Nightfall

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Haotian was the highest and only faith in this world.

Numerous earthly followers piously devoted their spirits and money to the Haotian Taoist temples all over the world. The Divine Hall located in Peach-Mountain of West Hill was the supreme center that influenced and even controlled these Taoist temples and secular imperial powers.

The hierarch Lord commander was in charge of West-Hill Divine Palace’s sect. And three Great Divine Priests guided the sect’s specific managements, who had extremely strong power, extremely dignified honor and extremely high status. Therefore, they were called as Gods.

Three Gods were Great Divine Priest of Relation, Great Divine Priest of Judgment and Great Divine Priest of Light.

Among them, Great Divine Priest of Judgment was responsible for adjudicating the heresy and arresting Devil’s Doctrine survivors. Under his command, there were numerous strongmen. And he had the most powerful force and the strongest power exteriorly. Great Divine Priest of Relation was responsible for understanding the purpose of Haotian, revising the Classics, and remotely controlled all the Taoist temples in the world with Seven Calligraphy. So he had a great secular influence.

Great Divine Priest of Light was the most unique existence of the three Gods. He was not responsible for specific sect affairs, but had the power to touch all the sect affairs. Anyone who could become Great Divine Priest of Light must be an outstanding person who best understoond the Taoist teachings in Divine Hall, had the most determined faith, and most hated the dark shadows of the world.

Back to the millennium ago, that Great Divine Priest of Light brought a scroll of Tomes of Arcane into the Wilderness for preaching. He could be described to bear the most arduous and most important historical mission of the sect of Haotian Taoism. From it, people could imagine his status. And out of no reason that Great Divine Priest of Light gave up Haotian to creat his own sect, thus creating Devil’s Doctrined in the world in confrontation with Haotian Taoism. Even if Devil’s Doctrine was harshly suppressed by West-Hill Divine Palace, it still was not eradicated. From it, people could imagine its power.

The previous Great Divine Priests of Light in West-Hill Divine Palace were all such great figures. So in fact there was no ranking within Divine Hall. But Great Divine Priest of Light was secretly regarded as a head of the three Gods, second only to the hierarch.

Over the past few years, dictates issued in the name of West-Hill’s three Gods have occasionally appeared in the world. But no one outside the Peach Mountain knew, that respected Great Divine Priest of Light was actually imprisoned in the dark You Prison of the Peach Mountain by Divine Hall and has been imprisoned for fourteen years.

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…

A middle-aged Great Priest kneeling in front of wooden fences was difficult to suppress the excitement in his heart. In the past few years, only he could often see the elderly person behind the wooden fences in the world. But each time he was as excited as he first saw the elderly.

Nowadays he was the most trusted subordinate to Great Divine Priest of Judgment. Even if the two Priests Ye Hongyu and Prince Long Qing would not underestimate him. No matter how high his status became, as long as he went into the dark You Prison and came to the front of the wooden fences, he felt himself as if he was still a lad who had just come to the Peach Mountain from the Kingdom of Song Taoist temple in the East Sea. However, the old man behind the fences was still the high-status Great Divine Priest of Light who was highly regarded by the believers.

The middle-aged Divine Priest believed in Haotian, longing for the light. He was willing, but only willing to devote all love and admiration to the elderly who had guided him to embark on the bright road, even at the expense of his life and soul.

The elderly man calmly looked at the middle-aged Divine Priest. The wrinkles on his face were as dense as the texture of the wooden fences. He looked very mild on his face, simply having no trace of the wise dignified aura of the Great Divine Priest of Light in those years.

The middle-aged Divine Priest touched his forehead on the ground and said softly, “Great Divine Priest of Judgment asked about you, so I come to see you here.”

The old man said, “Even if you don’t come to see me, I’d like to see you.”

The middle-aged Divine Priest was surprised and said in a quivering voice, “God, what did you see?”

The old man slowly turned around and looked out from a tiny glass hole in the room. There were dark fogs outside the hole and no visible sunshine. But he knew it was the north.

The faint holy light deep in the old man’s eyes gradually dispersed and his black eye pupil singularly enlarged to occupy his entire eyes. They looked like dustless transparent black jades.

“I saw the shadow of night appeared in Chang’an City.”

Upon hearing these words, the middle-aged Divine Priest kneeling outside the wooden fences started to tremble his body.

The Great Divine Priest of Light imprisoned for many years was still Great Divine Priest of Light. Every word he said had its own truth. For the middle-aged Divine Priest, it almost had no difference with the Haotian dictate.

