Sprouting spiritual plants.
This was the skill Fu Jinyue practiced the most now.
Not long after discovering the peculiar traits of the Hehuan cultivation method, she had been discovered by Yun Heyin and the others, resulting in her being confined within the bamboo mountain, freeloading meals day after day.
With nothing else to do, aside from eating and hounding her neighbor, her sole amusement was researching her cultivation method.
After all, relying strictly on men carried certain risks; she still hoped to acquire more methods to prepare for unexpected needs. During this period, she had experimented on every single plant in her courtyard. Generally speaking, the lower and more common the plant, the easier it was to sprout.
A spiritual plant of this grade was something Fu Jinyue was encountering for the first time.
She did not know the name of the flower or what function it served; she only knew that sprouting just this one blossom had completely drained her entire body’s spiritual energy.
Cold sweat drenched her back, but Fu Jinyue had no desire to conceal it. Tucking the flower away into her embrace with a shake, she raised her shoulder to brush away the fine sweat on her cheek.
Then, with considerable amusement, she sized up the current scene.
The first to snap back to reality was Yun Heyin.
Traces of astonishment still lingered on his face, though he had largely returned to a state of calm. He opened his lips only to purse them again, clearly still flustered.
Yun Heyin’s thoughts flew wild amidst his amazement.
—Have you hidden your cultivation?
—This is impossible! How on earth did you do it?
—Who… are you?
No one understood the difficulty of this matter better than he did. It was simply as difficult as ascending to heaven. Within the Danding Sect—no, even within the entire cultivation world—those who could achieve this step were few and far enough between!
All sorts of thoughts flashed past, and his respective guesses and questions were halted within his mind. As he looked at the person before him, she seemed as unfamiliar as if they were meeting for the first time.
Truly strange.
It was only now that her appearance vividly manifested before him.
She was not the savior of the Heavenly Mandate who failed to live up to her name, nor the sharp-tongued, shameless scoundrel, nor the good-looking female cultivator who was exceptionally provocative, but rather…
Fu Jinyue.
He muttered her name, a burning heat harboring within his heart, urgently desiring to converse with her about how she had accomplished it.
Yet he watched as those light, glass-like pupils curved slightly. She was smiling, though the smile was shallow and her expression faint, actually carrying a touch of subtle… mockery.
Mockery?
A splash of cold water crashed over his head. Suddenly, a certain indescribable sensation within himself was caught by Yun Heyin. He knit his brows subconsciously as the feeling burned all the way from his chest to the tip of his heart, vexingly suffocating and incredibly stifling.
This was a sensation Yun Heyin rarely experienced; it was… the displeasure of being slighted.
Having achieved fame at a young age due to cultivating three arts simultaneously and being praised by the masses, when had Yun Heyin ever suffered this type of slight?
He opened his mouth instantly, his counter-attack forming faster than his thoughts. However, an exclamation dragged his reason back, and Yun Heyin looked askance.
“Wow—”
Sinian pressed closer. “Little Fu… how did Fellow Daoist Fu do it?”
She seemed to want to poke at the flower in Fu Jinyue’s embrace, yet restrained herself and stopped.
The petals were a tender white, wrapped around one another in three or four layers, their texture like silk, while clusters of stamens resembled intertwined golden threads. Beneath the direct midday sun, the petals of the entire flower cast halos resembling rings of solar radiance, incomparably brilliant.
Fu Jinyue wanted to stroke it herself, let alone anyone else. She smoothed her hand over it casually before stuffing the flower into Sinian’s hands. “You can only look.”
Siyan, the red-crowned crane in its original form, also poked its head close. Sinian carefully avoided its beak, preventing the blossom from being harmed.
“This is a Xining Flower. So many people in the Danding Sect wanted to cultivate it to bloom but failed; it’s very precious,” the girl warned sharply. “Idiot Siyan can’t touch it.”
“Xining Flower?” Fu Jinyue began using her repeating tactic to extract information again.
