Chapter 6: The Very Fat Outer Sect Disciple

Gu An caught the secret manual and felt a subtle sensation in his heart. He had known Li Ya was going to leave, but hearing it made him unexpectedly reluctant.

In Medicine Valley, he had only two friends, after all, he didn't have much to talk about with Cheng Xuan Pill and Zhang Chunqiu.

Li Ya was much better than Meng Lang, who was just an animal!

"Are you going to establish your foundation?" Gu An asked.

He had used the Life Span Detection to see that Li Ya's cultivation level had already reached the 9th floor of the Qi Cultivation Realm, a remarkably fast breakthrough.

Could it be that there was a great master in the woods advising him?

Or was it that Li Ya had the soul of an old man who had suffered persecution hidden within him?

Li Ya nodded and said, "I plan to establish my foundation next month."

He paused and said earnestly, "After this departure, I'm afraid we may not meet again. Don't be too submissive to Meng Lang in Medicine Valley. He will take advantage of that, and eventually, Medicine Valley will surely have other disciples. As an older brother, you need to have your own temper…"

Gu An was speechless. How had he been lectured by two different people in one day?

But compared to Du Ye, Li Ya was more sincere.

Gu An suddenly felt a bit of reluctance.

From childhood, he had walked on thin ice in the Ji Family, never having true friends, only those he deliberately tried to please. He had never had a friend who would give him gifts like Li Ya.

He understood that Li Ya's words would come true, and this departure might be for life.

Gu An couldn't help but say, "You too, don't be as reckless as before. Staying alive is most important. If you can jump from being a servant disciple to being on the verge of foundation establishment in less than two years, your talent must be top-notch. As long as you live, you will certainly become a top Great Cultivator renowned across the world."

Hearing this, Li Ya smiled.

The two of them stood in the courtyard chatting. After a while, Meng Lang came back and was also saddened to learn of Li Ya's departure.

Eventually, Li Ya left anyway. After bidding farewell to Gu An, he went to visit Cheng Xuan Pill, and finally, Zhang Chunqiu took him away from Medicine Valley.

The winter snow hadn't completely melted, making Medicine Valley quite desolate.

In his spare time, Gu An began practicing the Sword Manual given by Li Ya. He didn't aim high; he didn't aim to master it, but at least to be proficient and ensure it appeared on his attribute panel.

It took time for cultivation techniques and secret manuals to appear on the attribute panel. Gu An didn't want to find himself unable to cultivate in critical moments because he ran out of time.

The Sword Manual given by Li Ya was called 'Li Family Seven Swords,' a very ordinary name, but Gu An knew that this Li Family represented the Tai Cang Imperial Dynasty, so he practiced diligently.

As winter turned to spring, vibrant life spread throughout Medicine Valley.

After Li Ya's departure, Zhang Chunqiu brought back a person, a 14-year-old boy named Xiaochuan.

Xiaochuan was a reclusive boy who seldom interacted with Gu An and Meng Lang after entering Medicine Valley. After Gu An helped him gather medicinal herbs several times, Xiaochuan became fond of Gu An, and they began to talk more, though Xiaochuan was still generally a man of few words.

Summer arrived, and Gu An learned from the attribute panel that he had turned 17 years old.

Throughout his life, he had never known his exact birthday and didn't care about it.

Rather than his birthday, Gu An looked forward to when he could collect tier three medicinal herbs.

Most of the medicinal herbs in Medicine Valley only allowed for harvest every few years, so his lifespan growth rate was not increasing continuously and had recently started to slow down.

One day.

Zhang Chunqiu found Gu An.

"Junior Brother Gu, I have a task here with not a small reward. Would you like to accept it?" Zhang Chunqiu asked cheerfully.

Gu An raised an eyebrow. There were tasks within Medicine Valley?

He stifled his reluctance and asked, "Senior Brother, what is the task?"

"There's an Outer Disciple who is about to leave for training and won't return for two years. The task is to help him look after the medicinal herbs in his Cave Mansion. When he returns, he will reward you with ten Middle-Grade Spirit Stones," Zhang Chunqiu explained with a smile.

Gu An was immediately tempted.

Spirit Stones were ranked from low to high as Lower Grade, Middle Grade, Upper Grade, and Supreme Grade, each tier being a hundred times more valuable than the one below. A Middle-Grade Spirit Stone was equivalent to one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and Gu An's monthly salary was just one Low-Grade Spirit Stone. This task was equivalent to gaining a thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones in two years. How could he not be tempted?

Gu An hesitated and asked, "Is that senior trustworthy?"

Zhang Chunqiu was taken aback and then laughed heartily, looking approvingly at Gu An as he said, "Good, Junior Brother Gu, you are cautious. Rest assured, that person is an old friend of mine. We entered the Supreme Sect the same year. The reason I chose you is that you are diligent and honest. I wouldn't trust Meng Lang with this, and also, his Cave Mansion is not far from our Medicine Valley, only about a dozen miles away. You just need to visit it twice a month."

Gu An hesitated for a while but eventually agreed.

For the past half month, there hadn't been an opportunity to collect medicinal herbs, and watching his lifespan not increase made him uncomfortable. He missed the feeling of earlier times when he could extend his lifespan.

The Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill could only add a year to his lifespan each month. If it wasn't for his longing for the Golden Finger that stole lifespan, he would have been quite satisfied, but now, he was greedy.

Moreover, it was unclear how long the lifespan-increasing effect of Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill could last; after all, everything has a limit.

Zhang Chunqiu, seeing his agreement, directly led him out of the valley.

Gu An hadn't left Medicine Valley in two years and felt a bit nervous actually stepping out.

