Chapter 12
Yu Sui only told Zhongli Que about her immediate departure for Taiyi Academy.
Zhongli Que saw the message in the evening and hurriedly replied: "Why so sudden?"
"Have you already left?"
"Ahhh I didn't even get to see you one last time!"
Sitting in the carriage, having already left the imperial capital, Yu Sui saw this message and scratched her head.
"I'm going to Taiyi Academy to cultivate, not dying."
Zhongli Que replied: "You need to be careful alone out there. Taiyi Academy has people from six kingdoms, a mixed crowd. There are quite a few who have hostility toward the Nangong family, and the Academy seems to not care about these things."
Yu Sui was about to reply reassuringly when the carriage stopped.
The person responsible for escorting Yu Sui was one of Nangong Ming's trusted subordinates, the Forbidden Army Captain of the manor, Cao Yan.
Cao Yan's respectful voice came from outside the carriage: "Princess, we've reached the dragon carriage point."
Yu Sui put away her Wind-Listening Ruler and lifted the carriage curtain to look outside.
Ahead was the Si River at Qingyang's border. The river was wide and required a ferry to cross.
Green grass grew lushly on the bank, white and purple small flowers interspersed among it. Night mist drifted over the river surface. In the darkness, besides the torches held by the accompanying team, there were fireflies dancing and glowing over the river.
Taiyi Academy had cloud carriage flying dragons built with the world's strongest mechanical arts. Besides being jointly built by the four great mechanical families, it also had the Seven Saints of the School of Names bestow words upon it, allowing it to fly in the sky and never fall.
The Academy had dragon carriage points set up in all six kingdoms. As long as someone was registered with the Academy, the dragon carriage would arrive punctually at the boarding point to pick up and drop off students.
To reach Taiyi Academy, riding the cloud carriage flying dragon was the only method.
Yu Sui got down from the carriage and looked up at the clouds and mist in the sky. In the distance, there was a golden gleam appearing and disappearing, approaching from far away.
Looking from afar now, the flying dragon was ethereal, like a thin, golden line.
Cao Yan instructed from the side: "When you reach Taiyi, there will be Nangong clan members in the outer city to guide you. Young Master Gu has been trapped by the Legalist School this time, requiring the School of Names' Di Su Balance Scale for judgment. The prince has also prepared it."
Yu Sui withdrew her gaze from the horizon and turned around. Cao Yan handed her a black long box.
Nangong Ming having her go to Taiyi Academy could be considered justified by circumstances. If not for Gu Qian being trapped on the other side, he wouldn't have so urgently sent Yu Sui to rescue the situation.
After all, his third son Sheng Hao, far away at Taiyi, completely ignored Gu Qian's affairs. He would be delighted if Gu Qian got into trouble and was expelled from the Academy.
Because of the great distance, Nangong Ming could only wait for Sheng Hao to return before dealing with him.
Yu Sui had just received the black box when she heard deep dragon roars echoing in the sky above. The golden long dragon descended from the high clouds and mist, its eyes' light piercing through thick clouds and spilling onto the shore dock.
Seen from afar it was a golden line, but up close she discovered it was actually "line" formed by connected body segments.
Though it was an artificial dead object, it was exquisitely crafted, as if a real dragon had descended to roam heaven and earth.
The dragon carriage lowered a boarding path toward the dock. Yu Sui could hear the clicking sounds of gears turning. Looking at the massive creature ahead with half its body hidden in clouds and mist, she felt the same sensation as when first seeing the National Academy's communication array, once again amazed by this world's wonders.
"Princess," Cao Yan and the others bowed respectfully, "Take care on your journey."
Yu Sui waved at them: "Then I'm off."
She carried the long black box toward the dragon carriage. Someone stood waiting at the entrance, his clothes fluttering in the night wind. Seeing the small figure below gradually approaching, the man smiled: "Please wait, I'm the carriage driver for this cloud carriage flying dragon, Mo Yun. Please confirm your identity on the student roster."
Yu Sui took the student roster Mo Yun handed her, flipped through several pages before seeing her name, filled in the required information below, and handed it back.
After Mo Yun confirmed, he stepped aside: "Please."
Yu Sui stood before the dragon's mouth, looking inside at the twinkling lights, then stepped forward into this magnificent and wondrous world.
……
The dragon carriage began flying, re-entering the clouds and mist, heading toward the southernmost part of the Xuangu Continent.
Mo Yun led Yu Sui toward her room, saying warmly: "The journey is long. You can rest in the guest room for tonight. We won't reach the Academy until dawn tomorrow. If you need to dine, you can go to the red room in the back to notify them, and someone will bring dinner to your room shortly."
