Pushing open the courtyard gate, the pink Spirit-Heart Peach Trees shimmered in the morning light.
Through the swaying branches, the drifting clouds were visible.
Gu Ningyun walked beneath a tree. Before her lay the shimmering surface of the lake, and a gentle breeze blew against her face, carrying the fragrance of Spirit-Heart Peach blossoms.
Despite living in Tingfeng for so long, she had never truly stopped to admire the scenery here.
Gu Ningyun crouched down and scooped up a handful of the cool lake water.
Sunlight filtered through the water and fell onto her palm.
The surrounding wind suddenly fell silent.
Gu Ningyun closed her eyes, entering a mysterious state of mind.
She felt her divine sense surge out from the lake water, pass through the Spirit-Heart Peach Trees, and ride the gentle breeze all the way into the clouds.
Behind the swirling layers of clouds, she captured a wisp of purple qi from the rising sun.
And in the heavens beyond the reach of her divine sense, starlight cascaded down like a tilted Milky Way.
These specks of starlight were well-hidden under the sunlight, yet Gu Ningyun’s divine sense could see them clearly.
Each wisp of starlight fell like a silver thread—slender and understated, yet faintly exuding an ancient aura that concealed an astonishing power.
With a slight thought, the starlight spiraled down toward her divine sense.
The breeze carried her divine sense past the treetops and vanished beside the girl beneath the tree.
The starlight was drawn into her body.
As the lake water drained from her hands, Gu Ningyun slowly opened her eyes.
“Hmm?”
As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw a duck's head shoved right in front of her face. Gu Ningyun instinctively took a step back.
Only then did she see a fat duck about as tall as she was standing before her.
The fat duck flapped its wings. “Quack! The little girl had an epiphany. Your talent isn't bad at all.”
An epiphany?
Gu Ningyun checked her internal state and found that the star power in her dantian was now as condensed as her wind spirit energy.
Furthermore, due to the passive operation of the 《Record of Primordial Stars》, her wind spirit energy and star power were now circulating together in a Minor Orbit, constantly cultivating on their own.
However, the speed of this automatic circulation was not as fast as when she sat in meditation.
Another change was her divine sense; she found that the strength of her primordial spirit had increased significantly.
If her primordial spirit had been a transparent phantom before, it was now as solid as a heavy brick.
Specifically, a flexible, humanoid brick.
The surface of the brick was covered in a layer of clear light that looked somewhat familiar.
Wait, the aura and appearance of this clear light seemed to be the clear dew she had obtained after reaching the top of the Stairway to Immortality.
That thing had vanished into her brow, and she had wondered where it went. It turned out it was inside her primordial spirit.
She mobilized a wisp of divine sense to poke it, but she still had no idea what the clear dew was for.
Aside from the changes to her primordial spirit, the range of her divine sense had also expanded, and she could control it with much greater ease.
Thinking back to her state just now, she felt a bit puzzled.
Was that an epiphany?
She had just felt the breeze, played with some water, and looked at the scenery, and she had an epiphany?
She remembered reading the original book, and Gu Lianxue, as the female lead, had never experienced an epiphany even once.
Perhaps sensing her confusion, the fat duck quacked, “Little girl, look at that silly expression. Don't you know what an epiphany is?”
Gu Ningyun withdrew her divine sense and looked at the fat duck. “I’m not very clear on it. Could Senior... enlighten me?”
The fat duck seemed very pleased and raised its head high. “Quack, quack! Since you’re so polite, this great one... ah, no, this senior!
“This senior will explain it to you!”
The fat duck waddled about with its head held high, pacing back and forth like a teacher giving a lecture.
“An epiphany is something that can be sought but not guaranteed. It only happens to those with exceptional comprehension.
“The word 'epiphany' sounds profound, but simply put, it is resonance with heaven and earth.
“When a cultivator has an epiphany, the most obvious and superficial changes are the growth of their cultivation and divine sense.
“But for a genius, an increase in cultivation is nothing.
“The true benefit of an epiphany is that it increases a cultivator’s potential, whether it be the potential of the primordial spirit or the physical body.”
Gu Ningyun listened with partial understanding; she seemed to grasp it, yet there was still a veil she couldn't see through.
She murmured, “Resonance with heaven and earth?”
“For a cultivator to seek immortality is to communicate with heaven and earth.” The fat duck waddled into the lake, wiggling its tail as it swam away.
Its final words drifted back from a distance: “Little girl, if you don't go to the dining hall now, you’re going to be late for class!”
Gu Ningyun looked up at the sun. Oh no!
...
After a hurried breakfast at the dining hall, Gu Ningyun stepped into the schoolroom just as Martial Aunt Yang walked through the door.
Well... she was almost late.
And she hadn't managed to memorize the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 this morning...
After Martial Aunt Yang entered, she handed each of them a box of needles.
If Gu Ningyun wasn't mistaken, these were just ordinary sewing needles used by mortals, but there was an entire box of them.
“This lesson on the application of spirit energy is primarily to train your control over it.”
Martial Aunt Yang used spirit energy to grab a handful of needles and place them on the table. “I call today’s training 'threading the needle'.
“What you must do is divide your spirit energy into an extremely fine wisp and pass it through the eye of the needle without damaging the needle itself.”
“Like this.”
A wisp of spirit energy extended from her fingertip and passed through the eye of a needle. The spirit energy acted like a thread, lifting the needle into the air.
“Once you are proficient with the first needle, keep it suspended and go for the second, and so on.”
As she spoke, Martial Aunt Yang drew out more wisps of spirit energy one after another, threading all the needles and hanging them in the air.
Seeing them listening intently, Martial Aunt Yang smiled slightly. “Of course, besides this method, you can also try using a single wisp of spirit energy to thread all the needles.
“Or if you have other ideas, you can try those too. Spirit energy is actually very obedient; you can control it however you wish.”
Martial Aunt Yang drew out a new wisp of spirit energy and threaded all the needles in sequence, holding them in her hand like a ring of keys.
“When manipulating spirit energy, remember to attach a trace of divine sense to it, otherwise you won't be able to control it once it leaves your body.”
After adding a few more details on spirit energy control and the use of divine sense, she said, “Start with a single needle. Begin.”
Gu Ningyun didn't try to thread the needle immediately.
She thought back to the feeling of mobilizing spirit energy to write during her translation mission.
Wind spirit energy had one defining characteristic: speed.
This was a great advantage for running away or fighting, but for a cute novice who had just started cultivation, speed also meant it was difficult to control.
Gu Ningyun separated an extremely fine wisp of spirit energy in her dantian and controlled it to move toward her fingertip at a constant speed.
She practiced this repeatedly. Only after she was certain she could flexibly control the amount and speed of the spirit energy did she tentatively lead it out of her index finger.
The slender wind spirit energy emerged from her finger and immediately dissipated into a wisp of breeze.
Gu Ningyun: “...”
Fine. Again.
Rate on N.U.
