The Long Journey to Immortality

As expected, the acidic water that had repeatedly proven its effectiveness during Han Lu's Qi Refining stage did not cause any harm to Feng Zhilan.

Feng Zhilan's feathers seemed to have waterproof properties; the highly corrosive acid couldn't even stay on the feathers for a moment and didn't harm Feng Zhilan in the slightest.

This result was beyond Han Lu's expectations, and it also gave her a clearer understanding of the special talent of the Prison Phoenix True Spirit.

"It seems that even if Feng Zhilan is bound with soft ropes, we should attack her directly with a spirit sword rather than setting up a lightning array and casting lightning spells."

The thought flashed through her mind, but she continued to control the unassuming, simple rope, launching a fatal blow.

It's just a soft rope, so there's no special trick to using it. You just need to infuse it with spiritual power and activate the weapon control technique.

Under the cover of a powerful water-attribute spell, Soft Rope successfully sneaked in and reached Feng Zhilan's side.

By the time Feng Zhilan noticed this unassuming magical artifact, it was already too late.

The soft rope was incredibly flexible under Han Lu's control.

This short rope became incredibly strong due to the stimulation of spiritual energy, and in the blink of an eye, it wrapped around Feng Zhilan's body, tightly binding her body and wings two and a half times.

After completing all this, Han Lu did not hesitate and hurriedly put the small bottle back, while simultaneously summoning the spiritual energy sword from her dantian.

She planned to seek the inspiration she had gained from watching Senior Fang Lin display his sword techniques that day, and use that sharp move to end the duel instantly.

She didn't want the competition to drag on into a protracted battle. In terms of spiritual power, she was only at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and couldn't compare to Feng Zhilan, who had already advanced to the Transformation stage.

Bound by the soft ropes, Feng Zhilan's first thought was naturally to break free.

With a burst of power, the muscles of the Prison Phoenix's wings bulged, unleashing a force powerful enough to shake a ten-meter-tall boulder within this small space.

This soft rope is indeed quite effective at binding demonic beasts and spirit beasts.

Its resilient physical body is just right to resist such a method of breaking free by brute force.

The rope tightly bound the area precisely where the Phoenix's wings and body muscles met, requiring minimal effort.

Even with the help of the flexible rope, Feng Zhilan used nine-tenths of her strength, but she still couldn't do anything to this magic weapon, which was only a mid-grade magic artifact.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Feng Zhilan managed to figure out the details of the rope.

Black flames spewed from its mouth again, but this time the flames were directed at Yu Feng's own body.

Flames erupted on her body, leaving Yu Feng Zhilan unharmed, but they completely ignited the soft ropes binding her.

The inferior quality of the soft rope is exposed at this moment.

In just three breaths, its spirituality was burned away by the eerie black flames, and it naturally softened, falling freely to the ground.

Feng Zhilan immediately spread her wings and broke free from her restraints.

However, in just a few rounds, Han Lu had completed all the preparations, and her real trump card was about to be unleashed.

Chapter 389 Sword Intent

The soft rope magic weapon was damaged only because of the strange flames cast by Feng Zhilan, and the wealthy and powerful Han Lu did not take it to heart.

She focused on recalling the scene when she saw Senior Fang Lin unleash his fierce sword moves, thinking about putting the insights she had gained from her recent understanding of sword techniques into practice.

Born from the Seven Kill Sword Technique and formed from spiritual power, the spiritual power sword has become much more solid than it was a few months ago due to Han Lu's improved cultivation level.

The change in form naturally made this spiritual sword, which was connected to Han Lu's mind, even more powerful.

After the flames on Feng Zhilan's body completely dissipated, Han Lu, who had been squinting, suddenly opened her eyes.

Han Lu's eyes, which were originally blue, turned gold, and two golden beams of light shot out from her eyes and landed on Feng Zhilan.

Han Lu used the Eye-Seeing Technique, which she had learned from the "Point Word Technique".

Despite being a powerful True Spirit, Yu Feng Feng Zhilan only revealed three weaknesses under Han Lu's scrutiny.

Even so, it can be considered as pointing out a general direction for Han Lu's sharp moves, which she had only grasped superficially.

This would allow Han Lu's technique, which was barely acceptable to a Golden Core cultivator, to pose a threat to a True Spirit that had reached the Transformation stage.

In less than a breath, Han Lu's gaze was fixed on a weakness found by the "See Through" supernatural power.

The weak point is located on the wings of the Phoenix. Attacking this point would be enough to injure Feng Zhilan without killing her and adding fuel to the fire in the already tense relationship.

The sword intent that already permeated Han Lu's entire body was now fully unleashed.

Although she was only using spiritual power to control the golden spiritual sword, Han Lu was connected to the spiritual sword, and the distance between them did not affect her interpretation and expression of sword intent when using the spiritual sword.

Feng Zhilan, who was not far from Han Lu, noticed the change in Han Lu's aura.

If Han Lu's aura and presence were previously indistinguishable from those of a typical true spirit, she now resembled an incomparably sharp spiritual sword, still sheathed and poised to strike.

As a true spirit in the Transformation Realm, Feng Zhilan clearly understood what this change meant.

"They must be about to use some extraordinary methods."

Feng Zhilan's gaze naturally fell on the golden longsword floating in front of Han Lu.

Based on the previous battle situation where Han Lu's spells posed no threat to her whatsoever, Feng Zhilan was certain that Han Lu would use this spirit sword to launch an attack next.

Although Feng Zhilan, as a genius of the Prison Phoenix Clan, has always lacked experience in fighting outsiders, she has lived for eighty years and has fought a few battles.

