Gu Yue's Condition (Bonus Chapter 2)

The hissing sound echoed throughout the Sea God Pavilion, even causing the usually composed Long Yeyue to slightly narrow her eyes.

Feng Wuyu was the first to jump up, pointing at Yun Jingheng's nose. "You've raised all four of your Soul Ring to 100,000 years? Do you even know what that means? Your dad's cultivation to this point is only --"

He paused, glanced at Yun Ming, swallowed the rest of his sentence, and said instead, "You should be secretly happy."

Yun Jingheng shrugged. "The key is that I need to equip all my Soul Bone before I can see the specific content of the Fourth Trial. I only have three Soul Bone now, and I'm still missing three."

"Three pieces? Didn't you only have two? Where did this extra piece come from?" Tang Yinmeng asked, puzzled.

"The reward for the Third Trial is a Head Soul Bone, which has already been fused."

The room fell silent for a few moments.

Cai Yue'er twirled the pen between her fingers, lost in thought, "To have a complete set of Soul Bone... that's easy to say. It's better not to have Soul Bone of insufficient quality at all. If you need to replace them later, you'll have to go through the ordeal of fusion again."

"So we need to find a good one."

Zhuo Shi opened his eyes and looked at Yun Ming. "Yun Ming, do you know what you're doing?"

Yun Ming held his teacup in silence for a while.

He finished his tea, put it down, and tapped his fingers twice on the table, as if he were making a major decision.

Then he looked up at Yun Jingheng: "I'll think of a way to get a high-quality Soul Bone. Since your aura is so well concealed, why don't you go out and search around for a bit?"

"Dad, you're not going to conjure it up for me, are you?" Yun Jingheng looked at him suspiciously.

Yun Ming didn't answer him, but turned to look out the window.

The afternoon sun shone on the golden tree, casting dappled shadows, and dappled light danced on the window paper.

He remained silent for a long time, then said something that silenced the entire room, "Di Tian should have quite a few good things in his possession."

Zhuo Shi tightened his grip on his arms, and Feng Wuyu's breathing became lighter.

Lan Muzi and Tang Yinmeng exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.

Yun Ming stood up, walked to the window with his back to everyone, and put his hands behind his back. "He has lived for so many years, he must have collected a lot of things. Soul Bone may not be that rare to him, but whether he is willing to give them up depends on how you negotiate."

Ya Li said softly, "Are you going to find him?"

"We have to give it a try, what if it works?"

Long Yeyue replied, "Then I'll go to the War God Temple to ask."

Cai Yue'er looked surprised, after all, they all knew about Elder Long and that person's affair.

"Yue'er, what's with that expression? Would an old woman mistreat her own grandson?"

Cai Yue'er quickly shook her head, "I'll go ask the Tang Sect."

Yun Ming remained silent for a moment, then turned his gaze from the Golden Tree outside the window to Yun Jingheng.

He seemed to be calculating a specific timeframe in his mind, tapping his fingers lightly twice on the edge of the table before saying something that made Yun Jingheng slightly taken aback, "Ye Xinglan, Tang Wulin, and their group of kids have been in Golden Tree for a while now."

Yun Jingheng blinked. "... Yeah, if you count the time, it's been almost two months, right?"

"Aren't you going to go see them?"

Yun Jingheng frowned. "No, thank you... It wouldn't be good to disturb you."

Actually, that's not the case. He had cultivated in the Golden Tree more than once, but each time he felt someone was spying on him. Over time, he became reluctant to go to those rooms.

"Okay, whatever makes you happy."

When Yun Jingheng stepped out of the Sea God Pavilion, the setting sun had already pressed down to the western eaves, filling the entire corridor with warm orange light.

He stretched under the eaves, his knuckles cracking, then put his hands in his pockets and walked out along the stone path.

He walked at a moderate pace, glancing sideways as he passed the direction of the Golden Tree. The enormous ancient tree glowed with a faint golden halo in the twilight, its canopy quietly shrouding the roofs of several cultivation rooms, with lights faintly shining through the paper windows.

Ye Xinglan and Tang Wulin are probably cultivating inside.

