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

At the entrance to Ghostly Valley, two weathered stone lions covered in moss stand like two lurking demons, staring intently at every intruder.

As Gu An crossed the boundary marker, the sensation under his feet suddenly changed.

It was no longer the soft, moist, fertile soil of Lingtian, but a hard, slippery, frozen earth, as if soaked in oil. A visible, grayish-white chill crept up the trouser leg, like countless tiny ice needles piercing straight to the bone marrow.

"Such a heavy aura of yin and evil."

Gu An shivered, and the "Azure Wood Everlasting Spring Technique" within his body almost instinctively began to circulate. Under the pressure of this external cold, the originally gentle wood-type spiritual energy was like an enraged trapped beast, its circulation speed increasing by 30%, desperately protecting his heart meridian and dantian.

He looked up and saw that the valley was deathly silent.

There was no lush mulberry grove as I had imagined; all I saw was withered and desolate trees.

Hundreds of ancient mulberry trees, each as thick as a person's embrace, stood crookedly in the gray mist. Their bark was cracked, and instead of milky white sap, dark brown pus oozed out. A few sparse yellow leaves hung from the branches, fluttering down like paper money in the wind.

The ground was overgrown with weeds, but these weeds had a strange quality to them. Their leaves were purplish-black with serrated edges and they emitted a faint, rotten, sweet smell.

This is a death trap that even those at the third level of Qi Refining are unwilling to set foot in.

Gu An didn't rush to work. Instead, he first found a sheltered rock wall, a natural stone cave left by the previous guard—a place that could only accommodate one person. Several dried animal bones were piled up at the entrance of the cave. It was unclear whether they were brought by wild animals or "food" left by the previous guard.

After a quick clean-up, Gu An put down his bag, picked up the black iron hoe, and walked into the woods.

"If we want to survive, we have to bring these trees back to life first."

He walked up to a mulberry tree that was most severely withered and began to dig at the soil with a hoe.

"when!"

Sparks flew everywhere. The soil was as hard as iron.

Gu An frowned, channeled his spiritual energy into his arms, and slammed them down again.

Once, twice, three times.

It took a full half hour to dig through the soil around the tree roots, which was about three feet square.

His pupils contracted slightly when he saw what was under the tree roots.

The roots, which should have been yellowish-white, were now completely carbonized, and deep within the roots, the soil was a strange dark blue, constantly oozing wisps of black mist.

"This is……"

Gu An squatted down, not minding the dirt, and picked up a bit of dark blue soil, bringing it to his nose for a light sniff.

The biting cold instantly froze his fingertips, and an extremely rich surge of pure Yin energy rushed straight to the top of his head.

"Is the Yin meridian leaking out?"

Gu An took a deep breath.

The Green Wood Sect was built upon a spiritual vein, but this underground spiritual vein was intricate and complex. In addition to the yang veins that contained vitality, there were also yin veins that gathered death energy. The reason why the Ghostly Firefly Valley was so cold and gloomy was because a tiny branch of the yin vein was pressing down beneath it.

Judging from this situation, it seems that the earth's crust shifted or the formation was damaged, causing the yin veins to crack and pure yang energy to surge upwards, freezing these yin-loving spirit mulberry trees to death.

"No wonder the previous spirit plant growers all died mysteriously. They used traditional Yang wood methods, desperately casting rejuvenating spells and using intense Yang fertilizer to try and dispel the cold. As a result, the Yin and Yang clashed, which accelerated the death of the spirit mulberry and caused them to be devoured by the Yin energy as well."

Gu An stood up, brushed the dirt off his hands, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes.

To others, this is a dead end. But for him, who possesses the control panel and wields the "Turtle Breathing Technique," this might be a blessed place.

"Since we can't block it, let's try to clear it."

Gu An did not attempt to seal the invisible crack. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing.

Within his dantian, the azure, misty spiritual energy began to undergo subtle changes. He no longer resisted the surrounding yin energy, but instead attempted to mix a trace of the deathly stillness of the Turtle Breathing Technique into the circulation path of the Azure Wood Everlasting Spring Technique.

Wood, by its very nature, is divided into yin and yang.

Trees grow facing the sun, while trees grow away from the shade. Since the environment has changed, let the trees change too.

Half an hour later, Gu An opened his eyes, and a cloud of energy condensed at his fingertips.

