Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 176: All Friends Wither Away, Seeking Eternal Life (Long Chapter)

"They're all dead."

After stabbing the bodies of two True Pill cultivators with his Black Poison Dagger dozens of times, Li An finally felt relieved. He glanced at the horizon with the corner of his eye, where the battle between Nascent Soul cultivators was still raging.

He quickly picked up Jiang Rilan's and the two True Pill cultivators' storage rings, bags, and other items. His powerful divine sense quickly scanned through them and discarded all the items that had been marked.

Among them were several three-grade spiritual herbs, magical treasures, and other precious items.

"Let's go!"

Then, he and Xiaoqing both attached third-grade flying symbols to themselves.

Foundation Establishment cultivators were already capable of flying, but flying symbols could still provide enhancements.

One person and one bird quickly left the battlefield.

Just as they left, the battlefield trembled, and the second layer of the third-grade formation was activated, obliterating everything. Within the formation, the third-grade Soul-Shocking Talismans burned brightly.

The first formation was used to kill enemies, while the second formation was used to shield the perception of divine senses from the outside world and to clean up the battlefield.

After all, the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator was too powerful, easily covering a thousand miles. This place wasn't particularly far, so if any idle Nascent Soul cultivator happened to pay attention here, it would be troublesome...

However, at this moment, the battlefield was intense, and in battles between cultivators of the same level, Nascent Soul cultivators didn't dare to be careless. Most of their attention was focused on their enemies, and even if they could spare a strand of divine sense to check this side, his third-grade formation could still block it.

...

Li An covered himself with the aura of his life essence, and together with the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow, they swiftly traversed the battlefield.

Everywhere was a bloody battle, and even he and the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow had to stop several times and take detours.

Fortunately, his divine sense was powerful, and the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow was very sensitive to danger, so they hadn't encountered any major troubles.

After a few hours, night fell.

"This is the place!"

A dilapidated mountain gate appeared ahead.

Among the ruins, vegetation grew rampant, with huge broken stones, collapsed palaces, and decaying spiritual trees... One could still vaguely see the past glory.

Xuanyang Sect!

Li An discerned the direction, and then a flash of light later, he had already appeared in front of the Lingzhi Mountain of the past.

Lingzhi Mountain had already changed a lot, but Li An still found a patch of forest. Landing in the midst of the forest, he arrived at a pile of rocks where there was a cave.

He pulled the divine bird and entered it.

Then, his life essence aura quickly covered the area.

The divine bird was connected to his mind and had now transformed into the size of an eagle. He held it in his arms, motionless, like an inanimate object.

"Wait."

Li An softly spoke his final words!

Taking refuge here, he felt slightly relieved in his heart. His divine sense and aura were completely concealed, but his mind was constantly deducing...

Now, the northern part of Dalai had turned into a slaughterhouse, with more than one Nascent Soul cultivator falling, and even Immortal cultivators perishing...

Obviously, Yan Kingdom and Dalai had already started a real fight. This was a battle of life and death.

Not until one of the countries is completely destroyed will it stop!

Li An speculated that this war could last for several years!

Based on the information he has received over the years, since the battle of Tianyang City hundreds of years ago, there has been no news or public appearance of Shangguan Shengxian.

Therefore, he speculated that Shangguan Shengxian is most likely hiding behind the scenes and not directly intervening in the battlefield.

Otherwise, even Nascent Soul would not be enough for her to kill.

This may be due to her own cultivation having certain hidden dangers. After all, according to Shangguan Xiaoxiao, Shangguan Shengxian's soul was injured in the past and is now attached to Shangguan Xiaoxiao's body, so she may not be able to act without restrictions.

If Shangguan Shengxian does not directly intervene, it is not certain that Da Li will be able to destroy Yan Kingdom in a day.

When Da Li conquered Chen Kingdom, it took five or six years to completely annex it!

It is precisely because the war is prolonged that he chose to hide here.

To traverse the entire battlefield and then leave for the Tiansha Mountains? That's too dangerous!

After all, the Yan Kingdom's army is currently stationed at the border between the two countries. If he runs backward, he will be immediately discovered by Yan Kingdom's tight defense line. If he runs forward, won't he be deep in Da Li...

Hiding in this battlefield is the best option.

And in the northern part of Da Li, the former site of Xuan Yang Sect is the least valuable!

It has been in ruins for hundreds of years, with broken spiritual veins. No one will come to fight for this place.

After repeatedly deducing and reviewing in his mind, he still believes that this is the best choice.

