Chapter 54
Li Jin Shuang still hadn't woken by the time the sky began to brighten.
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi stared at her, noticing she was frowning tightly with sweat covering her head. She seemed to have many troubling matters in her dreams, making her fearful and afraid, occasionally muttering in her sleep.
"She needs to break this habit of talking in her sleep," Yu Sui said.
Xue Mushi nodded in agreement.
Yu Sui continued: "What do you think is wrong with her sword spirit?"
Xue Mushi turned his brain, thinking: "Unwilling to be controlled by its master, probably because it looks down on the master."
Yu Sui asked again: "What do you think about her makes people look down on her?"
This time Xue Mushi was truly stumped.
He scratched his head, thinking hard, then finally shook his head: "I can't think of anything. I don't feel she fits that description anywhere."
Yu Sui changed her approach: "Then what do you think would make her sword spirit look down on her?"
Xue Mushi thought carefully: "There are very few sword spirits that can think for themselves. Sword spirits are usually completely obedient to their masters, they don't have their own thoughts."
Yu Sui nodded: "Now there's a sword spirit that can think for itself. What would it find disagreeable about Li Jin Shuang?"
Xue Mushi frowned with a pained expression, as if very tired, yet had to force himself to concentrate. Finally, he shook his head in defeat: "I can't think of anything."
Yu Sui sighed: "If only Li Jin Shuang's sword spirit was like you."
Xue Mushi remained silent. That should have been a compliment, right?
The brilliant morning light illuminated the earth. Xue Mushi had classes today, and seeing it was about time, he greeted Yu Sui and left first.
Yu Sui felt better after dawn. Seeing Li Jin Shuang wouldn't wake up, she rested her head on one hand, also planning to rest for a bit. But just as she closed her eyes, her Wind-Listening Ruler buzzed.
It was a keyword monitoring alert she had set up. The keyword was Strange Fire.
Since coming to Taiyi, this was the first time the Strange Fire monitoring had been triggered. Yu Sui opened her eyes and immediately took out her Wind-Listening Ruler to check:
"Six days and six nights of character divination and still can't figure out the name of one stone. What use is the School of Names? Hurry up and have Strange Fire burn all the stones in Xiaoyao Pool for me! Still carefree! I'd like to see which stone dares be carefree!"
Yu Sui: "......"
She checked the information. It was from a School of Names disciple named Yan Xiaochuan, venting his anger to a friend.
"Strange Fire hurry up and burn, did you hear? Burn them all for me, leave not one!"
"Six days and can't figure out one stone's name, this young master will really die laughing. Destroy it all, have Strange Fire hurry up and burn for me, first burn the stones in Xiaoyao Pool!"
"All stones without names can die!"
Yu Sui quietly put away her Wind-Listening Ruler. It was a disciple driven mad by School of Names trials who had developed world-destroying thoughts. False alarm.
……
When Li Jin Shuang woke up, seeing the blazing sky made her instinctively turn her head away, avoiding the scorching sunlight.
With this turn of her head, she saw Yu Sui crouched nearby, head down playing with her Wind-Listening Ruler. She was curled up, her fingers quickly tapping on the Wind-Listening Ruler, but she immediately noticed Li Jin Shuang's awakening. With just a glance from her peripheral vision, she said: "You're awake!"
Li Jin Shuang's brain felt dizzy for a moment. As her vision gradually cleared and consciousness returned, remembering last night's events, she sat up with a pale face.
Yu Sui asked without looking up: "How do you feel? Are you alright? Is there anywhere uncomfortable? Do you need to go to the Medical School for a check-up?"
Li Jin Shuang sat up, put away her long sword, stretched one leg and bent the other, her expression silent.
Yu Sui didn't rush to press her, patiently waiting for her to speak first.
Li Jin Shuang raised her hand to press her aching brows. After a moment, she said in a hoarse voice: "Sorry."
"Hm?" Yu Sui made a sound from her nose, the ending rising with a questioning tone.
"It doesn't distinguish between friend and foe, it hurt you too," Li Jin Shuang said.
