The Long Journey to Immortality

Compared to Shanghai, the weapons department in Shenzhen is only responsible for the development and improvement of small weapons, and its workspace is much smaller.

Even the department that studies "strange artifacts" has only three people working there.

But similar to the situation at the top, many underground secret organizations were also working overtime that day.

Security personnel were busy in the company's underground area, either standing guard or patrolling, while many others were busy assisting the researchers.

In particular, the three researchers in charge of studying the "strange artifacts" had a passion and smiles on their faces that they hadn't seen in over a decade.

Han Lu, who was wearing the illusion talisman, stood in the corner and watched all of this.

"The vault must be behind this half-open metal door."

"What are these people doing, moving things out?"

"There are probably thirty or forty security personnel from Hans Corporation here. What would it feel like to be shot by a rifle that big?"

Suddenly, she noticed something noteworthy.

A hospital bed was pushed into a newly cleaned room by two medical staff and five security guards.

The patient in the hospital bed was tightly bound with belts, handcuffs, and chains.

Han Lu was quite familiar with that face lying on the side of the hospital bed.

"Hey? Isn't this Yi Qiyan? She's been captured?"

After a moment of doubt, Han Lu thought about it again and felt that the matter was quite reasonable.

A mischievous thought popped into Han Lu's mind: "Should we rescue Yi Qiyan after we've taken the loot?"

Han Lu stroked her hairless chin, pondering the possibility of this matter. "It was the True Spirit Phoenix Bird of the Ancient Cultivation Secret Realm that injured Yi Qiyan, but it was Han Lu of the Zhengyi Sect who rescued Yi Qiyan. If such a cultivator with a high status in the Southern Border Region develops a good impression of me and regards me as a great benefactor, it would not be a bad thing."

Han Lu looked at Yi Qiyan, who had just been sent to a ward that resembled a prison, and murmured to herself, "Xiaoyaozi has hidden the Golden Core stage manual of the Great Zhou Tian Condensing Water Technique along with other magical treasures and resources in the Southern Frontier. If Yi Qiyan can help guide me, I will definitely save some effort when I search for treasure."

With this in mind, Han Lu made a decision.

"This is not difficult, I'll just do it as a favor and be a good person."

Han Lu completely forgot that it was she who caused Yi Qiyan to end up like this.

After her cultivation level improved, her skin became much thicker than it was two years ago.

With so many mortals active in the underground complex, Han Lu had to resort to other means to successfully steal the treasure and take Yi Qiyan, who was no longer in danger, without harming the innocent.

Following the operative carrying a small, transparent box containing the corpse of a spirit insect into the depths of the warehouse, Han Lu tore off the illusion talisman from her body, took out the paulownia wood flute from her storage bag, put it to her lips, and began to play.

A melodious and gentle tune emanated from the wooden flute in Han Lu's hands.

Anyone who hears the music will feel an irresistible drowsiness wash over them in the blink of an eye, and within a few breaths they will fall asleep without a care for appearances.

Han Lu only played half of her piece before declaring it a complete success.

Wearing a tight-fitting outfit and a face mask, Han Lu no longer needed to use magic to conceal her figure and appearance this time.

But she still summoned several streams of black mist to cover all the surveillance cameras in the rooms, just to be absolutely sure.

Using the same trick again, Han Lu put all the safes piled up in the vault into her storage bag.

Immediately afterwards, she calmly dodged the Hans Company employees who were fast asleep on the floor and arrived at the room where Yi Qiyan was.

He summoned his spirit sword and used it to destroy and release the many strange and wonderful things binding Yi Qiyan.

Having done all this, the master thief Han Lu casually hoisted up the still unconscious Yi Qiyan, carrying over forty safes that might contain ancient magical artifacts, leaving behind a group of Hans Company employees who were still lost in their dreams, and happily departed.

It's not convenient to walk on the street carrying an unconscious person.

To avoid suspicion, Han Lu had no choice but to rely on the Illusion Talisman to return to her temporary base in Pengcheng in complete concealment.

