The Long Journey to Immortality

The ring was damaged, and the referee's expression was not good.

The surrounding cultivators knew that the main course was about to be served, so they quickly sent more spiritual energy into the formation to prevent the arena from collapsing due to the fight between the two.

As Han Lu channeled her spiritual energy, she also took a few more glances at the ghost, pondering what methods she could use to deal with such a strange summoned creature if she encountered it.

Seeing the enormous ghost, Xiao Ran remained unmoved, simply saying lightly, "Fellow Daoist Yuanshan, is that all? I was hoping to see something more interesting."

The Taoist priest opened his mouth, but then felt that his words would have no power, so he simply closed his mouth again, refusing to answer Xiao Ran's provocative words, and earnestly waved his flag, directing the Yin spirits in battle.

As the flag waved, the giant ghost that had been standing blankly on the arena began to move.

Han Lu had thought that such a huge ghost would be clumsy when it moved.

But the truth told Han Lu that she was wrong.

Under the command of the Taoist priest from the distant mountains, although the spirits were somewhat uncoordinated, their speed and agility were so impressive that it was no exaggeration to say that they were incredibly nimble.

Even Xiao Ran, upon seeing it, couldn't help but praise, "Not bad."

Despite the praise, Xiao Ran still didn't take the strange ghost too seriously.

Xiao Ran unleashed several more sword beams, shooting them towards the giant's ghostly spirit.

However, half of those sword beams were easily dodged by the giant ghost, while the other half were shattered by the giant ghost's punches and kicks, without harming it in the slightest.

This situation drew cheers from many of the onlookers below.

The giant ghost's outstanding performance also brought some luster to the originally gloomy face of the Taoist priest.

While continuing to control the ghost giant to attack Xiao Ran, he also explained the origin of the ghost giant to everyone as if he had already won the battle.

Han Lu didn't listen to a single word of those polite words.

She kept a close eye on Xiao Ran's every move, and began to imagine what kind of magnificent works she could create with just a spirit sword if it were her.

The power of the Ghost Giant slightly exceeded Xiao Ran's expectations.

He changed his approach, no longer holding the spirit sword in his hand, but instead using the sword control technique he claimed to have learned from Fang Lin, the number one sword cultivator of the ancient cultivation era.

When the soft sword is piloted and flies through the air, it resembles a silver snake dancing wildly in the sky.

This was the first time Han Lu had ever seen a scene of flying on a sword.

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Ran used his movement skills to dodge the attacks of the Yin Soul Giant, while simultaneously wielding his spirit sword to unleash sword techniques from various angles, testing the Yin Soul Giant's strength.

The two sides traded blows, fighting with great enthusiasm.

But after dozens of rounds, the Ghost Giant had achieved nothing except leaving Xiao Ran's clothes and face covered in a layer of ash.

Xiao Ran's spirit sword also failed to break the stalemate by defeating the Yin Soul Giant.

However, through repeated harassing attacks, Xiao Ran figured out the details of the Shadow Giant.

With a wave of his hand, he summoned the soft sword back and held it in his hand again.

Xiao Ran looked at Han Lu and said again with his eyes, "Watch carefully."

[Author's Note] I was drunk. I didn't check carefully, I'm sorry everyone. I'll revise it later.

Chapter 276 A Great Harvest

Han Lu, who had been watching Xiao Ran's every move on the stage, naturally noticed the signal Xiao Ran gave her again.

At this moment, she wished she could immediately take out the solar cell she had bought from the ancient cultivation secret realm, fully charge her phone, and record the scene that was about to unfold.

Unfortunately, there were many onlookers, and Han Lu didn't want to cause trouble.

She could only circulate her cultivation technique and unleash her Cold Eyes to elevate her eyesight to a level of keen observation, so that she could clearly see all the sword techniques Xiao Ran would use next.

