Nightfall

They left the palace and headed north again. The route Ning Que gave was very clear, namely following the caravan out of Tuyang City. But when they came to this snowfield pass, the intel from Imperial Center Administration and secret guards had been interrupted, leaving them no option but to explore the rest of the way by themselves. Fortunately, they have been extremely cautious all the way and always kept Tianqi Mountains clearly visible on their left hands side even in the snow. Even if they could not catch up with the caravan, they could at least return via the original route.

It was unclear whether it was his writing or his shameless character that played a role, but eventually Mo Shanshan did not leave with the Divine Hall strongmen, but went north with him. In this lonely journey, the two often talked about Calligraphy and Talisman Taoism. They both learned a lot from each other, especially Ning Que who mastered more basic methods of Talisman Taoism through her presentation. He even vaguely felt he was about to break through the realm, which made him very happy.

Mo Shanshan was in a good mood too. As she had said, she liked to see Ning Que’s calligraphy. Every time they stopped to take a rest, she would see Ning Que holding an ink brush or a twig to write on a mud or snowfield, making this dull journey more interesting as the snowfield became his inkwell.

As the twig moved swiftly in the snow, Ning Que looked at his own calligraphy and nodded with satisfaction. He found that under the pressure of Mo Shanshan, he improved his cultivation state as well as calligraphy skills.

Mo Shanshan pulled the scarf from her chest to her shoulder and slightly tilted her body forwards. She looked down at his calligraphy attentively and made slow gestures in the air with her index finger as if to mimic him.

Ning Que knew about her poor eyesight and he was used to her concentration and posture every time she contemplated calligraphy. Under the pass, a whiff of cold wind and snow was blowing, making a howling sound through her scarf. Her black hair was drifting backward and her face blushed lightly, it was a beautiful sight.

Behind a snow dome, the Big Black Horse raised its head and kicked its front hooves out of boredom. No one knew it ate all day to be so unafraid of such cold weather.

Next to it was a maroon mare with a mat on its back and cloth that wrapped its hooves, though it still seemed to be a bit cold, and kept leaning towards the Big Black Horse, carefully and gently rubbing the latter, as if wanting to seek for warmth while trying not to annoy him too much.

The Big Black Horse gently snorted, looking slightly displeased but did not move away after all. Instead, it stood proudly in the snow, blocking the snow and wind on the right side of the maroon mare.

Mo Shanshan slowly ceased movement of her fingers as she had completed her tracing, but she didn’t look up and instead continued to carefully study calligraphy on the snow, as if trying to firmly engrave them in her mind.

Ning Que removed the black mask from his face and asked, “Yesterday, I asked you about how to break through the realm. You said everyone’s situation was different. The higher one goes, the more difficult it gets. But I just wanted to enter Seethrough from No Doubts State, which shouldn’t be very hard to achieve. Why didn’t I make any progress for such a long time since we left Dongsheng Stockaded Village?”

Mo Shanshan straightened her body to look at him and said quietly, “You began to be enlightened this spring and now in less than one year, you have seen the Front Gate of Seethrough. If you didn’t lie, then it can only mean that you’re a Taoism cultivation genius. It also explains why the Headmaster of the Academy chose you as his student.”

Ning Que asked, “You’re saying that compared to others I’ve already done really well?”

Mo Shanshan batted her eyelashes subtly and asked, “Who do you mean by the others?”

After a brief silence, Ning Que replied, “Prince Long Qing.”

Mo Shanshan said with a serious face, “I thought you didn’t buy the ridiculous argument of the archenemy?”

Ning Que laughed and said, “It is said that Prince Long Qing is only one step away from entering the Knowing Destiny State. If he really makes it, I can never be his archenemy even if I want to. Besides… ”

His smile gradually disappeared as he went on to say, “The Divine Hall respects the Academy, but respect doesn’t mean fear, especially for someone like Prince Long Qing who will certainly find the opportunity to personally defeat or even kill me in order to improve his so-called Taoist Heart. If he really entered Knowing Destiny State, he could really kick my ass big time.”

Mo Shanshan continued to look at him, as if looking at the snow outside the dome. She tried to guess what he was thinking and after a long silence, she whispered, “You want to defeat him?”

“Pride and confidence come from strength. But I ain’t no Second Brother.”

He went on to say, “That’s why I don’t expect to defeat him now. But I’m thinking that if I could delay his footsteps into Knowing Destiny State, maybe one day I can catch up with him.”

