Beside the original tree stump, right at the roots, three small saplings had sprouted. They were tender and fragile, faintly exuding the scent of soul-nourishing wood and Yimu energy.
Her initial attempt had actually succeeded. Under the nourishment of the Yin-Gathering Pearl and Yimu energy, the thousand-year soul-nourishing wood had not only survived, but it had also grown three three-year-old saplings.
It turned out that under certain conditions, the soul-nourishing wood wasn't that difficult to grow after all.
Once she confirmed this, she silently raised her head. “Master, I have some thousand-year soul-nourishing wood. How large of a piece do you need?”
Yi Chu suddenly turned to look at her, showing astonishment for the first time.
On the market, soul-nourishing wood was usually traded in pieces the size of a six-year-old child's palm. Finding a piece the size of an adult's palm was already extremely difficult.
This was the case even for hundred-year soul-nourishing wood, let alone a thousand-year-old one.
Not only did his disciple have it, but she could even choose the size?!
“Disciple, do you... do you know what you are saying?”
It wasn't that he didn't trust his own disciple, or that he thought she was young and ignorant and had misidentified a thousand-year soul-nourishing wood.
Rather, the shock in his heart was simply too immense. Other than these words, he found himself temporarily speechless.
Gu Ningyun looked at her master helplessly. “Master, I'm not stupid.”
She had gotten a perfect score on her 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 assessment, after all.
“Good, good, good!” Yi Chu clapped his hands and laughed heartily.
With this, he could actually add a divine sense attack function to his disciple's magic tool.
The more functions a divine sense magic tool had, the greater the demand for soul-nourishing wood, and the higher the requirements for the other matching materials.
He pondered the size and appearance of the magic tool after refinement, as well as its requirements for the soul-nourishing wood, before extending his right fist. “A piece about the size of two fists. Do you have that?”
Gu Ningyun looked at the thousand-year stump in her space, which was about the size of a seven-pound watermelon. With a thought, she carved out a sphere the size of two fists.
An ordinary man gets into trouble for harboring a treasure. Since they were currently outside, it was inconvenient to produce it now.
She did not take it out, merely nodding. “Master, I will give it to you once we return to the peak.”
The thousand-year soul-nourishing wood withered slightly, a change visible to her divine sense. Gu Ningyun drew some spirit spring water to irrigate it, then added less than half a drop of Yimu spirit liquid.
The soul-nourishing wood instantly shook off its lethargy and perked up again. Even the carved-out wound recovered by a fraction.
The vibrant life force within it was actually even stronger than before she had carved it.
In a few more years, the stump would likely grow larger again.
She had obtained the Yimu spirit marrow and Yimu spirit liquid when she was eight, and four years had passed since then.
Over these four years, the seeds of the spirit flowers and grasses she had planted had long since taken root and grown, standing in neat, vibrant rows within her space.
The Spirit-Heart Peach branch had grown into a small tree, and the spirit plants at the bottom of her space's sea swayed gently with the currents.
Nourished by the collective wood-breath and life force of so many spirit plants, a new drop of Yimu spirit liquid had recently condensed.
Using less than half a drop on the thousand-year soul-nourishing wood was nothing to her.
However...
She scanned the state of her space. Ultimately, there were still too few spirit plants, and their ages were too low.
Once the space expanded further, she would have to find an opportunity to transplant more high-grade spirit plants inside.
Within a few sentences of conversation, Yi Chu had already brought her to the fourth floor of the Book Peak library, specifically the divine sense cultivation technique area on the west side.
After briefing her on what to watch out for, Yi Chu waited outside the area's barrier.
Gu Ningyun stepped forward and passed through the white, misty barrier.
Two lines of blue text flashed within the white mist:
[Cultivation: Early Foundation Establishment stage. Eligible to practice divine sense cultivation techniques.]
[The technique area has been sealed. No external detection or disturbance is permitted. It will reopen once the disciple inside departs.]
Passing through the barrier, Gu Ningyun immediately saw a massive, pitch-black oval stone directly ahead of her—the soul-testing stone.
Within a five-meter radius around the soul-testing stone was a wide, open space.
Beyond the open space, rows of technique shelves stood in neat order. As far as the eye can see, they were filled entirely with divine sense techniques.
