The fallen knights supported each other to patch their wounds. They all became alert and rancorous when they saw the black carriage.
They rushed down the mountain like a thunder, but in the end, they were even unable to touch the carriage. The worst part of it was that they had lost a companion’s life and received multiple injuries. It was unacceptable for them who were at the Seethrough Realm.
The rain was still falling. Inside the Red Lotus Temple there was chaos and the carriage was drenched.
Ning Que had gone back inside and closed the roof. He watched Long Qing through the window and suddenly remembered something. Then he asked, “Hey, how did you survive?”
Long Qing opened his eyes and answered, “That’s a long story.”
Ning Que raised his head to look at the sky and said, “In that case, maybe I won’t be able to hear the whole story.”
Only during the time before the Jing Fu disappeared could Ning Que listen to the story. Once the Jing Fu disappeared, the man who told the story and the man who listened would have to return to their original identities— bitter enemies. The Jing Fu in the rain was no longer horrible. Instead, it brought a temporary peace or balance.
“You can recognize me even if I am wearing a mask and you are so interested in my story. It is reasonable for people to say that we are a couple of fateful enemies.
Prince Long Qing said, “Since this is so, I naturally could not allow for you to be Mr. Thirteen from the Academy, the only successful person at the top, so I came back.”
Ning Que ironically said, “Don’t think I would be in awe of you because you have reached the Knowing Destiny State. You know, back at my place, there are so many students who are at the Knowing Destiny State, as many as cabbages.”
Long Qing said calmly, “I’m not an ordinary man at the Knowing Destiny State. I think you’ve already felt it.”
Ning Que indeed felt something odd on Long Qing, which was more powerful than ordinary the Knowing Destiny State, so he laughed and said, “An unordinary cabbage is still a cabbage.”
Looking at the mask on Long Qing’s face, he stopped smiling and said, “What the hell happened to you?”
Long Qing began to tell the story of the things that happened in these years.
This was a very long story, but he chose the simplest language to describe it. Only by a few keywords could Ning Que figure out how cruel and sad the story was.
His tone was calm, without any emotional changes, as if he was telling someone else’s story.
In fact, he wasn’t willing to tell anybody about this, but Ning Que meant something to him. So, he needed Ning Que to know what he had lost and regained before he died.
This was a spiritual need.
The fallen knights had known their Priest’s story, but they didn’t know the details, so they all listened carefully and were somehow touched.
“A nice story but a little old fashioned.”
Ning Que coldly and uncharitably commented.
However, Long Qing didn’t care.
“I don’t believe in the so-called fateful enemies. Or you could say I don’t believe you can successfully claim revenge for all the humiliations you have suffered, after you went through those difficulties and came back to the world.”
Ning Que said, “Your two humiliations came from me. If you are able to take revenge, how can I face myself?”
Long Qing said, “Since you are going to die, why do you care about that?”
Ning Que said, “But I won’t die.”
Long Qing said, “I am the one Haotian chose and I own the Manifest Destiny. I shall not die, so you must die.”
Ning Que looked at him and suddenly felt a chill. Then he remembered what Second Brother had said to Liu Yiqing, so he asked, “Can you prove that?”
“It’s Haotian’s will. I don’t need to prove it to mortals.”
The answer was boring.
Ning Que ironically looked at him.
Long Qing said, “If I said I had a Heavenly Power Pill, could it serve as proof?”
“Is the Heavenly Power Pill very rare?” Said Ning Que.
Long Qing nodded honestly.
Ning Que suddenly smiled and said, “I had one a few years ago.”
He flashed an unkindly smile.
His voice was cold.
“I can also tell you that there are a large number of Heavenly Power Pills in Chen Pipi’s hand. If we need to, we can eat them like fried beans. What does it prove? Can it prove that we are the illegitimate children of Haotian?”
Although he knew that was not the truth, Long Qing could not help changing his face.
He could be as calm as water and as cold as ice, or even crueler than anyone else in the world, but he became irritable under the Ning Que’s mocking attacks.
Ning Que continued, “You and your fallen knights have killed so many people that the West-Hill Divine Palace has to hunt down all of you. How dare you consider yourself as the chosen one. Don’t you think that’s funny? It’s just your mental masturbation.”
