Chapter 488: After Your Death (1/2)
The daytime would not arrive soon and it was still very cold in the night. A person was about to die at this time.
The snowy lake was very bright. The Divine Light was still burning on the remnants of snow on the ice and under the lake, emitting lots of vapor. The sound of water boiling could be heard, it looked like a misty hot spring in the morning.
Xia Hou was covered in blood. His white hair draped over his shoulders and stuck together because of the blood. He looked at Ning Que, his dim eyes full of confusion, and asked hoa.r.s.ely, ”You were only four at that time. It is not easy for someone at that age to remember his enemy. You really hate me this much?”
The chilly wind caressed Ning Que's face. The smile on his face disappeared and he started talking.
”The four years I spent in Chang'an when I was a child was the happiest time in my last and this life. I didn't have to think or learn about anything. I only needed to enjoy my the love from my parents, play with my friends and peep at the general's books. But you ruined it.”
”In others' eyes, I have been living a good life these years. But only I know how painful and unhappy it is to struggle for survival. Of course, I hate you.”
”No matter what I do, the chamberlain and the young master who were killed by me in the woodshed cannot come back to life anymore, those dead people in the Mansion cannot come back to life anymore and my parents cannot come back to life anymore. And my happiest time cannot come back either. That is why nothing and no one can stop me killing you. I want them to know that my hacking was worth it and I want you to know that I am taking revenge for my parents. I want you to remember that my father's name is Lin Tao and my mother's name is Li Sanniang.”
Xia Hou looked down at his chest wound and asked suddenly, ”How does it feel to have taken your revenge?”
”It feels not bad,” Ning Que replied.
Xia Hou looked up and asked in confusion, ”What do you feel exactly?”
”I can't really tell how I feel. Anyway, it is relaxing and I feel like if you are dead, the whole world will be different and I am no longer the same me in the last fifteen years.”
Ning Que thought for a while and said, ”I know why I feel so relaxed now. It is because after your death, I will have more time to write calligraphy and make money. I don't have to write lots of boring talismans every night. And I can go to the House of Red Sleeves quite often to enjoy the music there, rather than staying at the back of the mountain and listening to Senior Brothers' music.”
”I will still cultivate after your death. But I don't have to do it just to make myself more powerful, I can do it out of my own interest or my love for Taoism. I don't have to stay in Chang'an or City of Wei, staring at your back and waiting for the final fight between you and me. I can go to the South Jin Kingdom or the Divine Hall, to see the world and people.”
Looking at Xia Hou, he said seriously, ”After your death, I don't have to think about how I can kill you anymore. Only in this way, can I gain true freedom and do the things I really want to do.”
Xia Hou laughed. His laughter was sad and his expression was strange.
”Freedom...”
Xia Hou looked at Ning Que in pity and mocked him. ”As a student of Taoism, you have joined the Devil's Doctrine and immersed in it deeply. You are like me when I betrayed the Devil's Doctrine. You have chosen the same path as me and you are destined to struggle in the seam of light and dark like I did. You have no freedom at all, let alone happiness.”
Ning Que used his podao as a walking stick to support his weak body. He stood up with difficulty and said to Xia Hou, ”The Academy is not the Enlightenment Doctrine and I'm not you.”
Without deep understanding of the Academy, one could never understand the Academy and the Headmaster's true att.i.tude towards the Devil's Doctrine. Ning Que had never worried that he would share the same destiny as those main characters in the stories.
”Of course the Academy is not the Enlightenment Doctrine. And Headmaster won't care about what his student learns, because he is the most open-minded. And of course, you are not me, because you are not even a human.”
The light in Xia Hou's eyes was as dim as the dying fireflies in the chilly wind. But now his eyes lit up again. He exclaimed, ”You are the Son of Yama!”
Fifteen years ago, when the G.o.d of Light thought that the Son of Yama was born in Xuanwei General's Mansion, the West-Hill Devine Palace had sent Xia Hou to kill him. That gave rise to the following stories and tonight's fight.
Xia Hou thought about the things that confused him in the fight. He thought about those dead people, who came here because of Ning Que. And it made him become more confident of his judgment.
He looked at Ning Que and smiled strangely. He cursed, ”I vow to Haotian, that one day, you, the Son of Yama, will end up like me and you will be burned to ash by the Divine Light.”
”It is probably easier for you to take in the fact that you are killed by me, if I am the Son of Yama. But unfortunately, I have nothing to do with Yama.”
Ning Que continued, ”Everyone will die in the end and everyone will be burned to ash by the Haotian Divine Light. So, your curse does not really mean anything.”
”Are you really not the Son of Yama?”
Xia Hou murmured, ”How could you escape from Chang'an if you are not? How could you defeat me by crossing the barrier of states if you are not? And if you didn't defeat me, how could I die today?”
His face looked like a willow tree split by thunder. It was creased together and full of unwillingness and confusion. He was still wondering, if Ning Que was not the Son of Yama, how could he have the luck to successfully cross the barrier between states of cultivation and to kill a powerhouse like him?
The proud and stubborn General Xiahou looked like an old man living in the village, who only cared about finding out the thief who had kicked out the door of a widow at the previous night.
He looked up and said painfully, ”I don't want to die.”
Ning Que said, ”But I want you to die.”