“I can manage on my own, Senior.”
Gu Ningyun struggled slightly, but as she moved, her shoulder flared with pain, causing her body to stiffen involuntarily.
Seeing her reluctance, the female cultivator let go of her.
“Senior, you are an alchemist. May I ask you a question?”
“Speak,” the female cultivator replied, remaining in her crouched position.
“I have low-grade five-element spirit roots. Everyone says that it’s difficult for someone with my roots to even achieve qi induction, and that cultivation is hopeless in this lifetime.
If I earn enough spirit stones, are there any suitable pills that could assist someone like me in my cultivation?”
The female cultivator fell silent for a long time before she slowly spoke.
“Even with top-grade five-element spirit roots, the combined thickness of all five is not even a tenth of a single spirit root.
Low-grade five-element spirit roots contain ninety percent impurities, making their attraction to spirit energy almost zero.
This is the fundamental reason why five-element spirit roots are known as trash spirit roots.
Even if there were pills to provide spirit energy, a low-grade five-element spirit root could hardly absorb any of it.
Most of that energy would simply dissipate from the body through breathing, wasting the pills and spirit stones for nothing.”
So that was the reason why low-grade five-element spirit roots could not cultivate.
It was a matter of innate biology. No matter how hard she worked, she could not break through or compensate for it.
Gu Ningyun felt a wave of disappointment and despair.
She didn't ask if there was a way to improve the grade of a spirit root.
There were so many people in the cultivation world without single spirit roots; if such a method existed, those powerful experts would have long ago used it on their own descendants.
It was rare to encounter a cultivator willing to listen to a mortal child, so Gu Ningyun suppressed her emotions and forced herself to regain her composure.
“Aside from qi induction and absorbing spirit energy, is there no other way?”
The female cultivator was taken momentarily aback by the unwavering look in the girl’s eyes.
“For anyone else with low-grade five-element spirit roots, there would be almost no other way.”
She hesitated for a long while before slowly continuing, “Child, you endured the pain in your shoulder without a single cry. Such resilience is rare in this world.
Perhaps there truly is one way, a sliver of a possibility.”
“What is it? As long as you tell me, Senior, I am willing to try anything.”
The female cultivator tapped her finger against Gu Ningyun’s forehead, and a body refining cultivation technique, the 《Wooden Post Body-Forging Manual》, was transmitted into her mind.
“This is a technique I came across by chance. It is of no use to me, so I shall give it to you.”
The voice rang directly in her ears; the female cultivator’s lips had not moved.
Then, she spoke aloud, “Perhaps you can try the path of body refining.”
“I thank you for your guidance, Senior.” Gu Ningyun stared at her, emotions surging within her heart.
She took a half-step back and gave a deep, respectful bow.
This time, the female cultivator accepted it and did not move away.
After parting ways with the cultivator, the pain in her shoulder and face surged back with a vengeance.
Seeing her stagger, the girl with the red hair tie immediately supported her. “Thank you for earlier. My name is Jin Zhu. What’s yours?”
“My name is Gu Ningyun.”
Gu Ningyun took her hand and placed the warm spirit stone into her palm. “Your spirit stone... keep it safe...”
Before she could finish her sentence, her vision went black.
Jin Zhu hurriedly caught her. “Why are you worrying about the spirit stone now! Even if it is very important!”
As she tilted her head, she saw that the person leaning against her was covered in sweat, eyes tightly shut, having lost consciousness.
.
Gu Ningyun’s consciousness returned, and she slowly opened her eyes.
She was in a strange room. Was this Jin Zhu’s home?
“Gu Ningyun, you’re awake!”
As she struggled to sit up in bed, Jin Zhu hurried to her side. “This is my home. I saw you faint, so I brought you here.”
“How long was I out?”
“From daytime until night. About half a day.”
Jin Zhu took some ointment and began applying it to her face. “You really can endure. You were hurt so badly, yet you didn't make a sound.
I thought the sound I heard when your shoulder was grabbed was just my imagination.
It wasn't until I undid your clothes to apply medicine that I realized—heavens, such a serious injury!”
As she spoke, the door opened and closed, and another girl about thirteen or fourteen years old entered. It was the leader she had seen before.
“Sister Bai Yun, why are you here?”
“I heard what happened and came to take a look.”
Bai Yun sat by the bed, her gaze falling on Gu Ningyun’s face.
At this close range, Gu Ningyun could feel the pressure Bai Yun exerted on mortals.
She was likely at the Qi Refining stage.
“Ningyun... greets Senior.”
“What is your objective?”
“What?”
“I noticed you a long time ago.
You came to the marketplace two months ago, and you’ve followed us many times since then.
What is your objective?”
Jin Zhu had already gently lifted the collar of Gu Ningyun’s robe, revealing her bruised, swollen left shoulder.
The previous ointment had been absorbed, so Jin Zhu dipped her finger into new ointment and reapplied it.
Bai Yun’s gaze uncontrollably shifted to the girl’s left shoulder, and she suddenly fell silent.
“Senior.”
Jin Zhu was applying the medicine very lightly, yet the pain still made Gu Ningyun’s entire body tremble.
Forcing herself to endure the pain, Gu Ningyun looked Bai Yun straight in the eyes and told the truth.
“Senior, I simply... wanted to join you.”
She pursed her lips. “I wanted to join, but I was afraid you would reject me.
That’s why I followed you, trying to find a way to avoid being turned away.”
How could the actions of a mortal escape the eyes of a cultivator?
In a situation like this, telling the truth was the wisest choice.
Bai Yun’s fingers curled slightly as she suddenly turned to ask, “Jin Zhu, she used you. Does that not bother you?”
Jin Zhu had climbed onto the bed and was sitting beside Gu Ningyun to apply medicine to the back of her shoulder.
“There is no such thing as kindness without a reason.
Regardless of why, the fact is that Ningyun was injured for my sake, helped me get my spirit stone back, and helped me vent my anger.
If it weren't for her, I would have been miserable today.”
Jin Zhu smiled faintly. “Most importantly, she has no ill will toward us, does she?”
Gu Ningyun nodded vigorously, accidentally aggravating her wound and causing her body to tremble again.
“Senior, Jin Zhu. I have low-grade five-element spirit roots. No sect is willing to take me.
I want to earn spirit stones to buy my own cultivation techniques, but no shop is willing to hire me.
Only here is there work that a child can do.”
Bai Yun remained silent for a moment.
Once Jin Zhu finished applying the medicine, Bai Yun reached out and gently straightened Gu Ningyun’s collar.
“Once your injuries have healed, I will introduce you to the others.”
Gu Ningyun looked up sharply. “Really?”
“Yes.”
Her observations and analysis had been correct.
Jin Zhu was a person of sincere character and an open heart.
As long as there was no malice and the help was genuine, she wouldn't care about the calculated intent behind it.
Jin Zhu was close with the leader, Bai Yun, and the other members. Saving her had been the perfect foot in the door.
As for Bai Yun, she was cold on the outside but soft-hearted, and she was very protective of the children under her.
To deal with such a person, one had to be honest.
The injury sustained for someone she cared about would be the best weapon.
As long as Bai Yun felt sympathy, Gu Ningyun would achieve her goal.
With nothing to her name, she was her only bargaining chip to reach her objectives.
It seemed that risking her body to save the girl had paid off; she had gambled correctly.
Enduring the bone-deep pain in her shoulder, Gu Ningyun leaned against the headboard, thinking about what cultivation resources she could buy once she earned some spirit stones.
Rate on N.U.
