Nightfall

“Bacon tastes better if smoked by pine woods for a month or longer.”

She looked at the Butcher and spoke her second sentence after entering the mortal world. The sentence silenced the meat shop even more. The Drunkard’s and the Butcher’s facial expressions were complicated. They were shocked and confused upon hearing her praising the wine and then the bacon. They didn’t expect such casual praises coming out of her mouth.

She frowned because those words were also out of her own expectation. She didn’t know why she still kept those meaningless things in her mind, or even worse, saying them out loud.

After the two sentences, the solemn sound of nature coming out of her became common. It was still spiritual and clear, but not as complicated as before.

The Drunkard asked her three questions which he had never understood throughout his life, and which had haunted philosophers or priests till they died. He asked her because he wanted to distract her with these complicated human cliches, so that he could sneak away.

But just like how he sighed before Chang’an City, since Haotian had come to the mortal world, no way could the Butcher and him avoid being found by Haotian.

She did know why the Drunkard would ask the three questions, but she had found their answers long ago. The question was once meaningless to her, but now they suddenly turned somehow meaningful, so she crossed her hands behind her back and looked into the distance thoughtfully.

She made her final decision, and looked at the Drunkard and the Butcher without any emotions, saying, “If your first question is about how you will call me, you can call me Sangsang.”

Her name was Sangsang. She was Sangsang. But as soon as she made the decision to use the name, she felt hatred, just as much as how she hated her comments about the wine and bacon.

The Drunkard and the Butcher confirmed it when hearing the name. Their fear gradually settled, and wrinkles of thousands of years made up the bitter smiles on their faces.

The Drunkard said respectfully, “I was told that you had gone back to the Kingdom of God, so I didn’t expect you to still be in the mortal world.”

Sangsang said, “I had things to do.”

The Butcher signaled the Drunkard with a glance, but the Drunkard deliberately ignored him, and wouldn’t reply to Sangsang as the Butcher hinted.

Sangsang asked, “Are you two willing to do it for me?”

The Drunkard’s voice sounded dry. He said, “To complete the mission on Heaven’s behalf is beyond honorable, but please forgive us for having been too tired hiding away from you in the last thousands of years.”

She looked at the furnishings in the meat shop, hands behind her back and said, “You two are different from other folks because you’re able to fly high enough. It’s so stupid of you not to leave the shabby world.”

The Drunkard replied, “The Kingdom of Haotian is your residence, and we wouldn’t presume to disturb you there.”

Sangsang said: “I’ll grant you immortality.”

The Drunkard and the Butcher fell into silence. They would’ve thrown themselves into Haotian’s arms, and become the most devout followers before the last Everlasting Night if they believed their faith could grant them immortality.

Sangsang looked at them and said indifferently, “I mean the real immortality.”

The Drunkard and the Butcher looked at her in the eyes, then they could no longer escape.

Her crystal eyes were charming and pure, in the deepest of which was nothing but real starlight. On every star, there was an independent Kingdom of God. Those kingdoms looked so beautiful because of their eternity, which was made up of the universe’s origination, and granted by time.

The most shocking thing for them was to see the presence of their own self-consciousness. The perfect lines made up of rules shone and faded as the self-consciousness ebbed and flowed.

The Drunkard and the Butcher bent their knees and knelt down on the ground before her.

They had been hiding for thousands of years, only to be found by Haotian in the end. They saw the Kingdom of God Haotian had promised them, and they now believed it truly existed, then what else could they possibly want?

Sangsang went out of the meat shop with the Drunkard and the Butcher humbly following behind her. She waved her hand, then the rein, with one of its ends on the neck of the Big Black Horse, fell off the carriage like petals.

She took the Big Black Umbrella out of the carriage and held it in her hand. Then she turned to the Drunkard and said indifferently, “Tell him, death is the reunion after a long separation.”

After that, she left the small town with the Big Black Horse. The Drunkard and the Butcher looked at the fading figure of the girl and the horse, silent and shocked, because they still doubted if what they had seen today was real.

No religious classic had recorded the presence of Haotian in the mortal world, nor did any legend tell about it. According to the description in Haotian Taoism, Haotian was the beginning of everything in the world. Haotian had countless shapes, big as the universe or small as sand. Haotian was omniscient and omnipotent, so it was understandable that he could turn into a chubby girl with fair skin and come to the mortal world. But the Drunkard and the Butcher felt it hard to accept that Haotian had the form of a human, and they couldn’t believe they had just talked to Haotian.

