Ning Que lowered his head and arranged his luggage which was scattered on the ground. He asked, “Can you walk?”
Mo Shanshan looked delicate as her face was more haggard than usual. She smiled shyly.
Ye Hongyu leaned against the wall tiredly and frowned slightly. It was obvious that she could not move yet.
It was one thing to be seriously injured, but there was another reason that made it difficult for them to walk. It was hunger. The three empty stomachs were so empty they could not even gurgle.
Ning Que sighed, “Why are we so hungry? How many days were we unconscious for?”
Mo Shanshan shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Ning Que pressed down on his abdomen lightly with his palm. After a moment, he said, “It’s been four days.”
Mo Shanshan squinted at him as if she wanted to look at him more clearly. She asked puzzledly, “You can know just by doing that?”
Ye Hongyu who had been silent suddenly interrupted. “Have you gone hungry often?”
Ning Que who had opened his luggage once more answered flippantly after hearing that. He said, “I might not be as knowledgeable in states as you guys, but there is no one as knowledgeable as I am about going hungry.”
Ye Hongyu said contemptuously, “I do not know where your disgusting confidence came from, that you’d dare brag about going hungry when you have not experienced a childhood like mine.”
Ning Que was furious that Taoist woman who looked as if she was born with a silver spoon had questioned the suffering he had experienced. He lectured, “How would a woman like you know what it was like during the great drought?”
Ye Hongyu smiled mockingly and was prepared to reply.
Mo Shanshan sighed and looked at the two helplessly, “Is this even worth arguing over?”
…
…
The reminiscence of their childhood suffering ended. Ning Que proved that his memory and fear of hunger was stronger than Ye Hongyu with fact as he pulled out some food from his luggage.
He always had a mountain of luggage beside him.
The Big Black Horse would carry it when he was around, and if he wasn’t, Ning Que would carry it himself. No matter whether they were climbing the dangerously tall Tianqi Mountains, no matter what dangers they faced, he would never abandon these pieces of luggage. He understood the importance of being prepared. There was medication, weapons and a sleeping bag he fashioned himself as well as food.
Ye Hongyu leaned against the stone wall and looked at the guy who tossed out various items from his luggage like he was moving homes. There was a strange look in her expression. When she saw the long slender black box with his arrows in them, the look in her eyes deepened.
That box held the arrows that had crippled Long Qing.
These powerful weapons had made her suffer outside the Front Gate.
She did not know which sect could make such arrows and did not remember when such a powerful arrow had appeared. She had dedicated her entire life to cultivation. Together with her surprise, came puzzlement and curiosity. She wanted to ask Ning Que, but knew that it was a life-saving ability of his, and so she could not bring herself to ask.
Ning Que handed her a piece of dried meat and a small pouch of water. He said, “The meat made by the Desolate Man is better than that of the army. Eat it with the water, but do not eat too much and chew slowly.”
With that, he walked to Mo Shanshan’s side and sat down. He tore the dried meat into strips and gave it to her.
Mo Shanshan smiled lightly and shook her head. She tried to lift her weak arm and raised it to her mouth. Ning Que shook his head and insisted on feeding her the strip of meat before raising the pouch of water to her lips and fed her with some water.
Ye Hongyu did not notice what was happening beside her. She stared at the dried meat that was as hard as a rock in a daze.
She had experienced many hardships in this life and witnessed many tragic events. It was reasonable to say that she should be able to overcome anything. However, when she looked at the dried meat and felt its texture, she could not help but think of the dried corpses in the Bone Mountain and Divine Lord Lotus, whose fingers that were like the dried corpses and his cold dry lips.
She frowned slightly and stared at the dried meat as if she was staring at the Tomes of Arcane. After some time, she took a deep breath and delivered the meat into her mouth before chewing mechanically.
…
…
After eating, drinking and resting, the three had recovered some energy and were prepared to leave. It was then when they encountered a new problem. Perhaps it was due to the breaking of the Confinement Formation or due to some other reasons, but the path forward into the Devil’s Palace had collapsed completely. They wouldn’t be able to clear the path forcefully with their current physical states.
Ning Que looked at the rocks blocking their way completely. He thought for a moment before turning towards the opposite wall.
There were two iron chains on the stone wall. They were the two chains that had kept Master Lotus chained in the place to endure the sufferings and torture of the world for the past decades. Now that the Confinement had broken and that Lotus was dead, there was but just rust left on the chains. The Fu character and aura had long dissipated and they were but just ordinary chains.
Ning Que gripped the chains with two hands and breathed in deeply. He moved the aura in his lower abdomen out secretly and pulled at the chains with all his might. There was a loud bang, and the stone wall fell, revealing a deep passageway behind it.
