The Long Journey to Immortality

One reason is that the grand ceremony at Jiulong Mountain is about to be held, which has attracted many independent cultivators active in Dongzhou Prefecture to come and join in the fun.

Secondly, the spring examinations, organized by the Great Yu Dynasty court for all mortals, are about to take place, and Jinyuan County is the location within the Eastern Prefecture where the examinations will be held.

Compared to cultivators, there are still more mortals in the Great Yu Dynasty.

This also caused the Jinyuan County Hotel to be fully booked. Han Lu, who originally planned to stay there for another three days, had to spend more money to find a room that was barely habitable.

Inside and outside the various inns, teahouses, and schools, one could find scholars dressed in Confucian robes and wearing turbans.

They gathered in small groups, talking loudly about things related to the exam.

The court of the Great Yu Dynasty, which governed ordinary people, differed from the emperors of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in the Central Plains.

Although Wen Erya's father and the emperor in the north had the shadow of sectarian support behind them, they were generally independent and autonomous, more like mutually beneficial partners with the Zhengyi Sect and Xuanyang Valley.

The court of the Great Yu Dynasty was a puppet regime pushed to the forefront by the combined forces of the Jitian Palace and the largest sects in various prefectures to manage mortals.

The Great Yu Dynasty court completely obeyed the command of the Extreme Heaven Palace and acted as the agent for the interests of cultivators.

This difference also meant that the books and exams taken by many scholars in the Great Yu Dynasty who lacked talent for cultivation and wanted to change their social class through examinations were completely different from those in the Central Plains.

Scholars in the Central Plains region valued practical application of knowledge, and the examinations consisted of half testing on the classics and half on policy questions. The fundamental purpose of the examinations was to help the emperors of the Northern and Southern Dynasties select administrative talents.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, the scriptures not only explicitly instilled the concept of "cultivators first, mortals second" in scholars, but the examination content also focused on some abstract aspects. The ultimate goal of the examination and selection was to cultivate loyal dogs who obeyed the orders of the court's cultivators.

This is why the scholar from Huilin Township, Yuxi County, was so respectful when Han Lu first arrived in the Dayu Dynasty.

This is also the main reason why the Great Yu Dynasty consistently demonstrated a separation between cultivators and mortals.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, cultivators were considered the upper class, while mortals were considered the lower class.

The scholars of the Great Yu Dynasty only learned and discussed such uninteresting things.

There's nothing we can do; this world has cultivation, and all other professions are inferior except for cultivation.

This situation left Han Lu, who had ordered a cup of tea and was sitting in the teahouse hoping to listen to poetry and songs to cultivate her mind and perhaps find an opportunity to comprehend sword techniques from those heroic poems and lyrics, slightly disappointed.

Han Lu gently rubbed the smooth rim of the porcelain cup in front of her with her hand. Instead of sitting in the monk's seat on the second floor of the teahouse, she only wanted to quickly finish the tea and snacks in front of her, which tasted pretty good, and leave this place that she didn't like.

Unexpectedly, before Han Lu could leave, an accident occurred.

The two monks came down from the second floor of the teahouse.

One of them, who had drunk something, was walking unsteadily and was clearly drunk.

The other person was supporting his friend with one hand and holding an unsheathed spirit sword in the other, swaggering around and clearing the way for the two of them to leave the teahouse.

Many scholars were unable to dodge in time and were struck by the sheathed spirit sword.

Although the spirit sword was in its scabbard and had not been infused with spiritual energy, it was not something an ordinary person could easily withstand.

Of the five people who were hit, three suffered minor injuries, while one even had his bones broken and was screaming in pain.

This scene amused the drunken monk, who burst into laughter.

The scholars present dared not speak out in anger and all avoided the situation, lest they suffer unjustly.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, although there were specific laws to regulate disputes between cultivators and mortals, the final result was often that the cultivators would be fined three times the amount of wine, while the mortals would be punished with thirty strokes of the cane.

The only hope for ordinary people was to keep the peace and have these two "bad guys" leave as soon as possible.

Seeing this, Han Lu felt very conflicted.

Her upbringing and the kindness and humanistic concern she has always held for ordinary people during her spiritual practice make it difficult for her to remain calm in this situation.

