Nightfall

A Lesson on the Journey

Late at night, Ning Que got off of the horse carriage. Lyu Qingchen pulled open the cloth curtain and looked at the lad’s back as he walked away. At that moment, a frontier fortress song faintly came through the field and a wisp of a smile appeared on the cultivator’s face.

For cultivators reaching the Dongxuan State, even if just half-finished, they would be deserving of great respect in any country or city. There was no need for them to make contact with the common people. Psyche Masters required more time for meditation and cultivation, so Lyu Qingchen’s every second could be comparable to gold.

However, Lyu Qingchen, being fond of Ning Que, was gladly willing to sacrifice one or two nights, or even more, to chat with Ning Que about seemingly trivial things. The old cultivator liked the calm, self-improvement hidden behind the lad’s gentle and youthful demeanor. And, he enjoyed Ning Que’s heroic spirit, which occasionally leaked through. Actually, a heroic spirit, self-improvement, and calmness were the traits the Tangs appreciated most. That would also explain why Lyu Qingchen, having been born and bred in Tang, showed a preference for Ning Que.

What he taught Ning Que at night was a pre-compulsory lesson from the South School of Haotian Taoism. Though it was not a top-secret lesson, it still couldn’t be shared with just anyone because of the school’s rules. Regardless, he decided to teach Ning Que due to his believing in one thing:

“I get the feeling that you’ll be an extraordinary cultivator someday.”

He did this even though he knew that Ning Que couldn’t be a cultivator since his Qi was blocked. Despite this fact, and without reason, he believed that this lad would still be able to take this hard and arduous journey. Additionally, he truly hoped that Ning Que would go on at a steady pace, and further than he had himself.

The old cultivator watched out his window as the lad’s back got smaller with the growing distance, mumbled to himself, “In this last phase of my life I am just blindly following my instincts, and beginning to do some presumptuous things. Possibly… it’s the Haotian that inspires me to do so.”

…

…

When Ning Que returned to the rough tent, Sangsang was already there. He asked her what the princess had called her for, and, as expected, he got an obscure and incomplete answer. He had long ago gotten used to his handmaiden’s lack of clarity. So, they told some jokes and drank several cups of wine, and then went to bed after a cursory gargling and washing.

The next day, the carriages, escorted by hundreds of cavalries, kept heading southwards to the capital, Chang’an. For Ning Que and Sangsang, their journey was not as boring and dull as before.

Before evening fell, Lyu Qingchen would call Ning Que to chat with him in his carriage, and the princess would often summon Sangsang. Their humble carriage, thanks to Peng Guotao, was driven by a bodyguard. Otherwise, Ning Que would have had to put on an unmanned-driving performance.

Ning Que had learned more about the cultivating knowledge through the chats in the carriage. For instance, he got to know a variety of approaches which cultivators applied to control their Qi of Heaven and Earth with psyche; some special objects which cultivators used to strengthen their connection with the heaven and earth; and the manner which a Sword Master condensed primordial Qi into an invisible rope and then bound up a lithe and sharp hiltless flying sword.

There wasn’t a strict standard for special objects that could enhance the connection between cultivators and the heaven and earth Qi. For example, a wooden whisk sword was usually employed by Haotian Taoism, and a wooden fish by Buddhism, while Fu paper and a flying sword were considered standard equipment, and rarely, other strange objects like pens, ink, and staves, were used by some of the superior cultivators.