Nightfall

Why were human beings the wisest of all creatures? In the world Ning Que came from and the current one he was staying in, there had been various explanations. Some said it was because of the use of fire, while others said it was the use of tools. What makes human beings different from animals? The Youngest Brother and Jun Mo believed that it was because human beings had virtues. There were others who insisted that it was because of languages. Only languages could be passed on and language itself was powerful. That was the truth the Bookman eventually comprehended. It was also what Ning Que wanted to tell the Abbey Dean.

Ning Que held the unreal brush pen, soaked it in the sea of ink outside Chang’an, raised his wrist and elbow, and wrote two random, or even scratchy strokes in the air.

The Abbey Dean said nothing. He knew what Ning Que was writing must be an unprecedented mighty talisman throughout human history. He was well prepared for it. However he was not expecting it to be so scratchy.

Simply two strokes: one to the left, the other to the right. Was that the same character he wrote years ago?

The Abbey Dean looked toward the no longer azure but extremely pale sky, and found nothing. The character Ning Que wrote did not went up into the sky. Instead it fell onto the ground.

What was the purpose of unfolding the sky? It was to build a new world. He was to build a new world by tearing the ground.

…

…

Outside the Giant Sinkhole in the West Wilderness, millions of slaves were building their new home under the guidance of Tang. Despite the severe coldness and lack of hot springs, they had no complaints at all. It was because they could see further away from here instead of being surrounded by the chilling cliffs. They could go as far as they wish, and witness the sun rising from the horizon.

The sun seemed weird today. It was extremely bright and dazzling. Even the snow melted faster. Perhaps the earth would become fertile next year and they would have a great harvest. But they had been used to grow barley. They thought it might take a while for them to learn to grow good wheat.

But after all they were very happy. It was indeed different from the underground world. The sun seemed closer and more blazing. And people started singing and dancing cheerfully.

Two thousand miles to the east, there was the City of Wei that located on the north border of the Tang. The fields outside the city had been soaked in blood for a long while since the battle. The small hill of the skulls of the cavalrymen of Golden Tribe Royal Court was rotten. Instead of being purified by the blazing sunlight, it smelled even more bloody and stink. Those talisman lines consisted of footsteps across the blood stained fields became increasingly distinctive.

There was a line between the Giant Sinkhole and the City of Wei. It was the starting of a stroke. The stroke extended to the West-Hill in the southeast.

Chen Pipi looked at Chang’an being enveloped in extreme brightness, and put on a vague smile. He took down the divine crown and sat down with the thirteen disciples as well as tens of thousands of followers of the New Stream. They started chanting. It was the last volume of the canon of the New Stream, written by Ning Que. The simplest lines conveyed the most direct will and desire. People wanted to get out of the gloomy valleys and explore the wide world.

The stroke ended in Lanke Temple. The rocks in the valleys of Wa Mountain were suddenly lit up. The stroke that ran from east to west across the continent was the one that Ning Que wrote.

…

…

The other stroke started from the Min Mountain where Ning Que and Sangsang lived together for many years, crossed the ruined Helan City, headed for the extremely chilling north and ended on the snow peak.

On the collapsed cliff, Yu Lian held Li Manman in her arms and took a glance at Chang’an.

The stroke that ran from the south to the north across the continent was the other one Ning Que wrote.

…

…

The two strokes met in Chang’an.

The residents of Chang’an had all come to the streets. Like they did many years ago, they were holding kitchen knives and cudgels, ink-stones and paper-weights. They stared silently at the dazzling sky.

Except for those in the West Wilderness and the City of Chang’an protected by the God-Stunning Array, people in any other places around the world could not even open their eyes now. In a village to the south, Yang Erxi kept shooting toward the sky and cursed Heaven with his eyes closed. In the former Sword Garret in South Jin, a young disciple in mourning stabbed silently into the sky also with his eyes closed.

The New Stream already flourished in the human world. Chen Pipi’s voice was heard from the top to the bottom of Peach Mountain, and spread swiftly to every corner in the world. Countless people were listening carefully, chanting and praying together.

