Steadily becoming a saint, the immortal officials hired me to tend the horses

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Breaking Through the Ninth Layer of the Unification Realm

Sword Transmission?

Gu An instinctively resisted.

He had already mastered the Taicang Divine-Shocking Sword, Wood Spirit Sword Technique, and even the Hateful Heaven Divine Sword existed on his panel; there was no need to waste time and life span practicing other swordsmanship.

After all, he could promote and upgrade his sword techniques through lifespan deduction; why bother learning so many?

Gu An pretended to be in difficulty: “Senior, I am not interested in Sword Dao, to be precise, I am not interested in combat techniques at all. I don’t even practice much in my daily life; cultivating flowers and plants is my interest.”

Han Ming was momentarily stunned and then frowned.

Gu An pretended to be panicked, explaining: “Senior, I did not mean to disrespect you. You can go out and ask around; all the disciples in the valley know my character. My Spirit Root qualification is limited, and rather than wasting my limited lifespan on the illusory goal of immortality, I might as well live comfortably and enjoy my two hundred years.”

Han Ming looked at him in silence.

Gu An did not say more.

Could he possibly beg him not to teach?

After a while, Han Ming sighed and said: “I finally understand why you easily comprehend the path. Your mindset has surpassed most cultivators; you have let go of obsessions and appreciate the myriad phenomena of the mortal world. Perhaps this makes it easier to perceive the true meaning of Heaven and Earth.”

The two continued discussing the Dao; Han Ming no longer insisted on teaching swordsmanship.

They talked for a full day and night before Han Ming left.

He planned to wander in the Supreme Sect to find a suitable inheritor.

Gu An then recommended someone—Zuo Lin.

Coincidentally, Han Ming also knew Zuo Yijian, so he agreed to assess Zuo Lin.

After he left, Gu An began patrolling the Third Medicine Valley.

Elder Tian caught up, curiously asking: “Valley Master, that cultivator just now didn’t seem ordinary, but his attire clearly indicated he was from the Great Yu Dynasty. What was he looking for?”

“He wanted to take me as his disciple and transmit his Sword Dao to me.”

“Did you agree?”

“How could I? If I agreed, wouldn’t that be a betrayal of the Supreme Sect? Although my strength is lacking, I am loyal to the Supreme Sect.”

Gu An casually dismissed the idea, speaking so nonchalantly that Elder Tian could feel his sincerity.

He didn’t think Gu An was acting. He had been in this Medicine Valley for many years, and Gu An always took his tasks seriously, treating servant disciples earnestly. Apart from not loving cultivation, Elder Tian couldn’t find a flaw in Gu An.

Elder Tian began to accompany Gu An on patrol, inspecting the medicinal herbs along the way, as they chatted sporadically.

During this time, Gu An inquired about Elder Tian’s views on the master-disciple relationship.

Elder Tian had lived for over seven hundred years; Gu An was interested in his life insights. Though he might not necessarily follow them, listening was always beneficial.

Meanwhile.

The news of Han Ming, the Mad Swordsman of Great Yu, challenging Sword Venerable Fudao spread quickly through the Supreme Sect’s cities, sparking anticipation among everyone who heard it.

Han Ming was a renowned sword cultivator, while Sword Venerable Fudao was the most famous cultivator of the Supreme Sect at present. Who wouldn’t want to watch their sword competition?

Most importantly, the disciples of the Supreme Sect also wanted to witness the true appearance and grace of Sword Venerable Fudao.

Half a month later, when Gu An arrived at Tianya Valley, he heard Luo Hun and Yi Liuyun discussing this matter.

This made Gu An start to hesitate.

Originally, he did not intend to participate; after all, the Supreme Sect had plenty of experts, and they would never allow Han Ming to destroy the Heavenly Repair Platform.

But now that the matter had escalated so much, if he did not go, wouldn’t it tarnish his own reputation?

No way.