Although Han Lu's cultivation had reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, she was not skilled in healing injuries and curing diseases.

So she simply took out two healing pills that the sect had prepared for her from her storage bag and casually stuffed them into Yi Qiyan's mouth.

Using his spiritual power, he laid Yi Qiyan flat on the only large bed in the room.

Han Lu held the storage bag, chuckled, and said, "It's time to open the chest and retrieve the treasure again."

Chapter 202 Lying

Compared to the first time, Han Lu was much more skilled at unpacking this time.

There were a total of forty-three safes. This time, Han Lu only spent ten minutes opening all of them and taking out the "treasures" hidden inside.

Compared to the more than eighty safes in Shanghai, the treasures in the safe obtained from Hans Company in Pengcheng this time are of a much lower quality.

Putting aside the ancient cultivation treasures, many of the forty-odd boxes were originally empty, but today they were filled with Yi Qiyan's personal belongings.

Yi Qiyan's flying artifact, the Green Bamboo, and two storage bags were also among them.

Compared to ancient cultivation treasures, these three items were not valuable enough to tempt Han Lu. She decided to go all the way and return these belongings, which originally belonged to Yi Qiyan, to their rightful owner.

This way, she would be more likely to believe the story Yi Qiyan made up when she woke up.

After putting the unnecessary safes and modern items into storage bags used for storing miscellaneous items, Han Lu finally had time to take stock of the numerous magical treasures piled on the room floor.

The boxes were few and the space was small. The ancient cultivation treasures seized from Pengcheng Hans Company were far inferior to those seized from Shencheng in both quantity and quality.

Only five good items ended up in Han Lu's hands: three magic artifacts, one spiritual artifact, and half a bottle of an unknown pill whose effectiveness was still unknown.

After all, 100,000 years have passed, and the restrictions on storing these treasures have long since failed due to the ravages of time. The magical artifacts stored inside can barely maintain their original appearance, but it is already a difficult thing for the pills to still look like pills, let alone retain any medicinal power.

Even if it were a divine medicine, after 100,000 years, Han Lu, with her expertise in appraising treasures, dared not determine whether it had become rotten and poisonous.

"Why not take it if it's free?" Han Lu carefully put it away, still regarding this half-bottle of pills, whose usefulness was uncertain, as one of the spoils of this ancient cultivation secret realm trip.

After stretching and cleaning up the mess, Han Lu turned her gaze back to Yi Qiyan, who was still unconscious on the bed in the room.

Grabbing Yi Qiyan's arm, Han Lu channeled a small amount of spiritual energy into Yi Qiyan's body.

Han Lu controlled her spiritual energy to travel through Yi Qiyan's body, using this relatively simple method to sense Yi Qiyan's physical condition.

It must be said that, thanks to the combined efforts of traditional Chinese medicine from southern Xinjiang and modern medical techniques, Yi Qiyan has recovered most of her health.

Only the cold poison that Han Lu had injected into her body through the poisonous fog was still raging in her spiritual veins.

If Yi Qiyan hadn't been injected with a large amount of sedatives and anesthetics, she would definitely be awake by now.

Although Han Lu, the quack doctor, didn't know how long it would take for Yi Qiyan to wake up, she still took out a cinnabar pen for her own safety and set up a protective barrier around the bed in the inn, so that Yi Qiyan wouldn't treat her as an enemy after waking up and cause an unpleasant incident between them.

The business suite had two beds. Yi Qiyan lay on the bed that Han Lu had set up with simple restrictions to recover from her injuries, while Han Lu lay flat on the other bed to rest.

This was the first time Han Lu had lain on a soft bed since arriving in this modern world.

The comfort that spread from her back to her whole body made her involuntarily stretch her limbs and let out a soft, comfortable moan.

Squinting, Han Lu, lying on the latex mattress, exclaimed, "This bed is so comfortable!"

Having grown accustomed to sleeping on stone and wooden beds in the Central Plains, it's quite normal for Han Lu to have such feelings.

Having acquired four more magical treasures left behind by ancient cultivators, Han Lu, in high spirits, drifted off to sleep in the blink of an eye.

