The matter of the fetal poison didn't leave any psychological shadow on Tang Yue. She continued her cultivation life as usual, practicing every day. When she had free time, she would invite Shang Fangling and Yue Yanling to the manor for tea and meals—her six-month grounding hadn't ended yet, so she couldn't go out to meet friends.
In her mother's collection, she discovered a very useful set of books titled Foundations of Spiritual Energy. Contrary to what the title might suggest, it wasn't about how to increase spiritual power, but rather how to use it. The author, Lü He, was a highly talented cultivator who wrote the book in an engaging and practical style.
Rather than dry explanations, the book taught real-life applications of spiritual energy: cleaning, cooking, crafting, planting, pet care, brewing, wilderness survival—handy tricks for all sorts of daily situations.
Aside from enjoying the recipes, Tang Yue was most interested in the section on jewelry-making. Following the book's illustrations, she crafted a hairpin for Madam Shui using precious materials like the Two-Yi Jade Branch and Xuanxing Rainbow Gem. Madam Shui was delighted and praised her for being clever and skillful.
Tang Yue also made Black Bamboo Bracelets for Shang Fangling and Yue Yanling. The two girls were overjoyed. The bracelets had a body-nurturing effect, and the materials alone were valuable—let alone the fact that Tang Yue's design was both fresh and beautiful. Yue Yanling especially complimented her skills, saying she must have learned a lot at the Tiangong Artifact Refinement Pavilion.
She became so absorbed in applying spiritual energy that she sometimes forgot to cultivate and had to be zapped by the Curse Ring several times before remembering to meditate and practice The Hibiscus Body Tempering Manual.
Half a year passed like this. She reached the fourth level of Qi Refining, and her mastery of spiritual energy usage rose dramatically. Now, even many Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators didn't know as many practical applications as she did.
The happiest person was Madam Shui. She had always worried that her daughter's low-quality spiritual root would slow down her cultivation progress. Now, seeing Tang Yue's rapid improvement eased her anxiety.
Even so, Madam Shui still sent out many cultivators to look for ways to supplement Tang Yue's innate spiritual energy. Wei Hongyun already had a lead and went to Huayue City himself to investigate.
During Tang Yue's confinement, the male lead, Chu Tianshu, had already formed his Golden Core. A fifteen-year-old Golden Core cultivator was rare across the entire Liuzhou Continent. Even Lu Lingyi of Xuanyuan Mountain, a prodigy in her own right, only formed her core at eighteen. Ji Chongguang of the Shangqing Palace, born under auspicious omens, did so at nineteen.
Tang Wenhua decided to throw a grand Core Formation Ceremony for Chu Tianshu, to spread the name of Kunwu City's genius far and wide across Liuzhou.
Tang Yue used her confinement as an excuse not to attend the ceremony. She had no interest in propping up the male lead's spotlight. She would rather improve her cultivation and focus on her interests—her research on micro-spirit insects had long stalled, and the editor-in-chief of Casual Talks had already sent her several reminders to submit an article.
Even in the modern world, she rarely attended social events. Those who sought collaboration with her had heard of her results and approached her on their own. She believed in letting strength speak—those without value wouldn't attract connections.
Chu Tianshu, however, did mind her absence. Everyone else came to celebrate his Core Formation. His master and mistress gave gifts. Only the daughter of the City Lord—someone of considerable status—was absent, leaving his perfect ceremony with a flaw.
In private, Zhuang Qiaohui complained to Chu Tianshu that Tang Yue was too inconsiderate, skipping such an important event for her senior brother. She wanted to make Tang Wan seem more obedient in comparison. Chu Tianshu outwardly brushed it off but inwardly agreed with his master's wife.
Tang Yue didn't care what the main character's group thought. She just lived as she pleased. Even after her grounding ended, she didn't bother to greet Chu Tianshu or Tang Wan. To her, it was completely unnecessary.
Shennong Pavilion had organized a trip for its disciples to collect medicinal herbs from Falling Flower Valley and to teach them knowledge about harvesting and preserving herbs. Tang Yue joined the others.
Falling Flower Valley was a gorge full of peach trees. The geography and spiritual energy made it feel like spring all year. The trees only blossomed and never bore fruit, so petals constantly fluttered down, creating a breathtaking scene. Besides peach trees, the valley also had many lingzhi mushrooms. This trip's purpose was to find them hidden in the fallen petals.
One of the accompanying disciples was Shang Fangling, who had specifically come knowing Tang Yue was an apprentice here. After several encounters, she realized Tang Yue wasn't the arrogant young lady the rumors described—on the contrary, she was approachable and friendly. Even someone like her, who wasn't good at socializing, got along well with Tang Yue and enjoyed spending time with her.
Tang Yue also had a favorable impression of Shang Fangling, who took the time to explain how to spot five-colored lingzhi and demonstrated how to preserve them. For first-timers, it was hard to find lingzhi, but once someone pointed them out, a whole new world opened—they could suddenly see lingzhi all around them.
Tang Yue found the experience fascinating. In the modern world, she rarely connected with nature, and this gave her a sense of awe for the wonders of the natural world. Once Shang Fangling saw that Tang Yue had gotten the hang of it, she went off to help others—after all, she was one of the instructors.
As Tang Yue walked, she reached the edge of the peach grove. Lingzhi only grew at the base of peach trees, so she turned back—but a certain tree's branches kept blocking her path.
She found it strange. The tree was tall, but how could its branches bend down and block her? After observing it for a while, she suspected the tree had a spirit and was trying to communicate. She gathered spiritual energy to her chest and tried to see if the Curse Ring would help her understand.
