The Long Journey to Immortality

However, compared to other "small companies", Hans' clothing is available in a wide variety of styles and is of good quality and low price.

The online shopping platform was also built by Hans Company, so the top-ranked clothing items were all from Hans Company's brands. Having never shopped online before and not particularly enthusiastic about shopping, Han Lu naturally focused her attention on these top-ranked garments.

Taking all factors into account, Qiu Bin, who was already short of money, was naturally more willing to turn Han Lu into a follower of Hans Company, achieving great things with little money.

Even so, following Qiu Bin's strong recommendation (who didn't have a girlfriend), Han Lu chose a complete women's outfit, including a top and bottom, according to her size. However, Qiu Bin's electronic account still lit up with a red alert.

The money in my account isn't even enough to pay for delivery.

This made Qiu Bin, who had originally wanted to dress up Han Lu, the pretty girl he had picked up, and "take her out" to make him look good, feel a little embarrassed.

However, Han Lu was very understanding after she found out what had happened.

“That’s fine then. One set of clothes is enough. As for money…” Han Lu took out ten taels of gold from her storage bag and said, “Didn’t you say before that there was a place where I could exchange gold for money here?”

Qiu Bin nodded.

"Take this gold." Han Lu didn't mind being taken advantage of for such a small matter, letting Qiu Bin taste a little sweetness first.

"Thank you, Senior Han," Qiu Bin said without ceremony, accepting the gold Han Lu offered. "I'll go get your clothes now and exchange this gold for money while I'm at it."

"By the way, Senior Han, it's almost noon. What would you like to eat? We have plenty of delicious food here. Although you are a cultivator who doesn't eat mortal food, it shouldn't be a problem for you to enjoy some good food."

Qiu Bin was thinking of ways to make up for Han Lu's "losses" so that he could feel better about himself.

Han Lu was too lazy to explain to Qiu Bin that Qi Refining cultivators couldn't abstain from grains yet, nor did she show any anticipation for the food in her expression. She simply nodded and said, "No problem, go and come back quickly."

Although Hans's headquarters are not in Shanghai, the company has numerous logistics warehouses within the city to meet the needs of urban residents for convenient online shopping.

On the contrary, it took Qiu Bin a lot of time to find a jewelry store that could exchange gold for money.

In the ancient cultivation realm, many precious metal resources are scarce, and the price of gold is much higher than in the Central Plains region, which is rich in mineral resources.

The Hans Corporation, which controls the world's lifeline, naturally also controls the vast majority of the world's mineral resources, including gold.

If Hans Company hadn't issued several mining partnership licenses to numerous small companies to silence them, Qiu Bin would likely have attracted Hans Company's attention as soon as he took out the gold given to him by Han Lu.

Even though he was going to leave quickly, it still took Qiu Bin a full half hour to carry all his bags back to his rented room.

After handing the two tote bags containing a pair of clothes to Han Lu, Qiu Bin said, "Senior Han, please take the clothes."

Then he shook the bag in his other hand and said, "I bought lunch, but I didn't know what you like to eat or how much you eat, so I bought a little extra."

With the money in his bank account exceeding five figures for the first time, Qiu Bin didn't skimp on lunch.

Smelling the aroma and recalling the milk tea she had tasted before, Han Lu felt a little more excited about this meal.

When presented with women's clothing, Qiu Bin tactfully offered his bedroom to Han Lu as a dressing room, while he left temporarily under the pretext of taking out the trash.

Garbage sorting is indeed a very complicated and troublesome thing. When Qiu Bin finished sorting through the garbage for a week and returned to the rented house, Han Lu had changed into new clothes and transformed herself.

The once carefully tied-up hair has been loosened according to the aesthetic habits of "modern people".

Han Lu's long, flowing hair made Qiu Bin's heart flutter.

Wearing a snow-white halter dress, Qiu Bin couldn't take his eyes off her fair skin no matter where it was exposed.

Although a pair of low-heeled sandals didn't quite match her top, they still revealed Han Lu's delicate feet, which ironically became a plus.

"How was it?" Han Lu tugged at the hem of her skirt and casually complained, "That lingerie you recommended to me earlier was so hard to put on, and it didn't fit well, so I just left it there."

Upon hearing this, a word appeared in Qiu Bin's mind, and combined with the beautiful scene before him, it instantly gave him a feeling of his blood surging and his heart pounding.

Forcing himself to calm down, Qiu Bin looked at Han Lu with a somewhat stiff smile and said, "Let's eat first after you change your clothes."

