The Long Journey to Immortality

Furthermore, with the departure from her old love and the arrival of a "new love," the current situation becomes quite understandable.

Wenren Ou's gossip stories weren't particularly exciting, but they were based on personal experiences and true stories, which made Han Lu feel incredibly satisfied. She felt a sense of exhilaration, as if she had broken through to a higher level.

"By the way," Wenren Ou switched to a more affectionate form of address, "Sister Han, do you have a lover? What do you think of my father?"

Upon hearing this, Han Lu's wine-red hair straightened out.

She then realized that Wenren Ou didn't want her to be his bodyguard, but rather that he thought she was good-looking and had a good personality, and wanted to pick her up and arrange a marriage so she could become his stepmother.

Chapter 341 Tool Person

In Wenren Ou's opinion, Han Lu was definitely a top-notch candidate for stepmother.

She is good-looking, has a great figure, is highly accomplished, and has a good personality.

The most important thing is that we get along well and I find him pleasing to the eye.

Isn't this a far cry from that Fairy Yunxiao, who has mediocre cultivation, mediocre talent, mediocre figure, and a terrible personality, with only a pretty face?

No wonder Wenren Ou, the second-generation immortal, would so subtly probe Han Lu's thoughts and take the initiative to find a wife for his father, Wenren Mu, with whom he had only a casual relationship.

But let's set aside whether Han Lu has any intention of finding a Daoist partner and having children.

Even if she did, she wouldn't seek a partner in the Great Yu Dynasty and get together with a genius cultivator whose name she had only heard of.

Not to mention, even if Han Lu took the initiative to approach him, whether Ren Wenrenmu would accept it was another matter entirely.

Therefore, Wenren Ou's sudden idea was just wishful thinking; he didn't even have the ink to write the eight characters.

However, Wenren Ou's invitations these times gave Han Lu an idea.

"If I bring along Wenren Ou, this second-generation immortal who's familiar to me in the Celestial Palace, would my journey eastward be smoother?"

Once the idea came to mind, it became unstoppable.

The more Han Lu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, much more reasonable than taking a detour or other solutions.

However, before making a decision, Han Lu needs to ask a few questions to know whether Wenren Ou, this "passport" and "tool" that came to her door, can really play the role she envisioned.

"Wenren Ou." This was the first time Han Lu had addressed Wenren Ou by his given name.

"What's wrong, Sister Han? Do you have an idea? Do you want me to introduce you to my exceptionally talented but scoundrel father?" Seeing that Han Lu hadn't raised any objections before, Wenren Ou continued to address Han Lu as such, trying to get closer to her and working hard to turn "Sister Han" into "Mother".

Han Lu swallowed hard, suppressing a curse, and said gently, "I'm talking to you about serious business, so be serious."

Wenren Ou assumed that the important matter Han Lu mentioned was the important matter of being a "stepmother," so she solemnly found a seat and sat down, saying, "Sister Han, feel free to ask me any questions, I will answer them to the best of my knowledge."

Han Lu coughed and pushed the map in front of her aside slightly. "Wenren Ou, how did you sneak out?"

The Jitian Palace holds a superior position in the Great Yu Dynasty, occupying a piece of land that is about one-tenth the size of Dongzhou Prefecture. It is the only cultivation force in that region.

That place, which stands independently outside the thirty-two prefectures and is called Jitian Prefecture, is about five thousand miles away from Dongzhou Prefecture.

Han Lu found it hard to imagine that a second-generation immortal like Wenren Ou, whose cultivation level was only at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining, would sneak out of the Jitian Palace, which had many cultivators with Golden Core cultivation or above, all by himself.

Wenren Ou was slightly disappointed to see that Han Lu was only asking about this matter, but still answered, "There are teleportation arrays in the Jitian Palace that lead to fourteen of the thirty-two prefectures. I slipped out of the Jitian Palace with a Taiyi Concealing Talisman given to me by my father, and then came to Dongzhou Prefecture by using my identity token through the teleportation array."

"I originally planned to start from Dongzhou Prefecture, go to Jiang'an Prefecture to see where my mother used to live, to pay my respects, and then go to the edge of the wilderness. But I didn't expect that I would have to slow down for various reasons, and that's how I met Sister Han here."

After Wenren Ou finished answering, he asked Han Lu, "Sister Han, how old are you now? Is your cultivation level in the mid-stage or early-stage Golden Core realm? Let me see if you and my father are a good match."

Han Lu was exasperated by Wenren Ou's proactive matchmaking, but she still managed to learn some information about Wenren Ou through this question.

As a second-generation immortal, Wenren Ou's cultivation level was neither high nor low, but he still possessed many valuable items that could protect his life, giving him the ability to protect himself.

