Nightfall

Cat Girl rushed in and re-told what had happened before in the assembly tent. She was about to burst out in anger when she mentioned Quni Madi’s words.

Not knowing the identity of the young man, the crowd in the tent kept silent and watched as Ning Que and Cat Girl talked. They were curious about what would happen next. ” The Priest of the Revelation Department has made his decision while Aunt Quni Madi is standing aside with a murky face. Will there be any changes?”

Suddenly, there was a great noise coming from outside the tent. It turned out that lots of men from the tribe of the Palace arrived at the tent behind the Big Black Horse. The noise didn’t fade away until the steward of the Divine Hall who was in charge of keeping order went out to address the crowd.

Ning Que soon realized what had happened as Cat Girl recounted the events. Remaining silent for a while, he hung the Big Black Horse’s halter on the smoke pipe at the entrance of the tent but didn’t tighten it up. Looking at Mo Shanshan from some distance, he said, “I get it, but that doesn’t justify you cutting your palm, there is always a way out.”

Immersed in silence, the crowd inside the tent looked at Ning Que both curiously and ironically. They all knew that evidence was meaningless and could not be used to testify about the encounter of the horse gang on the meadow.

Unlike the crowd who concealed their thoughts and feelings, Cat Girl recalled the anger and resignation of her senior sisters of the Sect earlier on. She stared at Ning Que with wide-open eyes and asked straightforwardly, “How do I prove it?”

Ning Que answered seriously, “I can prove it, I was there.”

Shooting a glance at the disciples of the sects from various countries of the Central Plains within the tent, Ning Que raised his right hand and pointed at the Commander of the cavalryman of Divine Hall, and said, “I can prove that the cavalrymen of Divine Hall on the meadow back then had stayed dispassionately and left us in the lurch before we rolled back the Horse Gang. After we defeated the Horse Gang, this Lord Commander cunningly lead the cavalries to rush down the meadow, cut the heads of the Horse Gang and took the credit. I, for a time, thought that he had toyed with the idea of getting rid of us witnesses.”

Hearing these words, the crowd burst into an uproar. This young man, unexpectedly, not only was he straightforward about the cold-blooded deeds of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall, but he also accused them of a more serious crime, killing the witnesses!

As the uproar gradually faded away, the crowd looked at Ning Que with uncertainty on his accusation of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall. Nobody believed that he could turn over the situation, instead, they thought that he was playing with fire.

There was a trace of displeasure on the face of the Priest of the Revelation Department. He had never expected that the Calligraphy Addict would be so doughty just when the drama was about to end, and that the young man who came from nowhere would deliberately complicate the issue and make the situation even worse for him.

Before he was about to rap up, out of the corner of his eye he noticed General Shu on his right hand side. He had an unusual expression on his face——a meaningful smile.

The Priest of the Revelation Department put on a stern face, wondering if the General from Tang knew this guy.

Despite its sublime place in the world, the West-Hill Divine Palace always remained alert and showed great respect to the cavalry of the Tang Empire. Seeing General Shu’s face, the Priest with doleful eyes, didn’t utter a word.

Facing the accusation of being cold-blooded, selfish and indifferent to the friendly forces, robbing the military and even attempting to kill the friendly forces, Chen Bachi, the Commander of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall, felt depressed like wet clouds in the Min Mountain.

Staring maliciously at Ning Que beside the drapery, he didn’t realize that Ning Que was the dark figure behind the firewall below the meadow. He noticed Ning Que’s clothes and angrily rebuked him, “From your clothes, I can tell you are just a disciple of the Black Ink Garden, how dare you accuse me of this matter?”

Shaking his head, Ning Que said, “I’m not the disciple of the Black Ink Garden.”

When he finished speaking, he took Cat Girl by her hand and walked toward the meeting tent. He stepped calmly on the solid carpet wearing his leather boots, and he barely made a sound. The disciples of each sect on both sides of the passageway had curious expressions on their faces, wondering where his calm confidence come from now that he had admitted that he was not the disciple of the Black Ink Garden.

The Commander of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall opened his eyes wider and caught a glance of Aunt Quni Madi.

Since Ning Que appeared in the meeting tent, Quni Madi had been indifferent and silent and didn’t even look at him once, for she was too proud to notice these nonentities. Not until she sensed the gaze from the Cavalry Commander, and then she raised her head to look at Ning Que who was just walking inside. With a cold voice, she said, “Now that you’re not the disciple of the Black Ink Garden, why did you show up at the camp of the food supply team and wear the clothes of the Black Ink Garden? You devil from the heterodox doctrine! How dare you pretend to be one of us? (turning to the disciples) Catch him and make a detailed inquiry!”

