At dusk, the setting sun sank in the west.
Gu An stood on the cliff, overlooking the Medicine Valley ahead, his face showing a look of satisfaction.
Before him lay a series of not-too-tall mountains, and between them, a spacious valley that stretched for tens of miles in length and around two to three miles in width. The periphery of Medicine Valley was lined with rows of trees, serving as a natural barrier against the wind and waves.
Gu Yu stood beside him and said, “There are Cave mansions of Inner Sect Disciples nearby, and not just one. As long as you don’t stray further than a hundred miles, you won’t encounter any Demon Beasts.”
Gu An nodded, his eyes brimming with anticipation.
What he saw was not just the Medicine Valley, but a continuous flow of Life Span numbers.
Gu Yu gave Gu An’s shoulder a pat before flying away on his sword while Gu An leapt forward, jumping toward Medicine Valley, his limbs swirling with visible wind currents, a manifestation of the Wind Control Skill.
Gu Yu looked back while riding on his Flying Sword, his eyebrows slightly raised, a hint of surprise in his eyes, but he did not turn back.
After landing, Gu An first went to the entrance of the valley where a stone stele stood, bare, with no inscriptions.
He used his finger as a sword to carve four characters with Sword Qi.
Third Medicine Valley!
The name was kept simple because he planned to have many more Medicine Valleys in the future.
Looking at his own handwriting, Gu An was very satisfied, his calligraphy reflecting the sharpness resulting from the meticulous practice he put in for writing his books.
After admiring his writing for a while, Gu An began to look for a place to build a loft.
He decided to first construct the Teleportation Array.
Eventually, twilight came to an end, and night gradually fell.
By the campfire, Gu An sat on a rock, flipping through a book in his hand. This was given to him by Ji Xiaoyu, and it recorded how to construct the Teleportation Array she had provided.
One must admit, the development of Immortal Cultivation in this world was indeed strong; looking at the book felt like reading a manual, albeit a simplified version, as the Teleportation Array Ji Xiaoyu had given to him already had Restrictions in place. He simply needed to follow the sequence in the book to construct it.
Gu An prepared to stay up all night to build the Transmission Array Platform, and once it was ready, he would bring several Disciples over to sow seeds.
Activating the Teleportation Array required Spirit Stones. At the moment, he was quite wealthy, not to mention the Spirit Stone earnings from “Investiture of the Gods.” Gu Yu had just given him a thousand Top-Grade Spirit Stones, enough for him to squander for a long while.
When night passed, Gu An had successfully constructed the Transmission Array Platform and immediately flew away on his sword.
After returning to Mystic Valley, he built a Transmission Array Platform next to his loft. His activities drew all the Disciples to come and watch.
Xiaochuan asked what he was doing, and he did not hide it.
Hearing that Gu An was about to take over another Medicine Valley and construct a Teleportation Array, the Disciples became interested and peppered him with questions.
As Gu An worked on the Array Platform, he answered their questions.
By noon, the construction was complete, and under everyone’s watchful gaze, Gu An placed Spirit Stones into the grooves on the array pillars. Once the stones were in place, he channeled Spiritual Power into the activation mechanism.
Boom—
The Teleportation Array roared to life, the ground trembling slightly. From atop the Array Platform, two pillars emanated a bright light, converging to form a barrier of light.
Gu An turned and surveyed the crowd, commanding, “Wuxin, go to the Outer Sect and recruit three Servant Disciples. Su Han, Zhen Qin, and Ye Yan, come with me; the rest of you will stay and guard Mystic Valley.”
Upon hearing this, Zhen Qin and the other two excitedly stepped forward and followed Gu An into the Teleportation Array.
Before long, the teleportation light screen dissipated, and the Array Platform returned to calm.
On the other side.
Within Third Medicine Valley, Gu An started instructing the three Disciples to weed, while he took care of building houses.
Su Han used a sword, Ye Yan used a spear, and Zhen Qin employed leg techniques to weed.
