to Tang Xiaotang to say something. Tang Xiaotang’s eyes rounded with discontent. I’m not good at talking. It should be you and Ning Que who should calm down the situation. Chen Pipi kept coughing. Aren’t you Sangsang’s best friend?

Tang Xiaotang looked at the men sitting at the table looking like clay sculptures. Suddenly she found that something seemed to be missing and asked, “Where is the big black horse? I heard he left Peach Mountain with you, and I thought he will follow you here.”

Ning Que has the ability to spread out a topic as long as someone were to start it. So he pretended to be surprised and asked, “How do you know what happened in the Divine Hall of West Hill?”

Chen Pipi jumped in. “We left West-Hill with the disciples of the Sword Garret, and now we live in Linkang City. Liu Yiqing will inform us about what happened in the cultivation world.”

Tang Xiaotang pulled the topic back in a very timely manner. “So where is the big black horse now?”

“That stupid beast is too big, and I am afraid he might hurt people in the alley.” Ning Que answered, “So I left him in the mountain outside the city. Anyway, what have you guys been through these days?”

Chen Pipi said helplessly, “I’m so tired of listening to the elder brother’s preaching.”

Tang Xiaotang gave him a stern look, and Ning Que was anxious to strangle him. People all say you are the most talented guy in Taoism and the Academy. How could you be so stupid? We tried so hard to change the subject. Why are you talking about Ye Su’s preaching again?

Chen Pipi also found that he put his foot in his mouth. He was anxious and fearful, glancing at Sangsang secretly.

Sangsang obviously knew that he was peeking at her, but she ordered without any expressions,”Eat.”

Everyone responded very obediently, then began to eat. They did not make another sound.

Eating in silence meant eating attentively, thus leading to eating quickly. It didn’t take long for the five of them to finish eating. Chen Pipi was so timid that he hid in the kitchen to wash the dishes, leaving others to deal with Sangsang.

Sangsang stood up and said to Tang Xiaotang, “You.”

Tang Xiaotang stond up nervously and said, “Yes?”

Holding her hands behind her back, Sangsang walked outside and ordered, “Follow me.”

Tang Xiaotang looked around and didn’t know what to do.

Ning Que consoled, “Don’t worry. I’ve never seen her eat a human being.”

“You call this consolation?”

Chen Pipi rushed out with a wet rag in his hand, and shouted at Ning Que angrily. Then he stared at the back of Sangsang and said in a shaking voice, “Be back soon. I will serve wine and meat for dinner.”

…