Nightfall

Ning Que couldn’t be bothered with the bustle on the Wilderness. Instead, he brought Cat Girl with him back to camp. He lifted the curtains and entered the tent. He looked at the luggage piled in the corner before turning to look at Mo Shanshan who was writing calligraphy seriously. He asked, “Didn’t I tie the black horse outside the camp? How did it get away?”

Mo Shanshan placed her brush on the inkstone and looked at him expressionlessly, “You tied him up since he returned at dawn. I was left alone in the tent after all of you have left. It kept whining and kicking and looked as if he wanted to go out to play. So I released the rope and let it out to have fun.”

Ning Que looked at her and did not know what to say. He scratched his head and said, “You let him out because he wanted to go out to play. Why does this sound wrong? It is a horse and not a person.”

“The Big Black Horse is rather intelligent. I can understand what it is trying to express.” Mo Shanshan did not want to explain anymore and turned around and picked up her brush from the inkstone and prepared to write again.

Cat Girl ran to her side excitedly and said, “Senior Sister, you are right. The Big Black Horse is not only intelligent, it is incredible. Did you know, there are many people out there trying to capture it right now?”

Mo Shanshan lifted a brow and asked, “What happened?”

Cat Girl described how the Big Black Horse had suddenly appeared and won the horse race. She then said, “As for what happened after that, Senior Brother covered my eyes, so I didn’t see.”

Mo Shanshan looked at Ning Que.

Ning Que thought to himself, how should he describe the thing that happened?

He lifted his hand to his mouth and coughed. He pretended not to see Mo Shanshan’s gaze upon him and walked out of the tent. He stood on the frozen ground of the Wilderness and looked at the Tang flag waving not far away in the west as well as the heavily guarded camp. He began to think about other things. How should he start looking for the Horse Gang head?

…

…

As the Tang representative in the discussion, General Shu Cheng brought with him several trusted subordinates from Chang’an. There were three hundred elite soldiers from the north-east who were responsible for security. Their flags waved in the air. There was an occasional whinny from a horse. The Tang camp was orderly and structured.

In the center of the Tang camp was a tent. General Shu Cheng removed his helmet and touched his white hair. He sat behind his desk and gestured for his subordinates to bring some food. He had drunk plenty at the Palace tent but did not eat his fill.

General Shu Cheng ate without saying anything.

The loyal subordinate beside him noticed his thoughtful expression and thought that he was upset due to the gossip behind the horse race. He suggested in a gentle voice after a moment of thought, “General, our cavalry is good at war, but isn’t exceptional at trival speed competitions. Since we have lost, we can’t stop the Aunt from her gossip.”

“What does that old lady know?”

General Shu said sarcastically. As the Tang general, he had to be mindful of his words towards Quni Madi, the sister of Yuelun Kingdom’s ruler. However, in the privacy of his own tent, he had no reason to be kind towards the Aunt.

The subordinate saw that the General wasn’t upset about the gossip and thought about another incident. He looked at the guards patrolling outside the tent and asked in a low voice, “Genearl, are you worried about Tuyang City?”

The imperial court had confirmed to help the North of Yan Kingdom in summer. General Xia Hou from the eastern camp would have been in charge of it. But who would have thought that His Majesty would order the military ministry to interfere with the discussion between the barbarians of the grassland and the Central Plains. General Shu Cheng had arrived at the Palace. While it was true that he had come under orders of the imperial edict, he had also grated on the soldiers of the frontiers. When he had passed Tuyang City, General Xia Hou had excused himself saying that he was patrolling the borders and did not even meet him once.

“I would be unhappy too if I were General Xia Hou.”

General Shu Cheng smiled slightly and placed his chopsticks down. He took the towel he was handed and wiped his face. He said, “There’s no need to guess. I am indeed thinking about something. But it has nothing to do with the two things you guessed earlier.”

The subordinate wrinkled his brows. He thought to himself, that the agreement between both parties had already been made. The next event would be the discussion with the army of Central Plains about the venture up north next year as well as hammering out the details regarding the aid they would render the Left-Tent Palace. These were all practically settled. If the general wasn’t upset about losing the horse race or worried about the ire of Tuyang City, what was he thinking about?

“I was thinking about the Big Black Horse.” General Shu Cheng smiled.

The subordinate finally understood. He thought for a moment before saying, “Chanyu seems to be interested in the horse as well. But since you like it so, I will think of a way to let the Palace steward know of your interest. I believe that Chanyu would not be so stingy and will give you the horse as a show of good-will.”

General Shu Cheng looked at the subordinate and sighed helplessly. He scolded, “I don’t know what you’re thinking. I was not thinking about getting the Big Black Horse for myself. If the Chanyu wants the horse, he will only find himself in trouble.”

