Ever since learning how much money Alchemists could make from Liu Fuyan last time.
Gu Chenfeng had taken it to heart and looked through plenty of information about Alchemists.
The library at the Prime Minister's Residence even contained some pill formulas of the third grade and below.
To refine pills, an Alchemist only needed a pill furnace, a source of fire, and the raw ingredients.
With their own pill-refining skills, they could then produce pills.
The furnace and fire source were easy enough to obtain. The difficulties lay in the skills and ingredients.
With the Enlightenment Platform to help him, Gu Chenfeng could teach himself the skills as long as he had the formulas.
So the biggest problem was the ingredients.
The spiritual materials used to refine pills were anything but cheap.
He was still short of money himself, so he certainly could not spend another large sum buying ingredients.
Over the past few days, Gu Chenfeng had already formed a plan.
"I'd better make another trip to Great Wilderness Ridge."
Great Wilderness Ridge was a vast primeval forest within the Great Li Dynasty.
Countless Origin Beasts lived there, and innumerable spiritual materials grew within it.
Its closest edge lay less than a hundred li from the Imperial Capital.
Gu Chenfeng had originally gone hunting at Great Wilderness Ridge when the accident happened.
All the spiritual materials and Origin Beast parts needed to refine first-grade pills could be found there.
After several days of consideration, coupled with three consecutive failed breakthroughs.
Gu Chenfeng finally decided to head to Great Wilderness Ridge.
"On this trip to Great Wilderness Ridge, I'll not only gather pill-refining ingredients, but also have a chance to test my strength."
Gu Chenfeng was now at the Nine-Star level of the Meridian-Opening Realm, and practiced Internal and External Cultivation.
Among the younger generation of the Imperial Capital, he could already be considered a formidable fighter.
Awkwardly enough, however, he hardly ever had a chance to fight.
To conceal his strength and keep his enemies from noticing, even within the Prime Minister's Residence.
He practiced in the utmost secrecy.
All his cultivation took place on the Enlightenment Platform. He never displayed his strength in the outside world.
Moreover, the Heaven-Opening Creation Art was incomparably profound. As long as Gu Chenfeng did not deliberately activate it.
His qi and blood lay dormant.
Neither his eldest sister in the Source Sea Realm nor the expert secretly protecting him could possibly discover it.
And whenever he left the Prime Minister's Residence, martial guards accompanied him.
There was simply no need for him to fight personally.
As a result, Gu Chenfeng's cultivation had advanced rapidly, but his actual combat experience was severely lacking.
Apart from ambushing and killing that female assassin when he first transmigrated.
He had not had a single opportunity to truly fight an enemy.
A greenhouse could not nurture a pine that towered into the heavens, nor could a courtyard raise a horse capable of galloping a thousand li.
Gu Chenfeng knew that without being tempered in actual combat, however high his cultivation rose.
He would be unable to bring out his true strength when faced with a genuine test of life and death.
Thus, the trip to Great Wilderness Ridge was imperative.
For safety's sake, however, he had to satisfy the following conditions.
First, he had to ensure he was strong enough to protect himself at Great Wilderness Ridge.
Second, he could not let anyone know his whereabouts-not just his enemies, but also those in the Prime Minister's Residence.
The most difficult condition was the last.
Given his eldest sister's cultivation, along with the hidden expert keeping close watch over him.
It was almost impossible for Gu Chenfeng to slip out of their sight unnoticed.
He had considered telling his eldest sister the truth about his cultivation.
But he suspected that doing so would only make her protect him even more closely. She would never let him take such risks.
Furthermore, he would have to explain why his cultivation had soared in such a short time.
As for earning money through pill refining, and all his other plans, those would become even more impossible.
Time to start preparing!
Gu Chenfeng was not an indecisive man. Once he made his decision, he swiftly took action.
Rather than rush to leave the Prime Minister's Residence, he pulled the Yellow-Grade Martial Technique, the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique, that his eldest sister had given him out from beneath his pillow.
In the cultivation world, cultivation arts and martial techniques were divided into grades.
"Heaven, Earth, Profound, Yellow, Human."
Each grade was further divided into low, middle, and high tiers.
Ordinary martial artists could, at most, gain access to Human-Grade cultivation arts and martial techniques.
Manuals of Yellow Grade and above could serve cultivators all the way into the Source Qi Realm, or even the Source Sea Realm, and were extremely precious.
Usually, only wealthy and influential clans could make use of them.
And this Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique was a high-tier Yellow-Grade Martial Technique.
Even the Iron Elephant Art he practiced was a middle-tier Yellow-Grade external cultivation art, giving him a starting point far above most others.
Gu Chenfeng intended to practice the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique before heading to Great Wilderness Ridge to strengthen himself further.
With his current cultivation as a foundation and the Enlightenment Platform's assistance, learning a martial technique would naturally be easy.
Apart from its basic spear forms, the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique contained three ultimate moves.
The first move-Tiger Roars Through the Forest. The second-Tiger Claw Rends the Sky. The third-Black Tiger Devours the Moon.
Their power increased with each successive move, multiplying as they progressed.
