Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Upon hearing these words, the Divine Priest guessed that the hierarch and Great Divine Priest should have exchanged with that person on this arrangement. So he stopped talking and took out the scroll. He turned it over to a certain page and asked,”You Prison is almost full of people.”
You Prison was a place where Judicial Department of Divine Hall jailed prisoners, which was located in the underground deep at the foot of Peach Mount’s back hill. There was no sunshine all day long there. For thousands of years, unnoticedly how many strong men of Devil’s Doctrine and insurgents contrary to Haotian doctrine had been imprisoned here? And then they have been executed or jailed until death.
Great Divine Priest of Judgment closed his eyes and began to recuperate, no longer explaining anything.
The solution of Judicial Department to overcrowding in You Prison was very simple. That was to kill a group of people and burn their dead bodies. It could turn the torsos occupying the space into ashes. There was absolutely no waste by putting ashes in water to moisten the peaches all over the mountain.
The subordinate Divine Priest nodded, with a natural facial expression. It was clear that there was no psychological barrier in his heart.
Great Divine Priest of Judgment suddenly closed his eyes slowly and asked in a whisper, “How about Great Divine Priest of Light?”
When the subordinate Divine Priest heard the words of Great Divine Priest of Light, his body suddenly stiffened and he bowed his head to reply, “As usual, he recites the classic doctrine. And he looks… the same as before.”
Great Divine Priest of Judgment jaw propped up his chin and thought with closed eyes for a long time, with his right index finger lightly tapping jade-carved Divine seat’s armrest. Suddenly he opened his eyes and blankly said, “Inform the whole believers of the news that the thirteenth disciple of the Academy Ning Que has been recorded in the “Ri” book.”
Divine Priest looked at Great Divine Priest’s pale face and asked after a short moment of silence, “Dear God, what intention of releasing the news?”
Great Divine Priest of Judgment did not explain, but continued to indifferently say, “Besides, inform everyone for the murder of Spring Breeze Pavilion in Chang’an City last year, in addition to Chao Xiaoshu, Ning Que also has taken part in killing Yuelun Kingdom’s monk Wu Shi and South Jin Kingdom’s swordsman.”
Divine Priest vaguely guessed the intention of such an arrangement and whispered after thinking for a while. “Even if the aunt of Yuelun Kingdom and Sword Garret were angry for it, who dare to take revenge? After all, Ning Que is a student of Headmaster of Academy and is in the territory of Tang Empire.”
“Even if he is out of the Tang Empire, is it possible for Quni Madi and Sword Garret to dare to avenge? After the matter of Spring Breeze Pavilion, Yuelun Kingdom and Sword Garret didn’t dare to speak out. Because they knew if they were involved in the internal political struggle of the Tang Empire, they feared that the Tang Emperor would get angry so as to punish them. How could they dare to take revenge? But hatred, this kind of thing, can always easily excite some enthusiasm. Especially for a young man who is still in No Doubts State, even if they don’t dare to kill, it is also a good thing for them to humiliate him several times.”
Divine Priest did not understand even if Yuelun Kingdom and Sword Garret found a chance to humiliate Ning Que, what was the point?
Great Divine Priest of Judgment closed his eyes and began to recuperate, no longer explaining anything.
…
…
Behind the Old Brush Pen Shop at Lin 47th Street in Chang’an City.
In the early morning, Sangsang raised a bucket, ready to water flowers. But she suddenly heard a voice behind her. “Let me do it!”
After a long, long time, a piece of scrawled Fu paper fell down from outside the window and stayed in the clay pot for a long time. Then it was turned into wet water extremely slowly and gradually infiltrated into the mud to moisten the flowers roots.
In the evening, Sangsang squatted in front of the stove, ready to make a fire and get some steaming rice. Then she suddenly heard a voice behind her, “Let me do it!”
After a long, long time, a sheet of pale yellow Fu paper was stuffed into a stove hole by one hand and instantly turned into a flame. It lit up the dry wood in the stove hole with extreme difficulty and then turned into a fire under the help of Sangsang’s hard blow.
In the middle of the night, Sangsang squatted in front of the bed and prepared to clean the bamboo mat. Then she suddenly heard a voice behind her, “Let me do it!”
