Inside Tianji Pavilion, Feng Xi faced Bai Ze, feeling as though her pitifully meager grass-born wisdom was running out.
Using the Eight Trigrams to save her life? Trying to guess the minds of supreme figures? The difficulty level of this was higher than making her go one-on-one against an Ancestor Wu!
"Master Bai Ze... C-Can this really work?" Feng Xi's voice was frail. "Are the thoughts of beings at that level something the likes of us can casually speculate on? What if I guess wrong? Wouldn't that just make me die even faster?"
Bai Ze chuckled as he shook his fan, radiating an aura of inscrutability. "Naturally, it does not mean having you guess out of thin air. You must combine their actions, words, Dao paths, and even the grand trends of heaven and earth for comprehensive analysis. And those 'thoughtless remarks' you happen to overhear are precisely precious windows for catching a glimpse of the ripples in their hearts."
He walked over to the massive star chart, his feathered fan lightly tapping the blurred points of light representing Zixiao Palace and Luohou Palace.
"Take these two as examples. Dao Ancestor Hongjun, who has embodied the Heavenly Dao, appears aloof, detached, and seemingly devoid of desires or cravings. Yet during his lectures at Zixiao Palace, he bestowed holy positions and laid out plans across the Primordial World—can he truly be entirely selfless? Demon Ancestor Rahu stirs up wind and clouds, establishing the Demon Path to contend against the Heavenly Dao with supreme tyranny—is he simply being evil? Behind their words and actions must lie profound intent: perhaps contending for the Dao, perhaps seeking transcendence, or perhaps... something else."
"Something else?" Feng Xi asked, curious.
"For instance," a flash of cunning crossed Bai Ze's eyes, "the words 'fetters' and 'entanglement' spoken by Fairy Changxi, though projections of her own state of mind, might not be entirely useless as an angle of observation. Those two have fought for eternity, each actually being the existence that understands the other best. Does this extreme opposition itself constitute a form of peculiar 'symbiosis'? If one were to suddenly vanish, would the other feel... 'desolate'?"
Feng Xi was left gaping in utter astonishment. This train of thought... was even more bizarre and eccentric than her own inner complaints! Bai Ze truly lived up to his name!
"Of course, this is an extreme conjecture and cannot be relied upon entirely." Bai Ze withdrew his gaze. "Yet it shows that even supreme beings are not made of stone. Since your divine ability can draw the attention of the Heavenly Dao, perhaps it can also... subtly touch upon the edges of these beings' emotional states."
Feng Xi felt every blade of her grass body trembling. "Touch upon their emotional states? Master Bai Ze, are you trying to make me play psychologist to the Dao Ancestor and the Demon Ancestor?!" She would be beaten to ashes for this!
"Not at all, not at all." Bai Ze laughed helplessly. "It is to give you something to ponder in your heart, so that if you should unfortunately—ahem, fortunately—happen to face them in the future, you will have an extra ounce of preparation and a sliver of survival. For instance, if you sense the other party is in a bad mood, perhaps you can reinforce an intent of 'peace'? If you sense they harbor thoughts of 'inquiry', perhaps you can appear slightly more 'candid'? In short, adapt to changing circumstances and flow with the current."
Feng Xi: "..." That sounded completely reasonable, but she had absolutely no idea how to pull it off! This was as absurd as telling an ant to figure out the mood of an elephant!
"Then... Your Majesty and the Eastern Emperor?" Feng Xi decided to start asking about the relatively "simpler" bosses first.
"His Majesty possesses grand strategies and unmatched ambition, aiming to unite the Heavenly Court and the Primordial World. His mind is resolute, yet he also values affection, even more so than the brotherly bond of Your Majesty the Eastern Emperor. The Eastern Emperor appears even more detached, single-mindedly guarding his older brother and the Heavenly Court, with the Chaos Clock being the physical embodiment of his will. For the two of them, 'loyalty', 'devotion', or 'order' might be the key factors." Bai Ze analyzed, "As for those two on the Lunar Star, Goddess Xihe is outwardly gentle yet inwardly resolute, while Fairy Changxi appears rather resentful... As for the Wu Clan, their thoughts are relatively straightforward—they value strength, worship Pangu, and their emotions are mostly tied to the laws they govern..."
