There was a middle-aged Daoist beside the carriage. He wore an ordinary Daoist robe and had an ordinary appearance. His expression was also ordinary, and there was nothing special about him. Naturally, no one knew his true identity.
There were hundreds of red-robed priests from Peach Mountain in the West-Hill Divine Palace Coalition Army. The most powerful force of Haotian Taoism was gathered here, not in the Divine Halls of Peach Mountain.
Such a terrifying force was not only waiting for Ye Hongyu and Mo Shanshan, but also Ning Que … When the news of the Golden Tent's destruction and the death of A Da and the national master reached Peach Mountain, Haotian Taoism began to prepare.
A few days ago, the news of Ning Que killing Hengmu in the Qinghe River had also reached here. This fact made the most powerful people of the West-Hill Divine Palace silent for a long time.
According to Ning Que's speed of killing people, he should be arriving soon. The Hierarch, Zhao Nanhai and the middle-aged priest began to prepare for the final battle.
Even if Ye Hongyu and Mo Shanshan had some kind of tacit understanding with Ning Que, the West-Hill Divine Palace thought they could finish the battle in one go, because they had been preparing for a long time.
To their surprise, Ye Hongyu did not attack, nor did Ning Que. If Ye Hongyu chose to wait and see because of her sensitivity to battle, then what about Ning Que? Where did he go?
Ning Que did not go anywhere.
Just like what he told the people of South Jin when he looked at the Sword Garret, he stayed in South Jin for a long time. He did not stay for sightseeing. He killed many people along the way.
He would spare those who surrendered.
He would kill those who did not.
He did not surrender to the Tang, but to the people of the Sword Garret.
These were the three sentences that Ning Que told the people of South Jin.
When the West-Hill Divine Palace was ready to welcome him to the south, he stayed in the second most powerful country in the world and began to proclaim and show his cruelty.
He had killed people in Panshan Commandery, in Linkang City, in the alleys and in the imperial palace. He had killed the new emperor of the Divine Halls of West-Hill, the prime minister and many others.
Time passed slowly but unstoppably as the people waited silently by the river and the cold-blooded killing of the South Jin Kingdom. It was midsummer in the world. Ning Que disappeared again in the cruel weather.
What he left behind were those words, his body full of blood, and the chaotic South Jin Kingdom.
The Southern Battlefront Army and the Yulin Royal Guards of the Tang Empire had already recovered Qinghe. After purging the old warlords, they would continue their journey south after a short rest. How could the South Jin Kingdom resist them?
He had really relied on his own strength to determine the direction of the Kingdom War. Why? Because he could kill people, and he was good at it. In the past, the only person in the Academy who could kill people like this was Ke Haoran. However, it had been a long time and he was gradually forgotten by the world. What he was doing now was to make people remember him again.
He entered the City of Wei and the Golden Tribe perished. He crossed the Great Swamp and the South Jin Kingdom perished. Now he disappeared again. No one knew which country in the human world he had gone to and which country was about to perish.
…
…
The midsummer had passed, but the heat was still hot. The trap that the West-Hill Divine Palace had prepared for Ning Que by the Great River had never appeared, nor had they expected that he would suddenly appear near the West-Hill Divine Palace.
The West-Hill Divine Palace referred to Taoism, while the West-Hill Divine Palace referred to the location, which was the solemn Taoist Temple on the top of Peach Mountain. From the small town, one could see the sacred place.
The Big Black Horse came to the West-Hill Divine Kingdom and walked silently in the small town in front of Peach Mountain. Compared to the sacred Taoist Temple on the top of the mountain, the town was quiet and secular, which was a sharp contrast.
Ning Que was going to buy some roasted sweet potatoes to eat, but he changed his mind when he entered the town. He thought for a while and got off the horse. He held the reins and walked to a shabby shop in the east of the town.
Getting off the horse was a sign of respect. There was no one in the West-Hill Divine Palace who deserved his respect, but the person in the shop was. Even though he did not know the person's character, he knew that he deserved it just because he was old.
It was a butcher's shop, the only butcher's shop in the small town. Just like the small town at the border between the Kingdom of Song and the Kingdom of Yan, there was only one butcher's shop wherever the person was.
The late summer was still unbearably hot. The town seemed to be in a steamer. The Big Black Horse, who had continuously taken elixirs and eaten all the delicacies of the Wilderness with Gaga, could not stand it even though its physique had been modified to be extremely special. It panted heavily. Even Ning Que untied the collar of the front courtyard.
The butcher's shop was even more stuffy. The air was filled with the smell of blood and boiling water. The air was suffocating and unbearably hot. The strong middle-aged man, however, was still wearing a leather apron. He stood in front of the thick chopping board and swung his heavy knife. Not a single drop of sweat could be seen on his bronze-colored body.
The blade fell, and what splashed out were snowflakes formed by blood and fat.
Ning Que stood outside the door of the butcher's shop and looked at the Butcher behind the chopping board. He said, "Hello."
The Butcher did not look up at him and continued chopping the meat. He said, "Just so-so."
Ning Que was silent for a while and asked, "Have you seen her?"
