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Yes, I could have simply sent her to reincarnation, or purified her mind through normal means. But instead, I chose the method that would cause her the most suffering... Is this perhaps my own obsession?
As I was reflecting, the supervisor appeared and laughed twice: "Little Xu Yi, didn't I tell you you could take this path? You realized you'd fallen into a trap so quickly?"
When Muli saw the supervisor arrive, he stood up to take his leave: "Greetings, Supervisor. I'll take my leave now."
The supervisor shook his whisk and said, "Go, go."
After Muli left, Jianzheng sat back down next to me, poured himself a cup of tea, took a sip, and sighed, "Good tea."
I waited for a long time but the supervisor didn't say another word, so I couldn't help but ask, "That's all?"
"That's all," the supervisor said calmly.
They just said I was admitted to the monastic order, and now there's nothing left? I pursed my lips: "Supervisor...is there anything I can do to advise you?"
"No." Two very simple words.
I smacked my lips, unsure of what else to ask, so I simply stayed quietly back in the recliner.
The supervisor and I sat under the eaves in complete silence until evening.
I shouldn't have gone to Qingli Palace again. Ah Shi would have naturally sent him to reincarnation, but I couldn't resist going there again, as if possessed. As soon as I arrived at the entrance, I sensed a golden power that posed a great threat to me... and the source of this power was in Ah Shi's hand inside Qingli Palace.
I raised an eyebrow, realizing that this must be a big gift that the palace maid ghost had given me before she left. I didn't choose to push open the door, but instead turned around and went back to the eaves of the Imperial Observatory.
I asked the supervisor, "Supervisor, why is it that you've done so many good deeds, yet people only remember that one bad deed?"
“Hmm,” the supervisor swallowed the tea in his mouth, “It depends on two situations: one is that you have done too many good deeds, so your one bad deed stands out too much, like an ink stain on a white shirt, instantly grabbing people’s attention. People will only remember that it was a shirt with an ink stain.”
"Then, what about the other possibility?"
"Another situation is this: Everyone has many flaws and is inevitably a bit messy. But your behavior and actions are too clean, making him feel ashamed and embarrassed about his own shortcomings. So he will vilify your behavior and make you seem just as... unclean as him in other people's eyes."
"Actually... it's all about other people's opinions, isn't it?"
"That's right, they're all just other people's opinions."
“If it’s someone else who has nothing to do with you, then of course it won’t have any impact. But if it’s someone you care about, then you can’t help but care about their actions, and you’ll feel sad and upset.” I murmured to myself, “Do I really have to turn everyone in this world into someone who has nothing to do with me in order to be at ease?”
“That is the Path of Heartlessness. There are three thousand great paths, none of which are superior or inferior.” After saying that, the supervisor looked over and said, “It all depends on which path you want to take.”
I looked back: "Do I even have a choice?"
"Yes, of course. Although none of your predecessors chose the Path of Heartlessness, you can. I'm also curious about what it's like to be on the Path of Heartlessness."
"I don't know what I'll choose." I rocked the recliner, the creaking sound of which seemed particularly quiet in the night.
Not long after, Ah Shi returned. He silently walked to my side, took out the dagger from his bosom, and handed it to me with both hands: "This was given to me by a maid from Qingli Palace. She said... she said it could hurt even gods and ghosts. Aunt... Aunt, please accept it."
"This dagger, forged with his own blood and sweat, was meant for you to use to kill me. Why are you giving it to me?" I waved my hand: "Keep it. You never know when it might come in handy!"
Upon hearing my words, Ah Shi immediately knelt down: "Auntie, Auntie has never hurt me and always has my best interests at heart. How could I not believe you? At the time, I thought I would ignore it, but I was afraid that if someone else found it, it would hurt you, so I dug it out so that you could keep it for yourself."
From the very first time Ah Shi met me, she never knelt before me. My anger towards the palace maid still affected Ah Shi, and indirectly impacted the level of trust between us. In that sense, that palace maid was quite cunning…
You say she doesn't care about A-Shi? After all, she watched A-Shi grow up; there must be some affection between them, otherwise she wouldn't have given A-Shi the dagger she forged from her own blood and bones… You say she cares about A-Shi? In order to be reborn into a better family, she actually went so far as to steal the fortune of A-Shi, a cultivator…
The word "human" is truly complex.
I sighed and helped Ah Shi up. "She might not have given you this dagger because she wanted it for me. Treat it as a protective artifact, and use it when necessary." I patted his shoulder. "You're my nephew, and I'm your aunt. That won't change. I'm not your father, so you don't need to be loyal to me. The path of cultivation is about fate; when the conditions arise, things come together, and when they disperse, things disperse. Don't worry about it."
Ah Shi looked at me with red eyes: "Then it's not time for my aunt and me to part ways yet, is it?"
“Of course!” I nodded. “There are still thirty years to go, it’s a long way off.”
