Missing Thoughts

The patrol guard returned the Listening Wind Ruler to Yu Sui shortly after. "It's fine now. If you can't send messages again, come back and see me. Your Listening Wind Ruler seems a bit slow; it took several tries, but there's no major issue."

"Thank you." Yu Sui nodded. Just as she put away the Listening Wind Ruler and was about to leave, the door opened again. Mei Chengyu came out, looking down at the Listening Wind Ruler in his hand. A technician from the Communication Institute beside him said, "Impossible. Don't worry, no one can crack the Communication Array of our three families. The inscriptions on the Listening Wind Ruler must be mutually compatible to send messages. Any word or sound in a message will leave a trace in the Number Mountains. It can't bypass the inscriptions and the Number Mountains."

"Besides, the incident happened within the Academy, not elsewhere. Our Communication Array covers the entire Taiyi, and no message can escape its surveillance. It must also connect through here to operate the Listening Wind Ruler."

"As you saw just now, what that person said is impossible."

"The idea that the three core Number Mountains of the Communication Array could have their runes stolen is something even the founding ancestors of the three families might not be able to do. The Number Mountains have been modified countless times over the years, becoming more secure than before. If such a loophole existed, it would be a disgrace to the three families."

The Communication Institute technician said confidently, "That kid was definitely talking nonsense. Don't let him off the hook during your judgment."

Mei Chengyu suddenly stopped walking forward and looked up at Yu Sui, who was standing in front of him. Yu Sui was also looking at him. Seeing that Mei Chengyu had noticed her, she smiled friendly.

"It's too late," Mei Chengyu said slowly, putting away the Listening Wind Ruler. "My junior martial sister already let that kid go."

Yu Sui scratched her cheek.

The Communication Institute technician was shocked. "How could you let a liar like that go so easily!"

"Indeed," Mei Chengyu said with a fake smile. "Shall I go ask my junior martial sister what she was thinking?"

Hearing this, the Communication Institute technician finally realized something was wrong. He looked around and saw Yu Sui standing in front, looking innocent, and then looked at Mei Chengyu beside him. The technician leaned closer, covering his mouth with his hand and lowering his voice. "The young lady in front is your junior martial sister?"

Mei Chengyu replied, "You can ask her yourself."

The Communication Institute technician immediately turned and went back inside the door.

Yu Sui greeted him proactively. "Senior Martial Brother, are you here at the Communication Institute to look after Brother Gu's Listening Wind Ruler?"

Mei Chengyu walked past her, not looking at her. "What's so good about his Listening Wind Ruler?"

The Communication Institute had cracked Gu Gan's Listening Wind Ruler. The messages inside were clean, all daily communication, with nothing unusual. Everyone was a student of Taiyi, so they knew that if an incident occurred and they were caught, their Listening Wind Ruler would definitely be taken by the Communication Institute to be cracked, and all message exchanges would be dug up. Therefore, Gu Gan wouldn't have left any evidence by sending messages with his Listening Wind Ruler before acting.

Yu Sui followed Mei Chengyu. "Senior Martial Brother, here."

Here what? Mei Chengyu looked back. Yu Sui also stopped and opened her palm, revealing the note he had left on the table in the Taoist Saint Hall earlier. The note read: "Are you serious about taking this disciple?"

The black ink was written in a flowing, elegant style. Each character was a masterpiece of calligraphy, with strokes that were strong and powerful yet perfectly controlled, a pleasure to behold. Yu Sui had initially taken the note because she was attracted by the handwriting, thinking it was beautiful and wanting to keep it. Now, seeing Mei Chengyu, she had changed her mind. As Mei Chengyu's gaze shifted from the note to her, Yu Sui smiled and said, "Master said he is serious."

Mei Chengyu's eyes reflected the bright smile of Yu Sui for a long time. He seemed to be trying to discern something from her face but couldn't be sure. Finally, he simply raised an eyebrow, his gaze indicating the note in her palm, and said, "If you got it, it's yours."

Shen Time. Yu Sui came out of the Communication Institute and asked Black Beard thoughtfully, "I'm not the type to be annoying on the first day we meet, am I?"

