Chapter 21 My Naive Junior Sister

There was no sound in the main hall of the sanctuary, because the consciousness of the Holy One Changgen could not speak; all information was directly transmitted into the minds of his disciples.

What Yu Sui perceived was not sound, but "information".

But that doesn't stop her from automatically adding voiceovers in her head.

“The power of the five elements creates ‘techniques’, and when people visualize ‘techniques’, they are operating the energy of the five elements.”

"Your light core contains the five elements of energy that can be absorbed and refined. When it connects with the external and internal energy, you can use 'techniques'."

Yu Sui listened attentively, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

Mei Liangyu watched quietly from the side, thinking to himself that it was still a question whether his junior sister had the Five Elements Light Core.

The Sage Chang Gen said: "Qian, Kun, Xun, Zhen, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui, the eight trigrams of Yin and Yang, take the fifty-two hexagrams, Xun is the wind, the art of life, the art of controlling the wind."

A black and white Bagua diagram appeared beneath Yu Sui's feet and slowly rotated. As the Sage Chang Gen taught him, the Xun character on the diagram stopped directly in front of Yu Sui.

"Mobilize the five elements of the light core, utilize the nine arts from the Eight Trigrams, and ride the wind."

When Yu Sui closed his eyes and focused his mind, connecting with the five elements of light cores within his body, three hundred light cores responded simultaneously. In that instant, the light cores fought each other, determined to carve out a path through the pile of three hundred light cores of equal strength.

Ironically, because there were too many light cores, they were unable to respond to Yu Sui's needs and provide her with power when she needed it most.

Because the power of each light core is the same.

They fight each other without reaching a conclusion.

Yu Sui had tried before, but he just couldn't handle the ever-increasing number of light cores.

In the past two years, when she tried to forcefully contact the Light Core, she felt a force blocking her way.

That wasn't a strange fire, but rather another unfamiliar yet familiar power emanating from within her body.

The strange fire was not the only thing that accompanied her.

There is also half of the Breath Soil missing.

At this moment, deep within her consciousness, the strange fire illuminated a small patch of darkness, where something else was hidden, unable to engulf the entire area because of the strange fire.

"Dedicated".

Chang Gen's reminder startled Yu Sui.

This statement is ambiguous and can lead to many speculations.

Focus on either the Five Elements Light Core or the immediate learning of the Wind Control Technique; don't think about anything else.

Yu Sui can only control the five elements of light cores individually by separating them. When the five elements of light cores are in her body, they can only be controlled by a single call and cannot be controlled individually.

Seeing that Yu Sui had failed, Mei Liangyu asked the Sage Chang Gen, "Does she have the Five Elements Light Core?"

Yu Sui opened his eyes reluctantly, looked at Mei Liangyu, and said in a muffled voice, "I have some."

There are too many.

Mei Liangyu stroked his chin thoughtfully: "That's really strange."

She has a light core, but the test showed a 10% talent compatibility. If it's said that her compatibility with the Ghost Dao family is low and she's not suitable to cultivate this family, then the compatibility with other families is also 10%.

Or perhaps none of the mainstream options are suitable for her?

The Sage Changgen said, "No rush."

Yu Sui thought that if she couldn't learn it tonight, she would have to walk back to her dormitory at night, and her legs would be so sore that she wouldn't be able to get out of bed tomorrow. She might as well just study here all night.

Anyway, I don't sleep very well at night.

Yu Sui adjusted his mindset and continued to communicate with the Five Elements Light Core while standing in the Bagua diagram.

Mei Liangyu looked at it and realized that her cultivation would not make any progress for the time being, so she lowered her head and went back to playing with the Listening Wind Ruler.

Xing Chun had dinner with Zhong Lishan and Cang Shu tonight, so he didn't send any more messages to bombard him.

He glanced at the messages sent by others and replied to those he could.

Yu Sui asked Chang Gen the Sage many questions over there.

