616 Two Autumns (2/2)

Ning Que and Sangsang disappeared again from the world. They had disappeared once for a whole year. At the time, the two sects guessed that they might either be dead or were in the chessboard world left by Buddha. No one felt shocked by their disappearance, nor would they think it was incredible.

However, they had disappeared again after they leaving the Chessboard world of Buddha and returning to man's world. The powerhouses from the Buddhist Sect and the Taoist Sect and countless people in the world failed to find them despite all their efforts, which made them extremely shocked and vigilant. It was known that even the Academy was being watched by many now.

An old monk walked slowly out of the basin in the depth of the Western Wilderness and went forward.

The old monk wore a bamboo hat, covering his face. With a monk's staff in his hand, he walked very slowly. It was not the deliberate slowness to show calm and indifference, but a natural one as if his foot were so tightly connected with the desolate vast land that every step was extremely hard.

The cane in his hand kept beating the ground, as if the monk was looking for something or somebody. Who could he find at such a slow speed?

However, at the moment when he stepped out of the basin, he seemed to find something and said, ”The Palace.”

A distant bell came from the yellow temple among the huge mountains at the center of the basin.

In the Right King's Palace tens of thousands of miles away, a dusty scholar looked at Chanyu and a dozen or so palace priests who looked like confronting a powerful enemy and bowed to them. ”Could you please tell me whether you have seen my Younger Brother?”

More than a dozen miles away, the deputy of the Hall of Respect of Xuankong Temple rushed to the palace, followed by thirty ascetic monks.

The old monk continued his slow walk and stopped again after walking for half a day. ”Liuguan,” He said.

Again, a distant bell came from the yellow temple among the huge mountains at the center of the basin.

The scholar appeared in Liuguan, a famous trade center on the edge of the Wildness.

A thousand of grassland cavalries and cavalries from Yuelun Kingdom rushed to Liuguan under the military's order.

The old monk went on walking and stopped again after one day. Then he said another place.

The chief monk of the Hall of Respect of Xuankong Temple quietly looked at the scholar under a poplar that was not far away.

Looking at the coarse bark of the poplar, Eldest Brother came to realize what happened.

He kept looking for his Younger Brother everywhere by virtue of Limitless State regardless of the danger of falling into a lower state. But the two sects kept tailing after him. So even if he found Ning Que, he could not take him away without others' knowing. He would definitely face the continuous deadly attack from the two sects.

No cultivator could keep pace with the Limitless State. In order to find where he was accurately, two conditions must be met. Firstly, his opponent must have enough number of powerhouses and armies to be prepared around every place he could possibly arrive. Secondly, the opponent had to know his location as soon as possible.

In principle, it was utterly impossible to meet these two conditions at the same time. However, if all the people in the world were looking for Sangsang and the if Buddhist sect and the Taoist sect worked together, they could really dispatch enough powerhouses and armies and the second condition could also be met by someone.

Although Eldest Brother looked gentle and dull, he was actually a wise man. It did not take him long to understand all things and confirm his own guess: the chief preaching monk from Xuankong Temple had finally come to the world.

He looked at Qi Mei and smiled. Then he sat down with his back against the poplar and took out the old book from his waist and started reading. There was no pond beside him to drink with a scoop, but he still looked calm and unhurried.

Since the two sects tried to find Ning Que and Sangsang though him, he decided to do nothing except for reading, eating, and sleeping from this moment.

Doing nothing was the best method of hiding. On the contrary, the more you did to conceal, the easier you would expose. Though he did not know this truth, he made the right choice by following his heart.

Being experienced in hiding and fleeing, Ning Que knew the truth and did follow it. Except taking Sangsang to read and heal in different temples, Ning Que never went out of the courtyard and did not even go to find Eldest Brother.

Sangsang's illness improved slightly, and at least did not worsen anymore for now. She was still weak and weary and sank into a deep sleep just after noon.

Ning Que sat by the bed and started reading.

The book was the handwritten copy of Buddha's notes written by himself in the Lanke Temple. He made the words in the ”Ming” Handscroll of Tomes of the Arcane correspond to the sidenotes of Buddha in order to get a more clear insight. But he failed to find more things in it.

Ning Que came to have a vague idea of the book after taking Sangsang to different temples in these days. When he read it again, he talked to himself with a slight frown, ”The night falls for the moon... Doesn't this reverse the cause and effect? The shadow of nightfall will never be washed away once it falls on the moon. What does it mean?”

Then he turned to Sangsang who was in deep sleep. Looking at her little pale face, he reached out his hand and touched it, thinking that ”the dark shadow” in the ”Ming” Handscroll was naturally the Daughter of Yama, Sangsang.

”The shadow of nightfall will never be washed away once it falls on the moon... ” As to the literal meaning and the current situation, ”the moon” referred to himself for he was the only one in the world who had seen the moon.

Ning Que looked thoughtful and inspired, but was still confused.

Several terrible caws came from outside the window. After making sure that no one was in the courtyard, he opened the door and went outside. Looking at the several black crows in the tree, he knitted his brows.

A crow came here at the first night when they came. In the following days, one more crow came every day. The number of crows gradually increased that the branches now could hardly bear their weight.

It was weird no matter what.

He looked up at the sky and found that the clouds above Chaoyang City increased. They kept moving and merging at a low speed, gradually forming a thick cloud that could cover the sky.

With the clouds getting thicker, people in the city felt a little chilly. The autumn was going to end at last.

For Ning Que and Sangsang, last fall was related to this fall. In these two falls, they had gone through too many things. How lamenting it was!