I am about to die of old age, and I have awakened the character of longevity.

Chapter 236 Wu Ling Statue!

drive!
drive! !

The wheels rolled through the thick snow, running wildly all the way, leaving two long marks in the snow.

A Ferghana horse pulled a cart full of spiritual plants and headed towards Yunzhou City in the wind and snow.

The ones driving the carriage were naturally Xie An and Chen Yuer.

Just now, Puyang Bai drove the carriage out of the villa and was taken over by Chen Yu'er. The two drove the carriage all the way out of Longmen Town, and after meeting up with Xie An, they went straight over the mountains and headed straight for Yunzhou.

Puyang Bai was very nervous along the way, fearing that the Third Master would get all the spiritual plants and think that he was of no use and would kill him.

For this reason, Puyang Bai was very nervous and asked about his father's well-being many times and tried his best to curry favor with him.

Xie An naturally saw Puyang Bai's worry, but he didn't say much, just focused on driving the carriage. At the same time, he opened his Qi sense and vigilantly observed every move around him.

After passing Yueya City, Xie An chose to stop at the top of a mountain two hundred miles away from Yunzhou City.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Puyang Bai panicked and immediately jumped off the carriage, kneeling on the ground and begging, "Please, Third Master, spare my life."

Xie An waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

"Thank you very much, Third Master!" Puyang Bai kowtowed several times, then ran away quickly with his luggage.

"Wait."

Puyang Bai hadn't run far when he heard Xie An's cry again from behind him. His scalp suddenly went numb and he turned back in fear, his eyes moist.

Third Master...are you still unwilling to let me go?

However, in Puyang Bai's shocked eyes, Xie An picked up a cloth bag filled with Hanling grass and handed it to Puyang Bai, "Be careful on the road."

Puyang Bai was deeply moved and thanked him again. Then he took the cloth bag and left. Soon he disappeared in the vast snow and wind.

Xie An stared at the back, stunned for a while.

Chen Yu'er said calmly, "You're quite good at doing favors. You robbed someone of their things, returned part of it, and made them shed tears of gratitude."

Xie An: “…”

You have to fight for resources to cultivate immortality.

Moreover, these spiritual plants were merely planted by Puyang Qing using the withered bones of a martial saint and the flesh and blood of countless masters. They were ill-gotten gains...

Chen Yu'er asked, "What are your plans next?"

Xie An said: "Wait here for a day. I will take a look at the situation in Longmen Town and then decide whether to return to Qixing Village."

Chen Yu'er said, "That's as it should be."

Although Puyang Bai was unlikely to return to Longmen Town after leaving, Xie An was not panicked... He still used the seal to control Thirteenth Master and Xiaoyue. Xiaoyue knew the situation in Crescent City, while Thirteenth Master was still lurking in the ancient village and knew the situation in the ancient village.

There is also a white fox lurking outside Longmen Town, which can also provide Xie An with valuable information.

After activating the seal, Xie An immediately knew:
After Ye Nantian and Su Yuqing and a few others chased Puyang Qing, they secretly returned to the house in Longmen Town. It was obvious... Ye Nantian had sensed the presence of spiritual plants in the house before, but had kept it to himself. This time, he returned alone, intending to take the spiritual plants for himself.

Even a martial saint as powerful as Ye Nantian would be very tempted by spiritual plants.

However, as soon as Ye Nantian returned to the house, he met Puyang Qing.

The two sides fought.

Finally, Ye Nantian gave up the Little Thunder Sword and escaped. Puyang Qing failed to catch up with him, and finally angrily uprooted a tree and returned to the ancient village.

According to Thirteenth Master's observations, Puyang Qing had not come out of the Shanbi Temple for the entire day after returning there, seemingly tacitly accepting the losses.

Xie An was relieved, "We can go back now."

When we returned to Qixingzhai, it was already dark.

Jin Yuping and Master Huang also came over and were stunned when they saw the large cart of spiritual plants.

They had never seen so many spiritual plants in their entire lives.

Soon, the two began to worry.

They knew too well that an innocent man could be guilty of possessing a treasure. If anyone discovered this, the entire Qixing Village would suffer countless disasters.

Madam Ma immediately marked off a restricted area in the village, strictly prohibiting anyone from entering or leaving. At the same time, she asked Ma Tiedan to control his men and not to go out to seek any immortal resources in the near future.

