After spring, no one had entered the Divine Hall of Light, including the Hierarch Lord. Therefore, when the respectful divine priests and deacons saw Xiaocao being brought into the Divine Hall by the girl in white, they could not help showing a shocked expression. They could not understand what they were seeing.
Xiaocao herself did not understand what had happened to her. She knew that the Divine Hall of Light had not had a master for many years. So who wanted to see her?
After the girl in white led her into the Divine Hall, she quietly left. Looking at the empty and magnificent Divine Hall, she felt so small and subconsciously knelt on the soft cushion.
There was a curtain in the depths of the Divine Hall. Behind the curtain, there was no shadow or sound. It was so quiet that it was frightening. She lowered her head and anxiously waited for her ending.
Time passed slowly. She did not know how long she had been kneeling and waiting. Her knees were already sore, but she did not dare to stand up. She became more and more nervous.
Suddenly, she saw a big black horse.
Xiaocao's eyes revealed a happy expression because she recognized the big black horse and knew it was Ning Que's mount. She was about to greet the black horse when she thought of another thing.
She used to have a good friend in Chang 'an. That friend was about the same age as her. She was dark and thin. They used to give each other many small gifts. She taught her friend how to put on makeup and how to seduce the lecherous master of her house.
Later, her good friend encountered many things and became a young lady of the Grand Secretary's family. It was said that she even became the successor of the Great Divine Priest of Light. But when they met occasionally, she was still the same person.
Xiaocao was extremely shocked and confused. She covered her chest and sat on the soft cushion. She could not believe her own inference. However, she knew that there could be no other explanation.
The wind gradually rose in the Divine Hall of Light and lifted a corner of the curtain. But she did not see any old friend. She only vaguely saw a very tall girl standing on the balcony.
Was it Sangsang?
Xiaocao stood up and looked at the figure. She wanted to call her but did not dare to. No matter whether she was the master of the Divine Hall of Light or some other bigwig in the West-Hill Divine Palace, she was no longer the inconspicuous friend of the past.
"I grant you immortality."
An extremely majestic voice reverberated in the Light Palace.
Xiaocao didn't know if the voice came from the figure on the balcony or not. She stared blankly at the curtain that divided the world into two halves and slightly clenched her fists, which were hanging by the side of her skirt.
The girl in white who had disappeared earlier reappeared and brought her out of the Light Palace.
After entering the Divine Hall of Light, Xiaocao didn't do anything. She didn't encounter any torture, didn't see any old friends, and didn't kowtow to Haotian. She just left.
Everything seemed to be for her to hear those words — I grant you eternal life.
Xiaocao left the Divine Hall of Light and returned to the small town. The girls of the House of Red Sleeves anxiously inquired about what had happened. Before she could say anything, the Divine Hall had sent dozens of cavalrymen to escort the House of Red Sleeves out of the West-Hill Divine Kingdom and even to the south of the Verdant Canyon.
After returning to Chang 'an, Xiaocao still felt that this trip to the West-Hill was like a dream, especially the time when she waited in the Divine Hall of Light. It was really like a dream, without any elements of reality. It was not until many years later that she realized what the Divine Gift meant.
…
…
On the Peach Mountain, the Haotian Divine Hall where the Hierarch resided had always been the highest. But now, in the eyes of the people, the quiet Divine Hall of Light was truly unattainable.
No one dared to go against the will of the Divine Hall of Light, not even the Hierarch. However, since the beginning of spring, the Divine Hall of Light had been silent until recently, when it issued several orders.
The first order of the Divine Hall of Light was to escort the House of Red Sleeves back to Chang 'an. This order puzzled the people in the Divine Hall, but in the eyes of the Hierarch and other insiders, the reason was simple. When Haotian was recuperating in the mortal world, he had received some favors from mortals. This was just to return the favor.
However, the second order of the Divine Hall of Light shocked the Hierarch. The girl in white expressionlessly asked the Divine Hall to immediately stop the pursuit of Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang.
During the Rite to Light, Tang Xiaotang broke into the Peach Mountain and escaped with Chen Pipi, which was a great humiliation to the Divine Hall of West-Hill. Naturally, they had to pay a heavy price.
After that, the powerhouses of the Divine Hall went out to search everywhere. They even set up many traps on the road from Qinghe Prefecture to Chang 'an. The Hierarch firmly believed that under the pressure of the Drunkard and the Butcher, the real powerhouses of the back of the mountain of the Academy dared not do anything. Then Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang would be caught by the Divine Hall sooner or later, and then they would be executed.
At this time, the girl in white asked the Divine Hall to immediately stop the search … Why did Haotian do that? The Hierarch was a little confused, but he dared not to question it.
…
…
For the Divine Hall of West-Hill, the House of Red Sleeves left unscathed. Although it was infuriating, it was still a trivial matter. Stopping the pursuit of Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang was the real important matter.