In her dream, she saw herself transformed into the True Spirit Ice Phoenix, carrying Wen Er Ya as they soared freely through the skies of the Ancient Cultivation Realm, searching together for other lost ancient cultivation treasures.

But this beautiful story didn't last long, as the various weapons from the Hans Company disrupted her journey with Senior Sister Wen.

After being hit by a missile, Han Lu, who had accidentally rolled over and landed on the ground, was awakened. She covered her head, which had hit the ground, and slowly got up from the floor, clinging to the bedside table.

Yawning, Han Lu looked out the window at the rising sun, then glanced at the clock on the table. "Hey, is it already 7:30 in the morning?"

Just as Han Lu was stretching and contemplating whether she should go downstairs to enjoy the hotel's buffet or rely on the food in her storage bag for breakfast, she was surprised to find that Yi Qiyan had already woken up and was sitting on another bed, coldly watching her.

Han Lu looked at Yi Qiyan, who was listless and still weak, and smiled, "Awake?"

Yi Qiyan said coldly, "Who are you? Why did you capture me and lock me up here?"

Faced with this questioning, Han Lu, the instigator who caused Yi Qiyan's predicament, felt somewhat guilty.

She brazenly retorted, "Fellow Daoist Yi Qiyan from the Southern Frontier, is this how you treat your savior?"

When Han Lu questioned her like this, Yi Qiyan, who had just regained consciousness, was stunned and repeated, "My savior?"

“That’s right,” Han Lu said, “Do you remember what happened before you fell into a coma?”

Yi Qiyan shook her head, then nodded. "I remember chasing a True Spirit Phoenix to the outskirts of Pengcheng, but I was no match for it at all."

"It knocked me down at will, and I fell from a great height to the ground, feeling completely disoriented."

"Finally, I forced myself to take two pills, and then... I passed out."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu realized that the story she had made up connected with Yi Qiyan's experience, so she quickly replied, "Then, the phoenix flew away, but the Hans Company found you in the jungle, injected you with an anesthetic, and planned to capture you and put you on a table for research."

"Just as you were being tied up and about to be transported away, I arrived by tracking the True Spirit Phoenix and rescued you from the hands of the Hans Company."

"Of course, I didn't forget your magical artifacts and storage bag either; they're all there."

Han Lu pointed to the only table in the room, on which sat Yi Qiyan's green bamboo and two storage bags.

Upon hearing this, Yi Qiyan looked ashamed.

She did not doubt the story Han Lu told her.

"I'm sorry, Fellow Daoist Han, I misunderstood you." Yi Qiyan, who also had some information about other treasure hunters, naturally recognized Han Lu's identity after she regained her senses. "Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Han."

Han Lu, the bad guy, ended up getting Yi Qiyan, the victim, to say thank you.

This development made Han Lu laugh out loud in her heart.

"I didn't help you for nothing. In the future, I might come to Southern Xinjiang..." Han Lu deliberately only said half of her sentence.

Yi Qiyan quickly replied, "If there's anything I can do to help, Fellow Daoist Han, please feel free to ask. Don't be shy."

Han Lu nodded in satisfaction, casually released the restraints binding Yi Qiyan, and said, "Fellow Daoist Yi, I'm relieved to hear you say that."

Chapter 203 Gathering in Shenzhen

In reality, Yi Qiyan, who was born in the southern border region and had seen many intrigues, was not someone who easily trusted others.

But the current situation and Han Lu's story forced her to place her trust in Han Lu.

Suffering from the cold poison, Yi Qiyan is still unable to use her spiritual power. Even a mortal with a gun could pose a threat to her, let alone Han Lu.

Given this situation, even if Han Lu hadn't presented such a highly credible story, Yi Qiyan would have compromised, covered her eyes with leaves, and chosen to trust Han Lu to avoid losing her life in vain.

Now, with a "friend" claiming to be her savior, and her storage bag and magical artifacts back by her side, Yi Qiyan felt that there couldn't be a better outcome.