This type of confidence was brought by status and strength. Aunt Quni Madi, the Mighty One with powerful forces, didn’t even care to discuss or negotiate with her opponents. Instead, she would just strike her opponent as much as she liked. “Who would dare to say anything even if one was deeply wronged?”

Unlike the disciples of other sects inside the tent who were still hesitant, those sadhus from the White Tower Temple of the Yuelun Kingdom had already stood up with canes in their hands after hearing the words of Aunt Quni Madi, itching to take the young man down.

Mo Shanshan frowned at the situation, before she could give orders, the girls behind her cried out aloud and took swords to hold up the monks of the White Tower Temple. Things got messed up.

Just at that very moment, one monk of the White Tower Temple saw Ning Que’s face clearly. Genuinely shocked, he stopped his senior brothers and junior brothers, and walked quickly to Quni Madi, and whispered in her ears.

This was the monk who had acted under the order of his master to discuss ownership of the hot spring, wounded Zhuo Zhihua, hit Cat Girl and was finally beaten by Ning Que and was badly injured. So it was easy for him to recognize Ning Que at their second meeting for that encounter had left a deep impression on him, besides, Ning Que hadn’t worn a mask.

When Quni Madi heard that this young man was the disciple of the Academy, her deep-set eyes glistened and the wrinkles on her face stretched as if they were soothed by a breeze. She stared at Ning Que and said in a hoarse voice, “So you are the disciple of the Academy in training. How dare you be so arrogant, you think I wouldn’t dare to teach you a lesson?”

Ning Que had walked to the foreside of the tent, he dropped his hand and let Cat Girl go to the disciples of the Black Ink Garden. Looking at the old woman, he frowned and said shaking his head, “I am just trying to verify the words of the disciples of the Black Ink Garden, why do you act in haste to lecture at me? Do you think you are my teacher? Or are you afraid that I will tell the truth? What scares you so much?”

He asked the questions in a calm and moderate manner without any aggressiveness. But since they were targeted at the cranky Aunt Quni Madi who had status and position, the accusation in these words was obvious. So conceivably, the crowds were greatly shocked by the arrogance of the disciple of the Academy.

With no expression, Quni Madi looked at Ning Que coldly as if he were dead. People who knew her were conscious of the fact that she had already become extremely furious.

“I don’t know which instructor in the Academy is your teacher. But as far as I can see, I’m qualified enough to lecture you. Well, speaking of the truth, I’m eager to see what evidence you’re going to show us.”

Quni Madi’s voice was hoarse and unpleasant and was muddled with contempt.

Ning Que laughed and said, “My word is evidence.”

The Commander of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall got angry and snapped, “Nonsense! Since when can one’s words be taken as evidence?”

Ning Que showed no anger, he gently replied, “I’m aware that in the past the words of this old lady were treated as evidence. Then why can’t my words be treated as such?”

The audience burst into a repetitive uproar, not because of the toughness of the disciple of the Academy, but because she was addressed as the “Old Lady”. Ning Que definitely knew the identity of Aunt Quni Madi, but he addressed her in a very casual manner. He not only showed boldness but also outright contempt!

Old Lady? Quni Madi had never been called that.The Administrator of the Yuelun Kingdom or the Three Great Divine Priests of the Divine Hall was modest and treated her with respect. She was so angry at the unexpected humiliation from a junior, that her body was shivering and her hoary hands holding the chair tightly. It seemed like she was about to attack Ning Que.

Ning Que would have been dead already if he weren’t the disciple of the Academy. In spite of Ning Que being the disciple of the Academy, she wasn’t going to do the Tang Empire any favors and be soft to him.

The Commander of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall couldn’t control himself anymore, he flew into a rage, patted heavily on the console table and indignantly denounced, “Aunt is the sister of the Administrator of the Yuelun Kingdom and Bhadanta of the Buddhism Sect, you cunning rat, how dare you compare yourself with Aunt!”

Walking to the girls of the Great River Kingdom, Ning Que signaled to those anxious girls to stay calm with a gentle smile, then nodded to Mo Shanshan to indicate that everything was under control. Suddenly, the smile on his face disappeared, he split the console table into two halves with a heavy strike and lectured the Commander, “Then who are you? How dare you speak to me like this!”