It took long before the Drunkard and the Butcher recovered from the shock. The Butcher looked at the cumbersome carriage and said, “The way to Chang’an is too far and the carriage is too heavy. Haotian wouldn’t allow me to help, it will be hard for you.”

The Drunkard said, “There wouldn’t be any punishment if I hadn’t resisted or hidden. Now that I’ve tried to hide, it’s time for me to take the punishment, which was exactly the Limitless State I used to be proud of.”

Nobody could use the Limitless State while carrying a stainless-steel carriage, for it weighed like hills.

The Butcher paused for a second and said, “Just go to the Academy and meet Ning Que. There must be a reason why Haotian values him, or kill him if it doesn’t work out.”

The fair, tall and plump girl leading the horse walked amongst the forests and lakes. No one knew who she was, where she came from, or where she was going.

She was in indigo clothes which seemed tight, or it was because she was plump. The tight clothes really accented her tender body shape.

She traveled to places with the horse, small towns, big cities, and villages. Sometimes men would peer at her in a strange way, but she didn’t care. Women saw her and turned around reluctantly, but still, she didn’t care, because they were no better than ants and worms in her eyes.

When passing by a county from the Kingdom of Song, she suddenly felt hungry and wanted some noddles.

Her body was familiar with hunger, but her mind was not. This biological nature of humans made her feel low and resentful.

Moreover, though she was plump, according to the Heaven’s Calculation, she wouldn’t have to replenish energy in at least half a year, not to mention that she had drunk ten more bags of kumiss on the Wilderness, and finished the Drunkard’s thousands of wine barrels in the small town.

Then why would she feel hungry? She was immersed in her thoughts, and never noticed that she had arrived at a noodle shop.

It was now late in winter; the streets of the county were covered with light snow. Later the snow was stepped into mud. Sangsang hadn’t worn shoes since she came out of the broken mountain. Her bare feet, which looked like lotuses, were so eye-catching in the black mud.

Behind the stall sat two stoves, in which the soup was boiling, giving out the light fragrance. The chopped coriander on the stall gave a stronger scent.

Sangsang halted before the noddle stall for a while, then she decided to have some.

Nobody noticed her, not even the owner of the stall, just like how they ignored her bare feet in the snow and mud. She didn’t care about that, just like how she ignored the coldness.

The stall was now noisy and crowded, not because there were too many customers, but because someone was causing a scene.

The owner of the stall had a 12-year-old daughter helping him make noddles. She had been molested by local ruffians. As angry as the father was, he dared not to pick his knife to argue with the ruffians. The ruffians spoke louder and louder.

“Noddles, please.”

Sangsang looked at the stall owner and said. Her tone sounded strange, because eating noddles felt strange enough to herself. The stall owner ignored her because he felt uncomfortable at the moment.

Sangsang was displeased and said with dignity, “I want noddles, please.”

People kept ignoring her. The ruffians turned the stall over, making the scene chaotic. Pots and pans were thrown everywhere, and the coriander bowl fell onto the ground.

Sangsang looked down, feeling pity for the coriander that had fallen into the mud. Then she hated herself for feeling pity, because it made her feel low.

Smashing sounds grew louder and louder. The stall owner sat on the ground helplessly, with his head wounded and covered in blood. The little girl squatted beside his father and wouldn’t stop crying, yet the ruffians showed no intentions of stopping.

Sangsang forgave the boss’s disrespect. She felt the hotcakes at the other side of the street smelled nice, too. As she was going for the hotcakes, she heard the stall owner praying in pain.

“Dear God, if you are watching, why wouldn’t you take those bastards away?”

Sangsang slowed her pace, and lowered down her head.

The Big Black Horse knew it was going to witness the most dramatic scene in the history of religion, so it stared at her with excitement, breathing out white fog.

The stall owner continued cursing and praying, while Sangsang’s face remained expressionless.

She looked at those local ruffians.

They were smashing things around while some were waving the knives in their hands in extreme excitement, cursing with dirty words.

“F**k you! Even Haotian won’t be able to help you today!”