Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 169: Impacting the Gold Core (Long Chapter)

After becoming the First Minister, Li An enjoyed a period of great prestige. All the guest ministers on Zhi Ke Peak wanted to make friends with him.

Even Chen Lin, in a roundabout way, sent a generous gift in an attempt to improve their relationship.

Li An accepted all the gifts without fail, but very few people were able to see him!

After returning to Zhi Ke Peak, Li An seemed to have secluded himself like a hermit.

Yes, his daily task now was only one thing - cultivating madly!

Of course, this kind of cultivation was not to improve his cultivation level, but to enhance his vitality.

The Jiang family was very generous. On the first day of his return, they sent five second-grade spirit medicines, all of which had the effect of supplementing vitality.

Li An was also sensible and obediently took the spirit medicines, continuously refining their medicinal power.

...

Outside the quiet room, two fake pill cultivators stood guard, while inside the room, Li An silently cultivated.

"The Jiang family has sent so many good things. Perfect, I can start cultivating the second part of the Golden Treasury Art..."

Li An's Golden Treasury Art had already cultivated the first part - the kidneys.

Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, each part required different refining materials. The liver, for example, required various wood-based essences.

The liver belonged to the wood element!

And now, the spirit medicines given by the Jiang family were all wood-based, and they happened to be treasures that nourished vitality. They were perfect for nourishing the liver.

He refined the medicinal properties and vitality of all the spirit medicines into his liver, repeatedly cleansing it, making it pure and flawless, and absorbing the vitality.

The kidneys belonged to the water element. After refining the kidneys, his energy and spiritual power would flow endlessly like a river, never-ending.

And after refining the liver, it would greatly enhance his vitality. In cases of injury or poisoning, his recovery would be faster than an ordinary person's, complementing his life essence.

As for vitality and blood? Actually, he didn't need to replenish or nourish them at all!

The reason his blood could heal the injuries of the divine egg was because he infused the green aura from his dantian into his blood.

The green aura was the key!

The life essence continuously produced that green aura, and he didn't lack it at all.

Therefore, in the upcoming treatment of the divine bird, he didn't need to waste his own essence and blood.

He would let out some ordinary blood every month, disguise it as essence and mix it with the green aura, and that would be enough.

Of course, Li An would also pretend to be weak from the loss of essence and blood. Under the stimulation of the life essence, he would appear to have a deficiency of vitality and blood, and others wouldn't be able to tell if it was real or fake.

In the blink of an eye, the first month arrived.

The divine bird was brought to Li An's residence, and according to the agreement, it was the day for the divine bird to "drink blood."

In just one month, the divine bird had shed its fluff and grown light blue feathers all over its body. It had grown to the size of a pigeon, with a fiery red beak and flame-like claws, showing its extraordinary bloodline.

Moreover, this bird had already reached the fifth level of Qi Refining!

In just one month since its birth!

This kind of growth speed could be called heaven-defying.

No wonder even the demonic giant, Shangguan Xiaoxiao, felt that this divine bird was quite valuable...

If he could obtain it, all the suffering and waiting would be worth it!

Li An remained calm, then activated his profound technique. Soon after, he suddenly cut open the palm of his left hand.

The green divine bird immediately flew onto his hand, its fiery red beak pecking at the fresh blood flowing from his palm.

As the green bird pecked at Li An's blood, a faint green light shimmered on its feathers, giving off a mysterious aura.

Meanwhile, Li An's face gradually turned pale.

Beside him, the two false Dan cultivators, as well as Jiang Ruoxu and Tan Qingxue, all wore expressions of extreme satisfaction.

"It really works!"

Jiang Ruoxu praised, "At this rate, it won't be long before the Integrated Union ceremony of the main beast can officially begin!"

His eyes were filled with anticipation.

The Integrated Union ceremony of the main beast should have been conducted long ago, but Tan Qingxue believed that if the root cause of the divine bird's illness was not cured, holding the ceremony directly might cause the bird to die prematurely.

The clan also felt that it was inappropriate, so they ultimately decided to wait until the divine bird's condition stabilized and its spiritual consciousness grew stronger before conducting the Integrated Union ceremony.

With this divine bird, his future position as the head of the family was guaranteed!

After a long time.

Li An let out a soft groan, his face pale, beads of sweat covering his forehead, and his eye sockets sunken. He looked as if he had been hollowed out, collapsing weakly on the table.

