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

Chapter 95 Dragon Wood Poison

On the pitch-black sea, a badly damaged skeletal boat, like a floating corpse, drifted slowly among the intricate reefs and forests.

The surroundings were eerily silent, with only the monotonous sound of seawater crashing against the black reefs. Occasionally, the mournful roars of unknown sea creatures could be heard in the distance, adding to the sinister and terrifying atmosphere.

In the captain's cabin of the Black Shark, the already dim fluorescent lamp had been extinguished, and the entire room was shrouded in darkness.

Gu An sat cross-legged on a wooden couch covered with moldy animal hides, tightly gripping two rough blood-fiend stones in his hands.

Although the Blood Fiend Stone is a type of spirit stone, the spiritual energy it contains is violent and mixed, and it is also mixed with a strong bloody smell, which is no different from a slow poison for righteous cultivators. But at this moment, for Gu An, whose spiritual power is almost exhausted, it is the only lifeline.

"call----"

Gu An adjusted his breathing, his battered chest rising and falling slightly with each breath.

He tried to circulate the "Life Forest Wood Technique" to draw spiritual power from the Blood Fiend Stone in order to nourish his parched meridians and severely damaged dantian.

However, as soon as he started practicing, Gu An's brows furrowed sharply.

pain.

The pain of having his meridians roughly sanded by sandpaper instantly spread throughout his body. As soon as the mixed spiritual energy in the Blood Fiend Stone entered his body, it ran rampant through his meridians like a wild horse, not only difficult to refine, but also causing his already fragile meridians to bleed again.

"No—the quality of this Blood Fiend Stone is too poor. With my current physical condition, forcibly refining it will only cause more harm."

Gu An slowly opened his eyes and reluctantly put down the Blood Fiend Stone in his hand.

His face looked particularly gloomy in the darkness.

His cultivation level had plummeted to the fifth level of Qi Refining, his dantian was empty, and his physical body was severely injured. In this state, in the perilous Chaotic Star Sea, he was practically a lamb to the slaughter.

"Is there nothing we can do but wait to die?"

Gu An gritted his teeth in resentment.

He subconsciously took a deep breath, trying to calm the agitated emotions in his heart.

The moment he inhaled that breath, a cold, damp airflow carrying a strong, salty, and fishy smell entered his body through his nasal cavity.

That is the unique "water evil energy" of this underground sea area.

For wood-elemental cultivators who live on land year-round, this kind of perpetually dark and extremely cold moisture is an obstacle to cultivation. Long-term inhalation can even cause their meridians to stiffen and their spiritual energy to stagnate.

However, the moment this watery evil energy entered Gu An's body, a sudden change occurred!

The dantian, which should have reacted by rejecting the foreign aura, was completely still at this moment.

On the contrary, his meridians seemed to be like a beggar who had been starving for three days and three nights seeing a meat bun, generating an unprecedentedly strong craving!

"Um?"

Gu An was startled and quickly looked inward at himself.

In the dark inner vision, his meridians, which should have been jade-green, had turned into a dark gold color due to the compression of the burning dragon soul essence and spatial power. They were covered with fine cracks, making them look like a piece of porcelain about to break.

However, this "porcelain" did not break due to the invasion of the water's evil energy.

On the contrary, the cold, damp vapor that had been floating around in his body and making him feel uncomfortable actually crawled into the layers of dark golden cracks on its own!

Sizzle sizzle—

A subtle sound echoed within my body.

The moment those water-evil energies came into contact with the dark golden meridian barrier, they were instantly decomposed and devoured.

To Gu An's surprise, his previously parched and depleted meridians began to glow faintly under the nourishment of this cold, damp air. It felt as if parched earth had finally received sweet rain; though the rain was icy cold, it truly brought life.

"Shui Sheng Mu————"

A flash of inspiration struck Gu An.

In the Five Elements, water nourishes wood. However, this usually refers to pure water energy nourishing wood energy. But the malevolent water energy of this underground sea is extremely insidious, and ordinary wood-based cultivation techniques simply cannot transform it.

But his body is different.

His meridians were corroded by the strong acid of the Tai Sui, soaked in the poison of corpses, cut by the wind blades of space, and finally forcibly reshaped by the extremely yang and strong dragon soul fire.

This body is no longer a mortal flesh and blood, but has become a freak capable of accommodating extreme attributes!

"My meridians... have mutated?"

A look of disbelief flashed in Gu An's eyes, followed by ecstasy.

He immediately calmed down, ignoring the difficult-to-crack blood-fiend stone, and instead focused his mind and body on fully activating the somewhat unrecognizable "Life Forest Wood Technique".

This time, he no longer resisted his surroundings, but actively accepted them.

hum!

As the cultivation technique was activated, the pores all over Gu An's body instantly opened up.

