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

"A life-saving treasure?" Gu An paused slightly in his movements, not losing his composure despite Shen Wan's exclamation. However, the glint in his narrowed eyes intensified.

In this desolate place filled with yin energy and death, the one who could be called "savior" by this young lady of extraordinary birth must be no ordinary person.

Shen Wan lay on his back, her voice low but barely concealing her urgency: "This 'Corroding Bone Spirit Flower' is a rare treasure recorded in the core scriptures of the Corpse Puppet Sect. It can only possibly grow in places where countless corpses are piled up and yin gives rise to yang. It has no spiritual energy of its own and is even highly poisonous, but its pollen..."

"Its pollen possesses an extremely powerful property—neutralization."

"Neutralize?" Gu An asked rhetorically, the jade shovel in his hand already quietly protruding, carefully cutting open the brow bone seam of the pale skull.

"Indeed." Shen Wan spoke rapidly. "The corpse water in the corpse-nurturing pool is 'Yellow Spring Corpse Water,' refined from the combined venom of tens of thousands of vengeful spirits from the entire mine. Ordinary cultivators, even those at the Foundation Establishment stage, would suffer skin and flesh decay if they came into contact with it without a special poison-avoiding artifact. However, if one applies this pollen to their body, they can create a three-inch 'pure land' within the corpse water, isolating them from all corrosion!"

Upon hearing this, Gu An's breathing became heavier.

Isolate the corpse waters of the Yellow Springs!

He was still racking his brains about how to dive into the bottom of the corpse-nurturing pool filled with highly toxic corpse water to find the ventilation opening. Even though he had cultivated the "Life Forest Wood Technique" and possessed poison skills, he was not confident that he could stay in that environment for long.

But these few inconspicuous little white flowers became the only key to the underground core.

"nice one."

Without further hesitation, Gu An released the Wood Spiritual Energy from his palm, which transformed into a soft membrane that enveloped his hand. Then, with lightning speed, he removed the few Bone-Corroding Spiritual Flowers along with the skull.

No flowers were picked, because once separated from the brain matter inside the skull, the flowers would likely wither in no time.

He carefully placed it into a specially made jade box for storing Yin-attribute spiritual objects, affixed a spirit-sealing talisman, and then tucked it into his bosom.

"Hold on tight."

Gu An gave a low shout.

Now that we have the key, it's time to open the door.

He shoved aside the pile of rubble with both hands, revealing a dark, narrow ventilation vent barely wide enough for a person to pass through. A nauseating, sweltering wave of stench, as if fermented for a century, instantly assaulted his senses.

The smell was ten times stronger than the stench of corpses outside; an ordinary person would probably faint on the spot if they smelled it.

But Gu An didn't even frown. Instead, he took a deep breath and showed a look of intoxication on his face—of course, this was for the "Corpse Control Technique" inside his body to see, and also to help his body adapt to the environment here more quickly.

"Down!"

Gu An shrank back, like a gecko climbing a wall, carrying Shen Wan on his back, and silently slid down the slippery, black grease-covered vertical pipe into the abyss below.

……

This abandoned ventilation duct is not straight downwards, but rather meanders and twists like a snake.

The rock face was covered with a thick layer of black grease, like asphalt, which was the corpse oil formed from the accumulated corpse energy from underground over the years.

Gu An descended rapidly into the darkness.

As the depth increased, the surrounding temperature rose instead of falling. It wasn't the heat of flames, but a strange chill that was so intense it felt like it could freeze your blood, yet it also burned you.

The concentration of spiritual energy here has reached an alarming level.

However, it was all the most violent and chaotic Yin Sha earth vein energy.

If it were an ordinary righteous cultivator, they would have to exert all their strength to activate their protective spiritual light to resist the erosion of this evil energy, consuming a large amount of spiritual power with every breath.

But Gu An felt completely comfortable.

The "Life-Generating Wood Technique" within his body seemed to have been completely activated. The dark green Wood Qi surged joyfully through his meridians, like a greedy whale opening its mouth to frantically devour the surrounding Yin Qi.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

Gu An could clearly hear the faint sounds coming from inside his body.

That was the bones trembling, the marrow boiling.

The essence of the "Hundred Refinements to the Golden Body Technique" lies in "refinement." Previously, he used strong acid to refine his skin inside the Tai Sui, cultivating a "copper skin." Now, deep underground, endless Yin energy is seeping into his flesh and blood through his pores, beginning to temper his originally mortal bones.

pain!

