The Long Journey to Immortality

These flames looked somewhat similar to the flame magic of the Prison Phoenix. Combined with the black feathers on the feather fan, Han Lu guessed that this might be a magic weapon made from the feathers of the Prison Phoenix.

Having roughly guessed the origin of this magical artifact, Han Lu was also able to deduce the purpose of these flames.

"It should be a flame that is good at destroying the spiritual power of magical artifacts."

However, knowing this is one thing, Han Lu, who has already completed 99% of the sword formation, will not give up on finishing it because of these flames.

With a wave of her hand, a powerful blast of cold air emanated from Han Lu's palm.

The chilling aura actively protected the nine spirit swords, standing ready and guarding against the approaching black flames.

The feather fan is merely a magical artifact, and the black flames it unleashes are naturally inferior to the genuine product of the Prison Phoenix.

Han Lu's Ice Phoenix Divine Power was only used in human form, which was inferior to the version she released after transforming into her true spirit form.

When two counterfeit products collide, they still manage to create quite a few sparks on the stage.

After a brief struggle, Yi Qiyan's flames gained a slight advantage in a localized battle.

Unfortunately, Han Lu's spiritual sword was not a magical artifact. When the flames stuck to the spiritual sword and tried to burn away its spirituality, Yi Qiyan found that the effect was not as good as she had imagined.

"What's going on?" Yi Qiyan had no idea that the spirit sword Han Lu was wielding was entirely composed of spiritual energy. "Could it be because of the grade of the magic weapon?"

The situation on the battlefield is constantly changing.

Before Yi Qiyan could find the real reason, the rootless flame burning on the spirit sword quickly dissipated along with the second burst of cold air released by Han Lu.

At the same time, the nine spirit swords that had already taken their positions finally completed the last step, fully unfolding the "Nine Spirit Sword Formation" that Han Lu had gained insights from during his daily cultivation on the arena.

Once the sword formation was fully set up, the nine spirit swords were finally freed from their fixed positions and began to fly freely within the formation, waiting for Han Lu to unleash their various supernatural powers.

Han Lu divided the nine spirit swords into three groups of three, which was just enough for her to activate the spirit swords and unleash the three True Phoenix Divine Powers.

Considering the nature of this sparring match and the extent to which she had used the three phoenixes' divine abilities, Han Lu activated the three spiritual swords that had fused with the bloodline of the Illusionary Phoenix almost without thinking, and unleashed the Illusionary Phoenix divine abilities on the arena.

Following Han Lu's command, the three spirit swords surrounded Yi Qiyan.

The next moment, a beam of seven-colored light was released from each of the spirit swords and accurately shone on Yi Qiyan.

This move is at least three times more powerful than when Han Lu uses it in human form.

Things changed too quickly. Yi Qiyan had no time to judge what kind of attack Han Lu was using or how to defend herself. She was hit by the light that could penetrate the ordinary protective spells of cultivators and was drawn into the illusion.

In Yi Qiyan's sea of ​​consciousness, it was as if a bomb had been detonated.

In her eyes, the next moment, these lights summoned dozens of phoenix spirits, which surrounded her.

The scene was so exaggerated that Yi Qiyan, being no fool, naturally knew she had fallen under an illusion.

But just as a person who is asleep cannot wake up even if they know they are dreaming, being under an illusion cannot be broken simply by "knowing" it.

Although he knew that these spirits did not exist before his eyes, but were merely illusions, false things.

But Yi Qiyan couldn't help but fight them with all her might, painstakingly dodging and defending against the various attacks that shot towards her.

Although Yi Qiyan kept chanting incantations after realizing she was under an illusion spell, trying to dispel the illusion that had invaded her mind.

However, he still fought the true spirits in the illusion for a full minute before he was able to escape.

Time flows much faster in the illusion than in reality, but one minute in the illusion is equivalent to five or six seconds in real time, which is enough for Han Lu to do a lot of things.

When Yi Qiyan regained consciousness, she was already sitting down in front of the arena.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw Han Lu standing on the ring, smiling and extending her hand to her.

He sighed inwardly. For some reason, the mental block that should have become more deeply rooted after the defeat had become much more fragile because of this battle.

Feeling the changes in her own state of mind, Yi Qiyan was amazed.

"What? Did you just see some kind of dream world that you absolutely loved?" Han Lu joked. "Are you still immersed in it?"

Yi Qiyan smiled, took the hand Han Lu offered, stood up from the ground, and said, "I was just lost in thought."

"That sword formation was so strange, what kind of sword formation was it?" Yi Qiyan asked casually to ease the awkwardness.

To be honest, it was a bit impolite to ask such a question, but Han Lu still answered Yi Qiyan's question, but only told half the truth, "It is a sword formation that I learned from Gu Xiu, and it needs to be used in conjunction with the True Spirit Bloodline."