The air inside the cabin, which was originally cold, damp, and extremely uncomfortable, now seemed to be drawn by some enormous suction force, forming a small vortex that was barely visible to the naked eye, and surging wildly into Gu An's body.

A large amount of black, watery energy penetrated into the pores and surged along the meridians.

cold!

The cold wasn't a surface chill, but a bone-chilling cold that froze to the very marrow. Gu An felt as if his blood was about to freeze, his teeth chattered involuntarily, and a thin layer of black frost formed on his eyebrows.

But as soon as this chill reached his dantian, it encountered a completely opposite force.

That was the faint yet extremely domineering residual power of dragon energy that lurked deep within his dantian after he burned his dragon soul essence!

Although Ang was only a trace of its remaining power, the dragon's nature was extremely yang, and even as a remnant, it would not allow such a yin and cold creature to run rampant in its territory.

boom!

Two completely opposite forces collided violently within Gu An's damaged dantian.

On one side was the ever-flowing, chilling water energy, like a giant wave in the deep sea; on the other side was the faint yet unruly golden dragon energy, like an inextinguishable flame.

Water and fire are incompatible!

"Ugh—!!!"

Gu An suddenly arched his body, letting out a low growl of extreme pain.

The feeling was like someone had shoved a red-hot iron into his stomach and then poured a bucket of ice water down his throat. The excruciating pain of being torn between fire and ice made his veins bulge, and his clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat mixed with black impurities.

The meridians were twitching, and the dantian was trembling.

If his physical body hadn't already reached the pinnacle of "copper skin" and his meridians hadn't been reshaped and become incredibly resilient, this attack would probably have caused him to explode and die.

"Give me—melt!"

Gu An bit his tongue hard, relying on the amazing willpower honed on the edge of life and death, he forcibly controlled the trembling Yi Wood True Qi and rushed into the center of the clash between the two forces.

Yi wood acts as a guide, harmonizing yin and yang!

What he wanted to do was not to expel either side, but to forcibly knead these two forces together, like alchemy, and make them his own!

"Since fate won't give me a way out, I'll forge my own!"

A crazed glint flashed in Gu An's eyes.

He guided the cold, watery aura, layer by layer, to envelop the volatile dragon energy, and then used his own wood-based true energy as a binder to continuously compress, rotate, and grind it.

Sizzle sizzle—

A grinding sound, so loud it made your teeth ache, emanated from within his dantian.

A quarter of an hour, a quarter of an hour, a whole hour —

Gu An seemed to have turned into a stone statue, motionless, with only his increasingly faint yet increasingly tenacious aura echoing in the cabin.

at last.

When the first wisp of pale blue light shone from the depths of Gu An's dantian, the tearing pain receded like a tide.

Instead, there is an unprecedented sense of fullness and power.

Gu An slowly opened his eyes.

In that instant, it seemed as if two ghostly flames lit up the pitch-black cabin.

The original azure color in the depths of his pupils had disappeared, replaced by an extremely deep blue—the blue of the ocean.

And in that deep blue expanse, a faint, extremely fine golden line was moving, like a dragon lurking in the deep sea.

Gu An slowly raised his right hand, a thought forming in his mind.

puff.

A ball of spiritual energy, no bigger than an egg, appeared in his palm.

But this sphere of light was no longer the previous cyan color; instead, it had taken on a translucent dark blue hue. It looked unremarkable, without even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy leakage, just like an ordinary ball of water.

But only Gu An himself could sense the terrifying explosive power contained within this small "water ball".

It combines the gentleness and heaviness of water, the vitality and resilience of wood, and also conceals the domineering and sharpness of dragon energy.

Moreover, because Gu An had previously consumed a large amount of corpse poison and poisonous herbs, this ball of spiritual energy also contained a highly toxic substance that was difficult to detect with the naked eye.

"Water nourishes wood, wood harbors poison, dragons lurk in the abyss—"

Gu An looked at the mutated spiritual energy in his palm, and a cold and ferocious smile slowly curled up at the corner of his mouth.

This is no longer the "Life Forest Wood Formula" of the Qingmu Sect, which emphasizes moderation, peace, and continuous growth.

In this dark and sunless underground sea, in this chaotic star sea filled with slaughter and betrayal, his cultivation techniques also degenerated and mutated, becoming something born solely for survival and killing—

"The Dragon Wood Secret of the Vast Ocean".

Although it is only in its initial form now, and although its cultivation level is only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, the quality of this spiritual power is a level higher than when it was at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Refining!

"Let's test its power."

Gu An dispersed the spirit orb in his hand and his gaze fell on a thick iron plank in the corner of the cabin, which was used to reinforce the hull.

This ironwood board is a spare material from the Black Shark. It is as hard as iron and cannot be damaged by ordinary swords or knives. Even a cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refining would have to put in a lot of effort to break through it.

