Nightfall

A moment later, Ning Que and the horse recovered from the shock. The horse could not resist its instinctive fear and was about to run away while Ning Que was stunned and stared at the bottom of the cliff.

The Xuankong Temple was an Unknown Place that cultivators were barely aware of. It was located in the depth of Western Wilderness and was hard to reach. People speculated that it must be built on the legendary Xuankong Island since it was called the Xuankong Temple.

To his surprise, the Xuankong Temple was beneath the ground instead of suspended in the air. Ning Que watched the huge mountain which hid beneath the ground and became confused.

At this moment, a vast white fog fell down from the southwestern cliffs. The fog was heavier than the air and was slowly falling down to the bottom of the sinkhole as a white waterfall.

The sinkhole was humid and misty. When the fog fell down, it turned into endless whiteness. The majestic mountain was fog-wreathed and the lower half was seemingly disappearing. Seen from the black carriage, it became a floating island among the clouds on which, a yellow temple was barely seen as a fairyland.

Ning Que looked at the astonishing view and sighed. He said, “That is why it was named Xuankong Temple.”

The black horse lowered its head and kicked the ground without any sound. It was extremely anxious and nervous. It thought the Holy Land of Buddhism was too sacred to describe and taking such a risk was not worth it.

Ning Que didn’t think so. From here, he was only able to see the general shape of the temples on the mountain. Seen from the peak, the black carriage was like a black grain of sand, which could not attract attention from the monks in the temples.

He returned to the carriage and took out an iron drum from his baggage. He extended it a little, put it in front of his right eye and watched the distal peak.

The iron drum was called Star-watching, which was made by his Fourth and Sixth brothers according to his design. One was given to his teacher and the other was with him.

The Headmaster changed its name to “telescope” when he first used it to observe stars. Ning Que had not known about this, but he knew it was supposed to be used to observe a distant place.

The mist in the sinkhole flew very fast. Ning Que occasionally saw the yellow temple and the view of the lower half. Seeing the enlarged view and the monks on the stone ground in the round vision, he fell silent.

A wind blew through the sinkhole and blew away the thick cloud in the mountainside. Ning Que discovered countless layers of terraced fields in the sinkhole. Judging from the color, they were of rice which was difficult to grow in the Wilderness. He also found rivers and houses at the bottom.

As he was observing the Xuankong Temple with the telescope, Ning Que became more and more serious, his hands becoming numb.

He could calculate there were more than 1,000 monks in the temple, as well as over 100,000 people living in the wild plain according to the view he saw. These swarthy and shabbily dressed farmers provided the necessary living supplies to the temple and suffered due to the heavy labor.

Since the temple was built, the farmers had been living and working at the bottom of the sinkhole. They worked hard in the damp and dark underground day by day to support the temple. Ning Que believed that even the most religious believers could not stand an endless torment like this. The monks in the temple must have a special ability to enslave them like animals. In this sense, the farmers were more like serfs, a practice long abolished in the Central Plains.

Many images emerged in his head at this moment: the slaves who were pierced on the scapula after they tried to escape, the atheists who were massacred in the field, innumerable poor mortals knelt in front of the mountain, and the monks’ extravagant life… He put the telescope down, frowned his brow and watched the temple in the cloud.

Sangsang lifted the curtain and became shocked when she saw the view.

Ning Que passed her the telescope and said, “Take a look. It’s the legendary Xuankong Temple.

If he was the savior, Ning Que would climb down the cliffs and secretly revolt with the farmers to overthrow the malformed Xuankong Temple, or he would dive into the temple to search for the treasures they accumulated for so many years.

However, he was not. After observing the Xuankong Temple for a while, he drove the carriage toward the opposite direction without any hesitation.

The treasure was good but he might not survive this. If he was the old Mr. Thirteen before he went to the Lanke Temple, he would seize the opportunity to travel around the temple because even if they seized him, they would not dare to kill him. However, he was with Sangsang at present and they hardly found a place to rest in the whole world, let alone the Buddhism Holy Land, a place that badly wanted her dead.

The black carriage quietly sneaked away. After a while, they deviated a little from the spot they showed up, by the bodhi tree.

Ning Que watched it through the window and said, “It should be the place where the Buddha died.”

Looking at the tree whose trunk was gray and leaves were futon-like, Sangsang thought it was amazing that a lonely tree could be alive in the Wilderness during such a winter. She became more surprised when she knew it was the tree where the Buddha died.

Ning Que smiled and said, “You are as good as the Buddha now, so you don’t have to be awed of it.”

They had no time to discuss that, or they didn’t want to after they left the Lanke Temple, but they could not keep silent about it forever.

Sangsang whispered after a long silence, “Am I really going to ruin the world?”

Ning Que thought of the Xuankong Temple and the cruel truth that he was suspecting. Then he said, “I don’t know and I don’t care. But if the world is like that, it doesn’t matter if it’s ruined.”