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

Half a month is but a blink of an eye for cultivators, but for Gu An, who was stationed in Youying Valley, it was every day and night of dancing on the edge of a knife.

Life in the valley was divided into two completely different aspects.

During the day, he was that sickly outer disciple, pale as paper, who would cough and wheeze after just a few steps.

Every day, the routine consisted of carrying a foul-smelling wooden bucket and pouring spoonfuls of the blood poison mixture—a mixture of rotten branches and leaves, inferior corpse oil, and trace amounts of the user's own blood—at the roots of the mutated ghost mulberry.

Those mulberry trees had long since transformed into bloodthirsty demonic trees, their roots churning like pythons underground, greedily devouring the filthy nutrients, and then rewarding them with even more lush, dark purple leaves. The Xuan Yin silkworms rustled on the branches, their silk threads gleaming with a chilling silver light, and their yield steadily increased.

This was a show of face for the sect, and also a way to feed Zhao Feng, that hungry wolf.

At night, when the valley entrance was fully opened and the Yin energy was as thick as ink, Gu An tore off that disguise.

Inside the stone house in Courtyard No. 13 of the Yi family compound, the underground fire beneath the Qingning Furnace burned all night long.

"Glug, glug."

The potion churning inside was no longer a life-saving elixir, but a highly poisonous concoction capable of killing an elephant.

With a blank expression, Gu An threw one brightly colored but extremely poisonous herb after another into the furnace. Corrupting bone grass, heart-breaking red, ghost-face vine juice… he tossed in the potent poisons recorded in the "True Explanation of a Hundred Poisons" as if they were free.

He's brewing a "bewitching potion".

The Qi Refining Stage 7 flesh and blood Tai Sui underground was an insatiable monster. It was both Gu An's blood bank for cultivating the Hundred Refinements Golden Body Technique and a ticking time bomb buried at the bottom of Youying Valley.

"The timing... is wrong."

Gu An stared at the fire in the stove, his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Initially, a pot of bone-corroding and soul-soothing soup was enough to make the monster sleep for twelve hours, and during the process of resisting the poison, it excreted three bottles of high-purity blood spirit dew through the roots of the ghost mulberry tree.

But in the last three days, the tremors from underground have been coming earlier and earlier.

The day before yesterday was eleven hours, and yesterday was ten and a half hours.

Today, only ten hours have passed, and the ground beneath our feet is already throbbing with a heart-pounding, dull throbbing sound.

Thump...thump...the sound traveled through the thick rock layers, still making the teacups on the stone table vibrate.

"Drug resistance".

Gu An uttered three words, a shadow of gloom flashing in his eyes.

This flesh-and-blood Tai Sui was originally a demonic creature born from devouring yin and filth, possessing an incredibly strong ability to adapt. The poisons initially paralyzed its nerves and corroded its flesh, but with repeated use, its massive body was rapidly developing resistance.

If it can't be suppressed, once this thing awakens and goes berserk, breaking through the seal left by Han Qingsong, Gu An won't even have a chance to escape.

"Since you want to eat it, then I'll give you some extra spice."

Gu An took out a lead box from the depths of his storage bag. After opening it, he found a section of dried-out root that looked like black iron inside.

This was recently purchased from an old herb-gathering farmer from the Qingmu Sect. It's the root of a nearly 100-year-old Corpse Fragrance Demon Flower. The old farmer brought it along because he saw it had some spiritual energy, and Gu An happened to snag it for thirty spirit stones.

This substance is highly poisonous and has strong hallucinogenic and anesthetic effects; it is the main ingredient for refining second-tier sedatives. Gu An originally didn't want to use it, intending to save it for future ambush, but now that things were urgent, he couldn't worry about that anymore.

He pulled out a boning knife, cut off a piece the size of a thumb, and threw it into the boiling poisonous soup.

Sizzle! As the tuber fell, green poisonous smoke instantly rose up. Even with the medicinal power of the antidote pill, Gu An still felt dizzy.

"Such a potent medicine."

Gu An held his breath, quickly sealed the furnace, wrapped the venom with his spiritual power, and rushed into the night with the Azure Condensation Furnace, heading straight for the largest Ghost Mulberry Tree at the bottom of the valley.

The closer you get to the fissure in the ground, the clearer the dull thud becomes.

The ground undulated slightly like waves, and the ghost mulberry tree that served as its conduit shook violently, its branches and leaves trembling wildly, as if it would be uprooted at any moment.

"roar--"

A suppressed growl came from deep underground, a mixture of hunger and rage.

Gu An dared not delay. With a swift motion of his longsword, he skillfully cut a notch in the tree root and poured the scalding hot, poisoned soup into it.

"drink!"

The venom entered the tree, and the ghost mulberry tree suddenly stiffened.

Almost simultaneously, the roar from underground suddenly rose in pitch, turning into a piercing shriek.

That's the medicinal effect of the Corpse Fragrance Konjac taking hold.

However, just when Gu An thought the monster would slowly fall into a deep sleep as usual, a sudden change occurred.

Boom! The soil beneath the ghost mulberry tree exploded without warning.

A tentacle, as thick as a child's arm, entirely scarlet and covered in barbs, like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, carrying a foul stench and pebbles, coiled towards Gu An's ankle with lightning speed.

