The flying boat tore through the layered seas of clouds, casting the vast, boundless snowfields of the Northern Territory far behind.
On the journey back to the Capital, Gu Chengming could feel the Red Dust Qi of the Capital growing ever more intense.
Gu Chengming leaned against the deck railing; countless invisible threads were rising up from the towns and villages below.
In the past, he could only rely on intuition to sense the strength of these auras, but now those Red Dust threads had clearly distinct directions in his eyes.
Gu Chengming withdrew his diffused spiritual sense, turned around, and his gaze fell on the reclining chair on the other side of the deck.
Yu Wenqiu wasn't basking in the sun clutching her box of snacks as usual, nor was she flipping through those storybooks.
She sat cross-legged on the soft couch, eyes tightly shut, a ripple of spiritual energy swirling about her. That ripple wasn't as conspicuous as ordinary five-element spiritual power; rather, it was like an illusion that seemed absent in this moment yet present in another, making her figure look somewhat unreal and indistinct.
Gu Chengming poured a cup of tea and walked over, gently setting the cup down on the small table.
Yu Wenqiu had just completed a full cyclic circulation; her lashes trembled slightly, and then she slowly opened her eyes.
"Elder, today's quite the rarity." Gu Chengming sat down in the rattan chair beside her, teasing, "The sun hasn't even set and you're already hard at work?"
Yu Wenqiu exhaled a breath of turbid air, reached for the teacup and took a sip, then hummed, "This Elder has always been diligent. I simply keep a low profile and don't like showing off in front of others."
As she spoke, she shot Gu Chengming a glance, seeming to feel a little guilty about her own claim, and added, "Besides, we're about to return to that nest of troubles that is the Capital. If this Elder doesn't stabilize this newly comprehended divine ability, then when something really happens, am I supposed to count on a second-realm junior like you to carry me on your back and flee?"
Gu Chengming smiled but didn't expose her.
Still, at the mention of the divine ability, he genuinely felt a bit curious.
The Clairvoyant Eye that Yu Wenqiu cultivated was an extremely special inheritance within the Wenjian Sect.
Though named "Eye," it actually involved causality and space.
At the third realm she could already perform space-traversing techniques akin to Shrinking the Earth to Inches, peer through layers of restrictions to discern truth from falsehood, and even interfere with causal locking to a certain degree.
Such methods, among cultivators of the same realm, were nothing short of a dimensional-reduction strike.
"Elder, what you were just cultivating—is that the new divine ability from after the fourth realm?" Gu Chengming asked.
Yu Wenqiu set down the teacup and nodded rather demurely, though her tone couldn't hide her smugness. "More or less. With the Clairvoyant Eye, every time cultivation advances, the world one sees becomes vastly different. At the fourth realm, one can even see some other things."
"Other things?"
"For instance..." Yu Wenqiu drawled out the last syllable, "things that might happen in the future."
Gu Chengming was startled. "Observing the future?"
The Director of the Great Qian's Imperial Astronomical Bureau claimed to know the Mandate of Heaven, yet each divination of the nation's fortune yielded only a line or two of ambiguous words—and even that came at an enormous cost.
If Yu Wenqiu could observe the future, then this Clairvoyant Eye would be a bit too absurd.
Seeing Gu Chengming's expression, Yu Wenqiu hurriedly waved her hand. "What are you thinking? If I really tried to predict a fixed future, it'd drain me dry."
"The Heavenly Dao is fickle, causality shifts in an instant—no one can truly see the future clearly."
"What I can see is merely a certain 'possibility' deduced by following the vines from the causal threads that already exist in the present."
Yu Wenqiu thought for a moment, and feeling the explanation was a bit dry, she gave an example.
"Take this for example. If I used this ability to look at you and saw a certain future scene where you became dao-companions with some fairy maiden—"
"—that wouldn't mean you'd definitely marry her in the future, because there could be twists in between, or the fate between you might even run its course and end."
"But that scene would tell me one certain piece of information—that right now, in that fairy maiden's heart, she must already harbor feelings for you. Without this causality as a foundation, there'd be no possibility of marriage in the future at all."
