Returning to Qixia Peak, they arrived before a large gate, above which a plaque read: Ruiyu Pavilion.
Martial Aunt Yang told them to enter using their jade tokens, saying, “Beyond this gate is the territory of our Ruiyu Pavilion.
This generation of Ruiyu Pavilion only has five of you. Your respective Cloud Residences are arranged according to the nature of your spirit roots.
In the future, we will teach and train you, spending most of our time within Ruiyu Pavilion.
The dining hall and other facilities are shared by the entire Qixia Peak; you can just follow the map.”
After entering Ruiyu Pavilion, they found another small plaza, about the size of a school football field.
Martial Aunt Yang said, “Tomorrow at eight in the morning, gather here to go to Book Peak and choose your cultivation techniques.”
After they were dismissed, Gu Ningyun followed the map and found her Cloud Residence—Tingfeng.
Tingfeng was a courtyard located by a lake, offering an open view and a refreshing breeze.
Pink flower trees grew along the lakeshore, their branches laden with small pink blossoms drooping down like a waterfall of pink flowers, a beautiful sight.
Gu Ningyun had coincidentally read about this tree in the spiritual plants section of the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》; it was called a Spirit-Heart Peach Tree, known to thrive by open lakes and possessing the effect of calming the mind and spirit.
The Spirit-Heart Peach Tree bloomed once every three years and bore fruit once every three years. The fruits were sweet and delicious, rich in spirit energy, and both the petals and fruits could be used to brew wine.
Gu Ningyun pressed her disciple token against the gate of Tingfeng courtyard and learned that the courtyard was protected by an earth-rank high-grade array, capable of blocking divine sense from cultivators at the Soul Transformation stage and below.
Within the courtyard was a fully furnished suite, containing a study, a cultivation chamber, a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
The study had a meditation mat and a low table, with brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone neatly arranged on the low table.
There was also a black lampshade on the low table. Gu Ningyun opened it to find an ever-bright pearl inside, presumably for nighttime illumination.
Beside the low table was a daybed, and a set of tea ware was placed on a cabinet nearby.
Further back, there was a bookshelf against the wall, though it was currently empty.
Beyond the study was a cultivation chamber, which contained an octagonal recess.
Martial Uncle Lu had already given them the spirit gathering and isolation array they had used earlier for qi induction.
Gu Ningyun placed the array plate into the recess, and a golden light flashed, activating the array.
This array could automatically absorb surrounding spirit energy to maintain its operation, making it very convenient for new disciples.
Upon entering her Cloud Residence, Gu Ningyun had already decided to avoid entering her spatial dimension as much as possible while in the sect.
Xiaoyao was different from a small place like Yanlin Town; there were countless powerful cultivators here.
Although her Cloud Residence had an array, it was certainly not an immortal array capable of blocking the divine sense of all cultivators in this world.
Powerful cultivators possessed countless means. If a sect elder at the Body Integration stage were to casually sweep their divine sense across the sect and discover a disciple on Qixia Peak who could vanish and reappear out of thin air, wouldn't her anomaly be easily detected?
It was better to be cautious.
Furthermore, while the spirit energy in her spatial dimension was much better than in Yanlin Town, it was far inferior to Ruiyu Pavilion, and she wasn't sure if this was due to the white mist surrounding the grassy area in her space.
The Cloud Residence Tingfeng, assigned to her by Xiaoyao, had wind spirit energy far denser than other areas of Ruiyu Pavilion.
Gu Ningyun touched the array plate in the recess, took out her meditation mat from her spatial dimension, placed it beside the array plate, and walked out of the cultivation chamber.
The kitchen was fully equipped with pots, pans, and bowls, but lacked ingredients and seasonings.
Gu Ningyun bypassed the kitchen and went directly to the bedroom. The room contained a screen, a bed, bed curtains, and a dressing table.
Unlike the elaborate boudoirs of the Gu Manor, the furniture and decorations here were quite elegant, made of peculiar materials, with every pattern seeming to possess a subtle charm.
The bottom left corner of these furnishings had a logo. Gu Ningyun checked the one on the bedding: it was the logo of Tianxia Tower, stating "Tianxia Home Furnishings, bedding, manufactured on [date]."
Given the recent manufacturing date, they were likely new items specifically purchased for new disciples.