He looked at the confused look on his subordinate’s face and shook his head. He looked at the blue skies outside the tent and said with a slight frown, “When I saw the Big Black Horse earlier, I thought it looked really familiar. It’s as if I’ve seen it somewhere before.”

General Shu Cheng threw his towel on the desk and said with regret, “I only remembered earlier that I’ve seen the horse at the driving examination last spring when I represented the Military Ministry on patrol during the Academy entry exam.

The subordinate paused slightly. He thought of the black horse that sped through the Wilderness like a black bolt of lightning. Did the black storm come from the empire?

“You’ve seen how bad of a temper the Big Black Horse has earlier. Last spring during the entrance examination at the Academy, every candidate who chose the horse was thrown off it. Even the young daughter of General Yunhui was no exception. I was patrolling above the meadow and thought that no one could subdue the horse. And then, a lad entered the stud-farm.”

General Shu Cheng narrowed his eyes as he thought of what had happened. “The Big Black Horse became docile before the lad. I thought it was weird then, but when the lad became famous in Chang’an, I realized that the horse was indeed intelligent. It knew before everyone, that the lad was incredible.”

The subordinate asked curiously, “Who is the lad?”

The general looked at him and said, “Ning Que.”

“Ning Que…” The subordinate murmured the name to himself and suddenly, a look of shock appeared on his face. He said, “Are you talking about Sir Ning, whose writing took the city by storm?”

“I do not like playing with words.” General Shu sighed, “I only know that Ning Que entered the Academy last year and entered the Second floor this year. He is now the Headmaster’s core disciple. I also know that when he left Chang’an, the stud-farm sent the Big Black Horse to him especially.”

The subordinate asked, “Then… Why did the horse appear at the palace?”

He knew that he had asked a stupid question the moment he asked it. For such an intelligent horse would not be far from his master. If the horse is at the palace, its owner must be here as well.

“The average person would not know that Ning Que is ranked thirteen on the Second floor of the Academy. But the Military Ministry knows that he called himself Mr. Thirteen and had stopped by the frontier of North of Yan Kingdom. I just didn’t expect that he would come to the Palace personally.”

General Shu frowned slightly and said to himself in a low voice, “If even the Academy has placed much importance in this discussion, could it be true that the Desolate Man of the north is really that troublesome? Or are there other secret things that are happening?”

The subordinate paused for a minute before asking, “General, since Ning Que is here at the palace, why did he not reveal himself nor did he come forth to camp to meet you?”

General Shu paused for a moment and smiled, “He is the core disciple of the Headmaster of the Academy. He is of such stature. He must have his own reason for not revealing himself. I don’t have that much clout I guess. I just think that things are getting more interesting.”

…

…

As twilight descended, the bonfire was lit and lambs were slaughtered. Together with the sweet scent of alcohol, the night arrived at the Wilderness.

People from all around the world had gathered at the Palace. There were also many nomads from the surrounding lands who had come to participate in the Ge Mumu festival. Under the fire light and the musk of alcohol, people talked excitedly about what they had witnessed during the day. They talked about which warrior was the strongest and who was the most accurate shot. Of course, the black horse that burst into scene crazily was brought up frequently as well. Many tried to guess who its owner was.

The owner of the Big Black Horse did not hear the high-spirited discussions. Nor did he indulge in the alcohol or meat. Instead, he stole clothing belonging to the nomad of the grassland and headed to the camp of the Great River Kingdom under the cover of the night. He got near to the Tang campsite silently before turning south and sat down on a highland.

After an unknown period of time, a shadow from the Tang camp headed towards him. From the speed and body language, one would think that the person was extremely cautious and alert.

“I never understood, how do you decide that the person approaching is one of yours just based on a picture sticking from a wooden stick outside your camp? What if it was placed randomly by any playful person on the grassland?”

Ning Que asked the man. Even though there was no fire on the meadow, one could make out the appearance and costume of the person from the starlight. It was a Tang cavalry looking honest.

The man did not reply, but looked at him suspiciously. He did not understand why the fellow would be talking about such useless things in such a situation.

Ning Que extended his hand and so did the other soldier. They looked as if they were about to shake hands, only to hear a sudden slap. Two ID tokens melded together, fitted to the very last inch.

Under the starlight, the Tang soldier could see the lines etched on Ning Que’s ID token. His expression changed immediately as he greeted him with a bow. He said with much respect in a low voice, “I did not expect Sir to come personally.”

“You don’t know who I am, how do you know I am a Sir?” Ning Que asked laughingly.

The Tang soldier smiled and said, “The ID token says so clearly. You are a visiting professor, so of course I have to address you as Sir.”

