Steadily becoming a saint, the immortal officials hired me to tend the horses

Facing Tian Yao'er's incessant coquetry, Gu An eventually agreed to stay and spend the night with her, as he had finally broken through to a ten-million-year lifespan that night and could relax for an evening.

After Gu An agreed, Tian Yao'er became even more joyful.

To celebrate achieving a ten-million-year lifespan, Gu An went back to Mystic Valley to fetch some lamb for barbecuing, which deeply touched Tian Yao'er, who thought Gu An was commemorating the special occasion.

During the barbecue, Gu An's divine sense was locked on the battlefield at the edge of Heavenly Phoenix Mountain.

More and more demons were arriving, and the Great Cultivator of the Mystic Heart Realm leading Ji Xiaoyu and others couldn't claim victory within an hour, dragging Ji Xiaoyu and the rest into the battle.

If the battle continued like this, it was likely to end badly.

It was uncertain whether these people were from the Ji Family or from the Seven Stars Spirit Realm.

Gu An thought this to himself while casually chatting with Tian Yao'er, not letting her detect any flaws.

An hour later, the Great Cultivator of the Mystic Heart Realm was severely injured and had to lead Ji Xiaoyu and others in a retreat, but by then, it was already too late.

Gu An was lying under a tree, guiding Tian Yao'er in her cultivation.

Tian Yao'er continuously practiced the Limitless Freedom Step in front of him, and he would occasionally comment on it. Tian Yao'er felt very aggrieved and pouted the whole time.

Hadn't they agreed to lie down and read together?

Liar!

Big liar!

The more Tian Yao'er practiced, the redder her eyes became.

Seeing her expression, Gu An found it amusing.

Today, he planned to teach her a lesson.

The more you want something, the harder it is to obtain—this is the essence of life!

How could she survive for thousands or tens of thousands of years if she started having wild thoughts after just a few years?

Gu An was moved by his own foresight, feeling that Tian Yao'er was incredibly fortunate to have met him; it was the blessing of eight lifetimes of cultivation. If it were another master, she would have been miserable!

...

Under the cover of night, Ji Xiaoyu, dressed in black, was fleeing rapidly. The wilderness was rife with demons and ghosts. Seeing her figure, these demons and ghosts all pounced toward her.

Holding a sword in her right hand, she activated the Heavenly Dragon Demon-Suppressing Form. A golden Dharma Aspect appeared behind her, and golden dragons emerged from it, slaughtering demons and ghosts from all directions.

Soon, she deactivated the Heavenly Dragon Demon-Suppressing Form and continued to fight demons and ghosts with her sword.

She could no longer discern her direction and could only flee toward one.

Time passed unknowingly.

Ji Xiaoyu's spiritual power was exhausted, and as she ran, she took out Spirit Energy Elixirs to consume, but the spiritual power provided by these elixirs was completely insufficient for fighting.

She stopped at the foot of a slope, quickly pulled out several small flags and talisman papers, and managed to set up a formation in less than five breaths, concealing her presence.

She sat down and began to cultivate energy.

Several demons passed over her head, not noticing her presence.

However, the ground began to tremble, and sand and stones jumped up, causing Ji Xiaoyu to open her eyes and furrow her brow.

Following her gaze, a gigantic, semi-visible creature loomed behind the mountains. It was a shape-shifting Giant Demon with a human-like body and a lion-like head; its long mane twisted like tentacles, which, in the black night, looked extremely terrifying.

"Little lady, where do you think you're escaping to?"

A cold, violent voice sounded, and a raging wind swept through, covering the mountainside in a rolling dust storm.

The formation around Ji Xiaoyu was hit by the wind. The airborne sand and movement of air flowed around the formation, revealing its outline.

Ji Xiaoyu watched the approaching figure of the Giant Demon calmly, showing no fear in her eyes.

She just sighed softly, a golden pattern faintly emerging on her forehead.

Before long, the terrifying Lion Demon stepped in front of her. He slowly squatted down, the sea of clouds churned, revealing his lion head. His fangs were sharp, his eyes blood-red, and his black mane burned ferociously like flames from hell.

Suddenly.

The terrifying Lion Demon halted. He raised his eyes toward the hill behind Ji Xiaoyu.

The golden pattern on Ji Xiaoyu's forehead had expanded, covering her entire forehead, resembling a complex network of pathways.

Sensing something, she turned her head to look.

She saw a figure standing on the hilltop behind her, a man in purple clothes, wearing a mask, standing against the wind.

She was inwardly shocked, as she hadn't noticed his approach.

"Where did you come from?" the terrifying Lion Demon roared angrily, then swung a paw toward the hillside.

A palm strike landed, the immense pressure shattered Ji Xiaoyu's formation instantly. Several small flags sank into the soil as talisman papers flew away, and her crown was blown off her head, her hair flying wildly.

Boom—

Accompanied by a deafening roar, the earth shook violently, forcing Ji Xiaoyu, a seventh-layer Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, to close her eyes.

When the breath that made her heart throb dissipated, she opened her eyes and saw that the terrifying Lion Demon was left with only his upper body, blood raining down. The nighttime clouds were dispersed, revealing a sky full of stars, dazzling and mesmerizing.

Ji Xiaoyu's eyes widened in shock.

Such a powerful Lion Demon, even her companions from the Void Crossing Realm had been devoured by it.

Instinctively, she turned to look back. The mysterious man still stood on the hillside, his hands naturally hanging by his sides as if he hadn't made a move.

