Chapter 52 He believed it, and only looked forward.
Yu Sui raised her hand to greet Xue Mushi and walked towards him, with Li Jinshuang following behind.
"Shall we talk somewhere quieter?" Yu Sui suggested.
Xue Mushi did not refuse, and so he went directly to the Yin-Yang School's Five Elements Field.
The period for new student admissions had passed, so there were hardly any people around. It wasn't the time for martial arts level-up challenges either, and apart from them, there wasn't a single living person in sight.
It would be an excellent setting for a private conversation.
Yu Sui told Xue Mushi his suggestion: "Li Jinshuang wants to train her sword spirit in the Asura Hell, and I want to practice the Nine Streams Technique to improve my realm, but I need your divination technique to help me break the five elements of the armor formation when I leave the formation."
Therefore, the best partners for this proposal are actually Xue Mushi and Yu Sui; neither of them can be missing.
Moreover, Yu Sui's Five Elements Light Cores have both increased in strength and quantity, making this method more reliable than the last one.
Seeing that Xue Mushi had no expression, Yu Sui added softly, "Your Seven Killings Gua hasn't reached its peak yet. If you want to become stronger, the best place to practice is here. The academy is not like Taiyuan, where you are at home. There are people everywhere, and there are twenty-four Saints guarding it. It's easy to be discovered."
This is the point that can most convince Xue Mushi.
Xue Mushi looked around and thought Yu Sui was very brave: "The special-grade armor formation is too dangerous. You could really die if you're not careful."
"Fortune favors the bold." Yu Sui smiled, but she wasn't joking. Her tone was gentle and calm. "Based on our last time's timing, just in case, we can disrupt the balance and leave at the appointed time, repeating this process to ensure safety."
Xue Mushi thought it was feasible and added, "There were four people last time."
Yu Sui said without changing her expression, "This time there are three people, and I will move the time forward a bit."
Xue Mushi didn't ask why Wei Ren wasn't included. He and Wei Ren weren't that close. The story of Yu Sui being attacked by the farmers had been circulating privately in the academy, and Xue Mushi guessed it was related to Wei Ren.
But since neither of them revealed the forbidden technique under those circumstances, it's still plausible.
After a moment of silence, Xue Mushi nodded in agreement: "Okay."
He looked up at Yu Sui and said, "Let's try it now."
"Huh?" Yu Sui was a little surprised; this person was more direct than she had imagined.
Xue Mushi hesitated and said, "I also want to confirm whether you can open up a second Asura Hell."
Li Jinshuang also looked at Yu Sui and said, "He's right."
“I’m fine with it. I’m not busy today, so I can skip the elective courses for physicians and renowned physicians.” Yu Sui said, stepping into the starry sea within the Yin-Yang Five Elements field. She raised her hand to display the star map, selected the Military Formation, and said, “Then I’ll start!”
The star chart sensed Yu Sui's power and activated the armor formation, causing the three to instantly disappear from the Yin-Yang Five Elements field.
What came into view was the familiar gloomy sky and the flashing lightning of the Legalist Thunder. Amidst the thunder and lightning, a raging fire appeared at the feet of the city's guardian king in the distance, and countless tiny sparks fell from the sky, seemingly carrying an unspeakable rage that wanted to set the entire earth ablaze.
Based on Yu Sui's strength, the star map still revealed the top-tier armored formation, Shura Hell.
The three stood in the wasteland, far from the city gate. Blood-red bones, scattered weapons, and dead warhorses were everywhere on the ground. Some had been dead for many years and turned into white bones, while others seemed to have just died, with blood flowing from them.
The wind that swept across my face was so fierce it felt like it was going to knock me to the ground.
Li Jinshuang immediately became alert, gripping the hilt of her sword with her well-defined knuckles, and glancing around with her peripheral vision, wary of any unforeseen events.
Yu Sui gazed at the city's general in the distance. He was as tall as a giant, comparable to the city's high walls. His shadow completely covered the city behind him. His eyes were like torches. When he calmly and arrogantly swept his gaze, it would set fire to wherever his eyes fell.
Demons wielding swords emerged from the flames.
Xue Mushi sensed the five elements energy within the armor formation and said hesitantly, "It's become stronger."
"Hmm?" Yu Sui and Li Jinshuang looked at him.
Xue Mushi looked at Yu Sui and said, "The military formation opened by the star map is a military formation without human control, so the danger and difficulty are reduced, so it's considered half."
"But this time, the armored formation seems to be... stronger than last time."
