(Sorry, this is the last chapter of the third volume, so it's a little hard to write. I wrote too much, so it's a little late. Sorry.)
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Sangsang was the only one on the portraits in the streets, but the Buddhism and Taoism sects knew that Ning Que was with Sangsang, and they also knew about the conspicuous black horse carriage that could not be disguised.
The black horse carriage was Yan Se's legacy. The Buddhism and Taoism sects must have thought that he would not give it up. He took advantage of this and left the Big Black Horse and the carriage outside the city, while he took Sangsang into the city.
He chose to hide in Chaoyang City temporarily because he wanted to wait for Eldest Brother here. Moreover, Sangsang's illness kept worsening, and he was worried that Sangsang would not be able to hold on if he had to fight to the end.
Even if he could not wait for Eldest Brother, he had to come to Chaoyang City, because he believed that it was always dark under the lamp, and he believed in his ability to hide. He also hoped that the Buddhist temple here could help Sangsang get better.
Walking in Chaoyang City with Sangsang on his back, Ning Que did not take long to find his target. It was a shabby courtyard not far from the Yuelun Kingdom's palace. Standing in the courtyard, one could see the famous White Tower Temple, but it was located in a noisy, low-class street, which was convenient for hiding.
The most important and decisive reason why he chose this small courtyard was because it was extremely dilapidated. The door was covered in dust, and it was obvious that no one had lived in it for a long time. Furthermore, it was so quiet that it was like a haunted house.
Ning Que did not inquire about the story of the courtyard, because any connection with others might lead to unexpected results. He directly sneaked into the government office of Chaoyang City, and secretly searched the case files. As he had expected, an extremely bloody massacre happened in the courtyard last year.
The owner of the courtyard died in the massacre, and his relatives, who were qualified to inherit the courtyard, were obsessed with Buddhism and did not want to take over the sinful courtyard. Therefore, the courtyard was taken back by the Yuelun Kingdom, but still no one was willing to buy or rent it. Even the greedy officials and monks had no interest in the courtyard.
Of course, Ning Que would not rent a small courtyard. When dusk fell, he carried Sangsang on his back and easily jumped into the small courtyard from the broken wall on the back street. He passed through the main hall and came to the bedroom in the backyard.
Along the way, the twilight was dim and extremely quiet. The old bricks on the ground and the walls were still stained with dark old bloodstains, causing it to seem extremely gloomy. Not to mention ordinary people, even a butcher who had seen blood would probably feel his scalp go numb. It was no wonder that everyone avoided this house and would rather abandon it than accept it.
Ning Que and Sangsang had seen countless dead people since they were young, and they had seen much more gruesome scenes than this. However, they showed no fear at all, not even the slightest change of expression.
There was no bloodstain in the bedroom, only a dusty bed and a table. After a moment of silence, he walked out of the small courtyard again. When he came back, he held several quilts in his arms and plastering for carpentry in his hand.
After a simple cleaning, Ning Que spread the thick and soft quilt on the ground and put a new pillow on it. Then he dug up the abandoned well in the courtyard and fetched water to mix the ash. He pasted all the cracks on the windows of the woodshed flat and tight without leaving a gap. Then he hung a thick black cloth on the windows and the door.
It was already dark. He reached out to hang down the two black cloths, then walked out of the room and said, "Done." He heard the slight sound of a fire in the room. He carefully observed and found that no light leaked out, so he nodded.
Many years ago, he took Sangsang to hunt in Min Mountain and squatted in the snow to ambush wild boars. Wild boars were particularly sensitive to light and human smells. The temporary squatting spot he built in the snow could be tightly sealed without a trace of light and his own smell. Now it was not difficult to use it to deal with these things.
The night was dark, and the small courtyard was still gloomy. No one dared to approach it. Even if they did, they would only see the same shabby scene as before. There was no trace of anyone who had been here.
The Buddhism Sect was looking for the black horse carriage everywhere, trying to find Ning Que and Sangsang. Numerous powerhouses from Haotian Taoism were lying in ambush in the Pamir Mountains, which was the only route to the Tang Empire. Who would have thought that the Daughter of Yama was in a small courtyard so close to the White Tower Temple?
A black crow landed on a tree in the courtyard and looked up at the stars.
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Sangsang's portrait was everywhere in Chaoyang City. People gathered in front of every Buddhist temple. The monks were telling the legend of the Underworld, the last words of Buddha, and the story of the Daughter of Yama. The people of Yuelun Kingdom had complicated expressions. Some were frightened, and some were sad and angry. The Buddha's teaching to not be angry was all forgotten. Gradually, the crowd became excited. People waved their fists and said that they would find the Daughter of Yama and burn her to death.