Ever since Luo Hun taught Ye Yan a set of Spear Techniques, he couldn’t help but beg Gu An for an iron spear, which Gu An procured from the Outer Sect. It was no ordinary iron spear as it could contain Spiritual Power, and could be considered the lowest grade Magic Artifact.
Gu An wasn’t interested in Spear Techniques, so he didn’t bother to watch Ye Yan’s practice.
Ever since practicing with the spear, Ye Yan’s strength had been improving day by day; Gu An witnessed for the first time a real genius within Mystic Valley.
Ye Yan’s Cultivation Level still rose slowly, but his actual combat strength surged rapidly. After only six months of practicing with the spear, even Tang Yu and Su Han combined were no match for him, which dealt quite a blow to the pair.
Gu An also reflected on his own comprehension, which was the only thing that one could not directly enhance with Life Span.
In this world, it seemed that Spirit Root Qualification could not decide everything.
Gu An called for Su Han, Zhen Qin, and Ye Yan, partly because he wanted to guide them. In the calamity brought by Qiu Qianli, their performance had earned his favor, and he decided to cultivate them well, to help them go further.
Located between the Inner and Outer Sects, Third Medicine Valley had richer Spiritual Energy that could help them in their cultivation. Occasionally, Gu An would also give them extra lessons.
All three had the character to endure hardship. Before completing their weeding task, none of them took a break, even secretly competing to see who could work faster.
Once they had cleared the weeds, Gu An had finished building four lofts.
The four gathered in front of the lofts to rest. Su Han looked at Ye Yan with a trace of defiance in his eyes.
Ye Yan, on the other hand, was much calmer, having become more restrained since practicing with the spear.
As Zhen Qin wiped off sweat, he asked Gu An, “Master, is just the three of us enough for such a large area?”
“Of course it’s enough. In the past, I took care of Mystic Valley all by myself while your Martial Uncle Meng Lang and Martial Uncle Li Ya slacked off every day,” Gu An said with a quiet laugh.
Looking back at those past petty squabbles, it all seemed amusing now, a pity that the old friends were no longer there.
Upon hearing this, Zhen Qin prodded Gu An for more stories about his past.
Su Han and Ye Yan also listened carefully; they had great respect for Gu An.
Even though Ye Yan did not learn his Spear Technique from Gu An, he still felt indebted to his master. Without Gu An, would the mysterious Cultivator ever have visited Mystic Valley, let alone bestow upon him a Spear Technique?
After chatting for half an hour, they all got back to work.
Three days later.
Third Medicine Valley was fully sown with medicinal herb seeds, but it still looked like a barren land, since seeds take time to germinate and grow.
Gu An led them back to Mystic Valley to pack up their things, then had them move to live in Third Medicine Valley.
Curious about this, the remaining Servant Disciples also wanted to go to the Third Medicine Valley, but Wuxin suppressed their curiosity.
As the Valley Master of Mystic Valley, Wuxin couldn’t allow anyone to leave!
Mystic Valley was his foundation!
And so, Gu An’s trifecta of Medicine Valleys began operating, and the idyllic farming life unfolded.
…
An Ancient Hour had passed since the Third Medicine Valley was sown, and while Zhen Qin and the other two guarded the valley, Gu An only came by occasionally.
They only needed to take a little time each day to check on each of the areas, spending the rest of their time on cultivation.
As evening approached, the sky turned a reddish hue.
Zhen Qin walked out from her house, stretched lazily, and looked full of energy.
The Cultivation Technique taught by Jiang Qiong allowed her Cultivation Level to increase rapidly, far surpassing her past, thus her zeal for cultivation reached its peak.
She turned her head and saw Ye Yan still practicing his Spear Technique on the hillside by the entrance of the valley.
“Not absorbing energy, can practicing the spear alone be useful?” Zhen Qin murmured to herself. She didn’t go over to join the excitement but took the opportunity to rest and check on each of the plots.
