Ning Que was just an ordinary person. Then why was he so confident that the two paragraphs he said would have a corresponding effect and would not disappear with the wind? Because the two paragraphs had nothing to do with psychological warfare. What he told the Abbey Dean was the knowledge of his last life, and what he told Ye Hongyu was the experience of this life. No matter how he calculated, he could not find any loopholes. No matter how he looked at it, it was right, and it would work. More importantly, it was his understanding of the Abbey Dean and Ye Hongyu.
He believed that he would be able to convince someone like the Abbey Dean and someone like Ye Hongyu. One of them would definitely be convinced by him.
If he could convince the Abbey Dean, the human world would be under his control. That would be the best. If he could convince Ye Hongyu to split Taoism, the Academy would definitely win. As for Ye Su …
Ye Su would die. Ye Hongyu would probably think that he was a cold-blooded bastard. Or had she already thought of this, but she still had to pin her hopes on the Academy?
Ning Que stood by the city wall and looked at the Yanming Lake in the distance. Snowflakes fell from the sky again. He felt his hands on the city wall became colder and the array eye pestle in his arms was about to become a block of ice.
Yes, since the day Sangsang left the human world on that big ship and returned to the Divine Kingdom, when he was sure that she would never come back and that they would never meet again, some changes began to happen.
The City of Wei was slaughtered, the general died, and so did she. He could no longer maintain enough emotional warmth for the human world, the Divine Kingdom, and the whole world. He became more and more indifferent to reality.
It was not because he was numb to pain, nor was it because of disappointment. It was because the person who had warmed his heart was gone. So he was gradually becoming the Ning Que of old.
The boy who held a rusty knife in the woodshed and refused to die facing the young master and the housekeeper; the boy who walked among the corpses and cannibals and refused to die; the boy who wandered among the dangerous beasts and the even more dangerous hunters and refused to die; the boy who chopped firewood and killed people by the Shubi Lake and refused to die.
That was the Ning Que of old. He did not know right or wrong, nor did he know what morality was. He did not care about the lives of innocent people. No matter who they were, they were just tools for him to use.
Before Third Sister left, she told him the secret and let him know about Ye Hongyu's humiliating and painful past. He sympathized with her, but he did not hesitate to take advantage of it.
Of course, Ye Hongyu was still special to him. That was why he told Chen Qi not to reveal this matter until the last moment. Even if he did, he would be careful with his words. He would not let anyone know about the past. As long as he could protect Ye Hongyu's reputation, he would feel no guilt.
As for Ye Su, he did not care about the life or death of the founder of the New Stream. It was Taoism's own business. If Ye Su could survive and help the New Stream spread, the Academy already had a plan. If Ye Su died, he would definitely become a sage, which would be more beneficial to the spread of the New Stream and the Academy.
In a sense, he was a disciple of the Headmaster of the Academy. He learned the skills of the Academy and inherited Ke Haoran's legacy. But in essence, he was the successor of Lotus.
Jun Mo was far away in the West Wilderness, and the Eldest Brother was guarding the Drunkard. Yu Lian and he were the ones who were really in charge of the Academy's affairs and leading the Academy forward. They had long been possessed by the Devil.
Before Yu Lian became the Grandmaster of the Devil's Doctrine, she was Lotus's hope.
So it seemed that the Academy was following Lotus's path instead of the Headmaster of the Academy. Would Lotus feel gratified or even overjoyed if he knew this after his death?
But there were still some differences.
The biggest difference was that Ning Que did not go crazy. He was calculating everything calmly and coldly. He thought deeper than the Abbey Dean thought. He sent Chu Youxian and Chen Qi to the Peach Mountain and overturned the dining table in such a drastic way to force Taoism to respond.
He knew very well that as long as the Abbey Dean did not go crazy, Ye Su would not die, and Ye Hongyu would not betray Taoism. Taoism could only cope with changes by remaining unchanged and keep the human world quiet.
This ending seemed to be a merciless mockery of his plan. But no one knew that this was the Academy's original goal. Because he desperately needed more time.
Ning Que leaned against the snow wall and looked at the dark sky. He looked at the bright moon that had not yet appeared. He thought that the Headmaster could not win this battle, but he had to buy more time for the Academy.
