Meng Lang and Zhang Chunqiu were equally astonished by Li Ya's choice, but they kept silent.
Cheng Xuandan looked at Li Ya approvingly, nodded slightly, and said, "Not bad, you have an eye for quality, and you're not impulsive."
With a wave of his right hand toward the table beside him, three secret manuals appeared on the table. He gave Zhang Chunqiu a look, and Zhang immediately began distributing the manuals.
Throughout the entire time, Gu An barely had a chance to speak.
Alright, I was ignored.
Naturally optimistic, Gu An did not get discouraged.
Though you treat me coldly today, sixteen years from now, I will bear no grudges and will offer incense for you!
Gu An took the manual titled 'Energy Nurturing Skill', pretending to be happy.
"Recently, demons have infiltrated the Supreme Sect. Medicine Valley is located on the outskirts of the Supreme Sect, and although there are disciples patrolling, dangers still exist. Do not leave Medicine Valley on normal days, you may go now."
After Cheng Xuandan gave his instructions, he waved his hand, and the three, including Gu An, immediately bowed and took their leave.
Gu An, walking at the back, closed the door behind them as they left.
Cheng Xuandan nodded slightly and said, "That young man called Li Ya is not simple. He seems to have practiced some technique that conceals his Cultivation Level. His Essence Energy and Spirit are not weaker than yours. Pay more attention to him in the future. Moreover, he comes from the Imperial Family, so don't be too harsh on him."
Zhang Chunqiu nodded. After a moment of thought, he said, "Master, Gu An is the most diligent among us. Moreover, with his the poorest aptitude, he will surely stay in Medicine Valley much longer…"
Cheng Xuandan calmly said, "Hmm, then you take good care of him. He is in your hands now."
Zhang Chunqiu showed a smile and then thanked his master.
Elsewhere.
Gu An and the others returned to their own courtyard. Along the way, Meng Lang talked about the demons, not at all afraid but rather excited.
Li Ya stopped walking, looked at Gu An, and said, "The Energy Nurturing Skill is actually not bad. It can conceal one's aura and prolongs one's life span. I already have a cultivation technique, so I do not need it. For someone like you, the Energy Nurturing Skill is actually a better choice."
On hearing this, Gu An's face lit up with a smile, and he said, "Thank you for the advice, Brother Li. I guess I'll be spending my lifetime in Medicine Valley. The Hundred Herbs Collection doesn't really mean much to me, I can learn about herbs by following the eldest disciple."
Upon hearing this, Li Ya nodded slightly, pleased to see Gu An heed his advice.
The three did not chat much and soon each went back to their own rooms.
There were not many daily chores in Medicine Valley, so they had plenty of time to cultivate.
Gu An sat on his bed and began to read through the Energy Nurturing Skill.
Initially, he had no interest in the Energy Nurturing Skill, but after hearing Li Ya mention its ability to conceal one's aura and increase life span, he suddenly wanted to practice it and try out his life span evolving ability.
Over the year, he had practiced the Spring Wood Skill extended to him by Zhang Chunqiu, making no progress, so he gave up after half a month.
For him, rather than the monotonous cultivation, it was better to visit the library in Medicine Valley, looking through more books on herbs and various travelogues to broaden his horizons.
Days passed by.
Besides the routine check of the herbs, Gu An spent his time in his room cultivating.
After fifteen days of cultivation, the words 'Energy Nurturing Skill' finally appeared in his attribute panel. However, the remark next to it still indicated it was unmastered.
Gu An looked at his attribute panel with a hopeful expression.
It was his first time using the life span evolution, and he was very nervous, unsure of how much life span the cultivation of the Energy Nurturing Skill would require.
Though his life span had already exceeded a thousand years, if it required several decades or even a hundred years, he would feel the pinch.
Gu An stared at the 'Energy Nurturing Skill' in his attribute panel and silently chose to invest life span into evolution.
[Please select the amount of life span to invest]
Seeing this line of text, Gu An made his choice without hesitation, and immediately two lines of text popped up in front of him.
[You have invested one year of life span to evolve the practice of 'Energy Nurturing Skill']
[You have cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for one year, due to your average comprehension and aptitude, your cultivation has made no progress, but your Essence Energy has been enhanced]
All of a sudden, Gu An felt invigorated. However, the feeling came quickly and went quickly as well.
That's it?
The word 'average' deeply struck Gu An.
Such blatant bullying!
A doubt arose in Gu An's mind—was aptitude related to one's Spirit Root?
He immediately chose to invest life span into evolving the Spirit Root, putting in a hundred years all at once.
[You have invested a hundred years of life span for the evolution practice of 'Spirit Root']
[You begin to comprehend the nature of Heaven and Earth, increasing your Spirit Root's perception of nature. After a hundred years, your perception of the Five Elements Spirit Root has improved]
After reading these two lines of prompts, Gu An brought up his attribute panel again and found that his Spirit Root had changed from 'Ordinary Five Elements Spirit Root' to 'Better Five Elements Spirit Root'.
Gu An felt it was a loss, seeing his life span shrink from four digits to three digits made him extremely distressed.
It seemed that the evolution of the Spirit Root was a bottomless pit.
"Should I try the Energy Nurturing Skill again?"
Such a thought popped into Gu An's mind, and after trying to spend his life span, he had an itchy feeling in his heart.
"I only need to spend a year to earn a thousand-year life span. I'll spend a bit more today, and later I can strive to earn more... Hmm, let's indulge once today since it's my first time using this function..."
Gu An took a deep breath and silently chose to invest five hundred years of life span for the evolution practice of the 'Energy Nurturing Skill'.
