Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

As soon as Gou An finished speaking, his foot shattered the ground, and his figure transformed into a yellow shadow as he pounced forward.

Normally, Gou An likes to charge up his power before unleashing a heavy blow when using the Divine Iron Hammer, but this weapon is quite powerful even without charging up.

Lin Shuang narrowed her eyes slightly and immediately chose to sweep her sword horizontally, releasing a violent sword aura to meet the attack.

The aftershocks of the sword energy carved a deep trench in the ground, demonstrating its astonishing power.

But immediately afterward, Gou An, wielding the divine iron hammer, clashed with the violent sword energy.

With a loud bang.

The explosion sent up thick smoke.

Before Lin Shuang could react, Gou An's figure broke through the dust and emerged unharmed, continuing to approach Lin Shuang.

The two were now very close. Lin Shuang instinctively wanted to dodge, but her master was behind her, so she had no choice but to stand in front and thrust out with her sword.

However, the sword only struck a residual image released by Gou An.

Gou An's physical form hid beside the afterimage, and with a single blow, he smashed the longsword in Lin Shuang's hand, sending it flying and breaking in mid-air.

Immediately afterwards, Gou An flipped his wrist, raised the Divine Iron Hammer high, and smashed it down on Lin Shuang's head.

Lin Shuang's eyes widened. It was too late to dodge; for her, all that remained was to wait for death.

But the hammer stopped abruptly an inch away from Lin Shuang, only stirring up a gust of wind that scattered Lin Shuang's hair, which fluttered in the wind.

The Spirit Master behind her was also blown away by the gust of wind, falling face-first into the dirt.

"You!" Lin Shuang stared intently at the iron hammer hanging above her head, speechless for a moment.

The next second, Gou An's left hand gripped her neck, its sharp claws extending slightly, tearing her flesh just right.

Sorcery, spirit-devouring and claw-severing.

Since I used this technique enough on that female elder of the Tianxing Sect last time, I haven't used it on any other targets.

The main reason is that Gou An's future opponents are all far stronger than himself, and to strangle them at such close range is actually courting death.

"Blame yourself for following the wrong person!" Gou An chuckled lightly, and with a slight exertion of force in his fingertips, his entire left hand began to draw spiritual energy from Lin Shuang's body like a machine that extracts spiritual energy.

Furthermore, because Lin Shuang had taken the Explosive Qi Forbidden Pill, the spiritual energy within her body flowed continuously, and the extraction efficiency was astonishingly fast, without any hindrance.

Lin Shuang had no strength to resist and could only watch helplessly as she slowly deflated like a punctured balloon.

She eventually transformed from a vibrant young female cultivator into an old woman with a wrinkled face and gray hair.

Once he was sure there was no excess spiritual energy in her body, Gou An tossed her aside.

Lin Shuang fell heavily to the ground. Although she was not dead yet, she had no strength left to get up.

Only then did Gou An turn his attention to the Spirit Seat Master in front of him and walk over step by step.

When Master Lingxi saw Gou An approach, his expression contorted with fear. He shuffled backward, but still questioned Gou An, "You! You're not a Guardian of the Mysterious Guard at all!"

Gou An stopped and asked curiously, "You figured that out?"

"There are no demon cultivators among the Zhixuan Guards. You are an imposter!" Lingxi Zhenren pointed at Gou An, his voice trembling slightly.

"Sigh!" Gou An sighed after hearing this, and said, "Since you've discovered me, then I have no choice but to send you on your way."

"No, no, no!" Ling Xi hurriedly begged for mercy, saying, "I know a secret, a secret that can save my life."

Gou An slowly lowered the divine iron hammer he had raised, clearly intrigued. He said, "Speak, I want to see what secret can save your life."

"Her!" Ling Xi suddenly pointed to Lin Shuang, who had turned into an old woman, and said, "Her identity is extraordinary. She was a spirit child that I abducted back then."

"What is a spirit child?" Gou An was even more curious, but he pointed his divine iron hammer at the head of the Spirit Seat True Man and threatened, "Don't try to fool me with lies, or I have a hundred ways to slowly torture you to death."

"I would never dare to lie!" In order to save his life, Master Lingxi had no choice but to continue: "She was a genius with a heavenly spiritual root that I abducted from the Danling Sect more than 20 years ago, who was to be selected as a spiritual child."

"When the sect elders were traveling, they discovered her. On the way back to the sect, I killed my fellow disciple and abducted her. I changed her Daoist name and hid her away, slowly nurturing her."

"Oh?" Gou An frowned slightly upon hearing this, and couldn't help but ask, "She just said you saved her life, which doesn't seem to make sense, does it?"

"She was only eight years old at the time. I used a secret method to erase her original memories and instilled in her the past that I wanted her to know," Master Lingxi quickly explained.

"And then what? Is this secret really that important?" Gou An suddenly became a little impatient, feeling that this guy was stalling for time.

"She is a reincarnation!" Lingxi quickly explained, "A reincarnation possessing celestial spiritual roots."

"A Heavenly Rank Spiritual Root?" Gou An finally became interested upon hearing this.

"That's right!" Ling Xi nodded immediately and continued to explain, "In the Danling Sect where I used to be, genius children with Heaven-rank spiritual roots were called Spirit Children."

"So what? What's the use? I don't take on apprentices!" Gou An raised his iron hammer, wanting to give him a quick death.

"No, no, no, she's very useful." Master Lingxi quickly raised his hand to explain, afraid that Gou An might suddenly strike.

"Get to the point, stop rambling on." Gou An grew increasingly impatient.

