Nightfall

Little white wolf wormed out from the cave with cloth stripped around his wounded legs. Big white goose walked over from the stream unsteadily. Old yellow bull opened his eyes. Fifth Brother and Eighth Brother came back to the cliff platform.

Yu Lian took a wooden comb out from her sleeve and combed her untidy hair carefully. She then sorted out her dressing and wearing. It was only when she confirmed there was nothing wrong that she put the comb back into her sleeve.

Old yellow bull lowered his head slightly. Big white goose and little white wolf both leaned their bodies forward. Fifth Brother and Eighth Brother greeted a bow with hands folded in front; Yu Lian returned their salutes with a tidy and grave look. The autumn wind ceased and the autumn cicadas were quiet. The Academy was still how it used to be.

“Take good care of yourself on the way, Senior Sister,” said Song Qian.

“Thanks for taking care of the Academy for me, Fifth Brother.”

Yu Lian picked up the things wrapped in cloth from the side of the mountain path and walked towards the outside of the Academy.

After leaving the Princess mansion, Ning Que came out to the street, ready to go to the Academy. Though he needed to deal with many things in Chang’an City, he was still going to the Academy to fetch the array eye pestle. Moreover, he was very concerned about the safety of the Academy.

“You don’t have to go.”

A young girl showed up in front of him and handed him something wrapped in cloth.

Ning Que was quite taken aback. He recognized the cloth immediately. It was one Sangsang had purchased for a bargain in the market of the eastern gate. Later he had used it to wrap the array eye pestle of God-stunning Array. The thing wrapped inside the cloth must be the array eye pestle.

Staring at the young girl before him, he took the array eye pestle with a wary look in his eyes. He was confused. He was pretty sure he had never met her, but he always had a strange feeling that he had met her somewhere before.

With a pair of pitch-black pigtails and innocent, beautiful facial features, this 12 or 13-year-old girl could be either a maiden or a little girl. She was right on the dividing line of these two states.

Looking deep into her eyes and seeing her indifferent and calm state of mind, he finally figured out who she really was. He was shocked speechless and nearly dropped the array eye pestle.

In precise words, Yu Lian described what had happened in the Academy, especially the fight with the Hierarch of the West-Hill Divine Palace. She spent a considerable amount of time telling him about the fact that the opponent was very short.

It then occurred to Ning Que that the glorious and radiant figure in the eyes of hundreds of millions of Haotian Taoism believers was actually no more than an illusion. The Hierarch Lord was actually a dwarf.

Back in the old days he had shot five people successively with Primordial Thirteen Arrows. Everyone, including the Great Divine Priest of Revelation and Ye Hongyu, had a hard time handling the power of his arrows. However, the Hierarch had hidden and was indifferent.

The scene at that time had put great pressure on Ning Que. He thought that the Hierarch was indeed such a supreme powerhouse of Haotian Taoism. He had faced the Primordial Thirteen Arrows in such an easy and relaxed manner. He was too profound to be understood.

Now he realized that the reason was due to the fact that the Hierarch Lord was short. What he had targeted at the time was the figure form. Since the iron arrow had shot over the Hierarch’s head, it was quite natural that he did not need to hide.

“Why spare him?” Ning Que asked, recovering from the shock bit by bit.

“Some people are better living than dead.”

Yu Lian continued, “Many years ago, when Xiong Chumo was very young, he went to the Wilderness to go through trials with the elders of Haotian Taoism. I was also young then. It was natural that a war occurred between us when we met each other. I disabled the Snow Mountain in his lower abdomen and left him in an unconscious state. It was completely unexpected that he got good out of misfortune and practiced Taoism devotionally without stopping to reach his current state. However, people with disabilities have problems in their psychology after all. Since he has already been discarded, it is not you who should be concerned but people from the West-Hill Divine Palace who should consider him a headache.”

Holding the same thoughts as the Hierarch and many other bigwigs of Haotian Taoism, it had never occurred to Ning Que that the Third Sister would be no more than a cultivator of the Seethrough Realm. Once he knew that the Academy was safe and sound as usual under her protection, Ning Que was not surprised at all. It was at this exact moment that he started to realize that it was not an ordinary powerhouse but the Hierarch Lord of the West-Hill Divine Palace that had been defeatedly badly by the Third Senior Sister. He started to ponder the Third Sister with astonishment.

In today’s world, who had the ability to defeat the Hierarch Lord?

Ning Que was shocked.

To his surprise, the Third Sister before him was the Grandmaster of Devil’s Doctrine—the Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation!

Among the disciples of the Second floor of the Academy, it was the Third Sister Yu Lian whom Ning Que had known first. Even before he started communicating with Chen Pipi by letter, he and the Third Sister had met each other when he was ascending to the old library.

They had not talked much over the years. But at times of importance, she would speak up and give him direction. Moreover, this situation had already taken place before he entered the back of the mountain of the Academy, and she had been just an ordinary student then.

That was why Ning Que had always been respectful towards her. He was much more respectful towards the Third Sister than he was towards the Eldest and Second Brother.

There was wind blowing from outside the wall. Walking along the long narrow stairs of the city wall, Ning Que could not help glimpsing at Yu Lian every few steps. Looking at the pigtails dangling behind her head, Ning Que had difficulty getting accustomed to what he had seen.

“Anything wrong with my face?” Yu Lian asked.

Ning Que smiled. “I just want to keep looking at you. Senior Sister, you are a big celebrity now.”

Yu Lian smiled faintly.

Ning Que said, “No wonder Headmaster was not willing to acknowledge Tang Xiaotang as his disciple, it turns out it was an issue of seniority in the clan… So wasn’t it that I was superior to Tang?”

