Gu Chengming had no idea that someone had already targeted him.
After all, a person immersed in a Galgame knows nothing of the outside world.
If one had to point out a difference from his previous days, it would be that Junior Brother Jiang Lu, who looked "mature beyond his years," hadn't visited for quite a few days.
'Come to think of it, did that strike of mine really bring him that much enlightenment?'
Gu Chengming rubbed his chin, gaining a more intuitive sense of the benefits brought by the Cultivation Method's Affection.
Although this Junior Brother Jiang Lu was, at best, a lower-middle-tier, ordinary disciple within the entire Wenjian Sect.
But in the Huiyuan Gate, he was considered decent.
To be able to surpass him in a contest of swordsmanship, these thirty-plus points of Affection were probably worth several years of bitter cultivation for others.
'Sure enough, the Galgame Path is the true path to heaven.'
Gu Chengming thought with some complacency.
However, the "Galgame Path" had encountered a slight bottleneck recently.
Practicing the sword, while nominally just swinging a blade, was ultimately a form of cultivation.
And cultivation inevitably consumed resources.
At least for Gu Chengming, merely half a month of practice had made his body somewhat unable to cope.
His low Constitution stat might be part of the reason, but the main reason... was that he didn't have enough cultivation resources.
Or rather, from the very beginning of his cultivation, he hadn't given much thought to the matter of resources.
Only now, when his body was feeling a bit incapable, did Gu Chengming suddenly realize.
'Oh, right. I can pop pills.'
Elixirs like "Blood Replenishing Pills" and "Spirit Condensing Pills" were quite useful at the First Realm stage.
As one of the top sects on the Nine Provinces Continent, the Wenjian Sect provided quite generous supplies to its disciples.
For example, a First Realm disciple could receive ten "Blood Replenishing Pills," five "Spirit Condensing Pills," and one low-grade spirit stone from the sect every month.
For a diligent disciple, these resources, though not abundant, were enough to support daily consumption.
Although Gu Chengming's realm was lacking, he hadn't missed out on any benefits.
Moreover, for Gu Chengming, there was actually another piece of good news.
That was, before transmigrating, he hadn't focused on cultivation at all.
Which meant he hadn't claimed a single bit of resources in the three years since he joined the sect!
In a sense, could this be considered a windfall?
To avoid being squeezed dry by the [Huiyuan Sword Art], Gu Chengming decided to go and claim all the resources he had missed before.
Wenjian Sect, Hidden Sword Pavilion.
Although it was early morning, voices were already rising.
This half-acre bluestone building was located on the east side of the Wenjian Sect. Bronze wind chimes hung under the upturned eaves, yet no sound was heard when the wind blew. The entrance consisted of two heavy rosewood doors carved with a pattern of "Blue Birds Carrying Lingzhi," and the door knockers were shaped like Taotie swallowing pearls, cool to the touch. At this moment, dozens of outer sect disciples in blue-grey Daoist robes were already waiting there.
Although the name "Hidden Sword Pavilion" sounded majestic, there weren't actually many weapons inside. Instead, various cultivation resources like elixirs, spirit stones, and talismans were piled up like mountains.
It was said that when the Hidden Sword Pavilion was first established, it was indeed used to store various divine weapons of the sect. But later, with the development of the sect and the disciples' increasing demand for elixirs and spirit stones, the Hidden Sword Pavilion gradually evolved into a large "logistics supply station."
There was also an interesting secret about the Hidden Sword Pavilion. It was said that the top floor of the pavilion still housed a sword used by the Founding Ancestor. But that sword had a strange temper; only a peerless genius could control it. An elder who didn't believe in superstition once tried to forcibly subdue it, only to be injured by the sword qi, taking a full hundred years to recover. Since then, no one dared to have designs on that sword anymore.
When Gu Chengming arrived at the Hidden Sword Pavilion, many disciples were already queuing inside to receive resources.
He stood at the end of the line, looking around curiously.
The interior space of the Hidden Sword Pavilion was huge. Rows of tall wooden shelves were filled with all kinds of jade bottles and wooden boxes.
A faint medicinal fragrance permeated the air, lifting one's spirit upon smelling it.
Just then, a disciple in front of Gu Chengming seemed to have gotten into a dispute with the female Elder in charge of registration.
"Elder Yu, you must have seen it wrong, right? How could there be a problem with the resource list I submitted?" the disciple explained with an anxious face.
Gu Chengming craned his neck and looked towards the front desk.
He saw a woman dressed in Elder's robes leaning lazily back in her chair, holding a list in her hand. She glanced at it casually, then lifted her eyelids and spoke in a cold tone devoid of emotion:
"Three stalks of Scarlet Flame Grass, two Cleansing Heart Lotuses. Didn't you just claim these last month? Used them up so quickly?"
Her voice was pleasant, like a clear spring in the mountains, but the content of her words made the disciple break out in cold sweat.
"This... this..."
The disciple stammered, unable to speak a full sentence for a long time.
The female Elder was named Yu Wenqiu. Her ink-black hair, straight and long, hung loose behind her back without any binding. Her skin was fair, and her features were exquisite like a person in a painting, only her eyelids drooped slightly, revealing a trace of drowsiness as if she hadn't woken up fully.
