Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 185: Li Gou as a Disaster Cultivator, the Shame of the Demon Sect (Long Chapter)

Upon careful examination of the Clear Sha Pill handed over by Li An, Gu Xuanting furrowed his brows.

The Clear Sha Pill of second-grade quality was only average and couldn't be considered a good item.

However, although Nascent Soul cultivators favored third-grade Clear Sha Pills, second-grade Clear Sha Pills still had some effect. Therefore, they were also considered strategic resources that could be exchanged for contributions.

The Clear Sha Pills handed over by Li An were just enough to ensure his continued stay.

Gu Xuanting hesitated for a moment. In fact, if Li An were just a second-grade alchemist, he could still make him leave.

After all, as an envoy, he had a lot of room for manipulation. He could simply go back and tell the White Mountain Lord directly that Li An had made no contributions and should be expelled.

But Li An was different. Although his contributions were insignificant and he couldn't be considered a strong cultivator under the White Mountain Lord, he had a close relationship with Little Ying.

This made it impossible for him to manipulate things behind the scenes.

"It is indeed a contribution item," Gu Xuanting said lightly. "It just meets the criteria for staying, so you can stay."

"But!" he suddenly spoke again, his words heavy, "Your contribution points are too few, so you don't have the qualification to choose the spiritual veins first. You have to wait for others to pick first before it's your turn..."

As he spoke, he turned to the three cultivators behind him and said, "You three can go ahead and choose the spiritual veins of Lingyun Mountain..."

The three of them smiled with great joy.

They were two men and one woman, all at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Their contributions were not outstanding, but they took the opportunity to flatter Zhou Libai, who had just gained power, and became her confidants.

Zhou Libai arranged for them to come here because the spiritual veins of the D-grade here were better than the other D-grade spiritual veins. Moreover, the Hundred Flowers Valley had given birth to a spiritual rose with intelligence twice before. Although the demonic energy veins of the Hundred Flowers Valley had burst open now, who knew if there would be any good things in the future?

They had to send their own people.

The three of them immediately chose the Lingdong Peak, Lingjing Peak, and Lingyuan Peak.

Upon hearing this, Li An furrowed his brows and said, "Fellow Daoist Gu, in that case, I can only go to the Lingsha Peak... I can't cultivate there!"

Gu Xuanting smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist, there's no other way. I'm just following the rules. If it really doesn't work for you, you can choose other D-grade spiritual veins or leave?"

He was quite happy in his heart. With this arrangement, even if Li An found Little Ying, he wouldn't have any problems. At the same time, he could also fulfill Zhou Libai's instructions.

If Li An went to the Lingsha Peak, even as a second-grade alchemist, he wouldn't be able to withstand the invasion of demonic energy.

After pondering for a long time, Li An gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, I'll go to the Lingsha Peak!"

Then, he went straight back to the Lingjing Peak, packed his things, and when he walked out, he said with resentment, "Lin Mou will definitely come back!"

And he headed straight for the Lingsha Peak.

Seeing this, the others laughed.

"He really doesn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. Does he think he can survive in the Lingsha Peak just because he has enough second-grade Clear Sha Pills?"

"Well, that's good. It saves us trouble."

"We've offended Fellow Daoist Zhou, so he deserves it."

...

The Lingsha Peak is quite far from the Lingyuan Peak and the other two peaks, about ten miles or so.

Li An quickly landed on the Lingsha Peak. Compared to the other three peaks, this place was desolate, with very little vegetation, giving it a desert-like feeling.

Due to the heavy malevolent energy, it was difficult for any plants to grow.

But Li An took a deep breath, feeling delighted by the abundant malevolent energy.

Only after settling here did he realize that the ratio of spiritual energy to malevolent energy was close to one to one!

Every breath of spiritual energy he absorbed was accompanied by a breath of malevolent energy.

This was very beneficial for his cultivation of demonic techniques.

He set up a mountain protection formation and opened up a cave in a secluded and hidden place. The cave was deep, and it took him two full days to reach the point where the malevolent energy dissipated.

He would cultivate here.

"Fortunately, you are not afraid of malevolent energy either..."

He touched the little red bird on his shoulder, and the little red bird affectionately rubbed against him.

