Chapter 19: There is Nothing in the Mountain of Snow

Hua Shan Yue looked around the forest, noticing the corpses of both

guards and enemies. Looking at the blood and traces of battle,

especially after seeing that thin handle-less little sword, he finally

understood how horrifying the assassin was, his feeling changed

involuntarily.

He asked the subordinate to get a horse ready, said, “Princess, the

reinforcing troop was already on its way, we should leave as soon

as possible.”

Princess Li Yu nodded her head, agreed to his arrangement, walking

away under the protection of the heavy riders.

Hua Shan Yue then gave a cold glance at Ning Que. Looking at him

indifferently, he was guessing the real relationship between this

young soldier and the princess. However, no matter how hard he

thought he could not see any potential from the youngster to

threaten him, so his sight became indifferent.

The indifference hidden in his vision actually consisted of multiple

probability. Ning Que understood this point very clearly. He quietly

looked at Hua Shan Yue’s shadow, remembering this person’s

previous warmth in his vision, understanding that he would not do

any harm to the princess, yet his desire to possess the princess was

way too strong.

Young general’s drastic love for the princess, honestly, had nothing

to do with Ning Que, who was only a low rank soldier. However, Ning

Que really disliked Hua Shan Yue’s indifferent attitude. He knew that this indifference represented strong power and background,

represented contemptation.

Ning Que disliked, so he stood up, looked at the woman who was

about to get on horseback, smiled and said, “Princess highness,

actually since the beginning in Wei City, I had always wanted to say

something to you…”

Hua Shan Yue suddenly looked back. The pretty princess sitting on

the white horse frowned and turned back, silently staring at the

young soldier standing by the firewoods, seemed about to scold, but

ended up saying indifferently, “Tell me when we returned to Chang

An.”

Before marching on, Hua Shang Yue whispered with the head of

guards for a while, understanding what princess had encountered,

and knowing what Ning Que did in yesterday’s assassin. He

remained silent for a while, then walked to Ning Que and said calmly,

“You made great contributions this time, there would be awards to

you when we got back to Chang An….Little kid, nice job.”

Ning Que took Sang Sang to the shabby tribe and started to pack

up.

Sang Sang fastened the big black umbrella back to her back,

suddenly turned her head up, frowned and asked Ning Que, “Master,

did you say ‘you have something to say’ on purpose?”

“Yeah.” Ning Que cleaned his knife, replied, “The guy called Hua

Shan Yue was too hypocritical and too boring, I would have a bad

mood when looking at him, so I have to give him a bad mood too.”

“Master, what were you going to tell the princess?” Sang Sang

stopped what she was doing, asked curiously.

“How would I know?” Ning Que push in his knife into the sheath,

shrugged his shoulder, said, “No matter what I can’t say, since the

beginning when I saw you in the Wei City, I deeply and

enthusiastically fell in love on you…..”.“But Hua Shan Yue may think that way, princess…may believe that

you want to say this too.”

“Idiots think in idiots’ way. I am not surprised.” Ning Que answered.

The little maid looked at his eyes, said, “Don’t you think that you are

really boring sometimes?”

Ning Que shrugged his shoulder, accepting the comment.

Sang Sang shook her head, looking at him after a few seconds,

said, “Master, is it true that, in your eyes, everyone else besides you

is an idiot?”

Ning Que thought seriously as as he fastened the handle of his knife.

He thought for a long time, then replied seriously, “This is not my

problem. It’s just that in this world, there are always many idiots

doing stupid things. People like Hua Shan Yue are not supposed to

count as an idiot, yet since he actually believes in love, then he is

also an idiot.”

Sang Sang pointed at herself with her finger, asked seriously, “So in

your eyes, am I also an idiot?”

Ning Que looked at this black little face, answered seriously, “You

are not idiot, you are just silly.”

Before the group left the entry to the way of North Mountain, a little

scene happened.

Some of the Gu Mountain Province cavalries stayed at the place.

The assassins who dared to murder Tang princess would definitely

not leave any traces, so they were not staying to find evidence, but

rather to protect these corpses of soldiers. When the reinforced

troop came, they would move the corpses back to Chang An and

bury them – – no matter dead or alive, they can’t abandon not even

one comrade, this is Tang’s military rule.

They carefully juxtaposed the soldiers’ corpses in the forest. On the

other hand, they left the enemies’ corpses randomly on the ground,preparing to burn them into ashes. When they were going to burn the

corpse of the mid-aged scholar, they felt hesitated. They knew that

he was a Great Sword Master, so they were not sure if they should

show him respect corresponding to his identity.

