As the saying goes, a moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold.
His first intimate encounter with Miss Zhouli, at the very least, was worth ten thousand.
After all, no matter how deep the feeling behind an ordinary cultivation technique, the first time usually called for restraint — stopping the instant the point was made. But for their very first intimate encounter alone, Miss Zhouli had wanted a full ten rounds.
If the Hundred Bones Resonance was the single-round, high-intensity type, then Miss Zhouli was clearly the multiple-round, high-frequency type.
If last time had nearly cracked his pelvis, this time had thoroughly drained his kidneys.
Well, fine.
Each had its own particular charm, he supposed.
By the time everything finally settled, Gu Chengming lay propped against the edge of the bed, his face still managing some semblance of composure, though inwardly he was already drafting a petition on behalf of his lower back.
This humble servant, the Lower Back, respectfully petitions to retire and return home.
[Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method, eyes shifting evasively, rather guilty: Was I... perhaps a little much just now?]
[Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method, quickly talking herself back around: But by the rites, the way of husband and wife has always prized harmony amid difference. If I asked for a few extra rounds, wasn't it only to make that word "harmony" truly concrete with Chengming?]
[Zhouli's Heaven-Human Heart-Rectifying Method, ears quietly reddening: Besides, so long as the count is high enough, strictly speaking, it could be considered that I've been continuously possessing Chengming this whole while. It sounds a bit shameless put that way, but it isn't entirely without logic.]
[Qingxin Formula, rather amused: She always seemed the most proper of us, and yet the moment she got started it was like a sudden storm. I have to say, I'm impressed.]
[Huiyuan Sword Formula, muttering quietly: Te- ten rounds?]
[Huiyuan Sword Formula, shoulders slumping in visible defeat: I only manage two or three each time.]
[Qingxin Formula, offering understanding comfort: Quality matters more than quantity.]
[Huiyuan Sword Formula: But you're only at two or three too, aren't you?]
[Qingxin Formula, rather resentfully: I'm never comforting you again.]
[Hundred Bones Resonance, pitifully: Next time This Emperor wants ten rounds too!]
Gu Chengming's eyelid twitched. If you want ten rounds, I'm pretty sure I'd actually die.
But the afterglow of tenderness had to fade eventually.
By the next morning, once Gu Chengming had recovered enough strength — after being shamelessly "possessed" all night by Miss Zhouli — to at least sit up, his thoughts had already drifted to another matter.
— the Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign.
This wasn't the first time that Sovereign's name had reached Gu Chengming's ears. Back at the Wenjian Sect, he'd already heard plenty of rumors about the man, and even then he'd felt a flicker of curiosity about this senior. But there had been too much going on at the time to look into it properly.
Now that things had settled somewhat, his interest in this Wenjian Sect senior had only grown.
As a senior of the Wenjian Sect, this Sovereign had surely left plenty of clues behind within the sect. If he wanted to learn more about the Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign, he'd probably need to make a trip back.
But given the current situation... leaving the Capital without authorization didn't seem like the best idea.
He could only set the thought aside for now, planning to return to the Wenjian Sect and dig into the Fate-Reversing Tribulation-Severing Sovereign's old history once everything else was properly arranged.
Just as Gu Chengming was handling the aftermath in the Capital while weighing when to return to his sect, someone at the Wenjian Sect had already grown too restless to sit still.
That someone, naturally, was Elder Little Yu—
A Wenjian Sect elder obviously couldn't leave the sect without reason. She could hardly tell the Sect Head, "I miss Little Gu and want to go check whether some other woman out there has stolen him away."
After much deliberation, Yu Wenqiu grabbed a hastily dug-up cultivation journal and went to see Shen Ganqiu.
"Sect Head, my cultivation has stirred toward something lately. I'd like to go to the Capital to seek out an opportunity for breakthrough."
Shen Ganqiu looked at her and didn't even bother to ask further, just smiled and agreed. "Go ahead."
Yu Wenqiu blinked. That was suspiciously easy, she thought.
Shen Ganqiu set down his teacup, his tone mild. "The Capital's been a gathering point for all sorts of currents lately. It's not a bad thing for you to go take a look. Gu Chengming is caught up in the thick of it now — having one more trustworthy person nearby can only make things safer."
The tips of Yu Wenqiu's ears reddened faintly, and she quickly lowered her head. "Sect Head misunderstands. My trip is mainly for cultivation."
Though that was what she said, both of them understood perfectly well what was really going on.
Having secured the Sect Head's permission, Elder Little Yu naturally set to scheduling her journey to work through some of her own pent-up Gu-repression.
Her plan was thoroughly worked out: first tidy her appearance outside the city, then head in to buy two boxes of pastries Gu Chengming loved, gather a little intelligence on the Night-Watch Bureau's recent state along the way, and then stage a chance encounter — ideally on the road as he made his way home from official business, with her standing by the bridge.
