Madam Su threatened Nangong Ming into breaking the Non-War Covenant, while Gu Gan said they should protect the peace alongside the other two countries.
Given how closely Nangong Ming and Gu Gan worked together, that was definitely a lie.
Yu Sui said nothing. She only nodded and murmured, showing she would do her best to help and that he could tell her if he needed anything.
"You've only just arrived at the academy, so take some time to settle in," Gu Gan said. "If there's anything you don't understand, come ask me. I'll be a little busy these next couple of days, but ask anyway. Don't be afraid."
After a pause, he added, "If Mei Chengyu gives you trouble because of me, you must tell me."
His expression was stern as he spoke. Mei Chengyu's actions this time had clearly earned him a black mark in Gu Gan's book.
"Okay," Yu Sui said.
As she stood, she tripped on the table and tumbled forward with a yelp. Gu Gan sprang up and caught her just in time.
A Five Elements Light Core slipped into Gu Gan's clothes from an angle no one could see.
Perhaps she hadn't improved much in other ways over the years, but she had grown more and more skilled at using Light Cores.
"Come on. I'll walk you downstairs," Gu Gan said.
Yu Sui agreed and followed him out.
Gu Gan knew she shared a dorm room with Xun Zhiya, so he gave her a brief introduction. "She's very well-known in the Legalist School, and she's strong too. She's Legalist Saint Yu's disciple."
"She may look hard to get along with, but she's not bad-tempered. She's the type who's cold on the outside and warm within. If you run into a problem and I'm not available to answer, you can ask Xun Zhiya too."
Yu Sui nodded. "Sure."
Inside the Dragon Ladder, Gu Gan glanced at Yu Sui standing beside him. He seemed to think for a long while before speaking softly. "Suisui."
"Hmm?" Yu Sui turned to look at him.
"Don't worry too much about the Futuo Tower," Gu Gan said. "Just enjoy yourself at Taiyi. If anyone gives you trouble, tell me. You don't need to worry about anything else."
Yu Sui looked bewildered. "But this is why Father sent me to Taiyi."
"I'll talk to Prince about it," Gu Gan said firmly.
Yu Sui blinked at him, thinking, You'd better.
Gu Gan furrowed his brows. He seemed to realize he had spoken too forcefully and worried she might misunderstand, so he explained, "I'm afraid it's too dangerous. I don't want you getting caught up in all this trouble."
Yu Sui went along with what he said. "I understand. I don't know any Nine Schools Techniques, so I probably can't help you much, Brother Gu. I just hope I won't hold you back. I'll study hard."
"What do you mean, hold me back?" Gu Gan glared at her. "Don't say things like that."
The Dragon Ladder Gate opened, and Yu Sui headed out. "Then if you ever need my help, you have to tell me too."
Only then did Gu Gan smile. "Don't worry, Suisui. I'm sure I'll need your help one day."
They left the Dragon Ladder and went around a corridor, finally stopping outside Six Zero Seven.
Yu Sui took out her key and opened the door. "I'll head in, then."
Gu Gan nodded and watched her enter. Once she had closed the door, he left.
The room was brightly lit, and the floor was neat and clean. Beside the windows stood a long flower stand and a short one, both crowded with flowerpots of all sizes. Yu Sui could take in the whole main room at a glance. It looked as though only two people had lived there.
There were only two sets of everything on the table, whether teacups or bowls and chopsticks.
Thanks to the strange fire, Yu Sui could sense that the two people in the room were just behind a door. She pretended not to know and skirted around their room. Just as she was about to push open the empty room's door, she heard a click behind her.
She turned and saw Li Jinshuang coming in with a key.
Their eyes met. Li Jinshuang seemed surprised for a moment, then lowered her head slightly and fell silent again.
Yu Sui greeted her warmly. "You live here too?"
Li Jinshuang walked toward the empty room beside her. "Mm."
Then she opened the door, went inside, and shut it.
Yu Sui entered her room and leaned against the door, gazing thoughtfully toward the room next door.
She had already seen Li Jinshuang standing with Xun Zhiya at the Questioning Arena, and they had been together at the Legalist Three Provinces Prison too. Now they even shared a dormitory.
