"I think I underestimated him," Gu Junshi said suddenly.
Heavenly Dao was speechless. "No, you overestimated yourself. You let me peer into his thoughts, to cater to his every whim, but this only satisfies fifty percent of his unfulfilled desires."
"So the remaining resentment cannot be healed by gentle comfort alone," she concluded in her heart.
"You mentioned earlier that you wanted to prepare something. What did you prepare?" Heavenly Dao suddenly asked.
Gu Junshi gazed leisurely at the sky. The scattered sunlight filtered through the leaves, landing on her serene eyes. The ordinary disciple robe she wore made her appear exceptionally cold and elegant. At that moment, the aura she had deliberately contained poured out like a flood.
The gentle flow of spiritual energy around them surged, the green leaves, as if washed by clear water, became a vibrant, translucent green. The air itself seemed to invigorate the senses and sharpen the eyes.
"No rush, you'll be able to witness it firsthand soon."
—
Shortly after their conversation ended, a figure in emerald green was approaching. Gu Junshi’s divine sense swept over, but she didn’t move.
When the person saw her, he narrowed his eyes and smiled, his handsome face exuding a refined grace.
"It's rather unusual to see a junior disciple alone here."
It was Dan Ya, the senior disciple of the Great Evolution Sect. In this space, Gu Junshi had little interaction with him; they had only met once, during that time in the great hall when he had looked down on her with a mocking disregard.
Therefore, his deliberate attempt to "chance upon" her this time likely had ulterior motives.
Gu Junshi’s decision to remain in place and wait for him naturally had her own plans.
Considering his usual easy demeanor when interacting with others, his tactful way of handling people, and his cunning, she presumed he would understand the complex mind of a man better than she did.
Gu Junshi maintained her usual gentle tone. "Uncle-Master Fusheng is out on a sect mission. Wuming and Uncle-Master Fusheng are not conjoined twins, so there's no need to be together all the time."
To her surprise, Dan Ya's eyes curved into a smile upon hearing this, and he said meaningfully, "But seeing how clingy he is, I almost thought you were conjoined twins."
Was he alluding to the ambiguity between her and Liu Jiangfusheng, or did he suspect they had some unspeakable agenda?
Dan Ya's name might be derived from detachment and elegance, but he himself was a thoroughly selfish individual, benefiting himself at the expense of others.
Gu Junshi did not respond directly but countered, "Uncle-Master Dan, why are you here on Wumei Mountain instead of the training grounds teaching new disciples?"
His gaze darkened, and he leaned closer, his red lips spewing alluring breath. "If I said I came specifically to find you, junior disciple, would you believe me?"
"I believe you."
Gu Junshi, who had long cultivated the art of remaining undisturbed, replied calmly.
Dan Ya, however, was momentarily stunned by her unconventional answer.
He twitched the corner of his mouth. "You really believe me?"
"I have a feeling that if I say I don't believe you, you'll launch into a lengthy discourse that I don't want to hear," she said, looking at him expressionlessly.
Dan Ya: "..."
Heavenly Dao curiously asked, "You came to ask him for advice. What benefit is there for you to embarrass him like this?"
Gu Junshi replied, "There's no benefit."
She added silently, "Purely for amusement."
She then broke the silence. "Since you have time now, Uncle-Master, perhaps you could help resolve a matter that has been troubling me for a long time?"
Upon hearing this, Dan Ya regained his composure. At times, his junior disciple's demeanor and expression were not those of a new disciple. Her aura was too immense, sometimes unnerving him. "Junior disciple Wuming seeks advice from Uncle-Master me instead of junior disciple Liu Jiang, which is rather roundabout. I am curious about your doubts."
"If a woman had hurt you, but afterward, she compensated you for it, was obedient to your every whim, and always did as you pleased, would you forgive her because of that?" she asked.
This question caught him by surprise and led Dan Ya to extensive speculation.
"Hurt? What degree of hurt?"
"For example... she once tried to kill you, and succeeded."
Dan Ya: Frankly speaking, for that level of harm, a more serious term like murder should be used.
"...If the person is dead, wouldn't this degree of compensation be too lenient?" he asked with a half-smile.
Gu Junshi agreed and proposed, "Then she lets you kill her once?"
Dan Ya was startled. "Do you handle problems so simply and brutally?"
He cleared his throat and organized his response. "Logically speaking, an eye for an eye could settle this grievance. However, if your requirement is for forgiveness, I don't think anyone could accept being killed by their enemy without any lingering resentment."
Is that so?
Gu Junshi: "What if there's a way to resolve it?"
"That would be very difficult to achieve."
"Yes, precisely because it's difficult that Wuming seeks advice from Uncle-Master Dan," she said, maintaining a serious expression while flattering him.
Dan Ya was not so foolish as to be easily swayed by a few flattering words, but he indeed intended to approach her. Since this was a good opportunity, he naturally wouldn't let it go. "You know, when a person is hurt by someone they trust, the pain isn't physical at first, but emotional."