She asked, "Master, is the Yin-Yang Eight Trigrams Life Technique undifferentiated by school?"

The Sage Changgen replied, “Different schools have different methods of cultivation, and the techniques derived from Yin and Yang and the Eight Trigrams are also different. The techniques within the Sixty-Four Hexagrams are universal, while those outside the Sixty-Four Hexagrams are different.”

Yu Sui suddenly realized, squatted down and tapped the Bagua diagram on the ground. The Bagua diagram rotated as she moved her finger.

“Yin-Yang, Bagua, and Five Elements are the foundation of the Nine Schools of Arts. Because different schools have different pursuits, beliefs, and rules, the Nine Schools of Arts that have evolved are also different.” Sage Changgen said, “The Ghost Daoists pursue the highest realm, which is ‘the dissolution of the physical body, the permanence of consciousness, and the unity with heaven and earth.’”

"For thousands of years, the Yin-Yang School has been exploring the ultimate mysteries of the universe."

"Taoists seek immortality, which is the exact opposite of my ghostly way."

"Military strategists teeter on the brink of life and death, pursuing the ultimate in both the path of life and death."

"Masters select all things and bestow them with their own affiliations, exploring all the nameless things on the Xuan Gu Continent."

The Master's explanation perfectly illustrated what it means for techniques to arise from the Dao.

Yu Sui drew the Bagua diagram, and pressed down with one finger when the Xun character turned to the front.

She once again drew upon the five elements from the three hundred five-element light cores. However, the light cores responded and competed simultaneously, and with the suppression of some forces, the result was the same: none of them were able to lend their power to Yu Sui.

Yu Sui couldn't help but feel regretful every day.

Should I have crushed the first light core in the first place? But then I thought, as long as she can continue to generate new light cores, this situation is inevitable.

But how can we resolve this predicament?

Yu Sui opened his eyes, his finger gently tapping the Xun character on the Bagua diagram as he fell into deep thought.

Neither Chang Gensheng nor Mei Liangyu disturbed her.

As night deepened, Mei Liangyu looked up from the wind-listening ruler and gazed at Yu Sui, who was still squatting on the ground studying the Bagua diagram. He said casually, "You probably won't be able to go back to your residence tonight."

Yu Sui didn't even look up: "Is Senior Brother leaving?"

Mei Liangyu got up and walked towards the door: "If you're not going to sleep, I am."

Yu Sui scratched his head, still staring at the Bagua diagram, and said somewhat casually, "Goodbye, Senior Brother."

Why are you still being so polite at a time like this?

As Mei Liangyu reached the door, she turned back to look and saw Yu Sui turn her head to look at the other side of the Bagua diagram. In the warm light, she could see that Yu Sui's fair neck was exposed, with a thin layer of sweat on it.

Is it hot?

Mei Liangyu didn't notice anything. He opened all the doors of the main hall, letting the cool night breeze rush in and making the scrolls on the table rustle.

Yu Sui paused upon hearing the sound, looked up, brushed back her stray hairs, and turned to see Mei Liangyu standing with her back to her at the door.

Mei Liangyu looked at the Milky Way for a while, squinted, and turned to Yu Sui, saying, "I'm hungry. What do you want to eat? Since you're so diligent in your studies, I'll get you some too."

Yu Sui's stomach just happened to make a soft rumbling sound.

When no one mentions food to her, Yu Sui, who is focused on studying, doesn't feel hungry. But when someone tells her what she wants to eat, her body immediately gives an honest response.

Yu Sui thought for a moment and then gave Mei Liangyu a list of meat dishes.

Mei Liangyu listened quietly, then sneered, "I'll take it myself."

Yu Sui: "...Okay, thank you, senior brother."

Mei Liangyu walked out and sent a message to Xing Chun: "Are you asleep?"

Xing Chun: "No."

Mei Liangyu: "Let's have a late-night snack."

Xing Chun: "I'm here, I'm here."

