Being knocked down by the Heavenly Dao while ascending

Pei Mingyan stood up and followed Tang Gu's gaze. For some reason, he said, "That's for Xiao Kong to see."

As expected, Aunt Tang misunderstood that he was pretending, and her face changed instantly, "You have such a deep mind." Her defenses, which had just been relaxed, were immediately raised high again, "Xiao Kong trusts you, Uncle Yu trusts you, the dean... the dean also trusts you. Someone has to play the bad guy, as long as I can protect the dean, I don't mind being the bad guy."

"Tanggu, you are prejudiced against me. If someone treats me sincerely, I will return his sincerity."
Pei Mingyan walked closer to Tang Gu, and his tone suddenly became aggrieved, "I am more anxious about Xiao Kong's matter than you are. You see, when I came back, I built a tomb without doing anything, and then I fainted on the stone slab, sweating all over."
Pei Mingyan naturally had his own plans.
It goes without saying that everyone in the academy is very strange. Most of them were normal before, but when the dean was mentioned, they became paranoid and neurotic as if they were poisoned. It is obvious that they have been subjected to strong mental suggestion.
Of all the people he had met so far, Tang Gu was the most paranoid. But Tang Gu also had her soft spots. If we put aside the dean, Xiao Kong was Tang Gu's only weakness.

Tang Gu glanced at him, her expression slightly relieved, "Xiao Kong likes you, I don't want you to hurt his feelings."

"so?"

Tang Gu spread out her hands, and a bowl of soup appeared in her palms. It was like white water, colorless and tasteless. Under the sunlight, you could vaguely see the rippling green waves. "This is my trust."

“……”You are really capable of trusting me to the point of risking my life.
Pei Mingyan took two steps back and said, "It's better not to trust you."

Tang Gu lowered her eyes and looked at the liquid in the bowl. "Drink it, and I will no longer ask about your identity, origin, or motives. You will have fewer problems."

Pei Mingyan's smile faded, and he immediately became calm and composed, as if he had become a different person. He looked into Tanggu's eyes, lowered his eyes, took two steps forward, took the bowl from her hand, drank it all in one gulp, handed the bowl back to Tanggu, and said, "Please protect yourself, Tanggu, too."

Tang Gu heard his warning, glanced at the bowl, reached out to take it, a light flashed across her fingertips, and she smiled and said, "Of course."

Pei Mingyan blinked, and his fingertips lit up. He clenched his left hand loosely and took a few steps back. "Well, can you tell me why you're here?"

Tang Gu collected the bowl and said, "I came here to convey the Dean's intention and to apologize to you." Although she said this, she did not look too apologetic, so that the apology seemed particularly insincere. "Qingyun and his friends are usually not very courageous. I am the only one who suspects you. Everything they did was instructed by me. If you want to blame me, I will take the responsibility."

"...No, you came here to apologize just to feed me a Gu?" Pei Mingyan's face was filled with disbelief. "It's really disgusting to eat that worm. Otherwise, you could feed me some poison."

Tang Gu remained calm, "Poisons and drugs are harmful to the body, but Gu insects are harmless as long as they are not stimulated."

"You are so kind to me." Pei Mingyan replied indifferently, as if he didn't care that he was poisoned. "So, what message did the dean want to convey?"

Aunt Tang suddenly fell silent, and after a long while she asked, "Have you... met the dean before?"

Noticing the change in Tanggu's attitude, Pei Mingyan tentatively rolled his eyes, looking like a smug villain, "Do you think it's possible? If I knew the dean, I would have complained a hundred times. Why would I still be working so hard here chopping wood?"

Tang Gu looked at him deeply, without getting angry. She slowly reached into her sleeve and took out a jade pendant.
The jade pendant is in the shape of a zither, similar to the water zither pattern on Pei Mingyan's arm, but this jade pendant looks more like a living thing, with gurgling water in the body of the zither and slanting shadows of branches.

"This is given to you by the dean." Tang Gu held the jade pendant and handed it to Pei Mingyan.

Pei Mingyan reached out to take it, muttering, "Your master is really strange. We haven't even met each other, but he gave me a seal and gifts. Does he like me?"