Yun Jingheng watched for a while, then looked away and didn't turn in that direction.

He walked through the Inner Court and along a path lined with sycamore trees, the fallen leaves swirling at his feet.

When he reached the fork in the road, he paused, thought for a moment, and then turned onto the left-hand road—that was the Work-Study Student Dormitory area for the students of the Outer Court, and Gu Yue's little house was at the end of the road.

He stopped in front of the cabin.

The window was lit, and warm yellow light shone through the gaps in the curtains, vaguely revealing a figure sitting at a table, seemingly turning the pages of a book.

Yun Jingheng stood downstairs, looked up at the window, and then knocked on the door downstairs.

No one answered.

He knocked twice more, and the door opened from the inside. Gu Yue stood in the doorway, holding a book in one hand and smoothing her long hair over her shoulder with the other. When she saw it was him, she raised an eyebrow slightly.

Why are you here?

"Just passing by," Yun Jingheng said.

Gu Yue glanced at the road behind him.

He withdrew his gaze, stepped aside to let the door open, and said, "Come in."

Yun Jingheng followed her into the house.

The small room was clean and tidy. Two books and a half-cold cup of tea were spread out on the table, indicating that she had indeed been reading.

Yun Jingheng sat down in the chair, naturally reaching for the teapot on the table to pour himself a cup. He picked it up, took a sip, and frowned. "It's cold."

"Can't you continue it yourself?"

Gu Yue sat down opposite him, closed her book and put it aside, looking at him with a hint of scrutiny in her eyes, "Why are you so free today?"

"If you can conceal your breath, you will be free."

Yun Jingheng put down the herbal tea, leaned back in his chair, and looked at her. "Come out for some fresh air."

Gu Yue didn't speak, but just quietly watched him for a few moments.

Her eyes had a very faint purple halo under the light. It wasn't usually very noticeable, but after spending a lot of time with her, Yun Jingheng had learned to catch that almost imperceptible change from certain angles.

Each time she uses the sealing power, a fleeting purple hue appears deep within her pupils, like a patch of dark water surfacing from the bottom of a lake.

"Your cultivation has progressed quite a bit recently."

Gu Yue suddenly spoke, her tone calm, but Yun Jingheng noticed that her fingers, which were resting on the spine of the book, tightened slightly. "I heard Teacher Cai mention that Teacher Wu is no longer a match for you."

"Who said that? The Teacher Wu was just letting me win."

"He never gives way to others." Gu Yue glanced at him, her lips twitching as if she wanted to laugh but held it back. "Don't be modest in front of me, it's not like we just met yesterday."

Yun Jingheng smiled but didn't reply.

He picked up the glass of iced tea and took another sip. This time he didn't frown. After putting it down, he twirled his fingers around the rim of the glass twice, as if he were carefully considering his words.

Seeing his expression of "wanting to say something but not knowing how to start," Gu Yue spoke first, "You came to me just to ask for a cup of herbal tea?"

"Of course not." Yun Jingheng put down his cup, sat up a little straighter, and asked, "Does your Star Dou Great Forest have any spare high-quality Soul Bone?"

Gu Yue's eyebrows twitched slightly. "Soul Bone? You're missing Soul Bone?"

"Missing. Not missing at all."

Yun Jingheng counted on his fingers, "I have the head, the torso bones, and the left arm. I'm missing the legs and the right arm. I urgently need to equip myself with a complete set of Soul Bone before I can begin the Fourth Trial."

After listening, Gu Yue remained silent for a while.

She placed her hand on the table, her fingertips tapping absently, her gaze fixed on the extinguished oil lamp on the corner of the table, as if she were thinking about something.

"High-quality Soul Bone are rare on the continent. Most of them are held by powerful forces or large families. What you can buy on the market are mostly below the ten-thousand-year level, and their quality varies greatly."

"I do have quite a few good ones."

Yun Jingheng's eyes lit up. "Is this really true?!"

Gu Yue her eyes at him. "Of course, but—"

Gu Yue looked at him earnestly, "Beg me."

Yun Jingheng was taken aback for a moment, then immediately transformed into a sycophant, showering him with concern and offering to massage his shoulders and legs.