The Long Journey to Immortality

With a loud shout, Zhongli Li's already tattered clothes were torn open again.

The Soul-Suppressing Tower was also sent flying thirty meters away by this angry shout, temporarily losing its spirituality and reverting to its small and cute appearance.

In just one exchange, Zhongli Li neutralized Han Lu and Wen Erya's attacks with the crudest and simplest methods, displaying a style befitting a high-level cultivator dealing with a junior cultivator.

The magical artifact was easily knocked away, and Wen Erya's expression turned somewhat unpleasant. She casually put the artifact back into her storage bag. Wen Erya felt more and more that she should change her approach to deal with Zhongli Li, who was now too fierce to be confronted head-on.

Just as she was about to make a suggestion, Han Lu opened her mouth first and said something that she found unbelievable.

"Senior sister, you should stay a little further away. I'll fight him one-on-one."

Han Lu spoke in the same tone as usual, but the meaning behind her words made Wen Erya think that Han Lu must be joking.

Wen Erya said, "Junior sister, Zhongli Li's cultivation level has temporarily reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Even if the two of us join forces, we might not be able to defeat him. You still want to... fight him one-on-one?"

“Yes, it’s a one-on-one fight,” Han Lu repeated the word. “Don’t worry, he has a trump card, and so do I. Senior sister will watch as I challenge someone above my level and beat this little fat guy down.”

Wen Erya assumed that Han Lu was trying to mislead Zhong Lili, so she nodded and said nothing more.

She thought to herself, "Junior Sister probably means I should wait for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack? That must be it."

Zhong Lili overheard every word of Han Lu and Wen Erya's conversation.

Seeing Han Lu take the initiative to challenge him to a duel, Zhong Lili couldn't help but let out three unpleasant laughs. "Should I say he's courageous or ignorant of his own limitations?"

"If you surrender now and sever your spiritual veins, I might take you and your sister as my personal maids, since you have such good looks."

What do you think?

“I’m not interested,” Han Lu replied. “I think you should think of some words to beg for mercy beforehand, instead of being like your senior brother Yuwen, who has no originality and can only mumble a few words begging senior Han Lu to show mercy.”

In a contest of academic papers, Han Lu slightly outperformed Zhong Lili.

"Sharp-tongued and quick-witted, he's courting death."

After spitting out eight words through gritted teeth, Zhong Lili was too lazy to waste any more words.

Forced to be activated by the "portable old man," the temporarily generated dantian qi sea began to operate, with nearly ten times the spiritual power that had been circulating in his body five minutes earlier.

A battle between the most powerful cultivators that can be witnessed in this ancient cultivation realm is about to erupt.

[Author's Note] It's time for another Q&A session. (laughs, actually it's more like answering questions.)

There are two posts with suggestions and questions.

Someone asked why Hans Company didn't use high-voltage electricity against the monks. The monks could unleash lightning and use magic to defend themselves, so they weren't afraid of high-voltage electricity.

The second question is, why didn't Hans Company consider "expanding its territory" after knowing about the existence of the outside world?

Even Qi Refining cultivators can swagger around in front of Hans Corporation, whose technology has gone astray. In addition, cultivators from the Central Plains only come to this world once every 100,000 years and stay for no more than 30 days. Hans Corporation is not stupid enough to abandon its position as the mountain king and go to the Central Plains to cause trouble for Nascent Soul cultivators.

Chapter 224 I'm Not Human Anymore!

Borrowed power cannot remain with one's own body for long. Zhongli Li stopped arguing with Han Lu and took the initiative to attack.

Zhongli pointed to the sky, and in the blink of an eye, the once azure sky was suddenly filled with clouds.

The white clouds turned into dark clouds, and a strong wind suddenly arose, as if a massive rainstorm would descend upon the area at any moment.

"Are you going to use lightning magic?"

Upon seeing this, Han Lu instantly understood Zhong Lili's plan.

Because he only temporarily raised his cultivation level to the equivalent of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, Zhongli Li was not actually familiar with many spells that only Foundation Establishment cultivators could use, and he did not have any magic artifacts at his disposal.

In some respects, apart from the amount of spiritual power, Zhongli Li in this matter is not much different from him when he was in the Qi Refining stage.

Therefore, in order to make full use of his Foundation Establishment level spiritual power advantage, Zhongli Li chose to use the "thunder technique" that is rarely used by ordinary cultivators to deal with Han Lu.

The power of the summoned lightning depends on the cultivator's mastery of lightning magic and the amount of spiritual power used to unleash it.