Considering that Xun Zhiya was the Saintess of Nanjing Country and Li Jinshuang had also said she was from Nanjing Country, the two of them probably knew each other.
But the way they were together didn't feel like friendship. It seemed more like a relationship between a superior and a subordinate.
Yu Sui looked around the room. There was only a bed, a desk, and chairs. The furnishings were simple, but it had all the basic necessities.
Black Beard sent her a message asking if there was anything else she needed.
Yu Sui sat on the edge of the bed and gently pressed a palm against it. Her consciousness linked through the strange fire to the Five Elements Light Core hidden in the Double-petaled Blue Flower, and she saw what was happening in the room:
Gu Gan had returned.
Ji Meng stood by the window with his arms crossed. Looking at Gu Gan, he asked, "You told Nangong Sui you were going to reseal the Futuo Tower?"
Gu Gan sat at the table with an indifferent expression. "It's too dangerous. I don't want her caught up in it. Suisui is a Normal Practitioner and can't protect herself yet. It's better for her not to get involved."
Huo Xiao was more pragmatic and spoke frankly. "He's right. With Nangong Sui's level of strength, involving her could cause a lot of unnecessary problems."
Gu Gan frowned and glanced at Huo Xiao, a hint of warning in his eyes. Huo Xiao wasn't intimidated at all.
"Fine. I don't have a problem with that," Ji Meng said, rubbing his eyebrow. He asked Gu Gan, "What are you planning to do next? Go explore the Hanging Moon Cave again?"
"We'll wait for news from Xun Zhiya," Gu Gan said. "We weren't the only ones who entered the Hanging Moon Cave that night. Someone else was there too."
Ji Meng swore under his breath. "I wonder what bastard stole the Milky Way Water. The timing was so perfect, we ended up taking the blame."
Gu Gan sneered. "We're not letting this go. What about Xiang Feifei? She was guarding the entrance to the Earthly Pit that night. Did she see anyone leave?"
"She said no," Huo Xiao replied, leaning against the door. "Xiang Feifei's Yin-Yang Technique, Swallowing Shadow, couldn't have missed anyone who left the Earthly Pit that night unless they were above the Thirteenth Realm."
"There's another possibility," Ji Meng said. "The other person could have had Divine Mechanism · Heavenly Eye."
Gu Gan turned to look at him. "How likely do you think it is that we'd run into someone with Divine Mechanism · Heavenly Eye?"
Ji Meng shrugged, as if to say, forget I brought it up.
Gu Gan rolled his shoulders and neck, which cracked. "The Hanging Moon Cave won't show the Heavenly Secret Line again for another three months."
Huo Xiao nodded. "The Zhanlong Cave will happen to open in the Legalist School three months from now. We'll have another chance then."
Leaning back in his chair, Gu Gan said thoughtfully, "When Wen Yang gets back, we'll see how his Mechanism Technique is coming along. We have three months. That's plenty of time to get ready."
Yu Sui had mainly wanted to hear Gu Gan talk about the Listening Wind Ruler, but she hadn't expected to learn so much else.
Gu Gan hadn't mentioned the Listening Wind Ruler at all, and neither Ji Meng nor Huo Xiao had asked about it. It seemed likely that he had lied about the Listening Wind Ruler being able to send messages without inscriptions.
But the Di Su Tiancheng hadn't detected the lie.
Yu Sui rolled her eyes, withdrew her consciousness, and fell back onto the bed. She raised a hand and rubbed her eyes.
It was only midday.
She had been at Taiyi Academy for half a day.
There was already quite a lot going on.
For now, the Five Elements Light Cores she used for spying could be placed on anyone below the Thirteenth Realm without being easily detected. But highly alert people who stayed on guard for danger could still discover them.
For people like Nangong Ming and Madam Su, Yu Sui could leave a Five Elements Light Core around the places they frequented, and they wouldn't notice as long as she didn't connect her consciousness to it. But the moment she did, even the tiniest, most fleeting stir of Five Elements Qi would draw their attention.
Yu Sui had tried many times. Whenever she was about to be detected, she crushed the Light Core. Once, Nangong Ming had even searched the entire Prince's Manor over that faint feeling of being watched.