Ning Que looked at the man and asked in a slight surprise, “The Imperial Center Administration is the cultivation yamen. I can see that you do not have a trace of Psyche Power. Have you entered the Seethrough State?”

“I would not have to work so hard and come to the Wilderness if I were in the Seethrough state.”

The Tang soldier smiled and explained, “Even though the Imperial Center Administration might be in charge of cultivators, but not all employees are cultivators. There are many ordinary people like myself.”

Ning Que had left the Blue Water Battalion and entered the Wilderness due to the news from Master of Nation, Li Qingshan who had in turn received it from the Imperial Center Administration. They would have left him an informant near the Palace if they wanted him to cooperate.

He looked at the man and said, “Let’s cut the chase and talk business.”

The soldier smiled and answered, “If Sir wants to talk about nothing, we can talk about nothing. If he wants to talk business, we shall talk business.”

Ning Que paused for a second. He smiled and thought that the man was indeed a member of the Imperial Center Administration. He must have been in contact with stuck-up cultivators that he didn’t have the usual awe and respect an ordinary person usually had for cultivators. However, he spoke with a certain flair and acted in such a way that was indeed rare when dealing with cultivators.

He asked directly, “Do you know my mission?”

The Tang soldier replied honestly, “I don’t know.”

Ning Que nodded and said, “That’s good. Because what I am about to ask has nothing to do with the mission.”

It was the soldier’s turn to be surprised. A look of respect appeared on his face as he thought that this was indeed a visiting professor of the Imperial Center Administration. He had spoken so casually even as he was about to do something so shameless like using the imperial court’s power to settle his personal things.

Ning Que continued, “How many people are there in the Tang camp?”

“Including the cavalry and grain soldiers along with administrative staff, about five hundred or so.”

Ning Que looked at the flying flag in the Tang camp and furrowed his brows, “It doesn’t seem like there are so little people just by looking at the camp site.”

The soldier explained, “A person rides three horses, so we need a larger space.”

“How well do you know the situation at camp?” Ning Que had only asked casually. He thought that the man was only an ordinary cavalry and would not know the situation well.

However, he did not expect that the man was planted by the Imperial Center Administration in the north-east camp. He observed the camp every single moment of the day. When he heard Ning Que’s question, he did not hesitate to nod and said, “I know the basics.”

Ning Que looked at him and thought that his luck was pretty decent and asked, “Did anything out of ordinary happen in the last five days? For example, any injured cavalry… or general?”

The man thought and shook his head, “No.”

Ning Que paused before asking,” Regarding food and medicine, is there anything worth looking out for?”

The man was about to answer no when he thought of an incident. He pinched his brows and thought for a while before saying, “There was indeed something. A certain camp has indeed used more food than before. This is not surprising, but there has been some issue with the amount of medicine we keep as well.”

He did not wait for Ning Que’s question, but instead continued, “The medicine we bring with us is controlled heavily. That is why I think there is a problem. Other than the mysterious disappearance of medication to stop bleeding, the next that we are missing is some tranquilizers. But we don’t need this kind of medicine lately.”

Ning Que’s eyes brightened as he heard this. He knew that his guess was in the right direction. He looked at the lit up Tang camp and asked, “Which is the tent? Can you find out who is inside?”

“There are three hundred cavalries escorting General Shu into the wilderness. They all came from Tuyang City. Those tents belong to the eastern army and security is strict. An ordinary cavalry like myself will not be able to go close to it.”

Ning Que’s brows furrowed slightly as his gaze swept through the camp slowly. He said, “If security is this strict, is there any way I can slip in to take a look?”

The man did not even think, but shook his head, “Unless you barge in. ”

He looked at Ning Que’s serious expression and quickly added on, “Sir, even though you are a much-revered visiting professor in a strong state, but barging into the military camp would still be a problem. Even if you’ve managed to get in, many would die. How will you explain this to the imperial court?”

…

…

There was no way to slip in, so he had to barge in. Even though he was already a student of the Academy, deep within him, he still thought of himself as a part of the empire’s army. Pulling his sword at his brethren was something he could not do, which was why he had to think of another way in.

As the night got deeper, the soldier planted by the Imperial Center Administration returned to the Tang Camp, leaving only Ning Que on the meadow.

There was some sparse yellow grass covering the frozen ground. It looked like the beard of a malnourished old man. Ning Que laid on the grass and looked at the stars above his head, pondering.

A shadow covered the star-studded skies above his head, as if the real darkness of the night was arriving.

Ning Que looked at the face of the black horse and at its thick curling lips looking as if it was trying to curry favor and could not help but to scold laughingly, “Everyone in the palace is trying to capture you, how dare you come back to see me?”