"I'm fine, not hurt. Xue Mushi got cut on his face, but the wound isn't deep, it's okay, won't leave a scar." Yu Sui said gently, "No need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. On the contrary, your sword spirit is very strong, but Xue Mushi and I working together to suppress your sword spirit doesn't seem impossible either."
Li Jin Shuang was stunned. Yu Sui looked at her and blinked lightly: "Thanks to you, I reached the third level of Soul Control last night."
"So you didn't cause any trouble, no need to apologize."
Though Li Jin Shuang didn't say anything, Yu Sui's words made her feel much better, instantly thinking the Qingyang Princess was not only cute but also very gentle. Her wariness toward others loosened further.
Yu Sui wanted to battle Li Jin Shuang's sword spirit several more times to test the power and techniques of Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye, so she proactively asked: "How did your communication with your sword spirit go?"
"How do you..." know?
Li Jin Shuang stared blankly at Yu Sui.
Yu Sui sighed: "You kept talking in your sleep while unconscious."
This damned familiar experience.
Li Jin Shuang couldn't help but pinch the bridge of her nose again.
Yu Sui didn't mention that Xue Mushi had also heard, afraid Li Jin Shuang would get up and leave in grief and anger, missing the opportunity for heart-to-heart conversation.
"I swear, I didn't mean to overhear," Yu Sui raised her hand, her expression serious.
Li Jin Shuang forced a smile: "......It's nothing."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Yu Sui asked softly, her moist eyes looking at Li Jin Shuang with gentle warmth, tenderly enveloping her vulnerability. "About your family or your sword spirit, either is fine."
Li Jin Shuang lowered her gaze, unwilling and not daring to look at Yu Sui. Her heart beat very fast, the desire to confide reaching its peak in this moment, yet she habitually suppressed it, always feeling it was useless to speak and that she shouldn't speak.
Yu Sui waited patiently. Seeing Li Jin Shuang could really endure, she sighed inwardly, supported herself with her hands on her knees to stand up, and looked down at Li Jin Shuang still sitting on the ground: "Alright, if you don't want to say anything now, that's fine. When you want to talk with me, you can send a message to call me."
"See you tonight."
The two parted at the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field. Yu Sui returned to the Ghost Way. As a new Ghost Way disciple, she also had some mandatory basic courses to attend, taught by different Thirteenth Realm instructors.
Yu Sui sat in the back row, listening attentively to the lecture.
But her Wind-Listening Ruler kept buzzing continuously, all keyword monitoring alerts.
Yu Sui quietly tapped to check. It was still the School of Names disciple Yan Xiaochuan frantically calling for Strange Fire to destroy the world, first burning the stones in Xiaoyao Pool, then burning the entire School of Names.
She looked it up and learned the School of Names was currently conducting Five Elements Naming trials, a cultivation trial for Class B School of Names disciples, supervised and graded by Class A disciples. Yu Sui's Third Brother Sheng Hao was one of the supervising Class A disciples.
Today was the seventh day of the "Five Elements Naming" trial. If they couldn't provide the correct name for the stones in Xiaoyao Pool within ten days, it would be considered a cultivation failure.
Yu Sui had originally been listening to the lecture attentively, but got distracted reading Yan Xiaochuan's prayers to Strange Fire. When discovered by the instructor and called up to answer questions, she knew nothing, earning a flat "Get out" from the instructor. So she stood in the hallway, lost in thought.
"......"
Yan Xiaochuan, right?
If Strange Fire was going to burn anything, it should burn the Ghost Way first, then burn the named stones in Xiaoyao Pool.
……
After finishing daytime classes, Yu Sui returned to Ghost Way Saint Hall to chat with Master for a while. She had picked almost all the apricots from the tree, leaving only one yellow-tinged-with-red apricot at the top, basking in the bright moonlight.
At the hai hour, Yu Sui came to the Yin-Yang School as promised.
Li Jin Shuang was the first to arrive. Yu Sui and Xue Mushi came from different directions, seeing Li Jin Shuang standing in the Star Sea, both wondering if she had never left.
"Have you been here the whole time without leaving?" Yu Sui asked.
Li Jin Shuang shook her head lightly: "No."
Whether true or false was unclear.
Yu Sui didn't press further, just nodded and asked: "Continue breaking through formations?"
