Experience could change one's temperament, and one's level determined one's height. Cultivators were different from ordinary people. Since ancient times, those Grand Cultivators who had surpassed the Five States were able to control the wind and rain, shake the heaven and earth, and overlook the common people. Naturally, their spiritual world gradually drifted away from the mortal world and headed towards the inhuman realm.
It was easy to understand. Even the Headmaster of the Academy failed to avoid this mental journey. Later on, he and Ning Que had a change of heart. The method he used to find his original heart was unimaginable.
The Eldest Brother was the fastest person in the world, but his name was Li Manman, because he did everything slowly. Even puberty and the confusion period after becoming a Grand Cultivator came much later than others. But no matter how slow it came, it would come eventually. He once thought about it and had his own opinion or choice. At this moment, he said that the Drunkard was inhuman, not because he was praising the Drunkard's state, but because he was implicitly criticizing him.
A gentle person like him actually criticized the Drunkard, which meant that he was extremely angry, no matter how calm he looked.
He was angry that the Drunkard killed people, sages, for no reason, and would probably kill more people. It was hard for him to understand and accept.
Hengmu mocked, "Hypocritical indeed."
The so-called cultivation, no matter entering or leaving the human world, aiming for immortality or Nirvana, was essentially the opposite of ordinary people. He once said that the Academy was hypocritical, and now he could not help but ridicule the Eldest Brother again when he said that everyone had a heart that could not bear to kill others and insisted on putting himself in the category of ordinary people.
The Eldest Brother recalled the conversation at the back of the mountain of the Academy and said, "The Second Brother and the Youngest Brother both criticized me in the past. The Youngest Brother was more subtle, while Jun Mo was more direct. Although the Third Sister never said anything, I know that she has always looked down on my way of doing things … It is indeed hypocritical … Since I can kill people, I should kill them. If I don't, it means that I am pushing the responsibility to others. Besides … I can always find some people who should be killed."
He gradually calmed down and said to the Drunkard, "The water is muddy. I can wash clothes and feet with it. But the Sishui River is already red. I can't always walk by the river without getting my shoes wet."
The calm words hid some kind of determination, which indicated a great danger for Taoism. Long Qing, who had been silently listening, slightly narrowed his eyes and became serious.
"It's useless even if you start killing now."
The Drunkard looked indifferent and said, "Haotian loves the world, but I am not Haotian. You love the world, but I am not you. You will suffer when I kill, but what can you do to me when you kill?"
Eldest Brother asked, "Is there no one or thing in this world that you care about?"
"I've lived for countless years. All my relatives and friends are dead, and all my old friends are gone. Now, I'm old, sick, and lonely. I have no love or hate in this world. No matter how you kill me, how can I be moved?"
The Drunkard looked indifferent, but his words were full of vicissitudes. The other three were silent.
At this moment, a light rain fell. The rain washed away the dust on the ground, softened the willow leaves by the river, and wet the hair. It brought a cold autumn feeling to the world.
In the autumn rain, the Eldest Brother looked at the Drunkard and said, "So I will definitely lose?"
The Drunkard said, "You fear what you love. You have to lose."
Long Qing and Hengmu left the imperial city in the rain. They led two thousand Papal Cavalrymen of the Divine Halls of West-Hill toward the Great Swamp and the Kingdom of Song. In the bleak misty rain, millions of people would die.
The autumn rain was getting heavier and heavier. The Eldest Brother stood in front of the sedan and Liu Yiqing's body with his head lowered. The rain had wet his hair and drooped on his forehead, making him look a bit miserable.
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…
The world was flat, but the rain could not be completely uniform. Otherwise, there would not be disasters and floods in the human world. However, the autumn rain strangely covered most of the mountains, rivers, and cities. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy. It was not as frightening as the year when the Headmaster of Academy ascended to Heaven, but more like the spring rain that wet people's hearts.
It was also raining in Chuzhou. The eaves of the pavilion on the East Mountain were wet. People's clothes were also wet. Two old servants knelt in front of the governor's body and cried. The officials and gentry who came from the city in the early morning were pale and shocked. No one noticed what a man who looked like an advisor was doing on the pillar of the pavilion.
Although the scenery on the East Mountain was beautiful, it was too high for tourists. No one understood why the governor, who was known for his honesty and love for the people, would mobilize people to spend money to build such a pavilion on the top of the mountain at such a critical time. No one knew that the pavilion, which had brought the governor a rare negative comment, was actually a transmission array that could send some simple important information to Chang 'an.
Such a transmission array cost a lot of money. Even with the rich resources of the Tang Empire, it could only build a few of them, one in Helan City and one in Tuyang City. Chuzhou was facing the Yan Kingdom and the Song Kingdom, and its strategic position was getting more and more important. That was why the imperial court spent a lot of money and asked the governor to build the pavilion despite his bad reputation.
In the eyes of the officials and people of Chuzhou, the man who walked into the East Mountain Pavilion was the advisor of the governor. But in fact, he was a secret guard of the imperial palace. His task was to activate the pavilion.
The East Mountain Pavilion sent the first piece of information to Chang 'an. It was not about the invasion of the Yan Kingdom and the Song Kingdom, nor the collapse of the river bank. It was a letter of death. The person who built the pavilion … was dead.
