【The favorability of the Yin Yang Creation Strategy has increased to 70】
【The favorability of the Yin Yang Creation Strategy has risen from 'Friendly' to 'Like'】
【Charm attribute +2】
【Current Charm: 32 points】
Gu Chengming looked at the rows of golden text appearing in his sea of consciousness, feeling quite subtle.
It wasn't because of the increase in favorability and charm, but because of something else.
His cultivation had broken through... from the Second Realm, Eighth Level to the Ninth Level, then to the peak of the Second Realm, and finally into the Third Realm. It all happened incredibly naturally.
But this breakthrough had come far too easily.
Gu Chengming closed his eyes, carefully tracing back the entire breakthrough process. It wasn't a breakthrough where the water naturally forms a channel; rather, it felt as though something external had applied a force, pushing him directly over that barrier.
The essence of that power was red dust aura.
Dense enough to be almost tangible and carrying the primal aura of the Yin Yang Fish, the red dust aura had surged into his body during the process of dual cultivation, washing through his meridians, tempering his dantian, and expanding his spiritual power capacity in an extremely efficient manner.
At the end of this process, he clearly felt the existence of an 'anchor point.'
That anchor point was like a wedge driven into the 'Third Realm' position beforehand. All his spiritual power, red dust aura, and yin and yang energies were circulating around this wedge, as if his Third Realm cultivation wasn't something he had cultivated, but something that had been pre-ordained.
—Reversing cause and effect.
The Yin Yang Fish had first anchored the 'result' that Gu Chengming was already in the Third Realm, and then, during the dual cultivation, it used the core principles of the Red Dust Technique to fill in the 'cause.'
It was just like what Fu Xiaoxiao had done to that Fifth Realm great demon years ago, except the result she planted then was 'the demon is dead,' while the result the Yin Yang Fish planted now was 'he has broken through the realm.'
The principle was the same, but the method was even more exquisite, causing no damage to his dao base. It even repaired his meridians until they were smooth and unobstructed.
Yet Gu Chengming did not feel joyful because of this.
He frowned, circulating his spiritual power within his body, and indeed discovered a hidden problem.
He had the spiritual power capacity and meridian strength of the Third Realm, but his control and understanding of this realm remained at the level of the Second Realm, and his foundation was exceptionally unstable.
As Gu Chengming was pondering how to solidify this instability in his future cultivation, a very slight movement came from beside him.
He opened his eyes. Fu Xiaoxiao was lying on her side next to him, her physical condition much better than before.
Her pale complexion had turned rosy, and her breathing had become steady and long.
As the Fish-Managing Elder, Fu Xiaoxiao's dao base had shattered over a hundred years ago, and she had relied entirely on the power of the Yin Yang Fish to bitterly maintain it.
But now, Gu Chengming could sense that those meridian cracks, which had been on the verge of collapse, were being repaired at a slow but steady pace.
It wasn't a complete restoration—injuries of that magnitude couldn't be healed in a single dual cultivation session—but she had at least moved from a state of imminent total collapse back to a temporarily stable degree.
The efficacy of dual cultivation was even greater than Gu Chengming had estimated.
Just as he was thinking this, the small figure with its back to him suddenly shifted. The small patch of exposed skin between her neck and the tip of her ear turned as red as a cooked shrimp.
"Scoundrel..." she muttered several incoherent words, her voice trailing off until it became a complex, muffled hum.
Looking at her curled-up back, Gu Chengming couldn't help but want to smile.
"How is Senior Sister's body?"
"Much better than before." Fu Xiaoxiao paused, seemingly hesitating for a moment before adding in an extremely awkward tone, "The compatibility between the Yin Yang Creation Strategy and the Yin Yang Fish is indeed high. If it were someone else... it might not have had this effect."
Gu Chengming smiled. Just as he was about to get up and stretch his muscles, a strange sensation suddenly welled up within him.
That sensation didn't come from his own techniques or the Yin Yang Creation Strategy, but from the Yin Yang Fish.
Gu Chengming was stunned.
He closed his eyes, searching in the direction of that sensation. In the next moment, his vision suddenly expanded to an inconceivable range.
He saw the entirety of Hongchen Mountain.
He wasn't seeing it with his physical eyes, but through a perception ability far beyond his cultivation level. Every line of the Yin Yang Twin Fish Array, every node, and the trajectory of every wisp of qi flow were clearly displayed in his perception.
This was the authority of the Yin Yang Fish.
