Looking at the back of the Headmaster walking towards the waterfall, Eldest Brother and Second Brother vaguely understood something. However, they still thought that the Headmaster's punishment of imprisoning Youngest Brother on the cliff at the back of the mountain was too harsh. Although it was said that one could be reborn in a dead end, not everyone could be like Youngest Uncle.
Yu Lian tidied up the ink and paper on the table and walked out of the hut. She stopped when she passed by Ning Que and said softly, "Since the teacher's decision can't be changed, bring your handmaiden and follow the teacher. Don't let the teacher wait for too long."
Ning Que was also looking at the figure of the Headmaster in the distance. He prayed that the Headmaster would forget about him after a few laughs so that he could avoid this calamity. However, after listening to Third Sister's words, he realized that it was just wishful thinking. He sighed with a bitter smile and followed her out of the hut to the bamboo chair.
Senior Sister Yu Lian said to Tang Xiaotang, "Come with me. I'll arrange a place for you."
Tang Xiaotang nodded happily and waved goodbye to Sangsang. She said, "It seems that I will stay in the Academy in the future. Come and play with me then."
Sangsang nodded.
Tang Xiaotang followed Yu Lian to the cliff plateau happily. She was jumping happily like a restless stone, while Yu Lian was as quiet and tranquil as a delicate tree. The two girls were quite different in age. They were both petite, but their breaths were completely different. However, they seemed to be very harmonious when they were together.
Ning Que withdrew his gaze and looked at Sangsang in front of him. He said with a smile, "The Headmaster of the Academy was very happy to see me and decided to teach me some secret cultivation methods of the Academy. I guess I will be cultivating in seclusion in the Back Mountain these days. You go back to the Old Brush Pen Shop and I will go back to the city as soon as I finish my business."
The Headmaster had asked him to bring Sangsang to the back of the mountain of the Academy in case he needed someone to take care of him after he was imprisoned. However, Ning Que was not willing to let Sangsang be trapped on the cliff with him.
Sangsang looked at him and said softly, "You were talking too loudly in the room, and young master, you know that my ears are very good, so I heard everything."
After a moment of silence, Ning Que said, "Yes, I was punished by my teacher and imprisoned in the Back Cliff for seclusion. I don't know when I can come out."
Sangsang looked at him and said worriedly, "What should we do?"
Ning Que looked at her.
She shook her head and said, "I definitely want to be with you."
After thinking for a while, Ning Que said, "Let's see how it goes first. If I'm trapped at the back cliff for too long, you can go back to the Grand Secretary's Mansion first. I don't think anyone will stop you."
Sangsang said nothing.
He looked at the distant mountain path stretching into the dense forest under the waterfall. The Headmaster's floating figure was about to disappear. After a moment of silence, he led Sangsang in that direction.
When the cottage disappeared behind them, Sangsang looked around and pulled his sleeve. She whispered, "Is it because you have joined the Diabolism that the Academy wants to lock you up?"
Ning Que said, "In the Wilderness, Eldest Brother should have already guessed what happened after I learned the Great Spirit of Youngest Uncle, so the Headmaster must have already known it. However, I'm not sure if the Headmaster's punishment has anything to do with this. He didn't mention it in the hut."
There was a crooked old plum tree by the side of the road.
The plum tree passed by Sangsang's dark face, making her look more nervous. She lowered her voice and said, "The Headmaster said that you are the son of Yama."
Ning Que said angrily, "Don't mention your cheating Headmaster. I said I'm not."
Sangsang said worriedly, "But the Academy wants to lock you up. Is it related to this?"
Ning Que didn't want to admit this inference, but his heart became heavy.
…
…
With a heavy heart, his footsteps became heavier. Ning Que didn't know what was waiting for him at the back cliff. He subconsciously held Sangsang's hand and walked forward in silence, very slowly.
On the mountain path ahead, the black robe fluttered in the wind. Sometimes it disappeared into the dense forest, and sometimes it appeared beside the silver waterfall. The Headmaster seemed to be walking very fast, but he always stayed in their sight.
After bypassing Second Brother's courtyard and walking for a while, they approached the silver waterfall. The sound of the waterfall was like thunder in the surrounding forest, and the air was filled with tiny pieces of water particles, which formed a cool mist, making it refreshing to breathe.
Ning Que's breathing became a little rapid. He wanted to hold Sangsang's hand and turn around to leave, but he knew that it was a delusion. Even if they really escaped from the Academy, it would mean that all the hard work over these years would be in vain, and he and Sangsang would return to their gloomy lives.
Following the fluttering black robe, the two came to the bottom of the waterfall.
There was a quiet pool under the waterfall. There was no water outlet facing the cliff platform, and it seemed that it was not connected to Mirror Lake. The overflowing pool water flowed along the low-lying rocks in front of them on the right.
Ning Que held Sangsang's hand and stepped on the rocks. They followed the direction of the water flow and walked forward. Together with the gurgling water, they walked into a deep valley.
The valley was very narrow, no more than a hundred feet high, and the giant rocks above touched each other. In fact, it was more like a naturally formed giant cave. The air in the cave was moist and slightly cold, and the walls were covered with moss. The water from the quiet pool flowed through the rocks at the bottom of the cave, forming a picture like a paddy field.
