The Long Journey to Immortality

He didn't get much from the ancient cultivation secret realm, but he felt it was enough to satisfy his mission, so he used it to give Master Yunmin some face.

Sure enough, upon seeing the numerous aged spiritual plants and rare materials in Lu Liangcai's storage bag, Master Yunmin was in high spirits.

The leaders of other factions also offered their congratulations, secretly anticipating the treasures their disciples would present.

It should be noted that many of these spiritual plants have become extinct in the Central Plains.

If we could transplant and cultivate the seeds for widespread planting, even if the number of new plants produced was less than a few years, that would be a tremendous good thing.

Seeing that Master Yunmin, the leader of the Zhengyi Sect, did not hold back his praise for Lu Liangcai and presented him with a magic weapon on the spot, the two cultivators from the Seven Mountains Alliance could not suppress their desire to offer their own treasures.

The two handed their storage bags to the sect leader of their respective mountain to complete a procedure, and then the sect leader delivered the storage bags to Alliance Leader Situ and Alliance Leader Bai.

If you really want to calculate their individual gains, each of them is less than Lu Liangcai's, but combined, they are much more than Lu Liangcai's.

Having lost his momentum, Master Yunmin was slightly displeased.

Lu Liangcai noticed this and quickly said loudly, "Sect Master, I have some good news to report to you."

Upon hearing that it was good news, Daoist Yunmin said, "Tell me quickly."

"As far as I know, Junior Sister Han and Senior Sister Wen have returned with a full load from this trip. Their storage bags are filled with countless spiritual artifacts and treasures, far surpassing what I have ever seen."

"A hundred times?" After doing a simple calculation, even a Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't remain calm this time.

"Is this true?" This time, it was the Supreme Elder of the Zhengyi Sect, Venerable Qingyang, who asked the question.

Lu Liangcai quickly corrected a few words and continued, "In reply to the Venerable One, the gains of the two fellow disciples are at least fifty times greater than they were a hundred times."

Even Venerable Qingyang could not remain calm in the face of Lingbao, and said "good" three times in a row.

The Nascent Soul cultivators standing nearby couldn't help but feel a little envious.

But upon closer reflection, his own disciples were no less capable than Han and Wen, whom Lu Liangcai had mentioned.

Naturally, they hoped that the disciples in the sect would live up to their expectations and bring out more good items.

Everyone already knew about the final test from Lu Liangcai. All the big shots in the cultivation world knew that the cultivators who left the ancient cultivation secret realm later would at least gain something in the final trial.

Therefore, no one was in a hurry; everyone patiently waited for their disciples to emerge from the secret realm and return laden with spoils.

It took about three and a half days for the seventeen cultivators, including Wen Erya, to successfully pass through the teleportation portal and leave the ancient cultivation secret realm.

The secret treasure in Wen Erya's storage bag allowed the Zhengyi Sect to make a name for themselves in front of their fellow cultivators.

Having obtained numerous treasures and learning that Wen Erya had received a portion of Wang Han's inheritance, Venerable Qingyang and True Person Yunmin promised Wen Erya a great deal of benefits without hesitation. They granted Wen Erya the right to choose her spoils and regarded her as the leading figure of the younger generation of the Zhengyi Sect and a future Nascent Soul cultivator.

When Yunmin Zhenren learned from Wen Erya that Han Lu's spoils of war were no less than Wen Erya's, the usually composed Yunmin Zhenren almost laughed so hard her mouth twisted.

"Good, this is the first step in the rise of the Zhengyi Sect."

There was joy as well as sorrow. Countless talented cultivators fell in the secret realm, and the leaders of the major forces inevitably showed some worry on their faces.

Especially the two Nascent Soul cultivators from the Western Regions.

The three heroes of the Western Regions all perished in the secret realm, which is a devastating blow to the younger generation of the Western Regions.

Even after Yi Qiyan, who had fully inherited the legacy of an ancient cultivator, left the ancient cultivation secret realm, Han Lu was still nowhere to be seen outside the teleportation portal.

This puzzled Wen Erya, who left the ancient cultivation secret realm at the same time as Han Lu, and she had a vague sense of unease.