Bai Ze spoke fluently and at length, analyzing the personality traits of each supreme figure and the things they might care about with impeccable logic. It left Feng Xi in a daze, feeling completely overloaded with information until her brain was nearly reduced to mush.
Was this even psychological analysis of Primordial big shots? This was practically a top-tier survival guide for palace intrigue in the Primordial World!
"Of course, human hearts change easily, and the Heavenly Heart is hard to fathom." Bai Ze finally concluded, "These are merely conjectures based on existing information and are by no means absolute conclusions. Fellow Daoist, you must experience this yourself and apply it flexibly. Remember, the greatest rule for saving your life remains 'caution' and 'keeping a low profile'."
Floating in a daze, Feng Xi walked out of Tianji Pavilion feeling as though she had been forcefully force-fed a complete manual on "Taboos for Interacting with Primordial Big Shots," her mind packed to the brim with all sorts of "precautions" and "danger signals."
She tried to digest this information, only to find herself even more at a loss.
The more you know, the more you fear!
Now, whenever she saw Di Jun and Taiyi, she would subconsciously analyze their micro-expressions to see if they were in a bad mood; whenever she saw the Wu Clan, she would ponder whether their blood-qi fluctuations were growing restless again; even upon seeing the sun and lunar stars in the sky, she would recall the gossip of Xihe and Changxi...
There was simply no living like this! She was about to drive herself into developing persecutory paranoia!
Yet, fate seemed hell-bent on giving her a rigorous workout.
Just a few days later, while Feng Xi was at the Crafts Bureau providing "collaboration buff" support for Leng Geda and Old Huotou's new project—the "Water-Fire Harmonizing Alchemy Furnace"—an indescribable, terrifying pressure that felt capable of freezing the soul descended upon the Heavenly Court without warning!
The entire Heavenly Court fell instantly dead silent. Every single demon, regardless of cultivation level, felt a tremor stemming from the very instincts of life and involuntarily prostrated themselves on the ground!
Feng Xi's Golden Light of Merit activated autonomously to its absolute limit, barely preventing her from collapsing on the spot, though her face remained pale and her entire body stiff.
Terrified, she raised her head to see an indistinct black figure, seemingly condensed from endless demonic intent, quietly manifest in the high heavens. Its gaze was detached as it overlooked the entire Heavenly Court!
It was Demon Ancestor Rahu! Or rather, an ideational projection of him!
Why had he suddenly descended upon the Heavenly Court?! Could it be because of her previous self-destructive remarks and actions, and he had finally come to settle accounts?!
Scared out of her wits, Feng Xi's mind went completely blank. All the lessons Bai Ze taught about "guessing minds" and "adapting to circumstances" vanished entirely, leaving only the most instinctive fear.
From the direction of Lingxiao Hall, two brilliant golden rainbows soared into the sky. The figures of Di Jun and Taiyi manifested, standing in confrontation with that demonic shadow. The illusory phantom of the Chaos Clock floated and sank behind Taiyi, exuding an aura capable of suppressing the heavens.
"Rahu!" Di Jun's voice carried unprecedented gravity. "What is your intent?"
That demonic shadow ignored Di Jun entirely. Its gaze swept across the Heavenly Court before finally... landing directly on the direction of the Crafts Bureau—or more precisely, landing squarely on Feng Xi!
Feng Xi felt that gaze like a physical icicle, piercing so deeply it threatened to freeze the core of her grass stalk! It's over! He really did come for her!
Subconsciously, she wanted to drop to her knees and beg for mercy, but the Golden Light of Merit within her was spinning wildly under this extreme pressure. Moreover, having fused with multiple powers (Sun, Lunar, Earth, and Wu Clan blood-qi), it generated a bizarre resistance that allowed her to barely keep her footing.
The demonic shadow's gaze lingered on her for a full three breaths. Those three breaths felt as long as three epochs.
In the grip of extreme terror, Feng Xi's brain instead grew starkly clear. Fragments of Bai Ze's words flashed past: "...Demon Ancestor... tyrannical... opposing the Heavenly Dao... perhaps seeking transcendence... emotional state..."
