Chapter 33 Part 3

After that…

The rest escaped Meng Yiran. She awoke to the familiar sight of the bed canopy overhead. Trying to recall the dream split her head with pain; for several seconds, she lacked even the strength to roll over.

Tong Yuwu had everything ready. She came over, stroked her head, and asked why she had slept in later than usual. Meng Yiran brushed it off with a couple of meows. Then Tong Yuwu headed out to class, and Meng Yiran drew her consciousness back into her human body to begin her own day.

~~~

Noon arrived.

Tong Yuwu entered the First Library and saw that, besides yesterday’s old man at the front desk, a familiar figure had joined him.

Meng Yiran wiped sweat from her brow and waved. “Eaten yet?”

Tong Yuwu eyed the small patch of clean floor the girl had cleared on the first floor, confusion flickering in her purple pupils. “You got punished too?”

Meng Yiran shot her a glance and teased, “Let’s say I did.”

She grew serious. “But I can only stick around a bit. Can’t come tonight—the teacher’s got something for me.”

Tong Yuwu said nothing and made straight for the storage room in the back. Meng Yiran needed to rinse her rag anyway, so she followed.

She kept up a stream of chatter. “I checked out the first and second floors earlier. This library’s huge—and kinda creepy…” She asked, “You been up to the second floor? Way at the back, there’s sawdust everywhere from shattered bookshelves. No clue what did it, but it gives you chills just looking.”

“The school really has you slaving away here all alone? That’s too much!”

Tong Yuwu glanced back at her but remained silent.

Meng Yiran curved her lips into a smile, striving to appear as relaxed as possible. She continued, “I asked Ling—er, one of my friends—and she said magic can help with cleaning.” She cast a cautious glance at Tong Yuwu. “I’m learning it right now, so I can’t manage it yet, but give me a little time and I should get the hang of it.”

“Don’t rush into work just yet. For the time being, just tidy up a bit and pass the hours with a book. Once I figure out how to use magic for chores, I’ll come over and help. It’ll be spotless in a flash.”

Tong Yuwu showed a spark of interest. “Using magic?”

Meng Yiran hummed in affirmation. “With Water System magic, you won’t need to haul water back and forth. Wind System is even better—one gust cleans most of it right up. And even without any spells, you can control a broom or mop with Spiritual Power. That’s a lot easier than scrubbing by hand.”

Tong Yuwu nodded thoughtfully. “Oh.”

Meng Yiran breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

She shook out the rag in her hand. “Pick a spot you like, and we’ll clean it together. After that, you can sneak off there to kill time whenever you want.”

Tong Yuwu gathered her things. “No need.”

She had no desire to impose on anyone else. “You should go. I’ll handle it myself.”

Meng Yiran glanced out the window. “You’re right, I do need to leave soon. Quick, quick—let’s make haste.”

Oblivious to the refusal, she threw herself into the task, scampering about until she looked every bit as dusty and disheveled as Tong Yuwu had the night before.

The Noble Miss’s expression shifted from bewilderment to indifference, then to helpless resignation. In the end, she even pitched in to help Meng Yiran with the cleaning.

Half an hour later, when Meng Yiran departed, a sunlit nook stood cleared and ready, furnished with a matching reading desk and chair. Tong Yuwu—Yuwu—sat alone in the chair. Sunlight poured through the tall windows, bathing her upturned face and gilding her porcelain skin with a lovely pale-gold sheen.

The Noble Miss savored the midday warmth, the corners of her mouth twitching upward in the faintest hint of a smile.

That night, Meng Yiran did not appear, just as expected.

The Old Man was absent from the front desk—he must have slipped away early—but Tong Yuwu had no real connection with him and gave it little thought.

In the nook she had tidied that afternoon, she seemed lost in a daze, but in truth, her full concentration fixed on the broom before her.

Meng Yiran’s earlier words had sparked an idea, and she was attempting to control the broom with her mind.

Yet the broom either lay stubbornly still on the floor or whirled madly in wild loops through the air, never once following its proper path. At long last, it managed to stand upright unaided, but its movements were those of a centenarian—shuffling one step and wobbling three times over.

“Sigh—” A woman’s soft exhalation drifted through the darkness.

The broom clattered to the ground, control shattered. Tong Yuwu narrowed her eyes, zeroing in on the sound’s origin. Her gaze lingered there, cool and piercing.

The intruder made no effort to hide. Moments later, she stepped out from her concealment.

She was a tall woman, her brown hair coiled neatly at the nape of her neck. A silver mask concealed her features. From her voice and build, she was no youth—middle-aged, most likely.

She approached Tong Yuwu and spoke first. “I was passing through and saw you… practicing magic.”

Ever courteous, she added, “My apologies if I’ve disturbed you.”

Tong Yuwu inclined her head slightly. “It’s nothing.”

The woman lingered, eyeing the broom. “You seem to lack any foundation in magic. No formal training before this?”

Tong Yuwu shook her head gently.

“Spiritual Power isn’t something you brute-force like that.” Her gaze drifted aside, settling on a dusty tome perched on a nearby shelf.

Beneath her stare, the book rose into the air and floated toward them.

