Peace
The shadow of the nanmu bamboo was stretched out long by the twilight, and was reflected obliquely on the window paper of the guest house.
Qingya was expelled from the Qinglan Sect and forbidden from reentering it, as punishment for violating the rules during the competition. People outside were discussing the matter, but Yunxiu remained silent.
She doesn't have the heart to care about those things.
Yunxiu sat on a bamboo chair, his fingertips still stained with the medicine powder he had just touched when changing the bandage, but the familiar burning sensation in his heart never stopped.
Ever since the divine power erupted in the semi-finals, this power had been like a vine that had awakened, wrapping tighter and tighter around her blood vessels. Even when she was sitting quietly, she could feel it pulsating gently, with a somewhat restless tremor.
She tried to concentrate and calm down as Yan Xiu taught her, but she found that the "noise" in her ears was noisier than before.
Hearing it more clearly—Yunxiu looked towards Yanxiu's yard.
Some trivial and sticky voices were like a handful of broken rice, buzzing in her head, making her even feel suffocated in breathing.
Cannot be ignored.
"It's time to go check on the eldest brother's injuries." When Yunxiu stood up, the bamboo chair legs made a slight sound as they rubbed against the bluestone slabs.
She clenched her sleeves, where the medicine Wu Yi had given her this morning was still hidden. It was said to be specially provided by the Qinglan Sect and could suppress the remaining coldness of divine power. But she always felt that Yan Xiu needed more than just medicine.
Yan Xiu's room was right next door, separated by a bamboo fence.
As Yunxiu reached the door, she heard the faint chime of a sword. It was Yan Xiu, practicing his breathing exercises. She raised her hand to knock, but her fingertips froze in mid-air. The sword chime wasn't wrapped in the usual steady fluctuations of spiritual energy, but instead contained a frantic tremor. A clear inner voice pierced through the crack of the door:
"Kill her... or just let her go?"
Yunxiu's hands froze.
She clearly saw Yan Xiu's shadow reflected on the window paper, his ink-black tights clinging to his tall shoulders, but the shadow suddenly moved to the side, as if deliberately avoiding the direction of the door.
The clanging of the swords also stopped, replaced by a deep cough, mixed with an even more vague muttering: "There's no way to have it both ways."
"Big Brother?" Yunxiu knocked on the door again, his voice as soft as dewdrops on bamboo. "I'm here to bring you some medicine."
There was silence inside for a moment before Yan Xiu's slightly hoarse voice was heard, which seemed a little distant through the door:
"No need, I have medicine here. You... get some rest, you have the finals tomorrow."
"But your shoulder injury..."
"I can handle it myself." There was an unquestionable alienation in his words, and one could even hear his footsteps walking into the inner room.
Yunxiu stood at the door, his fingers unconsciously stroking the patterns on the bamboo fence.
Here it comes again—the thick, inextricable worry and anxiety…
Yunxiu pushed open the door and went back into the house. The bamboo door hinges made a slight creaking sound, keeping the cool air out of the door.
She closed her eyes and tried to regulate her breathing according to the "guarding the heart" style taught by Yan Xiu, hoping to straighten out the restless divine power.
It went smoothly at first. The light blue immortal power flowed along her fingertips, trying to wrap around the cold white divine power. But as soon as it touched, the cold white light suddenly struggled, like a disturbed cub, and almost dispersed her immortal power.
Yunxiu gritted her teeth to steady herself, sweat forming on her fingertips and a thin layer of moisture on her forehead - this power was harder to control than she had imagined, sometimes gentle like a stream, sometimes violent like a wave, always suddenly derailing when she thought she was about to grasp it.
I don’t know how many times I tried, I don’t know how many methods I tried... Yunxiu changed his mind.
She no longer used her immortal power to wrap it forcibly, but tried to slow down her breathing, allowing the light green immortal power to gently wrap around the edge of the cold white divine power like a slender vine, slowly guiding it along its surging rhythm.
At first, the cold white divine power was still resisting, struggling from time to time, but as her immortal power became softer and softer, the violent force gradually weakened.
Yunxiu could clearly feel the divine power's trajectory through her spiritual veins becoming increasingly distinct, even condensing into a grain-sized speck of cold white light at her fingertips, following her immortal energy. The sweat on her forehead slowly dried, and her breathing evened out.
Yunxiu tried to condense the cold white light on her fingertips a little more, and the light actually followed her wishes, becoming slightly brighter and no longer going off track as wildly as before.
Gradually, even the frequency of the swaying bamboo shadows outside the window could be accurately reflected in her perception - she could even distinguish which bamboo leaves were blown by the wind and which were dropped by the small animals hiding in the bamboo bushes.
My perception became extremely sharp, and even the rustling sound of a dead leaf falling to the ground in the bamboo grove outside the yard was as clear as if it were right next to my ear.
What made her heart tighten even more was that the perception and hearing of her inner voice became clearer.
She even knew that Yan Xiu was now trying hard to repair his shoulder injury, and every time his spiritual power flowed, it was sluggish. The thoughts circling in his mind were like a thin thorn, piercing into each other's perception, too clear to be ignored.
At the same time, a very light sound of scripture floated in through the window. The tone was slow and low, with a familiar rhythm, which interrupted her breathing.
It is the "An Ling Jing".
Yunxiu's eyes snapped open. This scripture was carved in an ancient temple on the back hill of Yaoxi Mountain. She had recited it countless times as a child, following Senior Sister Yingtang as she cleaned the temple. It was specifically written to soothe frightened souls, its tone as gentle as a mountain stream.
She stood up and walked to the window, quietly lifting a corner of the bamboo curtain - under the bamboo forest, Wu Yi was standing three steps away from her door, the bandage on his left arm was stained with dark red blood, and he was holding a black pottery medicine bowl in his hand, the brown medicine juice was still emitting faint heat.
