Chapter 22 I Want to Save You
Yu Sui didn't learn the Wind Control Technique, but she did memorize the Nine Streams Technique that her master had mentioned, which is applicable to all sixty-four hexagrams. She's just waiting for her to be able to extract the power of the Five Elements Light Core so that she can formally cultivate the Nine Streams Technique.
She hesitated whether to tell her master about the problem of the Breath Soil, because she was afraid that if she asked her master to help investigate the problem of the Breath Soil, it would inevitably involve the existence of the Strange Fire.
Yu Sui is not confident yet.
Although her master took good care of her, answering all her questions and teaching her patiently, Yu Sui did not reach the point of fully trusting Saint Chang Gen.
The risks are too great, so Yu Sui will still figure out some problems on his own.
This is also why her spiritual practice was so difficult.
When faced with difficulties, they are hesitant to disclose all the problems due to the presence of the strange fire, and dare not let others easily offer guidance.
The month-long basic course was quickly coming to an end.
After class that day, Yu Sui saw Gu Gan at the door. He had told her in advance that he would come to see her today.
Yu Sui did not go to the Ghost Path Holy Hall today, but went to the vegetarian hall for dinner with Gu Gan.
Gu Gan said, "I've been quite busy lately, and I only had time to visit you today. I heard that you were scolded by Jing Yun Kui before?"
Yu Sui focused on cooking, not even looking up: "That was at the beginning; he doesn't scold me anymore now."
Gu Gan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this: "I was also saying I was going to take revenge on you."
Yu Sui explained with a smile, "I didn't expect there to be this connection. It seems that when Master was alive, he taught many students in Taiyi. One of the students later took on a personal disciple, and this disciple then taught the current Teacher Jing."
"How old the Sage Chang Gen of the Ghost Daoist School really is is one of the unsolved mysteries of Taiyi Academy." Gu Gan had heard this before, and now he was asking her, "Are the basic courses difficult to learn?"
"It's alright," Yu Sui said. "Rote memorization is also an option."
Gu Gan nodded. He wasn't too worried that Yu Sui wouldn't be able to learn this kind of basic instruction. Just like Yu Sui had told Nangong Ming before, she was just a slow learner, not someone who couldn't learn.
That's why Nangong Ming didn't completely give up on her.
Yu Sui always remembered Nangong Ming's words from back then: being too foolish will come at a price.
Therefore, what she showed Nangong Ming was always just right.
As for Yu Sui sleeping in class during the day, Gu Gan was used to it; she had been like that since she was a child.
Gu Gan also asked Yu Sui why she felt sleepy and lacked energy during the day. Yu Sui said she didn't know either. It might be because she didn't like listening to the teachers' lectures. She felt sleepy whenever they talked.
"I didn't expect you to still be like this even after growing up." Gu Gan sighed slightly. "I remember once I was talking to you, and when I turned around, I found you had fallen asleep against the pillar."
Yu Sui burst out laughing upon hearing this.
Back then, Gu Gan was a prominent figure in the National Academy, attracting attention wherever he went. He was surrounded by a group of people, including Ji Meng, while another group opposed him. During archery and sword lessons, these boys would always find a way to argue.
Yu Sui has been beautiful since childhood, and many boys in the National Academy like her. Seeing that Yu Sui is close to Gu Gan, they also dislike Gu Gan.
Gu Gan was often targeted by these boys who liked Yu Sui.
Every time they argued and fought over Yu Sui, Yu Sui would fall asleep leaning against Zhong Li Que in the back. Zhong Li Que would sit upright and dignified, offering his shoulder to Yu Sui to sleep on, sometimes complaining that the boys in front were too noisy.
"Still laughing?" Gu Gan said irritably. "That's not just once or twice. You should change your ways. You'd be in danger if I wasn't there."
"It's much better than before." Yu Sui sniffed; it was a little spicy. Just as she looked up, Gu Gan reached out to pour her some tea.
Xun Zhiya and Shu Chujun, who had just gone up to the second floor of the dining hall, spotted Gu Gan and Yu Sui in the distance. Seeing them chatting and laughing, Xun Zhiya lowered her eyes slightly.
"Go there?" Shu Chujun said. "Let's go listen to what they have to say."
Xun Zhiya shook his head.
