The result of the night-long confrontation was that Lei Xiuyuan fell ill. During Luo Chengji’s morning class, Lei Xiuyuan suddenly collapsed without warning, causing the teacher great concern. Luo Chengji had always been attentive to Lei Xiuyuan, attempting to influence the child through kindness in hopes that he would choose to serve the Lantian Sect in the future.
Since it had been decades since a cultivating disciple had fallen ill, and disciples of immortal sects rarely experienced catching colds, Lei Xiuyuan’s sudden illness left the teachers unusually at a loss.
Master Zuoqiu was temporarily away from the academy, and none of the other teachers were skilled in medical arts. Luo Chengji could only channel some Wood Element spiritual energy into Lei Xiuyuan’s body. Wood Element energy had nurturing and growth-promoting effects, which he hoped would benefit the boy’s condition.
After carrying Lei Xiuyuan back to the Jingxuan Chamber, the teachers sighed heavily. Lin You smiled and said, “I wonder how Master Mo usually instructs the disciples to strengthen their bodies. A cultivating disciple falling ill from a cold is simply unheard of.”
Her words were quite harsh, bordering on provocation, but Mo Yanfan remained silent as if he hadn’t heard. Miao Lanxin coughed and changed the subject to ease the atmosphere: “This child probably doesn’t come from a wealthy family. Although I’m not versed in medicine, when I took his pulse earlier, I noticed his constitution was quite fragile. He must have suffered a lot at such a young age and will need proper care in the future.”
Hu Jiapin lit some calming incense on the burner and led the teachers out of the Jingxuan Chamber, saying, “With Master Zuoqiu absent and our lack of medical knowledge, we shouldn’t make hasty diagnoses. Let’s wait a day. If he improves tomorrow, that’s fine. If not, I’ll go out and invite a doctor. By the way, wasn’t this child fine yesterday? Disciples of immortal sects usually have their techniques protecting them from the elements. How could he catch a cold?”
Mo Yanfan remained silent for a while. The reason for Lei Xiuyuan’s illness was probably known only to him among those present, but for the sake of the sect’s reputation, he couldn’t speak openly. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly said, “Brother Hu, may I request a few days of leave? I have an urgent matter and need to return to the sect.”
Hu Jiapin was somewhat surprised. Leave? Before being invited to become a teacher at the academy, hadn’t Master Zuoqiu made it clear to all of them that they weren’t allowed to take leave during the teaching period?
“I know this request for leave is extremely rash, but I have compelling reasons. When Master Zuoqiu returns, I will certainly apologize to him.”
Since he had put it that way, Hu Jiapin could only nod: “The test is in a few days, so return as quickly as you can. I’ll cover your fist and sword classes for now.”
Mo Yanfan bowed in gratitude and stood up to leave, apparently intending to depart immediately. Lin You couldn’t help but step forward, urgently saying, “You’re leaving now…”
Mo Yanfan said in a low voice, “I’ll be back in a few days. You… take care.”
Lin You’s expression was a mix of surprise and joy. She suddenly lowered her head and gave a slight “Mm” in response.
Luo Chengji, being rather simple-minded, turned back curiously and asked, “When did Master Mo and Master Lin become so close?”
Miao Lanxin shook his head and left without answering him. Hu Jiapin smiled and put his arm around Luo Chengji’s shoulders, saying as they walked, “Brother Luo, let’s not concern ourselves with others’ affairs. By the way, you really should learn to be more perceptive.”
As they left the disciples’ quarters, it was the midday rest period, but there was no one in the quarters. Probably because the test was approaching, the children were all busy cultivating during their rest time, with no one returning to sleep.
Hu Jiapin spotted Li Fei walking slowly from afar. He narrowed his eyes and approached her with a smile, “Little girl, are you here to see your little sweetheart?”
Li Fei looked at him helplessly. What little sweetheart! How could this teacher speak so frivolously? Is this how he should address a disciple? However, she had indeed returned for Lei Xiuyuan’s sake, so she didn’t bother to explain and simply nodded.
“Such loyalty at such a young age,” Hu Jiapin continued without restraint. “He’s sleeping inside. Go check on him, but don’t wake him up. You can take care of serving tea and water for him.”
Li Fei didn’t want to say another word to him and quickened her pace back to the courtyard. The door of the Jingxuan Chamber was slightly ajar. As she gently pushed it open, a gentle and elegant fragrance wafted out – someone must have lit incense. This was her first time entering Lei Xiuyuan’s room, and she couldn’t help but look around. The furniture in the room was no different from other rooms, but on the table, apart from the tea set and other utensils provided by the academy, there was nothing else. He didn’t have a single personal item.