In the human world, only those who had the real Divine Sense like the Abbey Dean and the Drunkard could see the subtle changes in the Divine Kingdom. Ning Que was still far from that state, but he could see it clearly with the help of the big tactical array in Chang 'an. He knew that the moon was slowly darkening, which made people sad.
The Headmaster of the Academy was gradually losing in the battle against Haotian. Time seemed to be on Taoism's side, which was extremely disadvantageous to the Academy. But Ning Que thought differently. Everything he did was to buy more time.
Only with enough time could he slowly plan and solve the problem of Xiangwan Plain. Only with enough time could he wait for the good news from the depths of the Western Wilderness, and wait for the unbridgeable crack in Taoism to widen. More importantly, as time went by, more and more people believed in the New Stream, and Haotian would become weaker and weaker.
He was taught by the Headmaster of the Academy, inherited the Youngest Uncle, enlightened by Lotus, and favored by Master Qishan. He cultivated Buddhism in the Nirvana World for thousands of years and traveled thousands of miles with Sangsang. He cultivated Taoism, Buddhism, and the Devil's Way. He had already understood the nature of faith. Haotian was no longer high in his eyes.
Many years ago, Taoism chose Haotian for human beings. When the New Stream appeared and Taoism declined, Haotian would also become weaker. It seemed too simple, but it was so correct.
Therefore, the New Stream and Ye Su were very important to the Academy and the Tang Empire.
The New Stream must have time to spread to more places and win more believers. Ye Su must be the founder of the sect, alive or dead.
For this, Ning Que did not hesitate to kill thousands of people to endorse Ye Su and the New Stream. But intentionally or unintentionally, he did not comment on how Taoism would deal with Ye Su.
He looked at the gray sky and the falling snow in the distance and remained silent for a long time.
He thought he could understand the Abbey Dean's thoughts. After all, the moon was darkening.
Taoism and the Academy both believed that time was in their favor.
It depended on whether the Academy and the New Stream would work together to weaken Haotian first, or she would defeat the Headmaster first.
He was betting on the former. If the Abbey Dean did not agree with him, then he was betting on the latter.
Ning Que was confident about this gamble. That was because Haotian Taoism chose Haotian on behalf of human beings countless years ago. But in the end, they placed all their hopes on Haotian. Unlike the Academy, Ning Que pinned his hopes on the Tang Empire, Ye Su and the New Stream. All of them placed their hopes on the human world.
Hope was in the human world.
Hope should be in the human world.
He looked at the sky and thought so.
…
…
There was a mountain outside Linkang, and a small building suddenly appeared on the mountain. It was autumn.
After winter, the wind and snow came, and so did the crowd. Hundreds and thousands of devout followers of Haotian knelt at the foot of the mountain and kept kowtowing to the small building. Naturally, no one dared to cross the line of defense of the cavalrymen of Divine Halls.
The new emperor died, and the Sword Garret collapsed. The subjects and people of South Jin had experienced too many things this year. Watching the war about to break out and the powerful northern neighbor about to die, the people were naturally depressed and nervous. Therefore, the small building, which was said to be the home of a living immortal, became the object of their worship.
The two people in the building did not know about these things. Even if they knew, they would not care. Because of their status in the human world, it was not exaggerated to say that they were immortals.
The Drunkard leaned against the railing and drank. The snow on the railing was swept away by his sleeves, and some stained his clothes. Together with the leftover wine on his clothes, it was a strange and intoxicating smell.
The Eldest Brother stood on the cliff outside the building, looking at the east in silence.
A few days ago, the secret guards of the Tang Empire sent some bad news. Something might happen in the Kingdom of Song, and some people from Taoism had already arrived there.
He wanted to go there and have a look, because Ye Su was there. But he could not leave, because the Drunkard was there. The Drunkard should have been there, but he was drinking alone in the small building because of him.
He could not travel alone. This was the most important agreement between the Eldest Brother and the Drunkard, and also between the Academy and Taoism. No one could violate it, or it would be a war.
If he and the Drunkard did not return to the human world, there might still be hope for the human world.
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