After deducing Han Lu's methods for dealing with her, she made what she believed to be the right choice immediately.

With her body slightly curled up, Yu Feng emitted a black light.

These rays of light seemed to isolate her from the world, clearly indicating a formidable defensive technique.

Feng Zhilan's thinking was simple: Han Lu was obviously going to use a spirit sword magic weapon to attack, and the defensive divine power she used was the best way to defend against these "sharp" attack magic weapons.

You wield a spear, I hold a shield; we exchange blows, one move countering the other.

She is at a higher level and stronger, so it is naturally easier for her to win.

Unbeknownst to her, Feng Zhilan had significantly raised her evaluation of Han Lu's abilities, placing her on a level roughly equivalent to Han Lu's.

However, Feng Zhilan's decision to adopt a passive defensive stance was exactly what Han Lu wanted.

If she chooses to dodge and fly quickly, given Han Lu's current level of mastery of that sword technique, she would probably be unable to control her spirit sword to hit the target while simultaneously displaying sword intent.

In that case, no matter how powerful that sword move was, it would only be "fireworks" and wouldn't be able to harm Feng Zhilan in the slightest.

After a moment of contemplation, Han Lu's eyes became somewhat unfocused, but her sword remained exceptionally firm.

Han Lu's cultivation level was not high enough to allow her to pluck leaves and flowers like Fang Lin and use her sword to defeat her enemies.

Therefore, she chose to wield the spirit sword, using its sharpness to compensate for her lack of sword intent.

The spirit sword flew out.

Although Han Lu only grasped the basics of Senior Fang Lin's sword intent, when these basics were expressed in this way, in Feng Zhilan's eyes, the spirit sword seemed to be blessed with divine power, as if it were unstoppable.

However, this thought only lingered in Feng Zhilan's mind for a moment before she banished it.

"It's just a move used by a junior, what's so powerful about it? Just be careful and defend."

Not only did Feng Zhilan think this way, but the seniors who were watching also thought similarly.

After all, although there are countless seniors with high cultivation levels in the Phoenix Clan, there is not a single Phoenix bird that is proficient in swordsmanship.

Although it can transform into human form and use all the methods employed by cultivators.

However, as true spirits, the phoenixes tend to rely more on their own bodies and the innate supernatural powers they wield, inherited and comprehended from their bloodline.

Therefore, none of the phoenixes could see the trick in Han Lu's move, and simply thought that she had changed her strategy and switched to using a spirit sword to fight.

But when Han Lu's spiritual sword, imbued with a profound sword intent, manifested in the "Point Word Technique," and the blade struck the weakness in her golden eyes, everyone present was so astonished they nearly dropped their jaws.

The divine barrier, which Feng Zhilan used and which even a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator would find difficult to break through instantly, was no more than a piece of paper in front of the spiritual sword wielded by Han Lu.

The deep black barrier, seemingly capable of absorbing all attacks, was torn open and instantly collapsed the moment the spirit sword touched it.

Feng Zhilan reacted quickly. The moment her defensive magic broke, she sensed something was wrong and instinctively used the Prison Phoenix's agility, which surpassed that of many other phoenixes, to dodge.

But it was too late.

Under Han Lu's control, the spirit sword accurately struck the "weak point," inflicting a severe injury on Feng Zhilan with a single blow.

The feather, which had been unharmed by magic, crumbled instantly under the "point" attack of the spirit sword.

One step forward, one step back.

When the spirit sword returned to Han Lu's side, a fist-sized gash appeared on Feng Zhilan's right wing.

The wound was a bloody mess, and light purple blood spurted outwards under the pressure of the muscles.

Having suffered such injuries, the light emanating from Yu Feng naturally dimmed somewhat.

However, a true spirit is still a true spirit. Such severe injuries were not fatal or difficult to recover from for Feng Zhilan, whose cultivation surpassed Han Lu's.

After letting out a cry to the sky, expressing its displeasure at being injured, the eerie black flames ignited once again at Feng Zhilan's wound.

A moment later, the horrific injuries were relieved, and the previously bloody wounds had mostly healed.

Although it was only a superficial recovery, it was clear that the True Spirit possessed a vitality that surpassed that of human cultivators.

Witnessing all this, Han Lu secretly admired it, while wondering why she, who could already transform into a true spirit, had not yet mastered such a powerful method of restoring vitality.

Seeing that her younger sister's injuries had mostly healed, Feng Zhilan, who had been watching the battle from the sidelines, breathed a sigh of relief.

Feng Yufei, who was about to announce the end of the competition, swallowed back the words she was about to say.

She was prepared to end the contest at any time, since it had already achieved its purpose.

Now, Feng Yufei simply wanted to see what unimaginable tricks Han Lu, this junior in the clan, could come up with.

Chapter 390 Handling with Ease

Feng Zhilan's injury abruptly split the still-unfinished competition into two parts.

Feng Zhilan used her spiritual power to perform a secret True Spirit Technique to heal her injuries and had no intention of attacking at the moment.

Han Lu also remembered that this was just a friendly competition, and adhered to the attitude of "friendship first, competition second," patiently waiting for Feng Zhilan to heal her injuries, and did not choose to take advantage of her distress.

Under the current rules, "wasting time" is definitely in her favor.

Besides, Han Lu didn't want to cause herself any more trouble just to resolve one problem.

Who knows if those who dislike her or other members of the Phoenix Clan who are from Fengyou will seize on her performance in battle and label her with other strange accusations?

Being more friendly and approachable is always beneficial.