The wind stirring her robes, a faint drift of osmanthus fragrance in the air — Gu Chengming would look up and see his Dao companion, arrived from so far away.
If the mood was right, she could even toss off a casually indifferent line: "Little Gu, what a coincidence."
The more Yu Wenqiu thought it over, the more pleased she was — this plan, she felt, had the makings of a proper storybook heroine.
As it turned out, on her very first day in the city, she waited half an hour in line at the pastry shop, and no sooner had she bought her osmanthus cakes than she overheard someone at the neighboring tea stall mention that Night-Watch Bureau Director Gu had gone into the palace for a council that morning, and might not be back home today.
Elder Little Yu clutched the box of now-cold osmanthus cakes, her spirits sinking.
She'd considered using her Clairvoyant Eye to track down Gu Chengming's whereabouts, but the moment the thought crossed her mind, she remembered how tangled causality was in the Capital — a careless peek could easily show her something she shouldn't see.
After all that fuss, Yu Wenqiu never did get to see Gu Chengming first — instead, she ran into the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign.
Inside the courtyard.
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign sat by the stone table in the courtyard, a cup of tea before her, her moon-pale robes pooling like cloud.
She looked up, caught sight of Yu Wenqiu at the gate, and her expression flickered with faint surprise.
Yu Wenqiu froze where she stood. She clearly didn't recognize this woman in moon-pale robes, but she quickly reached a conclusion — this was absolutely no ordinary person.
As Yu Wenqiu's mind raced through the possibility that this was some visiting Sovereign senior and how she ought to comport herself, the woman in moon-pale robes spoke first, her tone gentle. "And you are, Fellow Daoist?"
Yu Wenqiu snapped back to herself, hastily straightened her collar, and offered a proper bow. "This junior is Yu Wenqiu, an elder of the Wenjian Sect, here specifically to see Director Gu."
She chose her words carefully, wary of letting this senior — a stranger to her — glimpse anything she oughtn't.
An elder of the Wenjian Sect?
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign's gaze lingered on Yu Wenqiu's face for a moment, quietly sizing her up.
Her features were fine and pleasant enough, but the little schemes hiding behind her eyes weren't concealed in the least — the whole of her radiated an air of having traveled far with something up her sleeve.
A faint, subtle suspicion stirred within the Sovereign, though she let none of it show, merely inclining her head in proper return greeting. "Little friend isn't in the courtyard at the moment."
She paused, choosing the most courteous phrasing she could. "Elder has traveled a long way and must be tired. Why not step inside and rest a while — I'll send word to little friend at the Night-Watch Bureau at once."
Yu Wenqiu blinked. This senior's tone was courteous enough, but that "little friend" landed just a shade too intimate for comfort.
She glanced past into the courtyard, where beneath the osmanthus tree an open journal still lay unclosed, a pot of tea beside it with the steam not yet gone — every bit the picture of a mistress of the house settling in for a leisurely afternoon.
This senior... lived in this courtyard?
The suspicion Yu Wenqiu had been suppressing suddenly surged up.
Holding onto her dignity as a fellow elder, she forced back the question — "May I ask what relation Senior bears to Little Gu?" — and said instead, "Then I'll trouble Senior for the imposition."
Beneath the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.
The Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign and Yu Wenqiu sat on opposite sides of the stone table, a freshly refilled pot of tea between them, the atmosphere distinctly delicate.
Yu Wenqiu held her teacup and let her gaze sweep quietly across the moon-pale-robed senior opposite her, arriving at a conclusion that made her heart lurch — this senior was at least Sixth Realm.
Which made her a Sovereign.
A Sovereign senior who lived in Little Gu's courtyard, who could send someone to deliver word to him at the Night-Watch Bureau, whose every gesture carried the unmistakable air of the lady of the house...
What did that even mean? This was, in the fullest sense, a formidable rival!
Yu Wenqiu's ears tensed faintly, and the fingers holding her teacup went a touch cold.
Across from her, the Flowing Cloud Moon-Tracing Sovereign was likewise calculating furiously.
By rights, when an elder of the Wenjian Sect came to visit little friend, she ought to play the proper host. But no matter how she looked at it, Elder Yu's bearing and manner didn't read as someone simply here to check up on a junior.
The Sovereign weighed her options and decided to hold steady and probe a little, unhurried.
Her tone was gentle. "I've heard the Wenjian Sect's Guizang Gate oversees the old records of the Hidden Sword Pavilion. Has Elder come all this way over some difficulty with a text here in the Capital?"
Yu Wenqiu started, only then realizing that question was meant to probe her motives.
"Senior sees clearly. This junior has come to the Capital, first, to seek an opportunity past a cultivation bottleneck, and second, having heard the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's recent star-track calculations were rather remarkable, to come seeking instruction."
Unfortunately, hearing this only deepened the Sovereign's suspicion.
An elder who oversaw the old records of the Hidden Sword Pavilion, coming all the way to the Capital to consult the Imperial Astronomical Bureau about star-track calculations?
