The Long Journey to Immortality

This Green Bamboo Taoist was clearly regarded by Young Master Xiang as a vital force to support him, which explains why he was invited to appear at this time, under the banner of the Extreme Heaven Palace, to help Xuan Yu Temple maintain its position.

As if feeling that ending with this sentence was not perfect, Xiao Ran added, "Although the Celestial Venerable was one of the top geniuses in the Great Yu Dynasty when he was young, his current cultivation level is only at the early stage of the Nascent Soul stage, and he may not necessarily be able to convince the public."

"I think the chances of Young Master Xiang turning the tide are at least 30%."

Even Xiao Ran knew Xiang Gongzi's identity, and the Nine Dragons Mountain Ten, who had studied a lot of information about the Jitian Palace in order to deal with Xuan Yu Guan, were naturally even more aware of it.

Master Yuanri, who had hoped to ride the wave of the new forces in the Jitian Palace, secretly groaned inwardly.

He knew that there were still troublemakers like Young Master Xiang among the old forces of the Heavenly Palace, who were plotting internal strife and a coup.

But he never expected that Young Master Xiang would get involved with Qingzhu and Xuanyu Temple.

Although Master Yuanri was thinking of leading Jiulong Mountain to dominate Dongzhou Prefecture, he had no intention whatsoever of getting involved in the struggle between the old and new forces of Jitian Palace.

After inwardly grumbling a few words about the special envoy from Jitian Palace who had taken the initiative to come to his door, Master Yuanri's attitude towards Young Master Xiang, who had revealed his identity, improved considerably. "I didn't expect it to be Young Master Xiang himself. If I had given prior notice, I would have prepared hot tea and snacks on behalf of Jiulong Mountain to welcome you."

"You're quite sensible." Young Master Xiang crossed his legs a little higher, quite pleased with Yuanri Zhenren's change of expression after learning of his background.

In fact, Young Master Xiang's current strength is quite weak. He can only recruit soldiers and gather forces in various prefectures by claiming to be a disciple of the former master of the Jitian Palace.

The war between Jiulong Mountain and Xuanyu Temple will inevitably result in him being the biggest victim, regardless of the outcome. He had just become involved with Xuanyu Temple.

Therefore, his accompanying Qingzhu Daoist to the door was not to demand an explanation, but rather to use his reputation to mediate the dispute.

Having made a grand entrance and received face from Master Yuanri, Young Master Xiang's attitude and tone softened considerably. "Fellow Daoist Yuanri, you are too kind. It was I who was impolite."

After this back and forth, the atmosphere became much more harmonious.

Master Yuanri glanced at the cultivators still sitting in the square and realized that this was not a good place to "bow down" to the Jitian Palace. So he suggested, "It's not too late. Young Master Xiang, why don't you and Brother Qingzhu leave with me and come to my secluded retreat to drink some spiritual tea and discuss this important matter concerning the future of our two sects?"

"how?"

Young Master Xiang did not want to appear weak in front of so many cultivators. After realizing that Yuan Ri Zhenren's thoughts were mostly in the same boat as his, he went along with it and said, "I have heard that Fellow Daoist Yuan Ri is also a connoisseur of tea. Since I have come all this way to Nine Dragons Mountain, I naturally cannot miss Yuan Ri Daoist's spiritual tea. Let's go, let's go now."

Qingzhu Daoist was somewhat surprised, but he did not show it. Instead, he went with Xiang Gongzi and Yuanri Zhenren to find another secluded place to discuss important matters between the two sects.

Before leaving, Master Yuanri sent a telepathic message to Daoist Xuyu, who had just returned to his seat, instructing him to take care of the aftermath of the sermon.

The three Nascent Soul cultivators left together, and Daoist Xuyu leaped onto the high platform and said, "The True Person is temporarily leaving to meet with fellow Daoists. I will continue to answer your questions. If anyone has any questions, please raise your hand and ask. If I know the answer, I will answer it thoroughly."

Although Daoist Xuyu was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, surpassing most of the cultivators present in cultivation level, having him answer questions still diminished the significance of this sermon.

However, for a "genius" like Han Lu who gained nothing from the sermon, being able to see the two grand performances just now, starring three Nascent Soul cultivators, was enough to make the trip worthwhile and ensure that the time was not wasted.

After carefully answering the questions from the five monks, the Taoist Master Xuyu immediately announced the end of the sermon.

The cultivators departed, while Xiao Ran pestered Han Lu, who was sitting in the flying carriage with him, to continue the story he hadn't finished telling earlier.

Chapter 300 Leaving the Mountain

The 2,000th anniversary ceremony of Jiulong Mountain's establishment of its sect proceeded as scheduled.

Although Han Lu managed to steal the invitation and arrive at Jiulong Mountain as a guest, it did not mean that she was obligated to attend the ceremony commemorating the 2,000th anniversary of the sect's founding.

