The Long Journey to Immortality

Having never received such a high-tech gadget before, Han Lu naturally wanted to try it out.

Han Lu tried using a magnetic card to open the drawer lock of an office desk in the room, and made another unexpected discovery.

Taking out the gadgets from the drawer, Han Lu carefully played with the small pistol in her hand, which was no bigger than her palm.

Although she really wanted to test whether the bullets fired from the gun could penetrate her Five Elements Qi or the Fire Rainbow Robe on her body, Han Lu knew that the sound of the gunshot was quite loud, and it was not appropriate to do this while she was on an infiltration mission.

After storing the small pistol in her storage bag, Han Lu planned to find another opportunity to try it out, so that she could know whether it was appropriate to use unreasonable methods to achieve her desired results in this world.

Once again, a restriction was drawn, using an illusion to hide the large hole in the ceiling.

Han Lu also casually moved the two ordinary people who had fallen into a coma and awkwardly stuffed them into an empty cabinet in the office.

After dealing with the mess, Han Lu reattached the remaining half of the Illusion Talisman to her body, took out an access card, unlocked the door, and left invisibly.

This unexpected event served as a wake-up call for her. She decided to first go to the sixth underground level in a more technologically advanced way, and then find an opportunity to use her earth-遁术 (earth-遁术 is a type of magic that allows one to burrow underground) to explore the possible seventh level or even deeper.

Following the floor plan she had just memorized, Han Lu easily found the elevator.

Find a quiet time when no one is around, use your access card to summon an empty elevator, enter it, and press the "Sixth Basement Floor" button.

In the blink of an eye, Han Lu arrived at the lowest level of Hans Company, several times faster than using the Earth Escape Technique.

Chapter 191 Spiritual Energy Fluctuations

The sixth underground floor is different from the other underground floors that Han Lu had visited.

There was only an incredibly long corridor outside the elevator doors, which I estimated to be at least two or three hundred meters long.

Looking down the corridor, Han Lu muttered to herself, "It's like it's trying to guide people away from the area where the building is located."

The corridor was empty, so Han Lu didn't linger at the elevator entrance. Following the designer's instructions, she quickly tried to walk to the end of the corridor.

At the end of the corridor was a heavy metal door.

Even through the door, Han Lu could still clearly hear the loud noise coming from behind it.

Han Lu recalled that Qiu Bin had mentioned several ferocious weapons to her, and secretly guessed, "Could this door be the place where missiles and cannons are produced?"

There were clearly many people behind the door, so Han Lu could no longer use her spirit sword to violently break open the door and enter.

Thinking of sneaking in to find out what was going on and satisfying her curiosity, Han Lu once again took the two access cards into her hands.

The blue access card has a slightly lower access level, and it doesn't react at all when touched.

Fortunately, the red access card granted entry.

After Han Lu swiped her red card, three heavy metal doors opened in front of her, revealing the core area of ​​Hans Company's Shanghai branch.

The sudden opening of the metal door did not attract the attention of the many Hans company employees who were working behind it.

The spacious hall, with its seventeen or eighteen-meter-high ceiling and numerous enormous structures within, made Han Lu understand why a corridor approximately two hundred meters long needed to be built.

"This must be a place used to build and test some big stuff."

Han Lu had somewhat forgotten her initial goal of infiltrating Hans Company, and was now immersed in the pleasure that adventure and exploration of secrets in this mysterious place brought to her mind and body.

Facing these weapons, which were as tall as three or four stories, Han Lu carefully dodged the crowds moving through the hall.

In this world where scientific literacy is no different from illiteracy, Han Lu naturally couldn't understand anything, nor did she know what the purpose of these mechanical weapons surrounded by a group of lab technicians in white coats was.

But considering the strength of Hans Corporation and her current location, she was certain that these things were absolutely the greatest threat this world posed to her and other cultivators.

Although she really wanted to take one of these big items home as a collectible, the presence of at least a hundred Hans Company employees in the hall and the numerous security cameras on the walls made Han Lu give up this sudden idea.

After walking around the hall once, without anyone to explain anything, Han Lu gradually lost interest in these big things.

Just as she was thinking about whether she should find a secluded place to try to explore further down and see if the Hans Company building really had seven underground floors, and what was inside those seven floors, a spiritual energy fluctuation was suddenly sensed by Han Lu, who had a keen sense of energy.

