178 Seeing the Vermilion Bird Again (2/2)
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After leaving Spring Breeze Pavilion for Moshan workshop in Eastern City, two of them came to an open road. Not far from them were Yulin Royal Guards riding horses to patrol. There were much less pedestrians on the street, thus the beautiful scenery of green trees and clean river was serene. It was visible for that magnificent imperial city not far, and even for some traces on the red wall caused by the wind and rain.
Master Yan Se was totally not affected by the solemn atmosphere here and still held his sleeves, stepping with his old shoes, and wandered around leisurely on the street. He did not care about those Yulin Royal Guards' alerting and loathing eyes against them.
Ning Que forced himself not to laugh and followed Master Yan Se. He suddenly remembered the engraved armors in the previous dialogue and recalled Old Lyu Qingchen's introduction on the trip last year. His eyes suddenly became bright. So he moved forward a few steps to the front of Master Yan Se and said in a very respectable and tender tone, ”Master, I want to ask for a Talisman from you.”
Yan Se turned around and asked, ”Ask for a Talisman? What happened to your house? Have you seen something unclean, or being pressed on your bed?”
Ning Que opened his mouth and did not know what to say, feeling very helpless.
Master Yan Se obscenely narrowed his triangle-shape eyes and said: ”Just joking.”
Ning Que sighed and said seriously, ”I want to engrave a Talisman on my own knife.”
After a moment of thought, Master Yan Se shook his head and said, ”Some Talismans can indeed be used independently without a Talisman Master, such as books, armors and weapons. This kind of Talisman engraving is common, but only a low-level means after all. It's not pure and its power is not so strong. What you own is the best. If it is your personal weapon, you'd better make your own Talisman.”
Ning Que said with a bitter smile, ”Then I'm gonna wait for a long time before I can make it.”
Master Yan Se patted Ning Que's shoulder and said with a comfort, ”I firmly believe in your talent in Talisman Taoism. Now you just haven't seen through that window paper. If you feel it slowly, you'll find hope appearing in front of you.”
”Look over there carefully.”
”What is there?”
”Look at it yourself.”
”Master, I only see a lot of trees.”
”What's behind the trees?”
”The sky is behind the trees.”
”I do not want you to see these things!”
”Master, should I say I see the hope?”
”I really can't say such mushy words.”
”Master, why don't you speak? To be honest, I really think that it is not appropriate for you to play a role of spiritual mentor based on your casual nature.”
”Ning Que.”
”Yes? Master.”
”If you go on, I'll use Grass Emblem to make you blind forever.”
In front of them was not the hope, but a Taoist temple in the green trees at the foot of the imperial city.
Master Yan Se did not bring Ning Que into the South Gate Temple, for the both of them shared only a private teacher-apprentice relationship. Ning Que, after all, was a student of the Academy. No matter what, it would be very inappropriate for Master Yan Se to get too close to Haotian Taoism.
”I want you to see that cornice of the GuangMing Hall in South Gate Temple.”
Because of the previous conversation, Master Yan Se looked very angry, with a blunt tone.
Upon hearing that, Ning Que looked over and faintly saw that cornice of the Taoist temple stretching up to the blue sky behind the gray wall and green trees.
”Master, why do you want me to see this cornice? Should I once again understand the law generations of artisans subconsciously concluded from the falling rain?” ”I've seen Spring Breeze Pavilion enough, should we see it forever? We have seen many ancient temples, old pavilions, small bridges, flowing rivers and houses in Chang'an City these days. If we continue to see, I am worried that Chang'an Local Government will doubt that we are a pair of young thief and old thief.”
”Grass Emblem... ”
”Master, my bad.”
Master Yan Se suppressed the anger in his mind after a long while, pointing to the cornice deep in the Taoist temple, and then said with an unhappy look, ”This time I don't want you to see the cornice, but those animal-carvings on eave squatting above the cornice. You release the Psyche Power to touch them and see what's there.”
Ning Que suddenly looked serious and slowly released the Psyche Power after a moment of silence. He touched the several semi-squatting animal-carvings on eave above the cornice from a distance. The presence of animal-carvings on eave went through Qi of Heaven and Earth back to the Qi of Ocean woven by Psyche Power and then became very clear. However, in the next moment, those animal-carvings on eaves seemed to be alive so that he could even see their eyes!
His heartbeat began to accelerate and his breathing became heavier and heavier. But the animal-carvings on eave among the Qi of Ocean and in his sight became clearer and passed over heavier pressure to him, which directly made his face turn pale and his body rather stiff.
Master Yan Se stood beside him and did not worry when watching his reaction but felt calm and slightly joyful. Ning Que had such a sensitive response to the animal-carvings on eave, which slightly diluted Master Yan Se's anger caused by the previous ridicule.
