Chapter 136
Zhang Xiangyan received the message sent back from the Xuankui organization three days later.
During these three days, Taiyi's Saints had all been involved in searching for the Lan Poison. Not only the academy was affected, but the Outer City as well. Even the Cloud Carriage Flying Dragons transporting merchant goods at the ferry were stopped for searches.
The Mechanism School and Outer City forces all had to cooperate with the orders of Taiyi's Twenty-four Saints at this time.
Yu Sui pretended to be worried about the Floating Pagoda fragments on the surface, actively asking Gu Qian about it every day. Privately, she locked herself in her room day and night, flipping through ancient books from the School of Names, trying to find clues related to the Heavenly Character Text.
She had also considered using Divine Mechanism: Heavenly Eye on the Heavenly Character Text on the fragments, but no matter how she tried, she would be affected by the fragments before using Heavenly Eye, abandoning all thoughts of exploration and seeking knowledge, falling into peaceful tranquility.
The Class D library was completely searched through by Yu Sui in just a day or two.
Xue Mushi was more motivated than before, preparing for the Rank Advancement Challenge, planning to skip levels to access the Class B library.
This morning, Yu Sui went to the Ghost Way Saint Hall, wanting to ask Master about some cultivation-related matters.
Morning dew still hung on the treetops, and the autumn coolness carried pervasive moisture. Yu Sui had just walked out of the forest path when she saw several people standing in front of the outer wall gate of the Saint Hall.
This was quite rare. In all her time at Taiyi, this was the first time she'd seen anyone other than Senior Brother come to the Ghost Way Saint Hall. It seemed they couldn't get in, so they could only wait outside.
Looking carefully, she found that those waiting outside were two Saints of the Military School, Leng Rouyin and Kuang Chu, as well as the Saint of the Agricultural School, Ou Rushuang.
Mei Liangyu was also there, speaking in low voices with the three Saints with an unchanged expression.
He was the first to glance at Yu Sui walking out of the forest path. His expression paused for a moment, then his gaze openly fell on Yu Sui. Without making her wait long, he said aloud, "Master is waiting for you inside."
Mei Liangyu signaled her to hurry inside and not linger outside.
Yu Sui bowed her head in greeting to the three Saints, then ran quickly into the Saint Hall, avoiding contact with the Saints.
The three Saints, Leng Rouyin and the others, didn't pay much attention to Yu Sui either.
Yu Sui ran all the way into the main hall of the Saint Hall.
"Master," Yu Sui said innocently, "Saints have come outside. Senior Brother is receiving them outside. I don't know what it's about."
She didn't idle after entering, immediately starting to tidy up the desk. Most of the mess was caused by Mei Liangyu, and Yu Sui tirelessly put everything back in its proper place each time.
Mei Liangyu only cleaned up when he was in a good mood.
Saint Chang Gen replied, "It's related to the Lan Poison."
"Are those three Saints outside responsible for tracking down the Lan Poison?" Yu Sui glanced outside. "What kind of person is so bold as to dare sell Lan Poison in Taiyi and give it to academy disciples?"
Saint Chang Gen said, "I'll go to the Outer City tonight. Based on the clues they've tracked down, we might be able to find the source."
So soon?
Yu Sui moved her eyes, turning her head back to look at the portrait.
But with Taiyi's Twenty-four Saints taking action, if it dragged on too long, it would actually make them lose face, and those involved in the Lan Poison would feel uneasy.
The best approach would be to sacrifice some benefits, push out a scapegoat, cut through the mess quickly, and let this matter settle down.
She just wondered who this unlucky person pushed out by both Taiyi and Xuankui would be.
Yu Sui thought of Mei Liangyu still outside and asked Saint Chang Gen, "Will Senior Brother go too?"
"Your Senior Brother said he has other matters." Saint Chang Gen said, "Taiyi cannot tolerate the existence of Lan Poison and must resolve this problem in the shortest time possible."
"Then the Silver River Water needs to be found too, right? Could it be that the Lan Corpses hiding in Taiyi stole the Silver River Water?" Yu Sui said, "Brother Gu said the Silver River Water really wasn't taken by him."
