After being invited by Gu An, until he walked out of the Chores Hall, Wuxin did not say a word. From beginning to end, he had only nodded his head.
Gu An suspected he had recruited a mute.
For Wuxin, becoming a Servant Disciple as soon as possible was the most important thing at the moment. Gu An made a good first impression on him, so he agreed outright.
The reason he was so eager to become a Servant Disciple was because he was a spy from the Demon Path.
He came from the Demonic Sect of the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion, the youngest son of a Pavilion Master there. Since his talents were inferior to his brothers’, he had volunteered to come and be a spy.
One reason was to escape the oppressive environment at home; the other was to see if he could establish some achievements.
If he could not, then so be it.
Wuxin watched Gu An and Cheng Xuandan ahead of him, making a preliminary judgment about the two.
One, a kind and simple ordinary cultivator.
One, an old man close to the grave.
From their conversations, it seemed that Medicine Valley was indeed tranquil and would provide a good atmosphere.
…
The snow flew heavily, and Mystic Valley was submerged in a whiteness where heaven and earth were indistinguishable.
Bang!
Wuxin was kicked down into the snow, snow splashing onto his face, and he clutched his chest in pain.
“Lu Jiujia! Why are you being so serious?” Ye Lan chided from the side.
Lu Jiujia stood in the snow, slowly retrieving his leg. He tilted up his chin and huffed, “Sparring should be serious. Only then can there be improvement.”
His cultivation level had already reached the fifth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, making him the openly strongest person in Medicine Valley. Ye Lan’s cultivation level was at the fourth layer, and Xiaochuan, like Gu An, was at the third layer.
Wuxin, at the second layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm, had no chance against Lu Jiujia.
“Damn… How could a Servant Disciple be so strong…” Wuxin almost lost his composure.
He saw Lu Jiujia practicing his leg techniques, so he couldn’t resist trying to challenge him, only to be defeated by Lu Jiujia’s two kicks.
What he did not know was that Lu Jiujia had a great senior brother who spent time every day sparring with him. Lu Jiujia, who always fought with all his might, never managed to win. Day after day, his leg techniques had become extremely refined, his physical strength considerable.
Wuxin, refusing to believe it, thought he had merely been careless. He stood up and rushed towards Lu Jiujia again.
Bang! Bang!
Lu Jiujia kicked twice and once again knocked Wuxin to the ground.
Wuxin felt his forearm was about to break, and the fifteen-year-old lay in the snow, tears of humiliation streaming down his face.
Why is it like this…
This was not the life of a spy he had imagined. He wasn’t facing fiery mountains or blade-laden paths, and if he were to face defeat, it should have been on the path of stealing intelligence…
Instead, he was defeated by a Servant Disciple who appeared to be ordinary in every aspect.
“If I hadn’t cultivated this technique… With my talent… How could I endure such humiliation?”
Wuxin clenched his fists tightly. The quarreling voices of Ye Lan and Lu Jiujia were piercing to his ears.
Lu Jiujia, looking at Ye Lan before him, disagreed, “He’s a boy, not a frail girl. Step aside, don’t be biased towards him. When senior brother kicked me to the ground, why didn’t you say anything?”
Ye Lan glared at him and said, “How could I not say anything? I defended you back then, and you even yelled at me. Besides, senior brother didn’t exert as much force as you. Think about it, when senior brother spars with you, doesn’t he wait for you to finish all your leg techniques before he gently defeats you? Unlike you, who is rough and reckless. What can Wuxin learn from sparring with you?”
With that, Lu Jiujia’s dissatisfaction shifted as he thought it over, realizing she was right.
It was precisely because he always exerted his full strength that he could think more deeply.
Simply being on the receiving end of hits certainly didn’t teach much…
Lu Jiujia felt ashamed, his gratitude for Gu An deepening.
Senior brother was truly too good to him.
Ye Lan helped Wuxin to his feet, seeing his eyes red,she quickly consoled him, “Don’t mind him. He means well, wanting to seriously spar with you to improve together. It’s just that he is a person who takes things too seriously.”
Seeing Wuxin’s red eyes, Lu Jiujia scratched his head in embarrassment.
“Jiujia, I see your leg work has improved. Come, let’s practice,”
a gentle voice came from behind. Lu Jiujia turned around to see Gu An approaching with a spring-like smile.
Hearing this, Lu Jiujia immediately nodded eagerly, his confidence having swelled recently, feeling he could defeat his senior brother.
Ye Lan and Wuxin looked towards Gu An, Wuxin secretly curious. Was this senior brother really that powerful?
Could he really defeat Lu Jiujia across two minor realms?
Gu An stopped and waved at Lu Jiujia, who chuckled and rushed towards him with a lightning step.
Bang!
Lu Jiujia was sent flying ten meters, carving a long trench in the snow.
Seeing stars, he nearly passed out, feeling as though his organs were shifting, the pain immense.
Wuxin was stunned.
Such fast legs!
He hadn’t even seen how Gu An had kicked.
Ye Lan, on the other hand, laughed with joy, quickly walking up to Gu An to praise his increasingly faster leg work.
Gu An ruffled her hair, then turned to Wuxin and asked, “Wuxin, do you want to learn leg techniques in the future?”
Wuxin’s life span was longer than that of others, marking him as having potential talent. He couldn’t be damaged by Lu Jiujia’s kicks.
“Yes!” Wuxin responded, his tone firm and strong, unlike his usual gentle self.
From a distance, Lu Jiujia’s wails of pain drew Gu An’s attention.
