Nightfall

On the Peach-Mountain of West Hill, the Divine Hall of Light seemed special.

It had been more than ten years since the Divine Hall of Light did not have a master. However, it still possessed strong hidden power. Those in the hall possessed a belief so firm that the world and priests from other Divine Halls could not imagine.

This was related to the nature of the Divine Hall of Light and the history of Haotian Taoism. For countless years, the Great Divine Priest of Light seemed to be the most special one in Haotian Taoism. This was especially so when it came to Wei Guangming.

The Divine Hall of Light believed that the Light was always right. That was why their belief was so firm. The Great Divine Priest gradually grew to hold more power than Haotian.

Wei Guangming’s imprisonment in the You Prison was an unbearable humiliation for the people in the Divine Hall of Light. Furthermore, the West-Hill Hierarch and the other two Divine Halls had spared no effort to suppress and weaken the Divine Hall of Light, which had further infuriated them to the extreme. Why would they believe that the successor chosen by the Divine Priest of Light was the Daughter of Yama?

They firmly believed that Sangsang was the Lady of Light and that the affairs after the incident at Lanke Temple were just a plot by the West-Hill Hierarch and a collusion between Haotian Taoism and the Buddhism Sect to suppress the Divine Hall of Light. They thought that it was an extremely filthy thing.

As such, how could they allow the Lady of Light to be imprisoned or killed? However, they were relatively weak and could only endure it. Then, they would suddenly exert their strength and come from all over the world with the sea, rain, skies and wind. They would sacrifice and bravely go their tragical deaths, using their lives and souls to escort the black horse carriage through the blockades set up by the Buddhism and Taoism sects to the Wilderness successfully.

Ning Que did not have any beliefs, so he found it hard to understand. The belief the Divine Hall of Light had in Wei Guangming and Sangsang was strangely strong. He could not understand this and was extremely shocked by it.

The black horse carriage traveled through the Wilderness.

He looked out of the window at the black mud and melting ice, then said, “My family and all the villagers in Darkie have all died at your teacher’s hands. But I have to admit that your teacher is an impressive person.”

“A thousand years ago, that Great Divine Priest of Light started the Enlightenment Doctrine. A thousand years later, the Lady of Light became the Daughter of Yama. For the thousand years in between, your teacher was the greatest oddity, or perhaps one could say, traitor, of the West-Hill Divine Palace. Long Qing is nothing compared to him.”

Ning Que looked at Sangsang and said, “It is just that I don’t understand. Wei Guangming searched for the Son of Yama his entire life. He didn’t hesitate to kill and slaughter through any means. But when he died with my master on the nameless mountain, he seemed to have seen through your true identity. Then why didn’t he say anything?”

Sangsang’s identity had been revealed at the Lanke Temple. There were many pieces of evidence then. After that, when he mentioned it to Sangsang, she told him what had happened on the mountain on the outskirts of Chang’an back then. When they compared them, they could see that Wei Guangming had known that Sangsang was the Daughter of Yama before he died.

Sangsang shook her head, and said with a lost expression, “I don’t know.”

Ning Que did not think about it further. He thought of the four priests in red who had self-ignited and the Divine Hall of Light subordinates who had died tragically. He said, with a cold expression, “The Divine Hall of Light will definitely be ruined this time. I even suspect that this was a plot of the Haotian Taoism. Those bigwigs want to take the opportunity of killing you to force out all the hidden powers of the Divine Hall of Light and then get rid of them.”

If they could not return to their homeland, where should they go?

Sangsang had once asked Ning Que this question. Back then, Ning Que had said that aside from the Academy mountain’s back, the safest place for them was where there was nobody.

The most sparsely populated place on earth was the Wilderness.

Through the space tunnel that Buddha had left behind at the Lanke Temple, the two arrived at the Western Wilderness. Then, they went to Yuelun. Ning Que had considered taking the eastern ridges and the path they had eventually chosen to take. But he had never considered heading southward.

Because the south of the Yuelun Kingdom had seemed too quiet.

The powerhouses of the Taoism and Buddhism sects had remained at the eastern and northern borders of Yuelun. However, they did not plant anyone at the southern borders where there was a patch of virgin forest separating the Yuelun Kingdom from the Great River Kingdom and the South Jin Kingdom.

The stillness was odd and frightening to Ning Que.

That was why he was determined to choose heading east and north, but never south. That was because, while there might be countless powerhouses from the two sects in the northeast direction, he could imagine how powerful they were. But in the quiet south, he did not know if it would be the Sword Sage, Liu Bai, or the West-Hill Hierarch Lord waiting for him. What if the abbey dean appeared?

The black horse carriage continued into the depths of the Wilderness.

A few days later, a swamp shrouded by fog appeared before the horse carriage. The sky had darkened, so the foggy swamp seemed extremely quiet and creepy. Ning Que knew that if the view was better, they would see that the swamp extended north and south and one could not see where it ended.

This was the Quagmire.

With such a simple name, it was the largest swamp in the world.

The region in the Wilderness where the Xuankong Temple and the Right King’s Palace were was called the Western Wilderness. The Golden Palace was on the east and this swamp was in between. It was just like the Min Mountain, separating the Wilderness in two. If one wanted to head to the Golden Palace, then he would have to cross the swamp.

