Yun Xi was quietly exchanging voice transmissions with Qin Tongshuang, dissecting Ming Ya's so-called "tea art" and pointing out all the hidden traps and baited words beneath the surface. Qin Tongshuang listened, wide-eyed and dazed, clearly overwhelmed by how much Yun Xi had already deciphered.
Just then, everyone's attention shifted as a strange light flickered from the jade pendant at Zhou Langchen's waist. Conversation ceased, and all eyes turned toward him.
Zhou Langchen raised a hand to brush across the surface of the jade token. A glimmer of joy flashed in his eyes as he looked up and said, "I've received a message from a fellow disciple. This jade token will guide us to meet up with them."
After speaking, he briefly oriented himself, then vanished in a flash, heading off at full speed.
The rest of the group immediately followed. The fact that he had received a message proved that others were in the city—they had simply been searching in the wrong places. Meeting up with his group would allow them to gather more intel and understand the situation better.
But it wasn't long before Yun Xi realized where the path was taking them.
"Senior Sister Mu, this road leads to the City Lord's estate."
"I noticed. Let's observe a bit longer before making a move."
Clearly, Mu Ningzhu had also picked up on the same thing.
Roughly half an hour later, they saw Zhou Langchen reunite with two cultivators, both clad in robes bearing the insignia of the Ming Jian Sect. The moment they saw him, both men were visibly excited.
They exchanged a few words, and then Zhou Langchen turned and called out, voice raised, "We need to go, now. Once the sun sets, all space in this city will begin to collapse, except for the City Lord's estate. Anyone left outside will be crushed by the spatial pressure."
Everyone's expression changed instantly.
Mu Ningzhu immediately summoned her flying sword and took to the air, bringing Zhang Yan with her.
Seeing that Mu Ningzhu's sword flight barely skimmed above the ground, Yun Xi quickly followed her example and flew low with Qin Tongshuang.
Qin Tongshuang couldn't help complaining, "As soon as we're back at the sect, I'm building my Foundation!"
Yun Xi pressed her lips together in a smile. She was just glad she had reached Foundation Establishment early.
Zuo Die'er and Ming Ya, both Foundation Establishment cultivators, also took to the skies on their swords. However, Zuo Die'er's sword flew just slightly higher than the others, and a hidden formation instantly activated and knocked her out of the air.
Ming Ya had no choice but to stop and help her up. Yun Xi and her group didn't even pause—just exchanged glances, silently agreeing that Zuo Die'er was hopelessly naive.
Any serious cultivation city would have anti-flight formations in place to prevent people from sword-flying through the streets. With so many cultivators coming and going, flying around recklessly would only cause trouble. The fact that Zuo Die'er made such a rookie mistake was... baffling.
After they reached the City Lord's estate safely, Zuo Die'er ran to Zhou Langchen, tearfully trying to win sympathy. But Zhou Langchen had no time to console her. He gave a perfunctory response before turning to speak with his fellow disciples.
Yun Xi's group remained silent, simply listening. They needed more information before making any real judgments.
Just then, over a hundred cultivators emerged from the estate. Every one of them looked at Yun Xi and the others with the same weary, sympathetic expression.
An hour passed before Yun Xi and the others finally pieced together what had happened.
Everyone currently trapped in this city had gone through a similar experience. The only difference was that some were teleported here not after leaving the city, but after losing consciousness—waking up to find themselves in an eerily deserted version of the city.
Upon regaining consciousness, they found the city empty. They banded together to investigate, but before they could uncover anything, the entire city began to tremble violently, as if overlapping with another dimension, threatening to crush the empty city entirely.
They tried to flee, but no matter what they did, they couldn't escape Shuangshan City. Several cultivators died in the chaos before they discovered the only safe place—the City Lord's estate. It was the only location unaffected by the collapsing space.
Everyone had rushed here and made the estate their temporary stronghold.
During the daytime, the empty city returned to normal, and the trapped cultivators would scatter to search for a way out. Unfortunately, their efforts had yielded nothing. They even tried sending distress signals, but all message talismans failed. They could communicate within the city, but none of the messages could reach the outside world.
Eventually, some cultivators from the Ming Jian Sect managed to send a distress signal using their identity jade tokens. Although it brought their fellow disciples to them, those reinforcements ended up trapped as well.
"Senior Brother Zhou, that's everything we know. What should we do now?"
Zhou Langchen frowned, his brows drawing tighter as he listened. He had no answers.
The others fell into pensive silence.
After a moment, Yun Xi cleared her throat and asked, "Daoyou, where exactly did you send the distress signal from?"
The Mingjian Sect cultivator turned toward her. Realizing the question came from a young, fresh-faced female cultivator, he cupped his fists and replied, "We tried everywhere in the city, but only the message sent from within the City Lord's estate was successful."
Yun Xi exchanged a glance with Mu Ningzhu, then both turned toward Zhou Langchen.
