Missing Thoughts Literature

Chapter 21

There was no sound in the Saint Hall's main hall, as Sage Chang Gen's consciousness could not speak. All information was directly implanted into his disciples' minds.

What Yu Sui perceived wasn't sound either, but "information."

However, this didn't stop her from automatically adding a voice-over in her head.

"The Five Elements create 'techniques,' and when people materialize 'techniques,' they circulate the Five Elements Qi."

"Your light core contains Five Elements Qi that can be absorbed and refined. When connected with the Qi outside your body and the Qi within, you can use 'techniques'."

Yu Sui listened attentively, her gaze unwavering. Mei Chengyu watched quietly from the side, wondering if this junior martial sister even possessed a Five Elements Light Core.

Sage Chang Gen said, "Qian, Kun, Xun, Zhen, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui—the Bagua. Take fifty-two of its hexagrams. Xun is wind, it gives birth to techniques, and controls wind."

A black and white Bagua diagram slowly rotated beneath Yu Sui's feet. As Sage Chang Gen imparted his teachings, the character Xun on the diagram stopped when it rotated to face Yu Sui directly.

"Mobilize the Five Elements Qi of your light core, take the Nine Schools Techniques from the Bagua, and control the wind."

When Yu Sui closed her eyes and concentrated, establishing a connection with the Five Elements Light Core within her body, three hundred cores responded simultaneously. In that instant, the light cores fought amongst themselves, vowing to carve a path through the pile of three hundred equally powerful cores.

Precisely because there were too many light cores, they were unable to respond to Yu Sui and lend her their power when she needed it most.

This was because the power of each light core was identical.

Their internal struggle yielded no result.

Yu Sui had tried this before, but she couldn't do anything about the ever-increasing number of light cores.

In the past two years, when she attempted to forcefully connect with the light cores, she would instead feel a force obstructing her.

It wasn't the Strange Fire, but another strange yet familiar power originating from within her.

She wasn't accompanied only by the Strange Fire.

There was also the incomplete Primordial Soil.

It was the same now. In the deepest part of her consciousness, the Strange Fire illuminated a small patch of darkness. Within that darkness, something else was hidden, preventing the Strange Fire from consuming the entire area.

"Focus."

Sage Chang Gen's reminder startled Yu Sui.

The meaning of this statement was ambiguous, allowing for many interpretations.

Should she focus on a single Five Elements Light Core, or focus on learning the Wind Riding Technique before her, and not think about anything else?

Yu Sui could only separate the Five Elements Light Cores to control them individually. When the Five Elements Light Cores existed within her body, it was a matter of "a single call brings a hundred responses," making individual control impossible.

Seeing Yu Sui fail, Mei Chengyu asked Sage Chang Gen, "Does she have a Five Elements Light Core?"

Yu Sui opened her eyes dejectedly and looked at Mei Chengyu, saying in a low voice, "I do."

Too many.

Mei Chengyu stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That's truly strange."

She had light cores, yet her talent compatibility was measured at ten percent. If she was considered unsuitable for the Ghost Dao School due to low compatibility, then her compatibility with other schools was also ten percent.

Or perhaps the current mainstream schools were all unsuitable for her?

Sage Chang Gen said, "Don't rush."

Yu Sui thought that if she couldn't learn it tonight, she would have to walk back to the dormitory in the dark. Tomorrow, her legs would truly ache so much she wouldn't be able to get out of bed. She might as well just stay up all night studying here.

She didn't sleep well at night anyway.

Yu Sui adjusted her mindset and stood on the Bagua diagram, continuing to communicate with the Five Elements Light Cores.

Mei Chengyu glanced over. Feeling that her cultivation wouldn't progress anytime soon, he lowered his head and went back to playing with his Listening Wind Ruler.

Xing Chun was having dinner with Zhongli Shan and Cang Shu tonight, so he wasn't bombarding him with messages anymore.

He roughly scanned the messages from others, replying to those he could.

Yu Sui asked Sage Chang Gen many questions.

