Changting Abode was situated on a mountain. Unlike Qixia Peak, which featured grand buildings, numerous protective arrays, dense spirit energy, spirit flowers and trees everywhere, and a sparse population, this mountain's spirit energy was at least ten times thinner than that of Floating Peak.
However, compared to Yushui City, it was still dozens of times denser.
The scenery was pleasant, but mostly consisted of ordinary plants.
The transfer point was halfway up the mountain. Aside from a few small buildings resembling mission halls nearby, looking down from the mountainside...
One could see dense rows of courtyards built along the slope. Faint spiritual light from arrays shimmered outside the walls, obscuring the view inside.
Further down were various sections, each housing different types of spirit beasts.
Disciples could be seen busy within these areas.
Cultivators walked fast. They followed the youth down the mountain. The deeper they went, the weaker the pressure from the spirit beasts became.
At the far foot of the mountain, Gu Ningyun saw vast stretches of spirit fields.
Some fields grew spirit rice, while others grew different spirit herbs.
Near the base, the youth led them to a gate labeled Low-Grade Spirit Beast Garden No. 6.
“Martial Aunt Yang, junior brothers and sisters, this is Low-Grade Spirit Beast Garden No. 6. The spirit beasts inside are unranked, so they aren't dangerous.”
“Martial Aunt Yang, according to your reservation, no disciples will come to disturb you in Garden No. 6 during the mornings for the next nine days.”
“If you have any further needs, you can provide feedback on the abode platform.”
Martial Aunt Yang pulled out a low-grade spirit stone and handed it to him. “Alright, thank you for your help.”
After the youth left, Martial Aunt Yang led them inside.
“The higher the intelligence of a spirit beast, the harder it is to condense it with spirit energy.”
Martial Aunt Yang continued, “The spirit beasts here are unintelligent. Aside from the spirit energy in their bodies, they are no different from ordinary animals. They are perfect for practice at your cultivation level.”
“Once your cultivation is higher in the future, you can condense high-grade spirit beasts.”
The garden had many pens. Gu Ningyun peeked inside. Oh, these were just animals like chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, pigs, cows, and sheep.
They just looked slightly different from ordinary animals—they were larger, and their fur and feathers were shinier.
Gu Ningyun wandered around and unconsciously stopped in front of a group of ducks.
Hmm, the more she looked at these ducks, the more she liked them. She would just choose a duck.
She picked the fattest one among the group to be her reference subject.
The duck was squatting lazily in a corner, its tail pointed toward her.
Gu Ningyun observed the duck carefully. After memorizing its appearance and movements, she tried to simulate it in her mind.
Then she extended her right hand, circulated her spirit energy, and used wind spirit energy to condense a green duck.
Except for the color, its appearance and movements were identical to the duck in front of her.
However, unlike Martial Aunt Yang’s lively owl, Gu Ningyun’s duck had lifeless eyes, looking like a sculpture made of wind spirit energy.
In essence, it was no different from the trident she had condensed before.
Gu Ningyun dispersed her spirit energy and thought back to Martial Aunt Yang’s teachings—spirituality training was a form of communication with heaven and earth, or rather, a form of cultivation related to the levels of life.
Communication?
Gu Ningyun poked the duck's wing. “Hey, little ducky, want to chat?”
The duck’s wing didn’t even twitch; it ignored her completely.
Gu Ningyun walked around to the front of it. “Hey, why are you ignoring me?”
The duck remained lying there steadily, as if she didn't exist.
Gu Ningyun reached out and patted the duck's head.
This time it moved, tilting its head to avoid her hand.
A response?
Striking while the iron was hot, Gu Ningyun forcefully patted the duck's head again.
This time, the duck stopped moving altogether.
Very well, ducks in the cultivation world were indeed different.
“You’re so cold and aloof.”
Gu Ningyun poked it again. “What’s your name, little ducky? Let me give you one.”
“Since you’re so aloof, I’ll call you Cold Consort.”
“You’re not saying anything, so I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Excellent, you love the name.”
Cold Consort the Duck: “...”
Gu Ningyun suspected that Cold Consort couldn't understand a word she was saying, but it didn't matter; it didn't hinder her observation.
...
Condensing animals was much harder than she had imagined.
Over the next few days, in order to observe Cold Consort more comprehensively, Gu Ningyun had to postpone her plans to break through to Qi Refining level two and memorize the Almanac of Heavenly Wonders. She moved into Changting Abode to stay.
The spirit beast garden was maintained by dedicated handyman disciples, so it wasn't dirty or messy.
Gu Ningyun placed a meditation mat next to Cold Consort. Aside from attending body refining classes, eating, and soaking in spirit herb packs, she spent all her time here.
She recorded Cold Consort’s habits in detail: eating, resting, sleeping, and even... cough, even its bathroom habits.
But when she condensed a wind spirit energy version of Cold Consort, she always felt like something was missing.
Later, after Wen Xuan and the others learned what Gu Ningyun was doing, they followed suit and moved into the spirit beast garden.
This stunned the disciple managing the garden. In the beginning, he didn't even dare to make too much noise while feeding the animals.
However, after seeing that they didn't show expressions of disgust or act arrogant, he grew used to their presence.
Since Cold Consort often stayed motionless, nesting lazily and aloofly, Gu Ningyun couldn't observe anything new. She decided to wander over to the reference subjects Wen Xuan and the others had chosen.
This wandering actually gave her some inspiration.
The true essence of spirituality training was to feel life. How could observing only Cold Consort be enough?
From then on, she first observed all the spirit beasts in Garden No. 6.
When the disciple managing the garden arrived, she even followed him to visit other spirit beast gardens.
The more spirit beasts she observed, the deeper Gu Ningyun’s perception of life became.
Only after she had observed enough did Gu Ningyun return to Cold Consort’s side.
This time, she circulated her spirit energy again and condensed a wind spirit energy version of Cold Consort.
The lazy posture, the aloof gaze—it finally felt right!
Gu Ningyun dropped the wind spirit energy Cold Consort onto the ground without any extra manipulation.
The wind spirit energy Cold Consort shifted its duck feet and lazily lay down again.
Gu Ningyun then controlled it to eat. It waddled over slowly, chewing and swallowing deliberately. Even after the other ducks had finished eating, it was still eating.
Excellent, this was very Cold Consort!
After struggling for so many days, she had finally succeeded. Gu Ningyun breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking at the lazy Cold Consort, for some reason, Gu Ningyun thought of that fat duck that had guided her cultivation—the one that was talkative and greedy.
Spirit energy surged at her fingertips. Gu Ningyun followed her heart and manipulated her spirit energy to condense a wind spirit energy fat duck.
As soon as the fat duck appeared, it hopped onto the ground and looked at her with its head held high.
Gu Ningyun called it “Senior.” That fat duck immediately looked like it had been injected with chicken blood. It held its neck even higher and flapped its wings, strutting back and forth in front of her with a smug face.
Seeing its arrogant look, Gu Ningyun burst out laughing.
Seeing her laughing at it, the fat duck’s smug expression changed, and it flapped its wings, trying to peck her.
Gu Ningyun called it “Senior” several more times and apologized repeatedly before it finally calmed down.
With a wave of her hand, she dispersed the wind spirit energy Cold Consort and the fat duck. Gu Ningyun squatted back on her meditation mat, lost in thought.
Both Cold Consort and the fat duck had been successfully condensed just now, but why did the wind spirit energy fat duck possess more spirituality than the wind spirit energy Cold Consort?
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