After a long, long time, a piece of Fu paper was rolled into a paper ball and thrown into a basin. It gradually spread out for being soaked to be soft. And after a long time, on the surface floated a thin layer of ice.
Sangsang squatted next to the basin, staring at the water surface without a blink. Until she felt her eyes kind of painful, she started to rub them and stood up. She put the towel in the water to get wet, pursing up her lips tightly and silently wiping the bamboo mat on the bed. After she finished the wiping, she turned around to pour water.
At this moment, she heard a voice behind her, “Let me do it!”
Sangsang could not tolerate it any longer and forcefully threw the wet towel into the basin. With her hands put on her thin waist, she angrily turned around with her bright willow-shape eyes open and seriously said looking at the desk, “Young master! Don’t you know how long I have to wait for your Fu paper to work every time?” “Don’t you know such a long time of waiting is completely enough for me to water flowers, light up the firewood, finish cooking, wipe the bed, and then have a rest? In City of Wei, you told me once that the delaying one’s time was murdering his life. Why do you always murder me?”
Besides the desk, Ning Que held the brush and prepared to go on writing Fu papers. When he suddenly heard such a long period of accusation, the excitement of his face became a little regret. So he embarrassedly said, “I’ve just learned how to write Fu, and got kind of excited. So I always want to practice more. Why are you… so serious?”
Ever since Ning Que got the enlightenment of Talisman Taoism in that summer rainstorm, he had been immersed in that magical world and unable to extricate himself. From early morning when they woke up until their falling asleep, he has been writing Fu in the small courtyard, making Sangsang do every housework non-smoothly.
He did not stop writing Fu in the Back Mountain of the Academy. Now Senior Brothers and Sisters who have their own cultivation not only feared the sword and the arrow flying around, but also began to worry about the fresh water rushing towards them and the land ridge suddenly appearing at the feet of them. What was even more frightening was the flames changed from Fu papers… Now there was a sentence spreading in the Academy’s Back Mountain: Fire prevention, sword prevention, and Younger Brother prevention. Therefore, those unhappy Senior Brothers and Sisters eventually made a non-difficult decision. If Younger Brother wanted to write Fu, he must be in Sixth Brother’s blacksmith house. Anyway, there was fire all year round there, they would not worry about his causing a fire.
Ning Que thought that Senior Brothers and Sisters were a little exaggerating
. What was the matter if they got some water on their faces and a few burned holes on their colored Academy clothes? They were at least some cultivators in Seethrough State. How could they be afraid of these? However, since he has committed a public outrage, he also had to honestly stay in Sixth Brother’s room every day and kept refining Martial Arts of Talisman accompanied by Sixth Brother’s honest sigh and Fourth Brother’s furious roar.
Today, like a child with a fresh toy, he was never tired of playing with Fu from morning to night, as if he was never tired and bored. As time went by, the more Martial Arts of Talisman he grasped, the deeper he had an understanding of Talisman Taoism.
He did not know his name had appeared on the first scroll of the seven-volume scriptures in that Unknown Place, somewhere in the deep mountain of West-Hill Divine Kingdom, shortly after the first drip on his brush formed at that summer rainy night. He also did not know that the supreme Great Divine Priest of Judgment of West-Hill Divine Palace had determined to declare his name to millions of believers in the world based on certain inexplicable causes.
…
…
In fact, even if West-Hill Divine Palace did not promote it, Ning Que’s reputation has been loud enough at least in Chang’an City. Back Mountain of the Academy was hidden in the fogs, so common people looked at it but did not know the details about him. However, unnoticedly his Majesty’s appreciation for him has shocked many people. Moreover, the quarrels between Grand Secretary Wang and Old Chancellor Jin, which have lasted for decades, have finally reached the highest level in the fourteenth year of Tianqi era due to several copies of the sections. Two parties, from the master to the servants in the lowest level, would argue with each other every several days. It indirectly caused those people in the remote streets and allies of Chang’an City to begin to spread his story.
