Chapter 36: Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill, Comprehending Divine Skills
After Li Ya left, Gu An threw himself into the development of Profound Valley. His leisurely days began to dwindle as those young Sheep Demons proved quite the handful.
At four months old, they ran through the mountains and forests as if on level ground, swift as cheetahs from Earth in a former life. If not for all the cultivators in the valley, they would have long since run away.
Gu An had no choice but to delve into the Ziwei Array Record left by Jiang Qiong, learning some basic restrictions to seal the sheep pen.
Half a year later, Gu An asked Wuxin to take Xiaochuan to the Outer Sect and recruited two more Servant Disciples named Chen Hong and Zhen Xiao'Er, both of mediocre talent, which pleased him greatly.
The number of Servant Disciples in Profound Valley reached ten, making every day a lively affair.
Time flies, fleeting as a white horse flashing past, never to return.
Three years passed in the blink of an eye.
Once again it was autumn.
Xiaochuan was inspecting the various gardens with rows of ducks trailing behind him, flocking together in grand numbers.
Disciples sat atop surrounding mountain peaks to meditate and absorb Qi, while the forests occasionally shook, signaling Tang Yu and Su Han chasing after the Sheep Demons.
Gu An emerged from the western forest with a smile on his face.
He had just harvested a batch of Medicinal Herbs, gaining several hundred years of life span. He was getting closer and closer to one hundred thousand years.
His current life span had reached eighty thousand years.
Within three years, he had gained nearly fifty thousand years of life span, mainly because the Medicinal Herbs he had planted over the years were maturing, with ten thousand years gained from managing Cave Mansions for Outer Disciples.
The petite Zhen Qin ran out of the woods with a bamboo basket on her back and quickly approached Gu An, saying, "Master, can you teach me Alchemy today?"
A dead leaf still clung to her head, and the hair on the sides of her face was slightly disheveled.
Gu An chuckled and said, "Of course, but you'll have to use your own Medicinal Herbs. That way, you'll be more careful."
Zhen Qin once overheard that Gu An took a Beauty Pill and suddenly became interested in Alchemy, pestering him endlessly. This pestering lasted for a good half year.
"I've been ready for a long time!" Zhen Qin excitedly said, jumping around next to Gu An like a young girl who never grew up.
Whoosh—
A breaking sound swept over the sky of Profound Valley; Gu An looked up and habitually sent out a Life Span Detection.
Another Nascent Soul Realm cultivator!
This year, more than ten Nascent Soul Realm cultivators had passed over Profound Valley, which made Gu An feel uneasy, as if something big was about to happen.
Even the great conference for all the Outer Sects in the past didn't attract so many Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.
This won't do!
His Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill needed to be pushed up a notch—what if a Greater Cultivator far beyond the Nascent Soul Realm saw through his cultivation level?
Gu An made a secret decision.
Over the years, the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill's boost to his life span had diminished, and it was good to gain a year in half a year now. He estimated that in ten more years, the technique would no longer increase his life span.
Afterward, Gu An took Zhen Qin back to his own loft to begin teaching her the Alchemy Technique.
Until late at night, Gu An quietly entered the Eight Scenic Cave Heaven.
Ever since Jiang Qiong left, Gu An had also explored the other six tunnels, finding corpses at the end of each, just like Meng Lang, created by the Cheng Xuan Pill and different Gu Techniques of the Myriad Poison Profound Skill.
Gu An had no immediate plans to disturb these Gu Corpses.
He made his way to the Cang Teng Tree, lifted the hem of his clothes, and sat down to meditate.
At that moment, a shadow dropped from the tree and burrowed into his arms.
A little black dragon!
Slim and about two feet long, with a pair of dragon horns and whiskers by its mouth, its body was covered with tiny black dragon scales. Its claws were sharp, resembling the dragons in ancient Huaxia legends—only the color was different.
This was the Sacred Beast of Ancient Hao's Sect, Hao Long!
Gu An stroked it while checking its life span.
[Hao Long (First Order): 1/965/18000]
Its lifespan had grown!
When Hao Long was born, it only had five hundred years of life span. Just one year had passed, and it had nearly doubled.
As expected from a Demon Beast with the potential of the ninth rank!
Gu An remembered the process of Hao Long acknowledging him as its master last year and couldn't help but smile.
The newborn Hao Long bit him straight away, angering him so much that he threw it aside. Then, it approached him pitifully, nuzzling against him.
Gu An felt that Hao Long wasn't recognizing a master but identifying relatives through blood.
They had established a kind of soul resonance; he could understand its thoughts but couldn't control its life or death directly.
Hao Long would only serve one master for life, showing that although it had a fierce nature, it was incredibly loyal and valued relationships deeply.
"Be good, go eat," he said.
Gu An took out a Demon Sheep he had killed from his Storage Pouch; he had just killed it yesterday morning, only gaining three years of life span from it.
Hao Long's eyes lit up, and it immediately grabbed the corpse of the Sheep Demon and flew to one side.
The corpse of the Sheep Demon was several times larger than Hao Long, but held in its dragon claws, it looked remarkably effortless, as if the Sheep Demon had no weight at all.
Gu An brought up his Attribute Panel and focused on the cultivation technique section, allocating two thousand years of life span to the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill.
The Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill concealed his cultivation level and aura, essential to his very existence, more so than the Divine Wood Pure Yang Skill.
[You have invested two thousand years of life span in cultivating the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill to evolve it through cultivation]
[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for ten years, nourishing your body with nature's spiritual energy, enhancing your physical Qi-Blood]
[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for one hundred years, nourishing your body with nature's spiritual energy, enhancing your physical Qi-Blood]
"[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for two hundred years, and your Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill has reached the pinnacle of perfection.]"
