When Gu An saw Chu Jingfeng, Chu Jingfeng saw him as well.
Just as Gu An was about to quicken his pace to greet him, Chu Jingfeng leapt up several meters high, soared over the hillside, and landed in front of him like a wild goose.
"You are Gu An, I have questions for you," Chu Jingfeng said gravely.
Gu An feigned nervousness as he bowed in respect and responded, "I am. What would the senior like to ask? I will answer truthfully."
Seeing Gu An's honest demeanor, Chu Jingfeng's expression softened, and he said softly, "You encountered the Demon of Greed, and she even choked you, do you still remember her face?"
Gu An shook his head and said, "That night, there was no oil lamp lit inside the room, I could not see her face clearly, she appeared suddenly and scared me into fainting…"
While speaking, he secretly circulated his Qi-Blood to make his face instantly flush red.
Chu Jingfeng, seeing him so embarrassed, felt his anger dissipate significantly.
"What am I doing, harassing a Servant Disciple…" Chu Jingfeng thought self-deprecatingly.
His expression became gentle, and he said, "If you remember anything or encounter anything, you can contact me."
After speaking, he took out a Spirit Stone the size of a chicken egg and said, "This is a special Spirit Stone, you can communicate with me by infusing it with Spiritual Power."
He tossed the Spirit Stone to Gu An, then leapt up again, a long sword flying out at his waist. He stepped on the sword and rushed out of the forest, leaves falling in his wake.
Whether it was an illusion or not, Gu An always felt that he had grown stronger after his arm was severed.
Gu An did not think much of it and walked with the Spirit Stone towards Medicine Valley.
"Ah, when will I be able to have my own Storage Bag?"
The youth walked on a hillside in the woods, the dappled sunlight casting a colorful garment on him.
...
Time flew, and in the blink of an eye, two years had passed.
Nineteen-year-old Gu An walked in the woods, looking somewhat taller than two years ago, and his physique much stronger. Despite wearing simple linen clothes, he looked clean, especially his bright eyes, his long hair casually tied at the back of his head with a grass rope, and two strands of hair falling on his forehead, adding a free-spirited charm to his demeanor.
Behind him, a young boy followed, ordinary in appearance and a head shorter than him, carrying a bamboo basket, wiping the large drops of sweat off his forehead as he walked.
"Senior brother, how much farther?" Xiaochuan called out weakly.
He was the only one in Medicine Valley junior to Gu An, and he liked following behind Gu An. Hearing that Gu An also managed a cave for Outer Disciples, he pleaded for a long time until Gu An finally agreed to bring him this time.
Gu An agreed to bring him along for a reason.
Because he had heard from Zhang Chunqiu yesterday that the owner of the cave had returned, and to prevent any accidents, he decided to bring Xiaochuan.
If the other party had malicious intentions, seeing another person might make them hesitate.
Gu An did not wish to harm Xiaochuan. Should there be trouble, his Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill was not for naught.
"Almost there."
Gu An said without turning back, to be honest, he was beginning to understand why Zhang Chunqiu liked him.
Having such a well-behaved junior disciple indeed saved him a lot of trouble.
Xiaochuan moaned, he had heard those two words no less than eight times, had he known this, he would not have come.
Ten li was already a considerable distance for ordinary people, let alone with rugged mountain paths and hot weather, Xiaochuan felt like he was about to die.
Gu An did not continue to comfort him because they were indeed almost there.
About half an ancient hour later, Gu An pushed through the bushes and arrived in front of a mountain wall. He did not directly open the mountain gate but cupped his fists and said, "Junior Gu An, here to return the Cave's Jade Pendant to the senior."
Xiaochuan stood on the other side of the bush, curiously scrutinizing the mountain wall.
His background was not much better than Gu An's, with limited knowledge of the Immortal Cultivation World, seeing an Outer Disciple of the Supreme Sect was a big deal in his eyes.
Rumble—
The mountain gate opened, and a hoarse voice came from inside:
"Come in."
Gu An turned to Xiaochuan and said, "Wait for me outside."
Xiaochuan naturally dared not follow him inside, seeing the cave gate open was already more than he expected.
Gu An stepped forward into the cave, exuding more confidence than he had two years ago.
His confidence came from his accumulated life span; his life span had now reached more than three thousand four hundred years.
Apart from the herbs inside the cave, in the past two years, Cheng Xuandan had also started instructing him to pick Grade 3 herbs, so his life span increased rapidly.
A person's confidence comes from strength, and although Gu An had only a trace of Spiritual Power, he was greatly changed from before.
Passing through the tunnel, Gu An saw a man sitting by a stone table.
It was a middle-aged man, thin, with his Taoist robe hanging loose on his body, hair graying at the temples, sunken eyes, and prominent cheekbones, giving off a deeply calculating impression.
From the first glance, Gu An felt this man was not easy to handle.
[Zhu Moyan (Energy Cultivation Realm Nine Layers): 58/130/140]
This life span limit was even less than Zhang Chunqiu's, indicating his natural talents were inferior to Zhang Chunqiu's.
The fact that his cultivation was higher than Zhang Chunqiu's was probably due to accumulation through elixirs.
Gu An speculated as he quickly walked up to Zhu Moyan, took out the cave's Jade Pendant, and offered it with both hands.
Zhu Moyan reclaimed the Jade Pendant and said softly, "You did well, I am satisfied. This bag contains ten Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, take them with you."
He picked up the cloth bag from the table and handed it to Gu An.
Gu An respectfully received the cloth bag, secretly weighed it, and then thanked Zhu Moyan.
