Missing Thoughts Literature

Afterward, Yu Sui helped Zhongli Que check the Communication Array in Qingyang Imperial Capital. After Miss Chu returned, she didn't send a message through the Listening Wind Ruler, and none of the messages from the people at her medical clinic mentioned Chu Jin going to the Zhongli Family.

At least judging from the messages on the Listening Wind Ruler, Chu Jin hadn't mentioned the Zhongli Family to anyone.

Yu Sui contacted Old Man Yan and asked him about Chu Jin going to the royal residence to treat Lady Su.

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

When Yu Sui had first given Old Man Yan a Listening Wind Ruler, the old man hadn't even looked at it, silently scorning the thing.

Yu Sui had tried every way she could think of to persuade him, telling him the Listening Wind Ruler was absolutely safe, and that no one in the world could dig any information out of his.

Old Man Yan had remained unmoved.

In the end, Yu Sui had told him that if he didn't use the Listening Wind Ruler, they wouldn't be able to contact each other—and if she died, he wouldn't even know.

Only then had Old Man Yan started using the Listening Wind Ruler he despised so much.

Later, seeing how quickly and skillfully Old Man Yan handled all sorts of messages on the Listening Wind Ruler, Yu Sui guessed he might well have worked for the Yan Kingdom's Communication Institute. At the very least, he'd definitely spent time there.

Yu Sui waited patiently for a while before Old Man Yan replied: "She didn't see her."

A little later, Old Man Yan added: "Don't worry."

Yu Sui stared at the message from Old Man Yan for a long time, her fingers lightly tapping the character field. After a long while, she replied with just one word: "Okay."

The sunlight hid behind the clouds. A strong wind picked up in the afternoon, and it looked as though a torrential downpour was coming that night.

The sudden change in weather sent the fruit trees swaying. The green fruit hanging from the branches trembled on the verge of falling; a few rolled to the ground and went bouncing a long way.

The sudden gusts tossed Yu Sui's clothes and hair as she braved the wind and carried a food box into the hall.

After setting the food box on the table, Yu Sui walked back to the doorway. A sudden blast of cool wind hit her in the face, making her turn her head to avoid it.

The weather on the island was always changeable.

The wind swept out piles of dry leaves. Their rustling filled the air as they danced about. Yu Sui wiped her face with one hand, then turned back to the portrait. "Master?"

She sensed that Sage Chang Gen had returned.

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

Yu Sui raised her sleeve to shield herself from the gale and asked, "Is it going to rain tonight?"

"Yes."

"Then should I go back to the dormitory or stay here?" Yu Sui answered her own question. "I'd better not go back until my injuries have healed."

Sage Chang Gen said, "In two days, you'll begin studying the introductory Nine Schools Techniques of the Ghost Dao School. The academy also has many courses you'll need to get used to. You can familiarize yourself with the cultivation methods while you recover."

In other words, she could stay here.

Yu Sui sat back down at the table and picked up the Ghost Dao School cultivation manual Mei Chengyu had written for her.

Sage Chang Gen said, "The Ghost Dao School believes that people have Three Souls and Six Po, as well as seven senses. Internal Cultivation controls the three souls of the self, cultivates the six po, and strengthens the seven senses."

Yu Sui listened to his explanation and found the corresponding passage in the manual.

"The Ghost Dao School's introductory lessons begin with controlling the soul, stabilizing the po, and emptying all seven senses," Sage Chang Gen said. "The Ghost Dao Technique requires you to accept and refine every 'self' within you. They give rise to and accompany one another, merging and counteracting each other."

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

"Three," Sage Chang Gen answered. "The good 'self,' the evil 'self,' and the 'self' that embraces them both."

Yu Sui was still a little confused. "Master, how do these things manifest in the Nine Schools Techniques?"

Sage Chang Gen told her to go outside.

Yu Sui obediently went out and stood at the bottom of the stone steps outside the hall. Flowers, plants, and fruit trees surrounded her. The wind was strong, and dark clouds blocked the sun. Though it hadn't started raining yet, everything bore the signs of an approaching storm.

