Being questioned by Shangguan Heng like this, Gu Wangchen hurriedly put away Nanli and stood up straight. "Greetings, Master, Immortal Lord Changheng."
Gu Wangchen did not address Shangguan Heng as "Uncle-Master" the way he did the other peak masters. He was not close to Shangguan Heng and could not stand how Shangguan Heng enjoyed the devotion and reverence of his disciples, consumed the sect's resources, and abused his power every fifty years to compress his cultivation and enter the Tongtian Tower secret realm.
What disgusted Gu Wangchen even more was that Shangguan Heng, relying on his high cultivation and senior-junior brother bond, repeatedly begged Gu Langhuai for items, each time acting high and mighty as if he were bestowing a favor upon Gu Langhuai.
Therefore, he refused to call Shangguan Heng Uncle-Master, even though Gu Langhuai had discussed this matter with him many times.
Seeing Shangguan Heng here now, Gu Wangchen immediately put on a stern face, swallowing back all the words he had originally intended to say.
Standing behind him, Leng Zhuxin said not a single word, putting on the appearance of someone with social anxiety who did not know anyone.
After Gu Langhuai mediated, brushed over the matter of brandishing swords inside the main hall, and introduced Shangguan Heng to Leng Zhuxin, Leng Zhuxin finally offered a formal greeting, "Greetings, Immortal Lord Changheng."
Afterward, she stood quietly beside Gu Wangchen. With both senior brother and junior sister wearing stony faces, Shangguan Heng felt disgruntled, though he could not easily argue with juniors.
His gaze lingered on the tops of their heads for a long time before he withdrew it. "Senior Brother has indeed taken in a fine disciple today. She has already reached Qi Condensation Level 7 upon entering. However, strength piled up with elixirs is, after all, inferior to one's own cultivation. She will likely suffer a bit when breaking through to Foundation Establishment. Make sure she isn't ruined by elixir toxins to the point where she can never break through to the Golden Core stage."
Shangguan Heng saw through Leng Zhuxin's cultivation at a glance, but simply assumed that Gu Wangchen had given her elixirs to boost her cultivation. He did not believe Leng Zhuxin could have broken through the Qi Condensation Stage by her own strength in such a short time.
In his view, ranking five hundred and sixty-sixth in the Heavenly Staircase trial, she was doing quite well just to successfully perform Qi Guidance within a day.
Leng Zhuxin did not retort, keeping her head lowered as she stood to the side.
"Indeed, indeed. Junior Brother is right. Look, Senior Brother still has sect affairs to attend to. Perhaps I should have Wangchen send you back first? When Senior Brother has free time another day, we can catch up."
Gu Langhuai still spoke with a smile, seeming entirely unangered by Shangguan Heng's belittling remarks about his disciple.
"No need. Your eldest disciple has never been close to me anyway. I won't disturb your master-disciple time."
Shangguan Heng let out a cold snort, flicked his sleeves, and rose. Casting one final glance over the senior brother and junior sister, he flew off on his sword with his wide sleeves billowing.
...
After he left, Gu Wangchen raised his head and said to Gu Langhuai, "Immortal Lord Changheng is still the same. When his own disciple advances, it's due to exceptional talent and hard work; when your or the other uncles' disciples advance, it's just luck from eating elixirs. Still, Junior Sister's cultivation has grown a bit too fast. Moreover, when I went to fetch her for meals at the dining hall today, I didn't sense that she had reached Qi Condensation Level 6 at all."
As Gu Wangchen voiced his worries and doubts, Leng Zhuxin finally realized that Gu Wangchen hadn't previously noticed she had successfully performed Qi Guidance and entered Qi Condensation Level 6.
She was also somewhat puzzled as to why Gu Wangchen could not perceive her cultivation, yet Shangguan Heng could.
Upon hearing Gu Langhuai's explanation, she understood: the Green Silken Robe Gu Langhuai had given her possessed the marvelous ability to conceal one's cultivation. Much like the damage it could absorb, it was only effective against cultivators below the Deity Transformation Stage.
Since Gu Wangchen was in the Nascent Soul Stage, naturally he could not see through Leng Zhuxin's cultivation. But Shangguan Heng was in the Tribulation Passing Stage, so he saw through it at a single glance.
Gu Langhuai was also in the Tribulation Passing Stage, and fearing that Leng Zhuxin's cultivation had indeed been accumulated through elixirs, he immediately walked up to her and pressed his hand against her wrist to check.
