Chapter 2: Thousand Years of Life
As spring goes and autumn comes, Taixuanmen's Medicine Valley spends a year in obscurity as the seasons change.
The door of an attic opened, and sixteen-year-old Gu An, Meng Lang, and Li Ya walked out of the house. They turned around and saluted, and then Meng Lang closed the door.
The three of them breathed a sigh of relief and walked down the stairs.
When they arrived at his own yard, Meng Lang couldn't help but complain: "It takes him an hour to talk about this little thing. Can't he just pass the Baicao Lu to us?"
Li Ya shook his head helplessly, then he walked to the corner of the yard, picked up the sword stuck in the soil, and began to practice sword.
Although his spiritual roots were mediocre, he was from the royal family after all, and he had a set of exquisite swordsmanship in his hands. He planned to rely on this swordsmanship to turn his life around.
In the Taicang Dynasty, the way of cultivating immortals was respected. All the civil and military officials in the court practiced cultivation. At the same time, the dynasty divided the people of the thirteen states into different classes, from low to high, namely slaves, civilians, officials, and immortals.
Among them, Shang is also among the people. Only those who reach the immortal status are considered true aristocrats. Ordinary officials can only serve in towns. The lords of county towns and governors of a state are all immortals, not to mention the imperial city Changluo. If you want to enter Changluo, you must be an immortal.
Many immortal families would exile their children with poor spiritual roots to ensure the quality of their bloodline, and the royal family was no exception.
No matter how poor and destitute the immortal Li Ya is, Gu An cannot afford to offend him.
Because he was a slave.
During this year, Gu An helped Li Ya and Meng Lang pick herbs, most of the time was in summer or early morning, so his efforts made the two of them feel good about him.
At other times, such as planting, watering, fertilizing and other chores, Gu An did not help them, and they were too embarrassed to ask for more help. Moreover, during the planting process, Zhang Chunqiu would stand in the attic and watch.
Gu An listened to Meng Lang chattering while watching Li Ya practicing sword.
Every man has a dream of being a swordsman.
The three of them have been together for a year, spending every day together and have established a good relationship. Li Ya did not stop them from watching him practice swordplay. After all, he couldn't hide away to practice swordplay, and the Li family's swordplay also had unique luck techniques. It was useless to just practice sword moves.
Meng Lang talked for a long time, and finally ended his speech. He patted Gu An on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You don't usually practice martial arts, why are you so interested in swordsmanship?"
Gu An casually replied, "I am too lazy to practice because I am mediocre. I watched him practice sword because I was bored. Don't you think life in Medicine Valley is boring?"
"Yeah, it's too boring. You know, I have four maids at home to help me entertain myself. Do you know..." Meng Lang sighed, and then began to talk endlessly again.
Gu An was already used to his boastful nature and was too lazy to expose him.
Li Ya didn't finish practicing sword until dusk fell. He stuck his sword in the yard, wiped the sweat off his face, and said, "I'm going to take a walk in the grove."
After saying this, without waiting for Gu An and Meng Lang to reply, he walked towards the gate of the courtyard.
After he left the yard, Meng Lang muttered in a low voice: "Why does this kid always go to the woods?"
Gu An shrugged and said, "How should I know? He is a member of the royal family. It is normal for him to have some secrets. What if he returns to be a prince someday?"
"How is that possible? He was sent out to do odd jobs."
"But you have to think about it. There are more than just Taixuan Sect in this world. Why do you want to be a clerk in Taixuan Sect?"
Gu An shook his head, and these words stunned Meng Lang.
Immediately, Gu An walked to the well, scooped a ladle of water from the wooden barrel with a wooden ladle, drank it all, then put down the ladle and walked out of the yard.
Meng Lang did not follow Gu An. He knew what Gu An was going to do. He muttered something and went back to the house to practice.
Gu An came to a garden area where the second-level spiritual herb, the meditation grass, was planted.
During this year, Gu An only picked first-grade medicinal herbs. Moreover, the herbs here are not ordinary plants. They take longer to mature. Many herbs need to wait for several years before they can be harvested, so he did not pick many herbs in a year.
Zhang Chunqiu said that if they waited another month, they would be able to pick the meditation grass in this park. That would be their first time to pick second-level medicinal herbs, and Gu An had been looking forward to it for a long time.
In his eyes, those dark blue meditation grasses were not medicinal herbs, but life span values.
Sudden.
Gu An saw a plant of meditation grass swaying. He looked closely and his expression changed drastically. He immediately climbed over the wooden fence and rushed over.
He saw a white-haired mouse the size of a palm fiddling with the soil under the meditation grass, as if trying to pull it out by the roots.
Seeing Gu An rushing towards it, the white-haired mouse was so scared that it immediately ran away, as fast as lightning, and quickly disappeared under the wooden fence at the edge of the place, escaping without a trace.
Gu An wanted to chase after him, but when he saw that the meditation grass had been bitten and the stem was broken, he quickly squatted down and took out a piece of spirit protection paper from his waist.
He quickly plucked the meditation grass with his left hand, and then used his right hand to wrap the spirit-protecting paper around its roots to prevent the spiritual energy from dissipating.
After bandaging the wound, Gu An stood up.
[You successfully seized the Meditation Grass (Level 2) and gained 4 years of lifespan]
Before Gu An could smile, another line of text appeared in front of him: [Your life span has exceeded a thousand years for the first time, and the life span detection function has been activated]
Lifespan detection?
Gu An was secretly curious. He couldn't help but look at a kind of meditation grass on the ground, silently thinking to himself, "check the lifespan."
[Calmness Grass (Level 2): 4/25/102 years (age/lifespan/lifespan limit)]
The maximum lifespan of this meditation grass is one hundred and two years?
