Chapter 49: Azure Cloud (27)

On the eighth day, He Tingtong woke up early, and Fu Fengyan followed. He ran a lap around Mount Zhuoyu, and Fu Fengyan followed. He had lunch at noon, and Fu Fengyan followed. He headed toward the Langhuan Pavilion in the afternoon, and Fu Fengyan still followed.

Glancing at Yue Qianxun, the other party whistled and turned his head to the side, looking guilty. He Tingtong didn’t stop him, so on the forest path leading to the back mountain, two figures became three.

Teacher Mu ate meat, squinted at the newcomers in the courtyard, and watched as the three of them repaired the broken doors and windows. Two days later, Zhang Duixue returned from sword practice to find himself alone in the small courtyard, so another figure appeared on the afternoon path. Three people became four. They even replaced the roof tiles. After the entire house was renovated, Teacher Mu seemed to have finally eaten and slept enough. He rose from his rattan chair, stretched his long body, and ambled away with his hands behind his back, closing the courtyard gate behind him.

With a click, he locked them in.

Zhang Duixue wiped his sooty face. Seeing the person leave, he couldn’t help asking He Tingtong, “I checked the roster. This Teacher Mu is indeed one of the first teachers to join the academy, but his skills are truly mediocre, and he hasn’t taught any students. He stays in the academy only to repair damaged array patterns occasionally. He’s just a nominal teacher in the Langhuan Pavilion, and his cultivation is only at the Seventh Realm…”

Looking at them, Zhang Duixue hesitated, pondered for a moment, and finally said firmly, “Is someone in the Langhuan Pavilion targeting you? If anyone makes things difficult for you, just tell me, and I’ll go seek justice for you!”

He had clearly spoken to the Young Palace Master, and they had agreed not to target He Tingtong and the others. Why was it still like this, to the point where they didn’t even dare to hire a teacher!

“This matter has nothing to do with Xie Xuanxiao. We never went to other teachers for classes.” He Tingtong laughed dumbly. “I chose this teacher myself.”

Although he really wanted the two of them to separate quickly, he wouldn’t go so far as to deliberately frame Xie Xuanxiao for something he didn’t do.

Putting the last tile in place, He Tingtong dusted off his hands. Sitting on the roof, he nudged Yue Qianxun, who was sore all over beside him. “Xiao Yue, how do you feel?”

“It would be fine if I could actually learn something, but this old man has such a weird personality; he doesn’t seem like a teacher at all.” Yue Qianxun muttered and complained, “It’s been so many days. He neither teaches nor gives us a good face. He drinks, sleeps, and eats meat all day long. He doesn’t look like a teacher at all; he seems unreliable.”

The sun was setting, and class time for today had passed. Yue Qianxun climbed down from the roof. “If it really doesn’t work out, self-study is the same. Anyway, most array talismans are just rote memorization. I can just browse the library more. There’s no need to stay here doing hard labor and delay your sword practice.”

Yue Qianxun opened the main gate to fetch water and wash his face. His voice was crisp and articulate, coming from outside the courtyard, from near to far. “This old man Mu is so lazy. I bet his ability might not even be as good as Brother Tong’s…”

With a squeak, Yue Qianxun appeared from the side door carrying an empty bucket. He stared at He Tingtong on the roof, then at the wooden bucket in his hand, and froze. “Why am I back?”

After speaking, he frowned and went out through the small door instead. The moment he pulled the main gate open, he appeared at the main entrance again.

Teacher Mu’s small school was square, with only one main gate and one side door. The courtyard walls were low and covered with vines. Sitting on the roof, one could see the pine waves rustling in the distance. The sun dipped westward, and students flew on swords through the clouds in the sky. The golden sunset gradually sank, and a round moon rose, hidden in the corner of the azure sky.

Everything was normal, but Yue Qianxun tried many methods. Whether he walked through the door, climbed the wall, jumped out the window, or climbed a tree, he would always end up back inside. It was simply like encountering a ghostly barrier.

Zhang Duixue’s array skills were taught hand-in-hand by Xie Xuanxiao. Although he didn’t have much talent in this area, he had seen a lot and knew quite a bit about array talismans. Touching the wall, he retraced Yue Qianxun’s steps and came out of the side door, frowning. “It’s a trapping array.”

Yue Qianxun was furious. With his hands on his hips, his expression dark, he said, “…He ate our food and trapped us here. This old man is too much!”

After speaking, he raised his hand, calculating the positions, and began trying to break the array. Zhang Duixue also drew his sword, squinting to observe the qi, attempting to force his way out.

He Tingtong remained seated on the roof. The afterglow of the setting sun spilled over him, outlining his clothes with a golden edge. Fu Fengyan sat beside him, propping up his head, his fine long hair sliding off his shoulder. Looking at the two running in circles below, he asked in confusion, “You’re not going down?”

“If the enemy doesn’t move, I won’t move.” He Tingtong rested one hand on his knee and, as if suddenly remembering, looked at Fu Fengyan beside him. “Divine Lord, can you observe arrays?”

Fu Fengyan’s eyelashes trembled slightly, then he slowly shook his head. “I haven’t learned it; I don’t know how.”

In the hall, Yue Qianxun calculated his steps and walked into the backyard, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Zhang Duixue failed to break the array by force, opened the main gate, and never appeared again. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, only the two of them were left sitting shoulder to shoulder, and the air fell silent for a moment.

“You learned all your arrays from Teacher Mu?” Fu Fengyan broke the silence and asked softly.