He lowered his head, his lips moving slightly as he was reciting the "Soul-Calming Sutra", but his voice was so low that if Yunxiu had not been concentrating and listening carefully, he would not have been able to hear it at all.
Wu Yi didn't move, and Yunxiu didn't move either.
"Once, twice... thirteen times." Yunxiu counted in his mind.
Yunxiu alone heard it thirteen times.
Wu Yi read very slowly, and after each reading, he would pause for a moment, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the edge of the medicine bowl.
Yunxiu could even clearly sense that every time he recited a verse, a completely different voice was heard in his heart:
"Just read it again and you can get in..."
"Don't panic, don't let her see that something is wrong..."
"If the medicine gets cold, it won't be effective..."
Yunxiu gently pushed open the door, and the sound of the bamboo door brought Wu Yi back to his senses.
The medicine bowl in his hand shook, and the brown medicine almost spilled out:
"Xiao, Xiao You? Why did you come out? I... I just made some medicine and wanted to bring it to you."
Yunxiu didn't take the medicine bowl, but just stared into his eyes.
Those unspoken worries pierced her ears like needles:
"Did she hear me chanting? Did I chant out loud?"
"Don't ask about the 'container'..."
"Big Brother is still hiding next door. If she asks..."
"You recited the 'Soul-Calming Sutra' thirteen times outside the door," Yunxiu asked, looking at Wu Yi's suddenly stunned expression. "Were you trying to give yourself courage?"
Wu Yi froze when asked, and the medicine bowl in his hand shook again. The brown medicine juice swirled around the edge of the bowl before it could barely stabilize.
He hurriedly lowered his head, his fingertips repeatedly stroking the fine lines on the rim of the bowl, as if trying to dig an answer out of the rough clay:
"To give me courage? No... I just think this scripture can calm my mind. You just used your divine power in the semi-finals, and I'm worried you won't be able to sleep well at night..."
Before he finished speaking, he paused.
Yunxiu clearly saw his drooping eyelashes tremble rapidly, but he could only bite the bullet and add:
"Look at my arms. I'm always worried that my hands will shake and spill the medicine when I hold it. Reciting it a few times will make me more stable."
Yunxiu didn't expose it. She could clearly hear Wu Yi praying in his heart:
"Please don't ask any more questions. Help, help, help, help, I can't make this up anymore."
The heavy worry wrapped in panic was like cotton wool soaked in water, weighing him down so much that even his breathing became lighter.
She stared at the bloody bandage on Wu Yi's arm and sighed:
"Let's talk inside. If the medicine gets any colder, it won't be effective."
The bamboo house was not big, and the cushion by the window still retained the warmth from Yunxiu's breathing exercises. She casually pulled over another bamboo chair and asked Wu Yi to sit down. She then took a coarse pottery cup from the table, poured a cup of warm bamboo tea into it and handed it to him.
Wu Yi took the tea and felt the warmth of the rim of the cup with his fingertips, and then he relaxed a little, but his eyes were still tense.
"I can drink the medicine." Yunxiu took the black pottery medicine bowl, and his fingertips touched the edge of the bowl, and he could feel the residual warmth.
"I'll go to the finals too. You and Senior Brother don't have to keep trying to stop me."
She paused, looked up at Wu Yi, and the divine power in her heart suddenly became warmer, as if responding to something.
"It's just... ever since that power erupted in the semi-finals, I've always felt like I could sense something strange."
Wu Yi tightened his grip on the teacup, leaving traces of water on his fingertips, but he didn't notice. He just subconsciously asked:
"Something strange? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?"
As soon as he said this, his heart skipped a beat and he added hurriedly:
"I mean, if those powers start to surge again, you'll have to call me immediately. Even though I'm still injured, I can always help you out."
"It's not that I feel uncomfortable. It's that... I can sense something similar to the power within me."
She raised her hand and pressed it against her chest, where the burning sensation became more pronounced.
"It's like two entangled threads. No matter how far away, you can always sense movement at the other end. Just now, when you were reciting the scriptures outside the door, that induction... pulled towards the northwest. The force was very strong, exactly the same as the power Zhihuan exuded when he was at the mountain gate."
"Zhi Huan?!"
Wu Yi stood up suddenly. But he didn't care about the pain, he just stared at Yunxiu:
"Are you sure? Could it be... the spiritual power of other disciples of the Qinglan Sect? Is it really..."
"It's different." Yunxiu shook his head with a firm tone.
"His power feels as heavy as a mountain. When it collides with the so-called 'divine power' in my body, it becomes hot."
Wu Yi's panic exploded completely, and Yunxiu heard it clearly.
"So early...why so early this time?"
Wu Yi opened his mouth, wanting to say something to comfort her, but found that all the words were stuck in his throat. He knew Yunxiu was not lying.
"I know you are hiding something from me." Yunxiu looked at his tense profile and suddenly spoke.
"You, Big Brother, and Master are all hiding something. But I won't force you to tell me."
She picked up the medicine bowl, the brown liquid swaying gently in it. "I just wanted to tell you that I can sense him. Maybe... he'll come during the finals. Then, I want to face it on my own."
Wu Yi's Adam's apple moved, and he wanted to say "No".
But he didn't. All his chaotic thoughts ultimately dissolved into a soft sigh. He looked down at the tip of his shoe. The bamboo tea in his cup had gone cold, just like the silence that now sank between them.
The bamboo forest outside the window rustled in the wind, and the shadows of the bamboos swayed on the ground like knots that could not be untied.
Yunxiu held the medicine bowl and slowly took a sip. The bitter taste of the medicine spread from the tip of his tongue to his heart.
But she didn't frown.
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