Chapter 295 The World-Destroying Group: Whose Wind-Listening Ruler can be used like this?
While Yu Sui was tidying up, Sheng Fei went back to his room to wash up. When he came out, he saw Yu Sui pick up the papers on the ground, look at them from all angles, and finally frown and look up at him with a troubled expression, saying, "I don't understand."
"It would be strange if you could understand it." Sheng Fei said with a smile, took the paper from her hand, glanced at it and said, "This is bird-and-insect script, the closest to the inscription on that stele."
"What does it say?" Yu Sui straightened up and leaned over to take a look.
Sheng Fei then handed the paper to her again: "Thunder enters the earth, and crimson flames shine brightly."
Yu Sui looked surprised, yet somewhat bewildered.
In his heart, he thought, "This is consistent with the information that Yue Shu told Elder Zong. Yue Shu kept a secret and was unwilling to reveal all the information. He only told Elder Zong half a sentence: 'Heavenly thunder enters the earth, and crimson fire shines brightly.'"
When Mei Liangyu published the inscription, he didn't mention this sentence at all.
Sheng Fei's ability to solve the problem did indeed make Yu Sui look at him with new respect.
"But what does this mean?" Yu Sui looked completely clueless about the famous calligraphers.
Sheng Fei said, "It should refer to thunder and fire. Thunder is usually a Taoist concept. It involves drawing lightning into the earth, causing the earth's energy to surge, and the collision between the two produces thunder and fire."
Yu Sui asked, "Does that mean the fragments are hidden in the Taoist temple?"
“Not necessarily.” Sheng Fei shook his head. “That statement is more like referring to a phenomenon than a location.”
Yu Sui: "What's the second half of the sentence?"
Sheng Fei released the paper, walked around to the opposite side of the table and sat down, his expression not very good: "Still trying to figure out a solution."
Yu Sui looked around at the papers covering the room: "Third Brother, I've never seen this inscription before. How do we decipher it? I see there are many characters in your room that I don't recognize."
“Those were all selected from the famous Lingzi Collection. The Lingzi Collection records countless characters and incantations, but many of them are not annotated and their meaning is unknown. At least the characters and incantations within the last thousand years can be found in the Lingzi Collection, so when consulting ancient books, we usually go to it.”
It was rare for Yu Sui to ask him about matters related to the Nine Schools of Arts, so Sheng Fei was very patient. Seeing his sister's admiring gaze, he was in a great mood and continued, "Disciples of famous schools all have their own innate spirit word. The spirit word can be transformed into an art, and it can also help you remember the annotations in the spirit word collection, giving you the power to bestow words and blessings."
"If you can't find the meaning of the inscription in the 'Collection of Spiritual Characters,' then you can only break down the characters and sense the power of the resonant incantation."
Yu Sui looked around: "So we're still in the stage of searching for inscriptions in the Spirit Character Collection?"
Sheng Fei nodded: "Characters are pictographic, and what they depict is the recorded thing itself. By finding the character that is most similar to the inscription in the collection of characters, we can roughly deduce its meaning."
The famous collection of characters "Ling" is available to everyone; however, how much one can remember depends on individual ability.
Sheng Fei said, "The 'Spiritual Character Collection' claims to record all the character spells on the entire continent, but it's hard to say exactly how many. Currently, Taiyi has announced that there are 500,000."
"Five hundred thousand?" Yu Sui was stunned. "How long will it take to investigate such a large sum?"
Sheng Fei replied, "You should ask how much of these 500,000 words can be found."
Yu Sui: "Is the collection of spirit characters in the Taiyi Academy incomplete?"
“Even if Taiyi’s records are incomplete, you still can’t tell the difference.” Sheng Fei narrowed his eyes. “Before coming to Taiyi, my father gave me a copy of the ‘Collection of Spiritual Characters’, which contains more than 10,000 kinds of character spells. It is said to be a unique copy, and even Taiyi has not included it.”
After Nangong Ming watched him memorize the contents of the tattered page, he burned the rare copy. Sheng Fei had not yet found the text recorded on the tattered page in Taiyi's "Collection of Spiritual Characters" and began to have some doubts.
Could it be a fragment that my father wrote down from memory, and that the Nangong family passed down through generations by practicing the techniques of famous masters?
Sheng Fei pursed his lips, but ultimately did not reveal this guess to Yu Sui.
“If Taiyi’s ‘Collection of Spirit Characters’ doesn’t contain all of them, it will be really difficult to decipher this inscription.” After sighing, Yu Sui asked Sheng Fei curiously, “Third Brother, do you also want to find the fragments of the Floating Pagoda?”
