Longevity Is No Dream, Daggers Revealed at the End

Upon entering the Training Ground, Chen Mo found that the strange atmosphere he had sensed earlier immediately dissipated. Everything seemed just as it had been when they had gotten along before.

Deng Qi and the other two instructors offered no explanation. Instead, they even joined forces to spar with Chen Mo for several hundred moves.

Yet after the fight, Chen Mo, who had been paying especially close attention to them, still caught the fleetingly complicated expressions on their faces.

The three old hands revealed no major flaws, and nothing unusual could be seen. But the eighteen-year-old direct descendant named Guo Xin clearly lacked deep scheming and such a calculating mind. During their conversation, she accidentally let something slip:

"Master Chen, why hadn't you been willing to get to know Sister Wanxuan better back then? Now it's great—she's going to find someone else."

"Guo Xin!" Guo Mingxuan barked sternly.

He looked over apologetically. "Master Chen, my apologies. Guo Xin was speaking nonsense. She meant no offense."

"It's fine." Chen Mo did not mind.

He glanced, seemingly unintentionally, at the panic-stricken Guo Xin.

What she had said caught his attention. Guo Wanxuan was going to find someone else—she was probably going to enter a marriage alliance.

Who would this someone else be?

Judging by these people's behavior, this someone else seemed to have some connection to Chen Mo.

Especially since Deng Qi and the others had ended today's instruction at least half an hour early, and said that Guo Mingxuan and the others would be leaving on business for the next Five days, so Chen Mo would not need to come over. That made him even more certain of his guess.

This definitely had something to do with him!

It would most likely have adverse consequences as well.

Otherwise, these people would not be acting like this.

The crux of the matter probably lay with the person Guo Wanxuan had chosen.

Through constant exposure and deliberate inquiries during this period, Chen Mo had roughly come to understand the power structure of Hequ County. He knew that the Guo Family and Yu Family had an extremely tense relationship, nearly at the point of wiping each other out.

The ones who had previously sent two Divine Strength Realm Martial Artists to kill him were the Yu Family!

Under such circumstances, if the Guo Family truly wanted a marriage alliance, they could probably only seek out the authorities or the Fan Family.

But Chen Mo seemed to have no dealings whatsoever with either faction. By all logic, he should not be implicated.

"Could it be a marriage alliance with someone from Fierce Tiger or the True Martial Arts School?"

The moment this thought arose, Chen Mo rejected it. Those two martial arts schools avoided great families like the plague, unwilling to be dragged into the whirlpool of power struggles and profit-seeking. How could they possibly marry into the Guo Family through one of its direct-descendant women? Absolutely impossible.

Chen Mo truly could not figure out what this had to do with him.

"Could it be because I rejected Guo Wanxuan?" Chen Mo felt a little headache coming on.

This unknown danger displeased him greatly and even made him somewhat restless.

Thus, Chen Mo decided to keep digging tonight. If the situation turned bad, he would run at once.

In truth, that was exactly what he did.

He did not need to teach those Young Masters and Ladies for the next Five days, which suited him just fine. He welcomed the peace and quiet. Aside from cultivation, Chen Mo could spend more time digging, quickly extending the passage to the Bamboo forest.

Moreover, once the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique could undergo an Epiphany, he would immediately do so, hoping to rapidly raise his combat strength.

Thus, Chen Mo accumulated four opportunities for Epiphany before finally using them on the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique.

The progress from one Epiphany at a time was simply too slow. This time, he decided to save up more before using them, to see how effective it would be.

A few breaths later, the Epiphany ended...

"The Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique has reached the Proficient level, but merely rising from Initiation to the Proficient Realm still isn't enough for me to break through to the Divine Valor Realm."

He was somewhat disappointed. It had taken a full four Epiphanies merely to raise the technique to the Proficient level. It could be predicted that if Chen Mo wanted to raise this technique to the Perfection Realm, he would likely need around twenty Epiphanies.

This experiment also proved one thing: there seemed to be no difference in effect between undergoing Epiphanies one by one and using several at once.

Since that was the case, Chen Mo decided that from now on, he would directly use an Epiphany on this technique every day until it reached the Perfection Realm.

