1031 There Is Hope I (2/2)

Benefiting from the Headmaster, Youngest Uncle, Lian Sheng and Master Qishan, Ning Que had been cultivating Buddhism in Nirvana for thousands of years and then was on the run with Sangsang for thousands of miles. He had cultivated Taoism, Buddhism, and the Devil's Doctrine, so he had already seen through faith. Haotian was no longer unreachable in his eyes.

Countless years ago, Taoism chose Haotian as the mighty god for human beings. But Haotian weakened as the New Stream appeared and Taoism was on the wane. The inference was simple but correct.

Therefore, for the Academy and the Great Tang, the New Stream was important, and so was Ye Su.

The New Stream needed more time to spread to farther places and win more followers. Ye Su must become the saint worshiped by all followers as God, whether he was alive or dead.

To this end, Ning Que killed thousands of people and endorsed Ye Su and the New Stream. But he deliberately made no comments on Taoism's way of dealing with Ye Su.

He went silent for a long time while looking at the dark sky and the falling snow in the distance. He felt confident that he could grasp what the Abbey Dean was thinking, for the moon was darkening.

Both Taoism and the Academy believed that time was on their side.

It remained unknown whether the Academy working with the New Stream in the human world could weaken Haotian first or Haotian could defeat the Headmaster first. Ning Que anchored his hope on the former. If the Abbey Dean were to refuse his proposal, then he was betting on the latter.

Ning Que was confident about his choice, because Taoism chose Haotian for human beings many years ago and completely pinned their hopes on Haotian. But the Academy and he pinned their hopes on the Great Tang which unified the mainland and on Ye Su and the New Stream, which meant they pinned all hope on the human world.

There is hope.

There should be hope in the human world.

He thought so while looking at the sky.

...

...

In the autumn, a small building appeared on the mountain outside the Linkang City.

After entering into the wintertime, snow began to fall and many people came to the mountain. Thousands of devout followers of Haotian kneeled in front of the hillside and were kowtowing towards the direction of the small building. But no one dared to cross the defense line set by the cavalrymen of the Divine Halls.

With the new emperor gone and the Sword Garret relocated, the people of South Jin Kingdom had been through too much. Since the war with the powerful neighboring country in the north might be triggered at any moment, the people were all nervous and anxious. That was why they came to the small building which was said to be the home of immortals to pray for blessings.

The two in the building were not aware of this, and they would not care even if they did know. It was not an exaggeration to call them immortals given their status in the human world.

The Drunkard was drinking while leaning against the railing. With his sleeves sweeping through the railing, the snow accumulated on the railing was dyed on the sleeves and mixed with the wine stain left on the sleeves these days, giving off a singular cold smell.

Standing on the cliff yard outside the building, the Eldest Brother kept silent while looking at the east.

A few days ago, the secret guards of the Great Tang sent some bad news. The situation in Song Kingdom was boiling up, and Taoism had already sent their people there.

Eldest Brother wanted to go there for he worried about Ye Su, but he couldn't go because the Drunkard was still here. The Drunkard was supposed to be there but stayed at the small building because of the Eldest Brother.

Never traveling alone was the most important agreement between Eldest Brother and the Drunkard, and also the one rule that the Academy and Taoism must obey. No one dared to break the agreement, or the war would break out.

If he and the Drunkard had never went back to the human world, then there might still have been hope.