Having finished, Yu Wenqiu lifted her chin rather proudly. "Well? This ability may not determine life and death, but for pursuing fortune and avoiding calamity, or ferreting out some secret gossip, there's nothing better."
Gu Chengming nodded thoughtfully after listening.
If explained that way, this ability did make sense—though it felt inferior to his own Heart Is All Things.
After pondering a moment, Gu Chengming grew a bit eager. "Since Elder happens to be cultivating, why not try it out on me?"
Yu Wenqiu hesitated.
The causal threads on Gu Chengming had always been terribly tangled, and with those strange, exotic cultivation methods shielding him, on ordinary days she couldn't even reliably lock onto his location unless she went all out.
"We're idle anyway." Gu Chengming smiled. "And I'd like to see just what I look like in the future through Elder's eyes."
"Fine."
Yu Wenqiu's curiosity was piqued; she really was a bit curious about what Little Gu would be like later on.
Immediately after, she formed a seal with both hands and unleashed the Clairvoyant Eye.
The next moment, the world before Yu Wenqiu's eyes instantly transformed.
The deck, the sea of clouds, even the Gu Chengming before her gradually faded, replaced by countless crisscrossing lines.
She held her breath and focused, and within that tangled mess of causal threads she found the one belonging to Gu Chengming. Then, following the extension of that thread, she cast her gaze toward the far end of the void.
The image was blurry at first, as if seen through a thick veil of watery mist.
Yu Wenqiu channeled the Clairvoyant Eye harder, and the mist gradually dispersed.
What came into view was a grand hall that exuded an air of extravagance.
The light within was dim; only the dragon-oil everlasting lamps on the surrounding pillars gave off an ambiguous warm glow. At the very center of the hall stood a broad throne carved from a single block of warm jade.
Gu Chengming sat there. His long hair, normally bound up meticulously, now hung loose and careless over his shoulders, and the robe he wore wasn't the plain white fitted garb typical of sword cultivators, but an elaborate, resplendent black robe. Along its hem, dark-gold threads embroidered great swaths of blooming silk-tree blossoms, petals layered upon petals, unusually enchanting and seductive.
Propping his cheek on one hand, he leaned lazily against the throne, a faint curve at the corner of his mouth that was neither quite a smile nor not.
Those eyes were slightly narrowed yet held not a trace of mirth, and beneath the throne was a dark, dense mass of kneeling figures—almost all of them female cultivators.
Behind Gu Chengming, two blurry figures stood quietly in attendance, one on the left and one on the right. Though their faces couldn't be made out, from the aura leaking off them alone, they were at least mighty powers above the fifth realm.
Such pomp, such bearing...
Yu Wenqiu's gaze rose, landing on the plaque with gold characters on a black background hanging directly above the hall.
Harmonious Joy Sect.
"—!"
A shiver ran through Yu Wenqiu's whole body, and the scene before her instantly shattered.
"Elder?" Seeing how strong her reaction was, Gu Chengming couldn't help feeling puzzled. "What did you see?"
Yu Wenqiu didn't answer right away.
She slowly opened her eyes and stared at Gu Chengming with a somewhat glazed look.
The young man before her was still dressed as a sword cultivator, his gaze clear, his smile gentle—by any measure a disciple of an upright, orthodox school, as proper as could be.
But that scene just now... that man in the black silk-tree-blossom robe, seated high upon the throne, wearing that almost-smile.
"Elder?" Gu Chengming waved a hand before her eyes.
Yu Wenqiu snapped back to her senses.
"No—nothing!" she denied at breakneck speed, her gaze flitting about, not daring to meet Gu Chengming's eyes at all. "This lousy... this new ability isn't fully mastered yet. My spiritual power went off track just now—I didn't see anything."
Gu Chengming looked at her suspiciously. "Didn't see anything? Then why are you blushing?"
"Who's blushing?! This is... this is from the spiritual power surging backward!"
Yu Wenqiu snatched up the snack box beside her that she hadn't gotten to eat and hopped off the couch in a fluster. "Um, I just remembered I haven't written to the neighbor about going back to pick up my cat—I'm heading to my room first!"
