Chapter 37
After Yu Sui entered, Wei Ren felt uncomfortable all over, instinctively avoiding eye contact because his current disheveled state made him feel unable to face her.
Wei Ren's feelings toward Yu Sui were complex, impossible to explain in a few words.
Yu Sui walked to Wei Ren's front, crouched down to get closer to him, and said softly: "Let's talk about Lady Su."
Wei Ren's hand covering his shoulder tightened. Right, the reason she hadn't killed him was because she wanted to know information related to Lady Su.
Learning about his own mother's past from an enemy.
Wei Ren took a deep breath, grabbing the door frame as he struggled to stand up. Sweat poured down like rain, his collar completely soaked, and his black hair clung wetly to his skin.
He looked like he wouldn't live much longer.
Wei Ren leaned against the wall as he walked into the room, struggling to reach the bedside where he sat down, slowly raising his head to look at Yu Sui standing at the door.
He asked hoarsely: "What do you want to know?"
Yu Sui entered the room and closed the door behind her.
Mei Liangyu, shut outside: "..."
Fine, he wasn't interested anyway.
Mei Liangyu lifted his eyelids, grabbed the clothes on his shoulder, and returned to his own bedroom.
Yu Sui stood at Wei Ren's doorway, maintaining a distance that was neither too far nor too close, precisely within the range where she could kill Wei Ren instantly.
At this moment, she had no killing intent toward Wei Ren, and couldn't make a killing move within Taiyi Academy anyway.
Yu Sui opened directly: "What is your relationship with Lady Su?"
"Before I answer you, I need to recover a bit. Self-destroying one's cultivation causes serious damage to the Five Elements Light Core, it's no joke. After circulating energy just now, I almost didn't make it to when you came to ask me." Wei Ren spoke very lightly, loosening his fingers and picking up the medicine bottle from the bedside table, slowly putting medicine in his mouth to swallow.
Yu Sui waited patiently without speaking.
The room was quiet, the windows unopened. In the dim light, everything in the room seemed covered with a layer of gray, cold and isolated.
After Wei Ren finished taking medicine and rested for a while, his expression and mood also became calm during this time. He finally dared to look at Yu Sui, saying in a deep voice: "My relationship with her isn't as good as you think. It's somewhat complex to explain, involving too many things. I'm afraid it will take quite a while to tell."
"I have all the time in the world today." Yu Sui pulled over a chair from the side and sat down by the door. "When I came, I also thought we'd probably be chatting for a very long time. During this time, I'll also have to make many decisions, such as whether I should maintain killing intent toward you when we meet again."
Wei Ren's gaze followed her movements.
Yu Sui sat in the shadows by the doorway, leaning back against the chair, facing Wei Ren while slightly raising her chin. Her eyes showed unclear emotions: "Whether we become friends or enemies depends on what you say next and what I decide to do."
"It seems we two have some inexplicable fate whether we're friends or enemies." Wei Ren slightly smiled, thinking for a moment before speaking: "Your mother, Lady Su, a Thirteenth Realm Nine Schools Arts practitioner of the Agricultural School, is a very powerful existence and was once one of the leaders of Qingyang's Agricultural School."
"Her formidable skill lies in cultivating the Agricultural School's forbidden Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Phantom Beast to its extreme."
Lady Su practiced Agricultural School forbidden techniques.
Hearing this, Yu Sui's expression didn't change. This news seemed to have been expected by her.
For someone like Lady Su to practice forbidden techniques didn't seem strange to Yu Sui. She only wanted to know how strong she was as a Thirteenth Realm Nine Schools Arts practitioner.
"That is to say, relying on Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Phantom Beast, her peak strength could rival Saints." Wei Ren said slowly, "So almost all Qingyang Agricultural School disciples who practiced forbidden techniques followed her lead. Following the strong is never strange at any time."
"This also requires explaining the problem of Agricultural School forbidden techniques."
Wei Ren looked at Yu Sui: "You should have some idea about the Agricultural School's Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Phantom Beast now, right?"
Yu Sui said softly: "Phantom beast illusions, phantom beasts materialized through Five Elements energy, also capable of Nine Schools Arts, with realm distinctions?"
Wei Ren held up fingers toward Yu Sui: "Agricultural School disciples below Tenth Realm can only summon one phantom; Agricultural School disciples above Tenth Realm can summon two. The Agricultural School originally thought the limit for phantom beast illusions was three, but Lady Su broke through this limit. At her peak, she could summon five phantom beast illusions."
Five phantom beast illusions.
Yu Sui repeated this number in her mind.
Wei Ren continued: "Each phantom beast illusion has Thirteenth Realm strength."
Yu Sui lightly lifted her eyelids. Lady Su's strength did indeed sound somewhat heaven-defying.
