Nightfall

Kill At Sight

Ning Que smiled because he knew she was describing his feelings. It was even better that she also vocally stated her affection, so he felt happy.

He hunted the wild boar by the side of the lake and built a fire. The meat on the fire roasted and sizzled. The oil gradually dried out, and the smell of meat dispersed. They ate their fill and went to rest.

Ning Que thought of what Sangsang had said during the day and said, “Don’t compare the Academy with Buddhism in the future. You can say anything about the Academy, but not this.”

Sangsang lay on the ground that was warm due to the fire and asked, “Why not?”

Ning Que said, “Is the Academy that disgusting?”

Sangsang smiled and said, “Your master injected the power of the human world into my body, and then you took me to the world to transform me into a human. The Buddha injected the three poisons of greed, anger and foolishness into my body with the same purpose. So what’s the difference between them?”

Ning Que was sharpening the cutlass by the stream. When he heard this, he stopped and said after thinking, “The difference lies in that the Buddha wants to transform you into a human in order to kill you.”

“What about the Academy?” Sangsang asked. “Is transforming me into a human the sole purpose of the Academy? If it weren’t for you, wouldn’t people in the Academy try to kill me when I am weak like this?

“You said ‘if’,” Ning Que said. “This proves everything. If’s don’t exist in the world. Since I am always beside you, the Academy won’t kill you.”

Sangsang said, “Even though I killed Ke Haoran?”

Nig Que was silent for a while and then said, “Disregarding the time in the Chessboard, you’ve been in the human world for 20 years. You have only been Sangsang in these 20 years.”

Sangsang understood what he meant. She shouldn’t be responsible for the events that happened before her birth. That was why the Academy didn’t attribute Youngest Uncle’s death to her, but to Haotian.

“What if…” Sangsang said, “I kill your Headmaster too in the end?”

A bit annoyed, Ning Que asked, “Can’t you say something else? I said if’s don’t exist. Can’t you leave it alone and stop looking for drama?”

Smiling, Sangsang said, “Then I’ll say something interesting. Where should we go next?”

In such a remote mountain, they could still see Buddhas. They could imagine that danger was everywhere inside the Chessboard world too, since every living being had become a Buddha and were searching for them.

It made no sense to keep going like this because they couldn’t find the way out of the Chessboard even if they had gone to the end of the horizon.

“If we remove the poison in you, can you break through this Chessboard?” Ning Que asked.

Sangsang said, “You just said there is no ‘if’ in the world.”

Ning Que sighed. “Be serious.”

Sangsang said, “If I can’t, then why did we leave Chaoyang City?”

Ning Que said, “According to Buddhism, the Buddha is the only one who could detoxify the three poisons.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Buddhist sutras aren’t fairytales,” Ning Que said. “I think it does make some sense.”

Sangsang said, “The three poisons are hard to be cleared unless one is cultivating to be enlightened.”

Ning Que wiped the water on the cutlass and walked back to her. Looking at Sangsang’s eyes, he said quietly, “Why not have a try? Can you cultivate to be enlightened?”