"Junior Brother Gu, let me introduce you. This is my childhood friend, Zuo Lin. He wants to discuss sword techniques with me, so let him stay in my courtyard," Li Ya said as he came before Gu An and made the introduction.
Zuo Lin wore yellow robes and had a handsome face, but the arrogance between his brows was impossible to conceal. A treasured sword hung at his waist, and one could tell at a glance that it was of no low grade.
Li Ya introduced Gu An to Zuo Lin, but Zuo Lin merely gave Gu An a slight nod without saying anything.
Gu An was not surprised. He smiled and said, "Then Senior Brother Li, take him and get him settled."
Li Ya nodded, apology showing in his eyes.
Zuo Lin pulled Li Ya forward and said excitedly, "Ji Lin of the Ji Family was truly incredible today. Did you see that sword technique of his? It was exquisite beyond measure! I feel he has a chance of becoming the final victor."
Ji Lin?
A handsome, arrogant face surfaced in Gu An's mind. Like him, Ji Lin had entered the Taixuan Sect under Ji Xiaoyu. The two did not interact much, but Du Ye had previously come to collect medicinal herbs for Ji Lin.
Gu An had not expected Ji Lin to have already begun to stand out at the World Outer Sect Assembly. Ji Lin was only a few years older than him.
Of course, it might have something to do with the cultivation resources Ji Lin had obtained. With the Taixuan Sect's treatment combined with the Ji Family's resources, it was understandable for his cultivation to advance a thousand miles in a single day.
Gu An walked toward the tree, but his ears were secretly listening to Li Ya and Zuo Lin's conversation.
The World Outer Sect Assembly had already begun. Outer Sect genius disciples from both the righteous and demonic paths had gathered to contend for superiority. According to Li Ya and Zuo Lin, the assembly used one-on-one matches, and those disciples who kept winning without defeat had begun to make their names known.
Gu An did not hear Ji Xiaoyu's name. On second thought, that made sense. Ji Xiaoyu did not belong to the Outer Sect.
Xiao Chuan, Wuxin, and the others were quite curious about Zuo Lin. They gathered in twos and threes, chattering among themselves.
Zuo Lin's arrival did not disrupt life in Mystic Valley. He was rather disdainful of the Handyman Disciples. He usually practiced swordsmanship with Li Ya, then returned to his room to cultivate once they were done.
Because of their arrival, Gu An reduced the frequency of his visits to Eight Sceneries Grotto-Heaven, though he still persisted with his daily plans.
A month swiftly passed.
Gu An finally reached the ninth layer of the Nascent Soul Realm. That night, his entire body felt light and airy as he made his way back.
When he returned to Mystic Valley, he found someone practicing swordsmanship in Li Ya's courtyard.
He returned to his own loft, only walking to the window to watch after entering his room.
The one practicing the sword was Zuo Lin.
When Zuo Lin had first arrived, Gu An had thought he was a swordsmanship genius.
But after watching him practice every day for a month, Gu An realized that this fellow's talent in the sword was utterly mediocre.
Gu An now possessed a certain degree of attainment in the sword. He could tell that Zuo Lin's swordsmanship talent was not even as good as Su Han's.
Su Han had the strongest swordsmanship talent in the valley, but that was only within Mystic Valley. Outside, it would not amount to much.
Gu An watched for a while before shutting the window.
After dawn, Gu An went downstairs and found Zuo Lin still standing in the courtyard. He stood rooted in place, looking at the sword in his hand with deeply furrowed brows.
Gu An called his junior brothers, junior sisters, and disciples over to practice calisthenics, drawing Zuo Lin's attention.
"Actually, you need not force yourself with sword techniques. Your Spirit Root aptitude is so exceptional. Once your cultivation realm is higher, perhaps practicing the sword then will yield twice the result with half the effort," Li Ya said softly as he came to Zuo Lin's side.
Zuo Lin's expression darkened. "No. I must become a sword cultivator. My father is the Canghu Sword Fanatic!"
Li Ya had wanted to persuade him, but then reconsidered. Was he not the same? They both wanted to prove themselves to their fathers.