With that, not waiting for Gu Chengming to react, she dashed into the cabin in a streak.
With a "bang," the door slammed shut.
Gu Chengming was puzzled but didn't press further.
Inside the cabin.
Yu Wenqiu leaned back against the door and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.
She raised a hand to cover her burning cheeks, her heart still pounding away in her chest.
"How could it be..." she murmured to herself. "Didn't Little Gu just learn the Yin-Yang Creation Strategy? How did he end up as the Sect Master of the Harmonious Joy Sect?"
What kind of place was the Harmonious Joy Sect? It was one of the Six Paths!
To sit in that seat, how many people would he have had to step over?
That scene from before surfaced once again in Yu Wenqiu's mind.
ThatGu Chengming, leaning lazily against the throne, his black robe half-open...
She had to admit, he looked rather good.
"No, no, no!" Yu Wenqiu shook her head violently and slapped her own cheeks, trying to fling that dangerous image out of her mind.
"I must have seen it wrong, or else this ability really isn't perfected yet."
This was just the most absurd among millions of possibilities—it absolutely could not happen.
She took a deep breath, fished out a mung bean cake that had gone quite cold from her robe, and stuffed it into her mouth, trying to calm her nerves with the sweetness.
"Mm, it's definitely fake."
But no matter how she chewed, that mung bean cake wouldn't yield its usual sweetness—instead it left her heart even more unsettled.
If she went by her own explanation of the ability just now...
Since she could see this outcome, it meant that in the present causal threads, there already existed some extremely deep bond between Gu Chengming and the Harmonious Joy Sect—one deep enough to even overturn his identity as a sword cultivator?
Yu Wenqiu's chewing gradually slowed.
Worry began to creep into her heart despite herself.
The flying boat slowly lowered its altitude, passing through the thick cloud layers, its shadow cast over the vast plains of the Great Qian.
Below, field paths crisscrossed, carriages and horses streamed like dragons along the official roads, and in the distance the towering city walls lay across the earth like a colossal beast, breathing in and out the mortal smoke and fire of the Red Dust from all directions.
Gu Chengming stood at the bow, the wind blowing into his face carrying the clamor peculiar to the marketplace.
The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula sprang to life almost instantly; countless invisible threads rose up from the multitude of living beings below, weaving into an intricate, colossal net.
This gave Gu Chengming a sense of comfort, like a fish returning to the sea; even the circulation of the true essence within him flowed a bit more smoothly.
First, he needed to find out what had happened during his time away from the Capital in the Northern Territory.
The Capital was protected by dragon qi; by rights, even if the Northern Territory fell, there wouldn't be much impact here.
Precisely because of this, the Capital should be exactly as it was when Gu Chengming left it... right?
He tilted his head up slightly, his gaze passing over the layered glazed-tile rooftops toward the very center of the Imperial City.
But this true dragon, symbol of the Great Qian's national fortune, was in a decidedly wrong state at this moment.
It was not majestically coiled among the clouds, but writhing uneasily, its enormous claws unconsciously clawing at the void below. From its maw came no dragon's roar; instead, as its jaws opened and closed, it spat out clumps of murky breath.
Within the originally pure, brilliant golden light, threads of glaring pink mist were entwined, seeping steadily inward along the meridians of the dragon's body.
Gu Chengming instinctively wanted to open his mouth and ask Yu Wenqiu beside him whether there was anything off about the dragon qi in the sky.
Yu Wenqiu hastily clamped a hand over his mouth and transmitted her voice: "Unless the dragon qi reveals itself, or unless one's cultivation is profound, an ordinary second-realm cultivator normally can't see dragon qi at all."
Yu Wenqiu knew that on the day Gu Chengming broke through he had stirred the dragon qi—whether it was because of his cultivation method or for some other reason, she couldn't say.
So she wasn't surprised he could see the dragon qi, but this was definitely something no one else could be allowed to know.
After all, even when she employed the fourth-realm Clairvoyant Eye, unless she deliberately visualized toward the Imperial City, she couldn't see the dragon qi manifest.