This was all her master’s painstaking effort, after all.
Elsewhere.
Ye Yan was practicing his spear in the glow of the setting sun, his sweat pouring down like raindrops. Despite the soreness in his body, he didn’t stop.
The Spear Technique he practiced was his only opportunity; he didn’t want to miss it, nor did he want to remain a Servant Disciple for life!
“Even though the Spiritual Energy is richer inside, why don’t you practice your spear in the valley?” A voice came, startling Ye Yan, who turned to look.
Standing in the air above the woods ten zhang away, a figure stood with a foot on the treetop, his blue garment fluttering in the wind, displaying an Immortal’s demeanor.
When did they appear?
Ye Yan was secretly alarmed. He put away his spear and turned, asking loudly, “Senior, may I know your business here?”
Gu An had said that this was now the territory of the Inner Sect; hence any Cultivator they encountered must be respectfully addressed as Senior to avoid any discourtesy.
The man in blue had an ordinary face, but his bright eyes were so compelling that one could hardly meet his gaze.
“I was just passing by and saw you practicing the spear. Your Spear Technique is no ordinary one; it incorporates the method of absorbing energy to temper the body, which is quite rare.”
Zhou Tongyou leaped down from the tree and walked towards Ye Yan.
Seeing him approach, Ye Yan was very nervous. How should he deal with him in the absence of his master?
“You haven’t answered my question yet,” Zhou Tongyou reminded him. His tone was calm, but the calmer he was, the more pressure Ye Yan felt.
Ye Yan, bracing himself, replied, “Behind me is my master’s Medicine Valley. It’s only been sown for an Ancient Hour; I don’t want to affect the growth of those herbs because of my cultivation.”
“Is this Spear Technique taught by your master?”
“No, it’s from a friend of my master.”
“To have such a friend, your master must also be extraordinary. May I ask for your master’s name?”
“My master is named Gu An.”
While answering, Ye Yan was perplexed, not understanding what the other party’s intentions were.
Zhou Tongyou stopped walking and raised his hand, proposing, “How about a little sparring? I won’t use Spiritual Power or magic artifacts, just techniques. What do you say?”
Ye Yan frowned, quite hesitant.
“Are you scared?”
Zhou Tongyou’s words ignited Ye Yan’s fighting spirit. He had faced even the great Cultivators of the Demon Path without fear; why would he be afraid of the man before him!
…
At noon, Gu An used the Teleportation Array to arrive at the Third Medicine Valley. He first used his Divine Sense to survey all the plots and, finding no problems, then turned his attention to his disciples.
Soon, he was drawn to Ye Yan, who was practicing his spear at the entrance of the valley.
As he approached, Ye Yan noticed and slightly turned, showing his back to him.
“Yan’er, how did you get injured?” Gu An approached and asked.
After a moment of hesitation, Ye Yan chose to face Gu An and was seen with a bruised face and even a palm print on his left cheek.
He told Gu An about what had happened the previous evening. Upon hearing this, Gu An immediately became furious.
Someone had dared to bully his disciple!
“What’s his name? Will he come again?”
“I don’t know; he didn’t say. He just said that he’d come to find me again when he’s less busy.”
“Don’t worry, your master will support you!”
Gu An patted Ye Yan’s shoulder and gave him some Healing Pills to take.
For the next few days, Gu An stayed in the Third Medicine Valley, yet the assailant who had beaten Ye Yan did not show up.
However, after Gu An left to take care of his Cave in the Outer Sect, he returned to find that Ye Yan had been beaten again.
The assailant hit him and then left.
Time and again, over the next two months, Ye Yan was beaten four times, each time Gu An wasn’t present.
Gu An began to suspect that the assailant was deliberately avoiding him.
That day at noon, Gu An was reading under a tree. Below was a slope that led to the entrance of the valley, giving him a clear view of Ye Yan practicing the spear.
Suddenly.
Gu An sensed something, his eyebrows raised slightly as he thought, finally, they have come!