Longevity: Starting as a menial servant in the Green Wood Sect

Chapter 112 Beneath the Roots

A cold wind swept past the side gate of the back alley of Hailing Pavilion, swirling withered leaves.

Gu An leaned against the wall and walked out step by step. His face was ashen, even worse than the sickly look he usually pretended to have. Fine beads of cold sweat had already soaked his messy hair, which stuck to his temples, making him look extremely disheveled.

"Master Gu, please slow down!"

Behind him came Liu Fu's concerned shouts. The fat manager looked relieved to have survived a disaster and personally escorted Gu An to the door, even shoving a bottle of "Rejuvenating Dew" into his hand to help him recover his energy.

"Thanks to you this time, otherwise we would all be dead. You should go back and rest well. There's no need to rush about the top-grade spirit field. Since the young master took the grass with him, I'll have the servants take care of the rest of the chores."

Gu An didn't turn around, but waved his hand with his back to Liu Fu, his voice hoarse as if he had two pieces of burning coal in his throat: "Manager, please wait—my body is not cooperating. I was frightened by the earthquake just now and need to go back and rest for a couple of days."

"Of course, of course!" Liu Fu nodded repeatedly, watching Gu An's hunched and thin figure disappear into the shadows at the alley entrance. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, wipe the sweat from his forehead, and turn back to the pavilion to deal with the remaining mess.

Only after completely leaving the Hailing Pavilion's sight and mingling into the bustling crowds of the outer city did Gu An's tense back relax slightly for a moment, but then it tensed up even more.

He felt that every jade tile under his feet had become incredibly hot.

No, it's not just hot.

It was a tremor from the depths of the earth. Although the terrifying "heartbeat" had subsided, in Gu An's perception, the entire bustling and dazzling city that never sleeps seemed to be built on the skin of a huge, slowly writhing monster.

The surrounding cultivators continued their lively conversation, some haggling over prices, others boasting that the recent earthquake was merely a minor incident of the earth's veins shifting. They gazed at the ever-burning lights overhead, their eyes filled with a captivating allure and longing for this luxurious haven.

But in Gu An's eyes, this was hardly a paradise on earth.

This is clearly a huge, lavishly decorated slaughterhouse.

All the prosperity, all the spiritual energy, even the laughter and joy filling the city, are built upon the painful groans of the monster imprisoned in the deep abyss, bearing the face of the ancestor Qi Yunmeng.

"Ancestor————"

Gu An instinctively pressed his hand to his chest. Through his clothes, the broken jade pendant felt icy cold, as if it were a piece of bone just dug out of an ice cellar.

He dared not linger, much less show the slightest sign of anything amiss. Even though his heart was already in turmoil, he maintained the solitary and weak gait of the "Ghost Hand Taoist," choosing to walk only in dark and damp alleys.

Throughout the journey, he felt as if countless eyes were watching him; even a passing stray cat could make him tense. The fear of learning such a shocking secret was like a cold, venomous snake, tightly coiled around his neck, almost suffocating him.

After circling around for a full hour, using three different methods to conceal his presence, and confirming that there were no tails behind him, Gu An finally plunged into the musty and rotten air of the rat alley.

Pushing open the dilapidated wooden door, Gu An seemed to have used all his strength to stagger into the room, slamming the door shut behind him. He then cast more than a dozen soundproofing and concealment spells in one go, until he had fully activated the spiritual power of the spirit stones that served as the array's core, forming a pale gray light curtain that completely enveloped the stone chamber. Only then did he slide down to the ground against the door.

"Whoosh—whoosh—"

Heavy breathing echoed in the deathly silent stone chamber.

Shen Wan, who was grinding medicinal powder at the table, was startled. She had never seen Gu An so out of control. Even when being chased by the Black Shark Gang, even when facing a second-tier demonic beast, this man always had a ruthless and calm look in his eyes.

But now, all he sees is fear.

A fear that originates from the depths of the soul, a fear of the indescribable.

"Something happened?"

