The Long Journey to Immortality

Standing in front of the library, Han Lu silently recited the mantra.

Immediately afterwards, Han Lu, whose figure was already completely invisible under the cover of night with the aid of magic, flew in like a gust of wind through the half-open window of the study next to the library.

Upon entering the study, Han Lu observed the room's layout by the moonlight streaming through the window, and couldn't help but admire how much effort Yuan Xin had indeed put into his juniors.

Six desks were neatly arranged in the study.

In addition to a map of the Central Plains and a literacy chart, there was also a precisely drawn acupoint diagram on the wall of the study.

On the floor of the study, there was a very simple spirit-gathering array.

Although it's a spirit-gathering array, its effectiveness is probably less than one percent of that of Han Lu's throne.

However, in terms of energy consumption, this spirit-gathering array is only one-thousandth the size of Han Lu's throne.

This can be considered the greatest support the Yuan family can give to their descendants within their means.

The study and the library were separated only by a beautiful but completely unprotected wooden door.

The door wasn't even locked.

With a gentle push, Han Lu entered the Yuan family's library.

However, the four bookshelves were placed in a small space.

The library mainly contains ordinary books, with only a hundred books on cultivation.

These cultivation books are mostly basic teaching materials, but there are also many picture books, history books, and novels mixed in.

As for the cultivation methods for Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators, they are not included here.

The fact that these books are not of high quality is why there are no restrictions or guards here.

After spending a few moments walking around the study, Han Lu's gaze fell on two floor tiles.

For some reason, these two floor tiles are more damaged than the floor tiles in the other libraries.

Han Lu didn't think too much about it and casually used her magic to peel the two broken floor tiles off the ground as intact as possible, revealing the hard soil layer underneath.

After scooping out most of the soil from under the floor tiles and putting it into a storage bag specifically for miscellaneous items, Han Lu took out the six martial arts manuals.

Because these six manuals were copied from the Scripture Transmission Hall just three days ago, they are all of "brand new" quality.

To ensure the performance was convincing, Han Lu aged all six manuals to look as if they had been through countless battles before placing them in an antique box and burying it in a newly dug pit.

While covering the floor with tiles, Han Lu deliberately left some flaws.

To avoid making her act too convincing, so that the secret manual she left behind would truly become "a secret manual hidden by our ancestors hundreds of years ago," only to be discovered by the descendants of the Yuan family hundreds of years later.

After doing all this, Han Lu thoroughly cleaned up the battlefield before quietly leaving without leaving a trace in the Yuan family compound.

Everything was done flawlessly, and the story unfolded smoothly just as Han Lu had envisioned.

Five days after Han Lu visited the Yuan family compound.

During the morning class, a young Taoist disciple from the Yuan family accidentally stepped on the already dilapidated floor tiles, shattering them and allowing the ancient, dusty box hidden beneath them to be unearthed.

This box looks like it contains something good.

Naturally, the box, along with the two broken floor tiles, was delivered to Yuan Xin's room.

A few days later, news spread throughout the small town where the Yuan family lived.

It is said that the Yuan family got incredibly lucky and found several secret manuals left behind by a Yuan family ancestor a hundred years ago.

When this news reached Han Lu, who was deliberately inquiring about information, after being passed around several times, it became that the Yuan family had found several advanced secret manuals that could help cultivators cultivate all the way to the Golden Core Realm.

Yuan Xin successfully found the secret manual she left behind and, as she had instructed, pinpointed its origin to a deceased ancestor of the same clan, which relieved Han Lu.

But the absurd rumors made her heart tighten.

Fortunately, the Central Plains was not a place of trouble like the Great Yu Dynasty.

Even if the rumors are true.

These are just a few secret manuals that can help cultivators reach the Golden Core realm; they are not valuable items that could tempt high-level cultivators to evil thoughts.

It will not bring disaster to the Yuan family.

"Let it be exaggerated a bit," Han Lu thought to herself after hearing the news. "At least this way, the Yuan family can gain some fame, and maybe it will have some positive effect."

With the two compensation claims settled, Han Lu, who had just finished comprehending Senior Fang Lin's swordsmanship in the Moon Pearl World, lazily soaked in hot water, trying to use this warm and comfortable feeling to soothe her somewhat tense nerves, so that she wouldn't have a splitting headache from comprehending profound swordsmanship.

After about fifteen minutes, Han Lu finally stepped out of the bucket.

"Whose turn is it now? Let's have Shiraichi."

Chapter 424 The Dull Compensation

For various reasons, the relationship between Feng Bailu, Yuan Xin, Long Qian, and Bai Chi, who are inner disciples but are arranged to share a large courtyard with four people, is quite complicated.

Feng Bailu, Yuan Xin, and Long Qian had known each other since they were practicing Qi cultivation, so they were more familiar with each other.

If it weren't for Feng Bailu's temperament not pleasing to most people, and Long Qian's lack of focus on cultivation for a long time, the three of them might have become a very good group of friends.

Before moving into the compound, Bai Chi had only nodding acquaintances with the three.

In addition, he was the kind of ascetic who devoted himself entirely to cultivation.

Naturally, even after spending more than ten years with the three of them, Bai Chi still hadn't integrated into this relatively small circle.

However, because Feng Bailu's temper was particularly incompatible with Bai Chi's, their relationship, due to time and daily unpleasant frictions, went from being mere acquaintances to becoming bitter enemies.

Therefore, Bai Chi would often badmouth Feng Bailu in front of others, making sarcastic remarks about him and mocking him in front of strangers he had just met.

