The Long Journey to Immortality

She doesn't need to create trouble for herself; she can simply accept it.

As for Han Lu being the true spirit of the phoenix, Yi Qiyan's imagination simply didn't include this as a possible option.

Han Lu wanted to make her pursuit of the true spirit phoenix seem more authentic.

After lifting the restrictions that bound Yi Qiyan, she asked a few more questions about the phoenix, pretending that she was still searching for the whereabouts of the phoenix's true spirit.

Yi Qiyan did not hide anything and answered all the questions she knew.

This behavior convinced Han Lu that Yi Qiyan regarded her as her savior, and she completely put her mind at ease with Yi Qiyan, who was now no different from an ordinary person.

After answering Han Lu's question, and recalling her own experience, Yi Qiyan reminded Han Lu again, "A true spirit is still a true spirit. Even the true spirits of this strange world possess power far exceeding that of cultivators of the same level."

"Fellow Daoist Han, although I know you are a genius of the Zhengyi Sect with amazing strength, I still suggest you don't provoke it, at least don't provoke that True Spirit Phoenix alone, lest you end up like me."

When this warning reached Han Lu's ears, it sounded like praise, making her feel very comfortable.

But she still had to put on a show. Han Lu, sticking to her genius persona, put on a nonchalant attitude and said, "Fellow Daoist Yi, I've seen a few of your battles with that phoenix. If your poison and insect techniques hadn't been countered by that true spirit, you wouldn't have been beaten so badly."

“I am different from you. I believe that if I were to face that Phoenix Spirit, it would be no problem to fight it to a standstill.”

“What Fellow Daoist Han said makes a lot of sense,” Yi Qiyan said tactfully, no longer mentioning the power of the True Spirit, and advised Han Lu not to seek trouble with the True Spirit. “Then I will not say anything more and will be the bad guy.”

Next, Yi Qiyan inquired about Han Lu's current physical condition and asked if Han Lu could help her get rid of the cold poison.

Han Lu, who had temporarily set aside her true spirit identity, naturally did not show any knowledge of the cold poison. She simply shook her head and sighed, indicating that she was not good at treating injuries and was powerless to help Yi Qiyan in her current condition.

Injuring Yi Qiyan was part of her plan; she wasn't going to be foolish enough to play the good guy to the end.

Although her spiritual veins were damaged, her life was not in danger, so Yi Qiyan could only silently accept reality.

Yi Qiyan hoped that the pills she took would alleviate her symptoms, so that this injury would not damage her foundation and affect her future advancement to Foundation Establishment and Golden Core.

After resolving the matter with Yi Qiyan, Han Lu had no more ties in Pengcheng. She then brought up the matter of leaving Pengcheng in front of Yi Qiyan, citing her continued pursuit of the true spirit as an excuse.

After inquiring whether Yi Qiyan had a place to stay and learning that she had been sleeping outdoors for the past few days, Han Lu generously extended the room rate for the business suite for another ten days and gave it to Yi Qiyan so that her patient wouldn't have to sleep under a bridge for the next period of time.

The story of Yi Qiyan, who is powerless and lives with a homeless man, is somewhat terrifying to Han Lu.

Yi Qiyan had no way to repay Han Lu for her care, so she could only ask Han Lu to take out two spirit stones from her storage bag as a token of her gratitude.

Han Lu accepted the insignificant gift without hesitation and reminded Yi Qiyan to be careful.

"The True Spirit Phoenix has caused such a commotion in Pengcheng that in the next few days, other treasure hunters scattered in several nearby cities will likely take notice and gather in Pengcheng, hoping to use the True Spirit as a breakthrough to find ancient cultivation treasures."

"You'd better hide well, don't let anyone find out," Han Lu said with a meaningful smile. "Not everyone is as kind-hearted as me."

Yi Qiyan nodded solemnly and said, "Fellow Daoist Han, rest assured, I will not leave this room until my injuries have healed."

Yi Qiyan knew far better than Han Lu about the grudges and entanglements between the Southern Frontier and the Central Plains. Having barely escaped with her life, Yi Qiyan was not about to give it away for nothing.

Before leaving the hotel, Han Lu made a point of going to the front desk to remind Yi Qiyan so that the hotel wouldn't misunderstand and kick her out.

To her surprise, as soon as Han Lu arrived at the hotel reception, she saw an arrest warrant issued by Hans Company with Yi Qiyan's photo on it.