Seeing the deep blue light emanating from Han Lu's eyes, Xiao Ran knew that Han Lu had reached a tacit understanding with him again and understood his meaning.

So he stopped dawdling, lest he miss the opportunity.

With a light leap, he dodged the giant's heavy punch once again. Taking advantage of the giant's momentary stiffness and inability to nimbly dodge the attack, Xiao Ran's spirit sword shot towards the giant's armpit like a silver lightning bolt.

The beam of light was extremely fast; even when Han Lu used her Cold Eyes technique, she could only barely make out a few sword shadows.

The rest of the cultivators watching from below the stage, without any spells to enhance their eyesight, could only barely make out a beam of light shooting out from Xiao Ran's hand.

Yuanshan Daoist naturally noticed this as well, but he didn't take it seriously, assuming that Xiao Ran's casual moves would be easily blocked by the Yin Soul Giant, just like the previous attacks.

To his astonishment, what happened next left him speechless.

The ghostly giant, which had seemed impervious to steel and bullets just moments before, was pierced through by this attack.

Immediately afterwards, the once invincible ghost giant deflated like a punctured balloon, leaking out its "black energy" in the blink of an eye, shrinking tenfold, and lying listlessly on the ground.

The vengeful spirit was defeated in one move, and the Taoist priest from the distant mountains was so shocked that he dropped the flag in his hand to the ground.

Because the spirit kept in the flag was severely injured, this mid-grade fifth-rank magic weapon also seemed to suffer a serious blow. Its light disappeared, and even the flag that was originally fluttering in the wind became tattered.

Clearly, the flag has temporarily lost its supernatural powers due to the injury inflicted by the giant's spirit.

"what!"

"What happened? What's going on?"

"Is this giant a paper tiger?"

Below the stage, the cultivators exclaimed in surprise, feeling that the changes on stage were beyond their imagination.

They were very puzzled. Xiao Ran's seemingly ordinary attack appeared to have struck the Yin Ghost Giant's weak point, instantly knocking down the once spirited Yin Ghost Giant.

Only Han Lu saw through the trick.

Han Lu rested her chin on her hand, appearing to be deep in thought.

"This attack contained some of the essence of the 'Point Technique'," she savored, recalling the method Xiao Ran had just used, "first finding an opening, then delivering a fatal blow..."

"Although it differs slightly from Senior Fang Lin's understanding, it does have a certain flavor..."

This attack convinced Han Lu that Xiao Ran had most likely bought a fake, but it also confirmed that Xiao Ran was indeed far superior to her in swordsmanship.

Although the author of that manual stole Fang Lin's name, he still possessed some genuine skills.

In just a moment, a thousand thoughts raced through Han Lu's mind.

Unfortunately, even so, it was still not enough for her to break through that bottleneck.

"Sigh," Han Lu sighed, looking at Xiao Ran who was swaggering on the stage, ready to give his victory speech, and thought to herself, "He's still a little short of his goal."

"Perhaps the only way I can quickly break through this bottleneck is to watch Senior Fang Lin fight in the Moon Pearl."

"Or, we could fight Xiao Ran in a real battle."

The second idea was rejected by Han Lu as soon as it came to mind.

She had already decided to keep a low profile in Jiulong Mountain.

Challenging a pseudo-core cultivator with only early Foundation Establishment cultivation would violate her previous decision, regardless of victory or defeat.

After all, in the eyes of most cultivators, it is not easy to defeat a higher realm with a lower realm, let alone fight across two realms.

"Perhaps it would be better to have a private duel or to challenge Xiao Ran to a duel after leaving Jiulong Mountain."

Thinking of this, Han Lu made a note of the matter, planning to bring it up to Xiao Ran after he left the arena, hoping that by showing gratitude, she could persuade him to give his all in a match against her.

With his magical artifact damaged, Daoist Yuanshan's face turned ashen. "Fellow Daoist Xiao, your swordsmanship is excellent."

