Reverse-Knocking Heart-Sound Brocade Net

Zhang Qiwei's gaze was calm.

Yet perhaps because she had cultivated the Little Thought Primordial Furnace Fire-Nurturing Art to an exceedingly profound level, Liu Dongqing always felt that beneath those placid eyes lay the violent churning of the Seven Emotions—as though thoughts had been boiled to a fierce, scalding heat.

Liu Dongqing's mind jolted violently, and the disturbance it caused within his Mud Pill Purple Mansion surpassed even the silent clash from that fleeting instant just now.

Oh no, had I laid it on too thick?

But in that flash of lightning and spark, he could no longer remain silent.

So, as though he had failed to catch the implication in Zhang Qiwei's words, he merely smiled foolishly.

"Senior Sister, this disciple is staying right here at Sunward Dao Academy, tending the Jade Cloud Fruit properly while cultivating diligently. I still hope that one day, I may enter Rising Mist Dao Academy...

Go with you? Where would we be going?"

At this, Zhang Qiwei was briefly stunned.

She continued to gaze at Liu Dongqing, yet he could sense that the churning Seven Emotions in the depths of her bright eyes were gradually calming.

But that blazing temperature did not seem to have diminished in the slightest.

She restrained some irrepressible impulse, but her "interest" in Liu Dongqing had not lessened at all.

"Earlier, Senior Brother Hou said that your Seven Emotions Enter the Flame had caught a glimpse of the threshold. I was half-convinced at the time, but seeing it now, this was far more than merely glimpsing the threshold. The Lesser Thought Art I created has clearly reached a true level of mastery in your hands!

What talent—truly, what talent!

When you refined that treasure pill from the Jade Cloud Fruit just now, I was thinking that if you possessed such talent, remaining on Departure Peak might be burying your gifts. Thunder Peak and Water Peak would be your proper destinations.

But now, I see that your natural endowment is deep and multifaceted. If you can make the path work, supporting Li Fire with water and wood, then even the Yang Fire Path may not bury your gifts."

Liu Dongqing understood inwardly.

Whether when she descended in the form of heavenly fire just now, or when she stared at him and invited him away, Zhang Qiwei had been employing a more sophisticated method of Heavenly Light Bewildering Spirit.

He had withstood it repeatedly. Though he had not truly struck back, he had nevertheless revealed part of the foundational depths of his cultivation.

That was both good and bad.

The good was that this display of hidden strength had ultimately extinguished the momentary "desire" that had flared up within Zhang Qiwei. She had completely abandoned the thought of forcibly claiming Liu Dongqing as her Dao Slave, and instead began to take him more seriously.

But the bad was that Zhang Qiwei's "covetousness" toward Liu Dongqing would likely no longer be a passing whim. Instead, it would take root in her mind in reverse.

Once that covetous thought continued to take root and sprout.

When it broke through the soil, when it grew into a towering tree.

Perhaps Zhang Qiwei would resort to soft words failing, hard measures following.

As he pondered, Liu Dongqing smiled and clasped his hands.

"This junior brother thinks Departure Peak is quite good. The Yang Fire Path's Seven Emotions Enter the Flame method is also exceptionally exquisite. Besides, if this junior brother had entered the lineages of Thunder Peak or Water Peak, how could I have the chance I have now to assist Senior Sister in contending for the position?"

It was flattery, but also a silent reminder.

They were still in the midst of contending for the position. It would be best not to press unnecessarily upon his "hidden strength," lest complications arise and breed further twists and turns.

Sure enough.

As his words fell, the final ripples of Seven Emotions, stirred by flame-light in Zhang Qiwei's eyes, vanished completely like smoke.

She tilted her head to look at the freshly turned field, then looked back at Liu Dongqing. When she spoke again, it was almost as if she were trying to justify everything she had done just now.

"Of course. This opportunity is naturally an excellent one, and Junior Brother has been most diligent.

And... to speak honestly, the potency of the new Jade Cloud Fruit you have tended is so exquisite and gentle that it has truly surpassed even my expectations.

Precisely because it is so good, concern threw me into disorder. I feared that you might suffer some unnecessary mishap amid the turbulence of this struggle for position.

