921 The Moon Does Wax And Wane, And People Do Suffer Old Age And Illness (1/2)

The relations.h.i.+p between Ning Que and Ye Hongyu had always been very subtle ever since they met many years ago. It was because they had felt irreconcilable hatred for each other and also fought side by side.

Before the Rite to Light, he went to the Divine Hall of Judgement to see Ye Hongyu, and she did him a favor. Ning Que was still grateful and wanted to pay her back, so he answered her question sincerely.

Which was more important, faith or revenge? Ning Que knew that Ye Hongyu was practical, just like himself. Then her question must point to something specifically, but what was it?

”After you and Haotian left, the Abbey Dean came to Peach Mountain.” Ye Hongyu explained, ”The Hierarch seemed to submit himself to the rule of the Abbey Dean, but actually Taoism is still in the balance of power. Long Qing has become very powerful. All these things bother me.”

Ning Que said, ”So you chose to leave Peach Mountain.”

Ye Hongyu said, ”I just came to see where you are taking Haotian.”

Ning Que asked, ”Why do you want to see her?”

After a moment of silence, Ye Hongyu answered, ”I just want to gain courage through her.”

Ning Que somehow understood what she meant, ”I think you have already started. I really want to know the hatred between you and Xiong Chumo.”

The purge from last night was a reaction of the Divine Hall of Light be means of the divinity of Haotian. The Divine Hall should not have responded so quickly and resolutely. However, it's not hard to see that it was the Hierarch's trusted followers who conducted the last purge inside the Divine Hall of Light.

The purge would inevitably shake the authority of the Hierarch in the end.

Ye Hongyu did not answer directly but claimed, ”I am only doing what Haotian would love to see.”

Ning Que said, ”You are playing the strategy of controlling Haotian and commanding Taoism.”

Ye Hongyu looked at him and mocked, ”Isn't it exactly what you have been trying to do?”

Since she refused to tell the details of her hatred, Ning Que didn't try to get to the bottom. He went silent for a while and asked, ”What is your plan if you were to ever succeed?”

Ye Hongyu answered, ”I will figure that out later.”

Ning Que asked, ”What is the point of becoming the new Hierarch of the Divine Hall or the Abbey Dean?” He once said similar words to her in Chang'an last year.

”The Academy always needs a cause to justify its actions, but for me, I only value whether or not an action is worthwhile.”

Ye Hongyu added, ”I have already made up my mind regarding my own business. Where do you want to take Haotian? The whole world is now trying to guess your destination.”

Ning Que answered, ”I don't get to pick our destination. In fact, she is the one who wants to see the world. All the places we visited were picked by her.”

Ye Hongyu didn't know how to respond, for the current situation had never appeared in human history. Even the Abbey Dean had no experience of this, so he did nothing but waited quietly.

Ning Que said, ”Now I can only take one step and look around before taking another.”

Ye Hongyu said, ”It's like crossing the river by feeling the stones.”

Thinking of the picture of how they crossed the Great River, Ning Que smiled and said, ”We don't have to feel the stones while crossing the river.”

Their conversation ended here. Ye Hongyu returned to Peach Mountain with two thousand cavalrymen. The punishment that Haotian applied to Taoism was bound to continue, but no one knew when the storm would stop.

Ning Que and Sangsang left the capital of the Qi Kingdom and continued their journey west. They walked between the cyan hills in the spring rain and came to Red Lotus Temple, which had been burned into ruins.

Looking at the rubbles, weeds among the rubbles, burned wood and the wild mushrooms grew on the wet wood, Ning Que went silent for a long time and was. .h.i.t by mixed feelings while thinking of what Ye Hongyu had said.

In the past, Long Qing led the cavalrymen to attack Ning Que and Sangsang. Ning Que in desperate circ.u.mstances, seriously injured Long Qing with Practice of Taotie, and broke the Knowing Destiny, which all happened in front of this dilapidated temple.

Now, Long Qing was more powerful.

Ning Que knew how proud and confident Ye Hongyu was. The whole world saw Long Qing as a charming man, but in her eyes, he was nothing but an ordinary subordinate.

Now she had to admit the power of Long Qing.

Then it meant that Long Qing was indeed powerful.

Many people thought that Ning Que and Long Qing were nemeses for their whole lives and would end their compet.i.tion with the death of one person and the final victory of the other.

Ning Que should have been the one who feared the most if Long Qing had gotten stronger. However, Ning Que didn't feel nervous at all and expressed his feelings while looking at the dilapidated temple in the spring rain.

n.o.body dared to oppose Ye Hongyu's action of launching the purge and weakening the power of the Hierarch only because she did it in the name of Haotian. Of course Ning Que didn't need to worry about Long Qing since he was traveling around with Haotian.

Ye Hongyu controlled Haotian and commanded Taoism, so Taoism was naturally under her control.

Ning Que travelled around the world with Haotian, so the world was naturally peaceful.

Ning Que and Sangsang left the Divine Hall, went south to the Great River Kingdom, went to the Wa Mountain to visit Lanke Temple, and then went to Qi Kingdom and visited Red Lotus Temple. After traveling for several months, they finally entered the South Jin Kingdom.

For Sangsang, this was a war between her and the world. For Ning Que, this was the means to make her stay on earth. For the both of them, this was also the retrospection of the trip during the autumn a few years ago.

For the human world, their trip had been given more complex and sacred meanings. Countless pairs of eyes watched and followed their footsteps. Many people even forgot about eating and sleeping as they felt Ning Que and Sangsang's ups and downs, and naturally they also forgot the disputes with each other.

There was an unnamed small lake in the south of the South Jin Kingdom. Compared with the Great Swamp in the north, it was so shabby. It was also very quiet since it was located in a deserted mountain, without inhabitants.

Ning Que sat on the lakeside and grilled fishes.

The bonfire was controlled very well. Ning Que was good at using Haotian's divine flame to cook. The surfaces of the fishes had been roasted to a golden color, but the flesh were still tender.