Zhang Wuji kept an eye out for Jiang Yingyue during classes and approached her as soon as the classes ended. He didn't want to delay. He knew himself, if he waited anymore he would find a perfectly good reason to avoid the whole thing.
Outside the lecture hall. The crowd was thinning rapidly. The lecture hall was surrounded by herb gardens with a single path extending into the distance from the entrance. Zhang Wuji called out to Jiang Yingyue not far from the entrance. She turned around. After looking at who it was, she stopped and waited for him to catch up.
"Uh, remember me?"
"Yes, is there something you need?"
He looked around at the thinning crowd and said "No just saw you in the class and wanted to know how you were doing."
"I'm fine." "What about you?" She asked after a pause.
"I'm good." The place was now almost empty. He was thinking how he should bring up the topic. Multiple starters were thought and rejected every second. The result was a small awkward pause.
"Is Wang Bao still troubling you?" She broke the silence first.
"Hm? Ah no, I had a friend who helped me out." He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts and answered reflexively. It took him a second to understand the implication and smiled inwardly. 'What about you?' The follow up question came up in his thoughts immediately, but, he was scared to ask.
Seeing him immersed in thoughts Jiang Yingyue bowed slightly "Thank you for your concern. I'll take my leave now."
"No wait!" He was brought back to reality and exclaimed.
"Hm?"
"Um.. I.. I actually wanted to speak with you."
"What is it?"
"I wanted to apologize, I am sorry." He bowed deep. His heart beat fast, he knew what her response would be. But he just couldn't come up with a way to explain so he thought he would apologize first before he could chicken out and think of the explanation as he speaks.
"What do you have to apologize for?" She took a big step forward intending to help him up but stopped herself in the end.
"I,I.. I- after what happened, I seemed to have involuntarily blamed you for what you did- no no, blamed you for what happened. I mean you must have had your reasons I am in no position to judge you- not that I'm judging- no, I am judging, but I don't want to and I'm sorry for that." He said the whole thing in a single breath and closed his eyes tight and tensed his whole body.
The kick he expected didn't come. He opened his eyes. His body relaxed a bit. He tilted his head a bit to see what was in front. His sight reached her feet. She was still standing at her initial position. He breathed out and most of the tension left his body.
"Senior sister Jiang, it is selfish of me to do what I am doing. I apologize for this too. But the guilt is too much for me to bear. I am willing to take any punishment you throw my way, I hope you could find it in your heart to forgive me."
"Get up."
Zhang Wuji lifted his head and after confirming she meant it, slowly lifted his body.
"Although you blame me, you think that is wrong and feel guilt. It must have been difficult to apologize to me." She looked at him for a moment before continuing "I'm sorry too."
He looked at her puzzled.
"In a way you're in trouble because of me."
"No it wasn't because of you I-"
She raised her hand indicating him to stop "I forgive you and I hope you will forgive me too. You are a good man Zhang Wuji, I hope you stay that way."
After finishing what she had to say she turned around and left. Zhang Wuji remained standing on the spot unable to comprehend what happened. After some time he moved. He had to meet his mentor and didn't want to be late. Though he didn't understand everything that happened, one thing was certain, she forgave him. If Han Dongfang's theory is not wrong, it would show it's effects soon enough.
....
After watching his mentor make a furnace of qi recovery pills for the nth time, Zhang Wuji had dinner with Pan Mu and went for a walk.
'Alchemist Zou is really amazing, he manages to make the same old boring thing seem like a whole new thing. Sigh, whatever I learn will be for naught if I remain stuck in fifth level. I'll wait for a week after which I'll seek Dongfang's help.'
He started thinking back to what Han Dongfang said. Once his emotional state falls back from it's excitement, his qi flow will go back to an altered natural state flow from the forced flow. That would take some time. Unlike in cultivation where the qi flow is consciously forced, emotional excitement involves involuntary force so restoration similarly would happen out of one's control at it's own pace.
According to him, complete restoration would happen within a day from the removal of emotional influence. When the emotional influence disappears, or whether it would disappear or not remains a mystery. He recommended waiting for one lunar month.
The moon has an inexplicable influence on one's mind. If a month meaning all lunar phases pass and there is no change in emotional state, it could only mean that the trigger was not the right one. They could then only search for the right trigger, or conclude that their assumption that qi flow disruption was caused by an emotional state is wrong.
Even if all their reasoning was right and the qi flow is restored, he will have to remove the alteration caused by prolonged emotional excitation. Han Dongfang gave him some breathing techniques for that purpose. Breath was the direct consequence of qi flow in the body. One who hasn't reached qi condensation could only use such breathing techniques to indirectly influence qi flow.
'How could she say she was sorry? She did nothing wrong, in fact I'm the one at fault for opening up old wounds. I couldn't even be man enough to apologize to her in the presence of a crowd. I made her wait till the crowd dispersed and she mentioned none of that! And worst of all I..' He couldn't continue the line of thought. The thoughts evolved to a feeling of disgust.
'She had to hear what I can't bear to think, and she forgave me just like that. Sigh, I really have a lot to learn.' He looked down at his chest and softly patted where his heart would be 'Don't worry, in this world, we will have a lot of time to learn.'
'I spoiled you all these years, I apologize. This time, I'll do things right. As my first step, I'll start with forgiving you for being unreasonable. We'll set you straight together, bear with me.'
Right after he said that his chest was filled with a soothing warmth which he felt spreading throughout his body. He closed his eyes relishing the feeling. After what seemed like a long time he opened his eyes, the slight smile he unconsciously had on his face turned into a foolish grin. He broke through.
'Little Fang Fang, I owe you one. Didn't know break throughs could feel so good. Still, I wonder what happened.' He picked his pace and reached the cave soon. He excitedly paced in the cave waiting for Han Dongfang. Han Dongfang was free for five weeks after which he was going on a trip with his master. They had decided to meet periodically before that. Today they had planned to discuss the effects of the apology.
After waiting for half an hour Han Dongfang finally came.
"I broke through!" Zhang Wuji hugged him with excitement.
"Alright alright calm down now. What happened?"
Zhang Wuji told him everything in detail. He wanted to know what exactly happened.
"Hmm, looks like your acceptance of your nature led to a strong emotion that hastened the restoration and also rectified the alteration. The re-establishment of your natural flow seems to have rectified the blockages created by the negative excitement and the excess qi mixed naturally with your body." Han Dongfang removed his palm from Zhang Wuji's back and said.
"Excess qi?" Zhang Wuji turned around to face Han Dongfang and asked in puzzlement.
"Yeah, you've been training for all these months and accumulated quite a bit of qi in blockages created by irregular qi flow. After long association the qi became very compatible with your body and was thus easily absorbed."
"How does that work?"
"Don't worry about it, you'll see when you reach qi condensation."
"Dongfang, thank you very much. Without your help who knows how long it would've been before I reached the next level. Any help you want in the future, I promise I won't say no." Zhang Wuji gave him a deep bow.
"Relax brother, there is no need to be so serious. I just held my end of the bargain." He slapped Zhang Wuji on the back almost making him kiss the cave floor.
They talked for a while longer before Zhang Wuji left. Unlike Han Dongfang he needed to sleep everyday. Though he was too excited to sleep, he didn't want to break schedule and end up effecting his life.