The Long Journey to Immortality

Or perhaps this great war will continue for several years with the intervention of the old and new forces of the Jitian Palace, plunging Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture into a prolonged state of chaos.

After hearing these words, Han Lu no longer hesitated.

"Thank you, shopkeeper. I'll go back and plan carefully, and then I'll change my route and head east."

After saying that, Han Lu generously took out a spirit stone and presented it to the shopkeeper.

Although the shopkeeper was assigned by Jiulong Mountain to manage the shop here, he only received five spirit stones a month as wages.

Han Lu's voluntary tip delighted the shopkeeper, who then gave her a few words of advice: "When you travel, fairy, you might as well find a few like-minded fellow Daoists to accompany you. Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture are in chaos, and the other prefectures are not peaceful either."

"When traveling alone, there will always be things you can't think of."

"Don't ruin your promising future on some trivial matters."

It seemed somewhat comical that a Qi Refining cultivator who had never left Dongzhou Prefecture would give a message to Han Lu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator who had traveled thousands of miles. Han Lu knew that the shopkeeper meant well, so she didn't say much and simply thanked him.

After leaving the weapon-refining shop, Han Lu found a teahouse, booked a private room, and with tea and snacks, spread out the map on the table and began to draw on it with a "modern pen" she had bought from the ancient cultivation secret realm.

Due to the war in Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture, Han Lu had to change her travel itinerary.

After circling around for about fifteen minutes, Han Lu found three new routes that were reasonably reasonable.

Each of the three routes had its advantages and disadvantages. After much deliberation, Han Lu chose the route that was not far from Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture but took the shortest time.

This way, one can avoid war and conflict without taking too many detours and wasting time.

Han Lu, eager to return home, had no desire to stay in the Great Yu Dynasty, which seemed to be sitting on a powder keg, for even a month longer. Who knew that one day the Palace Master of the Extreme Heaven Palace might have the idea of ​​a great purge, igniting this powder keg and blowing up three or even five tenths of the cultivators in the cultivation world.

After finishing her tea and snacks, Han Lu sat in the private room and played a few tunes on her still-hot wutong wood flute to calm her slightly restless heart.

"Hopefully, I won't encounter any trouble."

After muttering something to herself, Han Lu, under the setting sun, left Jinyuan City without stopping and flew away on her sword in the northeast direction.

Along the way, Han Lu encountered many rogue cultivators who had fled from Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture to Dongzhou Prefecture for refuge.

The numerous independent cultivators weren't fools; they wouldn't be willing to act as cannon fodder for the sects of Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture just for spirit stones.

Having survived the first wave of forced recruitment, seeking refuge became the first choice for these cultivators.

Through these cultivators, Han Lu also learned a great deal about the general situation of the war between Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture.

Listening to the countless deaths and injuries reported by these cultivators, she became even more certain that changing her route home was absolutely the right thing to do.

Five days after leaving Jinyuan City, Han Lu temporarily stayed in a small village that was the closest to Dongzhou Prefecture and Jiang'an Prefecture.

The reason for the brief stop was not because there was anything interesting in this small village that Han Lu wanted to stop and take a look at, but because the moon in the sky had become a full moon again after 28 days.

It's time for Han Lu to activate the Moon Pearl again.

Chapter 331 Random Thoughts, Re-entering the Moon Pearl

In the past few months, Han Lu activated the Moon Pearl several times to enter the "Moon Pearl World" and watch images from 100,000 years ago with the help of moonlight. She spent the monotonous and boring journey in fast forward.

With two Nascent Soul level cultivators and True Spirits protecting the group of four, their combat power was such that they could roam freely even in the barbaric era. Naturally, no ignorant underlings dared to provoke them, giving the two Nascent Soul level "great gods" a chance to stretch their muscles.

Without these minor annoyances to add variety, the group's journey naturally became monotonous and boring, and Han Lu certainly had no intention of spending that boring journey with them.

Last time, fast forward to the end, Han Lu learned from Senior Fang Han's words that the group was about to arrive at the territory of the Eastern Human Race.

Naturally, this made her especially look forward to the next month, which was the Moon Pearl World Tour.

"At least I can meet some new people and experience some interesting things."

