Meng Lang and Zhang Chunqiu were equally surprised by Li Ya's choice, but they did not speak.
Cheng Xuandan looked at Li Ya approvingly, nodded slightly, and said, "Not bad, you have a good eye and are not impulsive."
With a wave of his right hand, three secret books appeared on the table next to him. He gave Zhang Chunqiu a look, and Zhang Chunqiu immediately began distributing the books.
From beginning to end, Gu An didn't have time to speak.
Alright, ignored again.
Gu An, naturally optimistic, was not discouraged.
Though you are cold to me today, sixteen years later, I will light incense for you without holding any grudges!
Gu An received the secret book with "Energy Nurturing Skill" on the cover and pretended to be pleased.
"Recently, demons have infiltrated the Supreme Sect. The Medicine Valley is located on the edge of the Supreme Sect. Though there are disciples patrolling, risks remain. Do not stray outside the Medicine Valley during your daily routines. You can leave now."
After Cheng Xuandan finished advising, he waved his hand, and Gu An and the others immediately bowed and retreated.
Gu An walked at the back and casually closed the door as he exited.
Cheng Xuandan nodded slightly and said, "That boy named Li Ya is not simple. He likely practices some technique to conceal his cultivation level. His essence, energy, and spirit are not inferior to yours. Pay more attention to him in the future. Also, he comes from the Imperial Family, so don't be too harsh on him."
Zhang Chunqiu nodded. He thought for a moment and said, "Master, Gu An is the most diligent, and coupled with his poor aptitude, he will certainly stay in the Medicine Valley longer..."
Cheng Xuandan calmly replied, "Hmm, then you take him under your wing. He is your responsibility."
Zhang Chunqiu smiled and bowed to thank him.
Elsewhere.
Gu An and the others returned to their courtyard. Throughout the journey, Meng Lang kept talking about demons, showing no fear but rather excitement.
Li Ya paused, looked at Gu An, and said, "Energy Nurturing Skill is actually not bad. It can conceal your breath and increase your life span. I already have a cultivation technique, so I don't need it. For someone like you, the Energy Nurturing Skill is actually a better choice."
Upon hearing this, Gu An smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Li, for your guidance. I might spend my life in the Medicine Valley, and the Hundred Herbs Collection indeed holds little meaning for me. Following Senior Brother, I can still learn about medicinal herbs."
Li Ya nodded slightly, satisfied to see Gu An take the advice.
The three didn't chat much longer, quickly returning to their respective rooms.
The daily chores in the Medicine Valley were not many, so they had ample time to cultivate.
Sitting on his bed, Gu An began reading the Energy Nurturing Skill.
Initially uninterested in the Energy Nurturing Skill, after hearing from Li Ya about its ability to conceal breath and increase life span, he suddenly felt like practicing it, also wanting to test the ability to evolve life span.
Over the past year, he had cultivated the Spring Wood Skill given by Zhang Chunqiu without any progress, so he gave it up after half a month.
For him, rather than the monotonous cultivation, it was better to read more books on medicinal herbs and various travel notes in the library of the Medicine Valley to broaden his horizons.
Day after day passed.
Except for the daily inspection of medicinal herbs, Gu An spent his time cultivating in his room.
After fifteen days of cultivating, he finally made "Energy Nurturing Skill" appear on his attribute panel, still noted as unaccomplished.
Looking at his attribute panel, Gu An was full of expectations.
Using life span evolution for the first time made him very nervous, unsure of how many years of life span it would take to deduce the Energy Nurturing Skill.
Although his life span had already exceeded a thousand years, if it took several decades or even a century, it would still be a heartache.
Staring at "Energy Nurturing Skill" on the attribute panel, Gu An silently chose to invest in life span evolution.
[Please enter the number of years of life span to invest]
Seeing this line of text, Gu An made a choice without hesitation. The next moment, two lines of text appeared before his eyes.
[You have invested one year of life span to deduce the Energy Nurturing Skill]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for a year. Due to your average comprehension and aptitude, there was no progress in cultivation level, but your essence energy improved]
Suddenly, Gu An felt his body relax, but this feeling came quickly and faded just as rapidly.
Is that it?
The word "average" deeply stung Gu An.
How utterly insulting!
Gu An's heart filled with confusion. Could aptitude be related to the Spirit Root?
He decided to use life span evolution on his Spirit Root, investing a full hundred years of life span.
[You have invested one hundred years of life span to evolve the Spirit Root]
[You started comprehending the natural world, increasing the Spirit Root's perception of nature. After a hundred years, your Five Elements Spirit Root's perception improved]
After reading these two lines of text, Gu An brought up the attribute panel again, noticing his Spirit Root had changed from "ordinary Five Elements Spirit Root" to "better Five Elements Spirit Root."
Gu An felt disappointed, his heart aching as he saw his life span shrink from four digits to three.
It seemed the evolution of the Spirit Root was a bottomless pit.
"How about trying the Energy Nurturing Skill again?"
This thought popped into Gu An's mind. After trying life span evolution once, he felt an itch to do it again.
"I only needed one year to earn a thousand years into my life span; today I'll invest a bit more, and work hard to earn the lifespan back in the future... Hmm, just this once, given it's the first time using this function..."
Gu An took a deep breath and silently chose to invest five hundred years of life span into the Energy Nurturing Skill.
