https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-47-Demon-Shadow-Divine-Art-Initial-Display-of-Power/12575099/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-49-The-Dao-Derivation-Technique-the-Divine-Way-of-the-Bodily-Treasure/12575101/
Chapter 48: Yang Wood Fusion Technique, Crossing the Ninth Layer of the Xu Realm
Chapter 48: Yang Wood Fusion Technique, Crossing the Ninth Layer of the Xu Realm
Seeing Wu Xin's complicated expression, Gu An wanted to laugh, but his years of acting experience kept him from breaking character.
Gu An's expression shifted, displaying surprise, relief, and finally, tension.
Wu Xin, upon seeing his senior brother's changing countenance, felt even more embarrassed, but he did not regret revealing the truth.
Ever since their heart-to-heart talk, Wu Xin considered his senior brother his closest confidant, and he believed there should be no secrets between them.
"This matter must not be spoken of to anyone else. Otherwise, I may not be able to protect you!" Gu An took a deep breath and said solemnly.
Wu Xin nodded solemnly, recalling the previous battle, which sent chills down his spine.
Gu An asked curiously, "Can you recognize who that person was, and what realm is he in?"
He wanted to gauge the depth of the Qian Qiu Pavilion.
Wu Xin scratched his head, guessing, "I didn't see his true face, but he's probably at the Nascent Soul realm. His movement technique was too fast; it feels like it would be difficult for someone at the Golden Core realm to have such ability..."
Gu An froze.
This foolish boy...
He sighed, "You said your father doesn't care about you. Look, he even sent someone to protect you."
"He really doesn't care about me, but he might also be afraid that I'll disgrace him, or perhaps the person who came was just here to carry out a task for the Tai Xuan Gate." Wu Xin speculated, still holding resentment towards his father.
Afterwards, Gu An gave a few more instructions before leading Wu Xin downstairs.
Instead of asking his disciples to clean the courtyard, Gu An left the scene untouched, intending to have Wu Xin report to the Enforcement Hall at the outer sect the next day.
All the disciples in the valley had witnessed the previous battle, so there was no way to keep it a secret. Thus, it was better to inform the Tai Xuan Gate beforehand.
He stood in front of Qiu Qianli's pill furnace, observing the concoction inside. He couldn't identify what pill Qiu Qianli had been refining, but he decided to leave it for the Tai Xuan Gate to decide.
That night.
Gu An arrived at the Eight Views Cave Heaven and, as usual, fed mutton to Hao Long. Afterwards, he took out Qiu Qianli's storage bag.
He emptied the contents and then destroyed the storage bag.
It must be said that a Transformation Realm cultivator was indeed wealthy. The spirit stones and spirit pills alone were a considerable sum.
He inspected each item, burning those that were useless to prevent anyone from tracking him down.
He also erased Qiu Qianli's imprint on the magical artifacts, rendering them ownerless.
Finally, he was left with only a letter, inside which was a blank sheet of paper that could only be read with divine sense and was only accessible to those at the Transformation Realm.
After probing, he learned why Qiu Qianli had come—it was for the Primordial Symbol.
Qiu Qianli's mission was to rendezvous outside the sect with a spy from the Myriad Yin Sect who was tasked with stealing the Primordial Symbol.
Apart from the Qian Qiu Pavilion, the Myriad Yin Sect had also infiltrated numerous spies into the Tai Xuan Gate. For Qiu Qianli to be responsible for the rendezvous, the other party's cultivation must be extraordinary.
The spies of the demonic path were indeed insidious and pervasive!
How many people were there like him, acting against their will?
Gu An sighed inwardly and then stood up to inspect the medicinal herbs in the Eight Views Cave Heaven.
...
The next morning, Wu Xin, along with Tang Yu and Su Han, headed towards the outer sect while the other disciples continued their usual chores—shepherding, weeding, and watering.
Around noon, the three returned, having traveled so quickly because they had ridden a Golden Core realm cultivator's artifact, a massive redwood fan that could accommodate several dozen people, including Ye Lan.
As they landed, Gu An approached them.
Leading the group was an elder from the Enforcement Hall named Murong Ying.
