After returning to the Chancellor's Residence, Gu Chenfeng plunged straight into his room and shut the door tightly.
The faint, hidden presence that had followed him all the way vanished from outside.
Gu Chenfeng opened a package and took out one of the dozen or so white jade porcelain bottles.
He poured out an amber-like yellow liquid.
This was Golden Marrow, a high-grade body-tempering medicine.
It was an essence brewed from the bone marrow of a source qi realm Tiger-Type Origin Beast, combined with various spiritual materials.
A single bottle cost two thousand taels.
According to Liu Fuyan, there were Body-Tempering Potions made from even more precious ingredients, with even stronger effects.
But Gu Chenfeng simply could not afford them, and his current cultivation could not withstand such fierce medicinal potency anyway.
By now, he had stripped naked and was rubbing the Golden Marrow between his hands, spreading it all over his body.
At first, he felt nothing unusual. It was much like applying essential oil.
But after just a dozen breaths or so...
Gu Chenfeng felt a faint burning on his skin, and the sensation was rapidly intensifying.
Before long, Gu Chenfeng's entire body felt as though it were being scorched by flames.
His fair skin turned crimson, and heat began billowing from his pores.
"So hot!"
Gu Chenfeng found the scorching heat unbearable, though he could still endure it in most places.
But certain sensitive areas felt as though he had smeared them with Concentrated Wind-Relief Oil.
That sensation could practically send him soaring into the heavens.
Liu Fuyan had warned Gu Chenfeng that, as a topical medicine, Golden Marrow could be applied selectively.
For instance, someone practicing Iron Sand Palm only needed to coat their palms, while someone practicing Iron Shirt could apply it to their torso.
That would concentrate the medicine's tempering effects while also saving money.
But Gu Chenfeng saw things differently.
I'm already tempering my whole body, and you expect me to leave a weak spot? Wouldn't that be idiotic?
A real man has to be hard all over!
Sure enough, amid that burning sensation that left him hovering between ecstasy and agony, Gu Chenfeng noticed something.
The heat seeped into his Sinews, Bones, Skin, and Membranes, and his internal organs.
It intensified the tempering of his body, which had already reached the gray armor stage.
Even the blood and qi throughout his body began surging faster.
And this was without him even cultivating.
"The effects really are excellent."
Without hesitation, Gu Chenfeng took out a Clearheart Pill and tossed it into his mouth.
As the pill entered his stomach, its medicinal power turned into a cool stream that spread throughout his body.
Under its effects, his mental power became extraordinarily active.
White light flickered between Gu Chenfeng's brows.
With a thought, his "other self" entered the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins and arrived at the Enlightenment Platform.
"I'll practice the Iron Elephant Art first!"
With Golden Marrow's medicinal power supporting him and the Enlightenment Platform's extraordinary boost to comprehension, the efficiency of Gu Chenfeng's cultivation was easy to imagine.
As he assumed his Stance Training posture, his muscles bulged beneath his skin and his sinews knotted.
His originally slender, well-proportioned body rapidly swelled, and his skin gradually turned gray.
As time passed, that gray deepened, faintly taking on a sheen.
Meanwhile.
In a training room on the western side of the Chancellor's Residence.
Whoosh, whoosh...!
Gu Yanshuang held a spear ten feet long, sending it whirling and sweeping like a Tiger Roars Through the Forest.
Fierce winds actually swept through the training room.
The spear shone crimson, as though it had drunk blood, its aura intimidating.
A moment later, after completing a spear routine, Gu Yanshuang drew back her weapon and stood still.
Tucking a strand of dark hair from her forehead behind her ear, she looked toward the training room's door and asked calmly.
"Where did the young master go today, and whom did he meet?"
A low voice sounded from outside.
"The young master and Young Master Ouyang went to the Thousand Beauties Pavilion, the Imperial Capital's foremost brothel.
"He met privately with a celebrated courtesan, and the two even exchanged tokens."
"A brothel!"
Gu Yanshuang's delicate brows immediately knitted.
The voice outside continued, "Afterward, the young master went to the Myriad Treasures House, one of the Imperial Capital's three great trading houses, and purchased a batch of medicines.
