"Something's not right!"
Yun Qing abruptly lowered his head to look at the great swath of Clear-Heart Vine growing wild across the court, and at once was caught between laughter and tears.
No wonder the events of bygone days had welled up in his heart so suddenly, nearly moving him to grieve at the moon and shed tears in Quiet-Heart Court — it was the doing of this vine.
The Clear-Heart Vine, an innate spirit-root, whose spiritual charm secretly resonated with the soul, could stir up a cultivator's past fixations and lingering regrets. Only by enduring this "washing of the spirit" through a firm and steadfast heart-of-Dao could the clear, numinous energy contained in the vine, in turn, nourish the cultivator — helping him see through his delusions, clarify his heart and behold his nature, and advance his mental state and cultivation in step.
This, indeed, was the deeper meaning behind why an ancient clan of profound foundation like the Yun would choose the Clear-Heart Vine as the discipline-whip's main material. The Yun Clan never inflicted meaningless torment.
This courtyard was truly a fine place for "quiet-heart" cultivation. Even that stone monkey of his past life who had made havoc in the Heavenly Palace, were he to come here, would likely have to sit down and contemplate the Zen truth of "turning back from the brink." A rare trace of banter, colored with modern thinking, crossed Yun Qing's heart.
"Better to seek out the Second Elder tomorrow and ask just which capable steward's handiwork the landscaping of this Qiwu Hall is?" Yun Qing grumbled silently. "Even if our Yun Clan is of deep foundation, the Clear-Heart Vine is hardly a rare and precious treasure of the ages — there's no need to... plant it quite so lavishly, is there?"
Of course, this so-called "hardly rare" was only from the standpoint of a colossus like the Yun Clan.
Reining in his mind, Yun Qing walked slowly back into his room and set the food box the steward had delivered upon the desk. The box looked plain and unremarkable — overly simple, even.
Yet when he circulated his Double Pupils out of habit and let them sweep idly over the inside of the box—
Hss! Yun Qing was suddenly dazzled by the vast, pure spiritual power stored within. What lay inside that seemingly ordinary food box was no common spirit-meal at all. It was several heaven-and-earth marvels, so rich with spirit-energy they had all but turned liquid, giving off an alluring rhythm of the Dao! The pure energy they held was more precious than the "lavish" Clear-Heart Vine he had just been grumbling about by who knew how many times over; that restrained radiance had nearly dazzled his Double Pupils!
Quickly opening the food box, Yun Qing froze on the spot.
Inside, Nether Cold-Marrow gave off wisps of chill white frost-air, steadily anchoring a cup of colored-glaze jade. Within the cup, a seven-hued nectar swirled, and there was even the faint phantom of a phoenix dancing lightly within it, its spirit-glow curling, an uncanny fragrance filling the nose! In the celadon dish beside it, three pieces of pastry shaped like green lotuses rested quietly. They looked plain, yet Yun Qing's Double Pupils clearly "saw" that upon each "lotus leaf" a natural Dao-pattern was slowly turning, giving off an incomparably pure aura of chaos!
Even one as steady as Yun Qing could not help swallowing. Good heavens — "Phoenix-Roost Glaze Cup" and "Chaos Green-Lotus Cake." Such supreme heavenly treasures, made with the aid of a master chef-cultivator into immortal-grade spirit-food — even for one with his Chaos Dao Embryo body, seated in the position of the Yun Clan's Eldest Young Master, barring the unexpected, he might not be allotted a single plate in a hundred years!
Yun Huang had suddenly given — no, this time it must be called "bestowed" — such a heavy gift.
Why bestow so weighty a reward all at once?
In a daze, he drank a mouthful of the nectar. The liquid melted the instant it entered his mouth, and an indescribable warm current, clear and sweet, swept through his four limbs and hundred bones. Wherever it passed, his meridians were like being washed by the gentlest spirit-spring; the faint hidden injuries left in recent days by the backlash of drawing near Yun Huang healed in a flash. His Chaos Dao Embryo even gave a pleased, soft cry, as though it had been infused with the vitality of the origin, its perception of heaven-and-earth spirit-energy sharpening by a fraction!
"An immortal meal that can nourish the Chaos Dao Embryo... terrifying beyond belief!" Yun Qing was shaken. It showed how grand Yun Huang's hand was. Such immortal-grade fare held energy vast beyond compare; were it not for his special constitution, anyone else, likely, could not withstand even a single drop — a mouthful, and it would be instant death by bodily rupture.
This was an immortal thing that even the upper ranks found hard to lay hands on!
