Chapter 17: Two Forms of Self?
Xiao Yezi woke up and slowly opened her eyes. She felt a slight resistance to Si Yao who suddenly approached her. Because of the large movement, the coat she was wearing slipped to the ground.
He realized what was happening, bent down to pick up the coat, and handed it to Si Yao, saying, "Master, these are your clothes."
Si Yao took the coat back and looked down at Xiao Yezi, only to find that his face was bloodless and deathly pale.
She frowned slightly. "Disciple, what's wrong? You look so weak."
Xiao Yezi turned her head away, "It's nothing, I just had a little mishap during practice yesterday."
"What went wrong?" Si Yao asked anxiously. "Tell me about it. It's my fault for not having paid attention to your cultivation these past few days because I've been busy preparing for my duel with Yu Ke."
Xiao Yezi's eyes flickered, and after a moment he said, "It's nothing serious, just that the flow of qi was not smooth, which caused blood stasis in the body, but it's fine now."
Upon hearing this, Si Yao immediately reached out her hand, wanting to check on Xiao Yezi's physical condition.
However, Xiao Yezi dodged away. He raised his eyes and met Si Yao's anxious gaze. "Master, it is your injuries that are quite serious."
Si Yao walked unsteadily and slowly sat back on the bed. "It's strange, really. My spiritual energy was already exhausted at that time, but at the last moment, I still won. It seems that some invisible force was helping me."
Xiao Yezi's eyes flickered with interest. "What kind of power could that be?"
Si Yao examined her dantian internally but found nothing unusual, so she didn't draw any conclusions and could only cover it up by saying, "Perhaps I'm mistaken."
Xiao Yezi relaxed and didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he said to Si Yao on the bed, "Master, please rest well. This disciple will take his leave now."
Si Yao slowly lay down, turned to her side, and looked at Xiao Yezi, "You must be tired after watching over me all night, right? You can relax a bit during your cultivation these next few days."
"I'm not tired at all." Xiao Yezi turned around, ready to leave.
Si Yao chuckled, "Truly worthy of being my good disciple."
Xiao Yezi paused, wanting to say something but then stopped herself, and could only leave in a hurry.
Si Yao looked at the large pile of spirit stones on the table, which Xiao Yezi had won and had now handed over to her.
Si Yao was both amused and exasperated. "This disciple has even learned to be filial to his master now."
Xiao Yezi returned to his room. While he was in Si Yao's bedroom, he felt something was wrong with his body and had an unusual headache.
After closing the door to the room, Xiao Yezi immediately summoned Yan Ao.
"Yan Ao, I may need to sleep for a long time."
Yan Ao had just come out when he heard these words and was instantly stunned. "Your Excellency! What did you say!"
Xiao Yezi sat cross-legged with her eyes closed, thinking, "The other me might occupy this body for a long time."
Yan Ao's heart jumped into his throat. "How long will that take?"
"It can take anywhere from a few months to three to five years."
Upon hearing this, Yan Ao knelt on the ground.
He knew that His Majesty always meant what he said, and wouldn't fabricate such a lie to scare him at a time like this.
Yan Ao looked distressed, even sobbing, "Why is this happening... Wasn't everything fine before? Even if another Venerable One appears, he will only exist for a very short time."
Xiao Yezi pondered for a moment, then opened his eyes. "When I was reshaping this body, I already consumed a lot of my true essence. After using magic yesterday, this body began to be unable to support my main soul."
As he spoke, he looked out the window at the courtyard. In the snow-covered courtyard, the moonlight dimmed, and the scene inside became blurred.
"As for what you said before about another version of me appearing, I think that might be my secondary soul. Because of this body, it is difficult for my complete soul to merge, which is why there is a distinction between the primary and secondary versions. And that's why there were two different versions of me in the past."
Yan Ao took a deep breath, his face filled with anger, "It's all that woman Si Yao's fault! If she hadn't been so useless and almost lost her life, why would His Majesty have saved her yesterday!"
Xiao Yezi gestured for Yan Ao to stop, "I didn't intervene to save her, but to save myself."
Yan Ao nodded repeatedly, "That's right. Your Majesty's primordial spirit is with her, so of course she can't die. That's why Your Majesty won't pity her, much less care about her safety!"
Xiao Yezi's raven-feather-like eyelashes trembled slightly. After a moment, she continued, "I summoned you here not only to tell you about my impending slumber, but also to ask you to find the right opportunity to tell the other me our purpose in infiltrating the Hehuan Sect."
He knew that the other version of himself had no idea that his primordial spirit resided in Si Yao's body, and it was even less likely that he harbored any intention to harm Si Yao.
The other self, compared to him, is more kind-hearted and soft-hearted.
However, to regain one's primordial spirit and achieve great things, being soft-hearted and lenient will only become a stumbling block on the road ahead.
Xiao Yezi's hands clenched involuntarily. "Do you understand what I told you?"
Yan Ao nodded, but then looked troubled. "If the other Venerable One doesn't summon me, I won't have a chance to come out, let alone take the initiative to inform him."
Xiao Yezi glanced at him and said, "That depends on your skills."
Yan Ao wailed, feeling that the task given to him by the Venerable One was a bit too difficult and that it depended entirely on luck.
"I will just stand guard in front of Your Excellency and wait for another Your Excellency to appear."
After hearing this, Xiao Yezi looked up and went outside, saying, "You decide for yourself."
After saying that, he rubbed his temples and then felt dizzy.