She asked, "Master, do the techniques born from the Yin-Yang Bagua have no schools?"

Sage Chang Gen replied, "Different schools have different cultivation methods, and the techniques born from the Yin-Yang Bagua are also different. The techniques within the sixty-four hexagrams are universal. Techniques outside the sixty-four hexagrams are different."

Yu Sui suddenly understood. She squatted down and touched the Bagua diagram on the ground. The diagram rotated as her finger traced across it.

"The Yin-Yang Bagua and the Five Elements are the foundation of the Nine Schools Techniques. Because different schools have different pursuits, beliefs, and rules, the Nine Schools Techniques that evolved from them are also different," Sage Chang Gen said. "The Ghost Dao School pursues the highest realm: 'the physical body dissolves, consciousness endures, and unity with heaven and earth is achieved'."

"For thousands of years, the Yin-Yang School has been exploring the ultimate mysteries of the universe."

"The Taoist School seeks eternal life and immortality, the opposite of my Ghost Dao."

"The Military School wanders between life and death, pursuing the extremes of both paths."

"The School of Names assigns belonging to all things, exploring all nameless things on the Xuangu Continent."

Her master's explanation perfectly illustrated how techniques are born from the Dao.

Yu Sui traced the Bagua diagram and pressed down on the character Xun when it rotated to the front.

She once again drew Five Elements Qi from the three hundred Five Elements Light Cores. However, the light cores responded simultaneously, competed simultaneously, and with the suppression of some power, the result was still the same: none of them could lend their power to Yu Sui.

Yu Sui couldn't help but regret it, as usual.

Did I make a mistake by crushing the first light core? But then again, as long as she can keep creating new light cores, this situation is bound to happen.

How can I resolve this predicament?

Yu Sui opened her eyes, her fingers lightly tapping the Xun character on the Bagua diagram, lost in thought.

Sage Chang Gen and Mei Chengyu didn't disturb her.

When it was late at night, Mei Chengyu looked up from the Listening Wind Ruler and glanced at Yu Sui, who was still squatting on the ground studying the Bagua diagram. He said casually, "You probably won't be able to go back to the dormitory tonight."

Yu Sui didn't look up. "Is Senior Martial Brother leaving?"

Mei Chengyu stood up and walked towards the door. "If you're not sleeping, I am."

Yu Sui scratched her hair, still staring at the Bagua diagram, and replied absentmindedly, "Goodbye, Senior Martial Brother."

At this hour, you're still being polite?

Mei Chengyu, who had reached the door, looked back and saw Yu Sui turn her head to look at another side of the Bagua diagram. In the warm light, he could see her fair neck, glistening with a fine layer of sweat.

Is it hot?

Mei Chengyu didn't feel hot. He pushed open the doors of the main hall, and a cool night breeze rushed in, rustling the scrolls on the table.

Yu Sui was startled by the sound and looked up. She reached out to tuck away a stray strand of hair and turned to see Mei Chengyu standing at the doorway with his back to her.

Mei Chengyu gazed at the Milky Way in the sky for a moment, squinted, and turned back to Yu Sui, saying, "I'm hungry. What do you want to eat? Considering how diligent you are, I'll get you some too."

Yu Sui's stomach happened to rumble softly.

When no one mentioned food, Yu Sui, who was fully focused on her studies, didn't feel hungry. But the moment someone asked her what she wanted to eat, her body honestly responded.

Yu Sui thought for a moment and then listed a string of meat dishes to Mei Chengyu.

Mei Chengyu listened quietly and then sneered, "I'll pick something myself."

Yu Sui: "Okay, thank you, Senior Martial Brother."

Mei Chengyu walked out and sent a message to Xing Chun: "Are you asleep?"

Xing Chun: "Not yet."

Mei Chengyu: "Let's have a late-night snack."

Xing Chun: "I'm coming, I'm coming."

He wasn't sleeping late at night, still watching the celestial movements at the Yin-Yang School. When Mei Chengyu mentioned a late-night snack, he perked up and headed to the dining hall.