Tang Gu held the jade pendant even tighter. Pei Mingyan pulled it twice, but the jade pendant did not move.
He looked at Tang Gu strangely.

Tang Gu reluctantly loosened her middle finger, then raised her thumb, and finally let go of the jade pendant.

Pei Mingyan was quite puzzled. What kind of treasure was this? He pinched it with two fingers and raised it to take a look.
Seeing that he acted frivolously and did not take the jade pendant seriously at all, Tang Gu said anxiously: "This is the abbot's personal item, it is a treasure, you must keep it well and protect it."

Pei Mingyan held the jade pendant towards the sun, looked at the patterns on it, and asked casually, "Why did the dean give me this? Seeing the object is like seeing the person? Isn't that what the mark on the arm means? What about this?"

Tang Gu was so angry that she clenched her fists and her voice was shaking. "The seal is the trust and honor of the dean. The jade pendant is the dean's token of trust."

"Oh, one is just an honorary one, and the other has real power, right?" Pei Mingyan swallowed back the words "Is your dean sick?" that were on the tip of his tongue. Who in his right mind would give fame and power to a stranger for no reason? No wonder Tang Gu was reluctant to let go. Who would be willing to do that?

Although he didn't say it, his expression was very clear and Tang Gu understood what he meant.

"The dean has his own considerations." Tang Gu said, "Please keep the jade pendant safe. If you want to change your job, just tell me. With the jade pendant in hand, no one, whether it's me or the other branch managers, can stop you."

Pei Mingyan nodded, "Okay. I have a question for you now."

"You said."

Pei Mingyan put down his hand and asked seriously, "Where does Xiaokong live?"

Tang Gu's face changed and she didn't answer.

Pei Mingyan flicked his fingertips, and the jade pendant suddenly floated and started to spin, forming a spherical shadow.

"Don't!" Tang Gu stretched out her hand to stop him, "Xiao Kong's residence is... is Zhulixing's secret, I can't tell you."

Pei Mingyan stopped and said, "Okay, then I'll go find it myself. Anyway... I can go anywhere, right?"

"I'll let Xiaokong come to see you." said Tang Gu.

Pei Mingyan nodded and began to smile playfully again, "Okay, okay, thank you, Aunt Tang."

Tang Gu said "hmm" and turned away.

When Tang Gu was no longer visible, the smile on Pei Mingyan's face disappeared, and he called out, "Tang Gu..."
Don't you realize that all of you are weird? Or are you used to this weirdness?

Tang Gu stopped and said, "Hmm?"

Pei Mingyan smiled and said, "I am a famous and powerful person now. It is not good to not have some secrets of my own. What do you think?"

Tang Gu nodded, "I understand."

After she left, the formation that had been covering the surroundings disappeared.

Pei Mingyan opened his left hand, which had been clenched empty, and an almost invisible thread-like object lay in his palm.

"Sha Gu Wuyin" is a lost Gu technique. Unlike traditional Gu techniques, this Gu is not cultivated, but separated from the body of the Gu master. In fact, it is refined from a part of the Gu master's body, so it can control the person who is poisoned by the Gu.

Fortunately, he didn't actually eat it, otherwise he would have been sinking deeper and deeper.

The dream just now was caused by the mark. If I swallow a Gu and get a jade pendant, my whole body will explode at random times.

Thinking of this, Pei Mingyan couldn't help but wonder, what happened in Yongshan Academy, which is full of hidden talents, to cause the talent pool in the academy to decline to the level described in the book?
.
There was a gentle breeze in the afternoon.
Pei Mingyan was still lying on the stone slab pretending to be dead. He stared at the brand on his arm for a long time but couldn't see any clues.
It is neither an array nor an illusion. If you don't look at it or touch it, this thing will have no sense of existence at all.
But as soon as I touched it, I could feel the cool temperature, which was out of tune with the surrounding skin.

It's amazing.

Pei Mingyan considered himself a well-read person, a walking encyclopedia, but he had never seen such a strange mark.

There are footsteps! It's Xiaokong!

Pei Mingyan hid the jade pendant close to his body, grabbed a handful of mud and smeared it on his clothes, but found that the material of the clothes was too fine and was layered with an array, so the mud could not stick to it at all.