A sharp, itchy pain, as if countless ants were gnawing at the cracks in my bones, shot up my spine and straight to the top of my head.

Gu An gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, but the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

He could feel his bones becoming denser and heavier under this tempering. A faint gray-black metallic luster was faintly emerging on the originally white surface of his bones.

This is... a sign of transformation towards the "Iron Bones" realm!

Copper skin and iron bones are the two most important hurdles before the foundation of body cultivation. Once the iron bones are achieved, the physical strength will surge again, allowing one to withstand mid-grade magic weapons with just their bare body!

"Fortune favors the bold; the ancients were right."

Gu An endured the excruciating pain that penetrated to his very bones, yet inwardly he was laughing wildly. This poisonous gas, which the Corpse Puppet Sect considered forbidden territory, was, to him, a body-tempering elixir even more precious than a Qi Gathering Pill!

It descended to a depth of approximately 1,000 zhang (about 5,000 meters).

The pipe ahead suddenly became level, and the originally narrow space gradually opened up.

Gu An lightly touched the rock wall with his toes, stopping his fall, and landed silently like a falling leaf.

This is a natural cave deep underground, surrounded by jagged rocks, and the air is filled with a faint red glow—that is the reflection of underground magma flowing in the distance onto the rock walls containing a certain mineral.

But this is not a no-man's-land.

"Hehe, senior brother, what do you think of the quality of this 'Iron Corpse'? I spent a full forty-nine days feeding it the heart's blood of three living people to nurture it."

"Tsk, not bad. But compared to my corpse, a body-refining cultivator's body I picked up from the battlefield, it's still lacking. Look at those muscle lines; if it were refined into a bronze-armored corpse, that would be a real weapon of mass destruction!"

A chilling conversation drifted faintly from around the corner ahead.

Gu An's expression hardened, and he immediately stopped the full-speed circulation of his internal energy, suppressing his aura to the extreme.

He carried Shen Wan on his back, pressed against the shadow of the rock wall, like a black mist without substance, and slowly moved towards the source of the sound.

Turning past a massive stalactite column, the sight before him caused Gu An's pupils to shrink slightly.

Ahead was a relatively flat, open area where two inner disciples of the Corpse Puppet Sect, dressed in black robes embroidered with skull patterns, were sitting cross-legged on a large blue stone.

Before them, two tall, foul-smelling zombies were tearing at each other and fighting fiercely.

Those were two "Iron Corpses" at the fifth level of Qi Refining. Although not as impervious to blades and spears as the Armored Corpse, they were still thick-skinned and incredibly strong. At this moment, their bodies were already torn to shreds, with black blood splattered everywhere, but this only further aroused the two disciples' interest.

As they critiqued the zombies, they would occasionally cast spells to control them to perform even more brutal attacks.

"Two at the sixth level of Qi Refining."

Shen Wan's voice echoed in Gu An's mind, carrying a hint of warning, "The aura emanating from these two is rather strange; they must have cultivated some kind of combined attack technique. Moreover, this place is too close to the core area. If we can't kill them in one strike, and they trigger the alarm..."

"Then let them be unable to sound the alarm."

A ruthless glint flashed in Gu An's eyes.

He glanced at the location of the two disciples—they were right downwind.

Gu An took out the jade box containing the [Corrosion Bone Spirit Flower] from his bosom, but did not open it. Instead, he took out two other bottles.

One bottle contains a diluted solution of "Tai Sui Mist".

The other bottle contained his carefully prepared, enhanced version of "Muscle-Softening Powder".

He mixed the two medicinal liquids together, used the power of the Wood element to transform them into a colorless and odorless mist, and then flicked it lightly with his finger.

"go."

A gentle breeze carried the deadly poisonous fog, which drifted silently towards the two disciples who were engrossed in their corpse-fighting adventure, following the airflow through the cave.

Ten breaths.

Nine breaths.

……

"Huh? Senior brother, why do I feel... a little dizzy?"

One of the thinner disciples suddenly shook his head, his eyes becoming somewhat unfocused. "How come... how come there are so many iron corpses?"

"You brat...did you use up all your energy on that female cultivator last night?"

Another fat disciple sneered, and just as he was about to stand up and show off his prowess, he suddenly felt his legs go weak and he fell backward uncontrollably.

