At This Moment, He Hesitated

The most critical issue, the great demon's resentment, had already been resolved.

Before her master arrived, she had been recuperating on Wangshu for twenty days.

After her master arrived, she had been too focused on fighting the resentment to notice the passage of time. Only when she asked did she realize that half a month had already passed.

“I wonder how Wen Xuan and the others are doing.”

Finally able to use her identity jade token again, she sent her divine sense into it. In their five-person group chat, more than a dozen messages had piled up. Some said they had already returned to the sect and fully recovered, while others asked about her injuries.

Gu Ningyun briefly explained her current situation, made plans to gather with her companions once she returned to the sect, and then put away her identity jade token.

Only a third of the three bottles of pills in her hands remained, but her master brought another set. “Your Martial Aunt Yi Shu said that once you finish those, you should take these. The dosage is the same.”

Gu Ningyun, her mouth full of the taste of herbs: “...Understood, Master.”

After handing over the pills, Yi Chu told her to continue recuperating on Wangshu until the cracks in her sea of consciousness had completely healed and her meridians were further consolidated.

Gu Ningyun returned to her quiet days of recuperation, but this time, her sea of consciousness would occasionally throb with sharp pain.

That was the sensation caused by the tiny cracks.

The sea of consciousness was where the soul took root; its injuries were a hundred times more painful than damaged meridians.

This was also one of the reasons why Wen Xuan and the other three couldn't bear to stay on Alchemy Peak.

The four of them had undamaged meridians and could run around, but she had to quietly recuperate among the petals of the Wangshu, unable to move.

Sealing her sea of consciousness would affect the subsequent recovery of her injuries, so she could only endure it. Consequently, the days of recuperating became incredibly difficult to bear.

With a Soul Transformation stage expert personally guarding her, the fat duck put away its storybooks, flapped its wings, and went wild all over Mount Wuji.

Every few hours, it would bring something back for her: spirit fruits, spirit herbs, treasures stolen from demon beasts, and the most delicious cuts of meat from various demon beasts...

One day, it even brought back several jars of monkey wine brewed by rank three spirit monkeys. It was rich with spirit energy, its fragrance drifting for miles.

But it was decisively confiscated by her master. “You can drink this when you grow up.”

Gu Ningyun: No!

With the fat duck occasionally distracting her, the pain in her sea of consciousness seemed to ease quite a bit.

Two days later, the fat duck's identity jade token began to vibrate frantically.

It took a glance, its eyes darting left and right, before it bit the jade token and stuffed it firmly under its wing.

Another day passed, and Yi Chu put away his identity jade token, catching the fat duck. “There is a sect mission that requires your assistance. Your Martial Niece Chanxi is calling you back.”

The fat duck flapped its wings frantically.

The rank four auspicious beast, which had once ruled Mount Wuji, was like a helplessly furious little duckling in the hands of a Soul Transformation cultivator.

It wailed loudly, “No! I want to wait until the little girl gets better and take her out to play!”

“She will be very busy later and won't have time.”

Yi Chu said patiently, “Didn't you do something foolish before? Chanxi said that once this mission is complete, that matter will be written off.”

“What foolish thing?”

Gu Ningyun poked her head out from the pile of petals, her eyes full of curiosity.

“Quack, quack, quack!!”

Terrified that Yi Chu would blab, the fat duck squawked wildly, “Ahem, since the sect has business, this lord shall naturally step forth! Little girl, this lord will find you to play later!”

The moment Yi Chu let go, it left behind two jade slips, tore open space, and vanished in a flash.

Gu Ningyun was dumbfounded. After a few moments of silence, she said, “He ran so fast. What kind of embarrassing thing does he want to keep from me so badly?”

Previously, Bai Daying had left a strand of its aura on her ankle. The two jade slips contained minor spells: one to erase the aura, and the other to shield and unshield it.

