Chapter 20
The Dragon Stairs remained motionless. Yu Sui and Mei Liangyu waited, confirming no one was coming in, then tried to open the door to go out and see. But after inputting runes, the Dragon Stairs door wouldn't open either.
Mei Liangyu expressionlessly tried again.
Still no use.
The door-opening rune interface was stuck there spinning, but wouldn't open the door.
When Yu Sui looked over with confusion, Mei Liangyu stated directly: "It's broken."
"What's broken?" Yu Sui tapped the door with her knuckles. "It won't suddenly fall down or fly up, will it? Senior Brother, we're on the thirty-third floor. There are over seventy floors above us. If it suddenly flies up, I'll die, won't I?"
Mei Liangyu: "I won't die."
Yu Sui: "Right, so I'm the one who'll die."
Mei Liangyu's eye twitched slightly: "You won't die either."
"Really?" Yu Sui moved to stand behind him.
Mei Liangyu's impression of Yu Sui now included "timid."
With the Dragon Stairs runes stuck, unable to get in or out, and its operation stopped, Mei Liangyu took out his Wind-Listening Ruler to message Xing Chun, asking him to notify the mechanism families that a Dragon Stairs in the residence was stuck.
"The mechanism families' people will be here soon," Mei Liangyu said.
Yu Sui behind him remained silent.
Mei Liangyu looked back to find Yu Sui tilting her head up, concentrating intently on the moonpearls embedded in the walls for lighting.
"What are you looking at?" Mei Liangyu asked.
"This." Yu Sui pointed at a moonpearl. "If the Dragon Stairs gets stuck and can't move, won't this have problems too, suddenly going dark and leaving us without light in here?"
Mei Liangyu looked at Yu Sui: "Don't scare yourself. Moonpearls' illumination has nothing to do with Dragon Stairs operation."
"Oh." Yu Sui lowered her hand.
After a quiet moment, Yu Sui asked again: "Senior Brother, could it be that we rode the Dragon Stairs up and down too many times, causing it to get stuck and unable to move?"
Mei Liangyu leaned against the wall playing with his Wind-Listening Ruler, not looking up: "Be confident. When there are problems, don't look for causes in yourself. The problem is with the Dragon Stairs, not us."
Yu Sui clapped enthusiastically.
Mei Liangyu glanced over to see Yu Sui saying sincerely: "I think what Senior Brother said is very good."
Very confident.
Mei Liangyu looked away again, continuing to examine his Wind-Listening Ruler.
After brief silence, Yu Sui tapped the wall asking: "Senior Brother, will it fall down?"
Mei Liangyu: "No."
Yu Sui asked again: "What if it does fall down?"
Mei Liangyu still played with his Wind-Listening Ruler: "Then use Wind-Riding Techniques to maintain balance."
Yu Sui: "But I can't."
Mei Liangyu: "Then lean against the wall."
Yu Sui said: "There would still be impact force, right!"
Mei Liangyu glanced over: "You even know about impact force?"
Somehow, the two began chatting back and forth.
What Yu Sui asked seemed like small matters to Mei Liangyu, even things he was too lazy to explain. But when Yu Sui turned around with curious eyes, Mei Liangyu felt it was fine to tell her—otherwise his ears wouldn't be peaceful. This Junior Sister was quite the chatterbox.
During their conversation, they even forgot about the Dragon Stairs malfunction, until the stuck rune interface suddenly started running and the Dragon Stairs door opened with a click.
Outside stood two people from the mechanism families, wearing mechanism technique robes—crimson-black clothing with shoulder emblems representing the four great families. Before them was the Wenyang family, with golden bird emblems on their shoulders.
The man in front, with rolled-up sleeves exposing sturdy forearms, greeted Mei Liangyu: "Yo, you're the one trapped inside. Why didn't you fix it yourself?"
Yu Sui poked her head out from behind Mei Liangyu, thinking this was provocation. But seeing the speaker had no provocative intent, it seemed more like teasing between acquaintances.
Mei Liangyu stood inside without moving: "If I fixed it, what would you do for money? Take money to do work—don't always think about making others do the labor."
The Wenyang brothers laughed at this response, gesturing at Yu Sui behind Mei Liangyu with teasing looks: "I think you wanted to stay inside longer with someone and wouldn't fix it yourself."
