Harmonious Joy Sect, Red Dust Mountain.
A flying skiff bearing the banners of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau descended slowly outside the mountain gate.
The vessel was not large, its make plain and unadorned, yet starlight seemed to drift faintly amid the flowing formation patterns along its hull—one glance was enough to tell it was no ordinary Imperial Astronomical Bureau craft.
Xu Huayi leapt down from the skiff. The instant her toes touched the ground, she had already unfurled her divine sense, gathering every ripple of spiritual energy within a radius of several li into her perception.
The vital energy of Red Dust Mountain was indeed recovering, but that lingering yin-yang imbalance still hung over the entire peak like a thin veil of mist. Anyone not sensing carefully would never detect it—but to someone like her, who had spent years dealing with formations, this haze was more obvious than the sun overhead.
On this trip, her identity was that of a special envoy personally dispatched by Song Zhixing, Vice Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, representing the official authorities of the Capital to carry out three tasks. First: to supervise whether the Harmonious Joy Sect's internal purge had been thorough, ensuring no similar mischief would arise again. Second: to lend her expertise in the Way of Formations to help assess the repair progress of the Yin-Yang Fish's twin qi of yin and yang. Third—and this one Song Zhixing had entrusted to her privately—to investigate whether any hidden circumstances behind this incident had yet to surface.
A proper assignment, a proper business trip.
It absolutely was not because she'd heard the Harmonious Joy Sect incident was connected to Gu Chengming, and so had been the first to volunteer.
Absolutely not.
"Envoy Xu, the gate of Red Dust Mountain lies just ahead." The accompanying Imperial Astronomical Bureau clerk reminded her from behind.
Xu Huayi nodded, straightened her lapels, and pressed those thoughts—the ones that had no business appearing during official duty—down into the deepest reaches of her Sea of Consciousness.
Business first. Everything else could wait.
She strode toward the mountain gate.
...
The Harmonious Joy Sect's reception was hardly modest.
Elder Kurong waited in person at the mountain gate, two rows of inner-sect disciples arrayed behind him, neatly dressed and respectful in bearing.
After all, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau represented the eyes of the Great Qian court, and the Harmonious Joy Sect, having just produced so great an upheaval, naturally had to keep its posture as low as possible.
Xu Huayi exchanged a few pleasantries with Kurong, then was led into a guest court on Red Dust Mountain.
The guest court sat halfway up the mountainside, its surroundings tranquil and secluded, a stretch of peach grove just beyond the windows. Though it was not the blossoming season, the gnarled, twisting branches held a desolate charm all their own.
Xu Huayi set down her luggage, pushed open the window, and drew a deep breath of air laced with a faint floral fragrance.
Then she heard voices drifting in from outside.
"—Listen, listen, Senior Sister Qīng Luó drew a new version! This time it's a side profile!"
"Really? Let me see, quick!"
"Look, look—this line of the shoulder, isn't it just so like him?"
"So like him! Exactly like him! But I think his chin should be a little sharper."
"Did you dream about his chin or something?"
"I dreamed that when he turned his head to look at me, the outline of his chin was especially handsome!"
Xu Huayi stood at the window, listening to the two passing disciples' conversation fade into the distance, and her brows drew slightly together.
What were they discussing?
A dream-lover? A portrait?
Xu Huayi paid it no further mind. She closed the window and began arranging the formation implements she would need for this trip.
But this was only the beginning. Over the next two days, wherever she went, she heard similar conversations.
At last her suspicions got the better of her. Seizing an opportunity, and using "getting to know the sect's recent affairs" as a pretext, she asked one of the inner-sect disciples handling her reception about the whole business of this so-called "Sword-Seeking Pavilion."
The moment the disciple heard the topic, her eyes lit up instantly, as though she had finally found someone to pour her heart out to, and she rattled off a great long stream of words.
After Xu Huayi finished listening, a question mark suddenly popped up in her mind.
—What did it mean that every single female disciple of the Harmonious Joy Sect had, overnight, acquired the very same dream-lover?