Li Jin Shuang lowered her head: "Yes."
Yu Sui then activated the star chart to enter the formation.
Again, the familiar dark night star fire.
Each time they entered Asura Hell, the three were awed by the city-guarding king general before the city gates. It was fear and panic rising from the depths of their hearts. Only by maintaining sufficient distance and safety from it could they diminish this terror slightly.
Yu Sui told Li Jin Shuang: "Don't feel pressured. Even if you release your sword spirit, we can handle it."
She gave Xue Mushi a meaningful look, and Xue Mushi cooperatively nodded in assurance.
Li Jin Shuang also nodded to show understanding.
But tonight, no matter how Li Jin Shuang summoned, her sword spirit ignored her, unwilling to manifest, leaving her to fight the evil spirits in the Military Formation alone.
Without the sword spirit's help brutally beating the Military Formation's evil spirits, the three appeared rather disheveled that night. They finally emerged from the Military Formation looking bedraggled, facing the brilliant morning light while looking at each other.
Xue Mushi scratched his head: "Worthy of being a special-grade Military Formation, impressive."
An awkward comment that had no effect in relieving the atmosphere.
Yu Sui glanced at Li Jin Shuang, whose eyes looked tired. Her fighting tonight had been very unstable, seemingly constantly troubled by sword spirit issues. The sword spirit's failure to appear when summoned made her even more disturbed.
Li Jin Shuang's grip on her sword tightened, her expression deathly pale.
Xue Mushi and Yu Sui exchanged glances, feeling this person was in very bad condition, as if her mentality had collapsed. If they let her continue like this, in the future only the two of them would partner to break through formations.
"Li Jin Shuang." Yu Sui said gently, "Rest for a while. You look very tired. You need to restore your energy."
Xue Mushi agreed: "Yes, yes."
Li Jin Shuang's hand holding the sword trembled slightly. She walked to the edge of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field and, as if drained of all strength, sat down leaning against the edge. She slowly looked up at the two people standing ahead.
"When I was twelve, I cultivated to Third Realm and developed a sword spirit. At that time it was still fine, until I turned fourteen, when it began developing its own thoughts and stopped obeying my commands."
Li Jin Shuang lowered her eyelashes, casting momentary shadows on her face. Her voice was hoarse, her tone difficult and slow: "After that, my sword spirit became harder to control each year, until last year when it began hurting people indiscriminately, and I couldn't control it."
Sometimes, the sword spirit even hurt her.
As if something between them was opposing.
As if she wasn't the sword spirit's master.
The sword spirit believed he wasn't its master.
……
At dawn, Mei Liangyu finished his work, handed over the items and left Mechanism Island, rushing back to Taiyi Academy to say goodbye to that hellish place forever.
The cold tea was too awful to drink. Having drunk it for days, even his bland taste buds felt terrible. Wanting something sweet, Mei Liangyu decided to first go to Ghost Way Saint Hall to pick a couple of apricots, then return to the dormitory to wash up.
Brilliant golden morning light beams fell on the Saint Hall one by one, from the main hall's roof tiles to the stone steps and fruit trees. The light beams shining on top of the fruit tree happened to envelop that ripe apricot, allowing Mei Liangyu to spot it at first glance.
He stood beside the tree, looking up at the tall apricot tree, full of green leaves with barely any yellow or red visible.
This wasn't the fruit-laden tree in his memory.
Mei Liangyu blinked, his gaze sweeping over the fruitless branches, then slowly looking up. Confirming only that one apricot remained, he slowly took out his Wind-Listening Ruler and opened his Junior Sister's inscription interface.
Yu Sui: "Then I'll save one for Senior Brother."
Their conversation had stopped at this line from several days ago.
Mei Liangyu's fingertips, slightly roughened from work, gently pressed this message on the Wind-Listening Ruler, then stared at the last remaining apricot on the tree. He smiled coldly without sound and sent Yu Sui a message: "Where are you?"
Yu Sui received the message while listening to Li Jin Shuang describe her years of entanglement with her sword spirit. She glanced at the sky, guessing Senior Brother had returned from Mechanism Island and probably seen the apricots at the Saint Hall.
So she slowly replied: "Temporarily not in this world."