They left the palace and headed north again. Ning Que's route was very clear, which was to follow the caravan that came out of Tuyang City. However, when they came to this snow pass, the intelligence from the Imperial Center Administration and the secret guards had been cut off. They had to explore the rest of the way by themselves. Fortunately, they were very careful along the way. They always kept the Tianqi Mountains clearly visible on their left regardless of the gloomy and snowy weather. Even if they could not catch up with the caravan, it was not a problem for them to go back the way they came.
It was unclear whether it was his handwriting or her shameless spirit, but Mo Shanshan did not go with the powerhouses of the Divine Hall. Instead, she went north with him. It was a lonely journey. The two often learned from each other about calligraphy and Talisman Taoism, and they both gained something. Ning Que, in particular, mastered more basic skills of Talisman Taoism through her demonstration, and even vaguely felt that he was about to break the realm. He could not help but feel happy.
Mo Shanshan was also in a good mood. Just as she said, she liked to see Ning Que's handwriting. During the journey, she could see Ning Que drawing on the snow and mud with an ink brush or a branch on a piece of paper every time they stopped to rest. Even the boring and monotonous journey seemed to be enriched, and the snow was like a pool of ink.
The rustling sound of the branch in the snow sounded. Ning Que looked at his handwriting and nodded with satisfaction. He found that under the pressure of Mo Shanshan, not only had his cultivation state improved, but his calligraphy had also improved a lot.
Mo Shanshan pulled the scarf in front of her chest to her shoulder, slightly leaned forward, and looked at his handwriting carefully with her head down. She stretched out her right index finger and slowly gestured in the air, as if she was copying.
Ning Que knew that the girl's eyesight was not good, and he was used to her concentration and posture every time she read. At the bottom of the mountain pass, a gust of cold wind mixed with snowflakes blew, causing the scarf on the girl's shoulder to flutter. Her black hair fluttered backwards, contrasting with her slightly red face, making her look very beautiful.
Behind the snow dome, the Big Black Horse held its head high and kicked its front hooves in boredom. No one knew what it ate all day long, but it was so hot that it did not seem to be afraid of the cold here at all.
There was a maroon mare next to it, with a warm cloth quilt and a cloth band on its hooves, but it still seemed to be a little afraid of the cold. It kept getting close to the Big Black Horse, carefully rubbing against it, as if it wanted to keep warm, but did not want to annoy it.
The Big Black Horse snorted softly and seemed a little tired. But it did not move its tall body, but stood upright in the wind and snow, blocking the snow wind blowing from the right side for the maroon mare.
Mo Shanshan's fingers in the air slowly stopped and finished copying. But she did not raise her head. Instead, she continued to read the words on the snow, as if she wanted to keep them in mind.
Ning Que reached out to take off the black mask on his face and asked seriously, "Yesterday I asked you about breaking the realm. You said that everyone's situation is different, and the higher you go, the more difficult it is. But I just entered Seethrough from No Doubts State, which is not a difficult juncture to break the realm. Why is there no movement after such a long time from Dongsheng Stockaded Village to here?"
Mo Shanshan straightened up, looked at him and said quietly, "You just began to understand in spring, and now you have seen the Front Gate of Seethrough in less than a year. If you are not lying, then it can only mean that you are a genius in cultivation, which also explains why the Headmaster of Academy chose you as his student."
Ning Que asked, "You mean that I am already very great compared with others?"
Mo Shanshan's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she asked, "Who are the others you are talking about?"
After a moment of silence, Ning Que said, "Prince Long Qing."
Mo Shanshan looked at him and said seriously, "Didn't you say that you don't accept such a cliché as a lifelong enemy?"
Ning Que laughed and said, "The world says that Prince Long Qing is only one step away from the Knowing Destiny State. If he really enters the Knowing Destiny State, I can't be cliché even if I want to, and …"
His smile gradually disappeared, and he said calmly, "The Divine Hall will respect the Academy, but it doesn't mean that they are afraid of the Academy. Especially for people like Prince Long Qing, he will definitely find a chance to defeat or even kill me personally, so as to perfect his so-called Taoist Heart. If he enters the Knowing Destiny State, he can really beat me like a dog. "
Mo Shanshan looked at him quietly, as if looking at the wind and snow outside the snow cave, and guessed what he was thinking. After a long silence, she said softly, "Do you want to defeat him?"
"Pride and confidence come from strength, and I am not Second Brother."
Ning Que said, "So I don't expect to defeat him now, but I think that if it is possible to delay his steps into the Knowing Destiny State, maybe I can catch up with him one day."
