Early the next morning.
At the very summit of North Spring Mountain, Gu Yuanqing and Li Miaoxuan stood side by side. A cool breeze brushed their faces, setting their robes fluttering and their hair streaming.
The sun had just risen. Its rays pierced the clouds and mist above the mountain range opposite them, casting shafts of golden light over the pair.
Birds circled nearby. A mountain eagle landed beside Gu Yuanqing and tilted its head, studying them curiously.
Of the two wild foxes, one lay on a Stone while the other sat beside it, glancing now at the mountains, now at Gu Yuanqing and Li Miaoxuan.
A long while passed.
Li Miaoxuan said softly, "Thank you for spending this past day and more admiring the scenery with me."
Gu Yuanqing smiled. "You came from afar, so you're my guest. As something of a host here, of course I should treat you well. Besides, the movement technique you taught me is worth a fortune, Miss Miaoxuan. I should be thanking you."
"Gu Yuanqing."
"Hmm?" Gu Yuanqing turned his head. This was the first time she had called him by name. Their eyes met, and for a fleeting moment, he felt a strange familiarity.
"Is there something you want to say, Miss Miaoxuan?" Gu Yuanqing looked away.
Li Miaoxuan turned toward the distance and said calmly, "Once we part today, we may never see each other again."
Something inexplicably tightened in Gu Yuanqing's chest. He found it strange. He and Miss Miaoxuan had only just met—why would she say such a thing?
He suppressed his emotions and smiled. "Why do you make it sound as though we're parting in life and death? Where do you live? If I get the chance, I'll come down the mountain to visit you. When that happens, you'll have to spend a day admiring the scenery with me too."
Li Miaoxuan did not answer. Only after a long pause did she say softly, "I should go."
A trace of reluctance rose in Gu Yuanqing's heart. He cupped his hands. "Then I wish you a safe journey."
Li Miaoxuan suddenly broke into a smile. It was the first time Gu Yuanqing had seen her smile, and he suddenly understood what it meant for a single smile to awaken a hundred charms.
She took a silver hairpin from her sleeve and slowly slipped it into her hair at her temple.
In an instant, Li Miaoxuan's face changed before Gu Yuanqing's eyes. That face was so familiar, gradually merging with the indistinct figure in his heart.
Gu Yuanqing could not describe what he felt at that moment. Astonishment, panic, guilt—a jumble of every flavor.
Before Gu Yuanqing could say anything, Li Miaoxuan had already leaped off the cliff.
"This was our third meeting. If you become a Grandmaster someday and wish to seek the path ahead, you can come find me at the Lingxu Sect!" Her words drifted back from afar.
The third time? Gu Yuanqing was stunned for a moment, then hurried to the cliff's edge and looked down. Li Miaoxuan's figure had already vanished into the mist. He opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.
"Gu Yuanqing, becoming a Grandmaster is only the beginning of cultivation. The Great Qian Dynasty is, after all... too small!"
Li Miaoxuan's voice drifted back from afar. After that, there was no further sound.
Gu Yuanqing stood dazed on the summit. Only when an eagle cried, his right shoulder sank, and a gust swept past his ear did he come to his senses. The eagle had hopped onto him and was beating its wings.
So it was her. Was she also the one who sent me the Heart Zen Unity Art? No wonder so much of what she explained last night matched the insights in the Secret Manuals exactly.
Gu Yuanqing felt he had never owed anyone so much.
Miaoxuan, a daughter of the Imperial Family, the Lingxu Sect—with all these pieces of information brought together, how could Gu Yuanqing still not know the identity of the woman with whom he had shared such intimacy?
With such cultivation at so young an age, calling her a heaven-gifted prodigy was no exaggeration. What Gu Yuanqing could not understand was how someone with her cultivation had fallen victim to Gu Yuanxuan's scheme.
Suddenly, he recalled the description of a Grandmaster's Dao Embryo toward the end of the Heart Zen Unity Art. When someone in the True Martial Realm broke through to become a Grandmaster, their vital energy, blood, and mind condensed into one, nurturing a Dao Embryo with the Heavenly Martial Secret Treasure as its foundation. This was when they were most vulnerable to external calamities, so anyone breaking through to become a Grandmaster would find an absolutely safe place to weather that period of weakness.
