Chapter 463: Stronger Feeling Of Autumn (2/2)

The Headmaster said, ”Love and hate are both strong emotions. They are what differentiate humans and beasts and are the keys to prove why we are humans. If we can abandon these, what makes us different from beasts? The mortals often say that those who do not care hate are always the one who does not help others. This is the truth.”

”Stupid boy, this emotion cannot be eliminated. Hatred is endless, how is it possible to simply erase all trace of it? The crux of the issue is why should we get rid of it?”

The words of the Headmaster did not help Eldest Brother in understanding. Eldest Brother had lived in the back of the mountain of the Academy since he left his town. He was always with the Headmaster when they traveled to different countries, and he always had a mission to complete when he traveled alone. It was true that he did not have much experience in the mortal world.

Eldest Brother sighed, ”If we take revenge, when will hatred end?”

The Headmaster frowned and said unhappily, ”I have said long ago, that you should not read those boring and shameless Buddhist Scriptures. It seems that you are really confused now.”

Eldest Brother smiled bitterly, as he thought to himself that those scriptures were indeed quite interesting.

The Headmaster said, ”Jun Mo, explain to your Senior Brother when hatred will end if revenge breeds revenge. Otherwise, he will seek out his books for explanation and spend another three to four years.”

Second Brother agreed and looked at Eldest Brother. ”Senior Brother, if you want people to stop taking revenge and end hatred, you should kill all your enemies and remove the root of the hatred. In this way, there will only be souls who cannot take revenge and hatred will end.”

Eldest Brother was not visibly moved by the plain words. He only smiled bitterly and thought that this method sounded rather villainous and did not sound like something that someone from the Academy should say.

Second Brother did not dare to guess Senior Brother's feeling. He turned to look at the Headmaster and calmly said, ”Teacher, since Youngest Brother cannot find evidence of Xia Hou violating the law, what would he do?”

The autumn breeze swirled the robe of the Headmaster and made clear sound. He looked at the faraway Chang'an and smiled. ”I do not know either, but I suppose Ning Que would give us a surprise.”

Two years ago, the Tang censor, Zhang Yiqi mysteriously died at the House of Red Sleeves. Not so many people paid attention to this. When the censor's wife made a fuss about it, the incident had been suppressed by the prefectural magistrate of Chang'an City, Shangguan Yangyu and the case was ended. The case had only been brought to light before the bigwigs when the Tang military Psyche Master, Lin Ling went to Chang'an secretly and began to investigate it and found the nail in the censor's body.

After that, Chen Zixian and Yan Suqing died, and then Gu Xi died in Tuyang City. Then, Huang Xing and Yu Shuizhu died on the rainy streets. The Tang military and several other force all suspected Ning Que. However, just like that the emperor could not punish Xia Hou many years ago, without evidence, they did not dare to accuse this student of the Second floor of the Academy, the Headmaster's core disciple.

There was no evidence, but it did not mean that it wasn't true. The rumors about Ning Que's ident.i.ty had already spread in the upper echelons of society. It even had already spread out of the nation borders. Many believed that Ning Que was the son of Xuanwei General, Lin Guangyuan, who was killed because of being accused of betraying the country.

Therefore, many wondered what the young man, who had waited many years and finally returned to Chang'an to take revenge, would do when Xia Hou finally retired.

The old Minister of Offerings from the dominant family of Qinghe County came to Chang'an and hid in the censor's mansion. He narrowed his deep and old eyes and focused on what happenings in Chang'an. He tried to speculate about what would happen.

The Tang military was also watching the Yanming Lake vigilantly. General Xu s.h.i.+ stood in the building and looked at Chang'an City silently. He would not care the Academy, if anything out of the ordinary happened. He would send his strongest cavalry to capture or kill Ning Que because he was above the laws of the Tang Empire.

Those in the palace watched and speculated.

Even Ye Su, the Zhishou Abbey's successor had come to Chang'an.

These bigwigs had great intelligence and astuteness which was rare in the world. They had frightening information that came from their subordinates. However, even they could not guess Ning Que's next move.

While Ning Que's state had improved greatly and he was already at the peak of the Seethrough state, he was still very weak as compared to General Xia Hou, who was at the Peak state of Martial Arts. That was why he could not a.s.sa.s.sinate the general.

No one had ever found any evidence of Xia Hou's crime. Those who have partic.i.p.ated in the matter had all died in Ning Que's hands. There wasn't much hope for him to reverse the verdict of Xuanwei General and use the law of the Tang Empire to bring Xia Hou down.

The crux of the matter was that no matter the emperor or the Academy, they all wanted to see Xia Hou retire peacefully. They would definitely not help Ning Que even if they did not stop him.

The danger of the Jianghu world could not touch Xia Hou. The court could not touch Xia Hou. Ning Que did not have the ability to a.s.sa.s.sinate Xia Hou. What could he do?

After countless calculations, including the reactions of the imperial court and those from West-Hill, the bigwigs in Chang'an finally came up with a conclusion that made them feel at ease.

Ning Que could not do anything.

At least in this winter.

It was still deep in autumn, and winter had not yet arrived.

General Xia Hou would retire in late winter.

Ning Que was cultivating silently at the Yanming Lake, waiting for winter to arrive.

Yellow leaves fell like rain one day.

Ning Que sat beneath the bare tree with withered leaves covering his knees.

Ye Hongyu put down the book in her hands and looked at him. She said, ”Even though you have hidden the fact that you have joined the Devil and use it as your trump-card, you can only frighten Xia Hou, not kill him.”

Ning Que looked at her and said, ”I don't know what nonsense you're talking about.”

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