【Murong Ying (Golden Core Realm, Layer 3): 268/503/908】
Murong Ying wore a purple robe, standing tall with a handsome countenance. His hair, a mix of black and white, accentuated the aura of an upper-echelon figure.
After listening to Gu An's account of the incident, Murong Ying nodded slightly and said, "You did well. Next, we will sweep this area and ensure that no demonic cultivators are hiding in the vicinity."
Gu An immediately expressed his gratitude.
The disciples of the Enforcement Hall did not linger to chat with the valley disciples. They went straight to Xiao Chuan's courtyard, where they witnessed the bloodstains on the walls and the ground, filling them with trepidation.
Murong Ying approached Qiu Qianli's pill furnace and peered inside, his brows furrowing soon after.
On the other side.
Ye Lan approached Gu An and comforted him.
Gu An had asked Wu Xin to find her first, as it would be easier to request the Enforcement Hall's assistance with her speaking on their behalf. Thus, when she had heard about the incident in Xuan Valley, she had wanted to rush over immediately.
After half an incense stick's worth of time, Murong Ying took away the pill furnace and signaled for the Enforcement Hall disciples to leave.
As they watched the Enforcement Hall disciples depart, Zhen Qin couldn't help but look at Gu An and ask, "Is it really over just like that?"
Gu An had not expected much from the Enforcement Hall in the first place. As long as they reported the matter, he would be satisfied. He didn't want to be branded as a spy for the demonic path.
"They will investigate," Gu An reassured with a smile, "At least you should trust your Master Ye."
Zhen Qin found his words reasonable.
However, the Enforcement Hall's attitude still stirred her determination to become an outer sect disciple as soon as possible.
Qiu Qianli's presence in Xuan Valley was but a minor setback, but it served as a stark reminder to Gu An.
How many times had Xuan Valley faced such dangers?
This won't do!
It's time to focus on cultivation!
...
In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.
On this night, Gu An quietly left Xuan Valley and ventured a hundred miles away to sit in the mountains.
Gu An brought up his attribute panel, his eyes locking onto the Shenmu Pure Yang Art.
First, he decided to enhance his cultivation technique!
Without hesitation, he invested ten thousand years of his lifespan.
Finally, the Shenmu Pure Yang Art underwent an upgrade, evolving into the Yangmu Hunyuan Art, with a mastery level of 'Great Perfection'.
Additionally, the Yangmu Hunyuan Art awakened a divine ability, which delighted Gu An.
He immediately activated the Lifespan Barrier and began the inheritance process for the Yangmu Hunyuan Art.
Half an hour later, the inheritance was complete, and Gu An had gained insight into the mysteries of the divine ability.
This divine ability was called 'Yangmu Wanli'. By infusing spiritual power into the earth, he could condense the Yangmu, covering the land. The Yangmu was capable of devouring the essence, spirit, and soul of living beings, and even spiritual power itself. It was incredibly formidable; as long as the caster had sufficient spiritual power, it could cover a territory spanning thousands of miles.
What a domineering ability, Gu An thought with satisfaction!
Gu An continued to examine his attributes in the panel, intending to boost his cultivation to the ninth layer of the Xu Realm. However, he was concerned about making too much of a commotion during the breakthrough, and he now only had a little over two thousand years of lifespan remaining.
He started by investing a thousand years of his lifespan, successfully advancing from the first layer of the Xu Realm to the fourth layer. That was quite an improvement.
However, after investing another thousand years, his cultivation only reached the fifth layer.
In the end, he calculated that he had used up seven thousand and five hundred years of his lifespan to reach the ninth layer of the Xu Realm.
He still had over thirteen thousand years of lifespan remaining, so he decided to stop there.
As the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surged into his body, he began to carefully ponder the mysteries within. He couldn't rely solely on his lifespan to advance; he also wanted to develop his own understanding of cultivation.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowed into his body, gathering above his Golden Core, stimulating the production of spiritual power, which then nourished his bones, meridians, and primordial spirit. As a result, his cultivation level continued to rise.
Even upon reaching the Xu Realm, a cultivator's Golden Core remained in the dantian, and after achieving this realm, Gu An became even more aware of the importance of the Golden Core.