However, in order not to appear too out of place, Han Lu sat with Xiao Ran at a distance in the guest seats, listening to Daoist Xuyu's speech, where he addressed the many disciples and announced a series of arrangements for the future of Jiulong Mountain that had been decided long ago.

Han Lu had no interest in these words; she simply followed the crowd, clapping and shouting "Bravo!"

Instead, she became more gossipy, paying attention to how many Golden Core cultivators were absent from the viewing platform, and how many sect leaders had left Nine Dragons Mountain the night before for various reasons.

Only the three of them know what Yuanri Zhenren and Qingzhu Daoren discussed with the help of Xiang Gongzi.

The other Golden Core cultivators of Nine Dragons Mountain and the sect leaders of the sects that had just united around Nine Dragons Mountain only knew that Nine Dragons Mountain's plan to dominate Dongzhou Prefecture had failed before it even began.

Six months later, Jiulong Mountain and Xuanyu Temple will each send nine cultivators of different realms to a friendly sparring session to redistribute the interests of the two major sects in Dongzhou Prefecture in a relatively amicable manner.

This outcome barely satisfied all three parties.

Yuanri Daoren gained the opportunity to expand Jiulong Mountain.

Qingzhu Daoren avoided being attacked by the sect by clearing out his own territory.

Xiang Gongzi also established his prestige in Dongzhou Prefecture and gained the support of Xuanyu Temple, thus recruiting a new force for his "rebellion".

There were two sides that lost out in this negotiation.

The new power led by the new Palace Master of Jitian Palace missed the opportunity to eliminate the outer sects of the old forces.

The minor sects that boarded the Kowloon Mountain pirate ship not only formed a bad relationship with Xuan Yu Temple, but also lost the opportunity to fish in troubled waters, suppress dissidents, and strengthen their power.

Taking the initiative to leave, as a superficial gesture, is how these opportunistic minor factions declare their intention to escape the center of the vortex.

This left the originally tightly arranged viewing platform with a lot of empty space, and also cast a shadow over the already unexpected celebration.

The ceremony lasted only about 15 minutes before it came to an end.

Immediately afterwards, the cultivators who had advanced to the top four in each level of the competition stepped onto the makeshift arena and conducted their final matches in front of all the other cultivators to determine the winner.

Xiao Ran, as a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator, successfully entered the final four of the Foundation Establishment stage a few days ago.

Therefore, today he was able to compete with many outstanding disciples of Jiulong Mountain, trying to enrich what he had gained from his trip to Jiulong Mountain.

Unfortunately, Xiao Ran had no other magical treasures to protect himself besides a spirit sword, and he was relatively unfamiliar with "unorthodox" techniques such as magic.

On the stage of the semi-finals, he fought a fierce battle with a disciple of Jiulong Mountain for the time it takes to burn half an incense stick before exhausting all his skills and voluntarily "conceding defeat."

Han Lu, who was watching the battle from a distance, was somewhat surprised to see Xiao Ran suffer such a defeat.

In her opinion, Xiao Ran should be able to fight better. Even if he doesn't win, he should be able to fight the opponent for another half an incense stick's time.

Han Lu could only explain this by saying that Xiao Ran was giving Jiulong Mountain face and was unwilling to go any further, lest the final championship fall into the hands of an outsider like him.

When Xiao Ran returned to his seat next to Han Lu, he had already received his prize.

Two hundred spirit stones, a mid-grade fourth-rank magic weapon, and ten True Essence Gathering Pills.

As promised, Xiao Ran, who did not need the Spirit Gathering Pills, sold them to Han Lu at a low price of five spirit stones each, essentially giving them away for free.

At this point, Xiao Ran felt that he had finally repaid all the favors he owed Han Lu.

There were a total of twenty-four arena matches, which lasted for a full three hours before they ended.

Seven of the eight levels of champions were won by disciples from Jiulong Mountain.

This is partly due to the abundance of talent in Jiulong Mountain in recent years, but there is also an element of shady dealings involved.

The latter half of the ceremony did not hold much appeal for most of the invited guests, and many of the invited monks planned to leave over the next two days.

Han Lu then approached Xiao Ran, explaining that she had important matters to attend to and wanted to leave first.

“I’m leaving Jiulong Mountain tomorrow to take care of some personal matters. Two months from now, we’ll meet at the west gate of Mingsha Village and venture into the deep blue desert together.”

Upon hearing the first half of her sentence, Xiao Ran knew that Han Lu did not want him to leave with her, so he did not make the request to travel together. He simply said, "Fairy Han, please feel free to do as you please, just don't forget to protect me when I form my core."

"Of course, I am a person who keeps my promises, and I will certainly not forget Fellow Daoist Xiao's important matter." Han Lu also wanted to watch Xiao Ran form his core, using him as a reference to learn some unique core-forming techniques of the Great Yu Dynasty, in order to prepare for her own future core-forming.

The next morning, Han Lu packed her bags, said goodbye to Xiao Ran, left Jiulong Mountain, and once again headed to Jinyuan County, where she had temporarily resided not long ago.