"Is my junior sister in some kind of trouble?"

Meanwhile, to the west of the Central Plains region.

After flying aimlessly through the wilderness, Han Lu finally found a village. Just as she was about to ask how far her location was from the deep valley next to the Seven Mountains Alliance, she was surprised to find that the villagers' accents were completely different from those in the Central Plains.

She could barely understand seven out of ten words.

With a sharp look in her eyes, Han Lu realized that she had most likely been teleported to a region far from the Central Plains.

Looking at the mortals who addressed her as "senior" and "immortal," Han Lu felt a little helpless and thought to herself, "Senior Wang Han, where have you sent me?"

[Author's Note] I think I updated an extra 1000 words on my birthday, lol. I'd like to ask for another recommendation vote.

Chapter 249 General Han Lu Who Slays Tigers

Upon leaving the portal and realizing that she had not returned to the deep valley to meet her teachers and seniors, Han Lu guessed that something must have gone wrong when she left the ancient cultivation secret realm.

But she didn't panic. Instead, she took out a compass she had brought from the ancient cultivation secret realm, determined a general direction, and then flew on her sword into the air, looking around.

Once she found the official road, Han Lu followed it in the same way she had when she escaped from Xiaoyaozi's cave, choosing a direction to travel along it.

The last time she did this, she had just been reborn and started cultivating again, and not a single acupoint on her body was open, just like an ordinary person.

This time, although only three years have passed, she is very different from before.

Having just returned from the ancient cultivation realm laden with treasures, Han Lu not only obtained numerous secret treasures but also received the complete inheritance of Fang Lin, the number one sword cultivator of ancient times, and her cultivation level reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

There is absolutely no need to panic when you land in this desolate wilderness with traces of the mundane world.

Flying on her sword, after traveling for about half a cup of tea's time, Han Lu saw a small town at the end of the official road.

It was late winter, and there was still a thin layer of snow on the farmland outside the village. Only a few villagers were working hard in the fields with their farm tools.

Leading oxen to level the land, clearing paths, and cleaning up leftover compost and stale material, they prepared for the spring plowing that would begin in a few days.

Han Lu was trying to figure out where she was and where the Zhengyi Sect was. The mortals in front of her couldn't answer the second question, but they were good candidates to answer the first one.

Flying on a sword, he descended from the sky. With his "cool" entrance, beautiful face, and gorgeous clothes, several ordinary farmers immediately put down their work, knelt down on the spot, and shouted "Greetings, Immortal Master!"

These two sentences, spoken with a heavy accent, gave Han Lu an ominous feeling just by hearing them.

"I've most likely left the Central Plains by now."

“In the Central Plains, the relationship between the mortal and the secular world is very close. Although mortals respect cultivators, they do not fear them in this way.”

"The people of the Western Regions do not like farming, so could it be that I have run away to the Southern Frontier?"

Han Lu, who didn't show her true thoughts on her face, casually transformed her spirit sword into a beam of light and put it back into her storage bag. Her face remained frosty, maintaining the demeanor of a master, and she asked, "Where is this place?"

Although Han Lu has a different kind of humanistic concern for mortals than other cultivators, at this moment, asking her questions with a stern face would get her the answer she wanted more quickly.

Among the seven or eight farmers kneeling to greet him, a young man wearing a turban and looking like a scholar answered first, "Replying to the Immortal Master, this place is Huilin Township, Yuxi County, Dongzhou Prefecture."

Han Lu barely understood the young man's reply, but she still managed to comprehend it.

"Prefecture? County? Township?" Han Lu had never heard of such a level of regional organization in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

According to the arrangements made by Fang Lin and other ancient builders 100,000 years ago, the Northern and Southern Dynasties used cities as regional capitals, and below the cities there were only villages as the level of government.

Upon hearing a place name she had never heard of before, Han Lu knew that she had definitely left the Central Plains, the Western Regions, and the Southern Frontier, and had ended up in a strange, unknown place.

Sighing inwardly at her bad luck, Han Lu still asked one more question, "Do you know about the Zhengyi Sect?"