The black crows circled above the horse carriage and cawed occasionally. They’ve hung around for so many days, so Ning Que had already gotten used to their presence and was numb to it. Since he could do nothing to them, he only pretended that he could not see them. The crows grew braver and braver, even one or two landed on top of the carriage.

The swamp was very dangerous and foggy throughout the year. It was very easy to get lost in it. And in the ground covered by a thin layer of water, grass, and mud, were deep waters that would swallow people up whole. Not even Ning Que was confident of getting out of the swamp.

The black horse carriage temporarily stopped beside the swamp for them to rest and reorganize. Ning Que made some simple food that was high in calories. After eating with Sangsang and the Big Black Horse and making medicine for Sangsang, he stood on top of the carriage to find a path.

The two black crows standing beside his feet looked up and saw the metal cylinder in his hands. They cawed, as if they were asking him what it was.

Ning Que was annoyed by their chatter and kicked them away. Then, he lept off the carriage and walked to the window. He passed the binoculars to Sangsang for safekeeping, seeming ill at ease.

“You can’t find a path?” asked Sangsang.

Ning Que nodded and said, “The fog over the swamp is too thick. I don’t see the pebbled path the herdsman said they saw. The carriage has a talisman array over it. So I’m not too worried. I’m just worried that the horse would sink in.”

When he heard Ning Que talking about himself, the Big Black Horse neighed softly.

Sangsang took the big black umbrella with her and got off the carriage. Ning Que could guess what she was about to do and shook his head in disagreement. He said, “I’ve said that we should try our best not to use the black umbrella. What’s more, you’re so weak now.”

“I used it in Chaoyang City and nothing happened. If Yama is really using the umbrella to find me, then why hasn’t he appeared after so many years?”

Sangsang smiled and said. She saw that Ning Que still did not approve, and so, she led the Big Black Horse, stepped on the stirrups and clambered up the saddle. Then, she climbed to the top of the horse carriage and opened the big black umbrella.

A black flower bloomed on top of the carriage by the swamp.

After some time, Sangsang signaled for Ning Que to carry her down.

Ning Que noted that she had grown paler, but her temperature was still normal. Being as such, he felt more assured.

“The swamp is too deep, I can’t look far. But there is indeed a pebbled path, but it’s been covered by mud and grass so it is hard to find. Also, Master Qi Mei and the others are just about 60 miles away from us.”

Sangsang rubbed her throbbing head after saying that. She felt a pain in her chest and began to cough. What made it worse was that she did not cough up blood, but black froth.

Ning Que took out a handkerchief and helped her to wipe the black foam from the corner of her lips. He discovered that the foam was very clean. It was not rancid, and even smelled faintly sweet. He smiled and said, “It’s like black sesame paste.”

Sangsang frowned slightly and said, “That’s too disgusting.”

Logically speaking, swamps and wetlands should only appear in hot and humid areas in the south. They were in the depths of the Wilderness where it was cold and dry, so there should not be any swamps at all.

However, the Quagmire was really odd. There were several hotspots beneath the Wilderness and in the tens and thousands of years, they emitted hot steam and spring waters onto the surface of the Wilderness. It did not freeze year round, and eventually became this large swamp.

It would not freeze even in the coldest of winters. The surface of the swamp would only frost over lightly. Since they were about to enter autumn, the hot spring flowed quietly, all the frost above it had melted. The swamp thus became muddy.

The front hooves of the Big Black Horse had submerged completely in the mud of the swamp. There was a thump, and the horses’ chest sunk close to the ground. It looked extremely dangerous, but it had just placed its head onto the ground because it was bored and was resting.

Ning Que stepped on two large pieces of iron sheets and walked to the horse’s side. He held the horse’s reins and activated his Great Spirit. With a mighty pull of his right arm, he lifted the horse from the mud.

The Big Black Horse turned to the side hurriedly and finally walked to the slightly firmer ground. It shook its head from time to time, however, he could not shake the mud on his head off, so he looked very embarrassed.

Sangsang was feeling better. The mist in the swamp was heated and so the temperatures were not low. She was able to sit on the carriage shaft and feel the breeze. When she saw what happened to the horse, she could not help laughing.

They had already reached the depths of the swamp named Quagmire. There wasn’t anyone chasing after them. So what they needed to go against now, was nature and not the human realm.

The swamp was soft and filled with minerals and other things. Vegetation found it hard to grow here, and only algae could be found. It was easy to slip here, and even easier to be swallowed by the ground.

To the ordinary person, the swamp was a dangerous place that would eat them alive. While Ning Que was not worried about being swallowed by the swamp, it was still difficult for him to journey through it. He could not find the pebbled path the Herdsman spoke about beneath the ground covered in algae. He waded through the mud at an extremely low speed.

Fortunately, the talisman array made the carriage light as a feather. Otherwise, they would not be able to even walk two miles into the swamp. Several times, they encountered a large body of water and could not find any path across it. Ning Que had to expend a great amount of Psyche Power and stick several Wind Talismans on the Big Black Horse for them to cross it.