"You can go now," Zhu Moyan said, waving his hand.
Gu An nodded, bowed again, then turned around and left.
As he turned around, his keen eyes caught something, and his reaction was swift, immediately casting a Life Span Detection.
[Demon of Greed (Second Rank): 31/140/180]
Gu An left swiftly without changing his expression.
Zhu Moyan watched Gu An's retreating figure, his eyes growing cold, and only when he heard the sound of the mountain gate closing did he snort coldly and mutter to himself, "You're lucky."
The restrictions in the cave of an Outer Disciple were of low level; the so-called restrictions were a type of magical mechanism, and naturally, those of Outer Disciples were not sophisticated, so Gu An outside the cave heard Zhu Moyan's muttering, which made him even more uneasy.
There really was a problem!
Gu An had suspected before why the Demon of Greed had attacked all the way without affecting Zhu Moyan's cave along the route; it turned out this guy was related to the Demon of Greed.
"Brother, did it go smoothly?" Xiaochuan looked at the approaching Gu An and asked with concern.
Gu An revealed a smile and said, "It went smoothly; let's go, it's time to head back."
Xiaochuan nodded, and the two headed in the direction they came from; only after they had walked some distance did Xiaochuan start to ask what kind of person the cave owner was.
Gu An gave a brief description, which left Xiaochuan captivated.
During the journey that followed, Gu An had no mood to interact with Xiaochuan, his mind was filled with thoughts of the Demon of Greed and Zhu Moyan's words.
No, he couldn't pretend he hadn't seen anything, it was too dangerous!
Gu An thought of the Spirit Stone left by Chu Jingfeng and decided to seek Chu Jingfeng's help.
But before that, he needed to enhance his strength, just in case.
Having not cultivated dangerously for three years, just the thought of it excited Gu An.
The Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill could conceal his aura; even though he possessed Spiritual Power, he could hide it well. This time, he planned to first enhance his cultivation level, then improve his offensive methods.
"Should I evolve the Residual Wind Leg, or the Li Family's Seven Swords?"
Gu An began to agonize over this decision.
An ancient hour later, the two finally returned to Medicine Valley, where Gu An took the bamboo basket from Xiaochuan and then walked to his own courtyard.
The bamboo basket was filled with ordinary medicinal herbs they had picked along the way.
Xiaochuan was exhausted, without the energy to do anything else, so he headed directly to his own courtyard.
Gu An returned to his room, closed the door, placed the bamboo basket and cloth bag on the table, then went to sit on his bed.
He took a deep breath, first sensing the aura of others in Medicine Valley.
Meng Lang was practicing spells in the forest, Cheng Xuandan was engaged in alchemy, and Zhang Chunqiu was struggling with energy absorption.
Hmm, nobody seemed to be paying attention to him.
Gu An brought up his attribute panel.
[Name: Gu An]
[Life Span: 19/3463]
[Spirit Root: Five Elements better Spirit Root (can invest life span to evolve cultivation)]
[Cultivation Level: Energy Cultivation Realm Level 1 (can invest life span to evolve cultivation)]
[Cultivation Techniques: Fire Control Art (not mastered), Spring Wood Skill (not mastered), Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill (mastery), (can invest life span to evolve cultivation)]
[Ultimate Skills: Residual Wind Leg (not mastered), Li Family's Seven Swords (not mastered) (can invest life span to evolve cultivation)]
...
Gu An cautiously invested one year of life span into his cultivation.
[You have cultivated using energy absorption for one year, due to your mediocre talent and the average grade of the cultivation technique, your cultivation level did not increase much]
This prompt appeared, and Gu An felt a change within his body.
A thread of Spiritual Power turned into two...
Gu An's mouth twitched involuntarily, forcing him to turn his gaze to the Spring Wood Skill.
It was the only Energy Absorption Skill he had mastered. As for the Fire Control Art, it was a Supporting Skill. An old servant from the Ji Family had taught him this while he was chopping firewood, aptly named for controlling fire strength.
"Forget it, no need to wait for a more profound technique, since I can use life span evolution, even the most ordinary technique can be promoted to an unparalleled divine skill in my hands..."
With this thought, Gu An's eyes became resolute.
He decided to invest one hundred years of life span into cultivating the Spring Wood Skill.
[You cultivate the Spring Wood Skill for one year, and due to your mediocre comprehension and talent, your achievement in the Spring Wood Skill improved slightly]
[You cultivate the Spring Wood Skill for ten years, finally mastering the Spring Wood Skill, your energy absorption rate increased]
[You cultivate the Spring Wood Skill for fifty years, finally achieving great mastery in Spring Wood Skill, your energy absorption rate reached ten times the previous rate]
[You cultivate the Spring Wood Skill for one hundred years, you gain new insights into Spring Wood Skill, upgrading it to Spring Origin Art]
A flood of memories related to the cultivation of the Spring Origin Art poured into Gu An's mind.
The Spring Origin Art was far less complex than the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, so before long, Gu An opened his eyes.
After opening his eyes, he first listened to the sounds of others in Medicine Valley; Xiaochuan had fallen asleep, and everyone else was busy with their own tasks, nobody seemed to have noticed him for the moment.
Now came the dilemma.
Should he continue to enhance the Spring Origin Art, or directly use the Spring Origin Art to evolve his cultivation level?
The higher his mastery of the cultivation technique, the faster Gu An could enhance his cultivation level, which would also save on the investment of life span.
After much thought, Gu An felt that the cultivation technique was the most important and should not be taken lightly.
First, he would invest one thousand years!