Yu Sui suddenly realized, "If it's based on my cultivation level, then I have indeed made some progress recently."
But that doesn't sound like a good thing.
The demons swarmed together, eyeing the three people in the middle of the battlefield with predatory intent.
Yu Sui asked, "So, are we going to fight, or should we go out first, make full preparations, and then come back?"
"Let's go out first," Xue Mushi said, scratching his head. "I'll go back and prepare some relevant talismans."
Yu Sui said "okay," and Li Jinshuang immediately drew her sword and rushed forward to intercept the charging evil spirits. The copper coins in Xue Mushi's hand flew around, making a crisp sound when they collided.
Xue Mushi's divination technique calmed his mind and drew upon the fire element (Li) within the military formation. Yu Sui then amplified and expanded his divination technique, increasing its speed and range, which disrupted the balance of the five elements within the military formation.
It was noon when we got outside.
Yu Sui looked up at the blazing sun, slightly taken aback.
“Last time, when I thought about it afterwards, I felt something was strange. I didn’t stay in the armored formation for that long, but it was already evening when I came out,” she said softly.
The other two noticed it too.
Li Jinshuang said, "Some armor formations can cause time chaos. The flow of time inside the formation is different from that outside the formation, but this is an active skill of the armor master."
"Breaking the formation by disrupting the five elements' energy, as is the case now, will create a time difference."
"I see." Yu Sui rubbed her eyes, which were still uncomfortable from looking at the sunlight, and asked Li Jinshuang in a puzzled tone, "Why didn't you say that last time?"
Li Jinshuang paused, then said softly, "You didn't ask."
Yu Sui: "Oh."
He truly is a mute among military strategists.
Xue Mushi calculated: "This time it took about two hours."
Yu Sui said, "It shouldn't be a fixed time, it won't exceed one day at most, right?"
Xue Mushi suggested, "If there's a time difference, we should come in the evening so as not to interfere with our daytime classes."
This suited Yu Sui perfectly, since she couldn't sleep at night anyway.
Li Jinshuang had no objections.
The three parted ways and agreed to meet again at 9 PM that evening.
Noon, on the mechanical island.
Compared to the academy, the climate here is much hotter, and the ground is so hot that it is impossible to walk barefoot. The sorcerers who are busy in the ancient building are all covered in sweat, and they are hammering and tinkering with the joints of the machines they are responsible for.
Because the mechanisms inside the ancient building require high-temperature processing, Taoist and ghost-based talismans cannot be used to dispel the heat.
Mei Liangyu was on the first floor of the ancient building. The space was very spacious, with several sections of the cloud chariot flying dragon's body resting on the ground, and a bunch of strange and unusual parts around him.
The Wen brothers, Wen Yangzhou and Wen Yangxiu, were also there, holding blueprints and fanning themselves as they looked at them. The little breeze was better than nothing, and they sighed to each other, "This is really inhuman. I'd rather build the Dragon Ladder."
Wen Yangxiu sighed, "Why isn't the dragon staircase in the academy's dormitories broken yet?"
The two couldn't help but look at Mei Liangyu, who was banging on the cloud chariot and flying dragon behind them: the man was shirtless, and although he had only been there for about a day, his originally fair skin had become somewhat dark under the high temperature.
His previous injuries were still wrapped in white bandages, but you could see many old scars on his back and lower abdomen, marks full of ferocity.
As Mei Liangyu repaired the parts, his entire shoulders and back were covered in damp sweat. He pieced the scattered wooden frame back together, and when he pressed or pulled it out, the lines of his bulging forearms were full of explosive power. His fingers, wrapped in bandages, were still nimble enough to hold small parts between his fingers and put them into the holes where they were needed.
After assembling a complete mechanical joint, Mei Liangyu began to bestow words and symbols upon the wooden frame, giving it the power to operate.
Wen Yangxiu looked at Mei Liangyu and said, "No wonder the dragon staircase in the dormitory is still intact; it turns out the culprit hasn't gone back yet."
Wen Yangzhou took the blueprints over, fanned himself at Mei Liangyu, and said, "When you get back, you must remember to break the dragon ladder again, and then call the two of us to fix it."
Mei Liangyu focused intently on his task, his usually somewhat lazy expression softening as he became focused and serious, completely immersed in his own world. He ignored the two brothers' teasing and worked with steady and calm movements, handling every detail perfectly.
