Nightfall

While saying this, the Eldest Brother was very calm. His eyebrows were still straight, and his eyes were still full of honesty. But actually one could feel the extreme and cold pain that was hidden behind his calmness.

Hearing what Eldest Brother said, the Drunkard seemed calm too. But his calmness was more dignified, for what the Academy offered was related to treachery. But he had to believe the Eldest Brother due to the reputation of the Academy.

For thousands of years, he and the Butcher hardly had any grudges against the Academy or the Headmaster. But everything changed when the governor died last night. If the Academy could really leave all of the disputes behind and join hands with the Drunkard and the Butcher, then they might defeat the Peach Mountain, and burn the Divine Halls and destroy Taoism, rocking the foundation of the world of Haotian!

The green mountains outside Linkang were quiet. Looking at the world in the autumn rain, he went silent and the flagon tied around his waist was gently swaying in the wind and rain, like a small boat in the rolling mountains of waves.

As the rain abated, the clouds above the mountains and plains were thinner and thinner and time gradually passed by, but he still kept silent and didn’t reply to the Academy’s offer. A suffocating nervy atmosphere permeated the mountain road.

The Drunkard’s answer, to some extent, would determine the future of the human world. It was only natural that he took all the time he needed. The sky went dark, and the evening twilight dyed the clouds red and then burned them into ashes. The darkness fell and the bright moon appeared on the sky. He finally broke the silence and made an answer.

The Drunkard answered simply, “No.”

The moonlight sprinkled on the cheeks of the Eldest Brother, and he turned pale, “Why not?”

“Because Haotian is omnipotent.” The Drunkard looked at the moonlight on the face of the Eldest Brother and said calmly, “That spring rain, Hengmu, the teenager from the Tribe of Savages in the north, and the Abby Dean are all proof. For countless years, the Butcher and I have been hiding in the human world and watching how Taoism is ruling the world. I have seen too many similar situations. Although Taoism has never had a leader as powerful as the Headmaster, Haotian has proven too many things.”

Hearing this, the Eldest Brother shook his head and said while pointing to the night sky, “The Headmaster said several times that Haotian is omnipotent, but he never actually believed so. That’s why he went to Heaven to fight against Haotian. That was why another moon appeared in the human world.”

The direction he pointed was exactly the beautiful moon in the night sky.

The Drunkard looked at the moon following his finger and said, “But look…the face of the moon has been secretly changing. Ordinary people won’t notice that the moon is dimming, but we can’t just ignore the fact.”

The darkening of the moon meant that the Headmaster was gradually weakening. A powerful cultivator like the Drunkard would never read the astronomical phenomena wrong. In fact, the Academy was well aware of the fact, and all its disciples, including the Eldest Brother, were worried about it.

“But there is hope since the moon is still bright,” the Eldest Brother said.

The Drunkard shook his head and said, “It is pointless for me even if the moon can be bright for tens of thousands of years. I want eternity. Nobody can grant me eternity except for Haotian. The Headmaster is not an immortal himself, so how could he help me? How does the Academy plan to convince me since you can’t give me what I want?”

The Eldest Brother was silent for a long time and then asked, “Is this really that important?”

The Drunkard looked at him and answered, “The meaning of survival lies in survival.”

The Eldest Brother said, “I thought it lies in the experience.”

The Drunkard taunted, “Only those who cannot be eternal will ignore the meaning of eternity. Just like only those who can’t have grapes will say that grapes are sour.”

The Eldest Brother sighed, “So in your opinion, the word ‘love’ must be meaningless and useless.”

“Like I’ve said before, I love no one and nothing in the human world. What is love anyway? You are still too young to understand that love is really meaningless when compared with time.” Speaking of this, the Drunkard revealed a little sentimentality and nostalgia and said, “I’ve lived long enough to see my fair share of joys and sorrows, and matters such as birth, death, illness and old age have been always around me. For me, there is nothing new in the human world and I have already seen through everything.”

He continued. “Time will kill all of your old friends, turn your new friends into old friends, and then kill them too. You will become a wise man who won’t value love too much, and you also will become a walking corpse whose body and soul are both rotten. But meanwhile, you will think a lot and eventually understand that the meaning of survival lies in survival.”

He looked at the night sky and said calmly, “I have been getting on with the damn time for too many years, and I know very well how invincible it is. Thus, I will not miss any chance to overcome it.” The Drunkard tonight was a little different from him of the past. In the past, he didn’t seem to be strong whether he was in a small town or in Xuankong Temple. He used to be like a stone in the Wilderness, but at this moment, he was like a steep mountain.

That was because he was reserved but unreflective in the past, just like the rotten woods and the dumb stones. But tonight, he was thinking and expressing his own thoughts, so his mind seemed to have come alive.

Hearing this, the Eldest Brother went silent for a moment and then asked, “So, what about freedom?”

The Drunkard answered, “What is freedom? It is mastery, understanding, the boundary of knowledge and vision… Freedom is indeed something more beautiful than love, but who can be rally free?”

The Eldest Brother shook his head and replied, “There is no absolute freedom, but people will always yearn for it. The Headmaster had been flying in the sky at night. Although he was lonely, I bet he was certainly very happy.”

The Drunkard squinted his eyes and asked, “Even if you will die touching the boundary? Even if breaking the boundary means perishing?

“Due to what happened to Sangsang in the past, my Youngest Brother once taught me that we can’t just destroy all possibilities just because of the possibility of a bad outcome, for being alive is a collection of countless possibilities.” The Eldest Brother said, “So living without any possibilities means death.”

The Drunkard said, “Maybe the outside is never as good as you think it is.”

“My Youngest Brother also said that the human’s conquest is like the sea of stars.”

The Eldest Brother looked at the stars in the night sky, as if seeing the real stars outside the night sky. He smiled brightly and continued to say, “I am not a fan of traveling, but I am delighted beyond measure every time I think of what my Youngest Brother said. I think the underlying pleasure of conquest can surpass the fear of death.”

The Drunkard meditate for quite a while and then asked, “What’s the name of this joyful conquest?”

The Eldest Brother answered, “Happy excursion.”

Hearing this, the Drunkard looked up at the sky which was studded with twinkling stars and forgot to speak.