Just as he walked into the mist on the mountainside, Ning Que heard a sudden rush of horse gallops as intensely as rainfalls from behind!
Along with the gallop, those fearful memories that have lain deep in his heart all these years suddenly recaptured him, which then uncontrollably inundated him and occupied his entire body in an instant, making it extremely stiff.
He severely bit his tongue to shake off the tear with extremely strong willpower and forcibly turned back to look at those behind him.
The Mountain Path in the dense twilight had somewhat disappeared, and even those clouds had gone elsewhere. What he saw was just a magnificent city standing between the heaven and earth, whose huge shadow had cut off the official road to the north.
On the official road, about a decade of cavalrymen in black armor were galloping towards him, which was as fiercely as thunder. The surface of the official road was slightly stirred, where all the pa.s.sengers sought to elude them.
Ning Que hid behind tables and chairs of a tea stall, staring blankly at those cavalrymen driving away. Suddenly he noticed that he was much shorter than those horses and pa.s.sengers on the road.
He looked down to find that only a small shoe was on his foot, and it wasn"t noticed that his left foot had been punctured by a stone and was bleeding.
After leaving Chang"an City, he went north all the way, dazing ahead along with the travelers. After being questioned several times by those curious people from Tang Empire, he found it could put him in danger and then quietly left the travelers one midnight.
He did not meet one wild beast in the wild, and he could pick up fruits to feed himself, though hunger never left him. When he came out of the woods, he almost reached Hebei Province. At that time he was sallow and emaciated, so he didn"t have to worry about being recognized, because on both sides of the road as well as in the mountains were hunger-ridden kids like him.
The Wilderness suffered from severe drought, and Hebei Province suffered from severe drought too. In the first year of Tianqi era, the Great Tang Empire was struck by a rare natural disaster. The new emperor had to confront a tough test when ascending the throne. Rus.h.i.+ng from Daze to Chang"an city, His Majesty urgently arranged to relieve the people in disaster. Refugees from the Wilderness had entered Hebei Province, and those from Hebei Province were proceeding to the south. Those who set off first were luckily relieved by the imperial court, yet the remaining ones in Hebei Province who stayed around the vast Min Mountain had to face a more severe test.
Along the official road, imperial officials and local government runners were counting the number of refugees to distribute porridge. More and more refugees were migrating from the north to the south. For the people at that time, the north was like the underworld, the most horrifying world.
When all were moving to the south, Ning Que continued in the opposite direction to Hebei Province. He proceeded roughly along the road at the foot of Min Mountain, where he had encountered ill-intentioned thieves. He hid himself in the gra.s.s to avoid being spotted, while just in the gra.s.s, he saw a lot of icy corpses.
In a small woods where almost all the barks were stripped of, he was surrounded by a group of scrawny refugees. Judging from their clothes, Ning Que a.s.serted that they were from the north of Yan Kingdom, who naturally flew into the territory of Tang Emperor since the royals of the Yan Kingdom couldn"t afford the relief work.
"Unfortunately it is a little kid, weighing just a few pounds."
Those starving refugees looked at the muddy little boy and the eyes of their chief glew green, looking like a wolf that Ning Que was quite familiar with later. But this wolf was a skinny one, whose fur heavily festered.
"We do not have any strength now, you"d better take off your clothes by yourself, and then jump into the pot."
The chief put his finger into the mouth, as if he wanted to find out some slices of meat. He looked at the boy lifelessly and said, "Be careful when you jump, do not spill out too much water. In such a year, no one has the extra energy to chop firewood and boil water."
Seven or eight starving refugees surrounding the little boy slowly nodded their heads, who were like skeletons that could barely move.
Ning Que looked at them and said, "You don"t have strength, but I have."
The chief laughed which sounded like a cry. He pointed his sere fingers tremblingly at the little boy "s face and said, "If you still have strength, why not escape?"
Ning Que did not say anything again. He took out the chopper which had accompanied him along the way from behind his waist, and concentrating all his power which were acc.u.mulated by eating fruit, wild gra.s.s, as well as handful of rices offered by well-meaning people, he jumped up and chopped down severely towards the nose of the chief.
