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

Within the pool of blood, undercurrents surged.

The once lifeless, viscous pool of blood, now transformed into a boiling pot of poisonous porridge due to the Nine Dragon Cauldron's outburst and the potent medicine Gu An had added. Countless bubbles burst in the water, releasing highly toxic fumes capable of corroding metal, completely obscuring visibility on the surface.

Gu An was like a slippery black fish, clinging to the uneven rocks at the bottom of the pool, struggling to move through the murky blood water.

The surrounding area was filled with turbulent spiritual energy. The restrictive formations originally used to bind the blood pool were now crumbling inch by inch under the backlash of the Nine Dragon Cauldron, turning into invisible, razor-sharp blades that slashed wildly through the water. Several demonic beast corpses that had sunk to the bottom of the pool were instantly shredded into pieces by these turbulent currents, mixing into the blood and making the pool water even more turbid.

"That was close..."

Gu An ducked behind a huge rock, avoiding a sweeping ripple of spiritual energy. He could feel that the power contained in that ripple was enough to easily cut through his "copper skin".

But he did not back down. Instead, his eyes, which were slightly narrowed in the blood, gleamed with a kind of greedy light.

The more chaotic things are, the safer they are.

The Foundation Establishment elders on the shore were busy suppressing the Nine Dragon Cauldron's riot and repairing the formation, and had no time to carefully scan the bottom of the pool, which was full of filth and poison, with their divine sense.

This is what happens when you're in the dark.

Gu An adjusted his breathing, activating the Turtle Breathing Technique within his body to its maximum, suppressing his heartbeat to near cessation, as if his entire being had truly transformed into a lifeless piece of rotten flesh. He followed the flow of the water, slowly swimming towards the very center of the blood pool—the bottom of the Nine Dragon Cauldron suspended in the water.

The closer you get to the center, the heavier the suffocating pressure becomes.

Although the Nine Dragon Cauldron was suspended in mid-air, its base was deeply submerged in blood. The massive cauldron resembled a majestic underwater mountain, exuding an ancient, weathered, and cold aura.

Finally, Gu An reached the top of the tripod.

It was a massive bronze pillar, as thick as three people could hug, its surface covered with mottled rust and dark red blood stains. It was icy cold to the touch, as if touching a piece of ancient ice, and a chill that pierced straight to the soul instantly seeped into Gu An's meridians through his fingertips.

"hiss……"

Gu An couldn't help but shiver, but he didn't let go. Instead, his five fingers gripped a groove on the tripod leg tightly, stabilizing his body.

This is the center of the entire Blood Pool's spiritual energy storm, and also the only "stationary point".

Above their heads, nine bronze dragons were spewing blue flames, fiercely battling against the external restrictions. Beneath the cauldron, however, a strange vacuum had formed.

"Our ancestor was right."

Gu An silently recited in his heart.

He took a deep breath and no longer hesitated.

He pressed his hands firmly onto the cold cauldron, and the dark green Yi Wood True Qi that had been gathering power in his dantian flowed through his arms and into the ancient cauldron that had been dormant for three hundred years.

This true energy is different from ordinary wood elemental energy.

It combines the blood essence of Tai Sui, the corpse poison of the Corpse Puppet Sect, the living Yi Wood poison in Shen Wan's body, and the vitality condensed by Gu An himself through cultivating the "Life Forest Yi Wood Technique".

It possesses both the resilience of life and the decay of death.

This is precisely the unique energy needed to unlock the "key" to the Nine Dragon Cauldron!

"Buzz!"

At the very moment the true energy was injected.

The once cold and lifeless cauldron suddenly trembled without warning.

The tremor was so faint that it was imperceptible to outsiders, but to Gu An, who was pressed against the cauldron, it was like a thunderclap.

Immediately afterwards, a desolate, ancient dragon's roar, as if it had crossed the river of time, resounded directly in the depths of his mind!

"hold head high--!!!"

Gu An felt a sharp pain in his mind and almost fainted on the spot.

But he bit his tongue hard, forcing himself to stay clear-headed.

Because he saw it.

Where his hands were pressed, the thick layer of bloodstains and rust was peeling away at a visible speed. The originally dull bronze surface was now illuminated with intricate and mysterious blue patterns.

These patterns, like living blood vessels, greedily absorbed the Yi Wood True Qi that Gu An injected, and rapidly spread outwards.

The nine dragon patterns on the cauldron seemed to come alive at that moment.

They are no longer inanimate objects, but have acquired souls.

"not good!"

Gu An's expression changed drastically.

He originally only wanted to try to communicate with the spirit of the cauldron, hoping to find refuge under it or steal a little bit of its power.

But he never expected that the Nine Dragon Cauldron would react so violently!

