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

Mastering the Emperor-Level Sword Technique would secure the position of Crown Prince?

Gu An plucked the herbs while secretly listing.

The Emperor-Level Sword Technique, he was quite familiar with it!

If he had the chance, he'd ask Li Ya if he was interested in contding for the throne; Gu An could offer him a few tips.

Wait a minute!

This old fellow harbors ill inttions!

Gu An ssed something amiss; he suddly suspected Li Xuandao had deliberately spok loud ough for him to hear since there was no Restriction isolating the loft.

He recalled something: Li Xuandao's ambition was to be an immortal Emperor.

For Emperors, the greatest threat could be the Crown Prince; ev non-immortal Cultivation dynasty's Emperors would be wary of their Crown Princes as they age, and not many Crown Princes smoothly succeeded to the throne.

Could it be that Li Xuandao wanted to use Li Ya to eliminate the Crown Prince?

It was indeed possible!

Gu An stopped pondering and focused on picking herbs, letting the father and son fight among themselves.

As Li Xuandao was there, Gu An didn't leave immediately after finishing collecting the herbs, but only left early the next morning.

Wh he left, Li Xuandao had not yet departed; he said he would stay for a while longer, suspecting Li Xuandao wanted to watch the great battle betwe the Righteous and Demonic Paths.

...

After returning to Mystic Valley, Gu An briefed Wuxin and others, warning them that the Demon Path was about to attack and to not wander a usually, which made all the disciples, including Wuxin, very anxious.

Gu An planned to stay overnight in Mystic Valley from now on. The Third Medicine Valley had Elder Tian and fifty Elixir Formation Realm cultivators, making it very safe, unlike Mystic Valley, which only had a group of Servant Disciples.

Nowadays, the fraction of lifespan income provided by Mystic Valley was increasingly small, but the Eight Scic Caves below it were differt, and ev if Mystic Valley's lifespan income wasn't much, he was too reluctant to give it up.

T days later.

The Nasct Soul Realm cultivator arranged by Li Xuandao arrived at Mystic Valley.

Gu An stood in front of the wood railing, looking into the distance. A woman in a cone hat, wielding a sword, walked towards him; the cold wind stirred her attire, hancing her ethereal aura.

[Yang Ni (Nasct Soul Realm Nine Layers): 4/780/360]

A two hundred-year-old Nasct Soul Realm, quite talted.

Gu An thought siltly as he stepped toward Yang Ni.

"I am Gu An, the Valley Master of this Medicine Valley. May I know who Daoist Frid is…"

Gu An asked as he approached.

Yang Ni suddly appeared before him, and he purposely pretded to be startled, stepping back.

"Let me see your other Valley Master Tok," transmitted Yang Ni, her voice cold yet charming. Just hearing her voice, one would know she was a beauty.

Gu An immediately took out the Tianya Valley's Tok, which Yang Ni snatched, examined, and th returned to him.

"I am here to protect you by His Majesty's orders; from now on, I shall be your Outer Disciple," Yang Ni transmitted again.

Gu An nodded, replying, "It seems Elder Han recommded you; I've be waiting for you for a long time."

With that, he turned and led Yang Ni towards the loft.

Yang Ni followed his steps, and the other disciples in the Valley cast curious glances at her, her appearance drawing unavoidable atttion.

After tering the building, Gu An closed the door and said, "The Valley only has disciples who are at the Energy Cultivation level; no need to worry."

Yang Ni waved her hand, transforming Spiritual Power into a gre Restriction that she stamped on the door.

Very cautious!

After finishing, Yang Ni walked to the table, placed down her precious sword, took off her cone hat, and her waterfall-like hair cascaded down. She turned to look at Gu An; she appeared very young, as if in her early twties.

Her features were lovely and exquisite, but there was a coldness in her eyes that gave her an ice-que demeanor, making it easy to overlook her beauty and difficult to look at her directly.

She sized up Gu An and asked, "I heard you have a good relationship with Li Ya?"

"Yes, Sior Brother Li was also a Servant Disciple here in this Medicine Valley, and we tered on the same day," replied Gu An.

Upon hearing this, a smile appeared on Yang Ni's face, that smile bringing forth a stunning charm.

Gu An did not think much of it, as he knew Ji Xiaoyu, who was ev more beautiful.

"That boy has always be stubborn, unable to get along with his siblings. I didn't expect he could establish a fridship with a Servant Disciple like you," Yang Ni commted with admiration.

The way she said it...

Yang Ni took out a gre jade bracelet from her Storage Bag and said, "This is a Top-Grade Dharma Artifact, capable of storing Spiritual Power. Consider it a meeting gift."

Storing Spiritual Power?

That was rare.

Gu An immediately waved his hand, "That wouldn't be right. You came here to protect me; how could I accept a gift?"

"Just take it wh I give it to you. Li Ya's mother is my sister; since you have a good relationship with Li Ya, naturally, you are like my junior!" Yang Ni spoke impatitly, tossing the bracelet to him and th walking over to the bookshelves.

"Go on with your business; don't mind me."

Gu An caught the bracelet and wanted to say that the loft was his and it wasn't convit, but seeing Yang Ni's inttion to stay, he had no choice but to let it be.

Ever since he countered Sh Zh, Gu An no longer left items in the loft that couldn't be se by others. After hesitating for a momt, he still turned and left, not disturbing Yang Ni.

Yang Ni's addition did not disrupt the life rhythm of Mystic Valley because she rarely left the room and didn't interact with other disciples.

Wh Gu An prepared to go to the Third Medicine Valley, she insisted on following him, and Gu An had no choice but to take her along.

After arriving at the Third Medicine Valley, she was shocked and began to reassess Gu An.

