Longevity: Starting as a Sect Servant

The young man, hearing this, was overwhelmed with sadness but also said, "Please, teach me, senior!"

"What is your name?"

"Yun Mo."

Yun Mo!

Li An nodded slightly and said, "Very well, I see that your nature is kind. Are you willing to accept me as your master? I will then teach you the method to free yourself from suffering, so you will no longer succumb to this beastly bloodthirst."

Without hesitation, Yun Mo knelt down and said, "Disciple Yun Mo, pays respect to Master, pays respect to Master!"

Li An smiled slightly and said, "No need to rush into becoming my disciple, there is still one more test."

He flicked his finger, and a ray of light entered Yun Mo’s mind, saying, "This is a segment of a technique. You can try to practice it. After some time, I will return here; if your cultivation has achieved success, I will consider accepting you as my disciple."

After saying this, Li An’s figure vanished from the spot.

Yun Mo was left dazed, and after a moment, he suddenly knelt deeply in the direction where Li An’s figure previously was. He clenched his fists and said, "Master, I will definitely not disappoint you--"

...

Li An is executing his next strategic move.

The Blood Demon physique is quite impressive, and in time, when the mysterious phenomena descend, most people will perish, while Demon Cultivators will thrive within the chaos.

Additionally, the Demon Sect also occasionally infiltrates to search for talents, and the Blood Demon physique will no doubt pique their interest and could be used to their advantage in some way.

Placing a few pieces in advance; as for how to use them, that’s a matter for later consideration.

The cultivation technique he gave to Yun Mo also has its issues. If Yun Mo follows it, he will only suffer immensely, as if being cut by a knife, and the benefits will be very minimal.

Testing his willpower.

No matter the potential, if one’s heart isn’t strong enough, it isn’t worth Li An’s effort.

...

Leaving from here, he released his Divine Thought without reservation and discovered a few surviving humans along the way, all of whom had been corrupted, but he did not linger.

Much later, he arrived at the former great city of the southern Taiqing Realm—Nanqing City.

In the past, Nanqing City had a population of tens of billions, but now, it is desolate, the entire city silent as death, with bodies piled up, decaying.

This is where the Demon Sect and Southern Sea forces planned to meet.

As for who exactly was to meet, Qin Long didn’t know, it was only through some means that the Demon Sect determined there were cultivators from the Southern Sea here.

Upon entering the city, Li An released his Divine Thought and discovered an array set up within, massive amounts of corpse energy surging towards the center of the array. He did not investigate directly but instead said, "Friends from the Southern Sea, we are here, please reveal yourselves--"

Soon after, a figure swiftly emerged from the center of the array, landing in front of Li An.

The one who appeared was astonishingly a young girl, clad in a shimmering dress made from jade scales, accompanied by a large black-shelled turtle. Her skin was snowy white and delicate, with a rosy complexion, appearing normal as if she hadn’t been corrupted.

Above the Southern Sea, it should have long been covered with an anomalous aura; how did this girl manage it?

"Are you from the Demon Sect?"

The girl asked.

"Yes, I am indeed from the Demon Sect. May I ask for the young lady’s name and where you hail from in the Southern Sea?"

"Ying Meng’Er, I am from Yingyuan Island."

The girl’s eyes held some vigilance as she spoke, "Was it you who left this item? Do you really have a technique that can refine the anomalous aura?"

She produced an array plate that had already been triggered.

Li An was already aware, this array plate was indeed left by the Demon Sect, and the Demon Sect had set similar arrays in many cities, meant to trigger upon absorbing the city’s corpse energy, thereby notifying them that the person they were seeking had appeared.

After all, the maritime cultivation forces are too mysterious and few, and Shangguan Shengxian had no way to search, resorting to this method of waiting.

Furthermore, Shangguan Shengxian seemed to know that the forces from the Southern Sea would need the Demon Sect’s techniques, so he used this as bait.

"Indeed."

Li An smiled slightly, taking the array plate from Ying Meng’Er’s hand, "Miss Ying, I would like to meet the Island Master of Yingyuan Island, may I?"

This Ying Meng’Er is only at the Nascent Soul Stage, and the black turtle beside her is only Rank Five, definitely not the spokesperson of Yingyuan Island.

Ying Meng’Er shook her head, "No, you give me the cultivation technique first!"

Li An couldn’t help but slightly frown, suddenly saying, "Miss, if I’m not mistaken, you are not the one originally supposed to meet with us, right? You’ve killed the one we were supposed to meet!"

Ying Meng’Er’s face changed dramatically, "No..."

From her sleeve, a flurry of black needles shot swiftly towards Li An, as she rapidly retreated. The large black turtle created a gust of wind to shield her as she tried to escape, and even the array within the city roared to obstruct Li An.

But Li An, a Refining Void stage cultivator skilled in arrays, stood no chance of being escaped from.

In the blink of an eye, Li An constructed a spiritual vine prison, trapping her and the large black turtle within!

"You... let us go!"

Ying Meng’Er’s face was extremely unsightly.

The large turtle beside her desperately charged, but to no avail.

Li An landed in the city, and in the place where Ying Meng’Er had been cultivating, found another corpse.

This corpse belonged to a young man, maintaining the appearance of a normal person, uncorrupted like Ying Meng’Er, and after some investigation, Li An determined he had been killed three days prior, falling to Ying Meng’Er’s black needles.

When Li An first met, discovering the other was only at the Divinity Transformation stage, he released his Divine Thought to investigate.

He was concerned about potential experts watching from the shadows.

It would be somewhat impolite to probe directly at the outset.