Nightfall

The old scroll in Ning Que’s hand was the Tome of Arcane, the “Ming” Handscroll.

Last year, during autumn, the West-Hill Divine Palace issued an order for all Central Plains countries to form a coalition with the Northern Expedition Left King’s Palace. Yet silently, there were numerous strong fighters hidden deep in the Wilderness. All of these strong fighters were waiting for the opening of the Front Gate of the Devil’s Doctrine in response to Heaven and their main reason for entering the Devil’s Doctrine was none other than this Tome of Arcane.

However, no one knew that this Tome of Arcane, the only Haotian Taoism handscroll that has lost its traces for thousands of years in the wild, has always been casually slotted by the waist of the Eldest Brother in the Academy.

Beside the bonfire in the forest of the Wilderness, Ning Que and Eldest Brother once had a conversation about this Book of Heaven. They had even flipped open the cover page of this Tome of Arcane, which responded to that West-Hill Great Divine Priest of Revelation’s prophesy. However, at that time, he was still incapable of even taking a glance at the Tome of Arcane.

Ning Que held on to the “Ming” Handscroll as though he was grabbing a thick stack of large notes, yet it also seemed like he was holding onto Second Brother’s high crown. He was exceptionally nervous, to the extent that his arm began to shiver a little.

“Senior Brother, I seriously do not dare read it.”

Eldest Brother looked at him and grinned, as he said, “Since the Teacher told me to deliver this scroll to you after you’ve broken out from the cave, I believe you should be able to understand some of the content now. You have to understand that this scroll is the most unique one out of the seven Tomes of Arcane. Try to understand as much as possible. I trust that it will be beneficial for you in some way or another.”

Ning Que recalled the horrifying pressure his sense of perception had experienced when he opened the Book of Heaven “Ming” Handscroll on the Wilderness. He smiled bitterly and said, “I’m not too sure if that benefit is worth that level of pain.”

Eldest Brother said, “The historical origin of the Divine Hall Revelation Department came from this scroll. Some of the important ideas in the Buddhism Sect are related to this scroll as well. The Devil’s Doctrine was directly produced from the basis of this Tome of Arcane. This Tome of Arcane has directly created many changes in our world. Do you think it is worth it?”

Ning Que suddenly felt curious and asked, “Eldest Brother, since you always bring this Tome of Arcane with you, I suppose you have read it for a long time. What kind of benefits did you achieve?”

“Concrete benefits may not necessarily be benefits.”

Eldest Brother hesitated for a moment before he replied honestly, “Moreover, I have difficulty understanding many parts in this Tome of Arcane.”

Ning Que thought of a matter and said, “Senior Brother once said this before: If the seven Tomes of Arcane were opened in this mortal world, premonitions will definitely appear in front of everyone. Senior Brother has the capability of isolating the aura from Tomes of Arcane, but I don’t have such abilities. If I were to open this “Ming” handscroll now, isn’t it equivalent to me telling the others that this Tome of Arcane is within the Academy?”

Eldest Brother gazed towards the cliff cave.

Ning Que understood instantly.

Walking into the cliff cave, Sangsang had already swept and tidied a portion of the ground in advance. Ning Que folded his legs and sat down. After he calmed his heart and mind, without any hesitation, he reached out his arm and slowly opened the cover page of this Tome of Arcane, “Ming” Handscroll.

The moment his fingers opened the cover page, an extremely peaceful and indifferent aura jumped out of the pale yellow paper as it began to diffuse towards the entrance of the cliff cave.

The aura of the Tome of Arcane, “Ming” Handscroll, was non-mortal and it would, no doubt, spread towards the Heaven. If this aura was to reach the Heaven, it would then display a premonition via an extraordinary method right before all mortals’ eyes, announcing its own activation to the world.

Ning Que had no idea how and through what method Eldest Brother had used to contain this clear and peaceful non-mortal aura when he read this Tome of Arcane. However, he was not worried that the Tome of Arcane will be discovered by the strong fighters on earth when he flipped open this Tome of Arcane today.