Zhou Langchen responded quickly. "Wei Daoyou is suggesting the City Lord's estate serves as a bridge between two spatial realms, which is why only messages from here can get through."
"Exactly," Yun Xi nodded. "Didn't you mention wanting to investigate the City Lord's estate earlier? I think we were teleported here because someone realized we'd started uncovering the truth. That was their way of silencing us."
A seductive voice spoke up, belonging to a woman in violet robes. "Xiaoyou you noticed that people around you kept experiencing the exact same sequence when entering the city, didn't you?"
"Yes. Beautiful elder sister, you noticed too?" Yun Xi replied with a bright smile.
"Of course. My cultivation technique strengthens my divine sense beyond the limits of my body. Erasing my memory from the previous day? Impossible."
The violet-robed woman sauntered over gracefully to join their group.
Mu Ningzhu gave her a glance and sent Yun Xi a quick voice transmission. "She's from Hehuan Sect. Their cultivation methods are seductive in nature, so their divine sense is stronger than their physical bodies. How else could they bewitch others? Be careful around her—don't let her coax your Yuan Yin away."
Yun Xi nodded in understanding.
The Hehuan Sect woman seemed to think Yun Xi had also noticed the abnormal memory loss and asked, "How did you find out?"
It wasn't that Zi Jing looked down on Yun Xi, but the girl was so young that she couldn't believe Yun Xi's divine sense could rival her own.
Yun Xi offered a bashful smile. "An elder in my family left a soul imprint in my spirit."
With that answer, she indirectly made her background clear. Anyone thinking of targeting her would have to think twice.
"I see."
Zhou Langchen gathered everyone's input and summarized, "Putting everything together: A powerful cultivator in Shuang'an City erased the memories of all visiting cultivators to keep them from leaving. Those who sensed something was wrong and tried to escape were teleported here, so the anomaly couldn't be exposed to the outside world.
The City Lord's estate is the overlapping point between the two spaces, and the only safe zone. We need to find a way to escape from within this estate."
Zi Jing nodded in agreement. "Zhou Daoyou's analysis is sound, but we've already searched the entire City Lord's estate, top to bottom, without discovering anything."
One of Zhou Langchen's junior disciples added, "Senior Brother Zhou, it's true. The cultivators who were trapped here earliest have been stuck for over a month. We've scoured every corner."
Yun Xi suddenly interjected, "What if… we have to wait for a specific moment in time before anything can be found?"
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If you're curious and want to dive deeper into Yuan Yin, or Dual Cultivation feel free to check out my glossary on Webnovel. Just head over to my profile and look for the book titled The Xianxia Handbook: A Guide to Cultivation and Beyond. You'll find it covered in Chapter 21: Physiques, Body, and Its Practice.
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"tea-art" (茶艺, chá yì) in a social or metaphorical context, especially in scenes involving passive-aggressive or subtle manipulative dialogue, it's not about brewing actual tea. Instead, it's a tongue-in-cheek reference to a style of speech or behavior that appears calm, elegant, and virtuous on the surface, but is actually filled with subtext, jabs, or manipulation.
Why "Tea" as a Metaphor?
In Chinese culture, tea ceremonies are associated with:
-Elegance and restraint – Sipping tea slowly, speaking indirectly.
-Layered meanings – Good tea has complexity; so do "tea-style" words.
-Poison in beauty – Historically, poison could be hidden in tea (e.g., palace scheming).
Thus, when a character's words are called "tea", it implies they're crafting sentences like a tea master brews tea: seemingly delicate, but with a bitter or toxic aftertaste.
When someone says a character is "performing tea-art" (在表演茶艺, zài biǎoyǎn chá yì), they're being sarcastic. It means the character is putting on an elegant act, appearing sincere and gentle, but actually scheming or manipulative.
It implies a kind of "performance" of gentleness that masks calculated emotional influence—especially common in palace intrigue, social rivalries, or love triangle situations.
Common "Tea" Speech Patterns
Innocent Provocation
"Oh, I didn't mean anything by it~" (while clearly stirring conflict).
"Sister, you're so brave to wear that. I'd never dare!" (backhanded compliment).
Self-Deprecation as a Weapon
"I'm just a fool compared to you…" (to guilt-trip or fish for praise).
False Concern
"Are you tired? You look… unwell." (implying they look terrible).
Baiting Reactions
"Of course, someone like you wouldn't understand." (daring the listener to protest).
Compliments with a double meaning
"You're so confident wearing something like that. I could never pull it off.")
Indirect accusations
"Not everyone would be able to endure such rumors and still act so dignified like you.")
Strategic vulnerability
"I'm just so worried that my presence is making everyone uncomfortable. I really shouldn't have come."
You'll often see "tea-art" associated with characters who:
Play the victim to gain sympathy.
Use flowery, refined speech to shame or pressure others indirectly.
Pretend to be morally superior while making others look bad.
Manipulate through tone, politeness, and implication rather than outright conflict.