"Junior Brother Gu, let me introduce to you, this is my childhood friend, Zuo Lin. He wants to discuss swordsmanship with me, so I let him stay in my courtyard," Li Ya said as he came to Gu An.
Zuo Lin, dressed in yellow, had a handsome face with an undeniable arrogance between his brows. He wore a sword at his waist, and just by looking at its grade, one could tell it wasn't low.
Li Ya introduced Gu An to Zuo Lin, but Zuo Lin only nodded at Gu An and didn't say a word.
Gu An, used to such behavior, smiled and said, "Senior Brother Li, then take him to settle down."
Li Ya nodded, his eyes revealing an apologetic look.
Zuo Lin pulled Li Ya forward excitedly, "Today, Ji Lin from the Ji Family was truly amazing. Did you see his swordsmanship? It was exquisite. I feel he has a chance to become the final victor."
Ji Lin?
Gu An's mind conjured up a handsome and proud face. Ji Lin, like him, had joined the Supreme Sect under Ji Xiaoyu. They didn't interact much, but earlier, Du Ye had helped Ji Lin gather medicinal herbs.
Unexpectedly, Ji Lin was already making a name for himself in the Outer Sect Tournament, even though he wasn't much older than Gu An.
Of course, it might have to do with the resources he received. Given the Supreme Sect's treatment coupled with the Ji Family's resources, it's understandable that his cultivation level advanced rapidly.
Gu An walked towards the tree, all the while eavesdropping on Li Ya and Zuo Lin's conversation.
The Outer Sect Tournament had already begun, with talented disciples from both righteous and demonic paths gathering to compete against each other. According to Li Ya and Zuo Lin, the tournament was a one-on-one format, and those undefeated disciples were starting to make a name for themselves.
Gu An didn't hear Ji Xiaoyu's name, and after a moment's thought, he realized Ji Xiaoyu didn't belong to the Outer Sect.
Xiaochuan, Wuxin, and others were curious about Zuo Lin, gathering in small groups and discussing him.
Zuo Lin's arrival didn't disturb the life in Mystic Valley. He looked down on the servant disciples, practicing swordsmanship with Li Ya in the daytime and going back to his room to cultivate afterwards.
Because of their arrival, Gu An reduced his visits to the Eight Scenic Caves, but he still stuck to his daily plans.
A month passed swiftly.
Gu An finally reached the ninth layer of the Nascent Soul Realm. That night, he felt lighter on his way back.
When he returned to Mystic Valley, he saw someone practicing swordsmanship in Li Ya's courtyard.
He went to his loft, and after entering the room, he stood by the window to watch.
It was Zuo Lin practicing swordsmanship.
When Zuo Lin first arrived, Gu An thought he was a swordsmanship genius.
But after a month of observing his daily practice, Gu An realized Zuo Lin's talent in swordsmanship was extremely mediocre.
Gu An, now having some Sword Dao accomplishment himself, judged that Zuo Lin's talent in swordsmanship was not even as good as Su Han's.
Su Han was the most talented in swordsmanship in the valley, but even he wouldn't stand out much outside the valley.
Watching for a while, Gu An then closed the window.
When daylight came, Gu An went downstairs to find Zuo Lin still standing in the courtyard, looking at the sword in his hand with a furrowed brow.
Gu An greeted his junior brothers, junior sisters, and the disciples to practice their morning exercises, which caught Zuo Lin's attention.
"Actually, you don't need to force swordsmanship. Your spirit root qualification is exceptional. When your cultivation realm is higher, practicing swordsmanship might yield twice the result with half the effort," Li Ya said softly, approaching Zuo Lin.
Zuo Lin's face darkened, "No, I must become a sword cultivator. My father is the Maniac Swordsman of Canghu Lake!"
Li Ya intended to persuade him, but on second thought, he was the same, wanting to prove himself to his father.
Zuo Lin stared intently at Gu An and the others practicing their exercises. For some reason, he felt Gu An's movements held a unique subtlety. Though the movements were identical to others, Gu An's carried a mysterious charm.
Initially, he thought it was an illusion, but the more he looked, the more certain he was that he hadn't been mistaken.
Li Ya didn't continue to disturb Zuo Lin as he turned towards the woods; he needed a lot of time to cultivate.
He couldn't stop thinking about his loss to Xu Ruye, although he rarely mentioned it.
He didn't want to lose again!
After Gu An finished a set of exercises, he let the valley disciples busy themselves. Nowadays, the valley's affairs no longer required his personal arrangement as Wuxin was gradually taking over the authority of the senior brother.
Xiaochuan, who had a more reserved character, didn't like to command or arrange, so he let Wuxin take over.
Not to mention Ye Lan, who had already focused fully on the Outer Sect assessment.
With average qualifications like hers, to become an Outer Disciple, there was only one way: reach the ninth layer of the Energy Cultivation Realm and then participate in the Outer Sect assessment. After passing, they could wait for the Outer Sect to distribute the Foundation Establishment Pill.
If they directly broke through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, then the assessment wouldn't be necessary.
Gu An was hesitating on whether to improve his alchemy skills to help his junior sister and junior brother refine Foundation Establishment Pills. The medicinal herbs needed for the Foundation Establishment Pill could all be found in the valley, the difficulty lay in the alchemy process.
Ye Lan was still some way off from the ninth layer of the Energy Cultivation Realm, giving Gu An enough time to consider this matter. As for Xiaochuan, he was even further off.
Most people's qualifications wouldn't allow them to reach the eighth layer of the Energy Cultivation Realm even with a lifetime of bitter cultivation.