Shen Wan put down the pestle in her hand, and with her weak body, she walked over to help Gu An up.

Gu An grabbed her wrist with astonishing force, his knuckles turning white. He looked up, his lifeless eyes bloodshot, his lips trembling, and after a long while, he managed to squeeze out a single sentence.

"I saw it—"

"What did you see?" Shen Wan asked calmly, enduring the sharp pain in her wrist.

"A tree—a tree—" Gu An's voice was somewhat incoherent. He pointed to the ground beneath his feet and then to his chest. "Underground in the Sea Spirit Pavilion—below the foundation of the Tower of Babel—there is a huge withered tree."

"There's a face growing on that tree."

Gu An took a deep breath, seemingly trying to dispel the terrifying image in his mind, "That face...it's exactly the same as the portrait of Qi Yunmeng, the founder of my Green Wood Sect!"

"What?!"

Shen Wan's pupils contracted sharply, and her face turned deathly pale. As a descendant of a Foundation Establishment family, she had heard countless secrets of the cultivation world, but the scene Gu An described was still beyond her comprehension.

"Are you sure you didn't see wrong?" Shen Wan's voice trembled slightly.

"My eyes might be wrong, but this thing—it can't be wrong." Gu An took out the broken jade pendant from his pocket.

At this moment, the originally dull gray jade pendant, without any spiritual energy being injected, began to emit an extremely faint, blood-red light. The red light flickered, and the frequency was exactly the same as the heartbeat sound that Gu An had heard underground earlier.

"When the earthquake struck just now, this jade pendant almost burned through my chest." Gu An gave a bitter laugh. "Moreover, the wisp of dragon energy in my body, when it saw that tree, actually lay down like a grandson and dared not move, and even—it was worshipping."

Shen Wan stared at the jade pendant, then looked at Gu An's still-shaken face, and countless fragments of information began to spin and piece together rapidly in her mind.

The patriarch of the Qingmu Sect has been missing for many years.

The city that never sleeps rose out of nowhere, its spiritual energy exceptionally abundant.

The young master needs to devour bloodlines to cultivate the "Dragon Transformation Technique" —

And there's this "ancestral tree" underground —

Suddenly, as if she had thought of something extremely terrifying, Shen Wan took two steps back and knocked over the chair behind her.

"I know now—I finally know the truth about this city that never sleeps!"

Shen Wan's voice turned sharp and hoarse. She stared intently at Gu An, her eyes filled with terror. "This isn't some sacred cultivation ground—Gu An, we've fallen into a giant 'farm'!"

"A breeding farm?" Gu An's pupils contracted slightly.

"Yes! It's a breeding farm!"

Shen Wan spoke rapidly, as if the terrifying truth would devour her if she slowed down even slightly. "I read about it in a tattered ancient book in my family. There was an evil formation from ancient times called the Myriad Spirits Bloodwood Formation. This formation requires a powerful being with extraordinary cultivation as the 'seed,' to be refined alive into a demonic tree and planted on a ley line node."

"This demonic tree continuously draws upon the earth's vein power, and even devours the essence and soul of surrounding creatures, transforming it into an extremely pure spiritual energy with special attributes."

"This kind of spiritual energy is a great tonic for ordinary cultivators, capable of multiplying their cultivation speed. But in reality—" Shen Wan pointed to the bustling urban area outside the window, "this spiritual energy is mixed with that kind of" resentment and flesh essence."

"Every breath of spiritual energy that those who cultivate in this city inhale is actually consuming the flesh and drinking the blood of that demonic tree!"

"And when these cultivators reach a high level of cultivation, and their bodies are filled with this same spiritual energy—they themselves become the demon tree's—or rather, the person who controls the demon tree's—reserves of food!"

boom!

Gu An felt as if a thunderbolt had struck his mind.

He finally understood why the spiritual energy in this city that never sleeps is so rich, why that young master gives off such a sinister feeling, and why this place is so "tolerant" of outsider cultivators, allowing them to settle in as long as they pay money.