What even was this—some ultra-invincible thousands-strong mass cuckoldry?
These Harmonious Joy Sect disciples really played too big.
...…
Well, setting aside that rather surreal matter for now.
The next day, Xu Huayi's formal meeting with acting sect master Fu Xiaoxiao took place in a side hall of the main palace of Red Dust Mountain.
The side hall was not large, its furnishings simple and elegant, a long table set crosswise in the center, cushions and tea sets arranged on either side.
Fu Xiaoxiao arrived before Xu Huayi. Today she wore the formal red robes of a sect master, her hair bound up primly, and she looked to have acquired a certain air of authority.
But look closely and one would find a faint ring of bluish-black beneath her eyes, while the corners of her mouth kept curving up despite her efforts to hold them down—giving her the subtle appearance of someone "very tired but very happy."
Xu Huayi pushed the door open and entered, and their eyes met.
"Formation Master Xu." Fu Xiaoxiao rose and inclined her head slightly.
"Sect Master Fu." Xu Huayi returned the courtesy and seated herself on the cushion opposite.
Both were clever women; their pleasantries lasted no more than three sentences before they cut to the heart of the matter.
Xu Huayi produced a draft supervision agreement drawn up by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and went through it clause by clause with Fu Xiaoxiao. Its contents covered the reporting mechanism for the Yin-Yang Fish's repair progress, the standards for periodic testing of the twin qi of yin and yang, and the terms under which the Harmonious Joy Sect would submit to irregular inspections by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau over the next three years.
Fu Xiaoxiao had no great objections to these terms, offering only revisions to the wording in a few places, and the two sides quickly reached agreement.
But throughout the discussion, one matter kept turning over in Fu Xiaoxiao's mind.
—Shouldn't this be Gu Chengming's responsibility?
He was a man of the Night-Watch Bureau, and the investigation into this Harmonious Joy Sect incident had been led by the Night-Watch Bureau in the first place; by rights, the follow-up supervision and cleanup should also fall to the Night-Watch Bureau to handle.
Yet this Formation Master Xu of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau before her had not once, from start to finish, mentioned Gu Chengming's name. Even when speaking of "the investigative personnel previously dispatched by the Great Qian side," the only name she brought up was Li Suizhuang.
She did not know Gu Chengming was here.
A few suppositions took shape in Fu Xiaoxiao's mind.
Great Qian's official powers were a tangled web—the Night-Watch Bureau, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and the Court of State Ceremonial each had their own intelligence channels and ways of operating. Gu Chengming had come this time infiltrating in secret as Li Suizhuang's assistant; those in the know were very few, so it stood to reason that the Imperial Astronomical Bureau had received no word.
Moreover, Gu Chengming was currently still secretly investigating leads on the Red Dust Seed and the Eternal Life Sect, and the concealment of his identity was of the utmost importance—so naturally she would not bring it up herself.
And so Fu Xiaoxiao kept her expression unchanged and pressed the thought down.
It was Xu Huayi, rather, who—once the agreement was settled—held her teacup and asked, as if in passing:
"By the way, Sect Master Fu, while moving about the sect these past few days, I heard of a rather interesting topic circulating among your disciples."
Fu Xiaoxiao's hand, lifting her tea, paused ever so slightly.
"What topic?"
"It seems to concern a certain 'dream sword-cultivator.'" Xu Huayi's tone was that of someone chatting about an inconsequential curiosity. "They say that on the day the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation surged, over a thousand disciples of your sect all dreamed of the same person?"
Fu Xiaoxiao waved a hand, her tone relaxed. "When the Yin-Yang Fish fell out of balance, it released a great deal of Red Dust Qi. The disciples' divine senses were affected, producing some shared hallucinations, that's all. The Harmonious Joy Sect cultivates the Red Dust Art; our perception of emotion is keen by nature. Such a collective dream reaction, though rare, is theoretically explicable."