Just as Han Lu was hesitating whether to use her seniority to punish these two mediocre cultivators whose cultivation was only at the third or fourth level of Qi Refining, the two took the initiative to cause trouble for Han Lu.

Escorted by his friends, the drunken cultivator stumbled past Han Lu. The alcohol had dulled his mind, and it took him a while to realize that he had just walked past a beautiful woman with an outstanding appearance and figure.

Alcohol emboldens cowards, not to mention that flirting with a beautiful ordinary woman doesn't require much courage at all.

With a smirk, he muttered "beautiful lady" and then broke free from his companion's support.

He swayed his body, intending to launch a surprise attack from behind Han Lu on her chest, on the pair of goddess-like peaks that were tightly covered by the "feathered clothes" but were so prominent that it was impossible to look away.

Just as he was imagining the pleasure that touching this soft object would bring to his mind and body, an accident occurred.

The alcohol made his movements somewhat clumsy; before his hands could touch the fullness, his forearms first brushed against Han Lu's back clothing.

In the instant of contact, a surge of icy power emanated from Han Lu's clothes and surged into the drunken cultivator's body.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, ice began to grow from the drunkard's right forearm. In the blink of an eye, the drunken cultivator was turned into an upright ice sculpture, unable to move even a finger.

This change caused the cultivator holding the spirit sword to subconsciously draw his sword and point it at Han Lu.

But when he saw Han Lu's cold gaze as she stood up from the table, he felt real pressure and immediately lost the idea of ​​fighting for his friend.

"To be able to use such methods so quietly, one must be a senior at the Golden Core stage..." he thought to himself. "How could such a powerful senior be sitting here?"

Without time to ponder the reasons, he quickly sheathed his spirit sword, kowtowed and begged for forgiveness, saying, "Senior, please forgive my rudeness and be merciful."

In the laws of the Great Yu Dynasty, cultivators are considered superior to ordinary people, and "Golden Core cultivators" are even more superior to Qi Refining cultivators like him.

Moreover, when mortals and cultivators have disputes, they can ask someone to mediate and adjudicate according to the law.

But for someone like him who actively provokes a Golden Core cultivator, killing him is as easy as crushing an ant, and he will not be punished in the slightest.

The scholars around, seeing that someone was helping them vent their anger, naturally gathered around and cheered loudly.

After freezing the drunken, scoundrel of a cultivator, Han Lu had vented most of her displeasure and stopped dwelling on the matter to avoid making a big fuss.

So, she remained expressionless and said indifferently, "You're arrogant. Get out of here with your friends."

"Thank you, senior," the Qi Refining cultivator said, despite being insulted, "but senior, this ice..."

It will naturally dissolve in two days.

Upon hearing this, the cultivator quickly picked up his companion, who was frozen solid, and used a lightness spell to leave.

As the two arrogant and domineering individuals departed, the scholars in the teahouse erupted in cheers once more.

"Is such an act considered a good deed? Will it be recognized by the heavens and the earth, and seen as creating good karma?"

These two questions only flashed through Han Lu's mind for a moment before she dismissed them.

After returning to her seat at the table and finishing her snacks and tea, Han Lu left the teahouse.

The money for Han Lu's meal had already been given to the teahouse owner by the scholars as a token of their gratitude.

Chapter 268 Long Time No See

Back at the hotel, Han Lu saw the full moon hanging high in the sky outside the window and subconsciously took out the Moon Pearl that had been lying in her storage bag for a long time.

In the ancient cultivation secret realm, there is no sun or moon, so the Moon Pearl, which relies on moonlight for power, was not activated as usual and could only lie quietly in Han Lu's storage bag for thirty days.

Having been preoccupied with Senior Wang Han's lecture and having witnessed the brilliance of two renowned ancient cultivators in the Ancient Cultivation Secret Realm, Han Lu couldn't wait to take out the Moon Pearl after seeing the full moon, hoping to revisit that world from 100,000 years ago.

With this thought in mind, Han Lu opened the room window completely, letting the Moon Pearl bathe in the moonlight, patiently waiting for the Moon Pearl to replenish its energy so that she could see the precious images from 100,000 years ago again.