"In the Agricultural School's view, although Heavenly Mechanism Arts phantom beasts are powerful, the phantoms are born from darkness, containing killing intent, evil thoughts, and malevolent energy. During battle, situations can arise where they become uncontrollable, brutally killing opponents and turning on their masters, which is why their cultivation was forbidden."
Wei Ren patiently explained: "The Agricultural School once had someone practicing phantom beasts who was consumed by backlash, killing several hundred Agricultural School disciples. Later, it was listed as a forbidden technique by Agricultural School practitioners across the continent, prohibited from cultivation. If any Agricultural School disciple privately practiced phantom beasts, they would be expelled from the Agricultural School, called traitors, and could be killed on sight by any Agricultural School disciple."
Even so, Agricultural School disciples continued to practice Nine Schools Arts phantom beasts.
"This happened about two hundred years ago. Practicing Heavenly Mechanism Arts: Phantom Beast used to be very normal. Since being listed as forbidden by several Agricultural School Saints, disciples who knew phantom beasts were forced to destroy their own cultivation. Those unwilling became existences that opposed the Agricultural School and could be hunted."
"These Agricultural School disciples were called Agricultural School traitors." Wei Ren couldn't help smiling when he said this, but the smile pulled at his wounds, immediately making him frown in pain again.
But Yu Sui stared at him and asked: "What relationship do Agricultural School forbidden techniques have with Breath Soil?"
"Hm?" Wei Ren looked at her with some surprise, smiling with lowered brows: "You're not at all as stupid as they say."
"Breath Soil, as the Agricultural School's supreme treasure, with its inexhaustible Five Elements energy, can make Nine Schools Arts stable for long periods." Wei Ren explained simply, "As long as you have Breath Soil, you can avoid the possibility of phantom beast backlash, making it essentially without weakness."
"The Agricultural School has long been split into factions, but their attitude toward 'traitors' is the same, so we bunch of traitors who practice phantom beasts had to go to Yan Kingdom to steal Breath Soil, to vindicate phantom beasts and make the Agricultural School retract the traitor designation, so we wouldn't have to live in hiding anymore."
"Yan Kingdom?" Yu Sui was a bit surprised.
Wei Ren was even more surprised than her: "Don't tell me you don't even know your mother is from Yan Kingdom?"
Yu Sui blinked lightly and smiled slowly: "Indeed."
Not to mention before, even these past two years, Lady Su could barely say a few sentences to her.
Wei Ren also smiled: "Compared to you, I know way too much."
"Originally Yan Kingdom was strong, the Agricultural School's influence was strongest in Yan Kingdom, and Breath Soil was controlled by Yan Kingdom's Agricultural School Saint. But decades ago, Yan Kingdom and the Agricultural School were both the same, already split into factions with serious internal strife, allowing the other five kingdoms to divide and occupy territory, with people living in dire straits." Wei Ren coughed lightly twice, falling into memories. "Some of Yan Kingdom's Nine Schools Arts practitioners had already lost hope in Yan Kingdom. Lady Su was one of them."
"The person who raised me said Lady Su seized Breath Soil so that we 'traitors' could live stable, normal lives without being hunted anymore. Yan Kingdom was beyond saving, no one would come save us, but Lady Su would."
Yu Sui made a sound, seemingly casual: "She doesn't seem like that kind of person."
"People believe what they want to believe, and I can't help that, because that's what I heard growing up. Lady Su has great righteousness and deep kindness toward us Agricultural School traitors. She submitted to Prince Nangong of Qingyang, seized Breath Soil but was then pursued, even getting her eldest daughter killed in the process." Wei Ren said this while staring at Yu Sui. "As for you, people don't have a good impression of you, because your existence transferred the Breath Soil within Lady Su's body, yet you were controlled by Nangong Ming, making Lady Su's previous plans fall short and even getting her threatened and restricted by Nangong Ming."
Agricultural School traitors followed and trusted Lady Su, not Lady Su's children.
"These years, there have been plenty of people in Qingyang's imperial capital trying to kill you. But do you know? Of the Agricultural School disciples who came to kill you, the most numerous were those Agricultural School disciples from Yan Kingdom who are still resisting, vainly trying to save the world."
"Because they are the ones most desperate and urgent for Breath Soil, wanting to reclaim it to heal the Yan Kingdom Agricultural School Saint's injuries and save Yan Kingdom, which has been divided from within."
"While we are just observing, along with Nine Schools Arts practitioners from other schools trying to seize treasure."
Wei Ren continued staring at Yu Sui, not missing any emotion in her eyes at this moment, as if waiting, as if searching.
His contact with Yu Sui had been brief, only a few days, yet incredibly profound. These few short days were enough to overturn all the personal intelligence he had about Yu Sui.
The little princess of Prince Nangong's manor was not an Ordinary Practitioner, not foolish and stupid, not just an insignificant weakling.