Gu Chengming blinked to signal that he understood, and only then did Yu Wenqiu withdraw her hand.
—It seemed Elder Little Yu hadn't seen that "pink" dragon.
This also meant that this aberration wasn't a celestial phenomenon manifest on the outside, but a kind of deeper-level "internal ailment"—one only perceptible to those sharing the same origin as the dragon qi, or those with extremely high attainment in the Red Dust Dao.
Gu Chengming cast his gaze back to the sky.
That pink mist...
He quietly circulated the Yin-Yang Creation Strategy and sensed carefully.
That aura wasn't unfamiliar—it was a type of Red Dust Qi, and the most primal part of it at that: lust.
But this qi of lust was far too vast and impure to have been gathered by just one or two people. It was more as if the desires of the Capital's millions had been forcibly extracted by some formation or evil object, then poured all at once into the dragon qi.
Dragon qi was by nature a thing of utmost yang and rigidity; now, eroded by these soft, yin, impure desires, no wonder it took on such an agitated, unsettled, sickly state.
"The dragon qi has been contaminated..." Gu Chengming mused inwardly.
If the crisis of the Northern Territory was demon beasts storming the gates, then this crisis in the Capital was perhaps even more perilous than clashing blades.
Recalling that vaguely-worded transfer order from Zhou Qingmu, the bad premonition in Gu Chengming's heart grew ever stronger.
This Director had summoned him back from the Northern Territory in such a rush—could it be connected to this very matter?
An hour later.
Jishan Ward, the familiar bluestone-paved road.
Gu Chengming pushed open the wooden gate with its peeling paint. The courtyard wasn't as desolate as he'd imagined—only a thick layer of dead leaves had fallen beneath the old osmanthus tree, and a thin coat of dust covered the stone table and stools.
Though no one had lived here for several months, thanks to the neighbor's care it didn't look run-down.
"Finally back!"
Yu Wenqiu cheered, stretching lazily without a shred of decorum, then fished a broom out of her storage pouch with practiced ease and shoved it into Gu Chengming's hands before scurrying off toward the neighboring courtyard.
Before long, Yu Wenqiu's voice came from the neighbor's yard, sounding rather strained.
"Auntie Wang, thank you so much for looking after it this whole time... Aiyo, how did this... how did it get so heavy?"
Accompanied by a set of rather heavy footsteps, Yu Wenqiu walked in cradling an orange-yellow ball of an unidentifiable object.
Gu Chengming paused his work. In Yu Wenqiu's arms, the orange tabby—already somewhat plump before—had now become a completely round ball of flesh.
Its limbs were so short they were nearly invisible, and as Yu Wenqiu walked, all that fat rippled up and down like waves. Its once fairly bright cat eyes were now squeezed into slits by the fat on its face, radiating a decadent, serene air of "I'm just going to rot right here."
It sprawled in Yu Wenqiu's arms, tail hanging limply, like a cloth sack stuffed full of flour.
From afar, a big fat cat; up close, a fat cat, big—truly a big fat cat, and the fat cat truly was big.
Gu Chengming stepped forward to lend a hand and took the orange tabby.
It was heavy in his arms—at least twenty catties.
"Auntie Wang said it has a good appetite, isn't picky, and eats whatever it's given."
Yu Wenqiu was at a loss for words. "And this lazy lump does nothing but eat and sleep. It won't even lift an eyelid when a mouse runs right in front of it."
The tabby rolled over in Gu Chengming's arms, found a comfortable position to keep flopping, and purred in its throat—clearly fairly satisfied with this new flesh-cushion.
The two settled the tabby down and tidied up the house a bit.
Yu Wenqiu was genuinely tired.
Though she'd had Luo Jinyao's protection these past months in the Northern Territory, she was, after all, on the front lines, her nerves perpetually taut. Now, back in this familiar little courtyard, drowsiness immediately welled up.
She didn't even take off her outer robe, just flung herself onto the canopy bed, rolled around a couple of times in the soft bedding, and let out a satisfied sigh:
"Home really is the most comfortable after all..."
