After this battle, the demon cultivators and evil paths that had formed a climate in the Two Realms Mountain were either dead or had fled.
Even those who occasionally hid were found and killed by Feng Yi.
All the strongholds and towns occupied by the demon cultivators and evil paths were either thoroughly swept clean by Zi Tianjun and Feng Yi leading the Xuantian Sect disciples or completely evacuated overnight.
As a result, demon beasts above the Golden Core stage in the Two Realms Mountain were almost extinct, and the evil paths had all fled clean.
The Xuantian Sect took full control of the Two Realms Mountain.
After successfully transforming, Zi Yunshu came to Bao Gu’s courtyard to find her.
Seeing the courtyard full of spiritual herbs, her beautiful eyes, bright as stars, lit up.
Talking about the day Bao Gu was trapped in the formation, Bao Gu learned that the demon cultivators and evil paths in the Two Realms Mountain had invested heavily to set up a deadly formation, intending to trap a few Xuantian Sect disciples, lure the two Nascent Soul stage experts of the Xuantian Sect to rescue, and then destroy them with the formation!
Fortunately, Zi Yunshu encountered the demon cultivators setting up the formation on her way back to the Xuantian Sect, sneaked in, and subtly sabotaged the formation’s core, causing it to self-destruct as soon as it was activated, rendering it useless.
Zi Yunshu sat leisurely in the courtyard full of spiritual herbs, drinking monkey wine.
Her beautiful eyes moved from the herbs to Bao Gu, and she asked, “Did you ever learn how to set up or break formations?”
Thinking of Bao Gu running around like a headless chicken in the formation, she couldn’t help but get angry.
Bao Gu said, “I only know how to set up spirit gathering and concealment formations, taught by my senior sister.”
Zi Yunshu looked deeply at Bao Gu and asked, “What have you learned while I was away?”
Bao Gu thought, “Is Little Martial Aunt going to test me?”
Zi Yunshu, seeing Bao Gu not answering, said, “You haven’t learned formations, so what about artifact refining?”
Bao Gu shook her head.
Zi Yunshu asked again, “What about alchemy?”
Bao Gu shook her head again.
Zi Yunshu asked once more, “Have you learned talisman crafting?”
Bao Gu shook her head once more.
Zi Yunshu took a deep breath, her gaze fixed on Bao Gu, and asked, “Don’t tell me you’ve spent all your time trying to break through your cultivation level while I was away?”
A mere Foundation Establishment stage two!
Clearly, you haven’t been diligent in your practice.
Bao Gu said, “Not really.”
She then detailed everything that happened after she arrived at the Two Realms Mountain to Zi Yunshu.
Zi Yunshu was speechless for a while after hearing it.
Bao Gu was wholeheartedly devoted to the sect, and she couldn’t say Bao Gu was wrong for being delayed in her cultivation by those trivial matters.
But as a chosen successor by the founder, being unaccomplished and knowing nothing was unacceptable.
It was acceptable, but Bao Gu was from her Lingyun Peak lineage, and knowing nothing was not!
Where would she put her face?
Besides, she could ignore others, but she had to take care of Bao Gu.
After a brief consideration, Zi Yunshu made a decision and said, “The first of every month is the Xuantian Sect’s big exam. You must attend this exam, spar more with your fellow disciples to gain practical experience, and it’s also a good opportunity to connect with them. Ah Sheng promised to teach you alchemy, and her formation skills are also very high. From now on, you will follow Ah Sheng to learn formations and alchemy. I will teach you artifact refining, and you will learn talisman crafting from my father. From now on, you will only have three days a month to handle miscellaneous affairs.”
Bao Gu responded with an “Oh” and said, “Little Martial Aunt, too much learning can lead to being a jack of all trades and master of none.”
Zi Yunshu snorted coldly and said, “No matter how high your sword skills or cultivation level, once you step into a formation without knowing how to break it, you’re just fish on a chopping board.
You must learn formations.
Alchemy, learning to refine pills, you have so many heavenly treasures and rare spiritual herbs, wouldn’t it be a waste not to practice alchemy?
I don’t need to explain artifact refining, do I?
The things you wear and carry, which one isn’t made through artifact refining?
How many times have you changed the things on you?
If you don’t learn to refine and make these yourself, who can afford you in the future?
The benefits of talisman crafting don’t need me to say more, right?
Not to mention selling, crafting talismans to keep in your storage bag is a great help in battles and useful in daily life.
Learning to craft talismans will bring many conveniences.”
Bao Gu was left speechless by Zi Yunshu’s words.
She knew Zi Yunshu was doing it for her own good, so she obediently thanked her.
Zi Yunshu’s expression softened, and she began to eye Bao Gu’s courtyard full of spiritual herbs with increasing greed.
She immediately said, “Come with me,” and led Bao Gu to her own courtyard.
Bao Gu saw Zi Yunshu’s gaze and knew she had her eyes on the spiritual herbs in her courtyard, but she didn’t say which ones she wanted to take.
She found it a bit strange.
