Nightfall

“You see, the rules are always the simplest in the human world. Water flows downhill. Clouds float in the sky. Brightness and darkness take turns. When it’s time, it’s time,” the Abbey Dean looked at Ning Que and explained calmly.

Ning Que asked after a while, “Why didn’t you think so in the past?”

“Taoism is after all, Haotian’s Taoism, just like souls always refer to the human souls. When people can live a peaceful life, why should they think about killing themselves in order to acquire new souls?” The Abbey Dean kept rubbing on the green leaf. Pleasant sounds resounded while he was talking, and wild flowers bloomed around him.

“I need to thank Ye Su… my brilliant student, who led me to think in this way, or dare to think in this way. He got enlightened when he stayed in the shabby cottage in Linkang. He established the New Stream and wrote those inspiring lines. He inspired me to think like this. He was actually my teacher in a way.”

The Abbey Dean turned to look at Sangsang and conveyed the following very important message.

“The New Stream is actually not in conflict with Taoism. They are both the truth, but apply to different times. Throughout the countless years of barbarism in the human world, they needed to seek for protection from You Highness. But mankind is evolving. The Headmaster appeared a thousand years ago, so did the Great Divine Priest, who established the Light’s Doctrine. Then there were Ke Haoran, Lian Sheng, and me. It proved that we mankind is growing up and no longer need the protection from Your Highness. The human beings are able to protect themselves now. They no longer have to suffer from death and revival, or to be tortured like wild grass through endless samsara between the ever night and day.

The chilling lake was still freezing, but spring already took over around it. Flowers were blooming and trees were lush. The scene that was previously cut into pieces by Ning Que was reunited by the spring.

It was quiet for a long while. Nothing but the leaf flute in the Abbey Dean’s fingers whistled. It was not a withdrawing clarion, but sounded like drum beats.

Ning Que spent a long while to digest the fear. He stared at the Abbey Dean on the other side of the lake and said, “The Headmaster used to say something similar. Mankind has indeed grown up and no longer needs the protection from Haotian. They are able to stand up by themselves, or even fly. The difference between the Academy and Taoism is, we want to lead mankind to a vaster world, while you think they should stay here.”

The Abbey Dean said, “I’ve told you many years ago. It is a fundamental disagreement that none of us could compromise. I think eternity comes from tranquility and solemnity, while the Headmaster thought only ever changing is eternal.”

Ning Que said, “Ever changing is the order. To remain unchanged is the seldom disorder.”

The Abbey Dean challenged, “The mankind is an outcome of the disorder. How could they pursue the order?”

Ning Que said, “If only Ye Su was still alive, or if the Eldest Brother was here, they might be able to reason with you. But that’s not my area. I’m rather good at fighting and killing than reasoning… However, even I could see a fatal flaw in your contemplation.”

The Abbey Dean said, “Be my guest.”

Ning Que said, “Even if it is a self-sufficient closed system and disconnected with the outside world, even if it no longer needs Haotian, there has to be someone to set the rules and represent the collective will. Who will that be?”

After a brief pause, the Abbey Dean said calmly, “That will be me.”

The Abbey Dean continued, “You see, that’s also a very simple matter.”

…

…

You? To be what? Haotian?… Look, there is an airplane… Look, the storm is coming, take down the clothes… Those words flashed in Ning Que’s head instantly.

He lowered his head and stared at the melting lake that reflected the sky. When he managed to calm down gradually, he tried to think it through and found it extraordinary.

The Abbey Dean was indeed extraordinary. To kill Haotian and replace with himself, it was egoism rather than heroism. It was an incredible ambition as well as a most powerful declaration.

Anything could become majestic as long as it was big enough, such as the snow, the wild, or even ambition. When it became extremely big, it would seem majestic.

The Abbey Dean eventually followed the Headmaster and the Youngest Uncle. He never had doubts about his past. The years of cultivation in Taoism had prepared him with sufficient theoretical basis, and helped him leap into an important conclusion. When the Heaven is no longer competent, it’s my turn!

How ambitious. How courageous.

Sangsang looked emotionlessly at the other side.

Apart from Ning Que, the Abbey Dean was the one second closest to Haotian.

Neither Wei Guangming nor the previous principal of the Revelation Institute could be his match. He was enlightened by Heaven and stayed in the South Sea for so many years. They had several conversations and he knew her will clearly.

“Your Highness is just a statue erected by Taoism. Now it’s just a matter of switching the statue. How much courage does it take?” The Abbey Dean said to her, no longer with sympathy but sounded as natural as a senior talking to a younger generation. Then he turned to Ning Que and said, “The Academy never wanted Haotian. Nor does the Taoism now. Therefore we could at least share the same goal on our last journey. Or, do you really think you could convince yourself to disobey the Headmaster?”

Ning Que paused for a long while then said, “No, the Headmaster was never wrong. Actually you are not wrong either. Indeed the mankind no longer needs Haotian.”

Sangsang remained emotionless as if she heard nothing. He held her hand and continued talking to the Abbey Dean, “I don’t want Haotian either. But the thing is, I want my wife.”

He could let go of Haotian, but not his wife. The previous Haotian could be replaced by a new one, but if his wife was gone, could he replace her with a new wife? Even if he could…

Nonsense. There was no such an option. Full stop. I cannot lose my wife.

