The Long Journey to Immortality

“It’s not exactly a secret,” Han Lu replied quickly. “My Ice Phoenix bloodline comes from Senior Feng Rubing.”

Here, Han Lu deliberately avoids bringing up her relationship with Feng Rubing.

"I obtained the Fire Phoenix Essence Blood from an auction held in the Great Yu Dynasty."

"I wonder if this answer satisfies this senior?"

Satisfied? Of course not.

However, the other party is Feng You's daughter, so there is naturally no need for her to lie at this time. Even if she were to lie, it would probably be because she had already arranged everything.

Although the phoenix senior, whose race was unknown, was displeased, he could only say, "A good opportunity indeed."

He outwardly agreed but inwardly disagreed; whatever his motives, this senior was clearly a staunch opponent.

Clearly, he will still vote against it out of personal desire during the voting process later.

It's clear that Han Lu wasn't the only one unwilling to return to her clan; some people also targeted Han Lu's mother, trying to incite the emotions of many compatriots who dislike humans.

Han Lu cannot and should not avoid this kind of question.

"Yes, my mother was indeed human."

She passed away from illness about thirty years ago.

Even after I return to my clan, she will still be my mother.

As expected, some people didn't care about Han Lu's human bloodline, and the neutral faction, unaware of Han Lu's origins, were also unaware of it.

The mention of Han Lu naturally caused some of the Phoenix Clan elders, who disliked the human race, to waver on whether or not to allow her to return.

Feng You noticed this, but his face only showed a smile.

Clearly, Han Lu's answer pleased him as a father.

Following that, several Phoenix Clan elders who were curious about Han Lu asked a few lukewarm questions, simply inquiring about Han Lu's information.

Some people even started thinking about matchmaking for their younger relatives, inquiring whether Han Lu was single and whether she was looking for a spouse.

Han Lu was overwhelmed with questions, but none of her answers were particularly problematic.

As the fifteen minutes were almost up, Feng Yufei, who was presiding over the ceremony, asked Han Lu one last question.

“Han Lu,” Feng Yufei said, feeling a little uncomfortable when she heard that the name did not start with “Feng”. “Returning to the clan is not as simple as just writing your name on the family tree and then staying in the holy land for three days.”

"For the Phoenix Clan, a sense of belonging and loyalty is the most important thing."

"Han Lu, do you think you are a human or a phoenix now?"

Feng Rubing had asked this question before, and Han Lu answered it easily.

But she was certain that her honest answer would likely change the minds of many of her neutral supporters.

Pretending to be deep in thought, Han Lu hesitated for a while before deciding to tell the truth.

"I grew up among humans and was raised by them until I was fourteen. It wasn't until three years ago that I learned I possessed the bloodline of the Phoenix Clan and that I was a true spirit of the Phoenix Clan."

"From my perspective, I think I feel a stronger sense of belonging to the human race now."

"But everything has a beginning."

"Compared to the long lifespan of a true spirit, I am still too young."

"It is very likely that after returning to the clan, I will live as a member of the Phoenix Clan for a hundred or a thousand years, and like all my predecessors, I will be willing to do my best for the Phoenix Clan."

Initially, upon hearing the first part of the story, Fengyou's expression became slightly tense, and she secretly blamed her daughter for "not knowing how to lie."

But when she heard the second half of what he said, Fengyou's expression relaxed. She felt that her daughter's answer was appropriate as long as she did not go against her conscience, and that it would not ruin anything.

After answering, Han Lu lowered her head slightly, waiting for Feng Yufei to continue.

Feng Yufei's comments will likely determine whether this "test and quiz" has a positive or negative impact on the final voting results.

“Very good, Han Lu. Since you have said so, I believe that all the fellow clansmen are still very willing to let you, a genius, return to the clan, live in the clan, and truly integrate into the clan and become a member of my Phoenix Clan.”

Feng Yufei gave Han Lu's answer a thumbs up and praised it.

Soon, as Han Lu finished answering Feng Yufei's question, the 15-minute question-and-answer session came to an end.

It's time to vote.

The vote was a secret ballot.

The ballot box was placed in a secret room.

The "security guards" with voting rights entered the secret room one by one and put their tokens into the ballot box for "agree" or "disagree" to vote.

Although there were only nineteen "security guards" present.

However, many of these "security guards" held tokens from several of their colleagues, giving them the power to vote on behalf of others.

Therefore, the final vote count will definitely exceed nineteen, and the result will therefore be full of uncertainty.

During the voting, Han Lu stood patiently beside Feng You, watching as each senior entered the dark room and cast one or more tokens to decide the outcome of the clan reunification.

At this point, Han Lu was surprisingly calm.

Han Lu didn't particularly care about this matter. Not returning to the Phoenix Clan and being listed in the family genealogy was just missing out on an opportunity.

On the contrary, Feng You was not as calm and composed as before.

He naturally hoped that his daughter could have a legitimate status, rather than being adrift like duckweed.

Soon, all nineteen of the Nine Phoenix "security guards" who came to the council hall completed their votes.