"[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for four hundred years, and on this day, you captured the true meaning of the earth. Your Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill returned to its pristine state and ascended to Earth Vein Emperor Qi Skill.]"
[…]
"[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for fifteen hundred years, and you have felt the rules of the earth's aura. Your Earth Vein Emperor Qi Skill has broken through its limits and ascended to Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill.]"
"[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for eighteen hundred years, and your understanding of the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill has improved, achieving complete integration.]"
"[You have cultivated the Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill for two thousand years, and your understanding of the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill has reached the pinnacle of perfection. You have perceived a Divine Skill — Profound Yellow Dragon's Might.]"
Line after line of prompts popped up before Gu An's eyes.
The Dragon Strength Divine Primordial Skill ascended to the Earth Vein Emperor Qi Skill, then ascended again to the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill!
He had even awakened a Divine Skill!
Gu An was overjoyed, feeling incredibly lucky this time.
A vast flood of memories rapidly surged into his mind, immersing him in the extensive information about Daoist techniques.
Hao Long, who was eating mutton, turned its head, its eyes shining like jewels with curiosity.
The grass beneath Gu An began to emanate strands of green Qi, encircling his body as he, with his eyes closed, began to unconsciously inhale and exhale, faintly accompanied by the sound of a dragon's roar.
The Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill, using the profound yellow Qi of the earth to refine the physical body, allows one's body to unify naturally with the cosmos. The so-called dragon's roar is in fact the sound of the earth's roar.
After a full two hours, Gu An finally woke up.
He opened his eyes and immediately furrowed his brow.
He saw that the flowers and plants around him had all withered. He quickly got up and surveyed the Medicinal Herbs of Eight Scenic Cave Heaven. After looking around, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The withered plants were just weeds; the Spirit Flowers and Spirit Grass had not been affected too much.
I can't be reckless in the future!
Whether advancing my cultivation technique or breaking through, I must do it away from Eight Scenic Cave Heaven to avoid draining its Spiritual Energy.
Gu An sat down again, reviewing the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill and cultivating energy according to the sorcery.
Condensing a breath of Profound Yellow Dragon Qi, his body became one with nature!
Hao Long, having eaten its fill, lay beside the sheep carcass to sleep, leaving only the sound of the wind in Eight Scenic Cave Heaven.
[…]
In the early morning.
Gu An descended from the loft; he had donned a cyan robe and casually tied his black hair at the back of his head, leaving two strands hanging beside his ears, exhibiting the detached and ethereal temperament of someone pursuing the Dao.
His body had not yet fully adapted to the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill, but he was not in a hurry. Practicing every night, within a month at most, he would be able to cultivate the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi.
The Divine Skill that came with the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill, Profound Yellow Dragon's Might, did not require separate cultivation. Once the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi was born, the Dragon's Might would naturally form.
The so-called Dragon's Might is really the might of the cosmos, capable of intimidating all living beings.
Gu An began leading the disciples in drills. Once everyone had gathered and the exercises began, they could all sense that Gu An was in a good mood today.
Zhen Qin asked her master curiously what had made him so happy.
"It's nothing. I read a book called The Investiture of the Gods last night. You all can go to the Library Pavilion and read it when you have time," Gu An said with a smile while conducting drills.
Xiaochuan's eyes lit up and said, "I know The Investiture of the Gods. Almost everyone in the Outer Sect has a copy. It's said to record the ancient secrets of the Immortal Cultivation Realm."
The disciples became interested and started asking Xiaochuan what The Investiture of the Gods was about.
Gu An didn't interject anymore, his mind still pondering the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill.
Over the next month, he cultivated the Profound Yellow Dragon Qi Skill every night, and successfully cultivated a breath of Profound Yellow Dragon Qi within his abdomen, enhancing his ability to conceal his Cultivation Level and aura.
Gu An felt relieved. He could now continue living unobtrusively and at ease.
The year passed uneventfully, just like the years before. A quiet life was the best outcome for Gu An.
The winter snow had just begun to melt, and Profound Valley was welcoming spring again. All the disciples were preparing for the Spring Festival.
Gu An was absorbed in reading Cyan Hero's Travel under a tree.
Suddenly, Zhen Qin approached with her hands behind her back and bent down to ask, "Master, what would you like to eat tomorrow night? I'll cook for you."
Without shifting his gaze, Gu An replied, "Anything's fine. I'll eat whatever you make."
Zhen Qin, curious, leaned in to see which book he was reading, but he stopped her.
"Hurry up and prepare the food. If you delay tomorrow night's festival, be careful, I might not teach you alchemy anymore!" Gu An said with mock severity.
Hearing this, Zhen Qin pouted and could only turn away.
Gu An faintly heard her muttering, "He's reading those inappropriate books again."
His lips twitched involuntarily. Who had been spreading this rumor?
Damaging his reputation!
Now, all the Medicine Valley Disciples knew of his fondness for Cyan Hero's Travel. Although they dared not mention it to his face, they often teased him about it in private.
Gu An stood up and tucked the Cyan Hero's Travel into his chest.
Starting today, I'm quitting!
Gu An walked out of the courtyard, intending to check on the garden, when his gaze was suddenly drawn to the entrance of the valley. His brow furrowed.
A man in a white robe was slowly approaching, appearing to be in his thirties, with handsome features and an exceptional aura.
What made Gu An frown was the fact that he could not detect the man's aura.
He immediately sent a Life Span Detection towards the stranger.
"[Li Xuandao (Divinity Transformation Realm 8th Floor): 230/899/3020]"