Great Divine Priest of Light had no ability to predict the running of all things in the world. It was the divine gift of the Divine Dictate God. However, as the Divine Priest who had the purest and steadfast Taoist Heart and brightness in his hair and blood. He had a very special ability, seeing the real darkness in the world.

Many years ago, he had seen the shadow of the night drifting from the Wilderness to the Tang Empire. It was with this belief that West-Hill Divine Palace had done so many things in that mighty empire in the north at all costs.

However, strangely it was after that case that he, who had a high status inside Divine Hall, was instantly surpressed down to the dust. In the face of the fury of hierarch Lord, especially the eyesight of Taoist in indigo, he as a wise mighty person could not do any resistance. Thus he had become a prisoner no one knew behind the Peach Mountain.

The middle-aged Divine Priest said in a trembling voice, “I should report this matter to Judge God, no, hierarch Lord.”

The old man smiled and looked at him. He shook his head and said, “This hall… ”

Accompanied by a deep sigh, the dust on the fence started to fly upwards.

“And the temple behind the hall… has fallen corrupted.”

The Great Divine Priest of Light, who had been imprisoned for many years out of no reason, was qualified to indifferently criticize toward Divine Hall and even that Taoist temple. However, the middle-aged Divine Priest dared not to reply to the old man even if admiring the old man. He looked up and could not help concealing his excitement after a moment of confusion. He tremblingly said, “You… are leaving?”

The old man quietly looked at him. His eye sockets have long recovered as ever and the holy glory made his eyes have an aura of more indifference and hollowness. He slightly quivered his withered lips and emotionlessly said, “You will die. Many people will die.”

“There are many people in Divine Hall who, like me, are willing to sacrifice their lives.”

The middle-aged Divine Priest did not hesitate and said with a perseverance, “For light to land on the earth.”

He had been imprisoned for fourteen years. Because of the blackness of the night he saw, he finally decided to flee from You Prison of Divine Hall. The old man quietly watched the middle-aged Divine Priest kneeling outside the fences, as if to see that lad taoist priest whose eyes were full of admiration and worship many years ago. The wrinkles on his face became deeper and deeper, filled with an aura of compassion and pity.

…

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One night.

The old man got up and walked to the seemingly loose and low wooden fences. He quietly watched the fences that had accompanied him for 5,000 days and nights for a long time, and then said some words.

“Since I have no confinement in my heart, how can the confinement stop me? Since my Taoist Heart longs for light, how can the light stop me?”

After this sentence, the elderly man reached for the wooden fences with his hands. His action was common and casual, as if not fleeing from the confinement of years but just for leaving home so as to push that squeaky wooden door at home.

His old fingers touched the wooden fences. The the wooden fences were silently broken into powders and turned into countless grains of shining dust drifting everywhere, and then like a group of fireflies came out of that tiny stone cave.

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…

Great Divine Priest of Judgment quietly sitting on the South Sea divine jade seat suddenly stiffened his body.

Two tiny spots suddenly appeared in his eyes that were as deep as the sea.

Puff! Thick blood was spurting from his lips, drenching a crimson gown.

…

…

Fireflies came out from the tiny cave and went into the night mist, as if the oil was poured into a bonfire and lit up all the things around, especially those tiny particles in the haze.

The dark valley that had never seen a light suddenly burned up.

This burning had no temperature or the power of destruction, only brightness.

Burning hill fogs instantly spread upward to the south of the Peach Mountain, to numerous Taoism Temples.

In the deep dark night, the entire Peach Mountain was burning up.

Especially in the Divine Hall of light, the Taoist sounds echoed, compassionate and solemn. And it shone and stood out under the light.

…

…

There was a pure white Divine Hall at the highest point of the Peach Mountain.

A thunderous roar sounded inside Divine Hall.

Accompanied by the thunderous roar, the invisible flame in the Peach Mountain gradually died out.

The roar in the holiest Divine Hall was getting lower.

The faint roar lingered within it.

…

…

In the very far southeast positioned an island.

The storm of this ocean was more terrible than the stormy sea. No fishing or merchant ships had been here before.

There had never been human footprints on this island before.

A thin Taoist in indigo was standing on a tall rock.

Terrifying waves constantly flapped the bottom of the reef, uttering thunderous sounds and making the island rock tremble. However, he seemed to feel nothing at all.

The Taoist in indigo quietly watched the depths of the sea and soaring hot fogs that were formed by submarine volcanic melting evaporation.

Suddenly, he seemed to have sensed something and looked back at a far invisible land.

After a long time, the Taoist in indigo sighed and shook his head.

…

…

That night, fourteen Divine Priests turned into ashes in the light in the Peach Mountain.

That night, a total of three hundred people were executed in the Divine Hall of Light.

