Nightfall

At the end of Spring, green trees and dense flowers matched perfectly to contribute to a beautiful scene in the South School of Haotian. Deep inside the secluded temple, Li Qingshan, the Master of Nation of Tang Empire looked at the sluttery old Taoist on the opposite side after a long period of silence and said, “I always think there are some problems with the method.”

“What’s the problem?” Master Yan Se looked at the teacup on the teapoy, thinking of the teacup in the pavilion that day.

Li Qingshan answered, “Ning Que has great potential, but after all he is a green hand in Talisman Taoism. He is like a piece of blank paper waiting to be painted, and that Talisman Taoism has inherited the exquisite knowledge, which is acquired through your lifelong comprehension. The decade of Classics about talisman is even the total essence accumulated for hundreds of years by our South School. But Senior Brother, all you did is to throw them to Ning Que and be indifferent to him. It is like pouring a basin of ink to that blank paper, which will, in no way, produce any delicate piece of calligraphy but a piece of smelly paper with black ink.”

Master Yan Se went silent.

Li Qingshan reluctantly said, “Now Ning Que is like a small empty teapot, which has been newly opened with a small break, but Senior Brother, you then forced to inject a whole ocean into it. Don’t you worry that he fails to handle the pressure and break apart?”

“If that kid knows you compared him to a teapot, perhaps it don’t bother to inject the ocean of knowledge or something, because he will directly be enraged and burst into pieces.”

Master Yan Se smiled, and then solemnly looked at Li Qingshan, saying, “Ning Que is a piece of blank paper, but the largest one I have ever seen. Be it you or me, we are all inexperienced and unsure about drawing on it. I can only throw this basin of ink onto the paper and let him draw it himself. Now that it is impossible to paint with a bald brushpen, then let the piece of blank paper do it by itself. As to what can be finally drawn, it depends on his understanding and perseverance.”

“As for the analogy of comparing him to teapot… I admit that it is possibly unbearable for him to absorb all those essences of what I comprehended during my past life and those accumulated in South School for hundreds of years in such a short time. Yet Younger Brother, you must admit although this method is simple and crude, it is the quickest and the most effective way. So long as this small teapot is not broken, then the tea will overflow it some day.”

“But it is also the most dangerous and unreliable way.”

Looking at Master Yen Se, Li Qingshan muffled, “What if that piece of blank paper is directly pasted to the ground by the ink without even drawing by itself? What if this small teapot break into pieces before the fragrant tea can be forced out from its spout? Ning Que is not only the successor of you, but also the disciple of Headmaster of Academy, and now, he is even a great young man whom the Emperor placed high hopes on. I do not understand why you need to push him so hard? Obviously, there are many more conservative and reliable methods.”

“Because he is anxious, so am I. The whole world seems to be anxious too.”

Master Yan Se looked up to see the north sky outside the South School, sentimentally saying, “To be a Divine Talisman Master within ten years? It doesn’t meet the ambition of this student, or the ambition of mine. The world is gradually in turmoil, so it is hard for Ning Que to enjoy a stable and conservative environment for cultivation. The key point is, I recently found out that there isn’t much time left.”

Looking at the hoary and old face of Master Yan Se, Li Qingshan sorrowfully said after quite a long time of silence, “I see.”

Master Yan Se smiled. He stood up difficultly from the floor and walked to the outside of the temple under the help of a middle-aged and charming female Taoist.

Looking at his hoary and old back, Li Qingshan suddenly said, “Senior Brother, stop hanging out recently. How about staying in South School to chat with me? Although we belong to the same school for over a decade, we haven’t even had a game of chess.”

Without turning back, Master Yan Se waved his hand smilingly and said in a hoarse voice, “You are not a young and beautiful lady, hence, it’s really boring to play with you. Don’t worry, if I’m dying, I will definitely come back to see you for the last time.”

Li Qingshan shifted his eyesight to the small teapot where hot mist was coming out from its spout on the stove next to the table, without uttering more words. He figured in his heart, “Since you are determined to be the stove that boils the pot of tea, then I can only find ways to help that fellow.”

After leaving the Temple of South School of Haotian, Master Yan Se directly went to House of Red Sleeves to the small courtyard he was most familiar with.