"This..."
Gu Chengming opened his eyes in surprise and looked back at Fu Xiaoxiao.
"Senior Sister, I seem to... be able to sense the Yin Yang Twin Fish Array."
Fu Xiaoxiao became thoughtful upon hearing this. Gu Chengming had also obtained the sensory authority of the Yin Yang Fish.
The Yin Yang Fish would not grant authority to an outsider for no reason. In the thousand-year history of the Hehuan Sect, no more than four people had ever possessed the authority of managing the fish, and each was a core figure with a deep connection to it.
And now, the Yin Yang Fish had granted this authority to two people simultaneously.
One was her, and the other was Gu Chengming. A term involuntarily popped into Fu Xiaoxiao's mind.
—A match made in heaven.
The moment those words formed in her heart, she bit her tongue hard, her cheeks instantly burning hot.
No, no, no, no.
What are you thinking, Fu Xiaoxiao! Calm down! You are an elder of the Hehuan Sect! You have practiced the great dao of red dust for hundreds of years! Your dao heart is like iron!
However, every time she looked at Gu Chengming, she still couldn't help but smile.
Regardless, he was truly her favorite person in this world.
...
The process of leaving the Yin Yang Fish's body was much gentler than entering.
The yin and yang qi receded like a tide, and the temporary space constructed by the Yin Yang Fish slowly dissolved. Gu Chengming felt a flash of light, and the surrounding scenery changed from the void of black and white back to the massive underground space.
The ancient runes on the ceiling were no longer flashing but had returned to a quiet, dim light.
Above them, the massive silhouette of the Yin Yang Fish had also disappeared. Only the black and white airflows of the Yin Yang Twin Fish Array slowly circulated high above, much calmer than before.
The imbalance of yin and yang qi had been resolved.
Gu Chengming instinctively looked around.
Everything in the underground space was almost unchanged from before they entered the Yin Yang Fish's body.
The moss on the walls was still the same moss, the puddles in the corner were still the same puddles, and even the concentration of red dust aura remaining in the air was about the same as before.
According to his physical sense of time spent inside the Yin Yang Fish, at least several hours had passed.
But in the outside world, it had only been a few minutes.
The interior of a primordial spiritual item was a world of its own, with a time flow different from the outside world. This was recorded in ancient texts, but experiencing it personally still gave Gu Chengming a sense of unreality.
Fu Xiaoxiao stood beside him, lightly moving her limbs.
And the Grand Elder of the Hehuan Sect, who had previously been sitting cross-legged on the high platform surrounded by dense red dust aura, was now lying on her side on the cold stone platform. Her eyes were tightly closed, her face was grey, and the spiritual power fluctuations around her were so weak they were almost imperceptible.
The ancient bronze mirror before her had shattered into several pieces, scattered on the ground, reflecting no images.
The backlash from the collapse of the system of collective desires, combined with the accumulated exhaustion of controlling that massive system for three years, had all surged back the moment the plan failed, knocking her into a death-like coma.
Looking at Yun Ni's state, Fu Xiaoxiao's expression became somewhat complicated.
Then she turned and walked back to Gu Chengming's side.
"Let's go." Fu Xiaoxiao looked up at him, her tone regaining some of her usual decisiveness. "The outside must be in a complete mess by now; we need to hurry and clean up the aftermath."
"The Yin Yang Fish has restored its balance, the array has returned to normal operation, and the disciples affected by the red dust aura should be gradually waking up. However, the influence Yun Ni built over three years is deeply entrenched. Relying only on Elders Kurong and Jingxin might not be enough to keep the situation under control."
As she spoke, she used the corner of her eye to observe Gu Chengming's reaction.
Then she saw Gu Chengming looking at her with a very serious gaze.
"What?" Her tone was noticeably weaker; even her deliberate disguise couldn't hide the affection constantly welling up from her heart.
Gu Chengming withdrew his gaze. "I just feel that Senior Sister has recovered faster than I imagined."
Fu Xiaoxiao turned her head away. "I am a Fourth Realm cultivator after all. It was just the effect of one dual cultivation session; there's no need to make a fuss. We'll have to dual cultivate many more times in the future, so don't you dare complain when the time comes!"
After saying this, her pace suddenly quickened, and she walked ahead of Gu Chengming, the hem of her red dress fluttering with her hurried steps.
Gu Chengming looked at that small, fast-moving back and shook his head.
Her ears were red again.
...
