As this eventful welcoming ceremony drew to a close, Gu Yao loudly announced two rousing decisions:
First: He would carefully inspect every sect in Chuyun City, large or small. Every sect had the possibility of becoming an affiliated sect of Xuanxiao Sect;
Second: All cultivators under thirty years old whose cultivation had reached the Spirit Platform Realm or above could sign up for the Ascension Gathering beginning tomorrow, competing for the sole qualification to go to Xuanxiao Sect as an Auditory Disciple.
Gu Yao added that ranking would not be the decisive factor in determining who received the spot. He would make a comprehensive assessment based on their performance, hoping every cultivator would boldly display themselves instead of becoming fixated on victory or defeat. No matter where one stood, only the Great Dao was eternal.
The moment these words were spoken, the cultivators grew even more agitated. It was as if this opportunity no longer belonged exclusively to the famous powers in the city, but had descended fairly before every person, close enough to reach.
You Su blended into the crowd. After registering with the person in charge from the City Lord's Mansion, he quietly left, as low-key as when he had arrived—and just as impossible to keep from attracting the attention of those with ulterior motives.
Gu Yao and City Lord Liu each harbored their own thoughts, while several clear-minded elders reassessed the blind youth in their hearts.
Wu Cheng silently watched You Su's back, and a blazing battle intent had already ignited in his heart.
You Su walked through the empty lanes and let out a long breath.
Gu Yao's declaration of "You are an Evil Demon" in full view of everyone had been far too horrifying. Under the gathering gazes filled with every imaginable emotion, You Su even felt that if his will had wavered in the slightest, he would have been frightened into spilling out all his various encounters. He would have been forced into becoming an Evil Demon even if he was not one.
What had enabled him to remain steadfast was not some powerful state of mind that could stay unshaken even as Mount Tai collapsed before him. Rather, it was his belief that his junior sister would not deceive him. Since his junior sister had said that the piece of Taisui flesh would not make someone possessed, then it truly would not—because his junior sister would never harm him.
Only by holding fast to the fierce conviction that I absolutely am not an Evil Demon had he managed to force himself to respond calmly and composedly. Yet doubt, fear, and nervousness had still enveloped him. It was not until he heard City Lord Liu speak up for him, while never mentioning the crucial fact that he was blind, that he realized the matter was not so simple.
You Su had originally intended to explain it himself, but Gu Yao ignored him completely and launched into a long-winded speech of his own. After listening, You Su noticed the clue:
The only person who could possibly understand the details of how to use the golden eyes was City Lord Liu, who had come from Xuanxiao Sect. He had known long ago that eye contact was the key to making the detection work. He had not introduced me as a blind man—not because he forgot, and even less because he feared embarrassing me before everyone. He did it deliberately.
What he wanted was for this Immortal Master Gu, who had shown him not the slightest regard from the moment he arrived, to taste what it was like to plummet from the clouds. And I had inadvertently become the stumbling block.
Gu Yao was clearly not stupid. After realizing what had happened, he directed the spearhead at me, trying to save his reputation. Though I hated him for knowingly making a misjudgment and then using his power to suppress others, I was helpless.
My junior sister and Mistress were still hovering at the gates of hell at home, desperately awaiting rescue. Yet he was currently the person most capable of helping me approach the divine mountain. Escalating the conflict with him would bring a hundred harms and not a single benefit. I might as well go along with him, then send him another great gift in return, making him think more highly of me and increasing the possibility that I would be chosen as an Auditory Disciple.
Compared with saving my junior sister and Mistress, every moment of anger was nothing but a passing cloud.
Only then did the tortuous journey of You Su's heart this morning finally come to an end.
At the turn of summer and autumn, the noon heat was just as searing. You Su walked beneath the luxuriant foliage and raised his head to gaze at the sky.
He had a feeling that the chaos in his eyes seemed to have changed.
In the past, he could sense a few strands of glaring light only when he looked straight at the sun. Now, however, he merely had to look toward a bright place for a faint white haze to appear.
