Perhaps due to the foundation from the threading the needle training, Gu Ningyun easily condensed a kitchen knife in her palm.
This kitchen knife looked exactly like the one in her Cloud Residence kitchen—the very one she had used to cut her own arm.
However, the knife in her palm was cyan, made of wind spirit energy.
“Oh, Ningyun, you succeeded so quickly!”
Mu Chenze was holding his stone ball and thinking when he happened to see her success.
He leaned over to take a look. “What kind of weapon is this? It looks a bit familiar.”
“Let me see!”
Wen Xuan poked her head out from behind him.
“Isn't this a kitchen knife? Ningyun, are you hungry?”
Gu Ningyun covered her face. “Maybe...”
The two of them watched the spectacle for a moment before returning to their own work.
Gu Ningyun tried to control the kitchen knife, swinging it a few times in the air. Unfortunately, as soon as her hand moved, the knife collapsed into wind and drifted away.
She summoned her spirit energy again, but this time she used a bit more, making the kitchen knife slightly more solid.
However, after a few swings, it collapsed again.
She remembered Martial Aunt Yang saying that once spirit energy is condensed into a weapon, it is not static.
Instead, it should flow and circulate along certain pathways.
The more the flow of spirit energy aligned with the weapon’s structure, the more solid the condensed weapon would be, and the better it could unleash its power.
She condensed the kitchen knife once more and used her divine sense to observe the flow of spirit energy within it.
The wind spirit energy flowed from the handle to the back of the blade, but then it became a chaotic mess on the blade's surface, barely holding the shape of a knife.
It looked thick, but in reality, it fell apart as soon as it moved.
Gu Ningyun dispersed the spirit energy and squatted on the ground with a sigh.
Recalling the appearance of a kitchen knife, she changed her approach and began condensing the spirit energy from the blade itself.
The spirit energy followed the edge, extended to the blade's surface, and then curved to form the handle.
Next, she controlled the spirit energy to flow from the back of the handle back to the spine of the blade and then to the edge, forming a closed loop.
Once the entire blade was condensed, Gu Ningyun cut off the spirit energy supply.
This time, the flow of wind spirit energy was much more orderly.
She controlled it to perform several swings, and it didn't fall apart.
Gu Ningyun’s eyes lit up. There was hope!
She pulled the stone ball from her storage bag and controlled the kitchen knife to strike it—
Nothing happened to the stone ball.
Did she have to build up power and throw it like Martial Aunt Yang did?
Gu Ningyun placed the stone ball on the ground. With a movement of spirit energy, the kitchen knife struck the stone ball directly.
The kitchen knife fell apart, while the stone ball remained completely unharmed.
Tsk.
“Let’s go eat, Ningyun! Weren't you hungry earlier?”
Unbeknownst to her, class had ended. Gu Ningyun put away the stone ball and took Wen Xuan’s outstretched arm.
Thinking back on Martial Aunt Yang’s previous teaching, Gu Ningyun suspected the reason her attack was ineffective was her lack of understanding of the kitchen knife.
She decided to bring the actual kitchen knife with her to the next class and practice using it as a reference.
...
Two more days passed, and Gu Ningyun still hadn't made much progress with the kitchen knife.
After finishing her soak in the body refining spirit herbs for the day, she sat in the courtyard studying the kitchen knife.
Knock, knock, knock—
Who would be looking for her at this hour? Wen Xuan?
Gu Ningyun opened the courtyard gate to find a fat duck, standing as tall as she was with its chest puffed out, waiting at the entrance.
Wasn't this the same fat duck she had met during her last epiphany?
Seeing her open the door, the fat duck flapped its wings. “Quack quack quack! Little girl, do you know how to catch fish?”
“I don't,” Gu Ningyun said. “If you're hungry, senior, I can pack some food for you from the dining hall.”
“Where's the fun in that!”
The fat duck shook its head. “Fish must be caught fresh to be good.”
It pointed its wingtip at the pink flower tree not far away. “You recognize this tree, right?”
“Yes, it's a Spirit-Heart Peach Tree. Why?”
The fat duck leaned in close to Gu Ningyun and whispered mysteriously, “Let me tell you, this lake in front of your Cloud Residence is called Spirit-Heart Lake.
Inside, there is a kind of fish called the Spirit-Heart Fish.
Because they are bathed in the spirit energy of the Spirit-Heart Peach Tree year-round, these fish are not only delicious but also have the effect of calming the mind and spirit.”
It sucked in some drool. “Little girl, when you were in your epiphany earlier, this lord protected you and consumed a lot of spirit energy.
As a reward, it wouldn't be too much to ask you to catch a few fish for this lord, right?”
Gu Ningyun looked at the fat duck, whose neck was so thick it was barely visible, and gave a helpless smile. “Alright.”
She went to the lakeside and looked at the water, feeling a bit troubled as she couldn't tell how deep it was.
Should she snap off a branch and make a fishing rod?
“Little girl, what are you looking at the Spirit-Heart Peach Tree for?”
The fat duck tilted its head at her. “Aren't you all practicing condensing weapons from spirit energy lately!
Just condense a trident. I'll tell you the characteristics of the Spirit-Heart Fish, and you can just use your divine sense to aim and spear them.”
Gu Ningyun asked, “Senior, why do you think I was holding a kitchen knife before you knocked on my door?”
“Quack?”
The fat duck shook its neck. “Oh, this lord remembers now.
Little girls your age haven't had much contact with weapons, so it really is difficult to succeed in condensing them.”
It waddled to the lakeside on its webbed feet, craned its neck to peer into the lake, then turned to shout at her, “Little girl, come here!
This lord will teach you how to condense a trident.”
Eh? Was it giving her a private lesson?
Gu Ningyun eagerly hurried over.
The fat duck gave her a satisfied look, pecked inside its wing with its beak, and pulled out a two-meter-long trident.
It handed the trident to her. “First, try condensing one with spirit energy using this trident as a model.”
Gu Ningyun first observed the structure of the trident.
The entire trident was pitch black. Its material was neither metal nor wood, but another material she didn't recognize.
The head of the trident was about the length of a forearm and had six prongs arranged in a circle. Each prong had a barb on it.
The handle was about two meters long and was seamlessly integrated with the head; it appeared to have been forged as a single piece.
“Senior, may I input some spirit energy to investigate the internal structure of the trident?”
“Don't. This is a mysterious-rank low-grade artifact. Only a Foundation Establishment cultivator can handle it; it would drain you dry.
Just condense it based on its appearance. There's no need to investigate the internal structure.”
The fat duck waved its wing, then, as if thinking of something, looked at her suspiciously. “Little girl, have you gone off track with your weapon condensation practice?”
Gu Ningyun’s brow furrowed slightly. Thinking about her lack of progress over the past few days, could she really have gotten the wrong idea about the general direction?
“Condense one first and let this lord see.”
Gu Ningyun extended her right hand. Cyan wind spirit energy began to condense from the handle of the trident. After two meters, it split into six prongs, forming the head.
The fat duck leaned in to take a look. “Quack quack quack! Little girl, this lord knew you had gone off track!
When condensing a weapon from spirit energy, it's fine to try and match the weapon's structure as much as possible.
But you've overlooked the most important point!
This mandatory class of yours is called spirit energy application; the core of your training is the offensive power of spirit energy.
So, your focus should be on studying the spirit energy itself, not the weapon.
Condensing a weapon is only to help you unleash the power of your spirit energy, but the essence of this class is the spirit energy itself.”
Hearing the fat duck’s guidance, Gu Ningyun’s eyes lit up!
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