Sure enough, the Curse Ring conveyed the peach tree's will. This thousand-year-old tree hadn't been able to propagate for the past century. Though the trees didn't bear fruit, they could condense spiritual seeds through spiritual dew and scatter them on the wind to propagate.
But the wind had shifted direction in the last hundred years, and this tree now stood directly in the path of the new breeze, blowing toward the other trees behind it. There were no spirit insects in the valley to aid with pollination. As a result, this tree could release pollen, but not receive any from others—making reproduction impossible.
It hoped a cultivator could collect pollen and help it reproduce, but for a century, no one had been able to sense its will. Until now. The tree sensed Tang Yue had a natural spiritual treasure and was in sync with it.
As innate treasures had their own way of communication, the tree hoped to use this connection to reach Tang Yue and ask her to help.
Tang Yue found the request simple and agreed. Once the tree withdrew its branches, she returned to the grove and used Wind Sweep Technique—a minor spell she'd learned from Foundations of Spiritual Energy—to collect pollen.
After gathering enough, she used spiritual energy to spread the pollen onto the tree. In an instant, it was bathed in a pollen mist, finally able to pollinate. Grateful, the tree gifted her 20 Spirit Peach Blossoms and 50 Spirit Peach Leaves—rare items no ordinary cultivator could harvest unless gifted willingly by a sentient tree.
The herb-picking time couldn't be too long—only one hour—otherwise all the baby lingzhi in this patch of forest would be picked clean, lowering future yield.
Tang Yue brought her full basket back to the Pavilion for processing. This event rewarded disciples based on the quantity and quality of the herbs they harvested—it wasn't unpaid work. Though she didn't lack money, this was her first labor income, so she handed in her lingzhi and waited for assessment.
Interestingly, the tallying wasn't done by Shennong Pavilion disciples but by those from Xuanyuan Mountain. They had recently been collecting lingzhi across Liuzhou to refine a batch of advancement pills for their inner disciples.
Suddenly, a Xuanyuan disciple let out a gasp and called over the procurement leader—Lu Lingyi. This was Tang Yue's first time meeting her lifesaver, the one who had subdued a vicious beast at the Spirit Beast Courtyard and poured spiritual energy into her to save her life—otherwise, modern Tang Yue would never have crossed over.
She saw Lu Lingyi clearly now—handsome, poised, his aura calm yet commanding. Many female cultivators would blush at just a glance from him.
Though Tang Yue admired his looks, her heart was focused on regret. The lingzhi basket being evaluated was hers, and she just heard him say:
"Fellow Daoist, this batch was supposed to go entirely to Xuanyuan Mountain, and within it, we found an incredibly rare, top-grade Thunder Lingzhi."
Shennong Pavilion disciples gasped—Thunder Lingzhi was rare enough, let alone one of supreme quality. Why would anyone in Kunwu City turn in such a treasure and let Xuanyuan Mountain get their hands on it?
All eyes turned to the basket's owner—a young girl. On closer inspection, they realized it was the city lord's daughter, now apprenticing at the Pavilion. She clearly didn't recognize the herb's value and handed it over by mistake—what a loss.
Tang Yue's heart churned. She didn't recognize Thunder Lingzhi at first, but she had read about it. The five-colored lingzhi were green, red, yellow, white, and black—Thunder Lingzhi was a mutated kind imbued with lightning power, an excellent material for crafting artifacts.
Adding it at the right moment could greatly increase a magic tool's grade, imbuing it with purple lightning, enhancing its power significantly. Sword cultivators liked to embed them in their natal swords to boost power and durability.
The higher the quality, the darker the color. Once it turned pitch black, it was of the highest grade. Tang Yue had picked just such a specimen. Without an experienced eye, it'd be mistaken for a black lingzhi.
She regretted it deeply. Thunder Lingzhi was priceless, this one was heaven-grade—not something money could buy, but something that required fate. And now, she'd handed it away.
She looked at Lu Lingyi—elegant and striking, admired by all—hoping he'd somehow go mad and return it.
Instead, he cupped his hands and said, "You must be Junior Sister Tang. We've met once before. I'm willing to compensate you at full price and hope you'll let us have the Thunder Lingzhi. My senior uncles are heading to Jiuru Demon Sect to subdue an evil cultivator and are crafting powerful demon-slaying artifacts. This herb is critical."
With such an important reason, what could she say? She meekly replied, "Senior Brother Lu, there's no need to be so polite. You saved my life. Let this Thunder Lingzhi be my gift to you—no need for compensation."
Lu Lingyi found this amusing. He knew she must be heartbroken. "Junior Sister, saving you was my duty. Any righteous cultivator would've done the same. I only regret not saving you sooner, causing you to suffer."
He didn't want to use this as a reason to cancel his debt. Xuanyuan Mountain was forming a good relationship with Kunwu City, and having good ties with the city lord's family was more important.
Tang Yue knew Lu Lingyi was at the tenth level of Golden Core. Rescuing her from a high-level beast was impressive enough. "Senior Brother Lu, no need to say that. You already did your best. To defeat such a beast before reaching Nascent Soul stage is nearly unheard of. I'm truly grateful. I'll accept your compensation."
Lu Lingyi admired how mature and composed she was for her age. "You're too kind, Junior Sister."
Then the two went to settle the spirit stone payment. After bidding farewell to Lu Lingyi, Shang Fangling, and the Shennong Pavilion disciples, Tang Yue dragged her weary feet back home.