In the forest, Gu An couldn't persuade Li Ya and eventually performed a clumsy rendition of the Li Family's Seven Swords. It was then that he realized, pretending to be terrible was even more difficult than pretending to be skilled.
Confronted with Gu An's stiff sword moves, Li Ya criticized him for a while before beginning to patiently teach him how to use the sword.
Gu An could tell from his swordplay that he had been practicing the Nine Devastating Swords and could be considered a genius, his talent for the Sword Dao at least surpassing Gu An's.
The next day arrived, and Li Ya still wanted to practice swordsmanship with Gu An.
Gu An couldn't take it anymore!
"Senior Brother Li, I have no talent for the sword, let's just stop, shall we? I only have a few decades of life to live; wouldn't it be a waste to laboriously practice the sword? I would rather plant and water flowers than practice the sword."
Gu An said helplessly, secretly stimulating the Dragon Strength within his body, causing his eyes to turn red.
Seeing this, Li Ya, with a sword in hand, suddenly felt a sense of blockage in his heart.
What was he doing?
Was he repaying Junior Brother Gu in a way he liked?
Wasn't this also a kind of harm?
Li Ya couldn't help but think of his childhood, when the emperor father forced him to learn with his brothers, yet he could never grasp what they excelled at.
Sighing, he walked over to Gu An, patted his shoulder, and said, "Junior Brother Gu, it was inconsiderate of me, I'm sorry."
Gu An forced a smile and said, "It's alright, Senior Brother is also thinking of my best interests. It's just that I am untalented and lacking."
The more Gu An said this, the guiltier Li Ya felt.
The two sat down and began to talk about their first year in the valley, dispelling the tense atmosphere of sword practice.
In the following days, Li Ya no longer insisted on practicing the sword with Gu An, but he still spent an ancient hour teaching Xiaochuan and the others swordsmanship.
For those like Xiaochuan, whose dreams had not yet been extinguished, learning the sword from an Outer Disciple was a rare opportunity.
This went on until five days later when Li Ya prepared to leave.
Gu An, accompanied by his junior brothers and sisters, saw Li Ya off at the mouth of the valley. Xiaochuan and the others were very reluctant, having learned so much from Li Ya.
"Senior Brother, this will always be your home, come back to visit often," Gu An said with a look of reluctance.
Home?
A surge went through Li Ya's heart, but he wore a light and breezy smile and said, "Yeah, I will come back."
With that, he turned and left, his black robe in the forest resembling a raging black flame, the bleak autumn wind unable to extinguish his fire.
Gu An felt that he was burning with a certain determination, possibly related to his recent injury.
Only when Li Ya had disappeared deep into the forest did Gu An withdraw his gaze. Turning to his junior brothers and sisters, he smiled and said, "Practice hard so that one day you can join the Outer Sect and bring glory to Mystic Valley."
Lu Jiujia immediately vowed to enter the Outer Sect.
Xiaochuan said the same, though clearly with less conviction than him.
Ye Lan seemed preoccupied, lost in thought.
Wuxin spoke up, "I won't go to the Outer Sect; I want to stay with Big Brother for life!"
When he said this, everyone looked at him in surprise, including Gu An.
"This kid..."
Gu An felt touched; perhaps he had misunderstood Wuxin?
Lately, Wuxin had been behaving, not sneaking around at night, and nothing had gone missing in Mystic Valley, so they couldn't be certain that Wuxin had malicious intentions.
If that was the case, he would assign more menial tasks to Wuxin in the future.
Ye Lan felt regret that she wasn't the one to say those words before Wuxin.
At the same time, she realized that perhaps in her heart, while Big Brother was essential, he wasn't as crucial as the pursuit of immortal cultivation and longevity.
Lu Jiujia couldn't resist mocking Wuxin for being a sycophant, leading to a quarrel among Xiaochuan, Ye Lan, and Wuxin.
Gu An led them back to the valley, his thoughts drifting underground.
Li Ya had left, and now it was time to prepare to deal with the trouble beneath the ground.
...
Late at night, in the Eight Scenic Caves.
Gu An, holding the Heavenly Residence scabbard, approached Meng Lang who was lying on the grass with his orifices sealed by mud.
"There are signs of movement around the grass; someone has indeed been here."
Gu An keenly perceived slight changes in the grass around Meng Lang, which would be very hard to detect for an ordinary cultivator. He noticed because he had made a particular point to observe upon leaving last time.
He squeezed the Heavenly Residence sword in his hand and then stepped toward the cave entrance from which Meng Lang had initially run out.
Soon, he vanished into the darkness.
This tunnel didn't have many crystal stones, and it was very dim, but for a Nascent Soul Realm's divine sense, this made no difference.
The cold Spirit Wind blew through the tunnel, rustling Gu An's robes. His divine sense had already reached the end of the tunnel ahead of him.
There lay a spacious cavern, not as large as the main chamber of the Eight Scenic Caves, but still sizeable. Several coffins stood there, and a large blue-green crystal stone the size of a water jar was embedded in the ceiling. Bathed in the dim glow, the coffins were incredibly eerie and terrifying.
Apart from the coffins, there was nothing else.
Gu An's divine sense suddenly captured that within one coffin lay a living person, the faint life force unable to escape the detection of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
Gu An didn't perceive any danger from this weak sign of life, but he did not let his guard down.
After a long journey, he finally reached the end of the tunnel.
Standing at the entrance, he carefully poked his head out and asked cautiously, "Is anyone there?"
