Myriad Gu Profound Technique, Seven Thousand Years of Lifespan

After the cave entrance closed completely, Gu An continued walking along the tunnel.

Relying on his divine sense at the seventh level of Foundation Establishment, Gu An walked as if it were broad daylight, without any obstruction, and the tunnel grew wider the further he went, as if it had no end.

Gu An became even more curious about Cheng Xuandan's master; what kind of extraordinary person could build such a massive underground tunnel system?

The tunnel wound downward, and after traveling over ten miles, Gu An still had not reached the end.

He could now confirm that the space beneath the stone slab was connected to this underground tunnel network.

A gust of spiritual wind drifted from the tunnel ahead, brushing against Gu An's face and leaving him feeling refreshed and relaxed.

Light began to appear in the tunnel ahead; he saw crystals of various colors embedded in the cave walls. Gu An sensed them carefully, only to be deeply disappointed to find they were not spirit stones.

If they had all been spirit stones, he would have made a fortune!

Gu An thought to himself as he pressed forward.

His senses remained on high alert. Although Cheng Xuandan had treated him extremely well until the very end, the moment he recalled how Cheng Xuandan had dealt with Meng Lang, he dared not be careless.

What if Cheng Xuandan had been putting on an act?

After walking for another few miles, Gu An saw the tunnel ahead become very bright, and he heard the sound of water.

He had reached the exit!

Gu An crept forward cautiously. He arrived at the opening and looked out into the underground space ahead, his eyes widening.

"I really hit the jackpot..."

Gu An muttered to himself, his eyes filled with pleasant surprise.

Following his gaze, he saw a vast underground space, several times larger than Mystic Valley. From the ground to the ceiling, it spanned over a hundred zhang. A giant tree over a hundred meters tall stood in the center, its trunk thick enough to require a dozen people to encircle it. Its branches and leaves were not particularly dense, but it bore fruit that looked like lanterns, crystalline throughout and glowing with a blue light.

Beneath the tree was a lush meadow, and nearby, an underground river two zhang wide flowed along the edge of the space, hugging the mountain wall.

[Azure Vine Tree (Seventh-tier): 245/9999/87600]

Eighty-seven thousand years of maximum lifespan!

Nearly ten thousand years of current lifespan!

Seeing this prompt, Gu An was suddenly struck by the urge to pull the tree out, but he restrained himself.

According to Cheng Xuandan, this seventh-tier spirit tree was the key to the underground formation. By presiding over the entire array, it allowed other heavenly treasures to grow freely, while the spiritual energy gathered by those treasures in turn fueled the formation, which then nourished the seventh-tier spirit tree.

If he pulled out the Azure Vine Tree, Gu An would lose a planting site with immense potential.

At the same time, this place could serve as his cave dwelling. The formations set up by Cheng Xuandan's master were incredibly elaborate; cultivating and breaking through here would ensure that no disturbances leaked out.

Gu An scanned the area and noticed unique stone statues embedded in the cave walls in every direction. There were dozens of them, and between the statues were special, profound, and mysterious runes.

He stepped out of the tunnel entrance. As soon as he entered, he caught sight of a stone tablet standing to the side, inscribed with four characters:

Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven!

Gu An glanced at it and continued walking into the Grotto-Heaven.

Along the way, he frantically used his lifespan to investigate.

There were third-tier and fourth-tier spirit herbs and flowers everywhere. The closer he got to the Azure Vine Tree, the higher the grade of the herbs, leaving him dazzled.

With such a massive treasury hidden here, how could Cheng Xuandan fail to reach Foundation Establishment?

Gu An didn't know whether to pity Cheng Xuandan for his poor aptitude or for his insufficient Alchemy skills.

Even if his Alchemy skills were lacking, he could have sold some herbs to exchange for spirit stones, or asked an alchemist from the Taixuan Sect to refine pills for him.

In Gu An's view, for a sect like the Taixuan Sect, if one truly needed resources, it shouldn't be difficult to pile up enough to create a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Of course, there was another possibility: Cheng Xuandan was afraid of his identity being exposed.

