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

"Since you think so highly of me, please come in."

Gu An stepped aside, his face displaying his usual dullness and caution.

Xun Yin didn't stand on ceremony. His feet, encased in tattered cloth shoes, stepped across the threshold, bringing with them a strange smell of rotten earth and dregs of medicine. He didn't sit down, but instead, like a hungry dog ​​entering a new den, his eyes darted between the dry well in the courtyard and the tightly closed windows of the stone house before finally settling on Gu An.

"This yard is quiet enough to keep some treasures that can't be exposed to the light of day."

Xun Yin chuckled twice, his voice like two pieces of old tree bark rubbing together. He handed the completely dead Xuan Yin Mulberry sapling in his hand to Gu An's eyes, his withered fingers gently twisting the blackened roots.

"Junior Brother Gu, please help me think of a solution. I spent a lot of money to get this seedling from the black market. It was fine last night, so why is it wilting today after I just watered it with fertilizer?"

Gu An lowered his head and obediently accepted the seedling. It was slippery to the touch, and the black mud at the base of the roots not only smelled fishy but also had a warm, sticky feel.

The panel flickered silently.

[Affinity with Spiritual Plants Activated]

[Detection Target: Tier 1 Mid-Grade Mystic Yin Mulberry (Dead Plant)]

[Cause of death: Root burn. Over-fertilization, and the fertilizer contained a high concentration of fiery corpse oil and bone-rotten powder, causing a clash between yin and yang, which severed the life force.]

This is indeed an evil path. Xun Yin probably used the scraps used for refining corpses or raising Gu worms as fertilizer for the mulberry trees. Although the Xuan Yin mulberry prefers shade, it cannot withstand such hot and pungent corpse poison.

Gu An did not answer immediately. Instead, he pretended to pinch the leaf, then brought it closer to smell it, his brows furrowed, revealing a troubled expression.

"Senior brother... this talent is beyond saving."

Xun Yin narrowed his cloudy eyes slightly, a cold glint flashing within them: "Oh? Even a hero like Junior Brother, who has protected the valley, can't do anything? Could it be that Junior Brother is hiding some secret formula that he's unwilling to teach his Senior Brother?"

Before he could finish speaking, a chilling spiritual pressure subtly locked onto Gu An's throat.

This is the truth being revealed. If Gu An can't give a clear explanation, or if he acts too mysteriously, there might be bloodshed in this courtyard tonight.

Gu An trembled, as if frightened, and quickly waved his hands: "Senior brother, you misunderstand! I don't have any secret recipe, it's just a simple, clumsy method. It's not that I don't want to help you, senior brother, it's just that your mulberry tree... was burned to death."

"Burned to death?" Xun Yin was taken aback.

"Yes." Gu An pointed to the grayish-white spots at the base of the plant, his tone sincere. "The fertilizer you used, Senior Brother, was too strong and fiery. This Xuan Yin Mulberry is like a baby that hasn't grown any teeth yet. How can it withstand such a large bowl of boiling meat soup? It can't handle the nourishment and will only cause its roots to rot."

After saying that, Gu An turned around and walked to the corner of the wall. He picked a few inconspicuous serrated wild grasses from a pile of weeds and handed them to Xun Yin with both hands.

"This is iron wire grass, which grows everywhere in Ghostly Valley. If you have any seedlings left, you might as well burn this grass to ashes, mix it with water, and pour it down the soil. This will neutralize the harshness of the fertilizer. Although it grows a bit slowly, it's reliable."

While the iron wire grass does indeed have the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, it is nothing more than a drop in the ocean for Xuan Yin Sang.

But that was exactly the effect Gu An wanted. It showed his "professionalism" befitting a plant grower, while using this commonplace rotten grass to dispel any suspicion that he possessed a rare treasure.

Xun Yin took the bunch of wild grass, sniffed it, and the coldness in his eyes gradually dissipated, replaced by a meaningful smile.

"So it turns out you can't handle strong tonics... I've learned something new."

He tucked the weeds into his coat, a wrinkle appearing on his gaunt face. "It seems Junior Brother Gu is indeed an honest man. Unlike some people, who harbor ill intentions."

"Senior brother, you flatter me. I'm just trying to make a living." Gu An said with a smile, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

"Since my junior brother has helped me so much, I, as his senior brother, cannot be stingy."

Xun Yin flipped his wrist and pulled out a palm-sized oil paper packet, stuffing it into Gu An's hand. "This is my homemade calming incense, made from several calming herbs. Junior Brother just moved in, and you might not be able to sleep soundly at night because you're not used to the bed. Light one up, and I guarantee you'll have a dreamless night."

The oil paper package emitted a sweet and cloying fragrance, the same scent that Gu An had smelled by the window earlier.

"Thank you so much for the medicine, Senior Brother." Gu An accepted it with both hands as if it were a priceless treasure, expressing his deepest gratitude.

"Alright, I'll take my leave now."

