Overdoing It

She held the flute, ready to play, but suddenly remembered something and stopped to explain.

"Ningyun, even though I am not quite satisfied with this piece, it is actually a decent support melody. I have studied all the support melodies in the library, and in terms of recovering spirit energy, 《Guiyuan》 is superior."

"First, its recovery is gentler and won't cause irritation or damage to a cultivator's meridians or dantian."

"Second, the speed of spirit energy recovery is faster than other support melodies."

"Third, the piece has a higher spirit energy utilization rate for music cultivators. It can achieve the best effect in the most efficient way, greatly extending the duration a music cultivator can provide support."

"Even the best support melodies in the library cannot achieve all the effects of 《Guiyuan》 simultaneously."

"Although I created 《Guiyuan》, it was born from the spirit wine brewed by a powerful cultivator at the late Soul Transformation stage, and it contains that expert's insights into the Dao."

"By combining my own insights from all the support melodies in the library and adopting their strengths while avoiding their weaknesses, I was finally able to create this piece."

"I understand, Senior Sister Kong."

Seeing that she had no more doubts, Kong Lingyan began to teach her the song.

Having tasted the Guiyuan wine herself, how could Gu Ningyun have any doubts about the song? At this moment, she was simply filled with admiration.

No wonder Senior Sister Kong could create her own melodies while only at the early Golden Core stage.

Xiaoyao had stood for over a hundred thousand years; even if music cultivators were rare, they had accumulated many compositions. For Senior Sister Kong to have learned every single support melody regardless of rank showed her immense dedication to the Dao of Music.

To be able to master all those support melodies and even turn them into her own foundation for creation showed her incredible talent in the Dao of Music.

Unlike the Sword Dao or spells, music cultivation was a path that relied heavily on natural talent. But no matter how much talent one had, without sufficient practice and accumulation, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to reach Senior Sister Kong's level.

To be able to create a song at the early Golden Core stage was likely unprecedented in the history of Xiaoyao. Over the past few days, while she was in Senior Sister Kong's study reading the history of Music Peak, she hadn't seen anyone else who could achieve such a feat.

She herself practiced the divine-rank cultivation technique 《Xiaoyao Wind Records》 and had joined Spirit-Attuning Peak. Could she reach such a level in the path of wind?

The path of wind was as vast as the sea, unpredictable and difficult to discern, filled with countless obstacles but also countless possibilities. She had only just reached Foundation Establishment and, on the path of wind, had only learned the first style of the 《Taiqing Astral Wind Art》, gained some insights into wind-attribute sword techniques, and drawn wind-attribute talismans.

The road ahead was long and arduous.

Gu Ningyun shook her head slightly in her heart; just as she had advised Senior Sister Kong, she wouldn't put too much pressure on herself either.

Master one, and you master them all. As long as she continued down the river of time, she would eventually accumulate more and more.

On the second day of learning 《Guiyuan》, Gu Ningyun suddenly received a mention from Wen Xuan. "Ningyun, do you have time in a month? The five of us should take a trip to the mortal realm."

This was an old agreement. She had specifically chosen an instrument with a more flexible schedule for this very reason.

"Of course, I've been ready for a long time. Have you had enough of the Blue Lake Scallops' effects yet? There's a testing array here at Spirit-Attuning Peak; do you want to come and test yourselves?"

Jiang Yao: "Perhaps we don't really want to see those four words."

Wen Xuan: "I think I feel the same way."

Jun Luo: "Strongly agree."

Mu Chenze: "Where is the array? I've heard that the array-laying techniques of Spirit-Attuning Peak are slightly different from those of Array Peak. I've been wanting to see them for a long time."

Mu Chenze: "By the way, remember to use 'something-or-other' to refer to them when we meet. I don't want to hear those four words either."

Gu Ningyun: "...Fine."

She had specifically kept the set of arrays her master had arranged just to make it convenient for them to test themselves.