This Servant Disciple wasn't simple!

Gu An wasn't afraid she would tell Li Xuandao; perhaps Li Xuandao already knew about the Third Medicine Valley, and keeping it a secret was difficult.

After all, he had a clear conscice.

If Li Xuandao became suspicious of him because of this, he wasn't afraid.

In his heart, his fear of Li Xuandao was far less than his fear of the Supreme Sect.

Just like that, Yang Ni followed Gu An as he patrolled Medicine Valley, watched him picking herbs, and th sowing.

After a month, Yang Ni developed some good feelings towards Gu An.

Gu An was too honest and treated the Servant Disciples kindly, posing no threat to anyone; this made her understand why Li Ya had tak a liking to Gu An.

Days passed by, one after another.

Winter snow fluttered, covering every part of Medicine Valley where Gu An was.

Li Xuandao had said that the Demon Path would invade the Supreme Sect at the d of the year, which made Gu An worry about it every day, unsure of wh the Demon Path would attack.

That day.

Mystic Valley.

Gu An and Wuxin were leading the disciples in shoveling snow, while Yang Ni stood at a distance in front of a wood railing, her hands clasping a sword.

"Sior Brother, what cultivation level is this Outer Disciple?" Wuxin asked quietly next to Gu An, very curious.

Yang Ni's stance alone looked very strong.

"None of your business, she's my disciple, don't ev think about it," Gu An responded irritably.

Wuxin chuckled, "Sior Brother, you really get me. Wh will you arrange for me to have a Foundation Establishmt Realm disciple as my assistant? It would be quite prestigious wherever I go."

"If I really arranged it, would you dare to take on the responsibility?"

Hearing this, Wuxin seemed to think of something, smiled awkwardly, and said no more.

Gu An continued shoveling snow.

A while later, he seemed to sse something, furrowing his brows slightly, but he did not stop his work.

In the distance, Yang Ni also ssed something. With a leap, she flew to the southern mountain peak, her movemts causing everyone in the valley to look up.

In the blinding snowstorm, the world plunged into a vast expanse of . From inside the valley, the figure of Yang Ni standing on the mountain peak was very blurry, as if she could be swallowed by the storm at any momt.

"What's wrong with her?" Wuxin couldn't help but ask Gu An.

Gu An looked up and said, "I don't know either, we can ask her wh she comes down."

Goo-goo—

A series of light, ethereal bird calls echoed through the sky, drowning out ev the sound of the wind.

The sudd bird calls made everyone frown and look a, trying to locate the source of the sound.

Wuxin seemed to realize something, his face dramatically changed, and he quickly shouted, "Everyone back inside now! Hurry!"

As he spoke, he grabbed Gu An and ran towards the pavilion complex.

Gu An pulled his hand away and said, "You guys go ahead, I need to keep an eye on Medicine Valley."

Wuxin looked back, urgtly said, "That's the Thousand-Autumn Pavilion's demonic beast, the Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird; it's not something a Foundation Establishmt Realm can deal with!"

"Just go back, I won't fight it! Don't forget who you are!" Gu An said sternly.

Upon hearing this, Wuxin could only clch his teeth and run back.

Soon, only Gu An remained in the valley; the other disciples peered anxiously from the window sills towards the sky.

Gu An had already ssed the presce of the Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird.

Very strong!

Comparable to the Void Crossing Realm!

Whoo-whoo—

A strong wind blew from the south, rolling up swirling snowwaves that swept across Medicine Valley. Gu An watched the swaying herbs with much heartache, but with Yang Ni and the other disciples a, he couldn't reveal his true cultivation level. He could only move to the highest grade medicinal herb zone and guard it with the spiritual power of the Foundation Establishmt Realm.

At that momt, Yang Ni appeared beside him out of nowhere, th took out a large flag and planted it firmly into the g, raising her palm to inject spiritual power into the flagpole.

The flag waved, forming a light scre that veloped them, completely isolating the wind and snow.

Yang Ni breathed a sigh of relief, turned her head to look at Gu An, and scolded, "Are you crazy? What do these herbs have to do with you? Didn't you sse that demonic qi?"

Gu An replied, "I did sse it, but if I could sse it, the Great Cultivators of the Supreme Sect could surely…"

Boom—

A terrifying air pressure suddly descded, causing Gu An to look up, and Wuxin and the other disciples did the same, their eyes wide.

The vast snow fog was shak apart, and a monstrous bird, ormous ough to cover the sun and plunge the sky into darkness, appeared above. As it passed over Mystic Valley, its massive form cast the valley into darkness, which wouldn't dissipate for a short while.

Ev Gu An was shocked by the size of the Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird. From his point of view, the bird's wingspan was over a hundred miles wide, incredibly vast.

On the back of the Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird, there were also many auras of demon cultivators, no less than ts of thousands of them.

It was headed directly towards the Outer City of the Supreme Sect!

"The Thousand-Autumn Pavilion's Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird, a sixth-grade demonic beast with the demonic might to destroy dynasties. This is also my first time seeing it," Yang Ni murmured as she looked up at the demonic beast in the sky, a hint of fear in her eyes.

Gu An didn't respond; his gaze was fixed on the Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird, hoping the creature wouldn't target his Mystic Valley.

After the Heav-Swallowing Dark Bird flew over Mystic Valley, sunlight spilled down, illuminating Medicine Valley, followed by falling snow that seemed like a vast fog descding.

This sce made all the disciples in the valley breathe a sigh of relief.

Gu An had already ssed the presce of Great Cultivators fighting in the distance.

Void Crossing Realm!

And it wasn't just two!

The battles were coming from other Outer City areas, far from them.