Chapter 745

Seeing Pei Ye did not open his eyes; he heard the night wind outside the window above his head once again.

The grape wine that the Queen Mother of the West drank to her heart's content in the dream seemed truly capable of making one drunk. He confirmed the warm, soft, and smooth fur in his hand, his consciousness sank, and he peacefully entered the dream realm.

Seeing Pei Ye hadn't dreamed for a long time, not that kind of thorough dream.

Since obtaining the Quanshou, in many cases, even in his dreams, he clearly knew what he was doing. Dreams were rarely ethereal or erratic; deep down, he clearly knew which part of his mind-spirit each element came from.

But today's dream was clearly not that.

Some dreams that did not belong to him had entered; it carried a strange scent. Seeing Pei Ye realized it was an extension of the Queen Mother of the West's dream realm.

It was very simple, without any sense of intrusion. Before arriving, it even gave the dreamer clarity first, like a polite visitor.

There was also no messy information; Seeing Pei Ye stood in a patch of white mist.

He lowered his head; there was a sword in his hand. Looking forward, Yongji stood there holding a spear.

Seeing Pei Ye gripped the sword in his hand; it was real and sharp. He looked at Yongji. The other party was neither injured nor restricted in any way. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide here, and there was no water or fire.

There was only the clear murderous intent that the two revealed toward each other.

Just as Seeing Pei Ye was about to strike, the white mist had already drifted away, and this scene dissipated like smoke. He fell back into his own dream realm with clarity.

The Queen Mother's dream vanished, as if it had come and gone with the faint drunkenness brought by that bowl of grape wine.

Seeing Pei Ye was quiet for a while. The things this dream realm wanted to reveal to him seemed very clear, with no room for misunderstanding.

The thing it wanted him to do also seemed very basic.

——If you want to kill him, then you must be able to defeat him.

Without divine authority, without catching him off guard, head-on, defeat him.

This was the first time Seeing Pei Ye had received such a miraculous revelation, and he chose to believe it.

He released his consciousness, letting it rest softly... When he opened his eyes again, a beam of light was already shining on his forehead.

Spring, a clear and cool season. The scent of quilts, wood, flowers, and grass was all fresh. Seeing Pei Ye stretched and sat up. The black cat was already crouching on the windowsill, quietly looking out the window.

Seeing Pei Ye reached out to scoop it into his arms and hooked his legs to find his shoes under the bed: "Cultivating again?"

"Hmm."

"How heavy are you now?" Seeing Pei Ye dragged his shoes to the side of the vat, lifted the wooden basin, pushed open the lid, and scooped up a basin of cool, rippling water.

Placing the kitten by the basin, Seeing Pei Ye pulled a towel and draped it over his neck.

"Heavier than you think." The black cat lazily extended a paw, playing with the water ripples close at hand, and the next moment, a large handful was scooped away by the young man's big hand. Then, above, with a *puchi puchi* sound,

he rubbed his face, and cool water droplets fell sparsely onto its body.

At first, the black cat didn't really understand why the young man always liked to bring it along when he washed up. Not just in the morning, but even when he took a bath at night, he liked to put it by the water bucket. When he stood up and exposed his big butt, he would chuckle and twist its cat head to the other side.

But gradually, it got used to it. The young man didn't just do this when bathing; he would subconsciously bring it along at any time.

Even for a distance of several *zhang* from the windowsill to the basin.

Perhaps the black cat knew those delicate and sensitive emotions deep down better than he did himself. So it also got used to silently letting itself be in his perception, whether it was touch, scent, or vision... Sometimes when it wanted to go somewhere else, it would try its best to ensure he could see it as soon as he opened his eyes or turned his head.

"I think you're... eight thousand *jin*." Seeing Pei Ye said indistinctly, "I can't even lift you anymore."

The cultivation of the Immortal Beasts is much simpler than that of humans; everything about them is only related to Mystic Qi, and they just need to grow.

After coming to the Divine Capital, it could obtain a large amount of spirit pills and precious medicines from Xu Chuo, which allowed its body to grow to a size that could cover the young man. If it were still the length of a small snake like it was in Bowang, it wouldn't even be able to withstand half of Yu Sicheng's spear.

"Twelve thousand." The black cat said, retracting its paw to use as a cushion under its head. It didn't like to touch the water the young man had washed in for several rounds anymore.

"Fat cat." Seeing Pei Ye said while brushing his teeth.

The black cat didn't answer, stood up, shook the water off its body, and jumped onto the shelf nearby.

Sure enough, the next moment, Seeing Pei Ye's *gulu gulu* mouthwash splashed onto the side of the wooden basin.

Seeing Pei Ye turned around, put on his sword-cultivation uniform and boots, picked up his sword, and hoisted the black cat onto his shoulder: "What do you want to eat?"

"Fish."

"Raw?"

"Hmm."

"I'll eat a pancake." Seeing Pei Ye thought for a moment, "I'll catch one for you from the pond when we pass the back garden."

