She became Geng Shu's disciple?
Gu Chengshu fell silent.
She had no idea what kind of deep-seated grudge the original owner's father had held against Geng Shu, but after her father's death, Geng Shu even targeted a mere child.
"I'll... keep my distance from him for now."
Once she weathered this storm, she would deal with him later.
"There's no need to avoid him. As long as you don't make any mistakes, even if Geng Shu confronts you face-to-face, he won't be able to do a thing to you."
Yin Zhenghai raised a hand and produced a thick-furred heavy cloak. "It's too cold here. As your master, I happen to have a sixth-grade green fox cloak. From now on, it is yours. Wear it well. Four days from now, I will come back to fetch you."
"Thank you, Master."
Gu Chengshu did not refuse.
Knowing full well that she was staying here, her master had brought a men's cloak—did she really not understand what that meant?
What gift to her? It was clearly just passing through her hands to be handed over to his own precious son.
In the past... it had always been like this.
In public, he would bestow upon her pills, spirit talismans, and spirit stones by the armful... only to turn around and listen to Yin Cheng sighing that he lacked this and needed that.
And then, that foolish girl would end up parting with her own belongings to appease them.
But now...
"Master, you should be on your way. I'll be fine."
Why on earth would she hand it over to that bastard?
If it wasn't comfortable to wear, couldn't she just sell it for spirit stones?
Master and disciple exchanged a warm-looking farewell until they could no longer be seen. Only then did Gu Chengshu, draped in the heavy fur cloak, bend over once more, pressing the palms of her hands against the soles of her feet as she circulated the Heaven and Earth Formula.
Practicing the Heaven and Earth Formula in this posture was a reluctant last resort for her.
Banished to the Cliff of Reflection, the original owner had been consumed by grief and rage, vomiting blood on the spot. Failing to control her emotions time and again, had she not crossed over into this body, she would have either frozen to death right here or tumbled down into the icy pool below, suffering the unimaginably horrific torment of biting cold malevolence invading her flesh.
Yet even with her arrival, it remained a narrow brush with death.
Because vomiting blood had damaged her heart vessels, coupled with the uncontainable fury and resentment before the original owner's death, even though she had inherited the original owner's memories, her circulation of the Heaven and Earth Formula remained halting and obstructed.
Leaning against the freezing cliff face like that, sitting upright in meditation, she would have frozen to death regardless of whether she fell into the icy pool.
To preserve her body's warmth, Gu Chengshu had decisively bent forward, pressing her palms against the soles of her feet to create a circulating loop of warmth between them.
To her surprise, once she did this, the previously murky and sluggish Heaven and Earth Formula flowed smoothly instead. The heart vessels injured by vomiting blood were also slowly soothed and healed by the formula.
Now...
Gu Chengshu suspected that when the palms and soles faced each other, forming a self-contained miniature universe of the human body, it harmonized even better with the principles of the Heaven and Earth Formula.
As the saying goes, the human body is a miniature universe, while the cosmos is the macrocosm of humanity—Taoism had long since spoken of this unity of heaven and man.
Re-entering a state of cultivation, she had no idea that True Monarch Feng Lan, whom the original owner had continued to yearn for right before her death, was lurking not far away.
That was someone capable of standing up and demanding justice for the original owner.
Before her consciousness dissipated, the original owner had not forgotten to leave instructions: if she too failed to endure, she must by all means leave a blood-written testament transferring everything over to Senior Sister Feng Lan, ensuring it never fell into the hands of her so-called master and fiancé.
Gu Chengshu let out a soft sigh.
She knew what the original owner hated the most.
What debt of gratitude?
Her father had genuinely died in battle while saving Yin Zhenghai.
It was a true debt of gratitude.
As for the engagement, it was something her so-called master had aggressively pushed for before her father's death.
While her father was still alive, others might call her spoiled, and it was somewhat forgivable; at that time, she possessed the capital to be spoiled. Her father was willing to dudgeon her, and out of respect for her father, others were willing to flatter her as well.
Yet once her father died, she pitifully moved from Xiaohe Valley to Tianxiang Peak.
Her master seemed to dote on her deeply—spirit stones, pills, magical artifacts, everything was prioritized for her, pushing even his own biological son aside—but was that truly the case?
At first, the young girl had been naive and bewildered, feeling apologetic toward Yin Cheng and sharing everything with him.
She had even found joy in sharing. Gradually, however, she discovered that no matter how much she shared—even pouring in her own rightful allotment and liquidating her family's estate—she remained an outsider on Tianxiang Peak and within the Yin family.
Even the menial disciples seemed to think that because of her, the resources distributed to the peak had diminished.
Not knowing what else to do, she could only tread even more carefully, becoming excessively sensible, dragging all the items bestowed by her master out into the open, and repeatedly giving them away as gifts in front of everyone.
Yet the reputation of being spoiled only grew worse with each passing day.
Whenever Yin Cheng faced her, his impatience grew more pronounced by the day.
That stalk of Yinyuan Grass had clearly been discovered by her and purchased with her own spirit stones.
