Longevity: Starting as a menial servant in the Green Wood Sect

The flickering firelight stretched the distorted shadows of the trees in the mass grave into eerie, ghostly lengths.

The air was filled with a nauseating, acrid smell—the smell of burning grease and fabric.

Gu An remained expressionless, though his stomach was churning, his hands continued moving without stopping.

He broke off a half-dried branch and, enduring the heat, quickly rummaged through Xun Meng's gradually carbonizing corpse for spiritual objects that could not be burned by ordinary fire.

"Found it."

The branch struck a hard object, making a crisp "ding" sound. Gu An flicked his wrist, and several items rolled onto the dark grass.

The two storage bags were burned to pieces, and their contents were scattered all over the ground, mostly becoming junk.

Only a few shiny stones, a dark iron plaque, and a fragment of a blue jade slip survived.

Gu An didn't dare to grab it directly with his hands, worried about the residual high temperature or corpse poison. He tore off a corner of his clothes to wrap his palm and quickly gathered the spoils into his pocket.

The two low-grade spirit stones were still warm. A dozen or so broken spirit stones emitted a faint glow. The iron plaque felt heavy in his hand; upon closer inspection by the firelight, Gu An's pupils constricted sharply.

The front is engraved with the color green wood, and the back with the image of a foreman. This is Zhao Feng's personal token!

Only Zhao Feng's trusted henchmen could possess such a token and exercise his supervisory power in various spirit fields, thus abusing his authority.

This is a hot potato right now; it absolutely cannot be exposed to the light of day. Otherwise, Zhao Feng could easily trace it back to him with a little investigation.

Gu An gritted his teeth and stuffed the token into the deepest hidden pocket on his body.

As the fire subsided, Xunzi and Mengzi were reduced to ashes.

But that's not enough. This simple fireball technique is too obvious; anyone with a discerning eye can tell it's a battle between cultivators.

If the Enforcement Hall finds out it was deliberate, they will definitely investigate the culprit's spiritual energy fluctuations. Gu An took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the emptiness in his dantian, and began to circulate the remaining spiritual energy in his body again.

"Geng metal refers to..."

The golden light flickered at the fingertips, but it was no longer the faint light that had been used to kill insect eggs; instead, it possessed a sharpness capable of cutting through metal and stone.

"Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!"

Gu An moved swiftly, attacking several ancient trees around him that were as thick as a person's embrace. A flash of golden light appeared, and more than a dozen deep, crisscrossing grooves appeared on the tree trunks, the cuts smooth and several inches deep.

This doesn't look like finger technique; it looks more like the claw marks of some kind of monstrous beast, or the horrific aftermath of a chaotic wind blade attack.

Immediately afterwards, he plunged his hands into the soil, ignoring the pain of his split nails, and frantically stirred the pile of human-shaped ashes with the surrounding scorched earth. Then he transplanted several clumps of thorny brambles from afar and haphazardly covered the turned-up land.

After doing all this, Gu An was as if he had been pulled out of the water, his gray robe soaked with sweat.

The scene was completely unrecognizable, looking as if a low-level demonic beast had attacked the place while it was passing by, or as if two rogue cultivators had fought here and ended up dying together or destroying the evidence.

"It's time to go."

Gu An looked up at the sky; dark clouds obscured the moon, it was the darkest hour before dawn.

He took out a [Concealing Breath Talisman] that he had prepared beforehand and stuck it to his chest with a snap.

The talisman flickered twice, emitting a layer of dim gray light, which completely suppressed his already weak aura to the extreme, making him seem like a lifeless stone.

Gu An crouched down and, instead of taking the same route he had come from, went straight into the animal trail filled with rotting leaves and animal dung.

Thorns scratched his cheek, and he wiped away the blood as soon as it seeped out; only the pain could keep him awake.

After running for about five miles, they were about to approach the outer defense line of the Green Wood Sect.

Suddenly, a sharp whooshing sound came from overhead.

"Buzz—" That was the roar of a flying sword tearing through the air.

Gu An felt a chill run down his spine. Almost instinctively, he rolled to the side, landing directly in a puddle of water filled with fallen leaves.

This place must be the defecation spot of some wild animal; the stench is overwhelming.

Gu An held his breath, buried his entire body under the mud and withered leaves, leaving only his two nostrils touching the ground, and closed his eyes tightly.

"Senior brother, there seemed to be a fluctuation of spiritual energy over there just now?"

A young voice came from above, tinged with doubt.

Immediately afterwards, a vast and icy divine sense swept across the forest like a searchlight.

That's the divine sense pressure of the late stage of Qi Refining!

Gu An felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and his blood seemed to have stopped flowing.

Although the Concealing Breath Talisman is still effective, his cultivation level is too low. If the other party investigates carefully, he will surely be exposed.