"I think you should have time, although not enough time."
Mo Shanshan looked at him, and a rare smile appeared on her usually expressionless face. The smile was a little awkward, but it was full of gratification, warmth, and encouragement.
"Among the five states of cultivation, the End State is the most difficult. It is very difficult to enter the Knowing Destiny State. Although I can write Half Divine Talisman now, it is only a lucky Lucky Chance that I got. I still can't see the threshold of the Knowing Destiny State."
Mo Shanshan looked at him and continued, "Although Prince Long Qing is recognized as the most likely to enter the Knowing Destiny State among the younger generation, I think he just saw the threshold, and there is still some time before he can cross it. A few days ago, I was thinking that the Divine Hall let us enter the Wilderness because of this consideration."
Ning Que suddenly thought of something, and he frowned and asked, "You once said that Long Qing is not as good as the Tao Addict. If Long Qing has seen the threshold of the Knowing Destiny State, then what about the Tao Addict?"
"Maybe she has crossed one foot? Maybe she just saw the threshold. "
Mo Shanshan said, "The strength of the Tao Addict lies not only in her state of cultivation, but also in her exquisite mastery of Taoism. It is said that the Hierarch of the Divine Hall once praised her for being proficient in all kinds of cultivation methods. You can imagine it."
Ning Que was shocked when he heard the words "proficient in all kinds of cultivation methods". When he was about to ask more specific questions, he suddenly raised his eyebrows and stretched out his arm to hold the big black umbrella behind him.
A very weak arrow sounded in the wind and snow outside the pass.
Although Mo Shanshan was not as sensitive to the sound of arrows as Ning Que, as a cultivator in the upper Seethrough State, she found the speed of the arrow not a little slow. Her exposed fingers moved slightly outside her sleeves and pinched a piece of Fu paper.
Ning Que reached out to stop her, because he heard the direction of the arrow, and it should have nothing to do with them.
An arrow deeply shot into the gentle slope outside the snow dome.
A snow rabbit hiding in the snow slope had its buttocks torn apart by the arrowhead. It struggled with all its might and jumped into the mountain pass.
The snow rabbit fell into the snow dome and died after a few bounces.
The words written by Ning Que on the snow ground were trampled into a mess.
Heavy footsteps sounded on the snow slope outside the pass. Ning Que used his eyes to signal Mo Shanshan to let him handle this matter. He released the handle of the umbrella from his back and held the hilt of the knife.
A person in an animal skin cotton coat climbed over the edge of the snow dome and looked for the injured snow rabbit. He first saw two horses, and then saw Ning Que and Mo Shanshan. He could not help but be shocked, and drew his bow and arrow to aim at the two.
Ning Que frowned slightly and looked at the short bow in the person's hands. He noticed that the bow material was a little special, and the twisted wire in the bowstring shone slightly. It seemed that it was not made of animal tendons. Then he noticed that a few strands of long hair floated out from the edge of the person's hat. Looking at the face carefully, it turned out to be a woman in her thirties.
He held the hilt of the knife, looked at the woman calmly and said, "We mean no harm."
Mo Shanshan looked at him and did not understand what he wanted to do. Although she could already confirm that the woman was just an ordinary person, shouldn't she be more careful in a place so close to the Desolate Man's tribe?
The woman looked a little surprised when she heard Ning Que's words. She hurriedly took two steps back and stepped on the edge of the snow dome. Only when she was far enough away from Ning Que did she seem a little relieved. She asked, "You're from the Central Plains?"
Her accent was a little strange. The tip of her tongue rarely moved, and the time between each word was very precise, which made her sound straight and tough. But these three words were still understandable.
Ning Que looked at the woman and asked seriously, "Desolate Man?"
The woman did not answer his question, but looked at the two warily. She pulled the short bow tighter in her hands, making a slight deformation sound as if an arrow would be shot at any time. She continued to ask, "You're from the Central Plains?"
Mo Shanshan was not good at lying, and there was no need to lie in this situation. She answered expressionlessly, "I'm from the Great River Kingdom."
The woman shook her head and said, "I've never heard of you."
Mo Shanshan pointed at Ning Que and said, "He is a Tang. I think you should have heard of him."
Ning Que thought that this was bad. A thousand years ago, it was the Tang Empire that drove the Desolate Men to the Cold Region of the Far North. The hatred between the two sides was as deep as the sea. How could this Desolate woman not get mad when she knew that he was a Tang?
He tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword and prepared to kill the woman before she could make her move.