She paused, then added, "As for that 'Sword-Seeking Pavilion' business—it's nothing more than a pastime for idle young disciples. Elder Kurong has already reprimanded them; it'll disperse in a few days."
Xu Huayi nodded and pressed no further.
After the meeting ended, Xu Huayi returned to the guest court, shut the door, and sat before the table for a long while.
Fu Xiaoxiao's explanation was reasonable and airtight.
But Xu Huayi was a prodigy of the Way of Formations, and her intuition told her the matter was not so simple.
A collective dream of over a thousand people, with contents so highly consistent, so rich in detail that a portrait could be drawn from them—this could not be explained by "Red Dust Qi affecting the divine sense."
The influence of Red Dust Qi was diffuse and blurry; it amplified emotions, but it could not conjure a specific, unified image out of nothing.
Unless someone had actively intervened in those disciples' Seas of Consciousness.
If someone had truly, at the very instant the Yin-Yang Fish lost its balance, used the cover of the Red Dust Qi to touch the Seas of Consciousness of over a thousand disciples all at once…
Then this person's power and methods were far beyond anything she could imagine.
And Fu Xiaoxiao's dismissive attitude toward it made her all the more uneasy.
Did she truly not care—or was she deliberately concealing something?
Xu Huayi closed her eyes and combed once more through the information she had gathered these past few days.
The former sect master of the Harmonious Joy Sect, Yun Ni, had died suddenly from "cultivation deviation." Fu Xiaoxiao had "taken up the burden in a crisis" to temporarily manage sect affairs. The Yin-Yang Fish had recovered its balance in an extremely short span of time—too fast to be natural repair, more like someone had intervened from within.
The collective dream of over a thousand disciples pointed to a "sword-cultivator" of unknown identity.
And Fu Xiaoxiao—a Fish-Warden Elder who had never been particularly central within the Harmonious Joy Sect—had swiftly seized control of the situation after Yun Ni's death, while Kurong and Jingxin, two elders of far greater seniority, had instead stepped back.
All of it was too smooth.
Smooth as though someone had meticulously arranged it from behind the scenes.
Xu Huayi opened her eyes, thinking: what if Fu Xiaoxiao had not "taken up the burden in a crisis," but had "usurped and replaced"?
What if Yun Ni had not suffered "cultivation deviation," but had been removed by someone? What if that mysterious sword-cultivator, able to touch the Seas of Consciousness of over a thousand people at once, was the very person standing behind Fu Xiaoxiao?
A bold conjecture took shape in Xu Huayi's mind.
This so-called "internal upheaval" of the Harmonious Joy Sect had been, from start to finish, a meticulously planned coup.
Fu Xiaoxiao was merely a puppet pushed out to the front. The true mastermind was a sword-cultivator of unfathomable power, one who to this day still hid within the Harmonious Joy Sect, concealed in shadow, manipulating everything.
In any case, she had to investigate.
Night fell ink-dark, moonlight spilling over the bluestone paths of Red Dust Mountain.
Xu Huayi put away her compass, and the white-jade Judge's Brush in her hand touched lightly upon the empty air. A miniature formation-node diagram promptly vanished into the air.
—Investigating whether the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation had developed any problem.
This pretext was airtight. Even a Harmonious Joy Sect disciple on night patrol, seeing her, could only bow respectfully and say, "Envoy Xu, thank you for your hard work."
But in truth, her real purpose was to find someone—that so-called "mastermind behind the scenes."
Two consecutive days of observation had only strengthened the conjecture in Xu Huayi's heart.
The Harmonious Joy Sect's situation was excessively stable, the Yin-Yang Fish's repair speed absurdly fast, and then there were those thousand-odd disciples with their shared dream-lover.
—Fu Xiaoxiao was nothing more than a puppet pushed out to the front.
Reaching a deep, secluded bamboo grove, Xu Huayi came to a halt.
With a soft cry, a gleam of light welled up in the depths of her pupils.