That was because he was currently reading the scroll in the cliff cave and this cliff cave was inhibited by the Headmaster of the Academy.

Indeed, the clear and peaceful aura produced by the “Ming” Handscroll was unable to blend well with the aura of everything in the cliff cave as it indifferently yet stubbornly diffused towards the entrance of the cliff cave.

Yet right at the entrance of the cliff cave, the aura of “Ming” Handscroll met with the aura left behind by the Headmaster of the Academy.

The two auras met each other. There was no earth-shattering image, nor was there any repulsion. The auras just silently stared at each other, as they gradually quietened down.

According to some county in the Tang Empire, “reading the Tome of Arcane” usually meant the existence of a type of dividing line between the reader and the object that was being read. It was impossible for the reader to understand anything from the object.

After being imprisoned in the mountain cliff for three months, Ning Que ‘s state had advanced, where his energy and temperament had improved tremendously. However, as compared to the legendary Tome of Arcane “Ming” Handscroll, there was still a vastly huge distant apart.

Yet, it was also due to the bitter cultivation and penance he had endured through for the past 3 months, which enabled him to control the vigorous concussion that was affecting his sense of perception with extreme difficulty. He could finally lay his eyes on the pale yellow paper.

Till now, he was still unable to truly understand the Tome of Arcane, but at least he could finally see the characters on the pages clearly and remembered some of the mysterious sentences. It was just the clear and peaceful aura from the Tome of Arcane was unable to blend with the nature of the earth; hence, those sentences became increasingly broken in his mind.

…

…

A few moments later, Ning Que closed the cover page of the “Ming” Handscroll without any hesitation.

At this time, he had only read the first page of this Tome of Arcane.

It was as if he was worried that he could not resist the temptation of reading the Tome of Arcane, he no longer took a glance at the cover page of this Tome of Arcane, to the extent that he just shut his eyes tightly and frowned.

His sense of perception had reached its extreme limit and he could no longer bear the cold stare of the clear and peaceful aura from the “Ming” Handscroll. Thus, he must vacate himself from this world, which was way beyond his own ability.

Those old and simple wordings on the first page of the Tome of Arcane were still circulating in his mind, yet they were broken into tiny bits and pieces. They were like gravel falling after the mountain had collapsed, where one could no longer see how magnificent the mountain had been.

Reading the Tome of Arcane was indeed just about reading the Tome of Arcane. There was no way one could understand it, or even memorize it.

Ning Que felt somewhat disappointed.

Then again, without the appearance of the Headmaster of the Academy, he had managed to teach Ning Que some things via enclosing Ning Que in the cliff cave for three months.

That was apparently the patience and courage he once thought of.

Ning Que was not willing to give up that easily. He shut both his eyes firmly and he frowned his brows tightly as he clenched both his fists at his knees. He began to attempt to restore all these broken wordings from the Tome of Arcane back to its original form.

Such attempt required brainstorming, and once a human began to brainstorm, the Tome of Arcane seemed to be sneering at him at a space of nihility, causing pain to his sense of perception.

If it was by another person, the person would certainly be unable to re-organize these wordings from the Tome of Arcane.

However, Ning Que was a man with adequate patience and courage.

Most importantly, when he first entered the Academy two years ago, he was never sick of climbing the old library to read the calligraphies, even if it made him dizzy and vomit blood. After which, he finally managed to use Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong to get a step closer to those cultivators who were above Seethrough state and be able to understand words. He had a very sensitive inborn intuition towards words. Moreover, he had an ability that could not be described. Therefore, Master Yan Se was certain that he had the potential of a Divine Talisman Master.

Now that he looked back, all these past memories and experiences, especially those sufferings and lost thoughts he had gone through, seemed like a preparation for him. They existed to prepare him to read this Tome of Arcane today.

Guess that was what it meant by luck and such luck was neither arranged by the Haotian nor the Headmaster of Academy. It was achieved through his own hard work.

