Missing Thoughts Literature

Yu Sui hadn't waited long before the patrol guard came out and returned the Listening Wind Ruler to her. "All set. If it still won't send next time, come find me again.

"Your Listening Wind Ruler seems a little sluggish. We tried several times and it wouldn't work, but there doesn't seem to be anything seriously wrong with it."

"Thank you."

Yu Sui nodded, just putting away the Listening Wind Ruler when the door opened again.

Mei Chengyu came out, looking down at the Listening Wind Ruler in his hand. The Communication Institute sorcerer beside him said, "That's impossible. Don't worry, no one can crack the communication arrays of our three schools. The Listening Wind Ruler's inscriptions have to be linked before it can send messages. Every word and sound in a message leaves traces in the Number Mountains. It can't get around the inscriptions or the Number Mountains."

"Besides, the incident happened inside the Academy, not somewhere else. Our communication arrays cover all of Taiyi. No message can escape their surveillance, and the Listening Wind Ruler has to connect through them to work."

"You saw it yourself just now. What he described can't happen."

"The idea that someone could steal the runes from the three core Number Mountains of the communication array is absurd. Even if the founders of the three schools were alive, they might not be able to do it. The Number Mountains have been revised time and again over the years, making them even more secure than before. If they had that kind of vulnerability, it would be a disgrace to all three schools."

The Communication Institute sorcerer declared with absolute certainty, "That kid was definitely making things up. When you pass judgment, you mustn't let him off."

Mei Chengyu suddenly stopped walking and looked up at Yu Sui, who stood ahead of him. Yu Sui was looking at him too. When she noticed him, she smiled amiably.

"Too late." Mei Chengyu put away the Listening Wind Ruler and said slowly, "That kid's already been let go by my junior martial sister."

Yu Sui scratched her cheek.

The Communication Institute sorcerer exclaimed in shock, "How can you let someone like that off so easily when he's full of lies?"

"Exactly." Mei Chengyu's smile didn't reach his eyes. "How about I ask my junior martial sister what she was thinking?"

Only then did the Communication Institute sorcerer realize something was off. He looked around and spotted Yu Sui standing ahead with an innocent expression, then glanced at Mei Chengyu beside him. Leaning closer and shielding his mouth with one hand, he lowered his voice. "That girl up ahead is your junior martial sister?"

"You can ask her yourself."

The Communication Institute sorcerer immediately turned and went back inside.

Yu Sui greeted him first. "Senior Martial Brother, did you come to the Communication Institute to look at Brother Gu's Listening Wind Ruler?"

Mei Chengyu walked past her and headed outside without looking her way. "What's there to look at?"

The Communication Institute had cracked Gu Gan's Listening Wind Ruler, and the messages inside were completely ordinary—just daily conversations, nothing suspicious.

They were all students at Taiyi. Who didn't know that if they got caught after an incident, the Communication Institute would take their Listening Wind Ruler apart to crack it, exposing every message they'd ever sent?

So Gu Gan couldn't possibly have sent a message on his Listening Wind Ruler before the operation and left behind evidence.

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

Here? What?

Mei Chengyu looked back. Yu Sui had stopped too, her open palm held out toward him. In it lay the note he'd left on the table at the Taoist Saint Hall.

The note bore a single sentence: "Are you serious about taking this disciple?"

The black writing swept across the page with bold, graceful strokes. Every character was written with skill, the strokes strong and precise, their ends drawn to a perfect finish. It was a pleasure to look at.

Yu Sui had first taken the note because the handwriting caught her eye. It was so beautiful that she wanted to keep it.

Now that she had met Mei Chengyu, she'd changed her mind. When his gaze left the note and slowly turned to her, Yu Sui smiled. "Master said he was serious."

For a long moment, Mei Chengyu gazed at Yu Sui, whose smile shone bright in his eyes. He seemed to be searching her face for something, but couldn't quite make it out. In the end, he merely raised an eyebrow and gestured toward the note in her palm. "If you've got it, it's yours."

