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

That greedy thirst was fleeting, like a ghost lurking in the shadows.

Gu An had no intention of investigating further. When one's strength is insufficient, excessive curiosity is often a shortcut to hell. He simply silently noted down the approximate location of the strangely auraed plant, roughly at the deepest part of the Yin Vein Crack, and then, carrying his hoe, retreated to the outer edge of the mulberry grove without looking back.

As long as that thing doesn't run out and cause trouble for the surrounding Ling Sang, he'll pretend he didn't see it. Knowing that curiosity killed the cat, he naturally won't risk his life. For now, it's fine to let things develop in a way that keeps to themselves.

In the time that followed, life returned to a monotonous yet fulfilling rhythm.

With the blessing of [Spirit Plant Affinity], Gu An achieved a strange symbiosis with this desolate Ghostly Valley.

During the day, he channeled the Azure Wood spiritual energy within his body, supplemented by the master-level "Minor Cloud Rain Technique," to unleash a life-giving black rain. Nourished by the black rain, the mutated spirits not only ceased to repel him but instead returned a cool yet pure aura.

This aura is different from the spiritual energy in spirit stones; it's more like the essence of plants and trees. Though faint, it's inexhaustible. After being inhaled, it can slowly widen the meridians that were narrow and blocked due to poor aptitude.

This is what is known as "plants giving back to their parents".

Night falls, and that's when Gu An truly reigns supreme.

The Yin energy in Youying Valley reaches its peak at midnight, with frost as cold as iron, capable of cracking even stones.

Gu An sat cross-legged deep in the stone cave. Far from feeling cold, he felt his pores opening up. He circulated the "Turtle Breathing Technique," and his entire being seemed to transform into a block of thousand-year-old ice, greedily devouring the surrounding wandering Yin energy.

[Turtle Breathing Technique Experience +1]

[Turtle Breathing Technique Experience +1]

……

The feeling of watching your skill level skyrocket is more addictive than any magic pill.

However, with Ling Sang's recovery, troubles followed one after another.

The rebirth of life from the dead brought not only joy to Gu An, but also attracted those poisonous creatures with keen senses of smell.

"Buzz—"

A sickeningly loud flapping of wings shattered the morning's tranquility.

Gu An looked up and saw dozens of palm-sized gray moths flitting among the mulberry trees. These moths had wings as hard as iron plates with sharp edges, and their mouthparts were ferocious; they were specifically designed to gnaw on the newly sprouted buds of the spirit mulberry trees.

Wire moth.

Although this demonic insect is not yet classified, it has the advantage of a hard shell, extremely fast flight speed, and releases a cloud of corrosive poison powder when it dies, making it extremely difficult to deal with.

"If you eat all the leaves, how am I supposed to explain myself?"

Gu An put down the hoe, not panicked, but instead smiled slightly.

I was just worried about not having any live targets to practice on.

He stood still, his spiritual energy instantly converging towards his right index finger. Unlike the previous awkwardness, the flow of spiritual energy was now incredibly smooth.

"Geng metal refers to..."

Without any fancy preamble, Gu An simply raised his hand and pointed.

"call out!"

A thin, wisp of golden light shot out from the sky, so fast that only a blur could be seen.

Ten feet away, a poisonous moth that was flapping its wings suddenly froze. A bloody hole the size of a pinprick appeared on its head, and without even letting out a scream, it fell straight down.

[Geng Metal indicates +1 experience]

"The aim was a bit off; I was going to hit the left eye."

Gu An shook his head, dissatisfied with the attack.

He took a deep breath and began to move through the forest. He didn't use any protective aura, letting the sharp wings of the poisonous moths brush against the hem of his clothes.

On the edge of life and death, his mind was highly focused.

Raise your hand to secure a kill, turn around and secure another kill...

Each flick of the finger resulted in the death of a poisonous moth. From initially killing one insect with a single finger, to later piercing two insects with one finger, and then to predicting the flight path of the poisonous moth and intercepting it in advance.

This gloomy mulberry grove became Gu An's personal training ground.