Sheng Fei was drinking soup when he heard this and gave a cold laugh without replying.
Mu Mengbai opened the door and came out. After tidying himself up, he looked much cleaner and more refreshed. He sat down next to Sheng Fei with a grin and said, "It's because someone deliberately provoked your brother. He couldn't stand being provoked and agreed to the contest with Su Xingchao to see who could decipher the ancient inscription and find the fragment of the Pagoda first."
"Su Xingchao?" Yu Sui pondered. "That name sounds familiar. Is he also a disciple of a famous master?"
Mu Mengbai nodded and said, "If you've heard of the Qingyun Society, you must have also heard of the name Su Xingchao."
"An active member of the Qingyun Society, I remember now, is he the one who looks down on the scions of aristocratic families?" Yu Sui couldn't help but smile as she said this.
Mu Mengbai snapped his fingers: "You guessed right! It's him. Su Xingchao only hangs out with people from common backgrounds and hates scions of aristocratic families. But he happens to be quite talented and is one of the top disciples among the elite families. It's just that I feel he's not very bright."
“If you hate someone, just keep it to yourself. But he insists on announcing it to the whole world and equally hating everyone from a good family.” Mu Mengbai turned a blind eye, shaking his head with a hint of disappointment. “Su Xingchao believes that the cultivation of scions of aristocratic families is all built up by family resources, and cannot be compared with someone like him who relies purely on talent. He has said several times in front of your brother that your brother is a fake, and that he, Su Xingchao, is the real genius.”
Yu Sui couldn't help but look at Sheng Fei; he definitely couldn't stand such words.
"But this kid is indeed something. This time, their little squabble is not like before." Mu Mengbai became serious as he finished speaking. "Su Xingchao challenged him to a contest to see who could decipher this ancient inscription first. The loser would have to leave Taiyi. They also made a vow, and anyone who dared to break the vow would explode and die."
"You agreed?" Yu Sui looked at Sheng Fei in surprise.
Sheng Fei replied with a sullen face, "I've disliked this idiot for a long time. He wants to get out of Taiyi, so I'll grant his wish."
Mu Mengbai sighed and said, "If you two were competing in other areas, I could have some confidence in you, but when it comes to deciphering characters, that's Su Xingchao's forte, so it's really hard to say."
"I would lose to Su Xingchao?" Sheng Fei seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world, and then sneered at Mu Mengbai, "You think Su Xingchao can beat me? You seem to have a lot of confidence in Su Xingchao."
Mu Mengbai immediately raised his hand as if to swear: "Young Master, don't you know who I have confidence in? If we join forces, we'll be invincible. This time, we'll definitely take down that big idiot Su Xingchao!"
Yu Sui raised her hand and said earnestly, "Me too! I'll help too, and I won't let you lose to anyone else, Third Brother!"
Before Sheng Fei could even react, Mu Mengbai was already greatly encouraged, rubbing his hands together and saying, "With my sister joining us, victory is in sight!"
Encouraged by Mu Mengbai, Yu Sui seemed full of energy and nodded repeatedly, asking, "Then what should I do?"
Mu Mengbai said, "Go and buy some new paper and pens for your brother!"
"Okay!" Yu Sui wrote it down carefully, then asked, "Anything else?"
Mu Mengbai looked at her with a sincere expression: "With you here watching over us, it's like having the blessing of a master sage and the lucky star of a martial arts master. Just by sitting there, we've already won half the battle!"
Yu Sui: "..."
Got it, you think I'm your mascot?
She smiled and happily played along with Mu Mengbai. After Sheng Fei had eaten and drunk his fill, she grabbed Mu Mengbai by the back of his collar and dragged him away, preventing him from continuing to tease Yu Sui.
Yu Sui did as instructed and bought several boxes of ink and paper for Sheng Fei. He then had Blackbeard send someone to deliver them to Sheng Fei's dormitory. In the afternoon, after attending a class at the Ghost Path Holy Hall, she went to the Floating Life Hall where Zou Qian lived.
Zou Qian mostly lived in the Communication Institute and rarely returned to his own residence. The Fusheng Hall looked very grand and magnificent, but it was very empty inside. Some rooms didn't even have the simplest tables and chairs. Each room looked like it had been robbed, and it was so clean that only dust remained.
The main hall is paved with black bricks with a water ripple pattern. When viewed from above, the area outside the hall looks like a floating black sea wave.
Zou Qian sat at the entrance of the main hall, carrying a wine pot. He casually glanced at the girl who had arrived late. Behind her was a vast expanse of the setting sun, its afterglow shimmering like a swaying sea of fire.