Black Beard dared not be presumptuous and replied respectfully, "County Princess is intelligent and quick-witted, of course not." He thought to himself, Although she might not seem intelligent and quick-witted on the first meeting, she's certainly not annoying. A well-behaved and lovely girl like the County Princess is actually very likable.

Yu Sui said with distress, "Li Jinshuang doesn't pay much attention to me, and Senior Martial Brother doesn't either. Is it their problem, or mine?"

Black Beard answered quickly and decisively, "Of course, it's their problem."

"But Senior Martial Brother doesn't seem to want to get along peacefully with me. Senior Li also said before that Senior Martial Brother isn't someone who would indulge me. Coupled with Brother Gu's matter, his impression of me must be very bad," Yu Sui sighed. "Can you investigate my Senior Martial Brother? Let me think about how to get along with him."

Black Beard nodded repeatedly. "No problem, County Princess, don't worry. This is on me." It was better to use existing resources than to search blindly herself. Black Beard had lived in the Outer City for many years and certainly knew more than her, who had just arrived at Taiyi on her first day, and had more connections. Anyway, it was far from the capital, and the secret guards who always followed her when she went out were not here. In the Academy, Yu Sui felt what freedom was for the first time.

Yu Sui and Black Beard strolled around the Academy, familiarizing themselves with the terrain. In the meantime, she often checked her Listening Wind Ruler. Black Beard was tactful and never looked too much or asked too many questions about the Listening Wind Ruler. Although she had transmitted the secret text into Taiyi's Communication Array through the Listening Wind Ruler, it would take time for them to spread and infect, because the Communication Array here was too large.

Taiyi's Communication Array was the largest Yu Sui had ever seen. She once thought the Communication Array in Qingyang Emperor's palace was large, but compared to Taiyi's, it was merely medium-sized. Qingyang Imperial Capital was also large, but it couldn't cover the entire capital with just one Communication Institute; instead, it was divided into many Communication Arrays by region.

Yu Sui always had secret guards following her whenever she went out. Her every move was monitored by the Nangong Family. While preventing the "Primordial Soil" from being stolen, Nangong Ming also needed to keep track of all the movements of this chess piece. When necessary, Nangong Ming would also expose Yu Sui to danger, throwing out bait to make those competing for the Primordial Soil mistakenly believe they had an opportunity to strike. Once, when Yu Sui was captured, if she hadn't known through the Strange Fire that someone was always following her, she would have had to act herself to survive. Fortunately, she didn't act that time because the person following her was Nangong Ming.

The existence of the Secret Guard seemed to be for Yu Sui's protection, yet it imposed the most restrictions on her.

This directly led to Yu Sui, who needed to visit the Communication Array in Number Mountains to find the Connection Point, racking her brain for a solution every time she went to a different Communication Array.

It was only last year that Yu Sui successfully managed to not personally observe the Number Mountains' operations, but instead took the initiative to implant secret text to contaminate the Number Mountains in the Communication Institute, allowing her to monitor them internally.

In the past few years, Yu Sui had seen mostly everyday conversations from the various Communication Arrays in different regions. Mixed in were lewd and unspeakable words exchanged between men and women, or curses and condemnations directed at someone or something.

For useful top-secret conversations, people like Nangong Ming would not use the Listening Wind Ruler to communicate. On the Listening Wind Ruler, they would only state the meeting location and time.

After Yu Sui gained a clearer understanding of Nangong Ming's influence in the Imperial Capital, she couldn't help but marvel at her luck back then when she sent a message to Zhongli Que.

If Zhongli Que had revealed that messages could be sent via the Listening Wind Ruler without needing an Inscription, Yu Sui certainly wouldn't have lived to see today.

If Yu Sui were to casually bypass the Inscription to send messages to others, she would sooner or later alert the Communication Institute. Even if they scoured all Six Kingdoms, they would find her.

19 Chapter 19 (2/2)

At that point, she wouldn't just be offending the Communication Institute, but the entire Yin-Yang School, Taoist School, and School of Techniques.