Sensing the change in spiritual energy in the air, Han Lu was overjoyed, thinking to herself, "As expected, there are indeed cultivators hidden within Hans Company."

With her eyes slightly narrowed, Han Lu forced herself into a semi-meditative state amidst the noisy environment.

Thus, with her cultivation only at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, she could only barely sense the direction from which the spiritual energy fluctuations that had just appeared came in this state.

After several meditations and determining the general direction, Han Lu did not hesitate at all. She abandoned these novel and large objects, left the hall, and came to another small door.

The fluctuations in spiritual energy emanated from this door.

Compared to the metal door that had just blocked the corridor between the hall and the lobby, this small door looked much more shabby.

People were coming and going outside the hall, and Han Lu had no idea what was going on inside the small door. Using the access card to open the door under these circumstances would most likely arouse suspicion.

Just as Han Lu was struggling with how to get inside and find out what was going on, the door suddenly opened in front of her.

A middle-aged researcher with a tired look walked out of the door, rubbing his temples. He said to his colleagues inside, "It's my daughter's birthday today, so I'll go first. You should get some rest too. This work has been going on for over twenty years, so one more night won't make a difference."

A female voice replied, "Rong, go ahead with peace of mind. We promise not to cause any major disturbances while you're gone."

This statement has two meanings: first, it means that one will not cause trouble when the leader is away from his post; second, it is a joke about the project that has not made progress in more than 20 years.

The researcher, referred to as Rong Gong, chuckled twice and said, "Okay, see you tomorrow then."

Four farewells came from inside the house, and only then did Rong Gong leave with peace of mind.

Exhausted and eager to get home to be with his daughter, Rong Gong naturally didn't notice that an invisible person brushed past him and entered the rather secluded laboratory through the door opened with his access card.

The lights inside were much dimmer than those in the lobby outside.

Compared to the impressive large mechanical weapons outside, this laboratory only has two instruments, several computers, a few filing cabinets for storing paper documents, and five dilapidated chairs that are barely usable.

Compared to the lobby outside, Han Lu felt that the environment in the laboratory she was in was much worse, and the four researchers who were still working looked listless.

Upon closer reflection, Han Lu realized it was quite normal.

From what Rong Gong just said, we can tell that most of the projects related to cultivation civilization in this laboratory have not made any progress in more than 20 years. Under such circumstances, anyone would lose enthusiasm for their work.

It's like a cultivator who has been practicing for twenty years but is still stuck or lingering at a certain level.

Even the most steadfast Daoist will experience self-doubt and a sense of weariness towards daily practice.

With their immediate supervisor, Rong Gong, leaving early, the four young people in the lab began to slack off, tacitly putting down their work and taking a break.

During the break, the group chatted about life, and no one mentioned a word related to work.

After listening for a few sentences, Han Lu lost interest in these half-understood family gossips.

Just then, the group moved aside while they were resting, allowing Han Lu to get closer and see what was inside the two instruments that had been surrounded by the four people in the center of the room.

As she approached, Han Lu saw the spirit sword connected to wires inside the glass enclosure of the mysterious instrument. Overjoyed, she thought, "I've been searching all night, and I've finally found it."

Han Lu didn't think the spirit sword in front of her was a technological product, although her hastily acquired appraisal skills weren't enough for her to tell its origin at a glance.

But she can guarantee it.

The spiritual sword before her was undoubtedly a treasure left behind by an ancient cultivator, and the laboratory in front of her was built specifically for researching cultivation items.

[Author's Note] Greedy Autumn is not bad. You choose a girl to run back and forth between several major forces and be used as a tool.

Chapter 192 Observing in Secret

The spirit sword circled twice behind the glass cover, which was covered with wires and other strange experimental instruments.

Han Lu, who was barely a novice in the field of appraisal, could only determine that the spirit sword in front of her was probably a magic weapon of the magic weapon level, which made her slightly disappointed.

Han Lu thought to herself, "I thought I would be able to see the legendary spiritual treasure right away, but it turned out to be just a magic artifact."

Magic artifacts are slightly higher than magic tools in the rank of magic treasures. Nearly half of the Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Central Plains possess at least one magic artifact, so they are not considered rare.

