Chapter 66: Shattered Mirror in Eight Days

“Make yourself clear!”
Gu Yi, however, felt secretly delighted. The future master of the tower? Hah, let’s see how long you can keep your composure!
‘Gurgle, gurgle, ptooey!’
He was busy rinsing his mouth and had no time to bother with the girl. Meanwhile, Chongchong ran over and asked, “Young Master, has Madam Ye’s fever and chills been cured?”
Looking at that hopeful, innocent, and adorable face, Gu Yi found himself at a loss for words.
Xiao Yue’er was also a little expectant, but recalling their earlier conversation, she knew the matter was hopeless.
“I’m sorry, Chongchong. I can’t cure Madam Ye’s illness. Even if I exhaust all my efforts, I can only give her two days of relief. After that, everything will go back to the way it was.”
Chongchong bowed her head, and even the two buns tied in her hair seemed to express disappointment.
Xiao Yue’er fell silent, but her eyes held a determined resolve to care for her mistress.
All this weighed heavier and heavier on Shu Le’s heart.
She didn’t yet understand what was meant by psychological suggestion.
She only felt the alternating sensations of hot and cold on her arm grow stronger and stronger.
Gu Yi saw her standing there, her eyes darting here and there, neither knowing where to look, and felt a certain satisfaction.
“Lady Shu is the most talented student of Luyang Academy, both virtuous and capable. Even though you happened to pass by my rooftop in the middle of the night, out of the kindness of my heart, I’ll tell you what’s happened to your arm.”
“Madam Ye’s illness is caused by a special kind of spiritual energy. Though I learned from Xiaoyuan Mountain, even I cannot suppress it. Just now, at a critical moment, your well-intentioned but reckless intervention caused you to be contaminated by that energy.”
“…What will happen to me?”
Gu Yi sighed, “Actually, Lady Shu, your skin is fair, your form graceful, truly enchanting. What a pity… to be afflicted by such an illness. Either you will be tormented to death, or you must practice a particular technique to control that energy. The catch is, this powerful technique comes with a consequence: any woman who cultivates it will become a man.”
Chongchong and Xiao Yue’er, preoccupied with Madam Ye, missed this little performance—a real pity.
Shu Le was incredulous. “You won’t scare me with such nonsense.”
“Heh heh heh.” Gu Yi shook his head and smiled, not a hint of deception in his manner. “The gate to the Academy is right there, Lady Shu. You may return.”
“You still don’t believe me. We weren’t friends to begin with—why should I care? Chongchong! See the guest out!”
Shu Le was seething. She had always been a respected senior in Luyang Academy; everyone she met was deferential—when had she ever encountered such a rascal?
And she had only meant well. Now, having suffered this calamity, her heart was in turmoil.
But no matter what, as the Academy’s most gifted student, she would never set aside her pride.
“I’ll leave! I have already pledged myself to my country; I can promise myself to no one else.”
What a temper.
“Wait.” Gu Yi called after her retreating figure.
Shu Le pressed her lips together, a glimmer of a smile in her eyes, but when she turned back, her expression was as composed as ever. “So you admit you were just bluffing?”
“Tch, what happens to you is none of my concern.” Gu Yi’s mind was already occupied with someone else. “In the Academy, He Xian once secretly helped me. How is she now?”
“She’s been locked up!”
Shu Le’s anger flared up again, and without another word, she stormed off.
Locked up?
Looks like I’ll have to sneak into Luyang Academy again.
Gu Yi stared at his ceiling beam for a while, suddenly puzzled—why was she spying on me anyway?