Therefore, this move is perfect for Zhongli to use at this time, so as to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses.

Knowing what methods the opponent intended to use, Han Lu, with her rich combat experience and exposure to science and culture in this world, quickly devised a countermeasure.

She stomped her left foot on the ground, made a hand seal with her right hand, and chanted incantations as she unleashed the earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic technique) that she had been using frequently recently.

While Zhongli was still casting spells to change the weather and clattering thunder, preparing for a lightning strike, Han Lu had already burrowed deep underground and hidden herself away.

Diving underground wasn't enough. For safety's sake, Han Lu also used the Five Elements Qi to protect her body, fearing that the scientific knowledge she had heard about might be wrong and that she would be struck dead by Zhong Lili's lightning strike while she was completely unprepared.

Three breaths later, a bolt of lightning descended from the dark clouds, striking down at the spot where Han Lu had just stood, under Zhongli Li's command.

A bolt of lightning, as thick as a water vat, struck the ground, blasting a hole three meters deep into the already uneven ground caused by Yuwen Bing's magic.

The lightning was incredibly powerful, but it didn't affect Han Lu in the slightest at a distance of nearly twenty meters from the ground.

Seeing this, Zhongli Li knew that it was because he had no choice but to use lightning magic and had made too many preparations that Han Lu was able to easily dodge the lightning. However, he was still standing on the spirit sword cursing, saying, "Han Lu, you don't have the blood of a monster rat, do you? Why did you dig a hole and run away as soon as you saw me?"

Han Lu couldn't speak while burrowing into the ground, but she thought to herself, "You used evil secret techniques to improve your cultivation. Only a fool would fight you head-on. Although I want to test whether I can beat a Foundation Establishment cultivator now, it doesn't mean I'm going to stand there and get struck by lightning."

After cursing a few more times, seeing that Han Lu remained unmoved, Zhong Lili turned his gaze to Wen Erya, who was standing guard to the side, and said, "Since you are avoiding the fight, then I will fight your senior sister first."

After he finished speaking, the thunder that had been brewing for so long struck down in the blink of an eye.

Upon seeing the lightning, Wen Erya's expression changed slightly. She quickly moved away according to the principle of the Five Elements restraint, summoned three fire shields to place above her head, and took out a white jade magic tool to activate a white protective shield to protect her entire body.

How could the lightning summoned by a Foundation Establishment cultivator be so easily resisted?

The three fire shields were shattered by the lightning in an instant. Although the white jade artifact in Wen Erya's hand protected her, causing her to only suffer a slight electric shock and change her "fashionable" hairstyle, the white jade was cracked by the fierce attack and completely lost its magical power, becoming even worse than ordinary white jade.

In just one encounter, although she was not injured, Wen Erya fully realized the gap between herself and Zhong Lili in the present.

When Han Lu heard that Zhongli Li was going to deal with Wen Erya, she knew something was wrong and quickly returned to the ground, just in time to see Wen Erya stunned by a lightning bolt.

Knowing that Wen Erya was no match for Zhong Lili in his current state, Han Lu quickly spoke up, trying to use sarcastic words to draw Zhong Lili's hatred away, so that Wen Erya would not be targeted by Zhong Lili and get injured or even killed.

Han Lu said, "Zhong Lili, you little fatty..."

Before Han Lu could finish her sentence, Zhong Lili, who had been scolded for being fat, was filled with rage and immediately summoned three more bolts of lightning to strike Han Lu.

Compared to Wen Erya's direct approach to dealing with lightning magic, Han Lu, with her richer spiritual power, used a simpler but more effective method.

Points of light shone on Han Lu's exposed skin. She simply mobilized her spiritual power to unleash the Five Elements Qi, using protective techniques to directly clash with Zhong Lili's lightning magic.

The Five Elements Qi, which is similar to the protective Qi of a Golden Core cultivator, is quite effective against thunder and lightning spells.

After the three bolts of lightning, Han Lu was unharmed, only having consumed nearly 20% of her spiritual power, and fought Zhong Li to a standstill.

Seeing over a hundred points of light emanating from Han Lu's body, Zhongli Li was quite surprised, thinking to himself, "Just who is this Han Lu? Her magical power is so profound?"

After seeing that Han Lu had been struck by lightning twice more without even her clothes being torn, Zhongli Li, who had temporarily advanced to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, completely abandoned his contempt and regarded Han Lu as an opponent of the same level.

Realizing he couldn't win over Han Lu anytime soon, Zhong Lili suppressed his anger and decided to target Wen Erya instead.