Gu Chengming looked at the mound in the quilt, smiled, and closed the doors and windows for her.
He returned to the courtyard, swept up the last of the fallen leaves, then changed out of his travel-worn clothes and put on the Night-Watch Bureau's black brocade official uniform.
Since he was back, he ought to report in at the office.
Especially that "pink dragon" overhead—it kept leaving him uneasy.
Gu Chengming stepped out of the courtyard gate and headed along the long street toward the Night-Watch Bureau.
The streets of the Capital were as bustling and lively as ever; the taverns and pleasure houses on both sides thronged with visitors, and the sounds of strings and flutes never ceased.
But walking through the crowd, Gu Chengming keenly sensed something off.
The moods of the passersby around him seemed a bit too excited.
The roadside vendors' cries were louder than usual, carrying an inexplicable urgency; the scholars brushing past had flushed faces and wandering eyes; even the night watchman patrolling the streets walked with a frivolous, unsteady sway.
By now it was dusk, the ornate lanterns just being lit.
The Night-Watch Bureau, the side hall of the Hidden Dragon Court.
Just as Gu Chengming stepped over the threshold, he ran head-on into Vice Commander Liu, who was pacing with his hands behind his back.
At the sight of Gu Chengming, Vice Commander Liu's movements visibly paused.
Back already?
He looked the young man up and down—travel-worn, yet with a spirit and vigor like a drawn sword—and his eyes, rarely, betrayed a hint of daze.
Just a few months ago, he'd personally led this kid through his onboarding paperwork.
Back then, though Gu Chengming was a promising seedling, in Vice Commander Liu's eyes he was at most a junior with decent potential, one who'd have to slog through several years in the deep waters of the Capital before he could rise.
But who could have imagined—how much time had even passed?
The war reports coming back from the Northern Territory had grown more alarming with each one.
Had he not watched this kid climb up step by step with his own eyes, Vice Commander Liu might even have suspected some great power had seized his body and started cultivating anew.
"Good lad."
Vice Commander Liu stepped forward and clapped Gu Chengming heavily on the shoulder—with such force that a frailer civil official might have collapsed on the spot. He sighed with feeling:
"Speaking of merits from this Northern Territory campaign alone, in the entire Night-Watch Bureau, apart from Director Zhou, you're the undisputed number one. I daresay before long I'll have to change my address and call you 'Lord Gu.'"
Gu Chengming smiled and cupped his hands. "Vice Commander, you flatter this subordinate too much. I was merely lucky, picking up scraps behind my seniors."
"Luck is a kind of strength too."
Vice Commander Liu waved a hand, clearly not buying this modest talk.
He said no more, turning aside to gesture toward the rear hall. "All right, save the pleasantries for later. The Director's been waiting for you in there a good while now—go on."
Gu Chengming nodded in acknowledgment, straightened his attire, and walked toward the meditation chamber where Zhou Qingmu was.
Pushing open the agarwood door, a rich but non-pungent medicinal fragrance wafted into his face.
Gu Chengming looked up and his steps faltered despite himself.
At the center of the chamber, Director Zhou—who normally sat with brazen, commanding ease, her presence as forceful as a drawn heavy blade—was now sitting quietly in a specially made red sandalwood wheelchair.
Her complexion was much paler than usual, a thick fox-fur throw over her legs. The saber that never left her side wasn't hanging at her waist but laid across her lap. Looking at that wheelchair, Gu Chengming gained a more vivid understanding of just how brutal the "Great Victory of the Northern Territory" had been.
On second thought, though—according to the reports, the Demon Domain had genuinely lost two fifth-realm Demon Kings, with a third barely escaping back to its lair with only its soul, having abandoned its physical body.
Three for one, and their own commander had merely ended up in a wheelchair.
By any calculation, this deal was a massive win for the Great Qian.
"You're here?"
Sensing the movement, Zhou Qingmu slowly opened her eyes, her gaze gratified.
"This subordinate, Gu Chengming, greets the Director." Gu Chengming performed a salute.
