Nightfall

No one noticed that a middle-aged scholar came to the square and quietly approached the high stage when the papal cavalrymen of the Divine Halls of West-Hill rushed into the square.

The middle-aged scholar was dressed in an ordinary style and all sweaty, with a baggage tied to his back. He came to the stage, unwrapped the baggage at the fastest speed and took out a wooden plate.

The wooden plate was made of wood and had an extremely delicate texture which usually could be found on golden texture. And there was a very thin layer of yellow sand in the plate.

This was a sandbox, the most well-known sandbox in the cultivation world: River and Mountain Sandbox.

As the River and Mountain Sandbox appeared, the whole world entered into it. That layer of yellow sand fluttered in the air and then fell, making the sky and earth all yellow and then turning everything into yellow sand.

The hard bluestone ground turned into a desert. The horse who was sprinting at high speed fell heavily on the ground and broke its front hoof. The cavalryman on the horse was also fell on the ground and directly passed out.

In a very short period of time, there were hundreds of cavalrymen fell off the horse. But those terrified followers of New Stream were not hurt by the yellow sand, just having trouble to move freely.

The yellow sand was sometimes like water, surpassing the strong and pitying the weak due to its softness.

With his feet trapped in the yellow sand, he clearly felt an absorbing power from the bottom of the sand. He looked solemn, trying hard to lift his right foot to step forward.

All of a sudden, the yellow sand was blown by wind and blocked his way.

His sight light crossed over the flying yellow sand, then falling on the middle-aged scholar on the other side of the stage.

Chen Pipi looked at the middle-aged scholar and shouted, “Fourth Brother!”

The middle-aged scholar didn’t respond and just stared at Long Qing.

Long Qing slightly frowned. He was ordered to kill Ye Su and destroy the New Stream, guessing that the Academy might try to intervene. But to his surprise, the Academy didn’t send that iron arrow or Mr. First, but this guy: Fan Yue, Mr. Fourth of the Academy.

Among the interesting but terrifying characters in the Back Hill of the Academy, Fan Yue had always kept a low profile. Although he entered the Academy pretty early and enjoyed a high rank, he only reached the State of See-Through Zenith, not being at the same level of Li Manman and Jun Mo. Senior Sister Yu Lian was only at the See-Through State, but everyone knew that she was way more powerful after she defeated Xiong Chumo, the Hierarch of the Divine Halls of West-Hill. However, Fan Yue was actually as powerful as a person who reached See-Through Zenith was supposed to be.

But this was not important. The Headmaster never cared whether or not his disciples were gifted, but all his disciples had their own expertise and could be the best in their field. Compared with other brothers and sisters, Fan Yue was indeed relatively weak. He was good at Fu Tao, but not as talented as Mo Shanshan and Ning Que. He was good at strategy, but not as good as Yu Lian. He was good at designing, but Sixth Brother was better, not to mention Professor Huang He from the Front Yard. Fan Yue was probably best at calculating on an abacus.

Although the Back Hill of the Academy gradually revealed itself to the human world in these years, he still didn’t attract much attention. Only his brothers and sisters from the Back Hill knew that he was rather important, for the strategies the Academy and the Great Tang played these years were all coming from Yu Lian, Ning Que and him. Besides, he owned the most precious ritual implement of the cultivation world: River and Mountain Sandbox.

In the Battle of the Verdant Canyon back then, the only reason the Academy survived the Abbey Dean’s sword was the River and Mountain Sandbox. Fan Yue used all his strength to trap the sword, thus Jun Mo got the chance to show his power. Since River and Mountain Sandbox could trap the Abbey Dean’s sword, it must be extremely powerful. Today, he came here with the River and Mountain Sandbox. In fact, he was not supposed to be here.

The Academy was well aware that the Divine Halls of West-Hill wanted Ye Su and the New Stream gone, but the Eldest Brother, Yu Lian and Ning Que all thought the Abbey Dean could be convinced. Since killing Ye Su wouldn’t do any good to Taoism, they figured that the Abbey Dean would certainly not do it, and Tang Xiaotang and the Sword Garret could handle the matter as long as the Abbey Dean stayed out of it.

