Nightfall

Ye Hongyu asked, “Snow can’t keep the people, but can you?”

Ning Que said, “I don’t understand what you mean.”

She continued, “Why did you dismiss all the stewards and maids last night?”

Ning Que answered with a smile, “Doesn’t this mean that I have not kept anyone?”

Ye Hongyu said, “You know what I mean.”

Ning Que said, “Today is the Winter Solstice Festival. I think they might be better with their families.”

Ye Hongyu said, “Then why do you want me to leave? Don’t tell me you still want to kill Xia Hou and you’re going to do it right now.”

Ning Que asked, “Do you care about me?”

Ye Hongyu shook her head.

Ning Que smiled and said, “It hurts but I know you really mean it. Since you don’t care whether I could be killed, then why does it bother you?”

“Xia Hou is a visiting professor of my sect and he is the reason why my brother came to Chang’an City. My brother won’t let you kill him, so I won’t either. If you are going to kill him, I have to stop you.”

Ye Hongyu looked at him and said calmly. An invisible sword seemed to appear in her right hand outside her taoist robe.

Ning Que looked at her right hand, and said after a long silence, “It seems that everybody in the world including my sect, does not want me to kill Xia Hou.”

He looked up to see her eyes and said, “You know what kind of person I am. I will not try if I can’t kill him. I want you to leave because Ye Su’s Taoist temple is reopening today; you should go there since it’s the Winter Solstice Festival.”

Ye Hongyu said, “Then tell me whether you are going to kill Xia Hou or not.”

Ning Que said, “I swear on the Headmaster’s personality that I never planned to kill him.”

Ye Hongyu said calmly, “I don’t believe you.”

Ning Que said, “If I try to kill Xia Hou, then I would never be able to get together with Sangsang.”

Ye Hongyu was astonished as she did not expect that Ning Que would swear on Sangsang, she frowned and asked, “Why do you care so much about the festival?”

Ning Que said, “We are going to the House of Red Sleeves and have mutton giblets soup.”

Ye Hongyu fell into silence. Her robe disappeared into the depths of the bleak plum trees which had been overrun by the Big Black Horse.

The Big Black Horse left the Yanming Lake and ran towards the suburb while chewing the fragrant plum blossom. The soldiers guarding the south gate of Chang’an City recognized it due to the Fish-dragon Gang’s message. So nobody tried to stop the horse. Instead, they stared at the disappearing figure on the road with an amazing look.

The horse arrived at the Academy after a while. It appeared at the lake bank of the back of the mountain and panted heavily. Then it bent down to greedily drink the water, moistening its burning throat and lungs.

He did not know what Ning Que planned to do, nor why he felt uneasy. He just thought he should come back to the Academy as soon as possible so that the people could know what would happen at Yanming Lake. He considered himself a messenger.

Chen Pipi stood on the bank of the lake, watching the dark horse on the opposite side. A look of heavy solemnness appeared on his round face. Tang Xiaotang looked up at him, and asked, “Will anything happen?”

“If Ning Que knows he can’t win, then he won’t do it at all. So I suppose nothing serious will happen. But why did the horse come back?”

Chen Pipi slightly frowned and said, “I just realized that maybe I never understood him. I used to think he was apathetic and realistic. So it is hard for me to imagine that he would do something brave and irrational.”

Tang Xiaotang said, “Ning Que is a shameless person. But my brother once said before he sent me to the Academy, that it takes great courage for a man to be extremely shameless.”

After a moment of silence, Chen Pipi said, “I will go to Chang’an City.”

Tang Xiaotang said, “Me too.”

Chen Pipi shook his head and said, “Third Sister will not agree.”

“Teacher permitted my leave during the morning class.”

Tang Xiaotang looked at Chen Pipi and said seriously, “Xia Hou is the worst traitor of the Enlightenment Doctrine for thousands of years. My brother always wanted to kill him. So do I. It’s a pity that I can’t. But at least I can watch him dying when Youngest Uncle kills him.”

The palace was very serene, full of music and dances.

Palace maids and eunuchs walked in the hall with obedient smiles. No one looked at the legendary cruel and cold-blooded General Xia Hou, nor did anyone notice that the emperor’s expression was a little bit strange.

The emperor looked down at Xia Hou and said indifferently, “Since things have been resolved, I don’t want to see any changes. I don’t care about the relationship between Ning Que and the past Xuanwei General as well as the recent years’ murders in Chang’an. After all, he is a student of the Headmaster. After you leave the city today, it is unlikely for you to meet him again. So do not set yourself against him.”

