Chapter 34
Afterward, Yu Sui helped Zhongli Que monitor the communication arrays in Qingyang Imperial Capital. After Miss Chu returned, she sent no Wind-Listening Ruler messages, nor did the people at her medical clinic mention Chu Jin's visit to the Zhongli family in their Wind-Listening Ruler correspondence.
At least from the messages on the Wind-Listening Ruler, Chu Jin had not mentioned the Zhongli family's affairs to outsiders.
Yu Sui contacted Old Yan, asking him about Chu Jin's visit to the Prince's Manor to treat Lady Su.
Old Yan was slow to reply to messages. He didn't even like using the Wind-Listening Ruler, and wouldn't have glanced at it if it weren't for contacting Yu Sui.
When Yu Sui first gave Old Yan the Wind-Listening Ruler, the old man didn't even look at it, silently despising the contraption.
Yu Sui tried every way to persuade him, telling him the Wind-Listening Ruler was absolutely safe, that no one in the world could possibly extract any information from his Wind-Listening Ruler.
Old Yan remained unmoved.
Finally, Yu Sui said if you don't use the Wind-Listening Ruler, you can't contact me and I can't contact you. When I die, you won't even know.
Only then did Old Yan start using the Wind-Listening Ruler he thoroughly despised.
Later, watching Old Yan handle various message communications on the Wind-Listening Ruler with such speed and skill, Yu Sui guessed he was very likely someone from Yan Kingdom's Communication Courtyard, or at least had worked there before.
Yu Sui waited patiently for a while before receiving Old Yan's answer: "She didn't see her."
After a moment, Old Yan added: "No need to worry."
Yu Sui stared at Old Yan's message for a long time, her finger lightly tapping the message squares. After a long while, she only replied with one word: "Good."
……
The sunlight hid behind dark clouds, and strong winds picked up in the afternoon. By the look of it, there would be a storm tonight.
The weather changed suddenly, wind swaying the fruit trees, making the green fruits hanging from branches ready to fall. Several rolled to the ground, rolling far away with a gurgling sound.
Yu Sui was blown about by the sudden strong wind, her clothes and hair disheveled. Fighting against the gale, she carried the food box into the great hall.
After placing the food box on the table, Yu Sui walked back to the door. A sudden gust of cool wind hit her face, making her instinctively turn her head away.
The island's weather was always changeable.
The wind brought out many withered leaves, the sound of falling leaves dancing rustling through the air. Yu Sui wiped her face with her hand and looked back at the portrait: "Master?"
She sensed Saint Chang Gen had returned.
"I am here," Saint Chang Gen answered.
Yu Sui raised her hand to shield against the strong wind with her sleeve, saying: "Is it going to rain tonight?"
"Yes."
"Should I return to the dormitory or stay here?" Yu Sui asked and answered herself, "I won't go back until my injuries heal."
Saint Chang Gen said: "In two more days, you'll begin studying Ghost Way School's introductory Nine Schools Arts. The academy also has many courses you'll need to adapt to. You can familiarize yourself with the mental techniques during your recovery."
Meaning she could stay here.
Yu Sui sat back down at the table and picked up the Ghost Way School mental techniques that Mei Liangyu had written.
Saint Chang Gen said: "The Ghost Way School believes humans have three souls, six spirits, and seven consciousnesses. Inner cultivation controls one's three souls, cultivates the six spirits, and strengthens the seven consciousnesses."
Yu Sui listened to his explanation while finding the corresponding sections in the mental techniques.
"Ghost Way School's introduction is soul control, spirit stabilization, and emptying of the seven consciousnesses," Saint Chang Gen said. "The Ghost Way technique requires you to accept and refine each 'self,' coexisting and accompanying each other, merging and restraining each other."
Yu Sui asked: "How many 'selves' does a person have?"
"Three," Saint Chang Gen answered. "The good 'me,' the evil 'me,' and the 'me' that encompasses them both."
Yu Sui was confused: "Master, how do these manifest in Nine Schools Arts?"
Saint Chang Gen told her to go outside.
Yu Sui obediently went out, coming to the stone steps outside the great hall. All around were flowers, grass, and fruit trees. The wind was strong now, with dark clouds covering the sun. Though it hadn't started raining yet, everywhere showed signs that a storm was approaching.
