There were no idlers besides Ning Que in the Old Brush Pen Shop.
After Sangsang had given shelter to the old man here, she was persuaded by him to start cultivating the Divine Skill and even sincerely called him “Teacher”. But when she thought of his worthless appearance before their encounter, she decided to arrange a lot of housework for him so that he would not become an old idler who carried a teapot wandering around in the street, layout sunbathing, flossed his teeth, made pitiful faces, and even cursed at others.
The old man was not used to it at the very beginning. Since he left the little Taoist temple in the Kingdom of Song decades ago, he had never done any chores such as washing dishes and wiping down desks. Whether sitting on the divine throne or being imprisoned in You Prison behind Peach Mountain, he had had countless servants. As a god above the clouds, how could he do housework like that?
Now, however, he needed to learn how to do these things because it was Sangsang’s request. And as Sangsang’s teacher, he believed that a successor should learn to honor teachers and esteem their teachings. But he was more aware that if he did not listen to this young girl, he might no longer be her teacher at any moment. And he absolutely could not accept that.
As a result, the most brilliant Great Divine Priest of Light in centuries fell into a trap of life in front of Sangsang after he had arbitrarily defected from the Divine Hall and dismantled the Confinement tactical array of the Great Divine Priest of Judgment.
If the secular pious Haotian Taoism devotees knew his current experiences, namely doing housework in a desolate alley in Chang’an City, they might be so indignant as to drop dead.
No matter how incredible it was, the more that one did something, the more that he would get used to it and even began to enjoy it. As did the Great Divine Priest of Light. The old man rolled up his cotton sleeves, standing on the edge of the stove, and carefully washed the bowls with a sponge gourd in his hands. He became more proficient and even subconsciously felt happy, for he felt that he would not break the bowls today. There was a child-like proud look appearing on his old munificent cheeks.
After finishing the housework that Sangsang had arranged, the old man walked to the shop front and put a temporary bed together using two square tables. He took out the bedding from a corner behind a shelf and made the bed. And then he blew out the oil lamp and lay on the bed, ready to sleep.
The starlight of the winter night sprinkled into Lin 47th Street and penetrated through the lattices of the shop. The old man looked at the frost-like starlight on the ground, pressing on an angle of the bedding that air leaked out from, and comfortably uttered a sigh.
He was very satisfied with his decision to leave Peach Mountain and come to Chang’an City. He was so satisfied with his present life that he had forgotten why he had left Peach Mountain and come to Chang’an City. He even seldom remembered that black shadow. Perhaps he subconsciously wanted to live here longer.
He was so glad to find a successor and was unspeakably happy to have found such a Divine Talisman successor like Sangsang. The old man believed that there had not appeared such a figure in Haotian Taoism for a millennium and such a person probably would not appear again after a thousand years. Sangsang was certainly able to inherit his skills and would go farther than he himself had and she would eventually be able to see that wonderful world that he had only glimpsed.
The old man felt that he was not far from death, but he still felt happy for he could see the future after his death—a bright future that filled him with delight and admiration.
In the courtyard behind the shop, Sangsang was also preparing to sleep. She poured the hot water into a bucket and started to wash her feet. She gently kicked the water with her white, lotus-like smooth and delicate feet, just like a duckling playing with water beside a pond.
A 14-year-old girl living alone took in an unidentified old man and that old man had watched for days outside of the Old Brush Pen Shop. It seemed improper for her to do so, but Sangsang had still done it.
That did not mean that Sangsang was a kind and innocent girl. She might be kind, but she had known the treachery in people’s hearts after living with Ning Que for years in this earthly world. The reason why she took the old man in was that she had seen the holy shining light on his fingertip and confirmed that she could help Ning Que in a fight after learning the Divine Skill.
This reason was very important—For the past 10 years, Ning Que had fought with others and killed people for her. She could only hide under the big black umbrella and occasionally shout a few times. She thought that she had now grown up and should be able to do more things, such as helping Ning Que to fight or kill when necessary.
After getting along for quite a while, Sangsang and the old man felt close to each other, like a family. Because she could feel who really treated her well, she found that the old man treated her almost as well as Ning Que did.
“What is my young master doing now? It must be cold in the Wilderness.”
Sangsang opened her eyes and looked at the roof, her hands holding onto a slightly cool kang (a heatable brick bed), and imagined Ning Que’s life on the Wilderness. This was the longest time that she had been separated from him and she could not get accustomed to it.
Because Ning Que was not at home, she felt that she did not need to warm up all the newly-built kangs in the north of the room and began to be frugal as usual. There were only a few silver charcoal pieces under the kangs these days, making the kangs’ surface a little cold.