"Liu Fuyan, the deputy manager of the Myriad Treasures House, personally saw him out. The two seemed quite familiar."
"Understood. Continue protecting the young master from the shadows."
"Yes!"
After the person left, Gu Yanshuang's expression abruptly darkened.
"That little brat. And here I thought the prodigal son had finally turned back.
"He spent the past few days sleeping in his room. I never saw him cultivate.
"Today, he finally went out, only to visit a brothel!"
Gu Yanshuang was not entirely opposed to Gu Chenfeng visiting a brothel.
After all, in this era, not only young noblemen but even scholar-officials, gifted scholars, and great Confucian scholars enjoyed listening to music in pleasure houses.
Besides, Gu Chenfeng had previously been obsessed with Princess Yaoyin.
Now that he had set foot in a brothel, it seemed he was no longer fixated on her.
"But he's been frail since childhood. If he loses himself in wine and women, his body probably won't hold up.
"And what medicines did he buy at the Myriad Treasures House?"
Although Gu Yanshuang was still an unmarried maiden, she was the deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, with a bunch of coarse warriors under her command.
Through constant exposure to them, she naturally knew a thing or two about men's unsavory affairs.
Some men would even squeeze their own bodies dry and use all sorts of strange medicines to bolster their confidence.
She had no authority over other people, but Gu Chenfeng was her younger brother and the only male of the Gu Lineage's third generation. She had to care.
"It seems I'll have to find a chance to talk to that brat."
For the next several days, the Chancellor's Residence remained peaceful.
Although, ever since word spread that the chancellor's old ailment had flared up and he had entered seclusion to recover...
The entire residence had been thrown into a brief panic.
But with the eldest young lady, an astonishing martial talent and deputy commander of the Imperial Guard, overseeing matters...
Order returned to the Chancellor's Residence.
The third young master had also been much better behaved lately, staying home all the time.
Although he never ventured beyond either gate and spent every day lounging uselessly in bed...
At least he remained safe and sound.
The Imperial Capital, on the other hand, had been anything but peaceful these past few days.
It all stemmed from Lady Su of the Thousand Beauties Pavilion, whose talent and beauty surpassed all others in the Imperial Capital.
Several days earlier, Lady Su had unveiled a poem.
"Drunken West Chamber!"
It was said that Lady Su's intimate guest had written this poem especially for her.
When they first heard the news, countless noble scions, scholars, and men of letters throughout the Imperial Capital wrung their hands and sighed.
Their attention was focused entirely on the fact that Lady Su, famed throughout the Imperial Capital, actually had an intimate guest.
Countless men seethed with righteous indignation, vowing never to share the same sky with him.
But once Drunken West Chamber truly began to circulate...
And everyone saw the poem in its entirety, the situation changed.
The line, "The cool breeze cradles the moon, drunk in the West Tower; smiling, I ask the mortal world—another autumn?"
Shook the Imperial Capital's literary circles and left countless scholars astounded.
The poem even drew the attention of several great Confucian scholars at the Imperial Academy.
They all marveled that, although the poem concerned romantic passion and the sorrow of parting...
The author's ability to express such tender feelings with such poetic beauty proved that his talent filled eight bushels. He was a truly gifted man.
And so, Drunken West Chamber swept through the Imperial Capital.
Lines about the breeze cradling the moon, paper too short for love so long, autumn rain and falling flowers... were sung by countless people.
Su Wanyue, already acknowledged as a "lady" of the arts throughout the Imperial Capital, rose to dazzling new heights of fame on the strength of this poem.
For days on end, countless poets and scholars nearly wore through the Thousand Beauties Pavilion's threshold as they came to view the original manuscript of Drunken West Chamber.
Everyone was curious about who had written Drunken West Chamber.
And who had managed to become Lady Su's intimate guest, making himself the common enemy of every man in the Imperial Capital.
The answer lay on the poem that the Thousand Beauties Pavilion had carefully framed and hung in the center of its main hall.
The inscription beneath the verses clearly read:
"A gift from Gu Chenfeng, Third Brother of the Gu Lineage!"
Gu Chenfeng knew nothing of these events in the Imperial Capital.