If it was like this at the Prince's Manor, then at Taiyi Academy, where Thirteenth Realm practitioners were everywhere and there were twenty-four Sages, she would have to be even more careful with her Light Cores.
What threatened Yu Sui was not knowing how other people might distinguish a World Destroyer.
Aside from revealing her strange fire.
Yu Sui took out the Listening Wind Ruler and examined it. The circular instrument projected in the light was spinning rapidly, its symbols and numbers moving too fast for the naked eye to catch.
Ordinary people would have trouble making sense of it, but Yu Sui could easily commit every instant of information to memory.
Taiyi's enormous Communication Array restricted the Listening Wind Ruler from transmitting messages outside. It could only be used on the islands within Taiyi's boundaries.
Yu Sui played with the Listening Wind Ruler for a while, then closed her eyes and calculated in her head. She worked through the Secret Text of the Communication Array that she had deciphered in Qingyang Imperial Capital over the years and entered it into the Listening Wind Ruler. Then she lay down and rested briefly.
She dreamed she was standing on an endless expanse of water, wrapped in the familiar heat of her strange fire. Steam rose from the water, hazy and shimmering.
There were two things Yu Sui had known best all these years: fire and water.
Flames had been born with her and stayed by her side.
To escape their scorching heat, she had plunged into cold water again and again.
The only thing in this world that could give Yu Sui even a moment's sense of safety was the boundless, silent, still surface of the water beneath her feet.
When she looked down, she saw a cluster of flames rising rapidly from the depths. They carried a force that could devour everything. Their light illuminated Yu Sui's eyes, reflecting a resplendent golden-orange glow. Her consciousness knew they were the strange fire that would soon swallow her whole, yet she had nowhere to flee.
Just as the flames were about to break through the water's surface, a black fish and a white fish appeared in those resplendent eyes, their tails chasing each other as they spun beneath her feet. They enclosed the flames and pressed them back under the water.
Only then did Yu Sui open her eyes and wake. She sat up on the bed and rubbed her eyes.
She sat quietly by herself for a while, then got up and left.
Black Beard had turned down business at the establishment today. At first, he had been running around taking care of Gu Gan's affairs; now he was busy running around for Yu Sui.
As soon as he heard that a Ghost Dao Sage had taken Yu Sui as a disciple, he had sent someone to inform Prince.
Although they couldn't use the Listening Wind Ruler, there were countless people from the Nine Schools Techniques living in the outer city, belonging to all kinds of trades and factions. Every family had its own way of sending news outside.
Not that Black Beard would ever admit it, but he was actually quite pleased.
For a Ghost Dao Sage to take her as a personal disciple, Yu Sui must have something extraordinary about her. Perhaps the County Princess was wise beyond her years, with talent so deeply hidden that only Sage Chang Gen had noticed it.
He believed the County Princess would make great progress at Taiyi Academy and finally shed her title of Normal Practitioner. When she returned to the imperial capital to inherit the throne, he would have served her diligently here, and could ask her for permission to go back home.
With that in mind, Black Beard ran errands for the County Princess and brought people to furnish her dormitory.
They turned the unremarkable room into something exquisite and luxurious. Even the ornaments at the head of the bed glittered with gold and were clearly precious. Everywhere you looked, the place proclaimed, "My Nangong Family is very rich."
Yu Sui sat in a chair in the main room, playing with the Listening Wind Ruler.
Black Beard came out and said, "County Princess, everything's been set up. See if there's anything you don't like."
Yu Sui shook her head, then said with a troubled expression, "My Listening Wind Ruler doesn't seem to be able to send messages. Is it because it can't connect to the Number Mountain on this island?"
Black Beard explained, "Once it's within Taiyi's boundaries, the Number Mountains automatically pick up the Listening Wind Ruler's inscriptions."
"But I still can't send anything. It used to work," Yu Sui said. "I'll go ask at the Communication Institute."
Black Beard hurriedly offered, "I can go. It's a small matter."
Yu Sui shook her head and stood up, walking toward the door. "I have nothing else to do anyway. I might as well look around the academy and get familiar with it."
She had only taken a couple of steps when Li Jinshuang came out of the room next door.
Yu Sui greeted her warmly. "Are you going out to look around too?"