Xun Yin waved his hand and turned to walk out of the courtyard. He paused at the gate, but didn't turn back; his voice drifted back softly, "This place is secluded, and there are many insects at night. Junior Brother Gu, you must make sure to close the doors and windows tightly when you sleep."

"Yes, yes, senior brother's words of advice are reasonable, I will remember them."

Gu An bowed all the way to see him off, and only straightened up slowly after watching Xun Yin's hunched figure disappear into the shadows behind the bamboo forest.

The humility and fawning on her face vanished the moment the courtyard gate closed, turning into a cold, deathly silence.

[Interpersonal Skills Experience +10]

Gu An stood in the middle of the courtyard without moving, nor did he immediately go back into the house.

He looked down at the packet of calming incense in his hand, his fingertips releasing a slight amount of spiritual energy—not to light it, but to create a barrier. Beneath the sweet scent was an extremely faint fishy smell.

An ordinary outer disciple might mistake this for the earthy smell of herbs, but for Gu An, who dealt with poisonous moths and plants year-round, the smell was all too familiar.

That was the smell of corpse oil mixed with some kind of attractant.

If this incense is lit, it might calm the mind, but it will also attract unclean things, or... cause people to unknowingly fall into a trap in their sleep, turning them into puppets that can be manipulated at will.

"What a dreamless night."

Gu An sneered, casually took out a well-sealed lead box from his storage bag, threw the packet of poison incense inside, and affixed a spirit-sealing talisman.

But this is not the end. Xun Yin's parting words, "There are many insects at night," were by no means a casual expression of concern.

Gu An closed his eyes, fully activating his innate affinity with spiritual plants, his senses flooding outwards like a tidal wave. The breath of the grass and trees, the dampness of the soil, the rustling of leaves in the wind…

Suddenly, his divine sense detected an extremely faint, unusual fluctuation in the shadows beneath the crack in the door.

That wasn't a fluctuation of spiritual energy, but rather an extremely faint life sign, like the frequency of a heartbeat, but incredibly fast.

Gu An crouched down and took out a transparent glass bottle from his pocket. He held his breath, his fingers moving with lightning speed, and suddenly tapped and flicked the doorframe through the crack.

"Buzz—"

A faint, mosquito-like flapping sound rang out, followed by a crisp striking sound.

He trapped a tiny, transparent insect, about the size of a grain of rice, inside a glass bottle.

This insect looked extremely strange. It had no eyes, only a pair of huge antennae that were constantly trembling. Its abdomen had a thin membrane that looked like a human ear, which was attached to the bottle wall and trembled slightly with the sounds from the outside world.

[Identify the alien insect: Corpse Listening Gu (Tier 1, Low Grade)]

[Characteristics: Extremely good at concealment, no spiritual energy fluctuations, fed with corpse energy, can eavesdrop on sounds within a radius of ten feet and transmit them to the mother insect.]

Gu An looked at the Gu worm in the bottle that was still desperately vibrating its eardrums, and the killing intent in his eyes finally became uncontrollable.

Xun Yin was not only testing him, but also planting ears in his house.

If he had been talking to himself inside the house, or had taken out that human skin map and made a commotion, his good neighbor next door would probably be at his door with a boning knife by now.

"Hmph, trying to spy on me?"

Gu An put the glass bottle into the deepest part of his storage bag and set it up with several soundproof barriers.

He didn't kill the insect. If the insect died, Xun Yin would know he'd been exposed, and his subsequent actions would only be more direct and violent. Keeping it alive, letting it hear what he wanted it to hear, was the best course of action.

Gu An turned and went into the room, sat on the stone bed, and did not light a lamp.

In the darkness, he touched the blood curse mark on his wrist and then looked at the broken window next door that faintly emitted a green light.

Life in the outer gate was indeed more exciting than in the servants' quarters.

The servants' quarters were just about fighting for food, but here it was about cannibalism.

"Since you want to hear it, I'll sing you a play."

Gu An sat cross-legged, took out the bottle of inferior Qi Gathering Pills from his pocket, poured out one, and swallowed it.

"Cough cough... I don't know when this injury will heal... As for the production of Xuan Yin Silk... I'm afraid it will be uncertain next month..."

He deliberately lowered his voice and muttered a few complaints to himself, his tone revealing weakness and anxiety.

Then, he closed his mouth and began to practice the Turtle Breathing Technique. His heartbeat slowed, and his breathing became long and even. But beneath that calm exterior, Gu An's mind was already plotting how to make his good neighbor disappear without a trace.

How can one allow a wicked ghost to snore beside one's bed?

Xun Yin must die. Moreover, Xun Yin's surname is Xun. Putting aside whether Xun Meng, whom he killed earlier, had any relatives in the Qingmu Sect, judging from Xun Yin's current probing, this person must not be allowed to live!

However, Xun Yin, like him, was an outer disciple. In the sect, servants could die at will, but outer disciples would be implicated in the Enforcement Hall unless they died in war.

Therefore, this matter needs to be considered carefully.