Gu An walked to the base of the Azure Vine Tree. Standing beneath it, he could feel the vast, ancient atmosphere and the vibrant vitality of the tree even more intensely.

He circled the Azure Vine Tree once and noticed that the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven had more than one entrance—eight in total.

He suspected that one of these entrances connected to the stone slab he had discovered earlier.

He had no intention of exploring the other entrances for the time being. He turned around, took the Record of Hundred Herbs out of his Storage Bag, and began to cross-reference them one by one.

If they were already mature, he would harvest them immediately!

He could take the harvested herbs to the outer sect to exchange for more high-grade seeds for sustainable development!

Just thinking about it made Gu An excited.

Half an hour flew by. Gu An had already harvested over 130 third-tier herbs, frantically reaping over 900 years of lifespan, which pushed his total lifespan past the 5,000-year mark.

The identity of this demonic spy was worth it!

Gu An was in high spirits. The Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven was planted with a vast number of herbs; he had only harvested one-tenth of them so far, and only the lowest-grade ones at that.

From now on, this would be his cave dwelling, his secret base!

Just as Gu An was about to bend down to harvest the next herb, he suddenly heard a noise. He immediately turned around, his gaze fixed on a distant tunnel entrance.

The entrance was pitch black, looking eerie and terrifying.

Gu An moved to the side.

The grass field was not entirely composed of medicinal herbs; there were ordinary weeds as well. He suspected a battle was about to break out, so he had to move, ensuring the conflict wouldn't affect his herbs.

Those were his lifeblood!

Gu An walked toward the underground river, his gaze fixed firmly on the cave entrance.

Soon, the sounds of footsteps and heavy, labored breathing emerged from within the cave, as if a wild beast were about to charge out.

A foot stepped out from the darkness. When Gu An saw the true face of the person emerging from the cave, he couldn't help but frown.

It was actually Meng Lang!

At this moment, Meng Lang's hair was disheveled and his clothes were in tatters. He was barefoot, his neck covered in bloody veins. His face was bright red, as if it had been scalded, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was exhaling white mist from his mouth.

"Roar—"

Meng Lang let out a roar at Gu An and lunged toward him violently.

His speed was incredibly fast, and he closed the distance to Gu An rapidly.

Gu An did not retreat; instead, he stepped forward to meet the charge.

The distance between the two closed in an instant, kicking up grass clippings along the way.

Meng Lang leaped into the air, attempting to tackle Gu An. Gu An shifted his body to the side and delivered a knee strike to his abdomen, sending him flying back.

Gu An's brow furrowed even deeper; his right leg actually felt a bit numb.

Good grief!

How did Meng Lang become so tough?

Gu An felt that even the Greed-Hatred Demon Ghost wasn't as hard as this. Although he hadn't used his full strength or channeled his spiritual power, he could make a rough judgment.

The reason he had held back his strength was to see if Meng Lang could still be saved.

He shook his right leg and charged at Meng Lang once more.

Meng Lang tumbled onto the grass, seemingly oblivious to pain, and immediately scrambled up to pounce on Gu An again.

Gu An planted his right foot forward, forcing his body to a halt, then lifted his left leg. Channeling his spiritual power into it, he unleashed the Gale Absolute Shadow Leg.

A fierce wind rose from the ground as a flurry of leg shadows landed one after another on Meng Lang, sending him flying once more. After hitting the ground, he rolled a dozen times before finally coming to a stop.

His limbs were visibly twisted. He tried to crawl up, but collapsed the next second, his forehead slamming heavily into the grass.

Gu An retracted his leg, a look of curiosity appearing on his face.

Is the Medicine Gu of Cheng Xuandan really this powerful?

To have such a formidable physique at just the first rank—it felt no less impressive than the Greed-Hatred Demon Ghost!

How could Cheng Xuandan possibly compare to the great cultivator behind the Greed-Hatred Demon Ghost?

Gu An became increasingly certain that Cheng Xuandan had hidden something, likely related to his master.

