Chapter 253 (1/2)
Prince Long Qing slowly stood up and the snow residual on his black clothes fell on his boots. He looked at the other side of the snow cliff and said softly, ”You can hide behind Calligraphy Addict all your life. But the question remains. Does she have the ability to shelter you forever? And does she want to do that?”
After he said that, he stepped over the low fence made of wood and blankly walked along the snow cliff to the other side. The snow cliff was extremely narrow, but it looked a little wider because of the snow residual. In fact, it only allowed several people to walk side by side. It seemed to be a natural stone bridge in the sky, dividing a snowy foothill and a verdant valley.
The face of the snow cliff facing the verdant valley was extremely steep. There were some weeds growing randomly on its dark gray rocky wall, making it difficult to climb. Besides, there were no roads on the cliff, making it very difficult to descend.
Within a short moment, Prince Long Qing had walked over 300 meters away. He looked at Mo Shanshan and said mildly, ”Sister Shanshan, this time you practiced in the Wilderness. Have you seen Chen Jia? She often mentioned you at West-Hill.”
Mo Shanshan had already woken up from her bewilderment. She looked at him with a dignified and gentle look, prepared to say something. Unexpectedly Ning Que jumped out from behind her, looking at Prince Long Qing, and said first, ”Your Highness, as the Priest of the Judicial Department in the Divine Hall, you should know what happened on the meadow and in the palace. Isn't it a bit too late for you to sweet-talk us?”
Prince Long Qing looked slightly displeased, for he did know the conflicts between Calligraphy Addict and his fiancée. He was a proud person but nevertheless, he was gentle with Calligraphy Addict out of respect for her. If he had tried to play up to them as Ning Que said, wouldn't that have made him a villain?
He looked at Ning Que in the distance and suddenly frowned. Because he found that Ning Que had improved a lot within months. So he said, ”It seems that the back of the mountain has helped you a lot, for you're almost entering the Seethrough state.”
Ning Que looked at him and laughed. ”Your Highness, you're joking again. If it was of no help, why did we compete with each other so hard and make other people watch us?”
Upon hearing the mockery hidden in Ning Que's words, Prince Long Qing did not become angry, but looked at him and said calmly, ”Sometimes I believe that you and I are predestined enemies. Because we kept running into each other in Chang'an City, in the back of the mountain and in the depth of Tianqi Mountain.”
Ning Que said, ”This kind of fate, I'd rather abandon it.”
During the dialogue, Prince Long Qing did not stop walking towards the other side of the snow cliff.
He looked at Ning Que smilingly and suddenly said, ”Haotian bestowed thousands of Lucky Chances on people. Whether you want it or not, you can't avoid it if one Lucky Chance comes to you. Now I'm breaking the realm and entering Knowing Destiny State. And you're entering Seethrough. Why don't we gamble on the date of breaking the realm?”
”What if the Headmaster of Academy knew of my gambling?”
Ning Que thought of all kinds of cards in Seventh Sister's room in the back of the mountain and said seriously, ”Furthermore one needs his own cultivation plus a Lucky Chance to break the realm. Why should I gamble with you on the date of breaking the realm?”
Then he looked at the approaching Prince Long Qing and said, ”And why should I give you a chance to complete your Taoist Heart? If you're really my lifetime enemy, I won't do anything that may be helpful to you.”
The first part was a lie and the second part was a sincere explanation. Prince Long Qing slightly startled and did not expect that Ning Que was actually being frank. He could not help smiling and said, ”Do you want me to humiliate you so that you can have this gamble?”
Ning Que said seriously, ”Buddhism Sect once said that one doesn't need to care about the humiliation. Your Highness, if you want to humiliate me, please go ahead.”
Prince Long Qing was really startled and silently watched him for a long time, saying, ”Are you really a Tang?”
Ning Que answered, ”You can consider me a Yan.”
He was startled again and shaking his head he said smilingly, ”Today, I find the name 'Yan' is not pleasing to the ears.”
Prince Long Qing was a Yan, whose pinyin ”Yan” sounded liked another word which meant to be a eunuch. So he did not want to tolerate it any longer.
He looked at Ning Que coldly and said, ”You don't want to have a fight, but I do.”
Ning Que looked at him and said, ”Even if I don't fight back, you still want to fight. Do you want to kill me?”
Prince Long Qing shook his head and said, ”Just to defeat you.”
Ning Que became much more serious, quietly watching that gaunt but handsome face of Prince Long Qing. After a long silence, he said in a serious tone, ”Your Highness, please don't try to defeat me, for I won't give you the chance. If you touch me, I will kill myself now.”
The snow cliff was very narrow and seemed to be very long. But they still walked to its end.
Prince Long Qing stood opposite Ning Que as well as Mo Shanshan on both sides of the snow cliff. It started snowing gradually.
On this occasion, Ning Que had made such a speech.
If you do not buy me a gem, I will kill myself right now. If you do not make me breakfast, I will kill myself right now. Such quarrels were quite common and such words were usually said by some old ladies. Because only when they quarreled in the marketplace, would they use such terrible means.
However, Ning Que said it solemnly and in a serious tone. Unlike a bad-tempered lady who hit her husband and cursed her neighbors, he was like a calm and generous gentleman who picked up a slightly yellow leaf in the wind and was about to travel away with a sword.
Ning Que had made too many life and death choices in his life. So he was calm when he uttered the words ”kill myself” which in turn made them sound more powerful than those of anyone else.
The intractable and st.u.r.dy Big Black Horse had been arrogant throughout the st.u.r.d-farm. However, when it heard of Ning Que's threatening words in the meadow of the Academy, it was suddenly shocked with numb limbs and was loyal to Ning Que after that.
Prince Long Qing was a human being. Of course, he could understand Ning Que's remark—I just did not want you to complete your Taoist Heart. Defeating me and killing myself were two different things—More crucially, from these seemingly calm words, he could feel that Ning Que would really dare to do such a thing. If Prince Long Qing forcibly launched a fight, Ning Que would really kill himself.
In the Judicial Department, he had seen many people, who were not afraid of death and did not care about the lives of others. They were his subordinates, Devil's Doctrine survivors and the betrayers. But he had never seen one who was so vicious or careless with his own life.
Mo Shanshan also understood Ning Que's words and her cheeks wrapped in a scarf looked slightly pale.
Ning Que looked at Prince Long Qing and said, ”The Academy and the Divine Hall don't get along well, but they have no interest in fighting with each other. But if I died here today, it would become very troublesome. So I must remind you that Yan Kingdom is too weak and my Second Brother has always been unreasonable.”
Prince Long Qing looked at his face and slightly frowned, saying, ”You either hide behind a woman or behind the sect. I am beginning to wonder if you're a Tang. I even doubt whether you're a man.”
”What you said means nothing to me.”
Ning Que looked at him and replied earnestly. ”Except a few people in this world, most people would like to hide behind a sect. If today you were banished from the Divine Hall and expelled from the Peach Mountain, and those Devil's Doctrine survivors who had a grudge with you all these years and those people who dared not to offend you both wanted to kill you. Can you take it?”
Prince Long Qing silently looked at him and suddenly found that this young guy had actually seen this world through a dark lense, no trace of pa.s.sion like the common young people.
Mo Shanshan looked at Ning Que's back and also fell into silence. She had quietly listened to their dialogue for such a long period of time and naturally thought of Ning Que's instruction in the carriage on the trip to the palace.
”What if I couldn't defeat my opponent?”
”Run away.”
”What if we met?”