However, the man who had been standing frozen for a long while proactively said, “A rare spiritual plant that grows on high mountain cliffs, thriving against the wind and blooming when bathed in sunlight. It can be used for medicine, and refining it into pills also yields the effect of nourishing the primordial spirit.”
Fu Jinyue smiled slightly.
“Thank you for the guidance, Senior Yun,” she said, her tone sincere, yet she watched as that habitually calm, waveless man suddenly stiffened and averted his face.
He seemed to let out a soft sigh. “Treating Fellow Daoist Fu in that manner previously… it was this Yun who was arrogant.”
Fu Jinyue feigned surprise. “Why do you say that, Senior?”
Yun Heyin shifted his gaze back, his expression solemn. “The barrier of the bamboo mountain will be opened, allowing Fellow Daoist Fu to enter and exit freely. This Yun’s various slights toward Fellow Daoist Fu previously were truly inappropriate and not the conduct of a gentleman. This Yun…”
Catching sight of the girl’s half-smiling expression.
He came to a hurried halt.
The coldness within the girl’s eyes was evident.
Clearly, she was not satisfied with this sort of apology.
The cultivation world was one where the weak were meat for the strong and the powerful were revered. High-stage cultivators held the initiative before lower-stage ones, acting as the dominant party—this had been the logic since ancient times.
Ever since Yun Heyin formed his Soul at the age of twenty-five, which sect member didn’t greet him respectfully as True Monarch Yun upon seeing him? Seniors were magnanimous, elders doted on him, and juniors held him in awe. Yet Fu Jinyue was arrogant and overbearing, often failing to utter even a word of “Senior” with any truth or sincerity.
Yun Heyin believed he was sufficiently forbearing and tolerant.
Yet the girl’s expression was half-smiling, thoroughly dissatisfied with his apology.
She even mimicked his words, using a sly expression to silently mouth the words: The conduct of a gentleman, hm?
Exceedingly arrogant.
Beneath his annoyance, the teachings of the past emerged once more at this moment: do not be discourteous, do not be wanton, do not strive or envy… the measured tone babbled on incessantly, yet every single word pierced into his bones, growing along with his flesh and blood. Following that long string of “must nots” was another long string of “ought tos”: one ought to be strict in self-cultivation, one ought to be erudite and prudent in thought—no, stop thinking about it. He tried his best to break free from the prison of the past, yet no matter how weary he grew, this chattering noise still voiced itself line by line until the very end of the paragraph. The final sentence was…
One ought to be respectful and courteous.
—Heyin, no matter the time, you must cut this into your memory: you ought to restrain yourself and maintain your Dao heart steadily.
That sword was pressed against his neck, blood trickling out thread by thread. The face of the person holding the sword was blurry, yet the words remained fresh in his memory. It was not a threat, but it surpassed a threat.
Thus, regardless of how much his sea of consciousness surged and fluctuated, Yun Heyin did not blink, lowering his head as he said, “Previously, it was this Yun’s fault. Please grant forgiveness, Fellow Daoist Fu.”
Straightforward and direct.
A True Monarch at the Nascent Soul stage was apologizing to a minor cultivator at the second layer of the Qi Refining stage.
Never mind anyone else; even Sinian and Siyan were startled.
But perhaps because Yun Heyin’s extraordinary cultivation was too deeply ingrained in the minds of the demons, the two crane demons looked at one another, thinking with a mix of suspicion and certainty: Perhaps… this is simply Master Yun?
Fu Jinyue was barely satisfied with this apology.
Only then did she bring up the main business anew: “Is the injury of that powerful figure of the Sword Sect similar to this spiritual plant?”
If it was merely to this extent, resolving it would be well within her capabilities.
“It is much more severe,” Yun Heyin said.
Fu Jinyue: “How much more severe?”
Yun Heyin gazed at the radiant Xining Flower in Sinian’s hand and said, “It is shocking to anyone who sees it.”