No longer a vibrant, verdant cloud, this cloud now carries a somber hue and exudes a chilling aura.

"Master-level Minor Cloud Rain Technique, Transformation."

Gu An gave a low shout and flicked his fingertips.

"Splash—"

A light rain fell. But the rain was as black as ink, and it felt icy cold on the skin.

However, a terrifying scene unfolded.

The once dying mulberry tree, upon contact with the black rain, seemed like a thirsty traveler finding a spring of sweet water. Its charcoal-like roots twitched slightly, greedily sucking up the black water that seeped into the soil.

The cracks in the bark stopped oozing pus, and the originally withered yellow leaves, though not turning green, turned into a deep dark purple, with a faint glow flowing through the veins.

"It worked!"

Gu An's lips curled into a cold, hard smile. Now that the path had been found, all that remained was hard work.

He picked up a hoe and began frantically clearing away the weeds in the forest. These purplish-black sawgrass were poisonous creatures that grew from the Yin veins and would steal the nutrients from the spirit mulberry tree; they had to be eradicated.

"puff!"

A poisonous plant was uprooted.

[Weeding Skill Experience +1]

Gu An moved with lightning speed, the hoe in his hand becoming a blur. In this deserted valley of death, he no longer needed to conceal his strength; the physical power of his third-level Qi Refining Realm erupted, snapping poisonous plants in his wake.

[Weeding Skill Experience +1]

[Weeding Skill Experience +1]

……

As the sun rises and the moon sets, time passes unnoticed in the secluded Firefly Valley.

When Gu An was hungry, he would nibble on a dry, hard flatbread; when he was thirsty, he would drink a few mouthfuls of spring water. When he was extremely tired, he would sit in the stone cave and circulate the Green Wood Everlasting Technique to restore his strength.

In this extremely yin place, he was cultivating the Turtle Breathing Technique by mobilizing yin energy, and his progress was astonishing. The meridian circulation routes that were originally obscure and difficult to understand were now flowing as smoothly as a fish in water.

The third day at dusk.

When Gu An pulled out the last mutated "Ghost Face Vine" in the valley, a clear buzzing sound suddenly came from his mind.

The previously monotonous and fluctuating numbers finally broke through that critical point.

[Weeding Skill: Perfect (1000/1000)]

Congratulations! You've mastered the basic skill of "weeding"—the simplest path leads to the same destination.

[Gained Passive Trait: Plant Affinity]

[Plant Affinity: Your perception of plants has been greatly enhanced. The growth rate of the plants you care for increases by 5%, the survival rate by 10%, and the probability of mutation slightly increases.]

A warm current instantly flowed through his body, and Gu An felt that the world before him had become different.

He looked at the half-dead mulberry trees around him and could almost hear their faint breathing.

The plant on the left had its roots pinned down by a large rock, making it feel suffocated.

The plant on the right has too many leaves, creating a stagnant atmosphere, and needs to be pruned.

The plant at my feet, however, is hungry and craving more yin-type spiritual water.

This feeling is mysterious and profound, like a seasoned doctor who can see through a patient's problem with just one glance.

"Is this the qualitative change brought about by the Perfected Realm?"

Gu An reached out and gently stroked the rough bark of the tree. The spirit mulberry tree seemed to sense his kindness, its branches drooping slightly and gently brushing against his palm.

"A 10% increase in survival rate, a 50% increase in growth rate..."

The weariness in Gu An's eyes vanished instantly.

In this resource-scarce world of cultivation, this survival rate often represents the boundary between life and death.

He stood up and looked at the mulberry grove before him, which, though still gloomy, was now faintly exuding a strange vitality.

"Zhao Feng, you probably never dreamed that what you see as a dead end would become my own private territory."

Gu An took out the overseer's token that he had taken from Xun Meng's corpse from his pocket, weighed it in his hand, and then buried it under the most vigorous mutated spirit mulberry tree.

This place has the heaviest yin energy, which can block all divine sense from probing.

After finishing all this, Gu An was preparing to return to the cave to rest.

Suddenly, he stopped abruptly.

After acquiring [Plant Affinity], his senses became several times sharper.

At this moment, he clearly sensed that deep within the mulberry forest, in the core area of ​​that Yin vein rift, there was a plant whose aura was completely different from the other spiritual mulberry trees.

The aura didn't seem like that of plants; it was more like that of a living creature, exuding a chilling greed and...hunger.