Since Lv Xian was taken care of by Gu An, he completely straightened up. When Gu An went to Tianya Valley again, he was in seclusion, cultivating. Luo Hun said he wanted to attempt to break through to the Divinity Transformation Realm as soon as possible.
Gu An asked why, Luo Hun said he didn’t know either, which put Gu An at ease. Although Lv Xian was crazy and rash, his mouth was tight-lipped.
That matter was considered past.
Gu An had studied the map given by Lv Xian. It was too far from the Taicang Dynasty, so he had to put it aside for the time being.
What if there were Mahayana Cultivators in that place?
He couldn’t take the risk!
Now, the life span revenue from the three Medicine Valleys was considerable. Even without further enhancement, his life span could rapidly increase.
In the blink of an eye,
Two months had passed.
The withered yellow scenery of autumn covered Mystic Valley. That day, nearing noon, Ye Lan came to visit him.
Having not seen Gu An for almost a year, Ye Lan missed him a lot. As soon as she entered the room, she embraced him.
“Junior Sister!”
Gu An said sternly, his tone carrying a hint of reproach.
Ye Lan let go of him and giggled, saying, “What’s wrong with a hug? It’s the courtesy of a brother and sister reuniting after a long time. Brother, don’t think too much about it. I’m not interested in romantic affairs now, I just want to pursue immortal cultivation.”
Gu An gave her a look, then turned to make her some tea.
He had subconsciously performed a Life Span Detection on Ye Lan just now, which weighed heavily on his heart.
[Ye Lan (Foundation Establishment Realm Fifth Layer): 56/130/130]
The normal life span of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator is over two hundred, but Ye Lan had reached her peak early on due to the elixirs accumulated by Gu An.
What will happen when Ye Lan turns one hundred and thirty?
Will it be the five decays of heaven and man, dying suddenly, or encountering inner demons, with Qi-Blood attacking her heart?
Gu An sighed inwardly and decided to teach the Daoist Expansion Skill to Ye Lan. With seventy-four years remaining, perhaps it would be effective.
Daoist Expansion Skill was a process of accumulating spiritual power. Gu An had a bold idea.
What would happen if one consumed Spirit Energy Elixirs frenziedly while cultivating Daoist Expansion Skill?
Ye Lan, unaware of her senior brother’s thoughts, began to recount what she saw and heard on her recent trip.
The Disciples of Law Enforcement Hall went out to protect Crown Prince Li Dai. Their enemy was the Ephemera Sect, and in over half a year, she went through seven or eight battles and survived some close calls.
Gu An already knew about this because he occasionally used his Divine Sense to check on her. The disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall were basically used as informants; the real fighters were several Nascent Soul Cultivators.
“Brother, we were able to return because a Void Crossing Realm Great Cultivator came to protect the Crown Prince. Above the Nascent Soul is Divinity Transformation, and only above Divinity Transformation is the Void Crossing Realm. That senior was so powerful, he killed a Divinity Transformation Realm demon cultivator from the Ephemera Sect with a single palm.
At that time, we all thought we were doomed. We didn’t expect the Crown Prince to have such a powerful figure behind him, who, I heard, is not a cultivator from the Supreme Sect,” Ye Lan excitedly spoke of the Void Crossing Realm Great Cultivator.
Gu An raised an eyebrow, pretending to be shocked, “That powerful? How old must he be?”
“It is said he’s already nine hundred years old,” Ye Lan said, carefully observing Gu An’s expression.
She had once suspected that Gu An was Sword Venerable Fudao. During the turmoil in the Outer Sect, her White Spirit Sword had sensed the Qinghong Sword. The sword that carved the word ‘Righteous Path’ on the Heavenly Repair Platform was the Qinghong Sword!
However, after her investigation, Sword Venerable Fudao was at least a being who had transcended the Divinity Transformation Realm, which made her hesitant again.
She had grown up with Gu An and knew his age.
A few decades old and in the Void Crossing Realm?
This was unheard of in the Immortal Cultivation World!
