Nightfall

There wasn’t any Nanke Dream in this world, but only a century in Lanke.

Sangsang recalled the legend, and understood that she had an encounter similar to that of the woodcutter. However, whilst the woodcutter had spent a century in reality, she seemed to have left reality and came here.

She did not know if this world was real, or a dream, or some sort of hallucination created by a powerful person. But since she knew the truth, it was enough for her to deduce more information.

Just like what Ning Que had said, she was an intelligent girl who was used to standing behind Ning Que and was too complacent to use her brains. She had Ning Que to consider everything on her behalf. She had been lazy here until she ascertained that Ning Que would not come for her, or perhaps, one could say that Ning Que could not find her. That was when she began to truly think for herself.

Her conclusion was that she was still in the Go game. However, her opponent was not Master Qishan, but rather the rules of the world. What she needed to do was defeat these rules.

Rules made up the basis of this world. The world only existed, and people could live, because of these rules. Defeating the rules whilst following them seemed impossible.

However, Sangsang believed that she did not belong to this world. Even if she could not defeat the rules, she could still find similarities between her world and this one. That was, rules that conflicted against one another in the two worlds. Then, she would use these contradictions to solve the rules of this world, or find a way to return to her own.

Many in the town have died, and firecrackers for mourning have been lit several times. She was still alive, and she had not even grown. It was evident that time passed more quickly here. It was the opposite of the legend of Lanke Temple. At the same time, it proved that her body was still moving in accordance with the rule of time in the world outside the chessboard.

The biological rules of the world in the chessboard and the rule of time in reality were enforced on her at the same time. She linked the two worlds together, and she was the contradiction.

If she died in this world, then she would be able to free herself from whatever was binding her to the rules here. She would be able to return to the world outside the chessboard, at least according to the rule of time in reality. Then, she would wake up.

As such, she walked to the edge of the cliff and jumped off.

She landed heavily at the foot of the cliff. Her bones were completely shattered and she was in immense pain. The world darkened...

..But she simply reappeared on the cliff, standing beneath the tree as if nothing had happened.

Sangsang was confused about this; she felt that something was not right.

If this game of chess was happening as she had deduced, then her choice should have been right. But why was she unable to die? Why couldn’t she disappear from this world?

She stood in a daze underneath the tree for a while. Then, she took off her belt and tied it to the tree.

Her neck hurt.

A moment later, she stood beneath the tree and looked at her belt which had reappeared around her waist. She thought that she should choose another method.

There was a lake not far away from the tree.

The water could drown someone.

But it could not drown her.

...

...

In the next few days, Sangsang tried various methods of suicide to no avail. She continued standing on the mountain, and other than the terrifying memories and pain, there were no other signs that she had died.

Where was the problem? Death was always a singular path and always the greatest rule that surpassed time. Since she could not break the rule of time, how could she break the greatest rule?

She thought silently for a moment. She had forgotten something.

Should the highest rule of death be broken, it meant that all the rules of the world would loosen up, and then they would move toward the verge of collapse. Gradually, light would begin to turn cold and the dark night would warm up. Two nests of ants fighting for honey would reach it before their enemy if they crawled around a stone furtively.

Time began to slow down. The speed at which the people in town were aging slowed. She had not heard the firecrackers of mourning for several years, but no one had been happy about this. In fact, they grew frightened, and the firecrackers of festivities also decreased until there were none at all. The water wheel on the stream had long ago stopped turning, and the fields became barren.

The whole world was in chaos and moving toward the end of days.

This was why whether this was reality or the world in the chessboard, other than eternity itself, no other eternal concept or being was allowed to exist. Because this would cause the world to end.

The rules of the world had finally noticed Sangsang, who still stood on the mountain.

The world shook in unrest. Fields turned and rolled, the sea bubbled and great mountains toppled.

The cliffside below Sangsang shook violently and disintegrated, sending her careening into the air.

Several rules of the world seemed to physically disintegrate. They flew into the sky in bursts of light.

These balls of light were white and devoid of any warmth. They looked like cold white chess pieces.

Sangsang was suspended in mid-air, and she peered at the bright chess pieces in confusion.

She was like a lonely black chess piece facing an armada of whites.

She was about to be swallowed by the light.

...

...

Twilight approached the Tile Mountain.

The warm red light illuminated the face of the stone Buddha statue, making it seem especially solemn.

Buddha watched all suffering in the world, and seemed to also be in pain himself.

He wanted to frown.

However, his brows were lines carved into the stone by artisans. They were as hard as steel.

As such, a thin crack appeared between his brows.

...

...

In the shade of the Buddha statue inside the cave stood Ning Que.

Sangsang, who was sitting beside the chessboard suddenly frowned as if she were in pain.

