295 On the Sly, Staying Together (2/2)
The old man said, ”That's different. That Dark Shadow is the offspring of Yama.”
Master Yan Se became angry and struck the table heavily and said, ”Why are you so obstinate? The Underworld is just a legend and it has never appeared! That year you modified the edict of the hierarch and caused blood to rain in Chang'an, but you failed to find the so-called Son of Yama in the end. Why are you still so ridiculous today!”
The old man said, ”Actually, both the abbey dean and the hierarch believed what my eyes had seen back then.”
Master Yan Se stared at his eyes and coldly said, ”But it resulted in you being locked up in You Prison!”
The old man looked at Master Yan Se peacefully and said, ”I'm the light of the world. Those who follow me won't walk in the darkness and are supposed to achieve the light of life. On the contrary, those who doubt me have to trudge in the darkness and will never be free.”
Angry at Wei Guangming's stubbornness, Master Yan Se wrathfully waved his sleeves and severely reproached him. ”So please tell me where the Dark Shadow is! Where's the Son of Yama! Who do you want to kill in Chang'an!”
The old man said in a low voice, ”I don't know, either.”
Listening to that answer, Master Yan Se was a little shocked, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. He looked at the old man and said in a trembling and sad voice, ”Just because of an unknown person and illusory Son of Yama, a Great Divine Priest of Light, who was once as transparent as glass and as bright as light, became a wicked murderer. Furthermore, you were even willing to be imprisoned in You Prison for 14 years, which grieved many people. Don't you regret it at all?”
After a long silence, a little confusion following introspectiveness occasionally flashed across the old man's face, and then the confusion quickly transformed into a kind of peaceful stability. He said, ”But what troubles me is that I do know of its existence.”
With a frown, Master Yan Se looked at him and said, ”Who on earth is he?”
Looking at the darkness of night gradually covering the Old Brush Pen Shop, the old man peacefully said, ”Since he's the Son of Yama, of course, he hides deeply. And perhaps, even he himself hasn't realized his real identity yet. If you ask me who he is, I can't answer you now. However, since I have seen him in Chang'an, he must be in the world. He is the one, regardless if he had managed to escape from the General's Mansion or survived from among those dead bodies in the village of the Yan territory.”
Suddenly, the old man frowned as he looked at Sangsang and asked, ”What's wrong?”
Sangsang's black face became a little pale and her two little hands were tightly grasping her clothing, but her expression still looked peaceful. She replied to the old man's question, ”I somehow feel a little tired now.”
With pity, the old man said, ”Then go to bed right now.”
Sangsang looked back at Master Yan Se with her lips tightly pursed without saying a word.
Master Yan Se said with a sigh, ”If my disciple knows that you didn't have a good rest because of me, he will definitely not forgive me. Just go to bed. We two old men won't fight while you're sleeping. If we decide to have a final battle, we will wake you up.”
Wei Guangming looked at Chen Pipi and said, ”The sky has turned dark, and the man that you waited for has come, so just leave.”
Chen Pipi wiped the sweat from his forehead, which seemed to flow unceasingly today. After respectfully bowing deeply to the two elders, he pushed open the door and walked out of the Old Brush Pen Shop.
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The pine twig that was used for the smoked bacon was still smoking. The smoke became thicker because Sangsang had forgotten it for a while. Probably due to that, Sangsang's eyes were slightly reddened by the smoke.
After quietly washing her face and feet, she climbed into her bed and crawled beneath the cold blankets. Looking at the starry light outside the window, she imagined that Ning Que would probably begin muttering nonsense if he was looking at the same star right now.
The bed was a little cool because of her frugality. Besides, the weather in Chang'an this year was colder than last year. She had been lying down for some time and still did not feel warm, therefore, she could not help blowing out two mouthfuls of hot air into her little hands.
The starlight shone onto her palms, which were covered with bloodstains from being pinched by her fingernails.
When she was listening to her teacher talking about the General's Mansion and the village of the Yan territory before, she had felt a great fear in her heart. If she had not forcibly suppressed her mind with pain, maybe her body would have continued to tremble then.
She did not hear about the incident at the General's Mansion from Ning Que directly. She did not ask, but she knew about it. She knew that Ning Que had killed the censor Zhang Yiqi and that blacksmith. In addition, she even wrote a common piece of poetry. But, she still did not ask about it.
Ning Que did not want to talk about it, so she did not ask. But as Ning Que said before, she was not stupid, just a little dull. Besides, if she needed intelligence, she could be more clever than anyone, therefore, Sangsang knew everything.
”Son of Yama... it sounds like a very terrible thing.”
As Sangsang rubbed her little face on the cold pillow, she looked at the winter starlight in front of the window and said to herself, ”But I've been living with you for so many years, let's just stay alive together on the sly.”
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