12dz Chapter 108 The Prodigy of the Sea Spirit Pavilion
Chapter 108 The Prodigy of the Sea Spirit Pavilion
Chapter 108 The Prodigy of the Sea Spirit Pavilion
Two days passed quietly as Gu An meditated and regulated his breathing.
In the past two days, he did not rush to the Sea Spirit Pavilion. Instead, as usual, he silently refined low-level poisons in the dark stone chamber, occasionally showing his face at the general store at the alley entrance, maintaining the aloof and down-on-his-luck persona of "Ghost Hand Taoist".
It wasn't until the early morning of the third day, when the sky was just beginning to lighten and the fog was at its thickest, that the fog dissipated.
I need to go out for a bit.
Gu An straightened the gray Taoist robe that was emitting a faint fishy smell, checked the storage bag he had hidden close to his body and the broken sword again, and then turned to look at Shen Wan in the corner.
Shen Wan was currently processing several low-quality spiritual herbs he had just acquired. Upon hearing this, he looked up, a hint of worry appearing on his face, which was covered in disguise mud: "The Sea Spirit Pavilion has a powerful background. If—"
"If we don't come back, I've already transferred control of these restrictions to this jade slip."
Gu An interrupted her, placing a dusty jade slip on the stone table. His voice was hoarse yet calm, "There are still some spirit stones left in here, enough for you to last half a month. If I don't hear from you after half a month, find a way to leave the City That Never Sleeps."
Shen Wan remained silent for a moment, without saying anything like "be careful," but simply nodded and put away the jade slip.
In this cannibalistic world, all promises and care are pale and powerless; only survival matters.
Gu An lowered the brim of his straw hat to cover his half-festering face, pushed open the door, and blended into the bustling crowd of people in the early morning.
Located in the bustling outer city of the City That Never Sleeps, Hailing Pavilion is a magnificent seven-story building. Constructed entirely of blue Hailing wood, with flying eaves and brackets, and shimmering with spiritual light, it exudes an aura of wealth and grandeur that can be felt from afar.
But this is just the front door, for those wealthy and powerful cultivators.
Gu An was heading to a side door located in the back alley.
This is where Hailing Pavilion recruits handymen and processes scraps.
By this time, a considerable number of people had gathered outside the side gate. Most of them were low-level rogue cultivators with cultivation levels at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining. They were all poorly dressed, and their eyes revealed longing and anxiety.
The reputation of Hailing Pavilion is so prestigious that even a single apprenticeship for sorting materials is enough to make these struggling rogue cultivators fight tooth and nail for it. After all, joining Hailing Pavilion is like having a long-term meal ticket, and you can even use its influence to your advantage, no longer having to put up with the wrath of those gang thugs.
Gu An's arrival did not cause much of a stir.
His tattered Taoist robe, the faint stench of death emanating from him, and his rotten face, barely visible even under his straw hat, caused the surrounding cultivators to instinctively back away, their eyes filled with disgust.
"Where did this beggar come from? Doesn't he know where he is? How dare he come to Hailing Pavilion for a job with such an unlucky appearance?"
A young cultivator dressed in a blue robe, who appeared to be from a well-off family, covered his nose and muttered disdainfully. He held a folding fan in his hand, occasionally fanning himself as if trying to dispel the stench brought by Gu An.
"Shh, keep your voice down. Judging from the murderous aura around that guy, he doesn't seem like a good person. He's probably ruined by practicing some kind of evil kung fu." An older cultivator next to him pulled him aside and whispered a warning.
Gu An ignored this.
He stood alone in the shadows of a corner, his hands tucked into his sleeves, eyes closed as if meditating like an old monk.
But his consciousness remained constantly extended outward, vigilantly observing all the movements around him.
About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn has passed.
"Squeak"
The heavy ironwood door on the side slowly opened.
A chubby, middle-aged man in a dark gold steward's uniform stepped forward. His face was greasy, and his small, beady eyes revealed the shrewdness and arrogance of a businessman. Behind him followed two burly guards, both at the sixth level of Qi Refining, their cold gazes sweeping over the entire area.
"quiet!"
The chubby steward cleared his throat. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of authority. "I am Liu Fu, the foreign affairs steward of Hailing Pavilion. Today, I am recruiting three apprentice spirit plant growers and five material sorting workers."
"You all know the rules, right? Clean record, quick and efficient. If you dare to cheat or do anything dishonest, hehe, the Sea Spirit Pavilion's enforcement team isn't to be trifled with!"
After speaking, Liu Fu's small eyes swept across the crowd, and finally pointed to the open space in front of the door.
"The test for the Spirit Plant Master is very simple. Whoever can revive these few potted plants can stay."
As soon as he finished speaking, several servants brought out five pots of half-dead spiritual herbs and lined them up on the ground.
A commotion immediately broke out in the crowd.