But he also remains vigilant. After all, there might be some lunatic who comes over here and when it comes to affecting him, he can only escape as quickly as possible...

"Here they come again!"

Meanwhile, in his spiritual consciousness, Shangguan Xiaoxiao couldn't help but complain:

"You and this bird, combined, have two Gold Cores. Unless you encounter a Nascent Soul, no one can do anything to you. Why aren't you running away?"

Li An's elemental spirit replied coldly, "Safety first."

"Li Gou!"

Shangguan Xiaoxiao was a bit exasperated and simply closed her eyes to sleep in his spiritual consciousness.

Knowing Li An as she does, this period of time won't be short... she can only sleep through it.

...

At this moment...

"Rilan!"

The Nascent Soul-level battle finally came to an end, and Jiang Qingcang landed in a mountain range.

Jiang Rilan was completely burned to ashes, with no trace of a complete body.

"Find out, find out!"

Jiang Qingcang gritted his teeth, "Investigate Wu Qin, we must not let him go!"

Although he did not witness this battle with his own eyes, he can roughly guess what happened.

There are only traces of three True Dan cultivators dead at the scene, without the presence of the Gold Core divine bird.

In other words, Wu Qin and the Green Flame Divine Sparrow... most likely escaped.

"I didn't expect, I didn't expect to be careless in the end!"

Jiang Qingcang lamented, filled with regret.

Over the years, constantly monitoring Li An, everyone in the Jiang family felt that Li An had already returned and rooted himself in the Jiang family...

So to some extent, they became complacent.

He also thought that having Li An by his side, and with the support of the family head Jiang Rilan, there shouldn't be any major problems...

But he never expected Jiang Rilan to die directly!!

The loss... is too great.

...

In the distant border of Qingzhou.

"We finally escaped--"

In a deserted mountain range, Sun Jinxue and Li Hua both breathed a sigh of relief.

Since Li An went to battle, the two of them immediately followed Li An's instructions before leaving and opened the silk pouch Li An gave them. (This detail was added in the previous chapter, those who read it earlier can go back and check.)

At that time, they finally realized that the silk pouch did not contain any clever plan to swallow other elders' industries, but rather an arrangement for their escape!

Very carefully arranged.

At that time, both of them were puzzled for a long time. After all, when the war started and the two armies confronted each other, why did they need to escape?

But in the end, they still followed Li An's plan and escaped from the Jiang family...

The main force of the Jiang family had already gone to the front line, and the front line is still in a stalemate. No one expected them to directly escape without any precautions, so they left easily.

"It seems that he predicted the inevitable defeat of the Jiang family..."

Sun Jinxue spoke, her beautiful eyes couldn't help but feel a bit empty, and there was some sadness on her face.

"We escaped, but he is on the front line..."

She sighed, knowing that in the front line battles, Nascent Soul cultivators fall, and the destruction of True Essence Pills is also common. Li An's situation this time is truly unpredictable!

"Master will definitely be safe!"

Li Hua, on the other hand, spoke with confidence. She lightly bit her lip, and there was a glimmer of tears in her beautiful eyes.

Sun Jinxue didn't know that besides the escape plan in the silk pouch Li An gave her, there was something else...

A small bottle of green pills, unknown in grade and origin, but capable of repairing her dantian!

Before leaving, Master had arranged everything for her...

"Master."

She whispered, deeply moved in her heart, inexplicably feeling the urge to cry, but she held it back and silently prayed in her heart, "You must return safely..."

...

Time flies.

Li An silently counted the passing time.

In the sixth month, a small battle occurred in the former site of Xuanyang Sect, but the participants were all of relatively low cultivation levels, with the strongest being at the Foundation Building stage.

Clearly, as he had speculated, this area held no value for either the Great Li Dynasty or the Yan Kingdom. At most, it was affected by the peripheral battles.

In the tenth month, a powerful divine sense inexplicably swept across the land, but Li An and the divine bird were not discovered.

...

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

Li An rarely sensed the atmosphere and sounds of war anymore. The surroundings became very quiet, with the footsteps of animals running through the mountains and forests clearly audible, and layers of fallen leaves covering the ground.

Moonlight shone down, with a strand of moonlight seeping through the leaves at the entrance of the cave. Li An's thoughts couldn't help but wander, inexplicably reminding him of a night over two hundred years ago.

At that time, he was also hiding in this cave, pulling along a servant from another spiritual plant mountain, evading disaster.

And so, another two years passed.

On this clear morning, after a month of repeated probing and reconnaissance with his divine sense, Li An finally emerged from the cave with the divine bird.

