The Puppy's Mark

A slight sting made Gu Ningyun sit up. The puppy took one last look at her, turned around, and leaped to the other side of the lake without looking back. It quickly left the peak, vanishing into the darkness.

The fat duck waddled over to take a look. On her delicate ankle was a tiny puppy outlined in silver threads, no larger than a fingernail.

It snickered, “My, the little pup is quite protective of its food.”

“Senior Brother, what is this?”

Her cultivation technique was running as usual, with nothing amiss.

“It's just a wisp of its aura,” the fat duck explained. “Since it likes you, it left this on you so it can find you in the future. If you don't like it, once your injuries heal, I'll teach you a minor spell to remove it.”

“If it likes me, why didn't it stay by my side? With my capabilities, it wouldn't be hard to keep it well-fed.”

“The pup is still young. It has its own path to walk.”

Gu Ningyun touched the puppy mark, hesitating for a moment. “Is there a spell that doesn't remove it, but just screens the aura so it can't sense it? I can unseal it when I'm ready.”

“Who do you think this lord is? Of course there is,” the fat duck said, puffing out its chest. “Just focus on recovering, Junior Sister. Once you're well, your senior brother will teach you.”

Gu Ningyun laughed at its antics and nodded in agreement. “Alright, I will definitely follow the doctor's orders.”

A deep silence enveloped the mountain, as if all the demon beasts were holding their breath.

Gu Ningyun turned her head. A celestial being was riding the wind, descending from the sky.

Her eyes widened as she scrambled up from the petals. “Master!”

A gentleman of fresh breeze and bright moon, an immortal in white robes with ink-black hair.

This scene instantly pulled Gu Ningyun back to the day of her entrance examination.

Right after she emerged from the Path to Immortality, amidst a similarly pleasant breeze, she had met an immortal.

Although it felt like a dream afterward and she could no longer clearly remember his appearance or voice, the awe and shock of that first encounter remained etched in her heart.

The immortal had said she had reached the top, and that she did very well.

His tone had carried a hint of surprise, but also a trace of pride.

Why would an immortal who didn't know her react that way?

Like a flash of lightning cutting through the night sky, everything suddenly clicked in Gu Ningyun's mind. “Master, have we met before? I mean, before I officially became your disciple?”

Yi Chu stopped in midair beside the petals of the Wangshu. His hand paused mid-gesture, and he smiled gently. “My disciple is indeed clever.”

The fat duck's gaze darted between Gu Ningyun and Yi Chu, and it quickly pieced together most of the story.

As the contracted auspicious beast of Governing Peak's First Senior Sister, the fat duck had seen plenty of the sect's internal secrets and intelligence.

Spirit-Attuning Peak had gone centuries without a successor. Having finally found a promising seedling, Martial Uncle Yi Chu had undoubtedly used some small tricks to secure her as his disciple.

Sect regulations dictated that before new disciples passed the inner disciple promotion competition, the inner peaks were not allowed to interfere.

By sect rules, these little tricks were supposed to be kept from the new disciples.

Now that its little junior sister had officially completed the discipleship ceremony and was a locked-in inner disciple, it didn't really matter if she guessed.

But it, a representative of Governing Peak, was still standing right here! Since these actions were technically dancing on the edge of the sect's regulations, wasn't it a bit inappropriate to speak of them in front of it?

It was indeed a bit inappropriate, but Gu Ningyun was already dumbfounded.

Her master had admitted it! Her guess was actually true!

Could it be that her master had been quietly watching over her from the very beginning?

That would explain why the Cloud Residence built for her was so fully equipped, with everything perfectly tailored to her liking.

Back in the outer sect, apart from Senior Sister Kong, none of the inner peak elders had ever mentioned taking disciples to her or her friends.

Every time Senior Sister Kong brought it up, she would look as if she had suddenly fallen gravely ill, coughing and unable to speak.