It was Gu An!

To prevent being recognized, Gu An had intentionally made his figure larger, standing a head taller than his original body, disheveled and almost traceless.

The reason he didn't use the Nine Extremes Yin Yang Body was that news about Sword Venerable Fudao using Demon Shadow Divine Skill had already spread. He didn't want Ji Xiaoyu to associate him with Sword Venerable Fudao.

Ji Xiaoyu quickly stood up, bowed to Gu An, and said, "Thank you, senior, for your rescue."

"Why is a member of the Ji Family in the Demon Land?" Gu An asked, his voice hoarse, easily reminiscent of a man in his forties or fifties who had experienced much of life.

The killing of the Great Demon had just earned him six hundred years of life span, which was quite a bounty.

Ji Xiaoyu replied, "I am accompanying the Seven Stars Spirit Realm on a training expedition. Senior, are you acquainted with my clan?"

Gu An appeared out of thin air in front of Ji Xiaoyu, pressed a hand on her shoulder, and said, "Let's talk elsewhere."

Before Ji Xiaoyu could respond, her vision blurred.

The long-distance spatial movement made her feel terrible and immobilized.

A few moments later, she felt her feet touch the ground and, opening her eyes, found herself in a cave.

The space here was not very large, the rocks were stratified, and the mountain wall in front of her was moist with groundwater trickling down. Looking up, she saw crystal stones hanging from the ceiling, their multicolored light illuminating everything inside the cave.

"You should heal here for now."

With those words, Gu An disappeared into thin air.

Ji Xiaoyu stood silently on the spot. She spread her Divine Sense to find that the cave was more than a thousand feet from the surface. The cave was rich with Spiritual Energy, indeed suitable for healing.

Although she was unclear about the origins of the person just now, the abilities he had demonstrated made her realize she could not escape even if she wanted to.

He most likely bore no ill will; otherwise, with her completely exhausted, it would have been the perfect opportunity to attack her.

Ji Xiaoyu sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate to replenish her Spiritual Power.

Elsewhere.

Gu An returned to Heavenly Phoenix Mountain, where Tian Yao'er was sulking. However, when she saw the two jars of fine wine he was carrying, her face immediately brightened with a smile.

Ever since she got drunk last time, she had fallen in love with wine.

An hour later, Tian Yao'er collapsed onto Gu An's lap, drunk. Gu An patted her back and smiled softly.

...

At dawn, Gu An did not go directly back to the Supreme Sect, nor did he go to find Ji Xiaoyu, as she needed more than just one night to restore her Spiritual Power and heal her injuries.

He headed south, flying towards the ocean.

Executing the Nine Extremes Yin Yang Body and transforming into the Demon Shadow, he then stepped out using the Limitless Freedom Step, quickly leaving the Taicang Dynasty and entering the oceanic territory.

The boundless sapphire sea and the vast sky opened up Gu An's field of vision and lifted his spirits.

He continuously shifted his form, moving swiftly above the sea of clouds.

On the ocean, a large ship sped forward.

A man in green robes lay on the deck, holding a book. Suddenly, he sat up abruptly as if he saw something, but upon closer inspection, he found no one in the sky.

"How odd, am I seeing things?" the man in green furrowed his brows.

Suddenly losing his mood for reading, he put "Investiture of the Gods" into his Storage Bag and walked to the bow of the ship to gaze into the distance.

The ocean was endless, yet he could feel the aura of his homeland.

A smile appeared on his face as he murmured, "The demon calamity, huh? It will become yet another stepping stone for me to turn the tide."

...

Gu An took more than five hundred steps, eventually landing on a cloud-enshrouded island. The island was vast with few living creatures, with only six islands within ten thousand miles, making it an ideal place for him to make a breakthrough.

He silently sneaked into the woods and then sat under an old tree, directly activating the Life Span Barrier.

He accessed his Attribute Panel, looking at his life span of ten million and one years, a smile appearing on his face.

First, enhance the Cultivation Technique!

Gu An started using the life-span integration feature, merging the Primordial Earth Immortal Skill with four other foundation cultivation techniques of different attributes.

[Due to the disparity among these five techniques, forceful integration might not surpass the strongest technique. Do you wish to continue?]

Hmm?

What does this mean, will the result be an average?

Gu An cursed under his breath, refusing to let his life span be wasted.

Fortunately, he had prepared other techniques, having slain many enemies over the years and searched many souls, copying several techniques in preparation for unexpected needs.

He immediately took out four high-rank techniques and began practicing them one by one.

He didn't need to abandon any prior skills or even generate other types of Spiritual Energy; he just needed to run each technique once to add them to his Attribute Panel.

An hour later, Gu An's Attribute Panel had four additional techniques.

He planned to enhance each of these four techniques, but received a prompt:

[Technique attributes conflict. Choose to abandon and retrain or force compatibility with the risk of deviation.]

Good heavens!

Even with a system-like Golden Finger, deviation is possible?

Gu An had no choice but to use the life-span integration feature to merge these five techniques.

[The merging requires 500,000 years of life span. Do you wish to continue?]

Half a million years of life span?

Gu An, enduring the pain, chose to continue.

[You have used 500,000 years of life span to merge Primordial Earth Immortal Skill, Karma Fire Dark Sky Skill, Golden Light Spirit Body Art, Horsetail Banner Qi Art, and Great Cold Heaven Sorcery]

[Merge successful. You have comprehended the Five Elements Taoist Skill]