He slowly walked through the once familiar forest.

At the end of this mountain forest was the spiritual field of Xuanyang Sect's spiritual plant mountain. However, now there were no spiritual plants to be seen, only wild grass growing wildly, reaching the height of a person.

Li An interestedly identified the remnants, matching the weeds here with the few remaining spiritual fields. He remembered a field he had cultivated, a ditch he had stolen spiritual rice from...

Passing through the dense weeds, many of them brushing against his sleeves and leaving grass stains on his clothes, he paid no attention and walked straight to the halfway point of the spiritual plant mountain.

On the halfway point, between the overgrown grass, stood two mounds side by side.

He carefully searched and found two fragments of tombstones in the soil.

"Zhang Susu... "

The word "grave" was missing.

"...Zi Lin..."

The other fragment was even more damaged.

"Zhang Susu, Wang Zi Lin..."

Li An whispered, uttering two ancient names.

In an instant, scenes from the past on the spiritual plant mountain flashed through his mind:

At that time, the three of them were all servants, fighting and scheming against each other for the quality of the spiritual fields, just to earn an extra one or two spiritual stones each month, using all sorts of tricks...

At that time, Fan Jie ruled over the three of them, forcibly taking Zhang Susu, and Wang Zi Lin had his leg broken by Fan Jie...

Later, during the attack by the Hundred Beasts Sect, Li An killed Fan Jie, and he and Wang Zi Lin survived, but Zhang Susu died in the chaos.

...

Now, hundreds of years later.

Old friends had turned to dust.

Their graves stood side by side, buried by wild grass.

Perhaps only Li An knows and remembers that buried here are two pitiful lonely souls on the road to immortality.

How many old friends have passed away on this journey?

On this road, there are more than just these two lonely souls.

Mu Wanqing, Zhao Xianzhuan, Wang Dazhu, Xu Qiuhui... Now only Tan Qingxue is still alive, but she is neither human nor ghost. It is difficult to predict what she has become.

Things in the world are unpredictable.

I envy the boundlessness of the Yangtze River, but lament the brevity of my life!

Suddenly, he took out a precious spirit wine from his storage ring and sprinkled it in front of their graves.

"Thank you both for accompanying me. When I have a long and prosperous life, I will come back here to pay my respects, so that you two will not be forgotten forever."

He drank the remaining wine in the bottle, then brushed off the grass stains on his clothes from the journey and left with big strides.

...

Leaving the former site of Xuan Yang Sect.

Li An sensed that his puppet Zhao Yi had already died.

Perhaps he was affected by the war between Da Yan and Da Li...

He changed his appearance and turned Xiao Qing into a small sparrow, hiding her in his sleeve. Then he found a nearby town to learn about the situation.

The war had ended three years ago!

And the outcome was far more tragic than Li An had imagined...

When the battle was deadlocked, the Nascent Soul expert Bai Hu from Da Li made a strong move. He single-handedly killed five Nascent Soul experts from Da Yan, even the fourth-order divine bird of Jiang Qingcang was annihilated in that battle!

The tide of the war turned, and the Yan Kingdom collapsed.

In just six months, Da Li flattened the Yan Kingdom and also conquered the neighboring Zhao and Luo Kingdoms.

Now, the territory of the Da Li Dynasty is ten times what it used to be!

It is now known as the number one country in Xiling Yuanzhou.

In Xiling Yuanzhou, perhaps only the Blood Yuan Sect, Taiyi Sect, and a few other behemoth forces can barely suppress Da Li.

And the person who single-handedly killed five Nascent Soul experts in the legendary battle, Bai Hu, is naturally the former Bai Hu True Immortal. Obviously, she has become a follower of Shangguan Shengxian...

"Shangguan Shengxian..."

Li An couldn't help but feel a complex emotion. This woman is indeed very terrifying.

At the same time, his inner urgency grew stronger.

The other countries and forces in Xiling Yuanzhou have no need to go there. Sooner or later, they will be swallowed up by Da Li and cannot resist!

After thinking for a while, he set off towards the Tian Sha Mountain Range.

There he can temporarily find a place to stay, and Da Li's expansion cannot reach that area, so it is relatively safe.

Now that the war is over and the Da Li territory is very stable, Li An still disguises himself, conceals his cultivation, and travels for half a year before finally reaching the border of Da Li and flying towards it...

Throughout the process, he did not return to the Yan Kingdom.

The Jiang family has already been destroyed. Whether Sun Jinxue and Li Hua have survived or not depends on their own destiny. Li An has done everything he can for them. From now on, their paths on the immortal path are like strangers!