A centipede crawled up his collar and across his neck, its thousands of legs causing a tingling and stinging sensation as it scraped against his skin. Gu An remained motionless, not even blinking.

"They're probably just a few wild dogs or low-level monsters fighting over food."

Another calm voice rang out, "Don't make a fuss. The ghost market is open tonight, and it's in chaos there. As long as they don't break into the sect's formation, let them be."

"That's true. Things haven't been peaceful outside the sect these days, so it's best not to meddle in other people's business."

The sound of something cutting through the air rang out again, quickly fading into the distance. Only when the oppressive feeling completely disappeared did Gu An dare to breathe heavily. He crawled out of the mud pit, covered in filth, looking like a demon.

"That was close."

He exhaled a breath of stale air, but his eyes were colder than the night.

……

Fifteen minutes later.

No. 4, Bingzi, Lingtian District, thatched house.

Gu An slipped through the window like a ghost and landed silently.

He quickly took off his muddy and burnt-smelling gray robe, stuffed it into a hidden compartment under the stove, and after a quick wash, changed into a clean set of servant's clothes.

After doing all this, he felt his legs go weak and collapsed onto the cold, muddy ground.

The panel appeared automatically in front of him.

Name: Gu An

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 2 (45/100)]

[Spell: Geng Metal Finger (Proficiency 4/400)]

【Small Cloud Rain Technique (Proficiency 188/200)】

[Status: Extremely Exhausted] Murder, dismemberment, escape.

This night's experience was more thrilling than the past three years combined.

Gu An took out the incomplete jade slip from his pocket and, by the faint moonlight coming in from the window, carefully examined the ancient seal script on it.

Although the jade slip is damaged, the first few words are still clearly visible.

The Secret of Turtle Breathing (incomplete)

Gu An's breath hitched, then his eyes burst with wild joy.

This is actually a secret technique for concealing one's breath!

In the world of cultivation, killing and robbing are commonplace. For low-level cultivators, besides improving their cultivation level, the most important means of survival is concealment.

Conceal your cultivation level, conceal your aura, conceal your wealth.

Although this "Turtle Breathing Technique" is incomplete, if one can master it, it will be enough for him to freely disguise his cultivation aura during the Qi Refining stage, and even reduce his vital signs to a state of suspended animation without using spiritual power or talismans, thus avoiding detection by divine sense.

This is exactly what he needs most right now!

"Xun Meng, Xun Meng, you've done a great job as a lackey, you've given me a wonderful gift."

Gu An sneered, carefully put the jade slip away, and then took out the "Supervisor's Token".

Keeping this thing is a disaster, but if I lose it, I'm afraid someone will pick it up and find out what happened.

After a moment's thought, Gu An got up and moved a loose blue brick at the foot of the bed, where he usually hid his secret stash of money.

He buried the token in the deepest layer of soil, weighed it down with several stones, and then covered it with a cloth bag filled with yellow sprout rice.

"Right now, it's best to ignore what's right in front of you. The most dangerous place might be the safest."

Just as Gu Angang breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to meditate to recover his spiritual power...

"Thump, thump, thump."

A dull knocking sound suddenly rang out in the quiet of the night, like a heavy hammer striking Gu An's taut nerves.

Gu An's muscles tensed instantly, and his right hand instinctively gripped a broken spirit stone, ready to unleash its spiritual power at any moment.

"Who?"

His voice was hoarse, carrying the languor and impatience of someone who had just woken up.

"Young Gu, it's me, Old Zhang."

Old Zhang's distinctive cough came from outside the door, followed by a sentence that sent chills down Gu An's spine: "Why does your room smell like something's burning? In the middle of the night, could there be a fire?"

Gu An looked down at the clothes he had just changed out of. Although they were hidden in the stove, the stench and smell of burning corpses seemed to have seeped into his skin and hair, and he couldn't wash them off no matter how hard he tried.

How come this old man's nose is even more sensitive than a dog's?

Gu An's eyes instantly darkened, a flash of murderous intent crossing them. He slowly stood up and walked towards the door.

He placed his palm on the door latch, but did not rush to pull it open.

"Uncle Zhang is joking. I was just trying to cook some hot porridge when I accidentally burned some dry grass."

Gu An's voice was eerily calm, carrying through the door: "It's so late, Uncle Zhang, aren't you asleep yet?"

There was a moment of silence outside the door.

Then, Old Zhang's voice drifted over, carrying a hint of meaning: "Can't sleep... I just saw a dark figure coming back from the mass grave. The figure looked exactly like you. Young Gu, things haven't been peaceful lately. It's best to stay home at night..."

Gu An's pupils suddenly contracted to needle size. His heart skipped a beat, but he suppressed his shock. Could it be that this old man had really discovered something?