Ning Que shook his head and escaped from his earlier state, rubbing his eyes with both hands and looking at Master Yan Se. He said, ”Master, I feel it and I also get it.”
Master Yan Se frowned slightly and seemed to haven't expected that Ning Que actually was able to extricate himself from the pressure of animal-carvings on eave.
Ning Que took a look at the animal-carvings on eave that has become small again and said, ”Master, do you want to tell me that these stone-made animal-carvings on eave are also Talismans and Divine Talisman Masters gave power and near-mighty pressure to them?”
Master Yan Se said, ”Yeah. But I'm now even more curious why you actually didn't panic at the first contact with animal-carvings on eave.”
Ning Que looked at him and honestly replied after a moment of silence. ”I have been contacted with animal-carvings on eave.”
Master Yan Se slightly raised his brows and asked, ”When? Where?”
Ning Que said, ”Last spring, in the imperial palace. When my horse carriage passed the laundry bureau, I did not know why I suddenly felt that they had survived when I saw animal-carvings on eave above the canopies of the palace. At that time, I was particularly uncomfortable.”
Master Yan Se became silent for a long time and suddenly reached out his hand to touch Ning Que's head. His eyes were full of mild appreciation.
”When I listened to you and talked to you, I always feel that your disposition and state were really not suitable for Talisman Taoism cultivation. I even thought whether I had been misled by your memo and gotten the wrong person.”
As a superb Divine Talisman Master in the world, the old Taoist knew very well if a lad who has not been in contact with cultivation could actually feel the pressure of animal-carvings on eave, it showed what kind of qualification he possessed in Talisman Taoism.
”I'm very glad that you once again proved your qualification and ability.”
Ning Que smiled and said, ”Master, qualification and ability are within the body. I don't need to prove their presence. In fact, they have always been there.”
”Today you've said a lot of nonsense. But this sentence indeed makes sense.” Master Yan Se laughed and then continued to concernedly ask, ”Is it the first time you have felt the pressure of animal-carvings on eave in the Imperial City's laundry Bureau?”
Ning Que fell into a long silence for this question.
He remembered the spring of last year, he and Sangsang had held up the big black umbrella, standing in the straight spacious street and in the drizzle, and then had became motionless for the Vermilion Bird figure carved in the center boulevard.
After a long time, he looked up at Master Yan Se and said, ”Actually... earlier on Vermilion Bird Avenue, that stone-carved Vermilion Bird figure has given me the same feeling. But I don't know whether it can be counted in.”
Master Yan Se listened to the answer, with his eyes narrowed into two slits, and then suddenly said, ”Do you want to see it again?”
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Of course, Ning Que did not want to see it. It was not because the Vermilion Bird engraved in the stone had no nothing charming but fake. Because he was just subconsciously fearful of the Vermilion Bird figure on the stone road - Perhaps in the spring rain day last year he had been terrified by the extermination sense of the Vermilion Bird figure on the central avenue. Perhaps he subconsciously remembered that near-death experience when he had fled to the streets at the hot summer night last year. In short, that fear inside his heart was at its height.
As a good student, however, he knew very well that every time a teacher asked a student whether he or she wanted to do it, the teacher just needed to show an attitude of respecting the student's wishe. In fact, the teacher would not want to hear any other answers except an affirmation. So when Master Yan Se asked him, Ning Que had to reply that he wanted to see it.
The two of them walked from the foot of the Imperial City to the south all the way along the spacious and straight Vermilion Bird Avenue, as if walking on a grey ribbon embroidered with green laces, from Chang'an City the giant's head to his chest.
Looking at the Vermilion Bird figure carved in the stone floor on the central avenue, Ning Que felt his mouth was somewhat dry and subconsciously put his hands into his cuffs. Then he gripped his hands tightly and felt his body a bit stiff.
The Vermilion Bird figure was solemn and beautiful as usual. Its wings did not fully expand, which showed that it was about to spread its wings. The two non-angry but serious eye pupils have been carved well, for no matter from which point of view, everyone would feel that it was staring at himself. This was an attraction the Tang Empire residents must see after coming to Chang'an City. Besides, its eyes were also a marvelous figure all the tourists were interested to discuss about.
Ning Que stood in the crowd of people with different clothes, looking at the Vermilion Bird figure in the middle. Perhaps because of the noisy environment around or its popularity, Ning Que felt less fear in his heart.
However, his body was still stiff, with still cold hands and feet. Because he always felt that this pair of eyes that has been staring at himself indifferently had nothing to do with the craftsmanship of the sculptors. The eyes seemed to tell him that this Vermilion Bird with a history of thousands of years... was alive.