The spiritual plant at least retained a thread of life force. But Elder Pinxin’s primordial spirit was ruptured and broken into pieces, with only her divine sense narrowly recalled because her Dao companion nourished it day and night. In comparison, a regression in her realm was the smallest price paid.
Yun Heyin glanced toward the sky before shifting his gaze back to look at Fu Jinyue, saying, “Whether the specific details can be disclosed completely still requires Sect Master Yu’s decision. Before that, is there anything Fellow Daoist Fu requires?”
If it was much more severe, the minor capability currently in her hands was not yet enough. Displaying value to exchange value—look, she had fished more benefits out of this title of the savior of the Heavenly Mandate.
Fu Jinyue said, “Give me an acre of land.”
After a brief thought, she added, “And also the spiritual plants damaged by the heavenly lightning.”
Yun Heyin appeared highly perplexed.
She was also too lazy to explain in detail that she wanted them to research her cultivation method further, so as to be more certain of resolving the elder’s injuries. In any case, the Sword Sect would definitely want to send someone to keep an eye on her, and nothing could be concealed; they would figure it out on their own when the time came.
Furthermore, there was no need to conceal it. The more capability she displayed, the more convenience she could fish out using the name of saving the world via the Heavenly Mandate.
Just like at present, Fu Jinyue could say with a radiant smile, “Speaking of which, there is one more thing. As you know, my knowledge is shallow, and I am entirely ignorant of spells and sword techniques. Walking outside is bound to be far too dangerous, so I hope… Senior can come to instruct me.”
Fu Jinyue’s calculations rang out clearly.
Borrowing resources to research the derivative uses of her cultivation method was the first use.
Using the results to defuse the Sword Sect’s difficult problem to create momentum for the Orthodox Hehuan Sect was the second use.
And borrowing this clear and otherworldly True Monarch to raise her cultivation was the third use.
Killing three birds with one stone.
Yun Heyin looked at her, remaining silent.
The person before him possessed a light eye color, resembling amber glass beneath the bright sun. At this moment, her eyelashes trembled slightly, the watery sheen in her eyes rippling, harboring affection and carrying a smile, making anyone who looked flush red. Yet as Yun Heyin looked to the depths of her eyes, he felt that shred of affection was exceedingly false, merely a passing glint of light upon a cold spring.
The real her was perhaps looking on coldly, devoid of emotion.
Arrogant and wanton, yet feigning obedience. He evaluated her thus in his heart, yet his eyes could not be shifted away regardless.
Fu Jinyue tilted her head and asked, “Senior?”
Yun Heyin finally steadied his heart, saying in a faint voice, “……Very well.”
From then on, Fu Jinyue was finally able to leave the mountain.
That bamboo forest no longer turned around and around without an exit. The Sword Sect viewed this matter with considerable importance; the field was arranged not far from the bamboo mountain, featuring fertile soil, abundant spiritual energy, and sparse human presence, with a waterfall and stone pond nearby, carrying quite a bit of an otherworldly paradise flavor.
The spiritual plants damaged by the heavenly lightning were planted one by one according to her instructions. Fu Jinyue went to check on them every day at first, growing familiar with the steward managing the spiritual fields here, which simultaneously led the lower members to know that a Qi Refining practitioner had obtained the Sect Master’s permission to plant here, supposedly conducting some experiment regarding a final radiance of life.
Under her care, the state of the spiritual plants did not cross over into absolute death. This was primarily because the wounds sealed tight by the heavenly lightning were barely defused under her cultivation method, allowing them to hang on half-dead.
Accomplishing this point was already highly forced.
Fu Jinyue discovered that her Qi Refining cultivation was truly too low; for the direction of research she hoped for, this bit of spiritual energy storage was entirely inadequate. Thus, her gaze turned toward Yun Heyin.
It was time to cultivate seriously.
Fu Jinyue thought solemnly: I can’t allow this opportunity to go to waste.