“I think you should have time, though it might not be enough.”

Mo Shanshan looked at him and showed a very rare smile on her usually expressionless face. The smile looked a little out of practice, but it was nevertheless full of comforting warmth and encouragement.

“Among the five realms of cultivation, the final one is the hardest. Knowing Destiny is a very tough one. Although I can now manage to accomplish a Semi-Divine Talisman, it was only a Lucky Chance I ran into. I was never able to see the threshold of Knowing Destiny State.”

Mo Shanshan continued. “Although Prince Long Qing is recognized as the first man of this young generation who is most likely to enter Knowing Destiny State, I believe he only saw that threshold. He still needs some time to overcome that threshold. I’ve been thinking lately that, it’s part of the reason why Divine Hall let us enter the Wilderness.”

Something suddenly crossed Ning Que’s mind as he frowned and asked, “You also once said that Long Qing is not as strong as the Tao Addict. If Long Qing has seen the threshold of Knowing Destiny State, how about Tao Addict?”

“Perhaps she’s got one foot over? Or perhaps she just saw the threshold too.”

Mo Shanshan said, “Tao Addict’s strength not only lies in her cultivation state, but also in her subtle mastery of Taoism. It’s said that the Divine Hall hierarch had once praised her mastery of all cultivation methods. You may get a glimpse of her strength from that.”

Upon listening to the words of “mastery of all cultivation methods”, Ning Que couldn’t help feeling shocked. When he was about to ask further, he suddenly raised his eyebrow and stretched his arm to grab the big black umbrella behind him.

Outside the pass, there was a very subtle sound of arrow shooting in the snow and wind.

Although Mo Shanshan was not as sensitive to sound as Ning Que, as a cultivator in Seethrough Superior State it didn’t take her long to detect the arrow too. She moved her fingers swiftly and snatched a piece of Fu paper.

Ning Que raised his hand to stop her, for he managed to hear that the arrow wasn’t coming for them.

An arrow shot deep into a gentle slope outside the snow dome.

A snow rabbit hidden in the slope was shot in its hip, it struggled desperately and jumped into the pass.

As it fell into the snow dome and bounced a couple times, it dropped dead.

Ning Que’s calligraphy on the snow got kicked into a complete mess.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the snow slope outside the pass. Ning Que glanced at Mo Shanshan signaling that he could deal with this on his own. He released the umbrella handle, and held the hilt of the knife.

Someone dressed in animal skin and cotton clothes climbed over the edge of the snow dome, searching for the injured snow rabbit. Upon seeing the two horses before noticing Ning Que and Mo Shanshan, the stranger was startled and pointed a bow and an arrow at them.

Ning Que frowned and looked at the short bow in the hands of the stranger. He noticed how the bow material was somewhat special, the twisted wires shining slightly in the bowstring, which didn’t look like animal tendon. Then Ning Que noticed strands of long hair drifting out from the stranger’s hat brim. He looked carefully at that face, and noticed it was a woman in her thirties.

He held the hilt, looked at her calmly and said, “We mean no harm.”

Mo Shanshan glanced at him not knowing what he was going to do. Although she could confirm that the woman was just an ordinary person, shouldn’t they be more cautious being so near to the Desolate Man tribe?

The woman listened to Ning Que’s words and looked a little surprised. She hurried backward, stepping on the edge of the snow dome until she set herself far enough away from Ning Que, slightly relieved, she asked, “Central Plains people?”

The tone of her speech was a bit strange, for she rarely flicked the tip of her tongue. And the lapse between words remained even, which made her words sound straightforward and tough. But they could still understand these three words.

Ning Que looked back at her and asked sternly, “The Desolate?”

The woman did not answer his question but looked warily at the two. She pulled the short bow tighter, uttering a tense sound as if the arrow would be shot anytime. Then she continued. “Central Plains people?”

Mo Shanshan wasn’t good at lying nor did she need to given the circumstance, so she blankly replied, “I come from the Great River Kingdom.”

The woman shook her head and said, “Never heard of it.”

Mo Shanshan pointed at Ning Que and said, “He is a Tang. I think you should have heard of it.”

Ning Que thought to himself that this ain’t good, for the Tang Empire exiled the Desolate Men to the Cold region in the Far North a millennium ago. Given the history of hate and hostility between the two sides, this Desolate woman was sure to freak out upon finding out that he was Tang!

His right hand holding the hilt slightly stiffened, ready to strike ahead of her attack.

