The Long Journey to Immortality

A true spirit at the Nascent Soul level like Feng Rubing can live for nearly eight thousand years. And because of the "Nirvana" event, even if Feng Rubing's cultivation cannot advance any further, her actual lifespan will still be over five figures.

The remaining true spirits, having reached the Nascent Soul level of cultivation and magical power, could easily live for seven or eight thousand years.

Even a Nascent Soul level True Spirit can spend three or four years, or even thirteen or fourteen years, in the blink of an eye while meditating, but there will still be too many boring blank times in their lives that they need to fill with hobbies in order to keep their mind clear.

The True Spirits that Feng Rubing mentioned are all very talented.

Some are skilled in calligraphy.

Some people enjoy painting.

Some people enjoy carving.

Of course, there are also those who enjoy taking a pen and creating literature in their spare time. Whether their writing is good or bad is unknown, but judging from Feng Rubing's statement that this True Spirit Senior lived for over five thousand years, he must have outlived many ordinary humans and cultivators who followed his updates.

How to win over these true spirit companions who are familiar with Feng Rubing, so that they would also extend an olive branch to her and be willing to give her their approval or even three drops of her essence blood when she returns to her clan, became one of the two main things Han Lu thought about along the way.

The other matter concerns her father.

Although she wasn't certain whether her father was in the Phoenix Clan, Han Lu's ever-accurate sixth sense told her that there was a 99% chance she would find out who her father was and meet him this time.

This person, whose name, appearance, and personality are unknown, is incredibly important to Han Lu from every angle.

His disappearance before Feng Bailu was born left Feng Bailu with an incomplete childhood and also gave Feng Bailu's beloved mother a broken marriage.

He left Han Lu with the bloodline of the Phoenix, enabling her to transform into a true spirit. In the future, she may travel east and west across this vast continent as a true spirit rather than a human cultivator.

And he, whom she had never met, was destined to influence Han Lu's state of mind and the gains she made from this wild journey in the coming months.

Because she was born posthumously, Han Lu had never met her father.

Her imagination of her father came from her mother's descriptions.

The woman who was willing to elope for love and spend fourteen years in seclusion in the mountains waiting for her lover to return naturally presented Feng Bailu with the image of an excellent but imperfect father.

He is elegant, handsome, considerate, understanding, and also a cultivator with considerable magical power.

In short, he was the ideal spouse in the hearts of women in the Central Plains.

This was his impression of his father when he was on Fengbai Road.

As I grew older and gained more experience, my mother passed away due to illness.

If you were to describe Han Lu's current image in relation to her father, she would add one more word: heartless man.

He lived a secluded life with his lover in the mountains for two years, but then left her in the first month of her pregnancy.

Even if there are unspeakable reasons behind it, he still can't shake off the label of being a heartless man.

She imagined what it would be like if this mysterious spiritual father hadn't left her mother and her.

The results of such imagination are varied and bizarre, but they are generally much better than the ending that Feng Bailu experienced in the first fourteen years of his life.

As she was about to actively seek out and meet such a significant person, Han Lu's feelings were beyond what could be described as complicated.

She felt she had a thousand words to say to this living relative, yet she also felt there was nothing to talk about with this stranger.

Compared to this terrible feeling, which felt like a sore spot had been rubbed, it was incredibly easy to explain the story that had never been told to anyone before, which took place in Xiaoyaozi's cave.

"Sister Ru Bing, who do you think my father is?" Thinking that Bing Feng and Huan Feng lived in the same place, Feng Ru Bing should know a lot about the Huan Feng clan, so Han Lu asked a question that was not difficult to answer.

“I can’t say for sure, anyone could be,” Feng Rubing was also quite interested in this kind of thing. She wanted to know which Phoenix Clan member had indulged in such behavior in the Central Plains decades ago. “However, based on your experience, there are a few things we can judge.”

Han Lu asked in a deep voice, "Which points?"

“First of all, it has to be male,” Feng Rubing joked. “As far as I know, there are less than thirty members of the Illusion Phoenix Clan now, and less than half of them are male. That alone eliminates half of your options.”

Han Lu couldn't laugh at something like this.

“Then,” Feng Rubing finally began to analyze seriously, “Huan Feng, who was not in the clan ten months before you were born, should be the main suspect.”

“I can take you to ask Feng You. He should know the general situation of clan members coming and going in and out in recent decades.”

"In that case, I estimate that the suspects can be narrowed down from fifteen to three or four."

Most of the Phoenix Clan's true spirits are "homebodies," and only a minority like to travel to the Central Plains, the Western Regions, and the Great Yu Dynasty.

Han Lu nodded; Feng Rubing's analysis made perfect sense.

“Besides,” Feng Rubing wanted to add three points, to put it more nicely, “the third point is that your father is probably a bad person, otherwise he wouldn’t have done something like abandoning his wife.”

“Judging from this, it shouldn’t be difficult to recognize who your father is,” Feng Rubing said. “Besides, perhaps as soon as you ask, someone will take the initiative to acknowledge you.”

“However,” Feng Rubing also suggested a possibility, “maybe your father is just a human cultivator who also possesses the bloodline of the Illusionary Phoenix, and not a member of the Illusionary Phoenix clan.”

Upon hearing this, Han Lu flapped her wings slightly and said, "Then everything we said before was nonsense."