"It will be some time before Senior Wang Han delivers his sermon after his tribulation. It will probably be a year or even a year and a half before we can experience that part of the story."

Han Lu, who was familiar with many major events in the ancient cultivation era, was very knowledgeable about the storylines in the Moon Pearl world.

Based on everything she had seen and heard in the Moon Pearl World, Han Lu knew very well when the opportunity that Wang Han had mentioned, which was not far away, would actually occur.

Sitting on the bed in a simple inn in a small village, Han Lu gazed at the bright moon in the distance and took out the warm moon pearl from the cleavage of her chest.

The moment it was illuminated by the moonlight, the Moon Pearl began to greedily absorb the power within the moonlight, just as it always had.

Looking at this scene, Han Lu had a question for the first time: "Could it be that moonlight or sunlight also contains some kind of energy substance similar to spiritual energy that can be absorbed and utilized?"

Thinking of this, Han Lu recalled the numerous solar-powered electric machines she had seen in the ancient cultivation secret realm.

"Perhaps, a cultivator once created a cultivation method that relied on solar or lunar energy?"

"After all, except for rainy days, the sun is always in the sky, which makes it much easier to find spiritual energy than when it is unevenly distributed."

“Cultivating using this as a source is often much faster than cultivating using spiritual energy.”

"..."

Han Lu's mind wandered, expanding from one point to ten or even a hundred. She even had the idea of ​​keeping an eye out in the Moon Pearl World to see if any ancient cultivators had actually developed a cultivation method that absorbed solar energy, just as she imagined.

However, when this idea actually took shape in Han Lu's mind, she laughed out loud.

"If that's really the case, then that's amazing."

While lost in thought, Moon Pearl had eaten half its fill under the moonlight. In about a quarter of an hour, it would be able to lead Han Lu back to the ancient cultivation era of 100,000 years ago.

In her final moments, Han Lu casually tidied a strand of her wine-red hair that had fallen down, and turned her gaze to the small village that had become lively due to the war in the neighboring prefecture.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, the relationship between cultivators and mortals was even closer than in the Central Plains.

Naturally, the great battle between cultivators in Ningzhou Prefecture and Yangdan Prefecture would also affect the lives of ordinary people in both prefectures.

After all, not all cultivators are as compassionate towards ordinary people as Han Lu and Wen Erya.

Many cultivators, especially those who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage or above, treat mortals as if they were talking objects.

Under such circumstances, many mortals naturally died, were injured, or were displaced due to battles between cultivators.

The town where Han Lu is currently staying is not far from Ningzhou Prefecture, making it the best place for many ordinary people in Ningzhou Prefecture to take refuge.

Even now, in the dead of night, there are still many homeless people wandering the narrow streets of the small village.

Among them were outsiders, as well as mortals who had been driven out of their homes by cultivators and had no choice but to spend the night away from home.

Fortunately, Han Lu was a cultivator and had countless gold and silver in her storage bag; otherwise, she would probably have had to build a temporary cave in the wilderness tonight in order to find a safe place to enter the Moon Pearl World.

Looking at the elderly couple shivering under the sheets beneath her window, Han Lu pondered for a moment before casually channeling her spiritual energy to ignite a small fire for them to keep warm.

Hearing several words of gratitude, "Thank you, Immortal Master," drifting in from outside the window, Han Lu closed the window a little smaller, grabbed the fully charged Moon Pearl, and returned once again to the world she had left behind "one month."

Fang Lin, who had traveled between the Phoenix Clan's territory and the Eastern Human Clan's territory at least five times, was extremely familiar with this route. The prediction he made before Han Lu left the Moon Pearl World last time was completely correct.

Sure enough, when Han Lu traveled with the four of them again this time, after only a quarter of an hour of fast-forwarding, a village formed by the Eastern Human Race appeared on the ground in the distance.

"Fellow Daoist Fengyang, we've arrived." After saying this, Fang Lin led everyone to slow down their flight and land gently.

When Fang Lin mentioned going to a certain place, he was actually referring to the territory of the Eastern Human Race.

It takes half a day to get from this small village to the place where Senior Wang Han underwent his tribulation.