Lei Xiuyuan was sleeping quietly on the bed. Li Fei tiptoed over and sat in a chair, staring at him – she had thought he would wake up, but it seemed he was truly asleep.
The sleeping Lei Xiuyuan appeared slightly more approachable, more like the person she had first met – the one who, though timid and weak, was gentle, considerate, and attentive. Perhaps due to his illness, his face had a sickly pallor, with beads of sweat on his forehead and his long eyelashes trembling slightly, caught in some unknown dream. He looked delicate like a girl, and with his black hair tangled on his face as he slept, the resemblance was even stronger.
Li Fei stared at him for a long time, but he showed no signs of waking. She decided to stay and wait until he woke up so she could get answers to everything – taking advantage of his illness to be forceful.
The fragrance in the room gradually intensified, feeling warm and comforting. Li Fei felt her head continually nodding downward. She too had been up all night, and the calming incense in the burner smelled so good that drowsiness overtook her. Was Lei Xiuyuan still not awake? She hazily glanced at him; his eyes were closed. Li Fei couldn’t resist any longer and fell into a deep sleep amid the fragrance.
She didn’t know how long she had slept when suddenly she heard a knocking sound. Li Fei opened her eyes in confusion. Where was she? What time was it now? Looking around, the bed curtains didn’t seem to be from her room. She propped herself up and realized she had fallen asleep leaning on the edge of the bed while sitting in the chair.
It felt like someone was watching her. She turned her head and met Lei Xiuyuan’s damp eyes that seemed to hide a mist within them. Startled, she stumbled and fell off the chair.
“You shameless couple…” Hearing movement inside, the door was pushed open, and Ji Tongzhou stood at the doorway, his face ashen as he stared at the two of them. His eyes were about to pop out. “In broad daylight! You, you…”
Li Fei quickly scrambled up from the ground. Why was Ji Tongzhou here? Oh right, she had come here specifically to question Lei Xiuyuan and ended up falling asleep due to the calming incense. Seeing the evening glow outside, her heart nearly shattered – the afternoon was Mo Yanfan’s fist and sword class! She had skipped class!
Lei Xiuyuan, wearing his outer robe, leaned against the headboard and said calmly, “What nonsense are you spouting? Who let you in?”
Ji Tongzhou frowned and walked in as if he had stepped on something dirty, angrily saying, “You think I wanted to come? Hu Jiapin sent me!”
Mo Yanfan had suddenly taken leave, so Hu Jiapin temporarily took over the fist and sword class. However, he didn’t seem to intend to teach properly. He instructed everyone to practice sword techniques on their own while he went around the academy flirting with the black-veiled woman. At the end of class, he appeared out of nowhere and stopped Ji Tongzhou, instructing, “Your trio living in the same courtyard has never been harmonious. Now that what’s-his-name Lei is sick and the little girl has gone to see him, you should go visit too… Oh, and bring some food with you.”
Ji Tongzhou, looking as if he had swallowed a fly, coldly replied, “I won’t go!”
Hu Jiaping patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “If you don’t go, don’t participate in this test. The academy doesn’t want children without talent, and especially not heartless ones.”
With no other choice, Ji Tongzhou reluctantly grabbed some food and reluctantly went to knock on the door of the Jingxuan Chamber. After knocking for a while with no response, he was secretly relieved. Suddenly, he heard movement inside and couldn’t help but push the door open. He saw Li Fei leaning over the bedside and Lei Xiuyuan lying on the bed.
“This is for you!” He threw the food on the table, wrinkling his brow in disgust. “Hu Jiaping forced me to bring it!”
He turned to leave, but Li Fei quickly called out to him, “Wait! This afternoon… I didn’t go to class…”
She hadn’t intended to skip class and didn’t know if there would be any punishment, like not being allowed to eat at the North Dining Hall for ten days or something…
“It’s none of my business if you didn’t go!” Ji Tongzhou snapped, slamming the door as he left.
Li Fei stood there dazed for a moment, then decided to let it go. Skipping class was already a fact, so she might as well not worry about it for now. What mattered was that Lei Xiuyuan was awake!
She walked to the bedside and looked down at him coldly, saying, “You’re awake.”
Lei Xiuyuan leaned weakly against the headboard, his voice feeble: “You’re awake too.”