But they also had cultivation requirements.
The third move, Black Tiger Devours the Moon, in particular, could only be performed by a Source Sea Realm martial artist.
That doesn't matter. As long as I learn the basic forms.
And master the first move, Tiger Roars Through the Forest, that'll be enough.
Gu Chenfeng swallowed a Clearheart Pill and entered the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins once more.
This time, Gu Chenfeng leaped straight down from the Enlightenment Platform.
With a thought, an illusory spear condensed in his hand.
Through his frequent practice during this period.
Gu Chenfeng had discovered more of the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins' functions.
He found that his activities within the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins were not confined to the Enlightenment Platform.
There was a fairly large space around it as well.
As long as he activated the Enlightenment Platform with his mind, he could receive its comprehension enhancement anywhere within this space.
He could even expend his mental energy.
To temporarily conjure blades, spears, staves, and a few simple implements.
Now, with the spear in hand, the contents of the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique surfaced in his mind.
With his greatly enhanced comprehension, Gu Chenfeng swiftly read through it, grasped its principles, and integrated everything into a coherent whole.
Once he understood it all thoroughly, he thrust his spear out with fierce resolve.
Whoosh!
Two days later.
Early in the morning.
At the Right Chancellor's Residence, a carriage under the protection of guards.
Passed through the gates and headed east.
It finally arrived at the Thousand Beauties Pavilion beside the Jade Fragrance River.
In the chambers of the celebrated Su Wanyue, in the west wing of the top floor.
"I need a reasonable explanation!"
Gu Chenfeng took a sip of the tea Su Wanyue had meticulously whisked for him, smacked his lips, and wore a rather dark expression.
It was hard to tell whether anger had caused it or whether the whisked tea simply did not suit his taste.
Su Wanyue naturally knew why this man was wearing such a sour face.
She knelt calmly on a cushion, her delicate hands folded over her lower abdomen.
Her slender waist was held straight, and above her flat belly rose towering curves, fully displaying the bearing of the Imperial Capital's foremost celebrated courtesan.
"I made your poem famous throughout the Imperial Capital, Third Young Master, for everyone to recite. Are you displeased?"
"Hah...!"
Gu Chenfeng drew a deep breath, feeling himself burn with anger.
He had only noticed something was wrong when he went out that morning.
The people of the Imperial Capital had all pointed and whispered at the sight of his carriage.
Many wore expressions of surprise and doubt, occasionally uttering a few familiar lines of poetry.
Realizing something was amiss, Gu Chenfeng questioned the guard beside him and finally learned the truth.
Su Wanyue had made the poem he gave her public and stirred up a tremendous amount of publicity.
Now, everyone in the streets and alleys of the Imperial Capital knew.
The Gu Lineage's third young master had become Su Wanyue's intimate guest and left behind a poem, "Drunken West Chamber," that had dazzled the Imperial Capital.
Gu Chenfeng had merely missed the news because he had remained behind closed doors these past days, focused entirely on cultivating.
Naturally, he was irritated by this woman's unilateral decision.
"Doing this will bring me a lot of trouble!"
All Gu Chenfeng wanted now was to lie low and grow stronger. "Drunken West Chamber" was merely borrowed wit, brought over from his previous life to satisfy Su Wanyue.
With her stirring things up like this, who knew how many eyes she had drawn to him? It did him no good whatsoever.
Faced with Gu Chenfeng's accusation, Su Wanyue feigned hurt and spoke pitifully.
"Third Young Master, you want me to help you find the mastermind behind all this. I'll inevitably have to act in secret.
"But I'm only a courtesan.
"Who knows how many sons of the rich and powerful in the Imperial Capital watch me like ravenous wolves, pestering and harassing me day and night?
"If I don't tell the world that I'm under your protection, Third Young Master.
"How can I shake off their interference and devote myself to your affairs?
"I willingly sullied my own reputation, yet you blame me for it. How heartless you are."
As she reached the sorrowful part, tears actually glimmered in Su Wanyue's eyes, threatening to spill.
Gu Chenfeng was momentarily speechless at the sight.
Women really are born actresses.
He knew why she had made his poem public.
Part of it was indeed to use his status to ward off interference.
But she was certainly also taking revenge because he controlled her Lifebound Gu and had left her "swollen."
Otherwise, she would hardly have needed to publicize him with such fanfare.
Since things had already come to this, Gu Chenfeng did not want to dwell on it.
They were partners now, after all. As long as she had not crossed the line, it would be unwise to tear away all pretense of civility.
Gu Chenfeng silently noted this debt for now.
Her Lifebound Gu was in his hands anyway. He could use a big stick to knock her into line and teach her a lesson later.
"Enough. Let's drop this matter. I came today to ask you for a favor."
"A favor?" Su Wanyue looked somewhat surprised.
Gu Chenfeng lowered his voice mysteriously.
"Do you Gu Masters from the Northern Frontier have any abilities that can alter the human body?"
Su Wanyue froze at his words, her gaze unconsciously sweeping toward Gu Chenfeng's lower body as her expression turned peculiar.
"You want to..."
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