Dewdrop was now counting notes that she had earned with her maidservant. They had made a fortune just by selling copies of Chicken Soup Calligraphy. The sudden crack of the door and the sight of the naughty old Taoist standing at the door startled them to rise up.

She used to think that this obscene Taoist was just generous, thus treating him with patience and hospitality. But the recognition of his true status had driven her to welcome him at the quickest speed, without pretending to be maidenly.

“The master has come.”

The girl Dewdrop deeply squatted to show her particularly respect towards him. She had intended to be more enthusiastic, but was too nervous to do so at the thought of the fact that this Taoist was said to be as important as those first-class figures in fairyland.

Making several strange laughs, Master Yan Se reached his hand to slightly wrest her plump waist, saying, “You don’t need to be so nervous even if you know my status. After all, I am the one that have to pay, so I should please you.”

Dewdrop saw the situation and cuddled into his arms as she said with embarrassment, “You’re here to tease me again. I thought you were a recluse with no fixed abode and would not stay in this earthy world for too long like those immortals. I was just lamenting that we wouldn’t see each other again.”

This had enraged Master Yan Se, who then said, “The cosmetics you wear are much more in my favor than the ink on talisman paper, then how can I bear to ignore them?”

…

…

A few steps up the cliff, there was a cave of about ten meters height, above which birds were quickly flying in and out. On the gentle slope outside the cave stood a small two storey high wooden building, the surface of which was full of mottles after going through wind and storm and filled with traces of bird feces. It was not known how many years it had been standing in such a way under this range of cliff.

Ning Que smelt a familiar smell although they were still some distance away from the small building, then he asked with his face turning slightly pale, “Do you smell it?”

Chen Pipi exhaled and blankly said, “What smell?”

“You even don’t get such dense smell?” Ning Que stared at his eyes, and trembling said, “It’s the stink from the grainy paper made in Huangzhou and the ink, which is making me sick now. Why do you have to bring me here?”

Chen Pipi was sure that beside the old scholar in that building there must be paper and ink, but he really didn’t smell the smell of ink and paper which made Ning Que so sick with a pale face. He reached out his hand to tweak his nose, thinking that this guy must have been studying Talisman Taoism so crazily recently, to the extent that he had become so sensitive.

Ning Que raised his sleeve to cover his nose and followed him to the wooden building. As he approached the building, the smell of paper and ink became denser, which made him even more uncomfortable. In recent days, he persisted in grinding the ink and carefully studying the paper yet was unable to write a stroke, so subconsciously he was quite fearful and disgusted by the smell.

Below the wooden building there was an open stone platform, on which lay a large table. On the table, there were mountainously-large volumn of books.

A gray-haired old scholar was sitting behind the books.

The old scholar held an old book in his left hand, and a half-bald brushpen in the other. He sometimes chanted sentences facing the old book, sometimes wrote some figures on the paper with the brushpen. It was not known what wonderful things he came across when his long eyebrows drifted up to the air and his facial expressions brightened as if he wanted to dance.

The old scholar was too focused on reading and copying books to be affected by the chuckling flock of birds above the cave or the approaching Chen Pipi and Ning Que. It was as if when he began to read, the whole world would vanish in an instant except for the book he was reading.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!”

The old scholar had found another piece of wonderful words in the volume and thus copied them down on the paper at the quickest speed. Then he licked the half-bald brushpen, as if it had the most delicious taste in the world, which should trigger him to dance with delight.

Looking at the old scholar, Ning Que turned back to Chen Pipi with great confusion, saying, “Indeed he is reading. But what’s the use of seeing him reading? Is it helpful to my pursuit of Talisman Taoism?”

“Eldest Brother once told us, many years ago, the Headmaster of Academy found this old scholar had a big potential in cultivation, yet was directly refused by the old scholar.”

Looking at the old scholar who was crazily reading and copying books behind the table, Chen Pipi couldn’t help but shrugging his shoulders and said, “In his eyes, reading is the most meaningful thing in this world. As for cultivation, it is really a waste of time.”

“This old gentleman does nothing but reading and he thinks nothing else worth doing. Even the Headmaster of Academy doesn’t know how to deal with him. Moreover, he is bad-tempered, who will be enraged when interrupted by others during reading. Then gradually, no one in this Back Mountain of the Academy would like to communicate with him, and even the best-tempered Eldest Brother won’t bother with him.”

