She grinned as she shrank the spirit boat to the size of a walnut and set it aside.
Normally, a Qi Refining cultivator could only use mysterious-rank low-grade artifacts at most due to their limited cultivation level.
Even those with a weak foundation could accidentally have their spirit energy drained dry if they weren't careful when using a mysterious-rank low-grade artifact.
Looking at the information for this spirit boat, it seemed exempt from such restrictions.
If she ever found herself in a life-threatening situation where she needed to flee, she could simply stuff spirit stones into it to push the spirit boat to its maximum speed if her own spirit energy wasn't enough.
Gu Ningyun picked up the light blue storage ring engraved with Xiaoyao cloud patterns. After claiming it with her divine sense, she peered inside—the space was more than a hundred times larger than the storage bag she had been issued upon joining.
Considering she needed her right hand to hold her sword, she slipped the storage ring onto a finger on her left hand.
The twelve thousand reward points had already been transferred to her identity jade token while she was at the Resource Management Hall.
After leaving the secret realm, the disciples from the rock pile had each transferred thirty points to her as a medical fee.
During this trip to the secret realm, there had been over two hundred and fifty disciples infected by evil qi before they encountered the lynx.
Excluding the seventy-odd disciples whose evil qi was removed by Ling Hanbai using thunder spirit energy, all the other disciples had received treatment from Gu Ningyun.
Combining her original balance with the competition rewards and the medical fees earned in the secret realm, she now had a total of 48,126 points.
The thirty percent discount for the Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce was represented by a palm-sized piece of jujube-red wood.
The word "Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce" was engraved on the front, with Xiaoyao cloud patterns carved into the four corners. On the back, small characters were inscribed: "Upon presentation of this wooden token, a thirty percent discount may be applied to the purchase of a single item with a rank no higher than mysterious-rank top-grade at any branch of the Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce."
The Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce was an organization under the Xiaoyao banner and one of the largest chambers of commerce in the cultivation world.
In addition to branches spread across the Five Continents of the Daoist sects, they even had branches in the demon sects, the demon race territories, and even overseas in Penglai.
For someone at Gu Ningyun's current cultivation stage, mysterious-rank items were the absolute limit.
She planned to find some time to visit the Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce and turn this wooden token into a boost for her strength.
The mysterious-rank low-grade defensive artifact was a palm-sized turtle shell.
After refining it and claiming ownership, Gu Ningyun discovered it had been crafted from the shell of a rank two early stage earth spirit turtle.
She immediately realized that both turtles and the earth element were renowned for defense. Naturally, the shell of an earth-attribute turtle would provide even better defensive effects.
The shell could expand or shrink according to the input of spirit energy. It could withstand a full-strength strike from any cultivator up to the peak of Foundation Establishment, except for sword cultivators.
Gu Ningyun funneled spirit energy into it until she was nearly drained, and only then did the turtle shell expand to her own height, perfectly shielding her without a single gap.
She shook her head; her cultivation was still too low. She could barely even use a mysterious-rank low-grade artifact.
Gu Ningyun shrank the turtle shell to a tenth of its size. Holding the shell in her left hand and gesturing with her sword in her right, she nodded in satisfaction.
This size was appropriate. Not only did it consume ninety percent less spirit energy, but it also allowed her to both attack and defend when combined with her peach wood sword.
The mysterious-rank low-grade defensive array was a palm-sized octagonal array plate. Following the instructions, Gu Ningyun left a wisp of her divine sense in the center of the plate.
To use it, she only needed to trigger the array plate with her divine sense. As long as it wasn't excessively damaged, she could retrieve the plate and use it repeatedly.
To Gu Ningyun's pleasant surprise, this array plate also included a concealment array in addition to its defensive capabilities. It could defend against attacks and divine sense probes from anyone up to the peak of Foundation Establishment.
It could be considered one of the most useful companions for traveling outside the sect and camping in the wild.