"Oh no! It's poisonous!"

The fat disciple's expression changed drastically, and he reacted quickly by reaching for the communication talisman at his waist.

But Gu An would never give him that chance.

The moment the fat man fell, Gu An burst out of the shadows like a cheetah poised to pounce!

No nonsense, no fancy spells.

Pure speed and power!

"Whoosh!"

Several transparent strands of [Mysterious Yin Silk] drew several deathly arcs in the air.

"Swoosh! Swoosh!"

The two iron corpses, which had been tearing each other apart, had their heads instantly severed, falling to the ground like two pieces of rotten wood. Without their master's control, they were nothing more than slightly harder pieces of dead flesh.

Gu An's figure had already appeared in front of the two disciples.

The fat disciple had just grabbed the communication talisman in his hand, and before he could even crush it, he felt a chill on his wrist.

Immediately following was a sharp pain.

His hand, along with the communication talisman, fell to the ground.

"ah--!"

Before the scream could even escape his throat, Gu An grabbed his neck and forced it back down.

The thin disciple on the other side had already been affected by the Tai Sui's illusion and was now grinning foolishly at the air, completely incapacitated.

"Shut up if you don't want to die."

Gu An's voice was hoarse and cold, his lifeless eyes fixed on the fat disciple's pupils. The broken sword "Piercing Clouds" in his hand was already pressed against the fat man's dantian; with just a little force, he could cripple his cultivation.

The fat disciple stared wide-eyed in terror, nodding frantically, his face covered in cold sweat and snot.

Gu An did not kill anyone immediately.

Killing someone in the heart of this sect will immediately attract the attention of the higher-ups once the victim's soul lamp goes out.

What he wanted was intelligence.

"Shen Wan, help me."

Gu An silently recited in his heart.

Although Shen Wan on his back was weak, her divine sense was still strong. At this moment, the two were connected by the Blood Soul Pact, and her cold divine sense instantly pierced into the fat disciple's sea of ​​consciousness through Gu An's eyes.

This wasn't some domineering soul-searching technique—Gu An's current cultivation level wasn't high enough to forcibly search a soul without turning the person into an idiot. This was a high-level mental pressure and guidance, combined with medication, enough to make the other person reveal their deepest secrets.

"Tell me, what's the situation with the Nine Dragon Cauldrons? When will that old devil Li Tianxing make his move?"

Gu An's voice seemed to possess a magical power, exploding in the fat man's mind.

The fat disciple's eyes began to glaze over. Under the dual pressure of the drugs and his spiritual senses, his psychological defenses completely collapsed, and he answered mechanically like a puppet:

"Three...three days later...on the night of the full moon..."

"The sect leader... and the Blood Blade Sect's patriarch... are going to hold a 'Blood Spirit Sacrifice' in front of the Nine Dragon Cauldron..."

"They...they captured over a thousand rogue cultivators...and...and that 'living alchemy furnace'...they want to use their resentment and poisonous blood...to taint the cauldron spirit...to forcibly activate the teleportation..."

Upon hearing this, both Gu An and Shen Wan were startled.

Three days!

Only three days left!

Moreover, the so-called "Blood Spirit Sacrifice" actually requires the sacrifice of thousands of lives!

What sent a chill down Gu An's spine was the "living alchemy furnace" the other party mentioned.

Everyone thought that Shen Wan had been completely destroyed in the explosion, but the Corpse Puppet Sect and the Blood Blade Sect obviously had a backup plan, or rather... they didn't care whether the alchemy furnace was dead or alive, as long as that poisonous blood was still there!

"It seems we've arrived just in time."

Gu An glanced at Shen Wan on his back, a resolute glint in his eyes.

He knocked the fat man unconscious with a single slap, then did the same to the thin man. He then took out two specially made "Heart-Eating Gu" and stuffed them into their mouths. He had found these among Xun Yin's relics. Although they were not as effective as high-level mind control techniques, they were enough to turn the two men into obedient puppets within three days, and their soul lamps would not go out.

After doing all this, Gu An dragged the two of them behind a rock like dead dogs and hid them.

He stood up and looked at the passage deep inside the cave that led to an even deeper underground.

There, a red light flickered, and a malevolent aura soared into the sky.

"The full moon night three days from now..."

Gu An gripped the broken sword in his hand, feeling the Yi Wood True Qi boiling within his body due to anger and desire.