This little princess also hadn't lived so happily and joyfully. Everyone was unfortunate, and she was the same.
The information Wei Ren had just revealed to Yu Sui, he believed Yu Sui should be smart enough to realize.
He was waiting for Yu Sui's reaction to confirm his guess.
Yu Sui leaned back in her chair in a relaxed sitting posture. Wei Ren couldn't tell at all whether she had realized the problems within, only hearing her say with a smile: "You Agricultural School traitors have only been observing these years, yet directly made killing moves after I came to Taiyi."
That light tone carried a barely perceptible sigh that Wei Ren caught.
Yu Sui asked: "Did someone tell you to act?"
Wei Ren saw she was neither sad nor angry, only calmly and indifferently accepting it. Understanding in his heart, he also smiled: "It seems your relationship with Lady Su is terrible, not the deep mother-daughter bond and mutual dependence I imagined. No wonder I can understand why they sent me to Taiyi this time."
Yu Sui's bright black eyes reflected Wei Ren's pale face. She leaned forward slightly, moving a bit closer, smiling lightly: "You should also come be her child, live eighteen years under her hand, then you'll know what my relationship with her is like."
Wei Ren was bewitched by the smile in Yu Sui's eyes, suddenly reminded of that underwater scene, and the fear of death instantly descended. He instinctively avoided eye contact.
"Killing an Ordinary Practitioner doesn't require finding someone too powerful, but if the location is Taiyi Academy, it becomes very troublesome, so they sent me. Not to boast, but among the younger generation, I'm the most capable one." Wei Ren covered his mouth and coughed, his expression and demeanor returning to his usual carefree attitude. "After all, I could control three phantom beast illusions at Fifth Realm. The organization values me quite highly. They sent me not only to kill you and seize Breath Soil, but also to study well at Taiyi."
He sighed: "Unfortunately, the organization's only good prospect was nipped in the bud by you."
Wei Ren spoke as if it were someone else's business, not his own. There wasn't a trace of resentment in these words.
Yu Sui looked him up and down for a while: "If I had known you were so capable, I should have killed you even if it meant losing points."
"If we must hurt each other, then I can only speak directly." Wei Ren grinned and said: "It was your mother, Lady Su, who told me to kill you."
Yu Sui felt no surprise or shock at all.
Her first reaction was: finally.
"You don't seem surprised or sad either. I imagine in these ten-plus years of life, Lady Su probably hasn't been a mother who inspires dependence in her child." Wei Ren held the medicine bottle in his hand, tapping the table surface rhythmically, making thock-thock-thock sounds that matched his speaking rhythm. "I'm the same. In my master's and the organization's other members' eyes, Lady Su is the savior of us traitors, but in my eyes, she's just a Thirteenth Realm who failed to seize Breath Soil."
"As for Agricultural School forbidden techniques, I have high talent and learned them because I could. Powerful Heavenly Mechanism Arts, why not learn them if you can?" Wei Ren smiled as he spoke. "After learning, I found they weren't as difficult or terrifying as people said. I'm confident I won't be consumed by backlash, so I don't really care about Breath Soil saving traitors. I'm just purely interested in Breath Soil."
Yu Sui blinked lightly at him. This person became inexplicably cocky when talking about Nine Schools Arts, full of confidence and completely unwilling to admit defeat.
"Lu Haiyu was also following orders. The one receiving Lady Su's instructions is my master. They communicate through Agricultural School transmission beasts, only Agricultural School disciples can interpret beast language. I followed along then also to ensure I could keep you from dying. Seeing you act yourself, I also wanted to see what strength you were hiding." The more Wei Ren spoke, the more relaxed he became, as if convinced Yu Sui wouldn't kill him, returning to his former carefree manner. "Let me remind you, my master can be said to be devoted to Lady Su. As Lady Su's most loyal dog, even if Lady Su asked him to kill me someday, the old man would act without hesitation."
Yu Sui made a sound: "Loyal dog."
"Your focus should be on 'devoted.' This kind of man, how could he tolerate the woman he likes being beside another man and bearing that man's child?" Wei Ren's gaze pointed at Yu Sui. "The first person my master hates most is your father, Nangong Ming. The second person he hates most is you, Nangong Sui."
Yu Sui smiled: "Incompetent man."
Wei Ren was amused by her assessment, but laughing pulled at his wounds, immediately making his face contort.
"Your father Nangong Ming is also ruthless, which is why I find it strange. How could someone like him, having coerced Lady Su, let news that Breath Soil is on an Ordinary Practitioner spread throughout the Six Kingdoms?"
"Yan Kingdom's Agricultural School disciples continuously rushed to Qingyang's imperial capital. Every Agricultural School disciple trying to save their homeland died in Qingyang's imperial capital."
