Chapter 26: The Gift
Xu Xunyue could clearly feel that he had a much clearer understanding of Zhu Hui’s spiritual landscape.
Every snowflake, every piece of ice, every rock here now had a subtle connection with him. If he intentionally brought his spiritual feelers close, he would even receive a spiritual resonance like a greeting before he even touched them.
This was the threshold of 70% compatibility. After crossing it, there was a qualitative leap.
If it were the him of now, facing the situation from this morning, the outcome would be completely different. He could directly confirm Zhu Hui’s physical condition through his senses. No matter how much the other posed for pictures and acted cute, it would be useless.
Speaking of which, Xu Xunyue was indeed a little dissatisfied with Zhu Hui’s lie.
Working backward from the answer, the originally inconspicuous small detail became the most solid evidence. On his way to the Guide Academy’s Second Teaching Building, the bell for the end of the second class had just rung, and Zhu Hui hadn’t taken the initiative to send him a message.
This meant the accident had happened during the second class.
Xu Xunyue had been free at that time, and Zhu Hui knew it.
So, knowing that he was free at that time and could have been called if something had happened, he had dismissed the thought of telling him because he was considering that he would be busy in a few dozen minutes.
If the situation hadn’t worsened, Zhu Hui probably wouldn’t have mentioned it at all.
It was a bit like a teenager who gets into a fight and doesn’t tell their parents, only to pitifully tell their guardian when they find they can’t control the wound themselves.
Xu Xunyue was really… really not satisfied with his Sentinel’s train of thought.
If he had told him at that time, he might have been able to come and solve it quickly, and he wouldn’t have missed his lecture.
Besides, even if he had missed it, what did it matter?
The graduating class students were all in their twenties, and the class president was no pushover. A major professional class could just be made up later.
But now…
It wasn’t that the current situation was bad. He had had quite a bit of fun bullying his Sentinel, and he had even obtained a clue possibly related to the Emperor through this accident.
When this is over, I can ask Zhu Hui who the classmate who lost control during their spar was, and then investigate that person’s background, Xu Xunyue made a mental note.
Then, while ordering the shadows to get to work and stop tying up the little wolf to play, he considered the feasibility of another matter.
Although his senses of Zhu Hui had improved, they were not precise. As their compatibility gradually increased in the future, there was still a lot of room for improvement in this intuition.
A lot of room for improvement, in other words, there were still many shortcomings at present. It would be more appropriate to add another layer of insurance.
The senses rooted in the source of the soul, coupled with the tracking of technology—the two complemented each other for the best effect.
Then he should just put a locator on Zhu Hui.
If Zhu Hui had his locator on him, he could judge what the other was doing based on his location. Take this time as an example. If he had a locator, he would have known in the first instance that Zhu Hui had gone to the infirmary and was not obediently staying in the training room.
The more he thought about it, the more practical it seemed.
Not to mention Xu Xunyue himself, Zhu Hui was only twenty. He would inevitably have to go to the Undeveloped and Cataclysm Zones again in the future. And in the Cataclysm Zones, things that didn’t conform to the laws of nature often happened. It was really possible for some strange magnetic field to appear, which could weaken or even temporarily block the link between a Guide and a Sentinel.
As for the locator? The Empire had not preserved the manufacturing technology for high-level locators from the pre-Cataclysm era, but coincidentally, Xu Xunyue had collected one during his early years of entering and exiting the cataclysm zones.
A micro-locator made with the latest technology from the pre-Cataclysm era, the kind that could seamlessly connect to a terminal.
…
As the shadows surged in all directions, in the blink of an eye, the gray-black sky was enveloped by a deeper layer of black, and the entire snowfield lost its light. The night in the natural world still had stars and the moon, but the sky here was a pure black.
And those small black dots floating in the air like dirt—they were a little strange.
The last time, limited by the compatibility of less than 70%, Xu Xunyue couldn’t directly crush them without harming Zhu Hui. But for some reason, those small black dots had a faint tendency to gather toward Xu Xunyue.
Boldly, they floated around, without any cover, as if they had their own consciousness.
This time, Xu Xunyue had a deeper grasp of the snowfield and could directly crush them, yet they still continued to gather around him.
As if they were simply attracted.
Xu Xunyue frowned slightly.
An unknown contaminant with the Emperor’s aura was approaching him?
He recalled the few times he had been in the same place as the Emperor in the past four years, and only remembered that it was… a spiritual aura that did not belong to a normal human.
There was still too little information.
Putting his thoughts aside for the time being, Xu Xunyue looked toward the distant mountain cliff.
That cliff was the center of Zhu Hui’s spiritual landscape. Because it had been dealt with in a timely manner, and because Zhu Hui’s own state was relatively stable, it had not been harmed in this accident.
If it wasn’t injured, there was no need to go.
However, Xu Xunyue’s gaze still lingered in that direction for a while longer.
If he and Zhu Hui had met before, Zhu Hui must have had memories of him from an earlier time.
That memory must also be preserved in a memory leaf, among the countless tall green trees, and the countless leaves on the green trees.
On their wedding night, he had planned to go there and search after controlling Zhu Hui, to confirm his safety through his memories.