Green apricots that had fallen to the ground from the strong wind, not yet ripe, were wrapped in Five Elements energy and suspended in the air, maintaining distance from Yu Sui.
Yu Sui stood under the apricot tree, looking at the green fruit ahead.
"Soul control means separating intent from consciousness, observing the self. Spirit stabilization means the observed soul cannot be defeated. Seven consciousnesses emptied means you cannot take any action before encountering attacks or sensing Five Elements energy, and others cannot sense your Five Elements energy either."
Just as Saint Chang Gen finished explaining, Yu Sui saw the suspended green fruit come before her eyes. So fast there was no time to dodge, she couldn't even perceive it before it bounced off her forehead.
It didn't hurt at all. This unripe, sour apricot seemed to just gently touch her forehead, but it made Yu Sui's consciousness feel a heavy impact, as if her soul had been violently shaken.
Yu Sui instinctively reached up to touch her head.
"Master, isn't this too fast?" Yu Sui asked blankly.
"It's your eyes that deceived you, making you think it was fast," Saint Chang Gen said. "When your intent separates from consciousness and you observe yourself, the speed of the apricot seen by the observed physical body will deceive the separated you. You need to use the separated self to perceive, which is emptying the seven consciousnesses."
Yu Sui listened with slight shock.
This seemed... very familiar.
Every time she observed the Strange Fire in the depths of her consciousness, it was as if another self was watching herself.
"Again," Yu Sui concentrated.
She vaguely grasped the technique.
Strong winds howled, blowing withered leaves everywhere, but the green apricot lifted by Saint Chang Gen's Five Elements energy remained steady, completely unaffected.
Yu Sui was hit by the apricot many times. From the initial painlessness to gradually feeling slight pain, each time she could feel physical pain, the impact on her consciousness lessened somewhat.
Master and disciple practiced while teaching. When dark clouds gathered overhead, thunder rumbled.
When Mei Liangyu arrived, he saw Yu Sui standing under the tree getting pelted in the face by green apricots.
A long-missed teaching method.
Besides himself, he had never seen Master teach anyone else this way.
Mei Liangyu couldn't help touching his own forehead, remembering how he had once stood in the same position, under that apricot tree, much younger than Yu Sui and shorter too. The same green apricots that wrinkled his whole face with sourness when bitten. The little boy under the apricot tree stubbornly refused to give up, shouting "again" to his unseen Master time after time.
Then getting knocked flying by a bonk to the forehead.
Mei Liangyu watched Yu Sui, who was obviously being treated gently by Master, and smiled coldly, stepping forward.
By now the sky had completely darkened, night had fallen, and strong winds raged. Yu Sui raised her hand to hold down her wind-blown hair as the apricot touched her forehead again and fell to the ground, rolling away with a gurgling sound.
Mei Liangyu bent down to pick up the unripe apricot.
"Senior Brother," Yu Sui held down her hair and greeted him.
"Practicing soul control," Mei Liangyu tossed the apricot up and caught it in his hand, looking at Yu Sui with a half-smile. "Why trouble Master with such things? I'll practice with you."
Just as he finished speaking, thunder crashed overhead and torrential rain poured down on the earth. The apricots hanging from branches stubbornly refused to fall despite being battered by wind and rain, while the sound of rushing rain drowned out all other sounds, competing only with thunder.
Mei Liangyu: "..."
Yu Sui directly used Wind-Riding Techniques to run back to the great hall to escape the rain.
Mei Liangyu, still holding the unripe apricot, also returned to the Saint Hall's great hall.
Rain poured like a waterfall. Yu Sui looked expectantly at Mei Liangyu who had followed, still holding the apricot in his hand.
Saint Chang Gen said to both of them: "The rain will stop at dawn. That's enough practice for today."
Yu Sui nodded.
Mei Liangyu glanced at her and tossed the apricot to her. Yu Sui caught it and heard him say: "If you're not practicing anymore, then eat it."
"Senior Brother, this apricot isn't ripe yet," Yu Sui reminded him considerately.
Mei Liangyu said without changing expression: "It's ripe. Your physical eyes deceived you. If you don't believe me, take a bite."
Yu Sui: "..."
She wiped the apricot with her sleeve and, under Mei Liangyu's patient gaze, placed the apricot beneath Master's portrait.
Yu Sui said: "If it's ripe, Master should eat it first."
Mei Liangyu asked with an inscrutable expression: "How is Master supposed to eat it?"