The Butcher stopped chopping the meat, took a piece of cloth from the rope, and wiped his face and hands.
Ning Que continued, "I've been beating her for a long time, but I haven't found her."
The Butcher threw the wet cloth on the butcher's knife and looked at him. He said, "You're not as fast as the three of them, so of course you're not as fast as them."
There were two words in that sentence. The first word referred to speed, and the second was the time it would take to find her.
Ning Que thought for a while and nodded politely. He said, "Thank you. I'm leaving now."
The Butcher reached out and held the handle of the knife through the wet cloth, so that his hand would not slip.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to continue looking for her."
"Do I need to kill to find her?"
"I thought even if I couldn't find her, I could at least force the Abbey Dean to come back."
"You've killed tens of thousands of people, and the Abbey Dean hasn't shown up. Why do you still need to kill?"
Ning Que raised his eyebrows and looked at the Butcher. He said, "I thought people like you and the Drunkard who have experienced the Everlasting Night wouldn't care about what we're doing now. Am I right?"
The Everlasting Night was the most tragic story in the world, and there were countless tragic scenes. The Butcher had experienced it, seen it, suffered it, and feared it. Naturally, he wouldn't care about what Ning Que and Taoism had done.
He said, "I just have something that I've been wanting to ask the Academy."
Ning Que turned around and looked at him for a long time. He said, "Have you ever asked before?"
The Butcher said, "I can't beat the Headmaster and Ke Haoran."
The hidden meaning in this sentence was clear.
His question was definitely not a good one. He couldn't beat them before, so he didn't have an answer. Now the next generation of the Academy was no match for him, so he wanted the answer he wanted.
Ning Que's expression became calmer and even a little proud. He said, "Go ahead."
From these few words, he was no longer representing himself, the ordinary man who was looking for his wife, but the representative of the Academy. So he had to be calmer and more confident.
The Butcher raised the meat knife on the chopping board and placed it in front of him.
With this movement, Ning Que felt that the threshold of the butcher's shop seemed to rise along with the ground.
The seemingly ordinary, thick and greasy butcher's knife seemed to be as heavy as a mountain.
"The Headmaster always said that he was benevolent, and the Academy always said that they were for the human world. Even though Ke Haoran had killed so many people, he still thought that he was never wrong. Even if he killed people, he killed for the human world. Just like what the Academy and you are doing now, is it also for the human world to kill half of the people in the human world?"
The Butcher looked at him and said, "Save the human world? The Drunkard and I don't have such a grand wish, but how can your Headmaster judge us based on this wish? Why is the Academy doing the right thing? Only by saving the human world according to your way can it be saved? Why do you have to save the human world? "
Ning Que looked at him quietly and said, "There is a saying that ask the common people instead of ghosts and gods. Perhaps only time can prove who is right. But at least what we see and hear with our eyes and what the Tang Empire has proven for a thousand years, what the Headmaster has done is at least relatively correct."
"That's because he has the biggest fists."
The Butcher said expressionlessly, "Fists are more reasonable than shit. Is the Academy such a place?"
Ning Que thought of Youngest Uncle, Third Sister, and himself. He kept silent for a long time, and then he thought of his Headmaster, Eldest Brother, and Second Brother. He sorted out the things that he had thought through a long time ago.
"You are not talking about the Academy, nor the Tang Empire."
He looked at the Butcher and said, "The Academy is a land of gentlemen, and the Tang Empire is a country of gentlemen. But I am not. A gentleman can be deceived, but I don't want to be a gentleman. I would rather suffer eternal damnation and try to fulfill my Headmaster's wish."
The Butcher said, "What good does it do for you to let your soul walk in the Underworld?"
Ning Que looked at him and said very seriously, "Freedom … Although this word is very easy to make people feel greasy, like the knife in your hand, without freedom, it is really boring."
The Butcher said, "Even if it is unknown and dangerous?"
Ning Que said, "You should have vaguely guessed where I came from, so you should know that what I said is correct. I have seen it, and it should be like that."
The Butcher was silent for a long time, and then said, "That is the Underworld."
"If you insist that the real world is the Underworld." Ning Que said.
The Butcher looked at him and said, "In the past, Haotian Taoism said that you are the Son of Yama. It is actually wrong, but it is also right, because you will bring the world into the Underworld."
Ning Que was silent for a long time. He thought of the changes of his identity over the years, the stories of the past, and the escape. He felt a little ridiculous and sad.
He said, "It seems, it is indeed so."
The Butcher said, "The human world … Why should we enter the Underworld?"
Ning Que said, "Why not?"
The Butcher said, "It is very cold there."
Ning Que said, "But it is also very big."
After saying this, the inside and outside of the butcher shop became quiet. Because it was too quiet, there was a dead silence. The dead pig in the shop stared at the two with its round eyes, and the sheep's head in the pot of boiling water also squinted at them.
They had their own ideas, and there was no consensus, so they wanted to die.
…
…
(In order to save my breath, there is no time to revise it, and I can't look back. The writing will definitely be rough, and I will find time to revise it.)
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