Late to bed, but early to rise.
The next day, when the sky was barely light, Chu Ge was awake, his spirits still high, going through his usual routine — meditation, a run, and movement-technique practice with the durian balanced on his head.
When he found that the durian wouldn't even fall off while he ran, he knew in his heart that this durian training regimen had run its course.
He had no idea whether it shared some curious kinship with what Yueying had said — that "powers train faster when you're fighting" — but yesterday's brawl and that stab wound seemed to have lifted his cultivation up a whole level. The clearest proof of it was that footwork first learned dodging static furniture now worked against a moving enemy. That was a breakthrough.
So the durian's stated purpose — "training his balance" — had been achieved.
Chu Ge drifted around the room at a stroller's leisure and found that even when he pushed his speed to its present limit, he no longer clipped anything or felt unsteady.
This was the spiritual imprint: his body now remembered its own balance. If he wanted to keep training, he'd probably have to change up the routine; practicing footwork against static indoor obstacles wasn't going to help much anymore.
So Chu Ge simply cracked the durian open and had it for breakfast.
You've been pricking me for days straight — how do you like it now?
As he ate, he wondered whether this apartment had started to become unsuitable. He'd probably have to move a little further out into the suburbs, somewhere he could train outdoors with nobody around.
Then he remembered what Qiu Wuji had said — that the guy who wrote on his face had been met out in the suburbs… Chu Ge sank into thought.
So somebody's already doing it.
He wondered whether, if they were some small organization, they had a dedicated place inside for training. If they did, he wouldn't need to move — he could just treat it like a daily trip to the gym.
But that meant exposing his power to others. Unless he truly trusted them, better to let it go.
Chu Ge thought of Zhong Buli, the man his mom had recommended… His mom's credibility was of course beyond question, and if the need arose, he might really have to look this fellow up and give it a try.
Either way, writing came first.
After breakfast, Chu Ge circulated the mental method for splitting one's attention in two, cultivating while he typed.
You all want to see Qiu Wuji, don't you? So do I. Then Qiu Wuji it is!
"Qiu Wuji opened her eyes in the meditation chamber."
"A jade hand of the void took shape a thousand li away; where the palm fell, the mountain peak burst into flying ash."
"The might of a single palm — terrifying!"
"This was the new divine ability Qiu Wuji had created in her seclusion, forged from the art of the thousand-li flying sword and a trace of the Sky-Turning Seal's intent: from a thousand li off, to slap a man across the skull, breaking all before it, like a flat hand on a watermelon."
Chu Ge forcibly tacked on an explanation: "To prepare for her battle with Yan Qianlie, Qiu Wuji naturally had to develop new divine abilities, so her opponent couldn't sound out her depths. And an ability like this will work wonders against Yan Qianlie's flame arts…"
In the meditation chamber, Qiu Wuji really did open her eyes, her lips slightly pursed.
Father God really put his heart into my head getting smacked, didn't he?
"I said I'd invent it myself — did I ask you to hand me one?" She rose to her feet in a huff. "No more practice. Boring."
She stretched and walked out. When she saw the disciples standing guard outside, her face turned stern and cool: "Those shadow-type techniques I told you to keep an eye out for — any word?"
"Greetings, Sect Master." The disciples bowed. "Some days ago, Hall Master Ye of Autumn Water Hall went with others to collect the Dark Water Green Lotus and was set upon by a demonic-path cultivator. After killing him, they recovered a highly refined set of shadow techniques and the matching training implements. They've been placed on the fourth floor of the Scripture Repository."
Qiu Wuji gave a slight nod. "Hall Master Ye has worked hard."
I helped cook up this plot point!
Still — shadow techniques are easy enough to add. But how am I supposed to get the face-writing one? Looked at that way, it's not as if he can just write out whatever I want and send it my way…
Whatever. The shadow technique isn't for him anyway — this Sect Master is the one interested in it. Qiu Wuji summoned an auspicious cloud and rode it straight to the Scripture Repository.
This cloud looks just like the cotton candy I ate yesterday.