She put away the jade slips. Though curious, she didn't ask Yi Chu. Instead, she silently lay back down on the Wangshu. “Senior Brother still remembered my situation even in his rush, so I should save him some face. If he doesn't want me to know, I simply won't ask.”

...

After the fat duck left, the pain in Gu Ningyun's sea of consciousness became difficult to bear again.

She lay on the Wangshu, letting her body contact the petals as much as possible.

The fine, fragmenting pain in her sea of consciousness was like a cancer clinging to her soul, rising from the root of her soul and spreading to every part of it.

This kind of agony was a hundred times worse than walking the Stairway to Immortality during the entrance examination!

She gritted her teeth, striving to maintain her meditative state, enduring day after day.

Yi Chu sat cross-legged at the edge of the small island, the ripples in the spring water mirroring his turbulent heart.

How powerful was the divine sense of a Soul Transformation stage cultivator? With a single glance, he could see his disciple's condition high up in the Wangshu.

His fingers resting on his knees twitched and gradually tightened.

In cultivation, the sea of consciousness was just as important to a cultivator as the dantian and spirit roots.

Nothing else was more vital.

But how long and perilous was the path of cultivation?

No one could guarantee that their sea of consciousness, dantian, or even spirit roots would never be damaged.

Xiaoyao possessed deep heritage, unlike some sects that were utterly helpless against injuries to the sea of consciousness and dantian.

However, the sea of consciousness and dantian were, after all, the foundation of cultivation, and once spirit roots were damaged, there was absolutely no possibility of repairing them.

He had allowed his disciple to endure the pain alone for three days out of two considerations.

First, no one could say for sure whether his disciple's sea of consciousness would be injured again in the future.

By getting used to this pain now and increasing her pain tolerance, if she encountered it again in the future, she would not lose her senses or ability to act due to being unable to bear the agony, thereby missing a vital chance to escape.

Second, after deeply experiencing this kind of pain, her subconscious would automatically form a memory. Should she face danger again, she would instinctively avoid crises that could damage her sea of consciousness.

This was also one of the reasons why some cultivators, after practicing for a long time, could mysteriously sense fortune and misfortune, thus avoiding crises.

He had been very rational when considering these points, but at this moment, he hesitated.

His disciple already possessed exceptional aptitude. She had a top-grade wind spirit root and was an extremely rare Innate Star Body, a physique hard to come by even in ten thousand years.

Furthermore, her character, intelligence, and talent in various fields were all outstanding.

She was also the only disciple in a thousand years, other than himself, to reach the very top of the Path to Immortality.

His disciple was already excellent enough. Was it truly necessary for him to demand so much of her so rigorously, at every single moment?

Was he being a bit too harsh on his own disciple?

Yi Chu, who was a master for the first time, fell into deep contemplation.

The matter concerning his disciple, Gu Lianxue, and the Gu family had been reported to him first; he was the first to know.

He had also contributed and participated in the subsequent resolutions.

In the prison of Punishment Peak, the restrictions in the Gu family members' seas of consciousness grew more spine-chilling the more they investigated.

His disciple had been stolen by evil cultivators since childhood, living under someone else's roof.

Those she interacted with day and night were all malicious and cold-blooded, wishing to devour her flesh and bones.

She must have suffered endless subtle torments and grievances to be able to display such astounding decisiveness and wisdom at the tender age of six, escaping from the Gu family.

This decisiveness and wisdom surpassed even that of many cultivators who were decades older than her.

A master was a teacher, but also like a mother or a father.

She was the successor he had chosen, and moreover, the only close junior under his wing, recognized by the Heavenly Dao.

Judging solely by her performance in the outer sect, his disciple already held herself to extremely high standards.

As her master, did he really need to be so demanding of her?

Caring too much led to being overly cautious and overly critical, fearing that she might miss some detail, which would prevent her from protecting herself when facing danger in the future.

But was this not, in its own way, a mistake, an extreme way of thinking?