Following Zi Yunshu into her courtyard, she found it could be described as shabby, with nothing but the house and the protective formation, just like when she first moved into her senior sister’s courtyard.
Zi Yunshu turned to Bao Gu and said, “Bao Gu, I see you’ve managed your courtyard quite well.”
Bao Gu exclaimed, “Little Martial Aunt, you’re robbing me!”
Zi Yunshu said, “Ah Sheng’s formation skills are very high, even my father is inferior to her.
Finding such a great teacher for you, what’s wrong with paying some tuition?
It’s just you; others can’t even dream of it!”
Bao Gu caught a glimpse of the demon saint coming out of the house and quickly saluted, calling, “Saint Aunt.”
The demon saint’s gaze swept over Zi Yunshu and Bao Gu and asked, “Shu’er, are you bullying Bao Gu again?”
Zi Yunshu pursed her lips and said, “How could I!”
She took two steps to the demon saint, hugged her arm, and said, “Ah Sheng, I found you a disciple.”
The demon saint glanced at the arm Zi Yunshu was holding and then looked at Bao Gu, saying, “I promised to teach her alchemy, and I will keep my word.
I’m free recently and can teach her anytime.
But I seem to have heard you mention formations just now…”
Zi Yunshu nodded, pointed at Bao Gu, and said, “There’s a disciple for formations and alchemy.
The Xuantian founder chose her, so her roots are naturally not bad.
Brother Zhuo is gone, and my father is busy with Xuantian Sect affairs and has no time to teach her.
He also has a laissez-faire attitude towards her.
If I don’t pay attention, this great seedling will be wasted.”
The demon saint pondered silently.
If it were just to guide Bao Gu a little or lay the foundation, Yunshu could completely handle it.
If Bao Gu could learn Zi Yunshu’s skills, it would be enough for her future.
Zi Yunshu didn’t teach her herself but wanted her to be the demon saint’s successor.
She hesitated slightly and said, “Bao Gu is ultimately a Xuantian Sect disciple. You, as Martial Aunt, teaching her skills is unquestionable, but I’m not even a guest elder in the Xuantian Sect. Teaching her skills would be like her switching sects, which is a major taboo in the cultivation world.”
Zi Yunshu said, “If it were another Xuantian Sect disciple, I wouldn’t dare push them to you as a disciple, but Bao Gu…”
Her beautiful eyes turned, and she asked, “Haven’t you noticed my father treats her differently, not using the usual Xuantian Sect disciple treatment on her? Alchemy, artifact refining, formations, talismans, she knows none of these now. Why doesn’t my father teach her? He probably has other plans.”
She looked eagerly at the demon saint and said, “Just go along with my father’s intentions.”
The demon saint looked at Zi Yunshu with affection but insisted, “Choosing a successor cannot be done carelessly.”
She looked at Bao Gu and said, “Bao Gu, if you can pass my test, I will teach you all my skills.
If not, I will teach you a few volumes of alchemy and formation skills, enough for you to walk the world.”
Bao Gu saluted and said, “Yes.”
The demon saint looked at Bao Gu strangely, held her wrist to check her pulse, and said, “No injuries, but why do you look so listless?”
She seemed less lively than before.
Her eyes lacked a certain spirit, filled with a heavy air.
Zi Yunshu quietly transmitted two words to the demon saint: “Yu Mi.”
The demon saint suddenly understood, glanced at Bao Gu, and didn’t say more on the matter.
She took out a jade slip from her storage ring and handed it to Bao Gu, saying, “Memorize this.”
With a wave of her sleeve, a calculation problem appeared on the ground, and she said, “Solve this problem, and you will pass my formation test.”
Zi Yunshu stood in front of the problem and began calculating in her mind.
The demon saint seemed to guess Zi Yunshu’s thoughts, glanced at her, and said, “If you help her cheat, she will lose the qualification to be my successor.”
Bao Gu responded, “Yes!”
She held the jade slip and asked, “Little Martial Aunt, is there any rush to tidy up this courtyard?”
Zi Yunshu said, “No rush, you memorize first.
Ah Sheng, I won’t disturb you taking a disciple.
I have something to discuss with my father.”
She then stepped out of the courtyard.
Bao Gu saw the demon saint sitting at the jade stone table nearby, seemingly waiting for her to finish memorizing and solving the problem.
She didn’t dare to refuse Zi Yunshu’s kindness, knowing this was a rare opportunity others couldn’t even dream of.
She immediately sat cross-legged and opened the jade slip given by Zi Yunshu.
In the cultivation world, jade slips can usually be directly read, imprinting the memory in the mind through a memory imprint.
However, the jade slip given by the demon saint was not recorded in this way but was carved with a knife on the jade slip, requiring her to understand, read, and memorize it with her own mind.
Bao Gu initially thought the problem posed by the demon saint would be difficult, but upon reading it, she found it quite simple.
She had previously learned business and trade from her father, starting with the abacus and then learning arithmetic.