The dining hall was open twelve hours a day, never closing.

However, the cost of food late at night was higher than during the day. Because the prices were outrageously high, students resorted to stealing food from the dining hall by their own means.

Following the menu Mei Chengyu provided, Xing Chun, with his excellent footwork, silently packed food from the dining hall.

The two met in front of the Yin-Yang School.

Xing Chun, carrying two large food boxes, said to Mei Chengyu, who was arriving late, "Why did you order so much meat?"

"There's someone else," Mei Chengyu said.

Xing Chun asked curiously, "Who else? Isn't it just you and me?"

"Nangong Sui," Mei Chengyu said, taking one of the food boxes. "I'm eating at the Saint Hall."

Xing Chun was full of questions. "If you're going to the Saint Hall, where do I go?"

Mei Chengyu looked at him.

Xing Chun asked again, "You can get into the Saint Hall, but I can't?"

Mei Chengyu didn't say anything.

Xing Chun quickly compromised, "Alright, we'll eat at the Saint Hall. I don't want to eat alone."

The Yin-Yang School was a bit of a distance from the Ghost Dao School. The two traveled by Wind Riding Technique. Along the way, Xing Chun heard about Mei Chengyu watching Yu Sui learn the Wind Riding Technique from their master.

"Since she has the Five Elements Light Core, why can't she refine the Five Elements Qi to learn the Wind Riding Technique? It doesn't make sense," Xing Chun couldn't figure it out. "And since she has the Five Elements Light Core, why did everyone from Qingyang say she was a normal practitioner? Her family even paid a large tuition fee according to the rules for normal practitioners entering the academy."

Mei Chengyu: "You ask me, who should I ask?"

Xing Chun: "Ask your junior sister!"

Mei Chengyu would never ask.

He wasn't very interested in these questions. What did other people's cultivation have to do with him?

Yu Sui was still struggling with the Wind Riding Technique. She sensed someone approaching from the Strange Fire. Besides Senior Martial Brother Mei Chengyu, there was one other person.

When Mei Chengyu called her, Yu Sui went out and saw Xing Chun standing far away at the entrance of the Saint Hall. Xing Chun, tall and thin, stood alone by the door, holding his food box and looking expectantly towards them, afraid that Mei Chengyu would go back on his word and leave him to eat alone at the main entrance.

In Yu Sui's eyes, Xing Chun had a tall, slender figure and handsome features. At first glance, he looked like those glamorous young masters from noble families in the Imperial Capital. Standing by the distant gate now, he looked like a docile and likable big dog.

Mei Chengyu packed Yu Sui's food into a food box and handed it to her, saying, "You handle it yourself. I'm going to eat over there."

Yu Sui took the food box and walked behind him. "Senior Martial Brother, I don't like eating alone either."

Both of them walked towards Xing Chun at the main entrance.

Only then did Xing Chun feel relieved and open his food box to start eating.

The three ate with great focus, as if eating was their sole purpose, with no other idle chatter. After Yu Sui satisfied her appetite, she tidied up the leftovers and put them into the food box. She then told Mei Chengyu, "Senior Martial Brother, I'm full."

With that, she turned and walked towards the main hall of the Saint Hall.

Mei Chengyu paid her no mind.

After seeing Yu Sui walk away, Xing Chun turned to Mei Chengyu and asked, "Is she planning to practice here all night?"

Mei Chengyu grunted in affirmation.

"Diligent and eager to learn," Xing Chun mumbled around a chicken leg, "She's so hardworking, how could Sheng Zui have the nerve to call his younger sister an idiot?"

Mei Chengyu replied, "His younger sister has a problem with her Five Elements Light Core, not her brain."

Chapter 21

Xing Chun glanced back, and only after seeing Yu Sui enter the main hall did he turn back to Mei Chengyu, quietly gossiping, "I heard Sheng Zui used to dislike Gu Gan and repeatedly picked fights with him because his younger sister liked Gu Gan, but Sheng Zui himself didn't like Gu Gan."