It turns out that these people were not cultivators seeking immortality at all.

They are pigs.

They are pigs raised in this pigsty called "The City That Never Sleeps," fed on the flesh and blood of the "Ancestral Tree." Once they are fattened up, the mastermind behind it all—the City Lord's Mansion—will raise their butcher's knife and harvest their cultivation and flesh to feed the young master, or even higher beings!

"People eat people — eat trees —"

Gu An muttered to himself, a feeling of nausea he had never experienced before welling up inside him. He felt that every bit of spiritual energy in his body had become incredibly filthy, as if countless tiny maggots were crawling in his meridians.

"That Qi Yunmeng—" Gu An gritted his teeth, "He probably didn't just disappear, but was captured and used as a seed! The decline of the Qingmu Sect is probably also inextricably linked to this Never-Sleeping City!"

"That's right." Shen Wan nodded, his face ashen. "No wonder the young master needs Dragon Beard Grass to purify his bloodline—he's not cultivating the orthodox Dragon Transformation Technique at all, but some kind of devouring demonic art! He wants to use the power of the 'Ancestral Tree' to forcibly cross the boundaries of species!"

The stone chamber fell into a deathly silence once again.

The truth was too heavy, too dark, to bear, making it almost impossible for the two of them to breathe.

After a long while, Gu An slowly raised his head.

The fear that had been in his lifeless eyes was gradually fading, replaced by a kind of madness and ruthlessness born of being driven to the brink.

"Since this is a breeding ground, and since everyone wants to eat people—"

Gu An slowly stood up from the ground, patted the dust off his body, his movements were strangely slow. "Then we definitely can't leave."

"Not leaving?" Shen Wan was taken aback. "Are you just going to stay here and wait to die? That young master has already seen you. Although he didn't recognize your dragon aura, he's naturally suspicious and will find out about you sooner or later!"

"Are you able to leave?"

Gu An walked to the window and looked through the crack at the towering Tower of Babel that reached into the clouds in the distance. A sinister smile crept onto his lips. "The whole city is under martial law now. The young master has been frightened and will definitely seal off all the exits. If we try to run now, it will be an admission of guilt."

"Moreover—" Gu An turned around, pointed to his chest, "I and that prisoner underground are the same kind."

"similar?"

"It is a locked seed," and I am a hunted medicine. We both possess something within us that the young master covets.

A dangerous glint flashed in Gu An's eyes. "Although that young master is strong, he is clearly also afraid of what's underground. When the ground shook just now, he ran faster than a rabbit."

"This shows that he did not have complete control over the demon tree. Or rather, the demon tree is rebelling."

Gu An walked to the stone table, poured himself a glass of cold water, and drank it all in one gulp. The icy liquid calmed his feverish brain a little.

"This is our opportunity."

"The darkest place is under the lamp." I will use these three words again, and this time even more thoroughly.

Gu An slammed his cup heavily on the table. "Not only am I not leaving Hailing Pavilion, I'm going back. I'm applying to handle the dirtiest, smelliest, and most unwanted waste."

"You mean—" Shen Wan seemed to have guessed his thoughts, and a hint of shock flashed in her eyes.

"The third basement level of the Sea Spirit Pavilion is a top-grade spirit field, the closest to the Ancestral Tree. Every day, it generates a large amount of waste spirit soil and withered spirit plants."

Gu An's voice turned low and sinister, "Those things are definitely tainted with the aura of the Ancestral Tree, or even its excrement. To others, that's deadly poison, but to me, who cultivates the 'Azure Sea Dragon Wood Technique' and possesses the [Spiritual Plant Affinity] talent—"

"Those are clues, and they are also nourishment."

"I will use these things to establish a deeper connection with that ancestor underground."

Gu An touched the festering skin on his chin, a gambler's madness in his eyes. "Since everyone wants to eat me, I'll find this cage's weakness before I'm eaten. Even—I'll bite off the hand that's feeding me!"

Shen Wan looked at the man in front of her.