He was too young, too short and too weak to jump enough high. But these starving people in the woods were short of food for too many days who had already used up their power. What they could do was merely gazing at his chopping.
"Puff!" The boy missed his target. The chopper, with which he intended to chop down the nose of the chief, actually poked into the orbita of his enemy. Because the chief was starved to a skinny skeleton, the frame of his...o...b..ta was quite clear. Therefore, the scene that a chopper poked into his...o...b..ta was clear and the sound produced was also clear. The rusty blade of the chopper directly penetrated his eyeball and went deep into his brain.
Without even a hum, the chief stiffly flopped to the ground straightly like a piece of wood.
Ning Qi went ahead with gasps. He stamped on the neck of the chief and put forth his strength to pull out the chopper, along with which, a beam of bluish yellow liquid soared into the air. It was not blood.
He gazed at the wizened eyeball hanging on the chopper for a long time. Then he raised his head and turned his sight to those ghostly starving refugees around him, saying, "If you want to eat man, then eat yourself, and I will not let you eat me. "
The mist hovering around the mountainside behind the Academy became heavier and heavier, which even devoured the last trace of the twilight of the outside world. A weird tweet of night birds, maybe crows or other kinds of birds, were heard from elsewhere in the woods.
Ning Que was climbing uphill along the tilting Mountain Path. Each time he took a new step, his body would become stiff for a long time. It had been a long time since he entered the mist and he had overcome a thousand steps, yet still not knowing how far it was from the top of the mountain.
Looking closely, you could find his eyes were empty and unfocused. It seemed that he was not looking at the road under his feet, but something in the far distance, which occurred a long time ago.
He went all the way to the north and entered the back-land of Hebei Province along the Min Mountain. The field was completely occupied by starving refugees from the Wilderness and north of Yan Kingdom. However, because of the long-lasting drought, people began to exchange their children to eat, yet even so, the vast majority of those starving people had become corpses by the side of the road, or the food in the belly of wild beasts in the Min Mountain. Then there would be less possibility of Ning Que to be endangered.
Then one day, the long-expected rain fell from the sky, and from the cellars in the country, some villagers crawled out and kneeled down in the rainwater, crying and fiercely kowtowing to show their thanks to the mercy of Haotian. While more others even had no strength to show any emotion for the severe hunger.
In the heavy rain, Ning Que sat under a small tree beside the mountain, blankly looking around, not knowing where to go.
These days, many refugees have ventured into the vast Min Mountain, where they could find something to eat despite numerous wild beasts. Yet Ning Que didn"t follow the trend because he knew he was too weak at the moment to kill the horrible beasts in the mountain, though he still could kill faint refugees with his full strength.
He bit at the tasajo he had taken out and tore off a few shredded meat, and then raised his head to take a few mouthfuls of rainwater, which was chewed with the meat and swallowed into his abdomen, without any expression of enjoyment. The torment of many days had changed the white and tender young boy from the General"s Residence into an extremely dirty and thin one. The skin of the little boy"s lips was all c.o.c.ked and blood leaked out from his teeth from time to time when he chewed meat.
The rain got less dense, so he checked the chopper behind him, and picking up the stick beside him, he continued northward along the road at the foot of the mountain to make sure he could escape into the Min Mountain at any time. Because he knew that the rainfall would help those to revive, and if it was really so, those adults who revived would be healthier than ever, thus could become his enemies at any time.
Piles of corpses could be found along the road ahead, which had already decayed and made several stenches of stink once soaked in the rain water. A few equally skinny wild dogs were squatting beside the dead and eating them. One was biting an arm with bare bones, struggling to drag it back and making m.u.f.fled roar sometimes, while another was sitting on its back legs like what human beings did, who were striving to bite at a thin and rotten thigh which two of its front claws putting on it.
On hearing Ning Que"s footsteps, those wild dogs stopped eating and looked up vigilantly. They stared at the little boy on the road, spurting out a low and terrifying scream. Two of them determined that the skinny little boy would not be a threat to them, so they even abandoned the unsavoury rotten corpse and began approaching Ning Que.