Ling Xi trembled and dared not delay any longer, hurriedly explaining the reason: "The golden cores cultivated by ordinary cultivators are full of impurities and have mixed foundations."

"Cultivators with Heavenly Spiritual Roots are exceptionally blessed, possessing flawless Dao foundations. Upon reaching the Golden Core stage, their core bodies become extremely pure, making them the world's most precious alchemy treasures!"

He swallowed hard and continued explaining, "I know a forbidden technique that allows one to forcibly extract the newly formed golden core from a cultivator with a Heavenly Spiritual Root during their successful breakthrough, when the core is just beginning to form but the core is not yet stable, and then use it to refine medicine!"

"In this way, the resulting elixir is extremely powerful. Those who consume it can not only refine their own physical constitution and improve their original spiritual root aptitude, but also directly break through to the Golden Core stage by borrowing the power of the Heavenly Spirit Golden Elixir. After that, their cultivation will be free of bottlenecks and obstacles, and their path will be smooth and unobstructed!"

Upon hearing this, Gou An's eyes flashed with mockery, and he sneered, "So that's how it is. I didn't expect you, old bastard, to be so vicious. You've raised a disciple for half your life, and all you did was steal his golden core for your own cultivation."

Upon hearing this, Lin Shuang, who was lying on the ground with a full head of white hair and a withered and aged body, shattered her long-dormant heart.

The master she risked her life to protect, the master she was willing to sacrifice herself for, the master she had remembered for over twenty years with gratitude for saving and nurturing her life, turned out to be a meticulously planned scam.

She was supposed to be a Heavenly Spirit Root Child selected by the Danling Sect, with a promising future and a place among the sect's prodigies. However, she was kidnapped and imprisoned by this person, her memories were erased, her past was altered, and she lived a life of lies for the rest of her life.

The other party meticulously nurtured him and imparted his skills, seemingly giving him everything he knew. But it was never out of a master-disciple bond; it was only to cultivate his golden core so that he could harvest it one day and use it to refine medicine for his own purposes!

The immense despair and collapsing faith caused Lin Shuang's aged body to tremble violently.

Unfortunately, she was unable to move at this time and could only collapse on the ground, grieving alone.

Gou An merely glanced at Lin Shuang beside him, ignoring her, then stepped forward and pressed the cold, heavy divine iron hammer directly against Ling Xi Zhenren's forehead.

"Tell me everything, word for word." Gou An's tone was icy, carrying absolute intimidation: "If there is even a single lie, or a hint of concealment, I will smash your skull with a hammer immediately."

Ling Xi was terrified and dared not hide anything, stammering, "I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!"

"For the past twenty years, I have been deliberately and secretly suppressing her cultivation progress! I have used the excuse of incomplete cultivation techniques and limitations in her realm to control her cultivation speed."

"Her innate talent is unparalleled. With normal cultivation for twenty years, she would have already firmly entered the Golden Core stage. But I suppressed her layer by layer, deliberately slowing her down, just to wait until my own foundation was complete and my secret techniques were perfected before letting her break through to the Core Formation stage. At that time, I can take advantage of the situation to seize the core and refine medicine, without any mistakes!"

"This time, I risked everything to set up the Longevity Refining Array and tricked a hundred old cultivators out of their lifespans so that I could refine the Longevity Pill, sell the spirit stones, and then use the spiritual materials to refine the Heavenly Spirit Golden Pill."

"Once the spiritual materials arrive, I can immediately let her break through, and then seize the opportunity to extract her golden core. In this way, I too can defy fate and embark on the path to the Golden Core!"

At this point, Master Lingxi sighed deeply, as if complaining but also expressing his heartache: "I've planned for twenty years, step by step, with utmost care, but I'm only missing this final step..."

"I never expected that a child with a Heavenly Spirit Root could be so useful!" Gou An was greatly shocked, and worried in his heart that the fat girl he had introduced to the Divine Wind Sect might also be unlucky enough to encounter such a master.

"If only you would release me, Daoist!" Ling Xi continued to plead, "I will give you the secret technique to seize the elixir!"

"Heh!" Gou An sneered a few times after hearing this, and said, "Stealing your core, huh? I've already drained your spirit child dry, how are you going to break through to the Golden Core stage?"

"There is a way! There is a way!" Ling Xi shouted desperately to save his life. "She still has a nascent soul core inside her. I know a way to extract the nascent soul core from her body, which can also increase one's own cultivation level."

"Forget it, too much trouble!" Gou An yawned and said, "Let's just send you to your death."

Before the words were even finished, the divine iron hammer had already fallen.

With a soft "pfft".

Lingxi Zhenren's brain was smashed to pieces, just like a watermelon.

At the same time, the giant python Dahei, which had been released, flew back, landed behind Gou An, coiled up, and let out a burp.

"Come back!" Gou An raised his left hand, and the big black thing twisted and automatically transformed back into a black snake bracelet, which was then placed on Gou An's wrist.

After doing all this, Gou An carried the Divine Iron Hammer and walked towards Lin Shuang, stopping in front of her.

"Kill me if you want!" Lin Shuang's voice was extremely weak at this moment, as if she were old and frail and about to breathe her last. Clearly, she had no will to live.

But Gou An flipped his wrist, put away the Divine Iron Hammer, and slowly squatted down.

"I've changed my mind. I'm not going to let you die right now!" Gou An smiled and reached out to press Lin Shuang's forehead.

The next instant, the life essence that Gou An had just extracted began to flow into her body.

The dry, aged skin began to slowly become smooth and rosy.