After the entrance completely closed, Gu An continued along the tunnel.
With the spiritual power of the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment Realm, Gu An moved as if walking in broad daylight, unimpeded, while the tunnel widened as he progressed, seemingly endless.
Gu An grew more curious about Cheng Xuandan’s master, wondering what kind of remarkable person could construct such a massive underground tunnel?
The tunnel meandered downward, and after traveling over ten Ancient Hours, Gu An still hadn’t reached the end.
He could now be certain that the area beneath the slab was connected to this underground tunnel.
A gust of Spirit Wind came from the tunnel ahead, hitting Gu An’s face, making him feel refreshed and delighted.
Light began to appear ahead in the tunnel. The walls were set with various colored crystal stones, which Gu An carefully sensed and found disappointing as they were not Spirit Stones.
If they had all been Spirit Stones, he would have struck it rich!
As Gu An thought this, he continued forward.
His senses remained on high alert. Although Cheng Xuandan had been very good to him until the end, the thought of Cheng Xuandan’s methods with Meng Lang made him cautious.
What if Cheng Xuandan was just acting?
After walking a few more Ancient Hours, Gu An saw that the tunnel ahead was very bright, and he heard the sound of water.
The exit was here!
Gu An cautiously made his way forward, arrived at the tunnel exit, and looked into the underground space ahead, his eyes widening.
“I really struck it rich…”
Gu An murmured to himself, a look of joy in his eyes.
Following his gaze, there was a vast underground space ahead, several times larger than Mystic Valley, with a height from the ground to the ceiling of over a hundred yards. A giant tree, over a hundred meters tall and needing dozens of people to encircle it, stood there. Its branches and leaves were sparse, bearing fruits that looked like lanterns, glowing blue and translucent.
Beneath the tree was a dense grassland, and beside it, a two-yard-wide underground river flowed, perfectly at the edge of the space, against the cliff.
[Green Vine Tree (Grade Seven): 245/9999/87600]
An extreme life span of eighty-seven thousand!
Nearly ten thousand current life span!
Seeing this prompt, Gu An felt an impulse to uproot the tree but restrained himself.
According to Cheng Xuandan, this seventh-grade Spirit Tree was key to the underground formation, overseeing the entire formation which allowed other heavenly materials and treasures to grow freely. The Spiritual Energy gathered by these treasures would drive the formation and, in turn, nourish the Spirit Tree.
If he uprooted the Green Vine Tree, Gu An would lose a planting site of immense potential.
This place could also serve as his dwelling. The formations set by Cheng Xuandan’s master were extensive and rich. Here, one could cultivate and make breakthroughs without any noise escaping.
Gu An scanned around and saw numerous distinctive stone statues embedded in the tunnel walls in various directions, each with unique symbols between them, arcane and mysterious.
He stepped out of the tunnel entrance, and as he entered, he noticed a stone tablet next to him, engraved with four characters:
Eight Scenic Caves!
After looking at it briefly, Gu An continued to walk into the Grotto Heaven.
Along the way, he frantically used Life Span Detection.
All over the place were third and fourth-grade Spirit Grasses and Spirit Flowers. The closer to the Green Vine Tree, the higher the grade of the herbs, dazzling him.
With such a huge treasury hidden, how could Cheng Xuandan fail to reach Foundation Establishment?
Gu An didn’t know whether to sympathize with Cheng Xuandan’s poor abilities or his inadequate alchemy skills.
Even if his alchemy skills were lacking, Cheng Xuandan could sell some herbs, exchange them for Spirit Stones, or ask the Alchemists of Supreme Sect for help with alchemy.
In Gu An’s view, for a Sect like Supreme Sect, securing resources for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator shouldn’t be difficult.
Of course, another possibility was that Cheng Xuandan feared revealing his identity.
Gu An walked to the base of the Green Vine Tree. Standing there, he could better feel the vastness and vitality of the tree.
He circled around the Green Vine Tree and saw that there were not just one entrance to the Eight Scenic Caves but a total of eight.
He suspected one of the entrances might lead to the slab he had discovered earlier.
He had no immediate plans to explore the other entrances. Turning around, he took out the Hundred Herbs Collection from his storage bag and began to cross-reference them.
If they were ripe, he would pick them directly!
The harvested herbs could be taken to the Outer Sect, exchanged for more high-rank seeds, and his developments could continue!
The thought alone excited Gu An.
An hour flew by swiftly. Gu An had already harvested over a hundred and thirty third-grade Spirit Herbs, wildly reaping over nine hundred life spans, taking his total life span past the five thousand-year milestone.
This identity of a demon spy was worth it!
Gu An was exhilarated, as the Eight Scenic Caves had a vast amount of medicinal herbs planted. He had only harvested one-tenth so far, and even these were of the lowest grade.
In the future, this would be his dwelling, his secret base!
Just as Gu An was about to bend down to pick the next herb, he suddenly heard a noise and immediately turned around, his gaze shifting towards a distant cave entrance.
The cave entrance was pitch-black, looking eerie and terrifying.
Gu An moved to the side.
Not all the plants on the grass were medicinal herbs; there were also ordinary weeds. He suspected a fight might break out next, so he had to move to avoid damaging his herbs.
Those were his lifeline!
Gu An walked towards the underground river, his gaze constantly on that cave entrance.
Soon, footsteps and heavy panting could be heard from inside the cave, as if a beast was about to emerge.
A foot stepped out from the darkness, and when Gu An finally saw the true identity of the figure in the cave, he frowned.
It was Meng Lang!