He stayed up most of the night, observing the changes in the stars at the Yin-Yang School. When Mei Liangyu mentioned having a midnight snack, he perked up and went to the dining hall.

The dining hall is open 24 hours a day and never closes.

The only problem is that food costs more at night than during the day, because the prices are outrageously high. So, at night, the students rely on their own skills to steal food from the dining hall.

Following the menu given by Mei Liangyu, Xing Chun used his agility to quietly pack up the food and take it away from the dining hall.

The two met in front of the Yin-Yang School.

Xing Chun, carrying two large food boxes, said to Mei Liangyu, who arrived late, "Why did you order so much meat?"

“There are still people,” Mei Liangyu said.

Xing Chun asked curiously, "Who else? Wasn't it just you and me?"

"Nangong Sui," Mei Liangyu said, taking one of the food boxes. "I'll eat at the Holy Temple."

Xing Chun was completely confused: "If you go to the sanctuary, where am I supposed to go?"

Mei Liangyu looked at him.

Xing Chun then asked, "You can get into the church, but I can't?"

Mei Liangyu did not speak.

Xing Chun quickly compromised: "Okay, let's eat at the church. I don't want to eat alone."

The Yin-Yang School and the Ghost Dao School were some distance apart. The two used the Wind Riding Technique to travel, and on the way, Xing Chun heard about Mei Liangyu watching Yu Sui learn the Wind Riding Technique from his master.

“If she has the Five Elements Light Core, how come she can’t refine the Five Elements Qi to learn the Wind Control Technique? That shouldn’t be the case.” Xing Chun was also puzzled. “Moreover, since she has the Five Elements Light Core, why do the people of Qingyang say that she is an ordinary person? Her family even paid a large sum of tuition according to the rules for ordinary people to enter the academy.”

Mei Liangyu: "You're asking me? Who should I ask?"

Xing Chun: "Ask your junior sister!"

It's impossible for Mei Liangyu to ask.

He wasn't very interested in these questions; what did other people's spiritual practice have to do with him?

Yu Sui was still struggling with the Wind Control Technique when he sensed someone approaching from the strange fire. Besides his senior brother Mei Liangyu, there was another person.

When Mei Liangyu called her, Yu Sui went out and saw Xing Chun standing in front of the entrance to the sanctuary from afar. Xing Chun was all alone, carrying a food box and looking in this direction with longing eyes, afraid that Mei Liangyu would break her promise and leave him to eat alone at the gate.

In Yu Sui's eyes, Xing Chun was tall and thin with a handsome appearance. At first glance, he looked like one of the glamorous young masters from wealthy families in the capital. But now, standing in front of the gate in the distance, he looked like a gentle and lovable big dog.

Mei Liangyu packed Yu Sui's food into a food box, handed it to her, and said, "You decide for yourself, I'll go eat over there."

Yu Sui followed behind him, carrying a food box: "Senior brother, I don't like eating alone either."

Both of them walked towards Xing Chun at the main gate.

Xing Chun then opened the food box and began to eat, feeling relieved.

The three of them ate with great focus, seemingly only concerned with eating, without any other idle chatter. After Yu Sui finished satisfying his hunger, he cleaned up the leftovers and put them in the food box, then said to Mei Liangyu, "Senior Brother, I'm full."

He then turned and walked toward the main hall of the sanctuary.

Mei Liangyu didn't care.

After Yu Sui walked away, Xing Chun turned to Mei Liangyu and said, "Is she planning to practice here all night?"

Mei Liangyu hummed in agreement.

"She's hardworking and eager to learn." Xing Chun mumbled, biting into a chicken leg. "She works so hard, how could Sheng Fei have the nerve to call his sister an idiot?"

Mei Liangyu said, "His sister has a problem with the Five Elements Light Core, not a problem with her brain."