That night, Great Divine Priest of Light who had been imprisoned for fourteen years successfully escaped from West-Hill Divine Palace.

He was the first prisoner in history who could flee from You Prison at the back of the Peach Mountain.

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…

In winter, it was the warmest time at sunset in the Wilderness. The red sun setting over the long grasses at a long distance emitted the last light of the day. Although it could not melt the snow, it added some redness to the cheeks of travelers.

The sound of flying arrows and sound of a heavy object falling to the ground were heard in the Wilderness.

People camping here overnight heard Cat Girl’s surprise shout from a distance. “Senior Brother, your arrow skill is so good!”

Someone picked up their prey. Ning Que fed the Big Black Horse and was ready to take a break. When he passed by the horse carriage, he found Mo Shanshan was absorbed in writing by the last sunlight next to the window.

“Take care of your eyes.”

He stood by the carriage window and said kindly.

Mo Shanshan looked up at him with her cold eyes, as if he was like the air.

They had been in the Wilderness for some days. Ning Que inevitably felt kind of unhappy when he found that this girl was actually so proud as not to see himself with her eyes. He thought that he did not even care about the pride of the Tang Empire’s Princess and how he could be defeated by her.

So he was also too lazy to look at her with his eyes, but squinted her writing by leaning against the window. His eyesight did not fall on the paper, but fell on her face. Then he found that her tiny round face was filled with concentration and selflessness.

One was most beautiful at the moment when one was serious. Ning Que agreed with this statement. And once he picked up the brush, he often forgot about everything around. So when he watched the girl concentrate on writing calligraphy, his feelings towars her unavoidably improved a little.

“I never expected that you were still a guy who was addicted in calligraphy. Your writting behavior is quite similar to mine.”

When Great River Kingdom boys did physical activities and were in charge of tenting and pegging, Zhuo Zhihua and other female disciples were piling firewood and cooking. When they listened to Ning Que’s comment, they actually laughed out of no reason.

They covered their mouths and laughed. They looked at Ning Que, but did not tell why they laughed.

Ning Que felt a little embarrassed. In order to cover up this awkwardness, he looked up at the sky and found that a few grain-like stars appeared on the edge of the Wilderness. He looked at the sunset in another side of the sky and subconsciously lamented. “There is still no moon.”

Inside the carriage window, Mo Shanshan put the brush on an inkstone, following his gaze, and confusedly asked, “What nonsense?”

Ning Que slightly startled and remembered a few things. His smile gradually floated on his cheeks.

Mo Shanshan looked at his side face through the window. The breeze in the Wilderness was blowing his hair and inside his hair appeared a cute little dimple. She suddenly found that this guy had such a sincere smile at this time.

Suddenly Ning Que’s palm catched the window, pushing his body moving upwards. Then he disappeared.

On the top of the horse carriage, a soft sound was heard. Mo Shanshan looked up, wondering why he did so.

In the wind of the Wilderness, Ning Que stood in the top of the horse carriage, watching the distant rising dust under the round sunset. He gradually wrinkled his brows and stretched his hand into his lips to blow a sharp whistle.

Suddenly it became quiet in the camping ground and warrior horses began to stir up.

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…

Accompanied by the sunset, Sangsang alone was eating nourishing noodles with fried eggs.

There was no chopped green onion in the noodles, for she did not like eating onions. The reason why she put onions in it was because someone liked.

She alone made herself up with Chenjinji Cosmetics Store’s powders in front of a mirror and no longer saw someone laughing at herself beside.

She slept alone, rolling from the left to the right and from the right from the left. The bed looked a lot bigger.

On the bed, she kicked her legs and stretched her arms as she wanted and no longer worried about hitting someone.

The life of a person living in Chang’an City was very comfortable and very uncomfortable.

Sangsang lying in bed looked at the tree outside the window and the stars in the leaves, thinking about why there was no moon. What on earth was the moon that young master had said? Where was young master now?

Maybe because the bed suddenly became larger and she was not accustomed to it, Sangsang did not sleep well for a whole night like those previous days. She has been tossing until the dawn. Then she yawned and kneaded her little face to get up. She pushed the door open and went to the alley to buy a bowl of hot and sour noodles soup, and then sat on the threshold of Old Brush Pen Shop.

In the bright light of early morning, she tastelessly ate alone.

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In the southernmost frontier fortress of the Tang Empire, it was very noisy there, for numerous caravans were waiting for their entry.

There was an ordinary horse carriage well-behavedly lining up.

There was an old man with dry hair and deep eyes in the carriage, who was reposing with his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes and looked towards Chang’an, a distant city in the north. His eyes were full of gentle and majestic light.