In front of the valley was a clear blue sky, cut into an oval, like a blue porcelain plate, very beautiful. Ning Que and Sangsang stepped on the stones in the paddy field, walking toward the blue.
As they walked, the valley suddenly narrowed, and the water between the rocks suddenly became turbulent. With a rustling sound, white waves gradually appeared, and the moss on the rocks shook violently.
Walking out of the canyon, there was a precipice in front of them. The turbulent water was jumping and rushing towards the edge of the cliff. The blue sky was cut into two halves by the cliff, and the middle line was this water line.
Sangsang held Ning Que's hand tightly and looked at the scenery in front of her, speechless.
The winding path led to a secluded place, and in the end, there was a desperate situation.
The mountain wind whistled. Standing by the cliff and the waterfall, they could not hear any sound, as if there was an endless abyss under the cliff.
The abyss could not be seen. There was nothing in front of Ning Que except the sky and the cliff.
The cliff extended endlessly to the sky and on both sides, as if it was the Gobi Desert to the north of the West Palace in the grassland, but this Gobi Desert was in the sky.
Compared with the boundless cliffs and precipices, the gorge where they were at was just an inconspicuous small gap, and the waterfall was just a thin line. Ning Que looked at the cliff in the distance and saw that there were more than ten waterfalls falling down the precipices. They were of different heights and distances, and looked very beautiful.
Vast cliffs, blue skies, and over a dozen waterfalls that were as thin as threads combined to form an extremely vast world. Even the most powerful person would feel insignificant in front of these scenes.
Ning Que carefully took a step to the side of the cliff, holding Sangsang's hand and bending down to look. He saw the bottom of the cliff covered with clouds and mist, and did not know how deep it was.
The more than ten waterfalls on the cliff fell into the clouds like a bunch of pillars, splashing circles of clouds, and then disappeared silently, as if there was a world under the clouds that did not belong to the human world.
The cliff behind the back of the mountain of the Academy was a beautiful new world.
However, the beauty of this place could easily make people feel shocked and helpless.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, Ning Que looked down at the clouds and watched the waterfalls fall into the clouds. He did not have any feeling of floating in the air, because the clouds formed and gathered, and the waterfalls fell into the clouds without the sound of water. Instead, he felt some kind of fear.
Thinking of the way he came, he was sure that this should be the west side of the mountain. No wonder he had never seen such a cliff on the official road from Chang 'an to the Academy in the past two years.
The cliff seemed to be too steep to climb, but in fact, there was a very narrow stone path hidden in it. Ning Que looked up and saw the figure of the Headmaster gliding between the cliffs, sometimes in the east, sometimes in the west. No matter how hard he looked, he could not determine which part of the cliff he was on.
Ning Que held Sangsang's hand and began to walk up. The two had lived in Min Mountain since childhood, so they had their own ways of climbing cliffs and turned a blind eye to the cliff and the sky under their feet.
The higher they went up the cliff, the less green there was. There was no quiet lake, no hut, no laughter, and no ancient pine chessboard. It was a completely different world from the other side of the mountain. This cliff silently, or perhaps indifferently, looked at the sky on the other side for who knew how many tens of thousands of years.
At the end of the narrow stone path, there finally appeared a small cliff yard. There was a very simple hut on the edge of the cliff, and there was a cave on the cliff. The Headmaster sat on the edge of the cliff, looking into the distance, thinking about something.
Ning Que walked behind the Headmaster and looked out of the cliff.
His gaze fell on Chang 'an City beyond the sea of clouds. The sun was setting, and the golden sunlight shone on the black and cyan city wall, reflecting a very solemn and sacred luster.
That was the most magnificent city in the world, and it was the most perfect masterpiece of mankind.
Ning Que looked at Chang 'an City in the twilight, and for a moment, all kinds of feelings welled up in his heart. He could not speak for a long time. After a long time, he softly sighed, "Chang' an City … is really beautiful at this time."
The Headmaster said, "Chang 'an City has always been beautiful."
Ning Que said, "Those who built Chang 'an City must have been great."
The Headmaster opened the food box beside him, took out a small urn, and filled a cup with wine. He casually said, "Those who built the city are not great, because there needs to be people to guard the city."
Ning Que was stunned.
The Headmaster drank up the wine in his cup, picked up a piece of lamb soaked in scallion oil, and ate it. He looked at Chang 'an City in the distance and laughed happily, as if he could not get tired of looking at it.
Chang 'an City was shrouded in the twilight.
The Headmaster looked at Chang 'an City in the twilight.
He looked at his own Chang 'an City.
Looking at the back of the Headmaster, an indescribable feeling welled up in Ning Que's heart. The negative feelings and doubts in his heart were all dispelled by the scene in front of him.
Looking down from the clouds, looking down from the outside world. What kind of feeling is that? Teacher, are you guarding this city, the Tang Empire, or the whole world?
…
…
(If I were a painter, I would really like to paint the Academy, the back of the mountain, and the cliff and waterfall behind the back of the mountain. I think it is really beautiful. This is the second chapter, and the third chapter may be a little later, because I have to go for a meal.) (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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