Yu Lian said, “If starting from the Enlightenment Doctrine, the founder initiating the sect, you have already been his senior for several generations.”

Ning Que said with admiration, “The Third Sister of the Second floor is actually the Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation.”

Yu Lian raised her brow slightly and said, “It was just a coincidence. There was no way that the Headmaster would be concerned about these little tactics.”

Ning Que replied, “Maybe the Headmaster likes to play around with these exact things.”

The two people, Senior Sister and Brother, had climbed to the city head of Chang’an while they talked.

A thought crossed Ning Que’s mind. He took out an ID token from his belt.

The ID token was made of neither gold, nor wood, nor stone. It was pure white in color. There was a black-colored relief sculpture carved into the top. From the fresh imprint of the ridge, it was obvious that the ID token had been freshly carved.

The black pattern was a sculpture with a white outer layer that looked like endless brightness. The contrast of sculpture against the illumination seemed dark and gloomy; its facial feature and body were both infused in dark shadow.

Ning Que asked, “What was carved upon the ID token when you gave it to me the time I rushed to the Wilderness?”

Looking down at the Chang’an City, Yu Lian walked towards the sides of the city wall. “Yama or Haotian.”

Walking beside her, Ning Que looked down towards the direction where her sight had guided. “What kind of ID token is this?”

Yu Lian said, “It is the Enlightenment Doctrine master’s nameplate.”

“I could not figure out why Desolate Man would place Sangsang and I under their protection at the risks of extermination of their entire clan. As far as I am concerned, it was for the sake of this ID token. In retrospect, Lotus’s one last hit in the Front Gate of the Enlightenment Doctrine, failed because of this ID token. This ID token saved me many times. It was so foolish of me not to have realized it until now.”

Ning Que put the ID token back into his belt again in a natural manner, without any intention of giving it back to Yu Lian. He took a serious deep bow down to the ground towards her and gave a grave salute to show his appreciation and gratitude.

What he did not understand was how when he was leading disciples of the front yard of the Academy to practice in the Wilderness, why had the Third Sister handed him the master’s nameplate of Enlightenment Doctrine, which was of so much importance, in such a casual way.

“Remember what I told you when you were prepared to take part in the Floor-Opening test?” Yu Lian asked.

Ning Que had been an ordinary student in the front yard of the Academy. He had been under a great deal of spiritual pressure when he was ready to take part in the opening test of Second floor of the Academy. He had a conversation with Yu Lian in Sword Forest.

“Yeah, I remember it. You told me that you were going to introduce me to a powerhouse who was no weaker than Liu Bai and would be my teacher.”

“Exactly.”

“Who were you going to introduce me to?”

“Of course, it was me.”

Yu Lian said, “At the time your Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi were in a mess. They still are. Moreover, your gift on the Talisman Taoism was not yet revealed. In no way were you fit for cultivation. But your extraordinary bone structure and your appalling willpower were the exact quality and condition to cultivate the technique of Enlightenment Doctrine. I had intended to make you my inheritor.”

Ning Que was beginning to understand exactly what he had missed before.

Yu Lian said, “Though you refused me, I had always had a certain feeling that you would still tread upon this path sometime in the future. So before you went to the Wilderness, I gave you this ID token. As I had expected, you came across the Lotus in the Front Gate and then mastered the Great Spirit of the Youngest Uncle. You were still infatuated.”

Yu Lian stared at him and said, “When Lotus wanted to name me as his successor, I said no to him. When I wanted to pass on my legacy to you, you also refused me. You inherited his legacy in the end. If seen from this way, there is not much difference.”

Thinking in retrospect, Ning Que could not help being filled with a thousand regrets. He smiled. “It is better as so. Or I would have had to be inferior to you for a generation.”

He retrieved his smile bit by bit. “Could it be that destiny made its own arrangement?”

“I’ve told you that as long as you stick to your original intention, you can reach it with ease. It refers not only to the gateways along the path which you are climbing, but also things like destiny.”

Yu Lian said, “On the first day when I met the Headmaster, he told me the exact same words. He then said that I would be better looking if I was a girl and that was what I should have accepted. So I put this sentence into practice on the spot and stomped on the hem of his black robe with one kick.”

Ning Que asked, “Then?”

Yu Lian said expressionlessly, “I did not pass, but the Headmaster tripped badly.”

Ning Que thought this was exciting. “How did it feel?”

She thought for a moment and smiled. “Pretty good.”

Ning Que replied, “The Headmaster wasn’t angry?”

“Now that I am a girl, I am privileged to enjoy the right to act cutely and lose my little temper.”

With still no expression on her face, Yu Lian was silent for a few moments before she continued, “Later on, it occurred to me that the Headmaster tripped on purpose to make me happy. At the time I was in a pretty down and gloomy mood.”

On the city wall, they were silent for a long time.

Looking down on the Chang’an City down below, Yu Lian asked, “Do you detect anything wrong?”

In this tense situation, even the most shocking and memorable things could not be discussed at length. They were here to see the view.

Yu Lian was leading him around Chang’an City.

The city was much quieter than it usually was. Staring at the wide, quiet streets, Ning Que said something strange, “Chang’an City is in a jam.”

Yu Lian agreed, “Exactly. The problem you need to resolve is this jam.”

Ning Que said then, “It could be difficult to resolve.”

The streets of Chang’an City were wide and there were not too many people on the street. There were barely any carriages. The traffic of Chang’an was extremely convenient and loose. There were no collisions or accidents. The disciple group who had been preaching over the past few days was also not seen.

But Yu Lian and Ning Que, the Senior Sister and Brother, both had seen the jam that Chang’an City was in.

Their expressions were solemn.