Oddly shaped clouds often appeared above the Wilderness. Ning Que did not see the cloud above the horse carriage, and even if he had seen it – he wouldn’t have paid attention to it. It was because such an image was too common, and also – because he was completely focused on Sangsang.
He would grow more anxious every time she coughed. He thought about what Master Qishan had said in Lanke Temple and asked Sangsang to continue reciting Buddhist scriptures – cultivate Buddhism in hopes that it would quell the cold aura in her body temporarily. However, he had a bad feeling about it.
In the next couple of days, there were no sightings of cavalry from the Palace or sadhus from Xuankong Temple. Their journey was peaceful and Ning Que had finally noticed the cloud above the horse carriage. The sky was clear for miles and was the color of green tiles. There weren’t any other clouds, other than the single bud hanging above them, making it hard to go unnoticed.
The sun was hanging in the middle of the sky and was blocked by the cloud. From the ground of the Wilderness, the edges of the clouds seemed as if they had a gold border, and the cloud within the border was extremely white. It was made by many tendrils of clouds and looked like giant cotton candy, which made one want to reach out to touch it.
The solitary cloud in the sky cast a round shadow that was several feet in diameter, placing the black horse carriage in the middle of the shadow. Ning Que thought that it was rather interesting, but did not think too much before putting down the curtains, signaling the Big Black Horse to continue forth.
He had not noticed that the solitary cloud followed the horse carriage as it traveled through the Wilderness. The shadow moved across the Wilderness as well, casting shade on the black horse carriage.
The Big Black Horse believed in living in the moment. Its gaze would perpetually stay on food and the road before it, as well as between the legs of female horses. It was too lazy to look further out, so it did not notice that it was perpetually walking in the shade. It only felt that it was rather cool and comfortable.
The Wilderness was bitterly cold in late autumn. Other than the black horse, no one else thought that the coldness was enjoyable. Ning Que and Sangsang, who were inside the carriage, did not wish to hear of anything related with cold.
It was cold inside the carriage. One could see the stainless-steel boards on the edges of the windows, which were not covered with cloth, frosted over – evidence of how cold the carriage was.
Sangsang had on another pair of down pants and wrapped herself with a black coat tightly. She was buried in blankets, yet even so – did not feel any trace of warmth. Her face was pale, and her lips were blue. A thin layer of frost clung on to her eyelashes.
Ning Que tossed another two pieces of talisman paper into the copper basin and handed her a leather pouch. Inside the pouch, was strong alcohol he had gotten when he robbed a small tribe ten days ago. Sangsang shook her head, indicating that she would help herself. She took the leather pouch and poured the alcohol into her mouth. After a while, the pouch began to flatten.
Perhaps she had drunk too quickly, or because she was sick, Sangsang frowned and coughed when she put down the alcohol pouch. The talisman fire in the copper basin dimmed and struggled to reignite.
Like before, she did not cough up phlegm or blood. Every time she coughed, a cold aura would emerge. The cold aura met the warm humid air in the carriage and turned into mist.
Sangsang’s chilly aura was getting more serious. She would expel some every time she coughed. This aura seemed not to be of this world and was piercingly cold. Sometimes, even the talisman fire could not withstand it, which was why the temperature in the carriage had dropped gradually. This was also why the windows had frosted over.
She coughed softly, the temperature in the carriage fell. Ning Que tossed another talisman into the copper basin, barely managing to keep the fire up. They had used too many fire talismans recently. The talismans, especially the fire talismans, that he had prepared earlier had long been used up. The ones they were using now were written on their journey and used up a lot of his Psyche Power, causing him to turn a little haggard.
External influences could temper the cold, but could not get rid of the cold aura that came from within Sangsang. It only cured the symptoms. Master Qishan had said, when he was treating Sangsang in Lanke Temple, that even cultivating in Buddhism and using the spirit of Buddha to temper the cold illness could only do that. It did not get rid of the root of the illness.
Ning Que knew that if he wanted to get rid of the cold aura in Sangsang’s body completely, and to shield her from Yama, he could only do so in the world inside Buddha’s chessboard. He had to hide away these two years.
Sangsang’s coughing grew more frequent and her illness had taken a turn for the worse. He grew more and more worried. He had worked very hard to suppress the thoughts of turning back to the depths of the Wilderness and digging up the chessboard he had buried. The Buddha aura in the chessboard had been removed and now it was completely useless.
Barely hanging on to his rationality, Ning Que grew more and more determined to head to the capital of Yuelun Kingdom. There were many Buddhist temples in the Buddhist country. Even if he couldn’t meet up with Eldest Brother immediately, he could get Sangsang to read more Buddhist scriptures in search of more Buddhist spirit. It would keep the chilly aura in her body calm for the moment and at the very least – it wouldn’t be as dangerous as it is now.
The bitter autumn winds in the Wilderness tapered off. After that last snowfall, it did not snow again. Sometimes, snow clouds would gather in the skies but be blown apart by the winds. Only a single cloud stayed hanging in the sky, unaffected.
