255 Fishing in the Daming Lake (2/2)

Staring at her face, Ning Que was too shocked to say anything.

He took a long time to suppress his disordered thoughts and shouted angrily,”You told me they're mysterious regions outside the secular world, which few had the chance to see. Even those who managed to enter would refuse to talk about their experience there. That's why they're called Unknown Places. But the Academy… It's just located in the south of Chang'an City! Everyone knows where it is, so how can it be called an Unknown Place?”

”The Second Floor of the Academy rarely appears in this world, though it's true that it belongs to the mortal world compared to the unknown Zhishou Abbey in the mountains and the Xuankong Temple far in the mortal world.”

Mo Shanshan looked at him and said, ”Someone once said the secular world and the supermundane world are two isolated places without anything in common. Whoever can find their common ground ought to be a sage.”

Her expression sobered, perhaps at the thought of the regrets and laments her master once made and the guy's legend in the world of cultivation. ”If people do find the common ground, they should be called sages. Though the Elder of the Lanke Temple once said that the Headmaster of Academy refuses to call himself a sage, the Second Floor of the Academy is naturally the place where the sage resides.”

She stared into Ning Que's eyes, ”You're from the Second Floor of the Academy, the only place with a sage in the mortal world. No one has the right to affect your confidence. So why shouldn't you be confident?”

Ning Que said in disbelief, ”Based on what you're saying, doesn't this mean I'm one of those legendary World Wayfarers?”

Mo Shanshan nodded at him. She then honestly added, eyebrows furrowing, ”Yes, though the legendary World Wayfarers aren't as weak as you.”

Once again humiliated by this simple-minded girl, Ning Que didn't rebut her this time. He hadn't recovered from his shock and anger. It was only now that he realized all his arrogant mocking of the World Wayfarers had been directed at himself as well… When he recalled how he and Sangsang went to west Chang'an City and won all the money from the casino there, he couldn't help feeling ashamed for he had stepped into a stinky ditch twice.

The Second Floor of the Academy was an Unknown Place? Was he a World Wayfarer? It would still be reasonable if previous World Wayfarers of the Academy were strong figures like Second Brother, but the proud man wearing a wooden stick on his head and those crazy and inexplicable seniors in the Back Mountain? How did they look anything like Unworldly Sublime Beings?

Mo Shanshan looked at him. ”Now that you've learned the truth, did you find your confidence?”

Ning Que broke out of his reverie. ”I'm a World Wayfarer of the Academy, so I'm much better than Prince Long Qing in terms of background, charisma, and conduct! Why wouldn't I have the confidence to trample all over him?”

She didn't expect he would regain his confidence at this point and couldn't help being quiet. After a pause, she softly said, ”You don't need only need strong will and confidence when you're on the verge of breaking through the realm. You need opportunity as well. When I was 14, my teacher gave me a volume of scripture he had personally handwritten. After reading it for half the night, I came to understand the mystery of heaven and earth. I hope you'll find your opportunity as soon as possible.”

Recalling Master Huang Yang's guidance atop the Wanyan Tower, he nodded.

But an opportunity was something that came with luck, like that rain in the summer. If it had come any earlier or later, he wouldn't have understood the Talisman Taoism. Like the lake water, it must first fill the water before watering the causeway covered with weeping willows. But a special way was needed to water the causeway but not flood it.

Ning Que was neither the typical Tang person nor the typical cultivator. He wasn't good at sitting around and prattling about general principles. Nor was he good at calming himself to understand Taoism. His cultivation, like his way of survival, always revealed a sense of persistence and cruelty.

He acted this way during his difficult practice of meditation in his childhood. He acted this way when he persisted in going to the old library of the Academy despite spitting blood. Later, when he realized that life was full of craziness, he still practiced cultivation through the method of solving problems, though he no longer pushed himself that hard.

Watching the faintly discernible threshold of the Seethrough State at the bottom of the clear lake, he started cultivating again.

If he didn't know how to break through the realm, then he would just have to see it though.

He looked at the beautiful lake water, the rosy clouds at twilight, and the stars reflected in the water.

He broke a branch of the willow tree and found a fishing hook somewhere in his package. He then put some slices of dried meat given by the desolate woman on the hook and dropped it into the peaceful lake. His movement had disturbed the stars reflected in water and startled the fish hiding under the stones covered by the quilt of night. He began fishing.

Perhaps it was because the willow branch beside the Daming Lake had been immersed in the aura of nature brought by the great tactical formation of the Front Gate of Devil's Doctrine for thousands of years. It was incomparably firm and very suitable to be used as a fishing rod.

The willow branch fluctuated on the surface of the lake, reeling in a fish in just a short while.

Instead of raising the willow branch, he just held it peacefully as if he was holding the most important thing in his life.

The fish struggled to break free from the hook and finally escape into the water with a splash, leaving a faint trace of blood.

Without a bait nor a hook, the willow branch quietly stayed in the water. Ning Que just sat on the stone beside the lake like that for the entire night. To him, the fish in the lake were like the opportunity he might need to break through the realm.

Those willing to be fished, he welcomed them to be hooked. Those that weren't, he wouldn't force them.