I thought that if you accompanied me to Rising Mist Dao Academy, where I could protect you completely, it would be more secure.

But since you are unwilling, there has never been any sense in forcing another against their will.

Still, that makes dealing with Senior Brother Zhao's move against you the urgent matter at hand.

Had I known you could tend spiritual ingredients this well, I should not have dragged you into the whirlpool of this struggle for position that day."

Zhang Qiwei was visibly somewhat regretful.

In that lightning-flash instant, Liu Dongqing's thoughts turned slightly, and he followed the current by revealing a troubled expression.

"But things have already come to this..."

Hearing this, Zhang Qiwei sighed as well.

"Yes, things have already come to this. Whatever we say now is too late. What must be faced must ultimately be faced."

As she spoke, Zhang Qiwei carefully examined Liu Dongqing once more, as though contemplating something. Then she continued.

"At a time like this, it is already too late for me to teach you some other arts. Distant water cannot put out a nearby fire.

Since your Lesser Thought Formula has already reached a level of mastery...

I have here a Dao scripture called the Brocade-Weaving Heaven-Draping Might Art. It is half an auxiliary Dao art and half a killing spell.

Used in internal cultivation, it can turn proper thoughts into hair-fine needles, stripping away and driving out the various Seven Emotions from a tangled mass of stray thoughts. It is a method for purifying all thoughts and regulating body and mind.

If cultivated more deeply, our Seven Emotions Enter the Flame lineage possesses seven emotional thought arrays. At that time, you may use this art to take the various emotional thoughts as threads and weave the arrays into a net, nurturing it within your origin.

Then the body holds Candle Flame, while the thoughts serve as the wick.

Used externally, the penetrating power of all thoughts within Sky Light becomes far stronger. At its utmost, it is like ten thousand steel needles stabbing straight into the heart meridians, stirring the opponent's mind with one's own Seven Emotions.

Some elders cast their spells with ruthless viciousness. Their opponents may appear whole in form, yet beneath the illumination of Sky Light, their souls have long since scattered and vanished."

As she spoke, Zhang Qiwei turned her wrist within her sleeve and handed a thicker Dao scripture before Liu Dongqing.

The moment he heard Zhang Qiwei's introduction, Liu Dongqing's mind had already filled with blazing excitement.

His earlier display of hardship had been meant to gain more tangible benefits from Zhang Qiwei.

Though this Brocade-Weaving Heaven-Draping Might Art was not a cultivation art for internal refinement, Liu Dongqing currently lacked no cultivation arts. What he lacked was precisely a Dao scripture like this, one that systematically expounded upon the subtleties of applying Seven Emotions Enter the Flame and Heavenly Light Bewildering Spirit.

Obtaining this art was truly like adding wings to a tiger.

At the same time, all manner of thoughts continued to race madly through Liu Dongqing's mind, exhausting themselves in contemplation of the present circumstances and the situation to come.

The instant a certain thread linked together completely in that flash of lightning and spark.

Liu Dongqing settled upon a plan.

As he reached out to receive the Dao scripture, he revealed an expression of gratitude and shame.

"Earlier, Senior Sister said there would be no further reward for the matter of the Jade Cloud Fruit, yet today I have again received your generous favor.

All this truly leaves this junior brother unworthy of accepting it.

After all, the talented people of the world are like crucian carp crossing a river. Liu is merely gifted by instinct in tending these spiritual ingredients; it is difficult to say how much I have truly helped Senior Sister..."

The opening he left in those words was rather obvious.

Originally.

Having come on a whim and failed to subdue Liu Dongqing, Zhang Qiwei had already given away a Dao scripture and was somewhat inclined to leave now that her interest had waned.

Just as the thought of departure arose, Liu Dongqing's words indeed made her think of something else.

Thus.

Zhang Qiwei, who had already turned her head to look elsewhere, suddenly asked again.

"Speaking of your talent for tending spiritual ingredients, I previously gave you a Pill Formula. The steward said you also went to the market several times to purchase spiritual ingredients. Have you gleaned anything from studying it?"