Xia Hou left his seat and knelt down to show his obedience.

The emperor left the hall in silence with hands on his back, ending the short farewell banquet. The eunuchs and maids followed the emperor, leaving the silent empress and General Xia Hou alone.

Leaving the empress and a general alone was very improper according to the rules in Palace. But since it was the emperor’s will, nobody dared to oppose.

Looking at her brother, the empress gently sighed and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Xia Hou looked at her. A rare but very warm smile appeared on his black and cold face, and he said, “What can happen since I’m going back to our hometown? I have never felt so relaxed before. But you will be alone and you must be careful in Chang’an City. If there’s something you cannot manage, let me know as soon as possible.”

The empress said with a smile, “It seems nothing will happen judging by the stillness of the Academy.”

“It is the agreement between Mr. First and me. The Headmaster must have the same attitude… As for Ning Que, we all know what kind of person he is. Nothing will happen of course.”

Xia Hou slightly frowned to suppress the increasingly annoying cough in his chest, he did not want to let his sister worry about him after he left Chang’an City.

The empress looked at his face without saying a word. Her gaze seemed to penetrate into him, seeing his lungs and injuries. She said slowly, “In the Wilderness, Tang had greatly injured you. He must not have fared any better. Why didn’t you kill him?”

He coughed and said, “He could hurt me just as I could hurt him. More people would have died if I wanted to end him. Those loyal knights had followed me for many years. How could I let them die?”

Hearing his words, the look on the empress’s face grew more gentle, she consoled him and said, “You have changed a lot, brother.”

“Less cruel and cold-blooded?”

Xia Hou mocked and recalled when they first left the Wilderness and came here. They had no one to rely on, the emperor had not yet reigned and her sister was not the empress. The only way for the two outsiders to feel safe was to make their enemies fear.

It was in the winter. Snowflakes fell from the sky, painting the red palace walls white. The snow on the square before side palace hall flew like endless catkins.

Xia Hou silently watched the snow and recalled his experience in the northern Hulan Sea. When he snatched the iron box from Ning Que, his hands were stained by snowy ashes. And then he heard a sound of sobbing deep in the snow. It was not the wind, but the winter cicadas.

He knew it was a phonism, but still, he felt somewhat uneasy.

Decades ago, when he left Tianqi Mountain and went southwards to the Tang nation, he was very proud and bold. But after he betrayed the Enlightenment Doctrine and killed Murong Linshuang, his pride had gone. All these years, it was just ruthlessness and cruelty.

Because since that day, he had become a traitor of the Devil’s Doctrine.

Since that day, there were two shades of cold dark clouds always lingering in his heart.

One was his teacher, Master Lotus.

The other was Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation, the current ruler of the Devil’s Doctrine.

Xia Hou was strong and proud but he clearly knew that, if the two shades came to him, he would have no choice but death.

When Ke Haoran destroyed the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine alone, Xia Hou did not see the death of his teacher himself. He could not believe that people like Master Lotus would die without leaving a trace.

As for Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation, he was called the most mysterious man in the cultivation world. Although it was said that he had been dead for a long time, Xia Hou doubted that.

So all these years, he had lived in fear.

In the northern Hulan Sea, when he found that the box that he snatched from Ning Que did not have the “Ming” Handscroll from the Tomes of the Arcane in it, but the ashes of his teacher Master Lotus, he felt disappointed, sad and then, relieved. Perhaps it was then that he wanted to lay down his arms and retire, leaving the secular world behind.

“I don’t know what Ning Que had experienced after entering the Front Gate.”

Looking at the flying snowflakes outside the hall, Xia Hou said with a complex expression on his face, “Since he had the ashes, he might have inherited something from my teacher, and we have no idea where the ruler of the Devil’s Doctrine is right now. I dare say he mustn’t be here, but actually he could be anywhere in this world.”

The empress knew her brother’s biggest fear, so she walked to his side, trying to console him, “But we already know Master Lotus is dead. The Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation is the most dangerous man in the world, but the Academy and the sect haven’t found him. He’s probably dead. Besides, if he is alive, why did he not come to you all these years?”

“I really hope so.”

Xia Hou said, “Ye Su had come here and buddhists from the Buddhism Sect will come. Of the three sects, only Devil’s Doctrine is declining. What a pity.”