Yu Sui looked down at the wooden floor, feeling the dragon carriage flying at considerable speed, but it didn't affect people walking inside at all.
"This is your resting place." Mo Yun stopped before a black door.
This section of the dragon carriage had black doors on both sides of the corridor, with numbers written above. Yu Sui's guest room was 806.
"You're the last student. The dragon carriage won't stop next, continuing straight to the Academy." Mo Yun pushed open the door, indicating Yu Sui should enter, and bowed elegantly: "There will be notification when we arrive. I won't disturb your rest."
Yu Sui stood at the door surveying the interior. The décor was exquisite, with a small window, small bed, dressing table, tables and chairs. On the table by the window sat a flower vase with a bunch of white flowers she couldn't name in full bloom, creating a comfortable personal world.
Too exquisite.
Yu Sui sighed in her heart, walked to sit by the window, and carefully pushed open the window.
The wooden window was tightly fastened. She could only push it open a little at a time. After slowly opening half the window, she saw the floating clouds and mist outside, the golden dragon carriage hundreds of meters long rising and falling within them.
Flying over unknown lands, Yu Sui looked down from above. Through the clouds, she saw thousands of lights below, from bustling cities to quiet countryside, then to mountain forests with scattered lights.
Finally, she saw an endless sea. The moon rose and set over the sea, but she couldn't see the end of this heaven and earth.
The Endless Sea to the south was the greatest barrier preventing people from entering Taiyi Academy. It was boundless, without end, reportedly even larger than all six kingdoms combined, occupying half the area of the Xuangu Continent.
The sea often had fog that would confuse people's minds. Without precise navigation, it was very easy to get lost and die at sea.
Even by ship, one couldn't reach Taiyi Academy from the Endless Sea. The Endless Sea contained thousands upon thousands of arrays, large and small, one within another. To this day, no one had been able to cross the Endless Sea by ship to reach Taiyi Academy.
To reach the Academy, one could only ride the cloud carriage flying dragon.
What Yu Sui saw next was all endless sea. Under moonlight, sometimes azure blue, sometimes dark and deep, occasionally obscured by clouds where nothing could be seen.
She propped her chin with one hand, looking for a long time, also seeming to daydream, until knocking sounds rang out.
The knocking was persistent, not like something the elegant carriage driver Mo Yun would do.
Yu Sui walked forward to open the door and saw a man and woman standing outside, about her age. The blue-robed youth drooped his head as if not fully awake. The white-skirted girl with twin braids had excitement in her eyes, which brightened further upon seeing Yu Sui.
"I'm Xue Jiayue from Taiyuan Kingdom." The girl smiled at Yu Sui with curved eyes, then pointed to the sleepy youth beside her: "This is my cousin, Xue Mushi."
Yu Sui blinked without speaking.
Xue Jiayue was naturally familiar, opening the food box hanging on her arm and taking out a stack of small food boxes to hand to Yu Sui: "This is a meeting gift. We're all new students this year. Let's get acquainted in advance!"
After saying this, she stuffed them into Yu Sui's hands regardless of whether she wanted them, then turned to knock on the opposite door.
You could tell this girl was in an excited state.
Yu Sui opened the food box in her hands, saw the pastries inside, then quietly covered it back up.
"Is anyone there?" Xue Jiayue knocked on the door. After no response for a while, she pressed her ear to the door. The person inside opened it, and she nearly fell in. The figure at the door stepped aside to avoid her, with no intention of helping.
"Whew!"
Xue Jiayue grabbed the door frame to steady herself: "That was close, you..."
She looked up and paused upon seeing the person's attire.
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi also looked toward the person who had opened the door. Xue Mushi seemed to lose some of his drowsiness, though his eyes showed more confusion.
Standing at the door was a youth in white robes with a sash, jade crown binding his hair, a sword at his waist with one hand resting on the hilt, his bearing cold and stern. The corridor's dim yellow light cast shadows on his overly pale skin. Beneath dark eyebrows, a pair of sharp yet silent eyes lightly swept over Xue Jiayue.
His appearance was too handsome, his temperament steady and mature, making Xue Jiayue's heart beat faster.
She quickly stepped back two paces into the corridor, speaking more gently though her tone still couldn't hide its cheerfulness: "Young hero, I'm Xue Jiayue from Taiyuan Kingdom. We're all new students, so let's get acquainted in advance!"
"Here, this is a meeting gift for you." Xue Jiayue extended the small food box.
The youth remained silent.
Yu Sui scratched her face, somewhat unable to bear watching.
Xue Mushi whispered: "That person is female."
"Huh?" Xue Jiayue turned back: "Cousin, what did you say so quietly?"
"Not a young hero," Xue Mushi said with effort. "She's female."