In fact, the black cat had no dietary needs. For its true form, human food wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth; its life maintenance also came from Mystic Qi.

But Seeing Pei Ye had a need to feed it.

They headed toward the classroom.

For the next three days, Seeing Pei Ye lived such a quiet and regular life at the Sword Academy, attending lectures, playing sword games, and spending three to five hours practicing sword techniques every day.

Sometimes he was quite curious about the cultivation progress of his two academy friends, but Yang Zhenbing just practiced his sword every day regardless. When asked, he would only say, "The sword peak has no top; I do not know the height of my own body."

Yan Feiqing spent every day holding an old Daoist book; Seeing Pei Ye really suspected his sword had long since rusted in its scabbard. He wouldn't speak when asked at noon or night, and when asked in the morning, he would say, "Summer insects cannot speak of ice."

Seeing Pei Ye couldn't be bothered to chat with them.

Clearly, the young lady in the C-6 Sword Arena was more pleasant. Seeing Pei Ye liked

practicing sword with the young girl the most every day. In the past three days, the two hadn't really sparred much; Seeing Pei Ye mainly studied the newly acquired Dongting "Lei Qin," but he also liked to go to the sword arena and lie on the bluestone to flip through books.

After three days, Seeing Pei Ye also roughly understood the nature of this sword technique. It was indeed no joke for Qiu Qiu Ji Zi to ask him to learn the zither, because this sword technique used thunder as strings, deep, heavy, and galloping. Seeing Pei Ye had never come into contact with such a temperament of sword technique before.

It was clearly more powerful than any sword technique he had come into contact with in the past. In terms of the concept of "one sword," it might not be as good as 【Calling White Dew】, but looking at it from a broader perspective, this could be considered the only pure offensive sword technique Seeing Pei Ye had ever come into contact with.

The reason it was so powerful that it made Seeing Pei Ye feel strange was that all previous offensive sword techniques, 【Clear Sound】, 【Wounding Spirit】, 【Washing Eyes】, etc., no matter how powerful, were still within the sword wielder's own control. 【Calling White Dew】 took this path to the extreme, draining everything in the sword wielder's body in an instant, causing him to be paralyzed for a moment, but it was still under Seeing Pei Ye's control.

And "Lei Qin" required the sword wielder to let go of control over the sword from the very beginning.

Give it power to your heart's content without considering control, letting it be like a wild horse that has broken its reins or galloping thunder in the sky, forming a majestic momentum that is difficult for human power to restrain.

This kind of bold liberation is certainly fascinating, but a sword is, after all, an object in one's hand. If it is so powerful that it detaches from human will, how can it be used?

It is extremely fierce and masculine, which can hurt the sword wielder in return, and it is also easy for the enemy to see through; it is not a good sword.

The answer given by the sword author is to treat the thunder in the sky as a zither.

The sword wielder does not need to control the sound he bursts out. If you have that musical score in your heart, even if the power detaches from your control, as long as the playing does not deviate from its intent, what you trigger is the effect you want.

Therefore, this sword technique has three chapters in total, and the intent of all three chapters comes from the music itself. Seeing Pei Ye could certainly rely on his extraordinary sword sense to force his understanding, but it would not be as good as tracing the author's intent from the zither.

Just as "Early Moon, Northern Rain" can only obtain its soul in this rain, after learning the zither music, his understanding of this "Lei Qin" will naturally be enriched by another layer.

"Yiner, can you play the zither?" It was noon, and Seeing Pei Ye closed the sword manual in his hand, looking at the young girl walking over with her sword.

Jiang Yiner had sweat on her forehead and was breathing shallowly. She rummaged through her small bundle, took out water, and took a big gulp, looking at the young man: "What?"

"The zither." Seeing Pei Ye raised his hand and curled his ten fingers like maggots, "Can you play it?"

Jiang Yiner placed her sword on the stone and turned to sit beside the young man: "I learned some when I was young, but I haven't practiced since. What's wrong, Brother?"

"I want to find someone to teach me how to play the zither."

"Ah?" Jiang Yiner was stunned.

"Ah what." Seeing Pei Ye looked at her, "What kind of expression is that?"

"No, no... I'm just a bit surprised." Jiang Yiner quickly composed her face and said earnestly, "Brother wants to learn the zither... I know Miss Changsun has been learning since she was a child; we talked about it when we chatted last

time. I just don't know if she's still practicing now."

Seeing Pei Ye thought for a moment: "Changsun is the daughter of a scholarly family; she must be proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She even painted a New Year's picture for us during the New Year."

"Hmm, then at the Tianshan Banquet tomorrow, I'll take Brother to ask her."

Seeing Pei Ye smiled: "Why do you need to take me? My relationship with Changsun is also very good; we are seatmates at the Imperial Academy."

Jiang Yiner was silent for a moment: "Brother, let me follow you tomorrow; I'm doing it to protect you."

"...... Ah?"

Jiang Yiner said no more, hugged her gourd, lowered her head to drink water, and said: "The entire Sword Academy has been invited, saying we will go together at the Mao hour tomorrow. Are you going, Brother?"