As it crossed into the clean nook, the volume shuddered fiercely midair. The force was masterful—enough to dislodge every speck of dust, yet gentle enough to spare the fragile, time-worn pages. In short order, the grime was gone. The book arrived before them, unfolding softly. Its pages rustled on an unfelt breeze, flipping over before settling shut once more.

The woman’s voice echoed ethereally through the empty library. “Your method of using spiritual power is very crude. You only do something like that when casting large-scale spells—just shove all your magic power out in one go. But if you want to manipulate delicate objects, you absolutely cannot do it that way.” She instructed Tong Yuwu: “Close your eyes. Locate the core of your spiritual power in your mind. Imagine drawing spiritual power from it and condensing it into fine threads. Let those threads extend from your body and wrap around the item you wish to control. Then, use the threads just like you would your own hands and feet to manipulate the object.”

A short distance ahead, the broom lying on the ground trembled unsteadily before rising to its feet once more.

It swayed back and forth, clumsy in its motions but at least resembling something attempting to sweep.

The woman curled her lips in a faint smile. “You’re very—” The words “smart” had barely left her mouth when the broom suddenly snapped in half at the middle. Tong Yuwu, seated in the chair, frowned and clutched her temple, panting softly through parted lips.

The woman paused in surprise, leaning down to steady Tong Yuwu’s shoulder—only for the Noble Miss to slap her hand away without hesitation.

“I mean no harm,” the woman said. Her words had scarcely faded when she frowned again and added, “There’s something wrong with your spiritual power.”

Tong Yuwu looked up at her. With utter certainty, the woman asked, “You’ve suffered a grave injury in the past—one that damaged even your spiritual core, hasn’t it? You’ve healed the wounds on your body, but you’ve never properly treated the trauma within.”

Tong Yuwu immediately recalled the events from three years prior.

She gritted her teeth, eyeing the woman warily.

“Don’t look at me like that. I told you, I mean no harm.” The woman raised her hand, palms open to demonstrate her innocence.

Rather than pressing the issue, she offered advice instead. “You have some spiritual power soothing potion on hand, don’t you?” It was phrased as a question, but she didn’t pause for an answer, as if the matter were already settled. She continued without delay: “Head to the Grand Clarity Library right now. On the east side of the first floor, in the spiritual power books section, find a copy of 《Basic Mental Power Maintenance》. Before bed tonight, pair the spiritual power soothing potion with the ‘An Clan’s Self-Soothing Method’ described in the book. Perform a spiritual power internal inspection on your core.

“If the injury isn’t too severe, you’ll encounter some resistance during the inspection but should be able to complete it successfully. Once done, the damage will be repaired to some degree, depending on the circumstances.

“But if you can’t even manage this basic internal inspection…”

She turned her head aside, unable to bring herself to finish the thought.

Tong Yuwu furrowed her brows, staring at her in silence.

The woman sighed. “I’ll take my leave first. Do with this what you will—or choose not to believe me.”

With that, she melted back into the shadows. The book hovering in midair resumed its original path, settling once more onto the grimy bookshelf.

Tong Yuwu produced her Crystal Magic Cube and probed the surrounding space. She could “see” the woman exiting the First Library through a side door. Yet the woman lingered, turning inexplicably to gaze back at the First Library. She stood motionless for a long while before finally turning away, vanishing into the profound night.

Once she was certain the woman was gone, Tong Yuwu pocketed the cube and swallowed the faint metallic sweetness coating her tongue.

The sensation was all too familiar. She had felt it recently during her reunion with Mother in the Underground Palace—and again after the brutal battle the previous night.

She lingered in place a moment longer, then gathered her things and set off alone for the Grand Clarity Library in the opposite direction.

Following the woman’s directions, she quickly located the relevant volume and studied the spiritual power internal inspection technique within its pages. She committed it to memory, then departed. By the time she returned to her dormitory, it was not yet nine o’clock.

The room was eerily quiet. Tong Yuwu slipped off her shoes and stepped into the bedroom, where her little white cat lay curled on a soft cushion, asleep. Its breathing was so faint it was nearly undetectable.

She frowned and approached to stroke the little white cat, but it slumbered on deeply, showing no sign of stirring.

The Noble Miss’s purple eyes gleamed with profound depth. The hand resting on the little white cat pressed down harder and harder, but before she could take further action, Tong Yuwu coughed lightly, tasting that faint tang of blood in her mouth once more.

Tong Yuwu stepped back two paces, gave the little white cat a glance, and rummaged through the room until she found the box Ming Yi had sent her not long ago.

It had originally contained two vials of potion—one red, one blue. She had used the red one to treat the burn on her hand, leaving only the blue vial behind. Tong Yuwu lifted it out. The transparent glass tube glowed with a cold blue light that reflected in her purple pupils, blending into an inscrutable haze.