The person standing before him was no simple character, Gu An understood that, and he knew he had made an enemy out of her.
Hoping for forgiveness was naturally impossible.
*Who would forgive someone weaker than themselves who had crippled their hands and feet?*
So revenge was just a matter of time.
*Gu An instinctively hoped this woman would end up dead one day.*
But whether she died or not wasn't up to him.
That depended on what the boss decided.
Either way, his job was just to deliver her, and then wait for the boss to show up.
In the meantime, he could squeeze some benefits out of her too.
Of course, only verbal benefits; if he could avoid any physical contact, he certainly would.
Besides, he was now stuck in the body of a guy in his forties—what if his heart wanted to but his body couldn't keep up?
*Wouldn't that be just fucking humiliating?*
"That's it?" Chu Meng sounded almost in disbelief, "That bitch didn't give it to you, or did you just not want it?"
"Does it matter?" Gu An asked.
*Whether he wanted it or not, and whether she gave it or not, had nothing to do with the person in front of him.*
"It doesn't, but I have a cultivation technique. Aren't you afraid the Sect will find out?" Chu Meng asked.
Gu An shook his head, "I am afraid."
If the Sect discovered him cultivating their technique, he'd be dead.
"Then you'll have to settle for a regular technique, which won't get you to Foundation Establishment," Chu Meng said.
Hearing this, Gu An felt quite pleased. Not reaching Foundation Establishment still meant he could probably get to several levels of Qi Refinement.
*That's good enough.*
Just getting out of the Third Level of Qi Refining was already something.
"Where is it?" Gu An asked.
"If I give it to you, you'll take me back to the Sect?" Chu Meng asked.
Gu An shook his head, "Ma'am, you can ask for other things."
"Let me go?" Chu Meng ventured.
Gu An nodded, then untied the sack she was in and placed it by the door, "Ma'am, I'm letting you go."
Chu Meng looked at him like he was an idiot, "How am I supposed to get out of here?"
"But I did let you go," Gu An replied.
Chu Meng snapped, "A mole sent by that bitch—figures you're just as worthless."
"Ma'am, that's just unreasonable," Gu An said, his face expressionless.
"So what?" Chu Meng lashed out.
"I'm a reasonable man. If you can't understand, I still know a thing or two about punching people," Gu An said seriously, clenching his fist and looking at her.
"...."
Finally, Chu Meng glanced at her waist.
Gu An followed her gaze, reached out, and unfastened an exceedingly delicate pouch from her side, about the size of a goose egg—pretty compact.
He paused to consider, then found he couldn't open it. So he looked up at the woman, "Storage treasure?"
"Yes, if you want it, you can have it," Chu Meng said with a smile.
"Got any normal ones?" Gu An asked.
"No," Chu Meng shook her head.
With that, Gu An let out a sigh.
The pouch even had a 'Meng' character on it—obviously custom-made for someone.
This was just Sect disciples fighting among themselves; he was just the guy doing menial chores. If he took this kind of treasure, he'd definitely get killed.
*Unless he could bury her here permanently.*
.
After that, he used a trick she had taught him to retrieve a book from the pouch.
It was called the Nourishing Life Technique.
He could cultivate it to the Qi Refining Sixth Level.
As for whether it was authentic…*He wasn't in a hurry. He'd see in a few days if he could spot her Ring of Destiny; maybe then he'd know if it was real or a fake.*
*If not, then he'd just test it himself.*
"Got the technique, any spells?" Gu An hung the pouch back at her waist as he asked.
"Why should I tell you?" Chu Meng asked.
"Well, ma'am, your hands and feet are useless now. Sooner or later, you'll have to eat, right?" Gu An said.
Chu Meng stared at him, those icy cold eyes making anyone's heart race.
In the end, Gu An learned Hundred Steps Chasing Wind from her.
An acceleration spell.
He had wanted to learn an attack spell, especially one that worked at a distance.
At present, his only offensive move was Mountain Opening Fist, but close-quarters fighting could get a bit risky sometimes.
As for Fireball Technique, it just sounded like a dime-a-dozen spell.
Not worth the effort to buff it up; the cost-benefit just wasn't there.
The next day.
Gu An still didn't see his handler; he could only take some demon beast meat from the kitchen and head to the Spirit Tree Garden.
"Boss, more leftovers again?" Yang Shi exclaimed.
Gu An tossed the meat over, "Boil it for lunch—we'll eat together."
"Boss, is this from yesterday's demon beast?" a girl who looked a bit rough around the edges beamed with delight.
Qiu Hua, Qi Refining Second Level, about twenty-five or twenty-six, built bigger than most, ridiculously strong by nature.
When it came to raw strength, she could take all of them together, no contest.
"From a few days ago," Gu An grabbed an ax from nearby, saying, "yesterday's can't be eaten—buried it."
The four of them looked even more excited at that.
Gu An didn't care; he walked toward the Spirit Tree Garden, "I'm off to kill some time. You guys prep the meat."
Killing time just meant chopping trees.
He had to use excuses like this so these people wouldn't get suspicious.
Every few days, he went to chop a tree or two.
It was a great way to level up his spells and cultivation.
There were plenty of eyes on his position; if he just kept cutting, someone might secretly go snitch to the Manager.
*That'd be a real pain in the ass if it happened.*
So, demon beast meat, killing time—he always had backup plans.
*Take a handout and people go easy; none of them would dare go overboard.*
He'd also greased the Manager's palm, so no trouble for now.
Who knew about later, though; better level up fast while he could.
At the logging area, Gu An swung the ax in his hand.
With a 'thud,' the Vajra Wood rang out with a heavy sound.
Only faint marks were left behind.
He might not even fell one tree in a whole day.
Thankfully, he didn't need to chop a full tree to boost his numbers.
After a few practice swings, Gu An started giving it his all, one blow after another.
Thud, thud, thud—the rhythm went on.
After a dozen or so hits, he felt a flush of heat, and something seemed to flow into his body.
The numbers started shifting.
[Magic: 46/50]
So he kept swinging, again and again.
Time ticked by, little by little.
It took quite a while for the numbers to move again.
[Magic: 47/50]
[Magic: 48/50]
Nearing noon, Gu An had only chopped through half a Vajra Wood, beads of sweat gathering on his brow.
That was when he finally stopped.
*Pretty lucky today.*
[Magic: 50/50]
His magic was maxed out.
Back at the rest spot, Gu An tossed down the ax,
"How's the meat?"
"Just in time, boss—you can eat now," Qiu Hua said with a grin.
Soon, a whole table of meat was ready; some grilled, some boiled.
"Boss goes first." Once they sat down, Yang Shi spoke up.
Gu An picked up bowl and chopsticks, "Everyone, dig in."
The others finally picked up their utensils.
As they ate, Qiu Hua said, "I heard something's gone down in the Sect."
"What happened?" another girl, small and delicate looking, asked.
Zhao Ying—pretty features, one of the Spirit Tree Garden's supervisors, Qi Refining Second Layer.
"Rumor is some Inner Sect disciples had a clash—caused injuries and deaths. It's still going on, and nobody knows if it'll spread out here," Qiu Hua sighed.
*If it did, people like them could be swept away with a single breath.*
Gu An kept his mouth shut and his ears open, munching on meat.
Too bad, instead of going on, everyone started looking at him.
*What the hell are you all staring at me for?*
"Boss, since you're higher up, do you know anything more?" Yang Shi asked.
Gu An, "..."