Shu Chujun looked at her with a hint of disappointment: "What are you afraid of? What can't you listen to? You're just being too forward..."
"Let's go," Xun Zhiya interrupted softly, heading towards the third floor.
As soon as she turned around, she caught a glimpse of Sheng Fei and Mu Mengbai coming up from below.
Mu Mengbai recited the names of the dishes as he walked, and Sheng Fei listened casually. However, after going upstairs, he spotted Yu Sui and Gu Gan in the crowd, and his expression immediately turned ugly.
"Hey? Where are you going?" Mu Mengbai was about to continue to the third floor when he suddenly saw Sheng Fei change direction and stop walking, so he quickly followed.
Upon seeing this, Shu Chujun gloated, "That's great now."
Xun Zhiya frowned.
When Sheng Fei strode over, Yu Sui and Gu Gan both noticed him. Seeing that it was him, Gu Gan raised an eyebrow slightly, unhurried.
Mu Mengbai greeted Yu Sui warmly: "So my little sister is here too. What would you like to eat? Your brothers will treat you. Shall we go up to the third floor to eat together?"
"Pastor, Third Brother."
Yu Sui, who had been focused on cooking, greeted him with a smile.
Sheng Fei sat down next to Yu Sui expressionlessly, staring coldly at Gu Gan opposite him, and said, "Aren't you going to get lost?"
Gu Gan didn't give Sheng Fei a friendly look either, coldly saying, "I was here first, so if you want to get lost, then get lost."
Sheng Fei's status and position had instilled in him a habit of looking down on everyone from a young age, viewing everyone as a superior judgment. Therefore, in terms of arrogance, no one here could compare to him. At this moment, when Sheng Fei coldly looked at Gu Gan, it was as if he were looking at the most filthy, disgusting, and despicable trash in the world.
"When did it become your turn, you lowly brat, to talk to me about who's first and who's last?" Sheng Fei chuckled, his slow, deliberate words carrying a chilling undertone.
Mu Mengbai reached out to fan Sheng Fei, hoping to calm him down, while lowering his voice to remind him, "Two points, you only have two points left."
Gu Gan chuckled as well. He leaned back, staring at Sheng Fei with a half-smile: "I'm tired of hearing you say these things every time. And you say you're not tired of them?"
The atmosphere instantly plummeted to freezing point, and war was about to break out.
Yu Sui has never interfered with boys' fights and arguments since he was a child.
Yu Sui believed that this was none of her business, because they were arguing and fighting because of their damned competitive spirit.
This is the peak time for students to come and go from the dining hall, as it is approaching evening and everyone is rushing to have a good meal before the dining hall raises its prices.
As more people came and went, more people came to watch the spectacle.
Xun Zhiya and Shu Chujun did not leave the second floor.
People gradually finished eating and came down from the third floor.
Xing Chun came downstairs carrying a food box and was talking to Mei Liangyu, who was playing with a wind-listening ruler. Neither of them noticed what was happening on the second floor. Zhong Lishan glanced over and stood there without moving, saying, "A fight is about to break out over there."
"Who?" Xing Chun leaned over. "Oh, Xiao Mei, your junior sister's brother is having a big fight with her childhood sweetheart."
He gently called to Mei Liangyu, who had already come down the stairs.
Mei Liangyu walked back and looked in the direction the two had indicated.
"The atmosphere doesn't look good," Xing Chun said. "Sheng Fei is still two points short. He won't dare to make a move, will he?"
Zhong Lishan said, "He dares."
After three sentences of conversation, Sheng Fei was about to fight Gu Gan when Mu Mengbai, quick as a flash, reached out and pressed him back down: "Two points!"
After Mu Mengbai finished speaking, he desperately winked at Yu Sui, who was still engrossed in eating, signaling her to persuade her brother, or perhaps persuade Gu Gan.
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Yu Sui reached out and wrapped the unfinished food in her arms, then turned away.
Mu Mengbai: "..."
He used all his strength to keep from crying.
Mei Liangyu found Yu Sui's actions amusing and, without paying attention to whether Sheng Fei and Gu Gan had started fighting, turned her gaze away and walked downstairs.
"Not watching anymore?" Xing Chun asked.
