The Long Journey to Immortality

Standing in front of the full-length bronze mirror in the room, before Han Lu could even admire herself, she realized that her current appearance was vaguely similar to that of Senior Feng Rubing, whom she had once met.

"Could it be that I am a distant relative of Sister Ru Bing?"

Ten thousand years after the generation of True Spirits, the number of True Spirits has greatly decreased compared to before.

Given that the Phoenix Clan is of similar bloodline, Han Lu's judgment based on the facial features in human form, while somewhat arbitrary, is not without merit.

Thinking of Feng Rubing, Han Lu subconsciously opened her storage bag and took out the feather that Feng Rubing had given her.

Stroking the feather, which was slightly longer than Han Lu's right middle finger, she thought to herself.

"Now I am in the Great Yu Dynasty, a place I don't know well, and my strength is far inferior to that of the top cultivators of the Great Yu Dynasty."

"The chances of returning to the Central Plains by any means are slim, as it will be an arduous journey with countless difficulties."

"I wonder if Sister Ru Bing has already returned to the Wilderness."

"With Sister Ru Bing's strength at the late Nascent Soul stage... if she could lend me a hand in this matter, wouldn't the success rate of returning home increase to 90%?"

After a quick thought, Han Lu immediately had the idea of ​​triggering the restrictions on the feathers to summon Sister Ru Bing for help.

However, after careful consideration, Han Lu decided to suppress the thought for the time being.

"Although Dongzhou Prefecture is not far from the wilderness, it is still separated from the wilderness by several prefectures."

"The Great Yu Dynasty has a wealth of talented cultivators, and there are probably still a few senior experts at the Nascent Soul stage who linger in the mortal realm."

"If Sister Ru Bing leaves Manhang as a True Spirit and crosses state capitals at will, she will probably be seen as provoking the Great Yu Dynasty and the Jitian Palace, bringing trouble upon herself."

"Instead of rushing to set off from the forbidden area, it would be better to wait until I reach the border of the wilderness and then use the feather to ask for help. At that time, it can not only save me from dire straits, but also prevent Sister Ru Bing from getting into trouble."

Thinking of this, Han Lu simply regarded it as a new path that could help her return to the Central Plains, and carefully put the feather away.

As for whether to return to the Central Plains in this way, that will be discussed later.

Putting Feng Rubing's story aside for the time being, Han Lu stood in front of the mirror, rubbing and pinching herself, admiring herself for a while.

After admiring herself, she turned her attention to her newly formed dantian, which was now filled with spiritual energy.

Having advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, Han Lu finally gained the ability to use spiritual power to introspect her entire body.

She sat on the bed, her eyes slightly closed, her mind focused, and she quickly sensed the changes that had occurred in various parts of her body after advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage.

In this matter, the twelve spiritual meridians in Han Lu's body no longer served as storage channels for spiritual energy, but instead became highways for the circulation of spiritual energy within the body, transporting the spiritual energy spontaneously transformed by the body from various parts to the dantian and dantian.

Because of the numerous acupoints opened in the Qi Refining stage, her innate sensitivity to Qi, and the exceptional quality of her spiritual root, Han Lu's spiritual power generated and sent to her dantian during spontaneous cultivation was roughly the same as that generated during Feng Bailu's arduous cultivation.

Gazing at the gaseous spiritual energy surging within the spiritual veins, Han Lu couldn't help but marvel once again at the astonishing talent she possessed after her reincarnation.

"If Feng Bailu had such talent, he probably wouldn't often sigh at the stars and moon at night, wouldn't go to Moyu City with his friends, wouldn't..." With these thoughts, Han Lu subconsciously broke out of her semi-meditative state, touched her soft chest, looked at her jade-like fingers, and stopped thinking nonsense.

Life is unpredictable; just cherish the present.

Once again, focus your mind and observe the energy in your lower abdomen (Dantian).

Having already experienced two Foundation Establishment memories, Han Lu was not awestruck by the spiritual energy cloud sea in her dantian, but instead gazed at the world line that resembled a natural cloud landscape and fell into thought.

Han Lu was fully aware of the steps involved in advancing from the early to the middle, and finally to the late stages of Foundation Establishment and then to Core Formation—a process that ordinary cultivators would consider "attaining immortality." The Foundation Establishment chapter of the "Great Zhou Heavenly Water Condensation Technique" she had obtained also contained detailed records of these steps.

Therefore, she was not confused about how to cultivate herself in the future.