No matter what Yu Sui did, she had to be cautious and extremely careful.

Mei Chengyu returned to the Taoist Saint Hall.

The door was not fully closed, leaving a thin crack. It seemed to be for convenience the next time it was opened, or perhaps it was left for him, implying many possibilities, such as a provocation.

Mei Chengyu examined it carefully. He saw no signs of the door being cut or kicked, and it was even "unscathed." Apart from being open when it shouldn't have been, there was nothing wrong with it.

Then how did she open the door?

Nangong Sui might have lied; perhaps she actually knew the Nine Schools Techniques.

Mei Chengyu narrowed his eyes slightly and pushed the door open to enter.

The lights inside remained the same. The candlelight above flickered, yet it exuded tranquility and warmth.

He walked to the table and looked down, his gaze casually sweeping across the surface. He asked, "What's so special about my junior martial sister that she caught your esteemed attention?"

Ink flowed on the suspended drawing paper.

Sage Chang Gen's answer appeared in Mei Chengyu's mind: "Fate."

Mei Chengyu pulled over a chair and sat by the table, crossing his arms. He said lazily, "Master, fate comes in many forms. You and I have a bad fate. What about you and her?"

Sage Chang Gen replied, "Good."

Mei Chengyu chuckled, "So, I'm the bad guy."

Come to think of it, when he ruled that Gu Gan should remain under observation, he was indeed a "bad guy" in Yu Sui's heart.

Yu Sui believed that Mei Chengyu must have had a poor impression of her after she rescued Gu Gan from the Legalism School.

Mei Chengyu also believed that Yu Sui must have had a poor impression of him regarding the ruling on Gu Gan.

After all, they were childhood sweethearts.

Mei Chengyu twirled the brush in his hand and asked again, "My junior martial sister said she doesn't know the Nine Schools Techniques. Then how did she open the door?"

Sage Chang Gen replied, "It's an ability she was born with."

Mei Chengyu put on a humble, eager-to-learn expression. "For example?"

Sage Chang Gen said, "Go ask her."

While Mei Chengyu was chatting with his Master in the Saint Hall, the sky outside grew dark. The Listening Wind Ruler in his hand glowed faintly. A message arrived from the "[Eat Well]" group:

Xing Chun: "Dinner?"

It was time for dinner again.

Mei Chengyu replied with a no.

The other two also replied with no.

Xing Chun: "Give me a reason why none of you are eating, right now."

Zhongli Shan: "Training troops and arranging formations. It'll be until tomorrow morning."

This was no time to eat.

Cang Shu: "I have Teacher Liu's class, can't leave."

This was unable to eat.

Mei Chengyu: "Not hungry."

This was not wanting to eat.

After a while, Xing Chun replied, "I'm dead. When you guys want to eat, just lift my coffin lid and wake me up."

Mei Chengyu put away the Listening Wind Ruler. He picked up his brush and, after silently writing a Ghost Dao School cultivation technique, he got up to leave.

He first went to eat with Xing Chun. He heard Xing Chun mention that new students were admitted today and would be assigned dormitories. This reminded him that he seemed to have new roommates, so he headed towards the dormitories.

It was quite late when Mei Chengyu arrived at the dormitories. The surrounding roads were lit up. It was foggy at night. He stepped over the fallen flowers scattered on the ground and entered the dormitory gate. There was no one on the first floor at this time. Too lazy to use the Wind Riding Technique to go upstairs, he walked towards the Dragon Ladder.

A person was standing at the Dragon Ladder.

Mei Chengyu felt a sense of familiarity even before he got close.

He stopped not far away, watching Yu Sui repeatedly scribble on the Dragon Ladder's entrance mark, yet still failing to draw the correct incantation to activate it.

She seemed genuinely clueless about the Nine Schools Techniques.

Mei Chengyu strolled over to Yu Sui, reaching out a step ahead of her to draw the correct incantation. He asked, "Which floor?"

Yu Sui let out a sound of surprise and turned to look, watching Mei Chengyu, who had opened the Dragon Ladder, walk inside.