As he walked out of the valley, what captured his gaze was the continuous mountains and woods, sunlight sprinkling through the trees and forming circles of rainbow light, which was particularly beautiful.

Zhang Chunqiu patted his waist and pulled a long sword from his storage pouch. Grabbing Gu An's arm, he leaped up and landed on the sword, following with Sword Control flight.

Gu An was frightened and hugged his waist tightly, the hot summer wind messing up his black hair and a look of envy appearing in his eyes.

Sword Control, this was a standard for cultivators!

He didn't expect Zhang Chunqiu to have this skill!

Zhang Chunqiu feeling the strength in his arm, burst into laughter, "Junior Brother Gu, be sure to keep your eyes open and memorize the way we came. You'll have to do it yourself in the future."

Gu An couldn't help but ask, "Big Senior Brother, can you teach me this Sword Control Technique?"

"You need to diligently practice, and when you reach the Qi Cultivation Realm Tier Four, I'll teach you Sword Control."

"Qi Cultivation Realm Tier Four..."

"As long as you're willing to put in the effort, you can achieve it one day."

When he said this, Zhang Chunqiu couldn't help but straighten his back, revealing a hearty, sunny smile.

He thought to himself, "In Junior Brother Gu's eyes, I must appear very tall right now, I hope he is truly inspired and will no longer be lazy in cultivating."

In his view, Gu An was good in every aspect except he didn't love to cultivate, spending his free time reading.

Gu An was quite speechless, was reaching Tier Four of Qi Cultivation that difficult?

Could I offer a hundred years of my lifespan?

No, what about five hundred years?

If five hundred years isn't possible, then...

That's ridiculous!

The two brothers were flying with their swords, chatting along the way.

Before long, they landed in a mountain forest, and after touching the ground, Gu An was still savoring the feeling of flying in the sky.

Zhang Chunqiu led Gu An forward, passing through a dense forest to a mountain cliff, where he took out a Jade Pendant and pressed it into a slot in the cliff.

"There are restrictions guarding his cave mansion, you'll need to bring this Jade Pendant with you in the future, don't lose it, it would be very troublesome," Zhang Chunqiu cautioned.

Gu An nodded, then the cliff trembled, and a stone door appeared and opened.

Zhang Chunqiu took the Jade Pendant and led Gu An inside.

The two disappeared into the darkness, and after a few breaths, the stone door boomed shut.

The cave mansion was much larger than Gu An had anticipated, with the tunnel alone being sixteen feet long. Arriving in a spacious cave room, Gu An's attention was caught by an area where medicinal herbs were planted.

The herbs were planted densely, at least a hundred plants occupying most of the space in the cave room. With the eye of experience Gu An now possessed, he could tell at a glance that these herbs were of no ordinary tier.

Do all the Outer Disciples of the Supreme Sect live this richly?

Zhang Chunqiu started to instruct Gu An on which herbs needed to be harvested, and the specific processes of cultivating each type of herb. This cave mansion had built-in restrictions, didn't lack water, but was cautious about too much moisture, which could cause the herbs to burst and die. Some herbs, if not harvested timely, could even ignite spiritual flames, destroying all the herbs instantly.

There were also seeds on the table, which Gu An would need to continue planting after harvesting.

The Outer Disciple had already prepared Spirit-Protecting Paper, which was also placed on the table.

"All right, I'm leaving first. You finish up and find your way back. Try to make it on your own; if you haven't returned to Medicine Valley by evening, I'll come to look for you," Zhang Chunqiu patted Gu An's shoulder then handed him the Jade Pendant.

Gu An wasn't rude, he saw Zhang Chunqiu out before returning.

He didn't start harvesting the herbs right away, but looked around the cave room.

Very simple, just a stone bed, a stone table, two stone stools, no, there were also books hidden in the cave walls, concealed by vines.

Gu An didn't consider browsing them, what if there were monitoring restrictions similar to those used by Cultivators?

Just earnestly earn lifespan, no trouble!

Gu An began harvesting the mature medicinal herbs.

[You successfully harvested Spirit Flame Grass (Tier Three) for 9 years of lifespan]

Sss—

Tier Three medicinal herbs!

Gu An suddenly didn't know if his understanding of the tiers of herbs was wrong, or if the treatment for Outer Disciples was genuinely much higher than what he experienced in Medicine Valley.

Forget it, just enjoy it!

The first batch needed harvesting included eleven plants, bringing him a total of eighty-nine years of lifespan, and thus his total lifespan reached one thousand two hundred and sixty-four years.

Gu An used Life Span Detection to look around and actually saw Tier Four Spirit Grass.

What well-fed Outer Disciples!

Gu An was very pleased inside, such a well-fed employer needed to be treated well, maybe there could be a long-term collaboration.

Wait a minute!

Could he also do this kind of work for other disciples of the Supreme Sect?

After all, going out for training was something all disciples would experience.

No, first get this task done well, must be steady and secure. What if he encounters evil people who try to extort him?

He is just a Menial Disciple, in any conflict with a Formal Disciple, he would surely be the one discarded.

Gu An began planting the seeds of the Spirit Flame Grass, doing it very carefully, wanting to do this task well.

One stick of incense later.

Gu An left the cave mansion, after closing the stone gate, he headed towards Medicine Valley.

He walked swiftly, fearing another encounter with a Demon like the Demon of Greed and Wrath.

Relying on the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, in less than half an hour, Gu An reached the entrance of Medicine Valley, and before he even approached, he saw a person.

Chu Jingfeng!

The Chu Jingfeng with a right arm amputated, his face weathered, wearing a black robe, was vastly different from his earlier self.