"Hey, wake up, stop sleeping!"
"Hmm?"
Yun Ze opened his sleepy eyes, and it was already dusk.
He rubbed his still aching head and slowly got up, looking at Yun Xiao's back: "Junior... Master, what was that just now?"
"Buddhist initiation."
Yun Xiao calmly uttered four words: "I have directly stuffed the basic knowledge that needs to be learned in Tongtian Academy into your mind through initiation. When you need it, that knowledge will naturally appear in your mind."
The name Yun Shi had long been famous. But Yun Ze never expected that this person actually had such a method!
His eyes suddenly lit up, and he asked Yun Xiao, "Then I don't need to study, and you just need to give me a few more initiations?"
"Dream on."
Yun Xiao rolled his eyes: "This initiation method can only be used once a year. With my current realm, I can only impart some ordinary knowledge to you. The things to learn in Tongtian Academy still require you to learn them slowly yourself."
"...Alright."
As expected, there are no free lunches.
"Master."
Just as Yun Ze was about to get up, he heard Dan Chenyu's voice from the side!
His pupils trembled, and he instinctively turned around, only to see her walking towards him!
This is bad, this is bad!
Why did she wake up?
Dan Chenyu saw Yun Ze, and a flicker of surprise flashed in her eyes: "Senior Brother Tu, you're awake?"
Tu... Senior Brother!?
Yun Ze was stunned.
Before he could speak, Dan Chenyu bowed to him gracefully: "Dan Chenyu greets Senior Brother. I hope Senior Brother will guide me more in the future."
Yun Ze suddenly understood!
Little Senior Sister must have disguised him, which is why Xiao Yu mistook him for Tu Sheng!
"Mm."
Yun Ze pretended to respond, then smiled, "We are fellow disciples, no need for such formalities. We will naturally look out for each other in the future."
"Okay."
Dan Chenyu forced a smile, then sat down by the side of the light boat, her face expressionless, just gazing blankly at the horizon.
Yun Ze was confused and looked at Yun Xiao: "Master, what's wrong with Little Junior Sister?"
Yun Xiao glared at Yun Ze, then said, "She went to the Zhutian Secret Realm and was heartbroken by a man."
Multiple question marks popped up above Yun Ze's head!
When did this happen? How much did he miss in the void?
"Master, what nonsense are you talking about!"
Dan Chenyu was displeased upon hearing this: "My life was saved by Little Martial Uncle. Now I can't even protect his body, so of course I'm sad!"
Yun Xiao said nothing, just glanced at Yun Ze, then closed his eyes.
Alright, so the reason is with me.
He smiled helplessly but didn't say much more. After all, his current identity was Tu Sheng! He was a stranger Senior Brother who had just met Dan Chenyu, someone who disliked interacting with others. If he were to comfort her now, he might easily reveal himself.
Silence fell upon the light boat.
After a few breaths, Yun Xiao opened his eyes and nodded slightly at Yun Ze. At least he had passed this hurdle. If he had actively stepped forward to comfort Xiao Yu, he might as well not leave his room during his time at Tongtian Academy. Tu Sheng, though not very communicative, was considered a prodigy at Tongtian Academy, and countless eyes were watching his every move. If he acted too out of character, it would naturally arouse suspicion.
"Alright, it's useless for you to be sad."
Yun Xiao said indifferently, "Now that the Demon Cave has declared war on the Xiu family, the Immortal Mansion will not interfere in this matter. You should just cultivate honestly."
"Understood, Master." Dan Chenyu replied, but she still looked dejected.
"I'll find you a new research topic."
Dan Chenyu's head immediately shot up, but her eyes quickly dimmed.
"Master, I truly care about Little Martial Uncle."
"Regarding new methods of spirit refinement, I seem to have an idea."
"Really!?"
Dan Chenyu jumped directly in front of Yun Xiao, completely devoid of her previous dejected demeanor: "Master, you're not allowed to lie to me!"
Yun Ze's head was filled with even more question marks! So this guy was faking it all along?
"Alright, how could I lie to you?"