"I'll go to the Xiuwen Pavilion early tomorrow morning first, and then go to meet up with you all."

He hadn't timed it right when he went to the Xiuwen Pavilion the day before yesterday, and Li He wasn't there, so he only left a letter for the manager of the academy. Yesterday, a letter came from there saying Li He wanted to meet him tomorrow morning.

Seeing Pei Ye stretched and looked at the wall, thinking about tomorrow.

Tianshan Villa, huh.

"Okay." Jiang Yiner said.

She looked at the bright daylight, thinking that she didn't know what Zhaoye and the others were doing at this time, and hoped they wouldn't scare Brother tomorrow.

Cui Zhaoye was holding Changsun Jue's hand, standing in the small pavilion on the Leyou Plain.

Since spring, this place has been the most crowded with tourists. Looking nearby, there are vast plains, green shade, and waterfalls; looking far away, there are the towers of the Divine Capital and the green Five Mausoleums. The scenery is truly wonderful.

But even though the scenery on Leyou Plain is infinite, people's eyes are attracted to this direction from time to time.

A large group of young girls gathered in one place, laughing and chatting like orioles and swallows, their skirts fluttering, piling up into a vibrant and dazzling spring light.

It was truly a surprising large group, leaning against a pavilion pond, all looking at that small pavilion. There were also some young gentlemen and scholars mixed in the middle, but they all sat on the very edge, whispering to each other as if huddling for warmth, unable to stir up much of a storm.

Tourists were surprised at first glance, and at the second glance, they subconsciously wanted to find a reason for this surprise. At this moment, a glance would reveal the brightly colored silk cloth standing by the pavilion, with five characters embroidered on it.

Seeing Pei Ye Fan Club.

People entering the capital from other places would certainly be surprised, but local residents were long used to all kinds of novel things. The name "Seeing Pei Ye" was not unfamiliar either; even the common people who cared least about major state affairs had mostly heard of that sword wager watched by the Saint and all the officials last winter. Once the winning sword wielder was introduced, everyone mostly had recognition of this name.

What was more surprising was that these people didn't just close their doors and enjoy themselves; there were many small paintings, small carvings, small silk ribbons, and other exquisite items placed in the middle. Whenever they saw curious people approaching—especially if the person looked like a young girl of the same kind—the people on the side would enthusiastically invite the other party

to come in and take a look, chat happily, and then give them one or two pretty trinkets.

In this cheerful greeting, many newcomers who were just idling by stayed behind, surrounded and asked questions.

The young girl in the green skirt stood there with her sword, stunned for a while, and that was how she was pulled in.

This was her first time coming to the Divine Capital, and of course, her first time climbing this Leyou Plain from the poems. She bought a skewer of candied haws of the Divine Capital, tasted two, and found them a bit rough; the selection of fruit and sugar making were not delicate, so she just held it in her hand and ate it slowly.

The rain had stopped long ago. Except for the day she hurriedly asked about the young man's safety, she hadn't let herself think about that name afterward. For the past two days, she had been briefly at leisure, so she was just strolling around, observing the scenery of the Divine Capital alone with her sword.

But she caught sight of the banner by the pavilion unexpectedly.

She froze, widening her pair of lazy eyes.

The girls sitting around were actually attracted to her at once. Many of them stopped talking for a moment and pointed at each other.

Even in the Divine Capital, where bright faces were common, this figure was too eye-catching.

That face was clear, spiritual, and beautiful. Except for a faint touch of green at the corners of her eyes, there was not a bit of makeup on her face. Yet, such a clean and pure face, green skirt, long sword, the hand holding the candied haws was beautiful and elegant, while the one holding the sword wore a thin glove.

Especially the temperament between her brows and eyes made people fall in love with her; she looked like someone accustomed to storms and waves, simply not like a peer of this age.

"Sister." A young lady from an official family on the side couldn't help but call out, "Do you also like Young Master Seeing Pei Ye?"

Li Piaoqing felt as if she had been lightly pinched unexpectedly, and she froze: "You, what are you doing here?"

"We are Young Master Seeing Pei Ye's fan club, and the person above the pavilion is our president, Cui Zhaoye." The young lady from the official family smiled, "Sister, do you know Young Master Seeing Pei Ye? He is one of the most powerful sword wielders in our Divine Capital right now."

Worried that this young girl with such an extraordinary temperament wouldn't be interested in such a boring activity, she quickly added: "Sister, you are carrying a sword; are you also someone from the *jianghu*? We are selecting people to go to the Tianshan Sword Banquet tomorrow; would you like to take a look together?"

"Oh?" Li Piaoqing was a bit surprised, "Do you have many invitations for the Tianshan Sword Banquet?"

"Hmm, President Cui helped me get them. She is amazing; I heard Young Master Seeing Pei Ye himself has a very good relationship with her!" The young lady from the official family said.

Quite unexpectedly, this young girl wasn't as aloof as she looked. She froze for a moment, nodded, and squatted down by the stall: "Can I listen for a while?"