The wanted poster did not reveal Yi Qiyan's identity, but only stated that Yi Qiyan was a dangerous person who possessed heavy firearms and had committed crimes of theft and damage to Hans Company's property.

Clearly, Hans Company pinned the theft case committed by Han Lu in Pengcheng on Yi Qiyan.

Poor Yi Qiyan was not only injured by Han Lu, but also had to treat Han Lu as her benefactor and even help Han Lu take the blame.

Such a tragic experience made Han Lu feel a little sorry for Yi Qiyan, so she quickly found a secluded place and sent her a paper sword.

She was reminded to change her appearance slightly, lest she be caught by Hans Company as soon as the arrest warrant was issued.

At noon, Han Lu once again used the illusion talisman to board a high-speed train.

This journey is long; it will take twelve hours by high-speed rail to get from Shenzhen to Hans City.

Han Lu felt that Hans Company had probably already noticed her series of actions, and some clever treasure hunters might have already embarked on the same path as her.

If she were to continue "grabbing" cities one by one at this point, she would definitely fall behind.

By heading to Hans City early and stealing treasure from the Hans headquarters vault, Han Lu felt confident that she could become the biggest winner of this ancient cultivation secret realm trip.

No sooner had Han Lu left Pengcheng than five treasure hunters from various factions headed toward Pengcheng.

Some people, like Han Lu, use strange and unusual methods to hitch a ride on modern transportation.

Some rely on their own two feet and use lightness techniques to travel.

Some also travel by flying vehicles with invisibility capabilities.

On the morning of the fifth day of their journey through the ancient cultivation realm, the five treasure hunters arrived in Pengcheng, heading in unison.

Their purpose in coming to Shenzhen was, of course, to search for traces of the true spirit.

Among the treasure hunters, there are those with quick minds like Han Lu, and naturally, there are also those who are dull-witted.

These five treasure hunters belonged to the category of those who were not very bright, and they were unable to find a breakthrough in this world that was so different from the Central Plains.

So, like Yi Qiyan, the group took Han Lu's transformed spirit as a clue, hoping to break the deadlock with this clue related to the cultivation civilization.

The facts speak for themselves: their trip to Shenzhen was destined to be a complete waste.

Chapter 204 Drawing Water with a Bamboo Basket

The five well-informed cultivators who came to Pengcheng in search of the true spirit were all disciples of the three major sects in the Central Plains.

One was from Zhengyi Sect, two were from Xuanyang Valley, and two were from Qiyue Alliance.

Among them, the one from Zhengyi Sect was an acquaintance of Han Lu, Lu Liangcai, whom she had defeated in the selection competition.

Pengcheng is such a small city, and the group arrived at the woods where the true spirit disappeared yesterday within just half an hour, so they naturally met.

Fortunately, they were all from the Central Plains, and some of them even had a spiritual connection with each other. This made the five of them very amicable when they met. Not only did they not intend to fight, but they also took the initiative to share the information they had found in this ancient cultivation secret realm.

Of the five, Lu Liangcai is the most fashionable.

Although all five were dressed in modern clothes, only Lu Liangcai not only changed his clothes but also started using a mobile phone.

During their conversation, Lu Liangcai, who possessed a smartphone—a modern communication tool—became the center of attention.

He had downloaded a lot of video messages about the true spirit of Pengcheng before Hans Company's Harmony Network blocked the information.

Now is the perfect time to share this with fellow Daoists in the Central Plains region.

Five cultivators standing together around a small mobile phone screen watching a video is an extremely rare sight.

The four people, except for Lu Liangcai, were quite interested in the video playing on the phone.

Although the videos taken by those self-media using drones were blurry, they watched them very carefully, afraid of missing even the slightest bit of crucial information.

There were three videos and two reports in total. After watching them, Lu Liangcai offered his own thoughts on the matter, serving as a starting point for discussion.

"These past few days, I've been struggling to find any trace of cultivation in this world. So when I first saw these short videos and witnessed a true spirit appearing in this world, I was quite excited. Without much thought, I rushed to Pengcheng. I'm sure you all felt the same way."

Lu Liangcai's words expressed the sentiments of everyone. A cultivator named Chu Fei from the Seven Mountains Alliance chimed in, "Fellow Daoist Lu is absolutely right. When I saw this news while standing on the street, I decided to come to Pengcheng."

