Nightfall

After Ning Que left, the young girls from the Great River Kingdom were talking about the previous events with excitement. With her feet bathing in the hot spring, Cat Girl said happily, “Brother Zhong was actually a disciple from the Academy. No wonder he was so good!”

Zhuo Zhihua glanced at her with a smile, “I already guessed that. After all, the Hill Master ordered us to treat him with great hospitality. If anyone else had come, she would have sent them away.”

She sighed, “Thanks to him, we needn’t give up this spring. The Yuelun Kingdom and Yan camp should be sufficiently intimidated, so won’t send people to force us to leave.”

Still thinking over the details of the fight, Cat Girl raised her head, her feet playing with the water, and asked out of curiosity, “Brother Zhong defeated that awful monk without using any of the cultivation techniques he has learned. I can’t sense any fluctuations in his Psyche Power. Is he still considered a cultivator?”

Zhuo Zhihua was taken aback a little, but then said, “The rumors say that there are no talented people in the Academy this year. Even the most advanced student of the course of magic skills, Mr. Xie, only just achieved the No Doubts State. Perhaps Brother Zhong was unable to cultivate because he was not in that course?”

She hesitated, because she didn’t really believe that any average student who couldn’t cultivate could kill a monk from White Tower Temple only with the help of normal weapons.

The yellow cloth curtain was hidden in a secluded area. The hot spring sporadically let out clouds of steam that lingered in the air. The sunshine filtered through the woods, covering everything with a glimmering light. A girl in white was writing slowly, as if she heard nothing of the conversation. As her pen moved, her silky-smooth black hair fell from her shoulders.

Suddenly, the peace was broken by the arrival of a letter from the Yan camp.

…

…

Having considered the different techniques used by other cultivators, Ning Que believed in the principle that any cultivation that can’t help you beat your enemy is worthless. He was among the best, especially when he confronted a less well-trained cultivator, but his state of cultivation was still just average.

If he was asked now to go back and redo the bloody fight at Spring Breeze Pavillion with Chao Xiaoshu, it would be far easier to fight against the swordsman from South Jin and the monk of Yuelun Kingdom, and if he was asked to again kill the Sword Master at the cottage beside the lake, he wouldn’t suffer any terrible injuries.

But of course, if he met the most powerful Grand Cultivators of Knowing Destiny State, Prince Long Qing, or Wang Jinglue, he knew he would be defeated immediately without any chance of victory, no matter how fast he reacted or how threatening his fighting methods were.

Even if it happened in the Wilderness, Ning Que knew how he would react. He had some techniques he could use to save his life, such as his excellent ability for Talisman Taoism, or the silk purse Master Yanse had given him, or even the Primordial Thirteen arrows which contained the concentrated wisdom of all the students at the back mountain of the Academy.

After his calm and objective assessment of his ability, Ning Que could clearly see how dangerous a trip to the Wilderness would be. He knew that it was very unlikely that he would be able to get the Tomes of the Arcane from any of the more powerful cultivators, who would surely be the best of the best in combat. However, there was still the distinct possibility to hinder them without drawing attention to himself and causing some trouble for Xiahou.

He was going to hide his real identity and treat this trip like a holiday. If he did infuriate an unworldly sublime being and had no chance of escape or place to hide, he would resort to his last two ways to save his life, which he had wanted to keep secret.

“Sir, you said you want to go alone? I will not let you unless I am dead.”

The man who dared to speak was a captain of the General’s Mansion, but actually, he was also a secret guard of His Majesty. At this moment, his face was full of anger and determination. He swung his sword around elbarotely before pressing it against his own neck.

“If you are so determined to go to the Wildness alone, you must kill me first.”

Looking at his captain, Ning Que shook his head helplessy.

The administrative divisions of the Tang Dynasty were very clear and with strict boundaries. Although the Imperial Center Administration and the secret guard were both directly controlled by the King, there was no interaction between them. Thus, the captain had no idea why Ning Que wanted to go into the Wilderness.

Ning Que cared more about how he could Travel through the Wilderness in a way that would be safe and easy to withdraw from than about the captain’s opinions. The most direct way would be to travel to the palace, then cross the Hulan Sea and find the Desolate man’s tribe, where he can enlist thousands of the best soldiers. But with such a grand escort, it would be impossible to look for the Tomes of Arcane without general Xiahou discovering his actions.

It would certianly be heroic to go through the Wilderness alone. However, even though he was very confident in his ability and his familiarity with the Wilderness, he knew he would be easy to take down. After all, going towards the palace was like telling the Judicial Department of the Divine Hall and all the spies from the competing parties just how confident he was.

Only a sun that never set was justified in such confidence. If he showed up with such an image, he would immediately attract everyone’s attention, and his true identity would be discovered. If the other parties knew that he represented the will of the Tang Dynasty and the Academy, even if they didn’t kill him, they would have thousands of ways to restrict his movement, leaving him no possibility to reach his goal.