According to Ren'ou's description, the Taiyi Concealing Breath Talisman is an excellent talisman that can conceal a cultivator's aura, allowing them to avoid restrictions, formations, and divine sense searches.

Secondly, Wenren Zhen possesses a token that proves his identity within the Jitian Palace, allowing him to borrow power and gain some influence among the various peripheral forces of the Jitian Palace.

Thirdly, Wenren Ou could be considered to be on the same path as Han Lu.

“I already said, I’m only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment,” Han Lu emphasized again. After answering half of Wenren Ou’s question, she continued to ask, “Then which faction in the Jitian Palace does your father, Wenren Mu, belong to? Does he support the new Palace Master or the old Palace Master?”

Upon hearing that Han Lu had finally asked a question related to his father, Wenren Ou perked up. "My father's words are neutral."

"The main reason is that although he has little seniority as a Golden Core cultivator in the palace, his status in the Extreme Heaven Palace is not low because of his talent."

"This awkward situation left him, who was originally focused on cultivation, detached from all the various sects."

"However, this situation has changed after the change of palace master."

"For some reasons I don't know," Wenren Ou, who had only lived for seventeen years, knew very little about Wenren Mu's life in the Jitian Palace over the past hundred years, "father had a good relationship with the new Palace Master, Zhetian Venerable."

Hearing this, Han Lu nodded slightly, already understanding the situation.

Wenren Ou exclaimed in surprise, "Sister Han, does your nodding mean you're willing to compete with that damned Fairy Yunxiao to become my stepmother?"

Han Lu suppressed the urge to swear and shook her head, "No, I've just decided to be your bodyguard."

Upon hearing this, Wenren Ou was not too disappointed; on the contrary, she regarded it as the first step in her "great undertaking of becoming a stepmother."

He said happily, "That's great! With Sister Han by my side to protect me, I can not only travel faster, but also arrive in Jiang'an Prefecture safely."

"As for the journey to the wilderness, it should no longer be a superficial one. Perhaps we can even go deeper and see monsters or even true spirits that we have never seen before."

Han Lu really wanted to reply to Wenren Ou, "If you want to see rare and extraordinary spirits, you can see them here too."

Han Lu did not want to completely follow the arrangements of Wenren Zhen, the client. "I can agree to the first thing, but I can't guarantee the second thing."

"My cultivation level is low, I dare not lead you into the depths of the wilderness."

"At most, I can only take you to the Jitian Palace stronghold on the edge of the wilderness. If you want to go to the edge of the wilderness to see the scenery, you might as well use your father's influence to beg the Golden Core cultivators in that stronghold. I'm sure someone will come to curry favor with you, the son of a future Nascent Soul cultivator."

Han Lu's words were clear and straightforward, and although they were not very pleasant to hear, Wenren Ou had to admit that it was a good idea.

“Alright, as long as Sister Han is willing to escort me for a while,” Wenren Ou said, afraid that Han Lu would change her mind. She quickly took out five high-grade spirit stones from her storage bag. “Sister Han, please take these spirit stones.”

Looking at these rare high-grade spirit stones, Han Lu couldn't help but sigh inwardly that there were different kinds of "second-generation immortals".

The spirit stones were tempting, but Han Lu showed no intention of accepting them.

“It’s free,” Han Lu answered readily, “but I have to arrange the route and other details along the way.”

Five thousand spirit stones was a painful sum for Wenren Zhen, but upon hearing this, he felt a sense of relief and thought, "It feels so good not to have to spend my own spirit stones to find a second marriage for my bastard father."

Chapter 342 Traveling Together

Han Lu felt that there was an element of self-interest involved in being Wenren Ou's bodyguard, and that it was a mutually beneficial arrangement, so no fees should be charged.

However, at Wenren Mu's repeated insistence, Han Lu had no choice but to symbolically accept two hundred spirit stones as payment, so that she would appear more like a bodyguard than a human trafficker abducting the "son of a Golden Core cultivator from the Heavenly Pole Palace".

Coincidentally, the escort fee of 200 spirit stones was exactly the same as the recruitment fee for sects that used early Foundation Establishment cultivators as soldiers.

It's no wonder that many rogue cultivators who were unwilling to get involved in the internal strife of the Extreme Heaven Palace would want to leave that chaotic place on their own initiative.

After all, soldiers can gain honor, medals, military merits and status by participating in war.

However, for independent cultivators who are supposed to be uninvolved, participating in such a war will only result in having more dispensable spirit stones in their storage bags, without any other substantial gains.

On the contrary, death, which is an extremely terrifying thing for long-lived cultivators, is many times more likely to happen to cultivators who are caught in chaos.