"Sit." Zhou Qingmu gestured to the cushion across from her and, rarely, joked, "You did really well in the Northern Territory. I'm half-tempted to keep you in the Night-Watch Bureau forever to take over from me."
Gu Chengming didn't dare pick up that thread.
The two exchanged a few brief words about the battles in the Northern Territory.
When the Demon Domain's rout and the Eternal Life Sect's retreat into silence came up, Zhou Qingmu's face showed little joy—instead, her brows knit slightly.
"The external threat is quelled, but internal troubles have arisen."
Zhou Qingmu's fingers lightly stroked the saber sheath on her lap, and her gaze suddenly turned subtle, staring straight at Gu Chengming:
"Little Gu, I recall... you've also taken up cultivating the Harmonious Joy Sect's methods on the side, haven't you?"
Gu Chengming's heart skipped.
That change of topic was a bit too abrupt.
Could it be the Director held some prejudice against this kind of cultivation method?
Come to think of it, Zhouli's attitude the first time it encountered the Yin-Yang Creation Strategy hadn't exactly been good either.
But this was something he couldn't hide even if he wanted to.
"Indeed." Gu Chengming admitted frankly. "By a fortuitous chance, this subordinate did study the Yin-Yang Creation Strategy."
At this, Zhou Qingmu fell silent for a long while, her gaze making Gu Chengming thoroughly uncomfortable, as if he were a patient about to have an attack.
After a moment, she slowly asked, "On your way back to the Capital, did you feel anything off—in your body or your state of mind?"
Not understanding what Zhou Qingmu meant, Gu Chengming thought for a moment and said, "I don't think so?"
"That's good, then."
She shifted her posture slightly and said gravely, "In that case, be extra careful during this period. Keep your Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method circulating at all times if you can, using the noble righteous qi to guard your mind. The moment you feel an unbearable heat within your body, or an uncontrollable desire toward someone, come to me immediately."
The more Gu Chengming listened, the more wrong it seemed. "Director, has some evil force targeting the Harmonious Joy Sect's methods appeared in the Capital?"
Zhou Qingmu hesitated a moment, seeming to weigh what words to use to describe this absurd disaster.
At last, she sighed and said with some helplessness:
"It's not an evil force. It's that every single member of the Harmonious Joy Sect in the Capital—whether outer-sect disciples or inner-sect elders—had their cultivation go out of control overnight, all at once."
"Out of control?" Gu Chengming was taken aback.
"Simply put, it's a form of qi deviation."
Zhou Qingmu explained expressionlessly, "They become unable to control their desires... Once they encounter a dual-cultivation partner to their liking, they'll do everything they can—even squander their entire fortune—to dual-cultivate with that person."
She drew a case file from her sleeve and tossed it to Gu Chengming:
"The details are all in here... I was worried you'd be affected too, but as things stand now, perhaps because you've also cultivated my heart method, you've escaped this calamity for the time being."
Gu Chengming took the file; only a single line was written on the cover.
—[The Harmonious Joy Sect Chaos].
Opening the file, the contents inside made the corner of Gu Chengming's eye twitch.
At first it was just a few Harmonious Joy Sect disciples coming to blows out of jealousy in the pleasure quarters—hardly a rare thing in the Capital. But soon, the situation began galloping toward the indescribable.
Some publicly declared their love in the middle of the street; some dueled with magic in the street over a passing scholar; and worse still, some charged straight into other people's homes to snatch a person away.
Most fatal of all, the Harmonious Joy Sect's methods came with an inherent charm effect to begin with.
These out-of-control disciples were like so many walking, human-shaped aphrodisiacs, indiscriminately radiating powerful pheromones in all directions. Any ordinary commoner with slightly weaker willpower—even low-ranked cultivators—would have their most primal desires stirred the moment they drew near.
The file recorded that in a mere three days, public-order cases in the Capital had surged tenfold.
But among that tenfold, not a single one was murder or arson—every damn one was "forced cuddling," "public confessions of love," and "stampede accidents triggered by group activities."
Gu Chengming closed the file, and some of his earlier observations now had an explanation.
