If I become a saint, a celestial official will summon me to raise horses.

Chapter 23 The Soul-Shaking Bell, Yin-Yang Technique
In the mountains, Gu An couldn't resist Li Ya's insistence and finally used a clumsy set of the Li Family Seven Swords. Only then did he realize that pretending to be clumsy was harder than pretending to be proficient.

Faced with Gu An's stiff swordplay, Li Ya criticized him for a while before patiently teaching him how to practice swordsmanship.

Gu An could tell from his sword moves that he was already practicing the Nine Swords of Astounding Strike, which could be considered genius, at least his talent in swordsmanship was stronger than Gu An's.

The next day, Li Ya still wanted to drag Gu An to practice swordsmanship.

Gu An couldn't hold on any longer!

"Brother Li, I have no talent for swordsmanship, so let's forget about it. My life is only a few decades long. Wouldn't it be a waste to spend so much time practicing swordsmanship? I'd rather plant and water flowers than practice swordsmanship."

Gu An said helplessly, secretly activating the dragon energy within his body to stimulate his eyes until they turned red.

Upon seeing this, Li Ya, who was holding the sword, suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

What is he doing?
How could he repay his junior brother Gu in a way that pleased him?

Isn't this also a form of harm?
Li Ya couldn't help but think back to his childhood, when his father forced him to learn from his brothers, but he could never learn what his brothers were good at.

He sighed, walked up to Gu An, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Junior Brother Gu, it was my oversight. I'm sorry."

Gu An forced a smile and said, "It's alright, my senior brother is just thinking of me. It's just that I'm useless and lack talent."

The more he acted this way, the more guilty Li Ya felt.

The two sat down and began to chat about their first year in the valley, easing the tension of sword training.

In the following days, Li Ya stopped bothering Gu An to practice swordsmanship, but he would still set aside an hour to teach Xiao Chuan and the others how to practice swordsmanship.

For Xiao Chuan and others whose dreams had not yet been extinguished, being able to learn swordsmanship from outer disciples was a rare and precious opportunity.

Five days later, Li Ya prepared to leave.

Gu An and his junior brothers and sisters saw Li Ya off at the entrance of the valley. Xiao Chuan and the others were very reluctant to part with him, as they had learned so much from Li Ya.

"Senior brother, this will always be your home. Come home often," Gu An said with a reluctant expression.

Family?
A wave of emotion surged within Li Ya, but he smiled calmly and said, "Yes, I will come back."

Having said that, he turned and left. Dressed in black, he was like a black flame burning fiercely in the mountains and forests, and the bleak autumn wind could not extinguish his fire.

Gu An sensed that he was burning with some kind of fighting spirit, which might be related to his recent injury.

Only after Li Ya disappeared into the depths of the mountains did Gu An withdraw his gaze. He turned to his junior brothers and sisters and smiled, "Cultivate diligently and go to the outer sect to find Senior Brother Li as soon as possible, so as to bring glory to our Xuan Valley."

Lu Jiujia immediately declared his ambition to enter the outer sect.

Ogawa said the same thing, but his confidence was clearly not as strong as Ogawa's.

Ye Lan seemed preoccupied, lost in thought.

Wu Xin said, "I'm not going to the outer sect. I want to stay with my senior brother for the rest of my life!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at him in surprise, including Gu An.

"This son..."

Gu An felt a little touched. Had he misunderstood Wu Xin?

These days, Wuxin has been behaving himself and has stopped groping around late at night. Moreover, Xuangu has never lost anything, so it is not possible to conclude that Wuxin has malicious intentions for the time being.

Since that's the case, let's assign more miscellaneous tasks to Wuxin from now on.

Ye Lan felt regretful; how could Wu Xin have spoken first?

At the same time, she realized that perhaps in her heart, her senior brother was important, but not as important as cultivating immortality.

Lu Jiujia couldn't help but mock Wuxin for being too good at flattering, and in an instant, Xiaochuan, Yelan, and Wuxin started arguing with him again.

Gu An led them back to the valley, but his mind was wandering to the ground.

Li Ya has left; now it's time to deal with the problems underground.

……

Late at night, at Bajing Cave.

Gu An, holding the scabbard of the Heavenly Destiny Sword, came to Meng Lang, who was still lying on the grass with his seven orifices sealed by mud.

"There are signs of disturbance in the surrounding grass; there are indeed people there."

Gu An keenly noticed subtle changes in the grass around Meng Lang. It would be difficult for someone with ordinary cultivation to detect this. The reason he was able to notice it was because he had made a point of observing it when he left last time.

He squeezed the Heavenly Sword in his hand, then stepped towards the cave entrance from which Meng Lang had run.

He quickly disappeared into the darkness.

This cave passage didn't have many crystals and was quite dark, but it had no effect on the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

A chilling spiritual wind swept through the cave, ruffling Gu An's robes. His divine sense had already reached the end of the cave.

It was a spacious cave, not as large as the main cave of Bajing Cave, but still quite large. There were coffins standing there, and a blue-green crystal the size of a water vat was embedded in the cave ceiling. Under the dim light, the coffins looked so terrifying.

There was nothing else besides the coffin.

Gu An's divine sense immediately detected a living person lying in one of the coffins; the faint life force could not escape the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Gu An did not sense any danger from this hint of life, but he did not let his guard down.

He walked for a long time before finally reaching the end of the cave.

He stood at the cave entrance, cautiously peering inside. He asked tentatively, "Is anyone there?" No one answered him, as if the cave was empty.

