Gu Ningyun bound the defensive jade slit-ring to herself and hung it near her heart, then placed the transmission scroll and the attack-engraved jade slit-ring into her space.
Opening her space required no spirit energy; she could retrieve items with just a thought. It was much safer than a storage ring, which required both spirit energy and divine sense to access.
She had long expected that the old Daoist would be difficult to catch, but she hadn't anticipated his cultivation would be so high.
Martial Aunt Yi Kong had said there were many things she couldn't be told, and that the restrictions placed by the old Daoist were not made by methods of this world.
Could it be that the old Daoist was not from this world, or perhaps he had some connection to the outside?
For some reason, she inexplicably thought of the Great Horror that Mu Chenze and Jun Luo had spoken of.
A viscous chill rose from the depths of her heart. Just thinking about it caused her to shudder uncontrollably.
"Wake up."
Gu Ningyun snapped back to reality. Martial Aunt Yi Kong was holding her hand, her expression exceptionally grave. "What have you heard?"
This child was too clever.
Based on what she might have heard, combined with the things mentioned today, she could deduce even more.
Her master also looked at her with a solemn expression.
Gu Ningyun opened her mouth, but suddenly found herself unable to speak.
"No matter what you have heard, do not try to recall it, and do not speculate."
Yi Kong looked deep into her eyes. "Ningyun, the firmness of your mind is rare in this world. If not for the fact that you are too mischievous and fond of exploiting loopholes in the rules, I would have wanted to take you into Punishment Peak as my progeny disciple.
"Look at me. Center your spirit and believe in yourself. You can do this."
Gu Ningyun stared at her fixedly, pulling back her wandering thoughts. In an instant, she entered a state of meditation.
The ancient, ethereal echoes of the Dao rose slowly from her heart, as if she had returned to the moment of her Dao Insight.
The viscous, shadowy coldness suddenly receded without a trace, leaving only the faint shimmer of Dao Rhyme and the golden light of merit, warm and soft.
"Martial Aunt, Master, I am fine now."
What exactly happened just now?
Gu Ningyun's back relaxed, and she realized her clothes were already soaked with cold sweat.
Yi Kong watched her for a long time before withdrawing her hand and letting out a long breath.
Yi Chu grasped her wrist. Only after sensing that she had fully recovered—and that her state of mind was even stronger than before—did he relax his furrowed brow.
Seemingly seeing her confusion, he poured a cup of tea for each of them and explained, "That was erosion.
"Since you resisted it just now, the information you currently know will no longer interfere with you.
"Ignore the memories related to it. Do not think of it again, and do not speculate. Do you understand?"
Normally, the more someone tries not to remember something, the more they find themselves unable to stop thinking about it.
But cultivators were different.
Gu Ningyun had already suppressed those memories. As long as her mind remained firm, she would never allow those thoughts to resurface through speculation.
She simply knew what she knew, and that was all. What she knew was the limit; nothing more would ever branch out from it.
...
After returning from Punishment Peak, Gu Ningyun continued eating Blue Lake Scallops.
To be honest, no matter how delicious a food was, eating it continuously for so many days became unbearable.
First steamed, then stir-fried, the fragrance of the Blue Lake Scallops lingered around her nose.
Gu Ningyun remained expressionless—she was sick of them.
But when she thought about the consequences of falling into an illusion while out in the world, she endured it.
The residual toxins from the Blue Lake Scallops increased slightly day by day until, two months later, she could withstand the toxin of an entire scallop.
After another month, the Blue Lake Scallop toxin no longer had any effect on her.
When the time she spent unconscious began to decrease, Gu Ningyun had a hunch.
It wasn't until the final results were before her that she could finally confirm that the 'one year' of continuous consumption mentioned in the travelogue might have just been a figurative number.
That 'one year' didn't specify the daily toxin content of the Blue Lake Scallops consumed.
In truth, regardless of how or for how long one ate them, as long as one could completely see through the illusions brought by the toxin, the goal was achieved.
To verify this, she went to find her master and explained the situation.
"Master, can you set up an illusion array?"
Yi Chu immediately found a path and set up a series of illusion arrays for her along the way.
They ranged from yellow-rank low-grade all the way to earth-rank low-grade.
If she were affected by the illusions, she would come to a halt on the path.
Gu Ningyun walked from the beginning of the path to the middle. The path remained a path, and the surrounding array materials remained array materials. She felt nothing at all.
Just like the last few times she had consumed the scallops, her divine sense was perfectly clear.
She continued forward, passing through a mysterious-rank top-grade illusion array until she stepped into the earth-rank low-grade illusion array. Suddenly, the scenery around her changed completely.
Yellow sand filled the sky, and a blazing sun hung high above.
In all of heaven and earth, she was the only living being.
Endless loneliness, endless heat, endless dryness.
Not every illusion could affect memories like the Phantom Cloud Mirror did.
Gu Ningyun knew she had fallen into an illusion set by her master. An earth-rank low-grade illusion could trap even a Golden Core cultivator.
She walked for a long time within the illusion but couldn't find a way to break it.
She had encountered this kind of situation many times within the Blue Lake Scallop illusions.
If there was no solution on the ground, then it must be in the sky.
She looked up. There were no clouds, and the blazing sun remained directly overhead, not shifting a single inch.
She flew up on her sword. No matter how she flew or how high she went, the distance between her and the sun remained unchanged.
She attacked with sword qi and the first move of the Taiqing Astral Wind Art, but her attacks dissipated in the air because the target was too far; she couldn't touch the sun at all.
Sound traveled further. She took out her newly acquired zither, and the melody of 《The Mountain Has the Thorny Elm》 flowed from her fingertips. Azure sound blades flew straight toward the blazing sun in the sky.
The illusion rippled slightly but did not fade.
She had found the correct array eye, but her Foundation Establishment cultivation was insufficient.
If she absolutely had to break the array, she could use the jade token containing an attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator.
But this was just a test; there was no need for such waste.
She put away her zither and called out, "Master."
The illusion receded like flowing water. Yi Chu was somewhat surprised and quite delighted.
"Illusions below Earth-rank can no longer trap you.
"You no longer need to worry when facing Foundation Establishment cultivators who specialize in illusions.
"Even in an earth-rank low-grade array like this, you can find the array eye.
"My disciple, you have achieved an ability that Golden Core cultivators spend decades to acquire, or might never possess at all, while only at the early Foundation Establishment stage."
Starting fast meant staying ahead. From then on, illusions would no longer be a troublesome problem for Gu Ningyun.
This was the benefit of a solid foundation. Even when facing high-level illusions, with a firm base and extensive experience in breaking them, one could always find a way through.
With the Blue Lake Scallop matter resolved, she hurried to Music Peak to learn to play the flute.
Music cultivation was different from other paths. It involved the use of instruments, the harmony between the instrument and one's state of mind, the coordination of the instrument and spirit energy, the matching of the instrument and the melody, and so on.
Simply watching the recorded guidance isn't enough; one needed hands-on teaching. Preaching Peak also didn't have a Music Hall.
Kong Lingyan was very happy about her arrival and specially prepared a room for her in May of the Cloud Residence to make it convenient for her to stay long-term.
Many roses were planted in the courtyard of Senior Sister Kong's Cloud Residence, fragrant and beautiful.
Every day, Gu Ningyun would sit in the sea of flowers and play the flute.
She had picked up the zither quickly, but learning the flute proved to be a challenge.
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