This time, to save her own life, she had fled the Gu Manor in time.
She hadn't expected that even after her escape, Gu Lianxue would still find someone to swap spirit roots with.
She wondered who the unlucky soul targeted by Gu Lianxue was this time, having their high-grade water spirit root stolen away just like that.
The spirit root she obtained wasn't her original one. Could Gu Lianxue truly go far on the path of cultivation?
At that thought, Gu Ningyun shook her head inwardly.
No, that person’s mind wasn't on cultivation at all; she just played with schemes and power.
Little did she know that for a cultivator, strength was the only truly reliable thing.
No matter how many schemes one had, as long as one's strength was sufficient, a single sword strike could end it all. Who would dare utter a word of criticism then?
However, although Gu Lianxue had still swapped spirit roots with someone, things were ultimately different from the original book.
What surprised her most was that Gu Lianxue still hadn't resolved the issue of spirit root rejection.
Was it because it was a water spirit root this time instead of a wind spirit root, so the old Daoist couldn't solve it? Or was it because her escape from the Gu Manor had caused a rift between the family and the old Daoist?
Was the old Daoist’s ultimate goal Gu Lianxue, or was it to target the original host—to target her?
Gu Lianxue’s situation in the Star-Moon Sect also differed somewhat from the original book.
She remembered that in the book, Gu Lianxue was accepted by the Taiyi Peak Master as a closed-door disciple, rather than just a progeny disciple.
A high-grade water spirit root really wasn't as satisfying as a top-grade wind spirit root, after all.
Because Gu Lianxue resembled the daughter of his 'white moonlight,' the Taiyi Peak Master doted on her in every possible way, to the point of being utterly blinded by bias and closed-minded indulgence.
Based on the messages from Mr. Fenghua, this point remained the same as in the original book.
Only this time, Gu Lianxue’s reputation was quite poor—it almost felt like she was becoming infamous.
In the original book, although Gu Lianxue also committed these acts of framing and slander, she was protected by two progeny senior brothers. The inner sect disciples who suffered dared not speak out, so these matters never came to light.
This time, those two progeny senior brothers didn't seem as protective of her as they were in the original book.
It made sense. In the book, although Gu Lianxue was lax in her cultivation, a top-grade wind spirit root was incredibly powerful. With just a little meditation, her cultivation speed was comparable to an ordinary single spirit root.
This time, not only was Gu Lianxue a useless person who possessed a spirit root but couldn't cultivate, but she also framed her third progeny senior sister for her spirit root issues.
That third senior sister had cultivated with the two senior brothers for many years. How could their long-standing bond compare to a new little junior sister like Gu Lianxue?
Gu Lianxue’s framing was essentially poking a hornet's nest and violating her senior brothers' principles.
It was no wonder they weren't protecting her as they had in the original book.
Without the two progeny disciples suppressing the news, the victims had quietly leaked these matters.
As for why the Taiyi Peak Master didn't stop it?
According to the original book, this Peak Master held a high position and didn't understand the younger generation very well. He naturally wasn't as thorough in his considerations as the two progeny disciples.
Gu Ningyun guessed that since Gu Lianxue’s scandal had spread across the Five Continents, as seen in the message, it had clearly incited public wrath, likely due to the unfair distribution of resources.
For the sake of her spirit root, Taiyi Peak had actually diverted resources toward a single person.
This diversion directly affected the interests of all disciples on Taiyi Peak, offending everyone at once.
Truly, she was reaping what she sowed.
She just had to go through with that harmful scheme of swapping spirit roots.
The main concern was still that old Daoist.
She didn't know where he had obtained such a wicked method for swapping spirit roots. Despite her many visits to the Book Peak library, she had found no similar records or warning cases.
After finishing with the massive drama surrounding Gu Lianxue, Gu Ningyun put away her identity jade token and made a trip to the Wuxin City market at the foot of Xiaoyao. She bought a pile of spirit plant seeds and seedlings.
Upon returning to her Cloud Residence and activating the array, she entered her space and planted the seeds and seedlings near the Yimu spirit marrow.
Not long after planting, Gu Ningyun felt a connection forming between the seedlings, the seeds, and the Yimu spirit marrow.
It seemed the seeds were absorbing Yimu energy.
Gu Ningyun was delighted. The results were better than expected. She had thought it would take some time to see if these spirit plants would survive, but there was a reaction as soon as they hit the soil.
After a moment's thought, she went outside to the courtyard, broke off a branch from the Spirit-Heart Peach Tree, and planted it in the space.
Only after finishing this did Gu Ningyun go to look at the small tree that had been by the spirit spring since the beginning.
The small tree was the same as it had been at the start—without a single leaf.
Gu Ningyun had compared its bark patterns in the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 but hadn't found a single spirit tree that resembled it. She had no idea what this tree actually was.
The tree had shown no signs of life, and watering it with spirit spring water produced no reaction. Gu Ningyun had almost suspected it was just a dead tree.
It wasn't until a few days ago, right after she had placed the Yimu spirit marrow in the space, that she noticed the tree was absorbing Yimu energy. Only then was she certain it was alive.
Looking at it again today, the Yimu energy within the tree was even richer. At the same time, it provided a feedback of extremely pure wood-breath and life force.
Feeling the cycle of energy between the spirit plants and breathing in the fresh, thick wood-breath, Gu Ningyun felt her mood lift.
It was truly worthy of being a top-grade wind spirit root mutated from maxed-out fire and wood spirit energy.
Although she could only cultivate wind spirit energy and wind-attribute techniques, the original fire and wood factors of her wind spirit root made her extremely sensitive and attuned to spirit plants and wood-attribute energy.
She wondered how it would be with the fire element. Perhaps she would have a chance to tame an exotic fire for fun in the future.
She had felt the rejection from fire-attribute cultivation methods, yet she had also felt the ease of drawing fire-attribute talismans.
In essence, she was a top-grade wind spirit root and could develop that to its limit.
Yet she also possessed an affinity for fire and wood that only those with top-grade fire or wood single spirit roots would have.
The wind spirit root mutated from fire and wood spirit energy, but wind and wind spirit energy were entirely different from fire and wood—they were fundamentally different energies.
Generating yet repelling each other, related yet distinct.
The five natural elements and natural energy were truly miraculous, making one want to explore and pursue them endlessly.
The spirit spring next to the small tree was as smooth as a mirror.
Regarding this pool of spirit spring water that had brought her so many benefits from the start, Gu Ningyun had also looked it up in the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》.
She had found mentions of spirit springs that could cleanse the marrow, but their shapes, colors, and scents didn't match the spring in her space.
Besides cleansing the marrow, the spirit spring in her space seemed to have the effect of nourishing the primordial spirit.
Previously, when she lacked energy from mining spirit stones or when her divine sense was exhausted a few days ago, she had tried drinking the spirit spring water.
Every time she was mentally fatigued or had a headache from divine sense exhaustion, drinking the spirit spring water provided great relief.
Although it couldn't directly restore the consumed divine sense, the recovery speed of her divine sense was much faster after drinking it.
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