"Busy." Mei Liangyu took two steps and then turned back. "You two are quite busy too, one of you is keeping an eye on the star chart and the other is keeping an eye on the changes in the armor and weapons."
Upon hearing this, Xing Chun and Zhong Lishan abandoned their excitement and used their wind-riding techniques to travel downstairs.
Gu Gan wasn't afraid to fight Sheng Fei. Although he would also lose points, he wasn't at the point of being demoted. If Sheng Fei dared to make a move, he would be demoted from Grade A to Grade B, suffering a significant loss.
Furthermore, Gu Gan was confident that Yu Sui always ended up helping him in these kinds of situations.
Mu Mengbai used a lot of effort to hold Sheng Fei down, practically binding him, and carried him to the third floor by pulling and dragging.
Gu Gan watched them walk away with a blank face, and only hummed softly after they were out of sight.
While eating, Yu Sui looked up at Gu Gan, biting her chopsticks, and asked, "Brother Gu, do you and Third Brother fight at the academy too?"
“I didn’t want to either,” Gu Gan shrugged. “But you know his temper. When he wants to hit someone, no one can stop him.”
Yu Sui said, "Didn't we just stop them?"
Gu Gan added, "Without Mu Mengbai around, do you think he could stop us?"
“Third Brother wasn’t always this short-tempered. Even though he disliked you when you were little, he wouldn’t fight you to the death just because he saw you,” Yu Sui said.
Gu Gan dismissed it, saying, "Really? He's always been like this."
Yu Sui brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looked up at Gu Gan and smiled, thus ending the conversation.
For the past month, Yu Sui had hardly returned to the academy, spending his days running between the Yin-Yang School and the Ghost Path Holy Hall.
Tonight, Yu Sui plans to go back to her dormitory to rest. Although she doesn't sleep well at night, the feeling of lying in bed is still different.
Yu Sui rode the dragon ladder up, and along the way she encountered people coming in, both men and women. She stood in the far corner and heard the young men and women who came in laughing non-stop from the beginning.
"There are so many oddballs on the military side, even students who are neither male nor female," the boy laughed. "That guy looked so delicate and weak, like a pretty boy, but I didn't expect him to actually be a girl!"
"Don't even mention it, I'm so annoyed by her." The girl said with a frown, "I was in the changing room earlier, and I had just taken off my clothes when I saw Li Jinshuang come in. I thought a man had barged into the changing room, and I was so scared that I almost hit him!"
"It was so scary, I had nightmares for days!"
Someone exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, Li Jinshuang still dares to go? Didn't they say they wouldn't let her in over there?"
The girl said, "They only stopped her from going these past two days. She was allowed to go before, wasn't she? I'm so annoyed with her."
"Why does she have to dress up as a man for no reason? Isn't that crazy?" the boys, arms around each other's shoulders, laughed. "Isn't she ashamed?"
The girl said, "I heard from Senior Sister Shu that she's been like this since she was little. I guess she doesn't like being a woman and prefers being a stinky man like you."
"Hey, hey, don't start blaming us! We men don't even acknowledge a gender-bending monster like Li Jinshuang!" the boy exclaimed. "I'd love for her to leave the Bing family; she's tarnishing our family's reputation!"
As soon as the boy finished speaking, the dragon ladder suddenly stopped. The woman in yellow standing at the front turned around, her delicate eyebrows slightly furrowed, exuding a powerful aura. She sneered at the boy and girl behind her, "Who said there are many oddballs in military strategy?"
The bustling Dragon Staircase suddenly fell silent.
Yu Sui, who was standing against the wall, tilted his head and looked down at the waist of the woman in yellow. She had three vermilion wooden sticks of different lengths tied around her waist. Usually, people who had three divination sticks on their bodies were from the Fangji family.
"Are you mute? I asked you a question. Weren't you quite talkative just now, speaking ill of people behind their backs and not minding your words? Why aren't you saying a word now?" The woman in yellow glanced coldly at the last boy, her gaze settling on him. "It's a disgrace to the Bing family to have a disciple like you. I think you should switch cultivation as soon as possible. Don't cling to the Bing family and embarrass the many disciples of the Bing family."
The boy's face turned red and then pale from the insults, and he angrily retorted, "Who are you? What gives you the right to treat me like this..."
