The Long Journey to Immortality

In that short time, Qiu Bin taught Han Lu how to play "Shanghai" blocks on her phone. At Han Lu's insistence, Qiu Bin also packed an extra cup of milk tea for her before taking her home.

Qiu Bin felt a little heartache watching the thirty yuan slip away from his meager three-digit electronic account. Just as he was about to comfort himself by looking at Han Lu's graceful figure holding a milk tea cup, Han Lu's next move surprised him.

"Qiu Bin, can you pay with gold here?" Han Lu took out a neatly cut half-ounce piece of gold from her storage bag. "Although I can't turn stones into gold, I still have some gold and silver in my storage bag, so you don't need to spend too much."

Han Lu's maturity was a far cry from the arrogant beauty Qiu Bin had imagined. He was quite surprised, but he still accepted the gold and took the initiative to explain to Han Lu how to turn hard currencies like gold and silver into digital currency in an electronic account for daily use in this world.

Qiu Bin's explanation also contained many new terms, which Han Lu only partially understood.

But she understood that even such a small piece of gold was worth a lot of money in this world, more than enough to buy these two cups of milk tea.

After leaving the milk tea shop, they walked for fifteen minutes at what seemed to Han Lu an extremely slow pace. Han Lu followed Qiu Bin out of the towering steel forest, and numerous single-family housing complexes, no more than two or three stories high, appeared before them.

Along the way, Qiu Bin took the opportunity to ask Han Lu many questions about cultivators.

Han Lu was full of curiosity about this world, and Qiu Bin was just as curious about cultivators.

The two walked, asked questions, and fought as they went, getting along very well.

After crossing several streets and passing numerous three-story buildings that looked almost identical from the outside, Qiu Bin led Han Lu to stop in front of one of the same three-story buildings.

Looking at the houses that seemed to be copied and pasted onto both sides of the street, Han Lu asked, "Is this your home? Why do all your houses look exactly the same?"

Qiu Bin thought all of this was perfectly reasonable and replied, "This is a residential apartment designed specifically for Shanghai by Hans Company's top designers. It was built by Hans Company's construction company. Since the house was built according to the same blueprint, it naturally looks and functions exactly the same."

Such a standardized world did not fit Han Lu's worldview, but she did not say anything more.

Han Lu knew that she was just a passerby here. Her arrival might have some impact or change on Qiu Bin or other ordinary people, but this small world that had been independent for 100,000 years would not be turned upside down because of her.

In just a quarter of an hour, she had figured it out. She sought Qiu Bin's help to understand the fundamental purpose of this world, which was to find ancient cultivation treasures rather than to stay in this world permanently. Many things did not need to be investigated too deeply.

Qiu Bin led Han Lu to a door on the second floor.

Give me your phone.

Qiu Bin spread out his left hand to Han Lu.

Han Lu was already familiar with this somewhat unfamiliar term, and as if by reflex, she handed the phone she was holding back to Qiu Bin.

Qiu Bin touched his phone twice on the door lock. Sensing the electronic identity information built into the phone, the electronic lock, which was guarding Qiu Bin's house, knew that the owner had returned home and made way for him, opening the door.

"The room is a bit messy, but it should be acceptable. Senior Han, please come in and make yourself at home."

Han Lu was about to go inside when she suddenly remembered something important and said, "Wait a moment."

Filled with doubt and curiosity, Han Lu calmed down and remembered Wen Erya, who had entered the secret realm at the same time as her.

Under Qiu Bin's watchful eye, Han Lu took out the white jade pendant that Wen Erya had given her from her storage bag.

Han Lu infused her spiritual power into it, making it circulate and sensing the approximate location of the other white jade disc.

No bloodstains appeared. Han Lu shook her head slightly in disappointment and murmured, "It seems that my senior sister is not around here."

Then she reminded herself, "I'll have Qiu Bin find me a map of the ancient cultivation realm later, so I can see just how big this world is."

When Han Lu politely took off her shoes, wearing only white socks, and sat down in front of the so-called computer on the wooden floor of Qiu Bin's room, she was much calmer than when she first saw the phone.

Han Lu simply raised the questions she wanted to know, without delving deeper, and let Qiu Bin perform operations on the computer that she couldn't understand at all, displaying one correct answer after another in front of her.

Thanks to advanced search engines, Han Lu finally learned what had happened in this world that led the original cultivation civilization down a different path of development.

One hundred thousand years is too long for a civilization.