Finding no abnormalities, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"There are no traces of elixirs in your junior sister's body, and her spiritual power is much more abundant than yours was at Qi Condensation Level 7. Her rapid advancement is likely because her meridians are wider than ordinary people's, and the spiritual power required for each breakthrough in the Qi Condensation Stage is relatively small. There's no need to worry. Still, cultivating too quickly isn't entirely a good thing—it's easy to provoke jealousy in others. I gave your junior sister the Green Silken Robe precisely to conceal her cultivation. It can mask up to the sixth level, and I originally thought that would be enough. I didn't expect your junior sister to be so exceptionally talented that she broke through to Qi Condensation Level 7 in less than a day, right when she happened to run into Shangguan Heng. Wangchen, don't you have a magical artifact that can conceal cultivation, one that even those below the Great Vehicle Stage cannot see through?"
Reminded thus, Gu Wangchen recalled it as well. He rummaged through his storage ring for a moment and produced it.
It was a translucent, cyan jade bracelet. Once bound with a drop of blood, the user could freely adjust and conceal their own cultivation.
Leng Zhuxin put on the jade bracelet and wondered whether she should lower her cultivation display to Qi Condensation Level 1, when she heard Gu Wangchen say: "Many disciples in the dining hall saw you break through today and already know you've reached Qi Condensation Level 7. By now, it has likely spread throughout the sect. There's no need to conceal it further; just present yourself with the cultivation of Qi Condensation Level 7. Although it's freakish, there have been disciples in the Qi Condensation Stage who broke through several levels consecutively. Coupled with Immortal Lord Changheng's claim that it was piled up with elixirs, the commotion shouldn't be too overwhelming. You can just conceal your subsequent promotions slightly from now on."
What Gu Wangchen said made a great deal of sense. Leng Zhuxin nodded obediently and thanked him once again.
Gu Langhuai gave Leng Zhuxin a few more admonitions—to use as few elixirs as possible in her cultivation, and if feasible, to wait until reaching Qi Condensation Level 12 before attempting Foundation Establishment—before finally letting the senior brother and junior sister depart.
After a long and exhausting day, the sky was completely pitch black by the time they left the Sect Master's Palace. Gu Wangchen decided not to take Leng Zhuxin to tour the other peaks, instead arranging to pick her up early the next morning to observe the Sword Peak disciples practicing their swords, and then escorted her back.
...
Returning to her residence, Leng Zhuxin activated the courtyard's defensive array and flashed into the dimension once more.
She began identifying the spiritual herbs in the medicine field using the *Compendium of Xuanling Spiritual Herbs*.
Because neither Leng Hua nor the later owners of the Cold Jade Lock dimension were alchemists, the spiritual herbs in the medicine field were scarce, and many commonly used in alchemy were almost entirely absent.
Most of what grew there were uncommon, highly precious spiritual herbs, mostly found toward the very back of the *Compendium of Xuanling Spiritual Herbs*. Some, such as the Primordial Seven-Leaf Flower and the Tianling Ice Fairy, were even immortal herbs long extinct on the Xuanling Continent.
Beyond those, there were others not recorded in the *Compendium of Spiritual Plants* at all. Judging from the fact that they occupied a small, independent section of the medicine field, they were clearly even more precious than those extinct immortal herbs.
Leng Zhuxin did intend to learn alchemy. Alchemy had to be started with simple first-grade pills, which used the most basic spiritual herbs, and these items in the dimension were not needed for now.
Lacking experience in raising spiritual herbs and not daring to rashly reclassify and replant the jumbled herbs in the medicine field, she had no choice but to let them continue growing there in such a disorderly fashion.
She thought that tomorrow, besides visiting Sword Peak, she must also make a trip to the Talisman Peak, the Pill Peak, and the Herb Peak.
Not only did she need to learn how talismans and pills were crafted in the Immortal Cultivation World, but she also had to study some basic planting methods so that such a vast expanse of land in the dimension would not go to waste.
She had checked, and the soil quality of this medicine field was no different from the wasteland in the rest of the dimension; it had simply been demarcated using spiritual bamboo stalks.
As long as it was cleared, various spiritual herbs could be planted and cultivated there, giving her a spiritual herb garden of her own.
Low-grade spiritual herbs, in particular, needed to be planted in greater quantities. Leng Zhuxin had briefly reviewed the basic alchemy recipes Gu Wangchen had prepared for her, as well as the heavenly-grade recipes left behind by Leng Hua. Nearly every recipe required low-grade spiritual herbs, differing only in the main ingredients and catalytic herbs needed.