Although this statement was somewhat literary and melodramatic, making it difficult for a heart as strong as a diamond-encrusted CEO to empathize, it was undeniably the emotional state most people would experience.
"That's true."
"Even physical scars may fade, let alone emotional wounds. Even if they heal, they leave shadows of the past," he continued to describe.
It was becoming somewhat repetitive. Her tone deepened slightly. "Get to the point."
Dan Ya's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know if it was due to divine power, but he inexplicably felt that her words were irresistible. "The point is, only by facing the past directly, by not avoiding what the heart is most unwilling to confront, what it fears the most, can one truly let go of that hurt."
It sounds plausible, but the question is... "Can you do it?" Her words struck at the core.
Dan Ya did not hesitate. "No."
"In other words, you will not forgive, ever," she concluded slowly for him, also signaling the end of the conversation.
But Dan Ya quickly changed his tune the next second. He stared into her eyes, which seemed to hold a profound and obscure content he couldn't understand. An urgent and uneasy premonition was frantically screaming in his heart, telling him he had to appease her, or the consequences would be beyond his ability to bear.
"Not necessarily. Unless that person is so important that I would rather worry every day and fear every night, yet still be unwilling to let go. Rather than forgetting each other and having no further connection, I would prefer to be bound together and torment each other," he said rapidly in one breath.
...But how cruel must one be to oneself?
His last-minute addition slightly eased Gu Junshi's deep expression, and the will of the world finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As for Dan Ya, he had no idea why, at one point, he had been sweating all over and felt cold from his hands to his feet.
"Thank you for resolving my doubts, Uncle-Master."
Dan Ya didn't know why she cared so much about the answer to that question, but since she seemed satisfied, he should collect his "reward."
Dan Ya was not someone with a kind heart to help others for free.
"Junior disciple Wuming, I've answered your question so diligently, how can you dismiss me with a mere thank you..."
Dan Ya leaned closer again, intentionally creating an ambiguous distance.
He wanted to see Gu Junshi blush with shyness, but instead, he saw her looking back at him calmly, her expression more composed and at ease than his own.
"..." Was she still a woman? Why did she lack even normal physiological reactions?
Had his charm waned recently? Or did she simply prefer Liu Jiangfusheng's type, a case of "a turtle seeing a frog"?
A stream of light flashed along the path. Liu Jiangfusheng landed, and as he looked up, he saw Gu Junshi and Dan Ya leaning intimately together, talking. The pink and yellow hues of the scene directly pierced his eyes.
He let out a stern shout, "What are you two doing?"
In fact, Gu Junshi and Dan Ya had already sensed Liu Jiangfusheng's arrival before he did. However, one with ulterior motives and the other with her own agenda, one tried harder to create romantic sparks, while the other did not refuse or avoid it.
"Shall I help you test your standing in his heart?" Dan Ya glanced back at the furious Liu Jiangfusheng, his eyes curving into a smile, but with malicious intent.
Heavenly Dao, fearing Gu Junshi would agree, said, "Gu Junshi, Liu Jiangfusheng is very angry right now. Explain quickly. He wants you to prove to him that you have no interest in Dan Ya and that it's all a misunderstanding."
Explain?
Gu Junshi recalled a novel she had read a long time ago. It seemed to be about the male and female leads misunderstanding each other due to the interference of a secondary female character. Every time they met, they could have explained things with just a few words, but they acted as if their mouths were sealed, always talking about irrelevant matters.
But strangely, after such mutual torment, when the misunderstanding was finally resolved after countless chapters, their feelings progressed by leaps and bounds.
She couldn't understand such matters given her meager past romantic experience. However, since the time and atmosphere were now right, and she had the skills and a ready-made tutorial, there was no harm in trying.
Gu Junshi's expression slowly turned cold. First, she greeted him with a business-like tone. "Uncle-Master Liu Jiang."
Upon seeing Gu Junshi's indifferent attitude, Liu Jiangfusheng's heart sank by half.
Compared to her previous "affectionate glances," her current demeanor was like "still water. He didn't know what had happened in such a short time and mistakenly believed Dan Ya had said something behind his back. He looked at him with dark, icy eyes.
"Senior Disciple Dan Ya, I know you've always been jealous of me and have slandered me many times behind my back. If you encounter someone who doesn't know the truth, someone new to the sect, they might actually believe your words."
This was the first time Liu Jiangfusheng had targeted Dan Ya with such undignified, sharp, and sarcastic words. In the past, even when he knew about the underhanded tactics Dan Ya employed privately, he had remained indifferent and calm.
Upon hearing this, Dan Ya was actually provoked into a malicious amusement. He seemed to have grasped some weakness of Liu Jiangfusheng.
"Junior Disciple, you're thinking too much. Senior Disciple hasn't spoken ill of you to Junior Disciple Wuming. We were just discussing some emotional issues, and she probably found it inconvenient to tell you, so she specifically sought out me, a less familiar senior disciple, to chat with."
With Dan Ya acting as a divine helper, the desired misunderstanding was now in place.