"I still can't figure out how the dragon ladder broke last time." Wen Yangxiu also walked towards Mei Liangyu. "Do you usually ride the dragon ladder that often?"
Wen Yangzhou jumped onto the top of a section of a cloud-carrying dragon and squatted down, laughing, "Bringing his junior sister along."
Seeing the blood seeping through Mei Liangyu's bandage, Wen Yangxiu shook his head and poured him a glass of water: "You've grown up so much. Just listen to your master and cultivate properly in the academy. Don't go to the outer city to fight with them. Look at you, you're covered in injuries and can't even rest properly. You still have to come to this godforsaken place to accumulate points."
"You're badly injured this time," Wen Yangzhou said, examining you.
Mei Liangyu was bestowing a name upon the wooden frame of the mechanism. His fingers, imbued with the energy of the five elements, tapped the smooth wooden surface, and without even raising his head, he said, "Four against one."
Wen Yangzhou laughed: "You have no martial ethics."
Wen Yangxiu laughed and said, "I remember you were like this when you were a kid. You couldn't beat them because there were too many of you, so you didn't run away. You just stood there and fought them head-on. If I hadn't come to save you, your brain would have been smashed a couple of times."
Mei Liangyu gave a slight smirk: "It's not like we can't beat them now."
"How old was he again?" Wen Yangxiu asked her brother, looking up at him.
"Thirteen or fourteen years old," Wen Yangzhou recalled, stroking his chin. "That tall, skinny, frail, like he'd fall over if you pushed him. He looked easy to bully, and he had a bad temper. He was either completely silent or he'd explode at the slightest provocation, hahaha!"
As her brother spoke, Wen Yangxiu also remembered and laughed along with him, "Right, right, he's been unlucky since he was little. Even if he just stands there doing nothing, people will still find fault with him. And since he couldn't beat them back then, he would cry after getting beaten up, hahaha!"
Wen Yangzhou was shocked: "You cried?!"
“I cried!” Wen Yangxiu’s memory became clearer, and she said with certainty, “It was the time I saved him. I told him not to leave, that I would go find my brother to help you get revenge. Then I brought you here, but you were fighting and didn’t see me. I saw him lying on the ground, grabbing his sleeve, wiping away tears as he got up, hahaha!”
Mei Liangyu: "..."
He glanced at the two brothers, whose conversation was getting funnier and funnier, and held back.
Once the topic was brought up, the two brothers couldn't stop, marveling at the contrast between Mei Liangyu's past and present.
When Mei Liangyu first came to Taiyi, he didn't remember anything. He didn't know where he lived, who was in his family, what their names were, or what he was doing in Taiyi.
However, he was proficient in almost every kind of martial art.
As a disciple of the Sage Changgen, Mei Liangyu always received special treatment. The Sage Changgen also protected his disciple. Because of his talent in mechanical arts, Mei Liangyu had connections with the mechanical families on the island.
He mingled among the children, and because of his outstanding abilities, he stole the limelight from them. In addition, as an outsider who was not from a family with a long history in government, he was often talked about and insulted by the other children in private.
But at that time, Mei Liangyu knew nothing and didn't know how to get along with these children. All she could do was talk less and do more.
Who knew that the more he did, the more the other children disliked him, and eventually they ended up fighting.
He couldn't beat him when he was a kid, but now that he's grown up, even kids who want to beat him up don't dare to mess with him.
Seeing the two Wen Yang brothers laughing happily, Mei Liangyu merely glanced at them lazily without interrupting them. He hooked the wooden frame of the mechanism around, and after confirming that there were no problems, he put it into the cloud chariot flying dragon and began to make the next mechanical joint.
After the two finished laughing, Mei Liangyu put down his work, sat down next to the mechanical parts, and drank the water that Wen Yangxiu had poured for him earlier.
The wind-listening ruler of Wenyang Axle hummed, and he was called away to check another place. He jumped off the Cloud Chariot Flying Dragon and waved goodbye to Mei Liangyu.
Before leaving, Wen Yangxiu asked him, "Have you remembered anything over the years?"
Mei Liangyu stretched out her long legs on another small stool, clinked glasses and drank water. At the question, she tilted her head slightly as if thinking, then looked back at Wen Yangxiu: "No."
"Take your time," Wen Yangxiu said with a smile. "You'll definitely remember eventually; you cried a lot when you were little."
After saying that, he used his Wind Riding Technique to escape before Mei Liangyu could make a move.
Mei Liangyu stared at the direction the two left in, speechless for a moment. What child doesn't cry?