After some arrangements, Xie An and Chen Yuer began to discuss the distribution of spiritual plants.

There were so many spiritual plants, there were even three iron trees, and each one was growing very well. Because they were spiritual plants, even after being pulled out of the ground for three months, they had not completely withered.

It can't be used up at all.

In the end, it was Chen Yu'er who suggested that they enclose a piece of land nearby, bury the previously excavated Martial Saint's bones, and then plant the remaining spiritual plants in the soil to see if they could survive. If not, they would use them up early.

Xie An readily agreed.

When I was inside the bronze gate before, it was this Martial Saint's withered bones that gave rise to countless spiritual plants. I think this Martial Saint's withered bones can still be of some use.

It’s better to give it a try first and see if it doesn’t work.

After calculating, the two took out a few months' supply of spiritual plants and planted the rest in the soil, waiting for Su Yuqing to come and divide it up together.

This success is inseparable from Su Yuqing's great help.

Jin Yuping also obtained some cold spirit grass and other spiritual plants for her research on alchemy.

After everything was arranged, Xie An took the spiritual plant and returned to his room to meditate.

……

Beyond the Clouds.

Su Yuqing, Li Chungang, and Hua Yunfeng waited here for a full half day before they saw Ye Nantian walk out from inside the Cloud Wasteland.

His clothes were a little disheveled, and there was a piece of cloth tied around his shoulders, obviously he had suffered minor injuries.

Without waiting for Hua Yunfeng to ask more questions, Ye Nantian said gloomily, "The thief got away. Let's go back first."

While speaking, Ye Nantian glanced at Su Yuqing intentionally or unintentionally, but in the end he said nothing.

Back at the Demon Suppression Division, the three entered the courtyard and inquired about Ye Nantian's injuries. Ye Nantian said he was fine and told them to go back and rest, saying they would recover in a few days.

After the three people left, Ye Nantian took a healing pill in the living room, then removed the cloth on his shoulder, revealing the blue wound inside.

"The witchcraft and poisons of the Western Regions are truly powerful!"

Then, Ye Nantian took out a dagger and cut off the blue poisoned flesh on the wound. Only when the flowing blood turned red again did Ye Nantian put down the dagger and re-wrap the wound.

"This batch of spiritual plants is extremely numerous, enough to support a Qi Refiner from zero to the sixth or even seventh level. Unfortunately, this eight-armed wizard is too powerful. What a pity..."

Ye Nantian rubbed his temples, a look of heartache on his face.

He sneaked back to the house without telling Su Yuqing, of course, with the intention of keeping the spiritual plant for himself. But he didn't think it was a big deal, as spiritual energy was too scarce in this world.

He had been a Martial Saint for hundreds of years, mobilizing countless forces to search far and wide, and even personally traveled across the five continents and four seas, but he had only managed to obtain a very small number of spiritual plants. Of course, there were also methods for cultivating spiritual plants, which were generally similar to those of the Eight-Armed Wizard.

Matters concerning martial arts can be shared with disciples.

But the spiritual energy of spiritual plants is definitely not acceptable.

My own practice is not enough to satisfy me.

He carefully reviewed all the details of the whole incident and finally determined two points:
Su Yuqing must have known something, but the information she provided was very vague.

In addition, judging from the wizard's final frustrated state, it seemed that he wanted to use the spiritual plant to fish, but ended up losing the plant... Did he catch it and use it as fertilizer?
"Could it be that Su Yuqing set this up? Did she get her hands on the spiritual plant?"

The more Ye Nantian thought about it, the more he felt that this possibility could not be ruled out.

Now that Su Yuqing has broken through to the level of Martial Saint and opened up his spiritual roots, he naturally needs spiritual energy to cultivate immortality.

Since I am unwilling to share the spiritual plant with others, then Su Yuqing must have similar thoughts.

Thinking of this, Ye Nantian went out late at night.

……

In Su Yuqing's house.

It was late at night when she returned home, and she did not come back alone, Li Chungang was with her.

Su Yuqing knew Li Chungang's purpose, so she led him inside and served him tea. She then took out a prepared scroll and handed it to him, "This is my experience of reverse metamorphosis, written down in it. Second Senior Brother, you can use it for reference. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me."

