Mortal: The Path to Immortality

"This beast is really hard to deal with." Han Li put away the Golden Cicada Mother-Child Blade in his hand, his gaze lingering on Lu Nanzhu for a moment, and he was also surprised by Lu Nanzhu's amazing movement skills and decisive killing.

"Junior Brother Lu, you have excellent skills. Even a cultivator at the peak of Qi Refining wouldn't be confident in holding off this queen bee for so long." Han Li praised Lu Nanzhu in a calm tone, then turned his gaze to the queen bee's abdomen.

"Brother Han, you flatter me. We were able to subdue this monster thanks to the help of both of you," Lu Nanzhu replied.

The gray-robed cultivator beside him also came to his senses at this moment, and he hurriedly bowed to thank Lu Nanzhu and Han Li respectively.

"Thank you, senior brother, thank you, fellow Daoist. I am Luo Jin from Spirit Beast Mountain. Thank you both for your righteous rescue today."

Lu Nanzhu waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to be so polite.

He walked calmly to the queen bee's corpse, cut open its abdomen with a knife, took out a fist-sized, round, sac-like part, and handed it to Han Li.

"Brother Han, this is the queen bee's unique honey sac, inside which is the 'white jade nectar'."

Han Li smiled and accepted the honey sac. Seeing Lu Nanzhu pull out a dozen bee eggs from the corpse, he asked with some surprise:

"What is the use of these bee eggs?"

Lu Nanzhu studied the bee eggs in his hands intently and replied:

"This queen bee is old and will soon lay a new queen bee, which is why there are these 'queen eggs' in her abdomen."

Although these 'White Jade Bees' aren't high-level demonic beasts, at most they can only cultivate to the peak of level one, I want to try out the 'Insect Control Technique' taught within the sect and raise some for my own use.

After accepting the bee eggs, Lu Nanzhu carefully examined the queen bee's corpse and suggested:

"Let's split the rest of the queen bee's resources among the three of us."

"Me...I'm in too?" Luo Jin asked, looking puzzled and a little nervous.

"Of course. You also helped subdue the queen bee. I'm not exactly a saint, but I do believe in fairness and justice." Lu Nanzhu smiled at Luo Jin.

Luo Jin then looked at Han Li, who smiled and echoed:

"Brother Lu is right. Fellow Daoist Luo also contributed, so he should also have a share."

After some discussion, the three divided the remaining resources on the queen bee equally.

After receiving his share of the materials, Luo Jin tactfully bid farewell to the two, but after taking a few steps, he turned back.

Lu and Han looked at Luo Jin with some confusion, only to hear him say:

"Senior Brother Lu, there's something I've been wanting to tell you."

Before entering the forbidden area, most of the disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain had been bribed by Senior Brother Zhongwu.

He said that if any disciple in the sect could find your location within the forbidden area, they should immediately send you a telepathic message.

If this is true, then I can obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill from him.

Upon hearing this news, Lu Nanzhu was somewhat alarmed, but his face remained expressionless. He thought to himself, no wonder Elder Xiao had warned him to be careful of his fellow disciples in the forbidden area; it seemed he had known something about it beforehand.

He then cupped his hands in greeting to Luo Jin and said:

"Junior Brother Luo's willingness to tell me this demonstrates his sincerity, and I accept this kindness."

Seeing Lu Nanzhu's composure, Luo Jin's eyes flashed with admiration, and he said again:

"Brother Lu, you're too kind. I will never forget your life-saving grace today."

Having said that, Luo Jin didn't linger any longer, summoned his magical artifact, and left Hundred Flowers Village.

Watching him leave, Han Li jokingly asked Lu Nanzhu:

"Are we just going to let him go like that? Isn't Junior Brother Lu afraid he might also send a telepathic message to the villain?"

Lu Nanzhu shrugged and smiled, saying:

"Senior brother, you're overthinking it. This person seems to be simple and honest, and also grateful."

Besides, we're leaving this place soon anyway. What does it matter to me whether he passes it on or not?