Only Fourth Brother disagreed. Although he didn’t figure out other results after a long time of calculating, he felt extremely unsettled and thought his brothers and sister were wrong. Then he packed his bags, left the Back Hill, and headed for South Jin Kingdom with River and Mountain Sandbox, in order to save Ye Su.

This was the real style of the Academy. United, the Academy were as strong as a fortress, but it also valued the principle of harmony in diversity. And the disciples of the Academy must take responsibility for the Academy and themselves and do nothing they would regret in the future.

The Fourth Brother finally made it. Although it was difficult to change the situation on his own, he still could make the efforts on behalf of the Academy.

He lifted the River and Mountain Sandbox and poured all his Psyche Power into it. Only in an instant, he almost exhausted his Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow, and he turned extremely pale, even seeming to be thinner.

The River and Mountain Sandbox contained the yellow sand, and also the whole human world.

Each grain of sand represented a landscape of the human world: a small bridge, a stream, a pavilion, a green hill, a palanquin on the bridge, a boat on the water, a person in the pavilion or a tree on the green hill.

But today, the yellow sand was just yellow sand. Because its original form contained the most powerful force.

Fourth Brother used his Psyche Power to energize the River and Mountain Sandbox. The yellow sand fiercely flew around and then settle down, turning the world into a desert where no direction could be found.

Being lucky enough to not fall to death, the cavalrymen of the Divine Halls of West-Hill in the back desperately pulled the reins to stop the horses, then got down from the horses and tried to find a way out. But it was not easy to do so.

The Fourth Brother held the River and Mountain Sandbox and went on stage.

Long Qing looked at him quietly. Although the yellow sand covered the ground, it couldn’t completely drag him into the dreamland. His body was in the yellow sand, but his eyes could see the truth and see his opponent.

Sensing Long Qing’s gaze, the Fourth Brother felt unsettled. He had feelings that something bad was going to happen just like he calculated in the Back Hill of the Academy. So he blew to the River and Mountain Sandbox. The shallow yellow sand was ruffled by his blowing, and some grains of sand fluttered in the air.

Suddenly, there was a hurricane on the square that had turned into a desert. Countless yellow sand rolled up and blocked everyone’s sight. The sky and the earth became dark, and even more frightening was that the desert, which was previously flat as a wilderness, suddenly burst into rumbling and numerous sand dunes appeared on the surface of the desert. Many cavalrymen were swallowed by the moving sand instantly!

The cavalrymen who had not been swallowed suffered a lot in the flying yellow sand. Miserable screams and the dull sound of people and horses colliding with each other could be heard everywhere.

Even powerful people like Xiaoyu who had reached Knowing Destiny State could not resist the power of the River and Mountain Sandbox. Those divine priests and deacons all died, and Xiaoyu also passed out in the yellow sand.

Long Qing couldn’t move and turned a little pale for he was injured by Tang Xiaotang and then the River and Mountain Sandbox. He didn’t expect that the sandbox was so powerful since the guy who possessed it was so ordinary.

But was it powerful enough?

The next moment, he finally put his foot down, but he was still standing on the yellow sand.

He didn’t manage to walk out of the River and Mountain Sandbox, but so what?

The scar on his face became brighter, but definitely not ugly. Actually he looked good with the gray eyelids and silver straight hair.

He was powerful, and he had a really powerful means. He was not afraid even though Ning Que’s iron arrow and Li Manman came here, let alone just a sandbox.

He took out a book and raised it up.

He remembered that when he was the second Divine Priest of the Judicial Department and hunted members of Devil’s Doctrine and sinners who betrayed Taoism, he truly believed that he represented justice.

Looking at Ye Su and others on the other side of the yellow sand, he looked solemn and silently repeated the words that were familiar to them in the past: “Sinners, do face the punishment from Haotian.”

Last night in the Divine Hall of Judgement of Peach Mountain, the middle-aged priest broke the Confinement of Ye Hongyu with Arcane Tome of the Fall. At this moment, what Long Qing held in his hand was Arcane Tome of the Sand.