Li Chungang took the scroll and bowed deeply. "Thank you, Junior Sister. If I succeed in my transformation and become a Martial Saint, I will definitely repay you for your kindness today. If you are free, Junior Sister, I will be here to read it. If you encounter any questions, you can ask me."

Su Yuqing said, "Okay."

Li Chungang immediately opened the book and began to read it on the spot. When he encountered something he did not understand, Li Chungang humbly asked for advice without feeling embarrassed or putting on airs.

After some inquiries, Li Chungang suddenly remembered something and said solemnly, "Brother, I have another unwelcome request."

Su Yuqing said, "Brother, please speak."

Li Chungang pulled out another scroll from his chest and handed it to Su Yuqing. "This is the details I recorded when I asked Master about his transformation. There are a few things that conflict with what I've found in your scroll. I'd appreciate your explanation."

Su Yuqing took the album and flipped through it, and indeed found several conflicts, which shocked her greatly.

She had asked Ye Nantian about the process of reverse transformation before, but because Chen Yuer gave her the album and Ye Nantian did not agree with Su Yuqing's reverse transformation, she did not ask in detail.

The album before me was detailed enough. I guess Li Chungang was quite cautious.

However, the content on the album is very different from Su Yuqing's own transformation process.

Li Chungang became nervous when he saw Su Yuqing remained silent for a long time. "Junior sister, why is this happening?"

Su Yuqing said, "It's probably because everyone's situation is different. It could also be because Master reached the Martial Saint level a hundred years ago, so he doesn't remember many of the details clearly. If there's any conflict, Second Senior Brother can use my reference as a guide."

Li Chungang was stunned for a long time before finally nodding, "I see. That's all right, Senior Brother. Goodbye."

Watching Li Chungang leave, Su Yuqing frowned tightly, "Master... has never experienced a reverse metamorphosis!"

How did Master become a Martial Saint?

Why do you want to deceive everyone?

This discovery shocked Su Yuqing. It wasn't that she thought her master had any ill intentions, but rather that she felt he was hiding a secret. But on second thought, Su Yuqing felt relieved. Who in this world doesn't have a few secrets?
Growing up in an imperial family, she naturally knew that the saying "the imperial family is the most ruthless" was not groundless.

The imperial family naturally has a lot of some resources that outsiders dare not even think about.

However, some resources are fiercely contested, and even fratricide is not uncommon. For example, power, or the position of crown prince.

What is even more precious than this is the resources for cultivating immortals and the chance to become immortals!
Although the Jingtai Emperor's search for immortality wasn't as frantic as the Tianbao Emperor's, it was still a significant investment. Every year, the Jingtai Emperor recruited a large number of alchemists and officials, sending them to search for immortality throughout the Thirty-Six Provinces.

However, Emperor Jingtai never told anyone about the details of his search for immortality, not even to his concubines, princes, and princesses.

As to whether Emperor Jingtai found his destiny, outsiders never knew.

Su Yuqing had long been accustomed to this. She didn't expect her father and master to share their immortal fate with her. If she wanted to find immortal fate, she had to rely on herself to find a way.

Fortunately, I met Xie An.

This guy is really good at finding immortal fate.

She planned to go to Qixingzhai late at night, but soon after she walked out of the villa, Su Yuqing felt someone following her.

But every time she looked back, she didn't see anyone.

However, Su Yuqing was sure that it was not an illusion.

Su Yuqing immediately realized that something was unusual, so she went for a stroll nearby, then returned to the house and never went out again.

……

Outside Yunzhou City, Qixingzhai.

Since Xie An had planted spiritual plants here, Jin Yuping was very concerned about it and felt that the defense needed to be strengthened. She immediately ordered Ma Tiedan to lead people to rebuild the village, demolish the original wooden buildings, quarry stones from the mountains, and then transport them here to build a solid wall.

Although only half a month has passed, the city wall of the stronghold has already taken shape.

Xie An felt that the city wall was too strong and unnecessary. Whether the spiritual plants could survive was another matter. However, Ma Tiedan and his men had lived outside the city for years, where banditry was rampant, so strengthening the city wall was a good idea.

Thanks to the abundant spiritual plants he had acquired, Xie An no longer had to worry about his cultivation, striding forward. However, Xie An still needed to communicate with Xiaobai and Thirteenth Master and keep an eye on the Eight-Armed Wizard's movements. He couldn't be as oblivious to the world outside as Chen Yu'er.