As she gazed upon the ever-changing landscape of the spiritual energy cloud sea, she contemplated the path to the distant future.

After staring blankly at the sea of ​​spiritual energy for nearly a quarter of an hour in this state, Han Lu finally came back to her senses.

"This will only add to my troubles," Han Lu said with a self-deprecating laugh. "I should think more about how to transform my Qi into liquid as soon as possible and advance to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment."

The transformation of gas into liquid, as mentioned by Han Lu, is a major standard for advancing to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

When the spiritual energy within a Foundation Establishment cultivator becomes more condensed, a portion of it will change from a gaseous state to a liquid state, causing the scenery in the dantian's dantian to transform into a sea of ​​clouds.

This matter can be described as the cultivator achieving success in his cultivation, advancing from the early stage of Foundation Establishment to the middle stage.

What about the mid-to-late stages?

That is to create solids from the liquid ocean of spiritual energy, transforming them into countless islands and reefs.

That is to condense spiritual energy into the sun, moon, and stars in the sea of ​​clouds.

As long as even one thing forms in the dantian, the cultivator can be considered to have advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

What about the later stages, from the Great Perfection to the final Core Formation?

With diligent practice day and night, when the time is right, the stars, moon, and islands in the Qi Sea will spontaneously gather together to form a pseudo-elixir.

Using a fake elixir to draw upon the spiritual energy in the dantian and gather all the spiritual energy into it is the process of forming the elixir.

The formation of the Golden Core is similar to, but also very different from, the Foundation Establishment stage, and has many taboos, making it far more complex than the Foundation Establishment stage.

The foundation is built into three realms, each linked to the next.

Just by looking at the fact that the Zhengyi Sect has more than a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators, but only 56 Golden Core cultivators including guest elders, one can tell that the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Realm is not an easy thing.

Otherwise, Feng Bailu wouldn't have spent fifteen years failing to overcome the first hurdle of transforming qi into liquid.

Are these three things difficult for Han Lu right now?

Emerging from the state of internal vision, Han Lu, sitting upright in the guest room, felt it was not difficult.

[Author's Note] I tried my best to make the setting interesting. I didn't mention the protagonist's "giant" basketball; some readers might have misunderstood. It's just a bit big, but still a normal size.

Chapter 254 Numerous Tasks

Han Lu felt that trapping nearly a thousand Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Zhengyi Sect was not difficult. This was not because Han Lu was too arrogant, but because she did have something to rely on.

The cultivation technique that Han Lu practices is called "Great Circulation Water Condensation Technique". It contains many convenient cultivation methods for the "transformation of Qi into liquid" in the early to middle stages of Foundation Establishment.

Practicing according to this method makes it easier to transform the gaseous spiritual energy in the dantian into a liquid state compared to practicing other methods.

The "Seven Kill Sword Technique" that Han Lu obtained from the ancient cultivation secret realm senior Fang Lin recorded a method for using external medicine to condense sword pills.

This method is somewhat similar to "turning liquid into solid," both being convenient methods to raise one's cultivation level from the mid-Foundation Establishment stage to the late-Foundation Establishment stage.

Not to mention that there are still remnants of the Mysterious Pearl in Han Lu's dantian and dantian.

This remaining Xuanpin Pearl has the effect of a fake elixir.

Using this as a starting point, Han Lu's efficiency and speed in "turning liquid into solid" already surpassed that of many cultivators at the same level.

With a two-pronged approach, coupled with her already outstanding talent, Han Lu even felt that she could advance from the mid-Foundation Establishment stage to the late-Foundation Establishment stage in just three years, which was ten times faster than that of an ordinary mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

As for Core Formation, it's similar to Foundation Establishment, without any bottleneck-like obstacles.

However, to form a high-grade or even a super-grade golden core, a cultivator not only needs to have high magical power, but also needs to make various complex preparations, and even wait for the right time, place and feng shui to come together before they can succeed.

Even the weather conditions on the day of Core Formation can have a significant impact on the stage of Core Formation.

However, Han Lu felt that if she cultivated to the point of Core Formation with her current Qi Sea size, even if she was more casual, the sheer amount of spiritual power, far exceeding that of a typical Foundation Establishment cultivator, would be enough for her to form a high-grade Golden Core, greatly increasing her chances of advancing to the Nascent Soul or even the Divine Transformation stage.

Thinking of this, Han Lu's already good mood, which was due to her advancement to the Foundation Establishment stage, became even better.