He tilted his head back and finished the tea, but it neither quenched his thirst nor relieved his heat. He felt as if he were steaming, and his skin felt damp. He felt suffocated and unable to breathe.
He poured himself another glass of cold water, and as he looked down, he inadvertently saw his blurry reflection in the water.
Sweat dripped down his skin, the sticky feeling and heat making him irritable. Mei Liangyu remained calm, keeping himself thinking. Whatever he was thinking, as long as he didn't let his mind go blank or fall into a state of having nothing to do, he could barely suppress his anger that wanted to destroy everything.
The anger had been building up for far too long and hadn't died out with his memory loss; instead, it intensified with the loss of memory and the passage of time.
Therefore, he cannot stop thinking and fighting.
Even thinking about trivial things like what to eat today, what to eat tomorrow, how the meat was cut today, and whether tomorrow's food will taste better than today's, can help you get through a moment and delay the destruction.
His master told him that he should learn to control his anger and not be provoked or influenced by his emotions, so as not to do things that he would regret.
The boy, as pure and fragile as a blank sheet of paper, grew up year by year, from knowing nothing to knowing everything.
As a child, Mei Liangyu didn't know why things were like this, why he couldn't remember things that others remembered. But his master always said that there was no need to care about the past, that people should live in the present and just look forward.
He believed it, and then he only looked forward.
But Mei Liangyu had a premonition that when he learned the source of his anger, even his master would be unable to stop him.
He was also pondering whether he should remain trapped in Taiyi forever, completely unaware of the truth, or go and search for his missing memories.
He had been hesitating for many years.
When he killed Wei Kun in the outer city last time and was trapped in the Shadow Devouring Realm, he seemed to sense something. In that square black box, all he could see was darkness, an overwhelming darkness. It seemed that someone had once placed him in this darkness, but without any malice.
Each time the Celestial Official of Divine Mechanism eliminated his Nine Streams Technique, it seemed to bring something else as well. The Five Elements Qi, which appeared distorted because of the Divine Mechanism Technique, struggled and tore at each other. In the struggle between the two forces, they unexpectedly were about to awaken the sealed memories deep in his mind.
In the Nine Schools of Arts, the Heavenly Official symbolizes a kind of power. He can carry out the Legalist school's penal techniques, the School of Names' bestowal of characters, the Agricultural School's divination of the weather and wind, and can also modify or cancel the power of the Five Elements within a certain range.
It can alter the laws governing the flow and operation of all things in the universe based on the five elements; this is its "power".
Since this person wants to kill him, he shouldn't stop at this failure; there will be opportunities to face him again in the future.
However, confronting and fighting this person might bring some unpredictable consequences.
At this moment, Mei Liangyu was still thinking. He thought about how the tea was cold and didn't quench his thirst, and had no taste. He also thought about how he missed the soft and sweet apricots from the Ghost Path Temple. Even if the apricots weren't as sweet as in previous years because of the excessive rain, they should still taste better than the tea he was drinking.
There are so many apricots on the tree, it's impossible for my junior sister to eat them all in three days.
Wait, if she likes to eat it, it's not impossible?
Let's hurry up and finish what we need to do here so we can go back and eat apricots.
After finishing her herbal tea, Mei Liangyu got up and continued working.
Yu Sui grabbed the apricot tree branch and tried to pick the fruit by tiptoe, but when she found that she couldn't pick it by hand, she gave up and used the Bagua Shengshu (Eight Trigrams Life Technique) to shake the ripe apricots off the tree.
After playing around with it for a while, I realized that this could be considered a way to train precise control of the five elements.
Precisely manipulating the five elements to pluck apricots from the tree and drop them smoothly to the ground without damaging them, Yu Sui was extremely focused on this subtle control. At first, she would let the apricots fall to the ground, but as she improved, she was finally able to get the apricots to land safely in the food box on the ground by nightfall.
What her senior brother and master could do with a simple gesture, she had to do repeatedly and cautiously, with complete focus. The difference was truly enormous.
Yu Sui soaked the apricots she had picked in water to wash them, dried them, and ate them. She puffed out one cheek and stood by the table, flipping through the introductory manual for the Ghost Daoist school written by her senior brother. When it was almost 9 PM, she went to the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field.
Li Jinshuang and Xue Mushi arrived at roughly the same time.
Without further ado, the three of them activated the star map and entered the armored formation.