Outside the City of Chang’an, the Abbey Dean kept quiet. He used to tell Ning Que that he had a profound love for the world, for which he could go as far as being its enemy. However, when he really became the enemy of the world, he found it not so enjoyable.

…

…

Deep in the heart of the West Wilderness, a horrible sound was heard. The slaves stared blankly at the abyss appeared in the Giant Sinkhole and wondered what had happened.

The abyss extended to the southeast rapidly. The abyss was part of a rift. Earth was being torn apart. The rift came to the City of Wei in no time and devoured the evil and bloody fields. The rift went further to the Lanke Temple and eventually into the sea. A similar rift appeared in the Min Mountain and headed to the Snow Sea. It seemed like someone was writing on the sands with a twig. It was Ning Que. He was writing a talisman, an unprecedented mighty talisman that consisted of two simplest strokes. It was the simplest yet most complicated character: “People”.

…

…

The Abbey Dean looked toward the West Wilderness and the north. He witnessed Ning Que’s two simple strokes tearing the world with two rifts, and kept silent for a long while. Then he turned to Ning Que and said, “When you wrote this character in Chang’an years ago, I told you it was wrong… Today, you are even more wrong. You did not even write it upright.”

Many years ago when Master Yan Se died together with Wei Guangming on Anonymous Mountain to the north of Chang’an, he saw at the last moment of his life that Ning Que wrote a mighty talisman in the future. That was the one Ning Que wrote today.

The mighty talisman he saw was consisted of two simple strokes. It originated from the north of the Wilderness, with one stroke going west and the other going east. The two strokes met in Chang’an. It was an upright character of “people”.

Yet the character Ning Que wrote today originated from the west of the Wilderness, with one stroke going southeast and the other going north. The two strokes met in Chang’an. But it was not written upright.

“If you want to fight against me with the power of the human world, then you have to know what the word people means. If Jun Mo were to write it, he would definitely write it extremely upright. How could a person without integrity have a stand in the world?” the Abbey Dean looked calmly at Ning Que and asked.

Ning Que shook his head and said, “You are wrong.”

The Abbey Dean frowned slightly and said, “Why am I wrong?”

“No one in the world could teach me how to write.” Ning Que looked calmly at him and said, “What my Master Yan Se wanted to see was not necessarily right. Even if the Second Brother could write it, it would probably not be the truth.”

“For what reasons?”

“How could a person without integrity have a stand in the world? You are wrong. When there are storms, people seek shelter in caves. When there is thunder and fire, people hide in the reed marshes. Why should a man always stand upright? Nonsense! The character of ‘people’ is consisted of two opposite strokes that support each other. It would never fall. That is what people means.” Ning Que stared at him and said, “You don’t even understand what ‘people’ means. How could you possibly win?”

…

…

On the other side of the mountains and the seas, there were such a group of people. When they saw mountains, they wondered what there were beyond the mountains. When they saw seas they wanted to know what there were beyond the seas. When they saw the sky they wanted to know what there were in the sky. That was what they wanted.

These peoples’ wills gathered in Chang’an and helped Ning Que write the People Talisman. They declared to Heaven and Earth that they wanted more than survival.

People could be dishonorable, shameless, brutal or ruthless. They could even be more brutal and mean than animals. But they could also be charming and lofty. But it never mattered!

Even if there were no reasons or virtues, as long as they were human beings and stood on top of the world, they were qualified to eat meat, to travel further and to experience more! They were entitled to seek for the truth, to witness more and to keep going forward! Because they were human beings! Therefore they were human beings! “People” was the most noble word in the world! And the most powerful one! The Academy had always emphasized the reasons. This was the most powerful reasoning!

…

…

“You might be right.” The Abbey Dean looked calmly at Ning Que and said, “But that’s not enough.”

The two rifts on the earth deepened. Countless rocks fell into the abyss. The end of the rifts extended further as if they were about to cut the entire world. More amazingly, the horrifying power traveled further down in the rifts, as if they were tying up a bunch of volumes. It even made the earth bend!

