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

The night was as dark as ink, completely enveloping the desolate Valley of Shadows.

Inside the stone house, the candlelight had long since gone out. In the darkness, Gu An held a crimson communication talisman in his hand, his fingertips stroking the rough talisman paper.

This is a one-way communication symbol left by Wang Mazi. It is usually only used to convey Zhao Feng's orders, monitor the progress of the silk thread, and urge the payment of the silk thread.

"Now that we have the bait and the net is woven, it's time to cast our lines."

Gu Anqing cleared his throat and adjusted his breathing. After a few breaths, the coldness on his face disappeared, replaced by an extremely suppressed excitement and fear, like a poor boy who had never seen the world and had hit the jackpot, but was afraid that someone would steal it away.

As spiritual energy was infused, the talisman ignited with a faint glow.

"Senior Brother Wang... is he there? Something's happened... no, it's good news! Huge good news!"

Gu An's voice trembled, broken and intermittent, with heavy breathing, "Something... has grown out of the crack in the ground at the bottom of the valley!"

A few breaths later, the talisman flickered, and Wang Mazi's lazy, somewhat impatient voice came through: "What are you howling about in the middle of the night? What else could be in the crack in the ground besides dead bones?"

"It's not bone! It's Ganoderma lucidum! Blood Ganoderma lucidum!"

Gu An interrupted abruptly, his voice threatening to leap from his throat, "Just now, a red glow was emanating from under the roots of that Ghost Mulberry tree. I mustered up my courage and dug around a bit, and I smelled it! It was an incredibly thick, almost overwhelming, scent of blood, a hundred times more fragrant than the Rejuvenating Pill that Young Master Zhao bestowed upon me! I've read about it in miscellaneous books before; it's probably... a high-grade Blood Spirit Mushroom that grows alongside it!"

Wang Mazi was silent for a moment, then burst into wild laughter, clearly stunned by the words "Blood Lingzhi".

Reaching the fifth or sixth level of Qi Refining is a significant hurdle. Wang Mazi has been stuck at this stage for three years, his weakness stemming from neglecting his foundation in his early years and focusing solely on breakthroughs, resulting in a depletion of Qi and blood. The Blood Spirit Mushroom, however, is a sacred medicine for replenishing Qi and blood and facilitating breakthroughs.

After a long pause, Wang Mazi's voice came again, this time without the languor, but with a greedy and sinister tone: "Gu An, if you dare to use this kind of thing to tease me, I'll skin you alive and burn you to a crisp."

"How could I dare!" Gu An said, his voice trembling with tears. "That thing is right next to the earth's veins, surrounded by poisonous energy, and guarded by several mutated black beetles. My cultivation is too low; I can't get close at all... That's why I thought of asking you, Senior Brother. How about we... split it fifty-fifty?"

"Fifty-fifty split?"

Wang Mazi sneered on the other end, seemingly mocking Gu An's arrogance, "Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? If the stuff is real, I'll just give you two spirit stones as a reward."

"Senior brother, this..." Gu An hesitated, "That insect is extremely dangerous. If we don't lure it away with the smaller ones..."

"Shut up!" Wang Mazi shouted sternly. "You stay there and guard the area. Don't let anyone near! Especially don't let Steward Zhao find out, understand?"

"I understand... I understand..."

"I have a mission to attend to these next few days. I'll arrive two hours early in three days, on the day of the silk exchange. Go scout ahead and clear out the weeds around here." Wang Mazi's tone left no room for argument. "If the Ganoderma lucidum escapes, or is missing a piece of its skin, even if you have Steward Zhao protecting you, I'll still kill you."

The talisman burned to ashes, turning into a clump of black ash.

Gu An clapped his hands, and the fear and greed on his face instantly receded like the tide.

"Three days later..."

He grinned in the darkness, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth, already having made up his mind.

As expected, Wang Mazi was inherently suspicious. Even when faced with a valuable treasure, he would drag it out for three days and even send his own "cannon fodder" to scout ahead and clear out any potential threats.

Unfortunately, no matter how much he planned, he never expected that I, Gu An, would use the remaining three days to pull off a big move for him!

……

The next day, at the entrance of Youying Valley, amidst a forest of chaotic rocks.

This is the only way into the valley. It is full of strange rocks, narrow in terrain, with cliffs on both sides and a persistent gray fog overhead.