The remaining people said similar things, and they found common ground on this issue.

Lu Liangcai felt the atmosphere was getting lively, so he shared the information he had obtained from these videos with these fellow cultivators who didn't seem stupid. "Do you all recognize the female cultivator who fought the True Spirit in the video just now? She looks like Fellow Daoist Yi Qiyan from the Southern Frontier."

"It's about 70% similar."

I think so too.

"Yi Qiyan? Who is that?"

"Yi Qiyan, that name sounds familiar."

……

Compared to the Xuan Yang Valley cultivators living in the northern region, the two cultivators from the Seven Mountains Alliance had a much better understanding of the Southern Frontier and had naturally heard of Yi Qiyan's name.

“Then let’s assume she is Yi Qiyan. Does anyone recognize the true spirit that fought against Yi Qiyan?” Lu Liangcai asked again. “If you do, it might increase our chances of finding that true spirit and then following the clues to find the ancient cultivation treasure.”

In the modern city, Yi Qiyan and six other cultivators, including Lu Liangcai, all regard Han Lu, who has transformed into the True Spirit Ice Phoenix, as the guardian of the ancient cultivation treasure.

Hearing this, the two Xuan Yang Valley cultivators who had just acted awkwardly had something to say.

"I consulted a lot of information for this trip to the ancient cultivation secret realm, and I also got to know quite a few true spirits that were active on the continent during the ancient cultivation era..." Yuwen Bing from Xuan Yang Valley concluded, "The true spirit that appeared in Pengcheng yesterday should be a phoenix, but judging from its appearance, I can't determine what kind of phoenix it is."

"It should be an ice phoenix..."

"The moves they used are somewhat similar."

"Really? I think this spirit has used quite a few external martial arts techniques; it might be a strangely colored phoenix."

……

The group shared their guesses and predictions, but none of them guessed the correct answer.

Lu Liangcai was quite helpless about this, and could only suggest, "How about this, according to my observation, the true spirit of the phoenix disappeared in this forest yesterday, and its nest may be here."

"Let's split up and search separately; maybe we can find some clues."

After Lu Liangcai finished speaking, Yuwen Bing raised an objection, "Fellow Daoist Lu, what if someone finds the phoenix's nest and takes all the treasures inside for themselves?"

Shaking his head, Lu Liangcai said, "Fellow Daoists who have this idea are welcome to give it a try. When the time comes, I will do you a favor and help you collect your corpses."

Lu Liangcai's words were cold and detached, and Chu Fei asked in confusion, "Fellow Daoist Lu, what do you mean by that?"

Lu Liangcai used Yi Qiyan as an example, "Yi Qiyan was one of the top two Qi Refining cultivators in the Southern Frontier. She was beaten to a pulp by that True Spirit and disappeared without a trace. I don't think any of us have the possibility of defeating that Phoenix True Spirit in a one-on-one fight. Without joining forces to fight outnumbered, this matter definitely cannot be accomplished."

The two cultivators from Xuan Yang Valley did not take Lu Liangcai's words to heart.

Yuwen Bing said, "Since Fellow Daoist Lu is so timid, why don't we split up? We'll work in pairs, and you can do as you please."

They had been chatting happily just moments before, but when it came time to divide the spoils, Yuwen Bing didn't hesitate to ditch the other three, whom he considered burdensome, and decisively teamed up with his junior brother.

Lu Liangcai had anticipated this, so he said nothing more and watched the two leave.

The two members of the Seven Mountains Alliance were kind enough to invite Lu Liangcai to join them.

Lu Liangcai thanked him repeatedly and temporarily teamed up with Chu Fei and the other two, splitting up in the small forest to search for the phoenix.

However, the forest had already been thoroughly searched by Hans Corporation's security department the day before, and even the feather that had fallen naturally from Han Lu was found and taken away by Hans Corporation's elite agents.

Even though the five were cultivators, they could only find countless footprints in the damp territory.

There's nothing else.

Slightly disappointed, the two Xuan Yang Valley cultivators, who had just been clamoring to part ways, shamelessly approached Lu Liangcai again, hoping that this seemingly clear-headed and opinionated cultivator could help them find their way.

Lu Liangcai was somewhat helpless, but he still cherished this opportunity to take advantage of others. Without hesitation, he laid out the plan he had been brewing in his mind for the past few days and sought the support of the four people.