Within the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven, the glow of the Azure Vine Tree's fruits shone upon the cave walls. The rippling reflections of the underground river also danced across the walls, making the grotto-heaven tranquil and exquisitely beautiful.
Gu An walked beneath the Azure Vine Tree, turned around with his hands on his hips, and looked over the area he had cultivated. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
No pain, no gain!
Cultivating immortality and farming were the romance he sought!
All that fighting, killing, scheming, and intrigue—stay far away from him!
Gu An indulged in his own satisfaction as his gaze drifted elsewhere.
He wanted to build a pavilion within the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven, somewhere he could occasionally hide away and rest in the future.
He was still young now, but after fifty or sixty years, he could learn from Cheng Xuandan—let his eldest disciple handle all the affairs while he enjoyed life himself.
Still, it was too early to speak of an eldest disciple. Medicine Valley was his foundation, and he had to find the right person. It was not as though whoever became his first disciple could oversee everything.
All sorts of plans surfaced in Gu An's mind.
First, he had to cultivate a deputy valley master!
Xiao Chuan was worth considering. His aptitude was poor, and he was honest too; it was just that he was too blunt in speech and manner.
Lu Jiujia would sooner or later enter the Outer Sect, so he was ruled out directly.
Ye Lan...
No. He had to send her away early, lest she ruin his Dao Heart.
As for Wuxin, he would keep watching!
He also had to recruit more disciples!
As Gu An pondered, he raised his head.
He was very curious about the Azure Vine Tree's fruits. Some heavenly treasures took the form of fruits—if he picked an Azure Vine Tree fruit by itself, would it yield lifespan?
No sooner thought than done!
Gu An leaped into the air, reached up to seize a fruit, and tore it off.
He landed on the grass and examined the fruit in his hand. It was as large as a pumpkin. He weighed it in his palm and estimated that it was seven or eight jin.
Gu An took out a strip of Spirit Protection Paper from his Storage Bag and wrapped the fruit's long stem, preventing spiritual energy from leaking out and its nutrients from being lost.
These were all money!
After roughly ten breaths, a line of text appeared before him:
[You successfully seized 85 years of lifespan from an Azure Vine Fruit (sixth grade)]
Good heavens!
Eighty-five years of lifespan!
The way Gu An looked at the Azure Vine Tree changed.
This was a damn money tree!
He absolutely could not pull it out!
He had to let it live out its natural lifespan and pamper it from now on!
Gu An grew excited. He tossed the Azure Vine Fruit in his hand into his Storage Bag, then counted the fruits on the Azure Vine Tree. There were sixteen Azure Vine Fruits as large as the one before; the smaller ones could not be touched.
He immediately got to work.
Some Azure Vine Fruits were high up, so he had to climb the tree to reach them.
At that moment, he yearned desperately for the Sword Flight Technique.
Those in the Foundation Establishment Realm could not fly through the air directly, and he had no other means of flying or hovering.
After struggling for a long time, Gu An finally succeeded in picking all sixteen Azure Vine Fruits, gaining a total of one thousand three hundred and sixty years of lifespan.
His total lifespan had now reached eight thousand four hundred years!
He was getting closer and closer to the ten-thousand-year mark!
Forget it!
Strike while the iron was hot!
Once he reached ten thousand years, he could spend lifespan on cultivation, then investigate the other seven cave entrances. After figuring them out, he could sweep away every hidden danger and enjoy peaceful days!
Once Gu An had a plan, he put it into action.
There were countless medicinal herbs in the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven. He harvested while watching his Attribute Panel, intending to stop as soon as he reached ten thousand years of lifespan.
Half an hour later.
A prompt appeared before Gu An.
[Your lifespan has surpassed ten thousand years for the first time. Longevity Barrier function unlocked.] [Longevity Barrier: Consume lifespan to activate a Longevity Barrier, which can shield against all spying, perception, and divination. The lifespan consumed is determined by your cultivation aura and the spiritual energy required.]
Longevity Barrier?
The moment he saw the words "consume lifespan," Gu An frowned. Was this not demanding his life?