On that occasion, when the five of them went on an adventure together, Bai Chi still acted in this way without any scruples.

Feng Bailu, on the other hand, is not good at expressing his dislike for Bai Chi through his behavior and words.

He was only interested in suppressing Bai Chi, who was quite interested in cultivation, in terms of performance during the major and minor competitions, so that Bai Chi would feel frustrated.

However, these were all minor squabbles, and the conflict between the two was not entirely irreconcilable.

In fact, on certain issues and in certain aspects, the two even find a sense of shared values ​​and common ground.

After all, among older cultivators, there aren't many who are as dedicated to cultivation as Feng Bailu and Bai Chi.

This is why Bai Chi, who is outside the social circle of the compound, still gets together with Feng Bailu and the other two to visit Xiaoyaozi's cave.

Sometimes, when discussing matters of cultivation, only Bai Chi, who was at odds with Feng Bailu, could exchange a few sarcastic remarks with him in the courtyard, becoming his confidant for a moment.

It's likely that when Bai Chi breaks through the early stage of Foundation Establishment and reaches the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, a realm that Feng Bailu has never reached, there might be a fleeting moment in his mind when he recalls Feng Bailu's voice and appearance. He might also secretly mock or reminisce about his roommate who has already "gone," lamenting the fickleness of fate.

The relationship is complicated, and there were promises made long ago.

Naturally, Han Lu would also put a little more thought into the compensation items she gave to Bai Chi.

Bai Chi's situation is similar to Yuan Fei's, but also different.

Yuan Fei was naturally gifted, but his pursuit of perfection led him to stay in the Qi Refining stage for so long, and he put a lot of effort into the Foundation Establishment stage.

As for Bai Chi, although he finally broke through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, almost all the cultivators who knew him, including himself, knew that his talent was probably only up to this level.

Even if it takes another hundred years, it will be difficult to make further progress and reach the late stage of Foundation Establishment or even the Golden Core stage.

At this time, having just advanced to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, Bai Chi was still the ascetic cultivator who was enthusiastic about cultivation.

But Han Lu believed that in twenty or thirty years, the harsh reality would change the shape of Bai Chi, at least making him less obsessed with the hopeless path of cultivation and no longer expecting to advance to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, Han Lu needs to carefully consider and think more when choosing compensation.

The compensation she offered should either give Bai Chi, who has only a one in a thousand chance of advancing to the late Foundation Establishment stage, more hope, or allow him to have a better life in the cultivation world or in the mortal realm in the future, twenty or thirty years from now, and obtain a life that can be called "good".

After thinking for a while, Han Lu couldn't help but imagine that Feng Bailu hadn't become Han Lu, but instead returned to the sect after failing at Xiaoyaozi's cave, and cultivated like Bai Chi. That would be the story's development.

She felt that by imagining the story in a reasonable way, she could understand what kind of "compensation" Bai Chi would need in his situation.

From any perspective, Feng Bailu's twenty-eight years of cultivation journey pale in comparison to Han Lu's three years that have passed in the blink of an eye.

After imagining it for a moment, Han Lu stopped this "self-torture" practice.

It wasn't that she couldn't imagine it, but when she tried to imagine it, she would inexplicably feel a deep, aching pain and a sense of powerlessness seeping out from the depths of her heart.

However, it was precisely because of this that Han Lu understood what the best compensation would be for Bai Chi.

Without hesitation, Han Lu took out a storage bag that she had prepared in advance.

This storage bag was acquired from the market and has no special features, making it particularly suitable for storing anonymous gifts.

Holding the storage bag, Han Lu pondered for a moment.

She wasn't hesitating about what to give Bai Chi, but rather how much spirit stone she should put in the storage bag as compensation.

After thinking for about ten breaths, she made a decision.

Excluding cultivation techniques, she probably received close to 3,500 spirit stones from Xiaoyaozi.

Previously, when compensating Yuan Fei and Yuan Xin, Han Lu offered compensation items whose value was far lower than what the two should have received.

Long Qian is currently engaged in business and is considered a wealthy cultivator, so he wouldn't particularly crave high-value compensation items.

Naturally, Han Lu couldn't be stingy with Bai Chi.

Finally, pills worth approximately 350 spirit stones were put into the storage bag.

These elixirs are all beneficial for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

In particular, Han Lu stuffed fifteen True Essence Gathering Pills into this storage bag.

Compared to her, who is relatively easy to break through bottlenecks, mediocre talents like Bai Chi and Feng Bailu need these pills to help them increase their chances of advancing.

In addition to the pills, Han Lu also stuffed a hundred spirit stones into her storage bag.

If there weren't a suitable Dharma seat available, Han Lu would have considered giving Bai Chi another one so he could use the high density of spiritual energy to compensate for his lack of talent.

Having done all this, Han Lu casually put the storage bag away, waiting for what she considered a suitable time to send it to where it belonged.

After all, the fact that so many people connected to Fengbai Road received "gifts" in such a short period of time would inevitably lead some imaginative and bored individuals to have all sorts of wild thoughts.

Han Lu had already figured out while she was in Xiaoyaozi's cave that she was Han Lu, not Xiaoyaozi or Feng Bailu.

She didn't want to associate herself with Feng Bailu or Xiaoyaozi at all.

After waiting for about half a month, Han Lu quietly left Dongshan Courtyard one night.

Because she was in a sect, she didn't disguise herself, but simply strolled around casually until she arrived at the West Mountain Academy where Bai Chi was located.