Nightfall

The hot spring in the snow was gurgling. Since it was unlikely that there would be fish in the slightly hot water, it was the air hole that was vomiting bubbles. Thinking of the Headmaster, Ning Que did not expect that his teacher even remembered such details. And thinking about his alertness and uneasiness before, he felt all the more at unease and kept silent for a long time.

Sangsang felt his emotional changes, holding his arm and leaning on his shoulder like before. She said nothing but wanted to let Ning Que feel her existence when he was sad.

After getting a haircut, her hair was not as yellow and frail as before, but became darker. And it even added some beauty to her now that it was wet and stuck to her cheeks.

Ning Que felt his chest quite empty and wanted a hug, because of the silence in the hot spring and the strange emotions he was feeling, as well as the fear of separation which arose unconsciously. Therefore, he tightly took Sangsang into his arms.

They embraced in the hot spring, and then began to kiss and touch each other.

“You two haven’t married yet, right?”

At this moment, the Headmaster’s voice was heard from the hot spring next to them.

Sangsang was startled and left his arms quickly. She dragged up the towel that had slipped down unconsciously. She was flushed, but it was unknown whether it was because she was shy or feeling hot.

Ning Que turned back, looked at the snow, and shouted, “You have approved of our engagement.”

The Headmaster said, “Engagement and marriage are two different concepts.”

Ning Que said, “We just don’t have a wedding ceremony. I’ll bow to Heaven and Earth with her on this snowy night.”

The Headmaster said, “I’m here. Is there any need to bow to Heaven and Earth? Besides, Haotian in heaven would not be happy about your marriage.”

Ning Que laughed, thinking that Sangsang was the Daughter of Yama. It was indeed not appropriate to get Haotian’s blessing and approval.

Then he suddenly thought of the worries he mentioned to Sangsang earlier. He thought silently and wondered if his teacher had already confirmed his feeling of unease which was why he wanted to see Ning Que marry before he left.

The starlight in the night sky became brighter. In the sea bay, the white mist was evaporating. There were no red candles nor pedestrians, only the Headmaster standing and a pair of kids kneeling in the snow.

This scene seemed like a part of a fairytale. However, it was rather regrettable that the three people where dressed untidily and did not look anything like legendary immortals.

The Headmaster was wrapped in a large towel. Though in such a cold weather, his body was still warm, steaming like boiled fish. Water from the edge of the towel became ice the moment it dripped down to the ground.

Ning Que and Sangsang knelt on the snow and bowed three times to the Headmaster, which was seen as having bowed to the elder, as well as Heaven and Earth.

Then, they straightened up with snowflakes on their foreheads, only to find that the Headmaster was not on the snow pile anymore. There was only a wet towel that was going to be frozen into ice.

The voice of the Headmaster, combined with the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves came from far off in the snowy terrain.

“Have a good time in your nuptial chamber! No one is going to disturb you. I’ll ride the horse out for a bit.”

Not a word was spoken this night.

When Ning Que woke up, it was still dark outside. It took him some time before he realized that the Everlasting Night was soon approaching the Hot Sea, so it was extremely hard to see the sun.

Sangsang was still asleep. She seemed to be dreaming about something, making some moves in Ning Que’s arms and grinning with her teeth exposed like a cute gray rabbit.

There was an extremely delicious smell coming from the outside of the tent.

Ning Que knew that the Headmaster had returned, so he quickly shook Sangsang awake and began to wash and dress.

The Headmaster had cooked a pot of fish porridge from the variable platyfish’s bones left yesterday.

Sangsang uncovered the heavy felt and walked out of the tent. She couldn’t help shivering as the cold wind blew. Then, she went to the pot and took over the cooking from the Headmaster, her slightly shy face calmed down gradually.

Compared with Sangsang’s calmness, Ning Que had a goofy smile on his face for a long time. He was still smiling when they had finished the porridge and Sangsang went to the hot spring to clean their utensils.

The Headmaster was picking his teeth with a tailbone of the variable platyfish, and said, “You are only in your early twenties this year. Why do you look like an old house that caught on fire?”

Ning Que coughed a little and said, “We have lived together for over ten years. Don’t exaggerate.”

The Headmaster suddenly lowered his voice and asked curiously, “How do you feel?”

Looking at the tailbone in his hand, Ning Que said helplessly, “Look at you. You are not like the Headmaster of the Academy at all. How could you be so disrespecting at your old age?”

The Headmaster threw the fishbone into the snow and said, “I’m not a voyeur, but this matter of yours is so rare. Don’t forget that what happened in your bridal chamber must be written on the historical records. So, you have to remember all the details.”

Ning Que did not understand what the Headmaster had said and he felt a little tired, so he went to sleep again.

The Big Black Horse was also sleeping in his tent. It had run hundreds of miles on the snow last night, so it was also listless. Besides, it felt very ashamed for it had been ridden by a naked old man for an entire night even though the Headmaster was not an ordinary person.

At noon, the Hot Sea was still dark, and one could not see the sun. They left the place where the Desolate Man’s tribe lived and went forward to the north.