Late afternoon.

As Yu Sui left the Communication Institute, she asked Black Beard thoughtfully, "I'm not the sort of person people dislike the moment they meet me, am I?"

Black Beard didn't dare be casual and answered properly. "The County Princess is clever and quick-witted. Of course not."

He thought to himself: Maybe she doesn't come across as clever and quick-witted at first, but she certainly isn't the sort people would dislike. Plenty of people would like a sweet, obedient girl like the County Princess.

Yu Sui said ruefully, "Li Jinshuang hardly talks to me, and my senior martial brother hardly talks to me either. Is that their problem or mine?"

Black Beard answered without hesitation. "Of course it's their problem."

"But my senior martial brother doesn't seem like he wants to get along with me. Senior Li also said before that he isn't the type to indulge me. And after what happened with Brother Gu, he must have a terrible impression of me." Yu Sui sighed. "Could you look into my senior martial brother? It might help me figure out how to get along with him."

Black Beard nodded repeatedly. "No problem, County Princess. Leave it to me."

Rather than go looking around blindly herself, she might as well make use of the resources at hand.

Black Beard had lived in the outer city for years. He was bound to know more than she did, having only arrived at Taiyi today, and he had plenty of connections too.

Besides, now that the sky was high and the emperor far away, her hidden guards—who usually followed her everywhere whenever she stepped outside—weren't around. For the first time, Yu Sui felt what freedom was like inside the Academy.

Yu Sui and Black Beard wandered around the Academy, familiarizing themselves with the grounds. She often checked her Listening Wind Ruler along the way. Black Beard was tactful and never looked too closely at it or asked questions.

Although she had sent the Secret Text into Taiyi's communication array through the Listening Wind Ruler, she would have to wait for it to spread and take hold. The communication array here was simply too vast.

Taiyi's communication array was the largest Yu Sui had ever seen.

She had once thought the communication array in the Qingyang Imperial Palace was enormous. Compared to Taiyi's, it barely qualified as a large one.

Qingyang's imperial capital was huge too, yet a single Communication Institute couldn't cover the whole city. Instead, it had been divided into regions, each with its own communication array.

Whenever Yu Sui went out, hidden guards followed her. The Nangong family monitored her every move. They had to prevent the "Xirang" from being taken, and Nangong Ming also needed to keep track of every move of this pawn.

When necessary, Nangong Ming would even expose Yu Sui to danger. He would first dangle her as bait, making those who wanted the Xirang think they had a chance to seize it. Once, Yu Sui had been captured. If she hadn't learned through the strange flame that someone was always following her, she would have had to fight her way out to survive.

Fortunately, she hadn't needed to act that time, because Nangong Ming himself had been following her.

The hidden guards seemed to protect Yu Sui, but they also placed the most restrictions on her.

As a result, whenever she needed to find a Connection Point by observing the Number Mountains in a communication array, Yu Sui had to rack her brains to figure out how to reach each new array.

It was only last year that Yu Sui had managed to stop relying on seeing the Number Mountains in operation with her own eyes. Instead, she had taken the initiative, planting Secret Text to contaminate the Communication Institute's Number Mountains and monitoring them from within.

Over the past few years, most of what Yu Sui had seen in the different communication arrays across various regions was people's everyday conversations. Mixed in were some flirtatious, filthy exchanges between men and women, along with curses and abuse aimed at particular people or things.

Important confidential conversations of the sort that really mattered were never conducted through Listening Wind Rulers by people like Nangong Ming. They only used them to arrange a place and time to meet.

Once Yu Sui had gained a clearer understanding of Nangong Ming's power in the imperial capital, she couldn't help marveling at how lucky she'd been after sending Zhongli Que a message all those years ago.

If Zhongli Que had told anyone back then that Yu Sui could send messages through a Listening Wind Ruler without using inscriptions, she wouldn't have lived to see the present.