She took the talismans left by Ning Que out from the cabinet and carefully stuck them outside of her underwear. Logically speaking, Ning Que clearly forgot that no one besides himself was able to activate the heating of these fire talismans. But, perhaps because she had started cultivating the Divine Skill, her little body was gradually warming up.
In this 14th year of the Tianqi era, the winter had come earlier and was colder than before. Sangsang raised her small hands to her mouth and gently breathed out twice. Looking at the mist on her lashes, she thought of something and took Ning Que’s bedding out of the cabinet after a short pause. She opened the door and went to the front shop, gently covering the old man’s body with the bedding.
A warm bed was the most sinister enemy for people needing to get up. So the next day, the old man woke up late. He looked at the bright sky outside of the shop and could not help feeling surprised when he realized that he had forgotten to queue up to buy the Hot and sour noodle slice soup.
As he got up in a hurry and got ready for washing, he saw a note under a stone on a small bench that was beside the well.
On the note was unskilled, but very nice, handwriting written by Sangsang.
“At night, I remembered that a sister had called me to dine at her mansion. So, I’ll probably spend a whole day there. Teacher, you don’t have to wait for me to eat. If you get up late and don’t buy the noodle soup, you can go to eat in the next shop. I’ve already mentioned it to Aunt Wu.”
…
…
The snow had accumulated on black tiles above the South School Temple of Haotian Taoism, which quietly faced the vermilion imperial wall not far away, under the light of dawn.
The Nation Master of the Tang Empire, Li Qingshan, gently coughed twice. He looked at the volumes on the table and frowned slightly.
An officer of the Imperial Center Administration that was coming to report greeted him with a bow with hands folded in front of him and said seriously, “Mr. Thirteen left the palace and now presumably has entered Tianqi Mountain. I don’t know if he can find the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine. As for the Tomes of Arcane… Sir Nation Master, if the imperial court doesn’t send a master there, I’m afraid it’ll be very difficult to grab it in front of the Divine Hall.”
Li Qingshan shook his head and said after a short moment of silence, “When His Majesty asked Ning Que to enter the Wilderness, the imperial court didn’t know the matter of the Tomes of Arcane. The decision of letting Ning Que give it a try had nothing to do with the imperial court, the South School, or the Imperial Center Administration. It was the will of Mr. Two in the Academy. So, the Academy should be responsible for it. You don’t need to think about it.”
No need to think about it. That was because there was no sense in thinking of anything further. The book of the Tomes of Arcane that had been lost in the Wilderness attracted the attention of too many forces. In particular, the West-Hill Divine Palace was clearly prepared for this. Although the intelligence said that its Hierarch Lord God and three Gods were still on Peach Mountain, someone else in the Taoist temple might have gone there already.
In the face of this situation, the Tang Empire would not beat the Divine Hall to grab the Tomes of Arcane unless it made a full attack. However, it was obviously impossible for the imperial court to do that. It could only ask the Academy to do such a thing. But, Li Qingshan felt confused as to why the Academy put all its hope on Ning Que, for Ning Que had a really low state indeed.
Li Qingshan did not spend too much time or energy on this matter. He began to read other files sent by the Imperial Center Administration. He put all his mind on searching for the trail of the Great Divine Priest of Light. When the Headmaster of the Academy was traveling far away, there was such a formidable and horrible god lurking in Chang’an City. Both His Majesty and he himself felt so uneasy about it.
The ambush in the General’s Mansion had finally ended in failure. Although the Tang Empire did not suffer any losses, it could be described as a fiasco for the South School of Haotian Taoism and the military, who had gained nothing after plotting it for such a long time.
In that battle, Li Qingshan did not fight with the Great Divine Priest of Light face to face. But he knew that he had been defeated and he felt humiliated about the way of his failure. Would he have felt better if he knew that the Great Divine Priest of Light was working as a dishwasher at this moment?
Where on earth are you hiding?
Stepping on the ebony-bronze floor, the Nation Master slowly walked out of the palace, standing by the handrail and silently watching the withered flowers as well as the remaining snow for a long time. And then, he lifted his sleeves and left the Southern Gate Temple. His eldest disciple, He Mingchi, hurriedly followed up. He Mingchi glanced at the clear sky, thinking that it probably would not snow today, but he still put a yellow paper umbrella under his armpit.
On the top floor of the Wanyan Tower—
Copying Buddhist scriptures, Monk Huang Yang heard a noise behind him and looked back. He saw Li Qingshan’s slightly gaunt face, gently sighed in the bottom of his heart, and then got up to welcome him. He looked at his tired appearance, saying, “In accordance with the Revelation God, the ‘Ming’ Handscroll should reappear in the Wilderness, near the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine. But some days ago, you deliberately calculated once. Your cinnabar pen indicated that its location on the map was in the Hulan Sea. So, there is still some distance between the two locations.”
