He picked up another one, ready to finish reading it.
The second diary was written by a woman of the martial world named Gu Jing. Her bold and unrestrained character, a carefree spirit roaming the martial world, stood out through her calligraphy.
Gu Jing was the daughter of the Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch. The jade pendant was a birthday gift from her father when she turned fourteen. During her travels, Gu Jing got injured and the pendant recognized her as its master through blood.
Although they were a martial arts family, their business was widespread, and there was no need to worry about wealth. At the time, the space was simply considered a treasury, and Gu Jing wasn't interested in the planted area outside, so she didn't plant anything.
Gu Jing's father always hoped his daughter would be a literary and cultured lady, forcing Gu Jing to read since she was young. However, Gu Jing preferred to wield swords and perform martial arts, feeling a headache just at the sight of a book, resulting in her never visiting the study and thus missing out on the diary of the first master. During her adventures, Gu Jing unintentionally discovered the wonderful use of the Spiritual Spring, leading to a rapid improvement in her martial skills.
Gu Jing had a childhood sweetheart, also the son of a martial arts family. At eleven, their families arranged a marriage, which was considered well-matched.
Due to Gu Jing's desire to roam the martial world, her fiancé Liu Tao volunteered to accompany her, which pleased both families. Little did they know Liu Tao's parents had long coveted the hierarch's position, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
With the power of the Spiritual Spring growing rapidly, Gu Jing often took Liu Tao to challenge various families and sects, and under Liu Tao's instigation, stole many martial arts methods, secret manuals, and divine weapons, causing chaos across the martial world. She carelessly tossed them into the space, finding the thefts amusing, not realizing the calamity that followed.
Over time, as Liu Tao frequently accompanied Gu Jing, they developed affection for each other. Gradually, Gu Jing let her guard down around Liu Tao, even sharing the Spiritual Spring with him, which accelerated his inner strength development.
Having traveled for two years, Gu Jing missed her parents and prepared to return home, aware of the benefits of the Spiritual Spring and intending for her parents to drink it as well. Liu Tao saw Gu Jing preparing to return and recalled his father's words that the time was ripe. Without further persuasion, he accompanied Gu Jing back. Before leaving, he made vows of eternal love with her, promising to propose marriage upon returning. Gu's father had only one son, ten years older than Gu Jing, so he doted on this daughter, raising her into a straightforward and unworldly person. Gu Jing, having no doubt about Liu Tao's words, returned joyfully to the Gu Family Manor, merely waiting for Liu Tao to propose.
Gu Jing, upon returning home, shared her travel and space adventures with her parents and brother, wishing for them to drink the Spiritual Spring as well. Initially delighted, her parents and brother grew alarmed upon learning that Liu Tao was aware of these matters and had also consumed the Spiritual Spring. Gu's father feared Liu Tao might become greedy for the space, especially since Gu Jing was often playful, neglectful of cultivation, and now, Liu Tao's inner strength seemed to have rivaled Gu Jing's.
Moreover, Gu Jing's actions over the past two years had already caused great dissatisfaction across the martial world. If Liu Tao harbored malicious intentions, not only the space but even Gu's father's position as the Martial Arts Alliance Hierarch could be in jeopardy. Gu's father merely regretted being too indulgent with Gu Jing, leading to her naive and unworldly nature, lamenting that it was too late for regrets.
Realizing time was running out, Gu's father thought that if the Liu Family intended to usurp power, Liu Tao wouldn't delay upon returning. However, if the Liu Family had no such intentions, it would merely mean they judged the gentleman with a villain's heart. He immediately ordered his son to scrape together all valuable items from the house and emptied the treasury, leaving only bare walls, placing everything within Gu Jing's space, carrying only silver notes and preparing for the entire family to flee, living anonymously wherever they went.
Who knew Liu Tao and his father arrived one step ahead, bringing with them the victims of the stolen secret manuals, blocking their escape route. The Liu father and son rallied everyone to crusade against the hierarch. The battle lasted only a day before Gu Manor was destroyed.
Devastated, Gu Jing was persuaded by her mother to hide in the space. Initially, she refused, knowing Liu Tao was aware that exiting the space would return her to the same location. Eventually, under her mother's persuasion, she hid inside.