[You have invested five hundred years of life span to deduce the Energy Nurturing Skill]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for a year. Due to your average comprehension and aptitude, there was no progress in cultivation level, but your essence energy improved]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for ten years. Due to your average comprehension and aptitude, there was no progress in cultivation level. You successfully mastered the Energy Nurturing Skill and your qi-blood improved]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for a hundred years. Years of cultivation made you gain insight into the Energy Nurturing Skill, causing it to begin transforming]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for two hundred years. It merged with nature's spiritual energy, evolving into a Technique of Immortal Cultivation]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for three hundred years. It ascended to the Spirit Nurturing Skill]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for four hundred years. This day, you had an epiphany, integrating the Heaven and Earth True Meaning, and created the Dragon Image Nurturing Primordial Skill. Your physical body and qi-blood transformed]
[You cultivated the Energy Nurturing Skill for five hundred years. The Dragon Image Nurturing Primordial Skill reached perfection, breaking through the limits of the technique and ascending to the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill. Your physique experienced a qualitative change]
One line of prompt after another appeared before Gu An's eyes. Before he could finish reading, a vast amount of memories flooded into his mind.
The breeze outside the window swayed the curtain by the bed, also blowing Gu An's black hair. With his eyes closed, he opened his mouth unconsciously, inhaling and exhaling as a faint dragon roar could be heard.
After an unknown amount of time, Gu An gradually awoke.
He opened his eyes, and what greeted his sight was the dim forest outside the window.
It was night.
Gu An had completely inherited all the cultivation memories of the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, and he even had direct mastery of the technique.
The Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill was a cultivation technique based on the training of the Dragon Turtle. It could conceal breath, hide cultivation level, and also train the strength of a dragon.
The Energy Nurturing Skill was part of the foundational cultivation technique of the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill. Life span evolution was equivalent to deducing an incomplete technique to a complete one.
Gu An suspected that the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill originally existed and that the Supreme Sect only obtained fragments, hence naming it the Energy Nurturing Skill.
If he invested another three hundred years of life span, what kind of transformation would the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill undergo?
Gu An forcibly suppressed the impulse to invest more life span, feeling his own physique. He could sense a dominant strength within his body, making him feel immensely powerful.
He felt as if he could shatter a pavilion with a single punch!
This feeling of immense strength was truly wonderful!
Moreover, his senses were significantly enhanced, allowing him to hear the breathing of Meng Lang and Li Ya. He could even hear the distant conversation between Zhang Chunqiu and Cheng Xuandan.
"That demon has already killed thirteen disciples, most of them servant disciples from various Medicine Valleys. Master, we probably cannot protect them by ourselves."
"It's alright, I have already requested a sect mission, and the sect will send a disciple in the Foundation Establishment Realm to guard our Medicine Valley."
"That would be great. This afternoon, there was an unusual fluctuation in the spiritual energy within the valley. I thought it was the demon coming. To my shame, I didn't even dare to step outside."
"You, you, growing up under my wing without venturing outside, it's understandable to have a timid nature..."
Listening to their conversation, Gu An broke into a cold sweat.
He was too careless!
In the future, he must not act rashly when deducing techniques.
Luckily, Zhang Chunqiu's cultivation level was low, otherwise, Gu An's cultivation would have been exposed.
Listening for a while longer and confirming that Cheng Xuandan and Zhang Chunqiu were not discussing him, Gu An finally relaxed.
He continued to feel his new physique, while following the technique of the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, suppressing his breath and qi-blood, making his appearance look no different from when he had not cultivated, still seemingly weak.
An ancient hour later, Gu An opened his eyes and pulled up his attribute panel.
[Name: Gu An]
[Life Span: 16/402]
[Spirit Root: Better Five Elements Spirit Root (Can invest life span for evolution)]
[Cultivation Level: Not in the mainstream (Can invest life span for evolution)]
[Cultivation Techniques: Fire Control Art (Unaccomplished), Spring Wood Skill (Unaccomplished), Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill (Mastery) (Can invest life span for evolution)]
Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill, mastery!
Gu An read this with satisfaction, though it was a pity that the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill was a Body Cultivation Method and could not cultivate spiritual power, so his cultivation level remained outside the mainstream.
Even so, Gu An believed he could easily overpower those in the Energy Cultivation Realm.
Next, he could wait for his life span to increase.
His Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill had reached perfection, with strength energy surging within, automatically enhancing his life span, although the speed of increase was yet to be determined.
That night, Gu An found it hard to sleep.
However, even after waiting until dawn, repeatedly refreshing the attribute panel, he saw no increase in life span and had to console himself that no technique could increase a year's life span in a single day.
Indeed!
The heavens would not disappoint those who invested life span. There would eventually be a surprise!
Gu An freshened up briefly, then stepped out of his room to stroll around the garden, looking at the medicinal herbs to calm his mind.
Coincidentally, as he arrived at the garden, his gaze locked onto a white-furred rat.
It was the same rat that had gnawed on the Calming Grass before!
Gu An looked around, confirming that no one else had left their rooms in the Medicine Valley, and he quietly approached the white-furred rat.
The white-furred rat had its back to him, ten meters away, unaware of someone approaching.
When they were within seven steps, Gu An shot forward like an arrow, quickly grasping the white-furred rat with his right hand.
The white-furred rat was terrified, lifting its tiny paws in surrender.
"Daring to steal my life, hmph, you're done for!"
Gu An chuckled triumphantly. As he captured the white-furred rat, he noticed its slow reaction.
Too slow!