Now I want to go out again. What am I supposed to do…
This world hasn't changed in ten thousand years. It's honestly boring, and there's still so much over there I haven't tried… Oh, right — I forgot to tell that idiot. Did he remember to return the bike? Every extra day is another day of rent money. What a waste…
"Sect Master! Sect Master!" Elder Zhou came chasing after her from behind. "Sect Master, City Lord Xie of Cloudsky City and Sect Master Lu of Tianyuan Sect have arrived together with others to discuss an alliance."
Qiu Wuji reined in her cloud and knocked on her own head.
Right. This plot line — everyone forms an alliance to contend with the Fire Prison Sect.
And the alliance itself is a game of scheming and of browbeating by strength — a contest for dominance in another guise. Chu Tiange and the others have already played out a great deal of plot to get here, to these visits and talks.
And among these "allies," great and small, there are traitors planted in their ranks. This Sect Master knows every one of them.
Oh, right — City Lord Xie's daughter was more or less a female lead once, and her scenes seem to be gone now. Her father, though, has been given real backstory and resolve, his own plot line, and his own signature showing-off lines. He counts as part of the ensemble cast.
So the difference between a harem and a no-heroine ensemble cast is just that the heroine's scenes go to her dad?
Suppressing the sense of absurdity in her heart, Qiu Wuji said coolly, "Show them to the main hall to talk."
If he's writing this, he'll probably cut the chapter right after that line, won't he? I wonder if he's going to get hit for it.
Chu Ge was typing just that: "Show them to the main hall to talk."
Cut the chapter. Save. Upload.
He checked the group chat warily and made a warding gesture. He had the distinct feeling he was about to get hit.
Right — who was the group member who announced he was going to hit someone yesterday? Probably that fat guy.
Chu Ge carefully searched the chat log and, sure enough, found the ID on yesterday's post: "Blue Little Pill."
That ID — it's him, no doubt about it.
The group was chatting about something else now, and Blue Little Pill seemed to be offline. Chu Ge hesitated over whether to send him a private message, then turned it over this way and that and decided it didn't feel right.
Forget it. On to the next chapter.
This chapter decides how my Qiuqiu gets to show off, so I can't slack off.
The more majestic she is, the more powerful, the more she puts everything under her heel — the more moving it is when she comes out and sits in the back seat of the car.
Mm… when the traitor starts provoking her and stirring up trouble, when they're at daggers drawn, she should say: "You think the likes of you can provoke this Sect Master?"
Yes. Write it exactly like that.
Inside the world of the book, in the main reception hall, someone sneered: "Sect Master Qiu's intentions are an open secret — every man in the street knows them. You call it a grand council against the demons, but in truth you mean to quietly bring every sect under your heel. How is that sordid ambition any different from a demon's?"
Qiu Wuji lounged at her ease against the master's seat and smiled a half smile. "This alliance is not compulsory. If you're unwilling, sir, you needn't have come at all. To come here and then say such things — what exactly do you mean by it?"
"Nothing at all. I only want everyone to know that some people are not as noble and detached from the world as they pretend to be!"
"This Sect Master has never been one of the detached sort. You seem to have the wrong idea about me." Qiu Wuji's smile slowly faded, and cold light flashed in her eyes: "The likes of you… Get out! One more peep out of you, spoiling my ears, and I'll smack your head till it's mush!"
The whole hall stared, dumbstruck, and the traitor was left so choked he couldn't utter a word.
Where did this Qiu Wuji learn such vulgar language?
And her refinement? Where did that go?
Qiu Wuji swept her lovely eyes across the hall's assortment of expressions and said coolly, "Clinging to your station, fancying yourself refined, saying what others think you ought to say and doing what others think you ought to do… Seeking knowledge, seeking truth, seeking your whole life long — how is it you end up worse than when you began? Qiu Wuji says whatever she pleases, and she is still Qiu Wuji. And who are you?"
A jade hand of the void abruptly closed on the provocateur's throat. "To disrupt this Sect Master's alliance — the likes of you, worthy?"
Chu Ge, splitting his attention between cultivation and typing, once again felt that sense of looking down from above that he'd known before.
As if someone were defying the rules the Heavenly Dao had already fixed in place.
His gaze passed through layer upon layer of mist and fell on the green peaks at the cloud's edge. In the hall, Qiu Wuji stood before the master's seat, white robes like snow.
Oh, it's you… Then never mind.