Transcendence? Opposing the Heavenly Dao? Then why was he paying attention to her... Was it because she could trigger Heavenly Dao Merit? Was he curious? Did he want to study her? Or perhaps... did he want to destroy her?
She couldn't show weakness! She couldn't let him think she was someone he could casually manipulate! But she couldn't provoke him either!
In a flash of lightning, inspiration struck Feng Xi. She desperately forced down her terror, mobilizing all her mental focus—not to defend, not to attack, but to infuse an extremely complex and contradictory intent into her Golden Light of Merit: that was an ultimate yearning for "freedom," a natural resistance to "restraint," and a trace of... subtle provocation toward the "existing order"?
This intent was not something she dreamed up out of nowhere; rather, it was a blend of her soul's essence as a time traveler, her fear of the established destiny of the Primordial World, and the core doctrine of the Demon Path—"defying the heavens"!
Riding upon her Golden Light of Merit, she cautiously, almost instinctively, "pushed" this wildly complex cluster of intent directly toward the demonic shadow's gaze.
There was no aggressiveness to it; it felt more like... a silent declaration and resonance!
The demonic shadow's gaze seemed to ripple, and the pressure that froze everything loosened by an infinitesimal fraction. He "looked" deeply at Feng Xi, his eyes seemingly carrying a hint of indescribable... amusement? Or even a fleeting trace of... appreciation?
Immediately afterward, the demonic shadow let out an ambiguous chuckle, like ice cracking. The next instant, it vanished into thin air as if it had never appeared at all.
The terrifying pressure vanished abruptly.
The demons of the Heavenly Court gasped for air like people rescued from drowning, still shaken to their core.
Di Jun and Taiyi hovered in midair, their expressions grave as they exchanged glances, both of their eyes filled with incomprehension. Rahu's sudden descent and departure seemed to have been solely for the purpose of... taking a look?
Drained of all strength, Feng Xi collapsed to the ground, her entire body soaked in cold sweat, her heart hammering wildly as if it would burst out of her chest.
Just now... she seemed to have... muddled through in an extremely dangerous way?
Bai Ze's figure instantly appeared beside her, supporting her as he asked urgently, "How is it? What did he do to you? What did he say?"
With trembling lips and lingering fear, Feng Xi shook her head. "N-Nothing... He just looked at me for a moment... I-I just thought... I don't want to be controlled... it's kind of annoying... and then..."
She rambled incoherently, having no idea what she had even expressed.
Yet Bai Ze's eyes lit up brightly, and he quickly recorded the details: "Sensing extreme threat... instinctive reaction... intent leaning toward 'freedom', 'resistance to restraint', 'subtle provocation'... Demon Ancestor's reaction: pressure slightly eased, revealing amusement... suspected resonance? Finally departed..."
Finishing his notes, Bai Ze looked at Feng Xi with an expression of utter complexity, filled with incredulous awe. "Fellow Daoist... did you actually... guess correctly? Or rather... you guessed right by blind luck?"
Feng Xi: "???" What did she guess right?
Bai Ze took a deep breath. "Demon Ancestor Rahu's Dao lies in 'defiance', 'free-spiritedness', and 'breaking restraints'. Your intent of 'freedom' and 'resistance' just happened to hit the mark, perfectly catering to his mindset! Not only was he not angered, but he might have even found you... rather interesting because of it?"
Feng Xi's jaw dropped, unable to close for a long while.
Just like that? Because of *that*? She had just strolled back from the gates of death?
The minds of big shots... truly, you shouldn't guess! Even if you guess, it's useless! It's all just blind luck!
Regardless, she seemed to have... survived again?
Lumped on the ground, Feng Xi looked up at the clear sky once more, feeling that the emotional roller-coaster of a grass's life was simply too stimulating.
Having been through this ordeal, she suddenly felt that the gossip and petty concerns of those technical masters, Ancestor Wu, and fairies from before were simply adorable and amiable!
At least... she could still barely touch upon the edges of their minds!
As for those at the level of the Demon Ancestor and Dao Ancestor... she'd better continue keeping a low profile!
As for the course on guessing the minds of big shots, she feared she would never pass it!