In fact, this Azure Flame Divine Sparrow was born in the Abyss of Ten Thousand Depths, where malevolent energy was abundant. Later, Li An continuously infused it with his own aura, so now it had the same immunity to malevolent energy, toxins, and other things as Li An.

After arriving at the Lingsha Peak, he had three years of breathing room.

...

Next, Li An went into seclusion directly and didn't step out.

The spiritual energy and malevolent energy here were both abundant, and there was no shortage of spiritual stones, so his progress was very fast.

At the same time, he also cultivated the lungs of the Golden Treasury Technique. He had already accumulated a lot of third-grade metals in his hands, continuously improving his Immortal Demon Armor.

Of course, there was also alchemy!

Now he began to try refining another kind of pill - the Clear Soul Pill!

The Clear Soul Pill was similar to the Clear Malevolent Pill, both used to guard against the invasion of malevolent energy. However, the Clear Soul Pill mainly targeted the soul!

Very few people refined this kind of pill, mainly for two reasons: first, most cultivators would not fall to the point where their souls were invaded by malevolent energy. For example, Xiang Yun Tian, although he was already contaminated with malevolent energy, his soul had not yet produced malevolent energy, and he was already close to death. Second, the refining of Clear Soul Pills was not easy, and the general Clear Soul Pills had little effect on soul malevolent energy unless an exceptional one was refined!

The market was small, and the difficulty was high.

Even someone like Madam She, a third-grade alchemist, probably had no interest in it.

Li An's goal in refining pills was to obtain a fourth-grade talisman inheritance!

Under Lord Jie Shan's command, there was a fourth-grade talisman master. Li An already knew this from Wang Zhongxian's memories. That fourth-grade talisman master was afflicted with soul malevolent energy, so he had been in seclusion all this time and hadn't even participated in the previous battle.

Li An started with second-grade Clear Soul Pills.

In addition to this, he also planned to visit the Hundred Flowers Valley again later.

Although he had already killed Jiang Ribai, Li An would cultivate another rose. Of course, the newly cultivated rose would have very little spirituality, but it would have a lot of malevolent energy.

Those three people will definitely go and explore. Once they obtain this rose, Li An's suspicion will be completely eliminated.

After all, after Jiang Ribai's death, there hasn't been any spiritual rose in Baihua Valley. What if Zhou Libai thinks of something from it?

This rose can mislead Zhou Libai and make her understand that the appearance of the spiritual rose is objective, and the reason why there is none later is because of the outbreak of evil energy.

Li An must strive to be meticulous in his actions!

...

Time flies.

In the blink of an eye, three years have passed.

In these three years, Li An has not taken a step outside.

His gains have been great!

The technique of nurturing life and forging immortality has steadily improved, and his cultivation has advanced a lot.

In another three years, Li An will be able to reach the early stage of Gold Core and then strive for the mid-stage of Gold Core.

The demonic technique has begun to show results. The resonance between demonic energy and the lungs has triggered the indestructible Heavenly Demon Armor, reaching the level of a third-grade artifact.

This is equivalent to him having a permanent defense.

Li An has tested it, and ordinary third-grade attack artifacts cannot break through his defense!

His alchemy level of the second-grade pill is also approaching perfection. Just half a month ago, he finally refined a second-grade superb Soul Cleansing Pill!

This was achieved at the cost of wasting many pill furnaces over the past three years.

In addition, Li An has come out of seclusion three times.

Mainly to see Miss Xiaoying, each time he would give her precious spirit stones and let Xiaohong accompany her to play.

Xiaoying is after all a transformed demonic beast, lacking emotional intelligence and scheming, like a little girl. She always has a great time playing with Xiaohong, but she always says that Li An is too weak and cannot give Xiaohong a good life.

This greatly hurts Li An.

...

On this day, a new round of assessments has come again, and Li An submitted the Qingsha Pill as usual to secure his qualification to continue staying.

Gu Xuanting looked at Li An and noticed a faint aura of evil in his eyes.

Obviously, Li An has started to be influenced by evil energy!

However, it is not yet so serious.

He didn't say anything, but Chen Yi, a female cultivator living on Lingjing Peak, sneered and said, "Master Envoy, Lin An has already started to be influenced by evil energy. If this continues, he will definitely go astray. Then the three of us will be in danger, won't we?"

"Can't we drive him away?"

Chen Yi was very direct.

The other two male cultivators also agreed.

