Chapter 468: Watching The Snow (2/2)
Palace maids and eunuchs walked in the hall with obedient smiles. No one looked at the legendary cruel and cold-blooded General Xia Hou, nor did anyone notice that the emperor's expression was a little bit strange.
The emperor looked down at Xia Hou and said indifferently, ”Since things have been resolved, I don't want to see any changes. I don't care about the relations.h.i.+p between Ning Que and the past Xuanwei General as well as the recent years' murders in Chang'an. After all, he is a student of the Headmaster. After you leave the city today, it is unlikely for you to meet him again. So do not set yourself against him.”
Xia Hou left his seat and knelt down to show his obedience.
The emperor left the hall in silence with hands on his back, ending the short farewell banquet. The eunuchs and maids followed the emperor, leaving the silent empress and General Xia Hou alone.
Leaving the empress and a general alone was very improper according to the rules in Palace. But since it was the emperor's will, n.o.body dared to oppose.
Looking at her brother, the empress gently sighed and asked, ”Is everything okay?”
Xia Hou looked at her. A rare but very warm smile appeared on his black and cold face, and he said, ”What can happen since I'm going back to our hometown? I have never felt so relaxed before. But you will be alone and you must be careful in Chang'an City. If there's something you cannot manage, let me know as soon as possible.”
The empress said with a smile, ”It seems nothing will happen judging by the stillness of the Academy.”
”It is the agreement between Mr. First and me. The Headmaster must have the same att.i.tude... As for Ning Que, we all know what kind of person he is. Nothing will happen of course.”
Xia Hou slightly frowned to suppress the increasingly annoying cough in his chest, he did not want to let his sister worry about him after he left Chang'an City.
The empress looked at his face without saying a word. Her gaze seemed to penetrate into him, seeing his lungs and injuries. She said slowly, ”In the Wilderness, Tang had greatly injured you. He must not have fared any better. Why didn't you kill him?”
He coughed and said, ”He could hurt me just as I could hurt him. More people would have died if I wanted to end him. Those loyal knights had followed me for many years. How could I let them die?”
Hearing his words, the look on the empress's face grew more gentle, she consoled him and said, ”You have changed a lot, brother.”
”Less cruel and cold-blooded?”
Xia Hou mocked and recalled when they first left the Wilderness and came here. They had no one to rely on, the emperor had not yet reigned and her sister was not the empress. The only way for the two outsiders to feel safe was to make their enemies fear.
It was in the winter. Snowflakes fell from the sky, painting the red palace walls white. The snow on the square before side palace hall flew like endless catkins.
Xia Hou silently watched the snow and recalled his experience in the northern Hulan Sea. When he s.n.a.t.c.hed the iron box from Ning Que, his hands were stained by snowy ashes. And then he heard a sound of sobbing deep in the snow. It was not the wind, but the winter cicadas.
He knew it was a phonism, but still, he felt somewhat uneasy.
Decades ago, when he left Tianqi Mountain and went southwards to the Tang nation, he was very proud and bold. But after he betrayed the Enlightenment Doctrine and killed Murong Linshuang, his pride had gone. All these years, it was just ruthlessness and cruelty.
Because since that day, he had become a traitor of the Devil's Doctrine.
Since that day, there were two shades of cold dark clouds always lingering in his heart.
One was his teacher, Master Lotus.
The other was Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation, the current ruler of the Devil's Doctrine.
Xia Hou was strong and proud but he clearly knew that, if the two shades came to him, he would have no choice but death.
When Ke Haoran destroyed the Front Gate of the Devil's Doctrine alone, Xia Hou did not see the death of his teacher himself. He could not believe that people like Master Lotus would die without leaving a trace.
As for Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation, he was called the most mysterious man in the cultivation world. Although it was said that he had been dead for a long time, Xia Hou doubted that.
So all these years, he had lived in fear.
In the northern Hulan Sea, when he found that the box that he s.n.a.t.c.hed from Ning Que did not have the ”Ming” Handscroll from the Tomes of the Arcane in it, but the ashes of his teacher Master Lotus, he felt disappointed, sad and then, relieved. Perhaps it was then that he wanted to lay down his arms and retire, leaving the secular world behind.
”I don't know what Ning Que had experienced after entering the Front Gate.”
Looking at the flying snowflakes outside the hall, Xia Hou said with a complex expression on his face, ”Since he had the ashes, he might have inherited something from my teacher, and we have no idea where the ruler of the Devil's Doctrine is right now. I dare say he mustn't be here, but actually he could be anywhere in this world.”
The empress knew her brother's biggest fear, so she walked to his side, trying to console him, ”But we already know Master Lotus is dead. The Twenty-Three-year Cicada Cultivation is the most dangerous man in the world, but the Academy and the sect haven't found him. He's probably dead. Besides, if he is alive, why did he not come to you all these years?”
”I really hope so.”
Xia Hou said, ”Ye Su had come here and buddhists from the Buddhism Sect will come. Of the three sects, only Devil's Doctrine is declining. What a pity.”
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