If Yu Sui bypassed the inscriptions to send messages to other people at will, she would eventually alert the Communication Institute. Even if they had to search all six kingdoms, they would find her.

By then, she would have made enemies not just of the Communication Institute, but of the entire Yin-Yang School, Daoist School, and School of Techniques.

Whatever Yu Sui did, she had to be cautious—careful in every single detail.

Mei Chengyu returned to the Taoist Saint Hall.

The door wasn't shut completely; a narrow crack had been left open, as if to make it easier to open next time—or perhaps it had been left for him. It could mean many things, like a challenge.

Mei Chengyu studied it closely for a moment. He saw no marks from chopping or kicking it. In fact, it was "completely unharmed." Aside from opening when it shouldn't have, there was nothing wrong with it.

So how had she opened the door?

Perhaps Nangong Sui had lied. Maybe she did know the Nine Schools Techniques.

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

The light inside the hall was unchanged. The candlelight above flickered, yet the room was wrapped in peace and warmth.

He walked to the desk and looked down, his gaze sweeping casually over its surface. "What's so special about my junior martial sister that she caught your eye, Old Man?"

Ink flowed across the paper hanging in the air.

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

Mei Chengyu pulled out a chair and sat down beside the desk, arms crossed, posture languid. "Master, there are all sorts of fates. You and I have a bad one. What kind do you have with her?"

Sage Chang Gen replied, "A good one."

Mei Chengyu laughed. "So I'm the only bad guy."

Thinking about it carefully, when he had ruled that Gu Gan would remain under observation, hadn't he become a "bad guy" in Yu Sui's eyes?

Mei Chengyu also thought that after his ruling on Gu Gan, Yu Sui must have a terrible impression of him.

After all, they'd been childhood sweethearts.

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

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

Mei Chengyu put on a studious expression. "For example?"

Sage Chang Gen said, "Go ask her."

While Mei Chengyu chatted with his master in the hall, night began to fall outside. The Listening Wind Ruler beside him glimmered faintly with a message from the [Eat Well] group:

Xing Chun: "Have you eaten?"

It was dinner time again.

Mei Chengyu replied that he hadn't.

The other two also said no.

Xing Chun: "Zhongli Shan?"

Zhongli Shan: "I'm practicing military formation with the armor troops. I'll be at it until tomorrow morning."

This one couldn't find the time to eat.

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

This one couldn't get away to eat.

Mei Chengyu: "I'm not hungry."

This one didn't want to eat.

A little while later, Xing Chun replied, "I'm dead. When you're ready to eat, lift the lid of my coffin and drag me back out."

Mei Chengyu put away his Listening Wind Ruler. He took up a pen and finished copying out a chapter of the Ghost Dao School's cultivation method before getting up to leave.

He went to keep Xing Chun company for dinner first. When Xing Chun mentioned that new students had arrived and would be assigned dormitories, Mei Chengyu remembered that he seemed to have a new roommate and hurried to the dormitory.

It was already quite late when Mei Chengyu reached the dormitory. Lamps lit the surrounding roads, and mist had risen in the night. He walked over a carpet of fallen blossoms and through the entrance. There weren't many people on the first floor. Too lazy to use Wind Riding Technique to get upstairs, he headed for the Dragon Ladder.

Someone stood by the Dragon Ladder.

Mei Chengyu recognized her before he even drew near.

He stopped a short distance away and watched Yu Sui scribble Ghost Drawings over and over on the access seal at the Dragon Ladder's door, yet fail to produce the correct spell to activate it.

It looked as if she really knew nothing about the Nine Schools Techniques.

Mei Chengyu strolled over to Yu Sui, reached out before she could, and traced the correct spell. "Which floor?"

Yu Sui let out a small gasp and turned to look, watching Mei Chengyu step through the door as the Dragon Ladder opened.