Xing Chun looked back and saw Yu Sui enter the main hall before turning back to gossip quietly: "I heard that Sheng Fei disliked Gu Gan and repeatedly picked fights with him because his sister liked Gu Gan, but Sheng Fei didn't like Gu Gan."

Mei Liangyu gave him a cool sidelong glance, as if to say, "Are you trying to make sure I understand what you're saying, or do you want me to not understand it?"

Xing Chun didn't care whether he understood or not, and spoke eloquently in front of his acquaintance: "If my sister fell in love with someone I hate, I would definitely have a heart attack. I can completely understand Sheng Fei's attitude towards Gu Gan."

Mei Liangyu thought for a moment: "Didn't you say before that Gu Gan liked that Legalist guy?"

“Xun Zhiya!” Xing Chun snapped his fingers and became more animated. “Nangong Sui and Gu Gan were childhood sweethearts, and Gu Gan and Xun Zhiya developed feelings for each other over time at the academy. Sheng Fei would be even angrier if he saw this. If it were my sister, I would definitely beat Gu Gan up too. Then he would lose five points, and if he loses two more points, he would be demoted.”

Mei Liangyu: "Don't project your sister onto this; you don't have a sister."

Xing Chun: "Why don't I have a younger sister?"

Mei Liangyu said coldly, "Ask your father."

Xing Chun stroked his chin: "It's okay if I don't have a sister. Otherwise, if this situation really happened, I would definitely be so angry that I wouldn't be able to sleep or eat for three days and three nights."

The two buried themselves in their food, and after a while, Xing Chun said again, "Do you think Cang Shu will stop eating with us when Shi Yuezhen comes back?"

Mei Liangyu countered, "You want to eat with them?"

"Wouldn't I just be asking for trouble, watching them feed each other?" Xing Chun shook his head frantically, then continued, "Yesterday I saw Xiao Shan standing at Fang Ji's door without going in. Has he not made up with Su Tong yet?"

Mei Liangyu, focused on peeling chicken bones, didn't even look up and said, "I doubt it. How long was their last cold war?"

"Two months, I think." Xing Chun thought about it carefully. "That's about right. This time it's almost time too. Once he and Su Tong get back together, it'll just be the two of us eating again."

He took a couple of bites of meat, then looked up with a serious expression and said to Mei Liangyu, "We made a promise, you know, that we can't skip meals because of women. Let's not even talk about Cang Shu and Shi Yuezhen, who are childhood sweethearts and a perfect match. But look at Xiao Shan and Su Tong, they've broken up and gotten back together so many times, they're sweet for a while and then they're in a cold war. They've been troubled by love countless times, not to mention their family backgrounds. This is not something we should encourage. Don't follow their example."

Mei Liangyu had finished eating and was picking out the small bones, carefully piecing together the original roast chicken: "You're the one who gets pretty girls looking for you every day, aren't you?"

“You have them too, but you ignore them. Good job.” Xing Chun patted his shoulder with satisfaction.

Mei Liangyu's hand trembled as he was slapped, and the half of the body he had just assembled collapsed. He said to Xing Chun expressionlessly, "Put it back together."

Xing Chun picked it up and put it back together for him, and the two chatted casually.

They talked about their best friend's love story, then about the food in the dining hall, then about their new roommates, and finally about their spiritual practice.

“I was stuck in the Ninth Realm for a year and felt the bottleneck. I felt like I was just a little bit away from breaking through.” Xing Chun gestured with his hands. “I spent two months in the Star Sea Heaven, but I still couldn’t comprehend the Tenth Realm Divine Soul.”

Xing Chun clasped his hands together and then opened them again, and a Milky Way star map appeared out of thin air, shining brightly in the night. The densely packed stars on the map shimmered with a ghostly blue light.

Mei Liangyu sat next to him, propping his head up with one hand, helping him observe the changes in the star chart.

He asked, "Which side are you observing when you stargaze?"

