Gu An was not pleased by his rapid breakthrough. A string remained taut in his heart, and he feared that someone might arrive.
Taixuan Sect was so vast, and within a hundred li of Medicine Valley, human traces were rarely seen. It should not alert a Great Cultivator, right?
Just as Gu An was thinking this, he suddenly sensed two powerful auras approaching from afar, both stronger than Chu Jingfeng had been back then.
What he feared had come true!
He was in the midst of his cultivation rising from the fourth layer to the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm. It was inconvenient for him to get up, and even if he ran now, it would be difficult to shake those two people off.
He was in big trouble!
Gu An tensely sensed the two approaching auras. When they came within less than a hundred zhang, the two stopped, separated from him by a mountain peak.
He stood in a dim forest, dressed in a dark green robe. Coupled with the dust swirling around him, it was difficult for anyone to see his true face clearly.
Sensing that the two had not forcefully charged over, Gu An let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed they were wary of him as well and did not dare disturb him rashly.
Gu An's cultivation continued to rise. The commotion around him was too great, and with a mountain between them, he could not hear the two people's conversation. This prevented him from relaxing at all.
By the time he broke through to the fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm, the two people on the other side of the mountain still had not acted.
The speed of Gu An's cultivation increase began to slow. He raised his right hand and pressed it against the tree trunk behind him, connecting the trunk with the spiritual power within his body. A green line of light appeared on the trunk, flowing around his palm.
When the green line connected head to tail, he withdrew his right hand and directly tore a piece of wood from the trunk, forming a mask.
He covered his face with the mask, then used the fingers of his other hand to carve out two eyes. The carved areas fell away, and a complete mask appeared on his face.
Spiritual energy was still drilling into his body, but he could already stand.
Perhaps sensing that the spiritual energy between heaven and earth was settling, a resounding voice came from afar:
"I wonder which fellow Daoist is breaking through here. Why are you not breaking through within your own Cave Mansion?"
The voice was extremely stern. Clearly, its owner suspected that Gu An was not a disciple of Taixuan Sect.
Gu An hesitated over whether to answer.
He was merely a Handyman Disciple. If he were discovered to have successfully established his foundation only a few years after entering the sect, even if he smoothly entered the Outer Sect, there would still be risks ahead!
The commotion he had caused tonight was too great. If those two learned his identity, there would certainly be a third person, then a fourth person who learned it as well. What if someone developed malicious intentions toward him?
Gu An was not overthinking it. Having been a household servant since childhood, he had seen the ugliness of human nature all too often.
As Gu An tied the mask in place with grass vines, he pondered. Cold light flickered in his eyes, blooming with a chilling gleam in the night.
No!
He could not expose himself!
Gu An did not want to fall into trouble. Even becoming an Outer Sect disciple would not be a good thing for him.
Taixuan Sect would not raise disciples for nothing. Outer Sect disciples all had to take sect missions, and they could not avoid the danger of death.
Once his cultivation had completely stabilized, he rose to his feet. His face was hidden by the mask, revealing only a pair of eyes, while cyclones still swirled around his body.
At that moment, he sensed the two auras rapidly rushing down from the mountain. Clearly, they had already treated him as an intruder.
Gu An dared remain silent because he had judged that their cultivation was not especially strong. If they had made him feel they were impossible to defeat, how could he have spared so many thoughts for anything else?
He immediately turned and rushed toward the depths of the forest.
Whoosh—
A sound of something tearing through the air came from behind Gu An. He turned his head and saw a cold gleam shooting toward him through the dim forest, snapping branches along its path. Behind that gleam was a woman.
The woman wore white robes. Her right arm was stretched straight out, her palm facing the sword hilt and connected to it by spiritual power. The blade burst forth with fierce Sword Qi, unstoppable as a startled swan skimming through the forest.
In an instant, her sword had reached behind Gu An, less than half a zhang away.
Gu An's left foot landed on the ground, and his body twisted backward. At the same time, he lowered his left leg, and the sword blade flew right over him.
The woman in white widened her eyes. The night concealed her face in darkness, yet the sword's light happened to shine upon her eyes. Those bright, stunning eyes were filled with shock.
No sooner said than done!
As Gu An crouched, his right leg kicked backward. The kick struck the white-robed woman in the abdomen. A tremendous force she had never experienced slammed into her, and her mind went blank in an instant as she spat out a mouthful of blood.
Bang!
The woman in white flew backward, crashed into a large tree, and then fell onto the grass, her life and death unknown.
"How dare you!"
A furious shout rang out. Gu An focused his gaze and saw a figure glowing with green light darting toward him at high speed, leaving a string of afterimages along the way.
So fast!
Gu An's eyes could not even keep up with the other party's movement technique. In his panic, he directly unleashed the Gale Absolute Shadow Leg.
He had no actual combat experience. When dealing with the Greed-Hatred Demon Ghost before, he had only flung out a slap. Thus, when facing a formidable opponent, he did not dare engage in close combat at all.
Spiritual power flooded into his right leg. He moved back a step and violently kicked out with his right leg.
With that kick, a gale suddenly rose from level ground and howled toward the green figure.
Within the green light was a sword-wielding man. His pupils abruptly dilated, filled entirely with leg shadows.
Dust billowed as rows upon rows of trees were blasted down. The countless leg shadows, carrying the force to rot and wither all in their path, engulfed the sword-wielding man and swept onward for more than ten zhang with overwhelming momentum.
Gu An withdrew his leg, turned around, and plunged into the darkness.
The forest gradually fell silent. When the dust dispersed, the sword-wielding man could be seen lying motionless on the ground.
At dawn.
Ye Lan emerged from her room. Her gaze habitually turned toward her senior brothers' courtyard, and over the not-too-high wall, she saw their figures.