“Last year, a golden boy and a jade girl walked along the lake and faced the wind cuddling together. A lot of people got jealous of them. Ms. Gao sentimentally looked over there and her tears almost flew down. How about now? Xie Chengyun clearly knew that Jin Wucai was the most suitable candidate for daughter-in-law, but couldn’t pass the reputation barrier and went back to South Jin Kingdom with a gray face. He continued to be the young master of his family and a chancellor in the future, leaving Jin Wucai lamenting alone in Chang’an. Gee… ”
“Young master, why I feel you’re a little jealous?”
“What jealous? I said to you last year outside the Princess Mansion that I didn’t understand love. But I knew that people who played with love, especially young men, were all idiots.”
“But there are always men and women in the world.”
“Men and women do their thing, but do not mistake it as love.”
“What is their thing?”
“Eh, the guys who go to House of Red Sleeves are mostly aiming for it.”
Ning Que and Sangsang got off the horse carriage, walking toward House of Red Sleeves while talking gossip.
They two often came to House of Red Sleeves that they were very familiar with. They naturally walked across the side door, came beside the building, and entered into the hall. He deliberately picked up the morning to come over, for at this time there was no business in House of Red Sleeves.
However, he did not expect that, after their entering the hall, those who should wear ordinary home clothes, wandering around with a yawn, and then would run to squeeze his cheek with their shining eyes and take him to play in the backyard when they saw him… seemed to be another group of people.
Those girls were dressed in a very formal way, wearing expensive clothing that only appeared on an important occasion. In the hall, they were divided into two lines, smiling but cautiously looking at him, as if to make a special ceremony to greet him. When they saw that Ning Que with Sangsang came out from the side door, they greeted a bow in a very neat order and said in a clear voice, “Glad to meet you, Master Ning.”
Upon looking at this scene and listening to this crispy sound, Ning Que could not help becoming dumbfounded and looked at Dewdrop standing in front of the queue, asking, “Sister Dewdrop, what… are you doing?”
These days Dewdrop has earned many taels of silver by selling chicken-soup sections and rubblings of Yan. She often contacted with Sangsang to pay silver. Unlike other girls who were affectionate, curious and cautious, she walked forward with a smile and lightly held his arm to take him inside, softly explaining,
“Your status now is not the same as before. Who dare to tease you as usual? After Mistress Jian knew that you entered the Second floor, she delivered red envelopes all over the building. The girls in the building fear your present accomplishment as well as delight in the benefits you have brought. This is the first time you come back after a few months. Of course, everyone must welcome you well.”
After entering the Second floor of the Academy, Ning Que has been busy with cultivation and had less contact with the outside world. However, these days he had gone to a few banquets, probably knowing he could be considered as a celebrity in Chang’an City. But he did not really expect that he could have this kind of treatment in House of Red Sleeves and could not help feeling somewhat intoxicated.
Unfortunately, there was not much time left for him to be intoxicated. Just when the girls finally digested their shock and fear in the hearts and prepared to ask him about those rumors, Mistress Jian’s private maidservant Xiaocao went downstairs with a small cold face as usual and reiterated Mistress Jian’s rules to everyone.
Sangsang had the similar age with Xiaocao. They went to play in the back garden. But Ning Que took a long sigh and climbed hard to House of Red Sleeves’s attic with two lead-irrigated legs. He reluctantly pushed open that wooden door and opened the beard curtain. Then he greeted a deep bow to the woman behind the curtain and sadly said, “I have entered the Second floor of the Academy. Why can’t I do what I want?”
Mistress Jian, with a broad forehead and a straight nose, was not a traditional beauty but had a kind of gentleness similar to a man. She smiled slightly, indicating Ning Que to sit down, and then said, “You’re too young. Why are you always thinking about the thing between men and women?”
Ning Que annoyedly said, “I just want to do what you forbid me to do. Besides, I’ve been eighteen years old!”
“I said last time, you could call me Aunt Jane.”
Mistress Jian pushed the tea cup in front of him and said with a smile, “No matter how his Majesty appreciates you or the people of Back Mountain adore you, as long as I don’t agree, there is no brothel in the entire Chang’an City that would dare to entertain you.”
“My dear aunt…” Ning Que reluctantly said, “Why you do this to me?”
Mistress Jian said with earnestness, “What kind of place is the Academy? And the Second floor? Since you are so lucky to enter it, of course, all your thoughts should be placed on study and cultivation. Why come here to be tangled with this frivolous brothel? If you really provoke some unpleasant things, that’s fine with you. What if you ruined the Academy’s reputation?”