Xing Chun pointed to the south: "The Vermilion Bird constellation. Its position remains unchanged, but the surrounding stars have changed 360 times. According to my teacher, the main star remains unchanged, but the secondary stars rotate, and the number of rotations represents the number of changes."

Mei Liangyu looked at the star chart and said calmly, "We have to stop it from rotating, or at least keep it within three rotations. Your Yin-Yang School emphasizes the constellation's immutability. You see, the Vermilion Bird constellation has 360 rotations, which is too unpredictable. Let's try something else."

Xing Chun sighed: "I have observed all the constellations in the four directions, and they are all more than a hundred times over."

Mei Liangyu nodded and said slowly, "Let's go and take a look at the sacrificial ceremony."

Xing Chun: "No."

Mei Liangyu: "Then let's observe further."

Xing Chun looked at him: "Don't you have any troubles in your spiritual practice that you can tell me so I can be happy?"

Mei Liangyu thought for a moment and said, "There really isn't one."

Xing Chun: "..."

Mei Liangyu continued to help Xing Chun interpret the star chart.

Although he had reached a bottleneck in his cultivation, he was not in a hurry because he had already found a solution.

As dawn broke and the night fog dissipated, the small white flowers on the climbing vines, glistening with dew, fell from their petals to the ground.

The morning fog was heavy in spring, and the chill reached the hearts of the two people sitting at the door. Xing Chun stretched and rubbed his eyes, saying, "It's dawn."

Mei Liangyu stood up and said, "I'm going back to my residence."

"I'm going back to get some sleep too." Xing Chun got up, packed up the food box, and asked, "Is your junior sister still studying inside?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than Yu Sui ran out of the main hall of the sanctuary.

The two watched as Yu Sui ran closer from afar.

Yu Sui exclaimed in surprise, "Huh, Senior Brother, why are you still here?"

Although she knew all along that the two hadn't left, she still had to pretend.

Mei Liangyu didn't answer, but only asked, "Have you learned it?"

Yu Sui shook her head: "No."

Mei Liangyu laughed when he heard this, and pointed in a direction for her, "The Yin-Yang School is quite far away, let's go."

Yu Sui ran away.

Xing Chun sighed, "He's working hard enough. This child will surely become a saint in the future."

Yu Suizhen ran all the way to the Yin-Yang School.

Just as dawn was breaking, she, who hadn't slept all night, arrived at the Yin-Yang School feeling dizzy and had to lean against the wall for a while before she recovered.

There were also students who got up early on the road, but they were all taking their time and not in a hurry. They were even surprised to see Yu Sui running on the road.

Yu Sui squatted down against the wall, holding a twig and drawing a Bagua diagram on the ground. When he drew the character Xun, he pointed at it with the twig, looking thoughtful.

After last night's repeated trials, coupled with his master's guidance, Yu Sui gained a new understanding of the light core within his body.

With no one nearby, Yu Sui quietly extracted a light core from the strange fire, attempting to absorb its five elements energy. However, this power was firmly locked by the light core. She could control the extracted five elements light core independently, but she could not extract the five elements energy from it.

She couldn't crush all the light cores down to just one. As long as she tried to extract the five elements from the light core, the limit of the number of light cores she could possess would be created in that instant.

Master said, "Your Five Elements Light Core is fighting against some kind of force."

Yu Sui is definitely not a different kind of fire.

After removing the strange fire, only the Breath Soil remained.

The precious soil of farmers, known as "breathing soil," has the power to generate life indefinitely. It is most suitable for use in the nine arts of farming, and it is also what they need most.

Yu Sui did not practice the nine arts of farming, and only had half of the Breath Soil.

Possessing a missing treasure may do more harm than good.

Yu Sui's focus has always been on the strange fire and the communication array, and he has done little research on the Breath Soil, because it seems to be quietly inside his body and has not given any reaction.

It wasn't until the last two years, when she tried to extract the power of the five elements from the Five Elements Light Core, that she realized something was wrong, and this something seemed to be related to the Breath of Earth.