Before he could finish speaking, the woman in yellow glared at him fiercely, her aura intensifying. Then, she turned to the remaining boys and girls and said, "Tell me, which family are you from? I'd like to see if you're worthy!"
"I...I didn't say anything wrong!" the girl retorted stubbornly. "Besides, what business is it of yours?"
"Forget it, Su Tong, why bother arguing with them?" The woman in blue suppressed a laugh and pulled the woman in yellow out of the dragon ladder.
Even as Su Tong was being pulled away, she turned back and said fiercely to the young men and women inside the dragon ladder, "You all better watch out these days, or disaster might strike you from the sky!"
The dragon staircase door closed, and we continued upwards. Inside, it was completely silent, the previous liveliness gone.
The boys seemed to have recovered their senses and swore a couple of times: "Who is she?"
"Hmm, it seems like she's from the Fangji family," someone said fearfully. "What did she mean by her last words? Did she just divine?"
"Don't scare yourself!" the girl said angrily. "We're talking about Li Jinshuang, not her. She has nothing to do with Li Jinshuang!"
The dragon ladder stopped again, and Yu Sui walked out from the corner. The others were startled when they saw her. The faces of the other freshmen who had studied together in the No. 3 study hall turned ugly again.
As Yu Sui walked out, she said slowly, "That's right. If you're going to say bad things about Li Jinshuang, just say it about Li Jinshuang. Why did I, Li Jinshuang's roommate, have to hear it?"
"You..." Before the person inside could finish speaking, the dragon staircase door closed again.
When Yu Sui returned to her dormitory, the flowers she kept by the window were in full bloom, their delicate purple hues adorning the windowpane. Li Jinshuang stood alone in a corner, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, quietly admiring the flowers, seemingly lost in thought. She didn't even notice when someone entered.
Only the two of them are in the dormitory tonight; Xun Zhiya and Shu Chujun have not yet returned.
If Yu Sui doesn't come back either, then Li Jinshuang will be alone, which is why she came from her room to the main hall and stood in the shadows to enjoy the flowers.
At that moment, Yu Sui pushed open the door and entered the room. Upon noticing this, Li Jinshuang became wary, immediately abandoning her usual gentleness and becoming cold again.
Yu Sui was carrying a small food box filled with snacks she had packed up to take with her when she left the dining hall. She asked Li Jinshuang, "Do you want some?"
Li Jinshuang lowered her eyes and did not answer.
“I can’t finish it all by myself, and it would be such a waste.” Yu Sui waved the food box in her hand at her.
Li Jinshuang still didn't make a move.
Yu Sui placed the food box on the table, opened it, took out the small dishes inside and placed them on the table, then ran to get the teacup, only to find that the tea was gone. He then picked up the teapot and placed it on the stove.
She looked around, staring at the stove, and said, "How am I going to start a fire?"
Yu Sui looked toward Li Jinshuang.
Li Jinshuang seemed unable to believe that someone couldn't even light a fire.
Their eyes met, and Yu Sui blinked, her expression innocent yet pleading for help.
Before Li Jinshuang could express her opinion, Yu Sui looked at her, her meaning quite clear. After the two of them had been waiting for a while, Li Jinshuang obviously couldn't stand it anymore, so she silently stepped forward and helped Yu Sui light the stove to brew tea.
Yu Sui brought over a small stool and stood guard by the stove. She rested her chin on one hand and held the Wind Listening Ruler in the other, saying, "Li Jinshuang, let's add an inscription to the Wind Listening Ruler."
Li Jinshuang stood by the stove, looking at the flowers.
Yu Sui asked again, "Is it good or not?"
The dim light in the room bathed Yu Sui, while Li Jinshuang stood in the shadows, her white robe as bright as the moon. Her long hair was tied up high, like a man's headdress. She had thick eyebrows, a high nose, and always had a stern face, which made her appear cold.
Yu Sui propped her chin up and looked up, her gaze lingering on Li Jinshuang's eyebrows. They must have been drawn on; they were thick, masculine eyebrows that gave her an overall image of being resolute and cold.
At first glance, he appears to be a handsome young man.
Upon closer inspection, she appears to be a beautiful young woman.