This was the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's Star-Gazing Qi-Observing Art, which could see what ordinary people could not and perceive the subtlest workings of vital energy. Under the gaze of those star-eyes, the spiritual energy of the earth's veins flowed slowly like rivers, the life-force of grass and trees turned into flecks of glowing light—and beneath all these surface appearances, Xu Huayi caught a wisp of color utterly out of keeping with the rest.
It was a faint golden residue.
So she had found it after all.
Following the direction in which the aura extended, she looked toward the heartland of Red Dust Mountain—which was also the direction of the Harmonious Joy Sect's guest court.
Could it be that this mastermind was hiding, brazen as you please, within the very guest court?
Xu Huayi did not raise any alarm. Having noted the bearing, she silently withdrew from the bamboo grove.
The next day, early morning.
The weather over Red Dust Mountain was somewhat overcast, the cloud layer pressing low. Within a wing room of the Quiet Contemplation Court, Gu Chengming set down the last jade slip that recorded the Heart Gu, his brow slightly knit.
Gu Chengming looked at the contents of the jade slip and analyzed: "Normal emotions are mixed—joy, anger, sorrow, delight all interwoven, like a tangled skein. But the emotions the Red Dust Seed absorbs have been stripped bare."
"It wants no memory, no cause and effect—only the purest emotion itself."
"Take 'fear,' for instance: it strips away the 'why one fears' and the 'whom one fears'—all that antecedent and consequence—and keeps only the concept of fear itself."
Hearing this, Fu Xiaoxiao seemed to recall something and spoke up: "In the history of the Harmonious Joy Sect, there were once records concerning a certain kind of existence. That thing was neither living creature nor dead object, but an aggregate of the emotions of heaven and earth. It fed upon the joys, angers, sorrows, and delights of all beings, and wherever it passed, the emotions of all things were devoured, leaving only a dead, silent void."
"If it's that…" Fu Xiaoxiao lifted her head, a flicker of revulsion crossing her eyes. "Then the thing that's coming is likely the natural nemesis of every Harmonious Joy Sect cultivator."
If it truly were an existence on that level, it would indeed be troublesome.
"Fortunately, I'm not a Harmonious Joy Sect cultivator. If it really does come then, just leave the handling to me." Gu Chengming joked with a light chuckle.
Watching his air of certainty, the heart Fu Xiaoxiao had been holding suspended inexplicably settled.
So long as he was here, it seemed even the sky falling would be no great matter.
She lowered her head, using the motion of drinking tea to hide the smile at the corner of her mouth, then said softly: "Are we continuing again tonight?"
Gu Chengming was startled, then understood her meaning.
"Of course." He nodded, and a thought stirred in his mind. "Want to try using the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation?"
Fu Xiaoxiao gave a soft "Mm," the tips of her ears flushing red, and raised her teacup to hide half her face.
Night descended once more.
There was no moon tonight, and the wind was strong, setting the trees of Red Dust Mountain rustling and roaring.
Xu Huayi continued her pursuit along the path she had discovered the night before. The lines the Judge's Brush traced in the empty air grew ever clearer, their direction ever more definite.
Through the training grounds of the outer gate, around the alchemy chambers of the inner gate, the line came at last to a stop before a secluded courtyard.
The Quiet Contemplation Court.
Xu Huayi hid behind a tall parasol tree, her gaze fixed tightly on the plaque above the courtyard gate.
Why did the clue point here?
Xu Huayi drew a deep breath and took a Concealment Talisman from her sleeve. With a flash of spiritual light, her figure and aura vanished utterly into the air.
She sprang up lightly, landing without a sound atop the courtyard wall.
The yard was very quiet, only the old osmanthus tree swaying in the wind.
Dim yellow candlelight glowed upon the paper of the main room's window, and upon that paper were cast two shadows—a man and a woman.
Xu Huayi's heartbeat suddenly quickened.
Two people?
She concentrated and listened intently, trying to make out the movements within.
At first it was a low murmuring, the voices very soft, indistinct.
Then came a stifled, muffled groan—the kind particular to a woman, carrying a certain pleasured nasal tone.