As time went by, those mysterious broken sentences left by the Tome of Arcane, “Ming” Handscroll, in his mental world gradually restored and re-organized themselves. Like the numerous amount of gravel fell to the ground in a precise and orderly manner as they slowly began to reform a mountain.

Ning Que finally recalled the few sentences on the first page of “Ming” Handscroll.

The first sentence in the opening chapter was : Wise men, so were the Sun and Moon.

“The cycle of the Sun and Moon, the light and the darkness, is an endless natural process.”

“And by nature, it is Tao.”

“Tao develops teachings.”

“When the teachings enter the period after noon, the night will come and the Moon will surface.”

Ning Que had no idea what these words mean on the Tomes of Arcane, but he could feel an unprecedented chill and fear. That was especially when he thought of a certain critical point, which instantly shocked him.

He raised his head and gazed out of the cliff cave. He noticed that it was already late night and realized that he had unknowingly brainstormed for a very long period. That Tome of Arcane on his knees was long gone and he had no idea where his Eldest Brother and Sangsang had gone to.

Above the mountain cliff during late night was a sky filled with stars, but there was no moon.

Ning Que had seen the moon before. In this world, he had yearned for the moon numerous times, whether it was round or crescent or curved like a perfect eyebrow. Yet he had never seen it before again.

Thus, he was very certain that there was no moon in this world. Perhaps no one in this world ever knew what a moon was. If so, why did it appear in the “Ming” Handscroll?

The few sentences on the first page of the Tome of Arcane, “Ming” Handscroll, seemed to be some kind of prediction.

The more Ning Que thought about it, the colder he felt.

Therefore, after a while, he then noticed a tall and huge figure stood at the edge of the cliff, with its back facing him.

At that split moment when he saw the big and tall figure, a warm feeling gushed into Ning Que’s body, dissolving all his fear and uneasiness into floral fragrance in the summer.

Ning Que stood up, massaged his nearly numb knees, and walked out of the cliff cave towards the edge of the cliff. He kneeled behind the tall and large figure as he heavily pressed his forehead onto the ground.

Now he had already understood the painstaking efforts the Headmaster of Academy had put in when he imprisoned him in the cliff cave.

Upon hearing the sound of Ning Que’s forehead knocking onto the ground, the Headmaster of the Academy did not turn his head. He gazed at the stars in the night sky, which seemed like diamonds embed onto a black cotton cloth, and asked abruptly, “How many sentences do you understand?”

Ning Que kept silent for a while, as he repeated the few sentences that he recalled from the “Ri” book.

“Wise men, so were the Sun and the Moon. The “Ming” Handscroll mentions about the logic behind the cycle of the Sun and the Moon. The cycle of the Sun and the Moon, the light and the darkness…” The Headmaster of the Academy tightened his brows and said, “And what’s a Moon?”

Ning Que kept quiet.

The Headmaster of Academy slowly turned around. With the dark sky surrounding the edge of the cliff, his silhouette seemed exceptionally big and tall.

Ning Que stared at Teacher and he felt as though he had seen him before.

The Headmaster of Academy looked at him and suddenly said, “When you were at the balcony of the Building of Pines and Cranes, you mentioned that I was a poor old fellow.”

Ning Que grinned embarrassingly and wished to provide an explanation. However, the Headmaster of Academy did not wish for his explanation as he continued, “Before you said I was a poor old fellow, you had mocked me with a sentence.”

“You mocked at me and said that I had never seen a moon before.”

“If that’s the case, I’m sure you’ve seen a moon before.”

The Headmaster of the Academy looked at the night sky that was filled with solely stars. He remained silent for a moment before he questioned, “Then, what is a moon?”

Ning Que did not know how to answer his question. His voice was slightly hoarse as he replied, “Teacher, how would I know what a moon is if you don’t even know what it is?”

The Headmaster of the Academy drew back his attention from the night sky and looked into Ning Que’s eyes. He said, “That’s because no one in this world knows everything about anything, including me. Yet you are a person who was born to know all.”

Upon listening to these words, cold sweat started to flow out from Ning Que and drenched his back.