Add to that, Gu An never acknowledged that he was Sword Venerable Fudao, so she wondered if Gu An might be a disciple of Sword Venerable Fudao.
Whether it was one case or the other, Ye Lan felt she didn’t match up to him, so lately she rarely expressed her feelings and focused more on cultivation.
If she could raise her cultivation level, and her senior brother wanted a Daoist friend, then that would be her chance!
Gu An exclaimed, “Junior Sister, you’re encountering cultivators of higher and higher realms now, but it seems difficult for your cultivation level to improve. Why not practice the cultivation technique of your senior brother?”
“What cultivation technique?” Ye Lan asked curiously.
The Gale Shadowless Leg given by Gu An was already her strongest combat method so she would not underestimate Gu An’s cultivation technique.
Perhaps this technique was passed down by Sword Venerable Fudao!
Gu An began to introduce the Daoist Expansion Skill, and Ye Lan listened attentively.
After Gu An finished explaining, Ye Lan couldn’t help asking, “Brother, you possess so many herbs, but your cultivation doesn’t seem to progress much. Could it be because of the Daoist Expansion Skill?”
Gu An nodded, “This is an unparalleled miraculous skill, I’ll only pass it on to you, and you must not speak of it to anyone.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Lan’s heart immediately grew sweet, and she hesitated to say, “If I practice the Daoist Expansion Skill, will it add to your burden?”
She knew that Gu An would certainly continue to provide her with elixirs to aid her cultivation, and to do so would inevitably delay Gu An’s own progress.
Gu An smiled, “If you are worried, then don’t cultivate it. Just wait for your life to reach its limit, while your senior brother lives for several hundreds of years more. When that time comes, I’ll take several junior sisters and enjoy the blessings of many,” he teased.
“No way, I want to practice!” Ye Lan declared with a glare.
Gu An immediately took out the already written Daoist Expansion Skill and handed it to her.
After Ye Lan accepted the Daoist Expansion Skill, she took out a blackwood box from her storage bag and said, “This is the gift I prepared for you. I intended to give it to you after we finished talking, but I didn’t expect you to give me a cultivation technique first. That makes it seem like I’m not as thoughtful.”
Gu An took the blackwood box, smiling, “Junior Sister, what are you talking about? Over the years, you’ve given me so many fantastic things, you are absolutely the best to me.”
The Sixth-grade Human-Faced Tree was a gift from Ye Lan, and every time she visited Gu An, she would bring various herbs.
Gu An had refused before, but Ye Lan convinced him by promising to repay the debt of the elixir. Any further refusal would have seemed heartless, so now the two exchanged gifts and both were very pleased.
When Ye Lan heard Gu An’s words, she smiled and introduced, “This is a Dark Vine, likely of fifth grade, but there is only a small section. It needs to be cultivated for a decade or two to fully recover. Once matured, it can guard the house and shield against prying Divine Senses.”
Gu An opened it to find something resembling charred black wood with faint signs of life.
He wasn’t disappointed though; for Ye Lan’s cultivation level to obtain even this fragment was commendable. The Human-Faced Tree he received before was also just roots, but it has already started to regain its vitality.
Following that, Ye Lan continued to share the news from the world of immortal cultivation.
Gu An listened intently, thoroughly absorbed.
Recently, a group of mysterious cultivators known as Nine Nether Thirteen Evil had appeared in the immortal cultivation world. They forcibly entered Wanyin Sect, seized its greatest treasure, and left victoriously, their strength sending shockwaves through the cultivation world.
In addition, another significant event had occurred: the Ancient Sky Sect successfully nurtured the Holy Beast, Sky Dragon, boosting the morale of the entire sect. Discussions spread across the regions, suggesting that the Ancient Sky Sect was on the rise.
That Holy Beast was none other than the Sky Dragon he had raised himself. He had investigated the Ancient Sky Sect before, and now seeing the Sky Dragon treated with great care by the sect, he had no worries.
From Ye Lan’s words, the immortal cultivation world seemed peaceful, and the Ephemera Sect had calmed down, no longer clashing fiercely with the demon path, but he knew this was just the calm before the storm.
