As time went to blossom, Ning Que, who remained in the cliff cave, did not have the opportunity to get close to the fresh wildflowers in the fields. Fortunately, bouquets of flowers were often seen in the cave.
Sangsang would occasionally visit her parents at the scholar’s mansion in Chang’an. However, she refused to stay over there and would return to the Academy on the day she arrived. She would pick some flowers and gather them into a bouquet on the way back for Ning Que.
Ning Que had been forced to practice cultivation in the cliff cave and could only find out about what happened outside through Sangsang and Chen Pipi. However, these things seemed to have nothing to do with him.
The Buddhism Sect and Yuelun Kingdom were both shocked and angered by his killing of the sadhu from Xuankong temple. However, it was a direct challenge, so the disciples of the Buddhism Sect could only remain silent on the matter. However, because Aunt Quni Madi who had lost her son was so furious, the king of Yuelun wrote a letter to Chang’an requesting for the emperor to punish the murderer.
The Tang Empire had never endured such provocations and this angered the emperor greatly. He summoned the envoy from Yuelun Kingdom and gave him a dressing down. He even called the king of Yuelun Kingdom an idiot. However, since Yuelun Kingdom had lost a future master and the Tang Empire had gained glory from this victory, the emperor did not send an army to punish Yuelun Kingdom. Instead, he sent an imperial edict stating that the White Tower Temple of Yuelun Kingdom was no longer allowed to evangelize within the Tang Empire territory. The sadhus who scattered in the villages and the wild were to leave the borders of the Tang Empire immediately, otherwise they would be severely punished.
Such a powerful countermeasure naturally caused a great shock to Buddhist monasteries. The chief of Lanke Temple wrote a letter to Master of Huang Yang in Chang’an City to confirm that the Tang Empire was only against Yuelun Kingdom and White Tower Temple, but her attitude towards the Buddhism Sect had not changed. They were only set at ease when the Academy confirmed that they would send representative to the Yue Laan Hungry Ghost Festival.
The West-Hill Divine Palace remained silent on this matter. When the matter had almost blown over, they suddenly sent a delegation of diplomats to Chang’an.
The delegation from Divine Hall was led by the Great Divine Priest of Revelation. There were more than a hundred of them in the delegation, including the Revelation Department, three Priests from the Judicial Department as well as the personal secretary to the Hierarch Lord. This group was way bigger than the one that they had sent two years ago when Prince Long Qing came to the Tang Empire.
The Great Divine Priest of Revelation was one of the three highest priest of the West-Hill Divine Palace. In the world shone upon by Haotian Divine Light, especially in countries other than the Tang Empire, his status was higher than that of a king.
A bigwig like the Great Divine Priest of Revelation usually entered the human realm stealthily to practice should they even deign to leave the Peach Mountain of West-Hill. They rarely appeared in front of secular people and it was even more rare for them to visit other countries.
The destiny of the Great Divine Priest of Revelation was the Tang Empire, the only country that was equal to the West-Hill. This trip caused a furor in the human realm, and the kingdoms of South Jin, Yuelun, Yan, Song and Great River tried to find at the true intentions of the West-Hill Divine Palace anxiously.
The West-Hill Divine Palace was in charge of Haotian Taoism and had millions of believers in the world. Although the South School of Haotian Taoism handled various teachings in the Tang Empire, the West-Hill Divine Palace was still admired by many Tang citizens. That was why the Tang imperial court could not treat the West-Hill like how they had treated Yuelun Kingdom.
The Tang Empire began to conduct meticulous preparations once they received the request to visit from the West-Hill Divine Palace. They arranged the standard of reception, when His Majesty should meet with the Great Divine Priest, what kind of etiquette should each party adopt at the meeting since His Majesty could not kneel in greeting like other kings but the Great Divine Priest of Revelation shouldn’t kneel before His Majesty’s feet either. In short, there were countless details that needed to be dealt with.
The only thing that the Tang Empire did not need to speculate was the intentions of the Great Divine Priest of Revelation’s visit. Although this made many people feel nervous and puzzled, the people in Chang’an City knew exactly the Great Divine Priest of Revelation’s purpose of visit.
In May, the Great Divine Priest of Revelation and his delegation arrived at Chang’an.
After a series of cumbersome and elaborate procedures, the West-Hill delegation completed their visit, but had no intentions to leave. The Great Divine Priest of Revelation stayed at the Southern Gate Temple.
The reason why this was because the true reason for the delegation’s visit was not yet complete. To be more precise, the person that the Great Divine Priest of Revelation was looking for had yet to be found.
The officials did not care about this at all because it was a matter that concerned the Academy. The person the Great Divine Priest of Revelation was looking for was in the Academy. She was serving her young master in the cliff cave.
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One day, the Great Divine Priest of Revelation suddenly appeared at the mansion of Zeng Jing, the Grand Secretary of the Imperial Library.
Even though Zeng Jing was a first class Grand Secretary of the Tang Empire, he as a Haotian believer was still so excited at meeting the God of West-Hill that he had almost fainted.
There was yet another day, when the priest of the Revelation Department, Cheng Lixue asked the Tang Nation Master, Li Qingshan tentatively if he could arrange for the Divine Priest of Revelation to meet the Headmaster of the Academy.
Li Qingshan thought for a moment before he promised to ask the Academy about this request.