Those two things had absolutely nothing to do with each other.
The Sovereign nodded, giving nothing away. "I see."
She lifted her cup and took a sip, her gaze skimming over the jade-bead earrings at Yu Wenqiu's temples, then over the fine, carefully chosen fabric of her everyday robes, before finally settling on the eyes that kept drifting, ever so slightly, toward the osmanthus tree in the courtyard.
The Sovereign had already reached seven or eight parts certainty in her mind — this Elder Yu's talk of cultivation bottlenecks and star-track calculations was almost certainly cover. The person she truly wanted to see was plainly little friend.
As for the relationship between this Elder Little Yu and little friend...
The Sovereign's gaze lingered on Yu Wenqiu's face a moment longer.
Whatever the case, best to use Moon Within Clouds and find out for certain.
By rights, a Dharma-Station like Moon Within Clouds ought never to be spent on something so trivial. But on reflection, the Sovereign decided this might not be quite so trivial after all.
After all, it concerned the people around little friend, and as a senior residing in his own courtyard, vetting them on his behalf could reasonably be called part of her duty.
The Sovereign settled, quite guilelessly in her own mind, on a perfectly reasonable justification for what she was about to do.
In the next instant, her fingers pinched together within her sleeve, and moonlight welled soundlessly from its edge, creeping silently along the tabletop toward Elder Yu, still holding her teacup on the other side.
The Sovereign closed her eyes, gathering her focus, and silently recited an incantation.
Beneath the resulting image, a line of causal annotation rose into view: [Dao companion].
The Sovereign's fingers around her teacup stiffened faintly.
She slowly set the half-cooled tea back down on the stone table and, betraying nothing, ran her eyes once more over Yu Wenqiu — still sitting across from her, courteously maintaining her elder's composure as she navigated the exchange.
Dao companion?
A rather absurd thought suddenly rose in the Sovereign's mind.
— Someone this dim-witted could become little friend's Dao companion?
Unwilling to accept it, she ran the check again in her mind — the answer came back just as certain as before.
She couldn't help lifting her eyes to study Yu Wenqiu again.
This is it?
Not even in her old duel against the Red Dust Immortal had she felt this shaken, and yet here she was, stirred to such indignation over Elder Yu's status as a Dao companion.
But the more baffled she felt, the harder it became to resist the fixation that she simply had to find whatever remarkable quality this woman possessed.
This, she told herself, was certainly not some petty rivalry born of girlish feelings. She was purely, as a senior elder, simply wanting to make sure this Dao companion was truly worthy of her own little friend.
The Sovereign repeated this vetting justification to herself once more, with perfect equanimity, and her fingers pinched silently together within her sleeve again.
The power of Moon Within Clouds unfurled once more.
This time, the fragment of causality she sifted for cut a good deal deeper than before.
Her original plan had been to sift out something of Elder Yu's ordinary conduct within her sect, to see whether the woman had any quality worthy of the four words "little friend's Dao companion."
But Moon Within Clouds was a curious sort of Dharma-Station — what it sifted for wasn't the caster's stated intent, but whatever thread lay closest to the caster's true, underlying concern.
By her own account, she'd meant to ask exactly how deep an entanglement little friend and this woman shared — and the conclusion that came back instead was [Dual Cultivation already consummated].
This struck the Sovereign like a thunderbolt.
Could this Elder Yu truly be hiding some remarkable quality she'd simply failed to notice?!
Little Gu was no shallow man. If he'd taken Yu Wenqiu as his Dao companion, and shared that degree of intimacy with her, there had to be a reason. Perhaps this air of idle carelessness was only surface — perhaps her true strength lay hidden in the small, everyday details of being together.
The more the Sovereign thought about it, the more something felt off, until she found herself even entertaining a humble urge to ask for guidance.
Of course, simply asking Yu Wenqiu outright, "Why does Little Gu like you?" would be far too great a loss of face for a Sovereign.
So she decided to push her Dharma-Station's divination deeper still — at the very least, she needed to know why Gu Chengming had chosen Dual Cultivation with the woman before her.
In the next instant, that thread of moonlight cast a second image into the depths of the Sovereign's eyes.
A courtyard somewhere within the Wenjian Sect, moonlight pooling like water, two silhouettes intimately entwined together against the window paper.
One silhouette was unmistakably Gu Chengming; the other figure was wrapped, head to toe, in a strange, thin white silk, with a hint of emerald green peeking out from beneath it at the corner of a sleeve, more than an inch showing.
A scallion rolled up in a pancake?!
The whole scene, quiet as it was, carried a faintly absurd tension — the silk-wrapped figure was working hard to inch herself toward Gu Chengming, her movements as clumsy as a duck fresh into water for the first time.
"?"
A question mark all but appeared above the Sovereign's head.
Wait, what in the world is that getup?!
Why does even THAT manage to get lucky?! On what grounds?!
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