Yun Xiao raised his hand and ruffled Dan Chenyu's hair, then smiled, "We're almost at the academy. We'll talk about it when we get back."
"Okay!"
Dan Chenyu nodded obediently. Although the sadness had disappeared from her face, she still couldn't see a smile. Yun Ze didn't know what she was thinking. But as his mother said, a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea, who can fathom it?
As the light boat landed on the lake, the setting sun dipped behind the mountains, and the bright moon slowly peeked out from behind the lakeside. Tongtian Academy was not built on a mountain like ordinary sects, but was entirely constructed within a large lake. The entire Tongtian Academy had ten courtyards. In the center was the Enlightenment Courtyard, followed by the eight courtyards of Enlightenment Poetry, Enlightenment Books, Enlightenment Chess, Enlightenment Painting, Enlightenment Archery, Enlightenment Etiquette, Enlightenment Chariotry, Enlightenment Music, and Enlightenment Immortality. There was also one more courtyard, the Lingxiao Courtyard, established by Yun Xiao after joining Tongtian Academy. In addition to these ten courtyards, Tongtian Academy also had eight smaller academies. In the terminology of ordinary sects, these eight smaller academies were the so-called outer sects. These smaller academies were arranged in a surrounding manner, built in the eight directions around the lake and named after their locations. Soon, Yun Ze, under the moonlight, saw the ten courtyards. Nine enormous courtyards were arranged in a nine-palace formation in the center of the lake. They were less like courtyards and more like small islands! Each of these courtyards was larger than ten Hanshan Villages! Only one courtyard was different. That courtyard was only half the size of an ordinary courtyard and was some distance away from the nine courtyards. All other courtyards were brightly lit, but that one had no sign of human habitation, appearing exceptionally desolate, like a deserted island. Without Yun Xiao saying anything, Yun Ze knew this was Lingxiao Courtyard. It was no wonder Tu Sheng disliked interacting with people; on this isolated island, there were probably only him and Yun Xiao, making it difficult to communicate even if he wanted to! The light boat moved towards the isolated island. Yun Xiao did not move, but looked at Dan Chenyu and Yun Ze: "You two return to the courtyard first. I'll go talk to the Dean about what happened. By the way, Xiao Yu, the layout of the island has changed. Remember to introduce it to your Senior Brother. As for the spirit refinement matter, you can ask your Senior Brother, he knows about it too." "Okay, Master, have a good trip!" Dan Chenyu immediately leaped from the light boat and landed on the isolated island. She turned to look at Yun Ze, as if asking why he wasn't getting down yet. Yun Ze sighed and had no choice but to follow Dan Chenyu down. Then, the two stood at the edge of the isolated island, watching the light boat slowly sail towards the central courtyard... He had actually seen through Yun Xiao's intentions. Since he had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, the next step would definitely be Core Formation. Since Bu Bu had made him achieve Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, she wouldn't let him use the current rudimentary spirit refinement method to form his core. Therefore, she would guess that he had other methods of spirit refinement, which was why she sent Dan Chenyu to ask him. Although he did know another method of spirit refinement, that method was simply not suitable for others! Who would spend a thousand years finding thirty-six late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators to refine nascent souls? If he started refining now, even if each generation married and had children at the age of three hundred, he would have to wait until his grandchildren's generation to use it... "Senior Brother?" Just as Yun Ze was pondering, Dan Chenyu's voice sounded in his ear: "Shall we go back to the academy first?" "Alright." Yun Ze replied indifferently and followed Dan Chenyu into the courtyard. The layout of Lingxiao Courtyard was simple. The entire island, inside and out, was planted with only four types of trees: peach, willow, maple, and plum. Living on this island meant eating peaches in spring, admiring willows in summer, observing maples in autumn, and reciting plum blossoms in winter. The courtyard where the three of them lived was in the center of the island. The front courtyard was for studying, and the backyard was a pond where hundreds of spirit fish were often kept. According to Dan Chenyu, Yun Xiao occasionally fished there, always