This voice… though somewhat altered in pitch, she could never mistake it—was that Fu Xiaoxiao?
Could it be that the mastermind was, in fact, this new sect master's bedchamber guest?
Xu Huayi felt she had spied out some tremendous secret, but before she could sort out any thread of it, the sound from within cut off her thoughts.
"Mm…"
Next came the "creak, creak" of a shaking bed, exceedingly rhythmic, one after another, keeping time with those low moans that could not be suppressed. Xu Huayi's whole body went rigid.
Though she was untouched by the affairs of men and women, one did not need to have eaten pork to have seen a pig walk—and in a place like the Harmonious Joy Sect, where even the yowling of a stray cat in heat was a few degrees more melodious than elsewhere, how could she fail to understand what was happening inside?
She had meant to simply leave like that, but a single glance was enough to root her to the spot.
Because she saw the face of that so-called mastermind.
—Gu Chengming.
Xu Huayi's mind crashed on the spot.
Why is he here? What is his relationship with Fu Xiaoxiao? How could he be even more… than I imagined—no, wrong!
Watching her own thoughts veer somewhere bad, Xu Huayi jammed on the brakes at once, gnashing her teeth a little as she stared at the scene.
She had rushed a thousand li from the Capital under the banner of official business, when in truth her head had been full of nothing but Gu Chengming—how she might, in passing, offer him some warmth, how she might earn a little favor before this "old acquaintance."
And the result? Gu Chengming had become the honored guest of the Harmonious Joy Sect's acting sect master—had even "deepened his exchange" all the way into her bed!
Reason told her she should leave at once; this was another's private affair, and to spy was extremely improper—not to mention that she was a special envoy of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and if discovered, the consequences would be unthinkable. But as if driven by some spirit, she could not help but steal another couple of glances.
Xu Huayi found herself a lame excuse in her heart: "Right, I'm the envoy—I have the authority to confirm whether coercion is taking place inside. What if Gu Chengming is being forced? What if this is some kind of evil gathering-and-replenishing ritual?"
"I must stay and observe, to confirm Fellow Daoist Gu's safety."
Even as she frantically hypnotized herself in her heart, she slowly crouched down, curling herself into as small a ball as she could to reduce her presence.
The battle within seemed to escalate; the creaking of the bed grew urgent, and Fu Xiaoxiao's voice could no longer form sentences, leaving only broken, gasping breaths and unconscious pleas for mercy.
Xu Huayi's breathing turned ragged, her heart pounding as if it would leap out of her throat.
Her legs pressed together of their own accord, rubbing lightly once. The sounds inside continued, growing louder and louder, more and more unrestrained.
Why was the soundproofing of these Harmonious Joy Sect houses so terrible?!
She wanted to cover her ears, but her hands seemed to have minds of their own, reaching as if bewitched toward her own lapels.
Just confirming something. I'm only too warm—just straightening my clothes.
She bit her lip to keep herself from making a sound.
Her other hand gripped the roof tile beside her tightly, her knuckles gone white from the force.
The commotion inside finally reached its peak; the bed let out a groan as if it could bear no more, and Xu Huayi went limp along with it, gasping in great mouthfuls of air.
Cold sweat had soaked through the clothing at her back, and the night wind blowing over it left her chilled.
She looked at that window still lit with light, looked at her own disheveled lapels, and at that hand she had not yet had time to draw back.
If Gu Chengming ever found out, she'd never be able to face anyone again for the rest of her life—she might as well go find a block of tofu and dash herself to death against it!
Xu Huayi couldn't spare a thought for tidying her appearance. She scrambled up in a flustered rush, nearly forgetting even to keep the Concealment Talisman going.
It was not until she had run all the way back to her own room in one breath, bolted the door, and laid down three layers of isolation formations that Xu Huayi finally plopped down onto the floor, covered her burning face, and let out a despairing wail.
"Xu Huayi, you're beyond saving."
She rolled over on the floor and buried her face in the quilt.
"Truly beyond saving, ahhhhh!"
