Chapter 47 - The Spiritual Essence Spring
Gu Lingzhi was able to come back alive. Some people were happy while others were not.
“Why? It’s been so long since she went out, how could she come back alive?”
It was Xin Zhixuan who had said this. Ever since losing to Gu Lingzhi that day, she had been looking for an opportunity to take her revenge. When she saw that Gu Lingzhi had become close to Qin Xinran, she started to observe them closely.
Every time Gu Lingzhi went out alone with Qin Xinran and did not come back for a few hours, Xin Zhixuan had been delighted to think that she had been killed, but every single time, Gu Lingzhi came back alive.
There were many people who felt the same way as Xin Zhixuan in the Royal School, and most of them were the Third Prince’s admirers.
Even though Gu Lingzhi had proven that she had the capabilities to be enrolled in the Royal School and that she had not relied on the Third Prince, still, this was not enough to change the mindsets of some people.
Even if Gu Lingzhi was really uninvolved with the Third Prince romantically, the fact that the Third Prince thought highly of her was enough to attract the envy of others. Though they were unable to do anything to his fiancée, Tianfeng Wei, it was different for Gu Lingzhi because she was not favoured in her clan.
However, she did not expect to attract so much attention just from going out with Qin Xinran.
The moment Gu Lingzhi went back to her hostel, she closed the doors and the windows. From her possessions she took out a huge amount of Spiritual Essence and poured it into her bath.
Though her encounter with the Howling Lion Beast today was dangerous, it was very beneficial to her. Previously when she was together with Ye Fei waiting for Tianfeng Jin, she had the feeling that she was going to breakthrough to the next level. Now that she was back in her own room, she would not miss such a good opportunity.
Every student hid part of their strength, and it was fortunate that the school recognized this and respected the privacy of every student. Every hostel was thus designed to prevent other people from using their spiritual perception to peep at those inside, and this allowed Gu Lingzhi to use her strength without reservation.
She soaked her body into the tub full of Spirit Essence and let out a long sigh.
The Spirit Essence dimmed as her body started to absorb the liquid. When she realized that there was not enough essence for her to breakthrough, she poured in a few more bottles.
She repeated this a total of five times before she finally felt that she was about to breakthrough. Taking a deep breath, she used all the spiritual energy in her body to breakthrough.
Her muscles loosened as she felt a large amount of spiritual energy enter her body.
In a short period of two months, she had transitioned from a Level One Martial Student to one that was Level Five. People would think she was a freak if they knew how fast she had progressed.
She continued to sit in the tub to strengthen herself and soak up all of the essence, until the water turned clear again.
Gu Lingzhi was about to fall asleep when she suddenly sensed a strange shift in the Inheritance Space. Focusing her mind, she entered the Inheritance Space.
Once she was inside, she was shocked at how much it had changed.
What was once a small space had now increased in size by tenfold. In the middle of the Medicinal Garden, a pond had now appeared.
Curious, Gu Lingzhi walked over to inspect the pond. She saw that the water in the pond had a milky white colour to it. In the middle of the pond, there was a beautiful, light-pink lotus that grew. The pond was also covered in a layer of fog, which made it seem ethereal.
Inching closer, she could smell a faint but delicate aroma, which lifted her senses.
“Is this… the Spiritual Essence Spring?” Gu Lingzhi said with a shaky voice, still in disbelief.
The pond had looked exactly like what she had seen in the ancient books.
The Spiritual Essence Spring was a source of spiritual power.
In the universe, spiritual power came from these Spiritual Essence Springs that could generate an unlimited amount as well as different kinds of powers. No one knew what were the conditions for these springs to appear, where they started or where they ended. It is only known that once someone had a Spiritual Essence Spring of their own, they would have access to unlimited spiritual power their entire life. It was extremely rare for a Spring to naturally occur, and in the Tianyuan Continent, those that had access to these Springs laid in the hands of only a few extremely powerful people.
Though the Spiritual Essence Spring in front of her was still very small in size, Gu Lingzhi had this feeling that as long as she continued to cultivate her spiritual powers, it would grow in size. In the end, it would be a treasure that everyone would be jealous of.
“How many more surprises does this Inheritance Space have?” Gu Lingzhi wondered.
After a period of time, Gu Lingzhi breathed out deeply and left the Inheritance Space. At the same time, she had lots of questions. Legend says that because the Spirit Tribe had too much powers, it had affected the balance of the universe. This led them to be cursed by the gods and gradually, they disappeared from the face of the earth.
However, other than having an unlimited resource to spiritual power and being extremely quick at cultivation, they had no ability to disrupt the balance of the universe, Gu Lingzhi thought. After cultivating, the maximum level that one could reach was a True God, after which they would ascend to the Realm of the Gods.
Furthermore, according to historical records, the Spirit Tribe was a very friendly and amicable tribe. There was no evidence that they had bullied other tribes, so how exactly did they disrupt the balance of the universe?
Gu Lingzhi eventually fell asleep with all these thoughts in her mind.
The second day, Gu Lingzhi had originally wanted to go to the Alchemy District to cultivate medicine. However, she now had her guard up against Qin Xinran, so she decided not to go. She ended up going to the Martial Practitioner District to practice her martial skills instead.
During lunch, she unexpectedly bumped into Qin Xinran.
“Why didn’t you come to Alchemy class today?” Qin Xinran felt that she had been stood up. “I waited for you for the entire afternoon.”
Gu Lingzhi could not believe that Qin Xinran was still putting up a fake front.
“You know I have four classes. Given my standard at Alchemy, I do not have to worry about the Alchemy exams anymore, I should focus on practicing my martial skills instead.”
“But that’s not what you said yesterday,” Qin Xinran retorted and pouted her lips. She backtracked and said, “It’s alright, since you want to practice your martial skills, then from tomorrow onwards I will practice with you.”
“You don’t have to.” Gu Lingzhi saw Qin Xinran’s hurt expression, and could not help but to say, “I’m just a normal person who is slightly gifted in Alchemy, I cannot afford to play along with your games. If you are bored, why don’t you find someone else?”
Gu Lingzhi still needed to stay alive to take revenge.
She did not even take a second glance at the expression on Qin Xinran’s face and left the cafeteria.