Hua Shan Yue slight frowned, deciding to bury this Great Sword

Master. Yet at this point, the old man Lu Qing Chen whispered to

them, “This person already fell into Demonism.”

Hearing the word Demonism, the young general’s face suddenly

became cold. When he looked at the corpse again, there was no

more respect in his eyes, but only contempt. He waved his hand like

waving a fly away, said, “Throw it out and burn it.”

……

In the morning they moved out of the exit of the way of North

Mountain, and at noon they encountered the big reinforced troop.

Under the protection of hundreds of elite heavy riders, Tang’s fourth

princess Li Yu continued moving towards the capital Chang An. At

this point, no matter enemies inside or outside the empire could

threaten her.

The days that followed, Li Yu and the barbarian prince had always

stayed inside the wagon, and never appeared in the public.

Even though there were hundreds of cavalries, the guards who

survived and Great Plain barbarians insisted to protecting the

surrounding of the wagon, regardless of their wounded body. The

elder Lu Qing Chen was at the second wagon. The heavily wounded

guards and barbarians were at the wagons behind. As for Ning Que

and his little maid Sang Sang, they were sitting on their own shabby

wagon, far behind the others.

At the boundary of Gu Mountain province, all the heavy riders

changed to light riders, so the group sped up suddenly. The solid

wagons in the front could follow up, but Ning Que’s wagon could only

barely keep up.

One cavalry ride near their wagon scolded angrily, “Your speed is way too slow, speed up!”

Like the first few days when they just left the Wei City, Ning Que

appeared to be sleepy again. Looking like he would fall at any time,

entirely depending on Sang Sang to laboriously carry him up.

Hearing the furious scolding for the cavalry, he opened up his eyes

and glanced at him, without speaking a word.

Looking at the view of the cavalry’s back, Sang Sang wiped out the

sweats on her forehead, squinting her willow-like eyes, said,

“Master, we seem to be abandoned.”

“Good usage of the word ‘abandoned,’if use ‘being forgotten,’ it will

sound pretentious and showy.”

Ning Que looked at the wagon in the most front, thought about the

princess highness who never showed up again, smiled and said, “To

us, the poor people who need to gamble with lives to live, any type

of pretentious and showy expressions are nasty.”

Sitting with a princess by the firewoods and telling a night of fable,

such image, no matter at Chang An or the Great Plain, appeared to

be fantastic and imaginative; such image was the real fable. It’s not

real.

A little frontier soldier, occasionally rescued a noble by chance. Later

on, he received corresponding awards, then they never interact

anymore, this is the story of the real world.

In this world, there are heroic epics, yet there are not that many

fables. If Romeo was not a noble’s son, but simply a garbage man,

presumably Juliet will think ten times more before she dies for him.

Ning Que always had a clear understanding of such things. He knew

that the hidden face of the girl by the firewoods was only dream like

picture. More importantly, he had never really loved, but only

appreciated the fact that she could also have such beautiful moment,

so he did not really feel upset or disappointed.

————————————————

After resupplying in Gu Mountain Province, the group did not rest for

a moment. The princess was clearly in a hurry to head back to

Chang An, where her lovely and caring father lived. They chose to

travel directly south for the fastest route.

Hua Shan Yue did not misinterpret Ning Que’s relationship with the

princess because he investigated Ning Que’s background and found

out that he was just a regular soldier in a borderline city, nothing

could ever happen between the two. Therefore Ning Que was not

trouble during his stay at the Gu Mountain Province.

After setting up the camps to rest, Sang Sang went to a nearby river

to wash the rice and clean up the fish. She made a big meal for

dinner. The young master and the young maid took the main dish into

their bowls and started eating happily. They did not stop until they

were filled content and joyful.

A cold and harsh looking man walked by them and saw this scene,

he shook his head and smiled, “We asked you guys to eat with us

but you didn’t. We thought you were resenting us, but now I see

you just find our food quite lacking….. It is your previous life’s fortune

that you can get a hardworking maid like this.”

Comparing Sang Sang to a fortune of previous life was certainly an

exaggerated compliment. But Sang Sang did not say anything, she

just smiled and continued eating while Ning Que felt that it was

obvious she was his precious gem.