Wei Ren said softly: "An Ordinary Practitioner was enough to tempt all of Yan Kingdom's Agricultural School disciples to risk everything on that slim chance and possibility to seize Breath Soil."
With just one Yu Sui, Nangong Ming could restrain Yan Kingdom's Agricultural School, making them voluntarily come to their deaths.
Initially, he only spread word that Breath Soil was on a powerless child. Later, when this child was an Ordinary Practitioner, though Nangong Ming felt some regret, he also used this point to give Yan Kingdom's Agricultural School hope, making them deliver themselves over these eighteen years.
"Yan Kingdom has no Saints. Their only Agricultural School Saint was severely injured from losing Breath Soil. If he recovered, Yan Kingdom wouldn't be in its current state of being at others' mercy, and the people living in Yan Kingdom wouldn't be completely hopeless."
Because of the Six Kingdoms' Non-War Pact, no kingdom's cavalry set foot on Yan Kingdom's soil. There was no battlefield smoke or fire anywhere in Yan Kingdom, yet it was infiltrated from the top by other nations. Over decades, Nine Schools Arts practitioners from the five kingdoms continuously entered Yan Kingdom, stirring up conflicts and reshuffling Yan Kingdom's Nine Schools power structure.
Once the Non-War Pact was lifted, Yan Kingdom would truly be "torn apart."
"Are you from Yan Kingdom?" Yu Sui asked.
"I grew up in Qingyang, so I'd count as Qingyang if anything." Wei Ren blinked. "Which kingdom I'm from doesn't matter. But I'm very curious about you. Was being an Ordinary Practitioner something Lady Su or Nangong Ming had you deliberately pretend, or did you deceive Lady Su and Nangong Ming?"
Yu Sui's Wind-Listening Ruler buzzed. She took it out and looked at it, replying perfunctorily: "Don't you think knowing too much is dangerous?"
"I'm not afraid of danger." Wei Ren said, "If I can know what I want to know before dying, it's worth it."
"Besides, this determines whether I'll follow you or continue following Lady Su in the future."
Yu Sui's finger tapping the message squares paused. She looked up at Wei Ren, who raised his eyebrows and smiled at her: "Wasn't it you who said whether we'd be enemies or friends?"
The information Wei Ren told her today was indeed extensive, beyond Yu Sui's imagination, giving her deeper understanding of both Lady Su and Nangong Ming, even allowing her to guess at some things she hadn't previously realized.
As Yu Sui paused in thought, Wei Ren continued: "You said you and Lady Su each have half the Breath Soil. This is also why Lady Su wants to kill you. I can understand that. She observed you for eighteen years, only acting after you left the imperial capital. I don't think it was mercy or reluctance on her part. Probably there were Nangong family people in the imperial capital making it inconvenient for her to act."
In Wei Ren's eyes, someone like Lady Su, whose peak strength once rivaled Saints, absolutely could not accept her current situation.
Subject to others' control, old wounds unhealed, proud her entire life, yet becoming a prisoner because of her second daughter.
Wei Ren wasn't surprised that Lady Su wanted to kill Yu Sui.
But he mostly thought himself naturally cold-hearted with no concept of family affection.
Yu Sui thought, even if Lady Su was controlled by Nangong Ming and alone in the imperial capital, how could she be certain Lady Su was truly alone?
Yu Sui silently mocked herself. It seemed her thinking still wasn't thorough enough.
Nangong Ming probably also wanted Agricultural School forces loyal to Lady Su, so he wasn't in a hurry to let Lady Su recover from her injuries.
The main reason Lady Su hadn't acted against her these years was that Nangong Ming threatened her with Qing Kui.
Years ago, Nangong Ming had told Lady Su he knew Qing Kui had been taken away by Zhou, one of the Medical School's Three Saints.
Nangong Ming knew Qing Kui and Zhou's whereabouts. Perhaps Qing Kui and Zhou had been living under Nangong Ming's surveillance all these years.
Lady Su's sudden killing move might mean she felt the timing was right, or she had become somewhat anxious.
Why this urgency?
Yu Sui's peripheral vision caught the medicine bottle in Wei Ren's hand, and she suddenly froze.
Previous messages flashed through her mind.
A young lady had come to the imperial capital, named Chu Jin, called the Medical School's Little Medical Saint.
This Little Medical Saint went to Prince Nangong's manor to treat Lady Su's old ailment.
Old Yan said the Little Medical Saint hadn't seen Lady Su.
Zhongli Que said she's only a few years older than us.
How many years older was Qing Kui than her? Three years.
Was it because of Qing Kui?
Yu Sui's eyelashes trembled lightly. She looked down at the slightly glowing Wind-Listening Ruler, her finger stopping on the message squares, her eyes reflecting Zhongli Que's current message:
"I just came back from the medical clinic. Sister Chu's clinic is so lively, with so many people coming every day."
Sister?