Gu An was like a diligent spider, darting among the jumbled rocks.

He didn't use any spiritual power, relying entirely on his physical strength to climb the slippery rock face.

The transparent, dark silk thread in his hand, which had been soaked in oil and quenched with poison, was slowly setting up a deadly trap.

Ground traps alone are not enough to deal with someone like Wang Mazi who possesses a flying magical artifact. Once the Fiery Shuttle takes off, it will be a sitting duck from above, making Gu An an easy target.

Therefore, it must be sealed off.

Gu An wrapped one end of the silk thread around the root of a withered pine tree on the left cliff, and stretched the other end across ten zhang of empty space, taut on a protruding rock on the right.

The silk thread was three zhang (approximately 10 meters) above the ground, which was precisely the skimming height most suitable for low-level flying magical artifacts. The thread was transparent, without any fluctuations in spiritual energy, and under the cover of the gray mist, it was difficult to detect even with divine sense.

But that's far from enough. Gu An wouldn't take the risk without being fully prepared when facing a cultivator who is a level above him.

Gu An took out the jade bottle containing the "Tai Sui Mist" from his pocket. He didn't dare to open it, but carefully dripped a few drops of the diluted medicine into several key vents.

The medicinal liquid seeped into the rock, emitting a very faint, very faint, exotic fragrance.

This step wasn't meant to seduce Wang Mazi; that seasoned veteran has a keen sense of smell and would retreat immediately upon detecting poison gas.

The fragrance was meant to mask the stench of blood on the silk thread, and also to slightly disrupt the opponent's mental perception during the fierce battle.

In a battle between masters, a moment of confusion can turn life and death upside down.

"Next up is the Thousand-Thread Knot."

Gu An jumped off the rock face and began setting up his equipment on the ground of the rocky forest.

The silk threads here are denser and more tangled. Some are taut like bowstrings, capable of breaking a leg if touched; others are loose like tangled hemp, tightening instantly if stepped on. Each thread is coated with a highly toxic ointment extracted from "Bone-Corroding and Soul-Soothing Soup".

Gu An did it extremely slowly and meticulously. He even squatted on the ground, using soil and gravel to cover the reflective points of the silk thread bit by bit, and deliberately left a few clumsy "animal traps" in several conspicuous open spaces.

That was for Wang Mazi to see.

Intelligent people often die because of their arrogance. When Wang Mazi easily saw through and destroyed these obvious animal traps, his vigilance unknowingly dropped, leading him into a real dead end.

[Trap Placement: Proficient (65/200)]

[Planning a trap, understanding human relationships +20]

Gu An ignored the fluctuating data on the panel.

This busy period lasted for two whole days and two nights.

By dusk on the third day, the entire rocky forest had transformed into an invisible giant net.

……

The eve of the decisive battle.

Courtyard No. 13, No. 1, a stone house.

Gu An sat at the stone table, carefully wiping the dagger in his hand by the dim light of the oil lamp.

The original magical luster of the blade had long since faded, and he had used a special matte coating to paint it grayish-black, making it look like a common butcher's pig-slaughtering knife.

But he knew that the knife was fast and sharp.

Three jade bottles sat on the corner of the table. One was an antidote pill, another a spirit-exploding pill that could temporarily deplete spiritual energy, and the most crucial one was the Tai Sui Mist.

As for the few low-level talismans that were recently acquired in the small bag, the Vajra Talisman was Gu An's last trump card for survival.

Gu An carefully packed everything away, stuffing it into the hidden pocket in his sleeve and adjusting it to the most convenient position.

He neither cultivated nor slept. He simply sat quietly, regulating his heartbeat.

Thump...thump...the heartbeat was slow and powerful, each beat pushing my energy and spirit to their peak.

He mentally rehearsed tomorrow's battle over and over again.

How will Wang Mazi arrive? Will he fly in directly, or will he walk?

If the first strike misses, how do you finish the job? If the opponent tries to escape, how do you intercept and kill them? Countless possibilities flashed through my mind, only to be dissected one by one and transformed into instinctive responses.

"Senior Brother Wang..."

Gu An murmured to himself, his voice calm and without a ripple, as if he were saying something casual, "This world is too crowded, someone has to make room for you."