But after reading the explanation that followed, he was instantly overjoyed.
His breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Realm had already caused such a huge commotion. What would happen when he broke through to higher realms?
If this went on, he would eventually alarm the entire Taixuan Sect. Gu An had worried about this before.
Now, he was no longer afraid!
This function was ridiculously cautious!
I like it!
Gu An laughed as he walked toward the cave entrance.
Once he broke through to the Golden Core Realm, he would investigate the other cave entrances.
Although the Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven had a Formation, there might be dangers within the grotto-heaven, so he decided to break through outside. It was also the perfect chance to test the Longevity Barrier.
No matter what was lurking in the shadows, he did not fear it!
By the time Gu An returned to Medicine Valley, it was already deep into the night.
He had moved into the pavilion where Cheng Xuandan had once lived. There were also many cultivation manuals, pill formulas, and strange books hidden here, which he would read through one by one in the future.
After entering the room, Gu An came before a wooden cabinet. This cabinet was made from special wood that could preserve the spiritual energy of heavenly treasures as much as possible. Cheng Xuandan had explained this before, and there were several more such cabinets.
He took out all the Azure Vine Fruits and placed them inside the cabinet.
He suddenly thought of something, took out another Azure Vine Fruit, and placed it on the table.
He sat before the table, pulled the Secret History of the Thousand Autumn Pavilion from his robes, and read quietly.
It was not until the latter half of the night that the White Spirit Mouse finally returned.
It ran all the way onto Gu An's shoulder, its tiny eyes fixed tightly on the Azure Vine Fruit on the table.
Gu An gently picked it up and placed it on the table, then waited for it to act.
The White Spirit Mouse walked up to the Azure Vine Fruit and sniffed it. Then it climbed onto the fruit and began nibbling at it softly.
Gu An did not know what wondrous effect the Azure Vine Fruit possessed. The Record of Hundred Herbs contained no heavenly treasures above the fifth grade, so he could only test it on the White Spirit Mouse.
He let the White Spirit Mouse choose for itself. It was a spirit beast—if the Azure Vine Fruit was poisonous, it should be able to smell it.
If it could not smell it, Gu An would give it a grand burial.
The Azure Vine Fruit was ten times larger than the White Spirit Mouse, making it very difficult for the mouse to chew. Gu An did not help it.
Waiting around was boring. He might as well break through tonight!
Gu An stood up and left the pavilion, slipping out of Mystic Valley without anyone noticing. He headed west, crossing mountains and ridges, traveling nearly twenty li.
He first leaped to the top of a large tree and surveyed all directions. Only after confirming that there were no cultivators in sight and no traces of their auras did he go to a patch of grass in the mountains and sit down to meditate.
It had been a long time since he had spent lifespan. He was actually looking forward to it.
With the Longevity Barrier, Gu An could safely evolve his cultivation this time.
"Let's invest a thousand years and test the waters first."
Gu An thought lavishly. With ten thousand years of lifespan at his disposal, what was the big deal about investing a thousand years at once?
It was just a drizzle!
He invested one thousand years of lifespan into his cultivation for simulated practice.
[You cultivated by absorbing qi for thirty years. Your cultivation broke through to the eighth layer of the Foundation Establishment Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for one hundred years. Your cultivation broke through to the Ninth-layer Foundation Establishment Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for one hundred and fifty years. With your great mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcibly charged into the Golden Core Realm and began undergoing tribulation. You failed to endure the minor heavenly tribulation. Tribulation failed.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for two hundred years. With your great mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcibly charged into the Golden Core Realm and began undergoing tribulation. You failed to endure the minor heavenly tribulation. Tribulation failed.] ... [You cultivated by absorbing qi for four hundred and fifty years. With your great mastery of the Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique, you forcibly charged into the Golden Core Realm and began undergoing tribulation. You successfully endured the minor heavenly tribulation, condensed a Golden Pill, and entered the Golden Core Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for five hundred years. Your cultivation broke through to the second layer of the Golden Core Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for six hundred years. Your cultivation broke through to the third layer of the Golden Core Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for seven hundred and twenty years. Your cultivation broke through to the fourth layer of the Golden Core Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for eight hundred and fifty years. Your cultivation broke through to the Fifth-layer Golden Core Realm.] [You cultivated by absorbing qi for one thousand years. Your cultivation broke through to the sixth layer of the Golden Core Realm.]
