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

The silver needle pierced the flesh, but it was like a clay ox sinking into the sea.

Gu An frowned. The silver needle in his hand, strong enough to pierce a wooden board, emitted a slight tremor the moment it pierced Shen Wan's wrist acupoint. It wasn't because it had hit the bone, but because the poison under the skin was so concentrated that it formed a layer of almost tangible protective energy, repelling the invasion of foreign substances.

"Well……"

Shen Wan's body arched violently again, and a suppressed cry of pain escaped from her throat.

The eerie white mist emanating from the jade bed was now scattered by the high-temperature poisonous mist erupting from her body. The dark green poisonous patterns that had been swelling at the wound site now spread wildly towards her heart and dantian like living vines.

"Damn it, this is a sign that the poison gas is affecting the heart!"

Gu An's expression changed drastically.

Under normal circumstances, he could have simply stood by and watched, or even waited for the woman to die from the poison before looting her body and leaving. But now, the two had just signed that damned "Blood Soul Pact," and if Shen Wan died, the backlash from her soul would turn him into an idiot, or even cause him to be buried with her.

"It's not just about saving you, it's about saving my own life!"

Gu An cursed under his breath, not caring about anything else. He turned around abruptly, his hands moving like butterflies flitting among flowers as he cast several spells, reinforcing the few Xuan Yin threads used for guarding the tent entrance. At the same time, he activated the maximum power of the Concealing Breath Pendant, attempting to completely lock down the spiritual energy fluctuations inside the tent.

After doing all this, he strode back to the cold jade bed and pressed down on Shen Wan's shoulder, which was still convulsing violently.

"The poison has entered the meridians; the silver needles are no longer effective."

Gu An's voice was low and urgent, his eyes, narrowed to slits, revealing an undeniable calmness and ruthlessness. "We must use the Sheng Sen Yi Mu Technique to directly guide and forcibly draw out the toxins near your heart meridian!"

Although Shen Wan's consciousness was blurred at this moment, upon hearing these words, a trace of resistance and shame still flashed in her eyes, which were clouded by pain.

Direct guidance?

That means physical contact is necessary, and the major acupoint for the heart meridian is located near the center of the chest...

"I don't have time for your sentimentality!"

Gu An could easily see through her thoughts. He snorted coldly, "Do you want to become a puddle of pus, innocent and blameless, or do you want to live and take revenge? The choice is yours!"

The resistance in Shen Wan's eyes froze.

Only by surviving can one have the right to talk about anything else.

Her hand, which had been tightly gripping her collar, finally fell limply to her side, but her pale face was flushed with a sickly red from shame.

Seeing this, Gu An no longer hesitated.

"I'm sorry."

He reached out, without any romantic intentions, and roughly and quickly untied the tie at Shen Wan's collar.

The specially made robe, already riddled with holes from the venom, slipped off like brittle paper, revealing large patches of skin that should have been as white as cream, but were now covered with hideous, poisonous markings.

Those dark green lines, like a demon's net, tightened around her thin, heartbreakingly frail chest. Near her heart, a dark black venomous core throbbed rhythmically, each throbbing draining a significant amount of her life force.

"Such a potent poison..."

Gu An's pupils contracted slightly. Even as an expert in poisons, he couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine at the sight.

Is this what the Corpse Puppet Sect calls "living body nurturing"? This is simply using the flesh and soul of living people as firewood!

Gu An took a deep breath and activated the "Hundred Refinements Golden Body Technique," instantly hardening the skin of his hands and giving them a dark cyan metallic sheen. Then, he placed his right hand in a palm position and unabashedly pressed it directly onto Shen Wan's soft yet cold chest, directly against the Tanzhong acupoint.

"hiss!"

The moment they made contact, they both gasped in shock.

Shen Wan felt the strange touch and heavy pressure from the powerful hand, while Gu An felt a surge of intense heat, like a red-hot iron, that instantly penetrated his meridians through the palm.

"Give it to me...suck it!"

Gu An gritted his teeth, and the dark green Yi Wood True Qi in his dantian suddenly began to circulate, transforming into a huge vortex that generated a terrifying suction force.

