Unworthy of him?
Yin Zhenghai's heart skipped a beat, and he snatched up the teacup in front of him and hurled it out.
Bang!
Though he instinctively held back most of his force at the last second, Yin Cheng still couldn't take the full impact. The two dharma artifacts meant to protect their master automatically didn't even have time to react, and half a cup of tea mixed with blood streamed all over his face.
Yin Zhenghai's hand paused, and he roared, "Get out!"
If he didn't get out right this second, Yin Zhenghai feared he wouldn't be able to hold back his temper and would hurl something even worse at him.
Yin Cheng didn't dare utter a word, scrambling out in a panicked mess.
Anyone with eyes could naturally see the state he was in.
Sure enough, whenever Gu Chengshu was involved, even Junior Brother Yin (or Senior Brother Yin) was bound to run into bad luck.
It wasn't long before Feng Lan received the news that because of Gu Chengshu, Yin Zhenghai had beaten Yin Cheng until his head was broken and bleeding.
Hah—
Feng Lan let out a cold laugh. With Yin Zhenghai acting like this, if Chengshu actually married Yin Cheng, it would be a miracle if she had a single good day.
Was he trying to help Chengshu, or was he actively sabotaging her?
And what about that fool of a disciple of hers...
At the thought of her foolish disciple, Feng Lan's expression hardened. With a flash, she strode over and kicked open the door to the quiet room where he was undergoing wall-gazing.
Jiang Pan started in shock and hurriedly prostrated himself on the ground. "Master..."
"Take a look!"
She tossed the newly received jade slip containing the news right at her disciple. "Read it through, and then tell me what you think."
Jiang Pan caught the jade slip with both hands. Seeing that Yin Cheng had once again been beaten black and blue by his own father because of Chengshu, his feelings were immensely complicated.
"Do you think your Uncle-Master Yin treats Chengshu well?"
Jiang Pan hesitated. "...Well!" He had once seen with his own eyes how Uncle-Master Yin had casually handed over his entire allotment of sect supplies—a full five high-grade spirit stones—directly to Chengshu.
He had heard that such things happened more than once.
So, it had to be good, right?
"... "
Yet Feng Lan was laughed to the point of anger by his hesitant yet firm expression. How on earth had she ever taken in such a boneheaded disciple?
"I've been away from the sect for ten years. When I left, you were at the initial level of the early Golden Core Stage. Now that I'm back, you're still at the initial level of the early Golden Core Stage. Jiang Pan, let me ask you, have you been cultivating properly these past ten years?"
"... "
Having finally broken through to the Golden Core Stage, he had thought he could afford to relax a little.
Jiang Pan lowered his head. "Disciple... hasn't been as diligent as before."
"Not only have you not been as diligent as before, you've gotten even more foolish."
Feng Lan showed no mercy. "With me not in Mingfeng Valley and your Senior Sister also away, you acted like the king of the mountain here in Mingfeng Valley. You've really gotten full of yourself, haven't you?"
"... "
Jiang Pan lowered his head even further.
"You said your Uncle-Master Yin treats Chengshu well. Let me ask you: if you were Yin Cheng, and you were scolded, punished, and beaten by me time and time again because of Chengshu, would you grow to resent her? Even if you were born with a broad mind and didn't resent her, could you honestly say you wouldn't even harbor a shred of displeasure?"
This?
Jiang Pan abruptly raised his head.
He kept saying something felt off!
So that was it...
"Un... Uncle-Master Yin wanted to treat Chengshu well, but perhaps... perhaps his methods were a bit misguided."
Feng Lan: "... "
The blade wasn't cutting into his own flesh, after all!
Whatever.
Feng Lan suddenly didn't want to bother with this idiot anymore.
If he had any lingering regard for her as his master, he wouldn't have continually let others trample all over Chengshu like that.
"Since that's how you see it, then think what you like!"
Feng Lan spun around and walked away. "Once your wall-gazing period ends, get yourself down to the Misty Forest to serve as a border guard for ten years."
Since they were master and disciple, she couldn't do a thing about his brain, but his combat proficiency... she simply had to try and salvage that much.
...
Time slipped away unnoticed, and the three-month period finally arrived. Early in the morning, accompanied by two Punishment Hall disciples, Yin Zhenghai hurried to the Cliff of Reflection.
"Chengshu, follow Master home."
Gu Chengshu wrapped herself tightly inside a heavy cloak. "Yes!"
Wearing thin silk socks, she carefully navigated the narrow, winding mountain path up to the cliff peak. Only after the Punishment Hall disciples repeatedly cast hand seals to undo the Cliff of Reflection's locking restrictions on her did she finally exhale a breath of relief.
"Junior Sister Gu's dharma robe and storage bag are sealed in the Punishment Hall's storage pavilion. Take this token and retrieve them yourself!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother!"
Accepting the Punishment Storage Token from the Punishment Hall disciple, Gu Chengshu followed her master straight to the Punishment Hall without looking back.
"Good thing nothing went wrong."
Watching them walk away, Li Chong, who had handed her the storage token, let out a massive sigh of relief. "The other day when I saw her climb down from the cliff peak, she coughed up a huge mouthful of blood."
"That matter... isn't for us to manage."