It was like a traveler who had been thirsty in the desert for countless years suddenly tasting a drop of sweet dew; that frantic thirst almost devoured Gu An entirely!

An incredibly powerful suction force erupted from inside the cauldron.

The true energy of Yi Wood within Gu An's body instantly went out of control, gushing out like a river bursting its banks.

It's not just about internal energy.

Along with his essence, physical strength, and even the corpse poison and pill poison lurking in his meridians that were not yet fully refined, all were pulled madly towards the Nine Dragon Cauldron by this suction force.

"Damn it! Is it trying to drain me dry?!"

Gu An was terrified and desperately tried to pull his hands back, but they were as if they were attached to the cauldron and wouldn't budge.

In just two breaths.

Gu An's once abundant dantian had dried up, his face turned ashen, and his body withered away at a visible rate.

Just when he thought he was about to become a dried-up human body, following in the footsteps of those prisoners of war who were sacrificed,

A sudden change occurred.

After draining all the spiritual energy from his body, the suction force did not continue to extract his life essence. Instead, it acted like a fine sieve, frantically plundering the remaining impurities in his body.

First, there's the corpse poison.

The cold, yin corpse energy that had accumulated deep in the bone marrow due to the cultivation of the Corpse Control Technique and the consumption of corpse pills was forcefully extracted by the Nine Dragon Cauldron.

Next was erysipelas.

In order to quickly improve his cultivation, Gu An had consumed a large number of inferior pills. The stubborn poisons that had accumulated on the walls of his meridians were now crumbling under this suction force.

Finally, there was the "living Yi Wood poison" from Shen Wan.

Although Gu An had refined a portion of the toxin, its core "fire poison" attribute remained somewhat incompatible with his cultivation technique. Now, this most troublesome toxin was mercilessly devoured by the Nine Dragon Cauldron.

"This is……"

A look of disbelief and shock suddenly flashed across Gu An's previously despairing eyes.

pain!

Excruciating pain that penetrates to the bone!

It was as if someone had taken a wire brush and scrubbed his entire body, including his veins, bones, and flesh, thoroughly.

But after this extreme pain came an unprecedented sense of ease and clarity.

The Nine Dragon Cauldron did not devour him.

It's helping him... to cleanse his marrow and purify his body!

"boom!"

Just as the last trace of impurity was extracted from Gu An's body.

A vast, pure, and faintly dragon-like warm current suddenly flowed back from the cauldron!

This power is immense! So pure!

It was like the Milky Way pouring down from the heavens, instantly flooding into Gu An's already dried-up meridians.

The meridians, which had shriveled from being drained, were instantly revitalized under the nourishment of this power, like withered trees coming back to life in spring, and even became wider and stronger than before.

The warm, azure current surged forward relentlessly, cleansing Gu An's limbs and bones before finally converging in his dantian.

"Click."

A soft sound, like an eggshell breaking, rang clearly within Gu An's body.

That's the bottleneck between the fourth and fifth levels of Qi Refining.

Faced with this ancient Yi Wood essence refined and purified by the Nine Dragon Cauldron, the bottleneck that had troubled countless cultivators was as fragile as a thin sheet of paper, easily pierced.

Rumble!

A thunderous roar came from Gu An's dantian.

The dantian, which was originally only the size of a bowl, expanded outward by more than double in size!

The newly generated spiritual energy was no longer the dark green of before, but instead presented a vibrant green like the finest jade, with faint golden threads mixed in—that was dragon energy!

Qi Refining Level 5!

Moreover, it is a Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator with an extremely solid foundation and a spiritual energy purity far exceeding that of others of the same level!

Gu An suddenly opened his eyes.

At the bottom of this dark and murky pool of blood, two beams of tangible blue light shot out from his eyes, instantly piercing through the surrounding blood.

power.

An unprecedentedly powerful force filled my entire body.

He felt that his physical strength was now such that even without activating the Golden Light Technique, he could withstand a full-force attack from a low-grade magic weapon. Furthermore, the total amount of spiritual energy within his body had tripled compared to before!

"This is...reverse refining?"

Looking at the still-cold giant cauldron before him, Gu An felt an indescribable surge of joy.

He made the right bet.

The Nine Dragon Cauldron not only did not reject him, but also regarded him as "one of its own" because their cultivation methods were of the same origin. It even took the initiative to purify his mixed poisonous skills.

Although he still cultivates poison techniques, the poison is no longer a deadly poison that would harm the enemy a thousand while damaging himself eight hundred. Instead, it has been subdued by dragon energy and is as easy to control as an limb—"Dragon Wood Poisonous Fiend"!

However, before Gu An could recover from the joy of his breakthrough,

Suddenly, a violent surge of spiritual energy emanated from above.

