Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 192: Successful Concealment (Long Chapter)

"Tianyao Secret Realm?"

Ling Sha Peak, Li An couldn't help but ponder.

He had heard a lot about these four words recently because the Vermilion Bird Army had been searching for it.

Providing clues would earn a large amount of contribution points!

But Li An had never been interested in searching for it. The two words "Tianyao" represented the highest level of existence within the Yao Clan. Who could easily come into contact with such a place? One wrong move and it could be death.

But now She Anqi had come looking for him...

"That's right, my sister has obtained some clues and ordered me to investigate Yunqi Valley with you."

She Anqi smiled and said, "Lin Fellow Daoist, now is the time when Right Lieutenant needs people. It's time for you to come out as well."

She knew Li An quite well. He had been under the command of Bai Shan Zhu for many years, but he had hardly participated in any relic exploration missions. He had always focused on cultivation, relying on the Clear Sha Pill to maintain his qualifications.

Li An smiled helplessly.

There weren't many people under the Little Fox Banner now, so it was normal for him to go out and do things. But to go with She Anqi...

He was a little worried.

There was no choice but to pack up and set off with She Anqi.

"To Yunqi Valley... that's fine."

In fact, going to Yunqi Valley had certain benefits for Li An.

- He had been staying at Ling Sha Peak for many years. Since reaching the mid-stage of the Gold Core realm, his absorption speed of Yin Qi and Sha Qi had increased significantly.

If he continued to stay at Ling Sha Peak, the continuous loss of Yin Qi might cause some changes in the spiritual veins.

In this way, he was afraid of being discovered by someone with ill intentions.

At other times, it would be fine, but now there were too many cultivators crowded in Ling Yun Mountain, and there was also the presence of Lady She who couldn't see the depth.

Therefore, it was necessary to temporarily leave and find another place to cultivate.

And Yunqi Valley was one of his options.

Yunqi Valley was the intersection of several spiritual veins and could be considered a top-grade cultivation treasure among third-grade spiritual veins. However, because of the heavy Sha Qi, not even spiritual beasts would come here on ordinary days.

Yunqi Valley was located among three intersecting small mountain ranges, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with only one entrance. It looked like a gourd from the outside, and the valley was shrouded in a hazy mist, with a mixture of murky yellow Sha Qi and clouds, obscuring the line of sight.

"There's too much Sha Qi here."

Li An deliberately showed a heavy look of anxiety and said, "She Fellow Daoist, do we really have to go in?"

She Anqi nodded, "Yes."

She had a thought and said, "Lin Fellow Daoist, do you know how important the Tianyao Secret Realm is to Little Fox Miss?"

"The Tianyao Secret Realm is a treasure left behind by the Tianyao-level powerhouses within the Yao Clan. It is highly likely to contain the blood of a Tianyao. If Little Fox Miss can obtain it, she will be able to undergo a rebirth, improve her aptitude, and even if she is a Tai Lizard Yao, she will no longer be able to compare with her!"

Li An rejected Zhou Libai, which she admired. Now, she wanted to see how determined Li An really was.

Li An pondered for a moment and couldn't help but nod. A resolute look appeared in his eyes. "Alright, since that's the case, let's go in—"

After speaking, he took the lead.

The two of them took the Clear Sha Pill before preparing to enter the valley.

"Oh, by the way,"

She Anqi suddenly said, "Lin Brother, did you bring your spirit bird with you?"

Li An's heart moved and he nodded.

"The Sha Qi here is extremely heavy. If the spirit bird enters, it may be attacked. In that case, I have a Spirit-Enveloping Ring on me that can temporarily house living creatures. This way, Lin Brother can explore with peace of mind, what do you think?"

As she spoke, she took out a ring and handed it to Li An.

The Spirit-Enveloping Ring was made of special crystal diamonds and was very beautiful. It had a space the size of an entire house inside.

The ring could be divided into two types: one was purely for storage, and the other could temporarily house living creatures.

The latter was quite valuable and difficult to make. It required a master to bestow it with special patterns. Li An had obtained one from a demonic cultivator in his early years, and at that time, Gu Hong had been trapped inside it.

But at this moment, Li An became extremely vigilant.