It was their Hall Master who had personally handed down the sentence, after all.
Zheng Yuan was strictly professional. "We only need to act in accordance with the rules."
If anyone was to blame, blame Gu Chengshu for handing such a glaring handle to the Punishment Hall on a silver platter.
"I didn't say we should manage it," Li Chong sighed. "I'm just worried that she and that Zhang fellow won't stop until one of them is dead."
"...Probably not anymore."
Zheng Yuan narrowed his eyes. "A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. Otherwise, four days ago, when Elder Yin came to fetch her, she wouldn't have refused and only left now."
Four days might seem short, but to those pampered scions, it was excruciatingly difficult.
"Let's hope so. It saves everyone a headache."
A few lashes and confinement in the Punishment Hall dungeons would have been so much better.
It had been a long time since the Punishment Hall had sent anyone to the Cliff of Reflection.
With the Hall Master sentencing Gu Chengshu to the utterly deserted Cliff of Reflection like that, he had been on pins and needles every single day, terrified something would go wrong.
Fortunately, she had made it through safely.
The two men strolled back leisurely, avoiding any potential conflicts.
Meanwhile, the steward of the storage pavilion was equally worried that this little ancestor would rely on the backing of the escorting elder to pick a fight with them.
In front of her, the steward broke the seal from that day. Inside the jade box, the pale pink Phantom Fan, the dharma robe, the storage bag, and the boots looked exactly as they had before.
The spiritual imprint on the storage bag showed not the slightest trace of tampering. Even so, Gu Chengshu still inspected it carefully.
The items inside were truly scarce: twenty-five medium-grade spirit stones, seven hundred and thirty-two low-grade spirit stones, eight empty jade boxes, forty-one mostly empty jade bottles, a few talismans, and four medicine bottles containing Lesser Returning Pills, Detoxification Pills, Qi Gathering Pills, and Bigu Pills respectively.
Aside from these, there were only two and a half standard-issue entry-level dharma robes issued by the sect.
Compared to ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators, her net worth wasn't bad at all; however, she had also inherited her father's Xiaohe Valley and a commercial shop!
"Where is my Yinyuan Grass?"
Re-inserting the tiny, toy-like Phantom Fan into her hair, Gu Chengshu cast a Dust-Clearing Spell on herself, put on her boots, and pulled on her dharma robe. "I spent twenty-five spirit stones to buy that."
Uh—
The steward cast a surreptitious glance at Elder Yin, who was also watching, and gave a dry cough. "At the time, these were the only items you handed over, and the seal was applied right before your eyes. As for the Yinyuan Grass..."
"Master, I remember now. The Yinyuan Grass was taken away by Hall Master Geng back then as evidence. Can you help me get it back?"
"Naturally!"
By what right had Geng Shu taken things belonging to his disciple?
"You head back first. Your master will be right back."
"Yes!" Gu Chengshu gathered her belongings and, relying on the original owner's memories, lightly channeled her Spiritual Power, heading straight toward Xiaohe Valley without looking back.
Along the way, she flew very slowly and at a low altitude.
Though flying was as natural and simple as eating and drinking to this body—and when she had first followed that master to the Punishment Hall, she hadn't lost an ounce of the original owner's standard—back then... her mind had been strung tight, making her forget fear, forget everything else.
Right now...
Gu Chengshu balanced adapting to flying in the sky while observing the premier immortal sect of this world.
As one of the four great immortal sects of the Fuyuan Realm, the Lingyun Sect was rumored to have two Deity Transformation ancestors.
Her father Gu Wencheng's master was none was other than Deity Transformation Star Lord Wushang.
If not for this Star Lord, after her father's fall, Xiaohe Valley would have undoubtedly been repossessed by the sect long ago.
Although its yield wasn't massive, a small Spirit Vein ran beneath it, and its Spiritual Energy was by no means inferior to Tianxiang Peak. Otherwise, her father—who had entered the Nascent Soul Stage under the tutelage of a Deity Transformation Star Lord—wouldn't have chosen to live right there all the way until the Nascent Soul Stage.
It was a pity that before he could establish his own independent peak, he had...
Gu Chengshu let out a soft sigh.
Three months had passed, and she seemed to truly be the Gu Chengshu of this place. Her body, her cultivation, her memories, her emotions...
Everything felt so real and natural...
Meanwhile, that Gu Chengshu who used to lie year-round in a hospital bed, abandoned by wealthy parents who only threw money at her, had faded into a distant memory.
"A flower is a world, a leaf is a bodhi?"
She... and the Gu Chengshu of this world were perhaps mirror versions of each other in parallel worlds, weren't they?
Otherwise, why would the original owner—who had initially looked ferocious, thinking she was undergoing soul possession and preparing to fight her to the death before dissipating—suddenly freeze, ultimately gathering her memories and emotional soul fragments, pressing them into her spiritual body, and departing with a smile?
Their faces had even looked so much alike!
Gu Chengshu flew all the way, admiring these both familiar and unfamiliar immortal mountains and breathtaking sights. None of this could ever be fully captured by Xianxia television dramas.
After quite a while, she finally flew to the southern foothills, passed through the array token into Xiaohe Valley nestled against the sect's grand array, and everything within the small valley lay right before her eyes.