He needed to speed up his path to strength!

Han Ming was a genius who killed enemies across realms. With his cultivation level at the first level of the Unification Realm and his ability to control a sword from afar, what if things went wrong?

He had to reach the ninth level of the Unification Realm in advance!

Seeing that Han Ming seemed like a decent person, Gu An decided to give him a thorough defeat; maybe Han Ming would have another epiphany after losing.

…

In the dead of night, Gu An kept flashing through the forest, covering a hundred miles with each step. He was quickly distancing himself from the Supreme Sect, using the Infinite Traceless Mystic Heaven Step.

He felt guilty about constantly drawing on the Supreme Sect’s Spiritual Energy. This time, he decided to breakthrough in a place rarely visited by people.

He aimed to break through to the ninth level of the Unification Realm in one go!

Alas, the world was unpredictable; there were always interruptions to his plans and his pace of becoming stronger.

After traveling nearly twenty thousand miles, Gu An finally stopped. Here, deep in the mountains, the forest was filled with dense demon energy and ghost energy.

Gu An sat down to meditate under a tree, immediately activating the Life Span Barrier.

He couldn’t walk any further; who knew where he might end up?

Gu An began investing a thousand years of lifespan into his cultivation, successfully reaching the second level of the Unification Realm, with Earth Spirit Energy pouring into him.

After that, he continued to invest another thousand years of lifespan.

One thousand years after another.

By the time he reached the ninth level of the Unification Realm, he had invested a total of eighteen thousand years of lifespan. After reaching the fifth level, each level required three thousand years of lifespan to break through, which was related to the Spiritual Energy in his environment.

It was acceptable to him, considering that advancing from the ninth level of the Void Crossing Realm to the first level of the Unification Realm had cost him over twelve thousand years.

Seeing that he still had over two hundred thousand years of lifespan left, Gu An felt joyful and began to enjoy the elevation of his realm.

The forest trembled, and strong winds blew from all directions. Green waves of Qi arose from the ground beneath him.

“Roar—”

A deafening roar resounded from afar; it was a demon beast howling.

Gu An was secretly alarmed; the aura of this demon beast was no weaker than the Divinity Transformation Realm. Such a terrifying demon creature was hidden in this area.

Fortunately, he hadn’t come this far for his previous breakthroughs, lest he be eaten by a demon monster, which would have been extremely unfortunate.

Soon, more demon beasts began to howl, one after another, their voices growing in number. The combined roars seemed to be capable of overturning the night sky.

The night sky was filled with swirling dark clouds, obscuring the stars and the moon, making it unclear whether it was clouds or demon energy.

At that moment, Gu An felt as if he were in a demon domain or a magic realm. The howls and cries of demons and monsters surrounded him from all sides, chilling and horrifying.

The forest ahead shook violently, as if it might uproot at any moment.

In the darkness behind the mountains, a colossal mountain began to move. With his sharp vision, Gu An could see it was a giant demon, at least three hundred feet high, resembling a turtle carrying a mountain on its back. As it moved forward, dust flew everywhere.

Gu An saw numerous wandering ghosts circling around the mountain, like a following army.

No wonder the Taicang Dynasty couldn’t eradicate all the demons and ghosts in the world despite having cultivators. Along the way, Gu An’s Divine Sense had picked up the sounds of villagers in the mountains, confirming he hadn’t yet left the Taicang Dynasty.

The Taicang Dynasty was vast, seemingly even larger than Earth in his previous life. With such expansive territory, it was teeming with countless demons and ghostly creatures.

The other eight dynasties were probably not much smaller than the Taicang Dynasty, but as Shen Zhen said, the lands of the nine dynasties together only occupied a small corner of this continent.

This world was indeed immeasurably vast!

Inexhaustible Earth Spirit Energy flowed into Gu An’s body, continuously enhancing his cultivation.