After saying that, the two of them went off to gather the herbs they needed from the sea of ​​flowers.

......

Two days later, the thick fog in the center of the forbidden area had been dispelled by the "Moonlight Pearl".

At this moment, Lu Nanzhu had already separated from Han Li and was searching alone in the center of the forbidden area.

For the past two days, Lu Nanzhu has been avoiding other cultivators and has hardly engaged in any fights with anyone.

Although he avoided these places, he could not go to areas where herbs were abundant.

However, thanks to the map given to him by Song Ji and "Man Cang's" keen sense of smell, he still made a great harvest in some unexpected places and quickly collected enough chrysanthemum and other rare herbs.

Now, Lu Nanzhu has completed all the tasks for this forbidden area trip.

At this moment, he was no longer anxious to find any other herbs, but instead tried to find a suitable, hidden hiding place so that he could safely wait until the forbidden area's restrictions were lifted again.

......

The mountain wind howled, cutting through the jagged rocks with a chilling wailing sound.

Lu Nanzhu found a cave on a sheer cliff. The cave was located at the top of a mountain peak, its entrance hidden. The peak was covered in snow and resources were scarce, making it difficult for ordinary cultivators to find. He thought to himself:

"This place couldn't be more perfect. No demonic beasts, no spiritual herbs, no ores—it's a complete 'three-no' area. We can definitely survive until the end of our forbidden zone trip!"

Thinking of this, Lu Nanzhu began to leisurely take stock of his gains from the trial in the cave, and then began to meditate cross-legged.

......

Meanwhile, in the dense forest at the heart of the forbidden area.

Zhong Wu, his face grim, kicked aside the corpse of a Giant Sword Sect disciple on the ground. The several Spirit Beast Mountain disciples behind him fell silent in fear.

"Old Han, still haven't found out anything?" Zhongwu asked coldly.

"Reporting to Senior Brother, we've sent people to several entrances and exits in the center of the forbidden area, as well as to areas with abundant medicinal plants, but we haven't found anyone surnamed Lu," the disciple surnamed Han replied cautiously.

He tentatively added, "However, Luo Jin hasn't returned yet. Perhaps he'll have made a discovery when he gets back?"

"Hmph! A bunch of useless trash!" Zhongwu said.

No one dared to say anything more and could only remain silent.

Before long, Luo Jin found these people.

Upon seeing him, the cultivator surnamed Han anxiously inquired, "Luo Jin! I asked you to guard the southwest entrance of the center. Have you found that person?"

"Brother, I've been waiting there for two days but I haven't seen that guy surnamed Lu," Luo Jin replied, head bowed.

"Useless thing! What can I possibly expect from you?!"

My master only reached the tenth level of Qi Refining, but thanks to your sister for helping him break through the bottleneck of Core Formation cultivation, she deserves some credit.

Otherwise, how could you have been so lucky as to follow me into this forbidden area in search of opportunity?!

Upon hearing this, the others couldn't help but laugh, and their laughter was particularly grating.

Luo Jin could only lower his head, clench his fists, and stare wide-eyed.

"alright!!"

Just as Luo Jin was about to reach for the storage bag at his waist, Zhong Wu stopped everyone's laughter.

"We know the entire central area of ​​the forbidden zone like the back of our hand. It's impossible for someone surnamed Lu to know this place better than us! Could it be that you've been lazy and overlooked such an important matter?" Zhongwu questioned the crowd fiercely again.

"Senior Brother Zhong, is it possible that that person... has already died in the forbidden area?" The disciple surnamed Han cautiously stepped forward and asked.

"I want to see him alive or dead!!" Zhongwu roared.

After calming down and thinking for a moment, he ordered, "Now, we can only go and check the last few hidden herb distribution points again."

The area is rich in spiritual fruits that spirit beasts love, so cultivators who raise spirit beasts would surely not miss this place.

After receiving the order, everyone formed small teams and dispersed.

Luo Jin loosened his clenched fist and followed at the back of the team led by the cultivator surnamed Han.