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

The night was as dark as ink, completely enveloping the dilapidated thatched hut in Lingtian District No. 4, Bingzi.

Inside the room, a tiny lamp flickered.

Gu An sat cross-legged on the couch. A broken spirit stone in his palm had turned grayish-white and dull. With a final crisp sound, it turned into dust and slipped through his fingers.

"It still doesn't work."

Gu An opened his eyes, a bitter smile playing on his lips. On the panel, a column of scarlet words was shockingly prominent:

Lifespan: 19/78 (Under Damage: -1 day/hour)

Over the past two weeks, he has almost exhausted all his savings, using the "Green Wood Everlasting Spring Technique" to cleanse his meridians day and night, trying to force out the sinister and hidden force that Zhao Feng left in his body.

However, the spiritual power of the second level of Qi Refining was too weak. That hidden force was like a bone-deep ailment, stubbornly clinging to the vicinity of his heart meridian. Not only could it not be removed, but as time went on, it began to devour his life force.

If he still cannot break through to the third level of Qi Refining, causing a qualitative change in his spiritual power, he will be slowly worn down to death by this slow poison.

"Still stuck at a bottleneck..."

Gu An clutched his chest, the pricking pain making him furrow his brow.

He had already mastered the [Green Wood Everlasting Spring Skill (First Level: 99/100)] and even his cultivation progress was stuck at [Qi Refining Second Level (99/100)], but this last point was like an insurmountable chasm that he could not cross no matter how hard he tried.

Just like Xixi in her past life, after 1 there is 0.1, after 0.1 there is 0.001, and so on, endlessly.

The next morning, a thin mist hung in the air.

Gu An dragged his somewhat heavy steps to the edge of the field and saw Old Zhang staring blankly at a withered rice seedling.

"Uncle Zhang," Gu An said, his voice slightly weak.

Old Zhang snapped out of his daze, his cloudy old eyes sweeping over Gu An's pale face. He sighed and said, "Gu boy, staying up all night practicing again? Haste makes waste. Don't push yourself so hard every day, or you'll ruin your health."

"It's alright. By the way, Uncle Zhang, how did you break through from the second floor to the third floor?" Gu An skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point. "I got stuck. I felt like there was a wall in front of me."

Old Zhang took a puff of his pipe, exhaled a ring of bluish-gray smoke, and his gaze became somewhat distant: "Walls? That's the fate of people like us with mixed spiritual roots."

"You also have four spiritual roots, right? People with mixed spiritual roots like us are born with a leaky fate. For every ten parts of spiritual energy we absorb, some will always leak out. To break through that membrane, relying solely on arduous cultivation is a slow and painstaking process; it won't be possible in less than three to five years."

At this point, Old Zhang pointed to his chest: "Back then, I was stuck for three years. In the end, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and borrow from all my fellow villagers to buy a Qi Gathering Pill at the market. Only then was I able to forcefully break through the bottleneck."

"Gathering Qi Pill..." Gu An pondered the name.

"Yeah, those things are ridiculously expensive, one costs five low-grade spirit stones."

Old Zhang gave a bitter smile, his face crinkled with wrinkles. "To pay off my debts, I served the sect like a beast of burden for ten whole years, not even daring to eat a single grain of spirit rice. By the time the debts are paid off, I'll be old, my energy and blood will have deteriorated, and I'll be stuck at the third level of Qi Refining for the rest of my life, just waiting to die."

Old Zhang looked at Gu An with a hint of pity in his eyes: "Gu boy, you've only been in the sect for two years, what's the rush? Take your time, and you'll break through sooner or later when you're my age."

Gu An remained silent. Slowly endure it? His lifespan was being reduced by hours; where was he supposed to find the time to endure it?

"Thank you for your guidance, Uncle Zhang." Gu An cupped his hands in greeting and turned to leave. Although his back looked desolate, his fist, hidden in his sleeve, was already clenched.

Although it's said that timing and fate play a role, he doesn't believe in fate. He only believes in the data panel and the resources at his disposal.

Since ascetic practices don't work, let's use piles of medicine and resources!

……

Three more days passed.

The storm seemed to have completely passed over Zhao Feng's side, Xun Meng's disappearance became an unsolved mystery, and District C returned to its usual quiet and bustling state.

That night, there were neither stars nor moon.

Gu An sneaked into the wasteland behind his house like a ghost.

This place is completely surrounded by rocks and thorns, and what's planted inside isn't yellow sprout rice, but an acre of lush green emerald spinach.

This is a low-grade first-tier spiritual vegetable. Although it is not as precious as spiritual rice, it has the advantage of a short growth cycle and is not a resource purchased by the sect. It does not have that damned spiritual energy mark.

At this moment, under Gu An's mastery of the Minor Cloud Rain Technique, each of these jade spinach plants grew as if carved from jade, with thick leaves, emitting an alluring fragrance and rich spiritual energy fluctuations.

Quality: Top quality!

Gu An moved swiftly, wielding his knife with lightning speed, harvesting all the spiritual vegetables from this acre and neatly stacking them into two huge burlap sacks.

Back inside, he didn't rush off.

He took out a handful of soot from the bottom of the stove, mixed it with some yellow mud, and carefully smeared it on his face, neck, and the back of his hands, covering his originally handsome face with a dark and rough appearance.

Then, he stuffed a sharp-edged pebble into the sole of his left shoe. After putting on the shoe, Gu An tried taking a couple of steps.

With each step he took, the stinging pain in his feet would cause him to instinctively flinch, making him walk with a limp. This limping posture was entirely a physiological instinct, and even a cultivator's divine sense would find it difficult to detect.