“If you don’t say anything, I’ll take that as a yes.” Yu Sui brought up the inscription interface of the Wind Listening Ruler and held it out to Li Jinshuang. “Here.”
Li Jinshuang maintained a stern expression, exuding a heavy, cold aura.
Yu Sui paused for a while after extending her hand, but did not retract it, still looking at Li Jinshuang.
Li Jinshuang seemed to want her to back down, but Yu Sui carefully examined every feature of her face. Her gaze was devoid of any ulterior motives or malicious intent, which made Li Jinshuang unable to hold back. She quickly touched the wind-listening ruler to Yu Sui and then turned and went back into the house.
Yu Sui sighed, glanced at Tingfeng Chi, then at the door Li Jinshuang had closed, and was inexplicably amused by her reaction.
At that speed, it's like I'm about to devour her.
Yu Sui glanced back at Tingfengchi with a leisurely expression, and said to Li Jinshuang through the door, "Do you still want some tea and snacks?"
She sent the message to Li Jinshuang via the Listening Wind Ruler.
A moment later, Li Jinshuang replied to her message: "I won't eat."
Yu Sui ate for a while, but couldn't finish the rest, so she put it back in the food box, left a message for Li Jinshuang saying she could come out and get it if she wanted to eat it, and then went back to her room.
Having been away for quite some time, dust had settled on the bedside table. Looking at the dust, Yu Sui couldn't help but clean the room before going back to bed.
She opened the Listening Ruler to check the encrypted status of the intruded communication array. After more than twenty days of infection, the super-giant communication token covering the entire Taiyi region was finally completely contaminated.
In each of the mountains, her secret texts are constantly growing and infiltrating. In order not to leave any clues for others to discover, the secret texts that Yu Sui implanted in the mountains are constantly being reborn and dying every day.
Yu Sui used these coded messages to expand the range of the communication array, enabling him to transmit messages to the distant capital of Qingyang.
She sent a message to Zhongli Que saying, "I have finally cracked Taiyi's communication array!"
The reply came almost instantly.
Zhong Lique said, "I've been waiting for you for so long!"
She sat up in bed with a start, then lay back down, snuggling under the covers to reply:
"I knew that once you went to Taiyi, you would definitely crack the communication array first."
"But there are so many experts at the thirteenth realm on the Taiyi side, and many saints as well. You have to be careful."
"Ten days ago, the Nangong family received a message from Taiyi saying that you had been accepted as a disciple by Chang Gen, the sage of the Ghost Dao School. Prince Nangong was very happy to hear this."
Yu Sui replied, "He's celebrating too soon."
Zhong Lique carefully tapped on the crossword puzzle, asking Yu Sui how she was doing over there, whether she was dressed and fed well, what the learning environment was like, and whether she was being bullied, etc.
Yu Sui patiently answered her questions one by one, and then asked her how she was doing.
The two exchanged greetings, occasionally sharing amusing anecdotes, which made them both laugh.
Zhongli Que was quite surprised by the existence of the Sage Changgen, and was also troubled by Yu Sui's current cultivation problems.
"By the way, didn't you mention Su Tong before, saying that your brother would mention her unintentionally every time he came home? I happened to run into her today," Yu Sui said. "She's a very beautiful woman."
She told Zhong Lique what had happened in the Dragon Ladder that night.
"She's amazing," Zhong Lique said sincerely. "No wonder my brother likes her."
But the conversation didn't last long, because both of them knew that men from the Zhongli family couldn't marry low-class sorcerers.
When the two talked about Gu Gan, Zhong Lique was surprised by Gu Gan's change: "Many girls liked him when he was a child, and I didn't expect it to be the same when he grew up."
"This is the first time I've heard about the Pagoda of Floating Pagoda. I did hear my father and brother talk about the oath of non-war before. The six kingdoms are no longer balanced, with some strong and some weak. Even though there is an oath of non-war, the six kingdoms do not restrict their interactions. As long as the war is not started using the Nine Schools of Arts, the power of the oath will not be triggered."
Yu Sui also knew the general situation of the Xuan Gu Continent.
The three kingdoms of Qingyang, Taiyuan, and Nanjing are powerful, with their strengths roughly equal and each possessing advantages that the others cannot match. The three kingdoms of Zhou, Dan, and Yan are at a disadvantage, their strength waning, with only Zhou possessing a sage.