Finally, Feng Yufei took the two restricted ballot boxes out of the secret room, opened them, and counted the votes.

In the end, a total of seventy-seven tokens appeared in the two ballot boxes.

Of these, 42 were placed in the box of approval.

Han Lu was granted entry to the sacred site with a narrow margin of seven votes to complete the reunification ceremony.

Chapter 375 Returning to the Clan (4)

The fact that the advantage was so small surprised Han Lu.

She felt that her series of answers were not wrong, not to mention that her father was the head of a clan and had helped her smooth things over with many connections.

Even so, he only won by seven votes.

This made Han Lu certain that without the previous series of preparations, she would definitely have been rejected by the Phoenix Clan because of her "human bloodline".

"It seems there are still too many people in the Phoenix Clan who are hostile to humans," Han Lu muttered to herself. "Or maybe my father has grudges against many people in the clan."

Regardless of how many votes she won, Han Lu ultimately passed through this "democratic" process and nominally became a member of the Wild Phoenix Clan.

Fengyou was very excited to witness the recognition of her "illegitimate daughter" who had been with her for only a month, now that she was officially recognized.

However, as the head of the clan, he maintained his composure in front of everyone.

Those who voted against left early, while the guardians who voted in favor came forward one by one to congratulate Han Lu and Feng You.

After a series of polite greetings, Feng You finally smiled at Feng Yufei.

With this matter concluded, only Feng Yufei, Feng You, and Han Lu remained in the council hall.

"Congratulations, Clan Chief." Feng Yufei stepped forward, bowed, and offered her congratulations.

Feng You smiled and said, "Thanks to Yufei for your help. If you need any assistance in the future, please don't hesitate to ask."

“Clan leader, I only contributed a little,” Feng Yufei said modestly. “The clan leader’s daughter is so talented that even without my intervention, the guardians would surely have given their approval.”

Feng You chuckled, "Yufei, when will Han Lu enter the Holy Land and receive the recognition of our ancestors? Is there any plan?"

Feng Yufei nodded and said, "How about three days from now? Several seniors are going to the Holy Land to perform sacrifices in the next few days, so it would be better for the clan leader's daughter to go to the Holy Land a little later."

Feng Yufei didn't want to bring up the minor conflicts between the nine phoenixes too much in front of Han Lu, so that this "young phoenix" would get involved in these disputes too early.

This matter should have been arranged by Feng Yufei herself; asking for her opinion was merely to give Feng You face.

Feng You glanced at Han Lu, and seeing that his daughter, who was eager to return to the Central Plains, didn't say anything, he replied, "This arrangement is very good, I'll listen to you."

Han Lu chimed in, "Let's follow Senior Yufei's arrangements."

“Alright,” Feng Yufei said, “then I will arrange for Feng Ji to guide Han Lu three days from now, at dawn.”

Fengji was one of the three phantom phoenixes who left Fengqi Forest to welcome Han Lu and her group.

Although Fengji is a junior, he has a very good relationship with Fengyou.

"Feng Ji? How has he performed in Fengqi Forest over the past few decades?" Upon hearing this name, Feng You began to chat with Feng Yufei about everyday matters.

Although she was unaware of the affairs of the Phoenix Clan, Han Lu still stood quietly to the side, listening.

Feng Yufei did not hold back her praise for the Phoenix Clan member named Fengji.

According to her, Fengji is excellent in both personality and talent, and can be said to be the most outstanding talent in the Phoenix Clan in the past hundred years.

“Fengji is arguably the most outstanding among the younger generation under a thousand years old in the clan,” Feng Yufei said, glancing at Han Lu. “However, I imagine that the clan leader’s daughter will also have a bright future and be able to shoulder the great responsibility of my Huanfeng clan a thousand or even a hundred years from now.”

Feng Yufei's words were not just polite remarks.

In her opinion, Han Lu's talent was absolutely top-notch even among the Illusionary Phoenix True Spirits, not to mention that she had already fused with the bloodlines of two other phoenixes.

Not to mention he's the son of an official.

If things develop normally and everything goes smoothly, in the future, she will most likely have to call Han Lu "Clan Chief".

What father doesn't like to hear people praise his daughter?

Hearing Feng Yufei praise Han Lu, Feng You's smile deepened.

When praised by her elders, Han Lu naturally had to say a few words of modesty.

They had a pleasant chat, and when they parted, Feng Yufei's way of addressing Han Lu had changed from "the clan chief's daughter" to "sister Han Lu," becoming much more affectionate.

With the matter of returning to the clan settled, Feng You and Han Lu no longer had a reason to stay in the core area of ​​Fengqi Forest.

After visiting a friend with Feng You, Han Lu returned with Feng You to the place where they had stayed for half a month.

Back at his residence, Feng Rubing was already waiting for him.

When she learned that everything had gone smoothly and that Han Lu had successfully returned to the Phoenix Clan and become a member of the Phoenix Clan, Feng Rubing was overjoyed.

Although Feng Rubing was not the kind of old-fashioned person who valued tradition, like Feng You, she also hoped that her future "daughter" could obtain a legitimate identity within the clan.