If the previous method of using silver needles to draw out the poison was like a slow and steady stream, then now it's like opening a floodgate.

boom!

The poison that had been lodged in Shen Wan's heart meridian seemed to have found an outlet, and it surged wildly into Gu An's body through the point of contact between the two.

The poison gas was too potent. Even though Gu An had the "copper skin" protecting him and his cultivation technique could assimilate the poison, he could still feel his meridians groaning under the strain.

It was burning hot! It felt like someone had poured molten lead into my veins.

"Mmm...uh..."

Shen Wan bit her lower lip so hard it almost bled. The feeling of the poison being forcibly removed was even more painful than being poisoned, as if someone were tearing her flesh and bones apart. Her body trembled violently on the cold jade bed, her hands unconsciously gripping Gu An's arm tightly, her nails digging deep into his flesh.

Inside the tent, the atmosphere became extremely eerie.

Under the dim light, the two maintained an extremely ambiguous yet dangerous posture.

Gu An knelt on one knee on the bed, circulating his Yi Wood spiritual energy in his hand, his head covered in sweat and his face flushed.

Shen Wan's clothes were half undone, she was covered in sweat, and she let out a low moan that she couldn't suppress.

If an outsider were to intrude, they would surely assume that this shameless rogue was engaging in sexual cultivation.

But only those involved truly know the dangers involved.

"It's not enough...it's not enough to suppress this poison!"

Gu An felt his meridians being corroded little by little, but the blue light in his eyes grew stronger and stronger.

Fortune favors the bold!

This poisonous gas is deadly, but it's also incredibly nutritious!

"The wood element (乙木) transforms and generates, undergoing a cycle of withering and flourishing!"

Gu An silently increased the speed of his cultivation technique. The Yi Wood True Qi within his body was no longer passively defending, but actively attacking, like a pack of greedy wolves pouncing on the invading poisonous gas, tearing it apart, devouring it, and transforming it.

sizzle-

A faint sound echoed within their bodies.

As large amounts of poison gas were extracted, the hideous dark green mass on Shen Wan's chest began to fade at a visible rate, and a faint pink hue of life began to emerge from beneath her originally paper-white skin.

On Gu An's side, however, the situation was quite different.

His skin began to turn an eerie green, and the veins on his forehead bulged out, like wriggling snakes.

"Qi Refining Level 4... 10%..."

"Twenty percent..."

Feeling the rapidly surging spiritual power within his dantian, the pain in Gu An's eyes was gradually replaced by an almost pathological frenzy.

This wasn't about healing and saving lives; it was clearly a lavish feast that had him completely engrossed in!

The exhilarating surge of power is enough to make one ignore physical pain.

This state lasted for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Only after the last stubborn root of poison in Shen Wan's heart meridian was completely uprooted did Gu An abruptly withdraw his hand, collapsing backward as if exhausted, and plopping down on the edge of the cold jade bed.

"Huff... huff..."

Gu An gasped for breath, each breath exhaling a foul, sweet-smelling odor.

He looked down at his hands and saw that his originally dark blue skin was now covered with a fine layer of black oil, a sign that impurities from the toxins were being expelled from his body.

In the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn, his cultivation level actually took another small step forward, completely stabilizing at the peak of the early stage of the fourth level of Qi Refining, and even faintly touching the threshold of the middle stage.

"This deal... was worth it."

Gu An wiped the sweat from his face, a slightly exhausted smile appearing on his lips.

Shen Wan, lying on the cold jade bed, looked as if she had been pulled out of the water. She was soaked to the bone, with a few strands of wet hair sticking to her cheeks, making her look extremely disheveled.

But she did not fall into a deep sleep immediately.

The moment the poison subsided, she used trembling hands to gather her disheveled clothes and, with great difficulty, covered the skin that made her feel ashamed.

Then, she slowly turned her head and looked at Gu An sitting on the edge of the bed.

Those eyes no longer held the deathly stillness and coldness of before, but instead held a complex and multifaceted meaning.

There was gratitude, there was apprehension, and there was also a hint of something... that she herself couldn't quite put her finger on.

This man was rude and ruthless, even to the point of being unscrupulous.