Unexpectedly, upon hearing the word “Tang”, the woman was only slightly startled and did not react too violently. Instead she seemed to have calmed down and said, “I’ve heard of the Tangs.”

Ning Que frowned and asked, “You have?”

“Yes.” The woman said in her peculiar tone, “Everyone in the tribe knows that we moved away many years ago, for our ancestors did not defeat yours.”

Even more confused, Ning Que asked, “So if you know I’m Tang, why aren’t you mad?”

The woman withdrew her bow and arrow, saying blankly, “We lost the fight and we accepted the failure. Why should I be mad?”

Ning Que scratched his head and said, “It seems to… make sense.”

…

…

This was the first time that Ning Que and Mo Shanshan met the Desolate. Through their brief contact and conversation, the two discovered that the Desolate Men were totally unlike rumored monsters who could eat rocks and drink molten metal. In fact, they hunted, conversed, wore clothes and worked hard for a living every day just like any ordinary person.

That Desolate woman disregarded them and pulled the arrow out of the snow rabbit’s body and carefully checked out the wear of the arrowhead. Then she grabbed some snow and rubbed the blood off the rabbit and threw it into a bag on her back.

Mo Shanshan looked at her in quietness, and suddenly asked, “Why did you come to the south?”

This time Ning Que glanced at her.

He came to this wilderness occupied by Desolate Men for a clear goal, not for Divine Hall or the peace of Central Plains countries. He was to find the Tomes of Arcane. Of course, he did not want to deal with these fierce Desolate Men.

The Desolate woman glanced at her and said, “Why can’t we come?”

Mo Shanshan said, “This place belongs to others.”

The woman said, “Many years ago this was our hometown. After we left, it was occupied by these barbarians. Why can’t we come back?”

Mo Shanshan looked at her and asked very seriously, “But generations of grassland barbarians have lived here for so many years. Now you have occupied their land. How can they survive?”

Ning Que looked at her and thought.”Although you’re a genius Calligraphy Addict, how could you ask such a stupid question?”

This Desolate woman looked at Mo Shanshan as if seeing an idiot and said, “How could we survive if we didn’t take it back?”

Ning Que burst out laughing.

Mo Shanshan blankly glanced at him as she took the reins of the maroon mare and followed the Desolate woman across the edge of the snow dome to walk down the gentle slope.

Ning Que paused briefly and hurried to keep up.

The Big Black Horse was stunned for a while to find that no one cared about him as everyone just left! It resentfully kicked snowflakes and tried to keep up with them as he carried the heavy luggage.

…

…

After several conversations, Ning Que felt that Desolate Men were really rather interesting and had a similar temperament compared to the Tangs. However, he still wasn’t ready to make much contact with them. But he didn’t expect it when Mo Shanshan seemed to think otherwise.

Mo Shanshan looked at the Desolate woman who walked in front with a bow on her back and whispered. “We’ll be fighting the Desolate Men next spring, so obviously we should find out the true situation of the Desolate tribe. The Divine Hall sent us here for intel, and this Desolate woman doesn’t seem to suspect us. Isn’t it the best chance for us?”

Ning Que shook his head and thought that he had nothing to do with the war between Divine Hall and the Desolate Men. However, since Mo Shanshan insisted on making this encounter part of her earthly trial, he could not oppose it.

Not long after they walked out of the snow dome and turned east, they saw a solitary tent painted with something resembling black mud on its surface, which seemed to be able to shelter from the wind and cold. But it was still a long way till they arrived at the settlement of the Desolate Men, so they wondered why the woman lived here.

The Desolate woman didn’t invite them in, nor did she show much hostility toward them. She let them into the tent and threw a large chunk of dry meat to them, and then poured them two bowls of hot water.

There was not too much salt in the dry meat and it was tasteless to chew. But if it was mixed with saliva for a long enough, it would give off an original flavor of raw nature. After leaving City of Wei, Ning Que rarely had access to something so crude, so he kept chewing happily and simply could not spare any time to speak.

Mo Shanshan thanked the woman and tore two slices of meat into her mouth and chewed slowly. Judging from her expression, one couldn’t tell whether it was tasty or not.

The Desolate woman kept her head down and worked attentively on a piece of animal skin and did not pay attention to them.

In the tent, there was no quarrel, simply silence.

Ning Que sensed a weird atmosphere and could not help looking up at Mo Shanshan. “Didn’t you mean to explore the enemy and the real situation of the Desolate Man tribe? Can you achieve this by staying quiet?”