"You don't seem to be in very good shape lately," Zou Qian asked quietly, staring at Yu Sui. "Is it because your injury hasn't healed yet, or are you worried about your senior brother and can't concentrate on your studies?"
Yu Sui pursed her lips and said, "Didn't you say that Master only gave Shui Zhou three days?"
Seven or eight days have passed, and no one has come back.
“The sea fire over the Fog Sea hasn’t been extinguished yet. Once the sea fire in the Fog Sea is extinguished, Elder Chang and he will return.” Zou Qian couldn’t help but laugh as she spoke. “Don’t worry, your senior brother can’t escape. The only place he can ultimately return to is the Ghost Path Sanctuary in the academy.”
Yu Sui frowned slightly: "Dean Zou, can't you really tell me about my senior brother's background?"
Zou Qian: "This has absolutely no bearing on our agreement."
Yu Sui was lost in thought.
The sages of Taiyi clearly knew the secret of Mei Liangyu's background, but none of them dared to mention it. Surely they weren't involved in all the scheming against their senior brother's family.
Zou Qian then spoke up again, reminding me: "A year is a short time, and apart from the Nine Provinces Star Sea, there's nothing particularly special about you to me. My confidence in you will decrease over time, and I'll be able to promise you fewer things."
Does this mean that if you want to get information from him, you have to show some progress in your cultivation?
Yu Sui: "Okay, I understand."
As she was about to leave, she remembered something and turned back to ask, "Do Dean Liang and Dean Chen have a grudge?"
Liang Zhen seemed quite concerned about his senior.
Mentioning these two, Zou Qian stroked his chin and smiled meaningfully: "Of the four abbots of the Taoist school, apart from Li Qiuwen, the other three are all fellow disciples from the same school."
Yu Sui: "Are all three deans from the same sect?"
What a coincidence that all three of them were able to break through to sainthood and were all chosen by the power of the Earth's core.
"Their master is Dong Hongjun. We should respectfully address him as Ancestor Dong Hong. It is said that he lived for nearly three hundred years and only took these three disciples."
Zou Qian pointed out, "Zhang Guanyi is the eldest disciple, Chen Daozhi is the second disciple, and Liang Zhen is the youngest disciple. Our Dean Liang and Dean Chen have a blood feud of killing their master. I heard, just heard, that after Chen Daozhi failed to kill the Donghong Ancestor, he was expelled from the sect, and the Donghong Ancestor eventually died from his injuries."
"Dean Liang then blamed this on Dean Chen, and the two would fight whenever they met."
After listening, Yu Sui asked curiously, "Then what does Dean Zhang, as the eldest disciple, think?"
"What do you think? Of course, you want to kill Chen Daozhi." Zou Qian said with a smile, "Chen Daozhi went to Shuizhou not to study the strange fire, but to hide from Zhang Guanyi, afraid of dying at the hands of his senior brother. Chen Daozhi was on business at Shuizhou, and he was protected by Elder Sun and the others to prevent him from dying. If it weren't for Elder Sun, Chen Daozhi's life would really be hard to say."
"But everyone here is a Saint. Legend has it that Saints are immortal in Taiyi, right?" Yu Sui blinked in confusion. "Is Dean Zhang really that powerful?"
“Sages naturally have their strengths, but sages are not equal.” Zou Qian tilted her head back and took another sip of wine. “Zhang Guanyi is also an extraordinary person. At his age, you could call him an ancestor.”
Yu Sui's face was practically screaming "Ah!"
"Ancestors?"
"Zhang Guanyi should be two hundred years old this year. Taoist sorcerers either live long lives or die young."
"Wouldn't that mean I'm with my master..."
"But nobody knows how old Old Chang is this year."
Yu Sui: "You don't know either?"
Zou Qian shook her head, not caring much, and said, "Perhaps Dean Zhang knows. After all, he's that old, he must have heard about things related to Elder Chang."
However, Zhang Guanyi's whereabouts were uncertain, and no one knew whether he was in Taiyi or wandering in the other six kingdoms.
Yu Sui left Zou Qian's Floating Life Palace. It was already completely dark. The stone lanterns in the mountains lit up one after another, illuminating the way out. She originally intended to return to her residence after leaving the Yin-Yang Academy, but she suddenly compromised halfway and went to the outer city.
The merchant ship carrying the spirit puppets remained docked at the seaside pier. Yu Sui slipped past everyone and sneaked into the ship, arriving at the underground cabin where the spirit puppets were kept.
There was only one key to enter the underground cabin, and it was in Yu Sui's hands.
She lit the candles on the wall, turned around, and saw the same group of spirit puppets she had seen in Beikun City before.
Lifelike, as if a living person whose life has been frozen in time.