"Trying to cook the books right under my nose?"
Yu Wenqiu's mouth curled into a sarcastic arc:
"Scram."
One word, without any fireworks, yet it made the disciple feel as if granted amnesty, running away scrambling.
Gu Chengming clicked his tongue in wonder: 'You can even cook the books for this stuff?'
Soon, it was Gu Chengming's turn. He handed over his identity token and resource list.
Yu Wenqiu took the list and glanced at it habitually. When she saw the content on the list, she couldn't help but be stunned.
'Eh? Entered the sect three years ago, and hasn't claimed resources even once?'
She looked up, sizing up Gu Chengming, then looked at his cultivation.
First Realm, Third Layer.
'Hmm... no wonder he's at the Third Layer of the First Realm.'
Speaking of this Yu Wenqiu, she was actually quite a legend within the Wenjian Sect.
Although she was an Elder and her realm wasn't low, she was extremely lazy in her cultivation and paid very little attention to sect matters.
Every day, apart from sleeping, she read various storybooks. Only when the Elder evaluation was approaching would she make a last-minute effort to cultivate.
This attitude naturally annoyed many diligent Elders and disciples. Pity that Yu Wenqiu's talent was truly extraordinary; every time she crammed at the last minute, she could breakthrough smoothly, making people cry out that the heavens were unfair.
But the sect really couldn't stand it anymore, so they arranged for her the idle position of managing the Hidden Sword Pavilion.
It was euphemistically called "sharing the sect's worries," but in reality, they just wanted her to behave herself a bit.
Thus, a Grandmaster of Slacking Off fell from grace.
Yu Wenqiu withdrew her gaze and looked at the list again.
'But why did this kid suddenly decide to claim resources now after not taking them for three years?'
This doubt surfaced in Yu Wenqiu's mind. But she soon thought that the disciple assessment was seemingly just around the corner.
'Could it be... this person is the same type as me, cramming at the last minute?'
'Ah, to think there's someone in the world so similar to me!'
Although she didn't know the person's character, Yu Wenqiu felt a few points of inexplicable goodwill towards him.
She was just about to wave her brush and approve Gu Chengming's resources, but when reviewing the resource list, she discovered a problem.
For some reason, the resources that should have been allocated to this male disciple before her were missing by half out of thin air.
'Eh?'
Yu Wenqiu couldn't help but frown.
She continued to check the records, only to find that as early as a year ago, the resources belonging to Gu Chengming had been siphoned off by another disciple.
'Is it the nephew of some Elder?'
'To think such injustice exists in the world?'
Yu Wenqiu was just about to get angry and uphold justice for this "kindred spirit" before her, but when she scrolled up and saw the name of the disciple who had siphoned the resources, she instantly wilted.
Ji Chang.
'Ji Chang... isn't he the grandson of that Patrol Elder, Ji Fenglin?'
Yu Wenqiu didn't know many people in the sect, but this Ji Fenglin was one of the few she did.
Not because they had a good relationship; on the contrary, this Elder Ji Fenglin was one of those Elders who despised her style the most.
And he was the Patrol Elder... as the saying goes, a superior can crush you to death. This was a superior three levels above her.
Thinking of her current bitter days, and looking at this male disciple before her who was still at the Third Layer of the First Realm after three years and hadn't taken a bit of resources, Yu Wenqiu actually felt a sense of shared misery.
'Sigh, Gu... Gu Chengming... Little Gu, it's not that this Elder doesn't want to help you, but the spirit is willing while the flesh is weak.'
Thinking this, she approved the remaining one year's worth of resources for him. When handing it to Gu Chengming, she said obscurely:
"You entered the sect late. Some resources... were withdrawn in advance. This is your remaining one year's worth. Take it."
Hearing this, Gu Chengming seemed somewhat surprised.
But his mentality was good; he wasn't depressed by this. Instead, he smiled and said:
"Thank you, Elder."
Seeing him like this, Yu Wenqiu felt even more guilty.
She gritted her teeth, took out a token from her robe, and handed it to Gu Chengming.
"Take this token to the Sect Library and claim a Cultivation Method. Consider it... compensation."
Gu Chengming was truly surprised this time. He carefully took the token and probed tentatively:
"Elder actually doesn't need to worry. I won't tell anyone about this matter."
He evidently took Yu Wenqiu for the mastermind behind the embezzlement of his resources.
Seeing this, Yu Wenqiu was furious. But she was too lazy to explain, so she just waved her hand grumpily:
"Go, go, get out of my sight."
After sending Gu Chengming away, Yu Wenqiu also felt her actions just now were a bit irrational.
After all, she wasn't really a busybody do-gooder.
Although Gu Chengming was quite good-looking, she wasn't someone who lusted after men, right?
After thinking about it and getting no result, she just felt it was a moment of hot-headedness where she lost her measure.
'Whatever, it's just the qualification for one technique.'
She didn't like practicing cultivation usually anyway. Who knew how many redeemable technique qualifications were stored in that token? Giving one away was fine.
With this thought, Yu Wenqiu stopped thinking about it. She fished out another storybook from the drawer and began reading it with relish.