She Anqi had no relationship with him, so why would she care about his spirit beast?

He immediately thought of the time when Lady She had wanted his spirit beast!

Something was fishy!

Many thoughts flashed through his mind.

What was the other party's purpose? Were they trying to test him, or were they planning to kill and rob in Yunqi Valley, taking his bird?

Both were possible!

It seems that we need to be careful next. We have to be cautious when entering the valley and if something seems off... we should just kill She Anqi first and then decide.

She Anqi is only in the True Dan Mid Stage. If Li An suddenly attacks, with the divine bird, he can instantly kill her.

So, he does have some confidence.

Li An immediately refused, saying, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist, but my spirit bird cannot be separated from me. It is very timid..."

"Lin Fellow Daoist, your spirit bird is favored by Miss Xiaoying and Captain Youwei. If something happens during the exploration here, both you and Anqi will be responsible... If you can't protect the spirit bird, it's better not to let it enter."

She Anqi expressed her concern.

Li An became even more certain in his heart. She Anqi invited him here for the sake of his bird.

If he left it outside, Li An would be even more worried!

He thought for a moment. If She Anqi was just testing him, then his strong refusal would only bring more trouble.

If She Anqi wanted to kill someone and take the bird, after he refused, she might directly attack and trigger danger.

He still didn't know what kind of trap the other party had set!

Thinking of this, he immediately decided to use a trick to counter the trick and said, "You're right, thank you for your concern, Fellow Daoist. Then I will borrow Fellow Daoist's storage ring..."

She Anqi smiled and handed the storage ring to Li An.

Li An silently checked it and found that the storage ring didn't have any traps, but... there was a hidden formation inside.

His life seed was particularly sensitive to the breath of life, so he instantly sensed that this formation was used to collect the breath of life!

Li An couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that the other party only had some suspicions about the spirit bird and hadn't reached the point of directly killing him for the treasure.

He summoned the divine bird and let Xiaohong fly into the storage ring.

The breath of life? It had already been concealed by his life seed, so the other party couldn't possibly discover Xiaoying's true identity.

Moreover, since the incident with Jiang Ribai, he had been on guard and secretly fed Qingyan Divine Sparrow with the blood of another kind of spirit bird. This time, it came in handy...

"What exactly went wrong..."

Li An couldn't figure it out, Mrs. She wasn't Jiang Ribai, and she wasn't so proficient in beast taming. It was impossible for her to see anything.

Moreover, even Jiang Ribai back then only noticed something strange about Xiaohong's claws, but it was highly unlikely that he truly recognized it.

However, it was good that She Anqi tested him this time, so that these sisters wouldn't have any thoughts about his bird in the future.

"Let's go."

Li An spoke.

She Anqi's eyes were filled with a smile, and the two of them entered together.

The valley was filled with heavy malevolent energy. With every breath, it felt like the malevolent energy was invading their bodies. The surrounding plants grew in a bizarre and chaotic manner.

Just entering the entrance of the valley, the spiritual energy and malevolent energy in the air already made Li An quite excited. The malevolent energy and spiritual energy here were much stronger than Ling Sha Peak. It was truly a place where several spiritual veins intersected.

He must find a way to cultivate here!

Cultivating here for a year would be equivalent to three years of cultivation on Ling Sha Peak, saving him a lot of effort.

Li An walked side by side with She Anqi, his divine sense fully extended, attentively sensing everything around him.

In this kind of place, divine sense became his unique advantage!

In places with heavy malevolent energy, the divine sense of ordinary cultivators would be blocked, and their exploration range would be very limited.

But Li An cultivated demonic techniques and absorbed malevolent energy, so he was less affected. If there was anything, he would definitely be able to detect it first.

As his divine sense continued to expand, the entire valley gradually reflected in his mind...

The valley wasn't big, only about thirty miles. There were only three or four places where the malevolent energy surged, so even he couldn't sense it clearly.

"No ambush."

Li An felt slightly relieved, but he didn't let his guard down and kept a close eye on She Anqi.

"There are actually malevolent beasts..."

As they continued forward, Li An suddenly felt that in a grassy area ahead, there was a fully grown malevolent poison python lying there!