The divine bird turned around and flew back to Jiang Ruoxu's side.

Jiang Ruoxu sensed the current state of the divine bird and smiled with satisfaction, saying, "Not bad, feeding it with spiritual blood is indeed effective..."

"The divine bird grows very quickly. Wu Qinshangqing will have to bear some burden. Please inform the young master and the family that the amount of spiritual medicine given to Wu Qinshangqing each month can be increased threefold as appropriate!"

Tan Qingxue smiled and spoke.

Jiang Ruoxu nodded, "Alright!"

Giving Li An medicine now was paving the way for himself, so he naturally wouldn't be stingy.

But Li An, who was lying on the side as if he had been overdrawn, silently thought to himself, these two despicable people...

Giving him medicine was not for his own good!

The nourishment and growth of essence blood had a cycle, which was very slow. Now, by adding medicine to force it, although it could produce a large amount of essence blood in a short period of time, the price was extremely severe.

Organ failure, depletion of life force, and ultimately, a short life.

"Someone come—"

Jiang Ruoxu waved his hand, and someone came forward to serve Li An a pill. The pill slowly dissolved in his body, and Li An finally regained a bit of strength, lifting his head.

"Wu Shouqing, I will send you more spiritual medicine next month."

Jiang Ruoxu stood up to leave, "My father values you greatly. Currently, he has ordered our clan members to collect medicinal materials and refine the Yuanling Pill for you. Please rest assured, the Jiang family has never mistreated those who have made contributions to our clan—"

After speaking, he turned and left.

Tan Qingxue also smiled at Wu Shouqing, "Until we meet again."

...

After they left.

"They are indeed cunning individuals..."

Inside Li An's spiritual platform, Shangguan Xiaoxiao's elemental spirit couldn't help but speak, "Back then, you swallowed the resources of the White Tiger Mountain like this?"

Now, Li An's actions reminded her of the past...

Even she thought that Li An had already been taken over by Xu Qiuhui and had become a spy for the White Tiger Mountain. Therefore, she almost always tried her best to fulfill Li An's requests.

Now Li An is using the same old tricks again...

The vast amount of medicinal herbs from the Jiang family has all been fed to the wolves...

"Man is the butcher's block, and I am the fish. If the Jiang family is heartless, how can I be righteous?" Li An said coldly.

"When are you planning to make a move on the divine bird?" Shangguan Xiaoxiao reminded, "Once the divine bird is out of its juvenile stage, you won't have a chance..."

Li An, however, calmly replied, "No rush, Jiang Ruoxu won't hold the main beast Integrated Union ceremony for now..."

Shangguan Xiaoxiao, on the other hand, said indifferently, "You don't have to worry about Jiang Ruoxu, he won't live long."

Li An exclaimed in surprise, "Huh?!"

"Tang Xue is no longer human. By then, the essence and blood of this divine bird will be extremely important to her... How could she let Jiang Ruoxu enslave the divine bird completely? If it becomes a slave, firstly, the divine bird's soul will be impure, and secondly, she will be detected by Jiang Ruoxu whenever she moves."

"Therefore, Jiang Ruoxu's plan will never succeed, he will die."

Shangguan Xiaoxiao's words, like those of a young girl, seemed to see through everything.

"What's wrong with her?" Li An asked, "Has something possessed her?"

"A remnant soul," Shangguan Xiaoxiao said, "That remnant soul has some origins, possessing the bloodline of a certain powerful demon clan in the spirit realm. It is extremely difficult for a demon clan's soul to be reborn in a human body. It requires the use of the blood and soul of a spiritual beast to transform and integrate with the human body..."

"So, in the end, her body will flow with beast blood, no longer human, and her own divine soul will eventually be devoured, right?"

"Yes..."

Suddenly, Shangguan Xiaoxiao said, "You knew her before?"

Li An replied coldly, "I don't know her."

"Hmm..."

...

Li An believed in Shangguan Xiaoxiao's judgment.

Now it seems that Tang Qingxue's purpose in coming to the Jiang family is also very clear...

The remnant soul of a powerful demon clan's giant has attached itself to Tang Qingxue, but for a while, it cannot completely control her body.

It needs the assistance of powerful spiritual beast blood and soul.

The Jiang family is famous for its spiritual beasts, and it has the most powerful spiritual beasts within the clan, making it the best target for her.

