The Long Journey to Immortality

"Before promoting the book, junior sister, it would be best to find someone to test it out and see which parts are correct and which are wrong," Han Lu pointed on the pages. "After verification and revision, it should be printed and sold. We can't mislead people."

"It's okay to go a little slower, but don't let a good thing turn into a bad thing."

To support Han Lu's arguments, the two flipped through another hundred pages of the book, picking out some "principles" that were clearly inapplicable in the Central Plains region.

When Wen Erya left, she felt that she had gained a lot from Han Lu.

I am now more confident in building good relationships than before.

Chapter 420 Removing Mental Barriers

Promoting these "low-tech" inventions and discoveries will not only benefit Han Lu, Wen Erya, and other cultivators involved in this matter from all aspects, but will also bring blessings to the people of the Southern Dynasty.

Such an important matter naturally drew Wen Erya's attention.

After receiving advice and suggestions from Han Lu, Wen Erya left the sect again and returned to the capital of the Southern Dynasty to seek out experts and scholars in the court. As the "client," he put forward various practical and effective suggestions for improvement.

With the Thirteenth Princess holding such an important position as the client, how could those experts and scholars who served the Southern Dynasty dare to have any objections or be unhappy when she made demands? Not to mention that Wen Erya's opinions were constructive and correct, and she was not giving any blind orders.

A train runs fast because of its locomotive.

With Han Lu's help, Wen Erya pointed out the right path, and with countless gold and silver as fuel, naturally, these experts and scholars were willing to grit their teeth for this good thing. On the third day of Wen Erya's stay in the capital, they produced the second version of the manuscript.

Although the second draft was completed hastily, it was indeed revised extensively according to Wen Erya and Han Lu's wishes.

The original three books together had about 800 pages.

After removing some knowledge points that clearly did not conform to "Central Plains physics, chemistry, biology" and common sense, it was compressed into 500 pages.

There are certainly many subtle errors, but this achievement is enough for Wen Er Ya to give the experts and scholars who worked through the night for three days an extra overtime pay.

However, this second edition is still some distance from being mass-produced.

At the very least, the text in the book needs further polishing, and the knowledge points mentioned in the book should be further examined and researched.

But Wen Erya was already very satisfied with the results achieved in three days.

Returning to Zhengyi Gate, he sought out Han Lu again to appreciate the books together.

This time, Han Lu did not offer any new suggestions.

After all, she's not a real expert in this area. Giving some ideas is enough; if she continues to give instructions, she'll only end up being an outsider directing an expert, ruining a good thing.

With the general direction correct, Wen Erya no longer bothered to provide guidance, but instead contacted the sect as Han Lu had instructed.

Yunmin Daoist had heard about this matter before, and since Wen Erya took the initiative to ask for help, he was naturally willing to get involved on behalf of the Zhengyi Sect.

In his capacity as sect leader, Daoist Yunmin arranged for two Golden Core cultivators from the East Mountain Academy and the South Mountain Academy to join the sect.

The goal of these two Golden Core cultivators was to try to improve the high-yield seeds that Wen Erya had obtained, which could not grow normally in the Central Plains, by using water and wood attribute spells.

Although no results will be seen in the short term, Han Lu and Wen Erya are convinced that this is a path suitable for the Central Plains and will surely be effective.

With everything arranged, Wen Erya took a hands-off approach and patiently waited for the experts and scholars she trusted, under the guidance of her father's confidants, to complete the matter.

While busy with worldly affairs, one must not neglect spiritual practice.

Not to mention that it may take a year or even two years to complete completely.

Fortunately, as cultivators, compared to mortals, the one thing they have in abundance is time.

Wen Erya put the matter aside, and Han Lu, who had provided creative ideas for the matter, naturally turned her attention elsewhere.

While practicing her daily cultivation, she would also take some time to stroll around the Zhengyi Sect.

He mainly frequented Xishan Academy, his purpose being to find those friends and companions from Fengbai Road, to try to make amends for the breach of contract he had made, and to lessen or even completely eliminate his mental block.

Overcoming mental obstacles can be difficult in some ways, but it can also be easy in others.

The gifts from Xiaoyaozi were merely start-up capital for her.

Han Lu's cultivation level and wealth are not what they used to be. At this point, it wouldn't hurt her to take out some of her start-up capital and share it with her fellow travelers.

However, figuring out how to give it has become a difficult problem.

Why would Han Lu, a genius cultivator with some fame in the Zhengyi Sect, suddenly and inexplicably give hundreds of spirit stones to several older cultivators? This seems illogical and unreasonable.

To privately confess to those cultivators whom he wasn't particularly familiar with would be even more inappropriate.

After considering several methods, Han Lu felt it would be better to keep it simple: simply remain anonymous, put the "compensation" in a storage bag, and deliver it to the recipient.

It's straightforward and won't cause any trouble.

Whether the other party wants to understand the origin of this windfall is not something Han Lu needs to care about.

However, the preliminary work still needs to be done quietly to avoid arousing suspicion.

There were four cultivators traveling with Feng Bailu that time.

The three are Feng Bailu's roommates in Xishan College.

Generally speaking, if a cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment still cannot break through to the early stage after ten years, they can basically be classified as an older cultivator.

Feng Bailu and his roommates had all been stuck in the early Foundation Establishment stage for at least thirteen years. They were standard older cultivators, the kind who had no hope of advancing to the Golden Core stage or even the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Now, almost four years have passed.