Ning Que looked at the old scholar behind the volumes of books, and said with sympathy, “Perhaps reading makes him pedantic.”

“Your comment is still polite.” Chen Pipi shook his head and said, “When he rejected the invitation of the Headmaster of Academy to pursue cultivation, Second Brother commented, “Reading has driven him to be a fool.”

A smile appeared on Ning Que’s face, which then froze in an instant. Ning Que turned back to Chen Pipi and asked with hesitation, “Wait… The reason why you take me to visit this old scholar who was said to be driven by reading into a fool, is that you want to prove, I will eventually become a fool like him after my crazy study on Talisman these days?”

“The opposite is true.” Chen Pippi took him to the stone platform and said, “Although we don’t like the old scholar, we still admire him. The purpose I bring you here is to tell you, your perseverance and hardworking that you think can prevail over your peers can actually be achieved by many others in this world. Or they can do it better than you.”

Ning Que couldn’t understand what he wanted to express. So he just followed him to the stone platform, during which he suddenly came upon one thing, asking, “Besides this old scholar, are there any others of a higher generation in the mountain? Do we have an uncle?”

“We used to have a Youngest Uncle, who I’ve heard to be that is the most vigorous figure in this world.”

Chen Pipi turned back and answered, “But sad to say, only Eldest Brother and Second Brother have seen him.”

…

…

Up the stone platform, Chen Pipi made a bow with two hands folded in front towards the old scholar and said with a smile, “Scholar, long time no see.”

Ning Que followed him to make a bow too, feeling it funny when he heard Chen Pipi called him scholar.

But the scholar seemed to be deaf-eared, as if he didn’t see the two men who had come to the front of him.

Then Chen Pippi said it loudly again, “Scholar, long time no see!”

His voice spread into the cave from besides the building and returned after several echoes which sounded even louder and clearer. The voice had startled those flocks of birds that were busy with nesting or other chores, which then scattered in the sky with frightened screams.

It was until then did the old scholar wake up from reading and looked up confusedly at the two men who seemed to suddenly appear before the table. All of a sudden his expression froze on his face, where one could see the disgust from his eyes. Then he shouted in a hoarse voice, “Why do you come here again! Go away! Quickly! Don’t interrupt my reading!”

Chen Pipi took a glimpse at Ning Que, shrugged, and then explained to the old scholar with a smile, “I bring the Younger Brother to you.”

“What is the good of your Younger Brother? Anyway he is not a book!”

He fetched out his hands to comb the gray hair drifting on his face towards the back of his head, and stared at Chen Pipi, angrily saying, “Last time you told me that the Academy would enroll a Younger Brother, and a representative form higher generation should be at present to show the seriousness of the scene, and you cheated me to stay at the peak for a whole night. How come you take another Younger Brother here? You want to cheat me to stay there again?”

“Oh, Heaven! Oh, Earth!”

He looked at Chen Pipi with great detest and bitterness as if he had killed his father, complaining, “Do you know how many books I can read for a whole night?”

Chen Pipi answered angrily, “That day you brought seven books with you to the peak, Aren’t they enough?”

“There’s no light on the peak!”

“The stars there are brighter than light!”

“As for reading, we have to borrow from sunlight or the lamplight, and how can we use the starlight!”

“Why not?”

“No feeling!”

“Are you reading a book, or feeling?”

“Idiot! Of course I have to feel good in reading!”

“Idiot! One can fall in love under starlight, why can’t you find feeling in reading under starlight?”

Ning Que had already been stunned at their dispute and verbal fight beside the table. It was only until now did he realize this man was really turned into a pedantic by book, and started to believe why those Senior Brothers behind the Academy didn’t show him much respect.

The scholar’s face was flushed and his chest constantly fluctuating. Obviously he was not comparable to Chen Pipi in quarreling because he was advanced in age and poor in health. What’s more, he quickly realized that the purpose of Chen Pipi to pay a special visit here and quarrel with him was clearly to distract him from reading books. Since he was so sure that he had figured out the evil intention of Chen Pipi, how could he allow Chen Pipi to make it?

