He looked up and saw Gu Changcheng surrounded by several children.
Gu Changcheng’s face was flushed red as he argued, “I didn’t take your things!
I didn’t even get close to you!
You’re bullying people!” It turned out that someone had lost an item, and for some reason, suspicion had fallen squarely on Gu Changcheng.
Gu Changhuan frowned slightly.
Was this a mere accident, or was someone deliberately targeting Gu Changcheng?
“I believe Elder Brother Changcheng didn’t take it!
Maybe you lost your own things and are just falsely accusing him!” A little girl dressed in pink stepped up beside Gu Changcheng and spoke in a clear, loud voice.
Gu Changhuan knew the girl: Gu Changyue, daughter of a wealthy Jade Clear Town merchant.
“Among all of us, Gu Changcheng is the poorest, so of course it has to be him!” The youth who had lost his item grew even more indignant upon seeing someone defend Gu Changcheng.
He strode over and shoved Gu Changcheng hard.
Caught entirely off guard, Gu Changcheng staggered backward.
His head was about to crash directly into the sharp corner of a long wooden table.
Gu Changhuan sprang forward in a flash, his sleeve flicking out to channel a gentle thread of Spiritual Qi that caught Gu Changcheng, preventing any painful impact between his head and the table edge.
“An Immortal!” “Immortal, I didn’t mean to!
It was really Gu Changcheng who stole my thing!” The youth who had lost his item panicked utterly.
Seeing that Gu Changcheng was unhurt, Gu Changhuan let out a quiet breath.
Gu Changcheng had no idea his head had nearly been split open, but his face was deathly pale, and he was clearly shaken.
Gu Changhuan glanced at the panicked youth, then at the several clan cousins standing behind him.
They were mere boys of seven or eight years old, not yet grown, yet they already knew how to inflict harm with malicious words.
“You lost something, and you suspect Changcheng stole it?” There was anger in Gu Changhuan’s voice.
“It…
it was Changwu who said that Gu Changcheng’s family is very poor, so it must have been him who stole my jade pendant…” the youth stammered in a low voice.
“I only said it was a possibility!” a slightly shorter boy blurted out nervously.
“Changcheng, do you have anything to say?” Gu Changhuan ignored Gu Changwu entirely.
“I…
I don’t even live in the same courtyard as Gu Changli.
Before entering the classroom, I was with Younger Sister Changyue and the others the whole time.” Gu Changcheng managed to keep his head.
Gu Changli, the owner of the missing jade pendant, belatedly realized that Gu Changcheng truly had no opportunity to steal from him.
He glared daggers at Gu Changwu.
If not for Gu Changwu’s instigation, he would never have suspected Gu Changcheng in the first place.
At that moment, the Elder of the Teaching Hall finally arrived.
As soon as Gu Shiying stepped into the classroom, he sensed the peculiar atmosphere.
He gave a deliberate cough to command attention.
“Greetings, Elder.” The children hastily bowed in unison.
“What happened?
Changhuan, tell me.” Of all the children’s only half-familiar faces, Gu Changhuan’s was the one Gu Shiying knew well.
“Elder, Changli lost his jade pendant.
Changwu and the others accused Changcheng because his family is poor.
They argued, and Changcheng nearly got hurt.” Having served in the Teaching Hall for over a decade, Gu Shiying pieced together the whole story instantly.
Those boys must have caused quite a ruckus, or Gu Changcheng wouldn’t look so pale.
Clan members turning against one another was no small matter.
His face hardened.
“Who joined in?
Step forward!” At this, the faces of Gu Changli and his accomplices turned completely bloodless.
Would they be sent home in disgrace?
Gu Changhuan kept his eyes lowered and his thoughts contained.
With the Elder present, his intervention was no longer needed.
As for those unruly boys, Gu Shiying certainly wouldn’t let them off lightly, though the punishment likely wouldn’t be overly severe either.
In the end, including Gu Changli, four youths stepped out from the group.
“Changli, do you understand what you did wrong?” “I know I was wrong.
I shouldn’t have suspected someone without cause, let alone resorted to shoving him.” Gu Changli kept his head bowed, still bewildered as to how he had so easily swallowed Gu Changwu’s twisted logic.
“Since you recognize your mistake, I sentence you to copy the Book of Rites and the clan rules ten times each, to be handed in within seven days.
“The other three will copy them five times each, also within seven days.
“As for your jade pendant…
is this it?” Gu Shiying scanned the room with his divine sense and found a jade pendant under a table.
He drew it through the air into his hand.
“Yes!
It’s the pendant!
Thank you, Elder!” Gu Changli was overjoyed, clearly indicating how much the item meant to him.
After putting the pendant away, Gu Changli turned to apologize to Gu Changcheng.
“Changcheng, I was wrong.
I shouldn’t have accused you, pushed you, or said those awful things.
I hope you can forgive me…” Gu Changcheng had clearly not expected an apology.
Remembering his father’s teachings on kindness, he accepted the apology without much hesitation.
Gu Shiying watched him apologize.
The boy could learn, after all.
Even so, whether Changwu and the others had deliberately targeted Gu Changcheng was difficult to prove definitively.
After all, they were only children of seven or eight; he could not impose an overly harsh penalty.
He would simply have to keep a closer eye on them hereafter!
After attending the Teaching Hall for a few more days, Gu Changhuan sought out Gu Shiying during a quiet moment.
“Ah, it’s Changhuan!
What brings you here?” Gu Shiying asked with a warm smile.
“Elder, I have already studied what the Teaching Hall is teaching now.
Going over it again would waste time, so I would like to continue at the Hundred Arts Office,” Gu Changhuan explained honestly.
“I see.
I overlooked that.
You spent half a year studying with the Supreme Elder at the Scripture Pavilion.
These lessons would indeed waste your time.
Go straight to the Hundred Arts Office tomorrow.” Gu Shiying nodded his approval.
The Hundred Arts Office was the place where Gu Clan members learned the various Hundred Cultivation Arts.
It was open free of charge to all clan members under the age of twenty.
Those older than twenty were required to pay a designated amount of Contribution Points or Spirit Stones to gain entry.
Naturally, Gu Changhuan’s first choice was Alchemy.
The reason was simple: his grandfather, Gu Wanhao, was the preeminent Alchemist of the Gu Clan!
Furthermore, over the past half year, Gu Changhuan had devoured numerous alchemy manuals and medicinal classics, giving him a solid foundational understanding of the craft.
Alchemy had six stages: Preparing Ingredients, Warming the Furnace, Purifying the Essence, Merging the Essences, Condensing the Pill, and Nurturing the Pill.
Someone else could prepare the ingredients, but the alchemist had to carry out every other step with full concentration.
An interruption could ruin both the pills and the furnace.
Pills, too, had tiers and grades.
The clan’s Qi-Nourishing Pills were first-tier, middle-grade pills that helped cultivators below middle Qi Condensation advance faster.
A bottle of five sold for twenty spirit stones at the market.
Yet, beneficial as they were, Spirit Pills invariably carried Pill Toxin.
If a cultivator grew overly reliant on pills for quick advancement, the accumulating toxin within their body would eventually hinder their breakthroughs and trap them firmly at a bottleneck.
That did not stop alchemy from being one of the most profitable trades.
Most cultivators could not afford pills every day in any case.
The Gu Clan was renowned for its legacy in alchemy, meaning the clan’s Hundred Arts Office should be quite lively.
Gu Changhuan reviewed what he knew about alchemy.
He could not let his grandfather down!
Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the doors to the Hundred Arts Office.
Inside, he found a clan cultivator slumped fast asleep over the counter.
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