The crowds inside the meeting tent were now convinced that the young man a reckless guy. Aunt Quni Madi was just an old woman to him, and he didn’t seem to care much for the Commander of the cavalrymen of Divine Hall. Shocked as they were, they did not make an uproar but just looked coldly as the situation developed.

The tent fell into deathly stillness, even a cat walking on the solid carpet would attract the eyes of everyone present.

Ning Que tidied up the front part of his clothes and intended to take out the ID token made of elm from his waist. But he hesitated, wondering how to take out the token and whether to show pride or contempt?

It was always difficult to freely and easily take out one’s credentials, whether it was the trump card or the ID token.

If a local government runner took out his ID token, showed it to the robbers, then calmly introduced himself as a government official, the robbers would be frightened and fold their hands for capture. While the god of gambling would stretch out his trump card at the bottom, and with a smile say to his opponent on his opposite side that his point was just a little bit larger. His opponents face would turn to ash, and he would place his hands on his chest and fall to the ground.

One’s action, expression, and tone should be consistent with the token showing move, so as to seem moderate instead of bullying others, extremely proud yet showing no ill temper.

The proud Ning Que had many acquaintances who were as proud as he was. But Second Brother was the only one he admired a lot and the only one who had an infinite charm.

Ning Que had the thought that if it were Second Brother who took out the ID token, he would shock so many mighty ones and charm numerous girls. Nope, Second Brother wouldn’t care to take out his ID token, the wooden club above his head was itself a perfect ID token.

Considering the fine example of Second Brother and his warnings, Ning Que always kept in mind to maintain a generous gesture when representing the Back Mountain of the Academy for the first time. He had been regretting the casualty with which he took out his ID token on the meadow earlier, and became more hesitant this time around.

If he were to hold the ID token in the air like holding a torch, then everyone would be able to see it clearly but it would also be foolish; while it would look handsome for him to draw out the ID token like drawing out a knife, if people weren’t able to clearly see the characters on the token and misunderstand him as initiating an attack, what would he do? Though he didn’t fear the Aunt of the Divine Hall, he was aware that the Old Lady could kill him with just one finger…

The atmosphere got tense and depressed with a deadly stillness. Everyone kept their eyes on Ning Que, and noticed that he had put on a weird expression and was likely immersed in deep thought. They would be extremely surprised if they knew that Ning Que was just thinking of trivial matters that had nothing to do with what was going on right now.

General Shu Cheng, who was from the Military Ministry of Chang’an, had been watching Ning Que since his entry into the meeting tent. Already guessing Ning Que’s identity, the General looked at Ning Que’s face and thought it inappropriate for Ning Que to give a self-introduction. So he coughed and said with a smile, “Mr.Thirteen, since you’re not a disciple of the Black Ink Garden, would you please sit here beside me?”

General Shu’s words attracted the attention of all.

Ning Que was surprised to find that the General already knew him, he became dumbfounded for a second and then relieved himself. Nodding at Mo Shanshan, he walked toward General Shu Cheng.

“Allow me to introduce this young man.”

Standing up, General Shu Cheng gently patted Ning Que on his shoulder. He first nodded to the Priest of the Revelation Department, then looked at the crowd inside the tent, and said in a calm and warm tone, “Ning Que is the most famous calligrapher since Tianqi of Tang Empire and is deeply liked by His Majesty. Despite his identity as the successor of Master Yan Se, the Great Divine Priest of the West Hill, it is worth to mention that he won against Prince Long Qing during the competition of the Second floor of the Academy.”

Facing the crowd, Ning Que made a bow with hands folded in front.

…

…

The tent fell into sudden silence, but the crowd all glanced at Ning Que with shock and adoration in their eyes.

The Priest of the Revelation Department looked curiously at Ning Que smiling with no words. Though he had guessed something earlier, he was still shocked at the affirmation of his guess, but he showed little emotion.

In the quietness, Ning Que stared at Aunt Quni Madi, whose face had turned gloomy and said, “Had you said earlier that no one would ever believe you could tell lies?”

After a pause, he turned to face the crowds and asked warmly, “Then I would ask who would believe that me, as a student of the Second floor of the Academy and one of the core disciples of the Headmaster of the Academy, could tell ties?”

His words apparently frightened every one present, and nobody dared to respond.