Longevity Begins With Zongmen Handyman

Chapter 51: Returning to the Market

Wang Dazhu, Zhao Xianchuan, and others bid farewell and left.

Chen Cheng received the Foundation Building Pill and was filled with joy, ready to leave. However, Mu Qingwan said, "Husband, you go ahead. I have a few words to say to Fellow Daoist Li."

Chen Cheng frowned slightly but immediately left.

In the room, only Mu Qingwan and Li An remained.

Li An calmly looked at Mu Qingwan, who was pregnant.

Mu Qingwan gently placed her delicate jade hand on her protruding belly, struggled to stand up, and bowed to Li An with difficulty.

"Fellow Daoist Mu, there's no need for that. You don't have to trouble Li An," Li An said.

However, there was a hint of complexity in Mu Qingwan's eyes, accompanied by deep apologies. "Fellow Daoist Li, about this matter... My husband and I apologize to you."

"To be honest, when my husband married me, he intended to use me as a cauldron to improve his spiritual roots."

She suddenly brought up this matter, and Li An remained silent, listening quietly.

"Although my husband is Elder Yu Hui's grandson, his spiritual roots are only slightly better than mixed spiritual roots. They can be considered the worst kind of golden spiritual roots. Over the years, his spiritual roots have indeed been slowly growing, even showing signs of approaching the middle-grade yellow spiritual roots."

She spoke, her eyes seemingly filled with gratitude. "But at this critical moment, he stopped and told me about his spiritual roots..."

"If he had been more selfish, I might have already died, and his spiritual roots would have ascended..."

"It was only then that I truly believed that my husband loved me to the bone!"

"But later, my husband failed to break through the Foundation Building twice, and I felt guilty. If he didn't care about me, it wouldn't have been so difficult for him to break through the Foundation Building after his spiritual roots ascended."

As she spoke, she seemed a bit choked up. "Fellow Daoist Li, you should be able to see that my husband is showing signs of decline. His vitality and blood are deteriorating. If he can't break through the Foundation Building realm, his lifespan will probably be much shorter than that of an ordinary cultivator. He won't live past a hundred years."

"At that time, both my child in my womb and I will truly be mother and child without a father, without any support..."

Li An spoke at the right moment, "Fellow Daoist Chen is a lucky person. He will definitely break through the Foundation Building."

Mu Qingwan looked at Li An quietly and said, "Fellow Daoist Li, I'm telling you all this... just to ask you not to hold a grudge against Chen Cheng!"

"I beg you, for the sake of Qingwan and the child in my womb... please don't hold a grudge!"

Li An suddenly said, "Why talk about holding a grudge, Fellow Daoist Mu? You overestimate me. My aptitude is even worse than Fellow Daoist Chen's. In this lifetime, forget about breaking through the Foundation Building, I haven't even broken through the sixth level of Qi Refining..."

"Moreover, I will return to Qingyang Market and probably won't come back to the inner sect again."

Mu Qingwan was slightly stunned but couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Fellow Daoist Li, please don't blame Qingwan for being heartless. If your beloved's life was at stake and Qingwan had something you needed... you would make the same choice as Qingwan."

After saying that, she finally got up and left.

Everyone had already left.

Li An's expression remained unchanged, but he couldn't help but feel a hint of sarcasm in his heart.

What's the point of saying not to hold a grudge? This is just a gesture made by someone in a higher position to someone in a lower position.

So what if Chen Cheng and Mu Qingwan's love story is touching? So what if she speaks so eloquently?

She has a story and love, so she can take away other people's opportunities, just to give Chen Cheng a slim chance.

But has anyone cared about what Li An loves and desires?

The dreams of the weak are not worth mentioning. The strong can take away everything from the weak with just a few words.

This is the cold reality.

"Yu Hui, Chen Cheng..."

He whispered in his heart and remembered.

Yu Hui was nothing more than a false Foundation Building expert. Her lifespan should only have a few decades left, and she could be worn down to death.

...

Li An stayed in the sect for a few more days. During this time, he secluded himself and refused all visits.

The news about his Foundation Building Pill had spread throughout the sect, and naturally, it was seen as a good thing in the rumors. Li An and Mu Qingwan had a deep relationship, and there was a simple exchange.

In public, there would definitely be no information or traces of Yu Hui's coercion.

This was Yu Hui's method. From beginning to end, she only said a few words and let the juniors handle everything.

On the third day, Li An bid farewell to the sect.

He was a hero who had killed the Death-Chasing Horse-Faced Demon, so the sect tried everything to keep him, even promising him the status of a formal disciple. However, Li An politely declined, claiming that he only wanted to grow old with Tan Qingxue in Qingyang Market.

