Nightfall

In times like this, smart girls would keep quiet and lower their heads shyly, and smarter girls probably would snuggle into their lover’s arms. Only the girls who were too clever would ask her lover which one was more beautiful: her or the flower?

Sangsang would never ask such a question or snuggle into Ning Que’s arms shyly. She seemed to have heard nothing and walked directly to the other end of the cliff yard.

Ning Que felt a little disappointed, but he became satisfied and happy after noticing that the flower in her hair was trembling in the breeze and she had no intention to take it off.

“Have you seen my Second Brother?” pushing aside the dense green vines, he caught up with Sangsang and asked. In his opinion, his Second Brother should be cultivating the Buddha Dharma on the summit or in the Commandment Hall. So he assumed that Sangsang had saw him while she was searching for Buddha.

Sangsang didn’t turn around and kept walking with her hands behind back, “Idiot.”

Ning Que couldn’t remember how many times she had called him an idiot, and his anger had already became numbness. He just shook his head helplessly, but he soon realized that he was indeed an idiot after seeing what was like below the mountain peak.

As the twilight deepened, the giant sinkhole surrounded by the cliff wall became very dark, and only the field near the mountain peak could be seen faintly because of the reflected light of the top of yellow temples.

Countless black spots were moving slowly in the field under the mountain peaks, looking like ants. Ning Que knew that these were the farmers that Sangsang and he had seen before.

When they first came here and stood by the giant sinkhole, Ning Que had estimated that at least hundreds of thousands of farmers lived in the field to support the Buddha land since the Xuankong Temple had over one thousand monks. But at this moment, he found that there were at least tens of thousands monks lived in the countless temples in the mountain, which meant that more than millions of farmers must have lived in this dark underground world for generations.

In order to maintain Xuankong Temple, these farmers must be driven by the monks like livestocks. And in this sense, the farmers were more like serfs that had been liberated in the Central Plains a long time ago.

The place where its people lived in misery tended to have a rigid social hierarchy. Looking at the black spots which were slowly moving at the foot of the mountain peak, Ning Que knew that they must be providing the routine tributes to the monks. His expression became serious, as if he had seen what these serfs suffered.

Many years ago, Ning Que and Sangsang just took a look at Xuankong Temple and then left quietly. Actually at that time, Ning Que had considered climbing down the cliff and sneaking into the tragic underground world to mobilize these serfs to launch an uprising, completely overthrowing the evil Xuankong Temple. But he lacked the courage and wisdom back then.

However, there must be some people who had tremendous courage and wisdom.

His Second Brother Jun Mo was exactly this kind of person.

Jun Mo left Chang’an and came to Xuankong Temple to cultivate Buddha Dharma. But seeing what the Xuankong Temple was really like, he would have never ignored the serfs’ sufferings and just focus on practicing Buddha Dharma in peace.

Practicing Buddha Dharma was not equal to just paying respects to Buddha. Seeing what happened in the underground world, Jun Mo was more likely to draw his sword and kill the monks and Buddha than kneel in front of Buddha!

It was no wonder that Sangsang called Ning Que an idiot when he searched for Jun Mo in Xuankong Temple.

“My Second Brother is definitely down there.” He looked at the tragic world at the foot of the mountain and said, “I want to go there to see him. Would you like to come with me?”

Ning Que thought she would reject since she came here to find Buddha. Much to his surprise, she agreed to accompany him.

The yellow temples and halls they passed by at this moment while climbing down were exactly the same ones they passed by last night while climbing up. But now in Ning Que’s eyes, these temples were no different than the mountain full of bones of the dead in the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine.

When he climbed the mountain last night, he thought that it was natural and right for the Xuankong Temple to build these magnificent temples since it was the sacred land of Buddhism. But at this point, he knew that the isolated Xuankong Temple must have plundered the serfs under the mountain to satisfy its needs. The more magnificent the temples were, the more miserable the serfs were.

They left the ancient temples of Buddha land and came to the real miserable world. The green and beautiful field they saw yesterday seemed to be gloomy in the dark at this moment.

The night couldn’t completely block Ning Que’s sight. Walking silently with Sangsang, his eyes slowly swept through the field and saw the fields planted with the special rice, the steaming underground river and several mountains which were more like hummocks compared to the mountain peaks.

In the bend of the river, Ning Que saw the place for gold washing and many arms that were cut off by sharp weapons. Behind the hill, he saw gems and jade lying in the grass and the human remains that were eaten by vultures, and he occasionally heard the weird sounds of birds.

The field was not completely dark because there many bonfires were still burning. There were many tents and yurts scattered on the field. The nobles who were as fat as pigs wore various gemstone necklaces, held the drinking vessels made of human skulls decorating with silver and put their muddy feet on young girls’ naked chests.