Despite its appearance as a terminally ill creature, covered in festering sores, it exuded an aura that was terrifying to behold. It was the ferocity of a wild dog that had crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, willing to tear anything apart in order to survive.

"Alright." Shen Wan took a deep breath. "I'll gamble with you. I'll speed up my research on the medicinal properties of those dragon whisker grasses and see if I can concoct a poison that targets that kind of demonic art."

"Um."

Gu An nodded and straightened his robes.

"It's almost dawn, I have to go back."

"go back?"

"Yes, if you're going to put on a show, you have to go all the way. A terrified servant, after hiding at home all night, has no choice but to tremble and beg the foreman for a meal in order to make a living. That's the most plausible character setup."

Gu An opened the door, and the cold morning wind blew in, dispelling the smell of medicine in the room.

He lowered his straw hat, transforming once again into the hunched and wretched "Ghost Hand Taoist," and stepped into the morning mist.

Hailing Pavilion, the servants' quarters in the backyard.

Liu Fu was frantically directing a group of laborers to clean up the mess caused by last night's earthquake.

"Be careful! These fragments are spiritual materials too! If you lose even one, you couldn't afford to pay for it even if you sold yourselves!"

Liu Fu's voice was hoarse from shouting, but his heart was filled with bitterness. Although the young master hadn't blamed him last night, his panicked escape clearly showed he was frightened. The third basement level of Hailing Pavilion would probably have to be temporarily sealed off, and his income as the manager would be cut in half.

Just then, a timid figure sidled up to him.

"Manage—manage affairs—"

Liu Fu turned around and saw that it was Gu An. His brows furrowed immediately, and he said irritably, "What, it's you again? Didn't I tell you to go back and rest? What are you doing here to cause trouble?"

Gu An lowered his head, his rotten face full of a fawning smile, and he was carrying a basket of cheap spirit fruits that he had just bought.

"Please calm down, sir—I've been thinking about this all night, and I'm really troubled."

Gu An's voice was hoarse and humble, "My life was given to me by the steward. Now that something has happened in the pavilion, how can I just lie at home in peace? Although we can't go to that top-grade spirit field, there are always some dirty and tiring jobs in the pavilion that no one else can do."

"I am not afraid of getting dirty or tired; I just want to share the burden with the person in charge."

Upon hearing this, Liu Fu's expression softened slightly. He looked Gu An up and down, thinking to himself that although this ugly man with the rotten face was unattractive, his gratitude was commendable.

"Alright, at least you put your heart into it."

Liu Fu sighed and pointed to a mountain of black silt and withered branches and leaves piled up in the corner of the yard.

"Although the third basement level is sealed off, the pile of waste cleared out last night hasn't been disposed of yet. These things have a strong malevolent aura; even ordinary laborers get sick from touching them, and we're just worried about where to throw them away."

"Since you are a poison cultivator with a special physique, this job will be assigned to you."

Liu Fu casually tossed a token over, saying, "Take it to the Spirit Transformation Pool outside the city and destroy it. Remember, don't let anyone see it; this thing is bad luck."

"Yes! Yes! Thank you, steward!"

Gu An accepted the token as if it were a priceless treasure, bowing repeatedly.

He walked up to the pile of waste that reeked of a strong stench and black aura, showing no disgust whatsoever, but rather as if he had seen some rare treasure.

He stretched out his withered hand and grabbed a handful of black mud.

Sizzle sizzle—

A slight corrosive sound came from my palm; it was the terrifying malevolent energy contained in the mud corroding my flesh.

But Gu An's lips curled up slightly.

The moment his skin touched the mud, the dormant dragon energy deep within his dantian suddenly surged like a shark smelling blood.

A faint yet incredibly clear feeling of hunger traveled through Gu An's meridians into his mind.

That was a thirst for power.

It is also a perception of one's own kind.

"really----"

Gu An sneered inwardly, gripping the handful of mud tightly in his hand, letting the black liquid drip through his fingers.

"Ancestor, since you are also a prisoner, then lend me your blood and flesh."