The Abbey Dean finally made the most important decision. He no longer cared about blaspheming Haotian, turning the holiest arcane tomes into very powerful artifacts in his plan.

The middle-aged priest had accompanied the arcane tomes for countless years and Long Qing had always taken Arcane Tome of the Sand with him all these years, so only the two had the ability to use the arcane tomes as weapons.

The city in the morning, covered with yellow sand, was very dry. When Long Qing lifted the Arcane Tome of the Sand, the air became drier and drier.

The cover of Arcane Tome of the Sand turned into countless grains of sand and flew in the wind. Then the second page turned into countless grains of sand, and then the third page, the fourth page, the fifth page… Hundreds of millions of sand grains turned into a sand river, went straight to the sky from Long Qing’s hands and merged with an unspeakable high-spirited meaning in the deepest part of the sky, then rushing to the yellow sand.

Arcane Tome of the Sand recorded almost all the cultivation methods in the cultivation world, which could not be done only by humans. Just like the Arcane Tome of the Sun, in addition to the efforts of Taoism, Haotian contributed more to it.

Taoism saw cultivation as a gift from Haotian, and the Arcane Tome of the Sand was the gift list recording rules which could not be counted like the sand at the bottom of the sea. Every grain of sand represented the gift from Haotian and the awe of the humans. At this point, as the Arcane Tome of the Sand turned into sand grains, the words were melted on the paper and then dissipated into the finest particles, as if every grain of sand contained the power of that cultivation method.

Hundreds of millions of grains of sand represented the hundreds of millions of cultivation methods, falling in the River and Mountain Sandbox. Even though the River and Mountain Sandbox contained the whole human world, it was still an object belonged to the cultivator. There was no way it could accommodate the near-infinite expanse and complexity.

In an instant, the yellow sand suddenly stopped flying and some pavilions in the corner were about to lose their original forms.

Both of the Fourth Brother’s arms, which held the River and Mountain Sandbox, began to tremble, as if he would throw the sandbox to the ground in the next moment. Sensing the horrible impact from the sandbox, he found that it was even more powerful than the virtual sword thrown by the Abbey Dean in front of the Verdant Canyon back then. He instantly turned pale, and his lips began to ooze blood.

“All scatter!” Long Qing shouted with no expression. As his voice fell, the speed of the flying sand on the square slowed down, and the small bridges and streams were covered with sand coming from the Arcane Tome of the Sand.

The yellow sand was covered by the sand from the bottom of the sea. Long Qing covered the Fourth Brother’s world with his own world, so he could walk around freely and go wherever he wanted to go.

Long Qing took a step forward.

If there were intelligent beings in the River and Mountain Sandbox, they might see that, under the sun, a huge footprint which was bigger than the mountain stepped through the clouds, crushed the wilderness and finally landed on the other side of the horizon.

It only took him one step to walk out of the River and Mountain Sandbox.

Long Qing approached on the stage and stood in front of Ye Su.

There was still residual yellow sand between the two.

Fourth Brother kept coughing blood but managed to hold himself together.

Long Qing held the Arcane Tome of the Sand which was disappearing with one hand, and reached to Ye Su with another hand.

All of a sudden, Tang Xiaotang broke through the wind and came to the stage. She leaned against the iron stick and fell on her knees in front of Ye Su. Then he lifted the stick with two hands and blocked Long Qing’s hand with all the strength she had.

Long Qing’s hand fell on the iron stick.

Tang Xiaotang fell to the ground and kept oozing blood.

Long Qing took another step forward and again reached to Ye Su.

At that time, the Arcane Tome of the Sand in his left hand was still fighting against the River and Mountain Sandbox. More and more blood came out of the Fourth Brother’s mouth, wetting the front part of his cloth. The color of the blood became darker and darker and finally looked like ink, which was startling.

Seeing this, Chen Pipi finally felt desperate. His body began to tremble, for he feared that his two elder brothers and his lover would die.