No wonder he'd kept feeling that the passersby's eyes were off on his way back; no wonder even the dragon qi in the sky had turned that eerie shade of pink.
"So..." Gu Chengming swallowed and asked tentatively, "the Capital right now—is it very dangerous?"
"For ordinary people, it's still manageable."
Zhou Qingmu rubbed her brow, clearly finding the matter a terrible headache. "But for a young cultivator like you—good-looking, no low cultivation, and carrying an innate allure..."
She lifted her head, hesitated a moment, then said, "It's best you have as little contact as possible with high-ranked female cultivators."
Gu Chengming's heart lurched. "High-ranked cultivators are affected too?"
"Regardless of cultivation level. For some deeper reasons, high-ranked cultivators are affected more severely; it's just that their dao hearts are also firmer, so with one canceling the other, they end up no different from the affected low-ranked cultivators."
At this, Gu Chengming's gaze fell involuntarily upon Zhou Qingmu.
Thinking to himself: Director, aren't you the very definition of a high-ranked female cultivator? And one of the top few in the entire Great Qian, at that.
But looking at the woman in the wheelchair, he forced the words back down just as they reached his lips.
This Director was, on any given day, either cutting people down or on her way to cut people down; the murderous aura about her was heavier than a ghost's. It was truly hard to imagine her being swayed by this sort of alluring aura. Add to that her still-unhealed grave injuries, and she surely had no such worldly desire.
"Right now most of the Night-Watch Bureau's manpower has been sent out to maintain order. Since you're fine, that's for the best."
Gu Chengming thought to himself, what kind of situation is this—I come back to the Capital to find everyone's entered an Age of Great Repression.
Wake up one morning and everyone's libido has jumped a hundredfold, while I stay unchanged?
Shaking the miscellaneous thoughts out of his head, Gu Chengming asked, "So has the source of this chaos been traced?"
"Still investigating." Zhou Qingmu shook her head. "But the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's conjecture is that this looks more like some kind of alteration targeting the very foundation of the Harmonious Joy Sect's methods—or else... some higher-order rule undergoing a change."
—Could it be a Dharma-Station?
This guess surfaced in Gu Chengming's mind.
"All right, off you go. Remember what I said—circulate the Zhouli often and don't let that pink aura find an opening."
Gu Chengming bowed and withdrew from the chamber.
Gu Chengming answered obediently, not daring to linger any longer, and after a bow he withdrew from the chamber.
Only after Gu Chengming's footsteps had completely faded away at the end of the corridor—
Zhou Qingmu's hand, which had been resting casually on the sheath of her horizontally-laid saber, suddenly clenched tight.
Her breathing was no longer steady, turning rapid and scorching, and a flush surfaced on her face.
The air still seemed to hold a trace of Gu Chengming's scent—while he'd been present just now, that scent had lured the qi and blood within her, already destabilized by her injuries, into a churning surge.
Zhou Qingmu bit down hard on her lower lip, brows tightly furrowed, a fine sheen of sweat seeping from her temples.
She'd had to use every ounce of her strength just to barely maintain that air of unruffled, superior's dignity moments ago—to hold back from letting her gaze linger even a breath longer on that young man's neck, earlobes, collarbone.
After a long while, with a suppressed groan—
She released that hand, now soaked with sweat, and slumped back against the chair as if drained. "Haahh..."
Zhou Qingmu let out a long, burning breath, murmuring to herself as if in self-consolation:
"It seems these injuries... have affected me a bit too much after all."
Jishan Ward.
Yu Wenqiu cradled the big orange tabby, which slept like a log, the silver glimmer at her fingertips used to cast the Clairvoyant Eye not yet fully faded.
Through the Clairvoyant Eye's observation, Yu Wenqiu had also gotten a rough grasp of what had recently happened in the Capital, thinking to herself that these Capital folk sure had a lot of drama in their lives.
Lazy as she was by nature, she was, after all, a fourth-realm great cultivator, and she had at least this much self-control.
As long as she didn't use her spiritual sense to deliberately perceive all those messy desires, the pink aura filling the city couldn't do anything to her.
But then a thought struck her—hadn't Little Gu also cultivated the Harmonious Joy Sect's methods?