“Okay,” he took a deep breath and nodded, “then I’ll take my leave, Aunt.”
"Okay, go and rest."
After Ah Shi left, turning back every few steps, the supervisor laughed twice: "Little Xu Yi has chosen the path of her senior!"
Did I choose it? Maybe...
I watched the supervisor return to his room, and then, for the first time ever, I stepped into the small room where I had been lying in silence for so long. I tidied up the room, covered myself with a blanket, and prepared to sleep.
The candlelight was blown out, and the entire room fell into darkness as always.
I felt the small space surrounded by the blankets and marveled at how much I resembled a human... But what does it matter whether I resembled one or not?
So what if it is?
Go to sleep.
I slept well all night.
The next day I woke up feeling incredibly refreshed, better than ever before. I happily went out to greet the supervisor, and then ran like the wind to the workshop to discuss the possibility of making the array plate with the new cultivator from the Five Nether Sect... As the cultivator and I were discussing what materials to use, a suggestion came from the side: "Use spirit stones, huge spirit stones."
Another dissenting voice chimed in from the side: "How easy is it to find such a large spirit stone?"
"Why not use Mount Tai stone? Mount Tai stone itself has a restraining effect on demons and evil spirits, making it perfect for storing the energy of the formation..."
Another person objected, saying, "Taishan stone is extremely hard and not suitable for carving. Let's use jade instead..."
"This is inappropriate, this is inappropriate..."
Originally, it was just the two of us from the Five Nether Sect, but as the discussion grew, more and more people gathered around, and there were different voices everywhere. My head was starting to ache from all the noise, so I simply patted the shoulder of the cultivator next to me and said, "I don't really understand this either. You should continue to exchange ideas with the seniors. I'll head out now..."
After I finished speaking, I decisively broke through the large group of people surrounding us. As soon as I came out, I saw Ah Shi. He smiled and called me, "Auntie."
"Okay," I nodded, afraid that the person behind me would notice me again, so I quickly waved to him and slipped away quietly.
The morning light was just right, and I wandered aimlessly through the palace. Because of what had happened before, the Imperial Guards now readily let us, dressed as members of the Imperial Observatory, pass without any hesitation. The entire space was filled with a sense of freedom and optimism.
"Auntie seems particularly relaxed today?"
"Ah! The matter with the palace maid has been resolved, and there are no other problems at the moment, so of course we can relax."
"No, I feel that my aunt's condition is very different today..."
"Maybe he's figured some things out, so he's relaxed both physically and mentally." Suddenly, I remembered the little ghost in the well, and I turned to ask Ah Shi, "Have you brought that little ghost any osmanthus candy these past few days?"
"Huh? The one with the well?"
Seeing his shocked expression, I knew he had forgotten. Oh no! I patted Ah Shi and urged, "Go quickly, go tell the Imperial Kitchen to make more osmanthus sugar. I promised someone, but I forgot because of the Qingli Palace incident. That kid must be heartbroken. Hurry up!"
"Okay, okay," Ah Shi nodded quickly, running towards the imperial kitchen as he did so: "I'll go now, right away."
After Ah Shi left, I walked to the well by myself and called out into it, "Little devil, little devil, are you still there?"
There was no response. I was about to jump down to check when someone pulled me up as soon as I sat on the edge of the well. I turned around and saw Muli: "Muli? What are you doing?"
"What are you doing? Are you trying to jump into the well?"
"I have something to do, I need to go down and check, don't pull me." I was pushing his hand away when suddenly there was a rapid whooshing sound. I only had time to see a blur before Mu Li's hand was bitten. Because it hurt so much, he instinctively let go of my hand, took two steps back, and hissed twice in pain as he looked at the blur in front of him...
It was a little devil, crawling on all fours, its body covered in a grayish-black aura of resentment, baring its teeth at Mu Li...
Oh no! I quickly ran over and hugged the little devil, patting his head: "It's okay, it's okay, you go back first."
The little devil in my arms looked up at me, its dark eyes staring at me. It bared its teeth at me before pushing me away and jumping back into the well.
Sigh... I brought this upon myself...
I walked over and picked up Mu Li's hand to examine it. There was a row of small teeth marks on it, and the wound was bleeding, with a faint blackish-gray tinge... It was a really vicious bite. I clicked my tongue twice and first used the Yin coin, which had no Yin energy, to absorb all the resentment and ghostly energy from Mu Li's wound before letting go of his hand and apologizing, "I'm really sorry. I promised that little ghost I would bring him candy but I forgot, so he developed some resentment and that's why he attacked you just now. I've already dealt with the ghostly and Yin energy on it. You can just apply some wound medicine when you get back."
Muli looked at me in silence for a long time before asking, "You didn't bring him any candy, so he should have bitten you, why did he bite me instead?"
"He...he was blinded by resentment, and he probably only vaguely remembered that I was a good person to him, so he misunderstood that he bit you because you wanted to hurt me."
Muli raised an eyebrow: "Okay."
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