Chapter 185 (1/2)
A middle-aged Taoist reached out his hands to close the Cla.s.sics and walked out of the hut slowly with his hands held behind him. He looked at his companion at the stone steps and said, ”I didn't expect there to be so many people of thisgeneration to be on the ”Ri” book.”
The Taoist at the stone steps asked confusedly, ”Who is on the book today?”
”Ning Que.”
”It sounds a little familiar... is it the Academy scholar who beat Longqing?”
”Yes. Although this lad has not yet entered Seethrough, he has already received Tao enlightenment. So he's eligible for entrance on the book.”
The Taoist at the stone steps was slightly startled but immediately praised, ”Headmaster of Academy is really awesome.”
”Yeah.” The other Taoist shook his head and said with complicated emotions, ”Although Headmaster of Academy was not in Chang'an when this little lad called Ning Que entered the Second floor of the Academy, this lad is still his student after all. This lad is so young but has started to learn Talisman Taoism. I believe that the name will appear in the first few pages of the ”Ri” book in a little more than a decade.”
They finished talking about this thing before discussing something lighter. The Taoist said goodbye to his companion and walked forward along the edge of a quiet lake in front of the hut. Accompanied by lakes, mountains and forest winds, he walked out the Taoist temple after a short time.
As the breeze blowing from the cliff landed on his face, he squinted at the misty mountain at a distance and the majestic Taoist temples towering over the mountain. He smiled peacefully.
It was quiet outside the simple Taoist temple's walls, which seemed to quietly watch the bustle, majesty and n.o.bleness in the world over there. Inside the Taoist temple, there was an old board with an inscription of ”Zhi Shou”, which held traces of being ravaged by the wind and rain.
The storm sea was hundreds of kilometers away from the east. A horrifying four-season hurricane landed on the sh.o.r.e before pa.s.sing hilly mountains and rivers to become a touch of breeze with plenty of moisture and coolness here. However, it did not have any destructive ability. So unlike Chang'an City, it was not stuffy in summer.
This country was not large. It was not prosperous, for its commerce was underdeveloped. Except for devout believers kowtowing around the mountains to wors.h.i.+p the G.o.d, there were not so many other people. However, the sinister hurricane came here to become the breeze and drizzle. Therefore, there were beautiful but not dangerous mountains, quiet but not fast rivers, rich plains, and quiet forests with crying deers. It was really a land favored by Haotian. Because of the beautiful hills in the west, this country was named ”West-Hill”.
In Zhishou Abbey deep inside the mountain, one could see a mountain from afar. It was the Peach Mountain. Although the peaches in the mountain had been cut by someone holding some wine and a sword many years ago, it has long since recovered thanks to the spring rain and fertile lands favored by Haotian. Among the mountain, the peaches of a different strain have been in full bloom from early spring to late summer, whose lush growth was rather attractive.
Above the Peach Mountain, there were several neat and smooth cliff squares, as if Firmament had released the power of G.o.d and abruptly split them open with an enormous ax. There were innumerable different Taoist temples built on the cliff squares, which together became a brilliant solemn temple complex. It was the West-Hill Divine Palace.
Divine Hall was built along the Peach Mountain and had three layers. On the upper cliff square closest to the sky, there were four most spectacular Taoist temples. The Taoist temple that was close to the cliffside was built wtih huge black stones and had a square shape rather than that of normal Taoist architecture. It watched the believers who bowed down on the Mountain Path indifferently through the times.
This black Taoist Temple's hall was extremely s.p.a.cious. Hundreds of meters deep in the hall, there was a curtain woven by beads. Behind the curtain was a divine seat carved by a whole South Sea ink jade. Great Divine Priest of Judgement one of the three Divine Priests ruling the Haotian divine church, would sit on this divine seat weekdays listening to subordinate divine priests' reports and dealing with Taoist affairs.
Great Divine Priest of Judgement wore a red gown. But today he did not order his subordinate to uncover the beard curtain. Instead, he looked blankly at the curtain and seemed to want to turn all the pearls and jadeites above it into powders.
As one of the three Divine Priests of West-Hill Divine Palace, Great Divine Priest of Judgement was in charge of adjudication and ruled the most terrifying violence agency of Haotian Taoism. He had the most powerful cultivators of Haotian Taoism, with the strongest ability as well as the most terrifying honor in the world. For countless years, no one knew how many heresies have been secretly arrested because of his words or how much many survivors of Devil's Doctrine have become ghosts in the fire because he lightly raised his little finger.
In the eyes of hundreds of millions of people in the world, even the Lord of West-Hill Divine Palace, Haotian hierarch, might not be so terrifying as this Great Divine Priest of Judge in a red gown. There has been even arumor that Great Divine Priest of Judgement's divine gown was bright red rather than black like Judicial Department's, for it was dyed with all his enemies' blood.
Such a Great Divine Priest was at the top of the world and had the supreme and fear-invoking authority. When he did not show the slightest facial expression, and look upon you with indifferent eyes, not only would the bead curtain in front of him would turn to powder in fear, but the Great Sword Masters travelled the world with just a sword and had no fear of royal authority might be so scared their hearts would burst.
However, the bead curtain before Grand Judge did not break today.
The person on the other side of the bead curtain was kneeling in fear, but still stood calmly.
The beard curtain covered the person's body and face outside, only revealing a pair of shoes. This pair of shoes was as red as blood, embroidered with a few fish patterns. There was also an extremely fluffy red skirt hanging down to the knee. This person was obviously female.