The trembling was transmitted from his hands and feet to his chest and abdomen, and then to the depths of his body, and finally fell behind the waist. Then his Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow began to tremble too.

His Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow had already been destroyed, and to be precise, been locked up by Sangsang, and turned into a dry Dead Sea and black mountain peak. But at this moment, it began to tremble! Tremble was an action which meant being alive. His Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow came to life again!

Chen Pipi had no time to feel this sudden change or be wild with joy. He just instinctively used his Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow to attack Long Qing.

Ten intents which had no trajectories and were as unpredictable as the drifting clouds in the sky came out of his ten fingers and fiercely rushed to the chest and abdomen of Long Qing.

After the bloody battles with Tang Xiaotang to whom Haotian granted eternal life and Mr. Fourth of the Academy who possessed the River and Mountain Sandbox, Long Qing had been seriously injured. At this moment, Chen Pipi suddenly attacked him with the Natural Stream Magical Finger. He did not manage to avoid it even though he had the Arcane Tome of the Sand.

With a burst of dense muffled sounds, the wills of ten Natural Stream Magical Fingers all fell on the chest of Long Qing. Ten holes appeared on his thin garment, with blood kept flowing out.

Long Qing turn paler. He puzzled to look down at his chest and then looked up at Chen Pipi, frowning slightly.

Then he figured it out.

At this point, Haotian was so weak that she could not even shelter the people she once promised to shelter, such as Tang Xiaotang. And naturally she could not punish the people she once wanted to punish forever either. Since the Abbey Dean had already left Peach Mountain, it was reasonable for Chen Pipi to regain his power.

Long Qing coughed twice painfully, making more blood come out of the holes on his chest.

“It’s not enough,” said Long Qing, staring at Chen Pipi.

The Arcane Tome of the Sand in his left hand turned into gravel, rushing to Chen Pipi.

Instantly, there were countless tiny blood lines on Chen Pipi’s body. Each bloody line came from a very fine wound, and each wound contained a gravel deep inside which tried to keep drilling inside like an ant. It was even hard to imagine how painful it was.

Chen Pipi suffered extreme pain, but he did not cry, for he thought it was too embarrassing. So he desperately squeezed a smile but did not realize that the smile was as ugly as his crying.

Seeing his face, Tang Xiaotang wanted to smile and meanwhile wanted to cry due to sadness.

Long Qing glanced at the Fourth Brother and held tightly the Arcane Tome of the Sand.

Fourth Brother sighed and sat down helplessly, starting to vomit blood.

There was no sound at all.

Long Qing looked at Ye Su, Chen Pipi, Tang Xiaotang and Fan Yue and took a deep breath, looking very satisfied. Back then, he looked up at some of them, feared some of them, was far less talented than some of them and was even rejected by some of them. But at this point, he was more powerful than any of them, and they were no match for him even though they joined hands.

Perhaps what he cultivated might turn him into a monster who lost his sanity or just turn his body into hundreds of millions of gravel one day, but he could deal with that later. At this moment, he was very satisfied, as never before.

He lifted his jaw proudly, as if he was back to the day he entered Chang’an many years ago. On that day, there were countless followers on the streets of Chang’an and he sat in the center of the sedan.

At this moment, a sound came from the stage.

“Could I borrow it?” Ye Su said to the Fourth Brother, or to the world.

The River and Mountain Sandbox which was about to crack was coming to his hand.

Long Qing stared at him and asked, “You betrayed Haotian. Do you really believe that Divine Manifestation will happen to you?”

Ye Su’s Ocean of Qi and Mountain of Snow was destroyed during his fight against Jun Mo in front of Verdant Canyon, which had nothing to do with Sangsang, then he could not regain his power like the Abbey Dean and Chen Pipi.

Ye Su answered, “Maybe Divine Manifestation was originally created by humans.” This sentence was the foundation of the New Stream and also the epitaph of Taoism.

Long Qing shook his head and said, “That requires strength. You don’t have any.”