Although his actions were passionate and rough, they had pulled her back from the brink of death at her most desperate moment.

This was the first time she had felt this kind of "reliance" that was not pure, but very real, since the sect had suffered a great upheaval.

"...Thanks."

Shen Wan's voice was so faint that it was almost inaudible to Gu An unless he had exceptional hearing.

Gu An waved his hand, too lazy to waste words on such formalities while he was adjusting his breathing: "We're in the same boat, if you die, I can't live either. Quickly adjust your breathing and suppress the remaining poison. Although my 'Star Absorbing Technique' is effective, I can't use it every day, my meridians can't take it."

Upon hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed in Shen Wan's eyes.

Star Absorbing Technique? What kind of technique is that? The name sounds like a demonic method.

However, she didn't ask any further questions. Everyone has their own secrets, and Gu An clearly had more secrets than she had imagined.

She struggled to prop herself up and pulled out a pale yellow jade slip, still warm from her body, from the lining of her close-fitting undergarment.

"Take it."

She casually tossed the jade slip into Gu An's arms.

Gu An instinctively caught it. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, with a faint, pleasant fragrance—the unique scent of a young girl, mixed with the aroma of medicine. It wasn't unpleasant at all.

"What is this?" Gu An raised an eyebrow, not immediately probing it with his divine sense, but cautiously playing with it.

"remuneration."

Shen Wan leaned against the headboard and said weakly, "Although Manager Ma is dead, the Corpse Puppet Sect will still come. This jade slip records the Corpse Puppet Sect's basic methods for identifying corpse puppets, as well as several commonly used contact codes and hand gestures."

She paused, looking at Gu An with a deep gaze, "Since the transactions in that ledger have been stopped, they will definitely send someone to verify them. If you don't want to be purged as Manager Ma's accomplice, you'd better learn how to speak like 'one of us'."

Gu An's heart skipped a beat.

This is the intelligence he needs most right now!

With this, he would not only be able to defend passively, but could even take the initiative and fish in the chaos that was about to break out!

"A smart person."

Gu An didn't stand on ceremony and directly placed the jade slip on his forehead, probing it with his divine sense.

A massive influx of information flooded my mind.

[Armored Corpse: Pitch black all over, impervious to blades and spears, its weak point is the Fengfu acupoint at the back of its neck...]

[Dead Man's Order: Three long and two short arrows indicate assembly; two long and one short arrow indicate retreat...]

[Code word: 'Coffin planks' refers to the transaction location, 'fresh blood food' refers to...]

The more Gu An looked, the more alarmed and delighted he became. These things were practically his lifesavers right now.

He memorized the contents of the jade slip, then gently crushed it into powder with his hand.

"Destroying the evidence is a good habit."

Gu An dusted off the powder on his hands, grinned at Shen Wan, revealing a set of white teeth, and said, "Since you've accepted the payment, you can focus on recovering for the next few days. As long as I don't die, no one in this tent can touch you."

Shen Wan looked at his confident yet somewhat arrogant appearance, her lips twitched slightly as if she wanted to laugh, but she ultimately held back.

Don't get too excited yet.

She turned to look at the heavy curtain at the tent entrance, her expression turning serious. "Listen."

Gu An was taken aback, then immediately suppressed his smile and listened intently.

dong... dong... dong...

A series of deep, rhythmic footsteps, like heavy hammers striking the ground, came from a great distance and were rapidly approaching the protected area.

The sound was not chaotic, but rather carried a suffocatingly chilling aura.

Completely different from the chaotic patrols of the previous group of rogue cultivators, this was a true elite force, a grim reaper who came with the intent to kill.

"It's the 'Purge Team' of the Enforcement Hall."

Shen Wan's voice carried a chill, "Manager Ma is dead, and the account books are lost. The higher-ups must be furious. It's like they'd rather kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free."

The smile on Gu An's face vanished completely, replaced by his signature wooden and timid expression.

He quickly got up, cleaned up the mess around the cold jade bed, and smeared some unpleasant medicine residue on himself to cover up the ambiguous atmosphere from before.

"Since we're here, we have to put on a good show."