Chapter 18: Myriad Poison Profound Skill, 7000-Year Life Span

After the cave entrance had completely closed, Gu An continued to walk along the cave passage.

With the divine sense of the seventh tier of the Foundation Establishment Realm, Gu An moved as if it were broad daylight, without any obstacles, and the passage grew wider and wider as if it had no end.

Gu An became even more curious about Cheng Xuan Pill's master, what kind of remarkable person could build such an enormous underground tunnel?

The tunnel meandered downwards, and after traveling several miles, Gu An still hadn't reached the end.

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

A gust of spirit wind came from the tunnel ahead, hitting Gu An's face and refreshing his mind and spirit.

Ahead, the tunnel began to show some light, with various colored crystal stones embedded in the tunnel wall, which he carefully sensed and found disappointing as they were not spirit stones.

If they were all spirit stones, he would have hit the jackpot!

While thinking, Gu An moved forward.

His senses were on high alert—even though Cheng Xuan Pill had been very good to him until the end, the thought of Cheng Xuan Pill's tactics towards Meng Lang made him cautious.

What if Cheng Xuan Pill was just putting on an act?

After walking a few more miles, Gu An saw that the tunnel ahead became very bright, and he heard the sound of water.

He had reached the cave entrance!

Gu An cautiously made his way over; as he reached the cave entrance and looked into the underground space ahead, his eyes widened.

"I really struck it rich…"

Gu An murmured to himself with a look of surprise in his eyes.

Following his gaze, ahead was a vast underground space, several times larger than the Profound Valley, with over a hundred meters from the ground to the ceiling, and a giant tree over a hundred meters tall stood within it. Its trunk required a dozen people to encircle, and its branches and leaves were not very dense, bearing fruit like lanterns, all glistening and radiating blue light.

Beneath the tree was a dense grassland, and beside it flowed a river two zhang wide, right along the edge of the underground space against the mountain wall.

[Cang Teng Tree (Tier Seven): 245/9999/87600]

A limit lifespan of eighty-seven thousand!

A current lifespan of nearly ten thousand!

Seeing this prompt, Gu An was suddenly tempted to uproot the tree, but he restrained himself.

According to what Cheng Xuan Pill said, this Tier Seven Spirit Tree was the key to the underground formation. It controlled the whole set of formations, allowing the other heavenly materials and earthly treasures to grow freely, and the spiritual energy gathered by those treasures would in turn feed the formation and then nourish the Tier Seven Spirit Tree.

By uprooting the Cang Teng Tree, Gu An would lose a planting field with tremendous potential.

Moreover, this place could also serve as his cave mansion. The formations set up by Cheng Xuan Pill's master were rich in variety, making it an ideal place for cultivation and breakthroughs where no noise would escape.

Gu An scanned around and saw various distinctive stone statues embedded on the walls of the tunnel in all directions, totaling dozens, with special runes in between, arcane and mystical.

He stepped out of the cave entrance and just as he came in, he spotted a stone stele standing nearby, engraved with four characters:

Eight Scenic Cave Heaven!

Gu An glanced at it and continued walking inside the cave heaven.

Along the way, he extensively used life span detection.

Everywhere lay Tier Three and Tier Four spirit grass and spirit flowers, the closer to the Cang Teng Tree, the higher the tier of the herbs, dazzling him.

Hidden such a vast treasury, why couldn't Cheng Xuan Pill achieve foundation establishment?

Gu An didn't know whether to sympathize with Cheng Xuan Pill's poor talents or his lack of proficiency in alchemy.

Even if his alchemy wasn't good enough, Cheng Xuan Pill could sell some medicinal herbs in exchange for spirit stones or have the alchemists of the Supreme Sect help with alchemy.

In Gu An's view, for a sect like the Supreme Sect, it should not be hard to procure resources to produce a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

Of course, there was also the possibility that Cheng Xuan Pill was afraid of exposing his identity.

Gu An walked to the Cang Teng Tree, and standing beneath it, he could better feel the vast grandeur and vigorous vitality of the Cang Teng Tree.

He circled the Cang Teng Tree and saw that the Eight Scenic Cave Heaven had more than one cave entrance; there were a total of eight.

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

For now, he had no intention of exploring the other entrances. He turned around and took out the Hundred Herbs Record from his storage pouch, beginning to reference it.

If they were mature, he would harvest them directly!

The harvested herbs could be taken to the Outer Sect to exchange for more high-tier seeds for continued development!

The thought excited Gu An.

An hour swiftly passed, and Gu An had already harvested over a hundred thirty Tier Three medicinal herbs, crazily reaping over nine hundred lifespans, pushing his total lifespan past the five thousand year mark.

This identity as a Demon Dao spy was worth it!

Gu An was exhilarated. The Eight Scenic Cave Heaven had a vast number of medicinal herbs planted, and he had only harvested one-tenth of them so far, and those harvested were of the lowest tier.

In the future, this would be his cave mansion, his secret base!

Just as Gu An was about to bend down to pick another herb, he suddenly heard a noise and immediately turned, his gaze focused on a distant cave entrance.

The entrance was pitch black, appearing eerie and terrifying.

Gu An moved aside.

Not all the vegetation on the grassland was medicinal; there were also ordinary weeds. He suspected a battle might ensue, so he needed to move to avoid affecting his herbs.

These were all his lifeline!

Gu An walked toward the underground river, continually eyeing that cave entrance.

Soon, footsteps and heavy breathing sounds came from the cave entrance, as if a wild beast was about to burst out.