She asked herself, "How? Should I peel away the Breath of Earth?"

Then I'll die.

Yu Sui rested her face on her hands, frowning as she pondered deeply.

In the days that followed, Yu Sui was troubled by this matter, shuttling between the Yin-Yang School and the Ghost Path Holy Hall, studying day and night without sleeping. Mei Liangyu would occasionally go to the Ghost Path Holy Hall to chat with his master, and every time he came at night, he would see his junior sister who was still awake.

One evening, Mei Liangyu saw Yu Sui spinning the Bagua diagram in the main hall of the temple and said with an inscrutable expression, "You can't achieve the dissolution of your physical body and the eternal existence of your consciousness yet. If you die from exhaustion, you will really die."

Yu Sui replied without turning her head, "I rested during the day."

Mei Liangyu raised an eyebrow slightly: "Didn't that old man from the Yin-Yang School scold you?"

Yu Sui, who was squatting down fiddling with the Bagua diagram, paused, touched his cheek, and said, "He scolded me, and he was quite fierce and scary."

It has to be said that when the old man looked at her with eyes as sharp as knives, Yu Sui was startled awake even if she wanted to sleep. Back in the National Academy, the teachers didn't dare to scold her for sleeping in class because of her status as a princess. But after coming to Taiyi Academy, all the teachers here were experts at the thirteenth realm, and not all of them came from Qingyang. They wouldn't indulge her.

Mei Liangyu walked to the table and sat down: "What did he say to you?"

Yu Sui recalled, "My attitude towards learning was not correct."

Mei Liangyu nodded.

"Relying on a little knowledge, you are arrogant and ignorant, you have let down your parents, and your behavior is terrible..." Before Yu Sui could finish speaking, Mei Liangyu interrupted, "Then go and complain to your master."

"Huh?" Yu Sui turned her head and looked over. Under the light, a thin layer of sweat could be seen on the tip of her nose. "What are you complaining about?"

Mei Liangyu raised his chin slightly, displaying an arrogant attitude. His voice, though cold, did not sound aggressive or critical like Jing Yunkui's. Instead, it gave Yu Sui a sense of security.

“The Yin-Yang School values ​​etiquette and seniority. He thinks you don’t respect your teacher, but he didn’t consider that you are our master’s disciple. Jing Yun Kui’s teacher was our master’s grand-disciple, and later switched to the Yin-Yang School. If we really count, this old man should call our master our patriarch, and his teacher is your junior disciple. It wouldn’t be wrong for him to call you junior patriarch.”

The person sitting in the chair spoke in a lazy yet sharp tone: "You are his senior, but it's not his place to ignore this fact and talk to you about the etiquette of respecting one's teacher, and then scold you mercilessly."

After clarifying the relationships involved, Yu Sui asked in surprise, "Can it be calculated like this?"

Mei Liangyu gestured for her to look at her master.

Yu Sui looked up at the portrait.

The Sage Changgen replied, "Yes."

Yu Sui suddenly realized.

She finally understood where her senior brother's confidence came from. Apart from his eccentric personality, the seniority that suppressed him did indeed give him immense confidence.

Jing Yunkui was indeed strict in his teaching. For several days in a row, he publicly criticized Yu Sui for dozing off in front of everyone. She was listening, but occasionally she would get sleepy and lose focus.

But Yu Sui didn't take the insults too seriously.

That evening, after Mei Liangyu clarified the relationships for her, the Sage Chang Gen went to the Yin-Yang School and returned shortly afterward.

The next day, Yu Sui saw Jing Yun Kui walk into the classroom with a terrible expression. He started lecturing without any preamble. She tentatively slept on the desk for a while and was not called on.

Jing Yunkui, who had been watching Yu Sui closely to see if she was distracted a few days ago, now acted as if he couldn't see her at all.

Yu Sui was finally relieved, as she could take a short nap during the day to recharge.

[Author's Note]

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!