Not long after, Gu Changge arrived at the Inner Court. As he walked past the familiar Martial Arts Arena, he was suddenly blocked by a figure.
"Brother, I heard you've started cultivating, and you're preparing for marriage at the end of this month! Congratulations!"
Gu Changming, wearing strong clothes and wiping sweat from his brow, walked over from the Martial Arts Arena, his face glowing with joy.
Seeing the visitor, Changge responded with a light laugh and nodded. This was his cousin, Gu Changming, the son of his eldest uncle. Though they weren't particularly close, their relationship was decent. Gu Changming had even helped him move things to the Back Mountain Courtyard before.
Although he was two years younger than Changge, he already possessed Mid-Stage Sky-controlling Realm cultivation. In the current generation of the Gu Family, his talent was considered quite remarkable!
"Heading out to find... Sister-in-law?"
Knowing that his cousin rarely came to the Inner Court, and only appeared occasionally when collecting his monthly salary, Gu Changming casually asked.
Changge nodded and replied offhandedly, "I truly envy my cousin. You're close to breaking through to the Qi Sea Realm, which makes you one of the young talents of the Gu Family."
"Haha... Brother, you're flattering me. To truly break through to the Qi Sea Realm, it will probably take at least two more years."
"Compared to that Heavenly Pride Girl of the Liu Family, whom you call Sister-in-law, the word 'talent' doesn't dare apply to me!"
Gu Changming scratched his head awkwardly but quickly shifted to the main topic. "By the way, Brother, my father mentioned that Second Master got word of your marriage and plans to return to the Gu Family on the day of the event."
Upon hearing this, Changge froze for a moment.
The "Second Master" in Gu Changming's words referred to his own grandfather. Yet, in the past eighteen years, he hadn't seen him many times.
Every few years, unless something of great importance occurred within the Gu Family, his grandfather wouldn't return.
*As far as feelings went, there truly wasn't much of a connection...*
*He could barely even recall his grandfather's appearance. His memory of it was so blurred that the last time he'd seen him—five years ago—was by coincidence when he'd gone down the mountain to collect his monthly salary. They hadn't exchanged a single word.*
After exchanging a couple more casual sentences with Gu Changming, Changge bid farewell and headed toward the courtyard where the Heavenly Cold Sect's people were residing.
Walking along the way, Gu Changming's words didn't weigh on his mind.
Soon, he arrived at the courtyards. However, before he could approach, someone stopped him again.
The one stopping him wasn't a stranger; it was the Sixth Elder of the Heavenly Cold Sect—the very man who had given him a warning look yesterday!
The Sixth Elder stood in front of him, silent, only watching him intently.
"What is the meaning of this, Senior?" Changge slightly raised his eyebrows and asked with a gentle smile.
Without expression and without moving his gaze, the Sixth Elder replied, "Qingqing is in secluded cultivation. Young Master Gu, please go back. If you have anything to say, I can pass it along when she comes out."
"Ah, I see. It's nothing important. Since my wife is cultivating, I shall take my leave now."
Hearing these words, Changge turned and walked away, without showing the slightest interest in arguing or engaging further.
This action left the Sixth Elder slightly surprised.
It wasn't until Changge's figure disappeared from view that he frowned and muttered to himself, "This boy has quite an inscrutable mind."
He had originally intended to provoke the young man, but unexpectedly, Changge didn't respond at all.
Not even a moment of hesitation or conflict. To think, this was the Gu Family—his home ground. The boy undoubtedly possessed strength and confidence here; had he caused any trouble, there was no real danger to him. And yet, even under such advantageous conditions, he remained patient?
*Such composure was beyond what the elder had anticipated.*
After leaving, Changge did not hurriedly return to the Back Mountain Courtyard but instead headed toward the pavilion where the Gu Family stored their cultivation techniques and divine skills.
As a member of the Gu Family's direct lineage, entering the cultivation technique pavilion was unimpeded for him, except for a few extraordinarily rare and valuable techniques. The pavilion stored the vast majority of the Gu Family's collected cultivation techniques and divine skills.
After greeting the Gu Family's deacon sitting outside the pavilion with a cupped fist, he smoothly walked in.
The shelves inside were neatly organized by type of technique.
Punching techniques, saber techniques, sword techniques—he merely glanced at these briefly before moving on.
Finally reaching the shelves displaying movement techniques, he stopped.
*Given his recent start in cultivation, even learning attack divine skills wouldn't be as effective as directly calling for backup in a critical situation!*
*What he needed most right now was to learn a movement technique—at least when trouble came, he'd have a way to escape.*
"This one will do—Cloud Stepping, Dark Grade, Lower Quality."
"If mastered, even cultivators at the Qi Condensation Realm can briefly tread through the air. At the Sky-controlling Realm, it increases air-travel time and speed threefold."
After carefully selecting, Changge finalized his choice of body technique divine power.
The Gu Family indeed had Earth Rank movement techniques, but his current Qi Condensation Realm cultivation wasn't ready for that level; haste wouldn't help.
He left the pavilion, recorded his selection, and swaggered away with the transcribed copy of Cloud Stepping.
Back at his little courtyard, he sat at the stone table and began seriously studying the cultivation method for Cloud Stepping.
But as he read... a notification suddenly sounded in his mind.
[Divine Skills panel unlocked. You may share your Daoist couple's divine skills.]
The unexpected prompt startled him, and he immediately set down the Cloud Stepping manual to check his current interface.
[Host: Gu Changge]
[Root Bone: 90]
[Comprehension: 88]
[Cultivation Technique: Mystic Sky Technique (Earth Rank, Mid-Grade)]
[Realm: Qi Condensation Realm, Eighth Layer]
[Divine Skills: None.]
Daoist Couple Panel:
[Daoist Couple: Liu Qingqing]
[Root Bone: 89]
[Comprehension: 85]
[Cultivation Technique: Spirit Moon Technique (Earth Rank, Top Grade)]
[Realm: Reach Profound Realm (Late Stage)]
[Divine Skills: Nine-Edge Sword (Dark Grade, Top Grade—Small Success), Shadow Concealing Step (Earth Rank, Lower Quality—Small Success), Heavenly Cold Finger (Earth Rank, Mid-Grade—Beginner)]
Just like other panels, each divine skill had a "share" option available.
"Why bother doing this the hard way!?"
Changge hadn't expected such a delightful surprise. Even divine skills didn't need to be cultivated himself; they could sync and share directly from the Daoist couple's panel!
Without hesitation, he focused his thoughts and selected the share option for Nine-Edge Sword.
Immediately, he felt as if he had gained new memories and insights into swordsmanship!
Plucking a peach-tree twig from the courtyard as a makeshift sword, he lifted his hand and effortlessly displayed a seamless set of sword techniques!
Though his Qi Condensation Realm cultivation prevented releasing sword energy, the twig in his hand faintly radiated an incisive aura. If a fellow Qi Condensation Realm cultivator were struck by it, they might lose their limbs instantly!
It was remarkably smooth despite being his first attempt, as if he had practiced the technique thousands of times and mastered it thoroughly.
Looking again at the divine skills section on his panel, what had once been blank now displayed new words:
Nine-Edge Sword (Dark Rank, Top Grade—Small Success)!
Seeing the "Small Success" descriptor, Changge drew in a sharp breath.
"Well, well... This is outright insane!"
*He originally thought that sharing divine skills would spare him the foundational learning phase, but he hadn't expected it to directly grant him insights at the Small Success level!*
*Essentially, Liu Qingqing's years of effort had saved him all the trouble!*
*And as Liu Qingqing continued improving her mastery of this divine skill, he would also benefit from the corresponding increase!*