The Path to Immortality Begins as a Sect's Menial Servant

After learning that he wasn’t food poisoned, Li An was overjoyed.

Zhang Susu’s beautiful eyes were filled with envy. She had followed Fan Jie for a year and broke through to the Second Stage of Qi Refining a few months ago, but she had to work much harder than Li An.

Wang Zilin had become withdrawn, constantly sighing and wallowing in self-pity.

A few days later—

Fan Jie came to Li An with a smiling face:

“Li An, I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

Li An was flattered. “Immortal Master, please speak freely.”

“Well, our spirit fields are about to mature again, but Wang Zilin’s plot is too barren and its yield is always low.”

Fan Jie looked at Li An with a grin. “You’ve already broken through to the Second Stage and are the most skilled in the Rain Technique. I’d like you to help improve that plot.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t let you suffer. I’ll give you an extra half a piece of spirit stone each month—how does that sound?”

Li An’s heart sank.

The thing he had feared had finally come.

Before, with his broken spirit root and no future prospects, Fan Jie didn’t care about him.

But now that Li An’s spirit root had been repaired and he had advanced to the Second Stage… it meant he had a shot at becoming a registered disciple.

Fan Jie definitely didn’t want anyone on Spirit Plant Mountain to become a registered disciple.

Because if that happened, the secrets he was hiding on Spirit Plant Mountain might be exposed.

To Fan Jie, it was best if Zhang Susu, Wang Zilin, and Li An remained Menial Servants forever—that way, he could control them easily.

So Li An had long guessed Fan Jie would try to obstruct his cultivation path.

And now it seemed Fan Jie’s method was simple: assign Li An to the worst plot of spirit fields.

This way, although he’d appear to earn half a piece more each month, he’d lose large amounts of time and energy.

Wang Zilin was proof of this—working like an ox every day just to barely maintain yield, with no time to improve his cultivation. He had become pure cannon fodder.

“Thank you for your kind offer, Immortal Master,”

Li An shook his head. “But I’d prefer to have more time to cultivate.”

Fan Jie’s smile instantly disappeared, replaced with a cold expression.

Li An dared to refuse?!

“Immortal Master, this is a Spirit Gathering Talisman I drew a few days ago—just a humble offering.”

Li An quickly took out a talisman and respectfully offered it.

Fan Jie’s expression changed slightly. “You drew this?”

“Yes.”

“How many sheets did you use? How many succeeded?”

“Forty sheets, and three were successful. But… the quality still isn’t very stable.”

Actually, he had succeeded with six—but Li An chose to hide three.

If he hadn’t wasted over a dozen sheets trying to draw Fire Talismans, he could’ve made close to ten Spirit Gathering Talismans.

A flicker of calculation flashed in Fan Jie’s eyes.

A success rate of one in ten already qualified one to be recognized as a Talisman Crafter by the sect.

As long as he passed the sect’s test with that rate, even if his cultivation level was low… he could become a registered disciple.

Talisman Crafters were considered special talents. Even if they could only make First Rank Low Grade talismans, they would be given special treatment.

And Li An was already close to that threshold.

Becoming a registered disciple was just a matter of time.

Even Fan Jie couldn’t help feeling puzzled—this sickly guy had stumbled into good fortune after just one year?

With Li An’s talent already revealed, trying to block him any further would be pointless.

“You work hard at crafting. How could I accept your talisman?”

Fan Jie’s face suddenly turned warm and friendly again. “Alright, since you’re unwilling, I won’t force you. Cultivate well.”

With that, he turned and left.

Li An stared at Fan Jie, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes.

You dare block my cultivation path… this grudge will be returned tenfold one day!

He carved Fan Jie’s name deeply into his heart.

…

For the next month, Li An barely left his home.

He was focused on consolidating and improving himself.

One day, deep in a deserted forest—

It was mating season, and two stink weasels were cuddling affectionately.

Suddenly, two water arrows appeared in the air, whistling as they flew.

Startled, the stink weasels tried to run. The female couldn’t get up in time and was struck on the spot. The male, cleverer, leapt into the air and twisted, dodging the first arrow.

But before it even hit the ground, the second water arrow pierced it through.

Both perished on the spot.

Fifty meters away, Li An walked out of the bushes, smiling in satisfaction.

“My Water Arrow Technique has improved. I can now fire three arrows at once, and reach fifty meters!”

This was enough to threaten even cultivators at the Third Stage of Qi Refining.

“And after cultivating the Extra-Sense Method, my perception has increased a lot. My hearing and eyesight have improved significantly. I can now detect the breathing of animals over fifty steps away.”

He picked up the stink weasel corpses, peeled off a spent Spirit Gathering Talisman from his chest, and replaced it with a fresh one.

After a month, the old one had expired.

Spirit Gathering Talismans could slightly improve cultivation speed. Over the past month, the second leaf of his Life Seed had slowly begun to unfold.

“I estimate my lifespan is now around one hundred and fifty years.”

He muttered this and turned to leave.

Back at home, he boiled several big pots of insect-repelling soup and distributed them to Zhang Susu and Wang Zilin.

The bug infestations were unending. Over the past year, Li An had maintained steady profits by selling his “Stink Bug Repellent Soup.”

At one point, Wang Zilin had tried to make his own soup to escape Li An’s exploitation.

