The Long Journey to Immortality

In the Central Plains region, cultivators rely on each other to form sects, and their connection with the mortal world is not particularly close.

To many ordinary people, becoming a cultivator is more like joining a new profession, a profession with a higher class than being an official, providing an easier path to rise above others.

The situation is different in the Western Regions.

Cultivators establish organizations based on bloodlines and families, and are closely integrated with the mortal world.

The amount of land and resources controlled by a clan determines the cultivation environment available to its cultivators and the extent of their influence in the Western Regions.

Therefore, cultivators are ultimately inseparable from their clans. Even after advancing to the Nascent Soul stage, they still need to contribute to the growth of their clans.

In particular, many cultivators whose cultivation level is still at the Qi Refining stage are more like high-level soldiers and top-notch fighters, who need to charge into battle on the tribal battlefield and help the clan expand its territory.

The three cultivators who fought against Han Lu were the most outstanding "warriors" from the two largest clans in the Western Regions.

Compared to the equally contentious Great Yu Dynasty, the battles and conquests among the Western Region cultivators were more organized.

There are few who act alone, but many who "gather to cause trouble".

However, when Han Lu was still Feng Bailu, she heard that several major clans in the Western Regions wanted to change the current situation in the Western Regions and get all the clans in the Western Regions to sit down at the negotiating table to resolve their disputes instead of spending their already limited manpower, material resources, and cultivation resources on a protracted war.

I had heard about this before, but after nearly twenty years of ups and downs, there was still no resolution.

At least, before Han Lu entered the ancient cultivation secret realm, she had not heard of any regional organization forming in the Western Regions to manage the important affairs of various clans.

Han Lu thought to herself, "I suppose the Western Regions are still in the same chaotic yet orderly state as before."

“Mother,” Han Lu asked, “how many days will it take to get from here to the Central Plains?”

"Everything is going smoothly, it will be ready in five days."

[Author's Note] I originally had two rather rich (or rather, rather drawn-out) plot ideas for the Western Regions part, but then I thought better of it. There's no need for them. Let's hurry home.

Chapter 395 Clan Duel

In terms of land area, the Western Regions are only about three and a half times the size of the Central Plains.

It is slightly wider from east to west and slightly narrower from north to south.

Given the speed at which the phoenix flies across the clouds like an iceberg, five days is already a rather conservative estimate for crossing the Western Regions.

If things proceeded a little faster, it would probably only take four and a half days for Han Lu to set foot on the Central Plains again.

Upon hearing this time, Han Lu was momentarily dazed.

She had thought that she would be staying in the Great Yu Dynasty, which was 108,000 miles away from the Central Plains, for ten, twenty, or even a hundred years before she could return home.

But to her utter surprise, in less than a year, she experienced so much, not only improving her cultivation and reuniting with her father, but also being only a stone's throw away from the Central Plains.

Everything was like a dream, unbelievable.

It's unimaginable, but it did happen, so it's perfectly normal for Han Lu to feel emotional at this moment.

Feng Rubing could roughly guess Han Lu's current mood, so she did not urge Han Lu to board the clouds and continue the journey.

Han Lu gazed eastward for a long time before she came to her senses and hurriedly jumped onto the cloud summoned by Feng Rubing.

"Mother, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Han Lu's words displeased Feng Rubing slightly. Although their relationship had become closer, Han Lu's words sounded somewhat distant.

However, she did not point it out directly, but instead gave Han Lu an exaggeratedly unhappy expression.

Seeing Feng Rubing's appearance, Han Lu realized that there was something inappropriate in her words.

He quickly replaced the word "mother" with the more affectionate "Mom," deleted the apology part, and repeated it.

"Mom, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting."

Feng Rubing was satisfied and said, "It's alright. We're here to escort you back to the Central Plains. Even if you want to travel around the Western Regions for three months, I will accompany you."

Han Lu had no intention of traveling in the Western Regions.

However, this little incident still allowed the relationship between the two, which had become somewhat different due to the changes in their relationship, to return to its former state somewhat.

After flying on the clouds for less than half an hour, Feng Rubing suddenly spoke up, "Han Lu, do you want to go watch the excitement? It looks like two clans are fighting up ahead."

"Hey?"

Han Lu looked in the direction Feng Rubing was looking, and sure enough, dust billowed in the distance, as if a large group of people were engaged in fierce fighting.

Speaking of which, Han Lu was quite curious about how cultivators fought and battled on a large scale.

Coincidentally, with the expert Feng Rubing protecting her, she naturally had the idea of ​​taking this opportunity to see what she was capable of.

"Okay, but won't people misunderstand if I just watch from the sidelines?" Han Lu asked, still a little worried.

Feng Rubing smiled and said confidently, "They wouldn't dare to misunderstand."

There are fewer Nascent Soul cultivators in the Western Regions than in the Central Plains, so naturally there wouldn't be any Nascent Soul cultivators present during such an ordinary clan war.

Even if she did, Feng Rubing was absolutely confident that she and Han Lu could use their strength to get involved in this fun.

Hearing Feng Rubing say that, Han Lu no longer had any concerns and nodded, saying, "Then let's go and see. I'm also quite curious about what it's like when cultivators from the Western Regions fight in groups."