With the convenience of being neighbors, and using instructions in spells and sword techniques as a pretext, the duration of her time spent with this True Monarch Yun rose directly.
Even though Yun Heyin was clear and detached, he was an excellent teacher.
He cultivated alchemy, talismans, and medicine simultaneously. When instructing her in spells, he used drawing talismans as an example, channeling spiritual energy between the movements of his brush strokes, allowing Fu Jinyue to witness the exquisite changes when spiritual energy transformed into a spell.
Their first lesson took place in the study.
Fu Jinyue sat down, the desk leaning before her body while the teacher stood by her side, carrying quite a flavor of a famous master’s one-on-one tutoring.
Yun Heyin asked, “Has Fellow Daoist Fu ever tested her spiritual roots?”
Fu Jinyue said, “Never.”
Yun Heyin knit his brows, asking again, “Have you ever learned of your spiritual roots from your master?”
Fu Jinyue still said, “Never.”
He was still doubtful, but he no longer looked at her with a slighting gaze as before.
Yun Heyin’s sleeve brushed over the table, revealing a basin-sized dark stone. Its texture looked fine and granular, and its sharp corners had been artificially ground smooth, casting it into the shape of a flat octagonal array.
“This is a Spirit-Testing Stone,” Yun Heyin said succinctly. “Place your hand in the center to test your spiritual roots.”
Fu Jinyue complied with his words.
The dark stone suddenly lit up with a faint light, its body losing color inch by inch until it turned nearly transparent, while a water-like dark blue rippled out at this moment, like a handful of deep-sea water.
After watching for a long while, no other color appeared.
Only then did Yun Heyin say, “A single water spiritual root, superior aptitude.”
“I recall Senior possesses a single fire spiritual root,” Fu Jinyue picked up a topic for small talk.
Yun Heyin didn’t engage in small talk, merely producing a section of a bamboo cylinder. It was exceedingly fresh and green, clearly having just been chopped out from the bamboo forest outside.
“The core of a spell’s flow is similar to writing a talisman. Watch closely.”
Using his hand as a brush, his fingertips wrote rapidly in the air, his spiritual energy trailing a faint rosy dawn light. With a slight glance, Fu Jinyue discovered that the handwriting was exceptionally orderly, just like this man—equally rigorous and earnest.
She stared earnestly, yet her gaze shifted to that slender hand.
The joints were distinct, fair and clean like pristine jade—highly attractive.
It provoked an itch within one’s heart.
As she watched, the curved hook at the end of the character suddenly flowed elegantly for an instant, soaring in an arc before coming to an abrupt halt.
A handful of water materialized out of thin air and fell into the bamboo slip.
Clear to the bottom.
Yun Heyin withdrew his hand, concealing it beneath his sleeve, his expression faint. “Did you watch closely?”
Fu Jinyue smiled. “I watched closely.”
She lifted her hand, making a posture to replicate it once.
However, likely due to it being her first attempt, her spiritual energy rose with a fierce momentum but went off track by the time she drew the second stroke. With a bang, it resembled a campfire choked by water, provoking bursts of misty smoke.
Fu Jinyue inhaled it caught off guard, coughing a few times.
Yun Heyin said, “Impetuous.”
He unfurled a roll of bamboo slips upon the desk. “Writing talismans is not something you ought to learn right now, let alone mastering the Source Talisman, which carries extremely high requirements.”
The Source Talisman ought to be his ability to write talismans out of thin air without relying on objects.
Fu Jinyue pouted secretly, thoroughly unconvinced. She lowered her eyes to look at the bamboo slips on the desk.
The narrow bamboo pieces were threaded together with string, their color faint and yellowish, displaying a succession of simple sketches within, presenting the process of executing the Water Formula step by step, with the incantation written in seal script beside them.
Different from the mortal realm, when a cultivator’s divine sense touched the bamboo slips, the lifeless drawings atop them moved vibrantly to life.