Yu Sui said seriously: "Master has Master's way of eating."
Saint Chang Gen remained silent.
Mei Liangyu stared at Yu Sui. Yu Sui pretended not to know anything, walked back to her table and sat down, picking up the Ghost Way School mental techniques and pretending to study them.
After a moment, Mei Liangyu finally looked away, gazing at Saint Chang Gen's portrait and saying lazily: "I came to ask Master something. When can the Five Elements Water Field that was burned by Strange Fire be fully restored?"
Yu Sui's eyes reflected the black characters on white paper, but her gaze had already frozen.
She had never imagined that something she had tried so hard to hide would be spoken of in such a relaxed, casual tone.
Yu Sui's gaze uncontrollably shifted toward Mei Liangyu beside her. He stood in the great hall, still spinning his Wind-Listening Ruler in his hand, as lazy and indifferent as always.
Mei Liangyu looked at Saint Chang Gen's portrait, mentioning Strange Fire without any extra expression or emotion, simply stating the two words "strange" and "fire."
"Another year," Saint Chang Gen answered. "The damage was too severe. The Five Elements energy balance there was broken, and all the previously set Nine Schools Arts are gone. Everything needs to be reinstalled."
"One year," Mei Liangyu mused. "So we still can't go this year?"
Saint Chang Gen answered: "You can go, but can't stay long."
Mei Liangyu leaned against his own table, tapping the surface with his finger: "What if I force Wei Kun into the Five Elements Water Field and let him be killed by the not-yet-fully-restored Nine Schools Arts inside, then claim it was an accident? Who would that count against?"
Saint Chang Gen: "You."
Mei Liangyu: "Oh."
Yu Sui: "..."
Perhaps the person more unlucky than her was Wei Kun, being constantly schemed about how to take his life.
Perhaps because Yu Sui's hesitant gaze made Mei Liangyu uncomfortable, he looked back at her: "If you have any thoughts, speak up."
"What is the Five Elements Water Field?" Yu Sui feigned ignorance. "How could it be burned by Strange Fire? Is Strange Fire really that powerful?"
"A place where you can draw Five Elements power to create techniques," Mei Liangyu said in a tone neither light nor heavy. "Strange Fire burns everything. It would even burn me. As for how powerful it is, haven't you heard of the Xuangu Prophecy about the shattering of stars?"
Yu Sui made a soft "ah" sound and nodded: "I've heard of it."
She put on a studious expression: "Hundreds of years ago when the stars shattered, they said there were five world destroyers who would bring Strange Fire to the continent and could destroy heaven and earth."
Mei Liangyu opened his Wind-Listening Ruler: "That thing is indeed powerful. It burns everything, can burn anything, wants to burn everything."
"Senior Brother, aren't you afraid?" Yu Sui looked at him expectantly. "It sounds like nothing can stop it. If it starts burning, wouldn't it really destroy the world?"
Mei Liangyu put away his Wind-Listening Ruler, his gaze showing surprising patience as he looked back at Yu Sui. He smiled slightly: "Then let it be destroyed."
Yu Sui was drawn to his eyes at that moment, the dark pupils with their shallow smile like an bottomless abyss, hiding chilling power.
Saint Chang Gen's consciousness invaded both of them: "Your Senior Brother has three times attempted to destroy the world and been stopped. In the future, never discuss such topics alone with him."
Yu Sui: "..."
Three, three times?
Mei Liangyu smiled slightly, the humor in his eyes flickering, then withdrew his gaze, glancing at the portrait: "Master, why are you scaring her? If my timid, delicate Junior Sister gets so frightened she wants to leave the school, don't blame me."
The timid, delicate Junior Sister placed the paper in her hands on the table and turned to look at her nonchalant Senior Brother.
This time it was Yu Sui's turn to stare at Mei Liangyu.
Mei Liangyu looked back and asked: "What are you looking at?"
"I'm curious," Yu Sui answered honestly.
Mei Liangyu said decisively: "Hold it in, don't ask. Even if you ask, I won't tell."
Yu Sui made an "oh" sound and continued looking at him.
Mei Liangyu slightly raised his eyebrows: "What are you still looking at?"
"Since Senior Brother won't tell me, I won't ask," Yu Sui curved her eyes, smiling brightly. "I'll just keep looking until I'm not curious anymore."