This python grew in the malevolent energy, with a huge body that was forty to fifty meters long. It was integrated with the malevolent energy, so when he scanned the area just now, he didn't notice it!

A plan formed in his mind.

Approaching the front, Li An took the initiative and said, "The malevolent energy ahead is getting stronger. I will scout ahead. If there is any danger, we can support each other..."

She Anqi nodded. Indeed, the deeper they went, the weaker her divine sense became. The surrounding malevolent energy was so dense that it felt like a film, making her very uneasy.

The two walked side by side.

Li An sensed the position of the malevolent poison python and stepped into the waist-deep grass.

Hoo--

It seemed like a fierce wind was approaching. In the waist-deep grass, a huge black shadow suddenly appeared and Li An exclaimed as he was directly thrown away.

This is a third-level Spirit Sand Poison Python!

"Lin An--"

She Anqi's face turned pale and she immediately cast two talismans to block the hidden enemy.

But after Li An was thrown away by the python, She Anqi became the sole target.

The shadow circled around, a large snake head rose up to over ten meters high, and then suddenly bit towards She Anqi.

Facing the venomous python's gaping mouth, She Anqi exclaimed, and the third-level magic treasure on her body emitted a bright light. The snake's huge mouth was barely blocked, but its four short sword-like fangs pierced through her protective barrier, and those fangs sprayed out a burst of yellow smoke!

"No--"

She Anqi's face changed drastically. Just by coming into contact with this yellow smoke, her snow-white skin was corroded, and she felt that her spiritual power was stagnant and difficult to operate.

The python is poisonous, and it's extremely toxic!

"She Fellow Daoist--"

At this moment, Li An's eyes turned red too. He summoned two small swords and directly attacked. The ice-cold small sword emitted a chilling aura, slowing down the movement of the large snake head, while the black poison small sword pierced directly into the snake's head--

"Roar!"

The huge snake head shook violently, and Li An took the opportunity to attack. Several spiritual talismans fell, and at the same time, he unleashed the Three Elements Slash. The injured python realized it was at a disadvantage and turned around to escape--

Its speed was as fast as the wind, disappearing in an instant.

Li An forced the python back and quickly picked up the almost unconscious She Anqi.

She Anqi's originally beautiful face was now corroded like mud.

"She Fellow Daoist, hold on--"

Li An immediately gave her a Clear Evil Pill and an Antidote Pill, then carried her and flew out of Yunqi Valley!

...

Not long after.

Lingjing Peak.

"She Fellow Daoist, please save her quickly--"

Li An shouted loudly, and Lady She hurriedly came out and set up a formation for Li An to land.

"What happened?"

Lady She asked, taking a glance at She Anqi in Li An's arms, and took a cold breath, "Quick, bring her in--"

Entering the cave, Li An placed She Anqi on the bed, and Lady She quickly took out many bottles and fed She Anqi a bunch of pills.

"I have given her the Clear Evil Pill and the Antidote Pill, but the effect is not good..." Li An said.

"The poison is extremely potent, these pills can only temporarily stabilize her condition. To save her, we must refine the Five Clear Pill..." Lady She said.

Her sister was injured, and her heart was in chaos, so she said, "Lin Fellow Daoist, please wait outside."

Li An quickly walked out.

...

One day later.

Lady She came out looking quite tired.

"She Fellow Daoist, how is Anqi?" Li An asked with concern.

"She's stable... but to fully recover, it will take quite some time," Lady She sighed. Especially since She Anqi's appearance was completely ruined this time, it would take at least two to three years of nurturing to restore her original beauty.

"Lin Fellow Daoist, what exactly happened?" she asked.

Li An immediately recounted the events that took place in Yunqi Valley.

Lady She nodded, the whole process was consistent with She Anqi's description, so there shouldn't be any problem. She spoke up:

"Anqi's storage ring, can you give it to me first, Lin Fellow Daoist?"

Li An's heart trembled slightly, but he didn't say anything and handed her the storage ring, then took his leave.

Before leaving, he suddenly turned around and said, "Lady She--"

"Is there something else, Lin Fellow Daoist?" Lady She asked.

"In my entire life, I have never done anything ungrateful. This time, Anqi Fellow Daoist saved my life, and I will go through fire and water to repay her!"