Among the many spiritual beasts in the Jiang family, the highest level is the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow.

Among them, the only one she can get close to is this juvenile bird.

Therefore, she will definitely try her best to obtain it.

"Let them fight..."

Li An only needs to feed the blood step by step, and he will be able to take advantage of the situation.

He plans to continue feeding for another year or so, until the Jiang family completely lets down their guard, and then quietly incorporate his divine soul into the blood...

Jiang Ruoxu still needs the main beast Integrated Union ceremony, but Li An doesn't need it at all.

Because, a strand of his life essence has long been within the divine bird's body!

...

In the following period, Li An indeed received double the amount of spiritual medicine!

This made him even happier, and his cultivation of the Golden Treasury Technique progressed by leaps and bounds.

It should be noted that even though he was a true cultivator of the Foundation Establishment stage in his past life, he only managed to cultivate the Golden Treasury Technique to the kidney stage.

Now, taking advantage of the momentum of the Jiang family, he was already surpassing his previous life in the Golden Treasury Technique.

...

Time flew by.

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

During these two years, Li An secluded himself and rarely appeared in public.

And in just two years, the divine bird had reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, approaching Foundation Building...

The speed was astonishing!

"If this continues, it may only take about fifty years for the divine bird to reach the Nascent Soul stage..."

In reality, the cultivation of spiritual beasts was indeed very fast!

Because spiritual beasts did not have bottlenecks or restraints, and the stronger their bloodline, the more favored they were by nature, making it very smooth for them to break through.

As long as there were enough spiritual veins, spiritual stones, and other supplements, spiritual beasts would have a smooth journey within the limits of their bloodline.

The Azure Flame Divine Sparrow was originally a fourth-order spiritual bird. Generally speaking, it would only slow down in speed after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, similar to humans.

Before reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, they would...

Grow rapidly!

Of course, this was not without a price. The stronger the race of the spiritual beast, the more difficult it was for them to reproduce.

For example, the Jiang family, known as the Beast-taming Aristocratic Family, currently only had three Azure Flame Divine Sparrows. The fourth-order one had lost its ability to reproduce. If it weren't for finding a bird egg in the depths of a deep abyss, the three-order male bird controlled by the family head, Jiang Rilan, would also be unable to reproduce...

It could be said that the current Azure Flame Divine Sparrow was extremely important to the Jiang family.

And in these two years, Li An had already integrated his own life aura and divine soul aura into the essence blood three times, quietly nourishing the divine bird.

The Jiang family had completely trusted Li An, as he had been obedient for these years.

When there was a chance in the future, he could even try to resonate with the divine bird's divine soul...

This couldn't be rushed, it had to be taken slowly.

Jiang Ruoxu was still relatively focused now, but after the divine bird started to feed on Li An's blood as a routine, he would naturally become complacent...

"The cultivation of the Golden Treasury Technique is also progressing well!"

Li An's liver cultivation had already reached a minor achievement!

In the past, this would have required at least twenty to thirty years of accumulation.

...

In the fifth year, the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow's cultivation reached the second stage, equivalent to a Foundation Building expert in the human realm.

In the eighteenth year, the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow's cultivation broke through the sixth level of Foundation Building.

The speed was even faster than Li An had anticipated!

...

In the blink of an eye, twenty-nine years have passed!

"It's done!"

On this day, after Li An finished consuming three spiritual medicines, he felt the changes in his liver and was quite excited.

The second part of the Golden Treasury Technique has also been refined.

"These trash cultivation methods, are they worth your excitement..." Shangguan Xiaoxiao mercilessly struck him, "This is just the basic technique of the Brahman Sect. As a disciple of the Brahman Sect, you should have practiced it when you first entered. What others can achieve by the age of forty, you have only reached the second step at nearly three hundred years old..."

"Do you know what cultivation level those recorded with innate demonic bodies usually reach at three hundred years old?" Li An asked.

"What?" she replied.

"At least the Soul Formation stage!"

She was somewhat frustrated. This was an innate demonic body...

Even though the concept of an innate demonic body was only comparable to Li An among the top-tier Brahman bodies, he was still wasting his life like this...

To only barely glimpse the Foundation Establishment stage in three hundred years?

If this were to be known, the face of the innate demonic body would be completely lost...