This reminded him of the Golden Core Grand Dao in Taoist mythology.
Perhaps the Jindan Realm only laid the foundation, and the true mysteries of the Golden Core would need to be explored at higher cultivation levels, just like spiritual roots. Gu An always felt that cultivating a single spiritual root would eventually hit a bottleneck.
The abilities of immortals and gods were limitless; how could they be restricted to a single attribute?
The same was true for the primordial spirit and the Golden Core. The primordial spirit was the manifestation of the soul, allowing cultivators to break free from the constraints of their physical bodies.
In the days to come, Gu An intended to try fusing the Yangmu Hunyuan Art with other attribute cultivation techniques. He wanted to create a five-element cultivation technique that would perfectly match his supreme five-element heavenly spiritual root.
Two hours later, Gu An successfully reached the ninth layer of the Xu Realm. He had drained the spiritual energy from the surrounding area, and he expected that the outer sect would be alerted once again.
That was fine, though; the Tai Xuan Gate would surely become more vigilant, putting immense pressure on the demon path spies, which would, in turn, increase Ji Xiaoyu's chances of successfully transcending the Tribulation.
Gu An couldn't help but feel that he had indirectly helped Ji Xiaoyu.
...
As expected, early the next morning, while Gu An was leading his disciples in their morning exercises, he saw several powerful cultivators flying over Xuan Valley, and the disciples were chatting about the sinking spiritual energy from the day before.
From the first layer to the ninth layer of the Xu Realm, the amount of spiritual energy consumed was no less than that from the first layer of the Hua Shen Realm to the first layer of the Xu Realm, or perhaps even more. The outer sect of the Tai Xuan Gate had experienced this phenomenon twice in a row, and they were probably overwhelmed.
Gu An planned to continue saving his lifespan, so he wasn't worried about being found out.
Next up was the development of Yao Valley!
The autumn wind howled, and Xuan Valley continued its secluded life.
Ever since they had experienced Qiu Qianli's scheme, the valley's disciples had been cultivating with even more diligence.
A month passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day, Gu An was sitting under a tree, studying the 'Ziwu Formation Record', while Bailingshu slept beside him, looking plump like a fat dog.
He stroked Bailingshu with his right hand as he read, feeling content.
Suddenly!
Gu An seemed to sense something, and he looked up toward the distance, in the direction of the inner sect.
He felt the powerful aura of a cultivator in the Xu Realm; there was a battle between Xu Realm cultivators!
It seemed that Ji Xiaoyu had successfully formed her Golden Core, and the various demon path spies could no longer hold back, resulting in this intense battle.
Gu An thought of Jiang Qiong and hoped that she wouldn't act recklessly. With her cultivation at only the first layer of the Yuan Ying Realm, it would be difficult for her to obtain Ji Xiaoyu's Golden Core.
The inner sect was so far away from the outer sect that the disciples in Xuan Valley didn't sense the battle at all and continued their individual cultivations.
Even as night fell, Gu An could still sense the distant battle, indicating how fierce it was.
The cold wind blew in from the window as Gu An sat at the table, reading a book. Footsteps approached from outside the door.
"Senior Brother, may I come in?" Wu Xin's voice carried into the room.
"Come in," Gu An replied.
He quickly replaced the 'Qing Xia Youji' in his hand with Cheng Xuandan's 'Hundred Herb Record'.
Wu Xin pushed the door open and entered, closing it behind him. He walked up to the table and saw the 'Hundred Herb Record' in Gu An's hand, secretly admiring him. His eyes shone with even greater determination.
My senior brother is so diligent; I must help him!
Gu An looked up and asked, "What is it? It's so late."
Wu Xin took a deep breath and said, "Senior Brother, you've been stuck at the ninth layer of the Lingtai Realm for quite some time, haven't you?"
Gu An raised an eyebrow. What did that imply? Was he dissatisfied with being the senior disciple and now had his eyes on Gu An's position as valley master?
Wu Xin continued, "Senior Brother, I am actually a genius, but I've been cultivating a divine ability that suppresses my cultivation progress. This ability allows me to accumulate power quietly and then make a sudden breakthrough, altering my fate!"
(End of Chapter)
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