After saying that, he left directly.

Lady She watched his figure and seemed to be lost in thought.

Leaving Lingjing Peak.

Li An headed straight for Yunqi Valley!

Now that he had sent away the disaster star She Anqi, he could finally focus on his cultivation. And he had a ready-made excuse, if anyone asked, he was going to the Tianyao Secret Realm.

Returning to Yunqi Valley.

He quickly scanned the area, sensing the location of the Black Poison Dagger.

The Black Poison Dagger had been marked and shot into the mind of the Poison Python, but he hadn't had a chance to retrieve it yet.

He intentionally left a coordinate as well, after all, the Poison Python could hide from divine sense detection with its evil aura.

After a while, he had already found the position of the Black Poison Dagger and quietly landed outside a cave.

He also used the evil aura to conceal his own presence.

There were two Poison Pythons in the cave, one was on the verge of death, while the other was at the peak of the Third Stage, with strength equivalent to the mid-stage of the True Dan realm.

After confirming the environment inside the cave, Li An released Xiao Qing－

"Capture them alive."

He instructed.

Xiao Qing flew directly into the cave－

Boom boom!

The fluctuations from the cave spread out, and not long after, a bird's cry could be heard. Only then did Li An enter, and inside the cave, there was a two-meter-tall Blue Flame Divine Sparrow, one claw each, pressing down on the two giant pythons. Its claws were like sharp swords forged from blue steel, piercing into the necks of the pythons, but not killing them.

Li An walked over with a smile, then began to operate his demonic cultivation technique, devouring the soul power, flesh, crystal cores, and toxins of the two Third Stage pythons!

These poisonous auras were also very useful to him, they could enhance his middle finger!

"There are still many Poison Pythons growing..."

Li An was surprised. He learned from the vague consciousness of these two pythons that there were quite a few pythons growing in Yunqi Valley, and there were even some other poisonous beasts.

The Blue Flame Divine Sparrow would have something to play with in the future...

After devouring and plundering the two pythons, their bodies were already shattered, leaving only eight short sword-like fangs. These were rare materials for refining tools, which Li An collected.

There was also a cluster of enchanting poisonous flowers growing in the cave, reaching the Third Grade. They should be the food of the pythons.

Li An picked them all and ate them one by one.

Then, he took the Blue Flame Divine Sparrow and walked out of the cave, surveying the surroundings, and finally chose a secluded cave.

This was a dissolved cave, a vent of the earth's veins, with extremely rich spiritual energy and evil aura.

Li An set up protective formations around it, then began to immerse himself in cultivation－

"Madam She should have gotten the answer she wanted, right..."

He couldn't help but ponder. After this incident, the Blue Flame Divine Sparrow should be able to completely conceal its past and no one would suspect anything.

...

Lingjing Peak.

Madam She entered a dark cave and presented She Anqi's storage ring.

"Master, within this storage ring, I have collected the life aura of that little red bird."

The storage ring disappeared from her hand, and after a long time, a cold voice sounded, "Indeed, there is something hidden, it's not an ordinary spiritual bird, but a Third Stage Fierce Winged Bird. Unfortunately, it's not the Blue Flame Divine Sparrow. It seems I was thinking too much..."

In this voice, there seemed to be a hint of disappointment.

"Focus on finding the Tianyao Secret Realm."

Madam She respectfully saluted and then withdrew.

She went to check on her sister, She Anqi.

"Sister, how did it go? Did you gain anything?" She Anqi asked.

"Lin An has no problems."

Madam She smiled, "When he attracted the attention of the mountain lord with that spiritual bird, and caught the eye of Miss Xiaoying, I thought there was some background to it, but it turned out to be just a Third Stage Fierce Winged Bird... Take good care of your injuries."

Lin An was indeed good at hiding. He was clearly raising a Third Stage Fierce Winged Bird, but he disguised it as an ordinary spiritual bird. If it weren't for that person, she would have almost been deceived.

But a Third Stage spiritual bird was not a rare item for them, so there was no need to pay too much attention to it.

"Sister, my face is all ruined..." She Anqi's words were filled with sadness.

"Sister is an alchemist, she will definitely be able to heal you, don't think too much about it."

...

(End of this chapter)