Steadily becoming a saint, the immortal officials hired me to tend the horses

Gu An had no idea what Yang Ni was thinking, he chose Lu Jiujia simply because there was no one else to choose from.

As for Yang Ni, in his view, she would leave sooner or later, so he never considered her for the role of chief disciple.

When it was late at night, after the feast was over and everyone had returned to their rooms, Gu An quietly made his way to the Eight Scenic Caves.

He had been studying the Myriad Poison Mystic Skill for some time and had made considerable progress.

He came to the base of the Green Vine Tree, and with a thought, a figure shot out from a cave opening like a swift gust of wind, lifting debris along its path.

The figure was none other than Meng Lang, transformed into a Poison Corpse.

Gu An controlled Meng Lang with his divine sense, directing him to pick a ripe medicinal herb.

After Meng Lang had picked the herb, Gu An waited quite a while but did not receive any prompt that the life span extraction had been successful.

The plan had failed!

It seemed that in the future, he would still have to do it himself!

Feeling a slight regret in his heart, Gu An was not disappointed, for now the Third Medicine Valley and Tianya Valley were yielding crops, and his annual life span income was at least a hundred thousand years—and still growing.

In less than a hundred years, he would be able to reach a life span of ten million years!

With such speed, Gu An was quite satisfied, after all, how many realms could an ordinary cultivator advance over a hundred years?

Gu An instructed Meng Lang to return to the cave while he himself took out the Heavenly Residence Sword and began practicing the Wood Spirit Sword Technique.

...

The next morning, Gu An came down from the attic and led his disciples in drill exercises, which Yang Ni also joined. After the exercises, she hurried off into the forest.

Gu An felt that her expression was unusual, quite out of the ordinary, so he watched her for a bit and saw her sowing seeds in the forest, causing his eyebrows to furrow slightly.

Those seeds seemed unfamiliar!

Being a Mahayana Cultivator with a photographic memory and the ability to observe subtleties, Gu An immediately noticed that the seeds in her hands were of a kind he had never seen before.

He approached her and eventually came up behind Yang Ni.

"What are you planting?" Gu An asked curiously, and while she was getting up, he sent a life span detection her way.

[Ephemera (Tier 6): 0/120/5000]

A Tier 6 Spirit Flower?

And it's even named Ephemera!

Gu An could not help but associate it with the Ephemera Sect.

Yang Ni replied, "I got these from an enemy's storage bag a while ago. I'm not clear on what exactly they are called. I've had these seeds in my bag for dozens of years and only thought to plant them today."

"Is that so?" Gu An mused.

Observing his expression, Yang Ni said, "Yes, can't I plant them?"

"Go ahead and plant them," Gu An said with a smile, not pointing out the origin of the flower.

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Why would he refuse Yang Ni's intention to plant a Tier 6 Spirit Flower?

After all, the medicinal herbs she planted were for him to harvest later on.

Gu An then offered a few words of encouragement to Yang Ni before turning to leave.

Watching his retreating figure, Yang Ni found him even more inscrutable.

"I can't believe I got taken in by a Foundation Establishment youngster," she thought sarcastically to herself, then squatted down and continued planting the Ephemera.

No matter what Gu An speculated, as long as she had the chance to plant Ephemera, she would take it!

She glanced at Gu An's retreating figure and thought to herself, "Once I make a significant contribution, I will ensure your safety. Then, I'll introduce you to the Ephemera Sect."

After years of interaction, she had grown quite fond of Gu An and felt it would be a pity if such a junior died in the strife of sects.

Someone with his talent was suitable to join the Ephemera Sect and continue to shine.

...

After the New Year, as everything came back to life, the Supreme Sect once again welcomed a lively atmosphere.

In the early days of March, as Gu An and Shen Zhen were discussing books in the building, they suddenly felt something and put down their books.

Gu An coughed, saying, "Put all this away."

Blushing slightly, Shen Zhen quickly put all the drawing papers on the table into her storage bag.

After cleaning up, the two of them went downstairs.

They reached the open space in front of the attic and saw Cultivators flying in from the distant sky. Gu An recognized a familiar face among them, Ji Xiaoyu.

There were a total of eleven Cultivators, and Gu An continuously used life span detection on them.