Once the Great Cultivators from the Ephemera Sect Main Lineage arrive, the cultivation world will again be plunged into violence and bloodshed!
…
Deep in the night, amidst the North Sea Mountains, the Spiritual Energy began to sink, once again startling all beings.
Gu An was seated within a Barrier, enjoying the enhancement of his cultivation level, having spent three thousand years of his life span to elevate his cultivation to the ninth layer of the Mahayana Realm.
After half an hour, he invested another fifty thousand years of his life span into Alchemy.
He had initially thought of improving his Alchemy skills on his own but later realized that Alchemy required talent as well.
A fifty thousand-year life span investment promoted his Alchemy Skills to the Taiching Elixir Path, significantly improving his intuitive understanding of Alchemy.
Vast memories flooded into his mind, immersing him completely.
The Alchemy skill he cultivated was the foundational Alchemy of the Supreme Sect. Different sects practice distinct Alchemy skills, hence evolving diverse paths of Alchemy.
The Taiching Elixir Path also contained a spell called Taiching True Fire, which could aid him better in alchemy, and also serve as a weapon against enemies.
These fifty thousand years of life span were well spent!
When Gu An awoke, he raised his right hand, and a green flame ignited on his finger. His lips couldn’t help but curve upward.
He checked his attribute panel next, still having four hundred ninety thousand years of life span. So wealthy!
He deactivated the Life Span Barrier, stood up, and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a crack in a nearby cliff.
The commotion of the descending Spiritual Energy had caused the weeds in front of the cliff to sway wildly, and upon closer inspection, there was a crack from which peculiar Spiritual Energy, not of the regular Five Elements, was leaking.
He immediately approached it, reached the cliff, and extended his Divine Sense into it.
Soon, he sensed a Restriction.
It would be very difficult for anyone below the Void Crossing Realm to break through.
He had a hunch and didn’t forcefully penetrate the Restriction. Instead, he used the Nine Extreme Yin Yang Form to transform into a shadowy figure and employed the Limitless Freedom Step to step inside.
Passing through the layers of Restrictions, he entered an underground space.
This space was even larger than the Eight Scenic Caves. In the center was an underground lake, with a three-hundred-zhang long and hundred-zhang wide patch of grassland and a row of old trees nearby.
Under one of the trees sat a dilapidated wooden hut.
His Divine Sense detected no presence of cultivators or demons, only many fish in the underground lake, including a two-zhang long giant fish that seemed like a Spirit Beast.
As Gu An walked forward past a stone stele, it bore four bold characters.
Mystic Heaven Cave Mansion!
The Spiritual Energy here was abundant, even stronger than in the Eight Scenic Caves. He threw a Life Span Detection at the row of trees.
All were six-grade Spirit Trees called Heart Clearing Trees.
Excellent!
Gu An was suddenly overjoyed. If no one was residing here, it could serve as his fourth Medicine Valley.
Mystic Valley, Third Medicine Valley, and Tianya Valley were all under others’ watch, whereas his treasures were in Eight Scenic Caves, but there was only so much space there.
Gu An approached the wooden hut with the stone table, overgrown with moss, and two books on the table.
One was a Nameless Book, and the other a secret manual.
Heaven-Cutting Divine Axe!
What an imposing name!
Gu An picked up the Nameless Book and began to read.
It was a will, left by the owner of Mystic Heaven Cave Mansion.
The owner’s name was Ancestor Xuan Tian—a Mystic Heart Realm cultivator!
Gu An furrowed his brow as he continued reading.
Ancestor Xuan Tian turned out to be a Supreme Elder from the Supreme Sect. After leaving the sect, he carved out this Mystic Heaven Cave Mansion here, intending to seek enlightenment. However, he succumbed to Deviation and chose to leave the Cave Mansion for the Demon Land beyond the nine dynasties before his death.
The Heaven-Cutting Divine Axe was Ancestor Xuan Tian’s most powerful ultimate technique, inherited from a Holy Land, one of the nine major legacies of that land!