"Saint Changsun Zi of the Technical Arts School has divined about this matter many times but hasn't reached a conclusion yet." Saint Chang Gen patiently answered her questions. "Once we find the Lan Corpses, we might get some clues."
The Silver River Water that Xuankui had spent great effort to obtain couldn't possibly be given up easily.
Sacrificing some benefits to eliminate others' suspicions was acceptable, but the Silver River Water couldn't be abandoned. They might interfere with tonight's action in the Outer City, making Taiyi's people think the Silver River Water had already been transported out of Taiyi.
Yu Sui speculated about Xuankui organization's next moves while nodding obediently on the surface, not appearing too concerned about the Lan Poison, instead discussing cultivation matters with Saint Chang Gen.
When Mei Liangyu returned, he saw Yu Sui standing at the desk, holding a brush and writing curse characters of the Ghost Way School on paper, looking very focused as if she hadn't noticed someone entering.
Saint Chang Gen didn't remind her either.
Mei Liangyu felt his heart itch watching this, so he very naturally reached out to touch her head. Yu Sui turned her head to look and was stunned for a moment. Mei Liangyu also realized, and both simultaneously became aware that Master was still present.
"How's your practice going?" Mei Liangyu calmly withdrew his hand, asking quickly with his mouth.
His mind also turned quickly. As a Senior Brother caring for his Junior Sister, what was wrong with that? It was perfectly normal.
It was just that previously his heart had no distracting thoughts, but now his intentions were impure, so he minded this room full of dead people.
Yu Sui showed Mei Liangyu the curse characters written on paper, also acting as if nothing had happened and answered, "I can remember them now, but I still can't write them out in one stroke. It's a bit slow."
She tilted her head and smiled at Mei Liangyu, that smile carrying a hint of mischief, laughing at Senior Brother's little thoughts just now.
"Practice more, with your talent you'll master it in a couple of days." After praising her, Mei Liangyu turned to Saint Chang Gen and said, "I've already conveyed Master's intentions to the three Saints. They have no objections."
Saint Chang Gen: "Good."
Mei Liangyu watched Yu Sui write curse characters and also wrote a few strokes along with her. Soon there were several more black, flowing curse characters on the white paper.
Yu Sui looked at them twice, then brought up the Rank Advancement Challenge: "Senior Brother, to advance from Class D to Class C only requires passing one trial. Can I continue challenging after that?"
"For example, if I pass one trial today and reach Class C, can I continue challenging the next trial to advance to Class B, or do I have to wait another two months?"
Mei Liangyu said, "Wait another two months for the next Rank Advancement Challenge."
Yu Sui nodded.
Mei Liangyu asked, "Are you going to take the Rank Advancement Challenge?"
"I want to go." Yu Sui said, "It doesn't look very difficult."
After hearing this, Mei Liangyu glanced at her: "You can go. Once you go, you'll know how difficult it is."
Saint Chang Gen seemed to finally find his chance to interject, asking Yu Sui if she was confident and which trial she wanted to challenge first.
Yu Sui said innocently, "I already have Heavenly Mechanism Arts and Soul Capture, so the easiest should be martial arts, right?"
Mei Liangyu said, "The martial arts arena defenders for advancing from Class D to Class C are at least Fifth Realm."
Yu Sui asked again, "Then what if someone isn't good at martial arts and can't win?"
"They can also just pass the Celestial Cycle Trial and Five Elements Living Arts. The minimum requirement for martial arts is just being able to pass the Class D to Class C level. Going higher, some schools don't necessarily require challenging martial arts." Mei Liangyu said, "Like the Medical School, Technical Arts School, Agricultural School, and disciples of the Yin-Yang School and Taoist School who major in Communication Arrays, mechanism arts, and Military Formations will have adjusted standards based on the disciples' different elective abilities."
Yu Sui nodded to show she understood and decided to try it in a couple of days.