Following his previous method, Yu Sui separated his own Level 1 Five Elements Light Core and infiltrated it into the spirit puppet's body, allowing it to upgrade itself.
After the battle in the Sea of Fog, the Nine Provinces Star Sea accelerated time with the movement of the sundial and also enhanced its capacity to contain Qi. Yu Sui discovered that the number of Five Elements Light Cores that can be differentiated each day has now reached more than nine thousand.
More than nine thousand is a terrifying number for Yu Sui.
These days, Yu Sui has been pondering whether or not to stay in Taiyi.
She had realized that staying in Taiyi was dangerous for both herself and Xue Mushi. You never know when an accident will happen, and when an accident does happen, it will mean death for her.
Can different flames really be extracted?
After talking with Zou Qian tonight, Yu Sui realized that she should put the goal of separating the strange fire on hold.
Even without the strange fire, she would have even more troubles.
After witnessing Shui Zhou take her senior brother away, Yu Sui suddenly felt that it was only a matter of time before Shui Zhou found the World Destroyer, but she needed to have more before that happened.
After the Five Elements Light Cores entered the Spirit Puppet's body, without other Light Cores competing for the Five Elements Qi, they began to upgrade and evolve on their own.
Yu Sui watched them evolve from the first realm to the sixth realm. Even when they reached the sixth realm, they did not stop evolving. She also had an estimate of her own strength. This time, the light core upgrade should be at the eighth realm.
As she expected, after the Five Elements Light Core within the spirit puppet evolved to the eighth realm, its operation slowed down and it stopped upgrading.
Eight Realms.
It's still a long way from the thirteenth realm.
Yu Sui remained calm as he retrieved the Eight Realms Light Core from the spirit puppet's body and, without hesitation, shattered the core to replace it.
Tonight, four more people were awakened by the excruciating pain of their chest cores shattering.
This pain is both familiar and strange.
The man's furious voice rang in the minds of the other destroyers first: "You're not dead?!"
"Thank you for your guidance in breaking the deadlock, senior," Yu Sui said gently.
The man ignored him completely and continued to curse, "You're really lucky! When that new guy first came this year, he was always fighting and killing. But ever since you started using the 'Crushing Light Core' move on your chest, he hasn't dared to go out and kill anyone. I'm really afraid that one day when he's being chased by his enemies, he'll be killed because of your 'Crushing Light Core' move."
Han Ziyang lay in bed, speechless.
Yu Sui: "Next time we need to contact each other, I can let you know in advance."
Gongsun Qi was dumbfounded: "What do you plan to do?"
“In a few days, all six kingdoms will update their communication systems. The transmission of sound will no longer be restricted, and the range of text transmission will be expanded. It will also no longer be restricted by different communication systems within the capital city,” Yu Sui said. “The communication systems of the six kingdoms will be monitored by the communication institutes of each kingdom’s capital city. If you use the Wind Listening Ruler on a regular basis, it is best not to use it for anything shady.”
The nonchalant man scoffed, "What decent person would use a wind-listening ruler?"
Han Ziyang said coldly, "I'll use it."
Gongsun Qi: "I don't need it."
He's wanted by the authorities, yet he dares to use the "listening wind ruler" (a tool for detecting the wind's influence); he would have been arrested hundreds of times over.
The man sneered, "I advise you to give up on that idea!"
“At the end of each month, at the third quarter of Hai hour, I will contact you in this way,” Yu Sui said. “If you do not want to be contacted, or if there is an unexpected reason that prevents you from being contacted, you can send the date of the month to the Listening Wind Ruler inscription I specify.”
Gongsun Qi pondered in confusion: "Doesn't the Listening Wind Ruler require matching inscriptions on both sides before messages can be sent between them? Can it send messages unilaterally now?"
Han Ziyang was greatly shocked: "The Wind Listening Ruler can send messages across borders now?"
The man was even more skeptical: "International? We can't even send messages to the six foreign countries from Taiyi alone."
Xue Mushi said weakly, "What she said is true."
Finally, the man turned to persuade Yu Sui: "We don't need to contact each other every month. At most, we can contact each other once every three years. It's good that we each live our own lives based on our own abilities. What do you think, young lady?"
The last question was asked through gritted teeth.
However, Yu Sui did not answer, and the empathy disappeared.
Yu Sui hid in a dark corner, leaning against the cabin wall as she slowly recovered.
She's already given out her contact information; it's up to others whether they believe her or not.
They probably don't believe it.
At present, apart from Xue Mushi, the other three World Destroyers would rather have a brief and painful communication on the last day of each month than send a message to the Wind Listening Ruler inscription and expose themselves.
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