Nightfall

The last of the evening light disappeared and the capital of the Kingdom of Qi was enshrouded in darkness. The light emitting from the white temple did not disperse. The pious believers who were kneeling and immersed in the events gradually emerged from their reverie. They stared at the window, each thinking about something or another. Lights lit up in each household.

The doors to the room opened and Ye Hongyu walked out. Her beautiful face was just as cold as before, and devoid of any emotions. However, she could not hide the exhaustion between her brows.

Ning Que noticed her exhaustion and haggardness. However, he did not say anything but entered the room. He sat beside the bed and held Sangsang’s slender wrist, perceiving silently.

After making sure that Sangsang’s condition had taken a turn for the better, he finally heaved a sigh of relief. He tucked in the corners of her blankets and placed a fresh towel on her forehead before walking out of the room.

He looked at Ye Hongyu who was leaning against the stone walls and said sincerely, "You have worked hard."

Ye Hongyu noticed that he did not express his gratitude. Her eyebrows flicked upwards as she asked, "Are you not going to thank me?"

Ning Que said, "I have exchanged my life for this."

Ye Hongyu said, "Your prescription and the herbs from the temple seemed to have worked. The poison in her body has mostly been neutralized. However, I can only suppress the cold aura in her temporarily."

After a moment, she frowned slightly and continued, "I realized that night by the Yanming Lake that the Divine Light in the Lady of Light is much purer and vigorous than mine. Naturally, I can’t do anything to get rid of the cold aura that even she can’t rid herself of. Speaking of which, where did that cold aura come from?"

Ning Que recounted the events where he had picked up Sangsang from a pile of bodies.

Ye Hongyu’s doubts were not cleared. Her frown grew even heavier as she said, "The rot in bodies are the darkest and filthiest of all things on earth, and the cold rains would damage the body of an infant. But how could this unnatural cold affect the Haotian Divine Light in the Lady of Light?"

Ning Que gave her an expectant look and asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Ye Hongyu looked into his eyes and said, "Does the Headmaster have any ideas?"

Ning Que shook his head.

Ye Hongyu said with a serene expression, "The Headmaster has no idea how to get rid of the cold aura in her body, so you came to ask me. Even though you have spoken out of urgency, it still makes you look like an idiot."

Ning Que’s expression grew dark and he smiled bitterly, with difficulty.

Watching his expression and recalling how Ning Que had not hesitated to hook his fingers in hers before she had used her Divine Skills to heal Sangsang, Ye Hongyu felt for the first time that this shameless disciple of the Academy was not entirely useless.

With that fleeting thought, her expression softened as she looked at Ning Que. She said, "Since the Headmaster said that the Buddhism Sect can heal Sangsang, then you two would definitely gain something at Lanke Temple."

Ning Que smiled and asked, "Are you consoling me?"

Ye Hongyu said, "You may understand it this way."

Ning Que said, "What I can’t understand is why you are the one consoling me."

Ning Que smiled sunnily, the dimples on his cheeks seemed extremely bright.

Ye Hongyu looked at his face and said, "You are indeed quite adorable. However, your character is hateful."

At the temple of the Kingdom of Qi, the Judicial Department, priests, and knights were all shut outside the tightly shut doors. The temple was very quiet and the torches on the walls of the stone corridors were not lit. The light of the stars streamed in through the stone windows. While they were not very bright, it was not dark either.

Ning Que watched the Taoist maiden whose face was illuminated by the faint light. He saw the exhaustion and haggardness in her eyes. He looked at her clear brows, bright eyes and tender lips and felt that this was the most beautiful and captivating version of Ye Hongyu he had ever seen. His right fingers that hung by his thigh trembled.

They trembled and his fingertips touched something hard. He raised the teacup in his hands and brought it before her.

Ye Hongyu took the cup and drank the cold, strong tea.

The corridor was very quiet. The disciple of the back of the mountain of the Academy and the Great Divine Priest of Judgment of the West-Hill Divine Palace leaned against the cool stone walls in silence. They looked at the faint light streaming through the windows and did not speak for a long while.

After some time, Ning Que suddenly said, "Earlier today, you said that you’ve said by the Yanming Lake and in the Wilderness that the Academy and Haotian Taoism are natural enemies. There would be a great war one day and that day is fast approaching. Have you ever thought about what we should do if we meet on the battlefield one day?"