On this night, someone was destined to lie sleepless.
The next morning, a trace of the damp chill left unspent from the night before still lingered in the air of the Quiet Contemplation Court, and outside the courtyard stood a visitor Gu Chengming had not in the least expected.
"Fellow Daoist Xu?" Gu Chengming was somewhat taken aback.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, it's been a long while." Xu Huayi drew a deep breath, her tone bright to the point of deliberateness, and smiled. "I guessed correctly after all—you really are here."
"How is it that you're here?"
"The Imperial Astronomical Bureau posted a special envoy to oversee the aftermath of the Harmonious Joy Sect incident."
Xu Huayi fished a token from her sleeve and waved it before Gu Chengming, her movement quick as if covering something up. "I arrived only yesterday. I looked over the sect roster and found an apprentice named 'Gu An,' and thought it might be you—so I came especially to call on you."
Her gaze paused for an instant on Gu Chengming's collar, where one button seemed to be fastened a little crooked.
Through Xu Huayi's mind flashed, in an instant, all those blush-inducing sounds she had heard the night before.
—Stop! Rein it in! Xu Huayi, you're here to take care of business!
She wrenched her gaze away abruptly, fixed it on the door frame behind Gu Chengming, and rattled off at breakneck speed:
"Since Fellow Daoist Gu is safe and sound, that is excellent. This Harmonious Joy Sect affair implicates a great deal; though I've come to supervise, if there is anything Fellow Daoist Gu needs assistance with, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau will not shirk its duty."
Gu Chengming looked at this "I'm very professional, I'm very calm, I don't know a thing" manner of hers, and felt it rather curious.
[The Yin-Yang Creation Strategy reminded him: She came last night, eavesdropping outside the door.]
Shut up. I know. I'm pretending not to know too.
"Come in and talk." Gu Chengming paid no heed at all to the Yin-Yang Creation Strategy, which could not read the room in the slightest, and stepped aside from the doorway. "As it happens, there are indeed some matters for which I need someone versed in formations to advise me."
Xu Huayi's whole body stiffened.
"What's wrong?" Seeing her not move, Gu Chengming asked, puzzled.
"No—nothing." Xu Huayi bit the tip of her tongue and forced herself to step forward. "Official business handled officially—of course I should come in and discuss it in detail."
She walked into the room, her gaze sweeping over the interior beyond her control.
Fortunately, the bed had already been arranged neat and tidy, and the table cleared clean as well—not the slightest trace of last night's "fierce battle" to be seen.
Xu Huayi let out a breath of relief, and then, inexplicably, felt a flicker of disappointment.
The two of them sat down at the table.
Gu Chengming poured her a cup of tea, then came straight to the point, giving a rough account of the matters concerning the Red Dust Seed, the Heart Gu, and the Eternal Life Sect's involvement—having omitted the portions touching upon the core secrets of the Yin-Yang Fish.
"That's roughly the situation."
Xu Huayi held her teacup, on the surface the very picture of someone listening earnestly, brows knit in thought.
In reality, however—
"Fellow Daoist Xu?" Gu Chengming called out.
"Ah? Here!" Xu Huayi snapped back to herself with a jolt, nearly spilling her tea.
She coughed as if to cover it and put on a serious face. "As for the Red Dust Seed, the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's archives indeed contain no direct record of it. But the Eternal Life Sect has always been fond of these 'using people as nests' tricks."
"You just said those seeds are used to purify emotions?"
"That's right." Gu Chengming nodded. "Memory and cause and effect are stripped away, leaving only the purest emotional energy."
"Stripping away cause and effect…"
Xu Huayi murmured those words over to herself, forcing herself into a working state of mind. She reached out, dipped her fingertip in tea, and drew a simple formation model on the tabletop. "The Harmonious Joy Sect's mountain-guarding grand formation, the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation—could it have been exploited without anyone's knowledge?"
"Very possibly." Gu Chengming was full of admiration for her keenness. "That's exactly what I wanted to ask your help with. I'd like you to inspect the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation."
