"All the colours are visible? That's the most elusive Perfect Prism!" Sima Lie spoke out, his eyes revealing a trace of longing." But it's been hundreds and thousands of years that someone with this attribute has been seen. If such a person appears, I wonder what type of storm would it set off? Oh yeah, Yue Er, why are you asking me this today?"
Sima Yue heard his words and wanted to tell him that she had the very Perfect Prism that he had just spoken of! But she had decided to hold it in until she could cultivate properly and give him an even bigger surprise then.
"Yue Er, unless… Can you sense the Spiritual Qi in the air?" Sima Lie asked her as his face lit up with hope.
"Yes." She laughed when she saw his reaction, this Grandfather of hers was really too adorable.
"Are you telling me the truth? Can you really sense the Spiritual Qi in the air?" He asked and he felt overwhelmed with emotions as he hugged her tightly.
She nodded her head and affirmed: "Yes, the poison in my body has just been completely cleared and my meridians are no longer blocked. I've just embarked on my cultivation journey last night and only this morning, I was able to grasp a faint sense of Spiritual Qi."
"What?" Sima Lie froze momentarily, as he cast her a strange glance.
Sima You Yue was worried by the change in his expression.
She picked up her courage and asked: "Grandfather, is that not Spiritual Qi that I've sensed? Could it be that I've got it wrong?"
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Sima Lie gave a hearty laughter as he chortled on. "I knew our Yue Er was not a trash! Yue Er's a genius! Not just any genius, a genius amongst geniuses!"
Sima You Yue could not help but let out a cold sweat when she saw his face was flushed red with excitement. Although he did not answer her directly, from his reaction she knew the reply.
Sima Lie finally calmed down as he looked at her gently and said: "Yue Er, for one to sense the Spiritual Qi in just one night has never been heard of. What you've just accomplished was a huge feat! Your Grandfather was also called a genius, however, I took four to five days to be able to comprehend a faint Spiritual Qi when I first started out. The average person takes about half a month and yet some are still unable to comprehend it. Out of your few brothers, the shortest duration he took was still a week! Ha ha ha! Not only can you cultivate, your level of comprehension is absurdly high!"
Sima You Yue was stunned when she heard his words, she had initially thought that taking a whole night to sense the Spiritual Qi was considered a long time. However, to her surprise, it was the complete opposite and it was exceptionally short!
What a relief, she had some talent after all, she wouldn't need to waste a lot of time then!
"Yue Er, what colour do you see?" Sima Lie asked, his curiosity peaked, wanting to understand more on her situation.
Sima You Yue wanted to have sufficient strength before she divulged her talent, lest someone gets jealous like her past life. And as Sima Lie mentioned earlier, someone with such attributes had not been seen in the past hundred thousand years, if her attribute was known to all, it may bring about a disaster for her family.
"Grandfather, I can only sense the red Spiritual Qi." She replied softly. Sima Low and her other brothers all were of the Fire attribute hence it wasn't too strange if she had the same as them.
"Well, every member in our family are of the fire attribute, it seems you too." Sima Lie nodded happily as he added: "Tonight, be sure to call all your brothers out, let us celebrate! we'll let everyone now that you can cultivate. Hmph, after tonight let's see who still dares to call you trash!
"Grandfather, I think it's better that we still keep this between ourselves for now." Sima You Yue persuaded.
"Hmm..Why should we? I know that although you don't say it out, you are still concerned about other people's views! I know that you used to hide in the yard and secretly cry, that's why when you said you didn't want to go to the Academy, I didn't force you." He asked with a confused expression.
"I've been living for fourteen years and I've not been able to cultivate. If we were to declare that I could suddenly cultivate, wouldn't that lead to a lot of unnecessary trouble? Everyone would prattling away and there would be people who would keep disturbing me to verify this fact, wouldn't it save all the trouble to just keep it under wraps for now?"
Sima Lie furrowed his brows, and said: "But you are concerned with what other people think and you are my Granddaughter, why should you have to shoulder all of this on your own?"
"It's true that I used to be very upset that I couldn't cultivate, however it was based on the fact that I really wasn't able to cultivate rather than what other people were saying about me. Now that I can cultivate, I do not care about what others say. Besides, whether if I can cultivate or not is also my own matter, others do not have the right to interfere. If others were to know that I can cultivate and in turn increase the strength of our family, I'm afraid that might bring about unwanted trouble too. Don't you have lots of enemies? Especially the Nalan family, they've always been opposing us. If they were to find out about my talent, they might brew some extra trouble." Sima You Yue coaxed.
Sima Lie looked at her with warm eyes, ever since she was heavily wounded the last time, she seemed to have really changed. No longer was she wayward, she had became more sensible and thoughtful.
