Immortality: Grinding Experience Starting as a Paper Craftsman

Chapter 52 Substitution of Life and Death, Taking the Blade of Evil and Averting Disaster

The night was as dark as ink, completely engulfing the waste dump behind Qingzhu Peak.

The crows returned to their nests, and only the rustling of the wind through the bamboo forest sounded like countless wronged souls whispering among themselves.

To outsiders, this place is a gloomy place to be avoided at all costs, but for Gu Yan, this deathly silence is the best camouflage.

Inside the thatched hut, a small oil lamp cast a dim, yellowish glow.

Gu Yan sat cross-legged on the hard bed, with the "Evergreen and Withered Life Technique" he had brought back from the Sutra Repository spread out on his lap.

The animal hide scroll was somewhat tattered, and it was covered with densely packed, tiny characters written in a dark brown pigment, exuding a domineering, life-plundering aura.

The so-called withering and flourishing means that each year there is withering and flourishing.

The core of this technique lies in forcibly extracting the essence of plants to nourish oneself.

However, the way of heaven and earth emphasizes balance. If you take away the vitality of external things, your own lifespan will be affected, and your body will gradually decay like a withered tree.

This is what makes the "Evergreen and Withered Technique" so domineering: before achieving immortality, one must first experience death.

No wonder the elder guarding the pavilion said that those who practiced this technique eventually turned into dried-up human corpses.

"The side effects are indeed significant, but for someone like me who has the panel, this might be a god-tier skill for grinding proficiency."

With a thought, Gu Yan slowly revealed the pale blue light screen that only he could see.

[Technique: Evergreen Technique (Beginner Level)]

Gu Yan's gaze lingered on the words "not yet an expert" for a moment, then a confident smile appeared on his lips.

Ordinary cultivators who practice this technique need to use their physical bodies to withstand the withered death energy.

But he was different; he was a master paper craftsman.

"Since there's going to be a price to pay, why not just find a scapegoat?"

Gu Yan took out the bamboo paste mixed with the ash of the bone-rotting grass that he had specially prepared during the day from his pocket.

His fingers flew across the paper, as nimble as a butterfly flitting among flowers.

In no time, a small paper figure, about the size of a palm, with indistinct features, took shape in his hand.

Immediately afterwards, he bit his fingertip, squeezed out a drop of blood, and placed it on the paper figure's forehead, muttering incantations:

"Heaven is round, earth is square; laws are in nine chapters. I now borrow your life; you shall bear the calamity. Hurry!"

With a low shout, the drop of essence blood instantly seeped into the paper figure.

The pale paper figure suddenly trembled, and a faint layer of blood appeared on its surface, as if it were breathing.

This is the secret technique of paper-making: the substitute evil spirit.

After doing all this, Gu Yan attached the paper figure to his dantian, took a deep breath, and began to circulate his spiritual energy according to the method of the "Evergreen and Withering Technique".

At first, a dry, stinging pain came from his meridians, as if countless tiny roots were spreading inside his body, greedily trying to absorb his life force.

The terrifying feeling of life slipping away is enough to make any cultivator lose their composure.

However, Gu Yan's state of mind, strengthened by the power of merit, was as steady as a rock. His divine sense was firmly locked onto the small paper figure in his dantian, and he shouted sharply:

"change!"

hum.

The withering power that was originally acting on his body was forcibly diverted to the paper substitute.

The little paper figure pasted on his abdomen began to rapidly shrivel up, its once plump body now showing scorched yellow spots on its white surface, emitting a sizzling sound.

The dry, stinging sensation within Gu Yan's body vanished instantly, leaving only a cool, moist current, like rain after a long drought, nourishing his limbs and bones.

That was the purest evergreen energy after the death energy had been stripped away.

[Evergreen Skill Proficiency +1]

[Evergreen Skill Proficiency +1]

……

As the numbers on the pale blue screen in front of him kept changing, Gu Yan felt that his long-stagnant cultivation was finally showing signs of loosening.

Although this evergreen energy is domineering, its quality is extremely high; a single wisp is enough to be equivalent to three days of arduous cultivation!

Half an hour later.

"Clatter".

With a soft sound, the paper doll that was standing next to Gu Yan turned into ashes and scattered in the air.

Gu Yan slowly opened his eyes, a faint green light flashing in them. He looked much more energetic than before, and even his skin had become more radiant.

He looked down at the panel.

【Everlasting Youth and Withering Technique: Beginner (15/100)】

【Characteristics: Plant Sensing (Basic), Life Stealing (Basic)】

"It actually works!"

Gu Yan was overjoyed.

This fatal flaw that had plagued countless disciples of the Flowing Cloud Sect was thus solved by him using a small paper doll.

This means that as long as he has enough paper doll substitutes, he can cultivate this evil art without any scruples, and the speed will be ten or a hundred times that of an ordinary person!

Despite his initial excitement, Gu Yan quickly calmed down.

We have the techniques and the means to create a substitute; what we lack now is fuel.

The "Evergreen and Withering Technique" requires plundering the essence of plants, and stealing spiritual herbs from the herb garden is too risky.

His gaze involuntarily drifted to the mountain of scrap outside the house.

Although those discarded spirit bamboos have lost most of their spiritual energy and are considered garbage, they are still spiritual materials, and a trace of wood-elemental essence still remains inside them.

To others, it's an impurity, a worthless dreg that's hard to refine.

But for Gu Yan, who possesses the ability to plunder life force, this is not a garbage dump at all; it is clearly an inexhaustible gold mine!

Gu Yan got up and walked out of the thatched hut, arriving at the pile of discarded spirit bamboo.

He casually picked up a broken piece of purple-veined bamboo and began to practice his newly acquired martial arts technique. A faint green light flashed and disappeared in his palm.

The next moment, the bamboo stalk that was originally quite sturdy lost all its luster and became gray and brittle.

Gu Yan gently pinched his fingers.

"puff.""

The bamboo turned into a fine powder, which slipped through my fingers.

At the same time, Gu Yan felt a faint but clear flow of heat enter his arm and flow into his dantian.

[Absorbed substandard Purple-Veined Bamboo, gained a trace amount of Wood-type essence, Proficiency +1]

Gu Yan stared at the pile of powder on the ground, his eyes shining with an alarming intensity.

This powder is even finer than that ground with a stone mill, and can be used directly to make higher-grade talismans.

"Wow, not only did I cultivate, but I also managed to finish my work, and I did it better than anyone else."

Gu Yan couldn't help but want to laugh.

The feeling of getting better while slacking off at work is just wonderful.

The mountain of waste material, at this moment, appeared to him as a series of miraculous elixirs.

"No sleep tonight, I'm working overtime!"

Gu Yan rolled up his sleeves and, like a diligent old farmer, plunged headfirst into the garbage heap.

In the following days, the waste disposal site behind Qingzhu Peak became unusually quiet.

Without the roar of the millstone turning, there was only a handyman disciple named Gu Changsheng, who spent his days picking and choosing from the bamboo piles.

Meanwhile, in a corner where no one was paying attention, Gu Yan's panel data was increasing at an astonishing rate.

[Everlasting Life Skill: Proficient (45/200)]

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 7 (1/100)]

In just three days, he broke through the bottleneck and quietly stepped into the late stage of Qi Refining.