Nightfall

Eldest Brother replied warmly, “We can change the way we address each other once we meet the teacher in Chang’an. You can call me Senior Brother like how Youngest Brother does. Do not worry about my travel plans. As for me, cultivation is but a long journey. What’s more, we have to head to Tuyang City, so it’s on the way to Chang’an.”

Ning Que listened to the conversation between the two and seemed to have sensed something. However, he was unwilling to think further subconsciously. And when he heard the mention of Tuyang City, he realized that they were about to meet Xia Hou, and could not help worrying.

He did not speak up about his worries. For no matter how dangerous Tuyang City was, he could not convince someone like Eldest Brother to avoid it. However, his worries were evident to all.

Eldest Brother said, “I did not know what had happened with the Horse Gang when we were at the Hulan Sea. But now that I do, and what with him trying to steal the Tomes of Arcane, he has to answer for it.”

His speech was calm and warm, and the speed at which he delivered it was slow. The contents of his statement were simple and clear too, and the logic behind it was strong. No matter whether you belonged to the Haotian Taoism or the Devil’s Doctrine, and no matter you were a royalty of an empire or a famed general, you’d have to answer for being an enemy of the Academy.

It had been long since someone had to answer for anything to the back of the mountain of Academy because it had been a long time since anyone had dared to be disrespectful to the Academy. The last time anyone had to answer to the Academy was the numerous peach blossoms on the Peach Mountain of the West-Hill Divine Palace.

…

…

The winds did not stop in the Wilderness. It swirled up a thick layer of snow, but had no place to leave it but on the ground. The snow on the ground was still as thick and neither the rolling wheels or horse hooves could make too much of a sound as they flattened the ground beneath them.

The wind and snow had stopped eventually one day. The sun peaked out from behind the clouds furtively, shining warmly on the ground. The urgent clopping of horse hooves could be heard from afar in the Wilderness. While the clopping of hooves was very clear, it was evident that there was only one rider. One could imagine the speed of the rider from the sounds of the hooves.

The Big Black Horse pulled the heavy carriage through the snow with great difficulty. He lowered his head and smacked his thick lips despondently. When he heard the clopping of hooves, he raised his head suddenly and looked out far. His black eyeballs rolled quickly, and he looked excited and exceptionally alert.

A white shadow rushed out from behind the snow-covered hills like an arrow. It was an exceptionally handsome snow-white horse. It was the horse that had garnered attention at the horse racing event at the palace but had eventually lost pathetically to the Big Black Horse. There was a beautiful girl in leather robes riding it. She was the princess of the Yuelun Kingdom, Lu Chenjia.

The Snow Horse had mud stains on its hooves and did not look as pure or beautiful as it once did. It was evident that they had traveled a long distance without time to rest. The girl on the horseback was just as beautiful, but there was sadness and worry etched on her face and she looked very haggard. The three Addicts were regarded as the most beautiful young cultivators of their generation. However, the Flower Addict was said to be the best looking out of all three of them. No one knew why she looked so haggard.

The sprinting Snow Horse rushed out of the hills and saw the slow-moving horse carriage in the Wilderness. It slowed down and discovered that the horse pulling the carriage was the annoying black trouble and could not help but whinny. It felt like rushing up to it and biting it, but the subconscious fear in it made it avoid the other horse. Her chaotic thoughts affected her actions, and her limbs which were weak due to their long travels gave way. It stumbled and barely avoided falling forward.

Lu Chenjia’s brows furrowed. She lifted the reins in her right hand and barely managed to control the horse. She was barely ten steps away from the horse carriage and could clearly see the people in it.

The curtains of the carriage were lifted.

Lu Chenjia looked at the window. Her gaze was as cold as the ice in the wild. Pain and hatred marred her black pupils, and she no longer looked like the silent beautiful flower she once was.

An average-looking scholar with a warm expression looked at her when the curtains of the carriage window were lifted completely. He nodded a greeting towards her, surprising Lu Chenjia. Then, she saw Ning Que and Mo Shanshan behind the scholar.

She could guess who the scholar was. She sighed after a moment of silence and bowed politely. Then, she did not say anything, but kicked the horse’s belly, nudging the nervous Snow Horse away from the Big Black Horse. She made her way to the depths of the Wilderness.

“Where is she going? She’s a young lady and walking around in the Wilderness alone is really dangerous. She might be of high status and no one might dare to hurt her in the Central Plains, but this is the Wilderness. Furthermore, she might encounter the dangerous blizzard. It would be a problem even if she were to meet with Desolate Man. The Desolate Man have no good intentions towards the Buddhist and Taoism sects.”

Ning Que looked at the Snow Horse disappearing into the distance and sighed.

All were silent in the carriage as nobody replied.

He was surprised, and realised that both Eldest Brother and Shanshan were looking at him with a myriad of emotions in their eyes.

“What is it?”

Eldest Brother smiled and did not say anything.

After a moment of silence, Shanshan spoke up. “I realized that Ye Hongyu was right. You are indeed very shameless.”