The unripe green apricots that the wind had knocked to the ground floated in the air, held aloft by Five Elements Qi and kept at a distance from Yu Sui.

Yu Sui stood beneath an apricot tree and looked at one of the green fruits ahead.

"Controlling the soul means separating intent from consciousness to observe the self. Stabilizing the po means observing one soul of the self so that it cannot be defeated. When all seven senses are empty, you must take no action before you're attacked or sense Five Elements Qi, and others won't be able to sense your Five Elements Qi either."

As soon as Sage Chang Gen finished explaining, the floating apricot shot toward Yu Sui. It was so fast she had no time to dodge—or even notice it—before it bounced off her forehead. It didn't hurt, but the unripe, tart apricot seemed only to brush lightly against her forehead. Yet Yu Sui's consciousness felt as though it had been struck hard, and her soul seemed to shudder violently.

Yu Sui instinctively reached up to touch her head.

"Master, isn't that too fast?" she asked in a daze.

"It was your eyes that deceived you, making you think it was fast," Sage Chang Gen said. "When your intent and consciousness separate and you observe the self, the speed of the apricot as seen by the physical eyes of the self being observed will deceive the you that has separated. You need to sense it with the self that has separated—in other words, with all seven senses empty."

Yu Sui listened, momentarily stunned.

It felt familiar somehow.

Whenever she observed the strange flame deep in her consciousness, it was as if another version of herself were watching her.

"Again," Yu Sui said, concentrating.

She had a vague sense of how to do it now.

The gale howled, whipping dry leaves all around, yet the green apricot held aloft by Sage Chang Gen's Five Elements Qi remained steady, completely unaffected.

The apricot struck Yu Sui many times. At first she felt nothing, but gradually it began to hurt a little. Whenever she could feel the pain in her physical body, the impact on her consciousness lessened.

Master and disciple taught and practiced as they went. When the dark clouds pressed overhead, thunder rumbled again and again.

When Mei Chengyu arrived, he saw Yu Sui standing beneath the tree with green apricots flying at her face.

A teaching method he hadn't seen in a long time.

Aside from himself, he'd never seen Master teach anyone this way.

Mei Chengyu couldn't help touching his forehead, remembering how he'd once stood in the same spot beneath that apricot tree. He'd been much younger than Yu Sui, and shorter too. The green apricots had been just as tart, puckering his whole face with a single bite. The little boy beneath the tree had stubbornly refused to give up, shouting "Again!" over and over to his unseen master.

Then an apricot had smacked him squarely in the forehead and sent him flying.

Mei Chengyu gazed at Yu Sui, whom Master was clearly treating gently, gave a quiet, derisive laugh, and strode over.

By then, night had fully fallen. The wind roared as Yu Sui pressed down her wind-tossed hair. Once again, an apricot bumped her forehead, fell to the ground, and rolled away.

Mei Chengyu bent down and picked up the unripe apricot.

"Senior Martial Brother." Yu Sui held down her hair and greeted him.

"Practicing soul control?" Mei Chengyu tossed the apricot in his hand and caught it, looking at Yu Sui with a half-smile. "Why bother Master with something like this? I'll practice with you."

As soon as he finished speaking, a clap of thunder sounded overhead. Torrential rain poured down upon the earth. The apricots hanging from the branches endured the wind and rain, stubbornly clinging on, while the roar of the downpour drowned out every other sound. Only the thunder could rival it.

Mei Chengyu: "..."

Yu Sui immediately used the Wind Riding Technique to dash back into the hall and take shelter.

Mei Chengyu returned to the Saint Hall Main Hall with the unripe apricot in his hand.

The rain poured down in sheets. Yu Sui gazed at Mei Chengyu, who had followed her inside, still holding the apricot.

Sage Chang Gen said to them, "The rain will stop at dawn. That's enough practice for today."

Yu Sui nodded.

Mei Chengyu glanced at her and tossed her the apricot. Yu Sui caught it as he said, "If you're done practicing, eat it."

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

Mei Chengyu's expression didn't change. "It's ripe. Your physical eyes are deceiving you. Try a bite if you don't believe me."