Xue Jiayue looked back in shock.
The "youth" didn't take the food box, only lowering her voice: "Nan Jing, Li Jin Shuang."
"Oh... oh oh." Xue Jiayue didn't know what to say for a moment, nodding continuously. To avoid awkwardness, she quickly went to knock on Li Jin Shuang's neighboring door.
As Li Jin Shuang closed her door, the neighboring door opened.
A tall, thin youth emerged, dressed more shabbily compared to the others outside, wearing only a simple blue robe that seemed to serve merely as covering for what needed covering.
The youth raised his hand to ruffle his hair, his sleeve sliding down a large section, revealing his scarred arms.
"Not sleeping in the middle of the night, knocking on people's doors for what?" The youth finished ruffling his hair and yawned, his narrow phoenix eyes lazily sweeping over the people outside.
"Delivering meeting gifts." Xue Jiayue raised a big smile: "I'm..."
"I know, Taiyuan Kingdom person." The youth took the food box Xue Jiayue offered, but glanced at Yu Sui across from them, lifting his chin slightly in indication: "What about you?"
The other two also looked toward Yu Sui.
Yu Sui couldn't continue playing mute at this point and spoke: "Qingyang, Nangong Sui."
"Oh, Princess Nangong." The youth raised his eyebrows at Yu Sui: "Your reputation precedes you."
His gaze carried some deeper meaning.
"What about you?" Xue Jiayue prompted: "You asked everyone else, you can't not say yours."
The youth said lazily: "Agricultural School, Wei Ren."
The three were startled.
The others had said which country they were from; he immediately reported which school he was from.
"This thing," Wei Ren opened the food box, ate two bites of pastry then spit it back out, unceremoniously closing it and commenting before closing his door: "Even dogs wouldn't eat it."
"Hey!" Xue Jiayue reacted, not angry for two seconds before lowering her raised hand: "I didn't make it anyway. It's food from this dragon carriage."
Xue Mushi suddenly said: "Don't move."
Xue Jiayue turned back: "What's wrong?"
"Don't move." Xue Mushi looked very troubled, seeming not to want to get involved yet having to help.
He stepped forward, lifted the hair from Xue Jiayue's nape, and pulled out a small red scorpion from her hairline.
"Agricultural School's stone scorpion, commonly used by them to steal information." Xue Mushi threw the small red scorpion to Xue Jiayue and stepped back five paces. He was actually quite afraid of such creatures.
Xue Jiayue stared wide-eyed after seeing it, furious, holding the stone scorpion and throwing it at Wei Ren's door: "You're too scheming!"
After saying this, still not satisfied, she wanted to kick the door, but then thought this was on the dragon carriage, and the other party was already a disciple who had entered a school. She hadn't even noticed the stone scorpion, so if there were other things, it wouldn't be good.
Xue Jiayue held back, crushed the stone scorpion underfoot angrily, then huffily left this section of the dragon carriage.
Yu Sui watched the stone scorpion on the ground shattered into pieces. After a moment, those fragments reassembled on their own, piecing back into a scorpion that crawled through the door crack.
Inside the room without lights, pitch black, Wei Ren lying on the bed extended his hand, let the red scorpion crawl to his fingertip, then stuffed it in his mouth to chew and swallow.
Yu Sui closed her door and returned to sit by the window, looking at the black sea outside while lost in thought.
When Wei Ren mentioned Agricultural School, she was certain this person knew about the Breath Soil being with her.
The Xue family cousins - the sister was lively and good at socializing, the brother seemed socially awkward but had good observational skills, immediately spotting Wei Ren's stone scorpion on Xue Jiayue.
As for that cross-dressing "young hero" Li Jin Shuang, she was interesting.
Yu Sui tapped the table with her finger. After a moment, she picked up her Wind-Listening Ruler. In the Endless Sea, there were no communication arrays, nor could communication arrays be built, so messages couldn't be sent out.
She looked at the motionless Wind-Listening Ruler for a while, then glanced at the black box beside her containing the Di Su Balance Scale, an important tool to rescue Gu Qian from the Legalist School venue.
Yu Sui thought for a moment, opened the food box, grabbed a piece of mung bean cake to eat, then spat it all out moments later.
Indeed.
Even dogs wouldn't eat this stuff.
……
Yu Sui didn't sleep all night.
She sat by the window all night, watching the moon slowly sink, then watching the sun rise in the east. Orange-gold light broke through clouds and mist, gradually illuminating the sea surface and the path ahead.
When she could vaguely see huge islands and cities, deep, resonant dragon roars also sounded.
Taiyi Academy being as large as a nation was no exaggeration.