Ye Hongyu held on to the teacup as she looked up at him. Her eyes were filled with ridicule as she said, "We are all people without friends. So why do we have to reminisce about the past and talk about the future as if we were? You want to become closer to me just to save your own life. This is rather shameless."

Ning Que did not try to defend himself. He said, "I just want to know what you would do if that day comes."

Ye Hongyu did not hesitate to say, "I have said, that you are the most dangerous enemy to Haotian Taoism. Should the war really happen, I will do everything in my power to kill you regardless of the price I have to pay."

Ning Que took the teacup from her and placed it on his lips as he said wonderingly, "That makes sense. I would do everything I can to kill someone as dangerous as you."

With that, he drank the last drops of the tea and felt that it was bitter beyond comparison.

Ye Hongyu felt a little annoyed that Ning Que had drunk the remnants of her tea using her teacup. However, she suddenly didn’t feel like being angry after seeing Ning Que frowning at the bitterness of the tea.

"I won’t go easy on you."

Ye Hongyu looked at the night scenery outside the stone windows and said indifferently. However, it was unknown whether she was speaking to Ning Que or herself, or perhaps she was saying it for the loyal subjects outside the temple to hear.

Ning Que thought of the scenery and people in Chang’an and of the lands he had seen in the south. He thought of the farmers and army men who toiled over the fertile lands and said, "Me too."

The dim corridor descended into silence once more.

Ning Que broke the silence again.

He looked at Ye Hongyu and said with a slight smile, "Speaking of this, I have yet to congratulate you."

Ye Hongyu froze slightly and asked, "Congratulate me for what?"

Ning Que saw that she did not seem to be pretending, and knew that she would never pretend to be mature about things of the world. He sighed softly and thought that she was indeed the Tao Addict with a Taoist Heart who was not bothered by matters of the world.

"You have taken the black jade throne and you are now the Great Divine Priest of Judgment. Isn’t this something worthy of celebration? Chen Pipi once said that there hadn’t been many Great Divine Priest your age in the last millennia."

Ye Hongyu knew, only then, that this was what he was congratulating her on. She said serenely, "I knew that I would become a Great Divine Priest of West-Hill since I started cultivation. I knew that I would sit in the black jade throne one day ever since I entered the Judicial Department. Is something so natural worthy of celebration?"

Ning Que lamented, "It is fortunate that I understand you. If anyone else in the world hears this, they will think that you are more egotistical than my Second Brother. You’re so egotistical, you’re nuts."

Ye Hongyu smiled slightly and was satisfied that Ning Que had compared her to Jun Mo.

Ning Que turned around to look at her and looked into the depths of her bright pupils. He thought about the Divine Light that he had seen in her eyes earlier in the day and lamented, "In the younger generation of cultivators, those who are talented and egotistical have tried to catch up with you. However, they never could and you’re always right there in front. The distance between you and them has grown larger and larger. I really admire you."

Ye Hongyu looked into his eyes and could sense the brightness hidden in his black pupils. She said, "You have only cultivated for a few years and have gone from an ordinary person who knew nothing to a Grand Cultivator. You are the only person in our generation that I admire and am vigilant against."

Ning Que smiled and said, "Praising someone and praising oneself are always happy things. However, we do not have an audience right now, so it’s a pity that we cannot glorify ourselves before them."

Ye Hongyu said, "It is just you congratulating me and me returning the sentiments."

Ning Que said, "Having entered the Knowing Destiny State isn’t really something that makes one happy."

There were many underlying sentiments hidden in his words. They included the fragments in the depths of his senses, Master Lotus’ kind inheritance, the terrifying and bloody methods of the Devil’s Doctrine and that fire at the Red Lotus Temple.

Not even Long Qing could understand completely what had happened to him.

Much less Ye Hongyu. She looked at him bewilderedly.

Ning Que said casually, "You have long entered the Knowing Destiny State, so have Shanshan. Senior Brother Chen Pipi had long entered it. I have nothing to be proud of before you guys."

Ye Hongyu said, "I have said many times that we are unlike normal cultivators. The Knowing Destiny State means more to us because cultivation states are means to battle."