It was simply because Geng Ruoqi liked it that Yin Cheng expected her to sensibly yield it away—and yield it away at a bargain-basement price, no less.
On what grounds?
The young girl had long since noticed something amiss with this so-called fiancé whenever he faced Geng Ruoqi. Those eyes brimming with adoration had always been reserved for Geng Ruoqi alone.
Yet she and he were clearly betrothed.
And Yin Cheng was well aware that the Geng family had been subtly and overtly targeting her.
This time, even though Zhang Minglin's words had been utterly vile, Yin Cheng acted as if he had heard nothing, only pressing her to quickly hand over the Yinyuan Grass. How could she possibly back down any further?
Could she be blamed for beating him up as well?
She only regretted that the patrol arrived too quickly, meaning she hadn't beaten him hard enough.
However, thinking of Geng Ruoqi, who had ultimately escaped completely unscathed, Gu Chengshu's expression darkened considerably.
The circulation of the Heaven and Earth Formula once again hit a bottleneck at the bridge between her palms and soles.
Gu Chengshu had no choice but to suppress her churning emotions, inhaling and exhaling deeply, warning herself to endure for now. Once she weathered this wave and reclaimed everything belonging to her family, she would slowly settle accounts with them.
After a long while, the Spiritual Energy surrounding her finally stabilized once more.
Hidden in the shadows, Feng Lan looked contemplative. After lingering a while longer to make certain she was having no trouble, she silently departed.
...
On Tianxiang Peak, summoned by his father, Yin Cheng hurried over in haste.
"Father, you called for me?"
"Sit down!"
"Father!" Yin Cheng asked as he took a seat, "Did Senior Sister Feng Lan really go to the Cliff of Reflection to see Chengshu?"
"Whether she went to see Chengshu or not, what does that have to do with you?"
Yin Zhenghai rubbed the space between his brows, his gaze growing sharp as he looked back at his son. "I should be asking you, what is this business with the Yinyuan Grass? It's one thing for you lot to horse around daily, but when Zhang Minglin went so far as to drag both me and your Uncle Gu into his rants, what were you doing?
When you stepped in to break up the fight, were you favoring Zhang Minglin more, or Chengshu?
How is it I hear that Chengshu even beat you up?"
"..."
The last sentence left Yin Cheng looking rather flustered. "Wasn't it just a stalk of Yinyuan Grass? I didn't expect Chengshu to be so petty and calculative.
Zhang Minglin wasn't even wrong..."
Catching the displeasure in his father's expression, he lowered his voice. "I didn't mean to take sides, but Zhang Minglin had just reached Foundation Establishment—how could he possibly be a match for Chengshu?
She was acting like a madwoman that day. If the marketplace patrol hadn't arrived in time, I'd have been bedridden for days myself. I've really had enough of this, Father..."
"Fool!"
What?
Seeing his father burst into fury, Yin Cheng's face drained of color. "Father! I know our family owes Uncle Gu, but haven't you already taken Chengshu as your disciple?
Whatever good treasures Tianxiang Peak has go straight to her; I don't compete with her for them. But I genuinely don't like her.
Father, I've liked Ruoqi since we were children. Please grant us your blessing; I promise I will treat Chengshu like my own sister from now on, I..."
*Crack!*
Yin Cheng was sent reeling, tumbling heavily to one side.
He clutched his face in disbelief and looked up at his father. "You hit me? You're hitting me over Gu Chengshu again!" Unable to hold back any longer, he snapped, "Father, go outside and listen to what everyone is saying about Gu Chengshu! There are so many ways to repay a debt of gratitude—why must it ruin my entire life?"
*Crack!*
Another slap landed, swelling his other cheek to match the first.
Yin Zhenghai acted as though he didn't see the attendant standing with a lowered head. With a flick of his wrist, he cast a soundproofing barrier before speaking. "Geng Ruoqi? I knew Geng Ruoqi had a hand in this."
Gritting his teeth, utterly exasperated by his son's stupidity, he said, "Do you have any idea that you're acting as a knife in the Geng family's hands? Did you not know that Geng Shu and your Uncle Gu do not get along?
Was that Yinyuan Grass something Geng Ruoqi wanted, and she used you as a front?"
Yin Cheng: "..."
He knew Senior Geng and Uncle Gu didn't get along, but Ruoqi...
Of course Ruoqi didn't like Gu Chengshu either.
If not for Gu Chengshu, they certainly could have been together.
Senior Geng was so formidable, and Ruoqi's spiritual root aptitude was hardly poor—surely his father would have consented to their marriage.
"What is that look in your eyes? Are you quite content to be Geng Ruoqi's knife, is that it?"
How had he managed to sire such a blockhead?
Furious enough to reach for a whip and beat him senseless, Yin Zhenghai barked, "When you acted like that, did you ever stop to think about your father? No wonder Chengshu beat the living daylights out of you too."
No wonder the little girl's expression had seemed a bit off when he saw her today.
"Your engagement was something your father forced upon them; it's common knowledge throughout the entire sect. You were fawning over Geng Ruoqi like that—how do you expect Chengshu to feel? How do you expect others to look at this?"
"Others will only think Chengshu isn't good enough for me."