Except for the Cultivator at the very front leading the way, all the others were below a hundred years of age. The lowest among them was at the eighth layer of the Core Formation Realm, and two had even reached the Nascent Soul Realm.

The innate talent of those in the Nascent Soul Realm under a hundred years was formidable.

The minimum limit of their life spans was at least two thousand years.

The Cultivator leading the way was named Lv Chen, with a cultivation level of the second layer of the Void Crossing Realm. After landing, he greeted Gu An with a cupped fist, saying, "These ten disciples sent by the Sect Leader for tempering are now under your charge, Valley Master."

He was very courteous towards Gu An, devoid of the airs typical of a Great Cultivator at the Void Crossing Realm, which piqued Gu An's curiosity about what Lv Baitian had possibly done to set this up.

Everyone from the Lv Family knew how to conduct themselves!

Gu An raised his hand in greeting, replying, "Thank you for your efforts, senior."

Seeing that Gu An observed full propriety, Lv Chen smiled, nodded, then soared away.

Gu An looked towards the ten Supreme Sect geniuses, and they in turn were sizing him up.

"Ms. Shen, what are you doing here?" a young man in green clothes frowned and asked, appearing displeased at the sight of Shen Zhen standing behind Gu An.

This man, named Liu Yu, was at the ninth layer of the Core Formation Realm and had a maximum life span of two thousand four hundred and nine years!

Shen Zhen didn't respond to him, but said to Gu An instead, "Since your Medicine Valley has guests, I'll take my leave. We'll be alone together next time."

With those words, she leaped up and quickly disappeared behind the mountains.

Alone together?

People looked at Gu An with strange glances, and a cold gleam flashed in Liu Yu's eyes.

[Liu Yu has become hostile towards you and wants to attack you. Do you want to use Life Span Detection on him?]

Wants to attack me?

How deep is this hatred?

Gu An spoke, "Ms. Shen and I simply share a liking for reading, occasionally exchanging our thoughts, and nothing more. She told me that her goal for a Daoist friend is none other than the Sword Venerable Fudao."

All were young prodigies, and upon hearing this, they couldn't help but laugh. Liu Yu laughed awkwardly and shot Gu An an apologetic look.

They were not fools. Lv Baitian had personally named Gu An to lead them, so he must have had exceptional abilities. Even if he didn't, he was Lv Baitian's person, and they dared not offend him.

The prodigies were pampered by the Supreme Sect, but being a prodigy didn't mean they could do whatever they wanted, at least not if Lv Baitian wanted to deal with them, their families would have to weigh their actions carefully.

Ji Xiaoyu asked, "Valley Master, what should we do? Just give us your orders."

As soon as she spoke, the others quickly restrained their laughter and looked at Gu An with anticipation.

The Sect Leader mentioned that they came here to cultivate their minds, and they subconsciously assumed that this would help their cultivation practices.

Gu An smiled, "Then follow me. But don't complain of being tired or in pain, and no one is allowed to stop midway. Only failures give up halfway."

At his words, the prodigies grew even more excited, looking at each other with eyes that seemed to spark with electricity.

All prodigies have a competitive heart!

Afterward, Gu An took them to a forest dozens of miles away, instructing them to clear the land, then taught them how to plant seeds, and finally led them to inspect medicinal herbs all around.

Though these were trivial tasks, the ten disciples took them very seriously, not even willing to miss a single stone along the way.

A few days passed, and someone couldn't hold back anymore.

A disciple named Chang Cang couldn't help but stop and look at Gu An, asking in a deep voice, "Are you playing us? Is cultivating our minds supposed to be the same as being a Medicine Boy?"

The others looked at Gu An, even Ji Xiaoyu frowned.

Gu An knew this was dubious, but Lv Baitian had insisted on it.

He sighed, took out ten books from his Storage Bag, and threw them to the ten people.

Their faces lit up with joy as they caught the books.

"The Shenzhou Scripture?" Someone read the title aloud, their eyes lighting up.

Such a name seemed profound at first glance.

Gu An turned around, "Figure it out yourselves."

Having said that, he walked away, leaving them to start reading the book.

Liu Yu opened the first page and read, "The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name..."