The name of the incoming man was Peng Guo Tao, he was

princess’s trusted guard leader who performed decisively and

bravely in the bloody battle of North Mountain. He brought his

subordinates and followed the princess into the Great Plain for a

year, and encountered several ambushes when returning home. Out

of all of his loyal subordinates, only seven of them remain alive; for

sure this guard leader’s current feeling was complicated and hurt.

Ning Que and him were partners who overcame the threats of death

in the North Mountain entrance. Relationships blossomed from blood

and glory were usually more reliable than normal ones, and Ning Que’s performance during the battle will definitely be engraved into

the memories of the soldiers presented.

This was the reason why the carriage disliked by the knights of Gu

Mountain Province often welcomed in Peng Guo Tao and other

guards as guests recently. The few barbarian soldiers also sent

some strong alcohol to Ning Que and Sang Sang as gifts, but they

rarely step anywhere closer to them than a ten yards radius. they

avoided speaking to the master and the maid whenever they can.

Perhaps they were scared of the story told in Shu Bi Lake.

“I know your backgrounds are certainly clean without problems, and

you guys are probably not comfortable travelling with the unit of

heavy riders. But there was no reply after submitting your request,”

Peng Guo Tao looked at Ning Que and apologized, “You are a

soldier sent from Wei City, you cannot leave unless the princess

gives out the order.”

Ning Que scratched his head and said, “Then I’ll follow the group for

a while longer.”

————————————————————

Ning Que expected the rest of the trip to Chang An to be calm and

boring without any events, but the night after, Ning Que suddenly

received an invitation from the other carriage. The elder, Lu Qing

Chen, wanted to see him.

Ning Que was both surprised and happy, he tried to think for a long

time, but decided to let it be. He put out the campfire next to his

carriage and walked towards the other carriage with Sang Sang.

The curtain was lifted, the dim candle shined its light around the

carriage. The psychic master Lu Qing Chen looked at Ning Que and

the young maid bowed towards him respectfully. He was surprised,

he expected the youngster to understand the reason that he invited

him to his carriage. Wouldn’t Ning Que be worried that he won’t

enlighten him when there was a third person present?

Then the elder remembered the story he heard around the campfire at the entrance to North Mountain. The story that he wanted to listen

to even when he was meditating…. the story of a boy and girl

struggling to survive in the vast and dangerous Min Mountain. Lu

Qing Chen thought he realized the reason Ning Que brought Sang

Sang along with him, therefore he was pleased and favored Ning

Que even more.

In reality, Ning Que wasn’t really thinking. Bringing Sang Sang along

with him to anywhere was just a deep-rooted habit of his.

The two hands of the elder crossed each other above his knees. He

spoke warmly, “You know the reason I wanted you here.”

Ning Que was silent. he pressed his left hand onto his right hand’s

back, and put them both onto the ground. His two knees were on the

ground, and he bowed slowly until his forehead touched the back of

his left hand. It was the most sincere gesture in Tang Empire.

A sincere gesture only came after a great favour. Although Lu Qing

Chen did not do anything yet, and most likely wasn’t able to help him

because xiuxing was a world only those who were qualified can

enter, Ning Que still thanked him. Only people like Ning Que who

memorized the entire Extreme Sense but still couldn’t find the Way

can realize the sympathy and grace of a xiuxingist to help enlighten a

regular person who did not have the quality to xiuxing.

Sang Sang did not understand the action of her young master, but

after watching Ning Que bowed the sincere gesture, she also

followed his actions and kneeled before the elder.

Lu Qing Chen observed this scene and smiled while brushing his

beard. He lifted Ning Que up and concentrated his mind. The elder

closed his eyes and place his two hands against Ning Que’s chest

and back of the waist. A moment later, the warm candle light in the

carriage became blurry, almost like countless dust started to swirl

around in the air swiftly.

There was a dead silence, and time past without people realizing.

The dim and blurry candle light started to become clear and strong again. The elder gradually took back his hands and looked at Ning

Que, whose hands were shaking because he was trying to suppress

his expectations and wonderment, then sighed lightly.

“There is a breath between heaven and earth, and that breath is the

so-called ki. Xiuxingist are able to detect the presence of ki because

they have a strong mind that can sense it. Therefore the ability to

xiuxing all depends on your strength of mind, and whether or not you

can detect the presence of ki.”

“I observed you back in Wei city, and discovered that there is not a

single motion of ki in your body. Today I thoroughly checked inside

your body, and I was right, your Mountain of Qi and Sea of Soul is

empty.”

“……………There is nothing in it.”

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