“I know, I know,” the scholar-young man replied. “Isn’t the number one Confucian school in Dongzhou Prefecture the Zhengyi School? The two mountain lords of Jiulong Mountain, the second largest cultivation sect in Dongzhou Prefecture, studied Confucianism under the Zhengyi School when they were still mortals.”

"Senior, are you a guest elder of the Zhengyi Sect?"

After hearing the first half of the sentence, Han Lu, who was initially excited, realized after hearing the second half that she had simply encountered a force with the same name as her sect.

As for the young intellectuals' words, she did not answer, neither denying nor affirming them.

Seeing that Han Lu did not answer, the young scholar did not dare to ask any more questions, for fear of offending Han Lu and bringing disaster upon himself and his fellow villagers.

After sorting out her thoughts, Han Lu decided to find a large city to settle down temporarily.

She had gold, silver, and spirit stones in her storage bag, and felt confident that finding a place to settle down in this unfamiliar land where she could speak the same language shouldn't be a problem.

Only by settling down can one figure out where they are, and only then can they sit down and meditate to cultivate and try to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage.

After figuring out her next steps, Han Lu asked, "Where is Yuxi County located?"

The young scholar hesitated slightly when answering the question.

Han Lu was slightly puzzled by his hesitation in answering such a simple question. "What? You don't know?"

The young man straightened his clothes and knelt down like the villagers around him, saying, "In reply to the Immortal Master, we have a request to make, and we are afraid that after answering your question, you will simply fly away on your sword, leaving our wishes unfulfilled."

Clearly, the young man meant that he wanted to make an unequal deal with Han Lu.

Han Lu didn't mind and casually said, "Go ahead and say it."

The young man was overjoyed and told Han Lu about the problems that were troubling the villagers, hoping that Han Lu, this powerful cultivator, could do him a favor and lend a hand.

It turns out that after the heavy snow in winter blocked the mountains, a demonic tiger caused trouble near Huilin Township.

A few days ago, they attacked a mountain village, eating an old man on the spot and kidnapping two young children.

"We beg the immortal to do good deeds, accumulate good karma, rid the people of evil, and help us common folk to go into the mountains and kill this vicious tiger that is threatening our village." The young man pointed to the general direction in which the tiger demon had fled, and bowed again. Many women and children who came to the fields to inquire about the matter also knelt down and bowed to Han Lu.

Even the most honest and simple people in the countryside, ordinary farmers armed with knives and spears, couldn't defeat a tiger demon that had already cultivated its power. As for seeking help from cultivators in the county town, not only would it take a lot of time, but it would also cost a considerable amount of money.

In the scholar's eyes, getting Han Lu, a kind-looking immortal, to take pity on him was the best way to help the villagers and resolve the matter.

Upon hearing that it was merely a lowly demon who dared to come to the village in winter to abduct two mere mortal children, Han Lu didn't think much of it and casually accepted the task, "It's a small matter, but..."

Upon hearing this, the scholar was overjoyed and assured him.

"When the immortal returns after slaying the demon, we will surely welcome him with food and drink."

"In addition, a map of the prefecture will be presented to guide the immortal."

“Very good,” Han Lu said, dragged along by the scholar, “You all wait for good news, I’ll be right back.”

Han Lu figured that it would take much longer to find a small demon with a cultivation level of no more than the third or fourth level of Qi Refining in the mountains than to kill it.

With the villagers watching her go, Han Lu flew away on her sword.

Just as Han Lu had predicted.

It took her a full half hour to find the tiger demon deep in the mountains.

The tiger demon's cultivation level was lower than she had imagined; it was only at the Daoist Child level. It dared to rampage in the village simply because of its strong tiger body.

With such cultivation, the tiger demon didn't even have time to roar at Han Lu, who had disturbed it, before it was killed by a single sword strike.

Of the two kidnapped children, Han Lu only found one and a half in the cave where the tiger demon was entrenched.

A thin, small boy was quite lucky; Han Lu found him before the tiger demon ate him.

The other was less fortunate, leaving behind only half a head, a few fingers, and a pool of blood.

After much hesitation, Han Lu used her magic to freeze the child's remains, and then took the child, who was already showing signs of mental impairment, back to Huilin Township.

When the story was explained, the villagers reacted in various ways.