Not all of the nine styles of martial arts are suitable for combat.
The Nine Schools of Arts are also divided into various levels: powerful, weak, suitable for combat, suitable for escaping and surviving, and so on.
Weak countries cannot be attacked, but they can be infiltrated.
For example, in the state of Yan, there are no longer any people from Yan in the current dynasty; they are all "others" who have infiltrated Yan from other states, yet they control the fate of Yan today and tomorrow.
Disillusioned with the Yan state, people gradually went to the other five states.
Yu Sui met a man from the State of Yan who had come to Qingyang.
He was the second person Yu Suihui would proactively contact using the Wind Listening Ruler.
Yu Sui called him Old Man Yan.
She didn't know Yan Lao's background, age, or past; she only knew that he was from the Yan Kingdom and had wandered to the capital of Qingyang. When she first saw him, he was emaciated, wearing tattered black clothes, with only his left hand holding a bowl, while the sleeve of his right sleeve hung loosely, and he could barely walk steadily.
He's just an old beggar on the street.
Every time Yu Sui returned from the Imperial Academy, she would throw a piece of gold in front of him.
Old Yan would take one of her gold pieces to buy something to eat, and then place the rest on a fresh leaf the next day, gesturing for Yu Sui to take it.
After two or three months of this back-and-forth, Old Man Yan finally spoke his first words to Yu Sui.
Like an old man with one foot in a coffin, his eyes filled with death, he stared at the exquisitely dressed young girl in a pink dress before him and uttered in a decaying voice, "Why?"
Yu Sui said, "I want to save your life."
He was filled with an aura of death, but Yu Sui refused to let him die.
After that day, Old Yan came back to life.
He was taciturn, but he always granted Yu Sui's requests.
Apart from matters related to spiritual practice.
However, Yu Sui did not tell the truth. She cared about Elder Yan because Elder Yan's existence could not be sensed by the strange fire.
This was the only one she encountered.
Yu Sui didn't ask Elder Yan to do anything excessive. After all, what could an old man with only one arm do? She simply forwarded the usable information obtained from the communication array to Elder Yan.
Old Yan would then turn this information into money.
Yu Sui will help cover for him and erase all traces of his actions from the capital's communication network.
“Don’t worry about the Pagoda for now,” Yu Sui told Zhong Lique. “I won’t be in the capital for a year. If you have any trouble and I don’t reply in time, remember to tell Mr. Yan.”
When Zhongli Que replied with the message, she couldn't help but nod, "Mmm!"
The matter of the Pagoda is a power struggle among six states. For Yu Sui to intervene at this time would be overestimating his own abilities.
Zhong Lique thought for a moment and then said, "Oh right, I've been keeping an eye on the communications of the Nangong Prince's Mansion for you recently, and I discovered that Madam Su has changed to a new physician to treat her old injuries. This new physician is a young woman named Chu Jin. She hasn't been in the capital for long, but she's already being called the Little Medical Saint."
"Perhaps this will help Madam Su heal her old wounds."
Upon seeing this message, Yu Sui's mind flashed with numerous memories, culminating in the man's deep voice:
"The lady is the master of the Farmer's Breath Soil. She is born with half of the Breath Soil. The mountain cold turns into water, and she cannot refuse to absorb the Breath Soil. If she stays in Luoshan for a long time, she will accumulate the mountain cold in her body."
The mountain's coldness transforms into water, which cannot refuse the absorption of the living soil.
It's about absorption, not obstruction.
Yu Sui suddenly realized.
Her Five Elements Light Core was indeed fighting against the Breath of Earth. The Breath of Earth was capable of endless life, but it needed to absorb enough of the Five Elements Qi. Every time she mobilized the Five Elements Qi of the Light Core, she was not blocked, but rather the Breath of Earth was competing with her for it.
Lady Su also only had half of the Breath Soil, so she had to nourish that half with the Qi of the Five Elements, which is why her old injury had not been healed even after more than ten years of treatment.
As for Madam Su, whose old wounds had not yet healed, she was not a threat in Nangong Ming's eyes.
[Author's Note]
Celebrating my 5,000 nutrient solution points, here's an extra chapter! (Dog head holding a rose.jpg)
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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