The aftermath process was far longer and more tedious than the duel itself.
After Yun Ni fell, the entire Hehuan Sect entered a brief vacuum. Over a thousand disciples woke up one after another from the dream-haze of the collective desires. Most knew nothing of what had happened, only remembering that at a certain moment, they were suddenly hit by an overwhelming drowsiness and then had a very long dream.
As for the content of that dream, everyone remembered something different, but almost everyone mentioned the same feeling.
Someone had seen 'themselves.' Not the kind of seeing in a mirror, but the kind that reached directly into the heart.
Elders Kurong and Jingxin stabilized the situation immediately.
Elder Kurong had an eccentric personality, but her decisiveness at critical moments was unmatched. She blocked the entrances and exits of the Hongchen Mountain foothills at the fastest speed, cut off the connection between the underground space and the outside world, and dispatched trusted disciples to take over all vital positions in the sect.
Elder Jingxin was responsible for soothing the people. She had a gentle personality and a reputation among the disciples for being easy to talk to. With her appearing to explain that the recent anomaly was an accidental fluctuation of the Yin Yang Twin Fish Array, it didn't cause too much panic.
As for the confidants Yun Ni had cultivated for three years, in the face of the established facts of Yun Ni's coma, the restoration of the array, and the Yin Yang Fish's return to balance, those people could only suppress their thoughts for the time being, even if they had other ideas.
Thus, after experiencing a crisis that almost overturned the entire sect, the Hehuan Sect completed its power transition with surprising stability.
Fu Xiaoxiao took over sect affairs temporarily.
Yun Ni's cultivation was sealed, and she was imprisoned in the dungeon.
Everything settled.
...
Three days later, a flying boat bearing the flag of the Night Guard Division arrived through the air.
The speed of the flying boat was ridiculously fast, clearly pushing the spirit stone arrays to their limit to travel at full speed. On the deck at the bow, Li Suizhuang was dressed in white as pure as snow, her hair flying in the fierce wind as she held a communication jade slip. Behind her was an elite squad dispatched by Daqian, led by a Fourth Realm cultivator with the rest being experts above the Third Realm. The lineup was luxurious enough to handle most emergencies.
The flying boat came to a steady stop in the no-fly zone outside Hongchen Mountain. Li Suizhuang was the first to leap down. After landing, she didn't say a word, walking with large strides toward the mountain.
Then she stopped at the mountain gate because the person welcoming her was Gu Chengming.
Gu Chengming stood on the stone steps of the mountain gate, his hands behind his back, looking relaxed. He even nodded slightly toward her. His posture wasn't that of someone who had just survived a life-or-death crisis, but more like a host waiting for a guest at his own front door.
Li Suizhuang looked at him, the expression on her face changing several times.
It went from the tension of facing a great enemy to confusion, then to disbelief, and finally settled on a subtle complexity.
"...Resolved?"
"Resolved."
Li Suizhuang was silent for three breaths.
She looked back at the aggressive, battle-ready elite squad behind her, who were prepared for a major fight.
Then she looked back at the smiling Second Realm—no, Third Realm—young man before her.
"...When did you reach the Third Realm?"
"It's a long story."
Li Suizhuang took a deep breath, forcing down the gasp that had almost escaped her.
She turned around to face the official Daqian members and said in a slightly apologetic tone, "You've worked hard, everyone. The matter has been handled; you may return."
The leading Fourth Realm cultivators looked at each other, appearing as if they wanted to say something.
They had traveled day and night for four days, only to be told upon arrival that it was resolved?
Looking at the young man who was quite famous within the Night Guard Division, the Fourth Realm cultivator suddenly associated him with Gu Chengming's title in Daqian.
—Could it be that he had beaten the instigator of this incident in the Hehuan Sect to death?
The air was silent for about five breaths.
Finally, the leading Fourth Realm cultivator silently put away his Dharma weapon and turned to return to the flying boat.
...
Li Suizhuang did not leave immediately.
She stayed at the Hehuan Sect for a day. After listening to Gu Chengming's detailed report, she personally met with Elders Kurong and Jingxin to confirm the fact that the Yin Yang Fish had restored its balance, as well as the follow-up compensation matters regarding the impact the Hehuan Sect had caused to the capital during this incident.
The process of these negotiations was tedious and trivial, consisting of nothing more than haggling over the amount of spirit stones and the precise wording of documents.
The Hehuan Sect was very cooperative.