The sect then sent someone to escort him back to Qingyang Market.

...

In the past ten days, Qingyang Market had been rebuilt.

The collapsed buildings stood tall again, and it was even livelier than before.

The notorious life-taking horse-faced demon that has been causing trouble for years died here, greatly increasing the fame of this market, resulting in an unprecedented increase in foot traffic. There is a faint trend of surpassing the other two markets and becoming the number one market of the Xuan Yang Sect.

Li An's return has also caused a wave of discussion in this market.

"The formidable black-hearted talisman master..."

"What black-hearted talisman master? He is a demon-slaying hero!"

"Li Talisman Master is invincible!"

Many people shouted enthusiastically.

But Li An just smiled, bowed to everyone, and said a few polite words about being lucky before returning to the spiritual talisman shop.

The spiritual talisman shop has also been rebuilt, and its area has even doubled compared to before. The plaque, however, has been changed. The original "Xuan Yang Spiritual Talisman" has become "Xuan Yang Li An Spiritual Talisman."

This surprised Li An.

"Li Lang, you have finally returned!"

Tan Qingxue hurriedly greeted him, her eyes filled with tears of joy as she threw herself into Li An's arms. "I thought I would never see you again..."

Li An gently patted her shoulder, and the two naturally began to talk.

It turned out that after Xu Qiuhui took Tan Qingxue away that day, she settled her down dozens of miles away from the market and forbade her from going out. So, she only ran out after the battle was over.

Li An didn't have the intention to ask whether she was prevented from going out by Xu Qiuhui or if she chose to stay there herself.

It didn't matter.

Having experienced two lifetimes, he deeply understood that human nature cannot withstand tests.

Husband and wife are like birds in the same forest, but when disaster strikes, they each fly on their own. Life and death together is often just a beautiful imagination.

"Li Lang, your name has spread both inside and outside the market. Everyone insists on adding your name to the shop, even the Foundation Building stage expert Zhang Zhong, who recently arrived to guard the market, said it's good, as it signifies your heroic deeds to the world... You don't blame me, do you?"

Tan Qingxue's tears had dried up, and when she talked about this matter, a trace of pride appeared on her face. Li An's reputation greatly satisfied her vanity.

"It's alright."

Li An didn't think there was a problem. In this way, his reputation as a black-hearted talisman master could also be completely washed away, and there would be many benefits to doing business in the future.

"Li Lang, I have heard about what happened in the sect. You don't want to stay in the sect and only want to grow old with Qingxue in this market... Qingxue truly has nothing to repay you."

As she spoke, she suddenly knelt in front of Li An, raised her face with admiration and love, and her mature and beautiful face became enchanting like peach blossoms.

Then she lowered her head.

...

In the blink of an eye.

A year has passed.

In one year, Li An finally broke through to the sixth level of Qi Refining!

Before that great battle, he was already at the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining. It took him another year just to make this breakthrough.

After that, he spent two more years consolidating his cultivation.

The third year.

"The Iron Tree Decision's body refining part has reached completion!"

Li An was quite satisfied!

Currently, his body was made of iron and silver. With just his physical body, he could withstand attacks from middle-grade magic weapons.

The next step was to refine his bones!

On this day, he finally left the spiritual talisman shop.

During these three years, Li An rarely went out. The fervor of the battle three years ago gradually subsided with the passage of time.

Although many people recognized Li An when he went out, it no longer caused a commotion like before.

After all, the cultivation world has fresh news every day, and Li An was only a temporary sensation.

He strolled along the way, went to several magic treasure shops, and bought the "Golden Melting Liquid" he needed. These things were essential for the Bone Refining Realm and quite rare. Even though he had asked several magic treasure shops to search for them three years ago, he could only buy about fifty catties now.

It cost him nearly a thousand spirit stones!

This made Li An feel extremely distressed. The difficulty of the path of physical cultivation lies in the materials for body refining!

Many things are too rare, so they are also very expensive.

This is especially true in the later stages.

However, Li An was not stingy because of this. The body is the capital of cultivation. In fact, in that battle three years ago, if his physical body hadn't been stronger than ordinary people's and supported by the Life Seed, the palm strike from the life-taking horse-faced demon might not have just knocked him unconscious, but killed him.

At dusk, there were gradually no people in the market, so Li An found a place where no one was around, activated the Yin-Yang Devil Qi, changed his appearance, and quickly arrived at the ancient well at the edge of the market!

For three years, in order to prevent anyone from spying, he had never come to take a look. It was only today that he finally came to retrieve it!

...

(End of this chapter)