The Long Journey to Immortality

"This betting battle will likely remain deadlocked for a while, or it may end in a draw."

It's not uncommon for gambling matches to end in a draw if no one goes all out.

Xiao Ran and the other cultivators could see that Zhong Hong's defensive spell did not consume much spiritual energy.

In this situation, if Han Lu is unable to break Zhong Hong's spell, then a draw is practically a foregone conclusion.

Zhong Hong thought so too.

He hid behind the light screen, watching Han Lu deep in thought, and his expression improved considerably.

Clearing his throat, Zhong Hong resumed his verbal battle with Han Lu, "Fairy Han, this stalemate isn't going to work. How about we end this round as a draw?"

"After all, you, Fairy, have absolutely no way to deal with this trick of mine."

"But that's normal. Fairy, don't be too discouraged. When I fought with several senior brothers who were in the late Foundation Establishment stage, they were also unable to break through my technique."

Zhong Hong was smug, feeling that he had shown his prowess in the ring and redeemed himself.

Han Lu, who was on the verge of breaking through a bottleneck, was in a very mysterious state.

The light screen in front of her was no longer a light screen, but had transformed into a towering tree.

What was a difficult problem in Han Lu's eyes—how to use a spirit sword to break through defensive spells—became how to use the spirit sword in her hand to cut down this ancient tree that had been growing for who knows how many years.

Feeling the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the spell, Han Lu gained new insights into it.

"Just like the circulation of blood in the human body, the spiritual energy in this technique is like a cycle, endless and in harmony with the essence of wood. No wonder it is so difficult to deal with."

Thinking of this, Han Lu recalled some basic medical books she had read in the ancient cultivation secret realm, and suddenly an inspiration struck her.

“There are primary and secondary arteries in the blood, so the weakness of this technique naturally lies in the key point of maintaining the circulation of spiritual energy. As long as I can use my spirit sword to lightly ‘touch’ that spot, this technique will definitely be unable to maintain itself and will collapse on its own.”

Attack its vital points rather than its weakest points.

The solution to the problem was found by Han Lu based on her own understanding of the "dot" technique.

However, this is easier said than done; figuring out how to actually implement it is not so easy.

The illusory shadows of the trees in her eyes gave Han Lu new inspiration.

"Try attacking the junction between the trunk and the root system."

Han Lu was a woman of action. She felt that this idea made perfect sense, so she did not hesitate at all and rode her sword to do it.

The longsword transformed into a streak of rainbow light, slipping from Han Lu's hand. The sound of it cutting through the air was like the heavy hammer of a war drum, reaching everyone's ears.

Upon seeing this, the cultivators below the stage were all invigorated, eager to see something different, and Han Lu did not disappoint them.

Although she didn't use any strange or mysterious spells, Han Lu's spirit sword was unstoppable, easily breaking through the spell in front of Zhong Hong.

Zhong Hong instinctively dodged, barely managing to avoid the rainbow light. He quickly tightened his defenses, trying to pull the light barrier back to his side.

However, this light barrier was no longer as immovable as before. On the contrary, with just one strike, it made the originally solid, almost tangible light barrier thin and dim.

Zhong Hong unexpectedly discovered that the spell he was casting was like a pool with a large hole in it, and he could not continue to pour water into it with a small tube.

In just three breaths, as Han Lu, who had been holding back her spirit sword, returned it to its sheath, Zhong Hong's protective light barrier shattered completely and disappeared.

Having just narrowly escaped death that morning, he collapsed to the ground, his face deathly pale.

At this moment, Zhong Hong no longer had the same relaxed demeanor as before.

He knew that Han Lu had held back during that attack, slightly deflecting the spirit sword that could have easily pierced his chest. This allowed him to remain unharmed despite losing most of his spiritual power.

Looking at Han Lu, who was holding a sword sheath not far away, Zhong Hong had completely given up on the idea of ​​competing with Han Lu.

Zhong Hong showed no trace of the demeanor of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and hastily got up from the ground, his body swaying precariously.

Zhong Hong bowed to Han Lu and said, "Han Fairy's swordsmanship is amazing. I, Zhong, am humbled and admit defeat. You have won this match."

Han Lu did not respond; she remained standing there with her eyes closed and sword in hand.

Zhong Hong assumed that Han Lu didn't take him seriously and angrily stepped off the stage.

None of the nearly one hundred cultivators present knew what was happening inside Han Lu's body at that moment.

Previously, Han Lu had not intentionally let Zhong Hong off the hook.

However, when she unleashed that sword strike, the changes within Han Lu's body prevented her from controlling the trajectory of the spirit sword, which led to the story of Zhong Hong escaping unscathed.

At this moment, the auxiliary metals that were originally scattered in Han Lu's spiritual veins are now moving through Han Lu's body at an incredibly fast speed.

These solid substances, which were originally unwilling to enter Han Lu's dantian, seemed to have gained enlightenment at this moment, and without Han Lu's guidance, they gathered from all directions towards Han Lu's dantian.

The moment these solid substances came into contact with the spiritual energy in the Qi Sea, they gently merged into it, and the sea of ​​clouds in Han Lu's dantian was tinged with its own unique colors.

The light blue clouds in Han Lu's dantian dantian dantian were tinged with bronze and dark purple, making the already beautiful scenery more layered. Even the clouds floating in the dantian dantian were transformed into two, resulting in many more clouds.

With the balance of metal and water, Han Lu chose a suitable auxiliary cultivation method. She had only just broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm when she felt the benefits this choice brought her.

It seemed like it took a full half hour for all of this to be completed, but in reality, when Han Lu opened her eyes again, Zhong Hong had just stepped off the stage; in reality, only ten breaths had passed.