"Okay." Han Lu replied, took off her sandals, and stepped barefoot onto the not-so-clean carpet in Qiu Bin's room, following him to the dining table to sit down.

Qiu Bin did not boast or exaggerate when it came to food.

Enjoying the delicious food, Han Lu praised the meal highly and even asked Qiu Bin what the names of the dishes that suited her and Wen Erya's tastes were.

She planned to find Wen Erya in a few days and share these delicious foods with Wen Erya, who had a particular fondness for them.

Hearing Han Lu's words of praise, Qiu Bin, who had only done the work of "personal shopping agent," felt a sense of honor similar to that of a "chef," as if he had begun to take on the role of an assistant or even a partner.

After a hearty meal, Han Lu didn't waste any more time. She took the tissue Qiu Bin offered her, wiped her mouth, and said, "Let's go now."

Qiu Bin poured cold water on Han Lu, who was about to make great strides and achieve great things in the ancient cultivation secret realm.

"The museum closes at noon and reopens at 1:30 pm."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu asked again, "One-thirty in the afternoon?"

Qiu Bin mentally converted the units and replied, "According to the time system where you are, Senior Han, people are just starting their lunch break now, and they won't be back to work for another hour."

Han Lu already understood the term "going to work," so when Qiu Bin changed his answer to "time of day" as the unit of work, she naturally understood what Qiu Bin meant.

"Okay, let's take a lunch break then, and set off again in an hour."

In just an hour and a half, Han Lu absorbed a vast amount of new knowledge. Even a cultivator with such exceptional mental abilities as her felt somewhat mentally exhausted, so she thought she would take this opportunity to conserve her energy and rest for a while.

Han Lu's words presented the two of them with a new problem.

Qiu Bin's house is not big, just one bedroom and one living room, without the luxury of a guest room.

So where did Han Lu stay during these past few days?

Feeling the cold air blowing from the central air conditioning overhead, Qiu Bin immediately rejected the sordid idea of ​​having Han Lu sleep in the same room as him. He suggested, "Senior Han, there are a few nice hotels around here. Why don't you stay there?"

Han Lu was not one to mince words. She looked at the comfortable two-seater sofa in the living room and said, "No need. I am a cultivator. I can nourish my spirit simply by meditating."

Qiu Bin then remembered that Han Lu, who was dressed like an ordinary seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl, was actually a cultivator.

Chapter 186 Inferior Qualification

Upon hearing about entering a meditative state, Qiu Bin naturally thought of cultivation, and immediately lost his desire to take a nap, pestering Han Lu to talk about cultivation and spiritual practice.

This information was not a secret. Han Lu, whose cultivation had reached the peak of Qi Refining, had no intention of wasting her life meditating in this place with sparse spiritual energy. When Qiu Bin took the initiative to ask questions, she spared no effort and temporarily switched the roles of teacher and student, telling Qiu Bin about cultivation.

"What would you like to hear?" Han Lu had acquired the side job of "storyteller" through her mouth and her repertoire of stories, so her storytelling ability was naturally much better than before. "There are so many things to say about cultivation."

Qiu Bin straightened his back and said, "Let's see if I can cultivate immortality first, and if I have the talent for it, okay?"

In the fantasy novels about cultivation and immortality that Qiu Bin had read, the protagonists were all top-notch geniuses, especially in urban cultivation novels.

He wondered if he, who had achieved the "picking up a beautiful nun" achievement, was the protagonist, and if he had the talent to learn something from Han Lu and become a superior person in this steel city in another way.

"Maybe I could become a superhero, staying home during the day and flying around in the sky at night in a tight suit, punishing evil and promoting good."

Han Lu smiled and said, "Sure, stretch out your hand, I'll check it for you. Breathe steadily and close your eyes."

Qiu Bin nervously took out his left hand and closed his eyes tightly, as if afraid that even a ray of light entering his eyes would ruin the test.

Immediately afterwards, he felt his hand touch something incredibly soft, and then a cold current emanated from that softness and entered his body.

"Is this a girl's hand? It's so soft."

Suddenly, a few blue lights appeared in the dark world before him. This strange change made Qiu Bin more hopeful for the test.

Han Lu grabbed Qiu Bin's hand and poured a wisp of spiritual energy into it, trying to use this wisp of spiritual energy to assist Qiu Bin in a trial of guiding qi into his body.

