Nightfall Chapter 23

“Everyone says that in Chang An, battle masters are everywhere. Sword masters can be spotted at every corner of the city. Obviously, this saying is exaggerated but it is still the capital of the empire; the number one place in the world. Obviously there are many hidden elites and xiuxingists. At Chang An, no one will hurt you in the Academy but outside of the Academy, you should speak and act cautiously.”

“Yes.” Ning Que replied, then asked, “Sir, are there any elites in Chang An…..that I should watch out for?”

Lu Qing Chen glanced at the youngster, sneered, “Who was the one who said he did not want to know these things a few nights ago?”

Ning Que laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

“It’s meaningless to say them.” Lu Qing Chen laughed and shook his head. “You only need to remember, although there are many factions of xiuxingists. All in all, the major ones are Daoism, Buddhism, Demonism, and the Academy. Buddhism is usually located in strange places. Taoism has many temples all over the world. Demonism is best not mentioned. Taoism is the Great Sky Way. A countless number of formidable xiuxingist originates from there each generation. They were respected and praised highly by every royal family of the common world. If you heard of the Heavenly Empire of Xi Ling, then you would know that he is the main foundation of the Great Sky Way.”

“Respected and praised by all royal families? Did the Tang empire share the same attitude toward the Great Sky Way?” Ning Que asked while wrinkling his eyebrows.

Lu Qing Chen laughed bitterly. As the strongest force in the world, Tang was the only royal family that did not need to bow down to the Great Sky Way and the Great Sky Way couldn’t do anything about it. But as a Tang citizen practicing in the Great Sky Way, the elder had an embarrassing situation.

“What about Demonism? What is so great about xiuxingists that are from Demonism?” Ning Que noticed the embarrassment in the elder’s expression so he quickly changed the topic. “Speaking of which, you said the great sword master in the entrance to the North Mountain was using Demonic techniques. I don’t understand what kinds of techniques are considered Demonic techniques.”

Hearing the word “Demonism”, Lu Qing Chen’s expression turned serious and solemn, “Do not take note of this and do not tell this to others when you are outside.”

“Yes, sire.”

“No matter which faction you are from: Taoism, Buddhism, or the Academy, the xiuxingists from the righteous factions always sense the presence of the ki of nature, and reach harmony with them. To be specific, controlling ki is basically using the forces of nature.”

Lu Qing Chen closed his eyes slightly. He seemed like he was remembering something from the past, “But the way of Demonism is different from all other factions. They forcefully absorb the ki of nature into their body!”

“What…..what is wrong with it?” Ning Que thought about it for a while, but could not find any fault in this kind of practice. It seemed easier and more direct than the other techniques.

“Do not speak so foolishly. If you were to comment so lightly on Demonic techniques in the Academy or the Great Sky Way, then you would be expelled from the faction or face even harsher punishments.”

Lu Qing Chen warned Ning Que, “The human body is as weak as ants compare to the heaven and earth. To be able to store the spiritual power inside the sea of soul is already using the body to its maximum capacity. How can the flesh of human be sustained after forcefully absorbing the ki of nature in addition to that? There is only one result: death from explosion just like the great sword master in the entrance of the North Mountain.”

“But Demonism is a faction……” Ning Que paid close attention to his word choice and asked carefully, “Then there should be xiuxingists from this faction. If they are going to die from explosion right after absorbing the ki of nature, then how do they pass down their legacy?”

“Demonism has its own evil ways to reinforce its body and therefore absorb small amounts of ki of nature. But this process is both bloody and cruel. I heard from my mentors that of a hundred people practicing Demonism, only two or three are able to survive through the excruciating pain of exploding their bodies.”

“It is cruel.” Ning Que wrinkled his eyebrows and said.

He thought silently that only a few people in the world had the potential to xiuxing. The practice of Demonism was only going to waste much of the population of the xiuxingists, which was another reason why the righteous factions did not allow the existence of Demonism.

The elder guessed the thoughts in the youngster’s mind. His tone turned cold and his voice became harsh, “Demonism forcefully changes the body of xiuxingists, so how are they human after reinforcing their body?”

“Humans live between the heaven and earth but the heaven and earth are a world outside of human!”

“Absorbing the ki of nature into their flesh, Demonists want to make their bodies into a world.”

“But the only world there can be is Heaven!”

“Therefore the thoughts and practices of Demonism are of great evil and are forbidden!”

…….

One night. as they got close to Chang An, Ning Que came to the old man’s wagon again, but this time he was not invited. The stars shining on the camp, caused him to look especially sneaky.

The light in the wagon was still lit up, the old man, Lu Qing Chen was reading the notes Ning Que took at that day, looking at the beautiful calligraphy. He couldn’t understand how Ning Que managed to write such pretty words on a shaky wagon.

Suddenly he frowned slightly, slowly put down the paper in his hand, and looked at the curtain. “Come in,” he said.

Ning Que walked into the wagon, kneeling on the position where he used to kneel during the day and remained silent for a while. Then he spoke up, “Sir, I still don’t understand one thing. I don’t have the potential to xiuxing, why do you still spend so much time on teaching me?”

The youngster looked up, his eyes seemed extraordinarily bright and asked with a shaken voice, “Is it because you discovered my talent that you pay a lot of attention to me?”

The old man Lu Qing Chen looked at him surprisingly, opened up his mouth slightly, and after a while he asked, “Where is….your talent?”

Now it was Ning Que’s turn to be surprised. He looked dumbfounded. He asked embarrassedly, “If I knew where my talent was…. why would I have to ask sir.”

The old man shakingly pointed his think finger on his nose. He really didn’t know what to say now.

“Mr. Lu, actually I have many secrets.” It seemed that Ning Que still didn’t give up convincing a seethrough elite, trusting that he is a talented male protagonist. He rubbed his face nervously, said, “After I …came to Wei City, in everyone else’s eyes, I was extremely lazy, and sleepy all the time, but the reality is that, my sleepiness is due to meditation.”

“You don’t have to give me that look, this is real…You also know that there isn’t much entertainment in the frontier life. Everyday, I just love to write some words, because I am good at it, and I feel happy as I practice calligraphy. I am also reading Extreme Sense. You should understand how boring Extreme Sense is, so I often fall asleep as I read, but as I recall it now, it is not really sleeping.”

Ning Que looked at old man and said seriously, “Because when I fall asleep, I could often feel the constructions surrounding me and some others things leave me and fly away. The entire world becomes a place with only me and the world itself. I can even faintly sense some mysterious breath functioning in a particular pattern…”

Lu Qing Chen’s feelings gradually got serious. While extremely rare. there are some records about meditation during sleep in the Great Sky Way.

……