Chapter 87: A Chronicle of the Mo Clan, Part Five

The roar was so tremendous it seemed the very earth was trembling.

Yet Shu Yu, resting her chin in her hand, showed no trace of panic at all.

At a time like this, the best thing to do was stay still. If it had only been Gu Yi alone, that would have been one thing, but with two injured companions in tow, the moment they stepped outside they would almost certainly be discovered.

Mo Chi was attacking the mountain indiscriminately, which could only mean he had no idea where the three of them were.

“Judging by the timing, he must have chased out for a stretch. When he didn’t find us, he probably thought I hadn’t run far at all, so he came back here.”

Gu Yi pressed his ear against the stone at the cave entrance, listening carefully to the sounds outside, sometimes near, sometimes distant. “He doesn’t know we’re here.”

By the fire,

Shu Yu removed her veil. Her smooth, tender skin was like newly fired white porcelain. In Gu Yi’s eyes, it was the sort of thing many people would covet.

But Shu Yu sat there in a daze, slowly drawing her head closer to the trembling flames.

She was so near that it looked strangely unnatural.

Even her eyes were closed.

Gu Yi felt a bad premonition. With a burst of spiritual power beneath his feet, he flashed to her side and pulled her back, asking in disbelief, “What are you doing?”

Shu Yu lifted her face. Her voice was weak, but she was smiling. “Actually, I’m not afraid of death. But I can’t die yet. So if I want to live, I can only ruin this face, ruin it until Mo Chi dares not look at me.”

Gu Yi had vaguely suspected as much, but hearing her say it outright still shocked him.

“What kind of twisted thinking is that? Even if he’s angry, he’d still kill you all the same!”

“But at least this gives us a chance to survive.” Shu Yu’s gaze was clear, like a pool of blue spring water. “We’re hiding in here with no food, no water, and severe injuries. We won’t last long. Better to try this method, and besides, I never liked the way I look!”

Slap.

It was a slap.

Her face was so beautiful that even Gu Yi felt heartache after striking it.

“Can you please wake up?！”

Bang!

The Shu Yu who had seemed rather docile all this time suddenly flared with fury, driving her elbow straight into Gu Yi and slamming him hard against the wall.

Gu Yi clutched his stomach. “What are you doing?!”

“Did the person who told you the story of the Mo tribe never tell you not to touch them? You even dare hit me. Don’t act like some kind of savior. You’re not! Cough, cough...”

She covered her chest and staggered to her feet. “For hundreds of years, the Mo tribe has only ever saved itself! I’m telling you, I am getting out of here alive. I will not die here. When I leave, we will still be enemies.”

In her hand was a jagged stone. Slowly, she brought the sharp edge toward her own face. The closer it came, the wider her eyes opened, her eye sockets reddening as she held back tears, her breathing growing heavier and heavier, until her pure white forehead could feel the cold touch of the stone.

“Stay away from me!” she cried, nearly in tears.

Then blood welled on her forehead, staining her skin red.

And staining the stone red as well.

She shut her eyes tightly, the pain making her body tremble faintly.

That dragging, cutting motion was like a ritual suicide: agonizing, yet unceasing.

Gu Yi could not bear to watch any longer. With his palm turned upward, a surge of spiritual force lifted her. Shu Yu’s body froze; she was already under his control.

He walked over, took the pointed stone from her hand, and threw it into the fire.

“You’ll pay for this. If I don’t do this, Mo Chi won’t give up, and the two of you will die as well!”

Blood from the wound slid down the grain of her skin, staining her brows and dripping onto her lashes. The sight was, in truth, somewhat horrifying.

Gu Yi pushed her back down where she stood and then withdrew his spiritual force.

“What is merging with the Dao, do you know?”

Shu Yu waited for him to continue, expecting lofty and familiar theories, yet she had never anticipated he would ask that.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I have another identity. I am a successor of Little Courtyard Mountain. In Little Courtyard Mountain’s view, cultivation depends on enlightenment and on following the natural way. What you just did did not only damage your face; it will also greatly damage your Dao heart.

“There will be many critical moments when the ruined face you made will keep flashing through your mind.”

Shu Yu asked, “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Merging with the Dao means gathering together the insights you have reached from focused stillness to a return to simplicity, forging them into your own path. Only with a Dao can one reach sainthood. Cultivation is like building a tall tower; not a single step can go wrong. If you had very decisively destroyed your own face just now, I might not have stopped you. But I saw resolve in your eyes, pain, unwillingness. Once your state of mind is deeply shaken, it does tremendous harm to your cultivation.”

After speaking, Gu Yi fell silent for a while. These words would need to be understood by her herself.

Only then did Shu Yu remember that this youth was no ordinary person. The famed Gu Yi, prodigy of the Immortal Transmission, was indeed him.

“Have you really met the immortals of Little Courtyard Mountain?”

No one answered him.

Gu Yi crossed his legs and closed his eyes. With a low, resonant hum, all kinds of spiritual energy began to condense within the cave, while around his body, white spiritual power surged upward in an unbroken stream.

From establishing intent to guarding spirit was not difficult.

It only required the right moment.

Under ordinary circumstances, the state of mind is very different from the moment when life and death hang in the balance. To guard one’s heart and spirit at such a time is true guarding of the spirit.

Gu Yi had no need to keep suppressing his level of cultivation, especially since both establishing intent and guarding spirit are relatively simple for most people.

At first, he suspected his approach was wrong. Later, he no longer wished to force a breakthrough, believing that following the natural course would bring him to perfect harmony and resonance with nature.

The result was that whenever Gu Yi drew on spiritual energy, it was abundant and pure. The human body, as a vessel, can only contain a limited amount of spiritual power.

If one raises one’s level at the wrong time, deficiency is inevitable, like adding more and more planks to the side of a bucket: it grows taller and taller, but the opening grows smaller and smaller.

The surging tide of spiritual power reached a breaking point in an instant, gathering into a ring that wrapped Gu Yi within it.

“A breakthrough, huh... and at a time like this, he can still calm his mind and break through...”

Shu Yu was somewhat surprised, but not truly shocked. Guarding the spirit is relatively easy, and the success rate of a breakthrough is higher.

She could feel Gu Yi’s presence suddenly strengthening, as though all things within this stretch of mountain forest were being influenced by him.

An astounding talent.

Still, with the name of a Little Courtyard Mountain successor ahead of him, it was not beyond reason.

Yet Gu Yi showed no sign of stopping. He merely opened his eyes.

Shu Yu said, “Even so, you still can’t beat him.”

Gu Yi blinked lightly.

Whoosh!

The spiritual power that had been slowly settling around him suddenly erupted with even greater force. The streams of energy surging upward like flowing water began to whirl at higher and higher speed, emitting a piercing, high-pitched cry.

“Return... return to simplicity?!” Shu Yu stared at him in utter disbelief. From establishing intent to guarding spirit might be easy enough!

But from guarding spirit to returning to simplicity was the second great barrier. How could anyone break through it in the blink of an eye?

Gu Yi curved his lips. “Return to simplicity, return to truth, and do not forget the original heart. Where is the difficulty in that?”

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In the blink of an eye, there are only a few days left before it goes on sale. So fast! As expected, writing really does make people happy.