But Gu Xuanting still calmly said, "It's against the rules."

He also wanted to do so.

But according to the information he received, although Li An is useless, the spiritual beast he raises is liked by Miss Xiaoying.

People rely on birds, after all.

...

Li An didn't pay any attention to Chen Yi and the others, but turned and went to Tiansha City.

After observing for more than ten days, he participated in a trading fair.

"I am selling a furnace of third-grade Qingsha Pill, a total of two pills, and also ten pills of second-grade Soul Cleansing Pill, and one superb second-grade Soul Cleansing Pill!"

Li An said calmly.

Suddenly, everyone participating in the trading fair was surprised and started bidding to buy.

The third-grade Qingsha Pill was the harvest of Li An's battle back then, and there were still four pills left, which he sold in two batches.

The reason for doing this was to maintain his image!

Let others know that he is a third-grade alchemist.

Always conceal his true strength.

The two third-grade Qingsha Pills were quickly sold, but no one wanted the second-grade Soul Cleansing Pill.

"Fellow Daoist, how much for this superb Soul Cleansing Pill?"

At this time, a middle-aged cultivator asked.

"I don't accept spirit stones for this item. I want to exchange it for a third-grade Qingling Grass."

The third-grade Qingling Grass is a necessary item for refining the second-grade Soul Cleansing Pill.

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

The Qingling Grass is a rare spiritual herb that ordinary people would not have in their collections.

"Fellow Daoist, how about this? I'll take all your second-grade Soul Cleansing Pills, and I'll go back and inquire about it. I'll come to trade for your superb Soul Cleansing Pill next time, is that okay?"

But after thinking for a moment, the middle-aged cultivator continued speaking.

The others were also quite hopeful. Alchemists of the third-grade like Li An were extremely rare in any trading fair.

Li An pondered for a moment and nodded, "Alright."

"I don't know how to address you, Fellow Daoist? I am Lu Tong."

The middle-aged cultivator handed a bag of spirit stones to Li An and introduced himself with a smile.

"Musshi." Li An casually made up a name. In this kind of trading fair, everyone generally doesn't use their real names.

"Good, Fellow Daoist Musshi, how about holding the next trading fair in half a year? I will find what you want and come to trade with you then."

...

Leaving the trade fair.

Li An changed his appearance again and went to several spiritual medicine shops in Tianya City to buy a lot of spiritual medicine.

Returning to Lingsha Peak.

"I hope I won't be disappointed..."

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

Lutong is a cultivator under Jieshan's command.

He must be aware of the matter of a fourth-grade talisman master being affected by Soul Devouring. Li An's appearance will definitely attract attention.

Li An is not in a hurry. He plans to use the next ten or twenty years to lay out his plan, making it seem like he has been searching for a third-grade spiritual medicine to refine a third-grade Soul Cleansing Pill.

He will be noticed by the other party now, but it will take decades for him to refine the third-grade Soul Cleansing Pill. By then, all their doubts will surely dissipate...

The best time to set up a scheme is a hundred years ago, followed by now.

No rush, take it slowly.

Half a year later, Li An participated in the trade fair again, but Lutong told Li An that he still hadn't found the third-grade Qingling Grass.

Li An knew that the other party was testing him, but he didn't care and showed no expression.

...

While Li An was silently cultivating, the eastern part of the Tiansha Mountain Range was not peaceful.

Zhou Libai, who replaced Jiang Ribai, was actively planning the transformation of the Tai Lizard.

Many times, they organized manpower to excavate ruins and search for demonizing flowers, and so on.

...

In the blink of an eye, seven years passed.

"Early Gold Core stage complete! I can prepare to break through to the mid Gold Core stage..."

Li An slowly opened his eyes. In fact, four years ago, he had already reached the early Gold Core stage, but he still stopped cultivating for another three years.

No other reason, just to prepare for Nascent Soul!

In his previous life, Li An had attempted to break through to Nascent Soul and gained some experience.

The more solid the foundation of cultivation, the fewer flaws there are, and the greater the hope of success in the end.

When breaking through to Nascent Soul, aptitude, elixirs, foundation, spiritual veins, and so on are all very important, and every aspect needs to be perfect.

Although Li An is currently only at the early Gold Core stage, he has no fear facing other mid Gold Core stage cultivators.