"Hey, is this something to say in front of the person?"
Mei Liangyu laughed coldly and closed the Dragon Stairs directly.
The Dragon Stairs ascended.
Yu Sui asked Mei Liangyu: "Senior Brother, so you actually can fix Dragon Stairs."
Mei Liangyu replied expressionlessly: "Can't."
Yu Sui said: "If you can, you can!"
Mei Liangyu: "Can't."
The Dragon Stairs stopped at the sixtieth floor and opened.
Yu Sui stepped out, turned to wave at Mei Liangyu: "Thank you, Senior Brother. Senior Brother......"
Before she finished speaking, Mei Liangyu had already closed the Dragon Stairs.
Yu Sui watched the Dragon Stairs close and ascend, blinking.
She returned to her dorm. The moment she opened the door, she heard an unstoppable voice from inside: "......walking around the room like a man—what does that look like!"
Seeming to hear the door opening, Shu Chujun, who was scolding Li Jin Shuang, turned to look over.
Yu Sui finally met her roommates.
Xun Zhiya stood with her back to her by the window, looking outside with an unknown expression. Li Jin Shuang stood by the table, still silent as always. Shu Chujun by the door was a girl who looked sweet and beautiful, but her eyes were full of arrogance.
Li Jin Shuang ignored Shu Chujun. After cleaning the teacup on the table, she carried the tea tray directly back to her room.
Yu Sui looked at Li Jin Shuang returning to her room, then at Shu Chujun still by the door.
Shu Chujun snorted and also turned back to her room.
Yu Sui wanted to greet Xun Zhiya by the window, but she too returned to her room with an indifferent expression.
Well, if that's how it was, then nobody should talk.
Yu Sui slowly opened her door and went inside.
She sat on her bed looking at the Wind-Listening Ruler. The cipher text was still contaminating Taiyi's communication array—it would probably take until tomorrow evening.
Yu Sui closed her eyes to rest briefly, then sat up again, gazing at her open palm and sighing.
When would she be able to sleep peacefully at night without being tormented by Strange Fire?
……
Mei Liangyu lived on the seventy-ninth floor, room 1036.
It was already late at night when he opened the door. The room was brightly lit, with one door open and Wei Ren emerging from inside, dressed loosely and casually.
Wei Ren yawned behind his hand, his hair messy from sleep. When he turned to look at Mei Liangyu, a small black scorpion was crawling from his cheek toward his ear.
"You must be the Ghost Way Senior Brother living here," Wei Ren smiled, extending his hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Wei Ren. Let's get along well from now on."
Mei Liangyu used to live alone. Now having a roommate, he had no particular opinion about it.
Anyway, before long, he would drive the new roommate out and continue living alone.
……
Yu Sui had slept fitfully last night. Seeing it was about time, she yawned and got up from bed to wash in her room.
She could hear footsteps outside and the sound of pouring tea, indicating her roommates were also getting up at this time.
Her Wind-Listening Ruler glowed faintly with a notice from Taiyi Academy.
New students would receive unified basic instruction, assigned to different study halls according to their numbers.
Blackbeard had told Yu Sui yesterday that basic instruction referred to Five Elements Yin-Yang, Taiji Eight Trigrams, Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches—regardless of whether they were military strategy, famous physicians, or Taoist agricultural Yin-Yang practitioners, these were all foundations that disciples must learn.
So the month-long basic instruction didn't divide by schools.
Yu Sui's assigned number was three, meaning she would study at Study Hall Number Three.
Sheng Hao sent a message asking her to wait for him to come pick her up and take her to Study Hall Number Three.
Yu Sui waited in her room briefly, then went out when she heard knocking. Coming out, she saw Li Jin Shuang and asked: "Which study hall are you in?"
Li Jin Shuang answered briefly: "Three."
"Then we're the same." Yu Sui invited: "Shall we go together?"
Li Jin Shuang didn't answer, opening the door to head out.
Yu Sui's gaze followed Li Jin Shuang's movement.
Sheng Hao outside the door didn't even glance at the departing Li Jin Shuang, staring at Yu Sui with a stern face as he handed over a small food box: "Eat this before we go."
"Eat while walking," Yu Sui said, taking the food box.
