Missing Thoughts

Afterward, Yu Sui checked the communication array in Qingyang Imperial Capital for Zhongli Que. Miss Chu, after returning, hadn't sent any messages via the Listening Wind Ruler, nor did anyone at her clinic mention Chu Jin's visit to the Zhongli family in their Listening Wind Ruler messages.

At least, based on the messages on the Listening Wind Ruler, Chu Jin hadn't mentioned anything about the Zhongli family to outsiders.

Yu Sui contacted Old Man Yan to ask about Chu Jin's visit to the King's Mansion to see Lady Su.

Old Man Yan was slow to reply. He didn't even like using the Listening Wind Ruler. If it weren't for the fact that it could contact Yu Sui, he wouldn't have looked at it at all.

When Yu Sui first gave Old Man Yan the Listening Wind Ruler, he hadn't even glanced at it, silently dismissing the thing.

Yu Sui tried her best to persuade him, telling him that the Listening Wind Ruler was absolutely safe and that no one in the world could extract any information from his Listening Wind Ruler.

Old Man Yan remained indifferent.

Finally, Yu Sui said that if he didn't use the Listening Wind Ruler, he wouldn't be able to contact her, and she wouldn't be able to contact him. By then, he wouldn't even know if she had died.

Only then did Old Man Yan start using the Listening Wind Ruler, which he clearly despised.

Later, Yu Sui observed Old Man Yan's speed and methods in handling various messages on the Listening Wind Ruler, guessing that he was likely someone from the Yan Kingdom's Communication Institute, or at least had worked there.

Yu Sui waited patiently for a while until she received Old Man Yan's reply: "She didn't see her."

A moment later, Old Man Yan added, "No need to worry."

Yu Sui stared at the message from Old Man Yan for a long time. Her fingers tapped lightly on the fill-in-the-blanks. After a long while, she replied with a single word: "Okay."

The sunlight hid in the dark clouds. A strong wind picked up in the afternoon, and it looked like there would be a torrential downpour that night.

The weather changed abruptly. The wind made the fruit trees sway, and the green fruits hanging on the branches dangled precariously. A few rolled to the ground and scurried away.

Yu Sui's clothes and hair fluttered wildly in the sudden strong wind. She carried the food box into the main hall against the gale.

After placing the food box on the table, Yu Sui walked back to the door. A gust of cool wind blew into her face, forcing her to turn her head to avoid it.

The weather on the island was always unpredictable.

The wind blew out many dead leaves. The rustling sound of falling leaves was muffled. Yu Sui raised her hand to wipe her face and looked back at the portrait. "Master?"

She sensed that Sage Chang Gen had returned.

"I'm here," Sage Chang Gen replied.

Yu Sui raised her hand to shield herself from the strong wind with her sleeve and said, "Is it going to rain tonight?"

"Yes."

"Then should I go back to the dormitory or stay here?" Yu Sui asked herself and answered, "I won't go back until my injuries have healed."

Sage Chang Gen said, "In two more days, you will start learning the introductory Nine Schools Techniques in the Ghost Dao School. There will also be many courses at the academy that you need to adapt to. You can familiarize yourself with the mental cultivation methods while you recover."

This meant she could stay.

Yu Sui then sat back down at the table and picked up the Ghost Dao mental cultivation method written by Mei Chengyu to read.

Sage Chang Gen said, "The Ghost Dao School believes that humans have three souls, six po, and seven consciousnesses. Internal cultivation controls the three souls, cultivates the six po, and strengthens the seven consciousnesses."

Yu Sui listened to his explanation and found the corresponding parts in the mental cultivation method.

"The entry into the Ghost Dao School is to control the soul, stabilize the po, and empty the seven consciousnesses," Sage Chang Gen said. "The Ghost Dao technique requires you to accept and refine each 'self,' to coexist, to grow together, and to overcome each other."

Yu Sui asked, "How many 'selves' does a person have?"

"Three," Sage Chang Gen replied. "The good 'me,' the evil 'me,' and the 'me' that encompasses them."

Yu Sui was somewhat bewildered. "Master, how are these materialized in the Nine Schools Techniques?"

Sage Chang Gen told her to go outside.

Yu Sui obediently went out and came to the stone steps outside the main hall. There were flowers, grass, and fruit trees all around. The wind was strong now, and dark clouds covered the sun. Although it hadn't rained yet, there were signs of an impending downpour everywhere.

The unripe green apricot fruits, blown to the ground by the strong wind, floated in the air, enveloped by the Five Elements Qi, maintaining a distance from Yu Sui.