"Sixty," Yu Sui answered.

Mei Chengyu stood in the middle of the Dragon Ladder and glanced up at her. "Are you getting in, or waiting to take the stairs?"

Only then did Yu Sui step inside.

Watching the Dragon Ladder rise, Yu Sui couldn't help scratching her cheek.

She'd noticed that the mechanism driving the Dragon Ladder worked somewhat like the Number Mountains. She had been testing whether she could use the Number Mountains' runes to alter the Dragon Ladder's activation runes, but her senior martial brother had shown up before she could get anywhere.

Hopefully, he hadn't noticed what she was trying to do.

Yu Sui stood obediently in a corner of the Dragon Ladder. Mei Chengyu, near the exit, glanced at her from the corner of his eye and asked in an even tone, "You don't know Wind Riding Technique?"

"I haven't learned it yet," Yu Sui answered.

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

Yu Sui was relieved. "I haven't memorized it yet."

"Then take the stairs tomorrow."

Yu Sui nodded. "Okay!"

Mei Chengyu: "..."

He turned to look at Yu Sui, his expression unreadable. She gazed back at him, looking confused and innocent.

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

Yu Sui followed him out, looking up at him with pleading eyes. "Senior Martial Brother, it's not worth getting so angry that you kick me out, is it?"

"Follow the way I drew it." Mei Chengyu nodded toward the Dragon Ladder's activation panel, instructing Yu Sui to learn it stroke by stroke.

It wasn't that Yu Sui hadn't memorized how to draw the Dragon Ladder's spell. But at this point, if she admitted, "Actually, I know how to draw it," Mei Chengyu would probably stuff her into the Dragon Ladder and have it bury her underground.

She had no choice but to copy him stroke by stroke.

Yu Sui had been playing dumb for over a decade. Another little while wouldn't make any difference. She even pointed to a particular spot and asked Mei Chengyu earnestly, "Senior Martial Brother, why do you draw it like this?"

Mei Chengyu answered with icy indifference. "Don't worry about why it's drawn that way. Just remember how to draw it."

Seeing this teaching method that treated the symptoms but not the cause, Yu Sui decided he absolutely couldn't take on disciples in the future.

Once Mei Chengyu saw that Yu Sui had learned enough, he let her practice on her own instead of drawing along with her. The two rode the Dragon Ladder up and down, down and up, repeating the trip over and over. When Yu Sui felt the time was right, she said as they went up again, "Thank you, Senior Martial Brother. I've learned it."

She hadn't expected this senior martial brother to be so quick to act. He did what he said he'd do, yet managed to avoid making people feel offended or annoyed.

Mei Chengyu leaned against the wall of the Dragon Ladder. Beneath the gentle glow of the Moonlight Pearl, he studied Yu Sui standing in the middle for a long while before asking, "You took this long just to learn the Dragon Ladder's spell, but you opened the Taoist Saint Hall's door—with its Class A Defensive Curse—in less than half an hour."

The ascending Dragon Ladder suddenly stopped.

Yu Sui looked up and turned her gaze toward Mei Chengyu. "Senior Martial Brother, there are things I'm good at and things I'm not."

"What are you good at?"

Yu Sui rolled her eyes. "I'm good at opening doors, I guess."

Mei Chengyu gave a scornful laugh. "The Dragon Ladder's door is a door too."

Yu Sui smiled as well. "Then I'm good at opening the Taoist Saint Hall's door, but bad at opening the Dragon Ladder's."

Their gazes met, and neither looked away. In Mei Chengyu's eyes, Yu Sui's smile was bright. A stray lock of hair stood up from her head, as if it were taking root, sprouting, and blooming. Its little blossoms swayed in harmony with her radiant, lovely smile. It was enough to draw people in with her surface charm and make them lose sight of the depths beneath.

A moment later, both of them seemed to realize something and turned their eyes toward the Dragon Ladder.

Why had it stopped moving?