Half a day later, Li Qingshan brought some bad news to them. The Headmaster of the Academy said that it was fine if the Divine Priest of Revelation wanted to visit the Academy since he had visited before. However, if they wanted to do what they wanted to, there was no point in seeing him. That was because the only person who could decide whether the girl could go to West-Hill was not her parents or the Headmaster. The person who could make decision was not sure when his retreat would end.
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If the West-Hill delegation continued to stay in the city of Chang’an, and especially if the Great Divine Priest of Revelation stayed for too long, the various countries would become more anxious and the situation would become somewhat awkward.
Fortunately, that long-arranged event had finally taken place in the northern Wilderness as originally planned, successfully attracting everyone’s attention, and they forgot about the West-Hill delegation in Chang’an.
In accordance with the West-Hill Divine Palace’s edict, the allied powers of the Central Plains and other countries went deep into the Wilderness and joined the grassland’s Left King’s Palace calvary. They launched an attack against the Desolate Man who had just moved south from the cold region in the far north last year.
The main force attacking the Desolate Man tribes was the cavalry of the Left King’s Palace and the army of Yan Kingdom. Strangely, the most powerful Northeast Border Military of the Tang Empire was responsible for the guarding their way back and rear service instead.
When a tribe from the Left King’s Palace cavalry launched a rebellion due to an unfair distribution of their loots, the Northeast Border Military of Tang, who had no action for a long time, spent an entire night quashing the rebellion and they cut off the heads of all the male of the rebel tribe.
The battle with the Desolate Man was very bloody, but when people saw the report of the battle, they discovered that General Xia Hou was still the one who had created the most bloody scene.
General Xia Hou, who was known for his fierceness and viciousness, continued to gain victory and gained waves of praises from the people of Tang Empire. According to the speculations of many, General Xia Hou, who had stated that he would disarm and retire after autumn, was bound to receive the highest honor.
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Liu Yiqing had been sitting on a futon outside the Academy’s side doors for more than two months. He was covered in dirt and looked extremely haggard. However, his eyes were extremely bright.
He meditated on the futon for three days and three nights after speaking with the old woman in blue robes from the Academy. He did not eat or drink and eventually chose to stay. However, he grew quieter and quieter.
When he reopened his eyes again after that, they were extremely bright and were like a sharp sword that had been washed by spring rain and were extremely clear.
He was only meditating, but his state increased again.
There were many in the cultivation world who were watching the Academy’s side doors.
Many now knew that Ning Que had gone into seclusion to cultivate both martial arts and talisman. Nobody had heard of cultivating martial arts and talisman together, and not many believed that it could be done.
They had all simply deduced that Ning Que had finally realized that his state was too low after the continuous victory, and had decided to go into seclusion.
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The Peach Mountain of the West-Hill Divine Kingdom seemed a little desolate as the Great Divine Priest of Revelation had brought a delegation out and also due to the rebellion of the Divine Priest of Light that had been hidden in the darkest corners of the teaching books.
The Zhishou Abbey in the deep mountain was long used to this. When the straw houses housing the seven Tomes of Arcane started to buzz, the sound was crystal clear.
At the highest spot on a certain page in the “Ri” book was the Tao Addict, Ye Hongyu’s name. A certain name at an inconspicuous corner had already disappeared.
A young taoist priest stood before the “Ri” book with a myriad of emotions.
Haotian Divine Light shone on earth and the “Ri” book recorded the names and states of all cultivators in the world. There were three possibilities for a cultivator’s name to disappear completely from the book.
The cultivator had passed that threshold and entered the fifth state.
Or the cultivator had died, and everything was gone.
Or, someone had used the inhibition to cut off the view of Heaven’s Way.
However, who had such an incredible ability?
It was none other than the Headmaster of the Academy.
An overwhelming emotion washed over the middle-aged taoist priest. He did not say anything.
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Due to many desires, for example, wanting to see who was stronger between a student on the Second floor of the Academy and the younger brother of the Sage of Sword. Or they wanted to see Mr. Thirteen of the Academy be beaten like a dog.
In short, many people looked forward to the day when Ning Que would break out from seclusion.
The West-Hill delegation in Chang’an and the Great Divine Priest of Revelation who sat in the Southern Gate Temple were quietly waiting for him to emerge as well.
However, no one thought that Ning Que might never be able to come out.
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It was late spring.
The purple vines on the cliff platform grew lushly and sheltered all sunlight. It made the entrance to the cave look quiet. The lavender flowers on the twigs were in full bloom and were extremely beautiful.
Ning Que walked to the entrance of the cave and casually coiled up his loose hair. He leaned against the stone walls and looked at the verdant greenery before him and the green fields farther away. He said, “It is only when you are broke out and have lost all hopes and passion for life that you can torture yourself like so. This, is the true meaning of exhaustive testing.”
Sangsang walked to his side and looked at the purple flowers that hung in the rain gallery. She thought that her careful care of them finally produced fruit. She said happily, “I heard that the fruits borne in fall are more beautiful. They are like beans and are very fragrant when cooked in a stew.”
Ning Que asked, “In autumn? Then we definitely would not be able to see it.”
Sangsang suddenly paused and she asked in surprise, “Young Master, you know how to leave now?”
Ning Que smiled, “The meat is ready, we just need to put in some okra to simmer before it can be served.”
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