Yu Sui: "..."

She wiped the apricot with her sleeve and, under Mei Chengyu's patient gaze, placed it beneath her master's portrait.

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

Mei Chengyu's expression was hard to read. "How do you expect Master to eat it?"

Yu Sui answered solemnly, "Master has his own way of eating it."

Sage Chang Gen fell silent. Mei Chengyu stared at Yu Sui. She pretended not to know anything and went back to her table, picking up the Ghost Dao School manual and making a show of reading it.

Only after a moment did Mei Chengyu look away and turn his gaze to Sage Chang Gen's portrait. Lazily, he said, "I came to ask Master something. When will the Five Elements Water Field that was burned by the strange flame be repaired?"

Yu Sui's eyes reflected the black characters on white paper, but her gaze had already gone blank.

She had never imagined that the thing she'd gone to such lengths to hide could be mentioned so casually.

Yu Sui's gaze involuntarily shifted to Mei Chengyu beside her. He stood in the hall, still spinning the Listening Wind Ruler in his hand, as lazy and indifferent as ever.

Mei Chengyu looked at Sage Chang Gen's portrait. When he mentioned the strange flame, there wasn't a trace of extra emotion or expression on his face. He had simply spoken the words "strange flame."

"It will take another year," Sage Chang Gen replied. "The damage was severe, and the balance of Five Elements Qi there was disrupted. All the Nine Schools Techniques that had been set up before are gone as well. They'll need to be put in place again."

"A year." Mei Chengyu pondered. "So we still can't go this year?"

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

Mei Chengyu leaned against his desk and tapped its surface with one finger. "Then if I drive Wei Kun into the Five Elements Water Field, let the not-yet-fully-repaired Nine Schools Techniques inside kill him, and say it was an accident, who would be responsible?"

Sage Chang Gen: "You."

Mei Chengyu: "Oh."

Yu Sui: "..."

Perhaps the only person more unfortunate than her was Wei Kun, who was on Mei Chengyu's mind every day as he came up with ways to take his life.

Perhaps Yu Sui's hesitant look was bothering Mei Chengyu. He turned to her. "If you have something to say, go ahead."

"What's the Five Elements Water Field?" Yu Sui asked, pretending to be confused. "How did it get burned by the strange flame? Is the strange flame really that powerful?"

"It's a place where Five Elements Power can be drawn upon to create life techniques," Mei Chengyu said evenly. "What doesn't the strange flame burn? It even burns me. As for whether it's powerful, haven't you heard the ancient 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. "The stars shattered several hundred years ago, and it was said there were five people who would bring strange flames to the continent and destroy the world."

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

"Senior Martial Brother, aren't you afraid?" Yu Sui gazed at him. "It sounds like nothing can stop it. If it starts burning, the world really will be destroyed, won't it?"

Mei Chengyu put away the Listening Wind Ruler and looked back at Yu Sui with a surprising amount of patience. He smiled faintly. "Then let it be destroyed."

Yu Sui was drawn to his eyes. His deep black gaze, edged with a faint smile, was like an abyss with no bottom, hiding a power that sent a chill through her.

Sage Chang Gen's consciousness intruded upon the two of them. "Your senior brother has tried to destroy the world three times and been stopped. From now on, never bring up such topics with him when you're alone."

Yu Sui: "..."

T-three times?

Mei Chengyu's lips twitched. The smile in his eyes flickered as he turned away and glanced at the portrait. "Master, why are you scaring her? If my timid, fragile junior martial sister gets so frightened she leaves the sect, don't blame me."

The timid, fragile junior martial sister set down the paper in her hand and turned to look at her nonchalant senior martial brother.

This time, Yu Sui stared at Mei Chengyu.

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

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

Mei Chengyu replied without hesitation, "Keep it to yourself. Don't ask. Even if you do, I won't tell you."

Yu Sui said, "Oh," and continued looking at him.

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

"If you don't want to tell me, I won't ask," Yu Sui said, her eyes curving into a bright smile. "I'll just keep looking until I'm no longer curious."