On the way, Sheng Hao told her about Study Hall Number Three and had inquired in advance about today's instructor.
Sheng Hao said: "Yin-Yang School's Jing Yunkui—an inflexible, stubborn old man. If you can't answer questions or disturb class discipline, he'll scold you. So you'd better not act like before, sleeping in class during the day and knowing nothing when asked."
Yu Sui nodded while eating the breakfast he brought.
Sheng Hao frowned and continued: "Since you came to Taiyi, don't mess around with Gu Qian. Study seriously. Some basic Five Elements formations only require rote memorization—no slacking off. You must learn them."
Yu Sui: "Mm-hmm!"
Regarding supervising Yu Sui's studies, Sheng Hao defaulted to being responsible as her brother, also using this opportunity to break their three-year cold war.
He held no expectations for Yu Sui's Nine Schools cultivation, only hoping that immersing herself in studies would be better than being obsessed with Gu Qian.
"Academy disciples have a grading system—Classes A, B, C, and D. You start as Class D. Cultivation progress adds points, but regular violations deduct points. Different class disciples can access different places."
Some places only opened to certain class disciples.
"For example, the Nine Schools Library is only open to Class A disciples. If you're demoted to Class B, you can't enter."
Sheng Hao was currently Class A, but would be demoted with two more point deductions, so he'd been consciously controlling his temper lately.
"In one month, you must memorize all basic Five Elements and Eight Trigrams applications and operations, because next you'll learn Ghost Way introductory techniques. Though I don't know if your ten percent talent can learn them, since you're Saint Chang Gen's disciple, there might be other methods."
Sheng Hao looked at Yu Sui walking beside him, seeing her focused on eating, unsure if she was listening.
"Did you hear?" Sheng Hao asked to be safe.
"I know, Third Brother," Yu Sui said. "Next time, can you bring beef buns instead?"
Sheng Hao: "......"
Study Hall Number Three was in the Yin-Yang School.
It was a building shaped like a giant whale leaping from the sea, entirely water-blue. Under sunlight, it was surrounded by pale blue ripples, making the building appear to sway in undulating seawater.
Sheng Hao intended to escort Yu Sui to the classroom door, but Yu Sui refused.
Yu Sui said: "Third Brother, I'm eighteen, not eight."
Sheng Hao frowned at her.
Yu Sui firmly refused Sheng Hao, waved goodbye to him, and walked toward the giant whale building herself.
The study hall was already filled with many people. They either talked among themselves or quietly read. There were quite a few Qingyang nobles and family descendants who greeted Yu Sui when they saw her.
Yu Sui easily blended in with those around her, sitting down to listen to familiar young men and women discuss yesterday's interesting events at Taiyi.
She saw many familiar faces.
Like the Xue family siblings sitting in the back, and Li Jin Shuang and Wei Ren sitting not far in front of her.
Instructor Jing Yunkui was indeed as Sheng Hao described—an inflexible, serious old man. His wrinkled face was full of authority. Upon entering the classroom, the pressure he brought made everyone fall silent. When his knife-sharp gaze swept over the students below, everyone unconsciously straightened their backs.
"What I'm about to teach is the essential foundation for cultivating Nine Schools Arts. Even if you join different schools and cultivate different Nine Schools Arts in the future, you cannot escape the power of Five Elements and Eight Trigrams operation."
Jing Yunkui spoke no nonsense, opening directly: "I will conduct daily random attendance checks, allowing no one to be absent. Otherwise, two points will be deducted from your disciple scores."
Losing points was easy; gaining them was difficult.
Most people didn't want point deductions right after arriving at the academy.
All students in class became alert.
Yu Sui listened to Jing Yunkui explain Eight Trigrams and Five Elements. Initially thinking there might be something different, she discovered it was indeed the most basic material—she knew it all and could use it skillfully.
After all, Five Elements Eight Trigrams, Taiji Yin-Yang, and Heavenly Stems Earthly Branches were all incorporated by the Yin-Yang School, Taoist School, and Technical Arts School into communication arrays. She'd dealt with these things almost daily in previous years.
Though no one taught her, she'd become self-taught.
"The Five Elements are the main forces that constitute this world. They are omnipresent and inexhaustible. What we commonly see—heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, wind, thunder, fire, stone, earth, and wood, the human heart, lungs, and kidneys—all reveal the representative power of Five Elements Yin-Yang."