Helpless!
He walked to the lake, scooped up some water to wash his face, then snapped his fingers to create a gust of wind that blew towards his face, which was immediately covered with a thin layer of mud. He rubbed his face with his fingers a few times, loosened his hair crown, pulled his hair a few times, and pretended to look haggard, disheveled, and overly sad.
He then fell beside the tombstone, closed his eyes and pretended to be unconscious.

Xiaokong came over slowly, and when he entered the courtyard, he stopped for a moment.
There was so much life here, just like... the house of his uncle who adopted him, with flowers and grass, chickens, ducks and geese running around, vegetables in the corners, hoes, ladles, axes, sickles, shovels, buckets, everything, even half-finished wooden products, a few fishing rods inserted diagonally by the lake, and fish baskets in the water. Xiao Kong was stunned for a while, and just when he was feeling a little strange, he suddenly found a person lying under a tree not far from the lake.
The little chicken was ignorant and jumped around on the man, but the man lying on the ground didn't move at all, as if he had lost all consciousness.

Xiao Kong didn't have time to think that this scene looked familiar. He rushed over, helped the man up, patted his face, and shouted, "Pei Mingyan, are you okay?"

Pei Mingyan was trying so hard to hold back his laughter that he twitched. He coughed a few times, opened his eyes, and said "weakly," "Cough, cough, cough, no, I'm fine, I'm just a little hungry."

Xiao Kong wiped his hands on Pei Mingyan's clothes, reached into his small cloth bag, took out a bun and handed it to him, "How did you become like this? Here, food."

Pei Mingyan took the bun and took a bite. "I'm just sad. I finally made a friend, but it's gone just like that. Mm! It's delicious! Thank you, Xiaokong! I must explain that I really don't know that so-called dean."

Xiao Kong nodded, "I misunderstood you about this matter. Aunt Tang told me that this was the plan of the dean."

Did I act in vain???
Pei Mingyan finished the bun in a few bites, wiped his face with his sleeve to wipe off the dust, stood up and patted his clothes, "What's the plan? Tell me, I promise not to tell anyone else."

Xiao Kong looked at his cat-like face, hesitated for a while, and said, "Tang Gu said that there is a thief in the academy. The reason why Uncle Qi, who stole the spiritual herbs last time, was able to take the things out must be that there must be someone in the academy who cooperated with him. You hadn't come at that time, and there were no personnel changes in the academy before and after, so it must not be you."

“……”Of course this can’t be me.
Pei Mingyan had a complicated expression, "So what?"

"You are new here, your identity is unknown, your cultivation is low, you are not sociable, you are ugly, and you are a liar. The surveillance cameras of Zhulixing are everywhere, and the water piano pattern is placed on you, so you are just a walking bait."

"..." How dissatisfied was Tang Gu with him? He just used a jade pendant from the dean who was like a god in her eyes, and slandered him like that. "Uh... I sound quite dangerous. It seems that your dean really wants me to die."

Xiaokong glared at him, "The dean is a good man!"

"Good, good, good! Good man, good man, there is no one better than him!" You are also a paranoid who has been poisoned by the dean.

"The dean gave you the jade pendant because he knew you were in danger." Xiao Kong said, "With the jade pendant, no one except the dean can touch you."

How can he still justify himself? Is that so fucked up?
It seems that in order to understand the relationship between the dean and Xiaokong's illness, we have to change our way of thinking. He said: "It seems that the dean is really good to me, but he is too good, too good to be a real person. I am a bit eccentric. If I want to accept someone, I always want to know his shortcomings to see if I can accept his shortcomings. If I can, I will accept everything about him in the future, respect him for the rest of my life, and protect him."

Xiao Kong thought for a moment and said, "The headmaster is in poor health. He cares too much about others, which is why his health is always poor."

"…………"Is this a shortcoming? Well, being physically weak is one, and being suspected of sacrificing oneself for help is also one.

"Why is he in poor health?" Pei Mingyan asked with "concern". "Before I arrived at Yongshan, I heard that Dean Xue of Yongshan Academy is as famous as the Mei family's eldest son, and he is also gifted and has amazing cultivation. Since his cultivation is so high, the restraint of his body should be lower. How can there be such a thing as illness? Did he get a stitch in the side during his cultivation?"