No wonder advancing from the first to the ninth level of the Unification Realm had consumed eighteen thousand years of lifespan. The amount of Spiritual Energy required for this process was enormous. Gu An suspected that this disturbance would affect an area of tens of thousands of miles, possibly even impacting the Supreme Sect.

The ninth level of the Unification Realm was already like this; if he aimed for higher realms, would he alarm the entire dynasty?

The main issue was compressing the Spiritual Energy absorbed over eighteen thousand years into a short time span, drawing an immense amount of Spiritual Energy. Once the Spiritual Energy in this area was depleted, he would have to draw from other places, as heaven and earth also needed time to replenish it.

Whatever!

He thought he would break through first and talk later!

Nobody could stop him from becoming stronger!

Gu An closed his eyes, ignoring the disturbances around him.

…

In a spacious cave, the firelight flickered violently, casting the shadow of a large cauldron on the walls.

It was a large iron cauldron, over a yard in diameter, with a blazing fire underneath. The soup inside was boiling, with white bones bobbing up and down.

Two human children were tied up against the cave wall. They appeared to be about twelve or thirteen years old, a boy and a girl.

The boy was rubbing the hemp rope on his wrists against a protruding rock, his wrists bleeding profusely, but he didn’t frown; his actions only became faster, barely showing the white bones of his joints.

The girl knelt on the ground beside him, nervously watching the cave entrance, as if terrified of something.

The cave shook violently, and a horrifying demon wind blew in from outside, as if numerous demons were crying out, making their scalps tingle.

The extreme terror turned their lips white, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.

Finally, the boy managed to break the rope binding his wrists. He quickly removed the ropes from his body and then turned to untie the girl.

However, the girl’s ropes were tied too tightly, and with his lack of strength, he couldn’t loosen them.

“Urgh—”

A deep, resonant breathing sound came from outside the cave, resembling the croaking of a toad. The boy’s movements stopped abruptly, a look of despair in his eyes.

He looked toward the curved path ahead and saw a huge, bloated shadow appearing on the cave wall. The two children’s faces turned pale at once.

Suddenly!

The bloated shadow seemed to be pulled away by something and disappeared in an instant.

Soon after, the sound of crisp, loud chewing came from outside the cave. The boy leaned against the wall, quickly covering his mouth, afraid to make even the slightest noise.

The bound girl closed her eyes tighter, not daring to look at the cave entrance.

…

The Earth Spirit Energy sank, causing the demons to flee in all directions; the night was destined to be anything but peaceful.

Two hours later, Gu An reached the sixth level of the Unification Realm. He predicted it would be dawn by the time he reached the ninth level.

Compared to his previous breakthroughs, the speed at which he absorbed Spiritual Energy had increased several times, yet the breakthrough time had still lengthened.

Normal cultivators in the Unification Realm never made such a large commotion while breaking through because they accumulated energy slowly and did not devour the Spiritual Energy required for future centuries and millenniums in a short time.

Gu An waited patiently.

Time passed quickly.

As dawn broke, the first ray of sunlight pierced the sky. The sky was full of demon clouds, and the forest was shrouded in demon energy, like a dense fog.

Gu An sat beneath the tree in meditation and suddenly opened his eyes.

The ninth level of the Unification Realm, complete!

Reaching this level, he clearly felt a significant enhancement in his Divine Sense and senses, even feeling his heart condensing Spiritual Power, as though something was about to grow.

The rate at which he devoured Earth Spirit Energy began to slow down; Gu An felt a hundred times stronger compared to before.

The ninth level of the Unification Realm was not something the first level could compare to!

Gu An didn’t believe any cultivator at the first level of the Unification Realm could kill him across realms!

At that thought, he broke into a cold sweat.

Almost ruined his Daoist Heart!

He couldn’t think this way; those who were killed across realms probably had this kind of mindset!

He couldn’t underestimate anyone and had to be mentally prepared for the possibility of being ambushed, only then could he give it his all!