Healing Melody

Gu Ningyun looked at the dazzling azure light on her sword, a hint of disdain flashing in her heart.

The color was beautiful, but it was far too flashy.

Even if her sword qi was fast and silent, it couldn't hide the fact that it was glowing with a bright azure light.

Her enemies weren't blind. If they saw the azure light and had fast enough reflexes, what if they blocked it?

Then they would end up in a back-and-forth struggle.

It was said that villains died from talking too much, but in Gu Ningyun's view, cannon fodder died from showing off too many moves.

If she couldn't defeat an enemy in a single strike, who knew if they would suddenly pull out a trump card and take her out during the exchange? That would be a disaster.

It was too messy and not nearly decisive enough. This wouldn't do.

Although wind spirit energy was azure, wind itself was colorless.

If wind could be colorless, then her wind-attribute sword qi could surely be colorless as well!

However, Gu Ningyun also knew that her current accumulation of experience with wind, wind spirit energy, and the sword was not yet sufficient.

The reason she was able to develop sword qi in one go was because of the solid foundation she had built. Whether it was the spirit energy application classes, the body refining on the cliffs, the study of the 《Taiqing Astral Wind Art》, or her thirty thousand daily sword swings, she had pushed herself to the absolute limit.

By giving it her all and letting her long-term efforts bear fruit, she had finally developed sword qi in today's actual combat.

It was unlikely that she could refine the color of her sword qi or achieve an even higher breakthrough in the short term.

It was better to keep pushing through the levels and gain more combat experience to see if there were other areas she could improve upon.

Gu Ningyun rubbed her empty stomach and walked out of the Trial Tower.

Fighting consumed far too much physical energy. Even with her refined body, she was left sore and exhausted after swinging her sword over a hundred thousand times and jumping around to dodge attacks for six hours.

What was even more unbearable was the hunger. She hadn't noticed it while she was immersed in researching sword qi, but now that she had stopped, she felt so famished that her vision was blurring. She felt like she could eat all the food in the Qixia Peak dining hall.

It seemed she would have to pack some food to replenish her energy the next time she came to the Trial Tower.

When she reached the fortieth level earlier, she had almost been injured by the ten crabs despite having sword qi.

The later levels were clearly going to get harder and harder. It would be impossible to clear another forty levels in one go next time.

She wasn't sure if her points would be enough to clear the remaining sixty levels.

Still, for her first time at the Trial Tower, clearing forty levels and developing sword qi for only ten points was an incredible bargain.

Xiaoyao was truly generous.

Gu Ningyun rubbed her flat stomach as she walked toward the dining hall, unaware that clearing the levels wasn't nearly as easy for others as it was for her.

She possessed a wind spirit root and an excellent grasp of wind spirit energy. Demon beasts of similar cultivation that weren't wind-attribute couldn't even get close to her.

On top of that, she was a sword cultivator, a class renowned for its offensive power. Her daily practice of basic sword techniques was so solid that, except for demon beasts specializing in defense, she could easily break through their guard and cut them down with a casual strike.

Even the defense-oriented turtles had their shells easily shattered once she developed sword qi.

The speed and agility of a wind spirit root combined with the offensive and destructive power of a sword cultivator—either one alone was difficult to deal with. With both stacked together, if she couldn't clear forty levels in a row, who could?

Others at her level of cultivation would get stuck on the rabbits at level eleven, which specialized in speed and leaping attacks.

Not to mention the turtles that followed; without specific methods, it was impossible to break their defense.

Gu Ningyun's sword was so fast that the turtles didn't even dare to stick their heads out for fear of being decapitated. Since they had no other way to hit her, they simply lay there and obediently served as her whetstones.

For anyone else, if they couldn't break the defense, they might be able to slowly wear down a single turtle. But when there were many, each turtle only needed to land one hit to leave the challenger in critical condition, causing them to be kicked out of the Trial Tower in minutes.

...

Two months later, Gu Ningyun emerged from the Trial Tower covered in wounds and limping.

After coming out this time, she didn't plan on returning to the Trial Tower for a while.

Ever since she encountered the crabs on level forty-one, Gu Ningyun knew that the cultivation of the demon beasts appearing later would definitely get higher, and their offensive and defensive capabilities would grow stronger.

The situations she encountered in the subsequent levels were exactly as she had expected.

No matter how difficult the levels were, she still pushed through them one by one. It wasn't until today, when she reached the seventieth level, that she encountered a monkey.

This monkey was a demon beast at the late stage of rank one. Judging by its aura, it was equivalent to a human cultivator at Qi Refining level seven, and it was also wind-attribute.

Not only was Gu Ningyun not as fast as it, but even when she managed to land an occasional hit, she couldn't break through its defense at all.

The gap in cultivation was too large. She simply couldn't win.

Her injuries were severe. Even with her body's enhanced self-healing abilities from body refining, such heavy wounds wouldn't heal on their own. Gu Ningyun hissed in pain.

It hurt too much. She needed to ask Wen Xuan if there were any healing pills she could exchange for with her points.

There were several steps at the entrance of the Trial Tower.

The pain from her wounds caused Gu Ningyun to stumble as she went down the steps, nearly falling flat on her face.

However, a gentle force caught her.

Gu Ningyun turned around and saw a baby-faced inner sect disciple supporting her. Judging by the aura, the disciple was slightly weaker than Foundation Establishment, likely at the late stage or peak of Qi Refining. "Thank you, Senior Sister."

The baby-faced senior sister gave a gentle smile. "I was just about to play a piece to heal my friend. Since you're so badly injured, Junior Sister, why don't you come and listen as well?"

Only then did Gu Ningyun notice that the senior sister was supporting another woman with her other hand.

"Are you talking about a healing melody, Senior Sister?"

"Yes. This piece of mine provides group healing, so including you is no trouble at all."

Gu Ningyun said gratefully, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Senior Sister."

The baby-faced senior sister led her and the other woman to a spot under a tree where there were fewer people.

Then, she took out a zither and began to play.

As the music rose, Gu Ningyun felt a gentle spirit energy enter her body, and the wounds all over her began to heal rapidly.

Before the song had even finished, her wounds had completely healed.

What an incredible melody!

The gentle spirit energy dissipated, but the music continued, even starting over from the beginning for a second time.

Gu Ningyun knew that the senior sister next to her hadn't finished healing yet, so she didn't speak to interrupt. She simply sat quietly and experienced the song.

After the third play was finished and the senior sister next to her stood up, Gu Ningyun bowed to the baby-faced senior sister. "Ningyun thanks you for the healing, Senior Sister. May I ask for your name and add you as a friend?"

The baby-faced senior sister put away her zither. "No need to be so polite. My name is Ke Xueqing, a disciple of Music Peak."

After bidding farewell to the kind and beautiful Senior Sister Ke, Gu Ningyun headed to the dining hall to eat.

Thinking of the miraculous power of the healing melody, Gu Ningyun's mind cleared.

Why rely on self-healing or exchange for pills? She was a music cultivator herself; wouldn't it be better to go to the Book Peak library and find a healing melody to learn?

She had been so foolish before.

Feeling the storage bag at her waist that held her zither, Gu Ningyun's thoughts raced.

Besides healing melodies, there might be other interesting songs. She would go to Book Peak this afternoon to take a look.