243 The Desolate Men Are Intriguing (1/2)
Chapter 243: The Desolate Men Are Intriguing
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
They left the palace and headed north again. The route Ning Que gave was very clear, namely following the caravan out of Tuyang City. But when they came to this snowfield pass, the intel from Imperial Center Administration and secret guards had been interrupted, leaving them no option but to explore the rest of the way by themselves. Fortunately, they have been extremely cautious all the way and always kept Tianqi Mountains clearly visible on their left hands side even in the snow. Even if they could not catch up with the caravan, they could at least return via the original route.
It was unclear whether it was his writing or his shameless character that played a role, but eventually Mo Shanshan did not leave with the Divine Hall strongmen, but went north with him. In this lonely journey, the two often talked about Calligraphy and Talisman Taoism. They both learned a lot from each other, especially Ning Que who mastered more basic methods of Talisman Taoism through her presentation. He even vaguely felt he was about to break through the realm, which made him very happy.
Mo Shanshan was in a good mood too. As she had said, she liked to see Ning Que's calligraphy. Every time they stopped to take a rest, she would see Ning Que holding an ink brush or a twig to write on a mud or snowfield, making this dull journey more interesting as the snowfield became his inkwell.
As the twig moved swiftly in the snow, Ning Que looked at his own calligraphy and nodded with satisfaction. He found that under the pressure of Mo Shanshan, he improved his cultivation state as well as calligraphy skills.
Mo Shanshan pulled the scarf from her chest to her shoulder and slightly tilted her body forwards. She looked down at his calligraphy attentively and made slow gestures in the air with her index finger as if to mimic him.
Ning Que knew about her poor eyesight and he was used to her concentration and posture every time she contemplated calligraphy. Under the pass, a whiff of cold wind and snow was blowing, making a howling sound through her scarf. Her black hair was drifting backward and her face blushed lightly, it was a beautiful sight.
Behind a snow dome, the Big Black Horse raised its head and kicked its front hooves out of boredom. No one knew it ate all day to be so unafraid of such cold weather.
Next to it was a maroon mare with a mat on its back and cloth that wrapped its hooves, though it still seemed to be a bit cold, and kept leaning towards the Big Black Horse, carefully and gently rubbing the latter, as if wanting to seek for warmth while trying not to annoy him too much.
The Big Black Horse gently snorted, looking slightly displeased but did not move away after all. Instead, it stood proudly in the snow, blocking the snow and wind on the right side of the maroon mare.
Mo Shanshan slowly ceased movement of her fingers as she had completed her tracing, but she didn't look up and instead continued to carefully study calligraphy on the snow, as if trying to firmly engrave them in her mind.
Ning Que removed the black mask from his face and asked, ”Yesterday, I asked you about how to break through the realm. You said everyone's situation was different. The higher one goes, the more difficult it gets. But I just wanted to enter Seethrough from No Doubts State, which shouldn't be very hard to achieve. Why didn't I make any progress for such a long time since we left Dongsheng Stockaded Village?”
Mo Shanshan straightened her body to look at him and said quietly, ”You began to be enlightened this spring and now in less than one year, you have seen the Front Gate of Seethrough. If you didn't lie, then it can only mean that you're a Taoism cultivation genius. It also explains why the Headmaster of the Academy chose you as his student.”
Ning Que asked, ”You're saying that compared to others I've already done really well?”
Mo Shanshan batted her eyelashes subtly and asked, ”Who do you mean by the others?”
After a brief silence, Ning Que replied, ”Prince Long Qing.”
Mo Shanshan said with a serious face, ”I thought you didn't buy the ridiculous argument of the archenemy?”
Ning Que laughed and said, ”It is said that Prince Long Qing is only one step away from entering the Knowing Destiny State. If he really makes it, I can never be his archenemy even if I want to. Besides... ”
His smile gradually disappeared as he went on to say, ”The Divine Hall respects the Academy, but respect doesn't mean fear, especially for someone like Prince Long Qing who will certainly find the opportunity to personally defeat or even kill me in order to improve his so-called Taoist Heart. If he really entered Knowing Destiny State, he could really kick my ass big time.”