Gu An did not get up, but just sat there casually, lightly tapping with his right index finger.

There were no fancy movements, nor were any spells recited.

The spiritual power of the Azure Dragon Wood within his body was instantly mobilized, flowing along his meridians to his fingertips.

"go."

Gu An gave a soft rebuke.

call out!

A dark blue streak, only as thick as a hair, shot out from his fingertips.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any dazzling light.

The streak of light was like an invisible poison needle, instantly traversing several meters and piercing through the three-inch-thick ironwood board without any hindrance.

puff.

After a soft sound, the remaining force of the light had not subsided and it pierced through the two layers of ship planks behind the iron plank in succession, finally disappearing into the keel deep inside the ship's hull.

Gu An got up and went over to check.

On the ironwood board, there was a hole the size of a pinhole.

The area around the hole was as smooth as a mirror, without any signs of cracking, as if it had been instantly vaporized by some kind of extremely high-temperature radiation.

But when Gu An reached out and gently touched the edge of the hole...

Click.

The once incredibly hard ironwood board was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks centered on that small hole.

Immediately afterwards, the entire wooden board, as if it had undergone thousands of years of decay and weathering, shattered into a pile of black wood chips with a crash.

"Corrosion—penetration—and the explosion of internal energy."

Gu An picked up a shaving of wood, watching the black powder drift from his fingertips, his eyes filled with undisguised satisfaction.

The power of this finger strike is not only astonishing in its penetrating force, but also in the yin energy and poison it contains. The moment it penetrates the target, it rapidly erodes its internal structure.

If it's applied to someone with a predestined connection—

"Good tactic."

Gu An withdrew his hand, took a deep breath, and felt refreshed.

Although Yuan's cultivation level is still very low, this mutated technique gives him the confidence to challenge opponents of higher levels from the water.

Moreover, he had a vague feeling.

The potential of the "Azure Sea Dragon Wood Technique" goes far beyond this. Although that wisp of dragon energy has been suppressed and integrated, it has not truly awakened. If some treasures containing dragon blood or high-grade water-based spiritual materials can be found as catalysts in the future, this technique may be able to advance again.

"Gurgle————"

Just as Yuan Gu'an was immersed in the joy of his increased strength, an untimely noise came from his stomach.

He gave a wry smile and touched his shrunken belly.

Although cultivators can abstain from grains, his physical body is currently severely damaged and he urgently needs a large amount of blood food to replenish his qi and blood.

Those few low-quality fasting pills are simply not enough to fill a gap in your teeth.

"Looks like we need to find something to eat."

Gu An stood up and stretched his stiff limbs, his bones making a series of popping sounds.

Just as he was about to leave the captain's cabin to see if any unfortunate sea creatures were passing by.

Boom!

A dull thud suddenly came from the bottom of the ship.

The entire Black Shark shuddered violently, as if it had collided with some enormous object. The ship rocked violently, and the kettle on the table crashed to the ground and shattered.

"Um?"

Gu An's expression changed, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes.

Although his current spiritual awareness was not as strong as in his prime, it still covered an area of ​​ten fu around the hull of the silk ship. He had not found any reefs or traces of large sea monsters.

So where did this impact come from?

Without any hesitation, Gu An vanished from the cabin in an instant.

The next moment, he appeared on the deck.

At this moment, the Black Shark was anchored in what appeared to be calm waters. All around were towering black reefs, like the fangs of a razor-sharp beast.

Gu An leaned on the gunwale and looked down at the water below.

Using the dim phosphorescence of the silk, he saw a dark figure.

That's neither a reef nor a sea creature.

That was a corpse.

A massive corpse, carried by the undercurrent, collided with the hull of the Black Shark.

Gu An's pupils contracted slightly.

The corpse was more than three feet long and resembled a manatee-like monster, but its flesh and skin had long since rotted away, revealing a skeleton.

On the white bones, dark red water plants crawled and coiled, wriggling like ugly creatures, seemingly sucking the remaining marrow from the corpse.

"This is----"

Gu An stared at the strange water plants, and suddenly the record in the jade slip that Shen Wan had given him flashed through his mind.

Blood Demon Algae

A malevolent herb that grows only at the extremes of Yin and Yang, and is associated with a plague that causes the deaths of many living beings.

This is the outer edge of the chaotic reef forest, how could there be something like this?

Before Gu An could figure it out...

Whoosh!

The calm water surface suddenly exploded.

The sea monster's corpse, which had been dead, suddenly seemed to rise from the dead, violently turning over.

Immediately following, several dark red tentacles shot out from beneath the corpse, carrying a nauseating stench, and headed straight for Gu An on the ship's side!

"I knew it, none of these epidemic prevention measures are clean."