11

Chapter 11: “Genius”

“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.