Mo Shanshan continued to look at him, as if looking at the snow outside the dome. She tried to guess what he was thinking and after a long silence, she whispered, ”You want to defeat him?”
”Pride and confidence come from strength. But I ain't no Second Brother.”
He went on to say, ”That's why I don't expect to defeat him now. But I'm thinking that if I could delay his footsteps into Knowing Destiny State, maybe one day I can catch up with him.”
”I think you should have time, though it might not be enough.”
Mo Shanshan looked at him and showed a very rare smile on her usually expressionless face. The smile looked a little out of practice, but it was nevertheless full of comforting warmth and encouragement.
”Among the five realms of cultivation, the final one is the hardest. Knowing Destiny is a very tough one. Although I can now manage to accomplish a Semi-Divine Talisman, it was only a Lucky Chance I ran into. I was never able to see the threshold of Knowing Destiny State.”
Mo Shanshan continued. ”Although Prince Long Qing is recognized as the first man of this young generation who is most likely to enter Knowing Destiny State, I believe he only saw that threshold. He still needs some time to overcome that threshold. I've been thinking lately that, it's part of the reason why Divine Hall let us enter the Wilderness.”
Something suddenly crossed Ning Que's mind as he frowned and asked, ”You also once said that Long Qing is not as strong as the Tao Addict. If Long Qing has seen the threshold of Knowing Destiny State, how about Tao Addict?”
”Perhaps she's got one foot over? Or perhaps she just saw the threshold too.”
Mo Shanshan said, ”Tao Addict's strength not only lies in her cultivation state, but also in her subtle mastery of Taoism. It's said that the Divine Hall hierarch had once praised her mastery of all cultivation methods. You may get a glimpse of her strength from that.”
Upon listening to the words of ”mastery of all cultivation methods”, Ning Que couldn't help feeling shocked. When he was about to ask further, he suddenly raised his eyebrow and stretched his arm to grab the big black umbrella behind him.
Outside the pass, there was a very subtle sound of arrow shooting in the snow and wind.
Although Mo Shanshan was not as sensitive to sound as Ning Que, as a cultivator in Seethrough Superior State it didn't take her long to detect the arrow too. She moved her fingers swiftly and snatched a piece of Fu paper.
Ning Que raised his hand to stop her, for he managed to hear that the arrow wasn't coming for them.
An arrow shot deep into a gentle slope outside the snow dome.
A snow rabbit hidden in the slope was shot in its hip, it struggled desperately and jumped into the pass.
As it fell into the snow dome and bounced a couple times, it dropped dead.
Ning Que's calligraphy on the snow got kicked into a complete mess.
Heavy footsteps sounded on the snow slope outside the pass. Ning Que glanced at Mo Shanshan signaling that he could deal with this on his own. He released the umbrella handle, and held the hilt of the knife.
Someone dressed in animal skin and cotton clothes climbed over the edge of the snow dome, searching for the injured snow rabbit. Upon seeing the two horses before noticing Ning Que and Mo Shanshan, the stranger was startled and pointed a bow and an arrow at them.
Ning Que frowned and looked at the short bow in the hands of the stranger. He noticed how the bow material was somewhat special, the twisted wires shining slightly in the bowstring, which didn't look like animal tendon. Then Ning Que noticed strands of long hair drifting out from the stranger's hat brim. He looked carefully at that face, and noticed it was a woman in her thirties.
He held the hilt, looked at her calmly and said, ”We mean no harm.”
Mo Shanshan glanced at him not knowing what he was going to do. Although she could confirm that the woman was just an ordinary person, shouldn't they be more cautious being so near to the Desolate Man tribe?
The woman listened to Ning Que's words and looked a little surprised. She hurried backward, stepping on the edge of the snow dome until she set herself far enough away from Ning Que, slightly relieved, she asked, ”Central Plains people?”