Nightfall

Master Dongming had been sitting in a corner of the temple since the very beginning. Upon hearing his name, he chanted the name of Buddha and fell silent. It seemed that he had already known who Sangsang was.

Master Qishan removed his eyes form Sangsang’s face to Ning Que. He said, “You should have known what had happened during the third game even though you didn’t see from the beginning.”

“Although the rules on or outside the chessboard are different, they were all established by Haotian. Sangsang broke the eternal rule of the time—death. You should know that, in the world of Haotian, only Haotian himself is able to establish or surpass these eternal rules. ”

“A person who can break the eternal rules besides Haotian, must be the one who doesn’t belong this world. She must come from the miserable Underworld.”

“The real three games of chess on Wa Mountain was one of the most important treasures of the Buddha before he left the world for looking for the Son of Yama’s trace like the Yue laan Bell.”

“Brother Lotus broke the games as well, but he was different from Sangsang, who chose a different method. The arithmetic capability, mental state, and disregard of the rules Sangsang showed indicates the astonishing truth step by step.”

Master Qishan sighed and said, “She is the Daughter of Yama.”

Ning Que said, “They are all your people, the monks’ opinions, no matter the Buddha, Xuankong Temple, Lanke Temple, or White Tower Temple in Yuelun.”

“If Sangsang is Yama’s daughter, in the world of Haotian, why didn’t Haotian Taoism find anything? They even considered her the Daughter of Light? I cannot believe this, so you have to convince me.”

The Master said, “Since Yama had to send his child to the world of Haotian, he would prepare for her. The Haotian Taoism bears the brunt of this rather than Buddhism and the Academy.”

Ning Que understood his words. He had even accepted Sangsang’s identity, but he wouldn’t admit it. He knew that if he admitted officially, he would be in trouble when he took actions.

“I need more evidence,” he said.

Master Qishan sighed and said, “I told you that the most interesting thing about you is that you can accomplish anything you want to. On the other hand, if you don’t, you can be blinded. This is how I feel. You have been staying with Sangsang for your entire life. How can’t you believe that if you really think about it.”

Ning Que didn’t say anything.

Master Qishan pointed at the big black umbrella in the light and said, “It can isolate and conduct everything including the light. It doesn’t belong in this world. Many years ago, when you found it, did you feel anything strange? Did you suspect it at all?”

The process of Ning Que finding the big black umbrella was very ordinary. He would have thrown it away if Sangsang had not cried for it. As the time passed by, the big black umbrella gradually showed a lot of incredible qualities.

It looked normal, but it was invulnerable and as pure as Sangsang. It also could conduct or enlarge the owner’s Psyche Power including the Haotian Divine Light. There was no such a weapon in the Classics or legends of cultivation which was more miraculous than the Yue laan Bell in Baoshu’s hand.

When in the Northern Mountain Road, when he killed Yan Suqing, when he fought against Xia Hou at the lake, and when he was in the Shubi Lake, the big black umbrella had saved him so many times. Without it, he would have died long before.

Now, Ning Que understood that the big black umbrella was a weapon Yama must have given Sangsang. It somehow saw Ning Que as Sangsang’s protector, and so it protected him as well.

A few years ago in spring, when he was a normal student of the Academy, he met a scholar who had a wooden dipper on his waist and a book in his hand.

He wanted to exchange the wooden dipper with Ning Que’s big black umbrella.

Ning Que didn’t want to make a deal with him.

The scholar did not push it. He walked out of the Academy, got on an ox cart, and left.

Later, he knew he was the Eldest Brother of the Academy and the man in the carriage was the Headmaster. That meeting was the last thing the Headmaster did before he left to travel through all the states.

Only now, in Lanke Temple, he finally realized what he had missed when he turned the deal down, but it was too late.

“What on earth is the big black umbrella?”

“It is a piece of night.”

Master Qishan’s answer seemed enigmatic, but Ning Que got it.

…

…

Master Qishan looked at Ning Que and said, “Sixteen years ago, the three World Wayfarers of Buddha, Taoism and Devil’s Doctrine gathered in the Wilderness for the apocalyptic of the Son of Yama, including Mr. First. On that very day, Sangsang was born in the Official of Counsel.”

On that very day, Ning Que escaped to hide in the woodshed of the Official of Counsel. At that time, he didn’t know what the newborn baby girl meant to him.

Ning Que remembered he had twice told Cheng Lixue and Quni Madi that the Great Divine Priest of Light could see the wrong person. Now he realized that he really saw the wrong person…

When the Official of Counsel’s concubine, who was his wife now, was pregnant with Sangsang, the formidable Great Divine Priest of Light had seen the shadow of Nightfall earlier than any others in the world.

Then, his eyes fell on an alley in Chang’an.

The Great Divine Priest of Light did not see Sangsang, because she could not be seen.

He saw a little boy in General’s Mansion.

He saw a person born to know everything.

Therefore, he believed he had seen the son of Yama.

…

…

Sangsang leaned on Ning Que’s shoulder. When she heard the conversation, her face became paler and paler while her expression became gloomier and gloomier as she had remembered many things and figured out many more.

She remembered that day, an old man in a dirty cotton robe walked into the Old Brush Pen Shop.

He said to her, “Do you believe in a Lucky Chance?”

She remembered when he was dying, he looked at her under the tree, hesitating and struggling and then finally relieved at the last moment. He smiled and said to her, “You are my Lucky Chance.”

…

…

“She is Yama’s daughter and she is waking up. Yama’s eyes are following her, so you can feel she is dying. That is because you and she belong to two different worlds.”

“The three games of chess on Wa Mountain were played by her, but they were actually for you. During the Messy Phase Game, the white stones abandoned. The second game let you understand the opposition of the light and the shadow. The third game showed you the image of the world’s destruction. All of these wanted to teach you how to give up.”

“Unfortunately, the first two games meant nothing to you. The third game could not change your mind either. How about the real world?”

Master Qishan stared at Ning Que’s eyes, sighed and said, “If this world will be destroyed by the little girl on your back, what will you choose?”