Gu An slightly raised his eyelids, his gaze falling on the pots of spiritual herbs.
That's a second-tier, low-grade "Starlight Orchid".
This kind of spiritual herb thrives in shady and cold environments and needs to absorb the power of the stars to grow, making its root system extremely fragile. At this moment, these few pots of Starlight Orchids have withered, yellowed, and curled leaves, with their roots faintly turning black, clearly signs that their vitality is about to die.
"A second-tier spirit herb? This—this is way too difficult!"
"That's right! If we could cure second-tier spiritual herbs, why would we be apprentices? We'd be serving as alchemists in the Pill Hall long ago!"
Many cultivators began to back down, and the number of people who were originally eager to try was reduced by more than half.
Only the monk in blue robes holding a folding fan confidently stepped forward, eager to show off his skills to everyone.
"My family has inherited the 'Green Wood Everlasting Technique' and I have some knowledge of spiritual plant cultivation. I would like to give it a try."
The cultivator in green robes walked to a pot of star orchids, made a hand seal, and sent a stream of green wood-based spiritual energy into the pot.
However, it is counterproductive.
The already dying Star Orchid, after receiving this seemingly vibrant spiritual energy, not only did not improve, but instead trembled violently as if in a final burst of energy before its death. Then its leaves quickly turned black and it withered completely.
"This—how is this possible?!" The monk in the green robe turned pale, staring incredulously at the withered grass before him.
"idiot!"
Liu Fu snorted coldly, his fat face full of disdain. "Don't you understand the saying 'the body can't handle strong tonics'? This Starlight Orchid already has damaged roots. Your forceful infusion of spiritual energy is like giving a seriously ill person a potent drug. It's no wonder it's dying! Drag it away, don't embarrass yourself here!"
Two guards immediately stepped forward and threw the blue-robed cultivator out like a dead dog.
Next, several other self-proclaimed extraordinary cultivators stepped forward to try, some using water-based spells to irrigate, others using earth-based spells to cultivate their essence, but without exception, all of them ended in failure.
In the blink of an eye, only the last two of the five pots of Star Orchid were left, barely clinging to life.
Liu Fu's face grew increasingly grim.
"A bunch of useless trash! They don't even have this much sense, yet they want to freeload at the Sea Spirit Pavilion?"
He was cursing and about to turn back when a hoarse, unpleasant voice suddenly rang out from the corner.
"I'll give it a try."
The crowd automatically parted to form a path.
Gu An lowered his head and walked slowly with slightly stiff steps to the pot of star orchid.
Liu Fu frowned, looking at Gu An's tattered Taoist robe and his barely visible, mangled face, a hint of disgust flashing in his eyes. But remembering the "no questions asked" note on the notice he had sent out earlier, he forcibly suppressed the urge to kick him out.
"Let me make this clear from the start," Liu Fu said coldly. "This is the last pot. If you kill it, you won't have to pay for it, but you'll definitely get a beating to teach you a lesson."
Gu An didn't speak, but simply nodded silently.
He squatted down, and his withered, chicken-claw-like hand, covered with poison spots, gently pressed onto the damp soil in the flowerpot.
There were no hand gestures or incantations.
He simply closed his eyes slowly, his consciousness receding inward, and the [Spirit Plant Affinity] talent hidden deep within his soul quietly began to operate at this moment.
Buzz—
A strange vibration traveled from his fingertips into his mind.
This is not visual, but a more intuitive perception of life.
In his perception, the dying star orchid was no longer a plant, but a living being groaning in pain. Its roots were not rotten, but were tightly bound by countless tiny, transparent insects as thin as hair.
These insects are greedily sucking the sap from the roots and releasing a very weak paralyzing toxin, blocking the spiritual herb from absorbing external spiritual energy.
Cryptocrystalline nematode.
The name of this rare pest instantly popped into Gu An's mind.
This is a parasite that lives only in extremely yin places. It is invisible to the naked eye and is extremely sensitive to spiritual energy. Once external spiritual energy is forcibly injected, it will be frightened and instantly burrow deep into the roots to wreak havoc. This is the root cause of the failures of those people before.
Once the lesion is found, the rest is easy.
A subtle smile curved at the corners of Gu An's lips.
To outsiders, these tiny parasites that penetrate deep into the roots are an unsolvable problem.
But for him, who was an expert in anatomy and had spent his life playing with poisonous insects, this was nothing more than a minor surgical procedure.
"rise."
Gu An gave a soft shout.
His other hand shot out like lightning, his two fingers joined together to form a knife, and at the tip of his finger, a strand of dark blue spiritual thread, transformed by the "Azure Sea Dragon Wood Technique," which was extremely soft and had a special pulling force, instantly condensed.
These spiritual threads were not aggressive at all, but they carried a strange fragrance that was fatally alluring to insects—a simulation of the aura of the Heart-Eating Gu.