For Sangsang, these were all trivial matters. Because for Haotian, everything in the human world was trivial. Her decision had nothing to do with human emotions, but was based on Heaven's plan.
The purpose of the Rite to Light was to reopen the gate of Haotian's Divine Kingdom, and at the same time cut off her mortal bond. That was why she asked Chen Pipi to be the sacrifice and asked the Tang Empire to send the House of Red Sleeves to the Divine Kingdom of West-Hill. In her original plan, after the raging sacred fire, Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang would die, and Xiaocao would also die. Then, most of her mortal ties with the human world would be severed.
Unfortunately, Ning Que appeared. He proved to her through the grand Tianqi that mortal bond could not be cut off. Therefore, after thinking about it, she decided to change the solution.
If mortal bond was love, then she would repay it with her life. She gave Xiaocao immortality and gave Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang another life. She thought that she could cut off the bond between herself and the human world.
…
…
Ning Que did not know about these things. Just as He Mingchi said that day, he could only see the falling leaves and rain clouds outside the stone window, but he could not stand the rain.
He was now the most important prisoner of the You Prison, but he did not care. If he had not come to Peach Mountain, he would still be a prisoner in Chang 'an. He would be imprisoned anyway, so it did not matter where he was imprisoned.
What he cared about was the battle between him and Sangsang. He lay on the stone bed and continued to dream. Erotic dreams, terrifying dreams. He fought with the woman who was sometimes plump and sometimes skinny, enjoying the extreme pain and pleasure of life. He often kissed her, and occasionally bit her, feeling her soft and smooth skin, feeling the pain of being cut into pieces.
She was in the Divine Hall of Light on the peak, and he was in the cold stone room on the precipice. They loved and hated each other, separated by thousands of feet. He let her feel the most wonderful feeling in the human world, and she let him feel the most painful feeling in the human world. She kept killing him, and he kept loving her. It was all torture.
This was a battle between heaven and man, and also a battle between a man and a woman. These two battles had happened countless times in history, but now they had merged into one.
This battle was very ordinary, just like the simplest family drama. It was just a matter of who was at the top and who was at the bottom, who wanted to change positions and who didn't. In the end, there would always be one side who would emerge victorious, and then their voices would be louder in the family.
But this battle was not ordinary, because it was not about who was the master of the Old Brush Pen Shop, but the outcome of the battle between Haotian and mankind, and the final direction of the world.
Sometimes when Ning Que thought about the fate of the world decided by the life of a married couple, he would inevitably feel that it was ridiculous, but he also could not hide his pride and complacency.
The battle in the dream continued. He did not know how long it had been in the cell. The autumn leaves outside the stone window became fewer and fewer, until it started to snow. He did not know that it was winter.
No one surrendered, and there was no victory or defeat.
Ning Que looked at the falling snowflakes outside the stone window, and thought of how the frequency of torture had gradually decreased these days. He frowned slightly, trying to guess what had happened.
He did not know what was happening outside, but he was sure that Old Master Cui had been killed by him. He knew that there were people in the small town where the Drunkard and the Butcher were, but he did not know that they were his old friends. He knew that the Tang Empire and the Academy had made preparations, and Qinghe County would soon face the wrath of revenge.
But all of this was on the premise that he could defeat Sangsang.
If Heaven had feelings, Heaven would age easily. If Sangsang had feelings, he could win. But now he could not see any possibility, nor could he find a way to break the stalemate.
What confused or alarmed him the most was that Sangsang should not be able to find any way to break away from the mortal world, but why did she seem so calm and confident in the dream?
Another small incident happened in the Divine Hall of Light.
Two girls in white were kneeling behind Sangsang, looking extremely nervous and sad, especially the one on the left, who was gradually opening her eyes, crying in fear.
On a wooden plate not far away, there was a pair of white underwear, stained with blood.
It turned out that the girl in white had her first menstruation.
They were selected by the Divine Hall from over a hundred thousand girls in the West-Hill Divine Kingdom. They were required to be fair and clean, free from the filth of the world. They knew this very well.
Their experience in the Divine Hall of Light over the past six months made them realize how great the saintess they served was. They were proud and more devout because of this.
However, their first menstruation finally came. They knew what was waiting for them, but they did not dare to hide it. So they knelt behind Sangsang, crying and waiting for Haotian's punishment.
Sangsang did not punish them.
She looked at the looming bright moon in the night sky and said, "The human world has begun to call this menstruation. I don't know if you will find it interesting or annoying."
Light snow was drifting on the terrace.
She frowned slightly and looked at a precipice in the wind and snow. Her right hand slowly fell on her lower abdomen.
A dam of a thousand miles was made of baskets of soil. A city of a thousand years was made of black bricks. No matter how big the event was, it was actually made up of extremely small things.
Three small things happened in her world.
These three small things led to one result: she decided to release someone.
…
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(I wish you all a happy weekend. There will be updates on Saturday tomorrow. There will be no Saturdays in the future. Please be informed.) (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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