Nightfall

A bazaar in some small town of the world was bustling and noisy. The air was filled with the smell of rotten vegetables and chicken droppings. A man walked into the Butcher’s shop with a pot of wine. The Butcher closed the door and took the man to the roof on the second floor. They sat down at a table and began to eat and drink.

The Drunkard looked up somewhere in the sky and sneered, “He always questioned about what was so good for Haotian to fly that high. Then what good was being that strong for him? He will leave the world and fly to the sky in the end.”

The Butcher said, “Just for the sake of some strange ideas, he decided to give up immortality and fought with the invincible god. It may be a great thing for some people but is in fact plain stupid.”

In the deep mountain forests of the West-Hill Divine Kingdom.

Chen Pipi knelt at the lakeside of the Zhishou Abbey, with his body trembling and tears running down continuously. His shoulders were both shrunken. His eyes were red and swollen that made him look like a rabbit lost in the snow.

The middle-aged Taoist stood behind him, sighing and comforting, “Since the Headmaster has already ascended to heaven, your father will come back. At least, this is a good thing.”

…

…

Chen Pipi’s father was the Abbey Dean of Zhishou Abbey.

He was Chen Mou, and he was also called the Taoist in indigo for he always wore black Taoist robe over countless years.

Many years ago, when Ke Haoran from the Academy was felled by divine punishment, the Headmaster went to the West-Hill Divine Palace in Peach Mountain and forced the Abby Dean to fight with all his might. Numerous powerhouses in the Haotian Taoism died or were badly injured in this fight. Even though the Taoist in indigo persuaded the Chief Preaching Monk of the Xuankong Temple into joining him, he was unable to bear the Headmaster’s stave even for a short moment.

After that, he had to drift in the South Sea and dared not to set foot on land for the rest of his life.

The Taoist in indigo wandered about numerous islands in the South Sea. He kept cultivating when he lived in the fishing boat. He also gave birth to a child with a fishery woman in the South Sea and sent the child to be a disciple of the Headmaster.

Nevertheless, he still could not set foot on land.

Because the Headmaster did not allow him to come ashore.

When the Headmaster ascended to heaven today, he was, in principle, finally allowed to return.

However, numerous islands in the South Sea still saw the black clothes go back and forth.

His figure suddenly appeared on a lush island.

The next moment, he disappeared.

Thousands of miles away, he landed on the beach of another island.

Then he disappeared again.

On every island, he could only stay for a minute or could not even stop before he ran away again.

The black Taoist robe was stained with blood and the bun was already messy. He was in a difficult position.

Because there was a short wooden rod chasing him all the time.

Whenever he teleported to an island, the stick would soon appear.

He had been hit once on his right shoulder.

If he were not familiar with those islands in the South Sea, he would not have avoided the stick.

He was the most powerful man in the Haotian Taoism who was at the legendary Limitless State.

But the Headmaster’s wooden rod was at the same level.

He could do nothing but escape until the Headmaster truly left the world.

Until then, the wooden rod would not fall into the sea.

There was a mountain behind the Zhishou Abbey.

The rocks and mud were red like old blood, yet the lush vines covering the cliff made it a green mountain.

The dense vines covered the sky and also ant nest-like caves in the mountain. Most importantly, they covered the aura of those powerhouses in the caves.

Raucous bouts of shrill laughter counting in the dozens were coming from the caves, penetrating through the vines and dispersing into the world.

The laughter was filled with sadness and anger; seeming so vicious and violent at the same time.

In the green mountain caves lived many Taoist powerhouses, most of which were already at the supreme level of Knowing Destiny State. A few of them even surpassed the Five States and became legendary beings.

They were all seriously injured or disabled, partly due to Ke Haoran’ sword in the Academy and partly due to the Headmaster when he went to fight in the Peach Mountain.

The two words, “the Academy”, were the nightmare of Taoist powerhouses.

Ke Haoran was struck down by divine punishment years ago. Today the Headmaster finally ascended to heaven.

There was no other power in the world that could frighten them.

Now the moment of being delivered from oppression finally ushered in.

So they wailed and laughed. They danced with joy, although most of them were lacking a hand or a foot. They were free to release their auras and declare their strengths to the world.

They were much too presumptuous.

Their strong auras were not only spread to the world, but also sent upwards, almost reaching the sky.

They were not worried about being punished by Haotian for they were its most devout believers and the most loyal subordinates. Haotian would not let them return now.

But they forgot that someone was still in the sky.

The tall figure gradually disappeared into the infinite light, but it did not leave the world.

“I did not want to be in charge of human affairs. But since you are willing to show up, now die a good death.”

The Headmaster’s voice sounded.

A foot fell from the sky and stepped on the green mountain.

The laughter in the mountain suddenly turned into screams of horror and fearful cries.

Dozens of streaks, radiating extremely strong auras spewed out to flee the mountain.

However, it was too late.

The foot had already fallen on the green mountain.

