Nightfall

Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio

A middle-aged priest was sitting inside the sedan. He wore an ordinary Taoist gown, appeared to be an ordinary person and looked nothing special. Hence no one knew who he really was.

Among the allied forces of the Divine Halls of West-Hill, there were over a hundred red-robed divine priests secretly sent from Peach Mountain. The most powerful forces in Taoism had assembled here, rather than inside the Divine Halls on Peach Mountain.

Such a horrifying allied forces were not just stationed here for Ye Hongyu and Mo Shanshan. They were also expecting Ning Que. Upon receiving the news of the Golden Tribe being defeated and A Da and the national master being killed, Taoism had started the preparation.

They also heard that Ning Que killed Hengmu in the Qinghe Prefecture a few days ago. This news stunned even the most powerful ones from the Divine Halls of West-Hill for a long while.

Ning Que traveled tens of thousands of miles non-stop to kill these people one after another. He should be arriving here not long after they heard the news. Therefore the Hierarch, Zhao Nanhai and the middle-aged priest started preparing for a final battle silently.

Even if Ye Hongyu, Mo Shanshan and Ning Que had some tacit understanding, the Divine Halls of West-Hill still believed that they could kill them in one battle. Because they had been preparing for a long while.

However unexpectedly Ye Hongyu did not come, nor did Ning Que. If it was Ye Hongyu’s sharp sense of battle that stopped her from coming, how about Ning Que? Where did he go?

Ning Que went nowhere.

Just like what the told the soldiers and people of South Jin when he were looking out at the Sword Garret, he stayed in South Jin for a long while, of course not for sightseeing, but for killing. He killed a lot.

Whoever surrendered would survive. Those who would not, would die. It was not to surrender themselves to the Tang, but to the people from the former Sword Garret. That was what Ning Que told everyone in the South Jin.

When the Divine Halls of West-Hill was expecting him to come to the south for a battle, he stayed in the second most powerful kingdom in the world. He made his claim, and showcased his ruthlessness.

He killed people in Panshan Prefecture, in Linkang, in the small streets, as well as in the imperial palace. He killed the emperor newly appointed by the Divine Halls of West-Hill, the prime minister, and many others.

Time flew irresistibly fast when the allied forces were waiting desperately by the Great River and when Ning Que was carrying out the brutal slaughter in the South Jin. Summer came to the human world. And Ning Que disappeared again in the intensive heat.

What was left was his words, the debt of blood, and the chaotic South Jin.

The Southern Battlefront Army and Yulin Royal Guards of Tang had reclaimed Qinghe. They would proceed further south after they settled the cliques. How could the South Jin withstand Tang at this point?

He indeed turned the tide in a universal war by himself. Why? Because he was able to kill and good at slaughtering. Ke Haoran was the previous version of him from the Academy. But it had been so long and people have already forgotten about that person. What Ning Que was doing right now was to remind people of Ke Haoran.

He entered Wei and wiped out the Golden Tribe, then he crossed the Great Swamp and conquered the South Jin. Now he disappeared again. No one knew which kingdom he was heading for and going to conquer the next.

…

…

The intensive heat was fading but it was still hot. The Divine Halls of West-Hill had prepared well by the Great River but Ning Que never came. Unexpectedly he showed up all of a sudden near the Divine Halls of West-Hill.

The former Divine Halls of West-Hill referred to Taoism as a whole, while the latter referred to the location of the divine halls. They were solemnly situated on top of Peach Mountain. Standing inside the small town people could see the divine place clearly.

The big black horse came to the West-Hill Divine Kingdom. It walked silently through the small town by Peach Mountain. In sharp contrast to the divine halls on top of the mountain afar, the small town was quiet and worldly.

Ning Que was about to buy some roasted sweet potatoes but he changed his mind upon entering the small town. He thought for a while, leaped down from the horse and led the rein toward a shabby shop at the east side of the town.

He got down from the horse to show his respect. Although he respected no one from the Divine Halls of West-Hill now, that person inside the shop deserved his respect. He did not know that person’s character, but time had proved everything.

It was a butcher’s shop, the only one of its kind in the small town. Just like there used to be only one butcher’s shop in the small town at the border of Song and Yan. Wherever this person was, there could be only one butcher’s shop.

The end of the summer was still extremely hot. The small town seemed like a big steamer. The big black horse was treated well by Gaga in the Wilderness with countless secret pills and gourmet. But despite the special energy it had received, it could still not stand the heat and kept panting heavily. Ning Que also unbuttoned the collar of his Academy suit.

It was steaming hot in the butcher’s shop. The smell of blood and boiling water added to the heated and choky air inside. A strong middle-aged man wore a leather apron and kept cutting meat with a heavy knife. He was tanned, but not sweating at all.

Every time the knife was chopped into the meat, blood and fat splashed like snow.

Ning Que stood by the doorsill and said to the Butcher who were standing behind the chopping board, “How’re you doing?”