Ning Que grew worried, and his right hand trembled slightly.

Moments later, pain on Sangsang’s face disappeared and she became calm once more.

Ning Que heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, she frowned again.

Only to calm down, once again.

This happened many times.

Suddenly, Sangsang’s face became extremely pale, and her eyebrows scrunched up tightly. Her slender figure began to tremble violently as if she was in terrible pain. Anyone would be able to sense the extent of horror she felt in her dream.

Ning Que had been extremely tense throughout and had long ago reached the upper limit of his patience. When he saw the state Sangsang was in, he did not even think before whipping out the podao behind his back and slamming it down viciously on the chessboard.

Master Qishan had said that Buddha had left behind this chessboard, which meant it must be very precious.

However, at a moment like this, it mattered naught that Buddha had left it behind. Even if Buddha himself had appeared, Ning Que would still slam his sword at him. If Buddha blocked him, he would kill Buddha. He was serious.

Of course, Ning Que knew that the chessboard that Buddha left behind could not be destroyed so simply. While he worried earlier, he had already made preparations. Together with Haotian Divine Light and in the Dahe Sword style that Liu Bai used, he gathered all the Great Spirit in his body and channeled it through the podao into the board.

This was the strongest stroke he could use.

Dust and smoke billowed, and light scattered.

The podao was rebounded by the chessboard.

The chessboard was perfectly fine.

Sangsang did not wake up.

Ning Que actually fell asleep himself whilst still gripping the blade.

Master Qishan looked even more haggard. He sighed and said, “What a pair of lovesick fools.”

...

...

The world before it ended was in chaos. Those who have managed to survive finally felt the terror of death. They drove their carriages, or stole one from others, and began to flee.

They did not know where they should go in order to avoid the flood descending from above, and from the peaks rising from lakes. They did not know where to go to flee from the burning nights and the cold days. They only fled blindly and in pandemonium.

At a certain intersection, those fleeing were forced to stop.

There was a black horse carriage at the intersection. It had knocked over several other carriages, adding on to the chaos at the intersection. It blocked it so that no one could move.

The black horse carriage blocked the intersection so that no one could flee to the south. And those who wanted to flee west could not do so either. Men who wanted to take advantage of the situation could not reach the scantily-clothed girls on the other side of the street. A young man crawled out of a pile of bodies. He saw his first love, but could not hug her.

People yelled in anger and they scolded bitterly. Some scooped up mud and threw it at the black carriage. However, the young man in the carriage did not seem to even notice them. He allowed himself to be pelted with mud, and continued looking up at the sky in a daze.

There were many white balls of light in the sky. He did not know what they represented, but he could sense the terrifying abilities in them and could guess what they could do.

The young man in the black horse carriage was Ning Que.

He did not know how he had arrived in this world, and he did not know how he could bring the Big Black Horse and his carriage with him. However, he felt very lucky to be able to come to this world to find Sangsang.

It was an extremely difficult thing to find someone in the chaotic world that was about to end. Ning Que had already searched for Sangsang for an extremely long time to no avail, until he raised his head and saw the skies today.

He shouted at the Big Black Horse.

The Big Black Horse neighed and lifted his hooves. He pulled the steel carriage behind him, flattening the horse carriages and people before him. A path filled with blood and gore opened before him in the crowd trying to flee.

The black horse carriage raced toward the balls of light.

A few days later, the carriage arrived at the spot below Sangsang.

Ning Que looked up at Sangsang.

Countless rays of light shone through her.

The light rays were devoid of heat. However, they were so dense that friction between the rays could not be avoided.

The speed of light was very fast, and the friction between them was frightful and able to produce high levels of heat.

Sangsang’s body had begun to burn and was extremely bright.

Ning Que shouted, “Sangsang!”

Sangsang seemed not to have heard him. She did not look toward the ground.

Ning Que shouted once more, “Sangsang!”

Sangsang heard him this time. She looked down and cried, “I don’t know what has happened.”

Ning Que said, “Don’t be afraid. Come to me.”

Sangsang shook her head. She looked at the light surrounding her and said, “You will die.”

Ning Que said, “I have said before, that if you die, I will die too. So why don’t we die together.”

Sangsang knew that this was true, so she jumped down.

The pure white light followed her and descended upon the land.

Ning Que took out the big black umbrella and gave it to Sangsang.

Sangsang opened the big black umbrella as if she was holding up a piece of the night sky.

The night shrouded Ning Que, her, and the black horse carriage.

The rules of the world could not find them any longer.

They disappeared from this world.

...

...

Ning Que and Sangsang woke up at the same time.

They found that they were still at Tile Mountain.

Outside the cave, by the chessboard.

There were two chess pieces on the chessboard.

One was black and the other, white.

...

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