Li Fei didn’t bother with banter. She pulled the chair closer, sat down, and spoke directly, “Can you tell me now? I won’t leave until you do.”
Lei Xiuyuan turned his head and looked at her expressionlessly. After a while, he said softly, “I’m hungry. Bring me the food.”
“Talk first, then eat.”
“I don’t have the strength to talk without eating.”
“…” Li Fei had no choice but to bring him the food, which turned out to be a bowl of corn porridge and two steamed buns.
Lei Xiuyuan’s hands trembled as he picked up the bowl of corn porridge. He stirred it with the spoon, but before he could bring it to his mouth, his weakness caused him to spill much of it on his sleeve. Li Fei watched through gritted teeth as he ate one spoonful and spilled another. After barely eating a bit, he put down the porridge and started nibbling on the steamed bun. Half an hour passed, and he hadn’t even finished half a bun.
“Can’t you eat any faster?” He must be doing this on purpose!
Lei Xiuyuan looked at her somewhat helplessly, his wet eyes innocent and sickly: “I’m ill.”
Li Fei suppressed her anger and began pacing around the room like a caged beast. Another half hour passed, and it was already dark outside. Lei Xiuyuan let out a sigh, put the remaining food on the bedside table, and said calmly, “Please give me some privacy. I need to change my clothes.”
Li Fei was furious: “Talk first, then change!”
He ignored her and started taking off his corn-stained undergarment. Li Fei had no choice but to turn her back, cursing this troublemaker countless times in her mind.
After a while, there was no sound from him. Li Fei asked urgently, “Are you done changing?”
There was no answer. She immediately turned around to find that Lei Xiuyuan had changed his clothes and fallen asleep on the bed again. She could no longer contain herself. She pounced on him, grabbed him, and said fiercely, “If you don’t talk now, I’ll throw you out! You can die from your illness for all I care!”
Lei Xiuyuan glanced at her and said softly, “I’ve told you, what you want to know, I can’t say, nor can I speak of it.”
“I don’t believe you!” Although she didn’t know how powerful that familiar-sounding character spirit spell was, her master had said that no matter how strong an immortal technique is, it can’t cover everything. There’s always a loophole. There’s no such thing as a perfect immortal technique.
Lei Xiuyuan said calmly, “Whether you believe it or not is your business. Whether I speak or not is mine. That person has an extremely powerful background. Even if I told you, it would be meaningless and only cause more trouble.”
“I don’t care about any of that. You must tell me!” Li Fei insisted.
Lei Xiuyuan chuckled, “Why must I tell you?”
“You owe me!” She looked directly at him. “You deceived me, you must repay me!”
He showed an expression of near exasperation and helplessness: “Do you consider that wimp a friend?”
Li Fei didn’t answer. She stubbornly stared at him, determined to get an explanation from him right here and now.
Lei Xiuyuan struggled a bit: “Fine, I’ll tell you. Let me sit up properly.”
Li Fei loosened her grip on his collar. Unexpectedly, he suddenly leaned in and gently blew a breath on her face. Li Fei felt an extremely cold, fragrant air enter her lungs. She immediately became dizzy and fell onto the bed, losing consciousness.
“…So persistent.” Lei Xiuyuan lightly flicked her face twice with his finger, then fell silent.
The next day, Li Fei woke up in her own Qianxiang Chamber, somehow having slept deeply and comfortably, feeling refreshed. She got up, puzzled. Something felt odd. Wasn’t she in Lei Xiuyuan’s room yesterday? When did she return to her room?
She remembered questioning Lei Xiuyuan, and he had finally agreed to talk, and then… and then? She suddenly fell asleep?
After hurriedly washing up and changing into her disciple’s robe, she went out. It was still dark, probably sometime before the Hour of Mao (5-7 am). The door to the Jingxuan Chamber was ajar. Li Fei, unwilling to give up, pushed the door open, but the room was empty. The leftover steamed bun and corn porridge were still on the bedside table, but Lei Xiuyuan was nowhere to be seen.
As she stood there in a daze, she suddenly heard Ri Yan’s hoarse voice: “What are you doing not sleeping?”
Li Fei was slightly startled to see the white little fox that only woke up once every ten days appear before her. He looked around, his nose twitching slightly, and asked curiously, “This isn’t your room?”
Li Fei hesitated for a moment. She was bothered by Lei Xiuyuan’s words “because of you,” and after several failed attempts to question him, she had a head full of questions at such a young age. She felt like she was about to explode, but couldn’t find anyone to talk to. Now that Ri Yan had suddenly appeared, she finally found someone she could speak to.