A foot stepped out from the darkness, and when Gu An could fully see the true face of the person coming from the cave, he involuntarily frowned.

It was Meng Lang!

At that moment, Meng Lang's hair was disheveled, and his clothes tattered. He was barefoot, his neck covered in bloodstains, his face was flushed as if scalded, his eyes filled with blood, and white breath still puffing from his mouth.

"Roar—"

Meng Lang roared at Gu An and charged fiercely towards him.

His speed was very fast, and he was getting closer and closer to Gu An.

Gu An didn't retreat but advanced instead, stepping forward.

The distance between them quickly shortened, kicking up bits of grass along the way.

Meng Lang leaped, trying to pounce on Gu An, who sidestepped and struck Meng Lang's abdomen with a knee, sending him flying back.

Gu An's frown deepened, his right leg feeling a bit numb.

What a surprise!

How had Meng Lang become so hard?

Gu An felt even the Demon of Greed and Wrath was not as hard as Meng Lang, though he hadn't used his full strength or Spiritual Power, he could roughly judge.

He was holding back his power because he wanted to see if Meng Lang could still come back to life.

He shook his right leg and charged at Meng Lang again.

Meng Lang fell on the grass, seemingly oblivious to pain, and immediately scrambled up, lunging at Gu An.

Gu An planted his right foot forward, forcibly stopping his body, and raised his left leg, channeling Spiritual Power into it and executing the Gale Shadowless Leg.

A gust of wind rose from the ground, and a series of leg shadows fell on Meng Lang, sending him flying again. After landing, he rolled over a dozen times before stopping.

His arms and legs were visibly twisted; he tried to get up but collapsed the next second, his forehead slamming heavily onto the grass.

Gu An retracted his leg, a curious expression covering his face.

Was the Medicine Gu in the Cheng Xuan Pill this powerful?

Just a Tier One and such a robust physique, seemingly no less formidable than the Demon of Greed and Wrath!

How could the Cheng Xuan Pill compare to the Great Cultivator behind the Demon of Greed and Wrath?

Gu An grew more certain that the Cheng Xuan Pill was hiding something, likely related to his master.

He walked over to Meng Lang, looking down at his grotesque, demon-like body, caught in a moment of hesitation, unsure how to deal with him.

"Since he's already dead, why should I care about his previous identity?"

Gu An's eyes flickered, the grass and dust around his feet slowly swirling up, indicating that he was cultivating energy.

At that moment!

Gu An saw a corner of a book peeking from Meng Lang's embrace and immediately reached out. Using Spiritual Power, he pulled the book into his hands.

"Myriad Poison Profound Skill…"

Gu An murmured softly, quickly flipping through it. It was a Cultivation Technique, and moreover, it was incomplete—the last page had a clear content gap.

Apart from the cultivation methods at the beginning, it also recorded five Gu Techniques, each with illustrations. He compared them and finally identified the Gu Technique that afflicted Meng Lang.

Flame Corpse Gu!

"Those afflicted with the Flame Corpse Gu will nurture a fiery Qi in their body, their flesh as tough as deep rock, possessing immense strength… incurable by medicine, unsolvable by technique, until reduced to dust and bone…"

Having read this, Gu An couldn't help but look at Meng Lang, his eyes showing sympathy.

What a pity.

The Myriad Poison Profound Skill contained a method to suppress the Flame Corpse Gu—simply covering its seven orifices to stop the Gu Insect from devouring Spiritual Energy, thus inducing a death-like state in the Gu, rendering it immobile.

He immediately used mud to seal Meng Lang's orifices, then he stood up and looked towards the entrance of the cave Meng Lang had come from.

He didn't rush to explore, instead, he put the Myriad Poison Profound Skill into his Storage Pouch and turned to continue picking Medicinal Herbs.

Even if Cheng Xuan's master was still alive, the fact that he hadn't attacked him, a Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator, meant either he had no intention to kill or he was unable to act. So why should Gu An stir up trouble?

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

An hour later.

Gu An left the Eight Scenic Cave Heaven satisfied, his Life Span having reached an astonishing seven thousand years!

He had harvested all the available Tier Three Medicinal Herbs, and next, he needed to plant seeds, waiting many years for the new seeds to mature.

After harvesting Tier Three Herbs, he would harvest Tier Four Herbs!

To prevent the disruption of the Formation's ecosystem, Gu An didn't harvest all the mature Medicinal Herbs at once—harvesting some, planting some, was the way to sustainable and effective development!

And even if Medicinal Herbs matured, they could be left to grow; the longer they lived, the more Life Span they could accrue, of course, there was a critical point to this, and Gu An was still observing.

…

The next morning, the new Master of Xuan Valley, Gu An, stepped out of his room early. As he emerged, he hurriedly urged his junior disciples to come out.

After hearing Xiaochuan's response, he walked towards Ye Lan's courtyard.

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

"Okay, big brother," Ye Lan responded promptly, more actively than her junior brothers.

Before long, everyone stood in front of Gu An.

Gu An surveyed them all, smiling, "Congratulations, you all will become senior uncles soon. I'm going to take in some Servant Disciples, which will make them your junior nephews."

As soon as these words came out, everyone became excited, discussing future prospects, without mention of Cheng Xuan, not out of heartlessness, but it was something they had agreed upon privately; they had decided not to bring up Cheng Xuan for the next month.

Gu An offered a few words of encouragement, then began to lead his junior brothers and sisters in exercises, stretching their muscles. Afterward, he still had to go to the Eight Scenic Cave Heaven to plant flowers and herbs.

Life was about to get busy!