Gu An walked towards the loft, pulling out the Green Hero Travelogue from his chest, an expectant look on his face.
He had been saving the last five chapters, waiting for a sunny day to savor them.
Heavy rain poured down, as the Green Hero and his Ms. Yin met in a ruined temple, their love-hate relationship about to erupt completely...
Just thinking about it made Gu An excited.
"Brother Gu An."
Zuo Lin's voice came, and Gu An turned to see him approaching quickly.
Standing before Gu An, Zuo Lin appeared somewhat embarrassed. Gu An, not holding a grudge for his earlier arrogance, asked with a smile, "Brother Zuo, is there something you need?"
Gritting his teeth, he said, "I observed that your set of movements is very exquisite. Could you teach me?"
"No problem, let's go under the tree," Gu An responded.
It's our duty as children of Huaxia to promote broadcast exercises!
Zuo Lin was taken aback, not expecting him to agree so readily, feeling ashamed as he hurriedly followed Gu An.
The two came to the courtyard in front of the loft, and Gu An, without wasting words, began to teach him the exercises.
Zuo Lin, quick at learning, mastered it after one demonstration from Gu An.
"Is this all?" Zuo Lin asked, frowning.
Gu An, puzzled, asked, "Not enough? These are all the movements."
"What about the mental method?"
"There's no mental method."
"Impossible, without a mental method, how can you..." Zuo Lin frowned.
His words confused Gu An even more, making him ask, "How can I what?"
Zuo Lin, agitated, said, "It's just that you give me a different feeling. The same movements, but they're different from others. You must have a mental method..."
Gu An, feeling helpless, thought, "Is this kid enlightened by the sword or gone mad?"
Seeing Gu An's expression, Zuo Lin felt even more embarrassed. Rationally, he knew a servant disciple couldn't be hiding an ultimate mental method.
But his previous feeling wasn't wrong.
Since childhood, he had the keenest perception of a person's qualifications and aura. His master even praised him for having an Exquisite Spirit Heart, good at recognizing people.
This servant disciple in front of him must be extraordinary!
Zuo Lin's eyes turned, "Let's do this, I'll teach you swordsmanship, and you try it?"
Gu An initially wanted to refuse, but seeing how hard it was to shake him off, he could only nod.
No harm learning!
Seeing Gu An lacked a sword, Zuo Lin took a long sword out of his storage bag and handed it to him, then drew his treasure sword at his waist and began demonstrating his swordsmanship.
This guy really didn't know how to be considerate!
Why swing the sword so fast?
Gu An complained in his heart but watched very seriously.
In the distance, Tang Yu and Su Han, seeing this, didn't dare to approach but watched from afar.
"If Master learns it, won't he be able to teach us?" Su Han said with anticipation, his love for swords evident. Among all the paths of immortal cultivation, only sword cultivation captivated him the most.
Tang Yu nodded, "If Master learns it, and we ask him, he definitely won't refuse."
In their hearts, Gu An was the best master. The key issue was whether Master could learn Zuo Lin's swordsmanship.
The answer was affirmative. Gu An had invested two thousand years of lifespan into Li Family's seven swords, and his sword Dao accomplishment was already high.
The swordsmanship demonstrated by Zuo Lin, though good, wasn't as advanced as the upgraded Seven-Sword Art of the Li Family, let alone comparable to the Nine Devastating Swords.
Of course, Zuo Lin couldn't have taught his strongest swordsmanship right at the start.
After finishing his demonstration, Zuo Lin turned to Gu An and asked, "How much did you memorize?"
Gu An shook his head, "About twenty percent... I'm not sure. Your swordsmanship was so fluent, it dazzled me. I already forgot the earlier moves."
Zuo Lin frowned, immediately asking Gu An to give it a try.
So, Gu An began to perform Zuo Lin's swordsmanship, his movements hesitant, and his swordplay stiff, making Zuo Lin's frown deepen.
From afar, Tang Yu and Su Han felt hopeless, thinking their Master couldn't learn it.
After fumbling through the moves, Zuo Lin, unwilling to give up, demonstrated again, this time slower. But even then, Gu An couldn't memorize all of it.
After half an hour of struggle, Gu An found an excuse to slip away.
An angry Zuo Lin found Li Ya, complaining that Gu An was mocking him.
Upon hearing the reason, Li Ya couldn't help but laugh, "He truly lacks swordsmanship talent and hates practicing swordsmanship."
"Really?" Zuo Lin's anger subsided considerably, yet he still thought of Gu An's previous movements. He felt Gu An was hiding something.
"He's my junior brother. Don't I know him?"
Li Ya gave him a glance, warning, "Stop pestering him. It's already good enough for you to stay here. If you keep bothering him, go back to the outer sect and find your father!"
Zuo Lin fell into contemplation, gazing at the loft where Gu An lived, lost in thought.
Meanwhile.
Inside the loft.
Gu An sat cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed, recalling the swordsmanship taught by Zuo Lin.
He slowly opened his eyes, which flashed with sword light.
He brought up his attribute panel, and in the ultimate skill section appeared "Wood Spirit Sword Technique."
Wood Spirit?
Could it be a wood attribute swordsmanship?
Gu An's Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill was wood attribute. If he cultivated wood attribute spells, he could achieve twice the result with half the effort. He quickly learned the Poison Wood Array taught by Jiang Qiong.
However, for now, he didn't want to enhance this swordsmanship. He needed to save up to one hundred thousand years of lifespan.
The Life Span Detection function activated at one thousand years, the Life Span Barrier function at ten thousand years, so one hundred thousand years should unlock a new function, which he always looked forward to.