With his back to them, the corners of Gu An's mouth lifted into a smile.

The Shenzhou Scripture was not the Tao Te Ching; he had simply pieced together memorable verses from ancient Huaxia classics to form a miscellaneous book. It was enough to bluff someone.

He couldn't afford to write out the actual Tao Te Ching. What if someone truly came to understand something from it? That would be troublesome indeed.

...

Since receiving the Shenzhou Scripture, Ji Xiaoyu and the others found their own places to contemplate it, not bothering each other, and the Third Medicine Valley continued at its normal pace.

Five days later.

Ji Xiaoyu closed the Shenzhou Scripture, looked down at the busy Servant Disciples in the valley, thought for a moment, stood up, and went down the mountain to help.

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A prodigy seated on the opposite mountaintop saw what she did, appeared to realize something, and also started down the mountain.

They couldn't comprehend the Shenzhou Scripture, but it seemed genuinely profound. Associating it with Gu An's initial arrangements, they thought that maybe they could gain some insights while working in the fields.

Another ten days passed, and the rest of the genius disciples were all engrossed in the menial tasks of the Medicine Valley, diligently working every day, reading the Shenzhou Scripture in their spare time, and practicing Energy Absorption at night.

This pleased Gu An greatly. Sure enough, the ten top prodigies chosen by Lv Baitian, setting aside their aptitudes, were indeed no fools. As long as they believed something was the right thing to do, they were truly resolute and persistent.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed.

Gu An turned fifty-nine. That day, while he was collecting herbs in Tianya Valley, he suddenly felt something, his complexion changed drastically, and he immediately left the herbs with Sun Da beside him, then quickly left Tianya Valley.

This baffled Luo Hun and the others in the valley, but they didn't think too much of it.

Ever since learning that Gu An had mastered the Mystic Tortoise Surging Wave Palm, Lv Xian stopped bothering him and even stopped bothering others, spending all day in seclusion and cultivation, like a demon, his Cultivation Level growing extremely fast. At this rate, it wouldn't take many years for him to form his Nascent Soul.

After leaving Tianya Valley for a hundred miles, Gu An disappeared into thin air, stepping through space, and covered thousands of miles to arrive at Mystic Valley. From there, via the Transmission Array Platform, he came to the Third Medicine Valley.

Stepping off the Array Platform, he walked swiftly towards the Mystic Pure Tree.

The Mystic Pure Tree was still there, but in front of it stood someone, pausing to gaze at it.

From a distance, Gu An sent a Life Span Detection his way:

[Zong Ying (Unification Realm Layer 4): 860/2800/3100]

This fellow had cultivated a unique sorcery, appearing to only be at the Nascent Soul Realm Second Layer on the surface.

Gu An became interested in his Cultivation Technique. Though the Mahayana Divine Sense could tell he was hiding his true Cultivation Level, it couldn't fully clarify it.

Gu An approached the Mystic Pure Tree and started, "I am Gu An, the master of this Medicine Valley. May I know who you are...?"

Zong Ying was dressed in a Daoist robe with a pointed chin and small eyes, and a goatee on his mouth – clearly someone not to be trifled with at first glance.

He responded with a smile and a raised hand, "I am an Inner Sect Disciple, named Zong Ying. Just passing by and I was drawn to this extraordinary tree. Could it be the legendary Mystic Pure Tree?"

Gu An stepped forward, grabbed Zong Ying's wrist with his right hand, and exerted a little strength, using the power of the Foundation Establishment Realm, and smiled, "Indeed, it is the Mystic Pure Tree. Do you want it?"

Zong Ying found it amusing; a mere Foundation Establishment Realm dared to lay hands on him?

The Supreme Sect really had no one left, to end up entrusting a Foundation Establishment Realm to cultivate the Mystic Pure Tree.

That made sense; it wouldn't attract much attention this way.

Zong Ying prepared to break free from Gu An's grip, using the strength of the Nascent Soul Realm, thinking it would embarrass the other party.

However, the next moment, his expression changed drastically.

His eyes hardened, his brows furrowed, and he began to struggle fiercely.

His expression changed again, this time revealing a look of surprise, rapidly replaced by terror.

How is this possible!