The mountain thus became flat.

All the hidden Taoist powerhouses died.

High above the sky and in the light.

The Headmaster shook the dust and debris off his sole.

He took a look at the world and then asked Sangsang. “You want to go back? Now you can’t.”

Sangsang’s perfect face was initially devoid of expression and then it suddenly showed great fear.

The light was blazing and then dispersed.

The door of Haotian thus collapsed.

The sky began to shake. Some fine cracks even appeared in some places.

The extremely narrow cracks in the sky were actually quite wide to the world.

Countless white stones, neither gold nor jade, fell from the sky. Due to the friction with the air, they became thousands of flaming meteorites, falling into the vast ocean.

Countless large waves rose from the sea.

They gave birth to a scorching mist.

In the mist were numerous dead fish and birds.

But the world was still safe.

Among tens of thousands of meteorites, there was a stone that was as transparent as a crystal.

When the flames sank into the sea, the crystal-like stone, reflected with the light of sky, drew a bright arc in the air toward the northern part of the world; no one knew where it fell.

At the back of the mountain of the Academy.

The old yellow bull lay listlessly on the meadow.

The Eldest Brother put a basket of the freshest grass in front of it.

Second Brother put a plate of delicious fish in front of it.

The old yellow bull ate no grass, nor fish. It looked lonely and tired.

It slowly closed its eyes; a drop of water trickled down from the corner of its eye.

Another drop of water fell on its cheek.

Then there were more and more water drops.

Eldest Brother and Second Brother looked up at the sky and found that it was raining.

The world began to rain after the Headmaster ascended to heaven.

It was a heavy rain that lasted for a very long time. It was pouring down for hours; heavily for the most part, then turning into a drizzle at times, but never stopping.

It was a rain that was bound to go down in history.

It was doomed to change many things in the world.

The Headmaster once said that the destination would always be a Snow-capped Peak if one kept going northward no matter where you started. The Peak was the coldest and northernmost place in the world.

It only snowed but never rained in the Cold Region of Far North. When the night was prolonged, the Desolate Man’s tribe moved southward. After that, the snow seldom fell in this deserted place.

But even in this place, it began to rain.

The snow cover on the surface of the Hot Sea was riddled with holes due to the hit of the rainstorm.

The Snow-capped Peak, the highest peak in the world, had seen several landslides and avalanches because of the heavy rain.

The biggest breach looked as if it had been hit by a rock from outer space.

Ning Que woke up.

He found himself in the Wilderness. The rain had stopped. However, judging by the dew on the grass and the muddy land, he could tell there had been a heavy rain.

He did not know how many days had passed, but thought that it must have been a long time.

Without having anything to drink or eat for many days, he was weak although his body had always been strong. His stomach, which had been fed to the fullest by the Headmaster, became empty for a long time. But he did not want to eat anything.

He held his legs, sitting on the wet meadow in the muddy wilderness, shivering all over. He looked at the sky after the rain, his thin cheeks looking pale under the daylight.

The sky was still the same.

There was no difference.

His teacher might lose the fight against Haotian.

Teacher was dead.

Sangsang was Haotian, so she went back, which meant that she died.

He was in pain.

What made him feel most pained were other things.

It was not until then that he came to understand what the teacher had said to him before the ascension.

He could have changed everything.

But for many reasons, he did not think of any methods, or he didn’t want to think of any. So he did nothing.

He helplessly watched Haotian finding the Headmaster.

He watched his teacher ascend to heaven to fight and lose.

Ning Que held his legs and looked at the sky.

He just sat there.

He did not want to say, do, or to think about anything.

He did not know what he should do.

He just sat there in this way, from daytime to the sunset, until the night fell.

Looking at the sky getting darker and darker, Ning Que suddenly froze.

He got up and tottered.

He burst out laughing and the laughter became increasingly louder. It sounded like crying for his voice was hoarse.

He lay on the wet grass, laughing and crying to his heart’s content, and rolled about like a child.

A moon appeared in the night sky.

It was of course not the real Moon, or not the Moon Ning Que was familiar with.

With a good sight, he saw no craters but only warm light.

Several wolf howls came from the depths of the Wilderness. They had never seen Moon before so they did not know what it was.

Ning Que knew what the Moon was.

The Headmaster was still alive. He kept fighting in the sky, but in another way.

The Headmaster once said that it must be very beautiful.

The scene was really beautiful.

He shouted at the bright moon in the night sky, “You must win!”

The “Ming” Handscroll states that “the cycle of the Sun and Moon, the light and the darkness, is an endless natural process. Natural process is Taoism, which develops rules. At the end, the night falls and the moon appears.”

The Buddha wrote in his notes after reading the “Ming” Handscroll, “The cycle of the sun and moon, the light and the darkness. The moon should appear at night. However, after numerous eons, all those long nights through the ages saw no moon.”

The Headmaster was the moon.

The Headmaster was not from the sky, and all ages were just like a long night.