The Long Journey to Immortality

Once you've advanced to the first level of Qi Refining and gained sufficient strength, you can then venture out of seclusion.

The reason is that the special arrangement of Xiaoyaozi's cave makes the spiritual energy inside far inferior to that of the Zhengyi Sect's auspicious land, making it much less effective to cultivate here.

Furthermore, Han Lu had already eaten all the food in her storage bag. If she stayed here any longer with her mortal body, she would probably starve to death before she even reached the first level of Qi Refining.

After all, the group originally only planned to leave the sect for one day. Feng Bailu was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and there was a place to eat next to the cave, so they did not prepare too much food in their storage bags.

Fortunately, Han Lu didn't have a big appetite; otherwise, she would have gone hungry for a long time during the last few days in the cave.

After putting the throne back into her storage bag, Han Lu checked the resources in the bag again to make sure nothing was missing before changing into a set of clothes and shoes that had been placed outside.

Women's clothes are hard to put on. Han Lu used the puddle on the ground as a mirror and struggled for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before she could barely put on three sets of clothes: undergarment, inner garment, and outer garment. She felt completely exhausted.

She didn't know how to tie a woman's hair into a bun, so she simply tied it up in a men's style to avoid looking disheveled and like a wild man.

But despite her natural beauty, Han Lu couldn't help but pose and admire herself in the water mirror for a while, comparing herself to her former senior and junior sisters.

While she was lost in thought, she suddenly remembered something important.

What should I do with my old storage bags?

Twenty-odd low-grade spirit stones and two bottles of Spirit Gathering Pills to accelerate Foundation Establishment cultivation were easy to handle. These two items were nameless and unremarkable; if carefully stored away, no one would associate them with Feng Bailu.

As for the storage bag embroidered with "Zhengyi Gate" and "Fengbai Road", it was nothing special, and Han Lu had no psychological barrier to simply discarding it in the cave.

"This will also create the illusion that I died unexpectedly in the cave."

The only thing that gave her a headache was the three magical items and the spirit sword in her storage bag.

"Although magical treasures are not unique, there are probably nearly a hundred spiritual sword magical treasures similar in appearance to the Xuanhuo Sword on the Central Plains..."

Looking at the Xuanhuo Sword, which she had won from her sect's treasury in a major competition and which had been with her for ten years, Han Lu was lost in memories.

However, she quickly came to her senses and made a decision.

She left everything that might expose her identity and bring trouble in her storage bag, abandoning it forever in the third stone chamber of her cave.

The Xuanhuo Sword, a seventh-grade magic weapon that could easily be exchanged for over five hundred low-grade spirit stones by simply placing it in the market and shouting a few words, was no exception.

Han Lu is someone who hates trouble, and having her identity exposed will more or less cause her some trouble in the future.

Having no attachment to her past identity, she naturally wanted to sever all ties with it to avoid trouble and unnecessary gossip.

"Since I already have a considerable fortune, finding another magical artifact in the future shouldn't be difficult."

"Besides, I now have a water elemental root, so using a fire-attribute magic weapon would definitely be very inconvenient."

"Just leave it here."

Having arranged a home for her past possessions, Han Lu was about to leave when the Soul-Nourishing Wood, which had once housed the remnant soul of Xiaoyaozi, came into her view.

The Mysterious Pearl disappeared, the ice on the platform melted, and the platform dropped about half a meter in height over several days, revealing the stone inside.

The Soul-Nourishing Wood was soaking in water formed from melting ice. The withered, yellowish wood did not resemble a rare and precious material at all.

If given to ordinary people, no one would want to use this damp wood as firewood.

"This thing..."

Although Han Lu won the battle in her sea of ​​consciousness, she was still quite wary of Xiaoyaozi, her "master" who had ulterior motives towards her.

She currently possesses no magical power whatsoever, so she has no way of knowing whether the remnant soul of Xiaoyaozi still remains within the Soul-Nourishing Wood.