Line after line of prompts frantically flashed before Gu An's eyes.
When he saw that the first six tribulations had failed, Gu An nearly could not catch his breath. That was far too unlucky!
Was undergoing tribulation really that difficult?
As the final prompt appeared, Gu An's body began circulating its technique on its own. He immediately sensed that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was about to erupt, and quickly activated the Longevity Barrier.
[Longevity Barrier activated. Lifespan consumed: 0 years.]
This prompt hovered directly before him. When the spiritual energy of heaven and earth poured into his body, the number zero immediately changed to one.
"I hope it doesn't consume too much..."
Gu An silently prayed.
As vast spiritual energy from heaven and earth rushed madly into his body, he felt incomparably clear and unblocked, overwhelmed by an indescribable exhilaration.
This time, he had not moved while breaking through, so he could not feel any pain.
With him at the center, streams of air appeared across the ground, converging from every direction and drilling into his body. Faintly, an invisible dome of qi could be seen, nearly five zhang in diameter.
Gu An looked beyond the barrier. Outside it, there was not even the slightest gust of wind. The flowers, grass, and trees were all calm, clearly unaffected by him.
He immediately grew curious. Why was there no impact?
He soon understood.
Once the barrier opened, the spiritual energy he absorbed during cultivation came from underground.
Now he was completely at ease.
Before long, his cultivation reached the Ninth-layer Foundation Establishment Realm, while the barrier had consumed five years of lifespan, which pained him somewhat.
This thing was too expensive!
It reminded him of playing certain mobile games in his previous life.
One word: ruthless!
Just as Gu An was silently complaining, he suddenly spotted a glow above the distant mountain forest. He narrowed his eyes and looked over, vaguely seeing cultivators engaged in battle.
Ten li away.
Above the mountain forest, Shi Yang swung his sword, unleashing wave after wave of Sword Qi. Like a gale sweeping through the woods, it swept outward as leaves whirled chaotically through the air.
Li Ya, dressed in black, stood atop a tree. He raised his sword before him, and a powerful force burst from his body, forming a pale golden bell-shaped phantom that blocked all of Shi Yang's Sword Qi.
Shi Yang's black hair danced wildly in the fierce wind. A savage and arrogant grin covered his face as he laughed loudly. "Li Ya, is that all you can do? With just you, you want to fight His Highness the Fourth Prince? Do you think you can enter the Inner Sect alive?"
Li Ya's expression was cold as his gaze flicked toward Mystic Valley.
No!
If this continued, it would alarm the people of Medicine Valley.
Li Ya did not wish to bring trouble to Gu An and the others. He immediately thrust his sword out, shattering the Sword Qi, then flew in the direction opposite Mystic Valley. Shi Yang pursued relentlessly. The two rode their swords away, swiftly vanishing into the end of the night sky.
From within the Longevity Barrier, Gu An could not make out the cultivators fighting in the distance. Fortunately, those flashes of light disappeared.
He did not dare relax. The Longevity Barrier could block spying, perception, and divination, but it did not say that he would completely vanish. What if someone stumbled in by accident?
Time rapidly passed amid Gu An's unease.
A Golden Pill began to condense within his body!
When the lifespan consumed by the Longevity Barrier exceeded fifty years, he successfully formed his core!
Though the Longevity Barrier consumed a great deal, it was still within what Gu An could accept.
Before beginning, he had worried whether this thing might be too much of a scam and drain him dry in one go.
Now, his concerns vanished like smoke.
Another thought arose in his mind.
He had reached the sixth layer of the Golden Core Realm in just one thousand years. Should he keep spending?
Gu An: Brothers, please send monthly votes and recommendation votes! Also, what do you think—should I spend more or not?
Before you continue