Thinking that she might see Gu Xiufang Lin and Wang Han again later, Han Lu suddenly had a thought: by watching the story from 100,000 years ago, she might be able to find new opportunities.

Han Lu imagined herself watching Senior Fang Lin's magical duel in the Moon Pearl World.

"If I could witness Senior Fang Lin unleash his incredibly powerful swordsmanship, I might be able to glean some of the true essence of swordsmanship from it, comprehend a particular sword technique, and thus break through to the next level."

The most obvious way for Han Lu to improve her strength is to further enhance the Seven Kill Sword Technique to the Foundation Establishment stage.

After about fifteen minutes of random thoughts, the Moon Pearl finally absorbed enough moonlight and began to emit a faint moonlight.

Seeing this, Han Lu did not hesitate and, as usual, grabbed the Moon Pearl.

In the blink of an eye, the world before Han Lu's eyes changed, and the images from 100,000 years ago appeared before her once again.

The story continues from where it left off, with Han Lu appearing in Feng Jiao's room.

Feng Jiao remained in human form, sitting on her bed, diligently cultivating while holding the Moon Pearl.

After the attack that day, Feng Jiao truly realized the dangers of this world and was filled with a desire for power. Naturally, she devoted all her spare time to cultivation.

It must be said that the True Spirit's talent in certain aspects far surpasses that of the cultivators.

In Han Lu's opinion, Feng Jiao, who had just come of age and whose cultivation level was only equivalent to the early stage of the Golden Core realm, was already comparable to many mid-stage Golden Core cultivators in terms of strength.

If she were to master the True Phoenix Manual and fully develop her bloodline abilities, she might be able to compete with ordinary cultivators in the late Golden Core stage.

Han Lu was already tired of seeing Feng Jiao's cultivation scenes, so without thinking, she used the fast-forward function to try to skip this part.

"We've fast-forwarded through this world several times, and it's almost time for Feng Jiao and Feng Yang to set off for the Eastern Human Race to participate in Senior Wang Han's advancement to the Nascent Soul stage."

With this in mind, Han Lu focused her attention, ready to restore the flow of this world to normal at any moment, lest she miss any crucial information.

Sure enough, about an hour after fast-forwarding, there were new changes in Feng Jiao's room.

There was a knock on the door, and Feng Jiao broke out of her meditative state, calling out, "Please come in."

Seeing this, Han Lu quickly changed the speed back to normal.

The maid who entered the room was the one who had returned to the Huanfeng clan with Fengjiao.

"Miss, Lord Fengyang needs to speak with you."

A maidservant arrived to relay a message from Feng Jiao's father, Feng Yang.

"My father is looking for me?"

“That’s right,” the maid replied, “the senior Fang Lin I’ve met before is here too.”

Upon hearing Fang Lin's name, Han Lu's heart skipped a beat, and she secretly rejoiced, "He's finally here."

As expected, just like Han Lu, Feng Jiao roughly guessed why her father was looking for her when she heard Fang Lin's name.

"I'll go right away."

After saying hello, Han Lu followed the screen and walked with Feng Jiao for about a minute until they arrived at the reception area of ​​the Huanfeng Clan.

Only Fengyang and Fanglin were in the reception room.

Feng Jiao's arrival was merely as a guest, to make the conversation between Feng Yang and Fang Lin less serious and more like two old friends discussing everyday matters.

"Father, Senior Fang." Feng Jiao greeted the two elders upon arrival.

Fang Lin smiled and returned the greeting, while Feng Yang took the opportunity of Feng Jiao to bring up the matter of attending the ceremony, "This time, only Feng Jiao, Xiao Hui, and I will be traveling together. We will have to trouble Fellow Daoist Fang to take good care of us along the way."

Xiao Hui, whom Feng Yang mentioned, is Feng Jiao's maid. She possesses some of the bloodline of the Fire Phoenix. Although she cannot transform into a true spirit, she can use some of the Fire Phoenix's divine abilities. Her strength is roughly equivalent to that of a cultivator in the early stage of the Golden Core realm.

Fang Lin was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "It's alright. As long as Fellow Daoist Fengyang is willing to show his support, even if only one person from the Illusion Phoenix Clan comes, I will still take good care of them."