"Nine Schools Arts coexist with Five Elements power. Five Elements power can create all 'arts' in the world, while different schools use different methods to materialize Five Elements arts."
Jing Yunkui opened his palm, and a flame ignited in his palm: "Such as the Yin-Yang School's curse fire, Taoist School's thunder techniques, School of Names' character bestowal, Agricultural School's beast control, Medical School's blessing arts, Technical Arts School's divination, Legalist School's criminal judgment, Military School's swords and blades, Ghost Way School's talismans—all Nine Schools Arts operate through Five Elements energy. When Five Elements energy first emerges within a person's body, it takes the form called Five Elements Light Cores."
In other words, only those with Five Elements Light Cores could cultivate Nine Schools Arts. Those without were Ordinary Practitioners.
Back when Nangong Ming couldn't detect Yu Sui's talent, it was because she hadn't yet developed Light Cores. Later, when Yu Sui had Five Elements Light Cores, people's understanding was that there was only one per person. So during testing, they couldn't sense the first Five Elements Light Core that she had crushed, and without being able to sense any Five Elements Light Cores, she was judged to have no talent—an Ordinary Practitioner.
Hearing the explanation about Five Elements Light Cores, Yu Sui became more attentive.
The daily basic classes lasted until sunset in the afternoon, with rest periods in between, though not long. Perhaps because it was the first day of instruction, Jing Yunkui hadn't made things too difficult for them yet.
When it ended, Yu Sui stretched lazily, stood up, and followed the crowd outside.
She scrolled through her Wind-Listening Ruler, searching for the route map she'd recorded yesterday, preparing to go to the Ghost Way Saint Hall.
……
Sheng Hao couldn't wait for Yu Sui. When he asked where she went after class, Yu Sui said she was going to the Ghost Way School to see her master.
Sheng Hao knew about the Ghost Way Saint Hall—he couldn't enter, so he could only stare at his Wind-Listening Ruler and send messages to remind Yu Sui.
Unable to use Wind-Riding Techniques, Yu Sui walked for a long time before arriving.
She walked from sunset until dark. Tonight there was no moon, and the Milky Way was magnificent in the sky. With no lights around and no paths, Yu Sui used her Wind-Listening Ruler's glow to navigate, walking through forests in the darkness until she saw the open Ghost Way Saint Hall and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Yu Sui fanned herself with her hand, having worked up a sweat in the cool spring night from all the walking.
She climbed the thirty-three steps and reached the Saint Hall's main entrance. The hall door was ajar, not closed. Yu Sui pushed it open easily.
Before pushing the door, Yu Sui had already sensed through Strange Fire that there were people inside—living people and half-dead people.
Mei Liangyu, who was sitting at the table playing with his Wind-Listening Ruler, looked up when he heard the door push open, seeing the sweaty Yu Sui and raising an eyebrow slightly.
Yu Sui pretended to be surprised: "Senior Brother? You're here too."
Mei Liangyu's gaze examined her up and down: "I was just about to leave."
"Oh, I came to find Master," Yu Sui looked toward the portrait with flowing ink. "Master, I came to learn Wind-Riding Techniques from you."
Mei Liangyu also looked toward the portrait, then back at Yu Sui after a moment, understanding why she was covered in sweat.
Running from the Yin-Yang School to the farthest reaches of the Ghost Way School—it would be strange if she wasn't sweaty.
Before Saint Chang Gen could answer, Mei Liangyu smiled: "You ran all this way just to learn Wind-Riding Techniques?"
Yu Sui answered: "Yes, if I learn Wind-Riding Techniques, I won't have to run back to the residence. If I run back to the residence from here, I might be so sore tomorrow that I can't get out of bed, and today's instructor said we can't be absent—absence means point deduction."
Mei Liangyu nodded thoughtfully: "That little old man from the Yin-Yang School would indeed do that."
Yu Sui looked at the portrait with devotion: "Master."
Saint Chang Gen answered: "You may."
Seeing that Master really intended to teach Yu Sui, Mei Liangyu looked down at his Wind-Listening Ruler messages, replying "no" to Xing Chun's "Food?" question. He decided not to leave after all.