*The events of tonight were too much, and Gu An still couldn't calm down.*
*Having transmigrated here, it was the first time experiencing a night like this.*
But Gu An was not that uneasy, either.
*With so much time, he had long since mentally prepared himself.*
*Still, recalling what had just happened made his stomach uncomfortable.*
"Did you forget to give me something to eat?" Chu Meng asked from the side.
Hearing this, Gu An finally cooked some porridge, serving a bowl to Chu Meng and one for himself.
In truth, he had no appetite, even feeling a little nauseous.
But he forced himself to eat anyway.
After eating, Gu An took out the spoils from this time.
The spirit sword and the secret book.
"The sword is one that outer disciples receive." Chu Meng kindly reminded him.
Gu An turned to look at her, feeling she was being rather considerate.
After her reminder, he used a Clean Body Talisman.
For a moment, he thought she looked delicate and lovely, full of pity.
Not only that, but when she shifted her body, he felt an inexplicable allure.
Gu An didn't think too much of it and instead tried out the spirit sword, finding it indeed sharp.
But there was no sword technique among his magic, so using it felt awkward.
*He figured he could sell it when he had a chance, or maybe learn a sword technique.*
At least it counted as a magic treasure.
He checked the secret book, which had three characters written on the cover: "Mountain Opening Axe."
Glancing over it, he saw it required an axe-type magic treasure.
*He wondered if using this would make cutting trees any easier.*
But he didn't rush to study it.
"You killed someone. The sect will definitely investigate. Cangmu Sect might not be a renowned sect, but it's no Demon Path, either. An outer disciple has died, and they came looking for me. At that time, someone with ulterior motives will surely make a big deal out of it.
Quite a few people will come." Chu Meng warned again.
Gu An turned to look at her and asked,
"Will they track it to me?"
"Of course, they will." Chu Meng nodded, thinking for a moment before saying, "But not right away. If that bitch's people come, your task will be finished.
There probably won't be any danger."
Gu An offered his thanks.
"By the way, since you killed someone, it's best not to rush to sell or use what you took.
And whatever you do, don't keep it on you—they could search you at any time." Chu Meng reminded again.
*Gu An thought it odd, why was she suddenly so helpful?*
*He also felt that she didn't seem that bad.*
*At first, she'd cursed him out without restraint.*
*Where was that graceful-lady attitude now?*
Curious, Gu An checked his own status.
[Name: Gu An]
[Cultivation: Qi Refining Fourth Layer]
[Status: Poisoned, about to break out, under a charming technique]
[Magic: 12/50]
[Hard Cultivation: 5/100]
[Ring of Destiny]
*Seeing the status column, Gu An was a bit surprised.*
*When did he fall under a charming technique?*
*Could she still cast spells?*
*That surprised him, and he wondered how he could break free of its effects.*
*The more he interacted with these sect disciples, the more on edge he felt.*
*There was so much he didn't understand, making it easy to get in danger.*
*He had to increase his cultivation as soon as possible.*
*For now, he couldn't get closer to her. He needed to calm down and see if he could break free of the charm.*
Thinking this, he threw her into the main hall and then focused his mind to calm himself.
Dawn.
Gu An opened his eyes and checked his own status.
He was finally free from the charming technique.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, realizing he needed to be more careful in the future.
*He hadn't left the Ring of Destiny these days, so he wondered if Yang Shi and the others were plotting anything.*
*From the Spirit Tree Garden supervisor's attitude, it was clear he needed to distance himself.*
*But that was because there was a new leader. Now, the new leader was missing—what would happen?*
After cooking porridge and putting it in front of Chu Meng, Gu An planned to leave.
He had barely taken a few steps when Chu Meng's voice called out, "Was it just by chance?"
Gu An knew she meant breaking free of the charming technique. He replied with meaning, "Senior, just wait for someone to come fetch you in peace. It's best for both of us, safer that way."
For a moment, Chu Meng didn't say anything.
Her charm spell had failed, and the opponent's strength had also increased.
Now, escape seemed out of reach.
Continuing to wait, there was a chance the sect would send someone eventually.
But by then, that bitch would definitely get there first.
The reason no one was here yet was probably because the fighting still hadn't ended, and no one was free to come.
But if that bitch couldn't make it, so too would those she supported be tied down.
The ones that would show up would just be small fry.
...
Gu An went to the Spirit Tree Garden as usual, where the others had come early.
Aside from Qiu Hua, who wanted to greet him but whom he signaled not to, everyone else kept their heads down, pretending not to see him.
Yang Shi tried to whisper, "The new boss is coming soon. If they see you haven't started logging, it probably won't look good."
Gu An nodded, then grabbed his axe and walked toward the Vajra Wood to begin chopping.
While logging, a young man came over to him, "Leader Gu, are you really going to be logging with us from now on?"
Gu An shrugged, "That's the higher-ups' decision. I just have to go along."
"But you're at the third level of Qi Refining, not weak at all. If you went out, you could make a fair number of spirit stones." The young one looked envious.
"By the time you're my age, your cultivation will probably be higher than mine." Gu An said casually.
That was the truth.
He was over forty by the time he reached the third level of Qi Refining—pretty weak, really.
"By the way, is the Cangmu Sect coming soon?" the young man asked.
Gu An nodded, "Yeah, they'll be here to collect the wood soon."
"They'll need people to escort the shipment. Could I go in with them?" The young man asked cautiously.
Miao Cheng, Qi Refining Second Layer, around twenty-five years old.
There was a lot of Vajra Wood. Each time the sect came to collect it, they would deliver some to the Outer Sect.
Loose cultivators rarely got the chance to go to the Outer Sect. If you managed to, maybe you'd learn something—after all, sometimes the elders would teach or preach.
If you got noticed, you could even get a job there.
With enough luck, you might even be accepted into the Outer Sect one day.
That would be much better than staying outside.
"That's not up to me." Gu An shook his head with a smile, then added, "But if there's a chance, I'll put in a word for you."
"As long as Leader Gu's willing to speak for me, that's enough." The young man even sneaked him a broken spiritual stone as he spoke.
After that, the two focused on logging.
The more Gu An chopped, the more clearly he could sense the numbers shifting.
A stream of warm current entered his body again and again.
The Hard Cultivation stat was slow to rise, probably because this Vajra Wood was too young.
But most of the trees here were like that—unless he went for the one deeper in.
If he kept doing that, he'd get caught easily, so it wasn't a good idea.
The only way was with quantity.
He sped up his logging.
Meanwhile, Yang Shi and the others waited from morning until noon, but the new leader never showed.
All the way until afternoon, still no sign of the new leader.
This surprised them.
But they didn't think much of it.
After all, whether there was a leader or not didn't make a difference.
The next day, the leader still hadn't appeared.
Yang Shi and the others were puzzled but didn't do anything.
On the third day, still no leader.
This wasn't normal anymore. Yang Shi immediately went to find Manager Chen.
He wanted to ask what was going on.
Disappearing for three days in a row—that was definitely strange, or were outer disciples always this fearless?