Behind the bedroom was a bathroom, containing a circular pool with a smooth jade bottom.
There was an inlet continuously flowing with warm water and an outlet, both of which could be freely opened and closed.
Next to the bathroom was a storage cabinet, fully stocked with toiletries.
Earlier, while climbing the Path to Immortality, she had bled and sweated a lot. Although she had been healed and restored to normal, after so many days without a bath, Gu Ningyun still felt uncomfortable.
She simply jumped into the pool and took a bath.
The warm water permeated her entire body, and she let out a sigh of relief; soaking in this pool was much more comfortable than a bathtub.
After her bath, Gu Ningyun rubbed her rumbling stomach, preparing to go to the dining hall for dinner.
Just as she walked into the courtyard, she noticed someone knocking at the gate.
It was a young girl, about half a head taller than her, doing the knocking.
Gu Ningyun remembered her name was Wen Xuan, the other girl in their group.
Seeing her open the door, Wen Xuan smiled brightly and said, “Ningyun, are you coming with us to the dining hall?”
Gu Ningyun blinked, then noticed three boys standing not far behind her, under the Spirit-Heart Peach Tree—the other members of their group.
Among the three, the one with a cool aura, who stood sideways with his gaze averted from the courtyard gate, was named Jun Luo.
The one leaning against the tree trunk, tilting his head to speak with Jun Luo, was named Mu Chenze.
The one with a radiant smile, waving to her, was named Jiang Yao.
From her observations so far, the children in their group seemed quite decent.
At least none of them were arrogant or deliberately troublesome.
She smiled back at Wen Xuan, “Sure.”
The dining hall already had many disciples eating. Judging by their disciple robes and age, they were likely other groups of disciples from the same intake.
The food here, made from low-grade spirit materials suitable for their cultivation level, was displayed in abundance across several rows.
She also saw some familiar foods that she had eaten in the nine food boxes on the immortal boat earlier; they must have been packed from here.
Seeing the sign that read “Self-service, free supply,” Gu Ningyun couldn't help but sigh in her heart, marveling at the sect’s ostentatious wealth.
She selected several interesting dishes, plating them according to her appetite.
There was one food Wen Xuan particularly liked, having craved it ever since eating it on the immortal boat. Seeing it here, she originally planned to take a lot and eat her fill.
However, seeing Gu Ningyun’s actions, she hesitated and took a smaller portion.
Finding an empty table, the five of them sat down in order.
Jiang Yao bit his chopsticks and said, “We’re choosing our cultivation techniques tomorrow. Are you guys nervous?”
“Not so much nervous, I’m mostly excited.”
Mu Chenze’s eyes sparkled. “I heard that Xiaoyao’s Book Peak has the most complete collection of books in the cultivation world. And the Cultivation Technique Hall on Book Peak even has divine-rank cultivation techniques.
A cultivator can only choose one cultivation technique in their life. I turned six last year and deliberately waited a year without cultivating, all for this.”
Wen Xuan frowned upon hearing this. “Is delaying a year of cultivation worth it?”
“Of course, it’s worth it.” Mu Chenze suddenly leaned closer to them and whispered, “My elders at home said that Xiaoyao is unlike any other sect, and if you have the chance, you absolutely mustn’t miss it.
Those of us who only waited a year are considered lucky; some waited up to four years. If Xiaoyao didn’t only recruit disciples under ten years old who haven’t undergone qi induction, they would wait even longer.”
Gu Ningyun remained silent. Mu Chenze seemed to come from a cultivation family as well, and the year he waited was probably spent learning other things within his family, so it wasn't a true waste.
Moreover, cultivators perceive time differently; such a short period is nothing.
Hearing Mu Chenze, Jiang Yao became even more worried. “But Wen Xuan and I haven’t finished learning the common script yet. Will that affect choosing our cultivation techniques tomorrow?”
Hearing this, a hint of worry also appeared on Wen Xuan’s face.
Mu Chenze hesitated, “It shouldn’t, right? If it would affect us, Martial Uncle wouldn’t have us choose cultivation techniques tomorrow.”
Seeing that the two were still anxious, Mu Chenze nudged Jun Luo, who had been quietly eating beside him. “Jun Luo, what do you think?”
Rate on N.U.