But he had changed his mind later, and now he didn’t really want to go up the mountain to look either.
If he had to say, he preferred to see what Zhu Hui would actively give him.
It was unknown if it had sensed Xu Xunyue’s thoughts, but a gust of wind suddenly blew across the snowfield. The leaves on the cliff’s trees moved with the wind, making a continuous, pleasant sound, as if greeting him.
Xu Xunyue’s gaze, which had been about to leave, paused.
The next second, the young Sentinel’s figure appeared on the cliff.
The second after that, he appeared in front of Xu Xunyue.
“Do you want to see it?” he extended his hand, and in his open palm was a memory leaf. “You can see all of them, it’s just that there are too many leaves over there, so it’s a bit troublesome to find. If there’s anything you want to see, just tell me and I’ll go get it for you.”
What a coincidence.
Xu Xunyue smiled at Zhu Hui’s somewhat bewildered gaze and took the leaf.
He didn’t immediately look at it, but glanced at Zhu Hui’s neat and wrinkle-free uniform in the spiritual world.
When entering a spiritual world, the body’s state would be reset. The clothing would generally be the same as in the real world, but if it was tattered, it would be restored to its good condition in the spiritual world. The same applied to the body. It was generally a direct copy of the state in the real world. If one was injured in the real world, they would be restored to their ideal state upon entering the spiritual world.
So Xu Xunyue didn’t have to pretend to be in a wheelchair here, and Zhu Hui’s clothes, pants, mouth, and eyes were all normal.
“When you pluck a leaf, will a new one grow on the tree immediately?” Xu Xunyue flipped the rather large leaf in his hand and saw a bit of sap at the broken vein, carrying the fresh scent of snow and vegetation mixed together.
“It can grow on its own,” Zhu Hui answered very seriously. “The tree won’t go bald.”
Xu Xunyue couldn’t help but laugh.
Although there was a more tree-friendly method—that is, he would describe it, and Zhu Hui would lead the way to wherever he wanted to see—this was, after all, a spiritual world. The trees here were not honest trees that grew in the soil and relied on the weather.
So it was fine to pluck a little more.
Zhu Hui didn’t mention that more tree-friendly method. It was unknown if he hadn’t thought of it, but Xu Xunyue felt that he mainly liked the form of giving the leaves to him.
Each memory leaf had a different shape, came from the Sentinel’s spiritual world, could be preserved in reality, and was like a small gift.
Somehow, it had been given an extra meaning.
It was a feeling that was hard to describe, yet both of them had experienced it.
In this novel and sweet atmosphere, a series of “awoo” and “whimper” sounds suddenly came from behind them, followed by the crunching sound of animal paws running on the ice.
The two of them looked at the same time.
A sub-adult-sized snow wolf was running wildly toward them.
It ran very fast. Every time its four legs touched the ice, it would kick up a bit of ice and snow. Its body was almost a white blur.
Only the back half of its tail was pitch black, and it was drooping unnaturally, as if something were pressing on it, tucked between its two hind legs.
Xu Xunyue heard it calling out with its mouth and shouting wildly in its mind at the same time.
[Someone do something about me! Little Hui, make your Guide do something!]
[This powerful Guide, can you make your spiritual body stop copying me?]
[I really can’t take it anymore, ahhhhhhhh!!!]
[Even if you guys smell good… and I like you guys… you can’t… copy me… mmmph mmmph mmmph…]
Generally speaking, a spiritual body’s meaning and emotions could only be clearly transmitted to its master’s mind, so the snow wolf’s output was half venting and half a conversation with Zhu Hui.
Zhu Hui of course received the information transmitted by his spiritual body, but he clearly didn’t quite understand it.
What does “copying me” mean?
Is brother’s spiritual body copying my spiritual body?
Can that really happen?
Even if it can… that’s still brother’s spiritual body…
Before he could think it through, a torrent of wolf howls came from all directions.
Zhu Hui: “…?”
The snow wolf’s voice would be translated into specific meanings in his mind. This burst of noise had no meaning, so it wasn’t the sound of his spiritual body.
If it wasn’t his own spiritual body, what could it be?
On the other side, Xu Xunyue had just blocked out the shadows’ voices.
For Zhu Hui, that “torrent” was just pure noise, but for him…
Think about it. The snow wolf had just excitedly said so—so—many things.
For Xu Xunyue, it was like different speeds of playback on a loop, magnified and with an echo.
It was no different from mental pollution.
For the first time, he felt that letting his spiritual body grow freely was something that needed to be restricted.
Sensing the Sentinel’s gaze quietly shifting toward him, Xu Xunyue sighed softly and ruthlessly recalled all the chattering shadows.
Anyway, the snowfield had already been cleaned up.
And this time, it was indeed their fault. He had told them before, they couldn’t bully the little wolf too much.
As the master of the spiritual body, a Guide with principles and a sense of right and wrong, Xu Xunyue said to the master of the victim’s spiritual body:
“That was my spiritual body copying it just now. It’s fine now. You can tell your spiritual body not to worry.”
“Oh… it’s fine.”
The master of the victim’s spiritual body nodded, looking thoughtful. After a long moment, he finally squeezed out a sentence: “They’re quite smart.”