Han Lu's reason for wandering around Xishan Academy was to find out whether her roommates were still cultivating in the Zhengyi Sect or where they were hanging out after leaving the sect.

In the unlikely event that a cultivator like Long Qian, who enjoys business and travel, has chosen a carefree life after leaving the sect, Han Lu would need to expend considerable effort to find him across the vast Central Plains.

However, while delivering the compensation to these three individuals would be a little troublesome, it was not something Han Lu could not accomplish on her own.

As for the last and fourth companion, it was Yuan Fei, the cousin of Yuan Xin, a good friend of Feng Bailu.

I had seen Yuan Fei and Han Lu more than a year ago when they participated in a competition to compete for the qualification to enter the ancient cultivation secret realm.

At that time, Yuan Fei's cultivation level was the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

However, aside from his passable cultivation level, his combat skills were truly lacking.

Han Lu had been secretly observing her and judged that at that time, she could take on two Yuan Feis by herself.

It seems that after the incident at the Ancient Cultivation Secret Realm, Yuan Fei also chose to break through the Qi Refining stage and advance to the Foundation Establishment stage. He should now be a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Given his exceptional talent and status as a disciple of a Golden Core cultivator, Yuan Fei must still be cultivating at the North Mountain Academy.

Given his status in Beishan Academy, he must also live alone in a small courtyard, just like Han Lu and Wen Erya.

He was the person Han Lu was most likely to send the compensation to.

Having clearly figured out how to overcome her mental obstacles, Han Lu naturally found herself able to do things with ease.

Sure enough, in just three days, Han Lu had found out the current situation of these four companions in a rather discreet way.

Chapter 421 A Clever Gift of Elixir

Regarding the development of the three older cultivators, two of them ended up in the same situation as Han Lu had predicted four years later, while one of them was quite different.

During the two years before Yuan Xin became Han Lu on Fengbai Road, he did not slacken in his cultivation.

Unfortunately, his aptitude was indeed lacking, and even though he had tried his best, he still couldn't break through the bottleneck and advance to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment.

In the third year, he obediently accepted the sect's arrangement and was sent home.

The Yuan family was not a very famous or powerful cultivation family in the Southern Dynasty.

Therefore, after returning to the family, this older cultivator transformed into a senior figure among the younger generation and a pillar of the family.

Although Yuan Xin has limited talent in cultivation, only able to surpass nearly 85% of cultivators to reach the early Foundation Establishment stage, he possesses exceptional talent in managing his family.

According to information shared with Han Lu by several cultivators from Xishan Academy who were familiar with Yuan Xin, Yuan Xin's family had made some progress in the past two years and seemed poised to become the lord of a city.

Yuan Xin was living a wonderful life after leaving Zhengyi Gate, and another roommate, Long Qian, who was quite polite to Feng Bailu, was also doing very well.

Long Qian left Zhengyi Sect earlier than Yuan Xin.

Although Long Fei, who came in last place in the competition three and a half years ago, did not meet the standard for being "kicked out," he still wisely chose to pursue "freedom" and took the initiative to leave the sect.

After leaving the sect, Long Qian became a regular at various markets in the Central Plains, essentially a "middleman" who was almost like a merchant.

Three years have passed, and no one knows where Long Qian is hiding among the cultivators of Xishan Academy.

However, many rumors about Long Qian reached the ears of the cultivators of Xishan Academy, becoming topics of conversation during their leisure time.

The vast majority of the news that came through was good news.

Either Long Qian made his fortune here, or he made a fortune there.

In short, in the eyes of most of the Xishan Academy cultivators who knew Long Qian, Long Qian had become a fairly successful cultivator-merchant, with a net worth of at least six or seven thousand spirit stones, comparable to that of an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.

The third older cultivator, Bai Chi, who was the most distant from Feng Bailu, became the one who went the furthest on the path of cultivation among the three.

I wonder if it was the blood that was released in Xiaoyaozi's cave that enlightened him.

A year and a half ago, Bai Chi finally completed the process of transforming Qi into liquid and became a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In terms of time, it was a full year earlier than Han Lu's.

After advancing to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage and shedding the label of "mediocre," Bai Chi's status within the sect saw a significant improvement.

Not only did he move out of the large courtyard where he used to live with Feng Bailu and others, but he also moved to a separate small house and successfully became a disciple of an elder in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

Of course, the monthly allowance received from the sect has also increased considerably.

After all, he was a burden who contributed little but demanded much before, but now he is a future star who may advance to the Golden Core stage, so his treatment will definitely be different.

It was precisely because of this that Bai Chi became the only cultivator among the three who was still in the Zhengyi Sect, and also the easiest target for Han Lu to complete the task.

"This is truly unexpected."

When Han Lu first heard the news, she was quite taken aback.

Originally, she thought Yuan Xin was the one with the best chance of advancing among them.

But unexpectedly, it was Bai Chi, this unpleasant fellow, who ended up staying in the Zhengyi Sect.

The matter of cultivation is just that unreasonable.

As for Yuan Xin's younger brother, Yuan Fei, his experiences over the past four years were different from what Han Lu had imagined.

Originally, he had already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining at the age of nineteen. A year and a half ago, after failing to advance to the eleventh level of Qi Refining and participating in the arena competition, he did not stop pursuing the ultimate.

Like many ambitious cultivators, he was determined to open twelve spiritual veins in the Qi Refining Mirror, raise his cultivation to the twelfth level of Qi Refining, and then establish his foundation, in order to lay a good foundation and increase the possibility of forming a high-grade Golden Core in the future.