The wind and sand rested, and only a few people on the stage were still affected by the fight between the River and Mountain Sandbox and the Arcane Tome of the Sand. The square was full of corpses, including the cavalrymen and also followers of the New Stream. As for those followers who were still alive, they were rushing to Ye Su even though they were seriously injured. They wanted to save Ye Su even at the cost of their lives.

Was this a kind of persistent faith? Was it strength?

Looking at these devout followers, Ye Su revealed complex emotions in his eyes and said, “I believe this is strength. This is the strength of faith.”

Long Qing said, “You are well aware that only Haotian gets to use the strength of faith.”

Ye Su didn’t look at him but looked at the blue sky, asking, “What about Buddha?”

Long Qing wondered, “How to use this kind of strength?”

Ye Su answered, “I don’t know. I just want to try.”

Could I borrow it? Ye Su did not only want to borrow the River and Mountain Sandbox from the Academy, but also wanted to borrow strength from his followers. Maybe it was indeed the strength of faith.

A mighty and pure strength came out of the square.

The strength came from the followers in the square. Thousands of breaths entered Ye Su’s body and then came out with the atmosphere of solemnity.

Ye Su poured the strength or breaths into the River and Mountain Sandbox and then looked to Long Qing.

It was an invitation.

Long Qing turned solemn, and the Arcane Tome of the Sand was disappearing at a faster speed.

He sat down in front of Ye Su.

The sand began to fly again. Ye Su kept trembling and struggled to sit tight.

Long Qing just stared at him with any expression.

Ye Su said, “You go first.” He was asking Chen Pipi to leave with the others while Long Qing was trapped by him at this moment.

Long Qing stared at his face and said, “You can’t leave.”

Ye Su never thought of leaving. He just wanted to keep Long Qing here, and to give others an opportunity to leave. If not for this reason, he would rather die than try to use this kind of strength.

His original intention of founding the New Stream was to tell people that they didn’t need any faith, but he never expected that he himself would become the one people worshipped, which made him feel confused and sad.

What made him feel a little comforted was that this was the first time and probably the last time he used this kind of strength.

He founded the New Stream, but he was not Haotian. Even though he was willing to accept the followers’ worship, he could not compete with Taoism which had accepted people’s worship for so many years.

The Arcane Tomes were sacred artifacts of Taoism and contained unpredictable power. Ye Hongyu was not able to resist its power even though she fought against it with the Divine Hall of Judgement. Although Ye Su borrowed the faith from the followers and the River and Mountain Sandbox from the Academy, it was nearly impossible for him to resist the power of the sacred artifact.

In the flying sand, Ye Su gradually felt tired, but he gradually calmed down.

But Chen Pipi did not leave.

Ye Su lowered his head and requested helplessly, “Please go.”

At this point, all the people in the square were seriously injured. Only Long Qing had the strength to fight again, and only Ye Su was able to stall him for a while. But the morning light that fell on Ye Su was already dim.

Ye Su was begging Chen Pipi to leave.

Chen Pipi was silent and then struggled to stand up. He helped Tang Xiaotang and the Fourth Brother to walk down the high platform. Then they walked away from the square with several disciples of the Sword Garret who managed to survive.

Chen Pipi never looked back this whole time.

He said nothing to Ye Su, and he did not cry, laugh or make any strange sound. He just kept walking silently and helped his companions move forward while suffering greatly due to the blood holes on his body. It was because crying or laughing meant saying goodbye. He didn’t want to say goodbye to Ye Su in this way.

They walked slowly and finally walked out of the square after a long time.

The cavalrymen of the Divine Halls of West-Hill didn’t chase them. They survived.

Chen Pipi said nothing and just kept moving forward. He got into a carriage which pulled out of the city and entered the wilderness. He finally burst into tears when the carriage was already dozens of miles away from the city.

The Fourth Brother sat by the window of the carriage and looked out of the window. He wanted to say something but did not know how to put it. Why did he come such a long way to the square even though he could not change anything?

The River and Mountain Sandbox was destroyed, and many people died.

He wanted to go back to Chang’an and asked Ning Que what went wrong?