https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-137-The-First-Step-Towards-Immortality-I-the-True-Immortal-Among-Men/12575484/
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Chapter 138: Are There Immortals in This World?
Chapter 138: Are There Immortals in This World?
In the Third Medicine Valley, the autumn breeze blew gently.
Gu An emerged from the teleportation formation and made his way towards a distant garden.
Even after his recent breakthrough, he hadn't forgotten the maturation times of the flowers and plants in the various gardens.
Before long, Lu Lingjun hurried over to join him, saying, "Valley Master, I'll accompany you for the harvest."
Gu An nodded in agreement.
After walking for a few li, Gu An started bending down to pluck the plants, while Lu Lingjun took out a bamboo basket to collect them.
"Valley Master, with the chaos in the world right now, shouldn't someone with my level of cultivation go out and make a name for myself?" Lu Lingjun suddenly asked.
So that was what this was about. No wonder she was suddenly so eager to help!
Gu An replied casually, "Then go find the Sect Master and see what plans he has for you."
"If he wanted to enlist me, he would have sent me a message by now."
"In that case, stay in the Medicine Valley. Who knows, maybe one day a demonic cultivator from the Tianhua Sect will infiltrate the valley, and it will be up to you to protect it."
"But..."
"Lingjun, and here I thought you were a great cultivator. Why is your heart so restless? It's all about contributing. Protecting these medicinal plants is no less a merit than slaying enemies. In fact, it might even be a greater achievement."
Gu An spoke sternly, but his hands continued their work without pause.
Having just expended over four hundred thousand years of his lifespan, he needed to make up for it.
Lu Lingjun had no choice but to concede. Her desire to go out and slay demons was also driven by her consideration for the Sect Master's plans.
However, she couldn't tell Gu An about her ambition to become the Sect Master just yet, as she knew that his relationship with Lu Baitian was closer.
Seeing her plan fail, Lu Lingjun changed the subject. "Valley Master, do you think there are immortals in this world? It's such a vast world. If there are immortals, why can't mortal beings see them?"
"Of course, there are," Gu An replied. "Otherwise, why would there be cultivators like us? We're still on the path of pursuing immortality."
There certainly are!
And I'm one of them!
But I can't tell you that!
Gu An secretly felt proud, and at the same time, another thought occurred to him.
He wondered if immortals were hiding in the mortal world, just beyond the reach of his previous spiritual sense, or if they were on the other side of the ocean, separated from the mortal realm. Even if one became an immortal, perhaps they still had to strive for even higher realms.
Nirvana was just the first step on the path to immortality, and one had to overcome the Eightfold Tribulation to reach the pinnacle of immortality.
What lay beyond the path of immortality?
For a moment, Gu An's mind wandered with endless speculations. Even though his thoughts were elsewhere, it didn't affect his efficiency in harvesting the plants.
"In the place where I was born, there were no immortals," Lu Lingjun continued, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Cultivators who reached a high level could only aspire to shatter the void and escape to a realm where immortals dwell, beyond the reach of mortal beings..."
After her ascension, she suddenly felt no different from before. She was still crawling through the mortal world, only now it was a vaster, more expansive one, and the path to immortality remained elusive.
Gu An listened, occasionally chiming in with a brief response.
Half a bell later, the two returned to the pavilion area and parted ways.
Gu An made his way towards the Xuanqing Tree. From a distance, he saw Ogawa crouching on the ground, observing the White Spirit Mouse sleeping soundly beneath the tree.
Although Ogawa had tamed quite a few demonic beasts, his favorite was still the White Spirit Mouse, despite the mouse's indifference towards him.
Suddenly, Gu An noticed that Ogawa's silhouette seemed to have aged.
Ogawa was only three years younger than Gu An, and at seventy years of age, he hadn't even started building his foundation yet. How could he not show signs of aging? Gu An had given Ogawa rejuvenation pills before, but those only maintained a youthful appearance. Ogawa's demeanor and mindset had already started to reflect his advancing age.