Early that morning, Xie An ended his night of retreat, got up early, had breakfast, and found Jin Yuping.

"Miss Ping'er, has the princess been here recently?"

Jin Yuping put down her work of pounding the medicine and shook her head. "No. No one has come to the village recently. Could something have happened?"

"It's okay, I just asked casually. If the princess comes, you can ask her to go directly to the medicine garden to get the spiritual plants."

"I'll remember that."

After leaving Jin Yuping's residence, Xie An frowned and became worried about Su Yuqing.

According to the previous plan, Su Yuqing would take Ye Nantian to deal with Puyang Qing, while she and Chen Yuer would wait for an opportunity to transport the medicinal herbs. After the matter was over, Su Yuqing would rush over and divide the spiritual plants together.

Su Yuqing was born into an imperial family, so he had no shortage of martial arts resources. However, resources for cultivating immortality were definitely in short supply.

Half a month has passed, and Su Yuqing still hasn't come... Xie An vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Xie An wanted to talk to Chen Yu'er, but Chen Yu'er was still in seclusion, so Xie An did not disturb her. Instead, he left a letter at the door of the room and then left Qixing Village.

……

Xie An immediately went to Yunzhou City and asked around.

I learned that nothing had happened in the Demon Suppression Division.

Xie An found another ruffian in the city, gave him a piece of precious silver, and asked him to deliver a message to Su Yuqing's house. Then Xie An hid in the dark and observed every move in the house.

The message Xie An had the ruffian deliver was simple: Are you being targeted? If so, just have Su Yuqing show up.

As a result, he saw Su Yuqing go out, look around, and then go back.

At this point, Xie An knew that Su Yuqing was indeed being targeted.

The one who could make Su Yuqing so cautious and unable to escape must be a more powerful Martial Saint.

The only two people who could do this, and had the reason to do so, were Puyang Qing and Ye Nantian.

Puyang Qing is still under the surveillance of Thirteenth Master and has not left the underground ancient village.

Then the person who was monitoring Su Yuqing could only be Ye Nantian.

After confirming this, Xie An felt very surprised.

It seems that even Ye Nantian, a martial saint, really wants to take all those spiritual plants for himself. Moreover, Ye Nantian has already sensed that... the spiritual plants must have been taken away by Su Yuqing's people.

Due to Su Yuqing's noble status, Ye Nantian couldn't ask directly, so he had to stare at Su Yuqing, hoping to follow the clues to find Su Yuqing's collaborator and then find the spiritual plant.

Carrying a spiritual plant is indeed extremely dangerous.

It was because Su Yuqing was able to keep her composure. If she hadn't... and let Ye Nantian find Xie An, there would have been another bloody storm.

Ye Nantian naturally would not take action against Su Yuqing, but he would definitely take action against Xie An.

Thinking of this, Xie An felt more grateful to Su Yuqing.

Although Xie An wanted to send spiritual plants to Su Yuqing so as not to delay her cultivation, he couldn't do it at the moment.

Matters concerning spiritual plants require extreme caution; one wrong step could lead to a complete loss.

One Ye Nantian, one Puyang Qing... are not something that Xie An and Chen Yuer can handle now.

Xie An felt somewhat guilty because the spiritual plants could not be delivered to Su Yuqing.

Fortunately... the spiritual plant was nourished by the Martial Saint's dry bones and actually survived.

This made Xie An very excited.

It seems that the Martial Saint's bones are not yet scrapped. After all, when they were inside the bronze door, they were able to nourish so many spiritual plants.

Xie An immediately set aside Su Yuqing's spiritual plant for special cultivation, and divided the rest between himself and Chen Yu'er. After the distribution was completed, Xie An finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The days that followed became ordinary again.

Jin Yuping was immersed in refining pills, and Master Huang went to help her after practicing martial arts.

As for Ma Tiedan, he was busy building the village and having a lot of fun.

Xie An had enough spiritual energy and could feel a little progress every few days. Although the days were boring, Xie An enjoyed them. However, Xie An still kept an eye on Puyang Qing's every move.

Half a year passed in a flash.

cold winter.