"Sixty," Yu Sui replied.

Mei Chengyu stood in the middle of the Dragon Ladder and glanced up at her. "Not coming in? Want to take the stairs?"

Only then did Yu Sui enter.

As the Dragon Ladder ascended, Yu Sui couldn't help but reach up and scratch her cheek.

She had just realized that the mechanism of the Dragon Ladder bore some resemblance to the workings of Number Mountains. She had been testing if she could use the runes from Number Mountains to control and alter the activation runes of the Dragon Ladder when her senior martial brother arrived.

She hoped he hadn't discovered her intentions.

Yu Sui stood obediently in a corner of the Dragon Ladder. Mei Chengyu, near the exit, swept a glance at the Yu Sui standing further back and asked in a level tone, "Don't know the Wind Riding Technique?"

"Haven't learned it yet," Yu Sui replied.

Mei Chengyu asked again, "And you haven't memorized the Dragon Ladder incantation either?"

Yu Sui felt a wave of relief. "Haven't memorized it yet."

Mei Chengyu: "Then you can take the stairs tomorrow."

Yu Sui nodded. "Okay!"

Mei Chengyu: ""

He turned to look at Yu Sui with an inscrutable expression, only to be met with her blank, innocent gaze.

Mei Chengyu stopped the Dragon Ladder and told her to get out.

As Yu Sui walked out, she looked at him pleadingly. "Senior martial brother, you're not actually angry enough to kick me out, are you?"

"Draw it the way I did," Mei Chengyu said, gesturing towards the Dragon Ladder's activation interface. He wanted Yu Sui to learn it stroke by stroke.

Yu Sui hadn't actually forgotten how to draw the Dragon Ladder incantation. It was just that, at this point, if she admitted she knew how, Mei Chengyu would definitely shove her into the Dragon Ladder and then have it bury her underground.

There was no choice; she had to follow Mei Chengyu and write it stroke by stroke.

When it came to pretending to be foolish, Yu Sui had been doing it for over a decade, so she didn't mind doing it for a while longer. She even pointed to a specific spot with feigned seriousness and asked Mei Chengyu, "Senior martial brother, why does it have to be drawn like this?"

Mei Chengyu's reply was quite cold: "Don't worry about why it's drawn like this, just remember how to draw it."

Seeing this superficial teaching method, Yu Sui thought he wouldn't be able to take disciples in the future.

When Mei Chengyu saw that Yu Sui had learned enough, he let her do it herself and stopped drawing along. The two of them rode the Dragon Ladder up and down, down and up, repeating this many times. When Yu Sui felt the time was right, she said during one ascent, "Thank you, senior martial brother. I've learned it."

She hadn't expected this senior martial brother to be a man of action, doing what he said he would, and doing it in a way that didn't feel offensive or annoying.

Mei Chengyu leaned against the Dragon Ladder's wall, bathed in the gentle light of the Moonlight Pearl. He gazed at Yu Sui, who stood in the middle of the Dragon Ladder, and after a long moment, asked, "You took so long just to learn the Dragon Ladder incantation, yet you were able to open the door to the Saint Hall, which has an A-grade defensive spell, in less than half an hour."

The ascending Dragon Ladder suddenly stopped.

Yu Sui looked up and glanced at Mei Chengyu. "Senior martial brother, I have things I'm good at and things I'm not."

Mei Chengyu: "What are you good at?"

Yu Sui rolled her eyes. "Opening doors, I guess." @Mei Chengyu scoffed: "The Dragon Ladder door is also a door."

Yu Sui also smiled. "Then I'm good at opening the Saint Hall door, and not good at opening the Dragon Ladder door."

Their eyes met, neither of them looking away. In Mei Chengyu's eyes, Yu Sui smiled brightly, the strands of hair sticking up from her head seeming to take root, sprout, and bloom. The swaying little flowers complemented her bright, radiant smile, drawing people in with her surface beauty, making it difficult to perceive her depth.

After a moment, both of them seemed to sense something and turned their gazes away, looking at the Dragon Ladder.

Why had it stopped moving?