Thus Ning Que declared to the Abbey Dean, and the entire world.

The Abbey Dean felt somewhat disappointed, but he was not upset. He had been looking for Haotian for too long and his resolution had become firm as a rock now. No roaring storm or rushing river could ever shake his Taoist heart. Just like nothing could have stopped the wild flowers from blooming in the spring.

“The Headmaster would be disappointed… Actually he should have been disappointed by the Sushui River many years ago. Whether to destroy or replace the Heaven, it should be a business of mankind. Only we human beings could make the decision. But you, have chosen to stay on her side. Have you ever regarded yourself as a human being?”

The Abbey Dean’s fingers parted and the green leaf fell. It fell by his shoes and got crushed by the remaining blade intent.

Ning Que was slightly stunned. He remembered it clearly what the Headmaster said by the Sushui River before he left the human world. He could solve the problem by then, so could he now.

“It’s something about the outlooks.” He stared at the Abbey Dean and said, “We have different outlooks of life, world, and most importantly love. I will never let her go. I won’t do it even if my Headmaster asked me to, not to mention you! I do care for the world, but I care more for her.”

The Abbey Dean said, “The love for mankind is great, while your love for her is tiny.”

Ning Que paused and said, “But… Aren’t they all about love?”

He said nothing further, got hold of his iron bow and pulled out an iron arrow. He started preparing for a shot quietly while the chillness dispelled around the lake. The Abbey Dean would enter the scene. The conversation would come to an end. And the fight would eventually begin.

The Yi Talismans that enveloped the chilling lake was devoured by the Qi of Heaven and Earth. The sharp blade intent disappeared. The destroyed scene was fixed. The Abbey Dean came out from the depths of the scene and returned to the real world.

Sangsang stood up gradually and stared at him emotionlessly with her hands on the back.

The Abbey Dean sighed, “You see… How charming if it could remain unchanged.”

Countless flowers bloomed in the valley. Vines climbed up and newly grown branches fluttered. It seemed like deep spring immediately and felt like choking.

Ning Que was bathed in the spring breeze yet he felt drowning.

Sangsang still held her hands on the back and seemed indifferent. But her eyes were slightly squinted.

A sea of flowers brought boundless spring. Every single flower and every trace of spring stood for an ultimate killing intent.

Ning Que pulled the iron bow and targeted the chillingly jet-black arrow at the Abbey Dean on the other side.

The Abbey Dean looked at him calmly. He held his hands on the back like Sangsang did, and was not anxious at all. Because he was right by the gates and ready to leave at any time. The Thirteen Primordial Arrows would never hit him.

The gates were the interlayers between the Qi of Heaven and Earth. And every flower bloomed in the valley was a gate. No one knew through which gate the Abbey Dean would enter.

Ning Que stared at the other side of the lake, felt the shivering bowstring by his lips and beads of sweat falling down, but could sense nothing.

Sangsang’s hand was placed on his shoulder. A warm or even heating energy was charged into his body and immediately restored and elevated his psyche that had been drained by writing the talismans previously.

“One nine eight nine, zero three zero nine,” Sangsang said two series of numbers emotionlessly, as if she was directing their way in the snow storm previously, or a few years ago when they were by the freezing lake, or even further in the Min Mountain.

But her voice was no longer tender nor innocent as it was when she was a child. The series of numbers were longer, more complicated hence more precise.

Ning Que did not hesitate. More precisely he did not even think. Like he did before, he let go of the bowstring targeting at somewhere on the other side of the lake, instinctively.

The iron arrow pierced through the air silently.

He was obviously targeting at a collapsing tree, which was quite far from where the Abbey Dean was. But strangely the Abbey Dean seemed increasingly anxious.

The Abbey Dean disappeared from the world completely. It was Distanceless. He entered the State of Purity in the interlayers of the Qi of Heaven and Earth, leaving no trace behind, not even some wind.

Until then the hum of the iron arrow started resounding around the chilling lake.

A clear arrow path was made above the chilling lake, while the freezing clouds moved gently.

The iron arrow disappeared. The giant tree kept collapsing slowly without being disturbed, nor were the peaks afar. They all stayed undisturbed like the Abbey Dean was.

The arrow seemed have been shot in to the emptiness.

A moment later on top of a snow peak a dozen miles away, the Abbey Dean was vaguely seen floating in the air.

The iron arrow stopped on his left shoulder gently like a dragonfly perching on a dewdrop.

The sharp arrowhead pierced slightly into the indigo gown. It did not go further but some blood was exuding.

Blood stained the purity.

The Abbey Dean slightly frowned as he was surprised by the power of this iron arrow.

The arrow pierced through the Qi of Heaven and Earth, entered the interlayer of emptiness, and haunted the powerful figure at Distanceless. This Thirteen Primordial Arrow that Ning Que just shot had far exceeded his previous level of cultivation.

“You see, you’ve said a lot meaningful things today. But you missed one thing important. If you want to please your wife, you’ve got to have a wife first. You want to replace the world, then you have to defeat us first.”

Ning Que stared at the snow peak and pulled his iron bow again, while he said so to the Abbey Dean.

That was also said to Sangsang.

…