As far as Ning Que knew, the northernmost part of the world where mankind could arrive was the Cold Region in the Far North, which was the north edge of the Hot Sea. Therefore, he was very curious about the northern world and he wondered why many strong people in history had never explored the northern part of the Hot Sea.

It was not until he saw the Snow-capped Peak when he knew.

He had watched the north when he was at the Hot Sea yesterday, but he saw nothing. However, after traveling some distance away from the Hot Sea, he saw the Snow-capped Peak not far away as if it had suddenly appeared. It was extremely weird.

That Snow-capped Peak was steep and towering, shining under the starlight. No one knew how high it was, but it seemed as if it was going to pierce the night sky looking from the snow plain.

Ning Que had been to many famous mountains and rivers, among which the most famous and dangerous one was the Min Mountain’s north region or the Tianqi Mountains. But compared with this Snow-capped Peak, they were much lower.

“Walking from anywhere in the south to the north without stopping, one would definitely reach the Snow-capped Peak.”

The Headmaster looked up towards the Snow-capped Peak under the starlight, and said, “In the past, when the Hot Sea was in full sunshine, this Snow-capped Peak was even more spectacular. No one could climb it with sheer power alone, so this was the northernmost part.”

Ning Que noticed two key points in this sentence. First, one could walk to the foot of this Snow-capped Peak from any place when heading north. Second, no one could climb it with strength alone.

Then, could one be regarded as a person if he could climb it?

Ning Que was thinking about this question when the black horse carriage appeared on the other side of the Snow-capped Peak. He looked at the tall figure of the Headmaster.

It was a vast sea.

The reason why the color of the sea was black was because there was no blue sky or any sunlight here. Although the stars seemed clearer, there were not as many of them here.

Ning Que knew that what he saw was a place that was not recorded in any Classics, so he was shocked. But what shocked him even more was that there was a ship in the black sea.

This ship was very large; the Big Black Horse could gallop freely on the deck.

Ning Que stood by the ship’s rail and looked at the Snow-capped Peak under the sky at night. He felt so shocked that he could not speak a word.

The Headmaster went to him, looked up at the dark night sky, and said, “The night starts here and then gradually spreads southward.”

Ning Que looked towards him and asked, “Teacher, this ship…”

The Headmaster said, “Many years ago, I was worried about being found and eaten by Haotian. So I kept thinking about how to escape or hide. I thought that since this was the beginning of the night, it was probably close to the Underworld where Yama is strongest, so Haotian’s strength could hardly reach here. Thus, I made a large ship, so that I could flee here and board the ship on the dark and never return if Haotian wants to eat me.”

Ning Que was shocked. Through these words, he could infer how anxious and uneasy the Headmaster had been over the past thousands of years, living in Haotian’s world.

“Afterwards, I became stronger and stopped worrying about being eaten by Haotian. Therefore, this ship became useless. But then I suddenly found that the night here was very clean and was very suitable for watching stars, so I came here again. I really took a trip to the depths of the sea by boat, and I found something interesting during that trip.”

“What is it?”

“The world is not flat.”

“I don’t get you, teacher.”

“I brought you here to help you understand.”

“Understand what?”

The Headmaster said, “Why would I fight with Haotian? Of course, because it wants to eat me. However, since such old cowards as Drunkard and Butcher could hide for so many years, I could too. Besides, I could pray for it like Buddha. The reason why I would fight with Haotian was for a reason that is very important to me.”

“What’s the reason?”

“In the past, I’ve said in the back of the Academy’s mountain that I had seen plenty of sunsets and sunrises in many parts of the world, including here in the sea where it still had sunsets then. The sea was transparent under the sunshine, like an endless abyss, and the sun sets in this sea.”

“At that time, you said that the moon was a reflection of the sun. I said that the sun does not really rise and fall. If the world is a ball, all would be connected. Now, at least it proves that what I said was right. Our sun is a fake one.”

“Other than watching the skies, I also watched the stars. I watched the stars in the back of the Academy’s mountain, as well as on this large ship. As I said before, there are not as many stars here but they are way clearer, so they will stay at their original positions without any change no matter how many years have passed.”

“Later, you made a star-gazing telescope, from which you observed that the stars still did not change. They could not be enlarged like figures and sceneries, which indicated that these stars’ positions were fixed. The distance between them and the ground was infinitely close yet extremely remote, and it could not be measured with distance.”

“Teacher, can you say it in a simpler way?”

“In brief, this is a closed world.”

“Even simpler?”

“This is a boundless world.”

“But you just said it was a closed one.”

“It is a closed one just because it is boundless and is always connected.”

“Is the night sky where the stars are located not its border?”

“It is not the real border because no one can reach it. The border is in your eyes and your heart.”

“Teacher, I’m even more confused.”

“Haotian doesn’t want people to see its border because it does not want it to be broken.”

“So?”

“So, it proves that this is a closed world.”

“You are returning to our original topic.”

“Yes, it is just like this world.”