He caught stink weasels and dug up camphor roots, but all he managed to make was something that nearly gassed him to death, and didn’t kill a single insect.

He suspected Li An was hiding some trick, but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue bearing the 95% cut Li An took from his profits.

…

On the last day of the month, Li An requested leave and went out.

…

A few months ago, Li An had paid attention to where Xu Qiuhui lived—Cultivation Dwelling Court.

All official disciples lived there.

He waited outside the Cultivation Dwelling Court all morning but didn’t see Xu Qiuhui.

Luckily, there were many servant halls nearby, so Menial Servants often passed by. Otherwise, squatting here alone would’ve looked suspicious.

During that time, he saw an old acquaintance—Mu Qingwan.

Over the past year, she has become even more beautiful. A refined young man walked into the courtyard with her.

Li An avoided them and didn’t say hello.

She wouldn’t have noticed a lowly Menial Servant hiding in a corner anyway.

By afternoon, he finally saw Xu Qiuhui walking out.

Li An immediately stepped forward and bowed. “Immortal Xu!”

Xu Qiuhui looked surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to express my gratitude, Immortal Master!”

He then took out two Spirit Gathering Talismans and respectfully offered them. “Thanks to the talisman brush and paper you gave me, I managed to draw four talismans. I’m truly grateful. Please accept these two as a small gift.”

Xu Qiuhui was surprised. “Four?”

She remembered she’d sold him about forty sheets of talisman paper.

For him to succeed with four meant a one-in-ten success rate.

“I didn’t expect you to show such promise in the path of talismans.”

She nodded in approval. Her brush and paper had created a Talisman Crafter and changed a Menial Servant’s fate. She felt genuinely pleased.

Besides, she already had a good impression of Li An. Every time he sold her spirit rice, he’d say it was a hundred kilograms, but it always weighed closer to one hundred and twenty.

“This is your own fortune. Besides, you bought that brush and paper with spirit stones. I didn’t give as a gift to you.”

But Li An insisted. “Immortal Master, you’ve shown me great kindness. If it weren’t for your guidance, I’d have never recovered my spirit root…”

He grew emotional and told her about the incident with the Origin Spring Grass.

Even Xu Qiuhui was taken aback. This little Menial Servant really was lucky.

Still, she wasn’t too surprised. In Bright Sun Sect, such lucky accidents among low-ranking disciples weren’t uncommon. Some had even stumbled upon Second Grade spiritual herbs.

Besides, Origin Spring Grass and Spring-Holding Grass were notoriously hard to tell apart. The sect’s history had recorded similar incidents.

However, she did begin to regard Li An more seriously.

Previously, she had thought of him as a decent kid, but never considered him important—he was, after all, just a Menial Servant.

But now that he had recovered his spirit root and shown potential to become a Talisman Crafter… he might be useful someday.

“Alright, then I’ll accept one.”

She took a talisman, symbolically acknowledging that Li An was now someone worth engaging with.

Aside from Li An’s actual value, the biggest reason was—

Li An was very pleasant to deal with.

Otherwise, as a top-ranked outer disciple, she was surrounded by registered disciples vying for her favor. A Menial Servant had no right to be treated like this.

“Are you heading to the market, Immortal?”

“Yes. You too? Let’s go together,” Xu Qiuhui said.

Li An was more than happy.

They arrived at the market together.

Just as they got there, a middle-aged registered disciple suddenly burst out from a nearby stall and grabbed Li An by the collar, furious and agitated, “You little Menial! Give me back my Origin Spring Grass! Give it back or I’ll kill you!”

Zhou Xin!

His eyes were bloodshot with rage—he looked like he wanted to eat Li An alive.

Apparently, he had somehow found out that Li An ate the Origin Spring Grass.

His mind instantly broke.

A Second Grade spiritual herb—that could’ve been the greatest opportunity of his life.

And now it was wasted… handed over to a Menial Servant? How could he not explode with anger?

People nearby gathered and started whispering.

“Let go!”

Just then, Xu Qiuhui spoke coldly.

Zhou Xin’s face changed when he saw her. He quickly let go and bowed. “Greetings, Senior Sister Xu!”

“Senior Sister Xu, this Menial bought my Origin Spring Grass at the price of Spring-Holding Grass. I just want fairness…”

Xu Qiuhui said coldly, “Where was your sense of fairness when you kept raising the price every time you sold him Spring-Holding Grass? Don’t push it.”

That was all she said.

Zhou Xin’s face flushed and paled. Though filled with rage, he didn’t dare act up again.

He couldn’t afford to offend Xu Qiuhui!

“…Fine!”

He gritted his teeth, gave Li An a venomous glare, and stormed off.

“Thank you, Immortal Master. I really didn’t know what to do back there…”

Li An was filled with gratitude.

Xu Qiuhui remained indifferent. To her, it wasn’t a big deal.

…

Li An sold three Spirit Gathering Talismans at the market and got one spirit stone.

Then he used two more spirit stones to buy one hundred sheets of low-grade talisman paper.

“Oh, right—”

Before they parted, Xu Qiuhui suddenly remembered something and reminded him:

“Spirit Plant Mountain borders the Spirit Beast Mountain. Be extra careful these days.”

Li An’s heart stirred instantly.

…

(End of Chapter)