She returned to her room, closed the door, and briefly explained the situation to Lei Xiuyuan. What troubled her most was what exactly the character spirit spell was. She seemed to have heard of it before but couldn’t remember.
Ri Yan’s ears swayed back and forth, appearing somewhat thoughtful. He said, “Oh, so that boy’s not bad-hearted after all.”
“Not bad-hearted?” Li Fei couldn’t imagine how he came to this conclusion. “He’s been lying all along, being deceitful, and playing with people’s feelings. How is that not bad-hearted?”
Ri Yan said indifferently, “You humans have too many twists and turns, always talking about hearts and feelings. From my perspective, you haven’t lost anything, and you won’t be in danger from knowing too much in the future. Why bother obsessing over it? If he recklessly told secrets to you a bunch of milk-drinking babies… hmph, you can barely walk straight, how could you think you can protect yourselves? Sometimes, not knowing is better for you!”
What twisted logic, it seemed this fox also had a bunch of things he was hiding from her. Li Fei shook her head, “I considered him a friend, cared for him, and had feelings for him. But it turns out everything about him was fake. If that’s not deception, what is? His previous actions were meant to harm me. If that’s not bad-hearted, what is?”
“I don’t understand what true feelings and emotions are, that’s why I say you humans have too many complications. You’re not missing any limbs now, nor have you lost your life, so he hasn’t harmed you. He’s keeping his mouth shut, staying silent even to the academy, which shows that the person behind him must be incredibly powerful. Firstly, he’s been put under a character spirit spell and can’t speak. Secondly, even if he could speak, no one would believe him. What use would it be to tell you, you fool!”
Li Fei was dumbfounded by his confident assertions. Ri Yan continued, “The so-called character spirit technique is infusing spiritual energy into the words one wants to say. It might be to prevent someone from revealing certain secrets or to force someone to reveal secrets. Although character spirit techniques are complex, nowadays the Heavenly Sound Character Spirit Grand Method and the Character Spirit Nightmare Technique of Xingzheng Hall are considered the most refined. The former can reveal any secret, while the latter can kill invisibly.
Don’t you remember? That day in Qingqiu, Zhen Yunzi used the Heavenly Sound Character Spirit Grand Method against you. Hmph, he must be the most unwilling. He’s reached a bottleneck in his cultivation and needs my fur and bone marrow to refine a magical treasure to advance further. That day he couldn’t catch me, his face remained calm, but his heart must have been bleeding with anger! Haha! Serves him right! The more he wants to catch me, the less his cultivation can advance… Hehehe, severing emotions and desires, what can’t be severed can’t be cut off, how can he advance?”
Li Fei asked curiously, “What do you mean by severing emotions and desires?”
“The Heavenly Sound Character Spirit Grand Method and the Character Spirit Nightmare Technique are very troublesome to practice. The cultivator must go through a strange cultivation process that you humans call ‘severing emotions and desires.’ They must first isolate themselves from all emotions, desires, and thoughts, emptying their minds. Only then can these two immortal techniques show their power. Nowadays, there probably aren’t many immortals in Xingzheng Hall willing to practice these two techniques.”
Some vague thoughts flashed through Li Fei’s mind, but she couldn’t grasp the key points. She sighed. Although she now knew what the character spirit technique was, it didn’t seem to help much with Lei Xiuyuan’s secret. What she didn’t know, she still didn’t know.
Lei Xiuyuan had disappeared again. With his cunning and caution, if he wanted to avoid her questioning, she probably wouldn’t be able to find him even after he recovered. She sighed, feeling both frustrated and helpless. She was used to following her master in deceiving others, but now she had met someone even more deceitful than herself. She could only admit defeat. Since she couldn’t get answers or figure it out, she might as well put this troubling matter aside for now.
“Let’s not talk about this anymore. Ri Yan, since it’s still early today, why don’t I take you on a tour of the academy?” Li Fei said as she rose into the air on her sword, smiling at him. “You haven’t seen what it looks like since we came to the academy.”
The white little fox shook his ears, looking disdainful: “Just a small, shabby academy. What’s there to see!”
As he said this, he hopped onto her shoulder, his ears swaying non-stop.
He looked excited, what a fox who says one thing but means another. The stone sword under Li Fei’s feet turned into a beam of golden light, flying towards the star-studded sky.