In all the tribes, the nobles were always accompanied by many strong men who held whips and sharp knives in their hands. The whips sometimes fell on the cows and sheep, but more often fell on female slaves. The sharp knives sometimes were used to cut lamb, but more often were used to stab the female slaves’ husbands or fathers. The nobles were pleased to see the blood to be mixed with wine. The timid and numb serfs did nothing but kneel down toward the temples in the mountain peaks, looking like useless ants.

It was understandable that there serfs were timid and numb. However, they seemed so happy to devote their most valuable gold and silver and the most innocent daughters to the monks.

The number of monks in the field was not much, but they enjoyed high positions that even the nobles couldn’t imagine. Sitting in the warm yurts, their palms fell on the heads of the followers gently or on the young girls kneeling beside them. The scene was very weird. The sacredness was mixed with obscenity, which was mysterious but still dirty.

Looking at the tent in the distance, Ning Que listened to the chanting and moaning silently. Then he shook his head and said, “Ugly.”

The small white flower in Sangsang’s hair trembled in the night wind.

He turned to her and asked, “Why?”

Ning Que had seen much ugliness and misery of human world since he was a little boy, but he couldn’t understand why a society with such an unstable structure could maintain its operation for so many years and why people living here could endure for so long and even seemed to be happy.

“Like I said, it was just a well.” Sangsang looked at the cliff in the distant under the night sky and added, “Looking at the sky from the bottom of a well, one can see nothing, so these people thought that the monks in the peaks were real Buddhas. What Buddha said can be very deceptive.”

Ning Que thought for a while and said, “My Second Brother was right. All monks deserve to die.”

Sangsang said, “The Academy is always focused on Heaven and never cares about what happens on earth.”

She showed no sign of taunting, but Ning Que knew what she really meant. He couldn’t defend the Academy after seeing the miserable world, even though he could be very sophistic.

“You are not wrong.” He continued to say, “But my Second Brother is here now. The Academy won’t just walk away.”

Ning Que and Sangsang walked slowly to watch the field thoroughly. They were still a long way from the cliff when the morning light fell on Xuankong Temple in the peaks.

The closer to the cliff and farther away from the mountain where the Xuankong Temple was located, the lower the temperature was, the more barren the lands were, and the more miserable the serfs were.

The agricultural products in the field gradually became rare, and the cold-tolerant weeds gradually flourished. The gray-haired cows and sheep were slowly walking between the meadows. There were piles of stones between the grasses, with tattered pray flags hanging on them.

When he came here two days ago, Ning Que had seen the piles of stones and pray flags but hadn’t paid too much attention. At this moment, he found that there were scattered black blood on the stones and a faint smell of blood hanging around.

Walking closer, he and Sangsang saw more disabled serfs who had been tortured, some of which had their tongues cut off and others had their shank bones cracked. They couldn’t bear to watch all the tortures these people suffered.

Knowing that his Second Brother must be in the most bitter place, Ning Que was certain he was on the right path to see Second Brother. Although Sangsang couldn’t find Buddha, she could still easily find the Second Brother. She lead Ning Que to the depths of the meadow.

The meadow was scattered with cattle and sheep which were as beautiful like as cloud. There must be dilapidated yurts not far from the flocks. The lakes with blue waters were often located behind the yurts.

A lake flowed over, creating a large wetland full of water plants. A little girl in a dirty leather coat waved a small whip to drive her four lambs.

This little girl reminded Ning Que and Sangsang of Tang Xiaotang.

It was probably the first time this little girl ever saw strangers, but she was not afraid at all. She smiled and waved at them. The smile on her dark face was so clean, and her white teeth were a little dizzy.

Ning Que smiled at her.

The little girl herded the four lambs and came to them. She said nothing, just holding Ning Que’s hand and leading them to a yurt. She was inviting them to her home.

The field was deep underground and isolated from the world. Although there were no outsiders and no outsiders could ever find this place, it was still on earth.

Thinking of the cruel scenes he saw tonight and seeing the little girl who held his hand, Ning Que suddenly remembered the City of Wei, which had already become ruins and the young men and women who danced around the bonfire outside the City of Wei.

Hell and Heaven existed side by side on earth.

Sangsang asked, “Ignorance means naiveté, and naiveté means cruelty. How can you not see through this?”

Ning Que answered, “Even so, you don’t have to speak aloud.”

At this moment, he saw what happened across the lake.

Many people kneeled on the ground, surrounding a monk.

The monk wore a dirty khaki Kasaya, and the right sleeve kept swaying in the wind.

Any other people might look ugly dressing like this, but the monk looked decent with his elegant gesture. No one had any reason to think otherwise.

…