After a long silence, Long Qing said, “Maybe you are right. Maybe I am not the chosen person. I think I am the Son of Yama, so I suffered a lot and still was able to see hope in the dark. But eventually I may sink to the bottom of the endless abyss.”
Hearing these words, Ning Que felt an increasing sense of ridicule. He said, “Your Highness, you have left this world for too long, so that you may not even know about the famous rumor.”
Long Qing frowned and said, “What is it?”
Ning Que pointed at himself with a finger and said, “Everyone believes I am the Son of Yama.”
“It is said that Yama has thousands of children, and one of them will come to this world, representing disaster and destruction. It’s not a glorious image.”
Ning Que looked at him and said, “Even for a name as bad as this, you want to fight and wrest it from me? Your Highness, you are too victorious and too proud. What’s more, your pride is fake as you still care about what people say about you. Since you have lost and suffered a lot, you need to kill me to regain respect.”
“If you can’t, you would like people to fear you rather than respect you. All of these emotions support you until today. In order to do that, you need a powerful background. Unfortunately, even if you can kill me, you still cannot step over me, because I’m the Headmaster’s student. Even after you became an abbey dean’s student, you are still not as good as me, because your teacher cannot beat mine.”
“In order to restore your confidence and reputation, to regain the awe of the world, you have pushed yourself too hard and you constantly told yourself that you are the chosen one. But Haotian Taoism didn’t treat you as you wanted, so you turned to the darkness.”
Ning Que shook his head and said, “You are out of your mind.”
Long Qing said, “You are a dead man and you are not qualified to judge me.”
Ning Que said, “If I’m not, how about the Headmaster?”
Long Qing didn’t answer him.
Ning Que said, “When you and I climbed up the mountain to participate in the entrance exam for the Second floor of the Academy, what did you see on the stones?”
Long Qing closed his eyes to think. He could remember the characters on the stone, but he would rather forget them.
Ning Que said, “A decent man shall not compete. That’s a warning for you. You always want to fight with people, even with Heaven. How can Heaven tolerate you?”
Long Qing looked at his eyes and asked, “If Heaven cannot tolerate you, do you fight or not?”
Ning Que said, “I will fight if I need to.”
Long Qing said, “Then why can’t I fight?”
Ning Que confidently said, “How dare you to compare with me? You cannot keep competing with me. It is never going to happen. The more you fight, the more you lose.”
Long Qing smiled, peacefully and indifferently.
As soon as he was about to say something else, Ning Que suddenly opened the skylight and stood up. He glanced at the rain to check the talisman, and said, “Don’t say any more crap.”
Long Qing frowned and thought, “Who is the one talking nonsense?”
In the carriage, Sangsang had installed the reconstructed iron cylinder onto the remaining five iron arrows and thought, “Young master is indeed the person who talks the most nonsense in the world.”
Long Qing raised his hand to point at the rain, and then said, “Your Jing Fu still works.”
Ning Que held the iron bow with his left hand and said, “Idiot, it’s my Jing Fu. How can it hurt me?”
Long Qing smiled and said, “Then why haven’t you moved?”
Ning Que said, “Because I need to rest; otherwise I can’t pull my bow.”
Long Qing asked, “Do you feel better now?”
Ning Que said, “Yes, strong enough to kill you.”
Long Qing said, “If you just need a rest or try to delay the time, you don’t have to talk so much, and your words seemed real. Why?”
“Of course, I said the truth.”
Ning Que took the iron arrows that Sangsang handed over and looked at Long Qing. “I am going to kill you, and I really hope that your last moment in the world is very unhappy.”
Long Qing straightened his face.
Ning Que put the arrows on the bow and shot at him straight, without saying any more words.
Long Qing knew him very well and he was waiting for his actions.
The arrow seemed unpredictable, but he had long expected it.
He was more ready than last the time when he was injured by Ning Que, so he slightly waved his sleeves and disturbed the Qi of Heaven and Earth in front of the temple. Some peach blossoms appeared.
A black peach blossom took the arrow easily.
Long Qing jumped into the rain like a ghost.
Then, it was his time to fight back.
Right at this moment.
The iron arrow stuck on the black peach blossom exploded.
…