Those wire moths that terrified ordinary handymen were now nothing more than walking experience packs that could improve their proficiency in Gu An's eyes.

……

Time stands still in the mountains; one is unaware of the changing seasons.

In the blink of an eye, Gu An had been in Youying Valley for two months.

The once withered mulberry forest has now undergone a complete transformation. Although there is still no greenery, the dark purple leaves are thick and plump, shimmering with a faint, cold light in the gray mist, a sign of their excellent quality.

Inside the cave.

Gu An was shirtless, his originally thin body now showing clear muscle lines, and his skin had an unhealthy paleness, a symptom of excessive yin energy entering his body, but beneath this appearance he also exuded a toughness like gold and stone.

He slowly exhaled a breath of white air, which condensed in mid-air and transformed into a faint arrow-like shadow that shot out three feet.

In the blink of an eye, the panel appeared.

Name: Gu An

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 3 (205/0400)]

[Technique: Evergreen Spring Technique (Second Level: 291/400)]

[Turtle Breath Technique (Incomplete): Proficiency (1/400) - Unlocks Trait: Cold-Blooded]

[Spell:]

[Geng Metal refers to: proficiency (309/400)]

[Minor Cloud Rain Technique: Mastery (220/600)]

"Cold-blooded..."

Gu An looked down at his hands.

Just now, the "Turtle Breathing Technique" broke through the proficiency bottleneck and unlocked new features.

At this moment, his body temperature had dropped to the same level as the surrounding rocks, his blood flow was so slow that it was almost stagnant, and even his heartbeat had become once every half hour at the most extreme state.

This means that unless the other party possesses the divine sense of the Foundation Establishment stage, or a special magical artifact specifically designed to detect life force, they simply cannot sense that there is a living person here without seeing him.

"Now I finally have the means to survive in this chaotic world."

Gu An was about to get up and stretch when suddenly, his brow twitched.

The amplified divine sense detected an extremely faint fluctuation in the direction of the valley entrance.

That wasn't the sound of the wind, nor the movement of wild animals.

That was the spiritual energy fluctuation generated after the array restriction was forcibly torn apart and then quickly closed.

"Someone's here?"

Gu An's pupils contracted sharply, and he instantly entered battle mode. Without making a sound, he leaned back and slid into the shadowy crevice at the deepest part of the cave.

With the Turtle Breathing Technique fully activated and its Cold Blood property lifted, he instantly became one with the cold rock wall.

After a while.

A series of stumbling footsteps approached, accompanied by suppressed groans and a strong smell of blood.

Through the cracks in the rocks, Gu An saw a figure completely shrouded in black enter this deadly place.

The man's left arm was severed at the shoulder, the wound charred black, clearly a result of severe fire magic. He wore half a bronze mask, the other side of which was shattered, revealing an empty, shadowy eye—he was blind in one eye.

They must be from the Blood Blade Sect!

Gu An immediately recognized the unique curved sword at the other party's waist, with a hideous human skull embedded in the hilt, which was the mark of an elite disciple of the Blood Blade Sect.

"Cough cough..."

The man in black staggered and leaned against a sacred mulberry tree, panting heavily, each breath bringing out a cloud of blood mist.

"This place... the yin energy is so heavy..."

The man in black spoke in a hoarse voice, tinged with the relief of surviving a close call, "Those idiots from the Green Wood Sect would never have imagined that I would hide in their death trap to heal my wounds."

He cautiously looked around, his divine sense sweeping roughly across the entire valley.

When Gu An's divine sense swept across the stone cave, he felt as if a cold wind had brushed against his scalp.

But he didn't even blink; his heart stopped beating, and his body temperature synchronized with the rock.

The man in black's consciousness lingered at the stone cave for a moment, seemingly noticing the dried animal bones, before moving away with disdain.

"Fortunately, there were only some inanimate objects."

The man in black breathed a sigh of relief, took out a bottle of pills from his pocket, and swallowed them.

He was probably too badly injured and desperately needed a sheltered place to process the medicinal power.

His gaze swept around and finally settled on the sheltered stone cave where Gu An was.

"That is..."