At this moment, he was at a critical juncture.
Completely naked, Gu Chenfeng sat cross-legged on his bed.
His body was no longer swollen, and the exaggerated bulges of muscle and raised sinews had disappeared.
But his skin had changed from the dark gray of several days earlier to a pale silvery gray.
It faintly possessed a metallic texture.
This was precisely the sign of reaching the peak of the Iron Elephant Art's second level, the iron armor realm.
In just seven or eight days, Gu Chenfeng had relied on Golden Marrow to temper his body and Clearheart Pills to restore his mental power.
In the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins, his Internal and External Cultivation progressed day and night, and his cultivation had once again soared.
Not only had his Iron Elephant Art reached the peak of its second level, the iron armor realm...
His cultivation had also risen from six-star meridian-opening realm to the peak of nine-star meridian-opening realm.
At this moment, he was circulating the Heaven-Opening Creation Art, attempting to break past nine-star meridian-opening realm and reach the source qi realm.
The source qi realm was a watershed in martial cultivation.
Martial artists in the body tempering realm and meridian-opening realm could only draw in source qi to temper their bodies; they could not retain it within themselves.
But source qi realm martial artists could integrate source qi into their flesh and dantian.
Not only could they temper their bodies at all times, but they could also draw upon source qi in battle to unleash extraordinary combat power.
Among the Imperial Capital's younger generation, anyone who reached the source qi realm before twenty was already considered exceptionally gifted.
Yet Gu Chenfeng had only just turned eighteen this year.
More importantly, less than a month had passed since he began cultivating to this attempt at breaking into the source qi realm.
With the Enlightenment Platform enhancing his comprehension, the Heaven-Opening Creation Art circulated at tremendous speed.
Source qi from every direction continuously poured into his body.
Gu Chenfeng could faintly sense his strength reaching a critical threshold, on the verge of a qualitative transformation.
Yet strangely, no matter how he cultivated, he could never break through.
A long while later.
Gu Chenfeng slowly opened his eyes on the bed.
His skin returned to its original color, and the seething blood and qi within him gradually settled.
"Failed again."
Gu Chenfeng shook his head helplessly.
This was already his third failed attempt to break into the source qi realm.
Gu Chenfeng knew perfectly well that his failure was not due to a bottleneck.
With the Enlightenment Platform's help, his understanding was clear and unimpeded, and his cultivation advanced a thousand miles a day. There were no bottlenecks to speak of.
If his path of cultivation were compared to a road...
It would be an immensely broad racetrack with him as its only runner.
The reason he could not break through was that he lacked sufficient "fuel."
"Sigh... looks like I'll have to take a Great Pill to break into the source qi realm."
After his very first failed attempt, Gu Chenfeng had already visited the library to consult the relevant records.
He learned that when martial artists broke into the source qi realm...
Their bodies needed to absorb a vast quantity of source qi all at once to meet the demands of their physical transformation.
The higher the grade of their cultivation technique, the more demanding its source qi requirements were during a breakthrough.
When they lacked sufficient energy to break through, martial artists usually chose to take a Great Pill.
Such pills could provide an explosive burst of source qi energy to help martial artists break through.
But pills of this kind required precious ingredients, were difficult to refine, and commanded exorbitant prices.
It was said that a single Great Pill capable of helping a martial artist break through to the Source Qi Realm cost at least fifty thousand taels.
And even then, they often could not be bought at any price.
Over these days of cultivation, Gu Chenfeng had used up more than half of his Clearheart Pills and Golden Marrow.
Now, with only a little over twenty thousand taels in banknotes left on him, he found himself in the predicament of being unable to afford a "Great Pill."
He had originally intended to rely on the Enlightenment Platform's effects to brute-force his way into the Source Qi Realm.
But now it seemed that although the Enlightenment Platform could improve his comprehension, it could not change the source qi conditions around him.
Moreover, the Heaven-Opening Creation Art was probably an extremely high-grade cultivation method.
To break through, he had to take a Great Pill, which meant Gu Chenfeng had to make money.
"Sigh, looks like it's time to officially get my pill-refining business off the ground!"
Before you continue