After the verbal agreement was reached, Wenren Zhen paid the mere two hundred spirit stones as readily as before.

Having been paid to do the job, Han Lu planned a new route based on the information she had just received from Wenren Zhen, the "tool person".

“Let’s go to Jiang’an Prefecture first, following your plan,” Han Lu pointed on the map, “then we’ll go through Yangdan Prefecture and head east to Manxi Prefecture.”

"Finally, about a month later, we arrived here," Han Lu's finger landed on the map. "A long time ago, the Jitian Palace built a fortress here, where several Golden Core cultivators should have been stationed to defend against ferocious beasts that might invade the Great Yu Dynasty from the wilderness."

"I'll consider my mission accomplished by dropping you off here. Whether you want to go back or take it a step further is up to you."

Han Lu believed that if Wenren Ou only needed to travel with her in the Dayu Dynasty for half a month, he would change his naive idea of ​​being a "second-generation immortal" and obediently go home.

Han Lu even suspected that Wenren Ou's successful departure from Jitian Prefecture and arrival in Dongzhou Prefecture was part of Wenren Mu's plan.

Wenren Ou's every move was under Wenren Mu's surveillance, and there were even several cultivators with higher cultivation levels around her to monitor and protect her.

Wenren Mu simply wanted his naive son to experience the "bloody sandstorm" of the Great Yu Dynasty as early as possible, to mature quickly, and not become a disappointing second-generation immortal.

However, Han Lu would only keep these thoughts to herself and would not tell Wenren Ou.

Wenren Ou had promised beforehand that he would follow Han Lu's arrangements for the trip.

Since Han Lu had made such proper arrangements, he naturally wouldn't break his promise at this time, offer unsolicited advice, or create difficulties for Han Lu.

On the contrary, when Wenren Ou saw the final destination set by Han Lu for this trip, she couldn't help but praise, "Does Sister Han have mind-reading abilities? There is an old friend of my father here. With his help, I will definitely be able to have a good trip to the edge of the wilderness."

Han Lu was delighted to hear this. After all, Wenren Mu was a Golden Core cultivator with a high status in the Jitian Palace. She couldn't just take his son to a dangerous place and abandon him.

With a senior colleague helping her take over and looking after her, she can save herself a lot of trouble.

“Okay, let’s arrange it like this,” Han Lu directed. “After we have lunch, we’ll go buy some food and supplies and then set off immediately.”

Wenren Ou asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Sister Han? Although there are fewer cultivators in Jiang'an Prefecture, the villages and counties are much more densely populated than in Dongzhou Prefecture. There's no need to prepare too much food, is there?"

Wenren Ou was well aware that the food was prepared for him, a Qi Refining cultivator who needed to eat frequently.

Han Lu explained, "The situation is unstable right now. I plan to travel non-stop in Jiang'an Prefecture, enduring wind and rain along the way, and only stop in the town where your parents used to live to resupply."

Han Lu didn't want to be conscripted by a Golden Core cultivator wielding the Extreme Heaven Token just because of a meal.

After all, the cultivators who wielded the Extreme Heaven Token and acted "as they pleased" in Jiang'an Prefecture belonged to the opposing faction of Wenren Ou's father, Wenren Mu, and were not so easy to talk to.

Although Wenren Ou was still puzzled and kept saying, "Sister Han is a Golden Core cultivator, what is there to worry about or be afraid of?" she still followed Han Lu's arrangement.

Han Lu was too lazy to explain the matter anymore.

Anyway, Wenren Ou isn't the kind of troublesome "second-generation immortal," so even if he misunderstands her, it won't cause her any unsolvable problems. Let him misunderstand if he wants.

Following Han Lu's instructions, the two had lunch early and then purchased some ingredients at the village market that could be stored in storage bags for several days without spoiling before embarking on their journey again.

When the two walked to the edge of the village, Wenren Zhen looked at Han Lu with expectant eyes and said, "Senior Han, will you use your cloud-riding magic to carry me away?"

When encountering matters related to cultivation, Wenren Ou reverted to addressing him as Senior Han.

Han Lu, her heart filled with malice, thought to herself, "How could I possibly unleash such a Golden Core Realm spell?"

She didn't answer, but simply patted her storage bag and summoned the Pegasus carriage that countless people had ridden in.

"Let's go, let's sit here." After saying that, Han Lu lifted the curtain first and went inside.

Seeing that it was just a flying magic artifact of the magic tool level, Wenren Ou was slightly disappointed, but still quickly followed Han Lu onto the flying carriage.

Wenren Ou got into the carriage and sat down next to Han Lu, at which point Han Lu activated her magic weapon.