"They really are diligent. I can't let them leave me in the dust."
Ye Lan thought to herself and hurried over.
Upon entering the courtyard, she quickly walked to Gu An's side and obediently greeted him, "Eldest Senior Brother."
Gu An smiled and nodded at her.
"Eldest Senior Brother, are you going to work today?" Ye Lan asked curiously. Gu An had changed into a set of coarse clothes, his old outfit, which he only wore when harvesting.
Gu An answered, "Yes. I'm planning to find time to go up the mountain this afternoon."
Ye Lan did not think much of it and continued, "A strong wind blew last night. It made me afraid to cultivate, because I feared that disturbed spiritual energy during the process of drawing in qi would affect my circulation. Eldest Senior Brother, I heard Senior Brother Meng say before that you encountered a demonic attack. What was it like then?"
As Gu An watched Xiao Chuan and Lu Jiujia practice the Residual Wind Leg, he described what had happened.
He was always patient, no matter who he was dealing with.
Half an hour later, his junior brothers and sister departed one after another. Gu An welcomed his own time to relax. He lay beneath a tree, holding Travels of the Green Hero in one hand and playing with the White Spirit Mouse in the other, utterly at ease.
At that moment, he kept thinking about the two people he had encountered last night.
He had already held back. He had not killed them, right?
Gu An felt somewhat uneasy. After all, he bore no grudge against those two.
Without enmity, Gu An did not want to kill anyone.
Carrying such worries, Gu An spent a somewhat agonizing day.
The sun set and the moon rose. By noon the next day.
Gu An was standing before the wooden fence reading when he suddenly caught sight of figures at the valley entrance. Looking carefully, he discovered there was more than one person.
A man and a woman!
Gu An secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that they had not died.
Using the Dragon Force Divine Origin Technique, he suppressed his cultivation to the third layer of Qi Refining. He was not afraid of being recognized.
Before long, Cheng Xuandan came out of the pavilion. He quickly walked before the two people and cupped his hands in greeting. Standing before him were a woman in white and a man in blue.
The woman in white had a cool, breathtakingly beautiful face and skin as fair and tender as congealed fat. With almond eyes and willow-leaf brows, she gripped a sword sheath in her right hand. Her entire person exuded a frosty, aloof aura that warned strangers to keep away.
The man in blue was similarly handsome, with a tall, upright figure and a magnificent brocade robe, though his complexion was somewhat pale.
They were both Outer Sect disciples of Taixuan Sect. The man was named Shi Yang, and the woman was named Li Xuanyu.
Facing Cheng Xuandan, Shi Yang smiled and explained why they had come.
After hearing him out, Cheng Xuandan replied, "No one else has come to our Medicine Valley over the past two days."
Cheng Xuandan had lived for a hundred years and experienced all manner of things, so he appeared very calm.
Shi Yang looked toward Medicine Valley and said, "Could you gather your disciples here?"
Cheng Xuandan had no objection. He turned around, sank his qi into his dantian, and called out loudly. Gu An and the others all ran over upon hearing him.
"Xiao Chuan, go drag your Senior Brother Meng out too," Cheng Xuandan instructed.
The moment Xiao Chuan heard this, he immediately turned and ran off to find Meng Lang.
Shi Yang and Li Xuanyu began examining Gu An and the other two. Both of them frowned without saying a word.
Cheng Xuandan remained silent, waiting for Meng Lang to arrive.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Gu An inspected the lifespans of the two Outer Sect disciples. The night before last had been too urgent, and he had not had time to inspect their lifespans at all.
[Li Xuanyu (fourth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm): 24/245/1670] [Shi Yang (fifth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm): 25/298/1304]
Good heavens!
They were both geniuses. They had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm in their twenties, and their maximum lifespans exceeded a thousand years. Li Xuanyu's maximum lifespan was even higher than Li Ya's.
They were both surnamed Li. Could this woman also be from the Imperial Family?
Gu An was secretly alarmed. Fortunately, he had not revealed his identity the night before last.
Not long after, Xiao Chuan arrived with Meng Lang, who wore an irritated expression.
When Shi Yang saw Meng Lang, he narrowed his eyes and transmitted his voice to Li Xuanyu beside him. "Junior Sister Li, this kid's aura is chaotic. There are signs of qi deviation. Although his cultivation is very low, perhaps he is connected to the person we are looking for."
Li Xuanyu stared at Meng Lang, her cool eyes seeming to see right through him.
Meng Lang sensed their gazes. Seeing that they were extraordinarily dressed, he immediately reined in his expression. He lowered his head and stood beside Gu An, with Xiao Chuan close behind him.
Cheng Xuandan spoke up and asked, "The night before last, a mysterious cultivator broke through more than ten li from Medicine Valley. They are suspected to be a spy of the Demonic Path. Have any of you seen anyone else these past few days?"
Good heavens!
Now there was even a spy of the Demonic Path!
Gu An complained inwardly, but his face creased into a frown, revealing a nervous expression.
Meng Lang widened his eyes and cried out, "Could demons be invading again?"
"Again? What do you mean?" Shi Yang stared at Meng Lang and asked.
Meng Lang could not keep his mouth shut and immediately recounted the matter of the Greed-Hatred Demon Ghost. Upon hearing that the matter had even involved an Inner Sect disciple, Shi Yang's expression changed slightly.
This area was this dangerous?
Shi Yang immediately no longer wanted to continue investigating.
Gu An seized the chance to ask, "Seniors, did you encounter that Demonic Path spy? Could you provide us with some clues?"
The others nodded. Upon hearing the words Demonic Path, they all became nervous.
Shi Yang pondered for a moment, then said, "That night was too dark. I only remember that his leg technique was very fast."
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