Her spectator's mood instantly vanished.
She'd heard, after all, that this upheaval was an indiscriminate strike against the Harmonious Joy Sect's methods. Though Little Gu had only taken it up as a side pursuit, there was no telling whether he'd been affected too.
"No good! How can I just stand by and watch my own junior stray onto the wrong path?"
"If he really shows signs of qi deviation, then I can only—"
Only what?
Yu Wenqiu's train of thought snagged here.
For some reason, her thoughts began to wander uncontrollably, and in that very instant of muddled musing and lapsed guard—
In the night wind, that wisp of pink aura, which had drifted about for so long without finding a way in, finally found its crack.
Yu Wenqiu noticed nothing amiss.
She merely felt the moonlight tonight was a bit too enticing, and the notion in her heart of wanting to save Gu Chengming grew all the more righteous and justified.
When Gu Chengming returned to the little courtyard, what he saw was a rather heartwarming scene.
Yu Wenqiu was sitting by the stone table, a cat teaser in hand, idly playing with the big orange tabby.
Seeing him return, Yu Wenqiu didn't come pouncing over in her usual boisterous way demanding snacks; instead she sat up extremely primly and smoothed her skirt.
"You're back?"
Gu Chengming found it a bit odd—this kind of demure posture was something she'd only shown back when they weren't yet familiar, during their days at the Wenjian Sect, wasn't it?
What had suddenly gotten into Elder Little Yu?
"It's nothing."
Gu Chengming shot her a suspicious glance and sat down across the stone table. "The Director gave me a few instructions, told me to be careful lately... You know as well as I do, Elder, that the Capital isn't peaceful right now."
"Mm, I know."
Yu Wenqiu nodded, her gaze making a circuit of Gu Chengming's face with a hint of scrutiny. "So how do you feel right now? Do you feel any heat in your body? Or any strange thoughts in your mind?"
Alarm bells went off in Gu Chengming's mind.
Director Zhou had just finished warning him to guard against being swarmed by aroused female cultivators—how had he run into this the moment he got home?
"I'm fine." Gu Chengming poured a cup of tea, suppressing the strange feeling in his chest.
"Oh, that's good then."
Yu Wenqiu seemed a little disappointed, and also as if relieved.
She said no more, but that whole night, her gaze kept clinging to Gu Chengming, intentionally or not, with a heat that made his back crawl.
That night, the hour of the Ox.
All was utterly silent.
No lamp was lit in Gu Chengming's room; he sat cross-legged on the bed, circulating the Zhouli Heavenly Harmony Righteous Heart Method.
An extremely faint "creak" broke the night's stillness.
The door was pushed open a crack.
A furtive figure, like a thief, tiptoed in.
Yu Wenqiu's state at this moment was very much off.
[Little Gu must be suffering terribly right now; he's just toughing it out.]
[How could he be fine? Weren't all the Harmonious Joy Sect cultivators said to be affected?]
[It's my responsibility to help him relieve this hidden danger...]
Muttering these utterly illogical excuses in her heart, she groped her way to the edge of Gu Chengming's bed.
By the moonlight filtering in through the window, she saw that cross-legged figure.
Yu Wenqiu swallowed, her throat feeling a little dry.
"Just a quick check."
"Just to see if he's really all right."
She slowly bent down, drawing close to that face.
A few inches closer, and she could even smell the faint scent on Gu Chengming—devastatingly potent to her, ensnared as she was at this moment.
The string in Yu Wenqiu's mind called reason snapped with a "twang."
However, the next moment—
Whoosh—!
"Huh?"
Yu Wenqiu felt her ankle tighten, and then the world spun around her.
The next moment, a sense of weightlessness came over her.
Her whole body hung upside down in midair, her skirt falling down to reveal the white bloomers underneath and a length of dangling, swaying calf.
Gu Chengming looked at the big Yu-cat strung up before him.
He profoundly grasped the true meaning of Director Zhou's words: "stay away from high-ranked female cultivators."
Should I make a mad dash back to the Wenjian Sect to take refuge?
...
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