Armed to the Teeth

Exiting the forum messages, she saw a pile of notifications in her five-person group chat. At first, they were discussing the recent events, but later they had left messages for her, saying they were going into seclusion for Foundation Establishment.

The last message was from Jun Luo, left about half a month ago.

Jun Luo: Ningyun, Master has been in the interrogation room every day lately. There should be news soon. Remember to check if anyone from Punishment Peak has messaged you once you finish your seclusion.

Gu Ningyun scrolled through her message interface. They were all messages from acquaintances; she didn't see anything from Punishment Peak.

She wasn't in a hurry. After replying to the messages, she put away her identity jade token.

Previously busy with her Foundation Establishment, she had only spared a single glance at the three storage rings. Now, she could finally organize them.

Inside the storage ring from her master, there was a zither, a flute, an erhu, and a guzheng. Every single one of them was a mysterious-rank top-grade artifact.

Seeing so many instruments, Gu Ningyun's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

Aside from the zither, she didn't know how to play any of them.

Next to the instruments was a set containing a mysterious-rank top-grade talisman pen, ink, and paper, along with various artifact refining and array materials.

Finally, there was one jade slip and two jade slit-rings.

She opened the jade slip and read the introduction to the slit-rings.

“Each jade slit-ring contains three of my attacks. If you encounter an enemy you cannot defeat, you can activate them with spirit energy. You currently only have a Foundation Establishment cultivation; activating a single attack will exhaust your spirit energy. Keep this in mind.”

Inside the storage ring from Martial Uncle Yi An, there were various refining and array materials, two jade slit-rings, and a jade slip.

The message in the jade slip read: “Ningyun, Xiaoyao encourages disciples to be self-reliant, so your martial uncle will not give you spirit stones. If you want to earn spirit stones, you can refine talismans, arrays, or artifacts to sell.”

A reminder was attached regarding the jade slit-rings.

Her master was at the middle stage of Soul Transformation, while Martial Uncle Yi An was at the early stage of Soul Transformation.

Her martial uncle's advice was similar to her master's—both told her to use them carefully.

At the end of the jade slip, there was also a list of standardized acquisition prices for artifacts, array plates, and talismans from the chamber of commerce.

Then there was the storage ring from her first senior brother...

Gu Ningyun's divine sense probed inside and immediately pulled back. Only after a moment did she look again.

It wasn't an illusion.

There were six sets of robes and dresses, each with a different style and function.

Some were for defense, some for absorbing and reflecting attacks, some for maintaining a constant temperature...

There were also six sets of accessories. Each set included hairbands, hairpins, dangling hairpins, forehead bands, veils, and masks.

There were even forehead chains, earrings, ear pendants, necklaces, collars, ornate yingluo necklaces, jade pendants, waist chains, and anklets.

Every single accessory had a defensive function.

Gu Ningyun: "..."

What was with her first senior brother? Was he trying to arm her to the teeth?

She picked up the jade slip he had left and read it.

“Junior Sister, these clothes and jewelry are all at the earth-rank early stage. Earth-rank early stage artifacts usually correspond to the Golden Core stage, so you shouldn't be able to use them, but these are different. I specifically refined them into automatic-trigger styles. You just need to wear them; they don't require spirit energy. If someone attacks you, as long as they aren't destroyed, they will function on their own.”

It was official: her first senior brother had a serious persecution complex.

She took out all the materials from the three storage rings and sorted them on the floor of the study.

She arranged the refining and array materials by rank. She kept the mysterious-rank items and put everything above that rank into her space.

She kept one light blue defensive robe in her storage ring and one set of jewelry, putting the rest into her space.

She kept the mysterious-rank talisman set and the three instruments. She kept one jade slit-ring from both her master and her martial uncle, putting the other two into her space.

She took out the yellow-rank items from the storage ring on her index finger and put them together with the yellow-rank items originally in her storage bag.

All the new items she kept were placed into the storage ring on her index finger.

After finishing the organization, the study returned to its tidy state.

Gu Ningyun took off the three emptied storage rings and put them into her space along with her storage bag, leaving only one storage ring on her index finger.

If she didn't organize them and wore them all on her fingers like before...

Even though storage rings could be made invisible, if an accident happened, she would lose everything. This was much safer.

Her master was also a sword talent who simultaneously cultivated the sword, spells, talismans, artifact refining, and arrays.

The next day, after studying with her master for a morning, she learned the sword-kinesis technique.

Sword-kinesis was actually somewhat different from object-kinesis.

Object-kinesis involved using spells to manipulate an artifact to fly, but sword-kinesis utilized sword qi.

By applying spirit energy, one condensed sword qi on the surface of the spirit sword and used that sword qi to cut through the air and fly.

This was why cultivators of the same rank flew faster with sword-kinesis than with object-kinesis.

After getting familiar with flying around Spirit-Attuning Peak, she learned the spell for object-kinesis from her master.

In truth, one didn't necessarily have to step on the sword or object; as long as the sword or object could support the body, it worked.

Gu Ningyun gripped her flute with her left hand and formed a hand seal with her right. The flute immediately pulled her upward.

Halfway through her flight, she passed by her first senior brother's Cloud Residence. He poked his head out from the protection shield.

Seeing Gu Ningyun's undignified appearance as she hung from the air with one hand, he covered his eyes tightly. "My fault. I didn't prepare an artifact for you to use for object-kinesis."

Gu Ningyun did two pull-ups with one hand. "Is it really that exaggerated? I think it's quite fun."

Shen Banxi: "..."

After she learned object-kinesis, her master explained the origin of Spirit-Attuning Peak's name and the matter of the Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens.

“Disciple, although you don't need to refine the Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens yourself right now, as a progeny of Spirit-Attuning Peak and a wind spirit root disciple, you must know how. In fact, the requirements for you will be even higher. While other disciples can complete them through cooperation, you must be able to do it independently. Only then will you be able to handle core tasks or anything else in the future. Independently refining a Spirit-Attuning Jade Token requires mastering three skills: artifact refining, talismans, and arrays. Can you accept this?”

As he said this, Yi Chu was actually a bit nervous.

Everyone's interests, ambitions, and talents were different. If his disciple truly had no interest in these things, he couldn't force her.

However, if that were the case, the heavy burden of Spirit-Attuning Peak would fall entirely on Banxi's shoulders.

The most exhausted Grand Elder in the history of Spirit-Attuning Peak...

Yi Chu's conscience pricked him slightly.

A high-grade wind spirit root was, in the end, a bit lacking.

He could only wait until Ningyun reached the Nascent Soul stage to have her take a disciple with a top-grade wind spirit root while he was still around. He could then train his grand-disciple to assist his disciple.

But top-grade wind spirit roots were too rare; it wasn't something he could find just because he looked for it...

“Master, these are all methods that assist in cultivation. I can accept it.”

Hearing this, Yi Chu instantly relaxed.

As long as she could accept it, it didn't matter whether she had talent or not.

If she had talent, it would be better, and his disciple would have an easier time. If she didn't, it was fine too; the child was still young, and he could teach her slowly.

He gave a refined smile. “It is good that you can accept it. Just like talismans, artifact refining and arrays have complete heritages at Preaching Peak. I suggest you go there to learn the fundamentals. Our teaching of the basic parts will always have omissions. The basic heritages of Preaching Peak are the most suitable for building your foundation, having been researched and refined by the sect generation after generation for over a hundred thousand years. There is no rush regarding the Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens. You can spend a few years slowly refining artifacts and engraving arrays. Once you have experience in refining, talismans, and arrays, it will be much easier to start on the Spirit-Attuning Jade Tokens later.”