Later, she read many arithmetic books at her neighbor Sun Xiucai’s place, such as “Plum Blossom Numerology,” “Zhou’s Reasoning,” “Chen’s Arithmetic,” and so on, a whole bunch of miscellaneous things.
She didn’t understand formations, but she had some knowledge of arithmetic.
The jade slip given by the demon saint was a formula based on the heavenly stems, earthly branches, five elements, eight trigrams, and four symbols.
At first glance, it seemed complex, but it was like learning the abacus and memorizing the formula.
She wasn’t good at other things, but when it came to business, trade, and accounting, she had a natural talent.
Bao Gu read through the jade slip given by the demon saint, understood it, and memorized most of it.
After reading it a second time, she had it memorized, and by the third time, she was sure she could recite it accurately.
She closed the jade slip and handed it back to the demon saint, saying, “I’ve memorized it.”
The demon saint looked at Bao Gu in confusion and asked, “You can recite it?”
Bao Gu nodded.
The demon saint nodded and signaled Bao Gu to recite it for her.
Bao Gu recited it word for word from beginning to end.
The demon saint looked at Bao Gu and asked, “Can you understand it?”
Bao Gu was surprised and thought, isn’t it obvious?
But hearing the demon saint’s question, she explained the meaning sentence by sentence and asked, “Did I understand it correctly?”
The demon saint neither confirmed nor denied, only pointing to the problem on the ground and saying, “Solve this problem first.”
Bao Gu looked at the problem on the ground.
She had thought it was difficult before, but after memorizing the demon saint’s formula, it was like learning the abacus and being asked to do a simple addition and subtraction problem.
She didn’t even need an abacus or finger counting; she could calculate it in her mind using the formula.
The demon saint noted the time.
From the moment Bao Gu started reading to solving the problem, it took only half an incense stick’s time.
She looked at Bao Gu in surprise.
Bao Gu felt uneasy under the demon saint’s gaze and asked, “Did I get it wrong?”
She recalculated and said, “No, it’s correct!”
The demon saint handed another jade slip to Bao Gu and said, “Memorize this and tell me what it means.”
She then erased the previous problem with a wave of her sleeve and presented a new one.
Bao Gu thought, “Wasn’t it said that solving the previous problem would mean passing the test? Why is there another one?”
But she wanted to learn from the demon saint, and the demon saint was the teacher.
Whatever the teacher said was what it was.
If the teacher wanted to give another problem, she couldn’t refuse.
She obediently opened the new jade slip and began reading.
This jade slip was slightly more advanced than the previous one, but with the foundation from the first jade slip, it wasn’t difficult.
After reading it twice, she had it memorized.
She mentally recited it once to confirm accuracy, then returned the jade slip to the demon saint, recited it from beginning to end, and explained her understanding before solving the problem given by the demon saint.
The demon saint asked Bao Gu, “Have you studied arithmetic and formations before?”
Bao Gu replied, “Yes, my senior sister taught me how to set up spirit gathering and concealment formations and gave me a formation jade slip.”
She then took out the formation jade slip given by Yu Mi and handed it to the demon saint for review.
The demon saint scanned it with her divine sense and asked, “Just these?
Nothing else?”
Bao Gu said, “Does ‘Plum Blossom Numerology,’ ‘Zhou’s Reasoning,’ ‘Chen’s Arithmetic,’ and the like count?”
The demon saint was taken aback and asked, “What are those?”
Bao Gu briefly explained the books she had read at Sun Xiucai’s place.
The demon saint realized Bao Gu was referring to some feng shui, arithmetic, and formation theories from human yin-yang masters, which were just scratching the surface and not even entry-level.
She could confirm Bao Gu had not really touched formations or arithmetic before, had some basic arithmetic skills, and possessed considerable talent.
She couldn’t confirm if Bao Gu had a photographic memory, but she was sure Bao Gu was extremely smart, almost needing no teaching or guidance, understanding everything at a glance.
In this regard, her talent far surpassed her own, by several leagues.
Such a talented disciple was a rare find!
She told Bao Gu, “Alchemy still needs further testing, but I can teach you all my skills in formations.”
Bao Gu was delighted to hear this, knowing she had passed the demon saint’s test.
She immediately smiled and bowed, saying, “Bao Gu greets Master.”
The demon saint raised her sleeve to stop Bao Gu from kneeling and performing the disciple’s kowtow ceremony.
She said, “You already have a master and are Shu’er’s martial niece. I can’t take you as a disciple. You can continue to call me Saint Aunt.”
Bao Gu looked at the demon saint in confusion.
She was learning the demon saint’s skills but didn’t need to become a disciple?
The demon saint seemed to understand Bao Gu’s thoughts and said, “I teach, you learn, and without becoming a disciple, it doesn’t count as switching sects. I don’t care about the master-disciple title. You are Shu’er’s martial niece and have done her a favor. I see you as a child or niece, and teaching you skills is appropriate. The reason for the test was to confirm your talent and what level you can reach.”
Bao Gu asked, “How is my talent?”
The demon saint conservatively said, “Not bad.”
