"This…is a middle grade Yellow-Level Spiritual Essence Liquid?"
Gu Hansheng brought the Jade bottle up to his nose and took a sniff. He examined the colour of the Spiritual Fluid through the opening of the bottle and finally poured a drop onto his finger, rubbing it together. Turning to look at Gu Chengze, his face turned serious as he said, "Are you sure this was cultivated by Gu Lingzhi?"
"This…it should be." Stunned by the seriousness on his father’s face, Gu Chengze was no longer sure.
"Gu Lingzhi said she made it herself; I don"t think she would’ve lied to me."
Gu Hansheng’s serious expression instantaneously changed into one of delight.
"Since Gu Lingzhi said it herself, it shouldn"t be wrong. She wouldn’t have been mistreated by Lin Yue-er all these years if she had the guts to lie.”
Gu Chengze nodded his head in agreement. This was also the reason he did not doubt Gu Lingzhi.
"Haha, I never would have thought that Gu Lingzhi was talented in alchemy!" Gu Hansheng laughed, "If this is the case, I will have to change what I told you yesterday. From tomorrow onwards, bring your sister along to meet Gu Lingzhi and try to pull her over to our side."
"But Father, no matter what, Gu Lingzhi is still the daughter of the Clan Leader, will she help us?"
Gu Hansheng flashed a confident grin, "Based on the fact alone that she’s the Clan Leader’s daughter; naturally, she would not help us. However, because of Lin Yue-er and Gu Linglong, she might be willing to help us after all.”
In the past, when Gu Lingzhi had no Spiritual Roots, the mother-daughter pair had bullied Gu Lingzhi relentlessly. Even if Gu Lingzhi was dumb enough not to care, Lin Yue-er would never let Gu Lingzhi rise to fame and eventually steal the limelight from her own daughter.
Under Lin Yue-er’s mistreatment and Gu Rong’s biased views against Gu Lingzhi, as long as Gu Hansheng treated her better, she would definitely be on their side.
The next day, after the first day of practice ended, two unexpected guests turned up in Gu Lingzhi"s garden --- Gu Chengze and his younger sister, eleven year-old Gu Ruoxun.
"What brings you both here?"
Gu Lingzhi was surprised to say the least, she did not think that Gu Chengze would go to the extent of finding her at her garden.
"Haha, my sister is also a Martial Artist with wooden Spiritual Roots. She has been practicing alchemy since two months ago but has not succeeded in cultivating a single Spiritual Medicine, so we have come to get some advice and observe how you practice alchemy so that she can learn a thing or two from you."
Gu Ruoxun was an adorable and obedient girl that waited for her brother to finish before giving Gu Lingzhi a sweet smile, "Sister Lingzhi, my brother told me that you are very talented in alchemy. I really want to learn from you, you won"t blame us for coming uninvited, will you?"
"Of course not." Gu Lingzhi laughed. It was evident that Gu Ruoxun had received a huge amount of love and attention from her parents whilst growing up. She was silver-tongued at a tender age of eleven, it was almost impossible to reject her.
Gu Lingzhi was not exactly pleased that they had come uninvited, but she was not going to let it show. She could only feign excitement as she instructed Cui Lian to prepare some snacks for her guests. Following that, she invited the siblings into her house.
Once she brought them in, she took out the pre-prepared furnace and started cultivating the Spiritual Essence Liquid right in front of them. Since it was a basic lower-grade medicine, she was not afraid of people asking her for the recipe. She used ingredients that she got from exchanging the spirit stones that Gu Chengze had given her.
Gu Lingzhi cultivated the medicine on one hand and detailed every step to Gu Ruoxun on the other. She also talked about the important things to take note of in each step. Gu Ruoxun ended up learning a lot from her and could not help but exclaim, "Did you really just start learning alchemy? You are better in explaining some of the concepts than my teacher!"
Gu Lingzhi laughed lightly in embarra.s.sment, "Yeah, I’ve only started learning alchemy recently. I guess I put more thought into making medicine because my ingredients are more limited than other alchemists.”"
She added the last medicinal ingredients into the furnace and controlled the heat input simultaneously.
Anyone who had both fire and wooden Spiritual Roots were the most likely to have a natural talent in alchemy. A wooden Spiritual Root would allow Gu Lingzhi to examine changes in the medicinal ingredients, whereas a fire Spiritual Root would allow her to control the heat of the furnace at will.
The siblings looked on in surprise as a brand new Body-dipping Spiritual Fluid took shape under Gu Lingzhi"s hands. Though they originally had their suspicions about Gu Lingzhi’s talents, they all disappeared instantly.
Gu Lingzhi was undoubtedly a talented alchemist and it would be worth the effort to try and win her over.
For days after that, the two siblings were glued to Gu Lingzhi. They reported to Gu Lingzhi"s house every day after training ended. Sometimes, it was to ask her about problems they faced when cultivating medicine while other times it was just to chat.
Today, the conservation between the three of them was just chitchat.
Gu Ruoxun frowned, grumbling to Gu Lingzhi, "Sister Lingzhi, Gu Linglong always bullies you during training, why are you not angry?"
Gu Lingzhi lowered her head and remarked, "It doesn’t matter whether I get angry or not. At the end of the day, she is still my younger sister."
Hearing the helplessness and resignation in Gu Lingzhi’s voice, Gu Ruoxun looked at her brother for a moment before she became more agitated.
"Sister Lingzhi, you are too magnanimous, if it were me, I would never allow someone to bully me like that! The Clan Leader is too much, he knows that Gu Linglong bullies you, yet he does not say anything. He is too biased!"
Gu Lingzhi could only sigh as she muttered with resignation, “No matter what, he is still my father.”
Though she did not agree with what they said, she did not disagree with them either. Her reaction had made them think that she probably did hold a grudge against Gu Rong deep in her heart.
Gu Chengze joined in to his sister"s tirade, his face was pained as he said, "Lingzhi, you are no less talented than Linglong, there is no reason that the Clan Leader should be neglecting you. You have trained for so many days, but Madam Lin hasn’t even sent a single Spiritual Medicine to help with cultivation. You have it worse than the small disciples of the Gu Clan. What if you get neglected by them your entire life?”
Gu Lingzhi blinked as she looked at Cui Lian. For a moment, she saw the mockery in her eyes, but as fast as it came, it was gone and replaced with an innocent look.
"Chengze, for so many years, it has always been Mother that has accompanied Father. She knows everything he likes. It is natural that Father favors Linglong. As for the medicine to a.s.sist in cultivation, Father must’ve been too busy and forgotten to ask someone to send it over. I’m sure he will do it when he’s less busy. Furthermore, I am still in the early stages of cultivation and don"t really need any Spiritual Medicine."
The siblings were stunned for a moment. They thought they had almost successfully convinced Gu Lingzhi that Gu Rong had neglected her all these years, but they never thought that she would still so innocently believe that Gu Rong would treat her right. They could not help but shake their heads.
"Lingzhi, you are always being bullied because you are simply too kind and too silly."