releasing most of the spirit fish caught and keeping only one to make soup. Dan Chenyu's mouth watered when she mentioned this, and she said that when Yun Xiao returned, she would pester her to catch two to make soup, and asked him to cooperate with her. After all, one fish was barely enough for two people, but for three, it wouldn't taste like much. If it were Yun Ze, he would have nodded in agreement long ago. But Yun Ze was Tu Sheng now. He could only smile and say nothing, offering no opinion. The two reached the front courtyard, and Dan Chenyu took Yun Ze to his room and left. It was strange, she hadn't mentioned the spirit refinement matter along the way, only introducing Yun Ze to the changes in Lingxiao Courtyard. It was good that she didn't ask, saving him the trouble of explaining. Yun Ze returned to his room and quickly took out the jade slip given to him by Yun Xiao to examine it. It contained all the information about Tu Sheng, and he had to memorize it as quickly as possible! The cold moon rose higher, and the wind and snow in the night grew stronger. Yun Ze put away the jade slip, which he had already memorized more than half of, and was about to go and close the window. But as he reached the window, he saw a figure sitting on the roof beam opposite, looking towards the northwest, as if watching something. Even from the back, Yun Ze knew it was Dan Chenyu. But now the moon was high in the sky, and the cold moon was directly overhead. It shouldn't be looking in that direction even if she was admiring the moon. Could she be... A thought struck Yun Ze, and he couldn't help but sigh. "Alas." This girl still couldn't let go. No wonder she didn't ask him about spirit refinement along the way. Her feigned cheerfulness just now was probably just to comfort Yun Xiao. Yun Ze looked at Dan Chenyu's back, shook his head, and finally closed the window. Remember! Now you are Tu Sheng, not Yun Ze! You should maintain an indifferent attitude towards everything. You have time to consider others, so why not think about how to practice the zither! "Alas!" Thinking of the zither, Yun Ze sighed again. Although in the previous initiation, Yun Xiao had already instilled some zither music into his mind, along with a lot of basic knowledge about the zither path. But with only this knowledge, it was clearly impossible to enter the zither path in a short time! He had to practice more! Yun Ze took out the Zhen Dan from his Sumeru Ring and began to learn according to the basics he remembered. This was the first step, finger techniques... The night passed without incident. Yun Ze did not cultivate, but sat in the room practicing the zither all night. The only gain was that he finally figured out what kind of sounds each of the seven strings could produce. Regardless of anything else, this thing was quite pleasant to listen to. It just hurt his hands a bit... Just as Yun Ze put away the Zhen Dan and got up to find Yun Xiao to talk about spirit refinement, before he could push the door open, it opened by itself. He looked closely and saw Yun Xiao waiting for him at the door. "Master?" "Sit, I have something to discuss with you." Yun Xiao walked in on her own and sat by the table. Yun Ze also sat down beside her: "Master, please instruct me." "The Ascension Assembly is about to be held. According to custom, our Lingxiao Courtyard also needs to send one person to participate in one of the locations. Xiao Yu's identity is not suitable, so I chose you." Ascension Assembly!? Yun Ze was overjoyed! He would much rather go out and explore than stay in this isolated island in semi-seclusion. He never expected that after participating in the Ascension Assembly as a rogue cultivator not long ago, he would now be presiding over the Ascension Assembly. "For this Ascension Assembly, you only need to go to the nearby Chengtian Dynasty. You can select at most seven disciples, and at least one. Quality over quantity. Since you don't have any disciples now, I've found a relatively reliable outer disciple to go with you. Should be no problem, right?" "No problem!" Yun Ze quickly nodded in agreement: "When do I depart?" Yun Xiao did not answer, but flicked her hand, planting a small jade sword on the floor, and unfolded her sword domain. Yun Ze frowned. What were they going to discuss that required a sword domain? "What I'm about to say next, you must remember!" Yun Xiao stared into Yun Ze's eyes and said very seriously: "In Chengtian Dynasty, you can choose not to accept anyone, but there is one person you must bring into Tongtian Academy! You can use any means you deem necessary!" Yun Ze immediately frowned: "Who?" "The Third Prince of the current dynasty, Ji Xiu."