155 The Silver Road and the Wooden Door, into the Mis (2/2)
Xie Chengyun stood at the bridgehead and confusedly looked at the mountain road. He had no idea how Ning Que had surpassed himself and embarked on the way which he could not make through.
Looking at the ridiculous figure on the mountain road, which was getting increasingly far away, he could not help but think of the fact that he could occasionally see the desolate and lonely figure, who had been forgotten for the last half year, in the meadow in the past six months when he took a walk by the lake with Wucai. He remembered his pride after that exam, and the figure that disappeared in the corridor of rain.
He clutched his right chest tightly and looked Ning Que, who was at the end of the mountain road, reconciledly shouting. ”Ning Que, you cannot surpass Prince Long Qing as he has gone in the fog for a long time.”
Ning Que disappeared in the corner of the mountain road.
Xie Chengyun stared at that place blankly.
A voice rang from the turn.
”At least I have surpassed you.”
Xie Chengyun fell to sit under the tree, clutching his chest. A mouth of blood was spit out by him.
...
...
In the peak fog.
”Second Brother, Ning Que is almost into the fog.”
”Has he passed the Wooden Door?”
”No.”
”It is difficult for him to pass the Wooden Door as only cultivators in the Seethrough state can remember the words on it. He cannot rely on luck.”
”Ning Que had been reading books in the old library for a whole year. Can't he remember?”
”Words carved on stone are deeper than ink on paper. A world will be added as it deepens a degree. Therefore, he may not be able to remember it while he can remember books.”
”Ah... Second Brother, is there a back door there?”
”Pippi.”
”Yes, Second Brother, I know I made a mistake.”
”How far has Prince Long Qing walked in the fog?”
”He has gone through 4,102 stairs.”
”No rest?”
”No.”
”Actually he came so quickly to the twelve years old. It seems that the old priests from West-Hill are indeed talented.”
...
...
Ning Que walked through the twisting mountain road, picking up a thin piece of silver foil, which had flown to the farthest place, beside his feet. Then he looked up and looked at the mountain road, which faintly disappeared into the fog. He could not tell the end.
There was a Wooden Door in the fog.
He came to the Wooden Door and saw a wooden board on it with three Chinese characters.
”A gentleman is not... ”
Ning Que slightly frowned while looking at the blank space on the wooden board. He then glimpsed at the powder stone under the wooden board, guessing that he was asked to fill in the blank.
What was the fourth character?
Along the road not far from the Wooden Door, he saw a stone, on which four characters were written.
”A gentleman is not a vessel.”
”So easy?”
He shook his head in surprise and then walked back toward the Wooden Door. However, when he picked up the powder stone and tried to write the fourth character, he stunned to find out that he had forgotten the character.
Words would be forgotten the moment pens were raised.
His fingers, which were holding the powder stone, turned slightly stiff. He walked back to the stone engraved with the words, quietly watching the handwriting. He guessed what the Wooden Door was designed to test. Probably none else in the world would be more familiar with this situation than him.
He had been fighting with the obscure books on the second floor of the old library for the whole year since he was recruited by the Academy.
”Look at my great Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong.”
Ning Que chose some dead branches from the roadside and placed them in order according to the fourth character on the stone. He then slowly closed his eyes, expressionlessly disintegrating his memory in his mind. Suddenly he opened his eyes and smiled like an idiot.
”You're truly an idiot.”
After blaming himself, he raised his right hand to reach out to the stone.
...
...
In the peak fog.
”Second Brother, Ning Que has passed through the Wooden Door.”
”How is that possible? How could he pass through the Wooden Door with his idiot Eight Strokes Calligraphy of Yong?”
”He did not use that way.”
”How did he remember the word?”
”He first tried to dig that stone out directly.”
”Idiot! The Le Stone is an integrated part of the mountain. How to dig?”
”Ning Que found it impossible to dig it out... He pressed the palm of his hand directly on the stone and printed the words on his palm.”
”What?”
”Then he came to the Wooden Door and copied the fourth character over from his palm.”
”... ”
A silence hung over the mountains and mist. Then someone said with emotion, ”This approach is really... ingenious.”
”Second Brother, did you use this method when climbing the mountain?”
”What is ingenious? This is opportunistic! Do I look so shameless?”
”Would Ning Que be the first one to open the Wooden Door in this way in the Academy?”
The Second Brother's voice sounded after a long period of silence.
”No.”
”Well, who is the first?”
”Eldest Brother.”
”Eldest Brother was enlightened when he was thirteen years old, entered the No Doubts State at thirty, and then went into the Seethrough and Knowing Destiny State directly. During this process, he had not been able to get in a state to open the Wooden Door for seventeen years.”
”So during that seventeen years, he used this method to get through the Wooden Door every time he went up or down the mountain.”
...
...
Picking up the powder stone and spreading out his left hand, Ning Que meticulously started writing on the wooden board while looking at the red prints in his palm. Although the handwriting in his palm was in the reverse direction, it was not a problem for him at all as he was good at calligraphy.
He legibly wrote the character, which meant a vessel, down on the wooden board. The moment he finished writing, a ray of smoke appeared.
Ning Que took a step back and saw that the four characters on the wooden board had turned into three characters again as the last character disappeared.
With a sound, the Wooden Door slowly opened in front of him.
The mountain road behind the Wooden Door was straight up to the fog among the mountains, which was steeper and constituted by stairs. He did not know how many stairs he should climb to get to the top.
Ning Que should have gone directly to the road behind the Wooden Door, but he was too curious to turn around and look at the Le Stone. It was not surprising that the characters carved on the stone really changed, from ”A gentleman is not a vessel” to ”A gentleman is never confused”.
”I wonder what Prince Long Qing saw.”
He curiously thought and walked through the Wooden Door to climb the stairs, disappearing in the thick fog among the mountains.
...
...
The Academy was covered by quietness. No birds were twittering, and none was speaking.
A student turned slightly pale, looking at the mountains, and muttered. ”Luck, it must be luck.”
Zhong Daojun held his fan tightly and stupidly said in a hoarse voice, ”This guy... How many things has he hidden... He is too insidious.”
No one cared about them, including Situ Yilan.
All people in the Academy cast their sights on the mountain and the misty mountains.
Although they could no longer see the student, they still looked over there.
The student from the Academy was the second to walk into the fog hanging on the mountain.
Some people even began to wonder if this guy could get to the top of the mountain before Prince Long Qing?