Gu An walked up to him, looked down at him, and snorted, “Stop pretending, Brother asks you, do you like this kind of sparring?”
Lu Jiujia lay on the ground, slightly turning on his side, glanced at Gu An with one eye, saw his serious expression, covered his eyes again, and said in pain, “Brother, I was wrong…”
Gu An pulled him up, patting the snow off his body while speaking softly, “A true strong person is not one who defeats those stronger than himself, but one who can control his own arrogant heart and not bully those weaker than himself.”
Lu Jiujia rubbed his chest, seriously pondering Gu An’s words.
Ye Lan and Wuxin also heard, especially Wuxin, who was greatly moved; he never expected such a highly skilled person hidden in this small Medicine Valley.
In the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion, bullying the weak was the norm; he was weak, even his father and brothers bullied him.
That’s right!
They were not strong at all!
Wuxin thought to himself, his view of Gu An changing.
“You start by teaching Wuxin how to train his legs,” Gu An said, patting Lu Jiujia’s shoulder; Lu Jiujia quickly nodded, not daring to refuse.
Afterward, Gu An took Ye Lan up the mountain to look after the seeds that had been planted not long ago; Xiaochuan was on the mountain.
As for Cheng Xuandan, after returning, he stayed in his room without coming out. Gu An had visited once, and he said he was recuperating, after which Gu An didn’t dare to disturb him again.
Days passed, and with the addition of Wuxin, Medicine Valley became lively; Lu Jiujia and Xiaochuan loved to tease him, and the sound of the three frolicking could be heard in Medicine Valley from time to time.
The end of the year.
Night fell.
Gu An was reading in his room, no longer the Green Hero Travelogue but another book titled “Thousand-Autumn Pavilion Secret History.”
This book came from the Book Collection Pavilion of Medicine Valley, its authenticity unknown, but he read it for amusement.
The lamplight of the oil lamp flickered slightly, strands of cold wind sneaked in through the cracks of the window, but Gu An, now at the sixth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, remained unaffected.
When he finished the contents of the current page, he put down the book, preparing to stand up for his daily routine.
Suddenly, he heard a slight noise from the neighboring room; someone was stepping out of the room, their movements light, but they couldn’t escape his ears.
It was Wuxin!
Gu An was very familiar with the aura of everyone in Medicine Valley and instantly identified the person.
He silently listened to Wuxin’s footsteps; Wuxin headed toward the Book Collection Pavilion and upon entering, started browsing through the books.
“What is he looking for?” Gu An was filled with curiosity.
In his view, Wuxin was very honest, conscientiously doing whatever he arranged, unlike Lu Jiujia who would occasionally slack off.
Besides being honest, Wuxin also had a competitive spirit second only to Lu Jiujia, frequently challenging his two senior brothers, repeatedly losing and fighting repeatedly.
Could it be that this kid was looking for a secret manual?
Thinking this, Gu An felt a bit sorry for his young junior brother.
Starting tomorrow, he would personally teach the young junior brother.
Wuxin searched for half an ancient hour, then quietly returned to his own room.
A while later, Gu An got up, quietly leaving his room; he was off to the distant forests for his daily routine.
…
Another summer arrived.
Gu An turned twenty-two years old, his lifespan had already exceeded four thousand years, and he planned to save up to ten thousand years before using it.
Half a year passed, and thanks to his daily routine, his cultivation level successfully broke through to the seventh layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, though his apparent cultivation level remained at the third layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm.
As time passed, Gu An grew increasingly curious about the seventh-tier Spirit Tree that Cheng Xuandan had mentioned; he had even tried searching for it, but could never find the entrance to the underground.
Occasionally, Wuxin also explored around at night, and once, the two nearly ran into each other, but fortunately, Gu An’s excellent hearing alerted him in advance.
Nearing noontime, Gu An squatted under a tree, observing his White Spirit Rat.
The White Spirit Rat was frantically running in circles in front of him, very lively.
“Has it grown? But spring has already passed…” Gu An thought puzzledly.
He had raised the White Spirit Rat for a few years, and its size had not changed; without Li Ya, he could not judge the growth stage of the White Spirit Rat.
The little creature had been spinning in front of him for a long time.
The White Spirit Rat seemed to understand Gu An’s words; it suddenly jumped up, bit Gu An’s hand, then swiftly ran away.
Gu An did not feel any pain, so he was not angry; his gaze followed and saw that the White Spirit Rat actually stopped and started frantically running in circles again.
Wait a second!
Could it be…
Gu An thought of something and quickly stood up, walking toward the White Spirit Rat.
Seeing him approach, the White Spirit Rat no longer dallied and ran towards the forest, and soon, both disappeared into the woods.
Wuxin stood under the tree, looking in the direction Gu An had gone; frowning, he speculated, “The forest again… Lu Jiujia mentioned that the previous Li Ya and Meng Lang also liked to cultivate alone in the forest, and Senior Brother’s leg technique is far superior to his cultivation realm. Could there be a secret in the forest?”
The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed; he did not follow Gu An but planned to check it out quietly at night.
On the other hand.
Gu An followed the White Spirit Rat over mountains and ridges, eventually leaving Medicine Valley.
Good grief, does this creature regularly roam this far?
Gu An realized he had underestimated the White Spirit Rat and grew even more curious about where it would lead him.
Before, Li Ya had said that the White Spirit Rat held the title of Treasure Hunting Rat.
Could it have found the seventh-tier Spirit Tree?