"Well, what you've just said made sense." He gruffed. "We'll leave the matter for now but you'll still have to call all your brothers out tonight, we'll just celebrate it on our own." He reluctantly said, trying to change his tone to a more cheerful one to restore the mood.
"Alright, I shall go back and cultivate first! I'll meet for dinner when all my brothers come back tonight." She quickly chimed and turned to leave.
"Wait a minute." Sima Lie stopped her in her tracks.
"What is the matter, Grandfather?" She queried.
"Come with me for a moment." He said as he turned and led her to the corner of his study and his hand touched a tile on the wall. He pressed firmly on it and there was a click sound and next to the bookshelf a small hole appeared. He reached in and pulled something and soon a small entranceway appeared beside them with a ladder leading down. He flicked his wrist and a light pearl appeared in his palm as he turned to her and nodded.
"Let's go." He said.
Sima You Yue followed him closely, her interest piqued as she curiously walked behind him, as he led her down the into the secret room as they walked through a long narrow corridor and only after a while had they finally came to a stop.
"We're here."
He said gently and led her into a small stone room. She looked around and found that other than a small stone table in the centre which had a small box on it, there was nothing else.
He walked towards the box and wistfully said: "This was what your Father left for you before he left to find your Mother. He said that if you were ever able to cultivate, then I should pass this box to you. I hereby pass this to you now." He let out a small sigh as he looked at her.
Sima You Yue felt that something was odd but couldn't pinpoint what as she listened to her Grandfather's words. His eyes were filled with emotions as he passed her the box. She took the box and was about to open it when he stopped her.
"Go back and open it when you are alone." He was very insistent and she could only helplessly comply and nodded in response.
"Well, let's go back now." He said as he led her back the way they came from.
Once she left his study, she briskly walked back to her room as she rushed past everyone in sight. Back in her own room, she sat on her bed as she looked intently at the box in her hands.
Thinking back on what Sima Lie had said earlier, he had mentioned that her two maids You Yue and Chun Jian were both people whom she could trust. Although it was Sima Lie that made them swear the oath, they had both sworn oaths to never betray her. Sima Lie had ensured that they had sworn their allegiance to her. The contents of the contract had bonded them despite it being Sima Lie who had did it. The power of oath in this world had magic imbued in it. It was a contract sworn to heaven and earth. If the person were to ever break their oath, they would be forced into hell, never be able to leave!
So no matter how she treated them, they could never betray her. This however was not known to the former Sima You Yue. Due to her feisty temper, Sima Lie and kept it from her then.
Sima You Yue looked at the box clasped in her hands. She felt a myriad of mixed emotions stir within her as she looked at it, half of her wanted to satisfy her curiosity and quickly open it while another part of her had her reserves of opening it, fearing that if she opened it, somehow she'd be on a path to no return.
"Well, since it's something that cheap Father who had left it behind, I might as well have a look in it." She convinced herself as she broke open the seal and lifted the lid.
Inside the box, lay a simple ring, a piece of leather parchment and a dark stone. She picked up the leather parchment and took a look. There was a map that was drawn on it, and a house was deliberately marked out. Other than that, she could not find anything else that had a clue to what this place was. She wanted to put the map back in its original position but noticed that there was an envelope there.
"What is this?"
Written on the envelope were the words: 'To my Daughter.'
She then picked it up and unsealed it, and out slipped a piece of paper. Her expression became serious as she read it.
The letter was not very long , it simply stated that the ring left behind for her was an ancient artifact and was a prized family heirloom. It was in fact, a rare interspatial ring. Other than that, not much other information on the ring was written. She found it peculiar that if this was really a family heirloom, why would Sima Lie be oblivious to this? Also, she had a feeling that there was more to her family situation.
She placed the ring back, currently she still has yet to cultivate enough to amass sufficient Spiritual Qi to harness the power of a Spiritual Master. The current her still could not make the ring hers as a drop of blood was needed to form the bond and that too, required Spiritual energy. Her fingers deftly glossed over the map as her eyes studied the various lines and landmarks drawn on it. Her Father had also mentioned that this map was very important and she should never ever divulge to anyone else that she possessed it.
This leather parchment looked a little worn, seems like it had quite a bit of story and history behind it. She did not possess any knowledge to provide her any clues to where this map was for. There was no other information written on the paper as well.
"So he left me a dilapidated map, this cheap Father of mine, the least he could have done was to tell me where the map was for! Or else what use of it is it to me if I'm so clueless?!" She shook her head and sighed in resignation, not knowing why that man had to make everything so mysterious, rendering her completely helpless.