Ning Que walked on the street. The discussion and anger of the crowd, as well as the most vicious curses against Sangsang, did not affect him at all. It did not take long for him to arrive at the ceremony hotel.
The envoy of the Tang Empire to the Yuelun Kingdom was in the ceremony hotel. He did not enter the ceremony hotel. Instead, he stood in a slightly quieter back alley and listened attentively to the movements in the courtyard wall before deciding what to do.
"This is not self-preservation! It's not surrender! It's right or wrong! The Tang Empire is the leader of the world. Of course, we don't care about the pressure from the Yuelun Kingdom. Even the West-Hill Divine Palace can't make us retreat. But I can't watch the world perish like this. This is the responsibility that the Tang Empire should bear! "
Ning Que stood quietly in the alley outside the wall and listened for a while. This was the most useful piece of information he heard. The person who spoke was the envoy of the Tang Empire to the Yuelun Kingdom. He slowly lowered his head and turned to leave.
Sangsang looked at the expression on his face and knew that the situation was not good. She reached out and held his hand. Ning Que smiled bitterly and said, "I'm fine. I was just a little surprised to hear something."
Sangsang asked, "What is it?"
Ning Que said, "Guess how long it has been since we left the Lanke Temple?"
Sangsang thought for a while and said, "At least a month."
"Wrong, it's a year."
Ning Que touched her slightly cold face and said, "A year has passed unknowingly. Then I still have the patience to endure another half a year. Tomorrow, I will take you to the White Tower Temple to read the Buddhist scriptures."
The first half of his and Sangsang's lives were extremely difficult, even miserable. But it was also those difficult days that made them who they were now. They had courage, perseverance, indifference, and patience that ordinary people could not imagine.
Ten years ago, deep in the snow-covered Min Mountain, Ning Que carried Sangsang on his back and squatted in the snow cellar to kill a wild boar. Unexpectedly, a winter bear that was awakened unexpectedly appeared. After the bear killed the wild boar and ate its fill, it seemed to notice that there was still food nearby and refused to leave. It stayed near the snow cellar for a few days, relying on the wild boar's carcass.
At that time, Ning Que was not strong enough, and Sangsang was only a six-year-old girl. It was impossible for them to defeat a greedy winter bear. They had no other choice but to hide in the snow cellar and pray.
Their prayers to Haotian would never be answered, but waiting beyond the endurance of ordinary people could always be exchanged for success. In the end, the winter bear could not resist the hunger and left bitterly. When Ning Que climbed out of the snow cellar with the dying Sangsang on his back, they had stayed in the snow cellar for four days and four nights.
In that case, he and Sangsang could survive. Why couldn't they survive now? Ning Que looked out of the window at the gradually thinning autumn sky and the thickening autumn clouds and thought silently.
On the tree in the small courtyard, the black crow cawed, which was very unpleasant to hear.
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Ning Que and Sangsang disappeared from the world again. They had disappeared for a whole year, but at that time, the Buddhism and Taoism sects guessed that they were either dead or in the chessboard world left by Buddha. No one was shocked when they could not find any trace of them, nor did they think it was incredible.
However, now that they had left the chessboard world of Buddha and returned to the human world, they disappeared again. The powerhouses of the Buddhism and Taoism sects and countless people in the world tried all methods but could not find any trace of them. They could not help but be shocked and vigilant to the extreme. After all, many people were even monitoring the Academy now.
An old monk slowly walked out of the Giant Sinkhole in the depths of the Western Wilderness and walked forward.
The old monk wore a bamboo hat, obscuring his face. He held a monk's staff in his hand and walked very slowly. It was not a deliberate slowness to appear calm and indifferent. Instead, it was as if his feet were tightly connected to the desolate and boundless earth. Every step he took was naturally slow and difficult.
The monk's staff in his hand kept tapping on the ground, as if he was looking for something or someone in the Wilderness. However, he walked so slowly, who could he find?
However, the moment he walked out of the Giant Sinkhole, he seemed to find something and said, "The palace."
A distant bell rang in the yellow temple between the giant peaks in the center of the Giant Sinkhole.
In the Right King's Palace thousands of miles away, a dusty scholar looked at Chanyu and a dozen palace priests who were on guard. He bowed slightly and said, "May I ask if you have seen my Younger Brother?"