This is also why Li An dared to arrange their escape and help Li Hua repair her dantian.

Li An will change his identity and leave. Even if someone finds them, it will be impossible to trace Li An's whereabouts.

...

Half a month later.

Li An finally arrived outside the Tian Sha Mountain Range.

He did not rashly enter, but lurked at the entrance for more than ten days. Finally, he encountered a group of bandit cultivators, who were doing the same kind of enticing activities as Chen Cai and others did back then.

When this group of bandit cultivators passed by him, he suddenly made a move and killed one of them by surprise.

He turned the leader, a fake pill realm female cultivator, into a puppet and read her memories.

"Chen Cai's wife, Gu Yue..."

Li An couldn't help but be surprised. This fake pill cultivator and the Chen Cai he killed back then turned out to be husband and wife.

With both of them in his hands, they could be considered as a couple returning home.

"Not much has changed," Li An murmured. Only then did he quietly sneak into the mountain range. Just like back then, he avoided the bandit cultivators, lurking and waiting several times along the way to avoid encountering powerful spirit beasts in the mountain range.

Eight days later, Li An saw Tian Sha City.

He once again changed his appearance, becoming a middle-aged man, and concealed his aura to the fake pill realm. Xiao Qing completely concealed its own strength, making it indistinguishable from an ordinary spirit pet.

"The recognition of the Azure Flame Divine Sparrow is too high..." Li An even concealed Xiao Qing's life force, making it look no different from an ordinary spirit pet.

Only then did he enter the city.

His current appearance was ordinary, different from when he entered the city back then. He completely assumed a new identity.

Tian Sha City was crowded and diverse, with many people who didn't want to reveal their identities living here. Moreover, with the experience of Chen Cai and his wife, Li An behaved no differently from the people in the city. Therefore, he effortlessly blended into the city and found a place to stay.

"According to the rules, pay all the rent in advance. How many years do you want to rent?" A green-clothed steward led Li An into a small courtyard. After Li An confirmed the condition of the courtyard, the green-clothed steward asked.

This small courtyard was located in the south of Tian Sha City, relatively close to the city center.

After all, Tian Sha City didn't even have a city wall. Although there were rules in the city that prohibited killing and robbing, it ultimately depended on one's own life and death. The central area would be relatively safer.

The monthly rent was as high as two thousand low-grade spirit stones!

"Two years..." Li An's purpose in coming here was the third-grade spiritual vein in the Tian Sha Mountain Range!

However, he was not a reckless person. Although when he came here back then, he met Madam She, who owed him a favor and gave him a token, promising to take him to see the "Mountain Lord" and ask for a spiritual vein for cultivation, he was still wary of Madam She.

He would first lurk in the city for a period of time, carefully observe, and inquire slowly.

After all, he was unfamiliar with the place. If he made a mistake, it would be troublesome.

After paying the rent, Li An immediately set up two second-grade arrays and one third-grade array around the courtyard.

Closing the door, Li An breathed a sigh of relief, finally finding a safe place to settle down.

First, he took stock of his current situation.

Before setting out, he had already prepared various resources frantically within the Jiang Clan.

After the battle in the northern part of Dalai, his resources had been somewhat depleted, but they were also supplemented by the storage rings of Jiang Rilan and two True Dan cultivators.

Currently, he still had around 1,200 third-grade runes.

Five to six hundred second-grade runes.

Four third-grade formations!

Six third-grade magical treasures, including the Frosty Little Sword, the Black Poison Little Sword, a Heart-Protecting Mirror obtained from the Jiang Clan, and a Golden Armor, all of which were defensive magical treasures. In addition, there were also a war hammer and a silver net, both spoils of war from that battle.

Three bottles of third-grade elixirs, and seven to eight spiritual herbs.

Various types of rare metals, with two third-grade and over ten second-grade, all of which would support his cultivation of the Golden Treasury Secret Technique in the future.

And there were also the spiritual food that he had specially asked Sun Jinxue to prepare, which were quite abundant. After all, in Tiansha City, such things seemed to be quite precious.

Of course, the most important were the spiritual stones!

Before setting out, he had almost emptied the South Spirit Peak's storeroom, and most of them were exchanged for medium-grade spiritual stones. Added to the spoils of war and looting, he now had a total of 62,000 medium-grade spiritual stones and 30,000 low-grade spiritual stones.

With 62,000 medium-grade spiritual stones, it was enough to support his cultivation for seven to eight years.