The bottleneck that had plagued Han Lu for two whole months was finally broken through because of this sword strike.

After Han Lu received the twenty spirit stones she won in the bet and stepped off the stage, Xiao Ran clearly noticed that the aura emanating from Han Lu was somewhat different from before she stepped onto the stage.

Now that she had successfully advanced the Seven Kill Sword Technique to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Han Lu saw no need to linger in the arena any longer.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao, I'm tired. Let's go back together."

Based on Han Lu's behavior, Xiao Ran secretly wondered, "Could it be that Fairy Han has broken through to a higher level?"

They came and went in a hurry. Xiao Ran did not refuse and chose to leave with Han Lu.

Chapter 287 New Supernatural Power

We returned to the accommodations arranged by Jiulong Mountain.

It had only been a little over two quarters of an hour since Han Lu and Xiao Ran left together to head to the gambling arena.

Before setting off, even with her vivid imagination, Han Lu couldn't have imagined that things would go so smoothly.

But when she sat in the courtyard with her eyes slightly closed, visualizing the beautiful sea of ​​clouds churning in her dantian, she found that this was not surprising, but rather a matter of course and a natural outcome.

After all, she had spent countless hours preparing for this real duel.

Putting aside the true teachings he received from Senior Fang Lin, he had fought nearly ten matches against Xiao Ran, a master swordsman.

Not to mention the time spent practicing swordsmanship in his spare time.

Given her expertise in sword control, it would have been rather strange if she hadn't succeeded in one fell swoop.

The benefits of successfully breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm with the Seven Kill Sword Technique were not only that the spiritual energy in her dantian and sea of ​​qi increased and its nature changed slightly, but also that there were other more direct and obvious benefits that were reflected in her supernatural powers and magic power.

The spiritual energy sword that she could condense when she was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining has also improved in quality as her cultivation level has increased.

In this matter, the spiritual sword composed purely of metallic spiritual energy had reached a quality close to that of a top-grade magic weapon.

If we add the advantages that this sword was born from the "Seven Kill Sword Technique" and is compatible with Han Lu herself, allowing her to move freely, etc.

When Han Lu wielded this spiritual sword during the battle, it was able to fully unleash the power of a top-grade magic weapon.

In addition, as Han Lu's understanding of the "point technique" in swordsmanship reached a certain level, she also mastered a new supernatural ability of eyesight.

Han Lu's Cold Eye Divine Power, which she had been cultivating since she was a Daoist Child, became somewhat useless due to the development of her Illusionary Phoenix True Spirit talent.

However, the "Insight" talent that Han Lu gained through improved swordsmanship comprehension is extremely useful for her now.

As she circulated her cultivation technique, Han Lu's originally black eyes seemed to transform into two high-wattage LED lights, emitting golden light.

Then, the courtyard wall, simply built of red bricks and painted white, looked completely different to her.

Han Lu could clearly see the countless "weaknesses" covering the wall.

These weaknesses appeared as crimson in Han Lu's eyes.

She could sense that as long as she channeled the spiritual energy within her body to attack these identified weaknesses and used the "Point Word Technique" sword technique, she could easily destroy these walls that were only protected by the most basic restrictions.

"However, this wall is just an ordinary object, and the restrictions on it are the most basic kind. I wonder what would happen if I used this supernatural power to look at a defensive magic treasure?"

Thinking of this, Han Lu casually took out the giant shield that she had lent to Xiao Ran from her storage bag.

The giant shield, being a mid-grade 4 magic item, is perfect for use as a test subject at this moment.

As spiritual energy was channeled into the giant shield, the originally bronze shield began to emit a faint glow.

After the giant shield was fully activated, Han Lu once again activated the Seven Kill Sword Technique, awakened her spiritual eyes, and used the "See Through" supernatural power.

This time, the giant shield also has "weak points," but these weaknesses are different from those that appeared on the wall.

The color is light red, not particularly noticeable.

Moreover, there are only three of them.

Observing the giant shield, Han Lu murmured, "What would happen if I used my supernatural powers to look at an even more advanced defensive magic weapon?"

Having reaped a bountiful harvest from her journey through the ancient cultivation realm, Han Lu was not lacking in magical treasures.

She casually took out a mid-grade fourth-level defensive magic artifact from her storage bag.

This time, only two faint red dots appeared on the soft armor artifact in Han Lu's hand.

"What about an even higher-level magic weapon?"

To prove this point, Han Lu took out another magical artifact.

The magic weapon of the spiritual level was completely beyond Han Lu's ability to activate, as she was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Even if this magical artifact were simply placed there without being infused with any magical power, Han Lu's "eagle eyes" would not be able to see through its weaknesses.

After using "Insight", the magical artifact appeared to Han Lu in her field of vision almost exactly the same as usual, except for a slight difference in its overall color.

Han Lu was slightly disappointed by this result.

"This should be the limit of my current supernatural power."

However, this feeling of disappointment only lasted for a short while for Han Lu.

This supernatural ability was mentioned in the true teachings that Senior Fang Lin passed on to Han Lu.

Based on the knowledge imparted by Senior Fang Lin, Han Lu knew that if her understanding of the "Point Word Technique" could reach a higher level, the level of magical treasures and spells that this supernatural power could see through would also increase accordingly.

If Han Lu could comprehend the "Point Word Technique" as deeply as Senior Fang Lin, she would definitely be able to see through higher-level magic weapons in the future, discover their weaknesses, and strike them decisively.

As she dispersed her cultivation technique and withdrew her spiritual power, the light in Han Lu's "24K gold-plated phoenix eyes" also faded away.