Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 124: Planning for Foundation Establishment

With the consent of the Sect Master Qin Xuan, Li An naturally became the branch master of the Treasure Pavilion in Baihu City.

The Treasure Pavilion held a high position within the city and even had a residence in a third-grade spiritual vein area.

Naturally, this residence belonged to Li An!

Although this residence was not close to Baihu Mountain, a small residual vein extended to it, allowing the surrounding area within a radius of one to two miles to have the spiritual energy of a third-grade spiritual vein, while the surrounding area was only a second-grade spiritual vein region.

Li An was very satisfied with this residence. He carefully inspected it, then moved in and directly set up three sets of second-grade formations to guard it.

Three sets of second-grade formations were quite costly, but he didn't care because after becoming the branch master, many of his expenses could easily be covered by the Treasure Pavilion.

With power comes the desire for personal gain!

Within the branch of the Treasure Pavilion, there were a total of five managers and two appraisers. Li An, with his experience of leading a cultivation family in his previous life, quickly gained their obedience, promoted trusted subordinates, and suppressed dissidents. In just two years, the entire branch had been transformed into an ironclad entity, becoming his "private kingdom."

At the same time, in this year, Li An's purse grew fatter and fatter. Coupled with the accumulation from the main pavilion over the years, as well as a large sum of spirit stones given to him by the Third Princess, he now had around fifty thousand spirit stones in his hands!

To facilitate use, he exchanged half of them for medium-grade spirit stones, two hundred and fifty pieces.

At the same time, the resources of the entire branch of the Treasure Pavilion were actually under his control.

He could prioritize the selection of all collected resources and obtain them through various means.

Of course, he wasn't reckless and not that crazy. After all, he still had to ensure the overall operation of the Treasure Pavilion.

The difference in profit compared to before should not be too great.

...

In the blink of an eye, five years had passed.

During these five years, the Third Princess had sent letters asking Li An to return and discuss important matters.

Obviously, the changes in Baihu City had exceeded their expectations, and they could no longer control Li An.

But Li An politely declined, using the ready-made reason that Sect Master Qin Xuan had the intention to kill him, so he could only hide here to avoid disaster.

This reason left the Third Princess with no choice.

She couldn't force Li An, after all, from her perspective, Li An still didn't know that he was being "raised like a pig." If she forced him too much, it would easily make Li An suspicious.

Without forcing Li An, if she wanted him to return, she had to either get rid of Qin Xuan or personally protect Li An. But by doing so, she would easily attract the attention of the royal family.

Her "raising a pig plan" was done without the knowledge of the royal family.

In the end, they could only compromise. After all, Li An couldn't escape from Baihu City.

In this way, it was only natural for Li An to stay in the city.

...

On this day, as soon as Li An returned to his mansion from the Treasure Pavilion, there were already two people waiting at the door.

One of them, Li An was very familiar with, and it was... Xu Qiuhui!

After decades of separation, old friends finally met again.

After decades, Xu Qiuhui remained the same, her cultivation had advanced, and she had reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment. She should be planning for Foundation Establishment.

In fact, Xu Qiuhui had been wanting to visit Li An for a while and had sent several name cards, but Li An had always been too lazy to see her.

He knew that Xu Qiuhui must have something to ask of him.

Since the other party had a request, he had to maintain his stance and slowly negotiate.

Li An would never forget the grudge Xu Qiuhui had against him for snatching the Purple Soul Grass back then, but his principle had always been: interests outweigh hatred!

He would never let hatred affect his grand plan of cultivation.

First, let's see if he could extract enough benefits from Xu Qiuhui.

"Left Branch Master!"

Seeing Li An return, Xu Qiuhui and the middle-aged man walked over and respectfully bowed.

"Who are you two?" Li An was puzzled.

"I am Xu Qiuhui from Baihu Mountain, and this is Master Zhang Deyi, an alchemist!" Xu Qiuhui introduced, "We have come here presumptuously, please forgive us, Left Branch Master."

Li An glanced at Zhang Deyi.

Zhang Deyi, the senior disciple of Gusong Creek, and the senior brother of Gu Hong... Li An had also had some dealings with him.

Back then, Li An had planned to ask him to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, so he had deliberately approached his disciple Luo Yong. But later, he found out that Zhang Deyi was likely to have been possessed by someone, so he chose Gu Hong instead.

Now, after many years, Zhang Deyi should have been completely possessed.

"Zhang Deyi greets Left Branch Master."

Zhang Deyi also smiled and showed great respect.

"I have heard of your name for a long time, please come in, please come in—" Li An made a gesture of invitation.

They entered the living room.

The servants brought tea, and the three of them exchanged pleasantries. Seeing that Li An didn't ask anything, Xu Qiuhui took the initiative to speak:

"Left Branch Master, we actually came here this time to ask for a favor."