“I think even if it was Headmaster of Academy, he would not care about these things.” Ning Que said.
Mistress Jian tilted her brows and said with a low voice, “Even if Headmaster of Academy spoke, he must also get my consent.”
Last year, Ning Que first came into Chang’an City and mistakenly entered House of Red Sleeves. Since the first meeting, Mistress Jian has taken care of him like a seniority. To be honest, he has been puzzled about this, especially when Mistress Jian seemed to very familiar with the Academy. Coupled with this sentence heard at this time, he became more confused and tried to ask it out after a moment.
“Aunt Jane, are you… quite familiar with the Academy?”
Upon listening to these words, Mistress Jian slightly startled and held the tea cup on the table as a cover. After a short moment of silence, she replied, “I have not been to the Academy.”
Not entering the Academy did not mean that she was unfamiliar with the Academy. When Ning Que prepared to continue questioning, suddenly Mistress Jian directly asked, “Is Jun Mo still so old fashioned?”
“Jun Mo?” Ning Que was confused.
Mistress Jian looked at him and frowned to say, “He’s your Second Brother. You don’t even know his name?”
Ning Que slightly startled and said with a feeler, “How dare I call his name directly? You should know how proud he is. So I forget how to call Second Brother.”
“Proud?” Unnoticedly Mistress Jian thought of something, with a trace of recollection showing on her face. Then she said with a smile, “Since entering the Back Mountain, the little Mo has learnt to act a proud appearance. He even made a wooden stick on top of his head.”
“Bump!” Ning Que laughed loudly.
Mistress Jian shook her head with a smile and suddenly asked, “How about that scholar?”
“The scholar is still reading.”
“Everyone is fine.”
“Aunt Jane, why don’t you ask about Headmaster of Academy and Eldest Brother?”
“Ah? They’ve come back?”
“No.”
“No? Since you have not seen them yet, what is the point for me to ask about them? But I believe Headmaster of Academy and Eldest Brother will do well wherever they are.”
Mistress Jian’s voice gradually lowered down. She thought back to many years ago, with her eyes slightly moist.
Ning Que vaguely understood something. The reason why the brothels’ leader favored him more after knowing he was the Academy’s student was because of her empathy for the past. But who had had a love affair with her in those years? In the Back Mountain, who looked like him? Second Brother… Little Mo? Or Senior Sixth Brother who had a bodybuilder’s muscles and was very popular with girls? Could it be Headmaster of Academy? !
…
…
He came to Dewdrop’s small courtyard in the back garden and wrote some sections stamped with his private seal for Lu Xue and several most familiar girls. Finally he sent away those contentment girls and no longer thought of the relationship between Mistress Jian and the Academy. He walked to Dewdrop with a grin, his eyes falling on her white soft chest. Then he could not help becoming absent-minded.
Dewdrop looked a little shy and waved her hands walking back. She said in a hurry, “Don’t do it. Don’t.”
Ning Que startled and thought although he hasn’t really been intimate with her, he has cuddled and touched her a lot. Why did Sister Newdrop have such a big reaction today, as if he was a saty compelling her?
Suddenly his eyes lit up. He thought this was probably the legendary cosplay. There would be a lot of fun if she refused him first and received him later. “I force you to retreat and you’re shy to go behind the curtain. Then under red candles’ company, we could…”
He laughed and said, “Dear sister, no one can hear you even if you cry with might and main.”
Dewdrop looked slightly pale, repeatedly rejecting him, and then sadly said, “Dear brother, you really can’t do it.”
Ning Que found something wrong with her and puzzledly asked, “Why not?”
“Mistress Jian has said it… ”
“Last time we made a deal. We can secretly do it, ignoring her.”
“But… your master have stayed overnight with me yesterday.”
“Master?”
“Master Yan Se.”
Dewdrop was ashamed in the extreme and clutched a silk scarf looking at him as she shyly said, “Although I work in the brothel, there are some things I still can’t do. If people know I serve both the master and the disciple, how can I keep my reputation?”