Because of the previous absorption and feedback, the Nine Dragon Cauldron's light had become much more subdued, but the mysterious connection established between it and Gu An caused a huge vortex to form in the surrounding blood.

The vortex, centered on the tripod, spun wildly, churning the entire blood pool.

"Oh no! The commotion is too loud!"

Gu An's expression changed.

When I broke through just now, my spiritual energy leaked out. Although it was mostly covered by blood, the vortex was still a real physical phenomenon.

ashore.

The Foundation Establishment elders who were originally working together to suppress the formation also noticed the anomaly in the center of the blood pool.

"What's going on? Why is there a whirlpool in the blood pool?"

An elder of the Corpse Puppet Sect, dressed in a gray robe, frowned and his gaze shot like lightning towards the center of the blood pool.

"Could it be that the spirit of the cauldron is still resisting?" another elder asked in confusion.

"wrong!"

The scarred-faced overseer who had been standing at the forefront and in charge of the overall situation—that is, the body cultivator in the early stage of Foundation Establishment—suddenly changed his expression.

His sinister eyes were fixed on the center of the vortex, and his nose twitched twice.

As an expert who deals with corpses and blood year-round, his perception of qi and blood far surpasses that of ordinary people.

Beneath the strong stench of corpses and medicine, he could clearly smell a faint... extremely fresh and vibrant scent of human blood!

Moreover, that energy was rising at an astonishing speed, as if something was breaking through underwater!

"Someone's there!"

The scarred overseer roared, his voice echoing throughout the cavern, "There's someone at the bottom of the blood pool! The formation is reversing! Which bastard is behind this!"

These words caused an uproar in the room.

All eyes turned to the blood pool.

"court death!"

The gray-robed elder's eyes flashed with murderous intent.

At this critical moment, how dare someone hide right under our noses and cause trouble?

Without any hesitation, he formed a hand seal, and a gigantic, pitch-black ghost claw materialized out of thin air, carrying a suffocating aura of malevolent energy, and fiercely grabbed towards the center of the vortex!

"Get out here right now!"

boom!

The ghostly claws plunged into the water, stirring up a thousand waves of blood.

The terrifying force instantly pierced through the water layer that was more than ten feet deep, heading straight for Gu An at the bottom of the cauldron.

underwater.

Gu An felt a chill run down his spine, and a sense of impending death instantly enveloped his entire body.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator's furious strike!

Even if he was weakened by more than half in the water, it was still far beyond what he could withstand in his current state.

"hide!"

Gu An reacted extremely quickly.

Instead of trying to swim upstream, he used the explosive force from his breakthrough to push off the tripod with both feet.

Like a cannonball fired from a gun, he used the reaction force to slide sideways for three zhang (approximately 10 meters) along the muddy bottom of the pool.

"Bang!"

The moment he left his spot, the enormous ghostly claw slammed into the rock beside the tripod.

The hard rock was crushed like tofu, and a terrifying shockwave exploded in the water, sending Gu An flying.

"puff!"

Gu An coughed up a mouthful of blood in the water, feeling excruciating pain as if his internal organs had shifted.

But with this thrust, he actually went even faster.

He was like a startled loach, frantically swimming towards the drain he had previously set his sights on.

"Trying to run away?!"

The gray-robed elder on the shore, sensing that his attack had missed, became even more furious.

His senses instantly locked onto the figure that was rapidly fleeing underwater.

"A mere fifth-level Qi Refining rat? How dare you be so insolent before me!"

The gray-robed elder sneered and changed the hand seals in his hands.

Suddenly, one of the chains that had been used to bind the Nine Dragon Cauldron around the blood pool split off, and like a nimble black python, it darted into the water and chased after Gu An.

The chain was forged from millennia-old cold iron and covered with restrictive runes. It moved extremely fast in the water and caught up with Gu An in the blink of an eye.

Gu An felt an ominous wind blowing behind him.

He turned around abruptly and saw the thick chain biting at him like a venomous snake, its barbs gleaming with a chilling light.

There's no way to avoid it!

In the water, his speed was nowhere near that of the magical artifact that was being controlled by someone.

"Let's give it our all!"

A ruthless glint flashed in Gu An's eyes.

He stopped running away and suddenly turned around. With a flick of his right hand, the broken sword "Piercing Clouds" appeared in his hand.

The spiritual power he had just gained from breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refining was poured into the broken sword without reservation.

The broken sword, which was originally covered in rust, suddenly burst forth with a dazzling blue-gold light.

That is the perfect fusion of Yi Wood True Qi and Geng Metal Qi – "Azure Gold Sword Qi"!

"cut!"

Gu An let out a silent roar in the water, gripped his sword with both hands, and slashed fiercely at the chains that shot towards him!

"when--!!!"

