“Are you girls not planning to fight for it?”Just as the four of them were deliberating, they heard a gentle voice behind them.
The voice belonged to a handsome, warm-looking young man. Seeing Gu Lingzhi"s surprised gaze, he laughed and introduced himself, “My name is Ye Shuisheng. I"ve long heard about you, Lady Gu.”
Gu Lingzhi politely nodded, responding, “I"ve heard about you too.”
When they were biding their time earlier, Ye Fei had already pointed out this person to her.
“Lingzhi saw the Yuli Snow Lotus first. Since she doesn"t want it, there"s also no point in us continuing to fight,” Ye Fei said, still seething with anger at Gu Lingzhi"s decision.
Gu Lingzhi sheepishly said, “Well, you can continue to fight for it. It"ll belong to whoever manages to get it, but I"m not interested.”
Ye Fei wrinkled her nose as she said, “When doing business, what"s most important is keeping your promises. Without trust, no one is going to work with you. Anyway, the flower belongs to you, if you don"t want it, then fine. I can"t be bothered!”
She was already reaching the end of her endurance at this point.
After realizing that Gu Lingzhi really had no intention to fight for the Yuli Snow Lotus, Tianfeng Jin and Qin Xinran also sat down and began treating their wounds.
Due to the adrenaline during the fight, they did not feel the fatigue and pain, but now that they had loosened their tension, the exhaustion started to set in.
Gu Lingzhi grimaced, knowing that the other three were not happy that she had unilaterally made the decision to give up. Sighing, she found a s.p.a.ce to sit down.
Giving up on the fight was something she considered the moment Song Ze appeared. Obtaining the Yuli Snow Lotus was the best outcome, but it was not worth risking all their lives for.
Obtaining the Yuli Snow Lotus was not the be-all and end-all; one still needed to find a secluded spot to consume the Lotus, because one would enter a temporary state of weakness after consuming it.
Furthermore, she knew that there were way more people fighting over the Lotus than ever before. Normally, because the mountain range was so big, not many people would be lucky enough to find the flower – only a few people would be fighting over it in normal circ.u.mstances. The amount of people this year that attended the Flower Hunt was abnormal.
In actual fact, however, if Gu Lingzhi truly wanted to immediately consume the Palm Lotus, it was not impossible for her to do so. All she needed to do was escape into the Inheritance s.p.a.ce. However, that would expose the existence of the Inheritance s.p.a.ce, and she would not allow that to happen.
Weighing the benefits and risks, Gu Lingzhi could only give up on the Palm Lotus. However, she had secretly kept its roots.
To others, the roots of the Palm Lotus was only useful as a medicinal ingredient. To Gu Lingzhi however, the Spirit Essence Spring she possessed would enable her to create an environment to cultivate the Palm Lotus, growing a completely new one!
In that sense, Gu Lingzhi had obtained even more benefits than the youth who had escaped with the flower.
Gu Lingzhi could not let the others know about this secret. She could only wait till the Palm Lotus was matured in order to refine some Spirit Cleansing Pills to make it up to them.
A few hours later, when Gu Lingzhi and the others made their way down from the Snow Mountain, they learned that the youth had managed to consume the flower.
For a short period of time, the entire Wunian City was discussing the mysterious youth"s origins. Shockingly, it seemed that no one recognized him. Thus, this year"s Flower Hunt ended in suspense.
The end of the Flower Hunt did not mean that life in Wunian City would immediately quieten down, however.
Rather, for about a month or so, Wunian City would remain bustling with human traffic. Those who came for the Flower Hunt would stay for a period of time to meet up with friends, engage in trade with other people, and so on. Wunian City would soon find itself transforming into a marketplace for traders, as per tradition.
Seeing Gu Lingzhi return, Gu Linglong immediately put on an expression of someone about to witness a good show, as she said, “Oh, my dear sister, you still have the face to come back? Even after you gave away the Yuli Snow Lotus after obtaining it? The Gu Clan"s reputation is once again thrown by you completely. If it were me, I"d make sure to hold onto the Lotus even if I had to go through h.e.l.l and high water.”
Hearing this, Gu Lingzhi turned to look at Gu Rong. She discovered that his expression too contained an obvious disapproval for what she did. She laughed blandly and said, “So what if I could hold onto it? The effective period for consuming it is still fifteen minutes. Besides, I don"t have someone who is willing to spend so much money to hire bodyguards for me. In that situation, consuming the Yuli Snow Lotus is basically asking for death. Or is that what you truly want to see?”
As she said the last part, Gu Lingzhi"s voice suddenly became extremely stern, causing Gu Linglong to be stunned momentarily.
She only reacted a moment later, angrily shouting, “What are you trying to say? How dare you accuse me in front of Father? I know you"re mad that Father hired some bodyguards to protect me, but not you. Still, it"s an undeniable fact that you failed to get the Lotus while some youth from who-knows-where managed to get it and escape, couldn"t you have done the same?”
In fact, Gu Rong was feeling somewhat guilty after Gu Lingzhi had pointed out his bias treatment, but hearing Gu Linglong, his guilt somehow vanished as he once again looked at Gu Lingzhi with blame.
“Lingzhi, I hired bodyguards for your sister because she"s still young. I"ve got to do something to help her after all. I thought you were more sensible than this, but it seems like you still made a mistake at this crucial point. I also heard that the three girls from the Qin, Ye, and Tianfeng Clans were helping you, yet you still gave up your chance. That"s disappointing!”
“If that"s what Father thinks, then take it that I"m useless,” Gu Lingzhi responded, too lazy to argue. Ignoring Gu Rong"s anger, she turned and walked back to her own room.
It did not matter what she said, Gu Rong still did not treat her as his own daughter, turning on her the moment Gu Linglong added a few ill-intended words.
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