In Dongzhou Prefecture, Han Lu was not familiar with many counties, and Jinyuan County was the closest to Jiulong Mountain. Thinking that she would continue to cultivate for a while to consolidate her "Seven Kill Sword Technique" realm, she naturally chose Jinyuan County as the place where she would settle down for cultivation for the next period of time.

Once again, Han Lu spent spirit stones to rent a cave dwelling with relatively active metal-elemental spiritual energy, and then entered a state of secluded cultivation.

This time, however, her Seven Kill Sword Technique has advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage, and she can now take medicine mixed with Xuan Iron or Frost Xuan Iron to assist in cultivating this profound and sharp technique.

Of course, the True Essence Gathering Pill purchased at Jiulong Mountain also provided considerable assistance to Han Lu's month-long cultivation in Jinyuan County.

In just one month, with the help of a large amount of cultivation resources, Han Lu, who was already exceptionally talented, advanced her cultivation at a rapid pace.

Originally, less than a quarter of the space in the Qi Sea Dantian was occupied by the sea of ​​clouds.

However, after a month of arduous training, the area of ​​the sea of ​​clouds doubled, while the rest of the space was shrouded in a thin mist, with loose gaseous spiritual energy existing within it.

In terms of spiritual power, Han Lu, who had just advanced to the Foundation Establishment Realm less than four months ago, was already comparable to many cultivators who were stuck at the bottleneck of the mid-Foundation Establishment Realm.

Furthermore, the spiritual energy sword that emerged from Han Lu's body due to the Seven Kill Sword Technique is even more compatible with her.

When unleashed, the sword can be concealed within the dantian of the dantian, using the spiritual meridians within Han Lu's body as a channel to unleash a powerful sword beam.

These sword beams, when activated at will, can achieve power comparable to low-grade magic weapons.

This gave Han Lu another relatively concealed but powerful attack method.

During this time, Han Lu did not miss any of the stories in the Moon Pearl World. Unfortunately, nothing major happened, and Han Lu spent the four hours in that world almost in fast-forward.

Feeling the burgeoning spiritual energy in her dantian, Han Lu, sitting in the quiet room, couldn't help but smile.

The next moment, the white bottle containing the essence of the fire phoenix appeared in her hand.

Han Lu opened the bottle cap again, sniffed the Fire Phoenix Essence Blood, and felt the excitement in her bloodline. She muttered to herself, "It's time to find a secluded place and try to harmonize."

Chapter 301 Preparation

Although the matter of Heming had been lingering in her mind ever since Han Lu won the bottle of Fire Phoenix Essence Blood at the Jiulong Mountain auction.

However, due to various reasons, this crucial matter, which could significantly enhance Han Lu's abilities, has had to be postponed repeatedly.

So much so that when Han Lu finally had time to focus on the figurine project, there were still many preparations that hadn't been completed.

Fortunately, there was still more than a month before the meeting with Xiao Ran, where she was to assist him in forming his core and protecting him, so Han Lu still had plenty of time to squander.

This was to ensure that what she considered extremely important but somewhat dangerous could be accomplished more safely.

Inspired by Xiao Ran's preparations before forming his core, Han Lu, who had just settled her accommodation fees at her cultivation cave, immediately returned to Jinyuan County, hoping to find another set of array flags suitable for her current use from one of the larger weapon-refining workshops in the county.

Before entering the ancient cultivation secret realm, the Zhengyi Sect gave Han Lu a set of magic-grade array flags for her to use.

That set of array flags was more than enough to meet the needs of the Qi Refining Realm level in the ancient cultivation secret realm, but it was not suitable for the Great Yu Dynasty, a world that was much more dangerous than the Central Plains.

This set of array flags could no longer meet the requirements of Han Lu, whose cultivation had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

When Han Lu first arrived in the Dayu Dynasty and was testing her magic weapon outside Yuxi County, she was spotted by Tang Sifan and Lin Jin, two mediocre Foundation Establishment cultivators.

While the fact that the two could follow and stalk each other played a part, this set of flags, which Han Lu no longer found acceptable, was also one of the reasons why Han Lu's whereabouts were so easily exposed.

Han Lu had no idea whether the matter of He Ming would trigger celestial phenomena or attract unfamiliar cultivators.

There is a need to set up a defensive formation.

Even without this incident, finding a higher-level array flag to conceal one's aura and spiritual energy fluctuations would be extremely important for Han Lu, an outsider who was used to working alone.

Fortunately, Han Lu, who inherited a portion of the ancient cultivator's treasures, was not short of spirit stones as a "second-generation immortal." When choosing array flags and magic weapons in Jinyuan County, she was more casual, unlike Xiao Ran, who couldn't afford his favorites and had to settle for second best.

After browsing through the three largest shops selling magical artifacts in Jinyuan County, Han Lu spent a full eight hundred spirit stones to buy a set of array flags that were comparable to a low-grade seventh-rank magical artifact.