Zuo Lin stared intently at Gu An and the others practicing calisthenics. For some reason, he felt that Gu An's movements contained a unique mystery. They were clearly the same movements as everyone else's, yet when Gu An performed them, they seemed to conceal profound secrets.
At first, he thought it was merely an illusion.
But the longer he watched, the more certain he became that he had not been mistaken.
Li Ya did not continue disturbing Zuo Lin. He turned and headed into the mountains and forest. He too needed a great deal of time to cultivate.
Though he did not often mention his defeat to Xu Ruye, it had remained on his mind all along.
He did not want to lose again!
After Gu An finished a set of calisthenics, he had the valley disciples go about their own work. At this point, the valley's affairs no longer required his personal arrangements. Wuxin was gradually taking over the authority of the senior brother.
Xiao Chuan was rather withdrawn by nature and did not like giving orders or making arrangements, so he was willing to let Wuxin have it.
There was no need to mention Ye Lan. She had already gathered her thoughts and was wholeheartedly charging toward the Outer Sect assessment.
For people with ordinary aptitude like them, there was only one path to becoming Outer Sect disciples: reach the ninth layer of Qi Refining, then take part in the Outer Sect assessment. After passing, they could wait for the Outer Sect to distribute Foundation Establishment Pills.
If they directly broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, then no assessment would be needed.
Gu An was considering whether he should improve his Alchemy and help his junior brothers and sisters refine Foundation Establishment Pills. All the ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills could be found in the valley. The difficult part was only the refining process.
Ye Lan was still some distance from the ninth layer of Qi Refining, giving Gu An enough time to weigh the matter. As for Xiao Chuan, he was even farther away.
With most people's aptitude, they could cultivate bitterly for an entire lifetime and still fail to reach the eighth layer of Qi Refining.
Gu An headed toward the loft and took Travels of the Green Hero from his robes, anticipation appearing on his face.
He had deliberately saved the final five chapters, waiting for a day of gentle winds and bright sunshine to savor them.
Amid a torrential downpour, the Green Hero met his Miss Yin in a ruined temple. The love, hatred, grudges, and passions between them were about to erupt completely...
Just thinking about it filled Gu An with anticipation.
"Brother Gu An."
Zuo Lin's voice rang out. Gu An turned and saw him striding over.
When he arrived before Gu An, Zuo Lin looked somewhat embarrassed. Gu An did not hold Zuo Lin's earlier arrogance against him and asked with a smile, "Brother Zuo, do you need something?"
Gritting his teeth, Zuo Lin said, "The set of movements you performed looked quite exquisite to me. Could you teach me?"
"No problem. Let's go beneath the tree," Gu An answered.
Promoting broadcast calisthenics was the unshirkable duty of every son and daughter of Huaxia!
Zuo Lin froze for a moment, not expecting him to be so agreeable. His heart immediately filled with shame, and he hurriedly followed Gu An.
The two came to the courtyard before the loft. Without wasting words, Gu An began teaching him the calisthenics.
Zuo Lin had a photographic memory. Gu An taught it once, and he had learned it.
"That's it?" Zuo Lin asked with a frown.
Gu An asked in confusion, "Not enough? Those are already all the movements."
"What about the mental cultivation method?"
"There is no mental cultivation method."
"Impossible. Without a mental cultivation method, how could you..." Zuo Lin said with a frown.
His words only confused Gu An further, and Gu An could not help asking, "What about me?"
Zuo Lin grew anxious. "It's that you give me a different feeling. They're clearly the same movements, but yours are different from everyone else's. You must have a mental cultivation method..."
Gu An was helpless. Had this kid gone stupid from comprehending the sword?
Seeing Gu An's expression, Zuo Lin became even more embarrassed. Reason told him that a Handyman Disciple could not possibly be hiding some peerless mental cultivation method.
But his earlier feeling could not have been wrong.
Ever since childhood, he had been exceptionally sensitive to judging another person's aptitude and aura. Even his master had praised him for possessing an Exquisite Spirit Heart and being skilled at recognizing people.