Relying on his current Foundation Establishment stage, Zhongli flew on his sword, maximizing his mobility, which far surpassed that of Qi Refining cultivators. He used all sorts of methods to dodge Han Lu while relentlessly pursuing Wen Erya.

Han Lu only has two moves, illusion and spirit sword, that can pose a significant threat to Zhong Lili in his current state, but that's all she can do.

With limited cultivation, Han Lu's many methods that were quite effective against Qi Refining cultivators were completely useless against Zhong Li's current strength, leaving Han Lu feeling powerless.

Feeling anxious and irritable, and just as Wen Erya was being chased and attacked by Zhong Lili, she coughed up blood twice in a row, which made Han Lu completely abandon her original plan to compete with Zhong Lili in human form.

With a formidable enemy at hand, in this critical moment, she couldn't afford to keep her possession of true spirit bloodline a secret from Wen Erya.

Forcefully using her sword to block Wen Erya, Han Lu helped her withstand three or two moves from Zhong Lili. She shouted angrily, "Zhong Lili, I originally wanted to let you live a little longer, but since you've targeted my senior sister like this, I have no choice but to use all my skills to teach you a lesson in how to be a decent human being."

"Oh?" Zhongli Li didn't believe that Han Lu, who was already so powerful, had any other tricks up her sleeve.

As the True Phoenix Manual was activated, Han Lu's clothes emitted a faint glow.

"Human abilities have limits. I've learned one thing from my short life: the more you scheme and plot, the more you'll discover the limitations of human capabilities, unless you transcend them..."

The light completely enveloped Han Lu, and under Wen Erya's astonished gaze, Han Lu openly transformed into a true spirit for the first time.

When she transformed into the Ice Phoenix, she let out a sharp phoenix cry at Zhongli Li, speaking in a language no one else could understand.

"I'm not going to be human anymore."

[Author's Note] Just playing with the references.

Chapter 225 Easily Resolved

As Han Lu transformed from human form into her true spirit form, the other two people present were filled with surprise.

Looking at the phoenix protecting her, Wen Erya was filled with mixed emotions, unsure whether to speak or what to say.

Wen Erya instantly recalled the two True Spirit Phoenixes, one large and one small, that she had seen at the Yanzhao Yanyang Sect a year and a half ago. She immediately realized that the young phoenix she had seen that day was most likely her unassuming junior sister in disguise.

And the techniques and moves that his junior sister used in the selection competition were mostly true spiritual supernatural powers.

When Zhongli saw the phoenix that Han Lu had transformed into, he connected Han Lu with the traces of the true spirit that had appeared in Pengcheng.

He asked, "The true spirit that appeared in Pengcheng is you?"

Han Lu had not yet mastered the ability to speak human language in her true spirit state, so she simply chirped in response.

Zhongli couldn't understand Fengyu, but he could still understand that Hanlu had admitted it.

In Zhong Lili's view, the beginning of this series of stories was that Han Lu's transformed True Spirit Phoenix appeared in Pengcheng, attracting the attention of the four of them and Lu Liangcai.

Thus, Han Lu, who had only acted this way in Pengcheng to provoke Yi Qiyan, was not only branded a murderer by Zhong Lili, but also labeled a liar.

This gave Zhong Lili another reason to tear apart the culprit Han Lu and avenge his senior brother.

As Zhong Lili was pondering, the "old man" in the ring suddenly spoke in his mind, reminding him, "Little Zhong, don't just stand there in a daze, hurry up and do it. The power I lent you can last for half a cup of tea's time."

"If you haven't finished the battle by the time the time is up, then something terrible is going to happen."

Zhongli Li then came to his senses and glared angrily at the phoenix, as if he wanted to put Han Lu's transformed spirit into a clay pot and make phoenix soup.

“So what if you become a true spirit?” Zhongli Li laughed. “You’d probably just want to provide me with more materials for refining Qi and offer up your feathers.”

“It just so happens that I’m still missing a set of winter clothes. After I kill you, I’ll pluck all your feathers and make a set of clothes for you. That way, I’ll make the most of you.”

"Haha."

After chuckling twice, Zhongli Li took out a magical artifact from his storage bag and quickly unleashed his spiritual power to engage in battle.

A bronze mirror appeared in his hand.

Zhongli pointed the bronze mirror at Han Lu and shouted, "Freeze it for me!"

After the spiritual energy was infused, the blurry surface of the bronze mirror revealed the shape of the Ice Phoenix.