Unsurprisingly, the four of them passed through the yellow-rank and mysterious-rank illusion arrays without any obstacles, but then they stepped into an earth-rank low-grade illusion array and fell into the same situation Gu Ningyun had faced before.

They could see the array eye, but they couldn't budge it. Even with the four of them working together, they couldn't break it.

It was a joke; if they, at the early Foundation Establishment stage, could shake an earth-rank illusion array eye that required the Golden Core stage to break, then there would be no point in cultivating to Golden Core. The difference between the Golden Core and Foundation Establishment stages was significant; if the gap weren't that large, there would be no point in facing the inner demon tribulations and being struck by lightning to break through.

The realms divided by the Heavenly Dao were naturally not so ridiculous.

Since Wen Xuan and the others couldn't get out, Gu Ningyun called for outside help—her first senior brother.

As soon as Shen Banxi, who was at the middle Golden Core stage, arrived, he cast a spell to summon a gale and blew it fiercely toward the array.

The earth-rank low-grade illusion array, including its base and eye, was flipped over by the wind and ended up hanging from the dome of the Peak Master's hall.

Shen Banxi: "..."

Oh no. It was rare for his little junior sister to ask him for help, and he had been so excited that he went overboard.

Gu Ningyun: "..."

Except when he was handling peak affairs in the cold Peak Master's hall, her master usually stayed at the Cloud Residence. Her master should be at his Cloud Residence right now.

Just then, a white-robed immortal suddenly appeared above the dome of the Peak Master's hall. With a wave of his sleeve, the debris on the dome was wiped away.

After finishing, the immortal glanced lightly in their direction but said nothing.

A moment later, the token at Shen Banxi's waist began to flash with a frantic green light.

When Shen Banxi checked it with his divine sense, his expression instantly stiffened.

"What's wrong, First Senior Brother?"

"The Peak Master said that Spirit-Attuning Jade Token counterfeiting has become rampant across the five continents and four seas recently, and he wants me to go deal with it."

Gu Ningyun thought: First Senior Brother really has it hard.

Mu Chenze patted his shoulder. "Senior Brother Shen, my Mu family often deals with counterfeit magic tools, and we've long had a set of experience for such crackdowns. Wait for half a day; I'll have a manager from my family write it down and send it to you."

"Excellent, excellent. Dealing with such matters without the right techniques makes it easy to put in twice the effort for half the result. It's fortunate that Junior Brother Mu's family has experience."

Shen Banxi let out a sigh of relief and walked a circle around the remaining arrays. "Is this the effect of eating those Blue Lake Scallops? It's this good?"

He seemed to have underestimated the utility of the Blue Lake Scallops. He hadn't read the original travelogue and had thought they were only effective against yellow-rank or, at most, mysterious-rank illusion arrays.

He hadn't expected them to improve one's immunity and ability to break through illusions from the root—enhancing vision, experience, sensitivity, and state of mind.

Gu Ningyun quickly fished out a hundred boxes of Blue Lake Scallops from her spatial ocean and placed the travelogue in his hands. "This is a year's supply. Would you like to try them, First Senior Brother?"

Over the past two years, the Blue Lake Scallops had been continuously breeding in her spatial ocean. The five of them had eaten half, and a small portion still remained.

They were indeed delicious when they first started eating them, and the results were obvious to all. As for what happened after eating them continuously...

Gu Ningyun and the other four all had sickly looks on their faces, but they held their tongues.

Shen Banxi didn't suspect a thing and casually took them. "Sure, I'll give them a try. Just in case they're useful."

Gu Ningyun held back for a moment, but in the end, her conscience wouldn't let her, and she offered a few reminders.

"First Senior Brother, the scallops die easily once they leave the seawater, and they aren't fresh once they're dead, so remember to finish cooking all of them today. You might fall into a coma after eating them, so it's best to consume them within the sect. Also, don't only eat these when you have your meals, or you'll... you'll get sick of them."

"Alright, I understand." Shen Banxi happily left, carrying the fresh scallops.