Mei Chengyu shot him a cool, sidelong glance, thinking, "Is he speaking so convolutedly so I can understand, or so I can't?"

Xing Chun paid no attention to whether Mei Chengyu understood. He spoke eloquently in front of an acquaintance, "If my younger sister fell for someone I hated, I'd die of a heart attack. Sheng Zui's attitude towards Gu Gan is completely understandable."

Mei Chengyu pondered for a moment, "Didn't you say before that Gu Gan liked that person from the Legalism School?"

"Xun Zhiya!" Xing Chun snapped his fingers, his spirits rising. "Nangong Sui and Gu Gan were childhood sweethearts, and Gu Gan and Xun Zhiya developed feelings for each other over time at the academy. Sheng Zui must have been even angrier. If it were my younger sister, I'd definitely beat up Gu Gan too. Then he got deducted five points, and another two would have meant demotion."

Mei Chengyu said, "Don't project your sister onto this. You don't have a younger sister."

Xing Chun asked, "Why don't I have a younger sister?"

Mei Chengyu's face was impassive. "Ask your father."

Xing Chun stroked his chin. "It's fine if I don't have a younger sister. Otherwise, if this situation really happened, I'd definitely be too upset to sleep or eat for three days and nights."

The two buried their heads in their food. A moment later, Xing Chun spoke again, "Do you think Cang Shu won't eat with us anymore once Shi Yuezhen returns?"

Mei Chengyu countered, "Do you want to eat with them?"

"Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble, watching them feed each other?" Xing Chun shook his head frantically, then continued, "Yesterday, I saw Xiaoshan standing outside the School of Techniques but not going in. Hasn't he made up with Su Tong yet?"

Mei Chengyu, focused on stripping the meat from a chicken bone, replied without looking up, "Probably not. How long was their last cold war?"

"About two months, I think," Xing Chun thought carefully. "Roughly. It's about time for this one to end too. Once he makes up with Su Tong, it'll just be the two of us eating again."

He took a few bites of meat, then looked up with a serious expression and said to Mei Chengyu, "We made a deal, remember? No skipping meals for women.

Cang Shu and Shi Yuezhen, those childhood sweethearts, are a match made in heaven, so that's one thing. But look at Xiaoshan and Su Tong, breaking up and getting back together, getting back together and breaking up, sweet for a while then a cold war, agonizing over love tens of thousands of times, not to mention their family issues. This is not to be encouraged. Don't learn from them."

Mei Chengyu had finished eating and was picking out small bones, meticulously piecing together the original shape of the roast chicken. "It's you who gets approached by pretty girls every day, right?"

"You do too, but you ignore them. Well done," Xing Chun said, patting his shoulder with relief.

Mei Chengyu's hand trembled from the pat, and the half-assembled chicken he had just put together collapsed. He said to Xing Chun expressionlessly, "Put it back together."

Xing Chun picked up the pieces and reassembled them for him. The two chatted idly.

They talked about their good brothers' love lives, then about the food in the dining hall, then about their new roommates, and finally about their own cultivation problems.

"I've been stuck at the Ninth Realm for a year. I feel a bottleneck, that feeling of being just a little bit away from breaking through, just a little bit," Xing Chun gestured with his hand. "I've been immersing myself in the Star Sea for two months, but I still couldn't comprehend the Divine Soul of the Tenth Realm."

Xing Chun clasped his hands together and then opened them, and a star map of the Silver River appeared out of thin air, glittering in the night. The densely packed stars on the map twinkled with a faint blue light.

Mei Chengyu sat next to him, propping his head with one hand, and helped observe the changes in the star map.

He asked, "Which direction are you observing the stars from?"

Xing Chun pointed, "The south, the Seven Mansions of Vermilion Bird. Its position is fixed, but the surrounding stars have undergone three hundred and sixty rotations. According to my teacher, if the main star remains unchanged and the subordinate stars revolve, the number of rotations indicates the number of changes."