Yu Sui stood under the apricot tree and looked at the green fruit in front of her.

"Control the soul, separate intent from consciousness, and observe the self. Stabilize the po, ensure that one soul of the self cannot be defeated. Empty the seven consciousnesses, do not take any action before encountering an attack or sensing the Five Elements Qi, and others cannot perceive your Five Elements Qi."

Sage Chang Gen's explanation had just finished when Yu Sui saw the floating green fruit come before her eyes. It was so fast that she had no time to dodge, nor could she even perceive it. It bounced off her forehead. It didn't hurt, and it didn't itch. This unripe, green apricot fruit seemed to have merely brushed against her forehead, yet Yu Sui's consciousness felt a heavy blow, as if her soul had been violently shaken.

Yu Sui instinctively reached up to touch her head.

"Master, isn't this too fast?" Yu Sui asked blankly.

"It is your eyes deceiving you, which is why you feel it is fast," Sage Chang Gen said. "When your intent and consciousness separate, observing the self, the speed of the apricot fruit in the eyes of the observed self's physical body will deceive the separated you. You need to use the separated self to feel, which is emptying the seven consciousnesses."

Yu Sui was slightly stunned.

This felt very familiar.

Every time she observed the strange fire at the deepest part of her consciousness, it was as if another self was watching herself.

"Again," Yu Sui said with concentration.

She had vaguely grasped the knack.

The strong wind howled, blowing dead leaves everywhere. The green apricot fruit, held up by Sage Chang Gen's Five Elements Qi, remained steady, unaffected in the slightest.

Yu Sui was hit by the apricot fruit many times. From the initial lack of pain or itchiness to a slight pain afterward, each time she could feel the physical pain, the impact on her consciousness lessened.

The master and disciple duo taught and practiced together as dark clouds gathered overhead, accompanied by rumbling thunder.

When Mei Chengyu arrived, he saw Yu Sui standing under a tree, being hit in the face by green apricot fruits.

A long-forgotten teaching method.

Besides himself, he hadn't seen his Master teach anyone else like this.

Mei Chengyu couldn't help but touch his forehead, recalling how he too had stood in the same spot, under that apricot tree, much younger than Yu Sui and even shorter. He remembered biting into a green apricot fruit, the sourness puckering his face. The young boy under the apricot tree, with a stubborn, unwilling expression, would repeatedly shout "Again!" to his Master, who was nowhere in sight.

34 Chapter 34 (Page 2/2)

Then he was flicked on the forehead and sent flying.

Mei Chengyu looked at Yu Sui, who was clearly being treated gently by his Master, and let out a cold laugh before walking forward.

By then, the sky had completely darkened, night had fallen, and a fierce wind raged. Yu Sui raised her hand to push back her hair, which was blown by the wind. An apricot fruit hit her forehead again and fell to the ground, rolling away.

Mei Chengyu bent down and picked up the unripe apricot fruit.

"Senior Martial Brother," Yu Sui greeted him, holding down her hair.

"Practicing Soul Control," Mei Chengyu said, tossing the apricot fruit in his hand and catching it. He looked at Yu Sui with a half-smile and continued, "Why bother Master with this? I'll practice with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, a clap of thunder echoed from the sky, and a torrential downpour poured down. The apricot fruits hanging from the branches were battered by the wind and rain but stubbornly refused to fall. The sound of the pouring rain drowned out all other noises, with only the thunder competing against it.

Mei Chengyu: "..."

Yu Sui directly used the Wind Riding Technique to flee back to the main hall to take shelter from the rain.

Mei Chengyu also returned to the main hall of the Saint Hall, holding the unripe apricot fruit.

The rain poured down like a waterfall. Yu Sui looked expectantly at Mei Chengyu, who had followed her, still holding the apricot fruit.

Sage Chang Gen said to the two of them, "The rain will last until dawn. That's all for today's practice."

Yu Sui nodded.

Mei Chengyu glanced at her and threw the apricot fruit to her. Yu Sui caught it and heard him say, "If you're not practicing anymore, eat it."

"Senior Martial Brother, this apricot isn't ripe yet," Yu Sui reminded him kindly.

Mei Chengyu said with a straight face, "It's ripe. Your physical eyes are deceiving you. Try a bite if you don't believe me."

Yu Sui: "..."

She grabbed her sleeve and wiped the apricot fruit. Under Mei Chengyu's patient gaze, she placed the apricot fruit beneath the portrait of their Master.