Flickering sparks fell from the sky, the night deepened, as if the sky would soon collapse. Flames rose from the ground, engulfing the battle flags fluttering in the wind. The towering flames swayed, and from them emerged figures of evil spirits wielding knives and swords.
The demons' dazzling crimson-gold eyes shone like beacons illuminating the battlefield in the night.
Upon hearing the sound of Li Jinshuang drawing her sword, Yu Sui asked, "What is the sword spirit of a military strategist like?"
She had seen her second brother Su Feng's sword spirit before, but what she wanted to ask now was not about military strategy, but about Li Jinshuang's own.
Because Zhongli Que was unable to cultivate and could not reach the third realm, even though he watched his father teach his older brother the family's sword techniques from a young age, he did not develop a sword spirit.
"To be one with others, to live and die together." Li Jinshuang stared ahead, gripping the longsword in his hand. For a moment, the blade reflected the pensive look of its master. "Only those who possess the spirit of the sword can learn the true ninth-rate swordsmanship."
Yu Sui guessed, "The Li family of Nanjing was once known as the God of War, so they should also have their own family sword techniques. Is your sword spirit unstable because of your family or because of yourself?"
Li Jinshuang remained silent and did not answer; perhaps she herself did not understand.
“Alright, then I’ll ask one last question.” Yu Sui stared at the evil spirits chasing after them, “If your sword spirit goes out of control and we break through the armored formation to get out, will you be in a state of sword spirit going out of control, or a state of sword spirit disappearing?”
Xue Mushi seemed to have just remembered the question and froze: "Why didn't you ask when we were outside?"
"I just remembered," Yu Sui said, looking at him with a puzzled expression. "Why didn't you remember when we were outside?"
Xue Mushi had no way to defend himself, and he and Yu Sui looked at Li Jinshuang.
Li Jinshuang pursed her lips and replied, "It's hard to say."
That means anything is possible.
Other people's sword spirits are loyal to their masters, appearing and disappearing at will. But her sword spirit is different; whether it appears or disappears depends entirely on its mood. If it's in a good mood, it will appear and devour its master's mind. If it's in a bad mood, it won't appear and will leave its master to die.
For example, Blade & Soul is in a good mood right now.
The demon at the forefront leaped up with its sword, charging towards Li Jinshuang, who was standing at the very front, with murderous intent.
As soon as Li Jinshuang swung her sword, a fierce wave of energy surged forth. The incredibly powerful sword energy cleaved the evil spirit in half at the waist while it was still in the air. Yu Sui and Xue Mushi, who were standing behind her, reacted quickly and retreated, thus avoiding being injured by the sword energy that spread out from Li Jinshuang.
The two looked at Li Jinshuang in surprise.
Black mist swirled around Li Jinshuang, binding her sword-wielding hand and the sword together, preventing her from breaking free.
She frowned, glancing behind her out of the corner of her eye, where she could vaguely see a blade gleaming with a dangerous light.
The sword spirit was enormous, casting a shadow on the ground comparable to that of the city's guardian general. Four eerie skeletons, each with only their upper bodies, pressed back to back, merging into a single massive body that enveloped Li Jinshuang.
Compared to their enormous bodies, their heads appeared incredibly small, with a faint, dark golden light shimmering in their dark eye sockets, as if they were awakening.
Eight skeletal arms, each holding a hiltless longsword, rose up and intertwined behind Li Jinshuang. The sword spirit's head slowly twisted, making a cracking sound as the bones writhed. Its crimson-gold eyes, gradually brightening, stared at the evil spirits surging from all directions, letting out a threatening growl.
As the longsword swung horizontally, Yu Sui and Xue Mushi heard the sword spirit emit a piercing roar, so sharp it seemed to pierce their eardrums, and their hearts ached as if a heavy object was pressing down on them. The two quickly used the Bagua Life Technique to resist the sword spirit's sonic attack.
Some of the charging demons were stopped in their tracks by the sword spirit's sonic attack, their sword-wielding hands trembling with fear. The higher-level demons, undaunted by the sonic attack, charged toward Li Jinshuang.
The sword spirit hurled its longsword, and the heavy sword energy swept across the surroundings, slicing all the demons leaping in the air and running on the ground in half, with the sound of the blade breaking continuously.
Yu Sui and Xue Mushi were once again forced back by the fierce sword energy. Looking at Li Jinshuang in the distance, they thought to themselves, "Oh no, we might be killed by Li Jinshuang's sword spirit before we are killed by the Thirteen Realms Black Armor Iron Cavalry on the other side of the river."
[Author's Note]
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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