No one answered him, as if there was not a single person in the chamber.
Gu An picked up a stone from the ground and threw it inside, *thud*, the stone hit a coffin, but there was no movement. However, he seemed to be frightened, his eyes widening.
He instinctively stepped back, pretending to be shocked.
Why isn't there any sound?
If I keep acting it's going to be awkward!
Gu An was anxious inside; his actions were to ascertain the attitude of the presence, as the other party had not hurt him before. He didn't want to mistakenly kill a good person.
At least he needed to feel at ease within himself!
Gu An gritted his teeth, suddenly drew his sword, and charged into the chamber, swinging wildly. *Crack*, the Heavenly Residence Sword struck a coffin lid and got stuck. Yanking it out forcefully, the inertia made him stagger back a couple of steps.
"Pfft—"
A gentle laugh rang out, sounding very grating in the chamber.
Gu An almost got goosebumps—it was a woman's voice, and at first, it sounded like a female ghost laughing.
He held the Heavenly Residence Sword, nervously scanning his surroundings, constantly turning in a circle for fear that demons or ghosts would surge out from the sides.
"Boy, are you Cheng Xuandan's disciple?"
That mysterious female voice spoke again, with a tone so flirtatious it led one's thoughts astray.
Gu An hurriedly replied, "Yes, senior, Cheng Xuandan is my master, may I ask who you are, and why are you here?"
"Those who are here would naturally be your Martial Master. Cheng Xuandan is my disciple. That you could come means his end is near, right?" The mysterious voice dropped its playful tone, carrying a hint of melancholy.
Gu An responded, "So it is my Martial Master, I pay my respects. Master's time indeed has come; he said he wished to emulate you and find an unknown place to meet the end of his life."
The chamber then fell silent once more.
Gu An stayed alert. If the other party made a move against him, regardless of whether they were his Martial Master, he would show no mercy.
The Heavenly Residence Sword in his hand had yet to taste blood!
After a long while,
Just as Gu An was about to speak again, the other's voice sounded, "Did Cheng Xuandan tell you my identity?"
Gu An replied softly, "My master told me everything. You come from the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion, and he also asked me to be ready to receive someone from the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion at any time..."
"Seeing you like this, so timid and cautious, and the way you entered here, it seems you didn't come willingly, right? You only found out all this after he handed over the Valley Master position to you?" the other asked teasingly.
Gu An sighed, everything was said without words.
This time, he wasn't acting—he was truly helpless.
"Since you have already taken him as your master, you are naturally my Disciple as well. Guard this place for another ten years on my behalf; after ten years, I will be able to leave the Supreme Sect and will not trouble you."
Hearing this, Gu An couldn't help but ask, "May I know Martial Master's honorable name?"
"My surname is Jiang, and my name is Qiong. As for my title in the Immortal Cultivation World, it's not worth mentioning."
Jiang Qiong?
The name was quite pleasant to hear, although he didn't know how many years she had lived.
As Gu An was thinking, a coffin in front suddenly opened, startling him into raising his sword.
Two objects flew out of the coffin and landed in front of him.
He looked down and saw that it was a black small bell and a secret manual.
"Consider these a gift for our first meeting, my Disciple. The Soul Shaking Bell can command all the Poison Skills of the Myriad Poison Mystic Skill. Just give it a shake, and all the Corpse Poison in this cave will obey your orders."
"The manual is my Technique of Immortal Cultivation, the Yin Yang Art. The Yin Yang Art contains the spells to refine the Soul Shaking Bell—a technique even your master did not learn."
Jiang Qiong's voice came through, sounding a bit weary.
Gu An promptly bowed in gratitude and couldn't help asking, "With my mediocre talents, why does Martial Master treat me so kindly?"
"Hehe, mediocre talents? Boy, I don't know what unique skills you've been practicing, but your actual Cultivation Level is definitely beyond the fourth layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm. You must have reached Foundation Establishment already. To achieve Foundation Establishment at such a young age, you are a genius. You managed to suppress your own pride and stay hidden as a Servant Disciple in the Outer Sect, and although I have no idea what burdens you carry, it seems you have a strong aversion to the Supreme Sect."
"I'm satisfied with your ability, and your approach to things is even more to my liking. Practice hard, and later on, I will teach you more spells. Once you inherit my legacy, I will then recommend you to become a True Disciple at the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion."
Jiang Qiong resumed her coquettish laughter, and Gu An's expression changed, feeling as if he had been seen through and could no longer save face.
Gu An took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Martial Master. Should you have any orders, feel free to tell me anytime."
Having said that, he picked up the Soul Shaking Bell and the Yin Yang Art and turned to leave.
No more sounds from Jiang Qiong came from the chamber, and Gu An hurried back to the Eight Scenic Caves.
He sat under a tree and began to read the Yin Yang Art.
He pondered whether Jiang Qiong had any malicious intentions.
Ten years was not a big deal; he wasn't just a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator but also possessed the Taicang Divine-Shocking Sword.
Jiang Qiong was clearly no saint; she was merely wary of Gu An's Foundation Establishment Realm power. In a mere ten years, how could she go from being wary of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to being able to crush a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator at will?
She wasn't hiding here recently; according to Cheng Xuandan, she had already been dead for seventy years.
He would use the next ten years to extract as many spells and manuals as possible from her. If she left peacefully after ten years, Gu An wouldn't betray his Martial Master.
If she harbored ill intentions, Gu An would have to let the Heavenly Residence Sword taste blood.