“I won’t talk to you!” He grievedly said, “How can I finish reading so many books if I don’t make full use of my time? You knew what you are doing now? Are you trying to kill me? You are destroying my life!”

Finishing this sentence, the scholar began to focus on reading and copying books again, regardless of the verb attacks from Chen Pipi.

Ning Que frowned at the thickly-dotted books on the bookshelf in the building, saying, “Although there are many books here, if you concentrate on reading, you can quickly finish reading them even if those books in the old library of the Academy was accounted. What has made him so painful?”

Upon hearing these words, Chen Pipi shook his head with a bitter smile and led him to the cave.

It was strange that inside the cave it remained dry. From the crack between the rocks above a beam of faint sunlight shone in to lighten the cave, which was hence not so dim. Some unknown trees grew in the cave, with constant chirping of birds sometimes heard around them.

Looking up and down at the cave, Ning Que rested his eyes on the cliff wall, which suddenly made him stiffened and speechless.

There were many wooden frames on the cliff, looking like a bookshelf magnified for numerous times.

There are no nests, no treasures, no statues, nor potted plants but only one thing on those wooden shelves.

Those were books.

Countless books.

A whole cliff of books.

A mountain of books.

…

…

“Since the establishment of the Academy, it has never ceased collecting books. Over the past thousands of years, numerous books have been stored here, ranging from ancient books to more recent ones. So it is really painful for the scholar to read so many books.”

Glancing at Ning Que, Chen Pipi lamented over those dense books laying as high as ten meters, “If knowledge can be calculated based on the number of books, then at least seventy percent of knowledge in the world is in the Academy.”

In Ning Que’s eyes, the whole cliff of books was as astonishing as that inky ocean aroused on the Mountain Path during mountaineering, which pressed him too hard to take a breath. Then he barely woke up from the astonishment after a long time.

Climbing up along the steep ropeway on the edge of the cave, they came to the third shelf, and then continued to move ahead for about ten meters on a wooden plate which only allowed one person to pass each time. Ning Que stopped to look back at those dense books just before his eyes, gradually feeling confused. If those books had been collected from thousands of years ago, why they just grew slightly yellowish and faded even without being eroded by the environment. What was more strange was why those books exposed in the open air were not covered with thick dust?

Chen Pipi, who probably guessed his confusion, said with a smile, “When you enter a certain state, you will probably know it’s quite easy to remove dust from those books. With just a slight rise of your finger, the wind in the cave will do it for you.”

Ning Que was suddenly enlightened, who then immediately thought, if Sangsang could pursue cultivation, it would be easier for her to do the housework. While thinking, he randomly drew a book from the shelf, the cover of which wrote “Notes about Liangjing”. Figuring it might be notes from a man of letter, he opened the book where words like white butt, rubbing to and from, protruding tongues and newly stripping bumped into his eyes, making him somewhat stiffened.

He asked in great surprise, “Even erotic books are collected?”

Chen Pipi answered, “The Headmaster of Academy said to open a book is always beneficial, and then how can we decide if it is good or not based on its title? If there is shit in your heart, you will regard everything as shit. If you are obscene, you will be disturbed by just reading seven volumes of sealed books. So they won’t disturb you if you don’t regard them as erotic books in heart.”

Ning Que couldn’t help but looked admiringly at looked at the solemnness on his plump face, sincerely asking, “Then what do you regard them as?”

“Me?” Chen Pipi waved his sleeves and calmly answered, “I haven’t reached that state. Since they are erotic books,I can’t regard them as other things. So don’t push yourself too hard in such things.”

Ning Que looked at him and sighed with no more words.

…

…

To a man who was keen on reading and regarded reading as the most important and the only thing in his life, a whole cliff of books which seemed to be countless was no doubt a big treasure, and also a big tragedy. Because it was after all an impossible mission to finish reading countless books during one’s lifetime.

Out of the Cave, Ning Que looked back at the old scholar who was holding that volume of book, who sometimes chanted or copied books, to show his happiness or sorrowfulness. Then he somewhat understood why he behaved so extremely and anxiously.

So he walked to the table, and made a deep bow with two hands folded in the front towards the aged scholar, sincerely rather lacking in a deep gift to the old scholar, sincerely consulting, “Uncle, if finally you can’t finish reading those books, what will you do? Won’t you feel disappointed? What drives you to read on?”

