Nightfall

It was in the dawn. There was a sound in the Winter Forest. A flying sword went past the snowy lake and flew fast among the trees. It was searching for the place where the sound of the cicadas came from.

After a while, Ye Su went into the forest. He waved his right hand and the flying sword flew back to him and returned to his hand. He put it back to the sheath on his back.

The cicadas stopped chirping and that person also disappeared. Only the mute monk and the dead body of the Minister of Offerings of Qinghe County were still in the forest.

Ye Su looked to the east and saw the sunrays in the mist, which were as transparent as the wings of the cicadas. He raised his eyebrows and looked very serious.

Eldest Brother slowly went into the forest. He stood next to Ye Su and also looked in the same direction expressionlessly.

The snow on the mute monk fell to the ground and made a noise, revealing the woolen kasaya he was wearing. Then he stood up and bowed to Eldest Brother and Ye Su with his palms held together.

Looking at the snow between his eyebrows, Eldest Brother remembered the reason why this monk came here. He frowned and said, “Welcome, Master Qi Nian, to publicize Buddhism Sect to Chang’an.”

The reason why this Xuankong Temple went to Chang’an was to observe Ning Que, who was said to be the Son of Yama. He didn’t mean well and Eldest Brother could not welcome him sincerely. His words ”publicize the Buddhism Sect” had revealed his real attitude.

Qi Nian looked very peaceful. The snow between his eyebrows was very peaceful too. He didn’t do anything after hearing Eldest Brother’s vague words.

“Last night, you were silent in the Winter Forest and didn’t help anyone. I thought that it was a professor from the Academy, but I didn’t expect that it was him. You have been cultivating Silent Meditation for fifteen years, and you still cannot stop him from leaving?”

Ye Su asked and his face was serious and cold.

After the death of the Youngest Brother in the Academy, the biggest enemy of the Taoism sect in the world was that Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation. But he was so mysterious that even the most powerful and influential West-Hill Divine Palace couldn’t find any information about him.

No one thought that the most mysterious person in the world would show up again at such a time when the most important thing was happening in Chang’an, until they heard the sound of cicadas at the Yanming Lake.

The West-Hill Divine Palace would of course be very shocked by his appearance. They would use all their power to find where the person who had made cicada sound went. As the successor of the Zhishou Abbey, Ye Su was also very alarmed.

Qi Nian had been cultivating the Silent Meditation for 15 years and was excellent in it. Whenever he started chanting, it would be heard throughout the world. But last night, when facing the sad sound of cicadas and his silent and cold enemy, he didn’t say anything, because he was not sure whether he could defeat that person.

So he didn’t answer Ye Su’s question either.

Ye Su knew what the mute monk was like. He knew that he couldn’t get any information about the Twenty-Three-Year Cicada Cultivation if he didn’t want to speak.

He turned to Eldest Brother, “This is Chang’an.”

His words were simple and the meaning of them was also very simple. This was not the West-Hill or the Xuankong Temple. It was Chang’an City of Tang, it was where the Academy was. If a leader of the Devil’s Doctrine came here and then left again silently, then he was challenging the Academy. So the Academy should do something.

Eldest Brother said, “All these years, he has been undermining General Xia Hou, and by doing that, he had given enough respect to the Academy. I didn’t expect him to come this time.”

Ye Su looked at the dead body of the Minister of Offerings of Qinghe County and pointed at the thin snowflake on his neck, “If he kills you in Chang’an, will Mr. First not want to enforce the law of Tang Empire on behalf of the Academy?”

Eldest Brother sighed, “The Academy does attach great importance to the law of Tang Empire, but it still depends on the ability of the executor. It can only be used to restrain those who we Tangs are able to suppress. But neither the Imperial Court nor the Academy knew what to do with him, and we can’t ask the Master to do it.”

Ye Su was very confused. In his view, even though the Headmaster of the Academy had not been dealing with the things in the world for many years. Surely the reappearance of the Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation was important enough to make him do something?

No one said anything, and no one knew what to say. The reappearance of the mysterious Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation made the three most powerful people sink into silence.

The sunrays became stronger and the snowflakes were dancing in the rays. It still looked like a pair of big cicada wings, but the color of them became lighter.

Looking at the snowy mist in the air and the cicada wings, Ye Su’s expression suddenly changed.

Last night, he and Eldest Brother were watching the Yanming Lake on the city wall, but they didn’t notice anything happening in the forest. So how did the Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation do it? He was not faced by a normal person. His enemy was Qi Nian, the most powerful person of the Buddhist Sect.

The reason why the Devil’s Doctrine was not welcomed by other cultivation sects was that it wanted to replace Haotian and it wanted to absorb the Qi of Heaven and Earth to rebuild a new world.

But maybe the Master of the Devil’s Doctrine had gone past this state? Perhaps he could already shelter the light of Haotian and set up his own world in nature by just waving his light cicada wings?

That would explain why the sounds in the Winter Forest could escape the eyes of the Mr. First of the Academy and him and why the people around the lake didn’t notice him at all.

The Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation should be so powerful!

Thinking of that, Ye Su’s face turned pale. But then he became very confused and felt there was something wrong about it. He tried to feel the aura left in the snowy forest and became silent again.

While Ye Su was silent, Eldest Brother had a talk with Qi Nian. Qi Nian was mute, so the conversation was more like a peaceful but authoritarian announcement from Eldest Brother. No one knew what they had said, but it could be guessed that the talk was about Ning Que.

Under the snowy bridge, the soldiers from the Yulin Royal Guards were extremely tired. It was not because they had to stay up all night, but because that they felt humiliated when Ning Que blocked them away from the fight and they could only hear the sound of the fight but couldn’t get involved in it.

Xu Shi walked to the bridge and turned around in front of Second Brother. He held on to the snowy railing and looked at the ice on the river. “Am I really that old?” He asked.

Second Brother straightened his body and gently swept every snowflake on him away. After making sure that there was no crease on his uniform, he said, “You are old.”

Xu Shi did not become angry, he said peacefully, “The Academy is a place where miracles happen. Ning Que has done a thing no one could ever expect. But do you think it is fair?”

Second Brother walked to him and looked at the river.

The snow on the surface of the lake was blown to the banks of the river by the heavy wind last night. The ice on the surface of the lake could roughly reflect everything. Second Brother examined the position of his crown in the reflection on the ice and made sure it was not perfectly straight. Then he nodded with satisfaction, “I am the fairest in the world.”

The wrinkles on Xu Shi’s face were very deep. And when the wind blew, he looked much older. “Jun Mo is as righteous as an ancient gentleman, of course no one dared to doubt you. But last night, Ning Que used his little handmaiden’s ability to deal the final strike to Xia Hou. That was two people fighting against one. Is it fair?”

Second Brother said, “My Youngest Brother is a Talisman Master. The rules in the cultivation world allow people to have escort servants when having a fight. So of course it is totally fine.”

Xu Shi thought about the brightness on the cliff last night and the sound of weapons colliding together. He said with his eyebrows frowned, “But Ning Que is not a simple Talisman Master. And Miss Sangsang is the only successor of the Great Divine Priest of Light. She is not an escort servant either.”

Second Brother replied, “A Talisman Master is a Talisman Master. Even though Youngest Brother also cultivates talisman and martial arts together, if he calls himself a Talisman Master, then he is one. As for Sangsang, even though she will become the Great Divine Priest of Light of the West-Hill one day, she can still be an escort servant of Youngest Brother as long as she wants to.”

Xu Shi said with a serious looking, “I never knew that Jun Mo was so unreasonable.”

“I care about reasons and etiquette the most in the world. Of course I am good at using all means to make my behavior plausible. So I can always be an unreasonable speaker and an unreasonable fighter.”

Second Brother continued coldly, “When Daoshi Monk challenged the Academy, he had an escort servant. Your Military Ministry offered him the challenge certificate and the place to fight. Since you have never mentioned that fight was not fair, you shouldn’t accusing this fight of being unfair. If you insist your opinion, the Academy does not mind to ask the Military Ministry to teach us what fairness really is.”

After these words, he walked to the other side of the bridge. In the morning light, his tall crown had a long shadow, so long that as if it could carve on the deep snow.

Looking at him leaving, Xu Shi didn’t say anything.

When he left, the bridge was completely different. For a whole day, Xu Shi didn’t have the chance to enjoy the views from the bridge because he turned himself into a picture and no one dared to add more to it.

An officer walked to Xu Shi and murmured something to him.

Xu Shi said hoarsely, “General Xia Hou contributed to our country, of course we will bury him well. As for his funeral, the Imperial Palace will arrange it. The Military Ministry just needs to be prepared and that will be enough.”

The atmosphere in the Palace was very tense. There was no eunuch or palace maid around the snowy palace, so only a few people could hear the weeping of the empress. And apart from the Academy, these people were also the only people who knew that the empress was Xia Hou’s sister.

Not far away from the Imperial Palace, the atmosphere in the Princess Mansion was totally different. After the Taoist man left with his yellow oiled-paper umbrella, an exceptionally joyful and complicated atmosphere started spreading around the passages.

Li Yu stroked her chest and looked at the teacup in front of her. She tried really hard to calm herself down to believe that Ning Que really had defeated Xia Hou! Thinking about the great benefit this thing had brought, even though she was normally a calm person, it still made her dizzy. And the news that Ning Que was still alive made her loosen up suddenly.

Li Huiyuan was sitting next to her. He looked a little confused. Of course he knew that it was good news that Xia Hou was dead and it was beneficial to him. But he couldn’t understand why his sister and the officials were wild with joy. Would everything be fine after the empress lost her support in the military? But no matter what, he just wanted to go to sleep after staying up for the whole night.

Li Yu waved her hand to make these officials leave, but she didn’t allow him to leave.

The room was quiet.

Looking at her beloved brother, Li Yu’s clear eyes became moist. She said with a shivering voice, “The throne of Tang will be yours, brother.”