Poking on the ground by the wooden stick in his hand, Ning Que took off the chopper from behind his waist, half-lowered his body and shew his slightly swollen teeth which were bleeding. He roared at the two wild dags in a wild way.
Probably sensing the smell of blood in this little boy and being alarmed by the danger disclosed from the boy which was out of proportion of his figure, those wild dogs retreated with a squeak and scattered around the pile of deaths, waiting for him to go before continuing eating.
Induced by the decayed corpses beside the road, those house dogs that ought to nursing home had turned into wild dogs scrambling for rotten food, to which Ning Que had been accustomed along the way and thus turned numbed without any feeling. So he decided to leave immediately, or else he would be one member of the rotten corpses if he really tussled with them.
Just when he was about to leave, he heard a very slight sound.
Then he looked back at the corpses steeped in the rain to find nothing. So he was ready to leave again.
Just at the second time he decided to leave, the very slight sound was heard again, and this time, it was quite clear.
It was the sound of crying.
Then he returned to the piles of corpse, yelling, screaming, and waving a wooden stick and his chopper, hoping those wild dogs could be frightened away. And later, he chopped off a decayed thigh with the chopper and threw it far into the parched field which was soaked in water at the moment.
Making several whines, the wild dogs run to the rotten thigh and eating around it, temporarily ignoring him.
Following the faint weeping from below the piles of corpse, Ning Que began to move away the corpses from the top of the pile. He really didn"t have much strength at the time, but fortunately, the dead had died of starvation and were already like walking skeletons before their death, what"s more, most of their inner organs at this time had decomposed into water and vapor, so it was not so difficult to move them away.
Everywhere he touched was moist and slippery, which was like some sludge food in Chang"an City during Spring Festival. Ning Que whipped the decayed meat off his hands and continued moving the corpses until he finally found the source of that faint weep.
He turned over a half-bent corpse in the field which was dressed in servant clothes and then saw a little baby soaked in rainwater and fluid from the dead bodies. The baby was pale and weak with its blue lips and eyes closed, and no one could imagine how she had survived and cried out.
Rubbing off the rotten meat against his trousers, Ning Que carefully picked up the baby, looked at her for a long while and then broke the silence, "You do not want me to leave, so that"s why you cry?"
Holding the baby, he jumped off the pile of corpses and walked along the road to the distance. Those wild dogs, which had been staring at him with their green eyes for a long time, issued a delight whining at the perception of his leaving. Then they run back to the pile and a moment later, there came a burst of grunt.
Without any signs, it was heavily raining again.
Ning Que glanced at the Min Mountain in the far distance and then looked down at the pale baby, figuring, if you continued to be in the rain shower like this, I"m afraid you would be never able to cry again. So he intended to find something to shelter themselves from the rain, and then he saw a black umbrella by the road.
The black umbrella was extremely old, and quite dirty.
The Mountain Path was still shrouded in the mist.
Ning Que slightly lowered his head. Standing across the steep stone steps, he could not move forward a step.
"Whiz!" a feather arrow accurately hit a gray rabbit.
Ning Que rashed to the rabbit like a flash and delightfully picked it up. With both of his hands crossed, he directly twisted cut off the neck of the rabbit and threw it into the pocket behind him, which looked heavy and loaded with many preys.
Squatting under the tree, he made a sniff and then pulled up the kudzu behind the tree, where a steep path was found. Then he climbed along the path up toward the cliff, on which there was a gra.s.sland near the spring nest. On the gra.s.sland, he saw his biggest achievement in the past three days with great satisfaction.
A blue sheep fell to the ground, screaming painfully, beside whom two lambs were helplessly looking at her and used their heads to rub against her mouth and nose from time to time, not knowing whether they intended to give her courage and confidence, or to comfort their beloved one before her death.
Ning Que quietly walked up, picking up the end of a rope from the gra.s.s and fiercely pulled it. The catcher hidden in the gra.s.s was suddenly tightened and the two lambs heavily flopped to the ground with a scream, their hoofs tightly tied together.