This realization made Gu An feel a bit dazed.
In a hundred years, Ogawa would leave him.
Ogawa had no love for cultivation, and Gu An couldn't force him. Fortunately, even without achieving success in cultivation, Ogawa still lived a very happy life, and in this lifetime, thanks to Gu An, he had no regrets.
Gu An approached Ogawa and asked with a beaming smile, "Ogawa, what are you looking at? If you want to hold it, just pick it up."
Ogawa looked up and said helplessly, "It has a terrible temper. I tried to hold it before, but it scratched me."
"Oh? Why didn't you tell me? You little rascal!"
Gu An immediately walked over, grabbed the White Spirit Mouse by its tail, and lifted it up.
The mouse woke up, and upon seeing that it was Gu An, it stopped struggling.
Gu An placed it in Ogawa's arms and used his eyes to warn the mouse not to dare resist. The mouse could only curl up meekly.
Ogawa, finally holding the White Spirit Mouse, wore a delighted smile as he began gently stroking the mouse's back.
At that moment, Gu An sensed a distant battle aura.
A battle between Xuanxin Realm cultivators!
One of the auras belonged to none other than Xuquan Laozu!
He only glanced in that direction and had no intention of intervening.
As long as the Great Vehicle Realm cultivators of the Tianhua Sect didn't make a move, he was content to stay out of it. This was the Nine Dynasties' tribulation, not just his alone, and he couldn't let the Tai Xuan Gate rely too heavily on the support of the Sword Immortal.
After chatting with Ogawa for half a bell, Gu An finally took his leave.
Ogawa put down the White Spirit Mouse, which immediately scurried back to the base of the Xuanqing Tree to continue its slumber.
Ogawa turned his head to watch Gu An's retreating figure, and for some reason, he felt like the distance between them was growing.
Even though they had always been together and Gu An had shown no intention of leaving the Tai Xuan Gate, Ogawa couldn't shake the sense of loss he felt.
This fleeting sense of loss came and went in a hurry.
"Little Yang, come over here and help me check on those spiritual chickens. They should be laying eggs today."
Ogawa called out to a servant disciple in the distance, and at the thought of the spiritual chickens laying eggs, a smile spread across his face once more.
...
Tianhuang Mountain.
In the underground space, Gu An sat on the ground with a stone tablet in front of him, stroking his chin as he pondered deeply.
Tian Yao crouched beside him, curiously watching as she held in her curiosity for a long while before asking, "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking of giving this cave a name," Gu An replied.
He suddenly thought of something and opened his eyes to look at Tian Yao, asking, "If you were to name it, what would you call it?"
Upon hearing this, Tian Yao tilted her head and thought for a moment before answering, "Tian Yao's Little Nest. How does that sound?"
Gu An closed his eyes again, too lazy to continue the conversation.
Tian Yao pouted, then raised her hands, curved them into claws, and waved them gently at Gu An before sticking out her tongue and making a face at him, as if she wanted to tease him.
After the incense burned out.
Gu An stood up, startling Tian Yao, who stood up as well, her eyes wide as she stared at him.
Gu An raised his right hand, extended two fingers, and pointed them at the surface of the stone tablet, writing in the air with his fingers.
Tian Yao lowered her head and saw a faint stream of energy fall onto the surface of the tablet, inscribing four characters.
'Nian Chu Dong Fu' (Thoughtful Cave Abode).
'Nian Chu' meant 'do not forget your original aspiration', as Gu An feared that he might become arrogant in the future.
His conversation with Ogawa had stirred up many emotions about the lives of mortals, and 'Nian Chu' was also his hope that he would always remember the first group of people he met on his path to immortality.
After inscribing the characters, Gu An picked up the stone tablet and walked towards the distance.
Tian Yao followed closely behind, never straying more than seven steps away from Gu An since his return.