The solitary cloud moved towards the northeast direction, casting a faint shadow on the ground in the Wilderness. The black horse carriage sped under the shadow silently, towards the distance.
The black horse carriage finally left the Wilderness, arriving at the north border of Yuelun Kingdom. The Wilderness behind the horse carriage was filled with the screams of the winter winds and flying snow, heralding the arrival of winter. The world in front of the horse carriage was still in autumn, the trees by the border glowed red, as if they were burning.
Even though Ning Que did not know what was happening in Yuelun Kingdom, he could still make a few guesses. He parked the black horse carriage in the hollow of a mountain and went off in seek of news.
Moments later, he returned to the hollow and entered the carriage. Sangsang looked at his expression and seemed to have understood something. She smiled lightly and asked, “How did my portrait look?”
Ning Que took out a sheet of paper and spread it out in front of her. He said, “Look for yourself.”
He had entered the border earlier and quickly verified what had happened lately. Sangsang’s warrant and portrait were hung everywhere in the little city’s streets. Sangsang’s identity was written on it as well.
The paper was fresh – must have been stuck on less than five days ago. Sangsang looked at the frail little handmaiden in the portrait and realized that it is indeed very uncanny. She praised, “Yuelun Kingdom’s artist is indeed amazing.”
The portrait had even managed to make Sangsang’s withered hair lifelike. Ning Que pointed to the words written beside the little handmaiden’s cotton skirt in the portrait and said, “It is an artist from West-Hill Divine Palace. Of course he is amazing.
Sangsang said in resignation, “So the Divine Hall wants to capture me as well.”
Ning Que smiled and said, “We both know people in the West-Hill Divine Palace. If they really want to capture you, they might as well ask Ye Hongyu to do it. She would make it quick on the account that we are friends and might not torture us with fire.”
Sangsang said softly, “It’s not funny.”
Ning Que did not say anything else. He drove the Big Black Horse out of the hollow and around the city at the edge toward the eastern hills of Yuelun Kingdom. Sangsang thought to herself, “Isn’t the capital of Yuelun City in the south? Why are we heading east?” Even though she was bewildered, she believed in Ning Que. She was also very tired, so she did not ask.
A few days later, the black horse carriage having traveled so quickly, it almost flew, arrived at the eastern side of Yuelun Kingdom. Ning Que got the Big Black Horse to stop when he saw the mountains and cliffs in the distance. They were still quite a distance away from the border.
They would see the Tang Empire after crossing the mountains and cliffs. Ning Que had seen on the map that the Zhenxi General’s Mansion was about 400 miles away in Zhezhou City. At the Big Black Horse’s speed, they would need less than a day before he could see the Tang military flag, provided no one tried to stop them.
He knew very well that there would be many cultivation powerhouses hidden in the route from Yuelun Kingdom to the Tang Empire. That was why he had never considered this route since the very beginning. However, knowing was simply knowing. He could see his own country just a short distance away, how could he feel content before he saw it with his own eyes?
“Don’t force yourself. Let go if you feel that it is too much.”
In the horse carriage, Ning Que looked at Sangsang gravely. Sangsang nodded lightly, taking the torn and tattered big black umbrella from his hands. She held it tightly with her right hand and slowly shut her eyes. She did not open the umbrella.
Moments later, her face grew paler and her lashes fluttered like leaves blown about by wind among the snow. Her right hand, which was holding the handle of the umbrella, began to tremble, causing her frail body to do the same.
Sangsang suddenly coughed, and Ning Que did not hesitate to reach out to grab the big black umbrella from her. Then, he hugged her to his chest and rubbed her back. Her breathing calmed again after some time.
Sangsang lowered her head onto his chest and shut her eyes. Her body trembled slightly, either from the cold or from fear. With a tired, weak voice she said, “There are many people. Powerful people.”
Ning Que remained silent and continued hugging her.
After some time, Sangsang opened her eyes and said softly, “I don’t dare to open the big black umbrella. My health isn’t good now, so I can’t see clearly. Let me try again later.”
Ning Que said, “It is enough to know that there are people ahead of us.”
Sangsang replied, “But we don’t know where they are from.”
Ning Que said, “The West-Hill Divine Palace… no, I should say, they are from Haotian Taoism.”
He sat by the window and took out his spyglass. He looked at the cliffs and mountains in the distance. He watched silently for a long while until the skies turned dark, but he finally saw several glints that came from swords.
Ning Que thought of that story from many years ago as he watched the glinting light from the swords in the dark mountains and cliffs. Saintess of Diabolism, Murong Linshuang, had danced in Tuyang city and sword light glinted in Min Mountain. Several powerhouses of Haotian Taoism ignored the wrath of the Tang Emperor and forced Xia Hou to cook his lover alive.
That was just a war between Haotian Taoism and the Devil’s Doctrine. Now that Sangsang was the Daughter of Yama, this was a war between Haotian and Yama. Ning Que knew that what he was facing was much more dangerous than what Xia Hou had. Ye Hongyu was definitely here, did the Great Divine Priest of Revelation come? What about the Hierarch Lord?