Gu An's fingers moved swiftly around the roots of the Starlight Orchid, and with each touch, a wisp of spiritual energy burrowed into the soil.
"What is he doing? Why is he poking around like that?"
"Playing tricks, he's probably going to poke these flowers to pieces—"
The surrounding cultivators, unable to understand the intricacies, murmured and laughed in disbelief.
However, the next moment, everyone's voices stopped abruptly, as if a duck had been choked.
Suddenly, Gu An's finger lifted upwards.
"Sizzle—"
It was accompanied by an extremely faint sound, like a bubble bursting.
He actually used his spiritual energy threads to "fish" dozens of hair-thin, transparent, and frantically writhing thread worms out of the soil!
As soon as the nematodes left the root system, they were immediately exposed to the air. Before they could even struggle, they were instantly burned to ashes by a burst of poisonous fire emanating from Gu An's palm.
Immediately afterwards, Gu An reached into his pocket and pulled out a jade bottle, poured out a drop of diluted cold water algae liquid, and dripped it onto the roots.
A miraculous scene unfolded.
After the parasites were removed and the plant was nourished with the appropriate medicine, the originally curled and withered leaves of the Star Orchid began to unfurl at a speed visible to the naked eye. Although it did not immediately regain its vitality, the deathly aura had completely dissipated, replaced by a faint starlight.
Alive!
The entire venue was deathly silent.
Even Liu Fu, who had initially looked impatient, now stared wide-eyed with disbelief, his mouth slightly agape.
This skill of "fishing for insects" requires not only extremely strong control of one's spiritual sense, but also a thorough understanding of the structure of spiritual plants.
This is an expert! And an expert who goes to unconventional places and has unique skills!
Gu An slowly stood up, patted the dirt off his hands, and looked at Liu Fu with his cloudy eyes, his voice still hoarse: "Manager, this flower, can it be considered alive?"
"It's alive! It's alive! It's so alive!"
Liu Fu suddenly came to his senses, his fat face instantly puffed up like a chrysanthemum, and his previous disgust and arrogance vanished, replaced by a kind of ecstatic joy at finding a treasure.
He walked up to Gu An in a few steps, looked him up and down, and became more and more satisfied.
People with real skills but such an ugly appearance are best suited for those delicate, shady jobs!
"Impressive! I never expected such a prodigy to visit my Sea Spirit Pavilion today!"
Liu Fu took out a heavy bronze plaque from his pocket and stuffed it directly into Gu An's hand.
"Here you go! From today onwards, you are an external retainer of my Sea Spirit Pavilion! Not only will you have room and board included, but your monthly salary will also be increased to fifteen spirit stones! Furthermore, you will have priority in selecting the discarded materials here!"
External patronage!
The cultivators who had been mocking Gu An were now so envious they were practically bleeding with envy.
This is a position with even more freedom than a formal butler, yet with a high status! With this badge, you can practically walk around the outer city of the City That Never Sleeps!
Gu An took the bronze plaque, which felt slightly cool to the touch. The back was engraved with the words "Hai Ling" and faintly emitted a wave of array energy.
A look of relief finally appeared on his stiff face.
We've finally got this protective shield.
"Thank you, Steward Liu." Gu An cupped his hands in thanks, his tone remaining neither humble nor arrogant.
"Hey, stop calling me Manager Liu, just call me Fatty Liu from now on."
Liu Fu patted Gu An's shoulder with a smile, then suddenly leaned closer, lowered his voice, and a mysterious glint flashed in his shrewd little eyes.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, since you have such a unique skill, then I'll be frank with you."
"I happen to have a benefactor," someone said, "who has recently encountered a problem with several extremely precious but also extremely troublesome spiritual plants, and urgently needs a skilled expert to take a look. Several so-called masters have failed miserably before—do you dare to give it a try?"
"If it succeeds, the reward from that noble person will be a hundred times more generous than this monthly salary. In fact—it's an opportunity that a rogue cultivator like you could never achieve in several lifetimes."
Gu An's grip on the bronze medal tightened slightly.
A benefactor? A difficult situation? An opportunity?
In the world of cultivation, these three words are often equated with "high risk" and "losing one's head".
But can he refuse?
His current physical condition desperately needs a large amount of resources, especially the legendary "Frost Marrow Liquid." This level of treasure is absolutely impossible to buy by slowly accumulating spirit stones; only by climbing the social ladder can one have a sliver of hope.
Besides, wasn't this exactly what he went to great lengths to infiltrate the Sea Spirit Pavilion?
Gu An raised his head, meeting Liu Fu's probing gaze, a cold, eerie light flashing in his dead fish eyes.
"As long as enough spirit stones are given."
Gu An's voice was hoarse but firm, "Whether it's saving a flower or killing someone, I can take it."