Gu Fangchen's refinement of the Spirit-Nurturing Bottle, together with the absorption of the Jade Nectar Essence that allowed him to ascend to the Seventh Rank, took five full days.
It had likewise been five days since the chaos of the "Seven Sects Uprising" had ended.
Gu Lianqian had awakened on the very night they arrived at the Sword Pavilion. Her injuries were not too severe, only her spirit had suffered a heavy shock, leaving her unable to bear the strain for a while.
Thus, though her wounds had already mostly healed, she continued to stay hidden in her room, refusing to appear before anyone.
Even the incident of the "Seven Sects" invading and being repelled by Gu Fangchen after he gained the recognition of the Supreme-Grade Sword was something she only heard from the maid who served her.
When Gu Lianqian heard of it, she was dazed for a long time. In her heart, beyond disbelief, there was also a trace of fear, one she refused to acknowledge.
To her, all of Gu Fangchen's previous "achievements" had been mere opportunism, using strange and deceitful methods to stall for time and protect his title as the heir.
Though such methods had proven effective, Gu Lianqian only felt seething anger toward him, gritting her teeth in frustration.
She would never fear such a deceitful coward.
For all the power he displayed, it was borrowed, never his own.
Just as in the past, when he could only run to their mother to complain.
Against a Sixth Rank martial artist like herself, Gu Fangchen had always been helplessly furious, thus, no matter what mighty figures he invoked, she still felt superior to him.
No matter how you jump or scheme, none of it is your own ability!
But the sword from the Sword Pavilion was different, it had appeared under the eyes of countless witnesses, a genuine quasi-Supreme-Grade Sword.
Anywhere else, one might doubt such a thing.
But this was the Sword Pavilion!
The strongest sword cultivators and finest swordsmiths in the world gathered here, no one could question the authenticity of that blade.
Even the old swordsmith who had betrayed the Pavilion, upon seeing it, turned ashen and hopeless, falling silent and submitting himself to imprisonment without a word of protest.
That alone proved that the Sky-Piercing Sword of the Seventy-Two Peaks was indeed a genuine quasi-Supreme-Grade Sword.
But what was even more terrifying was that Gu Fangchen had publicly revealed at least a Sixth Rank martial cultivation!
That was what made Gu Lianqian feel fear.
If Gu Fangchen truly possessed such strength, then the superiority that had long allowed her to sneer down at him,
Would completely vanish.
Because of that fear, Gu Lianqian did not act impulsively as before, she did not storm out to demand whether that sword had been stolen or gained through his usual underhanded tricks.
Not until Gu Yuandao came to her and had a private conversation.
...
Gu Lianqian curled up beneath her blanket, the air thick with the bitter scent of medicine that made her heart twist with unease.
For the past few days, her wounds needed tending, and aside from her maid, Ning Caiyong herself had been changing her bandages and coaxing her to take her medicine.
Though Ning Caiyong doted on Gu Fangchen, she had never shown favoritism between her two daughters in daily life.
They were all her children, and her motherly love was the same for both.
But still, no bowl of water could ever be perfectly level, in times of crisis, her heart inevitably leaned toward Gu Fangchen first.
The young girl bit her nails unconsciously, lost in confusion, and her thoughts drifted toward the "Not Daoist" who had saved her from danger.
That gentle face appeared in her mind, and her trembling heart seemed to find a fragile anchor of comfort.
Gu Lianqian hugged her soft pillow tightly, rubbing her plump cheek against it, closing her eyes as if hoping to catch a trace of that Daoist's scent.
But a pillow was just a pillow, it flattened easily under pressure.
"Thump, thump!"
Gu Lianqian opened her eyes and punched the pillow twice in frustration, angry that it was soft and shapeless, nothing like the Daoist's strong, masculine chest.
After pouting for a while, she finally deflated and murmured listlessly,
"Daoist, what should I do..."
"If Gu Fangchen returns to the Prince's Residence, he'll be the officially decreed heir... He's not even Mother's real son. How can we let him take Second Brother's place?"
"If I help Second Brother, maybe we can get rid of that bastard who stole everything and did nothing but evil."
Hesitation flickered across her face.
"But... no, how can I raise a hand against Mother?"
"But it's not really harming her, it's just pretending, just enough to distract that bastard."
"I'll be careful. I won't hurt Mother."
"Second Brother's right. The Prince's Residence is falling apart, and it's all because of Gu Fangchen's manipulation. Otherwise, Mother and Father would still be a loving couple, how could it have come to this?"
"As long as I do what Second Brother says, and just pretend to attack Mother, Gu Fangchen will be distracted, and then he'll die."
"When that bastard's gone, everything will return to how it was..."
Gu Lianqian murmured the words Gu Yuandao had told her, repeating them softly to herself.
Everything was Gu Fangchen's fault!
She knew Second Brother had no choice. To deal with such a shameless villain, only extreme measures could work.
And from childhood until now, the one thing Gu Fangchen had always cared about most, was Mother.
Yet even as she resolved herself, a faint sense of dread crept up her heart...
Would doing this really make Mother come to her senses?
No matter how she thought, there seemed to be no other way.
"Second Brother's right, better one moment of pain than endless sorrow. Let Mother suffer once, rather than remain blinded by that despicable man who isn't even her real son."
...
After listening for a while, Gu Fangchen's expression gradually turned cold.
After being crushed time and again, Gu Yuandao had finally shed his mask of false righteousness and revealed his true face.
And worse, he had become even more deranged than in the original storyline.
In the original version, Gu Fangchen had already been killed by him, freeing him from his heart demons and restoring his calm.
But now, after being defeated repeatedly in every aspect, Gu Yuandao no longer cared about means or consequences.
It seemed likely he still held an imperial decree regarding the heirship, probably granted by Emperor Yong'an himself, connected somehow to the Seven Sects Uprising.
By withholding that decree, his intentions were clear enough.
Gu Fangchen had already foreseen that Gu Yuandao would never give up easily, that he would strike again on their way back.
But to think the man would stoop so low as to use Gu Lianqian to attack Ning Caiyong, just to distract him...
Truly, he was even more of a beast than the original.
Gu Lianqian's will was immature, and after all she had recently endured, her hatred toward Gu Fangchen was at its peak. Thus, Gu Yuandao's manipulative words had easily taken root.
However...
How could such petty manipulation compare to the psychological scar he had left within her back then?
Gu Fangchen drifted to the side of her bed, a faint smile curling on his lips. In the same tone he had used back in the mountain cave, he said,
"So I was wrong... My little lamb also has a wicked heart after all."
"A bad child who wants to harm her own mother, how should she be punished?"
Gu Lianqian froze completely, her body stiff as ice, her face turning deathly pale as if she had fallen into a frozen abyss.