694 Ascension to Heaven II (2/2)

Countless white stones, neither gold nor jade, fell from the sky. Due to the friction with the air, they became thousands of flaming meteorites, falling into the vast ocean.

Countless large waves rose from the sea.

They gave birth to a scorching mist.

In the mist were numerous dead fish and birds.

But the world was still safe.

Among tens of thousands of meteorites, there was a stone that was as transparent as a crystal.

When the flames sank into the sea, the crystal-like stone, reflected with the light of sky, drew a bright arc in the air toward the northern part of the world; no one knew where it fell.

At the back of the mountain of the Academy.

The old yellow bull lay listlessly on the meadow.

The Eldest Brother put a basket of the freshest grass in front of it.

Second Brother put a plate of delicious fish in front of it.

The old yellow bull ate no grass, nor fish. It looked lonely and tired.

It slowly closed its eyes; a drop of water trickled down from the corner of its eye.

Another drop of water fell on its cheek.

Then there were more and more water drops.

Eldest Brother and Second Brother looked up at the sky and found that it was raining.

The world began to rain after the Headmaster ascended to heaven.

It was a heavy rain that lasted for a very long time. It was pouring down for hours; heavily for the most part, then turning into a drizzle at times, but never stopping.

It was a rain that was bound to go down in history.

It was doomed to change many things in the world.

The Headmaster once said that the destination would always be a Snow-capped Peak if one kept going northward no matter where you started. The Peak was the coldest and northernmost place in the world.

It only snowed but never rained in the Cold Region of Far North. When the night was prolonged, the Desolate Man's tribe moved southward. After that, the snow seldom fell in this deserted place.

But even in this place, it began to rain.

The snow cover on the surface of the Hot Sea was riddled with holes due to the hit of the rainstorm.

The Snow-capped Peak, the highest peak in the world, had seen several landslides and avalanches because of the heavy rain.

The biggest breach looked as if it had been hit by a rock from outer space.

Ning Que woke up.

He found himself in the Wilderness. The rain had stopped. However, judging by the dew on the grass and the muddy land, he could tell there had been a heavy rain.

He did not know how many days had passed, but thought that it must have been a long time.

Without having anything to drink or eat for many days, he was weak although his body had always been strong. His stomach, which had been fed to the fullest by the Headmaster, became empty for a long time. But he did not want to eat anything.

He held his legs, sitting on the wet meadow in the muddy wilderness, shivering all over. He looked at the sky after the rain, his thin cheeks looking pale under the daylight.

The sky was still the same.

There was no difference.

His teacher might lose the fight against Haotian.

Teacher was dead.

Sangsang was Haotian, so she went back, which meant that she died.

He was in pain.

What made him feel most pained were other things.

It was not until then that he came to understand what the teacher had said to him before the ascension.

He could have changed everything.

But for many reasons, he did not think of any methods, or he didn't want to think of any. So he did nothing.

He helplessly watched Haotian finding the Headmaster.

He watched his teacher ascend to heaven to fight and lose.

Ning Que held his legs and looked at the sky.

He just sat there.

He did not want to say, do, or to think about anything.

He did not know what he should do.

He just sat there in this way, from daytime to the sunset, until the night fell.

Looking at the sky getting darker and darker, Ning Que suddenly froze.

He got up and tottered.

He burst out laughing and the laughter became increasingly louder. It sounded like crying for his voice was hoarse.

He lay on the wet grass, laughing and crying to his heart's content, and rolled about like a child.

A moon appeared in the night sky.

It was of course not the real Moon, or not the Moon Ning Que was familiar with.

With a good sight, he saw no craters but only warm light.

Several wolf howls came from the depths of the Wilderness. They had never seen Moon before so they did not know what it was.

Ning Que knew what the Moon was.

The Headmaster was still alive. He kept fighting in the sky, but in another way.

The Headmaster once said that it must be very beautiful.

The scene was really beautiful.

He shouted at the bright moon in the night sky, ”You must win!”

The ”Ming” Handscroll states that ”the cycle of the Sun and Moon, the light and the darkness, is an endless natural process. Natural process is Taoism, which develops rules. At the end, the night falls and the moon appears.”

The Buddha wrote in his notes after reading the ”Ming” Handscroll, ”The cycle of the sun and moon, the light and the darkness. The moon should appear at night. However, after numerous eons, all those long nights through the ages saw no moon.”

The Headmaster was the moon.

The Headmaster was not from the sky, and all ages were just like a long night.