He walked up to Meng Lang and looked down at his body, which was as hideous as a demon's. He fell into hesitation, unsure of how to handle the situation.

He's already dead anyway, why should I care about his identity while he was alive?

Gu An's eyes flickered. Dust and grass clippings around his feet began to swirl slowly, a sign that he was circulating his energy.

Just then!

Gu An spotted the corner of a book peeking out from Meng Lang's chest. He immediately reached out, using his spiritual power to pull it through the air, and the book flew into his hand.

"Myriad Gu Profound Technique..."

Gu An read aloud softly. He flipped through it briefly; it was a cultivation manual, and a fragmentary one at that, with a clear gap in the content on the final page.

Beyond the initial cultivation methods, it also recorded five types of Gu techniques, each accompanied by illustrations. He compared them and eventually identified the Gu technique that had afflicted Meng Lang.

Flame Corpse Gu!

"The afflicted body nurtures flame energy, the flesh becomes as hard as deep rock, and strength becomes boundless... there is no cure, no technique to resolve it, until the body is ground to dust..."

After reading, Gu An couldn't help but look at Meng Lang, a look of sympathy in his eyes.

How truly pitiful.

The Myriad Gu Profound Technique recorded a method to suppress the Flame Corpse Gu: one only needed to cover the seven orifices to prevent the Gu worm from consuming spiritual energy, which would force the worm into a state of suspended animation, rendering the host unable to move.

He immediately used mud to seal Meng Lang's seven orifices, then stood up and looked toward the cave entrance where Meng Lang had emerged.

He did not go to explore immediately. Instead, he tucked the Myriad Gu Profound Technique into his Storage Bag and turned back to continue harvesting his herbs.

Even if Cheng Xuandan's master were still alive, the fact that they hadn't attacked him, a Qi Refining cultivator, meant they either lacked the intent to kill or were unable to act. If that were the case, why should he alert the enemy?

The more time that passed, the more advantageous it was for Gu An.

Half an hour later.

Gu An left the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven, feeling satisfied. His lifespan had reached an astonishing seven thousand years!

He had harvested all the third-rank herbs that were ready. Next, he would need to sow seeds; it would take many years for the new seeds to mature.

Once the third-rank herbs were harvested, it would be time to harvest the fourth-rank ones!

To prevent the ecosystem of the formation from being destroyed, Gu An did not harvest all the mature herbs at once. Harvesting some and planting some—this was the only way to ensure sustainable and effective development!

Furthermore, even if the herbs reached maturity, they could be left alone; the longer they lived, the more lifespan they could provide. Of course, there was a certain threshold to this, which Gu An was still observing.

Early the next morning, the new master of Mystic Valley, Gu An, stepped out of his room and immediately urged his junior brothers to come out.

After hearing Xiao Chuan's response, he walked toward Ye Lan's courtyard.

"Junior Sister, it's time to come out," Gu An called out.

"Coming, Senior Brother."

Ye Lan answered promptly, showing more enthusiasm than the junior brothers.

Before long, everyone was standing before Gu An.

Gu An scanned them all and smiled, "Congratulations, you will all become junior uncles soon. Once I recruit chore disciples, they will be my disciples and your nephews."

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone became excited and began eagerly discussing the future. No one mentioned Cheng Xuandan; it wasn't that they were heartless, but rather that they had agreed among themselves not to bring up Cheng Xuandan for the next month.

After offering a few words of encouragement, Gu An began leading his junior brothers and sister in their exercises to loosen their limbs. Afterward, he still had to head to the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven to plant flowers and herbs.

Life was about to get busy!

Thanks to Xiangyan Jiecao for the 500 Qidian coin tip, Fierce Dragon for the 100 Qidian coin tip, and Creation Golden Lotus for the 100 Qidian coin tip~~

Updates are at 0:00 and 12:00 daily, totaling six thousand words. Please stop chasing me for mass releases; I've only been publishing this book for a week! I'll mass release once it hits the shelves~~

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