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…
It was also raining in Chang 'an. The rainwater flowed along the bright yellow eaves of the palace and washed the chrysanthemums in the imperial garden. The chrysanthemums in the imperial garden looked even more beautiful and beautiful. The yellow flowers overlapped each other and were extremely pleasing to the eye.
In the imperial study, Li Yu heard the news of the governor's death from the small building and was silent for a long time. She looked at the chrysanthemums outside the window and was silent for a long time.
Zeng Jing looked at her slightly pale side profile and suppressed his shock and anger. He said in a hoarse voice, "The imperial court must respond, or … there will be chaos."
An empire, an imperial court, or a territory. What maintained these terms could be spirit, courage, or historical inheritance. However, what was truly important was the administrative organization. In other words, the various levels of officials were the most important. No matter how perfect the system was, it still needed people to carry out the specific management.
When the officials could die at any time, when the officials found that they could die at any time, the management system of the empire would be on the verge of collapse and irreversibly.
The governor of Chuzhou was dead. The imperial court must respond. They could find and kill the murderer, hide the truth, or stop the enemy. Since the truth could not be hidden, there were only two other choices.
There were only two or three people in the world who could go deep into the country, ignore the Imperial Center Administration and the Academy, and silently kill the governor of Chuzhou. No matter who they were, the imperial court of the Tang Empire could not deal with them, even if the Tang Empire was the most powerful country in the world. Because those people were beyond the scope of the secular world.
Li Yu was very clear about this. She looked at the chrysanthemums outside the window and said, "Let the Academy handle it … Kill that person, or find a way to stop him … But, Ning Que, you still have to kill that person. Otherwise, how can Mr. Ouyang rest in peace?"
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…
Ning Que was eating noodles on the city wall when he got the news of the governor's death. In the past dozens of days, he had been living on the city wall because he had to look down on the human world and wait for the right time.
He did not know the governor of Chuzhou, but he had heard of his virtuous name. He felt a little sad and then fell silent. Last night, when he aimed the iron bow at Linkang and waited for the Drunkard to show up, he knew that the Drunkard would definitely fight back if his and his Senior Brother's plan did not work. But he did not expect it to come so soon.
The Drunkard and the Butcher were special in the history of cultivation. They were accompanied by time and their state was unfathomable. They had already transcended the mortal world. If possible, the Academy did not want to be enemies with them. But now that they had surrendered to Haotian, they became the enemies that the Academy wanted to kill the most.
The Academy had been preparing to deal with the Drunkard and the Butcher since a long time ago, but they had never come up with a practical way. The arrangements made in advance were also filled with a sense of uneasiness. Therefore, while Ning Que kept complaining that his Headmaster was extremely irresponsible for not killing the Drunkard and the Butcher before he left the human world, he did not give up any chance to directly shoot the two powerhouses into idiots.
It was a pity that he missed the chance. Therefore, he was very likely to become an idiot now. If he knew that it was because of Long Qing, he might have more feelings of karma.
"I'm going down." Ning Que said.
Dozens of Tang soldiers had been taking care of his daily life on the city wall. Those who were busy in the temporary kitchen were the imperial chefs of the palace. People knew that he had not left the city wall for days. They were surprised to hear that he was going to leave.
It was not a trip. He could leave as he wished.
Ning Que walked down the city wall and walked on the bluestone ground that was wet by the autumn rain.
In autumn, the leaves on both sides of the Vermilion Bird Avenue were quickly dyed red and yellow. After the morning rain, countless leaves fell from the branches and piled up like colorful waves on the street, almost knee-deep.
In a short time, the Drunkard would not give him another chance. The powerhouses of the West-Hill Divine Palace would also become very cautious. Moreover, they would not dare to enter Chang 'an. Therefore, it was meaningless for him to stay on the city wall.
Now the problem he had to solve was how to stop the Drunkard from killing. If he allowed the Drunkard to continue killing, the Tang Empire would be overturned before the armies of the West-Hill Divine Palace and the Golden Tribe Royal Court came.
The Drunkard did not do this before because he was afraid of the Academy and the Headmaster of the Academy. Also, although he yearned for the Divine Kingdom, he did not want to destroy the human world.
Now that he was going crazy, how should the Academy deal with it?
If the Headmaster of the Academy and the Youngest Uncle were still alive, it would be easy. They could just kill the Drunkard with a rod or a sword, and then kill the Butcher. Unfortunately, they were gone.
The Eldest Brother could not stop the Drunkard because he was not that kind of person. The Second Brother could not either. The two of them would only fight the Drunkard with their lives, just like what they did in the Xuankong Temple.
When it was not necessary, Ning Que looked down on this method. Because he always thought that his life and the lives of his Senior Brothers and Sisters in the Academy were more important than the lives of others. No matter if one was the Drunkard or the Butcher, the Chief Monk or the Abbey Dean, they were not qualified to exchange their lives. Therefore, he disagreed with Chao Xiaoshu's arrangement and did not consider what his two Senior Brothers would do.
If the Third Sister were in Chang 'an, what would he do? If Lotus were still alive, what would he do? Ning Que walked among the yellow and red leaves and breathed in the fresh air in the autumn rain. His mind became very clear and he knew what he should do.
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(It's rare to see three thousand words. That's an improvement. I hope I can keep it.)
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