Yun Qing gazed at the distant, towering outline of the sleeping palace and, linking it to the steward's report just now, hooked a knowing, clear smile at his lips. "This wouldn't be, by any chance, a return gift for that bowl of 'Ice-Heart Soul-Calming Soup'?"
"So that's how it is..."
Would one in a high position lightly speak the word "wrong"? A single "wanting in consideration," followed by the bestowal of a favor, and the matter was smoothed over. That line — "wanting in consideration" — that Yun Huang had the steward relay was, in all likelihood, the most yielding concession he had made in this whole life of his.
A blow of the staff, and then a spirit-pill sweet to the extreme?
Then... it wouldn't hurt to take a couple more blows, ha.
Yun Qing stroked the warm, smooth jade cup. This "Brother Huang" of his had a truly overbearing yet singular way of handling things.
"It seems I've served him into a fine good humor, then?"
Not just anyone could be soothed and heavily rewarded after Yun Huang's rebuke. What most people got... was the whip.
This golden thigh gleamed dazzlingly, and its grip felt rather good too? The Young Lord — no, my Brother Huang — was worthy of being the foremost man to look down upon the Nine Empyreans and hold sway over all the ages. Just look at that vision! That largesse! That thigh!
He, Yun Qing, was set on holding it fast!
Of course, these treasonous words he would never speak aloud.
What a joke — this place stood a mere hundred-odd paces from Yun Huang's sleeping palace. With that one's divine powers, beneath the sweep of his spiritual sense, even a few extra beats of Yun Qing's heart were probably plain to him.
And so, from the moment he stepped through the courtyard gate, apart from that one "Something's not right!" startled out of him by the Clear-Heart Vine, Yun Qing only grumbled inwardly, hiding his every stray thought at the bottom of his heart.
But what Yun Qing had not noticed was that the still-well composure gained from nineteen years of pure cultivation in the Chaos Ancient Cave had, after a mere single day spent with Yun Huang, already quietly grown a great deal more... lively.
Today, was Yun Huang the only one whose heart had been thrown into disorder?
***
The next day, before the sky had lightened, while the spirit-mist had yet to fully disperse—
Yun Qing stepped out of Quiet-Heart Court. Today, rarely, he wore no close-fitting battle-garb, but a green scholar's robe touched with the fresh moisture of morning dew, a jade belt at his waist — less of his usual crispness, more of the open, clear ease of a refined man of letters. His ink-dark hair was gathered up with a simple green-jade hairpin, setting off his features all the more handsome; between the opening and closing of his Double Pupils, a wisdom-light faintly flowed.
He strolled along at his leisure, meaning to go to Qiwu Hall to "report for duty." As he passed the outer bounds of Yun Huang's sleeping palace, his steps abruptly halted.
Along the outer side of the vermilion palace wall wound a great swath of jade-green vines, their leaves catching the morning light like strung-together bits of jade — the very Clear-Heart Vine.
The vines looked to be growing naturally, but with Yun Qing's eye, how could he fail to see that their planted positions, their density and spacing, secretly matched some formation for gathering spirit and settling the soul?
"Clear-Heart Vine... planted outside the sleeping palace, of all places?" Doubts crowded up in his heart, and he instinctively drove his Double Pupils, meaning to look into it carefully.
Who would have known that the moment his mind gathered, a voice suddenly sounded by his ear:
"What are you looking at?"
!
That voice was clear and cold, appearing without the slightest warning.
Yun Qing's spine went faintly stiff, and in the instant he raised his head, the scene before him had already changed.
Morning light pierced the spirit-mist. The road that had been outside the palace wall a moment ago had, in the blink of an eye, become a vast martial-training ground. The whole field was paved with dark, heavy "Yuan-Suppressing Black Stone," the natural sun-patterns on its surface plated with a rim of gold, cold and hard; around it stood several towering spirit-gathering pillars, runes flowing along their bodies, an aura of killing intent pressing full into the face.
This training ground had simply not existed when he passed by the day before, yet now it merged seamlessly with Yun Huang's sleeping palace, giving off an aura ancient and vast.
An exceedingly masterful space-concealing formation!
His Double Pupils opened a fraction, piercing this uncanny illusion, and clearly saw the proudly standing figure at the center of the field.
Yun Huang stood with his hands clasped behind him, his sleeves lifting though there was no wind. Though the man stood plainly right there, one could not sense the slightest excess ripple from him.
With Yun Qing's cultivation, he had failed to perceive the man until he spoke — as though Yun Huang, together with this whole training ground, were no more than a phantom melded into heaven and earth.
Even as he pondered, Yun Huang looked at him and said, in a tone as casual as though remarking on some trifling everyday matter: "Come down and train a bit?"
!??