“Young Master?”
“Hmm?” Gu Yi saw it was Xiao Yue’er bringing water, so he reached out to take it. “What is it?”
“Lady Shu…”
“Oh, I was just scaring her. The spiritual energy from the Biyang Technique is a blend of yin and yang; if someone is injured by it, they’ll feel sudden chills and fevers—nothing more. She’s not actually sick.”
Xiao Yue’er’s eyes widened, and then she burst out laughing. “Young Master, you are so wicked.”
…
“By the way, about Madam Ye’s illness…”
A shadow of gravity crossed Gu Yi’s brows. “I used a lot of Luminous Technique energy to temporarily relieve her chills and fever. But as I said before, there’s still only one solution.”
Pity the man who loves Madam Ye with all his heart.
The night passed in silence.
Meanwhile, after Shu Le returned to the Academy, she was restless. The sensations in her right arm were real, but Gu Yi’s words were absurd.
She tried to heal the injury with a spirit talisman, but it had no effect.
Thus, she was consumed by anxiety at the thought of becoming a man. For the first time in three years at the Academy, her heart wavered in her pursuit of immortality.
…
…
Chongchong and Yue’er had both gone to rest.
But Gu Yi stayed up.
Alone in the quiet hours, he watched the clouds drift by, yet the deeper he became embroiled in these affairs, the more he missed the days of Gu Yi in the Sage’s Realm.
So, instead of resting, he chose to cultivate.
He sat alone in the Academy courtyard, gazing up at the endless stars.
The night muffled many sounds.
In the silence, he could better sense the currents of spiritual energy.
He had gone through so much to enter Luyang Academy, only to be forced to reconsider the path of immortality.
Xiao Yiyi would not deliberately harm him—he didn’t really believe it. She had clearly left him two clues.
The first: The Mortal World is not the Seventh Realm.
The second: Everyone in Luyang Academy is rubbish.
Taken together, these were really one message: cultivation in this world is wrong.
Gu Yi’s eyes flew open. Suddenly, he thought of a possible meaning for “the mortal world is not the seventh realm”:
All along, he’d been led astray by the so-called idea of ‘enlightenment’ in this world, always trying to grasp the deeper meaning behind the words.
But what if the words meant exactly what they said?
The mortal world simply isn’t the seventh realm.
But then another question arose—if the seventh realm isn’t the mortal world, then… what is it?
Is the Sage’s Realm the sixth?
Is Harmonization the fifth?
Is Returning to Simplicity the fourth?

…

Whoosh—
Gu Yi gathered his energy. If his suspicions were correct, then Xiao Yiyi’s removal of his powers was actually helping him. In other words, his previous cultivation was mistaken.
She wanted him to start over.
“Meditate… establish your intent, guard your spirit, return to simplicity…”
The first four realms, in fact, formed a cycle of life. Returning to Simplicity was returning to one’s essence.
When the first four realms were united, one could comprehend the fifth realm.
Harmonization, on the level of power, was indeed a leap beyond the earlier realms—a kind of sublimation. Upon entering this realm, one’s lifespan could reach about 150 years.
Gu Yi considered himself somewhat experienced in cultivation, and believed that up to Harmonization, there weren’t many problems.
But beyond that, he was less certain.
In the Dream Scroll, he had vowed to set his heart on a ‘true’ path of cultivation.
This “truth” was the pursuit of the world’s ultimate laws, the understanding of cultivation’s true face.
To strive for it all his life, never regretting.
That was his intent.
Bang!
A halo of light exploded around him, scattering petals and fallen leaves in a spiral before they settled again.
When he opened his eyes, he found the sky had brightened.
He often experienced this feeling while meditating in Xiaoyuan Mountain—he hadn’t expected it this time as well.
“Master, congratulations on breaking through to Establishing Intent.”
Chongchong, who had been sitting on the porch with her chin in her hands, came running. “Young Master, you’re finally awake.”
Gu Yi had a bad feeling. “How many days have I been lost in thought?”
“Eight full days.” Old Ma held up eight fingers. “What sort of adventure did you have in the Technique Pavilion? You come back and break through after eight days?”
“Eight days?” Gu Yi frowned. That spirit energy he’d given Madam Ye was only enough for two. “How is she?”
“…She’s a little better, and already asleep.”
A little better—
That meant she’d skipped the worst stage entirely.
Gu Yi realized he couldn’t delay any longer; he had to begin cultivating the Bihui Tenfold Sun technique. Such a formidable skill couldn’t be learned overnight, and if she didn’t master it soon, her body might fail her.
This was bad.
“He Xian was punished for helping me. I have to rescue her.”
“To Luyang Academy?” Ma Yuan tried to stop him. “You can’t go now! Shu Le is already looking for you—how can you walk right into her hands?”
“Why? I have no quarrel with her.”
Up on the beam, a shadowy figure slowly took on substance. “You deceived me—do you think nothing happened at all?”