"No problem."
Xu Huayi agreed at once. She looked at Gu Chengming's profile—that bearing which even a disguise could not fully conceal—her gaze sliding down his jawline to the bobbing knot of his throat, and then to that crookedly fastened button.
I really want to button it up for him.
The moment this thought surfaced, the roots of Xu Huayi's ears flushed crimson in an instant.
She lowered her head in a fluster, her fingers twisting the hem of her sleeve tightly beneath the fabric, her heart pounding like a drum.
"Um, Fellow Daoist Gu, isn't this room a little stuffy and warm?"
Gu Chengming glanced at the open window and the north wind howling outside. "Is it?"
"It is, it is." Xu Huayi laughed dryly and drained her teacup in one gulp. "Probably because the topic we're discussing is too heavy."
At that very moment, a set of light footsteps came from beyond the door.
Fu Xiaoxiao pushed the door open and entered. Today she was not wearing those elaborate sect master's robes but a set of light, everyday clothes, her hair casually done up in a bun with a wooden hairpin thrust through it. She looked positively radiant, her skin carrying a pink, well-nourished glow.
Xu Huayi looked at her and nearly crushed the teacup in her hand.
This was the woman—the one who had cried out so loudly last night.
Fu Xiaoxiao's gaze traveled over Xu Huayi once, and froze slightly when it settled on that Imperial Astronomical Bureau official's uniform, before she showed an expression that was half a smile and half not.
"Oh my, isn't this the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's Envoy Xu?"
Fu Xiaoxiao stepped over the threshold, and rather than walking toward Xu Huayi, went straight to Gu Chengming's side, set down her tray, and reached out with utter naturalness to straighten that crookedly fastened button of his.
"Sect Master Fu." Xu Huayi rose to her feet, an impeccable smile hung upon her face—only the smile did not reach her eyes. "I am here on official duty, and beg pardon for the intrusion."
"Not at all." Fu Xiaoxiao sat down beside Gu Chengming, her body tilting slightly, more than half her shoulder nearly pressed against him. "For Envoy Xu to grace us with a visit is an honor for our Harmonious Joy Sect. I only wonder—what business brings the Envoy so early to my house, to seek out Gu Chengming?"
She deliberately paused on the words "my house." Though she changed her wording in the end, the air of staking her claim had already grown too thick to dissolve.
Keen as Fu Xiaoxiao was, how could she have failed to notice the way Xu Huayi looked at Gu Chengming?
Gu Chengming changed the subject, explaining: "We're discussing matters concerning the Eternal Life Sect. Fellow Daoist Xu's attainments in formations are profound; she can help us investigate hidden dangers in the formation."
Fu Xiaoxiao drew out the ends of her words. "I see. Then we'll have to trouble Envoy Xu. After all, matters of formations are dull and tedious, and for the Envoy to be so devoted even so is truly a blessing for the Harmonious Joy Sect."
"It is where my duty lies." Xu Huayi straightened her spine and summoned the aura of a candidate for Vice Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. "When the safety of Great Qian is at stake, matters of romance are all trifling affairs. Since the Eternal Life Sect dares to lay a scheme within the Harmonious Joy Sect, its designs must be vast. As a special envoy, I shall naturally give it my all."
Fu Xiaoxiao raised an eyebrow and was about to counterattack, but Gu Chengming cut through the bizarre atmosphere.
"Back to business." Gu Chengming pushed the jade slip recording the Heart Gu data to the center of the table. "Based on the current clues, Senior Sister Fu and I surmise that the ultimate recipient of that Red Dust Seed is very likely a monster that feeds on emotions."
Hearing the words "feeds on emotions," Xu Huayi's expression instantly turned grave.
She stopped fussing over those chaotic feelings, drew a yellowed ancient tome from her sleeve, and opened it to a certain page.
"If that's the case, then I think I know what it is." Xu Huayi pointed at an illustration on the page, her voice sinking. "In the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's top-secret archive, the Records of Heavenly Calamities, there is recorded an existence named 'Sorrow-and-Joy.'"