As for the Divine Bird, it had already broken through to the mid Gold Core stage three years ago. Li An still doesn't know how strong its combat power is.

Li An, the Divine Bird, plus the puppet king with a mid True Dan stage cultivation, and over a thousand third-grade talismans in reserve, as well as five or six sets of third-grade demonic formations... Li An feels that even if he encounters a late True Dan stage cultivator head-on, he will be invincible!

He feels completely safe!

Just taking a look at the cultivation resources, Li An couldn't help but sigh.

When he left the Jiang family, he already carried a considerable amount of resources, and later he obtained even more from the three major True Dan cultivators... It could be considered quite abundant.

But now, he was approaching a state of poverty again.

The two fourth-grade spiritual medicines couldn't be touched, they had to be saved.

The second and third-grade spiritual medicines were all used up.

The materials for second and third-grade refining tools, and even a few artifacts that he didn't use much, were all used as materials for refining and were completely depleted. Of course, the results were not to be underestimated. His Lung of the Golden Treasury technique had finally reached completion, and now it would be extremely difficult for a third-grade artifact to harm him.

There were still about fifty thousand middle-grade spirit stones left, which could only support his expenses for about two years.

The main reason was that he was currently studying the third-grade alchemy technique, which consumed a lot. Although ten years had passed, he still hadn't officially become a third-grade alchemist!

This hurdle was not easy to overcome.

In reality, Li An's progress in alchemy was already very fast, far surpassing ordinary people. From becoming a first-grade alchemist to striving to become a third-grade alchemist, it had only taken him about twenty or thirty years.

The various materials for the Clear Death Pill and Clear Soul Pill were all valuable, especially the Clear Soul Pill. He had refined many second-grade pills, but he couldn't sell them at all. It could be said that it was purely a loss-making investment.

In addition to the spirit stones he paid to the mountain lord every year...

The consumption of a pill-level cultivator was already high, and Li An's expenses were different from ordinary people...

Poor!

"Lin An, receive the order—"

Outside the peak, Chen Yi's voice came.

Li An immediately put on a look of evil energy and walked out.

"The mountain lord has ordered that in order to successfully transform the Tai Lizard Demon, all cultivators must immediately follow the order and guard the designated location without any mistakes—"

As she spoke, she directly shot a jade tablet towards Li An.

Li An took the jade tablet and read the information inside.

After ten years of effort by Zhou Libai, the materials for transforming the Tai Lizard Demon had finally been gathered again.

Learning from the lessons of the previous time, the defense this time was extremely strict. All the cultivators under the Bai Mountain Lord's command had a mission.

Li An's mission was to defend the "Dragon Winding Gorge".

"Understood."

Li An spoke. This was an order personally given by the Bai Mountain Lord, so naturally he couldn't refuse.

...

After studying the territory of the Bai Mountain Lord, Li An already understood that this time the Bai Mountain Lord had contracted the defense line!

Last time, the formation was spread too wide, with the Transformation Pool as the center, and even the formation eyes extended to the other side of the Lingyun Mountain. But it was precisely because the battle line was too long that the people under the Jie Mountain Lord concentrated their attacks, which led to someone eventually breaking through the defense line and reaching the Transformation Pool.

Concentrating the forces near the Transformation Pool would be more secure.

Dragon Winding Gorge, as the name suggests, is a winding and twisting gorge located downstream of the Transformation Pool. The rushing river in the gorge flows through the Transformation Pool and then rushes downstream.

Upon arriving here, Li An felt a slight sense of relief.

Based on the overall situation, the enemy is unlikely to choose this place as their point of attack.

As long as a formation is set up in the Dragon's Winding Gorge, one can fight against a hundred. If the enemy launches a strong attack and triggers the malevolent energy in the gorge, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have to retreat.

Li An couldn't help but smile. This is the difference between Zhou Libai and Jiang Ribai.

When faced with such a situation, Jiang Ribai would think of taking the opportunity to kill the enemy. He has an attacking personality, so to speak.

But Zhou Libai, on the other hand, doesn't trust Li An, so she placed him in this remote place to prevent him from interfering with her plans. One could say she has a defensive personality.

When facing a major event, these personality traits are also magnified.

In addition to Li An, there are two other early True Dan stage cultivators who are also guarding this place with him. It is clear that these two are not highly regarded.