The big blue sheep, whose hind legs were caught by the catcher, desperately earned a move, looking at the sight of the scene and yelling anxiously.
"Your fate is good, at least there are someone anxious for you."
Ning Que went to the beast catcher, and shook his head at the sight of the two lambs lying in the gra.s.s. And then he pulled out a knife from behind his waist and directly pierced it into the neck of the big blue sheep.
"I am back."
Dragging the dead body of the rock sheep, carrying a heavy bag and leading two lambs, Ning Que returned to the shabby hunting lodge between trees.
A little girl ran out to greet him. She was around the age of four or five with dark complexion, wearing a hide.
The hunting lodge was very shabby with dim light, and the old hunter sitting beside the copper brazier put down the tobacco rod, looked emotionlessly at Ning Que and spitted to the ground a thick sputum, asking, "How about the harvest today?"
"Good." Ning Que replied.
The Old Hunter"s face was full of wrinkles, from which you could never expect any hint of love and kindness, but only greed and cold.
"Let"s eat."
The Old Hunter grabbed a piece of meat to eat and felt something was wrong with the taste, so he abusedly shouted, "You the wicked! Call you to put less salt! Salt is so expensive! Who give you the money! How wicked you are! Feeding you is just wasting my money, I will raise you for another two years, and then sell you to prost.i.tutes to get some money!"
With her head lowered, the little girl was full of panic. Ning Que also lowered his head, looking at the sweet watery potato porridge, where his eyesight was reflected. From his eyes one could see star-like flames.
He had listened to this kind of scolding for years. And had endured the treatment that the old hunter ate meat, while he and Sangsang even couldn"t drink the broth for many years. He had been accustomed to it, yet it seemed that he couldn"t continue to endure it.
Little Sangsang held the porridge bowl with two little hands, her thin arm somewhat trembling, and suddenly she began to cough.
Ning Que stretched out his hand to stable the bowl for her.
The Old Hunter drank the spirit, and said on top of wine, "You are sensible, if the bowl is broken, see how I will deal with her."
Taking a glimpse at the bowl filled with meat in front of the Old Hunter, Ning Que stood up towards him and persuaded sincerely, "Grandpa, Sangsang was ill again last night. How about giving her a piece of meat?"
The Old Hunter slapped the head of Ning Que, glared at him and cursed, "Prey is for you to eat? It is used to change for money and salt! You think I treat you badly, then go away! If you can seize a tiger and use the tiger bone to pay back the money I used to raise you for these years? I"ll let you go! I spent a great price on the steel catcher, yet you are so useless!"
Ning Que retreated without a word.
After drinking, the old hunter went out to see the preys that Ning Que brought back today.
A moment later, he indignantly came in with a whip, and slashed it straightly towards Ning Que, scolding, "You the prodigal son! I have taught you many times! Big guys should be slaughtered back here! Who tell you to kill it outside! "
Ning Que"s face was full of stains of blood, yet he didn"t avoid nor evade, because he was clear it was meaningless to do so. He just lowered his head and explained, "That blue sheep was too heavy, I couldn"t drag it back if I didn"t kill it first. Anyway, I was careful when killing it, and you can still get the whole skin of it.
"You can"t drag it back? Then what"s the use of you?"
The old hunter furiously beat him, growling, "You only know the skin, but the blood is also able to earn money! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"
The Old Hunter walked out of the hunting lodge in rage.
Ning Que looked at Sangsang who was holding the porridge bowl with his lowered head and wiped away the blood from his face. Then he smiled to him, saying, "That"s good, Do not try to block whip for me, or else that old thing will beat me more energetically. "
Holding that big bowl, Sangsang vigorously nodded her head.
"Wicked girl! Go and get ready for bath water!"
Disgruntled abuse of the old hunter came from outside the lodge, no one knowing what had aroused all his resentment.
Sangsang looked up nervously at Ning Que.
Ning Que was busy eating the meat that the old hunter forgot to hide. Then after a moment of silence, he nodded.
Inside and outside the vast Min Mountain there were totally different worlds.
