Longevity: Starting as a menial servant in the Green Wood Sect

Chapter 31 The Myriad Tribulations of Silk

In the darkness, Xun Yin's murky eyes glowed with an eerie green light, fixed intently on Gu An's figure. He didn't lower the boning knife in his hand; the tip trembled slightly, like a venomous snake ready to pounce at any moment.

"Still trying to pretend?"

Gu An's body trembled violently, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and he uncontrollably shrank towards the corner of the bed. His eyes widened, his face filled with terror, and a "clucking" sound came from his throat, as if he wanted to scream but couldn't.

"Brother Xun... you..."

He was incoherent, his right hand fumbling haphazardly under the pillow, grabbing a handful of talismans, not caring about their grade, and hoisting them all to his chest.

"No...don't kill me! The spirit stones are all in the jar! You can have them all!"

Seeing this, Xun Yin's mocking smile deepened. "Truly a virgin who's never shed blood."

Hearing the commotion inside from outside the door and sensing the message from the Corpse Listening Gu, he concluded that the kid was faking his death. Now, after a little bluff, the good-for-nothing finally showed his fear.

"I want the spirit stones, but I also want your life."

Xun Yin no longer hesitated. Delay would only lead to trouble. Since this kid was awake, if he had some trump card to save his life and caused a big commotion, it would be troublesome if it attracted the patrolling deacons.

He thrust forward with his left foot, his figure moving like a ghost. This leap was powerful yet incredibly agile. The boning knife in his hand drew a ghastly green arc, heading straight for Gu An's throat.

However, the moment his feet touched the ground...

Click.

The seemingly flat bluestone slab underfoot sank slightly by half an inch.

Xun Yin's pupils contracted sharply. As a heretical cultivator who had spent years walking on the edge of a knife, his sense of danger was extremely keen. Almost the instant he sensed something amiss, he forcefully twisted his waist, attempting to retreat rapidly.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

"burst!"

Huddled in the corner of the bed, Gu An no longer showed any sign of fear. His face was icy, and he coldly uttered a single word.

boom--!!!

Suddenly, a blinding flame erupted inside the narrow stone house.

The thunderbolt buried underground exploded with a deafening roar beneath Xun Yin's feet.

In an open area, a cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining might be able to withstand this attack with their protective spiritual light. However, this stone house was already enclosed, and Gu An had added something to the Thunderclap Thunder—he wrapped it with a layer of iron sand made from iron wire grass.

The blast wave, carrying scorching iron filings, erupted like a torrential rain of pear blossoms.

"ah!!!"

Xun Yin let out a piercing scream. His protective aura shattered in the violent explosion after only a moment. His lower body was instantly blasted into a bloody mess, and he was thrown backward like a kite with a broken string by the massive shockwave.

This flight led them straight into a deadly trap meticulously woven by Gu An.

Gu An did not stop because of the explosion. The moment he detonated it, he had already rolled off the stone bed and used the heavy bed board to block the flying debris.

At the same time, he suddenly hooked his left index finger. *Whoosh*—the transparent thread across the doorway, and several branch lines hidden in the shadows, instantly tightened.

Xun Yinren was in mid-air, his body unsteady, when he suddenly felt a cold sensation on his ankles and calves.

There was no resistance whatsoever. It was like a hot knife slicing through butter.

puff!

Xun Yin's feet were severed at the ankles! Before the blood could even spurt out, the wounds were sealed by the deadly poison smeared on the Xuan Yin silk, giving them an eerie, ashen appearance.

"You little bastard, you dare to scheme against me!!"

The excruciating pain only now penetrated his brain. Xun Yin crashed to the ground, the white bone exposed at the site of his severed limb. His eyes were bloodshot, his face filled with resentment, and he endured the agony, slamming his hand on the ground to propel himself back up. As expected of a seasoned evil cultivator, even after suffering such a severe injury, he had not lost the ability to retaliate.

"Die!!"

Xun Yin opened his mouth and spat out a ball of emerald green corpse fire. At the same time, the boning knife in his right hand flew out and turned into a green light, stabbing straight at Gu An's face.

This was his trump card, a desperate measure—scorching souls with corpse fire and deadly flying knives.