He knew that his eternal sleep was coming, and as he lay down on the bed, the day he died involuntarily came to mind.
Thinking of his own severe injuries, and the unavoidable circumstances under which he entrusted his primordial spirit to that woman's body.
He also thought of the various details of that night at Qingfeng Stream.
Suddenly, he felt a complex mix of emotions, but he didn't have time to sort them out.
"Your Excellency..."
Yan Ao cried out sadly, "Xiao Yezi, no, it should be Li Ye," before finally closing his eyes.
※ ※ ※
For the next few days, Si Yao was recuperating from her injuries, and her apprentice, Xiao Yezi, would bring her tea and water from time to time.
Si Yao lay on the bed, both surprised and amazed. "I never imagined that our little Yezi would be so filial to his teacher. I never noticed you had this thought before."
Xiao Yezi said modestly, "It is only natural for a disciple to be filial to his master."
Si Yao laughed heartily, her eyes crinkling, and couldn't help but reach out and tug at Xiao Yezi's head, which Xiao Yezi didn't dodge.
She said softly, "My dear disciple, in another day or two, I will be fully recovered, and then I will accompany you in your cultivation."
Xiao Yezi said, "Actually, Master doesn't need to go to so much trouble. I will definitely not let Master down."
Si Yao rested her head on her pillow, her smiling gaze falling on Xiao Yezi. "I never imagined that after I was seriously injured, you would become even more obedient than before."
Xiao Yezi: "..."
He returned to his room and could feel the resistance from the spirit Yan Ao within his body.
But unless Xiao Yezi issues a summoning command, Yan Ao, despite having a thousand words to say, cannot utter a single one.
Fortunately, three days ago, Yan Ao stood guard in front of his Venerable One, and when another Venerable One appeared, he revealed the matter that his Venerable One had entrusted to him.
However, the other Xiao Yezi looked blank and didn't entirely believe what he said at first.
Fortunately, Yan Ao begged and pleaded until Xiao Yezi finally agreed to summon him once every three days.
Yan Ao had calculated the time accurately; today was the third day since the Venerable One's soul had fallen into slumber.
"Come out."
A cloud of black mist quickly appeared in front of Xiao Yezi. He had been holding back for so long, and he immediately said, "You have to believe me, what I said three days ago was the truth! The other you has indeed fallen into a deep sleep, and will remain so for a long time!"
Xiao Yezi looked up at Yan Ao, who was speaking anxiously. He could also sense that every time his consciousness returned, he felt as if he had lost a large part of his memories.
The body doesn't lie about abnormalities.
Perhaps it is true, as Yan Ao said, that he currently possesses two souls, with the primary and secondary souls switching back and forth, each unaware of the other's actions.
"Okay, I believe you."
Hearing Xiao Yezi say this, Yan Ao finally breathed a sigh of relief. He stood relaxed beside Xiao Yezi and repeatedly instructed, "Your Majesty, your primordial spirit is inside Si Yao's body. Please remember to retrieve it. However, as I mentioned before, there is currently no way to remove it. We can only continue to stay by her side and look for another method."
Xiao Yezi nodded, "You already explained this in detail last time, there's no need to repeat it again."
He stood up, his soft white robes cascading gracefully. "Just as you said, staying by her side for now is a way to conserve our energy for the future."
Two days later.
Si Yao is recovering.
She put on her favorite red dress, stepped out of the bedchamber, and the first thing she saw was Xiao Yezi's room.
The room was empty. It seemed that Xiao Yezi had gone to Qingfengjian to practice his skills as scheduled today.
Thinking that she had recovered well, and that she still had the Snow Blossom Courtyard firmly in her grasp, and that even her disciple had not been successfully taken away by others, Si Yao was in an extremely beautiful mood.
She hummed a little tune as she prepared to head towards Qingfeng Stream.
As soon as Si Yao stepped out of Chuixue Courtyard, she ran into several female disciples.
When the female disciples saw her, they immediately bowed and greeted her, "Greetings, Elder Si Yao."
Si Yao was slightly taken aback, and even stammered a little, "Um, um... okay... hello everyone."
After Si Yao left, the female disciple slowly straightened up, and then looked at Si Yao's back with a friendly gaze.
Si Yao walked for a while longer, and several male disciples greeted her with bows.
Si Yao started touching her face, wondering if there was something dirty on it. She then glanced at the dress she was wearing, wondering if the bright red color was too eye-catching.
Why are all these disciples bowing and greeting her?
It wasn't like this before; she was used to being disliked by everyone in the sect.
"Si Yao, are you healed?"
A moment later, a woman's voice came.
Si Yao turned around and saw that it was Elder Gong Chen from Yaoguang Academy.
Unlike Qu Sui, Su He, and others, Gong Chen did not compete with her for the disciple. Although he spoke frankly in daily life, he never caused trouble for Si Yao in private.
Si Yao was a little puzzled when Gong Chen took the initiative to speak today, so she could only nod.
Gong Chen said nothing more and brushed past her.
"Today was truly an eerie experience."
Si Yao was in a very good mood and continued humming a little tune as she went to find Xiao Yezi, who was cultivating in Qingfeng Stream.
When she arrived at the bamboo house, the first thing she did was to give Xiao Yezi acupuncture and medicinal fumigation.
As usual, as soon as they entered the bamboo house, Si Yao said, "Xiao Yezi, take off your clothes and wait on the bed."
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