That was what the General’s Mansion at Tuyang city had done, giving him soldiers to escort him, who actually hold him back, travelling around the outskirts of the Wilderness. That was what the captain, with his knife on his shoulders and his angry expression, was doing right now. Ning Que looked at him, frowning, thinking about other things.

“What would be the best way to travel through the Wilderness?” he asked.

The captain was saddened. He had put his sword to his neck, but his master didn’t care at all and insisted on continuing to the Wilderness. He even asked for his advice! Maybe it would take a serious injury to get his master’s attention.

Suddenly, Ning Que’s face lit up, as he remembered the yellow cloth curtain at the lake. He raised his head and said to the captain, “There is a student of the Academy, Zhong Dajun. He is training at the frontier fortress. He is currently at Chengshan Camp, where we has been for a couple of days now. I want you to imprison him. He must not be allowed to have any communication with anyone. You must do this without giving any notice. Can you do that?”

The captain was still holding his sword to his neck. He started to feel stiffness in his neck, and suddenly realised that his actions had been ridiculous. He said unhappily, “No problem. But master…”

Ning Que waved his hand towards him and said, “Don’t try to stop me. I am not scared of dead people, nor those who wish to die.”

The captain was hopeless. He was regretted working for such a cold-hearted boss.

Ning Que looked at him and said, “You are holding the sword in your right hand. If you really want to commit suicide, you should put the blade nearer to the right side of your neck.”

The captain lowered his head out of shame, then ran out of the room with his hands covering his face.

Ning Que shook his head. He put his hands in his pocket and spent a long time going through all the ID tokens he found within. He wondered when he had become Doraemon.

He had more ID tokens than secrets.

They were ID tokens for the Academy, the Secret Guard, the Fish-dragon Gang, the Imperial Center Administration and even from Third Sister Yu Lian. They were mostly made of gold, wood, or stone, and presented a colourful pile on the table.

“What would be the best way to arrange these ID tokens, I wonder?”

He was pondered the ID tokens. The one for the Secret Guard would be useless. But the one for the Imperial Center Administration could be used to command the Tang Dynasty’s secret spies in the left tent of the palace. And if he found himself in a dangerous situation, the ID token of the Academy could definitely be used.

…

…

The honourable Aunt Quni Madi and the famous Flower Addict Princess Lu Chenjia wished for a hot spring bath, a reasonable request. However, the spring was already in use by the girls of Black Ink Garden. A fight soon erupted.

Both sides were cultivators coming to help Yan follow the order from the West-Hill Divine Palace. Those sent from the Black Ink Garden of the Great River Kingdom were just students. The White Tower Temple of Yuelun Kingdom sent Aunt Qu, together with the Flower Addict Princess Lu Chenjia, who had a romantic relationship with Prince Long Qing of the Judicial Department of the Divine Hall. It was clear who both the Yan and the Divine Hall would back.

Ning Que defeated the monk from the White Tower Temple and saved the hot spring for the girls from the Great River Kingdom. However, soon after, a very hard mission fell on the shoulders of the girls.

The countries of the Central Plains wanted to reach peace with the palace of the Left-tent. To show their sincerity, the Divine Hall asked every country to gather some food and send it to the Wilderness to help the tribes of the palace survive the winter.

However, even the most foolish people knew that it was not wise to help your enemy. Therefore, very little food was collected. After all, the food was just a gesture of goodwill. And that was why the gift would only arrive at the most freezing part of the Winter. It was cold and dangerous in the Wilderness, so sending the food was a very hard mission indeed.

The mission became harder when the general’s camp of allied forces decided to send only a few soldiers to escort the food, out of concern for their own defence.

It was the girls of the Black Ink Garden from the Great River Kingdom who got the mission.

Since they needed to follow the soldiers to escort the food, the girls would not be able to enjoy the warm spring or the beautiful scenery. They would be too busy with the responsibility of protecting the food.

Cat Girl said angrily, “That is too much! Let’s complain to the Divine Hall.”

Another girl replied sadly, “What if this is what the Divine Hall wants us to do?”

Cat Girl opened her eyes wide. She didn’t understand the words of her Senior Sister. She could not understand how the fair, just Divine Hall of Haotian Taoism could decided on such an evil and unfair course of action.

Zhuo Zhihua said, “Prince Long Qing will be the husband of the Princess of Yuelun Country. Based on that, who do you think the Divine Hall will support? Although we don’t have enough proof, we can still guess the reason behind this order.” The Aunt from Yuelun Country always bears grudges. She resents Senior Brother Zhong, but he is a student of the Academy and now a member of the Blue Water Battalion at Dongsheng Stockaded Village. Because she is unable to fight with him, she has chosen to pick a fight with us. She just wants to show her pride.”

The girls at the Great River Kingdom grew worried when they thought about the danger they would meet on their long journey. They turned to the girl with black silk hair.

“Hill Master, it is time that you speak up for us.”