Xiao Ran smiled and replied, "Not bad. The magic weapon of the Distant Mountain Taoist is also quite good."

"Alright, alright," the Yuanshan Daoist, in a bad mood, was unwilling to continue the pretentious back-and-forth and make any more of a show. He said impatiently, "Fellow Daoist Xiao is more skilled. I concede defeat. Those spirit stones are yours."

Having his supposedly strongest technique neutralized by his opponent, Daoist Yuanshan naturally wouldn't make a fool of himself on the arena any longer, and instead dragged Xiao Ran into another three hundred rounds of fighting.

To the Taoist priest of the distant mountains, admitting defeat openly and generously was undoubtedly the best way to save face.

The formation dissipated, and Xiao Ran happily accepted the one hundred spirit stones that originally belonged to Daoist Yuanshan.

However, Xiao Ran hesitated for a moment when stuffing the spirit stones into his storage bag.

He had barely turned his gaze to Han Lu when Han Lu generously said, "Fellow Daoist Xiao's swordsmanship is superb, from which I have benefited greatly. I will give this storage bag, which is only worth two spirit stones, to Fellow Daoist Xiao."

The storage bag Han Lu added didn't have the Zhengyi Sect's logo on it, and since small storage bags aren't expensive, that's why she was so generous and casual.

Having received the spirit stones, Xiao Ran was in a good mood. He temporarily suppressed the thought of thanking Han Lu and continued to stand on the arena, saying, "Is there any other fellow Daoist who wants to fight me? The stake is still that magic item."

"It's not easy to find a good deal like this: betting one hundred spirit stones for a mid-grade fourth-rank magic item."

Xiao Ran was "hawking" on the stage.

These shouts attracted the attention of the cultivators watching the battles near the two gambling arenas.

When they learned that Xiao Ran was a pseudo-core cultivator but only had a spiritual sword magic weapon with him, another cultivator took the initiative to step onto the stage, wanting to fight Xiao Ran.

"I am Pang Xing. Fellow Daoist Xiao, do you dare to fight me?"

The cultivator who called himself Pang Xin was at the same pseudo-core realm as Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran said indifferently, "Whatever, whatever. As long as Fellow Daoist Pang has spirit stones, I am willing to accompany you to the end."

Upon hearing this, Pang Xin placed a mid-grade spirit stone on the table in front of the referee.

Although Pang Xin was generous and his strength surpassed that of Yuanshan Daoren, he was still defeated by Xiao Ran after a fierce battle.

Compared to Yuanshan Daoren, Pang Xin had a better demeanor. After exchanging a few pleasantries about the fierce battle on stage as the loser, he left.

Having gained another hundred spirit stones, Xiao Ran was in high spirits.

Unfortunately, after winning two consecutive matches, the cultivators present who were temporarily out of the late Foundation Establishment stage wanted to fight Xiao Ran.

Helpless, Xiao Ran had no choice but to leave the arena, return the giant shield artifact to Han Lu, and stand beside Han Lu, temporarily switching to the role of a spectator.

Chapter 277 Flirting with the Powerful

As soon as he stepped off the stage, Xiao Ran, as if seeking credit, said to Han Lu with a grin.

"Fairy Han, wasn't my move just now particularly..." After hesitating over his words, Xiao Ran decided to be a little more subtle, "particularly exquisite."

After Xiao Ran's two "performances" on the arena, Han Lu was certain that Xiao Ran had most likely bought a "pirated" manual and was not a disciple of Senior Fang Lin, but she still acknowledged Xiao Ran's identity as a master swordsman.

Given Xiao Ran's current behavior, showing off in front of her, Han Lu, who still needs his help, naturally wouldn't refuse to give Xiao Ran face at this time.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao's skill in wielding a sword is definitely among the top in Foundation Establishment cultivators," Han Lu nodded and praised, "and he certainly lives up to the reputation of being a disciple of Senior Fang Lin."