Yu Sui said, "If it's ripe, let Master eat it first."

Mei Chengyu said with an inscrutable expression, "How will Master eat it?"

Yu Sui said earnestly, "Master has his own way of eating."

Sage Chang Gen fell silent. Mei Chengyu stared at Yu Sui, who pretended to know nothing and walked back to her table, picked up the Ghost Dao School cultivation manual, and pretended to read it.

A moment later, Mei Chengyu shifted his gaze to the portrait of Sage Chang Gen and said lazily, "I came to ask Master something. When will the Five Elements Water Field, which was burned by the Strange Fire, be repaired?"

Yu Sui's eyes reflected the black text on the white paper, but her gaze was frozen.

She had never imagined that something she had hidden with all her might would be mentioned in such a casual and ordinary tone.

Yu Sui's gaze uncontrollably drifted towards Mei Chengyu beside her. He stood in the main hall, twirling his Listening Wind Ruler, as nonchalant and unconcerned as ever.

Mei Chengyu looked at the portrait of Sage Chang Gen and spoke of the Strange Fire without any extra expression or emotion, simply uttering the two words "Strange Fire."

"It will take another year," Sage Chang Gen replied. "The damage was too severe. The balance of the Five Elements Qi there was broken, and all the Nine Schools Techniques previously set up are gone. They need to be reinstalled."

"A year," Mei Chengyu mused. "So I still can't go this year?"

Sage Chang Gen replied, "You can, but you can't stay long."

Mei Chengyu leaned against his table, tapping the surface with his finger. "Then if I force Wei Kun into the Five Elements Water Field and let him be killed by the not-yet-fully-repaired Nine Schools Techniques inside, and then claim it was an accident, who will be responsible?"

Sage Chang Gen: "You."

Mei Chengyu: "Oh."

Yu Sui: "..."

Perhaps the unluckiest person was Wei Kun, who was constantly being schemed against for his life.

Perhaps it was Yu Sui's hesitant gaze that made Mei Chengyu uncomfortable. He looked back at her and said, "What are your thoughts? Speak."

"What is the Five Elements Water Field?" Yu Sui feigned ignorance. "How could it be burned by Strange Fire? Is Strange Fire that powerful?"

"It's a place where the Five Elements power can be drawn to create life techniques," Mei Chengyu said in a measured tone. "What can't Strange Fire burn? It can burn me, too. As for how powerful it is, haven't you heard the Xuangu prophecy about the stars shattering?"

Yu Sui let out a soft "Ah" and nodded. "I've heard of it."

She put on an eager-to-learn expression and said, "Hundreds of years ago, the stars shattered. It was said that five world-ending individuals would bring Strange Fire to the continent, capable of destroying heaven and earth."

Mei Chengyu tapped his Listening Wind Ruler and said, "That thing is indeed powerful. It burns everything, can burn anything, and wants to burn everything."

"Senior Martial Brother, aren't you afraid?" Yu Sui looked at him eagerly. "It sounds like nothing can stop it. If it starts burning, it will truly be the end of the world?"

Mei Chengyu put away his Listening Wind Ruler, his gaze surprisingly patient as he looked back at Yu Sui. He smiled slightly and said, "Then let it be the end of the world."

Yu Sui was captivated by his eyes at that moment. His dark pupils, tinged with a faint smile, were like an unfathomable abyss, hiding a chilling power.

Sage Chang Gen's consciousness invaded the two Daos: "Your Senior Martial Brother attempted to destroy the world three times and was stopped. In the future, never bring up this topic with him alone."

Yu Sui: ""

Three, three times?

Mei Chengyu tugged at the corner of his lips, a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He withdrew his gaze and glanced at the portrait. "Master, why are you scaring her? If my timid and delicate Junior Martial Sister gets frightened and decides to leave the sect, don't blame me."

The timid and delicate Junior Martial Sister placed the paper in her hand on the table and turned to face her nonchalant Senior Martial Brother.

This time, it was Yu Sui's turn to stare at Mei Chengyu.

Mei Chengyu looked back and asked, "What are you looking at?"

"I'm curious," Yu Sui answered honestly.

Mei Chengyu stated decisively, "Hold it in. Don't ask. Even if you ask, I won't tell you."

Yu Sui said "Oh" and continued to look at him.

Mei Chengyu raised an eyebrow. "What else are you looking at?"

"Senior Martial Brother, if you don't want to say, I won't ask," Yu Sui said with a smile, her eyes sparkling. "I'll just keep looking until I'm no longer curious."