Qixingzhai has been completely rebuilt. The magnificent stone walls surround the entire mountain, as solid as a city. It is difficult for ordinary bandits and martial artists to break through.

A forbidden area was also marked out.

Ordinary people are not allowed to enter or leave.

There was a medicinal garden within the forbidden area, where the spiritual plants grew so lush and green that they were escaping into the air. Fortunately, the Seven Star Village was large enough that the spiritual energy wouldn't escape beyond the village. Furthermore, the surrounding area, dozens of miles in radius, was barren and uninhabited.

The probability of having the spiritual energy discovered by the Martial Saint is not high.

After two years of seclusion, Xie An's otherworldly aura became more and more intense, but there was still a long way to go before he reached the second level of Qi Refining.

Fortunately, Xie An was not in a hurry. Instead, he continued to refine the Purple Blade, greatly enhancing its power. Since he had never experienced actual combat, Xie An could not judge the specific lethality of the Purple Blade, but he felt... it would be very terrifying.

call out!
In the backyard, Xie An used his spiritual power to control the purple blade, which was spinning wildly in the sky, as fast as a stream of light and unstoppable.

The sound of breaking through the air hurts the eardrums.

After some manipulation, Xie An recalled the Purple Blade and examined it carefully. "What a mysterious Purple Blade! It's worthy of being called the Nine Heavens Divine Weapon. It's much better than the Azure Dragon Sacred Weapon. The power of controlling a weapon with soul is much stronger than controlling a sword with Qi. Even a master of the second level of Qi Refining would be no match for the attack of the Purple Blade."

When I break through the second level of Qi Refining, I can use the Purple Blade to defeat a third level Qi Refining cultivator."

Xie An estimated his own strength before putting away the purple blade.

"After entering the Qi Refining stage, fighting and attacking no longer rely mainly on fists and feet. It's more about controlling weapons, various talismans, magic tools, spells, etc. It's a pity that I only have one immortal technique, the Five Elements Soul Tempering Method. It would be great if I could learn a few spells."

At the end of his speech, Xie An's face showed a deep longing.

After practicing Taoism for so long, Xie An knew about magic, such as being able to control fire and ice.

Unfortunately, such immortal techniques are extremely difficult to find.

At this moment, the seal on Xie An's right palm suddenly vibrated and emitted bursts of light.

Xie An immediately sat cross-legged and sensed the situation.

It turned out that there was a message from the Thirteenth Master.

Puyang Qing took everyone in the village, a total of hundreds of masters, and quietly left overnight.

Xie An was greatly surprised, wondering if Ye Nantian had found Puyang Qing's whereabouts and launched a second round of encirclement and suppression? Was this the reason why Puyang Qing fled the village?
He asked the Thirteenth Master to continue following the investigation and knocked on Chen Yuer's door at the same time.

After hearing the news, Chen Yu'er wasn't too shocked. "Maybe Ye Nantian and Puyang Qing had a fight. He forced Puyang Qing away."

Xie An said, "Do you still remember... Puyang Bai said that after Puyang Qing broke through the fifth level of Qi Refining in seclusion, he planned to go to the Jin family. Now is the right time."

"The Jin family?"

Xie An nodded. "I asked the Thirteenth Master to investigate whether Puyang Qing brought Jin Xiaotang with him. If so... then he went to the Jin family."

Not long after, the Thirteenth Master replied: Puyang Qing was indeed accompanied by Jin Xiaotang.

Chen Yu'er said, "So... Puyang Qing really did go to the Jin Clan's residence. I have a feeling he wasn't too sad about losing these spiritual plants. Instead, he's even more enthusiastic about the Jin Clan's residence. What are your plans now?"

Xie An said: "The Jin family's residence is probably not simple, Jin Yuping also knows it. Anyway, the Thirteenth Master is following Puyang Qing, so let's wait for the Thirteenth Master's feedback. We are not in a hurry to follow him."

Chen Yu'er obviously agreed, "This kind of caution is most appropriate."

Xie An suddenly said, "But there is a place we can go and have a look."

Chen Yu'er suddenly remembered something, "Ancient Underground Village? The statue of Master Wu Ling?"

-

I have a fever and cough, and I feel dizzy. My head is about to explode when I write these 6,000 words. I will just keep it at 6,000 words today~ Sorry~
(End of this chapter)