The life span taken away is also different from the original life span. It seems that it cannot completely deprive the target of all life span. Most of the life span is dissipated with the target's death.
Gu An is not sure what the difference is between lifespan and lifespan limit, perhaps it has something to do with cultivation.
He picked up the wrapped meditation grass, stood up and left, walking towards Zhang Chunqiu's attic.
All the medicinal herbs in the medicine valley must be handed over to Zhang Chunqiu for safekeeping, and Gu An and the other two will receive the salary of Taixuan Sect's menial disciples every six months, all of which are spirit stones and elixirs used for cultivation. Zhang Chunqiu will also give them medicinal herb seeds based on their performance.
Gu An had three plants of meditation grass planted in his house, one more than Meng Lang and Li Ya. Meng Lang and Li Ya were not jealous of this.
As soon as Gu An walked out of the park, he saw someone climbing up the stairs to the attic where Zhang Chunqiu was. It was an old man in black, carrying a book box on his back and wearing a black cloth hat. He looked very mysterious.
Looking at the old man in black from afar, Gu An's mind moved, and he checked the other party's lifespan. Then two lines of prompts popped up in front of him: [Cheng Xuandan (Eighth Level of Qi Training): 104/120/180]
Cheng Xuandan! The master of Medicine Valley, and also Gu An's nominal master. He had only heard of him from Zhang Chunqiu. He had been traveling around for many years, and this was the first time he had seen him.
The 104-year-old Cheng Xuandan's life expectancy is 120 years, and his maximum life expectancy is 180 years. That is to say, if nothing unexpected happens, he can only live for the next 16 years.
Gu An found that life span detection was very interesting as it could help him identify other people’s cultivation and qualifications.
He guessed that the maximum lifespan might represent the height of one's own qualifications, but this guess would have to be used repeatedly to be confirmed.
Cheng Xuandan walked into Zhang Chunqiu's room and closed the door.
Gu An walked into Zhang Chunqiu's courtyard, placed the wrapped Jingxin grass on a long table, then turned and left.
He returned to his own courtyard and first visited Meng Lang who was practicing in the house.
6◇9◇Book◇Bar
[Meng Lang (Qi Training Level 2): 17/90/190]
Well, it's trash.
After learning about Meng Lang's life span, Gu An didn't talk much and quickly returned to his room.
He waited until night fell, and when he heard Li Ya's footsteps, he got up and walked out of the room.
Li Ya was about to walk towards his house when he saw him open the door. He couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"
While checking his life span, Gu An replied, "Master is back. How about we go visit him together tomorrow?"
[Li Ya (Qi Training Level 6): 18/210/1550]
Hiss——
The maximum lifespan is one thousand five hundred and fifty years!
Is this the talent of a royal family member?
Isn't Li Ya also a mixed spiritual root? Gu An looked at Li Ya with a different look. Perhaps Li Ya is a buried genius who will shine sooner or later.
Moreover, this fellow's cultivation has actually reached the sixth level of Qi training!
What does it mean? Play the pig and eat the tiger?
The cultivation realms that Gu An came into contact with were divided into Qi training, foundation building, Dan formation, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation, from low to high. Each major realm was further divided into nine minor realms. Li Ya was able to reach the sixth level of Qi training at the age of eighteen. It was estimated that it would not take many years for him to build a foundation and be promoted to a formal disciple of Taixuan Sect.
We must have good relations with such talented fellow students!
Hearing this, Li Ya raised his eyebrows slightly and nodded, "Okay, you are very thoughtful. Call me when you get up tomorrow."
After saying this, he turned and walked towards his house.
Gu An watched him close the door, feeling deeply moved.
Sure enough, classes exist in every world, and the gap in status meant that it would be difficult for him and Li Ya to become true friends.
Gu An was not angry either. He had been a servant since he was a child and had suffered from contempt and neglect. He did not blame Li Ya either, because it was Li Ya's fault for looking so mediocre.
It doesn’t matter. With the golden finger that can take away life, Gu An feels that he will become an immortal sooner or later. Before that, what he wants is to keep a low profile and spend the stage of shortening his life in peace.
If you want to be safe, you must not conflict with others, you must not cause trouble, the lower the better! Gu An smiled, then turned around and closed the door.
The moon is very round tonight, and the moonlight shines on the stone steps in the courtyard like water.
…
Early morning, in the lobby.
Gu An, Meng Lang, and Li Ya stood side by side. In front of them, Cheng Xuandan sat on a chair with a cup of hot tea in his hand. Next to him stood Zhang Chunqiu. The eldest senior brother seemed very respectful.
[Zhang Chunqiu (Qi Training Level 5): 54/110/175]
Gu An felt that the senior brother's qualifications were low, but on second thought, there were more than one such medicine valleys in Taixuan Sect, and it was already rare for a Li Ya to emerge.
What's more, compared with these people, Gu An was the most useless at the beginning.
Cheng Xuandan raised his cloudy eyes and looked at Gu An and the other two, and said, "I have learned about your performance from your senior brother. This is our first meeting, so I have to give you a greeting gift."
"You can choose between the Herb Record, the Qi-Nourishing Technique, and the Poison Ivy Spell. You can only choose one, and you cannot teach one to the other. If you are discovered by your master, you will be severely punished."
When Meng Lang heard this, he was the first to say, "Master, I want the poison vine!"
Gu An thought that no one would want Baicaolu, so he might as well let Li Ya choose first and do him a favor.
Li Ya followed up and said, "Disciple wishes to have the Record of Hundred Herbs."
Gu An looked at him in surprise.
Brother, you don't play by the rules? (End of this chapter)