Even the numerous cultivators who live for thousands of years on the Central Plains cannot fully record and reconstruct the various stories that occurred during the ancient cultivation era 100,000 years ago. Naturally, the native inhabitants of the ancient cultivation secret realm, who are completely isolated from cultivation, also have no clear record of the stories from 100,000 years ago.

As for cultivators and other true spirits imprisoned in "prisons," they only appear in legends and stories, and are completely regarded as fictional beings.

As for why the natives of this world did not cultivate according to the methods of the ancient cultivation era, but instead embarked on a different path of development known as "technology".

After consulting relevant materials, Han Lu developed her own opinion on this matter.

She believed that the lack of spiritual energy in this world, coupled with the fact that the ancient cultivators had not left mature cultivation techniques for the "prisoners," forced the natives to rely on themselves for survival and create a world completely different from the Central Plains over a period of 100,000 years.

As for how it developed and changed, Han Lu did not delve into it.

She wasn't a sociologist, nor did she have any intention of packing the many strange things she encountered in this world into a storage bag and carrying them back to the Central Plains.

Looking at the text and images on the computer monitor, Han Lu asked again, "What is this Hans company that you've mentioned so many times before? Help me look it up."

Soon, this behemoth that controlled the world's food, clothing, shelter, and even death presented itself to Han Lu in a rather unassuming way through a search engine called "Hans Search".

Chapter 184 Online Shopping

After half an hour, with Qiu Bin's help, Han Lu opened four websites and nearly a hundred web pages, finally gaining a general understanding of the behemoth that was Hans Company.

Although it seems that even the air we breathe is controlled by the Hans Corporation, in its self-introduction, the Hans Corporation did not boast too much about its existence, nor did it exaggerate itself as the savior of this world and the master of all things.

Even with a truthful account, Han Lu, who only had a 30% understanding of this world, could still sense from the words just how powerful and formidable the "Hans Company" truly was.

There is a passage in the world of ancient cultivation secret realms.

"When you were born, you slept in a crib from the Hans Company."

"When you die, you will be lying in a coffin in the Hans Company."

"Even if you want to commit suicide and leave this world full of Hans, you have to use a pistol or noose produced by Hans, or jump from a high-rise building built by Hans and land on the asphalt road laid by Hans Construction Company or on a Hans car."

From birth to death, in this world where there are no countries but only regions and cities, and everything is controlled by the Hans Corporation, even Han Lu, an outsider who has only been in this world for a quarter of an hour, is inevitably affected by the behemoth that is the Hans Corporation, and uses the computers produced by the Hans Corporation and the network built by the Hans Corporation to look up information.

At the end, Han Lu, who was cultivating in the Zhengyi Sect, the largest sect in the Southern Dynasty, looked at Qiu Bin and asked, "Is it really that exaggerated?"

In his more than twenty years of life, Qiu Bin had long been accustomed to the existence of Hans Company and had become a "sycophant" of Hans Company. Naturally, at this time, he began to boast about the power of Hans Company in front of Han Lu.

New terms kept popping out of Qiu Bin's mouth as he followed Hans Company.

Han Lu couldn't bear to interrupt, so she just nodded repeatedly in agreement and occasionally chimed in with a few words.

She secretly marveled at how this method of using commerce to control people's hearts and lives was far more sophisticated than the rule of emperors in the Central Plains.

Finally, Qiu Bin concluded his long speech with a remark that particularly appealed to Han Lu.

"If there were cultivators like Senior Han in our world, they would definitely serve the Hans Company and do some shady work for them."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Han Lu became interested when she heard that there might be cultivators in this world.

After all, her trip was not to experience life in this strange city of the ancient cultivation secret realm, but to find the precious cultivation resources left behind by the ancient cultivators.

Naturally, if she could find a rare cultivator in this world, it would definitely be of great help to her journey.

Qiu Bin recalled a widely circulated urban legend: "More than a thousand years ago, Hans Company was not as large as it is now, but the mysterious deaths of the two leaders of the once world-dominating Roman Company gave Hans Company the opportunity to rise to prominence."

"Finally, Hans Corporation successfully merged with the original super-corporation Roman, and based on Roman, further realized its goal of controlling the world, making our lives what they are today."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu imagined a story where "Wen Erya's father died due to assassination, and the Wen family's Southern Dynasty was eventually replaced by another family."

"What kind of bizarre death?" Han Lu pressed.

Qiu Bin looked embarrassed. "How would I know about this? After all, it happened more than a thousand years ago, and it's just a legend."