This Handyman Disciple before him was definitely not ordinary!
Zuo Lin's eyes rolled as he said, "How about this? I'll teach you swordsmanship. Why don't you give it a try?"
Gu An had wanted to refuse, but judging by the way Zuo Lin looked, he feared it would be difficult to shake him off. He could only nod in agreement.
There was no harm in learning it for free!
Seeing that Gu An had no sword, Zuo Lin took a longsword from his Storage Bag and handed it to him. Then he drew the treasured sword at his waist and began demonstrating his sword technique.
This brat really did not know how to behave!
Why did he have to swing his sword so fast?
Gu An grumbled inwardly, but his eyes watched with great seriousness.
In the distance, Tang Yu and Su Han saw the scene. Neither dared approach, and they could only watch from afar.
"If Master learns it, then won't he be able to teach us?" Su Han said expectantly. He loved the sword most of all. There were countless paths in cultivation, yet only sword cultivation made his heart race with longing.
Tang Yu nodded. "As long as Master learns it, if we ask him, he definitely won't refuse."
In their hearts, Gu An was the best master. The key was whether their master could learn Zuo Lin's sword technique.
The answer was certainly yes. Gu An had invested two thousand years of lifespan into the Li Family Seven Swords, and his attainment in the sword was already very high.
Although Zuo Lin's sword technique seemed decent to him, it was inferior to the advanced version of the Li Family Seven Swords, the Seven Sword Art, let alone the Astonishing Nine Swords.
That made sense. Zuo Lin could not possibly teach his strongest sword technique right from the start.
After Zuo Lin finished demonstrating, he turned to Gu An and asked, "How much did you remember?"
Gu An shook his head. "Maybe twenty percent... I'm not sure either. Your sword technique was too fluid and dazzling; the earlier sword moves have already slipped my mind."
Zuo Lin frowned and immediately had Gu An give it a try.
Thus, Gu An began performing the sword technique Zuo Lin had just demonstrated. His movements were hesitant and his sword moves stiff, making Zuo Lin's brows draw tighter and tighter.
Tang Yu and Su Han, watching from afar, fell into despair. It seemed their master could not learn it after all.
After Gu An finished the technique in a halting, stumbling manner, Zuo Lin refused to give up and demonstrated it once more. This time, his movements were slower, yet Gu An still failed to remember all of it.
After half an hour of this fussing about, Gu An found an excuse to slip away.
Furious, Zuo Lin went to find Li Ya and said that Gu An was making a fool of him.
After learning the reason, Li Ya did not know whether to laugh or cry. "He truly has no talent for the sword, and he hates practicing swordsmanship."
"Really?" Much of Zuo Lin's anger subsided, but he could not help recalling Gu An's posture when he had practiced calisthenics earlier. He still felt that Gu An was hiding something.
"He's my junior brother. How could I not know?"
Li Ya rolled his eyes at him, then warned, "Don't go bothering him again. It's already good enough that I let you stay here. If you keep pestering him, then get the hell back to the Outer Sect and find your father!"
Zuo Lin fell into thought, his gaze unconsciously turning toward the loft where Gu An lived. No one knew what he was thinking.
Elsewhere.
Inside the loft.
Gu An sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes closed as he savored the sword technique Zuo Lin had taught him.
He slowly opened his eyes, and a flash of sword light passed through them.
He called out his Attribute Panel. In the ultimate arts section, "Wood Spirit Sword Technique" had appeared.
Wood Spirit?
Could it be a wood-attribute sword technique?
Gu An's Divine Wood Pure Yang Technique was wood-attribute. If he cultivated wood-attribute spells, he could achieve twice the result with half the effort. Previously, he had learned the Poison Wood Formation taught by Jiang Qiong very quickly.
However, he did not intend to improve this sword technique for the moment. He first had to save up one hundred thousand years of lifespan.
A thousand years had unlocked the Lifespan Inspection function, ten thousand years had unlocked the Longevity Barrier function, and one hundred thousand years of lifespan should unlock a new function as well. He had been looking forward to it all along.
Before you continue