And before the discipleship ceremony in the Sect Leader's hall, the way the elders had seemingly teamed up to prevent her master from speaking was strange in every way.

Piece by piece, incident by incident. She hadn't thought much of it back then, but now that she connected all the anomalies, Gu Ningyun, highly intelligent as she was, instantly understood seventy to eighty percent of it.

Meeting her master's smiling, candid gaze, she pursed her lips and kept quiet.

Master, disciple, and duck remained in tacit agreement, keeping their lips sealed about the matter.

Yi Chu leaned down slightly. “Your wrist.”

Gu Ningyun extended her right hand. He placed his fingers on her wrist, sending wind spirit energy into her meridians to trace a path through her body.

“Your meridians have fully recovered. Their toughness and strength are now comparable to those of a mid Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.”

After breaking through to Foundation Establishment, Gu Ningyun hadn't used treasures like the Shocking Thunder Platform to refine her body further as she had during the Qi Refining stage.

She simply tempered herself with spirit energy during normal cultivation, keeping her body refining cultivation level on par with her spirit energy cultivation.

This kind of cultivation was already far superior to that of magic cultivators who didn't refine their bodies, so she had nothing to complain about.

However, she hadn't expected that after going through such an ordeal, her meridians would actually receive a blessing in disguise.

She wanted to test her current strength, but out of concern for her sea of consciousness, she had to let the idea go.

She withdrew her hand, and Yi Chu placed two fingers against her forehead.

Gu Ningyun blinked. “Master, does this mean that when I cast spells, I can unleash attacks equivalent to the mid Foundation Establishment stage?”

“Your divine sense, the strength of other parts of your body, and the spirit energy reserves in your dantian are all insufficient. You cannot.”

Yi Chu flicked her forehead. “Read fewer storybooks. The further you progress in cultivation, the wider the gap between realms becomes. Stop always thinking about fighting above your rank. If you have time for that, you would be better off mastering one of the four arts of cultivation. That way, if you encounter danger, you can rely on that skill to have nearby experts protect you.”

Gu Ningyun rubbed her forehead. “Then what's the point of this meridian strength? It's so useless.”

“It is still useful. It will save you some body refining time, and if you encounter danger, the tolerance of your meridians will also be higher.”

Yi Chu pulled her hand away and placed his fingers back on her forehead. “Relax your mind. Do not resist.”

The feeling of the barrier being removed was intense. Gu Ningyun could finally sense her sea of consciousness—it was very uncomfortable, aching with a dull pain.

Deep within her sea of consciousness, there was also a bloodthirsty impulse tangling with her soul, causing an uncontrollable wave of irritability.

It was extremely painful, excruciatingly so.

She gritted her teeth. “Master.”

A wisp of divine sense entered her forehead, meticulously inspecting every inch of her sea of consciousness.

“Master, there are cracks in my sea of consciousness, and there's a highly violent, evil thought.”

Gu Ningyun was exceptionally grateful for Martial Aunt Yi Shu's foresight in sealing her sea of consciousness while she was unconscious.

“The cracks are not large and are almost healed. Don't worry,” Yi Chu's voice suddenly grew solemn. “Gather your mind and resist the great demon's resentment. Do not let it control you.”

Gu Ningyun grabbed the sleeve hanging in front of her and gritted her teeth. “Yes, Master.”

Oh dear!

The fat duck covered its eyes with its wings, unable to bear watching any longer.

Even though it had known this would happen, seeing it actually play out on the little girl was still a bit too much for it to stomach.

Outsiders only believed that Xiaoyao disciples enjoyed the best resources in the entire cultivation world, which was why each of them possessed strength far exceeding cultivators of the same rank, and their cultivation speed was something others couldn't even hope to match.

What they didn't know was how much importance Xiaoyao placed on the education of its disciples, and how strictly they were trained.

Take the little girl's situation right now, for instance. What other sect's elders would use the resentment of an ancient great demon to temper the willpower of their juniors?