Han Lu pointed to the computer, "Then let's search it up. Didn't you say the internet is omnipotent?"

Qiu Bin smiled and asked, "Senior Han, do you want to use the network built and maintained by Hans Company to search for Hans Company's dark history?"

Han Lu immediately understood Qiu Bin's meaning and stopped dwelling on it. She simply wrote down the story Qiu Bin told her, thinking about whether she could find an opportunity to visit Hans Company to find any cultivators who might be hiding there, and use that as a breakthrough.

After chatting for a few more minutes, Han Lu asked Qiu Bin to introduce the various modern home furnishings in his home, and then inquired about Qiu Bin's current situation.

"Me? I'm twenty-four years old, and I guess I'm unemployed right now."

When he said this, Qiu Bin looked a little ashamed. In this day and age, being unable to find a job and staying at home is an extremely shameful thing.

"Don't you have a job?"

"Actually, I was just thinking of going out to look for a job. If I hadn't met Senior Han, I might already be sitting in a roadside shop getting an interview, becoming a small cog in the machine contributing to Hans Company's product system."

Han Lu could only barely understand Qiu Bin's modern-style rant.

Seeing Han Lu's sleepy expression, Qiu Bin then expressed his meaning in simpler terms, "I'm currently looking for a job, but I've met you. I feel that helping Senior Han brings me more happiness in life than finding a job and becoming a corporate slave."

Although there were a few words in the sentence that were incomprehensible, Han Lu was able to understand them.

Han Lu agreed, "You're right. Qiu Bin, if you're willing to help me, at least you'll have more money."

Han Lu dared not make any guarantees in other aspects, but she could only guarantee that Qiu Bin would get gold from her that she considered to be worthless.

With such a cooperative partner, Qiu Bin couldn't help but imagine his blissful life thirty days from now.

"At least I could afford to hire a robotic maid to help me clean my room, or get a more powerful computer..."

Qiu Bin's long history of failures made him dare not have too much hope, even when he encountered such an opportunity.

After spending an hour together, Han Lu felt she had a general understanding of this world and had established basic trust with her partner before bringing up the real business.

"Qiu Bin, where do you think you could find any magical treasures or elixirs left behind by ancient cultivators from 100,000 years ago hidden here?"

Within the ancient cultivation realm, only cultivators at the Qi Refining stage are permitted entry. Ten thousand years have passed; the low-level restrictions set up by the ancient cultivators' disciples are no match for the passage of time and have long since lost their effectiveness. Han Lu surmised that the native inhabitants of this world had already obtained the ancient cultivators' treasures before them, but being unfamiliar with the path of cultivation, they didn't know how to use or develop these valuable resources.

Han Lu guessed that these indigenous people who obtained the treasure would find a place to hide.

After pondering for a moment, Qiu Bin opened a map on his computer and pointed at it with the mouse, saying, "This is probably it."

"Where is this?" The way the map in front of her was drawn was very different from the way maps Han Lu had ever seen. The "illiterate" Han Lu could not understand it.

“It’s an ancient site museum that houses many artifacts from tens of thousands of years ago,” Qiu Bin explained. “This is the closest place in Shanghai that I can think of to something that’s from 100,000 years ago.”

Han Lu stood up and said, "Okay, let's go there now."

"Senior Han, wait a minute," Qiu Bin suddenly said. "Wouldn't it be too eye-catching for Senior Han to walk around Shanghai in this outfit?"

"After all, what we're doing might be illegal, and it might backfire if Hans gets our attention too early."

Han Lu looked down at her fiery red dress and then at Qiu Bin's modern casual clothes, and nodded, "That's right, you're right. I should change into something more ordinary. Where can I find a clothing store here?"

Qiu Bin pointed to the computer, "If Senior Han remembers her size, she can choose to shop online. It's convenient and easy to find clothes she likes. She can use my card, but it won't cost money..."

"Online shopping?" Han Lu repeated the word she had just heard from Qiu Bin as she sat back down in front of the computer.

[Author's Note] Actually, the ancient cultivation secret realm I originally planned was much less interesting than the one we have now. Thanks to this discount, my last book successfully climbed to an average of 3000 subscriptions, which would have been considered a "high-quality" book in the past. I'm very happy, and I'll add more chapters for everyone later.

Chapter 185 Women's Clothing

The clothing industry is one of the few sectors that Hans does not have complete control over.

The low barrier to entry and the rich imagination of humankind mean that even a behemoth like Hans cannot provide clothing that satisfies everyone.