At this moment, Meng Lang was disheveled, with tattered clothes and bare feet, his neck covered in bloodstains. His face was flushed as if scorched, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and white mist emanated from his mouth.
“Roar——”
Meng Lang roared at Gu An and charged toward him fiercely.
His speed was very fast, and the distance between him and Gu An was rapidly closing.
Far from retreating, Gu An advanced, stepping forward to meet the charge.
The distance between them quickly shortened, kicking up bits of grass along the way.
Meng Lang leaped, trying to tackle Gu An. Gu An sidestepped and delivered a knee to Meng Lang’s abdomen, sending him flying back.
Gu An’s brow furrowed even more, his right leg feeling somewhat numb.
Good heavens!
How had Meng Lang become so tough?
Gu An felt that even the Demon of Greed was not as tough as Meng Lang. Although he had not used his full strength or his Spiritual Power, he could still make a rough judgment.
He had held back his power because he wanted to see if Meng Lang could still come back to life.
He shook his right leg and charged at Meng Lang again.
Meng Lang fell on the grass, seemingly impervious to pain, and immediately got up again, lunging at Gu An.
Gu An planted his right foot forward, forcibly stopping his body’s motion, and then lifted his left leg, channeling Spiritual Power into it to execute the Gale Shadowless Leg technique.
The violent wind sprang up from the ground, and successive shadows of kicks landed on Meng Lang, sending him flying again. He rolled over a dozen times before finally coming to a stop.
His limbs were clearly twisted. He tried to get up, but the next second he fell, his forehead heavily hitting the grass.
Gu An retracted his leg, a curious expression on his face.
Was the Medicine Poison from Cheng Xuandan so powerful?
Just at first grade yet possessing such a robust physique, felt comparable to the Demon of Greed!
How could Cheng Xuandan compare to the Great Cultivator backing the Demon of Greed?
Gu An was increasingly certain that Cheng Xuandan was hiding something, probably related to his master.
He walked up to Meng Lang, looking down at his body, grotesque like a demon, his mind filled with hesitation, unsure how to proceed.
“He’s already dead anyway, why should I care about his identity from before?”
Gu An’s eyes flickered, and the grass and dust around his feet began slowly swirling upward, indicating that he was cultivating energy.
At that moment!
Gu An saw the corner of a book peeking out from Meng Lang’s embrace. He immediately reached out, pulling the book towards him with Spiritual Power from afar.
“Myriad Poison Mystic Skill…”
Gu An whispered, quickly flipping through the book. It was a Cultivation Technique, and moreover, it was incomplete—the last page showed a clear break in content.
Besides the initial Technique of Immortal Cultivation, there were also records of five types of Poison Skills, each accompanied by illustrations. After comparing them, he finally identified the Poison Worm that Meng Lang was afflicted with.
Flame Corpse Poison!
“The afflicted, their bodies harbor flaming energy, flesh tough as deep rock, possessing immense strength… incurable by any medicine, unbreakable by any skill, until their bodies are utterly shattered…”
Gu An read this and couldn’t help but look at Meng Lang, his eyes showing sympathy.
How pitiful.
The Myriad Poison Mystic Skill had a method to suppress the Flame Corpse Poison; it merely required covering his seven orifices, preventing the Poison Worm from consuming Spiritual Energy, which would force the worm into a dormant state, rendering the host immobile.
He immediately used mud to seal Meng Lang’s seven orifices, then he stood up and looked towards the cave entrance from which Meng Lang had come.
He did not immediately go to explore but put the Myriad Poison Mystic Skill into his Storage Bag and turned to continue harvesting medicinal herbs.
Even if Cheng Xuandan’s master was still alive, he had not attacked him, a Qi Cultivation Realm cultivator. Whether due to a lack of intent to kill or inability to move, why should he stir up trouble unnecessarily?
The longer the time passed, the more beneficial it was for Gu An.
An hour later.
Gu An left the Eight Scenic Caves, satisfied, with his life span having reached an impressive seven thousand years!
He had harvested all the third grade medicinal herbs he could, and it was time to plant new seeds, which would take years to mature anyway.
After harvesting the third-grade medicinal herbs, it would be time to harvest the fourth-grade ones!
To prevent damaging the ecological balance maintained by the formation, Gu An did not collect all the mature medicinal herbs at once. He harvested some and planted some, a sustainable and effective method for steady development!
And even if the medicinal herbs were mature, they could be left to grow longer; the longer they lived, the more life span they could capture. Of course, there was a threshold to this, and Gu An was still observing it.
…
The next morning, the new Master of Mystic Valley, Gu An, left his room early and immediately urged his junior brothers to come out.
After hearing Xiaochuan’s response, he proceeded towards Ye Lan’s courtyard.
“Junior sister, time to come out,” Gu An called.
“Okay, senior brother,”
Ye Lan quickly responded, more proactive than the junior brothers.
It wasn’t long before everyone was standing in front of Gu An.
Gu An glanced around at them and smiled, “Congratulations, you’re going to be senior uncles soon. I’m going to take in more Servant Disciples, and they will be my disciples, your junior nephews.”
At these words, everyone became excited, eagerly discussing the future. No one mentioned Cheng Xuandan, not because they were heartless or dishonorable, but because they had agreed privately not to mention Cheng Xuandan for the next month.
Gu An gave a few encouraging words, then started to lead his junior brothers and sisters in exercises to stir their muscles and bones. Afterwards, he still had to go to the Eight Scenic Caves to plant flowers and herbs.
Life was about to become busy!