Li An couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. Three hundred years to reach the Soul Formation stage...

He had never heard of such a genius before!

Is this the terrifying aspect of the spiritual realm?

But he was only shocked for a moment and didn't have too much of a reaction.

He knew his own situation very well. He wasn't an innate demonic body, he just happened to come across a special cultivation method by chance...

Take it slow.

Time is everlasting.

"The Divine Bird is already at the second stage of perfection. In the next year or two, it should be able to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage..." Li An thought as he remembered the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow.

The Jiang family had already made plans to use the natural energy triggered by the Divine Bird's breakthrough to cleanse the last trace of illness in its body, with the help of a large amount of essence blood provided by Li An...

This meant that Li An's opportunity had finally arrived.

During the Divine Bird's breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage, the celestial phenomenon it would trigger would be extremely astonishing. Li An planned to take this opportunity to secretly break through to the Gold Core stage, without anyone noticing...

"Wu Shouqing," a False Dan stage cultivator arrived with the Divine Bird.

The current Divine Bird had grown to the size of an eagle, very majestic, with sharp eyes like knives and a dormant aura like a volcano.

In fact, this was the situation when the Divine Bird restrained its size. During battle, this Divine Bird could reach a height of two to three meters and a wingspan of seven to eight meters!

"According to the plan, this is the last feeding for this year. Thank you..." The False Dan stage cultivator bowed to Li An, who opened his palm and the Divine Bird flew over, landing on his wrist and pecking at his blood.

Li An's face turned pale and his body twitched slightly...

But at this moment, he quietly used his spiritual energy to communicate with the Divine Bird in a mysterious way...

This kind of communication is incredibly subtle, never before discovered by anyone.

But it is a tacit understanding formed between one person and one bird.

Li An is very satisfied with this kind of communication.

After sucking blood, the divine bird flew back.

"By the way, there is another person who wants to meet Wu Shouqing. I wonder if Wu Shouqing is willing?" The fake alchemist asked again.

"I don't know who it is?"

"Jiang Ruoli." The fake alchemist spoke slowly.

Li An's heart trembled slightly, Jiang Ruoli...

What is she looking for him for?

Shortly after.

Jiang Ruoli walked into Li An's residence.

After many years apart, she was already in her forties, but her cultivation level was close to Foundation Building, and the Jiang family should have given her some secret medicine for maintaining her youthful appearance, so she still looked like a girl in her late teens.

"Pay respects to Wu Shouqing," Jiang Ruoli looked at Li An's haggard and weak appearance, her eyes inexplicably reddening, but she lowered her head to bow.

"Miss Ruoli... please get up quickly, how can I, Wu, bear it?"

Ruoli stood up and said, "Wu Shouqing, can your body still hold up?"

Li An was quite puzzled. Ruoli should no longer be a core member of the clan these years, yet she knew about him feeding the divine bird...

"Barely," Li An said.

"Well, Ruoli came this time to ask Wu Shouqing for a favor..."

Li An became even more puzzled.

"Ruoli is about to marry Young Master Ruoxu, but Ruoli has no parents and no relatives in the Jiang family... so I would like to ask Shouqing to accompany Ruoli to the wedding, accept the tea ceremony from me and my husband, and witness our marriage..."

She spoke calmly, but Li An was stunned.

Jiang Ruoli was going to marry Jiang Ruoxu...

This was not surprising to him.

Ruoli's talent was too strong, rarely seen in hundreds of years, and the Jiang family would not waste her bloodline.

Moreover, she was the future head of the family, so getting married would naturally make her the legitimate wife.

All of this was normal.

But what surprised him was that Jiang Ruoli actually asked him...

To accompany her to the wedding, accept the tea ceremony from her and the groom... this meant that Li An's identity would be equivalent to her closest elder.

Father accepts tea from father... she has no father.

So, she came to find Li An.

Li An's heart twitched slightly, but he still calmly said,

"The elders who raised you in Tianning Village would be more suitable..."

Li An didn't want to get involved. If he accepted Jiang Ruoli's invitation to attend the wedding, it would mean that his status would be higher than Jiang Ruoxu's. Even Jiang Ruoxu would have to treat him as an elder and offer him tea...

Why bother?

Everything is going smoothly at the moment, and Li An doesn't want any complications because of this.