Mei Liangyu stopped writing after a while, picked up the Wind-Listening Ruler to look at it, said he was going to the Military School to find Zhongli Shan, and left.
Yu Sui also needed to go to the Military School, but she wasn't in a hurry. She finished writing all the pages on the desk before leaving.
Li Jin Shuang wasn't very convenient to act alone lately, as it would easily arouse suspicion.
So Yu Sui used the excuse of going to the Military School to practice sword techniques and physical arts to find her and discuss matters.
The Military School opened their training grounds and some Military Formations to outsiders, so it was always quite lively.
Disciples from other schools who wanted to practice martial arts and improve their physical abilities loved to visit the Military School.
The training ground was one of the liveliest places in the Military School.
As Military School disciples, they loved to bare their arms and fight hand-to-hand here, both to show off their impressive physiques and demonstrate their powerful physical techniques.
Fighting flesh against flesh was also a kind of enjoyment for them.
But more often it was mutual competition among young people, using this to attract other girls who came to the training ground.
Yu Sui stood at the edge of the field, watching the Military School disciples running in groups inside through the fence. Just watching from the side, she could feel a fiery atmosphere.
She stared intently without blinking.
Mei Liangyu found Zhongli Shan at the training ground and took him away. From afar, he saw Yu Sui standing at the edge of the martial field, her bright black eyes following the disciples in the field, making it easy to see what she was watching.
Initially, Mei Liangyu thought about waiting for Yu Sui to notice him on her own.
After waiting for a while, he realized that even if he died behind her, Yu Sui wouldn't see him.
Zhongli Shan saw Mei Liangyu change direction and walk toward Nangong Sui despite himself, so he stayed where he was to watch the show with great interest.
Yu Sui was suddenly lifted by someone grabbing her collar from behind.
Mei Liangyu asked her, "Very interesting to watch?"
As Yu Sui turned her head, she met Senior Brother's half-smiling eyes.
After Mei Liangyu put her down, she answered without thinking, "I was looking for Li Jin Shuang."
Mei Liangyu said, "Li Jin Shuang isn't in there."
Yu Sui nodded after hearing this: "So I'm looking for her."
Mei Liangyu chuckled softly, released her collar and directly pinched the back of her neck, lowering his voice a few notches: "Watch less. I'm not happy about it."
Yu Sui said, "Got it."
The hand lightly pinching her neck turned to pressing and kneading, like smoothing fur, leaving burning traces on the tender, smooth skin.
"I'm leaving." Mei Liangyu withdrew his hand. "Next time you come to the Military School, I'll practice with you."
Yu Sui asked, "Senior Brother, do I have to pay for that?"
Mei Liangyu glared at her and didn't answer, walking toward Zhongli Shan who was waiting behind.
Yu Sui smiled and reached up to touch the spot on her neck that still had some lingering warmth.
Someone with such strong possessiveness... wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Many disciples were in the training ground, from all schools. On the open-air martial platform, Zhang Xiangyan and Luo Fu finished their sword practice and sheathed their swords. During their rest, they happened to see the interaction between Yu Sui and Mei Liangyu at the field's edge.
Zhang Xiangyan laughed coldly, picked up his water bottle and drank with his head tilted back: "This pair of Senior Brother and Junior Sister have quite a good relationship. I'd say it's even a bit too good."
Luo Fu frowned: "Would she agree?"
The two had received the message sent back from Xuankui, getting orders for Nangong Sui to take Qiao Jun's position.
No matter how Luo Fu looked at it, he couldn't see that Nangong Sui had the ability to do this job well.
Ability aside, if it involved targeting Mei Liangyu and concerned Mei Liangyu's life and safety, she might not even agree to do it.
Before Zhang Xiangyan could answer, Luo Fu added: "Try to persuade the people outside to change their minds. Nangong Sui can't help no matter how you look at it."
"You still don't understand that person." Zhang Xiangyan finished drinking water and caught his breath, staring at Yu Sui at the field's edge and said, "Qingkui doesn't really want Nangong Sui to accomplish anything, but wants her to fail and then get kicked out of Taiyi."