When his safety could not be fully guaranteed, every additional bit of strength meant an additional bit of safety.

While gnawing on jerky, Chen Mo felt the changes brought about by his Proficient-level Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique and summoned his status panel along the way...

[Chen Mo]

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 15/160

Aptitude: Latent Dragon in the Abyss

Skills: Archery (Perfect Accomplishment), Tracking (Initiation), Culinary Arts (Initiation), Excavation (Proficient)

Techniques: Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique (Proficient), Fierce Tiger Fist (Perfect Accomplishment), Flying Swallow Steps (Initiation), Wind Slaying Blade (Initiation), Silver Armor Technique (Perfect Accomplishment), Qi Concealing Art (Initiation)

Realm: Body Tempering (Divine Strength Realm)

Enlightenment Count: 0

First was his Lifespan. It had increased by as much as seventeen years. At this rate, so long as the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique could keep advancing, Longevity truly would not be a dream.

Mentally, Chen Mo could clearly sense that his perception had become ever sharper and clearer, while his energy was also extremely abundant.

As for his body, his strength had clearly improved. According to the characteristics of the Health Cultivation Technique, what it mainly improved should be endurance. It also had the effect of improving one's physique and aptitude. He could not feel those aspects for the time being, though; he would have to test them in practice to know.

After carefully examining the information on the panel, Chen Mo closed it and sighed inwardly.

I wonder how much longer I can live such peaceful days. I probably won't last until the day the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique reaches Perfect Accomplishment.

Once the weakness and hunger in his body faded, Chen Mo stopped eating Exotic Beast Jerky and continued digging.

With his current strength, digging was truly effortless. Even if he encountered massive boulders, he could easily move them aside.

Still, to avoid being discovered, he was extremely careful with his movements.

After staying awake all night, the passage leading to the Bamboo forest was finally complete.

Chen Mo trusted his instincts. Judging by Deng Qi and the others' reactions, Guo Wanxuan's matter definitely concerned him—and not in a good way.

"It's about time to leave." Determination flickered in Chen Mo's eyes.

With his current strength, even going out into the wilderness should not pose much of a problem. He was strong enough to protect himself.

He only did not know whether he would have the "good fortune" of encountering those legendary Eerie Monsters.

"Probably not. Hequ County is so remote. Other than Exotic Beasts, there have hardly been any incidents of Demonic Anomalies killing people. It should be safe, right? I just hope the authorities and great families aren't covering up such information." Unease rose in Chen Mo's heart.

But he had no other choice.

Another two days passed. At noon today, he was to return to the Training Hall to teach Guo Mingxuan and the others, but Chen Mo discovered that the maid who had always attended to him had been replaced by a man.

"Why is it you today?" Chen Mo asked as if it did not matter.

The man replied respectfully, "Xiao Qing fell ill today, so I am serving in her place."

"Fine, I understand. You may leave now." Chen Mo waved a hand, wearing an unconcerned expression.

The man did not linger. He bowed and departed, even closing the door for Chen Mo.

Once the man's footsteps had faded into the distance, Chen Mo habitually took out a Silver Needle and tested every dish one by one. There were four pieces of Exotic Beast Meat, and he examined each of them, only to find that one piece turned the Silver Needle black in an instant.

"Poison!" Chen Mo narrowed his eyes slightly.

After being in the Guo Family for so long, the Guo Family had never made a move against him and had even treated him exceptionally well. It seemed they had done so only to deceive him and lower his guard.

Today, the map was exhausted, and the dagger was revealed.

"What are you trying to achieve?" Chen Mo could not understand.

Either they should strike directly, or sincerely recruit him. Those were the only two options he could think of.

Yet the Guo Family had hesitated for so many days...

It could only be said that people from great families thought far too much.

At the same time, Chen Mo was extremely curious what circumstances had made the Guo Family resolve to act against him.

With his strength, if the Guo Family wanted to keep him, they would likely have to expend no small effort. The price they paid would certainly be considerable as well.

"I'll probably find out later."

Without eating the food delivered today, Chen Mo took a few bites of Exotic Beast Jerky, rose, and went to the bedside. He entered the tunnel and restored the stone slab to its original position.

It was time to leave...