Unexpectedly, when the woman heard the word 'Tang', she was only slightly startled. She did not have any intense reaction. Instead, she calmed down and said, "I've heard of the Tang."
Ning Que frowned and asked, "Have you heard of it?"
"Yes." The woman said in her unique accent, "Everyone in the tribe knows that we moved away many years ago because our ancestors couldn't defeat you."
Ning Que was even more confused and asked, "Then why aren't you angry when you know I'm a Tang?"
The woman put away her bow and arrow and said expressionlessly, "If you can't win, you should admit defeat. What's there to be angry about?"
Ning Que scratched his head and said, "It seems … that makes sense."
…
…
This was the first time that Ning Que and Mo Shanshan had seen the Desolate Men. Through a short contact and conversation, they found that the Desolate Men were not the rumored monsters that could eat stones and drink molten iron. They were like them, who needed to hunt, could talk, wore clothes, and ran around every day to make a living. They could not be more ordinary.
The Desolate woman no longer paid attention to them. She pulled out the arrow from the snow rabbit and carefully observed the wear and tear of the arrowhead. Then she grabbed a snowball and wiped the blood off the rabbit. She then threw it into the bag behind her.
Mo Shanshan looked at her quietly and suddenly asked, "Why did you come to the south?"
It was Ning Que's turn to look at her.
He came to the wilderness occupied by the Desolate Men for a very clear purpose. It was not for the Divine Hall, nor for the peace of the countries in the Central Plains. He was going to find the Tomes of Arcane. Of course, he did not want to deal with these Desolate Men.
The Desolate woman glanced at her and said, "Why can't we come?"
Mo Shanshan said, "This is someone else's place."
The woman said, "Many years ago, this was our hometown. But after we left, it was occupied by those barbarians. Why can't we come back?"
Mo Shanshan looked at her and asked seriously, "But the grassland barbarians have lived here for so many years. They have lived here for generations. Now that you have occupied their land, how can they survive?"
Ning Que looked at her and thought to himself, "Although you are a cultivation genius, how can you ask such an idiotic question?"
The Desolate woman looked at Mo Shanshan as if she was looking at an idiot and said, "If we don't take it back, how can we survive?"
Ning Que burst out laughing.
Mo Shanshan glanced at him expressionlessly. Then she led the maroon horse and followed the Desolate woman across the edge of the snow dome to walk down the gentle slope.
Ning Que was stunned and hurried to keep up.
The Big Black Horse was stunned for a long time and found that no one paid attention to it. They all ran away. It angrily kicked the snow and carried the heavy luggage to keep up with them.
…
…
After talking for a while, Ning Que felt that the Desolate were really interesting, especially their temperament was very similar to that of the Tangs. But he was still not ready to contact the Desolate. He did not expect that Mo Shanshan seemed to have a different idea.
Mo Shanshan looked at the Desolate woman walking in front of her with a bow on her back and said softly, "We will fight with the Desolate next spring. Of course, we need to know the real situation of the Desolate tribe. The Divine Hall asked us to investigate the enemy, and this Desolate woman does not suspect us. Isn't this the best opportunity?"
Ning Que shook his head and thought that the Divine Hall wanted to fight with the Desolate. What did it have to do with him? However, since Mo Shanshan insisted on taking this encounter as a part of her mortal world trial, he could not object.
After walking out of the snow dome and turning east for a short distance, he saw a lonely tent. The surface of the tent was painted with a black mud-like paint. It seemed to be able to keep out the wind and cold. However, it was obviously far from the settlement of the Desolate Man tribe. He did not know why the Desolate Man woman lived here.
The Desolate woman did not invite them to be a guest, but she did not show obvious hostility to them either. She let them follow into the tent, threw them a large piece of jerky without enthusiasm, and poured them two bowls of hot water.
There was not too much salt in the jerky. Although it was tasteless when chewed, it would emit a rough original fragrance if mixed with saliva for a long time. Since Ning Que left the City of Wei, he rarely had a chance to touch such things. He could not help chewing with relish and did not have time to talk at all.
Mo Shanshan thanked the Desolate woman and tore two pieces of meat into her mouth and chewed slowly. Looking at her expression, it was not clear whether it tasted bad or good.
The Desolate woman lowered her head to deal with a piece of animal skin and ignored them.
Although there was no face to face in the tent, it was silent.
Ning Que felt the strange atmosphere and could not help but look up at Mo Shanshan. He thought that she did not say that she wanted to investigate the enemy and check the real situation of the Desolate tribe. Could it be that she could speak when she was mute?
…
(To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com to vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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