Looking down from the sky, Yu Sui could feel the vastness of the terrain below. As dawn light pursued them, the faintly glowing lamps in the city gradually extinguished completely.
The outer city was almost entirely businesspeople.
Some had lived here since birth, others came from outside to do business with Taiyi Academy, from different places across the six kingdoms. This place was a mixed crowd of dragons and fish - some purely doing business, others engaging in backstabbing; there were fugitives from other nations living honestly under assumed names, and dishonest ones too.
In Taiyi's outer city, the Academy didn't interfere with disciples' martial world grudges, national grudges, or personal grudges.
Only within the Academy were there restrictions against killing.
Currently within the Academy were twenty-four Saints.
The student population numbered in the tens of thousands, with people coming and going every year.
Dragon roars echoed from near to far. People on the carriage rose to prepare for departure. The dragon carriage stopped at outer city docks, with dozens of landing docks along the coastline.
Each dock corresponded to a section of the dragon carriage. Yu Sui and the others didn't need to walk far to see the exit. Outside the door was a new world - birds singing, flowers fragrant, towering rock faces covered in flora, seabirds making pleasant calls in the early morning, carrying food and perching on the dragon carriage's back to watch the new students.
Nangong family members had been waiting for some time.
"Princess." The black-bearded man at the dock waved to Yu Sui: "Over here!"
The black-bearded man walked toward Yu Sui, followed by the grown-up Ji Meng.
The adult Ji Meng still looked like a thin monkey, different only in that his skin was darker than when in Qingyang's imperial capital. He had been worried sick about Gu Qian's situation, anxious in his heart, but seeing Yu Sui descend from the dragon carriage, Ji Meng couldn't help but stare, briefly forgetting his anxiety.
In just two or three years of not meeting, how could there be such a big change?
Ji Meng's impression of Yu Sui still remained at the somewhat childish yet adorable girl, especially that night when he climbed over the wall and saw it was Yu Sui, still doubting whether he had mistakenly gone to Prince Nangong's manor.
He had a deep impression of that night.
Because Yu Sui stood under the tree with a broom, her startled moment upon discovering his landing was exactly like a cat - a cat whose pupils would dilate and blacken.
Now the young woman walking in the orange-gold morning sun had a slender waist, skin white as porcelain, her outer gauze dress softening the red of her garments. Walking in daylight, the illumination revived that vivid red, making it bright and brilliant.
Her autumn-water eyes naturally carried a smile, her dark pupils still making Ji Meng think of a cat.
She had grown taller, and her already exquisite and beautiful childhood face had opened up, becoming more charming and lively.
A phrase inexplicably popped into Ji Meng's mind: I was right.
He remembered a few months ago when he and Gu Qian and others were discussing which was prettier - the girls they had studied with at the National Academy or the girls at Taiyi. He had said Yu Sui.
Gu Qian said each had their merits, but the other two said it was Taiyi's Xun Zhiya.
Now seeing Yu Sui, Ji Meng was certain: I was right.
The black-bearded man helped Yu Sui take the box containing the Di Su Balance Scale, saying as they walked: "It's quite far from the outer city to the Legalist School's trial venue. Since the Princess doesn't know wind-riding techniques yet, we'll take a carriage first."
Yu Sui hummed in agreement, glancing at Ji Meng standing motionless nearby and actively greeting: "Long time no see."
Ji Meng reacted, hurrying to say: "Princess, long time no see."
"Do you still call me that here too?" Yu Sui stopped to look at him: "Didn't they say that within Taiyi Academy, class distinctions are ignored and formal addresses aren't needed?"
Ji Meng awkwardly touched his nose: "This is still the outer city, not yet within the Academy. Besides, I'm used to calling you that, so not changing doesn't matter."
Yu Sui made an "oh" sound, got into the carriage with the attendants' help, and both the black-bearded man and Ji Meng also got in, explaining the current situation to her on the road.
Students continued descending from the dragon carriage, exclaiming in amazement at the vast and magnificent world before them, chattering noisily, even drowning out the seabirds' calls.
Li Jin Shuang walked alone on the shaded path, silent amid the clamor.
Wei Ren found the sunlight glaring, rubbing his eyes and slowly squeezing out of the crowd, aimlessly scanning the people as three or five companions approached him, walking shoulder to shoulder.
Xue Jiayue cheered and ran forward while Xue Mushi opened his mouth, ultimately deciding to forget it, saying nothing and dragging his feet slowly.
"Cousin, why are you walking so slowly? Run!"
Xue Jiayue turned to pull Xue Mushi, dragging and hauling to make him run.
The seabirds on the dragon carriage seemed frightened by the newcomers, swallowing their food in one gulp and flying away with spread wings.