“Senior Brother Gu!”
Not long after the white crane departed, a new visitor arrived at the medicinal garden.
Following the voice, Gu An looked over and saw a figure standing at the garden’s entrance. The person wore the same light gray robe, with a silver thread embroidered along the cuffs. This was the mark of an outer disciple of the Taiyi Sect.
The visitor was a young girl about the same age as Gu An.
Jiang Yuhan.
Among the outer disciples of Qingyu Peak, she was probably the one closest to Gu An.
There was no special reason. Just that the two of them belonged to the same bottom rung of the outer sect, the kind anyone could step on. They had entered the sect around the same time and were both stuck at the seventh level of Qi Condensation, facing the imminent risk of being “weeded out”.
Truly a pair of kindred sufferers.
“Senior Brother Gu, this batch of your spirit grain is growing exceptionally well.”
The gray-robed girl lowered her hood, revealing a smiling oval face. Her skin was fair, and her eyes curved like crescents. She pointed toward the spiritual field with one finger, her tone filled with genuine admiration.
She wasn’t just flattering him. The patch of spirit grain she pointed to was lush, vibrant, and brimming with spiritual energy. It was already showing the qualities of a top-grade crop.
Once this batch matured, it could fetch at least ten spirit stones at the Deacon Hall.
Gu An glanced at her and said, “If you want me to praise you, just say it.”
Growing spirit grain wasn’t bound by seasons, but the effort required was anything but small.
Aside from the necessary daily irrigation, one also had to regularly remove pests to ensure good growth.
These pests weren’t the ordinary insects found on common crops but a type of aphid with extremely tenacious vitality.
They burrowed deep into the roots and stems of the spirit grain, and to eliminate them completely, one had to use the “Sharp Metal Technique” from the Five Grains Art.
Gu An was quite proficient with the Minor Cloud-and-Rain Technique, but his Sharp Metal Technique was only barely at a beginner level.
It wasn’t due to a lack of diligence. His aptitude was simply limited. The Sharp Metal Technique was still too difficult for him.
Jiang Yuhan, however, was the exact opposite. Her mastery of the Sharp Metal Technique was extraordinary. Not only was she highly skilled at pest removal, she could even use it to chop firewood or slice meat, proving effective in every situation.
The reason this batch of spirit grain looked so exceptional was largely thanks to Jiang Yuhan’s efforts.
Which made one wonder…how had she ended up in the same situation as him?
Gu An couldn’t help but take a few extra glances at her.
Thinking back on it, it all came down to one word: laziness.
In his memory, when others were cultivating, she was sleeping. When others were sleeping, she was still sleeping.
Or the moment she opened her eyes, it was time to eat…
If her cultivation had improved under those circumstances, that would’ve been a miracle.
“Oh my, Senior Brother Gu, why are you looking at me like that? It’s making me shy…”
The girl’s face flushed slightly. Though she claimed to be embarrassed, her actions said otherwise. She stared right back without blinking.
“Cut the nonsense.”
Gu An averted his gaze first and asked, “Go on, what do you need from me?”
Just as he finished speaking, something occurred to him, and he added, “Need me to summon rain for you again?”
Jiang Yuhan had also rented a medicinal garden from the Deacon Hall. Like Gu An, she handled the same kind of work, which was the main reason they interacted so often.
They would frequently exchange “patient experiences”… no, farming insights.
Her Minor Cloud-and-Rain Technique was nowhere near as good as her Sharp Metal Technique. Or rather, she had hardly practiced it at all. So every so often, she would ask Gu An to help irrigate her fields.
Hearing his question, the girl shook her head, her expression unusually serious. “I came to ask about your plans for the future, Senior Brother Gu.”
As soon as she said this, the atmosphere in the courtyard noticeably stiffened.
After a long while, Gu An finally let out a sigh and replied, “No real plans. If I can’t break through, I’ll just go home and get married.”
“You don’t want to pursue immortality anymore?”
“Of course I do… how could I not…”
Gu An answered casually as he sat down on the doorstep, his thoughts already drifting far away.
“Then… are you not even going to consider what Senior Sister Su Ru proposed before?”
At some point, the girl had walked over and sat beside him. Her voice was light and soft.
Su Ru was the “fairy” who had brought Gu An into the Taiyi Sect.
She was also a true disciple of the Third Peak, at the Great Perfection stage of the Qi Sea Realm. She was rumored to already have one foot across the threshold into Core Formation with limitless prospects ahead.
Back then, it was her words that made Gu An believe he was some kind of unparalleled genius.
To be fair, she hadn’t lied. He did indeed possess a spiritual root. As for which “root” of his had caught her attention…
Well, that was hard to say.
“In any case, there’s no way I’m becoming Dao companions with her.”
Faced with Jiang Yuhan’s suggestion, the young man refused without the slightest hesitation.
The conditions Su Ru had offered were undeniably generous, but to Gu An, they touched on his bottom line.
He was a firm believer in true love!
Gu An didn’t notice that when he voiced his refusal, the girl beside him had a subtle gleam flicker in her eyes.
She turned her head slightly, gazing at his profile. His clean features, his thin lips, and those clear eyes that often carried a trace of weariness.
Even with the easiest shortcut laid right in front of him, he was still willing to refuse it without hesitation for the sake of that mortal girl?
Perhaps it was because she had heard too many bad stories, or perhaps because, as a fellow cultivator, she understood just how tempting Senior Sister Su Ru’s proposal truly was… in any case, she had to admit she felt a little envious.
“Alright, don’t overthink it. There’s still a month left, isn’t there?”
“I don’t have much hope myself, but you could still try a bit harder. Somehow, it feels like if you end up buried in obscurity, that would be the real pity.”
“If there’s nothing else, you should head back and continue your cultivation.”
Gu An clapped his hands lightly and stood, walking toward the house.
It was a clear hint that he was seeing her off.
The girl hurried a couple of steps to catch up and grabbed his arm.
“Here, take this.”
A small porcelain bottle was placed in front of him.
Gu An glanced down, froze for a moment, then said in surprise, “Qi Condensation pills? Where did you get so many?”
“I’ve been collecting them from the Deacon Hall every month.”
“You haven’t taken a single one?”
“Well… I take one occasionally…”
Hearing that, Gu An fell silent for a long time, not knowing what to say.
With such a careless approach to cultivation, she still managed to reach the seventh level of Qi Condensation…
So in the end, was he the only true good-for-nothing?
However, he quickly came to his senses and looked at the girl with a hint of caution. “I already have a wife!”
Jiang Yuhan: “……”
“Forget it, you should take it back. I can’t accept this.”
He knew himself well.
Gu An was fully aware of how ordinary his talent was. Aside from having a decent face, he had nothing worth mentioning.
Even if he took these Qi Condensation pills, he would most likely still fail to reach the peak of Qi Condensation.
But if Jiang Yuhan refined them herself, entering the inner sect would be almost guaranteed.
He couldn’t hold her back.
After forcing the girl out of the courtyard, Gu An shut the door.
Compared to going back and forth with Jiang Yuhan here, he had more important matters to attend to.
…
…
Outside the courtyard.
The girl bit her lip, looked at the courtyard, and muttered softly, “What an idiot who can’t recognize value. You’re the one who refused it. Don’t blame me…”
“Fine then. Once you’re out of the Taiyi Sect, you’ll know to appreciate me.”
Leave a Reply