As his words fell, Jiang Ruoli raised her eyes, which were already filled with tears: "Master, they're all dead. In that battle, everyone in the village was slaughtered. I couldn't protect them!..."

"Only Master is left for me..."

"Master, please... you must attend!"

Even though there were fake Qi Condensation cultivators from the Jiang family nearby, she gritted her teeth: "This is the last thing I can do for Master..."

"Send Miss Ruoli back to the mansion!" The fake Qi Condensation cultivator immediately waved his hand.

Jiang Ruoli left.

But Li An was shaken by the last words from Jiang Ruoli, understanding her intentions...

She was saving him!

Clearly, Jiang Ruoli was well aware of his current situation.

That's why she arranged for Li An to attend the wedding in this capacity.

At that time, Jiang Ruoxu would have to pay his respects to Li An.

In front of everyone.

What does this mean?

It means that Li An truly has a status now. Li An, who had received the respect of the Jiang family's young master and young mistress in public, would make the Jiang family hesitate to harm him...

"This girl, does she know something... Maybe I will die, so she's doing this?" Li An sighed softly, understanding everything.

Such a thoughtful plan.

"Silly girl, if the Jiang family really wants to kill me, even if I only had a master-disciple relationship with you, attending your wedding as an elder, even if I were your biological father... they wouldn't show mercy." Li An shook his head slightly, calming down. He took the pill given to him by the fake Qi Condensation elder next to him, swallowed it, and his aura slowly recovered, his complexion improving significantly.

"I will go to the Sun Mansion tonight."

He said.

— Although Li An had spent most of these years in seclusion, he would still go out occasionally.

He only did one thing when he went out.

Finding women!

He only looked for one woman.

Sun Jinxue...

In the beginning, the Jiang family was still cautious and thoroughly investigated every time. Later, they grew tired because every time Li An went, he really just did "business."

"Alright. I'll inform Sun Jinxue to clean herself up and wait for the First Minister." The fake Qi Condensation elder smiled slightly.

Night fell.

"Are you about to die?"

Afterwards, Sun Jinxue suddenly asked Li An.

Li An fell silent for a moment.

"After you die, who should I go to?" She sighed lightly, looking at Li An. "Forget it, I'll leave the Jiang family then... Wu Lang, maybe our coming to the Jiang family was a mistake, wasn't it?"

Sun Jinxue had served Li An before, and later she had served Chen Lin.

But at this moment, her eyes seemed to reveal genuine emotions.

"Whatever you want—" Li An stood up silently. He had already observed with his divine sense for a long time and confirmed that no one was monitoring him. He got up to take a bath, and after washing, he went to the latrine.

Even Foundation Building cultivators couldn't achieve fasting, let alone not defecating.

He quickly uncovered a few bricks next to the pit, and a storage bag flashed with light. One of the black small boxes quickly fell into his hands.

— He had hidden high-grade Yuan Ling Pills and two flying swords in the latrine of Sun Jinxue's residence!

The black lockbox that contained the high-grade Yuan Ling Pills was placed inside a red pill box. The Jiang family had given him this red pill box so that Li An could have pills to take at any time to nourish his blood and qi, so he had always carried it with him.

...

Two months later.

The Jiang family was overjoyed as the young master Jiang Ruoxu got married.

Li An used the excuse of taking care of his health and did not attend.

...

One year later.

"Wu First Minister, three days from now, the Divine Bird will attempt to break through to the Core Formation stage. At that time, please go to the Divine Bird's seclusion location—"

The Jiang family finally sent someone to inform Li An of the news he had been waiting for.

Li An looked up, and a barely perceptible gleam flashed in his eyes!

Finally, the wait was over...

Three days later, breaking through to Gold Core!

He took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement, and sat down to check his own condition.

The Golden Treasury Technique, the liver has reached perfection!

Above the dantian, the Qi of the Great Dao had long been prepared!

The Life Seed, the third bud was ready to burst forth...

In the dantian pool, the spiritual liquid was crystal clear, wider and more abundant than an ordinary person's, with a hidden radiance...

Everything was at its peak!

It was the best state to welcome the breakthrough.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Three days later, two fake Qi Condensation cultivators personally "escorted" Li An to the Lingyuan Peak.

A huge stone palace was built inside the Lingyuan Peak, and a massive stone door slowly opened...

This was the seclusion location of the Divine Bird.

...

Goodnight.

(End of this chapter)