Fu Jinyue took a few glances before pushing the bamboo slips away, speaking toward her temporary teacher: “Senior, I want to see the Source Talisman one more time. I was just a fraction away from comprehending it moments ago.”
Yun Heyin didn’t believe her.
Fu Jinyue then began drawing the talisman from just now anew. This time was better; she wrote continuously until the midsection before raising her head, saying innocently, “I forgot.”
Yun Heyin’s eyes flickered, his expression as he sized her up appearing somewhat surprised.
Fu Jinyue then said obediently, “Teacher, please demonstrate it one more time.”
The girl rarely spoke in this sort of delicate tone. Yun Heyin looked at her expressionlessly, pursing his lips as he said, “Just this once.”
He began demonstrating once more.
This time his movements slowed down, and Fu Jinyue watched even more closely.
The back of Yun Heyin’s palm was slightly broad, his joints prominent, fair and clean like cold jade…
A plan suddenly came to Fu Jinyue’s mind. She drew along with his movements, yet repeatedly failed at a certain detail. When Yun Heyin finished the demonstration and watched the girl try again and again, always failing at the exact same point, he couldn’t help but knit his brows.
Over and over, over and over.
He simply couldn’t restrain himself, bending over to loosely envelop her hand, guiding the flow of the brush stroke’s spiritual energy.
A slant turn, then a lifting hook.
The talisman was formed instantly.
A handful of clear water appeared out of thin air, yet its position was incorrect, actually drenching straight onto their hands which had not broken contact.
Water droplets rolled along the back of the hand, dripping down from Yun Heyin’s fingertips to below.
Fu Jinyue felt the iciness of the water droplets, turning her hand over to grasp the hand above hers. Their ten fingers locked tightly, their palms pressed together, the texture warm and generating heat.
She raised her eyes.
Locking eyes with those clear vision.
Fu Jinyue curved her eyes.
“Senior,” she called out, her voice still delicate, “it’s so hot.”
Yet her face carried a slightly aggressive, probing smile.
The interlocked hands tightened a fraction further for no reason.
She let out a light laugh. “Are all those with a fire spiritual root as burning hot as you, Senior?”
Yun Heyin lowered his eyes to look at her, his expression faint.
The girl was bold and wanton, yet she smiled beautifully. She was truly radiant to the extreme, unorthodox and rebellious, while completely disregarding the facts of the matter. Yet those brows and eyes possessed a bright outline, beautiful beyond reason, so thrillingly breathtaking, like a nimble butterfly beneath the gold-woven sunlight, fluttering as if it were about to fly away.
You must not.
He felt an absurdity regarding this instant of mental stir.
And in the next instant, the teachings of the past emerged in a lethal fashion: do not be discourteous, do not be wanton…
Following that long string of “must nots” was a long string of “ought tos”: one ought to be strict in self-cultivation, one ought to be erudite and prudent in thought. Yun Heyin recalled the end of the paragraph; that final sentence was… one ought to be respectful and courteous.
Respectful and courteous.
Do not be wanton.
This was merely a lustful creature coveting cultivation.
The pads of the girl’s fingers were soft, displaying a slight resistance when sliding past the thin calluses on his fingertips. Yun Heyin’s brow seemed to harbor frost and snow, his gaze devoid of ripples or waves.
The interlocked ten fingers separated slowly, and he withdrew his hand completely.
Exceedingly restrained.
The author has something to say:
The protagonist begins her seduction.
The protagonist’s seduction fails.
Fu Jinyue: Interesting, you have caught my attention.
The metaphor describing the protagonist’s “brows and eyes… beautiful beyond reason” is adapted from a sentence in Eileen Chang’s novel Love in a Fallen City:
“That delicate outline, the brows and eyes, were beautiful beyond reason, beautiful and misty.”
Male Guest No. 2’s string of “must nots” is derived from Romans Chapter 13, Verse 13:
“Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy.”