It wasn't because they were particularly submissive toward Daqian, but because they were truly in the wrong—it was a fact that the imbalance of the Yin Yang Fish had affected the capital, it was a fact that the disciples had been swept up and lost control due to the red dust aura, and the Grand Elder's secret dealings with the Longevity Sect was a scandal sufficient to disgrace the entire sect.
Under these circumstances, the Hehuan Sect chose the most pragmatic approach: pay what should be paid, apologize where an apology was due, then close the doors and handle their internal affairs themselves.
Daqian also had no intention of digging deeper, at least not openly.
Li Suizhuang left Hongchen Mountain with a compensation document stamped with the Hehuan Sect's seal and a detailed incident report. Before leaving, she gave Gu Chengming a look, appearing as if she wanted to say something.
In the end, she only said one sentence: "After returning to the capital, Director Zhou wants to see you."
Gu Chengming nodded.
The flying boat faded into the distance, and the white-clothed figure disappeared into the sky.
...
The Hehuan Sect dungeon was located in the deepest part of Hongchen Mountain.
Gu Chengming and Fu Xiaoxiao walked along the corridor leading to the deepest cell, their footsteps echoing against the stone walls, hollow and heavy.
Fu Xiaoxiao walked ahead, her expression unreadable.
The stone door was pushed open by the guarding disciple. The cell was small, about three yards square, and the furnishings were simple—a bed, a table, and an oil lamp. The flame of the oil lamp was so weak it was almost invisible, flickering in the draft from the corridor.
Yun Ni leaned against the wall. Her complexion was very poor; it wasn't any specific injury that was killing her, but her entire life force was irreversibly draining away. She was like an oil lamp whose wick had burned to the bottom; no matter how much oil was added, that faint flame was destined to quietly flicker out at some point.
Fu Xiaoxiao saw this as well.
She stood at the cell door, silent for a long time.
"You already knew."
Fu Xiaoxiao's voice was very soft. It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"The plan to reverse the Yin Yang Fish... it was impossible to emerge unscathed from the very beginning."
Yun Ni's voice was flat, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her.
Fu Xiaoxiao said in a low voice, "The moment the Dao Throne was transferred from my body to yours, you needed to use your own life force as the price to stabilize the Dao Throne's form. For something that has existed in the form of a spiritual object for a thousand years, the power required to turn it back into a Dao Throne exceeds the endurance limit of any single person."
"So, regardless of whether the plan succeeded or not, you wouldn't have lived much longer."
"My life wasn't going to be much longer anyway." Yun Ni's voice became very soft. "Three years ago, when I began guiding the collective desires, I had already overspent my longevity. All of this was just using a life that was meant to end for a place of value."
Using the power of the Dao Throne to create a world of ultimate bliss, letting all the Hehuan Sect disciples break through their own constraints in that instant, and exchanging her death for the Hehuan Sect's next thousand years.
Yun Ni closed her eyes, seemingly weighing her words, but in the end, she gave up on embellishment and chose to speak directly.
"The Longevity Sect helped me accelerate the accumulation process of the collective desires. They provided a secret technique called a 'heart-parasite,' which can magnify a cultivator's emotional fluctuations without being detected. Two years ago, I integrated this secret technique into the sect's daily lessons."
"In exchange, the Longevity Sect needed something—a certain byproduct generated during the process of the Hehuan Sect accumulating the collective desires, which they called 'red dust seeds.'"
"As for what it specifically is or what they want it for, I don't know, nor did I ask."
"I took a wrong path and dragged the entire Hehuan Sect into it. The deaths of those disciples three years ago, the closing of the sect, the disciples losing control from being swept up by the red dust aura—everything was because of me."
"But I no longer have time to repay these debts."
Her gaze moved back and forth between Gu Chengming and Fu Xiaoxiao several times, finally settling on Fu Xiaoxiao's face.
"Xiaoxiao, the matter of the Longevity Sect... I'm entrusting it to you."
Fu Xiaoxiao stood in place and was silent for a long time. Finally, she turned and walked out.
—Pitiful and hateful.
But Gu Chengming had no sympathy for Yun Ni. "Rest in peace, Senior Yun."
—You made your choice, and you are bearing the consequences of that choice. That is all.
Yun Ni looked at him, her lips moving slightly.
In the end, she said nothing and slowly closed her eyes.
...
Yun Ni died on the seventh day.
The guarding disciple found she had stopped breathing when delivering breakfast in the morning. Her body remained in a cross-legged sitting posture, her expression peaceful, as if she were asleep.