“That’s right,” He Tingtong answered frankly.

He had learned many things: sword, arts, arrays, talismans, cursing. Except for music theory, which he truly had no talent for and never grasped, he had tried various ways to improve his abilities over those long dozen lives.

Array arts were one of his means of survival.

There was a saying in the Nine Provinces: poor learn sword, rich learn array. Array arts were different from other cultivation methods; this skill required a massive amount of accumulation. Moreover, all the array diagrams, spell incantations, and deciphered Great and Small Immortal Scripts in the current world were controlled by large immortal sects. If you wanted to see them, you paid by the character. The introductory array diagrams on the market were practically worth a gold piece per character.

The Yuanchen Palace held eighty percent of the world’s array diagrams, while the rest were scattered in various secret realms large and small, waiting to be collected and deciphered.

To learn arrays without a master’s guidance, even if the blueprint was placed right in front of your eyes, the characters would be incomprehensible. That was why the Yuanchen Palace could become one of the Three Upper Immortal Palaces among the five sects of the current age. With thirty thousand seated masters in the palace, it was the foundation of array arts under heaven.

However, the Yuanchen Palace’s assessments were strict, and entry required multiple recommendations. The quotas had long been internally decided by the scions of aristocratic families within various immortal sects; ordinary people didn’t stand a chance.

He Tingtong had never thought of learning arrays, nor did he have the ability to do so. After escaping from the Yuheng Sect, he ended up in Azure Cloud Academy by a twist of fate and was a sword cultivator for many years until he stumbled into this dilapidated house and met an unreasonable old man.

At first, like Yue Qianxun, he thought Teacher Mu was a mean, mercenary, lazy, and isolated little old man. Out of sympathy, he helped with the work for a long time, and then, just like now, he was trapped inside for a night.

At that time, he knew nothing about gazing at qi, distinguishing spirits, or observing stars… He knew nothing at all. Then, he simply gave up and stayed in the courtyard for three days, almost dying of thirst. Three days later, the old man stormed in angrily, pointing at his head and asking, “Weren’t you here to learn arrays?”

Heaven pity him, he just had nowhere to go in the academy at the time and found this place quiet. Although there was an old man who was quite annoying with his nitpicking, he had always respected the old and cherished the young. Feeling that the other party was lonely and pitiful, he came over to help out.

He didn’t understand metaphysics and hadn’t even seen Immortal Scripts before, so learning arrays was absolutely impossible.

But Teacher Mu had been arrogant for most of his life. Even though he had lost power in his later years, he had never imagined that someone would refuse to be his student. Furious, he forcibly kept He Tingtong trapped in the courtyard for a year. Within that year, he started from the basics, memorizing array diagrams, recognizing Immortal Scripts, observing stars and gazing at qi for divination, almost driving He Tingtong mad. Finally, after a year, he grasped the basics and successfully found the exit of the courtyard.

Teacher Mu knocked on his head, calling him a piece of rotten wood, a mediocrity, a fool, saying that taking a year just to grasp the basics meant he was truly useless. And while saying this, he taught him everything he knew.

He secretly learned array arts, but ultimately lacked a bit of talent in this area and couldn’t comprehend Teacher Mu’s unique skills. As a result, after the teacher passed away, the inheritance was cut off just like that.

“Yue Qianxun is favored by the Heavenly Dao; he is the protagonist. With his aptitude, perhaps he can inherit the teacher’s legacy and learn what I couldn’t.” He Tingtong propped one hand on his knee, looking at the courtyard below. His gaze was very faint, as still as a bottomless divine pool. His expression was truly too plain to distinguish joy or sorrow.

Fu Fengyan didn’t know if he was used to it or numb. He couldn’t discern He Tingtong’s thoughts, so he could only reach out and press his hand on his chest.

He Tingtong: “?”

Fu Fengyan felt the vibration in the chest cavity under his palm, beat after beat, rhythmic and steady, giving a sense of peace that made one sleepy.

He searched his brain for many words. According to storybooks, when the other party was vulnerable, he should hug him, kiss him, and use many soft words of love to coax a person who was frustrated and lonely, prying open his heart.

But meeting He Tingtong’s eyes, his mind went blank. Relying only on instinct, he said, “You are very good. You are unique. Don’t be downcast.”

He Tingtong trembled slightly. He looked at the fingers covering his chest; the other party seemed to curl his fingers and scratch a little to feel more clearly.

“Divine Lord.” He Tingtong softened his voice. He looked at the youth touching his chest with a half-smile, feeling that the other’s expression, though dull, revealed a sense of lingering desire. “Does it feel good to touch?”

Fu Fengyan looked at him with an expression that said what nonsense are you talking about and argued, “I’m not touching you; there are clothes in between.”

Then he suddenly realized, grabbed He Tingtong’s wrist, pressed his fingers against his own heart, and said fairly and justly, “You can touch mine.”

Under the rough robes was the fervent body heat of a young man. Fingertips pressed against his wrist, dry and warm. He Tingtong felt a bit uncomfortable and wanted to withdraw his hand, but he was clamped tight and couldn’t escape.

Fu Fengyan stared into He Tingtong’s eyes and spoke bluntly and candidly, “My heart is beating so fast. When you touch me, I feel happy, so I still like you.”

“Your heartbeat is still so steady,” Fu Fengyan’s tone held a hint of disappointment. “You still don’t like me.”

“Sigh,” Fu Fengyan sighed. “You are so hard to pursue.”

He Tingtong: “…”