"But please speak freely." Li An put down his teacup.

"Both Master Zhang and I have reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment and are currently planning for Foundation Establishment. However, we are still lacking some spiritual herbs."

Xu Qiuhui said, "Mainly the Blue Light Grass, Hidden Path Stone, and Dragon Blood Bone."

"These three medicinal herbs, we have been collecting for many years, but ultimately gained nothing, so I would like to ask Left Chamber Master for help."

Li An, as the Chamber Master, in a sense, controls the flow of rare resources throughout the city.

After all, most of the rare spiritual medicines that are willing to be sold will be appraised and auctioned by the Treasure Pavilion.

In order to find resources, they sought Li An's help.

In fact, this is also a result of Li An's layout over the past five years.

During these five years, under his instructions, the Treasure Pavilion has not auctioned any single medicinal formula for the elemental spirit pill, and they have all been kept.

As a result, it has become very difficult for those who want to collect spiritual medicines for refining the elemental spirit pill.

In the end, they will inevitably seek Li An's help.

Li An's goal is to handle the elemental spirit pill during the time when he is free from the surveillance of the demonic sect.

After all, the demonic sect's "pig-raising plan" is aimed at Li An's crucial point of forming the pill.

If Li An can handle the elemental spirit pill before the demonic sect knows about it, then he will have a lot of initiative in dealing with the demonic sect.

He can even seize the opportunity to attack the pill formation stage when the demonic sect is unaware, and once successful, how can the demonic sect harm him?

...

After a moment of contemplation, Li An said, "These medicinal herbs... are all rare items, not something that can be found overnight."

Zhang Deyi said, "As long as Left Chamber Master helps, after the pill is formed, Left Chamber Master can have one of them!"

"And Left Chamber Master, please rest assured, you only need to help us find the herbs, we will take care of the purchasing matters."

It can be said that their attitude is very sincere.

Mainly because both he and Xu Qiuhui are quite old.

Xu Qiuhui is even older than Li An, over 150 years old, and Zhang Deyi is over 170 years old.

From their lifespan perspective, if they don't succeed in forming the pill before the age of 200, their hopes will be completely gone once they start to decline.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have come to Li An.

"If the pill is formed, who goes first?" Li An asked with a smile.

A furnace of elemental spirit pills can produce up to four pills!

The quality may vary, so it is necessary to agree on who picks first and who picks second.

Xu Qiuhui and Zhang Deyi glanced at each other, and Zhang Deyi said, "Left Chamber Master... pick the second one, how about that?"

This is already a big concession.

They are the ones in charge, while Li An is only providing a channel to find the spiritual herbs.

"Okay," Li An agreed without saying anything.

He didn't rush to negotiate, anyway, the most crucial medicinal herbs are in his hands, and he can slowly negotiate with the two of them later.

The two of them were overjoyed.

The three of them reached a cooperation agreement.

"By the way," Li An suddenly said, "I received a hidden Dao stone some time ago, but it has not fully matured yet and is not perfect. I am preparing to use the Spirit Gathering Array to nurture it. I need Miss Xu's help."

Over the past five years, he has been observing and sensing the large array set up by the White Tiger Mountain.

Currently, the entire White Tiger City is under the surveillance of the White Tiger Mountain.

In this way, it means that even in his residence, the White Tiger Mountain can use the large array to monitor him at any time.

Li An doesn't like this kind of environment. It is safest to have everything under his control.

So, he wants to quietly make some adjustments to the large array of the White Tiger Mountain through Xu Qiuhui's hands.

And the Spirit Gathering Array is just a cover.

"Left Chamber Master means that you need me to make some adjustments to the array and guide the gathering of spiritual energy?" Xu Qiuhui asked.

Li An nodded.

Xu Qiuhui frowned slightly, but still nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give it a try."

"By the way, did the two of you let anyone else know about this?" Li An asked again, smiling.

"The more people involved, the less the elemental spirit pills will be divided..." This is a reminder to avoid the White Tiger Mountain noticing when Xu Qiuhui changes the array.

Zhang Deyi and Xu Qiuhui both nodded. The fewer people involved in this matter, the better.

If it weren't for Li An's early layout and control of resources, they wouldn't have come to him.

They left immediately.

...

After a few days, Li An took out the hidden Dao stone from the chamber and deliberately made some repairable flaws.

After nurturing it in the third-grade spiritual vein, Xu Qiuhui came again. After seeing the hidden Dao stone, she no longer doubted what Li An had said, and then quietly made some changes to the array, guiding the gathering of spiritual energy towards Li An.

One month later.

After observing, Li An found that due to Xu Qiuhui's adjustments, the monitoring of certain areas by the White Tiger Mountain's large array had loosened.

On this night, he took out a hoe.

And started digging a tunnel...

(End of this chapter)