The funeral was held in a bamboo forest on the north foothills of Hongchen Mountain.
Few people came. A few senior disciples who used to work under Yun Ni came, but as they stood before the grave, they didn't know what to say. After standing for a while, they silently dispersed.
In the end, only two people remained at the grave.
Fu Xiaoxiao squatted before the newly piled mound of the grave, holding a plate of osmanthus cakes. It was exactly like the plate Yun Ni had brought her in the Youhuang Dwelling when she was alive. She placed the osmanthus cakes before the tombstone, patted the dirt off her hands, and stood up.
"Fellow disciples for hundreds of years."
She said those six words, and then was silent for a long time.
The wind blew through the bamboo forest, making a rustling sound.
"You scoundrel."
She turned around and walked toward Gu Chengming, who was waiting outside the bamboo forest.
As she passed him, she didn't stop, but she reached out and gave his sleeve a tug, neither light nor heavy.
...
Amidst the nearly finished aftermath, Gu Chengming discovered something that made him feel quite uneasy.
Although the matter was basically resolved, his nominal status as a 'School of Medicine apprentice' had not been officially revoked yet, so he was temporarily staying in the Hehuan Sect's guest courtyard. While passing by the training ground, he accidentally overheard a conversation between two outer sect disciples.
"Do you think that person you dreamed of was a sword user?"
"Yes, yes! You dreamed of him too?"
"More than just me! The dozen or so junior sisters living in my row of dorms all dreamed of him! And the plot of everyone's dream was different!"
"For real?"
"Really! Xiao Lu dreamed that person held an umbrella for her in the rain, Xiao Die dreamed that person watched the sunrise with her, Xiao He dreamed that person praised her for being amazing, and I dreamed that person said he saw me..."
"That sounds so romantic..."
"The key is that the person was exceptionally handsome! Although I couldn't see the specific features, it's just the kind of... you know he's handsome the moment you see him!"
"And more! He seemed to be a sword cultivator! I remember he had a sword at his waist!"
"In my dream too! And his hands were especially beautiful—his fingers were very long, the kind you can tell at a glance are meant for holding a sword!"
Gu Chengming's hand holding his rice bowl froze. He slowed his pace and pricked up his ears to continue listening.
"Right, did you all feel that dream was particularly real? It didn't feel like an ordinary dream, but more like... someone actually said those words to you."
"Yes, yes, yes! When I woke up, I thought it was real, and I felt disappointed for a long time..."
"Me too! And ever since I had that dream, I... how should I put it, it's as if something in my heart was opened. Things I couldn't figure out before suddenly made sense."
Gu Chengming broke into a cold sweat as he listened. He quickly left the training ground, found an empty corner to sit down, and began to seriously recall what he had done within the collective desires.
The situation then was—to dismantle the system of collective desires constructed by Yun Ni, he used the sensory ability granted by the Yin Yang Fish to trace those chaotic desires back to each specific person, and then 'cleared the routes' one by one using galgame-style 'options.'
Everyone was different, and everyone needed a different answer.
What he thought at the time was—as long as they wake up from the dream-haze of desire, it would be fine.
But he had overlooked one thing.
In the logic of the Red Dust Technique, the words he said and the choices he made for each person within those collective desires weren't 'clearing a route.' That was confessing his love to over a thousand people simultaneously.
【The "Hundred Bones Resonating" cheered: Emperor Gu is mighty! A harem of over a thousand in one night! As expected of—】
Gu Chengming expressionlessly suppressed Emperor Bai's speech.
Calm down, calm down, first calm down and analyze this.
He took a deep breath, once again circulating the sensory authority granted by the Yin Yang Fish to expand his attention across the entirety of Hongchen Mountain.
If before this, the aesthetic preferences of the Hehuan Sect disciples were diverse and varied, then after experiencing that collective desire, their aesthetic preferences had become highly converged.
"I'm telling you, I think my 'sweetheart' must be a sword cultivator! Think about it, the temperament of that person in the dream was gentle yet firm, decisive yet considerate. Isn't that a sword cultivator?"
"But we don't have sword cultivators in our Hehuan Sect..."
"That's why we have to go out and look! Once the sect reopens, I'll be the first to apply to go out for tempering!"
"I'm going too!"
"Me too! Hey, do you think there are really sword cultivators like that over at the Wenjian Sect?"
Gu Chengming silently put down his rice bowl.
He could no longer eat.
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