More than ten miles away, the vice monk of the Hall of Respect of Xuankong Temple rushed to the palace with 30 ascetic monks.
The old monk continued to walk slowly. After walking for half a day, he stopped and said, "Liuguan."
The bell rang again in the yellow temple between the giant peaks in the center of the Giant Sinkhole.
The scholar appeared in Liuguan, a famous trading center at the edge of the Wilderness.
A thousand grassland cavalries and several Yuelun Kingdom cavalries received military orders and galloped to Liuguan.
The old monk continued to walk. One day later, he stopped and said another place.
The president of the Hall of Respect of Xuankong Temple quietly looked at the scholar under the poplar tree not far away.
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Eldest Brother looked at the thick bark of the poplar tree and understood what had happened.
Regardless of the danger of falling into a lower state, he used the Distanceless ability to search for his Youngest Brother's traces everywhere, while the Buddhism and Taoism sects sent people to follow him. Even if he found Ning Que, he would not be able to take him away quietly. He would have to face the continuous attacks of the Buddhism and Taoism sects.
No cultivator could keep up with the Limitless State and accurately find him every time. Two conditions must be met at the same time. The other party must have enough powerhouses or troops and be prepared near all the places he could reach. At the same time, the other party must be able to know where he was in the shortest time possible.
Logically speaking, it was impossible to fulfill these two conditions at the same time. However, when the entire human world was searching for Sangsang, and when the Buddhist and Taoist sects joined hands with the entire secular world, they could really send out a sufficient number of experts or armies, and someone could fulfill the second condition.
Eldest Brother looked gentle and dull, but he was actually very smart. It only took him a short time to understand everything and confirm his guess: the Chief Preaching Monk of Xuankong Temple had finally come to the human world.
He looked at Qi Mei and smiled slightly. He sat down against the poplar tree and took out the old book from his waist to read. There was no pond beside him to scoop water with, but he still looked calm.
Since the Buddhism and Taoism sects tried to determine the location of Ning Que and Sangsang through him, he decided to do nothing but read, eat and sleep from this moment on.
Doing nothing was the best way to hide. On the contrary, the more you tried to hide, the easier it would be for you to be exposed. Eldest Senior Brother did not understand this principle, but he acted according to his heart's desire and naturally made the best choice.
Ning Que had a lot of experience in hiding and escaping. He understood this and did the same. Other than taking Sangsang to various Buddhist temples to read scriptures and cure diseases, he never left the small courtyard or even went to find Eldest Brother.
Sangsang's illness was slightly better, or it did not get worse for the time being. She was still listless and fell into a deep sleep just after noon.
Ning Que sat by the bed and began to read.
This book was the handwritten notes of Buddha in the Lanke Temple. He arranged the words of the "Ming" Handscroll of the Tomes of Arcane and the side notes of Buddha in order to make it easier to read. However, he still could not understand more at that time.
These days, Ning Que took Sangsang to several Buddhist temples and vaguely understood something. So he read the notes again and frowned slightly. He said to himself, "The night comes because of the moon … Doesn't this mean that the cause and effect are reversed? The shadow of the night falls on the moon and can no longer be washed away. What does this mean? "
He looked at Sangsang who was sleeping soundly. He looked at her pale little face and reached out to touch it. He thought that the shadow of the night mentioned in the "Ming" Handscroll was naturally the Daughter of Yama, which was Sangsang.
The shadow of the night falls on the moon and can no longer be washed away … From the literal meaning and the current situation, the moon naturally referred to himself. In the whole world, he was indeed the only one who had seen the moon.
Ning Que was thoughtful and seemed to understand something, but he was still confused.
A few unpleasant cawing sounds came from outside the window. He made sure that no one was outside and pushed the door to the courtyard. Looking at the black crows on the tree, he frowned slightly.
On the first night he came to the small courtyard, a crow flew over. In the following days, a black crow flew over every day. Gradually, there were more and more black crows, and the branches were almost unable to bear their weight.
No matter how he looked at it, there was something strange about it.
He looked up at the sky and found that there were more and more clouds above Chaoyang City. Those clouds had been slowly approaching and merging into a thick cloud layer that covered the sky.
As the cloud layer thickened, people in the city finally felt a trace of coldness. Autumn was finally coming to an end.
For Ning Que and Sangsang, the autumn of the previous year and this year were connected. In these two autumns, too many things had happened to them. How could they not feel sad?
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(Volume Three: The End of Eventful Times) (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com to vote for it. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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