Gu Chengming and Fu Xiaoxiao leaned in to look.
The illustration was drawn very abstractly, with no fixed form—only a mass of twisted lines, among which one could faintly make out countless human faces, either agonized or laughing.
"'Sorrow-and-Joy,' one of the Eternal Life Sect's eight great venerables." Xu Huayi explained. "By the records, it is formed from the emotions of tens of thousands of dead souls aggregated together—formless and shapeless, yet able to devour the spirit-soul of every sentient being. It need not fight; it need only draw near to trigger a cultivator's inner demons, causing them to perish, Dao extinguished and body destroyed, in extreme grief or wild ecstasy."
Put that way, this so-called "Sorrow-and-Joy," once stripped of all those mystical, unfathomable descriptions, was in essence nothing more than an evil spirit.
Gu Chengming tapped his finger lightly on the jade slip atop the table.
And things like evil spirits—wasn't killing them the simplest task of all?
"Sorrow-and-Joy is formless and shapeless; so long as there is a crack in a person's heart, it can drive straight in." She turned her head, her gaze sweeping across the two before her. "In the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's archives, three cities once fell into dead zones overnight, the common folk within bearing not the slightest wound—all of them exhausted to death in utter bliss or utter sorrow."
"If it truly comes, our only chance of victory lies in the single instant it takes physical form."
Fu Xiaoxiao sat at Gu Chengming's side, her finger circling the rim of her teacup.
"Takes physical form?"
"To feed, it must transform from a formless aggregate of emotion into some form capable of touching the present world." Xu Huayi explained. She stood up and walked to the map of Red Dust Mountain hanging on the wall, her finger landing on the Formation Eye of the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation.
"That instant is exceedingly brief, and it must occur where the Red Dust Qi is densest and the emotional fluctuations most violent."
"Where the emotional fluctuations are most violent…" Gu Chengming repeated.
Then, as if struck by a thought, he looked toward Fu Xiaoxiao. "Senior Sister, that matter of the 'Sword-Seeking Pavilion'—you can loosen the controls on it for now."
"Not only don't suppress it—help stir the waters, let the image of that 'dream sword-cultivator' take even deeper root in their hearts."
Fu Xiaoxiao stared at him for two breaths, then, as if it dawned on her, her eyes lit up. "I understand now! You mean…"
"Exactly!"
Xu Huayi listened to the two of them behind her, revealing not a scrap of information yet in such perfect accord, as though their hearts were linked in mutual understanding—and for a moment she felt a touch of envy and jealousy.
Then Gu Chengming laid out the plan for Xu Huayi.
The latter suddenly understood upon hearing it. "If that's so, I'll need to adjust the nodes of the Twin Yin-Yang Fish Formation."
"Here you go." Fu Xiaoxiao answered crisply, taking a token from her sleeve and pushing it across the table.
Xu Huayi came over and picked up the token.
"My thanks for Sect Master Fu's trust." Xu Huayi tucked the token into her robes and did not linger. "I'll go set up the formation. Before nightfall, the grand formation will be adjusted and ready."
She inclined her head slightly to Gu Chengming, then turned and pushed the door open to leave.
The door swung open and shut, letting in a gust of faintly cool wind.
Fu Xiaoxiao looked at the door that had closed again, then looked at Gu Chengming.
"Does she know something?"
Gu Chengming poured himself a cup of tea.
"Perhaps. But it doesn't matter."
Fu Xiaoxiao let out a soft snort, tilted her body, and—with no regard whatsoever for appearances—leaned against Gu Chengming's shoulder, poking his arm with a finger.
"In any case, at dual cultivation she can't out-compete me."
—What is that supposed to mean, Senior Sister Fu?
Then she flipped around and sat herself down on top of Gu Chengming, and said viciously:
"Once this whole matter is settled, you're staying in the Harmonious Joy Sect for at least half a month."
Gu Chengming keenly sensed a crisis.
"What for…?"
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