Ning Que answered indignantly, “How was I shameless?”

Shanshan lowered her head and said softly, “Chenjia is risking her life to search for her fiance in the Wilderness. She does not wish to meet us because she knew that you have injured Prince Long Qing severely. You know very well that you’re the one who had caused all this, so why are you still worried about her?”

Ning Que felt a little awkward and did not know what to say to disguise his shamelessness and decided to just shut up.

It was at this time when the flurry of horse hooves clopping could be heard once more.

They opened the curtains to see Lu Chenjia, the Flower Addict, heading back again.

Lu Chenjia looked at Ning Que and suppressed the emotions bubbling up within her. She asked in a slightly hoarse voice, “Have you guys seen him?”

Ning Que looked at the girl on horseback, and after a pregnant pause, he replied, “I haven’t seen him since then.”

Lu Chenjia did not say who she was looking for and Ning Que did not mention when he had last seen him. They both knew exactly what they were talking about. If they were too obvious about it, the hatred that was very well disguised between the two might end up in a true battle.

Lu Chenjia stared at his face silently for a long while before she wiped her lips with her sleeves. Then, she dropped her arm to her side to hide the blood on it. She asked indifferently, “Could you please tell me where he might have gone?”

Ning Que had shot through Prince Long Qing’s chest on the snow cliff. And then, a bunch of things happened after that. Now that Ye Hongyu had met up with the Papal Cavalryman of the Divine Hall, this news must have spread throughout the Wilderness. The Divine Hall was furious, but the crux of the matter was that no one knew if Prince Long Qing was alive or dead.

The one who was most concerned was, of course, his fiance. Lu Chenjia had ignored the objections and discouragement of Aunt Quni Madi as well as the others from the Divine Hall and had ridden the Snow Horse to the depths of the Wilderness.

Ning Que looked at the Flower Addict calmly. He did not feel any guilt, and was, in fact, feeling rather confident and self-righteous. He ignored the hatred in her eyes and said, “We were too far away from each other then, so I do not know if he is still alive. You should ask Ye Hongyu about these things.”

Lu Chenjia’s eyelids lowered when she heard his reply and the calmness of it. Then, she lifted the reigns of the horse and continued her journey towards the depths of the Wilderness. The figure of both horse and girl seemed extremely lonely and sad.

…

…

In the foothills of the northernmost point of the northern slope of the Tianqi Mountain, a layer of thick snow covered everything between the heavens and the earth. It almost covered a simple leather tent. Other than the Desolate Man, there was no one else who could survive in such cold conditions.

There was a pair of father and son in the tent. They were the last of a Desolate Man tribe moving southwards. They had just completed their winter ceremony and were about to return to the gathering grounds of their tribe. However, they have to get rid of a certain trouble within their tent before they return home.

That source of trouble was a young Central Plains man.

The young man had tattered clothes on, but the yellow tatters looked expensive. It could be guessed that he was no ordinary person. It was just that he looked too pathetic right now. The hole in his abdomen did not fester due to the cold, but had frozen into something like cured meat and looked extremely frightening.

The Desolate Man father and son had found him in the thick snowdrifts in the mountains. Although he obviously belonged to the Central Plains, the pair had observed hunting traditions of the Desolate Man and had brought him back to their tent and treated him.

And even though the young man had regained consciousness, he still behaved as if he was a dead man. He stared at the linoleum on the ceiling of the tent with wide eyes and did not speak no matter what the pair asked him.

The pair could not be bothered and continued to enter the Snow Mountain daily. They searched for the trace of young beasts and worked at completing the task for the winter ceremony. They did not do anything more than just feeding the young man with a bowl of meat soup when they dragged their weary bodies back to the tent.

It could be that Haotian was watching over him, or that he had an odd vitality hidden in him, the young man did not die from this. He had only just become oddly skinny. His eyes sunk in and his bones popped out. The face that had once been as beautiful as the gods in heaven had gradually grown ugly and dark.

The young man sat up one day, and he panted in pain. He touched the gaping hole in his chest and pulled out a hunting knife from the corner of the tent while the pair were not paying attention. Then, he stabbed at the strong Desolate Man father viciously.

The Desolate Man father did not expect that the young man he had saved would try to ambush him. He could just barely avoid the knife as it came at him. It was lucky that the man from the Central Plains had been severely injured and was tired and weak. He had difficulty just holding on to the hunting knife. Furthermore, the Desolate Man’s skin was as hard as steel, and the blade had only made a slight scratch on him.

There was a loud slap, and the little Desolate boy who was about to turn 12 hit the young man from the Central Plains with a solemn expression. Then, he started to curse loudly. The boy’s voice was childish and sharp, and his pronunciation of the Central Plain’s language was slightly awkward. His cursing was as clear as the shattering of an ice stick, and did not sound dirty at all.

The young man from the Central Plains did not listen to the cursing boy. He laid on the ground and coughed painfully. He looked at his trembling hands, and the darkness of his eyes looked as if it were candlelight that could extinguish at anytime.