Outside the mountain, it had been the fifth year of Tianqi era of the Tang Empire, while for those living inside the mountain, days were merely monotonous repet.i.tions day after day. And as for theOld Hunter who had retained Ning Que and Sangsang, he finally found a way of killing time in the monotonous repet.i.tions, that was, whipping, abusing or the like.
That year, Ning Que was already a lad at about ten.
That year, Sangsang was five.
Sangsang was pouring hot water into the bucket, which was immediately shrouded by hot vapor.
The naked Old Hunter in the bucket looked at her and scolded, "d.a.m.n you! You"re so dirty, go and wash yourself."
Sangsang nodded, and then walked out of the room. Later she dragged herself back after handing over the basin of hot water from Ning Que.
The hot water was just boiling, which was burningly hot.
Sangsang stepped onto the bench, pouring it to the old hunter from head to feet.
An extremely miserable cry sounded inside the room.
The old hunter ran out, naked, with blisters all over his body. He squinted for his eyesight was blurred, who crazily waved the hunting knife in his hand, cursing out the most vicious words he knew.
"Bang!" A crisp and loud sound of two metal sheets. .h.i.tting each other was heard, with which the Old Hunter flopped head-on, uttering a more mournful scream.
His right leg was caught in the stainless-steel beast catcher used to hunt tiger and was half-broken.
Ning Que and Sangsang came over, looking at the Old Hunter lying in blood.
Even in such a situation, the Old Hunter still retained the ruthlessness of the mountain people, staring at Ning Que and scolding although he was dying, "You git thing! You ungrateful thing! d.a.m.n you!"
"Well, we have paid you back these years, and now it"s time for revenge."
Ning Que drew the hunting knife out from behind, looking at the slouch flesh of the Old Hunter as well as the b.l.o.o.d.y root of his thigh and then said, "I could have endured you for two more days, yet you didn"t give me the chance."
"If you are not going to sell Sangsang to prost.i.tutes, we will not kill you."
"If you are not going to take a bath, we can"t kill you."
Ning Que looked at him, and after a long time of silence he continued, "In fact, just now... if you allowed Sangsang to eat the meat, maybe we will not kill you. We just planned to sneak away."
The Old Hunter heavily gasped, looking at him blankly.
Then Ning Que clenched the hunting knife and severely chopped it down.
The head of the Old Hunter fell.
After a while, Ning Que walked out of the hunting lodge, with the boxwood bow and the quiver on his back, the hunting knife on his waist slightly swinging.
Sangsang followed him, holding the worn black big umbrella.
"If you are tired, then come onto my back."
Then the two disappeared in the vast Min Mountain.
Night has come, the thick mist in the mountain behind the Academy was as smooth and thick as milk.
Ning Que stood on the stone steps, lowering his head. After a long time of silence, he slowly raised his hands.
He clenched his hand to make a hollow fist, as if he was holding an invisible knife.
Night wind was wuthering around the Mountain Path.
He slightly tilted and suddenly cut down, which broke the night as well as the Mountain Path.
After the cut, another step appeared.
A total silence was found in the thick mist around the peak.
Then a voice of compa.s.sion sounded, "I do not know what kind of suffering Ning Que had experienced in his life, nor did he mention it in the old library. How could the Mountain Path be... so difficult for him."
"The Mountain Path stretches endlessly ahead, where all previous painful memories have changed into reality to block the climbers. If they can take it lightly, it will be easier to climb up. But if not, and thus wanting to retreat, then the top will never be reached."
The words from Second Brother were gradually heard. It was up to now did we find the tint of respect and seriousness in his voice.
"Both of the two climbers today are interesting, especially Ning Que."
"Those painful memories in the deep of his heart, although I do not know what they really are, are things that he actually doesn"t want to forget, and even not regretful for. To see through is moreover unnecessary in his heart. Facing the darkest Corner at the bottom of his heart, as well as those painful experiences, he still chose the thing he did years before. "
"If he cannot see through, how can he keep his heart unchanged over the years?"
"Since he doesn"t want to see it through, then just break it through."
"He wants to break the Mountain Path."