Ye Hongyu and Mo Shanshan walked towards him with each other’s help. Ye Hongyu looked at the dark passageway that seemed to have no end and frowned slightly, “How did you know there was a passageway behind that wall?”
“I guessed.”
Ning Que had answered nonchalantly. However, the discovery of the passageway behind the wall with chains was based on a vague feeling from within his mind. He did not know where the feeling came from. He thought to himself if it was due to the messages that Master Lotus had sent to his sense of perception before his death.
“The Devil’s Doctrine is a place where you can only enter and cannot get out of. It’s more accurate to say that there was an inhibition after the destruction of the Devil’s Doctrine. Only one exit was left. I believe that there are many of these passageways, but they all eventually lead to the same place.”
Ning Que said that subconsciously as the feeling in his mind appeared once more. Then, he was shocked and fell into a long silence while he looked at the passageway. He had finally understood that the pieces of information that Lotus had passed onto him would only emerge when necessary and tell him what to do.
A chilling sensation enveloped Ning Que. He stared at the dark passageway dazedly, not knowing what to say. What kind of state did one have to have to leave something like this behind? What were these pieces of information? Were they Lotus’ impressions of the world, or were they… the Devil’s Doctrine’s methods? What would it bring him?
Ye Hongyu looked at his back and was surprised by his knowledge. There was no one in the Divine Hall who knew about the weird arrangement in the Devil’s Doctrine, but he did. However, she thought that it was the knowledgeable Headmaster of the Academy who had told Ning Que about the Devil’s Doctrine’s secret and did not link it to the dead Divine Lord Lotus.
…
…
All four sides of the passageway were made of stones, and they look sturdy and extremely deep. It was very dark and even with three people looking, it was difficult to walk further without any light source. There were numerous forks in the path and the three picked a random one to discover that their luck had turned for the better. They had not taken a wrong path.
Ning Que smiled bitterly as he stood on the cliff outside the passageway and looked at the clouds beneath his feet. He wondered about their change in luck. It was obvious that it was a bloodthirsty old ghost who had brought them here.
The clouds were thick, and no one knew what was at the bottom of the cliff.
According to the distance they have traveled in the passageway, the three should still be in the Tianqi Mountains.
Ning Que tightened the straps of his heavy luggage and pointed at a cable disc that had long fallen into disrepair. He said, “If you are not afraid, that should lead us up.”
There was a long rope beyond the passageway. And beneath it, hung a basket that was big enough for three. Their tense expression gradually loosened as they listened to the wind whistling past the basket and clouds at their fingertips rushing by.
A faint light appeared in the clouds. Ning Que opened his mouth slightly and could guess that they had finally left the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine. He could not help but flash a happy smile.
Mo Shanshan sat beside and smiled as she watched him.
Ye Hongyu combed her wind-tousseled hair gently with her fingers. She looked at Mo Shanshan’s lazy gaze that was focused on him and at Ning Que who was so happy he did not notice and could not help but smile coldly.
“Shameless couple.”
While she had said that softly, there were only three of them and the clouds in this lonely world, and it could be heard clearly. Ning Que was furious and wanted to fight her even though they were escaping death together at this moment.
Mo Shanshan was shy, but not angry. She looked at Ye Hongyu and explained solemnly, “I do like him, but I know he doesn’t like me enough. That is why you can’t call us shameless for now.”
Ye Hongyu was startled. She did not expect a girl like the Calligraphy Addict would become like any other woman in the world when she fell in love. She could not help but sigh, and was speechless.
There was nothing else Ning Que could do besides blink at the cold mountain breeze and trying to catch the clouds passing by them like an innocent child who did not understand them.
…
…
It was unknown what methods the powerhouses of the Devil’s Doctrine had used back then, but they had managed to instal such a long ropeway in the inaccessible Tianqi Mountains. It took a long time before the basket touched the ground.
Ning Que hopped out of the basket and looked back.
The two girls by his side looked back at the same time.
The clouds dispersed and at the end of the long black rope, a solidary proud Snow-capped Peak could be seen.
They had descended from that Snow-capped Peak.
It was doubtful that they would ever wish to return to that Snow-capped Peak.
Ning Que could not help but shake his head as he looked at the supermundane Snow-capped Peak where the Devil’s Doctrine existed. He reached into the basket for his luggage, to find that a soft fluffy ball of fur.
He looked at the Little White Dog in his hand and wondered where the thing had come from. He had been frightened enough for the past few days and hoped that he wasn’t the Elder of the Devil’s Doctrine in another form.
Please… do not be the reincarnation of Master Lotus.
…
…