Finally, she picked up the final item in the box, the dark piece of stone and carefully placed it on her palm as she brought it closer and studied it intently. After a while, she sighed in exasperation as she tried to figure out how was this small stone an 'ancient artifact' as the letter had claimed it was.
"It's just a very black stone, hmm, a little smooth and rounded more like a pebble… looks a little like obsidian, are you sure it's really an ancient artifact?" She raised an eyebrow in query, her eyes full of doubt as she continued muttering to herself: "That cheap Father had also wrote that this stone chooses its Master, perhaps we're not meant to be and we have no fate so I can't see what's so special about you?"
Sima You Yue finally placed the small stone back into the box after fiddling with it a while longer as she closed the lid and started to earnestly cultivate. As long as she could become a Spirit Master, she would be able to bind the space ring and make it hers by putting a drop of her blood on it. At that time, she would be able to see what was stored inside. A huge part of her was very curious on the items that man had left behind for her.
She gently touched the illusion ring on her finger as she softly cursed in her heart, why was the interspatial ring so troublesome! Why could she only bind it after she has attained the level of a Spirit Master? If only it was convenient like this illusion ring without so many cumbersome conditions, how nice would that be!
This time round, when she was cultivating, she did not absorb all the Spiritual Qi, instead, she spent the whole day trying to sense the various attributes. This time, she carefully observed the various colours and realised that within so many colours, she could sense that here were more of some colours and less of some. She could also sense that those different little light orbs seem to be able to sense her as well and were attracted to her and flying all around her, seemingly wanting to be absorbed into her body.
Soon it was time for dinner and Sima You Yue stopped meditating as she got ready for dinner, those brothers of hers should most probably be back by now.
"Young Master, Fourth Young Master came and is waiting for you." Yun Yue gently informed Sima You Yue from outside the door.
"Alright, I've got it, let him know I'll be out soon." She replied as she got down from her bed.
"Yes, Young Master." Yun Yue respectfully bowed and retreated.
Sima You Yue quickly stuffed the box under her pillow and left. In her hurry, she did not notice that there was a faint glow emitted from within the box.
"Fourth Brother, why have you come?" Sima You Yue walked over the the table that Sima You Le was drinking tea at.
"Oh, I'm here to call you for dinner." He gave her a wide smile.
"You could have just asked a servant to pass the message, why did you have to make this trip yourself? Since you've come all the way here just to pick me up, we should go over now."
He followed her as they walked over to the dining hall. He hesitated a moment before he opened his mouth and said: "I've something else to tell you too."
"What is it?" She turned her head and asked.
"Teacher Mu has given an ultimatum, he said that if you do not appear in the Academy tomorrow, the principal will dismiss you from the Academy. Even if the King pleads on your behalf, you won't be able to attend." Sima You Le said.
"Teacher Mu? Who is Teacher Mu?" Sima You Yue blinked and asked him sincerely with a puzzled expression.
Seeing her reaction, Sima You Le bitterly smiled and patted her head. "Your class teacher. Teacher Mu."
Sima You Yue furrowed her brows as she struggled to think. She seemed to have a small recollection, this Teacher Mu was her teacher in charge of her class, other than teaching, he controlled a lot of other things in school.
"If you do not want to go, I'll let Teacher Mu know on your behalf." He paused. "It's just that you won't be able to attend the Academy anymore."
"No need, I'll just go to the Academy with you tomorrow." She shook her head and said.
Before, she had no interest in the Academy as she could not cultivate but now that she was able to, going to the Academy would let her be more exposed to the various teachings and methods, although it was a little too soon, it did not pose a big problem.
During the dinner, Sima You Yue expressed her interest in attending the Academy to Sima Lie. He also had the same thoughts as her. Since she could cultivate now, going to the Academy would be a good choice.
It was at this point that her other four brothers knew that she could cultivate and they congratulated her one by one, letting her feel the warmth of a family as they were each exhilarated and genuinely happy for her.
After dinner, Sima Yue went back to her room and continued meditating, however this time, she did not only simply observe the various little light orbs, she also tried to absorb them.
At first, with her guidance, she experienced some resistance, however after a few tries, the first orb was absorbed in, as she seamlessly guided it along her meridians and into her abdomen. After the first one was successfully absorbed, the second light orb followed by the third and everything after was just as easily absorbed.
While she was cultivating this time, there was a spectrum of lights shining out from the box which she had placed below her pillow earlier today. When the various coloured lights shone out, more little orbs of light gathered around her as she quickly absorbed them.
Late into the night, she had to stop cultivating as she had to attend the Academy tomorrow. Once she stopped her meditation, the light from the box disappeared completely and not a trace of that beautiful spectacle could be seen.