"No."
She walked straight outside, avoiding contact with Yu Sui.
Yu Sui turned back to ask Black Beard, "Do I seem hard to get along with? She never says more than three words to me."
Black Beard shook his head over and over.
As they entered the Dragon Ladder, Black Beard told Yu Sui, "The other three people sharing your dormitory are all from Nanjing Country. Xun Zhiya of the Legalist School is Nanjing Country's Saintess and may well inherit the throne one day."
Yu Sui let out a small gasp. That status was certainly beyond her reach.
Black Beard continued, "Shu Chujun of the Yin-Yang School is the Saintess's trusted aide. They grew up together, and Shu Chujun may one day inherit the position of High Priest of Nanjing Country."
Yu Sui nodded. "What about Li Jinshuang?"
"She's a most loyal retainer of the Xun Family." Black Beard paused, sounding a little wistful. "The Nanjing Li Family has as illustrious a name as our Qingyang Zhongli Family. They're both Military School clans, and the Li Family has produced several Military School War Gods. But Nanjing had internal strife, and the Li Family suffered terrible losses. Almost all their direct-line males died."
"Li Jinshuang is the most talented of the new generation. She isn't part of the Li Family's Direct Line, but the main branch raised her from childhood."
"Did they raise her as a boy?" Yu Sui asked.
With Li Jinshuang dressed in men's clothes, it didn't look like a personal preference.
Black Beard nodded. "That's right. The Li Family has been an aristocratic clan in Nanjing Country for a thousand years. They still cling to the old-fashioned clan system and have countless rules. Perhaps because all the men of the main branch died, the current matriarch raised Li Jinshuang as a boy. She's always lived in public under a man's identity."
Yu Sui smoothed her hair with one hand and said nothing.
Zhongli Que was in a difficult position because the Qingyang Emperor was wary of the Zhongli Family. It wasn't just her; the future of every child in the Zhongli Family looked bleak. As for the Nanjing Li Family, their troubles came from within their own clan.
Why did the children of these Military School clans all have such strange circumstances?
Yu Sui didn't think about it for long. After all, her own situation wasn't any better.
Taiyi's Communication Institute was comparable in size to the entire Qingyang Nation Academy. This was no ordinary large Communication Array; it was a super-giant one, with clusters of Number Mountains of different sizes scattered throughout the various sections.
Many people came and went at the Communication Institute, all wearing the same uniform. They had to record information from the Number Mountains every day. It was just past midday, but the Nine Schools practitioners at the institute were already hard at work, each at their assigned post.
At the entrance to the Number Mountain Cluster, the patrol guards stopped Yu Sui and Black Beard.
After Black Beard explained why they had come, one of the guards held out a hand. "Give me the Listening Wind Ruler. I'll take it inside and have a look."
Yu Sui asked, "Can I go in too?"
The title of Qingyang County Princess wouldn't help her here. The patrol guard politely said, "It's not convenient for people from outside the Communication Institute to go in."
Yu Sui turned to look at Black Beard. He looked a little troubled too and lowered his voice. "County Princess, the Communication Institute has some of the tightest security in Taiyi. They won't let you in without a special reason."
"All right." Yu Sui handed the Listening Wind Ruler to the patrol guard. "How long will it take?"
"If it's only because you just arrived and haven't connected to the Number Mountain yet, so you can't send messages, it'll be quick." The patrol guard seemed amused by her reluctance, and his tone softened.
Yu Sui watched the patrol guard carry the Listening Wind Ruler inside.
As the door opened, she caught a glimpse of the familiar yet unfamiliar Number Mountains inside. Unlike those at the Nation Academy, these were black and gold. The ribbons of color and circular disks that revolved around them were black and gold too. An imposing solemnity and an overwhelming pressure rushed toward her, making people hold their breath without realizing it.
The institute's gate closed, and Yu Sui looked away.
She waited patiently.
The patrol guard brought the Listening Wind Ruler close to a Number Mountain and established a connection. Each time he tried, the Secret Text Yu Sui had set inside the Listening Wind Ruler sent a little more into the Number Mountain. Once the Secret Text had been transmitted in full, the Listening Wind Ruler successfully connected to the Number Mountain.
Before you continue