"You are the one who got a stitch in the side!" Xiao Kong exploded, "How could the dean get a stitch in the side from practicing martial arts! The dean got like this because he always heals other people's injuries!"

"Healing?" Pei Mingyan thought. This Yongshan Academy is relatively peace-loving except for the female owner. But now the first batch of people who offended the female owner are all dead, and no one came back to heal. "Where did the wounded come from? If the head of the academy is doing the healing, then what are the people from Xinglin Academy doing?"

Xiaokong paused, his expression a little confused, "I don't know, but Uncle Yu said so."

"Xiaokong, we are friends now, right?"

Xiaokong nodded reluctantly, and added: "The dean said that people should not go back on their words, so we are friends now."

"..." Don't you know how to speak without the dean?
Pei Mingyan said directly, "Do you think that everyone in your academy is weird?"

Xiaokong shook his head firmly and quickly.

"No matter how perfect a person is, there will always be people who don't like them, right?"

Xiaokong nodded, "You are right. But the dean is perfect. Even if he is not in good health, he is still perfect. That's why everyone likes him."

“……”Is there any causal relationship between this?
Pei Mingyan took a few breaths to calm himself down, "Have you told the dean about your memory loss?"

Xiaokong shook his head, "My affairs are all trivial, I don't want to trouble the dean."

"Since Uncle Yu told you that the abbot cares about you very much and comes to visit you every time you are sick, he will be unhappy if you hide your illness from him."

Xiaokong was silent.

Pei Mingyan added: "You may not know, a big incident happened in Zhulixing two days ago. A group of people fought and many people were seriously injured and sent to Xinglinyuan."

Xiao Kong was stunned for a moment, and the servant's words echoed in his ears.
——Three days ago, the hospital did admit quite a few injured people from your Zhulixing group.

Seeing Xiaokong's expression, Pei Mingyan continued to add, "But you have no recollection of this matter. Just as you said, you suddenly forgot a lot of things. But is this really so sudden? Why did you also fall into a coma three days ago? How could the timing be so coincidental?"

Xiao Kong thought for a moment and replied, "I have always had this disease. I don't know why or when it occurs. The three days ago you mentioned is just a coincidence."

Pei Mingyan saw that Xiaokong still didn't understand, so he exhaled and said directly, "I remember you said that every time you get sick, the dean will also get sick, right?"

Xiao Kong nodded, and was suddenly surprised, "Yes! Healing! I recovered after being sick, it must be because the dean came to heal me! That's why the dean got sick!"

"Um... um..." Pei Mingyan was almost speechless, "Then when you are not sick, will the dean get sick?"

Xiaokong thought about it and shook his head, "No."

"Okay! Then the problem arises." Pei Mingyan held Xiaokong's shoulders and looked into his eyes. "The dean is very powerful and can do anything, right?"

"Of course!"

"If that's the case, why did he get sick just because I was treating you? Aren't you curious? How did the dean treat you? Is there any other way to treat your illness?" Pei Mingyan looked at him, "As long as we find a treatment, we can solve your troubles, and both the dean and you will be fine, right?"

Xiaokong nodded slowly, "You are right." He looked doubtful and asked again, "Can you cure diseases?"

"Um... the Mei family is so big, they will learn a little bit of everything, just a little bit." Pei Mingyan closed his left eye and raised a finger.

Xiao Kong was full of disdain. "Xinglinyuan's medicine manager and Tanggu have been worrying about the headmaster's illness for decades, but they haven't come up with a solution. What can you do?"

"Well... more people means more opportunities." Pei Mingyan touched Xiaokong's arm. "For example, right now, I know that you are weak and have insufficient blood and energy."

Xiaokong suddenly withdrew his hand, "Can you really treat illnesses?"

Pei Mingyan nodded, "I know a little bit. So do you believe me? If you do, I have a plan."

"What plan?" Xiao Kong asked.

"Come closer and I'll tell you."
.
In the evening, the setting sun shines, and the bamboo grove is covered with sunset glow.
Pei Mingyan rushed into Uncle Yu's hut carrying Xiaokong on his back, "Uncle Yu, Xiaokong suddenly fell unconscious!"

(End of this chapter)