Mei Chengyu looked at the star map and said calmly, "It needs to stop rotating. Or, if it can maintain within three rotations, there's a chance. Your Yin-Yang School emphasizes the constancy of stars. You're observing the Seven Mansions of Vermilion Bird with three hundred and sixty rotations, which means too many changes. Try something else."

Xing Chun sighed, "I've observed all four directional star mansions, and they're all over a hundred rotations."

Mei Chengyu nodded and said slowly, "Go to the sacrificial rites and see."

Xing Chun replied, "I won't."

Mei Chengyu said, "Then observe again."

Xing Chun looked at him. "Don't you have any cultivation troubles you can tell me about, just to make me happy?"

Mei Chengyu thought for a moment. "Actually, no."

Xing Chun: "..."

Mei Chengyu continued to help Xing Chun observe the star map.

Although he had also reached a bottleneck in his cultivation, he wasn't anxious because he had already found a solution.

The sky began to lighten, and the night mist dissipated. The small white flowers on the climbing vines, adorned with dewdrops, fell from their petals to the ground.

The morning mist in spring was heavy, and the chill reached the hearts of the two people sitting at the entrance. Xing Chun, sitting by the door, stretched and rubbed his eyes, saying, "It's dawn."

Mei Chengyu stood up and said, "I'm going back to the dormitory."

"I'll go back to sleep too," Xing Chun said, getting up. He tidied up his food box and picked it up, asking, "Is your junior martial sister still studying inside?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Sui ran out of the main hall of the Saint Hall.

Yu Sui ran towards them from afar.

Yu Sui exclaimed, "Huh? Senior Martial Brother, why are you still here?"

Although she knew they hadn't left, she still had to pretend.

Mei Chengyu didn't answer, only asking, "Learned it?"

Yu Sui shook her head, "No."

Mei Chengyu chuckled and pointed in a direction, "The Yin-Yang School is quite far, go run."

Yu Sui ran off.

Xing Chun sighed, "She's working hard. This child will surely become a Saint in the future."

The great Yu Sui ran all the way to the Yin-Yang School.

It was just dawning, and she hadn't slept all night. When she reached the Yin-Yang School, her head felt fuzzy. She stood leaning against a wall for a while before recovering.

There were students on the road also getting up early, but they were all leisurely, not in a hurry. They were surprised to see Yu Sui running on the road.

Yu Sui squatted down, leaning against the wall, drawing a Bagua diagram on the ground with a twig. When she reached the character Xun, she tapped it with the twig, looking thoughtful.

After repeated trials last night, plus her Master's guidance, Yu Sui had a new understanding of the light cores within her body.

As there was no one nearby, Yu Sui quietly separated a light core from the Strange Fire, attempting to absorb its Five Elements Qi. However, this power was firmly locked by the light core. She could control the separated Five Elements Light Core individually, but she couldn't extract the Five Elements Qi from it.

She also couldn't crush all the light cores down to just one. As soon as she tried to draw Five Elements Qi from a light core, the maximum number of light cores she possessed would instantly be generated.

Her Master said, "Your Five Elements Light Core is resisting some kind of power."

Yu Sui was certain it wasn't the Strange Fire.

Excluding the Strange Fire, only the Primordial Soil remained.

The Agricultural School's treasured item, Primordial Soil, had the effect of endless vitality. It was most suitable for the Agricultural School's Nine Schools Techniques and was what they needed most.

Yu Sui did not cultivate the Agricultural School's Nine Schools Techniques, and she only had half of the Primordial Soil.

Possessing a deficient treasured item might bring more harm than good.

Yu Sui's focus had always been on the Strange Fire and the Communication Array. She had rarely researched the Primordial Soil because it seemed to be quietly residing within her, showing no reaction.

It wasn't until the last two years, when she tried to extract the power of the Five Elements from the Five Elements Light Core, that she felt something was wrong. And this wrongness seemed related to the Primordial Soil.