He changed into a large, patched gray robe and put on a tattered straw hat. At this moment, Gu An looked exactly like an old, weathered, and disabled rogue cultivator who had been living at the bottom of society.

This time, success is the only option.

……

Soul-Severing Valley, Ghost Market.

The atmosphere remained eerie and oppressive, with flickering will-o'-the-wisps and shadowy figures.

Gu An did not take the same entrance as before, but instead took a 30-mile detour through the mountains and squeezed in through a narrow crevice full of poisonous insects on the other side.

After paying the entrance fee of one spirit stone, he carried two large sacks and limped into the crowd.

This time, he didn't go to the shops with signs, but went straight to the free trade area in the center of the ghost market.

He spread out a tattered cloth in an inconspicuous corner, opened the burlap sack, and revealed the emerald green spinach inside.

In just a moment, that unique fragrance permeated the ghost market, which was filled with the smell of decay.

"what?"

A portly middle-aged man in a brocade robe stopped in his tracks. Behind him were two guards at the fourth level of Qi Refining, clearly indicating their distinguished status.

The fat man sniffed, his tiny, beady eyes instantly locking onto Gu An's stall.

"This vegetable..." The fat man squatted down, picked up a leaf, and gently pinched it. Juice overflowed, and its aroma was intoxicating. "Such pure wood elemental energy! What level of Cloud and Rain Technique was used to water it?"

Gu An lowered his bamboo hat, his voice hoarse as if polished with sandpaper: "We only sell vegetables, not performances. If the manager is interested, name your price."

A glint flashed in the fat man's eyes as he gave Gu An a deep look. Anyone who could grow spiritual vegetables of this quality was definitely a skilled farmer, but he knew the rules of the Ghost Market: the origin of goods was not important.

"This grade one of the lower-level jadeite spinach is worth five spirit stones per pound on the market," the fat man said, weighing it in his hand. "While the quality of yours is good, it's still just a vegetable after all..."

"Two hundred catties, packed up." Gu An interrupted coldly, "Three and a half low-grade spirit stones."

This price is 50% higher than the market price.

The fat man frowned, about to haggle down the price, when Gu An reached to tie his pocket: "If you don't want to buy, then forget it."

"Wait!" The fat man quickly pressed down on the sack, a smile spreading across his face. "Brother, you have quite the temper. Fine, three and a half yuan it is! This dish is full of spirit, perfect for making a Jade Dew Soup for my young master."

The fat man readily took out three glittering low-grade spirit stones and tossed them to Gu An.

Gu An took the spirit stone without even glancing at it, quickly put it into his pocket, picked up the empty sack, turned around and left without stopping for a moment.

With three and a half low-grade spirit stones in hand, plus the remaining amount "sponsored" by Xun Meng, and his own savings, he had just enough to make a little over four and a half.

enough!

Gu An's heart pounded violently, and he had to forcefully circulate the "Turtle Breathing Technique" to suppress it.

He didn't leave directly, but instead wandered around the ghost market, making sure the fat man's men weren't following him, before slipping into a medicine shop with a sign that read "Bai Cao Tang".

The shop was filled with the aroma of herbs.

"What would you like to order, sir?" the waiter asked lazily.

"How much for this inferior Qi Gathering Pill?" Gu An asked succinctly.

"Three low-grade spirit stones and one stone."

Although he already knew the price, Gu An's heart still clenched painfully upon hearing the number. This was the life savings he had painstakingly accumulated, and now it was going to be exchanged for this tiny pill.

Without hesitation, he took out five spirit stones, still warm from his body, and slapped them on the counter.

"We also need a bottle of Qingxin Powder to treat internal injuries and blood stasis," Gu An added, explaining that it was for use in conjunction with removing the hidden force.

The shopkeeper accepted the spirit stones and quickly handed Gu An a small porcelain bottle and a packet of medicinal powder.

Gu An grabbed it and turned to leave.

Just as he passed a street stall near the entrance, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The stall owner was a mysterious person shrouded in a black robe, with only a few old, yellowed books in front of him.

Gu An's gaze was drawn to one of the books—"The Complete Book of Basic Five Elements Spells".

On one corner of the open page, there was a drawing of a human figure enveloped in golden light, with three small characters next to it: Golden Light Technique.

This is a mid-grade, first-tier defensive spell!

Compared to the offensive Gengjin Finger and the auxiliary Xiaoyunyu Technique, this Golden Light Technique is a divine skill for survival. If he had known this spell that night, how could he have been so severely injured by Zhao Feng's kick?

"How much is that book?" Gu An couldn't help but stop and ask in a low voice.

The man in black robes didn't even raise his head, coldly uttering two words: "Ten yuan."

Ten low-grade spirit stones!

Gu An's breath hitched. This was practically robbery, but he knew that spell manuals were always expensive in the cultivation world, especially systematic spells that combined all five elements.

He touched his empty pockets, where only a few pitiful spirit stones remained.

He couldn't afford it. Gu An took a deep look at the book, then at the incomplete blood-red lotus pattern embroidered on the sleeve of the black-robed man, memorizing the feature.

"If there is an opportunity in the future..."

Gu An gritted his teeth, resolutely turned around, and limped away into the dark exit of the ghost market.

At this moment, he carried the life-saving elixir in his heart, feeling both a desire for a breakthrough and an unprecedented sense of crisis.

He had to break through as soon as possible. He had a feeling that Zhao Feng was suspicious of him, and that book, "The Complete Book of Basic Five Elements Spells," might be his next target.