"We'll rest here for half a day now. I'll arrange for someone to inform Fellow Daoist Fengyang and Young Friend Fengjiao of their arrival. Then we can set off for Junior Brother Wang Han's tribulation site, where we can make proper arrangements and entertain everyone properly."

Fang Lin nodded and smiled, then casually made a hand seal, sending a wisp of divine thought to a cultivator in the village, asking him to run errands for him.

The Eastern Humans invited many barbarian tribes they were on good terms with or had only a so-so relationship with, so they specially devised a procedure for entertaining each tribe.

Fang Lin led the three phoenixes to stop briefly in this human settlement just to go through a formality, so that when Feng Yang truly arrived at the core of the human race, he wouldn't be neglected and would feel at home.

Fengyang said, "When in Rome, do as the host says. I will follow Fellow Daoist Fang's arrangements."

Fang Lin arranged accommodations for Sanfeng and invited several villagers who had come to inquire about the situation to pick fresh fruits and vegetables, slaughter livestock, and prepare dinner.

Fang Lin even went to the village's wine cellar in person, opened a jar of wine, and said he wanted to drink with Feng Yang until they were both drunk.

After following the three through half the village, Han Lu realized that this was the village that Fang Lin had managed when he served as a sheriff.

"No wonder it felt so familiar, like coming home."

With such a host to entertain her, Sanfeng naturally had a pleasant time in this small village.

The next day, Fang Lin took the three of them to enjoy the scenery nearby, and they didn't return to the village until the sun was about to set.

Fang Lin chatted and laughed with Feng Yang along the way, but when he saw the cultivators waiting for the four of them to return in the village, he seemed like a different person.

Fang Lin bowed respectfully to the kind-faced cultivator sitting in the seat he had occupied the previous night, and said, "Greetings, Master."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu immediately realized the identity of this cultivator.

"So he was Fu Ding, the first ancient cultivator of the Eastern Human Race to advance to the Nascent Soul Realm during the ancient cultivation era."

[Author's Note] Sorry, I was working overtime and accidentally set the automatic update to the 21st.

Chapter 332 The First Ancient Cultivator

The ancient cultivator Fu Ding was mentioned far less often in the Central Plains than the ancient cultivators Fang Lin and Wang Han.

In terms of fame, Fu Ding is far inferior to these two incredibly talented younger generations.

However, if one were to rank the ten most outstanding ancient cultivators of the ancient cultivation era, Fu Ding would undoubtedly be ranked first no matter how one were to rank them.

The reason is simple: according to legend, Fu Ding was the first human to figure out the method of cultivation, and was the master of a series of ancient cultivators such as Fang Lin and Wang Han. He can be considered the ancestor of all cultivators.

Given his high moral standing and prestige, why is Fu Ding unknown to younger cultivators?

The reason is that although Fu Ding was the first human to figure out the method of cultivation, he also went astray and took many wrong turns.

Fu Ding, thanks to his exceptional talent, became a Nascent Soul cultivator in the excellent cultivation environment of the Wilderness, but his combat strength was not as outstanding as that of many of his juniors such as Fang Lin and Wang Han.

In historical records and folk tales, there are very few stories about the ancient cultivator Fu Ding appearing in battles between humans and other races. Naturally, his popularity and fame are not as great as they were 100,000 years later.

During the most prosperous period of the ancient cultivation era of the human race, Fu Ding had already retreated behind the scenes, relying on his own connections and prestige to take charge of the overall situation within the race.

Many external tasks that required combat power to complete were handed over to Fang Lin, Wang Han, and other younger cultivators.

And now.

In the timeline of the Moon Pearl World, when the human race was slowly rising, Fu Ding was one of only two Nascent Soul cultivators among the Eastern human race.

Naturally, it held an extraordinary position among the human race during the ancient cultivation era.

Even though Fang Lin, who had mastered the art of swordsmanship, was capable of taking down two talisman cauldrons by himself with his sword, he still treated the talisman cauldrons with utmost respect and the courtesy due to a junior when he saw them.

Despite his noble status and high moral standing, Fu Ding regarded his disciple Fang Lin as an equal.

Standing up from his seat at the table, Fu Ding helped Fang Lin, who was bowing in greeting, to his feet and said, "Brother Fang, there's no need for such formalities. It was I who was uninvited and rude."