Feng Rubing and Han Lu both fell silent at the same time.

Han Lu had naturally considered this frustrating possibility long ago.

Now that Feng Rubing had brought it up, Han Lu couldn't help but feel a sense of frustration.

Because of this emotional change, the red feathers on Han Lu's body also became much dimmer.

Chapter 362 Understanding, Innate Advantage

This unpleasant topic interrupted Han Lu and Feng Rubing's conversation for a full four hours.

As the sun began to set, Feng Rubing spoke again, attempting to salvage the conversation that had died.

"But speaking of which, I should thank your father, whose name I don't even know yet."

"If it weren't for him, there would be no you."

"Then I'll probably be trapped in that cave in the Northern Dynasties of the Central Plains for who knows how many more years."

"Perhaps, before I die, no other Phoenix will appear in that area to awaken me and allow me to fly in the sky again."

As she spoke, Feng Rubing slightly increased her flying speed, thinking of traveling a little further during the day.

"That's probably fate, decided by heaven," Han Lu sighed.

Feng Rubing could understand Han Lu's current feelings, she continued.

"More than two years ago, when I returned from the Central Plains to the Wilderness and back to the Phoenix Clan, my state of mind was similar to yours now."

"I both look forward to going home as soon as possible and worry that things will be different when I get home."

Feng Rubing reminisced about her feelings during that time and felt a sense of resonance with Han Lu.

Han Lu also imagined herself as Feng Rubing on that day, imagining what it would feel like to return home after leaving her family and relatives for five thousand years.

"And then what? How did you deal with it, sister?"

"It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but no one was there to advise me at the time, and I couldn't think of any good solutions, so I didn't think much about it and just kept flying back," Feng Rubing said with a smile.

"Once I got home, everything fell into place."

"My father has ascended to heaven and departed. Some of our relatives and friends are still here, while others have passed away."

“Feng You is still alive and has become the patriarch of the Illusion Phoenix Clan. He still remembers me and even made a special trip to the Central Plains and the East Sea decades ago to look for me.”

"Although I hadn't thought about how to face these old friends I hadn't seen for a long time along the way, the moment I met them, my emotions naturally erupted, and all the words just came out of my mouth."

Feng Rubing continued, "So, I think you shouldn't overthink it; just let things take their natural course."

"Whether your father is a member of the Phoenix Clan or not, we will eventually have to go there."

"No matter what kind of complicated feelings you have for your father."

"When you meet them, your true emotions will lead you to express your truest feelings."

"Perhaps she cried and threw herself into her father's arms."

"Or perhaps he'd keep a straight face and make that heartless man apologize before he'd call him 'father.'"

Feng Rubing's advice did indeed have an effect.

Han Lu then realized that she had been thinking too much and planning too much, which had actually created a considerable burden for her in this situation where she was too caught up in the details.

"It seems that dealing with this as my sister suggested is the best option."

Taking a deep breath, clearing her mind, and meditating for a while, Han Lu felt much better.

There was no longer a heavy stone weighing on her heart, and no longer any gloom obscuring her path or making her hesitate to move forward.

The improvement in her mood restored the vibrant color to the red feathers on Han Lu's wings.

Noticing the change in Han Lu, Feng Rubing breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't want her younger sister to travel with a depressed mood and return to the clan with a bitter face.

The conversation will eventually come to an end.

Despite the long journey, the silent and monotonous flight still occupied the majority of the time.

The best way for a cultivator to pass the time when their mind is clear is to enter into meditation.

Although cultivating in the environment of high altitude where spiritual energy is scarce is not an easy thing.

However, it was still possible for Han Lu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator with exceptional Qi perception.

So, perched on Feng Rubing's back, Han Lu began her first cultivation in the form of a phoenix spirit.

This was an incredibly novel experience, even more novel than the experience of transforming into a phoenix spirit and flying for the first time outside Yanzhao City in the Northern Dynasty of the Central Plains.

Having transformed into a true spirit, Han Lu could only circulate her cultivation techniques by relying on the changed position of her dantian.

This change was something Han Lu couldn't adapt to for a while.

However, Han Lu was a quick-witted person, and within half a day she had grasped the knack of cultivating in this form.

After getting used to it, she was surprised to find that cultivating in the state of true spirit had considerable benefits.

Looking inward, Han Lu noticed that the gaseous spiritual energy in her dantian was increasing at a visible rate. She couldn't help but sigh to herself, "From this point of view, the true spirit is far more favored by the heavens than the human race."

"It's no wonder that the vast majority of True Spirits reach a cultivation level comparable to the Golden Core stage after reaching adulthood. With the help of their long lifespans and outstanding cultivation talents, most True Spirits can reach the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage."

“When I cultivate in the state of true spirit, it is as if I have inscribed seven or eight spirit-gathering arrays all over my body.”

"And the spiritual energy is incredibly compatible with me, as if it wants to actively enter my body."

"Even in such harsh conditions, the amount of spiritual energy I absorbed was no less than the amount I absorbed when I was cultivating on the Dharma seat."

"If in the future I can find a blessed place and seclude myself to cultivate in the state of a three-winged phoenix, then I will truly make rapid progress."

Han Lu estimated that if this idea could really come to fruition, reaching the pseudo-core realm within twenty years would not be a dream.