Today the master-disciple relationship was even more powerful than that between father and son. Dewdrop was the top prostitute in Chang’an city, who was extremely picky with guests entertained. She spent most of her time on serving tea, gossiping around and seducing them to earn taels of silver. There were few people who could really go into her tent within two years. So she was ashamed to serve both the master and the disciple.
Ning Que startled for a long time and then furiously said, “If the master can touch, why can’t the student touch?”
…
…
Ning Que was not frivolous, but at the age of eighteen years just had some desire inside his body. Besides he has never been in contact with women, not to mention the so-called “lust came after a complacent life “. Now he had innumerable silver notes under his bed and reached a high peak in cultivation. Of course, he would inevitably be exceptionally curious and longing for the thing between men and women.
He went back to Old Brush Pen Shop at night. When he lay in bed, the summer heat in Chang’an City and his body heat attacked him from both inside and outside so that he was tossing about in bed and difficult to fall asleep. In contrast, the hot summer in Chang’an City was the most comfortable season for Sangsang with an innately cold body. She has long fallen asleep at another side of the bed.
This little handmaiden had a very sweet sleep. She turned over in the bed when she had a dream, with her right leg bent to hit Ning Que’s lower abdomen hard.
Ning Que was so painful for this heavy attack as to utter a hum sound. His body bent up like a cooked shrimp and his face turned pale.
After a while, his pain faded and he angrily stared at sleeping Sangsang, trying to pull her leg down.
He touched Sangsang’s small foot with fingers and suddenly felt a very comfortable coldness as well as tactile impression, as if he touched the ice fish in a wine cup on the dinner of Grand Secretary Mansion a few days ago, smooth and cool.
In such a hot summer night, he felt really comfortable holding such a small foot in his hand. Ning Que was reluctant to let it go, so he held it in his hand and gently touched it. Through the star light by the window, he saw that little foot in his hand was as white as jade and as beautiful as a jade-carved lotus.
Ning Que held the cold foot and slightly wrinkled, not knowing what he was thinking in his mind.
Maybe Sangsang felt slightly itchy, for his fingers touched the sole of her foot. She started to shrink her foot in her sleep but failed to extract her foot from Ning Que’s hand. So she woke up and rubbed her vague eyes as she asked, “Young master, why do you grip my foot?”
Ning Que was surprised and instantly felt that he changed into a poor lad who was badly hit by many women holding washing boards outside a bath house. He forced to suppress his embarrassment and explained with a trembling voice, “It’s too… hot. Your foot is cool. I feel very comfortable to hold it.”
Upon hearing the explanation, Sangsang uttered an “Oh” and lay back to bed. She adjusted her body by leaning to the right so that Ning Que could grip her right foot more conveniently and easily.
After Old Brush Pen Shop came back to quietness, only some cicadas sounds were faintly heard from the street.
After an unnoticed period of time, Ning Que suddenly asked, “Sangsang, how old are you… this year?”
Sangsang replied with her eyes closed, “I don’t know when I was born. You told me you had picked me up when I was still young. So I should be close to fourteen years old now.”
“Fourteen… ”
Ning Que silently repeated it in his heart and then released her foot in his hand. He said, “Have a good sleep.”
Sangsang opened her eyes and looked at him as she curiously asked, “Young master, don’t you feel hot?”
“I’ll take a fan.”
“What is the use of a fan?”
“Your foot smells bad, okay?”
“I wash my feet every day. But young master, your feet are really smelly.”
“Anyway, I’ll get a fan.”
“Young master.”
“Yes?”
“Let me do it.”
A rustle sound came over from the other end of the bed. Sangsang climbed over to lie down beside Ning Que and held out her thin arms and legs to clutch him. She put her face on his chest, searching for a comfortable position to rub against.
She snuggled in his arms and drowsily said, “It’s cool now.”
Her body was still thin. She clutched Ning Que’s legs and wrapped herself around his waist like a silkworm on an oak.
However, after all, she was about to be a fourteen-year-old girl. He felt a kind of coolness and micro-elasticity from her very thin clothing.
Ning Que looked at the roof with his open eyes. He held a cold jade in his arms but felt hotter and hotter, and simply could not fall asleep.
Unnoticedly cicadas on green trees of the street also became insomnia, crying for hotness.
