"Orders?"
"Exactly," the black cat said. "Use a leaf of the Immortal Lord's sovereign bamboo to inscribe your command and cast it into the other person's mind... though it holds only a trillionth of the secret edict's power, the Immortal Lord's standing is genuine."
Pei Ye paused. "...So that is what 'False Edict' means."
"Exactly."
Pei Ye fell quiet for a while, then lowered his eyes to the leaf in his hand.
The black cat grew more serious. "This technique has an extremely high ceiling, but it is not easy to control. Who you face, their present state of mind, what you wish to achieve, what edict you should inscribe... all of these require careful consideration every time. This man happens to be muddled, making him just right for a first attempt."
Pei Ye nodded silently. He raised his head slightly. Guo You still sat curled up before him in a daze, gazing at the bleak, dark sky outside the hall and murmuring, "My essence wandered, my spirit trembled; suddenly my thoughts scattered. Looking down, I perceived nothing; looking up, I beheld a wondrous sight. Beheld... beheld... beheld..."
"Beheld, yet did not see..." he said sorrowfully.
"Guo You," Pei Ye suddenly said in an indifferent voice, devoid of emotion, as though descending from the Nine Heavens.
The old man froze. His gaze shifted unconsciously toward him, then fixed there stiffly.
A pair of lofty, aloof, beautiful dark-gold pupils seized him completely, piercing straight into the deepest recesses of his mind. For an instant, he seemed to feel his whole body convulse in pain.
But nothing happened. He remained rooted in place. A light Purple Bamboo Leaf drifted into his chaotic mind, and then a lofty, formless voice descended, as though unleashing a hurricane. "Guo You, what befell the Goddess of