After placing the stone tablet in the ground, Gu An turned around, cupped his hands, and began to cast a spell before crouching down and clapping his palms on the ground.
In truth, he didn't need to go through all this trouble, but he wanted to put on a show for Tian Yao.
As his spiritual power seeped into the soil, the barren ground began to sprout weeds, and in less than three breaths, the entire ground of the Nian Chu Dong Fu was covered in greenery, leaving Tian Yao staring in astonishment.
This was Gu An's 'Xuan Xin Shen Tong' (Mystic Heart Divine Ability)!
The 'Wan Wu Shen Lin' was not just limited to this ability, as he could use his spiritual power to condense flowers, grass, and trees, extending his influence to wherever his spiritual sense reached. The plants he condensed contained his spiritual power and could provide him with a line of sight, offering countless benefits, and their condensation speed was incredibly fast, making them a formidable attack.
With a wave of his hand, Gu An could easily condense a wall of trees that reached thousands of feet high, and even he himself was unsure of the limits of this ability.
Just thinking about it filled him with excitement.
Additionally, this divine ability could also accelerate the growth of plants.
Today, Gu An was going to conduct an experiment.
He wanted to see if speeding up the growth of medicinal herbs would affect the lifespan he could absorb from them.
He took out a seed and buried it in the soil.
Tian Yao was completely dumbfounded by the greenery that now covered the ground, and she strongly suspected that Gu An was tricking her, as she had never seen the Demon Mother use such a method before.
Half an hour later.
Gu An looked at the fresh second-grade spiritual herb in his hand and sighed.
Forcing the growth of the spiritual herb within half an hour had actually reduced its lifespan.
He had tried to forcefully mature the second-grade spiritual herb within half an hour, but it failed to extend its lifespan. According to his lifespan probe, the herb was already nearing its end, but the probe couldn't show how many months of lifespan it had left, making it difficult for him to judge accurately.
It seemed that he would have to cultivate the herbs patiently after all.
Gu An cursed his own greed inwardly. His ability to absorb lifespan was already quite outrageous, and yet he still wanted to speed up the process.
He stood up, and Tian Yao beside him followed suit, as if imitating his actions.
"Don't you have anything to do?" Gu An asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.
Tian Yao blinked and asked, "What should I do?"
"Don't you want revenge? Why aren't you cultivating?"
"How do I cultivate when you haven't taught me a cultivation method yet..." Tian Yao replied pitifully.
It had to be said that when she looked pitiful, she was quite endearing.
Gu An cursed inwardly, calling her a little demon, and then asked, "How did your cultivation base increase in the past?"
He had seen Tian Yao's memories, but only for ten years. From the very beginning, she had been raised by the Tianhuang Demon Mother, who fed her various pills and medicinal soups from time to time, so he had assumed that she had been taught a cultivation method when she was young.
"I don't know, it just increased like that..." Tian Yao replied.
Gu An thought about it and realized that this was actually a good thing, as it saved her from having to abandon her previous cultivation and start anew.
Subsequently, Gu An began to impart the 'Xiantian Dijing' (Pre-Heaven Divine Technique) to Tian Yao.
However, Tian Yao truly knew nothing about cultivation, so Gu An had no choice but to explain some basic cultivation knowledge to her.
After a whole night, Tian Yao finally managed to absorb spiritual energy on her own, and Gu An finally breathed a sigh of relief.
During this process, he learned that Tian Yao was completely illiterate.
He glanced at the various books that had been scattered in the distance and wondered if he should leave a copy of the 'Tai Xuan Secret Record'. After all, it had illustrations.
But then, he immediately dismissed the idea.
That would be too despicable!
He couldn't let an ignorant female demon read such a book!
If Tian Yao developed deviant thoughts in the future, it would affect his ability to cultivate in this place.
Blame it on Shen Zhen; his influence had caused Gu An's thoughts to become increasingly impure. There was a reason why some books were considered forbidden!
(End of Chapter)
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