She's a Grandmaster. No wonder she said becoming a Grandmaster was only the beginning of cultivation!
He stood silently on the summit for a long time.
This meeting was the third, and that night was the second. Then when was the first?
After returning to his little courtyard, Gu Yuanqing felt somewhat downcast. Suddenly, North Spring Mountain seemed much lonelier than before.
The abrupt change had unsettled his state of mind, leaving him unable to muster any interest in doing anything all afternoon.
Only after night fell did he gather his emotions and begin cultivating.
A Grandmaster, the Lingxu Sect? Perhaps they aren't so far beyond my reach.
He did not know whether he would truly go looking for her once he became a Grandmaster, but to even make that choice, he first needed a Grandmaster's cultivation.
He drew the Qi of Earth Sha into the phantom image within his Sea of Consciousness, then slowly channeled it into the Profound Martial Secret Treasure once more. As he united his mind with the treasure, he guided True Qi throughout his body, tempering his flesh.
This was True Qi Body Refining. Only a stronger physique could withstand the power brought by the True Martial Realm.
Before he knew it, midnight was approaching. Gu Yuanqing sat cross-legged, waiting for the Spiritual Qi to gather.
Suddenly, ripples arose in his mind. The three-dimensional phantom image of North Spring Mountain began to tremble, and a Dao Sound seemed to issue from within it. The sound grew louder, and Gu Yuanqing's body and consciousness began trembling along with it.
A tingling numbness spread through his entire body. It came from every minute part of him, as though each of his most fundamental particles was undergoing Transformation within the Dao Sound.
Gu Yuanqing understood in an instant: North Spring Mountain had successfully completed Spirit Imbuing and was beginning its Transformation.
The sensation was rather uncomfortable, as though ants were crawling all over his body. He clenched his teeth. At the same time, as if touched by a sudden flash of inspiration, he strained to listen to the Dao Sound, seeking to engrave it into the depths of his soul.
An unknown length of time passed. Amid its constant fluctuations, the three-dimensional phantom image of North Spring Mountain gradually solidified, becoming almost tangible. Wisps of Spiritual Qi emerged from the mountain, slowly coiling around the entire little peak like clouds and mist. Seen from afar, North Spring Mountain's scenery flickered in and out of view, like an immortal realm.
The Dao Sound grew louder still, becoming deafening within moments. The solid image in his mind shook, then suddenly sprang out of his Sea of Consciousness into the outside world. It rapidly expanded and merged with the real North Spring Mountain.
In that instant, Gu Yuanqing felt completely united with all of North Spring Mountain, as though a single thought would let him control everything within it!
He did not know how long this state lasted before he emerged from it and regained his awareness.
Looking inward at his Sea of Consciousness, he found the miniature North Spring Mountain still there, but the text beside it had changed:
Host: Gu Yuanqing Title: North Spring Mountain Master Title Enhancement: Mountain Observation, Object Control Cultivation Talent: Standout among the mediocre (outstanding) Sword Dao Talent: Standout among the mediocre (incomparable) Comprehension: One in a hundred (peerless under heaven) Residence: North Spring Mountain (Spirit Mountain) Domain Empowerment: Cultivation aptitude +2, Sword Dao aptitude +3, comprehension +3, spiritual energy like a pool (tier one), Spiritual Mountain Trial.
Gu Yuanqing carefully examined the changes in the text, overwhelmed with delight. This Transformation had affected every aspect.
First, although the enhancements to his Cultivation Talent, Swordsmanship Talent, and comprehension had not changed, his innate qualities had risen by a full grade.
Furthermore, with Spiritual Qi like a pool, his cultivation progress would no longer be constrained by a lack of Spiritual Qi as it had been before.
Finally, his attention settled on Object Control under Title Enhancement and the Spiritual Mountain Trial. As his thoughts touched them, the functions of these two empowerments swiftly surfaced in his mind...
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