Gu Ningyun placed the spirit boat, the twelve thousand low-grade spirit stones from the competition, the array plate, the defensive artifact, the Xiaoyao Chamber of Commerce wooden token, the sword talisman containing a strike from a peak Nascent Soul cultivator, and a large pile of pill bottles into her storage ring.
She had already tested it and found that spirit spring water could expel pill toxicity from her body.
She rummaged through the items in her old storage bag and transferred the 《Compendium of Talismans》 and the 《Almanac of Heavenly Wonders》 into the storage ring as well.
Then she took two bottles each of Return-to-Spring Pills, Spirit-Purifying Pills, and Spirit-Replenishing Pills, placing them together with the remaining peach wood swords and other items in the storage bag.
Although this storage bag didn't have much space, it was specially crafted by Xiaoyao for its disciples and bore the Xiaoyao cloud pattern emblem.
Its quality was many times better than the storage bags found on the market. It was more than enough for holding these commonly used items, her handy yellow-rank artifacts for the Qi Refining stage, and her talismans.
Gu Ningyun had specifically asked about the slot for the Penglai Dao Discussion Meeting while at the Resource Management Hall.
According to the senior brother at window number three, the overseas Penglai archipelago was where Buddhist cultivators practiced.
The Penglai Dao Discussion Meeting was a grand event jointly organized by the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect and the major sects of the Five Continents.
Tens of thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Five Continents' sects and the ancestors of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sect had agreed that all world laws shared common ground.
They believed that if the Buddhist and Daoist sects sat together to discuss the Dao and validate each other's insights, it would surely benefit their cultivation.
Thus, this grand meeting was established to be held once every fifty years.
The location of the meeting was rotated among the various sects. The last one had been held at Xiaoyao and was called the Xiaoyao Dao Discussion Meeting.
This time it was at Penglai, so it was naturally called the Penglai Dao Discussion Meeting.
Due to the requirements for cultivation and experience, the main participants were cultivators in the Nascent Soul, Soul Emergence, and Soul Transformation stages.
Those below the Nascent Soul stage lacked the cultivation and experience to discuss much of anything.
As for powerful cultivators above the Soul Emergence stage, most of them lived in seclusion and were off meditating somewhere, rarely attending such meetings.
In addition to these main participants, each sect was given a certain number of slots to bring their juniors to the meeting as observers.
Based on the strength and rank of the Nine Sects, Eight Schools, and other minor sects across the Five Continents, each sect received between five and fifty slots.
This was the source of the slots Gu Ningyun and the others now held.
After listening to the explanation from the senior brother at window three, Gu Ningyun summarized it simply: it was a great opportunity for juniors like them to listen to high-level cultivators discuss the Dao, broaden their horizons, and pave the way for their future cultivation.
The meeting wouldn't start for another three years. When the time came, they would just follow along.
Gu Ningyun sat cross-legged in her cultivation chamber, fiddling with her entry permit for the meeting—a sandalwood token the size of a copper coin stamped with the Buddhist wan character—as she recalled the plot of the original book.
Ever since Gu Lianxue entered the Star-Moon Sect and was accepted as a progeny disciple, the book had completely exposed its nature as a melodramatic romance novel.
It was filled with nothing but Gu Lianxue's entanglements and petty jealousy with her senior brothers.
In the later stages, she would even flirt with whoever she met, not even sparing the young master of the demon sect.
As a college student who had been single since birth and focused entirely on academic competitions, Gu Ningyun completely failed to understand Gu Lianxue's logic in love.
In the beginning, Gu Lianxue had been unscrupulous for the sake of power, stealing spirit roots and divine artifacts. Gu Ningyun could watch that mindlessly, treating the character as someone purely focused on her career with a warped moral compass.
But what was written after that? With such a good spirit root and so many resources, Gu Lianxue didn't cherish them or work hard to improve her strength. Instead, she got bogged down in romance and provoked a whole crowd of suitors.
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