Han Lu thought to herself with delight, "Maybe I can advance to the Golden Core stage within twenty years."

To cultivate for twenty-five years and form a golden core? Han Lu's ambition, aside from Wen Erya, would probably only elicit laughter even if it were mentioned to Piaomiaozi.

It should be understood that the vast majority of cultivators never reach the Golden Core realm in their entire lives, let alone achieve it in their thirties or forties.

After finishing her internal vision, Han Lu paused to reflect, pondering the many things she would need to do after advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage.

"Once one's cultivation reaches the Foundation Establishment stage, one can unleash the full power of a magic weapon of the magic weapon level."

"Now that I am in the Great Yu Dynasty, I naturally have no way to hand over the magical treasures I obtained from the ancient cultivation secret realm to the sect."

"Therefore, the magical artifacts in the storage bag can be used by me for the time being."

Thinking of this, Han Lu almost burst out laughing. "With so many top-grade magic artifacts around me, I can now call myself Daoist Duobao."

Despite saying that, Han Lu had no intention of not returning to the Central Plains and taking such a treasure for herself.

"As for the throne, we should buy a new one."

Han Lu gave the old throne to Qiu Junyan as a gift.

Now that she has reached the Foundation Establishment stage and has become a rogue cultivator, she naturally needs to purchase a new Dharma seat so that she can have a better spiritual environment when cultivating, since she has nowhere to find a place rich in spiritual energy.

"We also need to stock up on the pills; buy new ones."

The Meridian Opening Pill, which is used to assist cultivation during the Qi Refining stage, cannot be used by Han Lu during the Foundation Establishment stage.

While she was in the ancient cultivation secret realm, she had already given all the Meridian Opening Pills that she had obtained from Xiaoyaozi and won from the Zhengyi Sect to her disciple.

Fortunately, Han Lu's storage bag was not empty; it still contained nearly four thousand spirit stones that she had saved up.

Han Lu felt that exchanging these spirit stones for Spirit Gathering Pills used during Foundation Establishment cultivation or True Essence Spirit Gathering Pills with better auxiliary effects should not pose too much of a problem in the Great Yu Dynasty, where the cultivation civilization was even more prosperous.

However, the number of spirit stones required for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to become a "rich cultivator" is not a small amount.

Under the care of Zhengyi Sect and Wen Erya, Han Lu, who was used to a life of wealth, subconsciously touched her storage bag and murmured, "If I really run out of money, I can just sell one or two magic artifacts that are not suitable for me. I believe that knowing my predicament, the sect leader and master will definitely not blame me."

As for those higher-level spiritual artifacts and treasures that only Golden Core cultivators and Nascent Soul cultivators can wield, Han Lu made up her mind from the moment she arrived in the Great Yu Dynasty to keep these good things hidden in her storage bag and never take them out.

Upon careful consideration, Han Lu had not forgotten the matter of practicing the "Seven Killing Sword Technique".

"Metal generates water, and the Seven Kill Sword Technique is just right for me to cultivate."

"However, cultivating such profound techniques is not something that can be done overnight, not to mention that the Seven Kill Sword Technique requires the assistance of rare minerals during its cultivation."

When practicing the Seven Kill Sword Technique at the Qi Refining stage, one needs to drink a soup mixed with metal powder to aid in the practice, so that the spiritual veins are filled with tiny metal particles, making the metallic element in the spiritual power sharper.

These metal particles soaked in spiritual energy will eventually become auxiliary materials for condensing pseudo-core sword pills in the later stages of Foundation Establishment.

“We definitely need to repair it, but there’s no need to rush. When we buy pills and a Dharma seat tomorrow, we can also look for the auxiliary metals for the Seven Kill Sword Technique.”

Han Lu recalled the auxiliary metal cultivation method recorded in the manual she obtained from Fang Lin.

During the Qi Refining stage, one only needs to consume ordinary metals such as iron and copper, which can be found even in a farm tool shop.

During the Foundation Establishment stage, cultivators must ingest Xuan Iron for weapon forging. However, for cultivators like Han Lu who primarily cultivate water and secondarily metal, consuming Frost Xuan Iron can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Although these two items are somewhat rare, they can still be easily found if you are willing to spend some spirit stones.

However, auxiliary metals for cultivation during the Golden Core stage are not so easy to find.

A decoction made from Dark Raven Mithril is needed to assist Golden Core cultivators in their practice of the Seven Kill Sword Technique.

Han Lu had one of these items in her storage bag; she found it in an ancient cultivation secret realm.