It was quiet on the top floor of the tower. But Huang Yang was not in the habit of ordering the lesser monks, so others could hear the dialogue between these two people.
Li Qingshan shook his head and said, “That book of the Tomes of Arcane belongs to Taoist treasure. The imperial court really doesn’t have a right to grab it, neither does the South School. Since the Academy accepted the task, I’ll no longer care about this.”
Huang Yang quietly looked at him and said suddenly, “Will you keep paying attention to that matter?”
Li Qingshan said quietly, “The God of Light is in Chang’an City. His Majesty doesn’t allow the Divine Hall to send its people here, so I’ll be responsible for it. As the Nation Master of the Tang Empire, I have the responsibility of guarding the Empire and this capital.”
And then he looked at Huang Yang and said seriously, “You have to be careful these days.”
Monk Huang Yang put his palms together and said slowly, “What kind of figure is the God of Light? I’m just a harmless nobody who copies Buddhist books in a broken tower. How could he think of coming to compete with me in cultivation?”
After finishing this sentence, he went to the tower and watched the magnificent Chang’an City under the clear winter sky, saying with a calm smile, “If he really dared to come, he must show his real state in order to kill me, even though I’m incompetent. By that time, in Chang’an City this big tactical array could instantly suppress him.”
Nowadays, neither the West-Hill Divine Palace nor the Tang Empire were clear why the God of Light had fled from Peach Mountain to Chang’an City. If it was for that prophecy and the old affairs from more than 10 years ago, it did not make sense. If he wanted to be disadvantageous to the Tang Empire, then Li Qingshan and Monk Huang Yang were undoubtedly most likely to be his targets.
In that case, the former dialogue showed that Monk Huang Yang had the compassion and courage of feeding a tiger with his own body. Li Qingshan looked at the old monk clothes and shook his head after a short moment of silence, saying, “It’s too passive. We must find him first.”
Monk Huang Yang turned around and found that a chessboard had appeared in front of Li Qingshan, who was stretching out his hand toward the chess box.
He was slightly surprised and said, “Are you ready to divine again?”
Li Qingshan stretched his right hand into the chess box, touching the slightly cool chess pieces, and then nodded.
Monk Huang Yang frowned and said, “You divine at the expense of your life. Why do it?”
Li Qingshan said calmly, “These days, my Senior Brother has been in Chang’an City searching for traces of the God of Light. And until now, he has still found nothing. Since he took such a big risk to find that man, I also have to do something.”
Master Yan Se was the most powerful Divine Talisman Master in the world, even level with the Hierarch Lord and God in the West-Hill Divine Palace. Wei Guangming was the greatest God of Light for hundreds of years. No one in the world knew who was the more powerful of the two bigwigs. But this kind of search was extremely unfavorable to a Divine Talisman Master.
A crisp sound emanated, like an early spring rain that had come to earth.
Dozens of chess pieces jumped and rotated on the chessboard. Afterward, they stood still, no longer moving.
These pieces had been arbitrarily taken out of the box by Li Qingshan. But surprisingly, there was only one white piece and the rest were all black. Those matte-black stone pieces silently bunched up on the left side of the board, surrounding the white one.
Li Qingshan looked at the chessboard and kept silent for a long time, then said, “He’s still in Chang’an City. Not far from us.”
…
…
During this winter, Chang’an City seemed to have been stimulated by something and became as moody as it was in summer. It had been clear from last night to this morning. However, after a short moment, the sky was covered by gloomy snow clouds and sporadic snowflakes started drifting.
He Mingchi looked up at the sky and heard the footsteps resounding in the tower behind him. He quickly pulled out the yellow paper umbrella from his armpit and opened it. When he saw that the cheeks of the Nation Master were gaunter than before, he could not help feeling a tension in his heart.
After leaving the Wanyan Tower and returning back to the South School, He Mingchi went directly to the back kitchen and was watching a factotum cooking medicine. As the eldest disciple of the Tang’s Nation Master, he did not have a good qualification in cultivation. He also knew that he could not persuade his teacher to not consume the energy, and even his lifetime, to divine. So, he could only do what he could.
Holding a hot bowl of medicine, he slowly walked into the quiet Temple of Taoism.
Li Qingshan sat by the window, looking at the flying snow outside. Listening to the sound of footsteps, he did not look back, but signaled for He Mingchi to put the medicine bowl down.
He Mingchi did not put the bowl down, but kneeled at Li Qingshan’s side, bowing his head and holding the medicine bowl with both hands above his head. And then, he silently and stubbornly asked his teacher to take the medicine first.
Li Qingshan sighed reluctantly and took the bowl. He slowly drank the medicine and then said with lament, “You’re too stubborn to be in charge of the Imperial Center Administration. If I die in the future, who would take care of you?”