The People Talisman was breaking the ground and building a new world! But the Abbey Dean said it was not enough!

“The rules and the world are like the two sides of a leaf. If you want to break the rules, you have to destroy the world. And you are indeed destroying the world. But the problem is, will I spare you the time?” In the vast brightness, the Abbey Dean seemed extremely solemn.

The entire world was showered in brightness. The sun was burning. The Divine Kingdom was becoming visible. Countless light beams fell from above. The chirping of cicadas were ceased. Hot steam accumulated above the Great Swamp. Some got blinded. Some fainted.

The two rifts on the earth shone in brightness and blue smoke came out of the abyss. It was a world of brightness. Only brightness. Every light beam carried power. Countless light beams carried massive power. Horrifying divine power fell from above.

The unprecedented mighty talisman Ning Que wrote was about to… no, the human world was about to change the human world. But Heaven would never let the human world change. Two bouts of extremely powerful energy met. The entire world started quaking. The invisible shield over Chang’an was almost collapsing.

“Do you want to ruin the world?” Ning Que asked.

The Abbey Dean said calmly, “You can stop now.”

Ning Que thought for a while and said, “No. I’ll never be threatened.”

The Abbey Dean said after a pause, “You definitely will be.”

Ning Que said, “My Master used to say I only love one person, not people.”

The Abbey Dean said calmly, “No. It was in the past. If you have no love for the people, how could you write a character like that?”

Ning Que said nothing.

Sangsang became even weaker. She could barely hold the Core Vajra of the Array. The golden figure was about to leave her body completely. There was only the last wisp of connection left.

The Arcane Tome of the Sky held by the Abbey Dean was waiting for her to return. He looked toward the dashing light streams and sensed the horror.

The sun was increasingly dazzling. Even someone like him could no longer look steadily at it. Who could turn the tides? Who could make the overwhelming brightness disappear?

He recalled the chess play in the Lanke Temple again. Back then the rules inside the chessboard turned into countless pure light spots and hunted Sangsang around. What a coincidence?

At that time he opened the big black umbrella and helped Sangsang and himself survive the hunt.

The big black umbrella was a part of the darkness. But now there was nothing left except for the brightness. What could possibly block it?

…

…

It was sweltering in Linkang. People were crying and screaming along the shabby streets.

A pretty girl wiped off the sweat on her forehead. She sensed the approaching death and took out a piece of paper from the drawer. Looking at the lines on the paper she managed to calm down.

Her name was Huan Zi. She was the female student whom had Ye Su enrolled. She was a follower of the New Stream. When Ye Su died, she returned to Linkang and preached secretly in memory of her teacher.

She started reading from the piece of paper. It was what Ye Su said before he died: “When the Ever Night comes, the glory of the sun will be completely blocked. Heaven and Earth will be enveloped by darkness. People will hail to it. Because that’s when they will begin to live the real life.”

…

…

Ning Que took out something and put it on his face. It was a pair of glasses, made of ink. He looked into the bright sun in the sky. With the glasses, he could finally see it clearly. He would like to see whether the Buddha’s prophecy on the Arcane Tome of the Bright would come true and whether Ye Su’s prediction would come true.

The brightness that enveloped the world was dimmed. Then it was further dimmed. Then the massive brightness was gone. Countless people looked above to the dimming sky. People were afraid of darkness by instinct. But when there was nothing left but the brightness, they would rather welcome the night.

Then there came the night. All of a sudden, the world was dimmed. The night fell on the human world.

The world was silenced.

…

…

Sangsang turned over in his arms. She stared at the sky and seemed confused. Even someone like her could never expect this.

“Is this… the Ever Night?”

“No.” Ning Que put the sunglasses on her and smiled, “It’s an eclipse.”

“Look, the moon is blocking the sun.”

“The Headmaster told me about this on the boat years ago.”

“That is how a solar eclipse is formed.”

“The Headmaster finally figured out what he should do.”

“He should have done it long ago, long ago.”

“But still… It’s awesome!”

…