Unlike Chen Pipi who called him scholar, Ning Que called him uncle, because he had entered the mountain earlier than him and was older than him, and more because Ning Que had a sense of inexplicable respect towards those who were persistent enough to do things in such an extreme.

Perhaps he had found the sincerity from Ning Que’s tone, or perhaps he had found something in common with Ning Que, the aged scholar didn’t wave his hand impatiently to drive Ning Que away, instead, he slowly put down the volume of book.

Then he recalled, “I forgot how old I was when I started to study in the mountain, but I remember when I was twenty, I thought myself to be able to finish reading all the books in the world.”

Ning Que quietly listened to him.

The scholar continued, “But when I was fifty, I found it was impossible, because while I was reading, others were constantly writing new books. Moreover, as I grew older, I became less energetic and read slower. What’s more horrible thing is that I started to forget all those books that I read at a young age now.”

Looking at Ning Que’s eyes, he smiled and said, “If you can’t recall the books you have read, how you can say you have read them? So I have to pick up those books again and began to copy them while reading for fear that I may forget them again.”

Ning Que asked, “Then won’t that be even slower?”

“Yes.” The scholar sighed and replied, “So I’ve already know that I could not finish reading all the books of the world in my life, even just those collected by the Academy.”

Ning Que asked with his eyebrows slightly frowned up, “Won’t you feel disappointed?”

“Far more than that, completely desperate.”

The scholar shook his head and said, “The day I realized I couldn’t finish reading all the books collected here, I felt the whole world collapsed. I didn’t want to eat nor sleep; even… didn’t want to read books.”

Ning Que could imagine how mentally-shaken a man was when he chose to stop reading books when all he could do was to read books and nothing else for the past years. He naturally related it with his mental state these days and sincerely consulted after a moment of silence, “Uncle, How did you overcome the barrier?”

“Because I asked myself a question.”

The scholar said, “Do you really like reading itself, or reading all the books?”

“Not after a long time I came up with the answer and what I really like is reading itself.”

“Now I am already 102 years old, and perhaps will close my eyes forever some day. But I can never be sure when I will die, then so long as I continue reading, what does it matter if I can’t finish reading them? I can comfort myself that every minute and every second before I die, I have been doing my favorite things. Then I will feel happy and satisfied.”

…

…

“Do you really like cultivation? Or killing others after reaching a certain state in cultivation?”

“I need to think carefully about this issue.”

Walking on the Mountain Path behind the Academy, Ning Que recalled his previous dialogue with the old scholar. Faintly he understood something very important. Listening to the melodious music from the cliff terrace, he slowly stopped.

Chen Pipi looked at him and asked after quite a long time of silence, “Do you figure it out?”

“Yes, what I really like is cultivation itself.”

Accompanied by the melodious music, Ning Que thought of these things encountered in the Back Mountain of the Academy these days.

Two Senior Brothers were addicted in chess game regardless of their hunger. Two others were immersed in vertical bamboo flute and lyre regardless of the surroundings. Eleventh Brother wore hairpins allover his head, who looked like a madman but was regardless of others’ peculiar eyes. The uncle reading outside the cave persisted in reading books so enthusiastically although he was already one hundred years old.

He also recalled the year when he rolled around in the woods of Min Mountain for the excitement after making some progress in the art of archery, the year when he screamed out of ecstasy with the sharpenness of his knife skill in the frontier fortress of the City of Wei, last year when he smiled towards the stars against the west window of the old library and every night when he became stiffened at the table…

“Everyone will encounter many problems. If you want to solve these problems, one must concentrate on it and use the impulsion from your craziness. But the craziness must not be as heavy as the mountains that compressed on your shoulders; instead, it should grow towards the joy which you are yearning for in the deepest of your heart.”

Looking at the beautiful Back Mountain of the Academy, Ning Que said, “I used to be crazy about cultivation, yet I forgot the root of this craziness is my passion in it, where there’s no fabricated hope, fabricated disappointment, nor despair. Life is like answering a set of questions, it is full of different type of craziness and passion. If you like something, then just do it. I believe in the end, one will be able to find the answer to a question.”