After saying that, Feng Rubing once again rode the clouds and controlled them to fly towards the area where the smoke and dust were flying.

Sure enough, in no time, Han Lu and Feng Rubing could see with the naked eye that two Western Region clans were fighting fiercely on a half-bald grassland.

Both sides had about forty or fifty cultivators at the Qi Refining stage participating in the battle, with about a hundred people fighting together in a small space.

In addition, each side had five cultivators on magical artifacts flying in the air to watch the battle from a distance.

Judging from the aura emanating from these five cultivators, they should all be at the Foundation Establishment stage.

In addition to piloting the flying magical artifact beneath their feet, one of the five Foundation Establishment cultivators also held a magical artifact resembling a scepter.

The cultivator held a scepter, activated the magic weapon, and chanted incantations, as if he were issuing commands and directing the battle to the low-level cultivators who were fighting the enemy not far away.

"These five cultivators are probably responsible for cleaning up the battlefield, handling the aftermath, and giving orders," Han Lu speculated, based on what she saw.

Looking from afar, you can't see clearly or hear clearly.

Just as Han Lu was about to use magic to enhance her six senses, Feng Rubing suddenly placed her hand on Han Lu's shoulder.

Just as Han Lu was wondering why Feng Rubing did this, she suddenly realized that because of Feng Rubing's small action, her spiritual sense had been enhanced by nearly ten times in an instant.

They could even project their divine sense a distance like a Golden Core cultivator to probe and join in the excitement that was extremely rare in both the Wilderness and the Central Plains.

Although Han Lu knew roughly what it was like to project her divine sense through Xiaoyaozi's remnant soul memories, when she actually used this move, which was incredibly simple for a Golden Core cultivator, it was a completely new and novel experience.

"It's as if I can control everything."

"It was as if it had a hundred eyes and a hundred ears, and it was touching everything it could see with its hands."

With her divine sense extended outwards, Han Lu accurately captured every move of the hundred cultivators engaged in fierce combat. She could also clearly "see" what the cultivators on both sides, who were wielding scepters and magical artifacts to direct the battle, were saying.

“One team moves fifty meters to the right and cuts off their flank.”

"Second team, retreat a little and use a few more fire-attribute spells to harass them."

"Don't attack mid lane! How can you get into mid lane? Just keep going around and around."

"Be careful, the opponent seems to be about to cast some powerful spell."

"Team Three, hold the line! Wang Ermazi, you little punk, don't try to slack off in there! Get serious!"

……

The commanders on both sides held their scepters and shouted at the top of their lungs, using the power of the scepters to transmit their orders to the minds of their own low-level cultivators who were engaged in fierce battle.

Judging from their expressions, they were even more serious and nervous than the lower-level cultivators who were fighting in groups.

However, despite giving orders, Han Lu realized that the fights between those low-level cultivators were completely different.

Among them, the group of cultivators dressed in black were slightly better off, as they were able to cooperate with each other.

On the other side, the clan cultivators dressed in red robes were fighting completely independently, without any strategy or method whatsoever.

"This is like a rabble fighting against elite troops; how could they possibly win?"

Han Lu's idea had only been in her mind for ten breaths when the situation on the battlefield changed.

Suddenly, a female cultivator from the Redwood Clan, who was hiding among her own kind, unleashed a powerful spell, instantly killing and knocking down several black-clad cultivators on the flank.

An opening appeared, and several cultivators from the Redwood Clan bravely charged straight into the heart of the black-clad cultivators.

Suddenly caught in a pincer movement, the black-clad cultivators were thrown into disarray.

After another hundred breaths, nearly twenty black-clad cultivators fell, their ranks routed and the situation utterly crumbling.

Seeing this, the "Black-Clad Army" monks who were waving their scepters and giving orders used their scepters to fire a dazzling white signal flare, thus voluntarily surrendering.

The Redwood Army, displaying considerable sportsmanship, refrained from further killing once they had secured victory. Instead, they retreated and joined several Foundation Establishment cultivators who arrived later to treat the wounded.

With the two teams separating, the group brawl came to an end.

Thanks to the magic of the female cultivator in the Redwood Army, the Black-Clad Army turned defeat into victory and won this battle over some unknown resource and piece of land.

Chapter 396 Promoting Civility and Establishing New Customs

The faces of the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Black-Clad Clan were quite grim.

However, now is not the time for tactical debriefing.

Treat the wounded, clean up the battlefield, and take stock of casualties.

Clean up the mess, calm your emotions, and accept the fact of failure; this is more important than blaming each other.

The Red Clan, on the other hand, were not overly happy about their victory.

For them, although winning this "gang fight" would allow them to obtain a resource point from the black-clad clan to strengthen their clan, it also resulted in the deaths and serious injuries of several clan members and cultivators.

When faced with life and death, these seemingly insignificant interests are difficult to calculate clearly.

Whether it was a profit or a loss, only time will tell.

After the battle ended, both sides worked together to clean up the mess, and the tense atmosphere from before was completely gone.

Such a change in the battle situation left Han Lu, a viewer, at a loss for words.

She had been so confident that Black would win.

Feng Rubing, however, thought it made perfect sense and analyzed with a smile, "The cultivators in red probably wanted to come up with this strategy a long time ago."