Will keeping this thing around lead to an accident, giving Xiaoyaozi, who should have disappeared from this world, a chance to turn things around?

However, the memories within Xiaoyaozi's remnant soul told her about the value of the Soul-Nourishing Wood, leading her to make a slightly risky choice.

"This is a treasure that Xiaoyaozi used to replenish his spiritual roots after advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, and to help cultivators advance to the Divine Transformation stage."

"In terms of value, ten thousand, no, a hundred thousand Xuanhuo swords cannot compare to it."

"In the battle of the sea of ​​consciousness, Xiaoyaozi should have lost completely."

"Take it, there shouldn't be any problems."

After much hesitation, Han Lu finally convinced herself to pick up this rare treasure and put it into her storage bag.

Perhaps, in the future, a cultivator who has also passed the first two levels of the cave will enter the third stone chamber, pick up Feng Bailu's storage bag, lament why Xiaoyaozi is so stingy, and struggle with how to leave the cave and go outside to complain to his friends about the so-called "opportunities" he found in the cave.

Han Lu wanted to step down from the platform for the third time and head towards the teleportation array. This time, there were no external obstacles to stop her.

They entered the dark room that she had opened the day before.

After observing for a moment, Han Lu carefully activated the teleportation array following the instructions in Xiaoyaozi's memory.

After touching the spirit stones located in several array eyes in turn, Han Lu breathed a sigh of relief and her face lit up when she saw the originally dim array light up.

"After all, it was a magic array drawn by a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. The materials and spirit stones used were all top-quality. After so many years, this magic array can still be used smoothly."

Fortunately, the teleportation array worked perfectly; otherwise, Han Lu would have been trapped and died in this cave.

The magic circle had never been used before. When it was activated for the first time after a thousand years, Han Lu, who was standing in the center of the magic circle, had to wait for a long time.

After about ten breaths, the ten mid-grade spirit stones that served as the core of the formation were finally fully activated.

The originally dark and gloomy room was illuminated by the white light emitted by the ten spirit stones.

Just as Han Lu was wondering what would happen next and how she would experience her first space teleportation, a tremendous force from nowhere grabbed her neck and pulled her up.

Suddenly grabbed by the neck, Han Lu couldn't breathe for a moment and instinctively closed her eyes.

When the external force dissipated, her breathing returned to normal, and when she opened her eyes again, Han Lu saw the sun, which she hadn't seen for eight days.

Looking at the dense jungle around her, Han Lu murmured to herself, "According to the information in my memory, this magic array should teleport me to a place about three miles away from the cave..."

Han Lu knew the skills of wilderness survival.

Back when he lived in the mountains with his mother, he often had to fight against wild animals in the dense forest.

Using the sun and the dense and sparse areas of trees, Han Lu determined the time and approximate direction.

"It's noon now, and it will probably be another three hours before sunset."

"Moyu City is located at the northernmost part of the Southern Dynasty. Further north, not far away, is Yuanshui..."

After a brief moment of thought, she concluded, "No matter where I am teleported outside the cave, if I head north, I should soon see an official road built along the source water or an official road that leads directly to Moyu City."

With money in her storage bag, and having found the official road and other travelers, Han Lu would naturally be able to find the road leading to Moyu City or other cities and towns.

If you're lucky, you might even be able to hitch a ride, saving you a lot of trouble.

Having sorted out her thoughts, Han Lu headed north, following the direction she had determined.

Sure enough, after walking for about half an hour, a road wide enough for four carriages to pass side by side appeared before her.

As the northernmost city in the Southern Dynasties, Moyu City had a highly developed commercial sector.

Not long after standing by the official road, Han Lu encountered a caravan heading to Moyu City.

With a few tears and her striking good looks, Han Lu fabricated another story about getting lost from her family.

If this had happened to Feng Bailu in the past, he wouldn't have had such good acting skills, nor would he have been able to do something like this.

It was only because of the influence of Xiaoyaozi's memories that Han Lu was able to lie so shamelessly.