The Butcher did not looked at him, kept cutting the meat and said, “So so.”

Ning Que asked after a pause, “Have you seen her?”

The Butcher stopped cutting, took down a piece of cloth from the hanger and wiped his face and hands randomly.

Ning Que continued, “I’ve been looking for her for a long while, but haven’t found her.”

The Butcher threw the wet cloth onto the knife and said to him, “You are no faster than the three of them. Therefore you won’t be sooner.”

The word faster referred to their respective speed, while the word sooner referred to the point when they could find her.

Ning Que thought for a while and nodded in appreciation, “Thanks. I’m heading off.”

The Butcher held the knife tilt with a wet cloth in his hand, so that it would not slide.

“Where to?”

“I will keep looking for her.”

“Do you need to kill people in order to find her?”

“I thought even if I could not find her, I could at least force the Abbey Dean to come back.”

“You’ve killed tens of thousands. Yet the Abbey Dean never showed up. Why should you continue the killing?”

Ning Que frowned slightly while he looked at the Butcher and said, “I thought someone like you who had went through the Ever Night would never care about what we do. Would you?”

The Ever Night was the most tragic story in the human world. It was extremely miserable. The Butcher went through it, saw it and experienced the pain and fear. He would definitely not care about what Ning Que and Taoism did.

He said, “There is something I’ve always wanted to ask the Academy.”

Ning Que turned to him, stared at him for a long while and said, “Have you ever asked before?”

The Butcher said, “I could not defeat the Headmaster or Ke Haoran.”

His implication was obvious. His question was definitely not a kind one. He did not ask because he was not a match to them previously. Now he thought that the current generation of the Academy could never defeat him. Therefore he would like an answer.

Ning Que became more calm, or even proud. He said, “Go ahead.”

From now on he was no longer representing himself, the ordinary man who was in pursuit of his wife. Instead, he represented the Academy. Therefore he had to be even more calm and confident.

The Butcher lifted the knife from the chopping board and placed it in front of himself.

Upon his movement, Ning Que felt that the doorsill of the butcher’s shop was also slightly lifted. The seemingly ordinary and greasy butcher’s knife turned to be heavy as a mountain.

“The Headmaster always talked about kindness and compassion. And the Academy always flaunted about saving the world. Even when Ke Haoran killed many people they never thought they were wrong. Even their killing was meant to save the world, just like what the Academy and you are doing right now. So is it again to save the world even if you are going to kill half of the population in this world?”

The Butcher looked at him and continued, “To save the world? The Drunkard and I never had such a grand hope. But why should your Master be the one to judge us? Why whatever the Academy did was right? Why only your way is the best to save the world? And why does the world have to be saved by you?”

Ning Que looked calmly at him and said, “There is a saying that you should ask the people rather than the gods. Who upholds justice? Probably time is the best proof. At least through what we’ve seen and heard, Tang had proved in the past thousand years that our Master was relatively right.”

“That was because he had the biggest fist.” The Butcher said emotionlessly, “Whoever has a bigger fist has the say. Is that how the Academy runs?”

Ning Que recalled the Youngest Uncle, the Senior Sister and himself. After a long while, he also thought about the Headmaster, the Eldest Brother and Second Brother. Then he sorted out the things more clearly that he had realized long ago.

“That’s not the Academy, or the Tang Empire.”

He looked at the Butcher and said, “The Academy is a place for men with integrity. So is the Tang Empire. But I am not a man of integrity. When a man has integrity he could be deceived. I don’t want to be like that. I’d rather go to eternal perdition in order to fulfill our Master’s wish.”

The Butcher said, “What good will it do for you to exile your soul into the nether world?”

Ning Que stared at him and said seriously, “Freedom… The word freedom might seem greasy nowadays as the knife you are holding. But without freedom, it is nothing.”

The Butcher asked, “… Even if it is unknown and dangerous?”

Ning Que said, “You should have a vague idea about where I came from. Therefore you should know I am right. I’ve seen it. It is what the reality should be like.”

The Butcher said after a long while, “It is the nether world.”

“Only if you insist that the reality is the nether world,” Ning Que said.

The Butcher stared at him and said, “They used to call you the Son of Invariant Yama. It might be wrong. But it could also be true. Since you are leading this world to the nether world.”

Ning Que paused for a long while and recalled the switch of his identities throughout the years. The stories happened around and the exiles he went through seemed ridiculous and sad.

He said, “You seemed right.”

The Butcher said, “Why should the human world… become the nether world?”

Ning Que asked, “Why not?”

The Butcher said, “It is too cold.”

Ning Que said, “But it is vast.”

Upon these words it became absolutely quiet both in and outside the butcher’s shop, deadly quiet. The dead pig seemed to be staring at the two of them with wide open eyes, so was the goat that was boiled in the pot.

They both had their plans and neither of them would compromise. Therefore they had to kill.