Too fast! The monster launched a counterattack on instinct at the last moment before the drug took effect!

If Gu An were caught in these tentacles, even though he was already at the fourth level of Qi Refining, he would be instantly dragged into the ground and become food for the enemy.

At the critical moment.

Gu An did not retreat. His eyes flashed with cold light, and the spiritual liquid in his body surged like boiling water, all of which gathered in his right index finger.

"Geng metal finger, sever!"

As the incantation ended, a point of dark golden light, as dazzling as a star, flashed from the fingertip, leaving a straight afterimage in the night.

*Thud!* A muffled thud of a sharp blade piercing flesh suddenly rang out.

The scarlet tentacle that was about to touch Gu An's trouser leg was severed in two like tofu by the dark gold finger force. Thick black blood spurted from the broken ends, carving out smoking pits on the ground.

"squeak--!!!"

An even more agonizing hiss came from underground, and the severed half of the tentacle writhed wildly on the ground, like a snake with its head cut off.

Immediately afterwards, the violent tremor receded like a tide.

The potent medicinal power of the Corpse-Scented Devil's Tongue finally overwhelmed the monster's ferocity. The pounding heartbeat gradually slowed down and eventually fell silent.

Gu An maintained the gesture of pointing his finger, his chest heaving violently, his back already soaked in cold sweat.

With the crisis averted, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. What a close call! He had almost become food for the underground monster.

If he hadn't practiced diligently day and night for the past two months, bringing his Gengjin Finger technique to the point of near-perfect proficiency, that single finger strike might not have severed the tentacle as tough as iron.

He stepped forward and used his longsword to pry up the still twitching severed tentacle. The tentacle's surface was covered with a layer of fine scales, its hardness comparable to a low-grade magic weapon.

"It seems this thing is evolving too."

Gu An's face was grim. Not only had the Tai Sui developed resistance to the poison, but its physical strength was also increasing. Although the poison was corroding it, it also seemed to have, in some way... tempered it.

Just as he was using the Blood Spirit Dew of the Tai Sui to temper his body, this monster was also using poison to refine its body.

The current situation is like a race against death, seeing who can't hold on any longer.

Gu An put the broken hand into his storage bag. Although this thing was disgusting, the blood and qi it contained was extremely powerful. With proper processing, it could become an excellent material for body refining.

He turned to look at the wound on the ghost mulberry tree, where drops of deep red, almost black dew were slowly seeping out.

The blood spirit dew extracted from the poisonous soup containing corpse-fragrant taro was 30% of the higher quality than usual!

Gu An skillfully took out the jade bottle to receive it, but felt no joy whatsoever.

This is ultimately a case of drinking poison to quench thirst. This time, they used the corpse-fragrant devil's tongue to suppress it, but what about next time? And the time after that?

Therefore, he must improve his strength as soon as possible, or find a stronger means of suppression.

After tidying everything up, Gu An dragged his tired body back to the stone house.

Without resting, he directly mixed the bottle of high-purity Blood Spirit Dew into the cold pool water, jumped into the wooden tub, and began a new round of body tempering.

The excruciating pain swept over his entire body once again, spreading to every limb and bone.

But Gu An didn't even flinch. Compared to the life-or-death moment he just faced under those tentacles, this little bit of physical pain was nothing.

As the "Hundred Refinements Golden Body Technique" was activated, the muscles under his skin tightened like steel wires, and a faint bronze luster appeared on the surface of his skin.

The panel appears.

【Hundred Refinements Golden Body Technique: Proficient (25/200)】

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 4 (15/800)]

[Poison Making Skill: Proficient (55/200)]

That night was spent in this almost self-torturous practice.

The next morning.

The air in Youying Valley was moist after the rain, carrying the fragrance of earth.

Gu An changed into a clean blue robe and, as usual, patrolled the mulberry grove to check on the cocooning of the Xuan Yin silkworms.

Sudden.

"call out--"

A piercing whistling sound tore through the morning mist.

A streak of fiery red light shot out from outside the valley and crashed into the outer perimeter of the guard lines that Gu An had set up without hesitation.

*Snap!* The thread snapped. The streak of light continued unabated, heading straight for Gu An's face.

Gu An's pupils contracted slightly, and he raised his hand to grab it. A golden light flashed in his palm, and he firmly grasped the flowing light. Only then did he see that what he held in his palm was a sound transmission talisman.

The talisman depicted a small, burning sword, radiating an unsettling heat and arrogance.

Gu An crushed the talisman. A shrill voice, carrying an air of superiority, exploded in his mind:

"Junior Brother Gu, Steward Zhao has given orders. Tomorrow at noon, go to the valley entrance to receive the decree. There are some new rules that will broaden your horizons, you country bumpkin."

As the sound faded, the talisman turned to ashes.

Gu An patted the paper dust off his hands, and the blank expression on his face slowly disappeared.

This is not Zhao Feng's voice.

Although Zhao Feng was greedy, he always treated his cash cow with feigned politeness, always "caring for his junior brother."

Gu An vaguely recognized the voice; it seemed to be Wang Mazi, a trusted confidant whom Zhao Fengxin had recently promoted. He was a bully who preyed on the weak.