Gu An picked up a pebble from the ground and threw it inside. With a thud, the pebble hit a coffin. The coffin didn't move, but he seemed to be startled, his eyes widening.

He instinctively stepped back, feigning fear.

Why haven't they said anything yet?

If this continues, it'll get awkward!

Gu An was anxious. The reason he was making such a fuss was to ascertain the attitude of that being. After all, the other party had never harmed him before, and he didn't want to kill an innocent person by mistake.

At least he has to be able to live with himself!
Gu An gritted his teeth, suddenly drew his sword, rushed into the cave, and slashed wildly. With a crack, the Heavenly Sword struck a coffin lid and got stuck. He pulled hard, and due to inertia, he staggered back two steps.

"Pfft—"

A soft laugh rang out, sounding quite jarring in the cave.

Gu An almost got goosebumps. It was a woman's voice, which sounded like a female ghost laughing.

Holding the Heavenly Sword, he nervously scanned his surroundings, pacing back and forth, fearing that some demons or monsters might rush out from the side.

"Boy, are you Cheng Xuandan's disciple?"

The mysterious female voice rang out again, its charming tone sparking all sorts of fantasies.

Gu An quickly replied, "That's right, senior. Cheng Xuandan is my master. Who are you and why are you here?"

"The one who can be here is naturally your grandmaster. Cheng Xuandan is my disciple. The fact that you were able to enter means that his time has come, right?" The mysterious female voice suppressed her laughter, her tone carrying a hint of emotion.

Gu Anying said, "So it's Grandmaster. I've met you, Grandmaster. Master's time has indeed come. He said he wants to follow your example and find a place where no one knows him to meet the end of his life."

The cave then fell silent.

Gu An remained vigilant. If the other party were to attack him, regardless of whether they were his grandmaster or not, he would not hesitate to be ruthless.

The Heavenly Sword in his hands has never seen blood!

a long time.

Just as Gu An was about to speak, the other person's voice rang out again: "Did Cheng Xuandan tell you my identity?"

Gu An replied in a low voice, "My master told me everything. You come from Qianqiu Pavilion, and he also told me to be ready to receive the people from Qianqiu Pavilion at any time..."

"Judging from your appearance, you seem timid and cowardly, and you were so cautious when you came in. You probably didn't come willingly, did you? You only found out about all this after he handed the Valley Master over to you?" the other person asked jokingly.

Gu An sighed, leaving everything unsaid.

This time, he wasn't acting; he was genuinely helpless.

"Since you have already become his disciple, you are naturally my grand-disciple. You will guard for me for another ten years. After ten years, I will be able to leave the Tai Xuan Sect and will not cause you any trouble."

Upon hearing this, Gu An couldn't help but ask, "May I ask what your grandmaster's name is?"

"My surname is Jiang, and my given name is Qiong. As for my reputation in the cultivation world, let's not mention it."

Jiang Qiong?

The name is quite nice, but I wonder how many years it has lived.

As Gu An was thinking, a coffin in front of him suddenly opened, startling him so much that he drew his sword.

Two objects flew out of the coffin and landed in front of him.

He looked down and saw a small black clock and a secret manual.

"Consider this my gift to my grand-disciple. The Soul-Shaking Bell can control all the Gu techniques of the Myriad Gu Mystic Art. As long as you shake it, all the corpse Gu in this cave will obey your command."

"That manual is my cultivation method, the Yin-Yang Technique. The Yin-Yang Technique contains the method for refining the Soul-Shaking Bell, which even your master could not learn."

Jiang Qiong's voice came through, sounding somewhat tired.

Gu An quickly bowed and thanked him, then couldn't help but ask, "My disciple's talent is mediocre, why is my master so kind to me?"

"Hehe, mediocre talent? Kid, although I don't know what kind of extraordinary skill you practice, your actual cultivation level is definitely more than the fourth level of Qi Refining. You should have already reached the Foundation Establishment stage. To be able to reach the Foundation Establishment stage at such a young age, you can be considered a genius. You can suppress your arrogance and hide in the outer sect as a menial disciple. Although I don't know what you are carrying, at least it seems that you are very resistant to the Tai Xuan Sect."

"Your aptitude satisfies me, and your style of doing things is even more to my liking. Cultivate well, and I will teach you magic later. When you inherit my mantle, I will recommend you to Qianqiu Pavilion as a true disciple."

Jiang Qiong resumed her previous charming laughter, and Gu An's expression changed, feeling as if he had been seen through and was losing face.

Gu An took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Grandmaster. If you have any instructions, please feel free to tell me."

Having said that, he bent down, picked up the Soul-Shaking Bell and the Yin-Yang Mantra, and turned to leave.

Jiang Qiong's voice no longer echoed inside the cave, and Gu An quickly returned to the Eight Views Cave.

He sat down under the tree and began to read the Yin-Yang Manual.

He wondered if Jiang Qiong had any ill intentions.

If it's only ten years, then I'm not afraid. He's not only at the Nascent Soul stage, but he also wields the Tai Cang Jing Shen Sword.

Jiang Qiong is clearly not a good person. She is only wary of Gu An's Foundation Establishment Realm strength. In just ten years, how could she go from being wary of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to being able to kill a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator with a flick of her wrist?
She didn't just hide here; according to Cheng Xuandan, she has been dead for seventy years.

During these ten years, I will try to extract as many spells and secret manuals as possible from her. If she leaves obediently after ten years, then Gu An will not betray his master and ancestors.

If she harbors ill intentions, then Gu An will have no choice but to let the Heavenly Sword bleed.

What should we eat for lunch?
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(End of this chapter)