Ning Que said, "I feel that you have repeated this saying many times just to tell the world that we belong to the same species. Just like two pearls that are exactly similar in the bottom of the ocean. We are a match made in heaven, right?"

"Of course. I challenged the previous Divine Priest of Judgment right after I entered the Knowing Destiny State, even though he had yet to fully recover from the injuries caused by the Divine Priest of Light. And you managed to kill Xia Hou even before you entered the Knowing Destiny State. Once you enter the Knowing Destiny State, not even Long Qing would be a match for you even if he had any miraculous encounters."

She said pridefully, "There aren’t many cultivators who are like us. Long Qing and the Calligraphy Addict aren’t. So isn’t Chen Pipi, even though he had been called a rare genius in cultivation by Haotian Taoism."

Ning Que had not imagined that Ye Hongyu would completely ignore his teasing and was speechless. Then, he heard her mentioning Chen Pipi and could not help the look of disagreement that appeared on his face.

"There are many different kinds of genius. A cultivation genius’s ingenuity should appear on cultivation and not like you and me in battle or in killing people. I have never seen someone so ingenious but completely unaware of it like Twelfth Brother. If we talk about the purity of his Taoist Heart, he is stronger than both you and Long Qing."

He looked at Ye Hongyu and warned her, "Senior Brother might look like he wouldn’t do well in battle, but that’s because he doesn’t like it. If he was forced into it, you’d understand how terrifying he is."

Ye Hongyu frowned when he heard his appraisal of Chen Pipi. She thought of the pudgy boy in the temple when they were children. That boy had liked to peek at female Taoist priests bathing when he was bored and would cower and yell shrilly when she hit him. He did not seem very scary.

Ning Que looked at her wondering expression and suddenly asked, "How did you become the Great Divine Priest of Judgment? I only heard rumors in Chang’an that you killed the previous Great Divine Priest?"

Ye Hongyu said in a very leveled tone, "Unlike the succession of the Divine Priest of Light, the succession of the Divine Priest of Judgment is never fixed. There isn’t a clear successor to the position, so there isn’t a path to succession either. In the past millennia, the ownership of the black jade throne has constantly changed in bloodbaths. There is no other way to become the Great Divine Priest of Judgment. I have killed the previous Great Divine Priest, so I have naturally succeeded him."

Ning Que’s expression froze as he asked, "If there are other powerhouses in the Peach-Mountain of West Hill who wants to become the Divine Priest of Judgment, they have to kill you?"

Ye Hongyu answered indifferently, "Indeed, but it seems like no one would dare to kill me in the near future."

Ning Que looked at her and said, "But I know someone who wants to kill you dearly. And he would dare to do so."

Ye Hongyu knew who he was talking about and said, "He can’t kill me."

Ning Que said, "You have to admit that he had been in the Divine Hall of Judgment for many years and has many loyal subjects. He would not give up on the opportunity to sit on the black jade throne."

Ye Hongyu knew that they have entered the main point of their conversation. After a moment of silent consideration, she said, "Long Qing is a dog. Even though he is different from Luo Kedi and is not the hierarch’s or my dog, and even though he has encountered man lucky chances that even I feel are incredulous, he is still a dog."

Ning Que looked into her eyes and said, "You said that a dog would not defy its owner. But have you ever thought that a mad dog would not recognize its owner? And it would become crazy and dangerous?"

Ye Hongyu watched him silently and said, "It seems that he had left an impression on you yesterday at the Red Lotus Temple."

Ning Que thought about the cold autumn rain of last night and the blades of leaf that were coated with blood. He thought of the crackling fire in the rundown temple, the empty arrow box and the black peach blossom. After a long silence, he said, "Long Qing made me terrified yesterday."

Ye Hongyu said, "But you still defeated him."

Ning Que said, "But he is not dead. I don’t know if I would be able to defeat him the next time."

Ye Hongyu said, "What exactly do you mean?"

"Don’t tell me that the West-Hill Divine Palace doesn’t know what kind of horror he possesses right now. If we let him leave, he will grow stronger by the day and grow madder as well. We are the people he wants to kill most in this world. We should kill him while he is still not strong enough."

Ning Que stared into her eyes and said, "I’m asking you to kill him."