She approached the soul-testing stone and pressed her forehead against it.
A cool sensation swept through her sea of consciousness, primordial spirit, and divine sense, transforming into several lines of familiar blue text:
[Tested: Bone age of twelve years and seven months; primordial spirit age of twelve years and seven months.]
[Primordial Spirit Cultivation: Early Foundation Establishment stage]
[Potential:]
[Primordial Spirit Strength: Top-Tier]
[Sea of Consciousness Size: Top-Tier]
[Sea of Consciousness Strength: Top-Tier]
[Divine Sense Strength: Top-Tier]
[Comprehensive Aptitude Evaluation: Top-Tier]
Seeing the description of her age, Gu Ningyun's heart skipped a beat.
Her master had said the soul-testing stone would determine her aptitude and age, but she hadn't expected it to measure even her primordial spirit's age.
If she had known earlier...
Even if she had known earlier, what could she have done?
At this moment, aside from trying to delay or find a way to cover it up, another thought budded in her mind for the first time.
A ridiculous yet distinct thought—telling her master the truth.
Suppressing the thought, she realized that since her measured age showed no abnormalities, she didn't need to stress over it.
As Gu Ningyun breathed a sigh of relief, an even greater doubt arose from the depths of her heart.
The primordial spirit: Mortals possessed souls, while cultivators harnessed the creation of heaven and earth to refine theirs into a primordial spirit.
She had clearly transmigrated into this book, so why was her measured primordial spirit age only twelve, completely matching her bone age?
She couldn't figure it out, and the present moment didn't allow her to overthink.
The soul-testing stone changed once more, and the blue text vanished.
She projected her divine sense inside, entering a pitch-black space.
Her divine sense spread out in all directions. Scattered throughout the darkness were countless small spots of light of varying brightness.
She located the dimmest spot of light she could find and touched it with her divine sense, withdrawing her sense from all other directions.
After half a breath, all the spots of light in the darkness converged toward this single point, forming a bright sphere of light.
The sphere of light trembled before shooting toward the depths of the darkness like an arrow leaving a bow. Gu Ningyun's divine sense quickly followed, pursuing closely behind.
The dark space was boundless. Once Gu Ningyun's divine sense reached a distance of one thousand meters, it could no longer advance even an inch.
The trace of the light sphere instantly vanished.
In the next instant, two lines of blue text burst forth from the direction where the sphere of light had disappeared:
[Divine Sense Sensitivity: Top-Tier]
[Divine Sense Detection Range: Top-Tier]
For those at the early Foundation Establishment stage, the detection range of their divine sense was usually around five hundred meters.
Due to her epiphanies and trials, Gu Ningyun's primordial spirit strength and potential were already far superior to those of cultivators of the same rank. Naturally, the divine sense she projected was also much stronger.
The test ended, and she withdrew her divine sense.
The blue light on the soul-testing stone rippled, causing all the cultivation techniques to vibrate in unison. They rattled against their shelves, producing a dense clattering sound.
The blue light of the soul-testing stone flared up suddenly and spread outward, enveloping all the techniques.
As if suppressing them or making a selection, the divine sense cultivation technique area fell dead silent.
Only a single direction still echoed with the sound of rattling.
With a wave of Gu Ningyun's hand, a jade slip flew over and landed in her palm.
《Xuan Yuan Soul Refining Art》: Divine Sense Cultivation Technique
This technique is divided into four stages.
First Stage: Divine sense strength is doubled, unlocking the 《Divine Sense Object Manipulation Art》.
《Divine Sense Object Manipulation Art》: Auxiliary Spell
With this spell, one can manipulate physical objects, divine sense-type magic tools, and more.
The stronger one's divine sense and the more proficient they are with the spell, the more objects they can manipulate, and the more effortlessly they can do so.
Second Stage: Divine sense strength is quadrupled, unlocking the 《Divine Sense Protective Shield》.
《Divine Sense Protective Shield》: Defensive Spell
The protective shield envelops the surface of the sea of consciousness, safeguarding it and everything within.
The strength of the protective shield can be layered and stacked through daily cultivation.
Once stacked, the divine sense protective shield requires no divine sense to maintain. As long as it is not damaged by attacks, it will exist indefinitely.
Should the shield be damaged, it can be layered and stacked once again.
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