A deep, muffled clang of metal clashing resounded from the bottom of the water.

The terrifying shockwave instantly emptied the surrounding blood and water, creating a brief vacuum.

Gu An felt his hand split open, the broken sword almost flew out of his hand, and he was once again thrown away by the shock.

But even that unstoppable chain was slightly jolted by the sword strike, deviating from its original trajectory and grazing Gu An's shoulder before piercing into the nearby rock wall.

"What?!"

The gray-robed elder on the shore changed his expression, a look of disbelief flashing in his eyes.

How could an ant at the fifth level of Qi Refining actually block a strike from his magic weapon?

Even though it was in the water, and even though it was just a casual strike, how could this be possible?!

That's all it takes for this meal to be finished.

Using the force of the recoil, Gu An finally rushed to the hidden drain.

Without any hesitation, he shrank back and disappeared into the black hole, which was only the size of a washbasin.

"Where do you think you're going!"

The gray-robed elder was furious and wanted to use the chains to pursue them again.

However, the drain opening was extremely narrow and winding inside, so the thick chain could not penetrate it at all. It could only smash hard against the rocks at the entrance of the hole, stirring up a pile of gravel.

"You bastard!"

The gray-robed elder was so angry that his beard trembled wildly. He slammed his palm against the stone pillar beside him, smashing it to pieces.

"Seal off the exits! Immediately seal off all drainage outlets!"

The scarred foreman, realizing what was happening, roared, "That kid's injured, he can't have gone far! Turn this place upside down, find him!"

"yes!"

The surrounding Corpse Puppet Sect disciples obeyed the order and rushed towards the various passages like wolves and tigers.

And in those deep, dark drainage pipes.

Gu An was rapidly sliding down the turbulent sewage.

Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his right hand trembled so much he could barely hold the sword, but his eyes gleamed with an unprecedented excitement.

Qi Refining Level 5!

Moreover, it is capable of withstanding a single blow from a Foundation Establishment stage magic weapon at the fifth level of Qi Refining!

This adventure was worth it!

"Cough cough..."

Gu An coughed up a mouthful of blood and took out a healing pill from his pocket, stuffing it into his mouth.

He knew that the real escape had only just begun.

The underground drainage system is intricate and complex. Although they have temporarily escaped the direct pursuit of the Foundation Establishment elders, the Corpse Puppet Sect disciples who are familiar with the terrain will soon swarm around them like sharks smelling blood.

"I need to find a place... to stabilize my cultivation level first."

Gu An felt the still somewhat restless new spiritual energy within his body and secretly made plans.

Sudden.

A faint light appeared at the end of the previously pitch-black pipe.

That's not the light from the exit.

Instead, it was a kind of... eerie, slightly sinister blue light.

Gu An's expression hardened, and he immediately slowed down, approaching silently.

As you get closer, an extremely dense, chilling aura washes over you.

At the end of the pipe, there was a huge underground cavern.

In the center of that cave, there grew a strange plant that was three zhang tall.

Its entire body is a translucent ice-blue color, and its leaves are like crystal carvings, emanating a chilling aura. At the top of the plant grows a fist-sized fruit that seems to pulsate like a heart.

[Discovered Spiritual Plant: Cold Marrow Ice Heart Fruit]

[Rank: Mid-grade, Tier 2]

[Description: Grows in extremely yin places, absorbing the cold marrow of the earth's veins. Consuming it can greatly enhance spiritual sense and refine yin-attribute spiritual power; it is a highly sought-after supplementary medicine for Foundation Establishment cultivators!]

Gu An's breath caught in his throat.

Second-grade mid-level spiritual fruit!

This is a treasure ten times more precious than the Yin Soul Grass!

But then his gaze fell on the roots of the plant.

There, a giant toad, entirely white with two wings on its back, was perched.

It had its eyes closed, seemingly asleep, but the terrifying aura emanating from it sent chills down Gu An's spine.

Second-tier demonic beast - Frostwing Ice Toad!

A being comparable to a cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment!

"Pursuers ahead, monsters behind..."

Gu An gave a bitter smile and gripped the broken sword in his hand tightly.

This underground world is truly full of surprises.

Or rather... frightened.

But he had no way out.

From the pipes behind them, the shouts and footsteps of the Corpse Puppet Sect disciples could be faintly heard.

"If there's no way out, then we'll fight our way out!"

A ruthless glint flashed in Gu An's eyes.

He glanced at the tempting Cold Marrow Ice Heart Fruit, then at the sleeping Ice Toad.

A bold and crazy plan instantly took shape in his mind.

"Shifting the blame eastward... I'm familiar with this tactic."

A cold smile curved Gu An's lips. His figure moved like a ghost, silently slipping out of the pipe and heading towards the sleeping second-tier demon beast.