The Big Black Horse nudged his shoulder gently, looking extremely docile and even well-mannered. It looked as if it was telling Ning Que that he shouldn’t be angry and that what others said did not matter.

Ning Que stood up and brushed the dirt and grass off him. He punched the horse’s neck lightly and shook his head, lecturing, “A person is afraid of becoming and a pig is afraid of becoming fat. It’s easy to get into trouble when you’re famous and when a pig gets fat, they get slaughtered for mean. Are you not afraid that someone will steal you away now that you’re famous?”

The Big Black Horse shook his head and opened its mouth. It’s large white teeth looking rather scary in the starlight, as if it was smiling sarcastically. It looked rather devilish, proud and silly at the same time.

Ning Que fixed it with a stare and smiled, “So do you mean that you’ll be treated like treasure even if you were stolen away? And that you wouldn’t be treated like a bull and being ordered around by me?”

The Big Black Horse lifted its hooves and tapped on the ground lightly on the ground, agreeing to Ning Que’s words silently.

Ning Que laughed and pointed at the middle section between his strong legs and said, “I don’t know why the army didn’t sterilize you and neither did the stud-farm. I don’t know how you escaped being a eunuch, but you should be sure that I don’t have any intention of slicing it off.”

“But my being benevolent doesn’t mean that everyone else is. If you are still hot-tempered and end up in the hands of Chanyu or his consort, do you think you can still keep your balls?”

A cold breeze passed through the meadow.

Fear showed in the dark eyes of the Big Black Horse. It could be the cold, or something else, there was a sudden movement as the horse tried to keep his legs closed, but due to the muscular buttocks, it was unable to keep it completely closed.

…

…

Ning Que accomplished yet another spy mission in the night. He organized the information he had on the Tang camp and took the time to educate the Big Black Horse. He had done so many things, but the people at the bonfire by the Palace had only done one thing, namely drinking.

The Wilderness was like heaven in spring and like hell in winter. The harsh winter winds blew and it snowed frequently. It was extremely cold, which was why the people here liked to drink to keep themselves warm. They loved strong alcohol.

The people of the Central Plains and the barbarians of the grassland beside the bonfire had always been in contention over two things, business and war. The wars at the frontier and the retaliation by the soldiers of the Central Plains had led to many deaths. How would an agreement between the bigwigs settle the feud that had lasted so many years and paid with so much blood?

Filled with conflicting emotions, the people from the two tribes began competing in drinking. Even though they guzzled the alcohol, they were unable to dispell the hatred they felt for the other party. Instead, it just unleashed their emotions and it eventually became a competition on who could drink more and then, a full brawl. The soldiers in charge of maintaining peace had to run around trying to stop fights that broke out in many different places, the entire place was in chaos.

There were a few lonely tents pitched on the periphery of the field. They were near to the Tang camp, but not within the boundaries of it. They were not affected by the chaos by the bonfire and remained extremely silent, exactly like the person living within.

The girls from the Great River Kingdom saw many interesting things at the Ge Mumu festival. They returned to the camp by evening while Mo Shanshan sat in the tent quietly the entire day. She had her wrist on the white paper on her desk, writing frantically. It felt as if she did not realize what being bored or tired meant.

At this moment, the curtain to the entrance lifted. Zhuo Zhihua and another girl entered. She looked at Mo Shanshan warmly and said, “Hill Master, you have a guest.”

Mo Shanshan stopped writing. She placed her brush into a clear water urn and turned around.

The young girl had on the uniform of Revelation Institute of the Divine Hill. Her eyes were proud as she walked into the tent. She looked around the tent, trying to calm herself down. However, she could not help but feel nervous when she saw that the young lady in white turn around.

This was her first time meeting the legendary Calligraphy Addict.

Mo Shanshan looked at her blandly, “Who are you?”

The Calligraphy Addict was used to speaking directly. She did not like speaking more than she had to and was used to carrying a bland expression on her face. That was because she felt that making an expression was a rather torturous thing to do. She was used to looking languish and impolite, because…

Her eyes were not good.

But just like Ning Que, who did not know that she had an illness of the eye, the girl from Revelation Institute felt humiliated. Her tightly wound emotions became rather irritated. However, she did not dare to be impolite.

It was still, her first time meeting the legendary Calligraphy Addict. Even though she was slightly proud and impolite, it was acceptable to the students from the Revelation Institute who had to deal with another Addict on a daily basis.

The student from the Revelation Institute bowed politely. “Princess Chen Jia would like to invite Senior Sister Mo to a meeting tomorrow.”

Mo Shanshan looked at her quietly and thought of the old friend she hadn’t seen in a while. She thought of the friend in the horse carriage below the meadow who stayed silent through the gory fight and replied after a short pause, “I got it.”