The fire-attribute spirit sword that Feng Bailu used was once a low-grade magic weapon.

The "spiritual treasure" that Han Lu mentioned refers to the highest level of magical artifacts used in cultivation, as defined by the human realm where Han Lu resides.

The Stealing Heaven Bottle, possessed by the Zhengyi Sect, is a spiritual treasure.

Between spiritual treasures and magical artifacts, there is a first-tier spiritual artifact level magical treasure, which can only be controlled by those with the cultivation level of Golden Core Realm.

In Han Lu's view, it was not surprising at all that the ancient cultivators left behind a few spiritual treasures for their descendants in an era when rare refining materials were abundant.

But upon closer reflection, it's normal for a magical artifact to be studied while lying in this glass case.

After all, the mortals in the secret realm only know the basics of cultivation civilization. They only use modern scientific instruments to study magical artifacts, and most of the time, only low-grade magical artifacts can provide some response to scientific instruments in terms of experimental data.

This leads mortal scientists to wishfully believe that they can continue to rely on technology to conduct deeper research on these strange artifacts, thereby clearing away the fog and revealing the true origins of these strange artifacts, and gaining a better understanding of the matter of cultivation.

However, this is just Han Lu's guess. It remains to be seen how the four young scientists in front of her and the Hans company behind them view these strange artifacts and what they want to gain from them.

Sure enough, Han Lu had only been in this mysterious laboratory for a short while when her opportunity to observe arose.

After a ten-minute break, the four young people stopped slacking off in their seats and once again roused themselves to the experimental work that seemed unlikely to yield any progress even after another ten or twenty years.

Han Lu observed secretly with great interest. On one hand, she wanted to use this spirit sword as a starting point to find where the Shanghai Hans Company stored these special cultural relics. On the other hand, she was also very curious about how scientists used scientific methods to study magical artifacts and whether they would discover things that she and the other cultivators did not know.

The five-person team was reduced to four people, and the departure of Rong Gong, the leader, did not affect the team's daily work.

Of the remaining four, the most senior female scientist became the leader of the group for the remaining hour of work, directing her three junior colleagues to continue the research experiments.

Many words that Han Lu couldn't understand came from the female scientist wearing goggles, while the other three followed instructions and fiddled with the instruments.

After fiddling around for about half a minute and making some adjustments, the female scientist finally gave the order, saying, "Start, proceed to step..."

After glancing at the lab report on the computer in front of her, she continued, "Two hundred and seventeen thousand three hundred and fifty-five experiments."

The expressions on the faces of the other three lab technicians were hidden behind their masks, so Han Lu couldn't see them. But judging from their eyes, Han Lu was certain that although they were young, they had probably spent two to three years in this lab, experiencing thousands of out of the 217,355 experiments. They had probably begun to doubt the reason for the lab's existence and had no expectations for this experiment or the next one.

Han Lu originally intended to secretly lend a hand, to be a good person, to give them some hope, and to make things easier for herself when she took action in the future.

But when she thought of the illusionary talisman on her body, she had no choice but to give up the idea and continue to be a spectator.

After the instrument was started, Han Lu followed the example of the four people, putting her arms around her chest and taking half a step back. This allowed her to observe the situation inside the glass dome while avoiding being affected by any possible experimental accidents.

A moment later, an electric arc appeared on the spirit sword inside the glass case.

Although it wasn't infused with spiritual power, the spiritual sword was activated by scientific instruments, spontaneously absorbing some spiritual power from the outside world. Immediately afterwards, the spiritual power fluctuations that Han Lu had felt before reappeared, and a certain value on the computer screen in front of them also changed dramatically at this moment.

But it only happened in an instant.

After that, no matter what was done, the magical sword inside the glass case did not respond again, as if it had "died" and lay there quietly.

As with the tens of thousands of previous experiments, the female scientist didn't say a word. She simply pressed the button herself, ending the five-minute experiment. She and her partner recorded the experimental data, made a few symbolic analyses, saved it, and then ignored it.

Whenever this happens, the female scientist feels envious of her predecessors from twenty years ago.

Those who started this job early on made new discoveries every now and then, making them much happier than their younger colleagues who remained stagnant.