Faced with this desperate counterattack, Gu An advanced instead of retreating. He knew that if he retreated now, he would give this old devil a chance to catch his breath, and if the other party still had trump cards up his sleeve, then he might be the one to die.

"Golden Light Technique!"

Gu An roared, unleashing a torrent of spiritual energy from his body. A thick, solid, almost tangible golden bell-shaped light shield instantly enveloped him.

Sizzling sound—the ball of corpse fire crashed into the golden light shield, producing a teeth-grinding etching sound. The golden light quickly dimmed, but ultimately did not break.

Immediately following was the boning knife, which rang out with a crisp clang. It pierced the golden light barrier, its tip penetrating half an inch before being firmly stopped by the resilient metal-elemental spiritual energy, unable to advance any further.

This is it, it's blocked!

A cold glint flashed in Gu An's eyes, and he moved with a series of quick steps, instantly closing the distance to within three feet of Xun Yin.

At this moment, Xun Yin, with both legs broken and his spiritual power exhausted, was lying on the ground vomiting blood. As the golden-glowing youth approached like a god of death, true fear finally appeared in his turbid eyes.

"No... I am blood..."

He wanted to beg for mercy, to bring up his powerful backers. But Gu An didn't give him a chance to speak.

"die!"

Gu An pointed out with his right index finger, and a point of dark golden light was compressed to the extreme on the fingertip, like a star shining in the night.

The Geng Metal Finger technique, once mastered, is called "penetrating the point"!

A violent gust of wind was unleashed, creating a powerful gust of wind, but there was no earth-shattering sound, only the soft whirring of a sharp blade piercing through rotten wood.

That finger struck Xun Yin precisely between the eyebrows.

The protective aura of the corpse shattered like paper.

Xun Yin's voice abruptly stopped. His head tilted back, revealing a bloody hole the size of a finger between his eyebrows, from which red and white fluid spurted out and splattered on the ground.

Those eyes, filled with resentment and terror, were wide open, as if they couldn't believe even in death that they would be defeated by a "good-for-nothing" at the third level of Qi Refining.

The corpse twitched twice, then remained completely still.

Inside the stone house, smoke and dust filled the air, and the stench of blood and gunpowder mingled together, making it suffocating.

Gu An maintained the gesture of pointing his finger, his chest heaving violently.

He only slowly exhaled a breath of stale air after the confirmation message popped up on the panel.

[Slay a level 4 Qi Refining evil cultivator, combat experience +15]

[Golden Light Technique Experience +5]

We finally won.

Gu An withdrew the golden light, his body swaying as a wave of exhaustion washed over him. The series of actions he had just performed, though seemingly brief, had actually drained most of his mental and spiritual energy.

Especially after enduring the corpse fire and flying knives, if he hadn't spent the last two months frantically honing his Golden Light Technique in the Ghostly Valley, he would probably be a charred corpse by now.

But he didn't rest. Although the sound of the explosion was mostly blocked by the barriers inside the courtyard, it was hard to guarantee that it wouldn't attract attention.

He had to deal with the scene before the officers from the Enforcement Hall arrived.

Gu Anqiang braced himself, first kicking away the boning knife in Xun Yin's hand, then bending down to grope the corpse.

A greasy storage bag, a low-grade magical artifact boning knife that had fallen to the ground, and several poison needles scattered on the ground.

Gu An stuffed all these things into his arms but didn't.

Then, he pulled out a bottle of corpse-dissolving water from under the bed—it was from the Blood Blade Demon Cultivator, and he had never had a chance to use it.

Just as it was about to tip over, Gu An paused.

On second thought, I still felt it was inappropriate. Although the body-dissolving liquid was convenient, it had a strong odor and was likely to leave traces.

Since Xun Yin is an expert at handling corpses, the best fate for him is naturally...

Gu An turned his gaze to the dark Ghost Valley outside the window.

The mutated spirit mulberry trees there have a particular fondness for Yin energy and blood. The corpse of a fourth-level Qi Refining evil cultivator is a great tonic for those hungry ghost-like trees.

"Since that's the case, then let dust return to dust, and ashes to ashes."