The three of them set up the formation as instructed by their superiors and waited on a cliff in the gorge.

Li An pondered the possibility of this upcoming battle.

In his opinion, the incident involving Jiang Ribai last time was most likely due to a mole!

If the mole is still alive, then how will things unfold this time?

If the plan on Bai Mountain's side is not leaked, they will most likely be able to hold their ground.

But if it is leaked? Then Bai Mountain will most likely suffer a great loss!

However, from this perspective, there are too many possibilities. After all, with such a large-scale battle, if Jie Mountain's main force attacks, they will definitely go all out. Bai Mountain's main force is not to be underestimated either. The impact brought by a mole may not necessarily affect the overall outcome of the battle.

There are too many variables, and Li An realizes that he cannot obtain effective information.

"It doesn't matter to me who wins or loses. I just need to understand how the loser will escape!"

Li An's goal is focused on the losing side.

He wants to rob the losing side!

After all, he is lacking resources in his hands. If he continues like this, he will face a dead end in two years, with his cultivation stagnating.

He only has talismans left in his hands that he can sell. There are thousands of third-grade talismans, which can fetch a lot of spirit stones.

But talismans are an important source of security for Li An. If he can avoid using them, it's best not to use them.

Li An repeatedly thinks about the map of the area around the Demon Transformation Pool in his mind.

"If Bai Mountain's people are defeated, how will they escape? If Jie Mountain's people are defeated, how will they escape?"

After thinking for a long time, Li An came up with three principles:

"First, I cannot collide with the fleeing or pursuing large forces. That would not be robbing, but rather seeking death!"

"Second, I need to be far enough away from others to avoid causing too much disturbance during the battle and attracting attention."

"Third, I need to be able to return in a timely manner."

With this in mind, there are not many places that meet his requirements...

"Tianlang Pool," he whispered.

Tianlang Pool is about thirty miles away from Longyu Gorge. From a geographical perspective, it is unlikely that anyone who is defeated or fleeing would choose Tianlang Pool as their escape route.

At most, a few scattered individuals might escape from there.

For Li An, this place is the safest and most reliable.

After thinking it through, he greeted the other two and opened a cave in the gorge of Longyu, saying that he needed to suppress the evil energy in his body and asked them not to disturb him.

The two could also see that he was surrounded by evil energy, so they didn't interfere much.

After Li An entered the cave, he quickly set up a formation to prevent anyone from approaching or investigating, and then released the Puppet King's subordinates.

Using the evil energy and his own life force as a disguise, Li An dug a tunnel from the cave that connected to the surging river, and he slipped out from the river.

Late at night, Li An restrained his aura and stealthily made his way, only arriving at Tianlang Pool in the second half of the night.

But upon arriving here, Li An was dumbfounded. Who would come to this place?

The evil energy here is too heavy. Normally, no one would come here. Not even a bird's droppings can be seen.

Li An had a strange premonition that if he set up a formation here, it would be a lonely one.

In reality, this was mainly due to Li An's lack of understanding of the terrain, and his excessive caution was also a major factor!

If he had been bolder and targeted other places, it would definitely not be like this.

But for the other possible escape routes, it is highly likely that there would be more than one or two deserters and more than one or two pursuers.

The probability of a successful strike and a safe retreat is at most sixty to seventy percent, rounded down to zero percent.

Moreover, there will also be Nascent Soul-level old monsters mixed in the battlefield at that time, and Li An himself has a risk of seventy to eighty percent, rounded up to one hundred percent.

Safety is not absolute, so it cannot be done.

After much deliberation, Li An decided to set up a formation here.

If there is, there is; if not, then forget it.

Safety comes first.

"I really have broadened my horizons... It's so difficult to be a bandit cultivator. Do I have to be so cautious? @%$..."

Shangguan Xiaoxiao couldn't help but feel deeply moved. After roaming the spiritual realm for so many years, she had never seen someone so obsessed with preserving their life.

If it were someone with a natural demonic body, if they didn't go up and kill until blood flowed like rivers and wailing filled the air, could they still be called a natural demonic body?

"Li Gou as a bandit cultivator, has completely lost face as a natural demonic body... Fortunately, you are not a member of my demonic sect, otherwise..."

She couldn't bear to watch.

Li Gou being able to survive until today is truly remarkable!

...

(End of this chapter)