And the various materials he had confiscated had not been taken into account yet. If everything was added up, he could cultivate peacefully for the next ten or so years without worrying about spiritual stone resources.

"It's a pity that the Jiang Clan sent me out..." he lamented.

He felt a little regretful. If he hadn't gone to the frontlines at that time and instead stayed behind in the Jiang Clan, he could have taken advantage of the chaos to plunder the Jiang Clan, and he might not have had to worry about spiritual stone resources for three to five decades.

...

In the following period of time, he began to carefully understand Tiansha City and the situation of the Tiansha Mountain Range.

From time to time, he sold some second-grade resources, which neither attracted attention nor allowed him to get to know some people in the city. Through his understanding, he confirmed what Mrs. She had said back then.

There was indeed a "Mountain Lord" in the Tiansha Mountain Range!

The Mountain Lord was not just one person, but they were all powerful and had mysterious origins, controlling all the resources in the Tiansha Mountain Range.

Generally speaking, second-grade spiritual veins could be found in the city, but third-grade spiritual veins were all in the hands of the Mountain Lord. If you wanted them, you could only "lease" them from the Mountain Lord.

Therefore, True Dan cultivators and above who could settle in the Tiansha Mountain Range could almost be said to be the "tenants" of the Mountain Lords.

Mrs. She was one of them!

Moreover, the Tiansha Mountain Range did not lack third-grade spiritual veins, but it lacked pure third-grade spiritual veins. Most of the spiritual veins were filled with malevolent energy, which was said to be related to a great battle in ancient times. The Tiansha Mountain Range was the battlefield.

The locations he had obtained from participating in that transaction back then, such as the Purple Lang Peak, were places with extremely dense malevolent energy.

...

"Malevolent energy can indeed be absorbed by demonic techniques and transformed into demonic energy!"

On this day, Li An bought several pieces of "Malevolent Crystals" and after trying to absorb them, he was extremely delighted.

Malevolent energy and demonic energy were interconnected!

Originally, if Li An wanted to cultivate the Immortal Demon Technique, he would have to plunder the lives of others in order to generate demonic energy.

The strength of the demonic energy determines the strength of other demonic techniques and spells.

For example, the Immortal Demon Armor he is currently cultivating.

The stronger the demonic energy, the stronger the armor.

But now that he can absorb malevolent energy and convert it into demonic energy, he doesn't have to resort to killing and taking risks...

For a moment, Li An inexplicably yearned for the third-grade spiritual veins that contained malevolent energy. While they were difficult for others to utilize, for him... it would be a double stroke of luck.

Firstly, his demonic technique can absorb the Yin energy within them, preparing his Purple Mansion to condense and give birth to a Nascent Soul.

Secondly, malevolent energy can be converted into demonic energy, allowing his demonic technique to grow.

But unfortunately, even if it's an ownerless third-grade spiritual vein with malevolent energy, it still belongs to those mountain masters... He has to get their approval.

It seems that sooner or later, he will have to deal with these so-called mountain masters.

Next, while Li An hides in the city, he closely monitors several shops!

Among them, the most important one is Madam She's "Precious Pill Pavilion".

If he wants to find those mountain masters, he still needs someone to introduce him.

Those True Pill cultivators who can come from the outside world to cultivate in the Tian Sha Mountain Range are definitely not ordinary people. If he's not careful, he might be tricked and killed...

Therefore, before making contact, Li An doesn't mind spending a few more years to observe and gather information... He won't fight an unprepared battle.

In addition to "monitoring" Madam She, Li An also participated in several other trading events, exploring other avenues.

"Jiang Ribai!"

After half a year of monitoring, Li An unexpectedly encountered an old acquaintance.

One of the former influential figures of the Jiang family, he has indeed fallen to this point... From a distance, Jiang Ribai seems to be in good condition, he should be doing well in the Tian Sha Mountain Range.

However, it is already evening, and for Jiang Ribai to come at this time, it seems quite secretive...

Jiang Ribai entered Madam She's Precious Pill Pavilion.

"Jiang Ribai seems to have a deep connection with Madam She..."

This is the most useful information he has obtained after monitoring for so long.

...

In the blink of an eye.

Two years have passed.

For the past two years, Li An has been lurking in the city, repeatedly inquiring and comparing through various channels.

"Master Bai has the widest control over the territory, while Madam She has some reputation..."

On this day, Li An finally decided to take action.

He still intends to find Madam She, but he will use a completely new identity, without using the token he obtained from her back then, so as not to arouse suspicion.

...

(End of this chapter)