It must be thanks to that rotten flesh! You Su could not help feeling excited.
Before long, he reached the sect.
His junior sister had not waited patiently at the entrance for her Oil-Crisped Cake. She had gone to sleep long ago.
After eating a simple lunch, he began another day of cultivation.
Practicing the sword, cultivating techniques, circulating his breath—everything proceeded in orderly fashion.
Night quietly descended, and moonlight first veiled the earth.
You Su did not cook. He went out and bought the chestnut chicken his junior sister loved most. Whatever his junior sister wanted now, he would satisfy as best he could.
He arranged a table full of delicacies, walked to his junior sister's door, and gently knocked.
No one answered for a long while. You Su grew puzzled. "Junior sister, it's time to eat. You didn't eat breakfast either. Aren't you hungry?"
After a long moment, a somewhat weak voice finally came from inside:
"I'm not hungry... You eat first. Leave a little for me. I'll eat it myself when I get hungry."
"Not being enthusiastic about eating means there's a problem with your attitude. I even bought chestnut chicken!"
"Why are you talking so much nonsense? I told you to eat, so eat. I'm tired... Don't... don't disturb my sleep!"
Sensing the weakness hidden beneath Ji Lingruo's deliberately forceful tone, You Su grew suspicious. Only then did he remember the secret lessons he had conducted with his junior sister every night for the past seven days. Along with her usual habits, they had nearly made him forget that his junior sister was a pitiful girl bearing an Evil Demon, one who would hide in the corners of her room and struggle in agony behind his back.
"Junior sister, are you... feeling unwell?" You Su asked tentatively.
"You really want me to tell you that my period has come, is that it?" His junior sister's voice was clearly tinged with anger. "The lessons are canceled for these next few nights too!"
You Su could only retreat awkwardly. "Junior sister, drink plenty of hot water. Call your senior brother if you need anything."
Late at night, with only himself for company, You Su found the meal tasteless. After hastily finishing it, he continued sitting on the bed in meditation.
Unfortunately, his state of mind refused to settle for a long time. He kept his eyes closed for ages, but achieved little.
At this very moment, he should have been teaching his junior sister how to circulate Mystic Qi. Since it could not happen tonight, he unexpectedly felt somewhat disappointed. What he yearned for was not the warm, delicate touch of the young girl's body, but the warmth of weathering danger together with his junior sister. Even if the two of them simply sat face-to-face and did nothing, he would still feel happy and at ease.
I suppose I'm becoming more and more unable to leave my junior sister.
You Su smiled wryly at himself.
"Hsss..."
You Su's ears twitched, and he keenly caught a low moan. It was his junior sister's voice! She seemed to be enduring some excruciating pain, yet was forcing herself not to make a louder sound, like prey covered in wounds that still refused to alert the hunter behind it.
Ji Lingruo was at least at the Meridian Passage Realm. Though she could not sever her menstruation like a female cultivator of the Feather Transformation Realm, her constitution was still far stronger than an ordinary person's. How could menstruation hurt this much?
Then what could be causing her such agony?
The answer was self-evident. You Su's heart twisted like a knife, and blood dripped from his bitten lips. He nearly lost control and rushed inside to embrace her, comforting her and telling her not to be afraid—that no matter what she became, he would never leave her.
But if he truly did that, would he not be violating the instructions from the junior sister in his dream? Only the junior sister in the dream knew that he was aware they had been possessed. If the junior sister in reality learned of it as well, the overlap of their consciousnesses would accelerate, summoning back the part hidden inside his own mind. Would he not then become the villain who buried Mistress's efforts and personally delivered them into the jaws of the Evil Demon?
His self-reproach and suppressed emotions seemed to solidify, nearly spilling from all seven orifices of You Su's body and leaving him suffocating as though he were drowning.
All was silent. His junior sister's pained moans did not cease for a long while. The oil lamp cast a vast shadow upon the wall, like a monster, like a demon.
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