The two remained in this position for about half a minute. Han Lu tried twice before reluctantly letting go of Qiu Bin's hand and delivering bad news to him, "You probably don't have the talent for cultivation, or rather, your talent is low. Even if you have spiritual roots, they are the lowest grade. You can't cultivate in this world with its thin spiritual energy. Even if you force yourself to cultivate, you probably won't even reach the first level of Qi Refining."

Han Lu's words were somewhat euphemistic. In reality, in her test, Qiu Bin, who was possibly the 18859th generation successor of some ancient cultivator, was completely hopeless and had no affinity for the path of cultivation.

Hearing this, Qiu Bin was somewhat disappointed, but not as much as he had imagined.

After all, Han Lu was right in front of him, and there would definitely be many opportunities waiting for him to seize in the next thirty days.

Faced with such great hope, this small disappointment wouldn't make Qiu Bin's mood much worse.

Qiu Bin consoled himself, "It's better not to have talent. Cultivation must be a very tedious thing, so it's better not to get involved."

Upon hearing this, Feng Bailu agreed with the sentiment, but Han Lu shook her head and said, "To be precise, for mediocre people, cultivation is a very tedious thing."

Using this sentence as a starting point, Han Lu began to introduce the path of cultivation in the Central Plains world to Qiu Bin.

Qiu Bin listened attentively, comparing Han Lu's words with the novels and stories he had read. He found that about 60% of them were similar, and he couldn't help but marvel at the imagination of those novelists.

Qiu Bin asked a question, and Han Lu answered it. Qiu Bin, who had intended to take a nap, became more and more energetic and was no longer sleepy.

The two chatted until 1:15 PM, when Han Lu, who had only recently learned to tell time, took the initiative to end this potentially endless conversation. She stood up from the sofa and said, "It's about time to leave. We have important business to attend to. If you still want to hear more, I'll tell you after we finish our business."

Qiu Bin nodded and said, "Yes, I'll listen to Senior Han. But where and how does Senior Han plan to go?"

"The museum is in the suburbs, on the other side of Shanghai, about seventeen or eighteen kilometers away from where we are now."

Having roughly figured out the conversion between various units in this world and the Central Plains world, Han Lu laughed and said, "It's alright. This distance is only a quarter of an hour by traveling on my flying magic weapon. We'll be there in the blink of an eye."

Han Lu had exchanged flying artifacts from the inner treasury long ago, all for this moment.

Qiu Bin shook his head and asked again, "Senior Han, I wonder if your magic weapon has the ability to become invisible?"

"No."

“That would be troublesome,” Qiu Bin said, revealing something Han Lu was unaware of. “Hans Company would not allow such a strange and unregistered flying object to fly over Shanghai. If we really flew to the ruins on our predecessor’s magic weapon, we would definitely expose our identities instantly and cause trouble.”

Han Lu nodded upon hearing this and said, "That makes sense. I'm afraid of trouble. So, how do you suggest we get there?"

"Let's take the subway. There's a direct line, and it only takes an hour," Qiu Bin suggested.

"Subway? What's that? Is it a kind of metal?" Han Lu asked.

Qiu Bin feigned mystery, "Senior Han, come with me, you'll know when you see him."

Two minutes later, the two left Qiu Bin's rented room together and walked at a leisurely pace for five minutes before entering Shanghai's underground world.

Without hesitation, Han Lu followed Qiu Bin into the steel monster that roared out of the darkness and slowly came to a stop in front of her.

Han Lu and Qiu Bin sat in adjacent seats, and Han Lu asked again, "Is this the subway?"

Qiu Bin said, "The train running on the underground railway..."

After speaking for a while, he realized that Han Lu didn't even know what a train was, so he knew she wouldn't understand the meaning of a subway if he explained it like that. So he decided to keep it short and said, "Anyway, it's a kind of underground transportation that goes very fast."

Han Lu nodded, looking at the lightbox advertisements flashing by outside the car window, and praised, "It's really an amazing mode of transportation that allows ordinary people without spiritual power to travel underground at a speed ten times faster than the Earth Escape Technique."

Han Lu didn't stop working while riding the subway.

She took Qiu Bin's phone and, not being very familiar with it, used the internet search function with his guidance.

She wanted to take advantage of this time to find the so-called "world map" to see just how big the ancient cultivation secret realm was, where Shencheng, where she was now, was located in this world, how many other mega-cities like Shencheng existed in the world, and whether there were any undeveloped areas containing ancient cultivation treasures waiting for her and the other twenty-nine cultivators to explore.

[Author's Note] Please vote for me! It will make me feel better this Monday.