[You have invested five hundred years of life span for the evolution practice of 'Energy Nurturing Skill']
[You have cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for one year, due to your average comprehension and aptitude, your cultivation has made no progress, but your Essence Energy has been enhanced]
[You have cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for ten years, due to your average comprehension and aptitude, your Cultivation Level has made no progress, but you successfully mastered the Energy Nurturing Skill, and your Qi-Blood has been enhanced]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for one hundred years. The constant cultivation led you to a realization about the Energy Nurturing Skill, and it began to transform.]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for two hundred years. Your Energy Nurturing Skill merged with nature's spiritual energy and evolved into a Technique of Immortal Cultivation.]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for three hundred years. Your Energy Nurturing Skill was promoted to Spirit Nurturing Skill.]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for four hundred years. On that day, you suddenly had an epiphany, grasped the Heaven and Earth True Meaning, and created the Dragon Image Nurturing Primordial Skill from the Spirit Nurturing Skill. Your body and Qi-Blood were transformed.]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for five hundred years. The Dragon Image Nurturing Primordial Skill reached mastery, broke through the limits of Cultivation Technique, and was promoted to Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill. Your physique underwent a fundamental change.]
Row after row of prompts popped up in front of Gu An's eyes before he could finish reading them, a flood of memories surged into his mind.
A breeze blew in from the window, moving the curtains by the bed, and also fluttering Gu An's black hair. With his eyes closed, he unconsciously opened his mouth, breathing in and out, with a faint sound of dragon's chant.
After an indeterminate time, Gu An gradually woke up.
He opened his eyes and what appeared before him were the dimly lit forests outside the window.
It was dark outside.
Gu An had now inherited all the memories of the practice of Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill and had even directly mastered this technique.
The Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill was a technique created based on the cultivation of the Dragon Turtle. It could conceal one's breath, hide cultivation level, and also cultivate the Dragon Strength.
The Energy Nurturing Skill is part of the foundation techniques within the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, basically progressing from an incomplete technique to a complete one.
Gu An suspected the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill had always existed in the world, and that the Supreme Sect had only obtained a fragment, hence it was named Energy Nurturing Skill.
If he were to spend another three hundred years of life span, what kind of changes would the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill undergo?
Gu An forcefully suppressed the urge to spend more lifetimes. He felt his physique, sensing an overpowering strength within himself that gave him the feeling of immense power.
He felt he could easily demolish a pavilion with a single punch!
This powerful sensation was truly marvelous!
Moreover, his senses had greatly improved. He could hear the breathing of Meng Lang and Li Ya; he could even hear the distant conversations between Zhang Chunqiu and Cheng Xuandan.
"That demon has already killed thirteen disciples, most of whom are servant disciples from various sections of Medicine Valley. Master, you and I alone may not be able to protect them," said one voice.
"No worries, your master has already requested a Sect mission. The Sect will dispatch a Foundation Establishment Realm disciple to protect our Medicine Valley," replied another.
"That's really great. This afternoon, the spiritual energy in the valley was a bit unusual; I even thought the demon was coming. It's embarrassing to admit that I didn't even dare to step outside," said the first voice again.
"Well, you grew up at your master's knee and have never been out to temper yourself. It's understandable that you are timid..."
Hearing their conversation, Gu An broke out in cold sweat.
He had been careless!
In the future, while deducing techniques, he must not act carelessly.
Fortunately, Zhang Chunqiu's cultivation level was low, otherwise Gu An's cultivation activities would have been discovered.
After eavesdropping for a while and confirming that Cheng Xuandan and Zhang Chunqiu were not talking about him, Gu An finally relaxed.
He continued to feel his newfound physique while following the methods of the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill to suppress his own breath to the lowest level, with his Qi-Blood also suppressed within his body, appearing no different than before cultivation, still delicate and frail.
An ancient hour later, Gu An opened his eyes and accessed his Attribute Panel.
[Name: Gu An]
[Life Span: 16/402]
[Spirit Root: Good Five Elements Spirit Root (can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]
[Cultivation Level: Below par (can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]
[Cultivation Techniques: Fire Control Art (not mastered), Spring Wood Skill (not mastered), Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill (mastery) (can invest lifespan to evolve cultivation)]
Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, mastery!
Gu An looked on with satisfaction, but unfortunately, the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill was a technique of physical cultivation and could not cultivate Spiritual Power, so his cultivation level was still below par.
Even so, Gu An felt that sweeping through the Energy Cultivation Realm should pose no problem.
Next, he could wait for his life span to increase.
His Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill had now reached a great level of mastery. The Strength Energy surged within his body, automatically helping him increase his life span, although the rate of increase was still undefined.
That night, Gu An found it hard to fall asleep.
However, despite continuously refreshing his Attribute Panel until sunrise, he still did not see any increase in life span; he had to console himself that no cultivation technique could increase life span by one year in a single day.
Yes!
The heavens do not disappoint those who persevere, surprises will come eventually!
Gu An briefly washed up and then stepped out of his room, intending to stroll through the park and soothe his mind by looking at the herbs.
Coincidentally, just as he arrived at one area of the park, his gaze fixed on a white-haired mouse.
It was the same mouse that had been nibbling on the Calming Grass earlier!
Gu An looked around to make sure that no one else from Medicine Valley had stepped out of their dwellings, then he quietly approached the white-haired mouse.
The white-haired mouse, with its back to him and ten yards away, didn't notice someone was approaching.
When they were less than seven paces apart, Gu An surged forward like an arrow released from a bow, swiftly crossing the distance, and grabbed the white-haired mouse with his right hand.
The white-haired mouse was terrified, instantly raising its little paws in a I-surrender gesture.
"Dare to steal my lifespan, huh, you're done for!"
Gu An laughed triumphantly as he caught the white-haired mouse; he could see the process of the mouse turning around.
Too slow!