Injured, Gu Jing fled into the space, intending to drink the Spiritual Spring to enhance her inner strength and seek revenge. However, increasing one's inner strength wasn't an overnight affair. Exhausted, she organized the space and discovered the letters and notes from the previous master in the study, lamenting her past mistakes. With her family tragically killed, love betrayed, and no one to console her, Gu Jing sank into depression. Like the first master, she began writing diaries, eventually penning a final note. In truth, driven to desperation by such drastic changes and eagerness, Gu Jing had long entered a state of inner chaos. In the later entries, her notes became chaotic and disorganized, her final intention being to die alongside Liu Tao, after which there was nothing more.
One could imagine the outcome wasn't a happy one; otherwise, Gu Jing wouldn't have disappeared from the space.
Gu Chengyu let out a long sigh again: Alas! Throughout history, beautiful women often meet ill fate; the ancients weren't wrong. Ultimately, the conclusion was that space should never be disclosed to anyone. One must be cautious and prevent exposing it, not even trusting one's closest companion.
Besides, Mr. Gu and his family were just ordinary farmers. Even if they knew and promised not to tell, who could predict unexpected events? His family had no power or wealth; this was an imperial society, where even a county magistrate could easily oppress them. Moreover, Mr. Gu had more than one son. Although the elder brother and sister-in-law were honest, the second brother had some cunning with a calculative mind, not to mention the second sister-in-law's character... also hard to describe.
Actually, Gu Chengyu was fortunate. In his past life, he accidentally obtained the space and became its master, probably because Gu Chengyu was originally a Gu Family descendant. Naturally, his family's possessions had a pull on his bloodline. Later, when Gu Chengyu died and transmigrated, his spirit power soared. Though his spiritual power was akin to Divine Sense, without a cultivation method, it was merely spiritual power. The return of the other half of the jade pendant not only sealed a blood covenant but also connected with Gu Chengyu's soul. As for why there was only half initially, perhaps an ancestor of the Gu Family had traversed into this realm, preserving the jade pendant. Whether there were ties between the transmigrated Gu Family and the present one couldn't be ascertained. The jade pendant likely hadn't recognized a master, and the absence of a transmission array meant the jade pendant might have fractured due to a space-time rift or other external forces. Such questions were unanswerable, and with half the jade pendant lost, for any side, it was merely a storage space. Although crafted as an innate spiritual treasure, if its creation failed and half was missing, its transformation into a storage space was already fortunate.
The story is long, yet not much time had passed. Gu Chengyu estimated about an hour had elapsed, thinking Mrs. Lv wouldn't awaken so quickly and decided to try the tempting Spiritual Spring.
Gu Chengyu moved beside the Spiritual Spring, took out a jade cup he conveniently acquired from the study, scooped a full cup, and drank it down. He returned to the washroom. The washroom had a bath barrel and squat toilet, quite advanced, with the space having an automatic cleaning function, saving him from cleaning.
Waiting in the washroom for a while, there was no reaction. Gu Chengyu felt a bit disappointed; could it be that too much time had passed, causing the Spiritual Spring to lose effect? That would be truly frustrating. After about ten more minutes, there was still no reaction. Deciding it was best to step out for now.
Just as Gu Chengyu intended to leave, he prayed Mrs. Gu wouldn't wake up, yet he could still hear Mrs. Lv's snoring from outside. Could this mean the space could connect with the outside world? Pondering this, he saw Mrs. Lv sleeping soundly outside. Gu Chengyu glanced at the arrangements beside him, clearly still within the space? The space seemed quite user-friendly.
Realizing the benefit of communicating with the outside world, Gu Chengyu dared not delay further. Besides, an infant's body needed ample rest. As for the unexplored storeroom and mall, those could be sorted out later. Additionally, the field outside needed to be planted; the family lacked food and clothes, better plant something for future use.
With these thoughts, Gu Chengyu exited the space, lying next to Mrs. Gu, feeling somewhat excited. He forced himself to calm down. Without proper sleep, he couldn't grow healthily; infants needed to eat and sleep well to grow strong. Closing his eyes, he entered a state of rest and soon fell asleep.
However, before falling asleep, had he overlooked something? In his hazy state, he drifted off into a dream without thinking further.