She asked herself, how? Should she strip away the Primordial Soil?

Then she would die.

Yu Sui propped her face with her hands, frowning in deep thought.

In the following days, Yu Sui was troubled by this matter, traveling back and forth between the Yin-Yang School and the Taoist Saint Hall, studying day and night without sleep. Mei Chengyu would occasionally visit the Taoist Saint Hall to chat with his Master. Every evening, he could see his Junior Martial Sister, who didn't sleep.

One evening, Mei Chengyu saw Yu Sui tracing the Bagua diagram in the Main Hall of the Saint Hall. He said with an inscrutable expression, "You can't achieve Physical Body Dissolution and Eternal Consciousness yet. If you get exhausted to death, you'll really be dead."

Yu Sui replied without turning her head, "I rested during the day."

Mei Chengyu raised an eyebrow slightly, "Didn't that old man from the Yin-Yang School scold you?"

Yu Sui, who was squatting and fiddling with the Bagua diagram, paused. She touched her cheek and said, "He did, quite fiercely. It was pretty scary."

She had to admit that when the old man's eyes, sharp as blades, looked at her, even if she wanted to sleep, she was startled awake by that gaze. Back in the Imperial Academy, the instructors, out of respect for her status as a County Princess, never dared to reprimand her for sleeping in class. After coming to Taiyi Academy, the teachers here were all powerful cultivators of the Thirteenth Realm, and not all of them were from Qingyang. They wouldn't indulge her.

Mei Chengyu walked to the table and sat down, "What did he scold you for?"

Yu Sui recalled, "Improper attitude towards learning."

Mei Chengyu nodded.

"Getting ahead of yourself because you understand some basics, not knowing your place, disappointing your parents, and behaving badly." Before Yu Sui could finish, Mei Chengyu interrupted, "Then why don't you complain to Master?"

"Huh?" Yu Sui turned to look at him. Under the lamplight, a thin sheen of sweat could be seen on her nose tip. "Complain about what?"

Mei Chengyu slightly lifted his chin, his attitude arrogant. His voice, though cold, didn't carry the aggression and criticism that Jing Yun Kui's did, but instead gave her a sense of security.

"The Yin-Yang School values etiquette and seniority. He thinks you're disrespectful to your master, but he didn't consider that you are Master's disciple. Jing Yun Kui's teacher is our Master's grand-disciple, who later converted to the Yin-Yang School. If we trace it back, this old man should call our Master 'Ancestor Master.' His teacher is your junior disciple. It wouldn't be an exaggeration for him to call you 'Little Ancestor.'"

The person sitting on the chair spoke lazily, yet his words were as sharp as a knife. "You are his senior. But it's not his place to skip that fact and lecture you on the etiquette of respecting your master, and scold you until you're covered in dog blood."

Yu Sui sorted out the relationships and exclaimed in surprise, "Can it be calculated like that?"

Mei Chengyu gestured for her to look at their Master.

Yu Sui looked up at the portrait.

Sage Chang Gen replied, "Yes."

Yu Sui suddenly understood.

She finally knew where her Senior Martial Brother's confidence came from. Besides his own eccentric personality, this seniority suppression indeed made one incredibly confident.

Jing Yun Kui's teaching was indeed strict. For several consecutive days, he publicly criticized Yu Sui for dozing off in front of everyone. She was listening, but occasionally her mind wandered when drowsiness struck.

However, she didn't pay much attention to being scolded.

After Mei Chengyu clarified the relationships for her that evening, Sage Chang Gen visited the Yin-Yang School for a while and returned soon after.

The next day, Yu Sui saw Jing Yun Kui enter the classroom with a terrible expression. He started the lecture directly without any preamble. She tentatively dozed off at her desk for a bit and wasn't called out.

Jing Yun Kui, who had been watching Yu Sui closely to see if she was distracted in the past few days, now acted as if she didn't exist.

Yu Sui finally felt relieved and could take short naps during the day to regain her energy.