She had been extremely frugal when using the Spirit Essence Bath in the past, carefully rationing it with every use. 

Now that Gu Rong had offered to help, would it not be such a waste of resources and his efforts if she scrimped and saved? 

The instance the three bottles of Spirit Essence Bath were poured into the bathtub, the emerald- green bathing water immediately became a dense green color.

Nodding her head in satisfaction, Gu Lingzhi closed her eyes once again and concentrated on trying to breakthrough. While she practiced her technique, her physical body continued to absorb the Spiritual Liquid from the water. 

As her body absorbed the liquid, the color of the water started to lighten until it became an emerald-green once again. 

Soon, the last traces of green disappeared, leaving the water a fluorescent green. Only then did Gu Lingzhi open her eyes, her head full of sweat as her mouth broke into a delightful grin.

"I have broken through, I’m now a Level Four Martial Student!"

She lifted her right hand out of the water and a ball of flame rose from her palm. With a flick of her wrist, the brilliant red flame turned into an emerald green ball of light. Another flick, and it turned into a golden piercing streak.

All five types of spiritual energies that she possessed took turns to manifest as she adjusted the spiritual energy within her body.

Being able to externalize her spiritual energy was a true sign that she had become a Level Four Martial Student.

To think that Gu Linglong had taken two years to become a Level Four Martial Student, while Gu Lingzhi had only taken less than a month. If news were to spread about her pace of cultivation, she was sure to become famous in the Tianyuan Continent. 

"A pity my powers are still too weak to think about taking down Lin Yue-er. I have to work harder!"

Immediately, Gu Lingzhi poured another two bottles of the Spirit Essence Bath into the bathtub. It was halfway through the night when she had finally finished cultivating.  

When she called for Cui Lian to clear out her bath water, she could clearly smell the scent of blood.

Needless to say, the scent had come from Cui Lian's body. From the way that Gu Lingzhi had played Lin Yue-er, it would be surprising if that evil woman had not vented her anger on someone.  

Gu Lingzhi pretended that she did not smell anything. With a cold look, she ordered Cui Lian to bring out her bath water. When Cui Lian had walked all the way to the door, she threw a bottle of ointment to her servant. 

“Tend to your wounds after you’re done throwing out the water, if not others would think that I’m abusing you."

Cui Lian’s eyes reddened as she caught the ointment, looking as if she was about to break out in tears. 

Although Gu Lingzhi's words were harsh, Cui Lian could sense the concern in her voice. She never thought that though she had been working for Lin Yue-er this entire time, plotting against Gu Lingzhi - Gu Lingzhi would be the one to comfort her instead. Whatever loyalty she had left towards Lin Yue-er had decreased. 

Who knows… maybe if she worked for Gu Lingzhi instead, she would have brighter days ahead.

Gu Lingzhi did not care about what Cui Lian was thinking about this entire situation, she was simply following her plans to take revenge, step-by-step.

She did not forget how Cui Lian had conspired with Lin Yue-er to come up with ways to torture her. After all, the idea of getting raped by Bi Lingcan had been Cui Lian’s idea to begin with. 

Gu Lingzhi wanted to see for herself what would happen once she had truly won Cui Lian over and how she would “repay” Lin Yue-er. 

That would definitely make for a good show.

With that joyful att.i.tude, Gu Lingzhi drifted to sleep.

Two days later, Gu Lingzhi was about to leave for the Martial Arts Training Grounds when Lin Yue-er barged into her house with an entourage of servants trailing behind her. Seeing that Gu Lingzhi was about to leave, she smiled saying, "Lingzhi, Mother has been very busy these past few days and did not have time to come visit you. You don’t blame me, do you?"

"I won't. I already feel very lucky that Mother is here to see me," Gu Lingzhi replied, looking down. She felt that her father and stepmother were truly a match made in heaven - the first thing they both said when they met her was to ask her not to blame them.

Lin Yue-er affectionately praised Gu Lingzhi for being understanding, before ordering her servants to build an additional room next to her original study room.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Gu Lingzhi asked, baffled.

Lin Yue-er pursed her lips and smiled, "I’m building a room for you to practice alchemy. Since your father wishes to groom you into an Alchemist, as your mother, I have to do whatever I can to help too. After the Pill Cultivation Room has been built, you won't need to train under the hot afternoon sun like the rest of them. When that time comes, I will find a Master Alchemist to mentor you for a few days so that you do not have to leave your quarters just to practice alchemy.”

Why would Lin Yue-er be so thoughtful towards her? Looking down to hide the suspicion in her eyes, Gu Lingzhi exclaimed in grat.i.tude, "Thank you Mother for your efforts, your daughter will certainly not let you down."

Once again, Lin Yue-er tried her best to play the part of being a good mother, complimenting Gu Lingzhi. On the other hand, Gu Lingzhi looked right through her, causing her to get gooseb.u.mps all over her body.

Something must be up! Lin Yue-er must have come up with a new plan. 

Very soon, her suspicions were resolved.

Qiu Yuan was an arrogant man, but he refused to even look at Gu Lingzhi in the eye. Just by looking at him, she could more or less guess what Lin Yue-er was planning. 

It was a miracle if she could even learn anything by hiring someone that looked down on her and did not even want to teach her properly.

After understanding the situation, Gu Lingzhi did not bother letting something like that bother her. She would be happy to idle around if Qiu Yuan did not want to teach her anything. Sitting by the side, she made it a point to annoy him by throwing random medicinal ingredients into the furnace. From the corner of her eye, she could see Qiu Yuan raise his eyebrows in disdain.

If she wanted to free herself from Lin Yue-er’s grip, she decided that she had better portray herself as unskilled. Qiu Yuan had not even done anything yet and he could tell that Gu Lingzhi was too afraid to do anything to him. At least she had a discerning eye for trouble.

After three days, Qiu Yuan took a generous amount of money from Lin Yue-er and left. However, before he left, he had an expression of uncontrollable anger as he pointed at Gu Lingzhi and scolded, "I have never met someone as stupid as you! You can't even master the fundamentals of Alchemy!”

He turned around and left with big, angry strides. Gu Lingzhi was furious and she had the urge to retort, but she maintained her composure. 

She swore that one day, she would embarra.s.s Qiu Yuan the way he had embarra.s.sed her today! 

Though Lin Yue-er looked at Gu Lingzhi worriedly, the delight was apparent in her eyes.

"Lingzhi, Qiu Yuan has always been a hot-tempered person. It’s fine if you are unable to learn Alchemy, Mother will find a new teacher for you.”

"If that’s the case, thank you Mother for your efforts,” Gu Lingzhi looked ashamed. Let’s see who’s better at playing pretend. 

"I will learn better next time!"

Lin Yue-er was rather efficient - the next day, she had already found a new Master Alchemist for Gu Lingzhi. 

This Master Alchemist was smarter than the previous one. He knew that if Gu Rong had found out in the future that he just took the money without doing anything, he would not be able to defend himself. As a result, he half-heartedly attempted to teach Gu Lingzhi.

On the surface, he seemed like a good and attentive teacher, but whatever he taught to Gu Lingzhi, if it was not the wrong method, it was something that was entirely useless.