Han Lu didn't know whether this was good or bad in the long run, but at least it earned her the other party's sympathy at this moment, allowing her to successfully board the caravan's carriage.

After boarding the carriage and traveling along the official road for about an hour with the goods, the three drivers, and the young caravan leader from the merchant guild, Mo Yucheng finally came into Han Lu's sight.

Upon arriving at their destination and entering the somber atmosphere of Moyu City, Han Lu voluntarily got out of the car to say goodbye to the kind person.

Han Lu was not stingy with the travel expenses, but the one or two taels of silver she offered was refused by the kind person.

"Why don't you stay at our Chamber of Commerce for the night?" Although they didn't exchange many words during their brief time together in the car, this kind-hearted man, barely in his early twenties, had already taken a liking to Han Lu. Seeing that the beauty was about to leave, he quickly extended an invitation and found a suitable reason, "Moyu City is so big, finding someone is not an easy task."

"I can help you with this small favor."

A lie is a lie, and Han Lu had no intention of letting the kind people waste their efforts.

The young man was determined to leave, and there was nothing he could do.

After wandering around Moyu City for a while, Han Lu found the outer gate post of the Zhengyi Sect in Moyu City and found an inn next to the post to stay in.

Inside the inn, Han Lu quickly learned from the innkeeper that the Zhengyi Sect would be recruiting new disciples again in half a month.

"Then let's wait."

Han Lu wasn't in a hurry. She ordered a few local specialties from Moyu City, filled her stomach, and then returned to her room to prepare for her first cultivation session after her reincarnation.

[Author's Note] The NBA season is over. I hope the Timberwolves won't disappoint me, a Timberwolves fan, next season.

Chapter Sixteen: Cultivation and Eating, Qi Sensing, Spiritual Meridians, Acupoints

Cultivation is not a big deal for cultivators; it's just like how mortals need to eat, drink, and sleep to live in the world.

However, if this small matter is not taken seriously and persisted in, then this cultivator will most likely not go very far on the path of cultivation.

Even if that cultivator is a genius one in ten million, this is still the case.

Choosing a restaurant, a chef, and dishes that suit your taste, along with seasonal ingredients, is essential to making a satisfying meal.

The same applies to cultivation.

If a cultivator can find a place with abundant spiritual energy and auspicious feng shui to cultivate, their cultivation will naturally be twice as effective with half the effort.

If a cultivator is wealthy enough to spend a large amount of spirit stones and hire a skilled cultivator to set up a top-tier spirit-gathering array to accumulate spiritual energy for cultivation, then one day of cultivation within the array is equivalent to ten days of cultivation for an ordinary cultivator.

Elixirs that increase cultivation speed are equally important; in fact, it is said that there are even elixirs in this world that can directly increase a cultivator's magical power and elevate their realm.

In addition, the compatibility between cultivation techniques and spiritual roots, and even the weather and season during cultivation, will have more or less an impact on a cultivator's cultivation.

With everything in place and perseverance, a cultivator with certain potential can advance from an ordinary person to a Golden Core cultivator within a hundred years.

Han Lu, who was once considered mediocre, was very clear about these things.

Therefore, Han Lu attached great importance to this first cultivation after her "rebirth".

The rooms in an ordinary inn in Moyu City were by no means considered auspicious locations. Han Lu, who possessed a large amount of cultivation resources left behind by Xiaoyaozi, could only find a way out from other places.

The Meridian Opening Pill in the porcelain bottle was of no help to Han Lu, who hadn't even opened a single acupoint yet, so she didn't waste the relatively rare pills to aid her cultivation.

Taking out the magic throne obtained from Xiaoyaozi's cave, Han Lu casually touched each of the eight low-grade spirit stones placed in the throne as the eyes of the spirit-gathering array, activating it.

The spirit-gathering array inscribed on the throne was activated, bringing together the spiritual energy in the air inside and outside the room.

After reincarnation, Han Lu was able to easily sense the flow of spiritual energy in the room even with her mortal body.