"I only recently grasped the basics of this sword formation, and since the rules are like this today, I thought I'd give it a try."

Although she lost the match, the positive change in her mindset meant that Yi Qiyan didn't take the outcome too seriously.

The atmosphere was pleasant, and the friendly competition did not affect the relationship between the two.

After removing the array restrictions from the arena, she even enthusiastically pulled Han Lu, the victor, to review the sparring match and figure out exactly where she went wrong.

[Author's Note] I've been drinking for two nights in a row...

Chapter 447 Differences and Similarities in the South

During the battle, Han Lu used only ordinary methods, so she didn't hide anything about it.

Yi Qiyan then showed Han Lu several magical treasures she had used in the battle, and told Han Lu their grade, origin, and supernatural powers.

As Han Lu had suspected, the feather fan she had paid special attention to during the magical duel was indeed made from the feathers of the Prison Phoenix.

In light of this, Han Lu even joked with Yi Qiyan, telling her not to use the few feathers she had given her before as materials for refining weapons.

After some conversation, Yi Qiyan realized that her previous assessment of Han Lu's abilities was definitely wrong.

Once she understood this, she became more at ease and only cared about her performance in the competition.

After all, it's not unusual for someone in the early stages of Foundation Establishment to lose to someone in the middle stages.

Thinking about this, she understood why she had been able to resolve some of her inner conflicts and remove some mental obstacles after her defeat.

Losing to a cultivator stronger than oneself is not really a shameful thing.

Yi Qiyan was a magnanimous person. Once she understood the situation, she naturally stopped holding a grudge about losing to Han Lu.

However, as the Holy Maiden of the Five Poisons Sect, Yi Qiyan still planned to challenge Han Lu to a duel when they reached the same cultivation level in the future.

Han Lu readily accepted the challenge.

“Then so be it,” Yi Qiyan arranged. “Three years from now, I should be able to advance to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. At that time, I will come to the Zhengyi Sect to find you, how about that?”

Yi Qiyan initially thought that this arrangement didn't seem to pose much of a problem.

She was well aware of her cultivation progress. With the assistance of the Five Poisons Sect's abundant cultivation resources, it was almost certain that she could easily complete the Qi Transformation to Liquid transformation and advance to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment within three years.

However, considering that Han Lu had completed this task in less than a year, Yi Qiyan couldn't help but add another sentence.

"When the time comes, don't just say you've advanced to the late Foundation Establishment stage and leave me behind..." Saying it like that felt a bit harsh, so Yi Qiyan explained, "What I mean is, I want you to cultivate steadily and not be impatient for quick results, so as not to leave any hidden dangers in the future."

"We are still young, there's no need to rush into cultivation."

Han Lu understood what Yi Qiyan was saying, and she smiled and said, "Okay, I'll definitely treat you well then."

"As for cultivation," Han Lu was well aware of her progress, "I think that as long as I don't take any elixirs or magic pills in these three years, I should be able to have a fair spar with you again in three years."

She felt she had gained a lot from her battle with Yi Qiyan.

Yi Qiyan's techniques and routines are quite different from those of the cultivators in the Central Plains. Exchanging more sparring with her would also be of great benefit to Han Lu.

Not to mention, Han Lu was also thinking that when Yi Qiyan came to the Central Plains, she would repay some of the favors she owed this time.

After chatting for a few more minutes and agreeing on a rough time, Yi Qiyan suddenly brought up the matter of when Han Lu would leave.

"The plan..." Han Lu also realized that about half a month had passed since she left the Central Plains and arrived in the Wilderness.

Everything went smoothly, all the tasks were completed successfully, and it's time to consider going back.

"Let's do it the day after tomorrow..." Han Lu remembered that tomorrow night was a full moon, so she thought of using the Moon Pearl again in the unfamiliar but relatively safe place of the Five Poisons Sect.

Han Lu had watched Fang Lin's two sword techniques no less than five hundred times.

Regardless of whether watching it a hundred or a thousand times would have any effect, Han Lu has now indeed grasped the basics of those two sword techniques and has been able to apply their profound meaning.

Therefore, she thought of continuing to advance the plot of the Moon Pearl World and seeing if Feng Jiao and others would encounter other famous ancient cultivators after arriving in the territory of the Eastern Human Race, bringing her more opportunities.

Staying for two more days was also in line with Yi Qiyan's wishes.

She also wanted to get closer to Han Lu and befriend this talented person with whom she shared a deep connection.

That evening, Yi Qiyan specially invited Han Lu to a small gathering and introduced her to several senior brothers and sisters in the sect who were on good terms with her.

Most of them knew about Yi Qiyan's experiences in the ancient cultivation secret realm, and naturally they had heard of Han Lu, their "lifesaver".

They were all young cultivators aged twenty to twenty-five, and they had quite a bit to talk about when they got together.

Even when chatting about the cultivation novels they usually read, Han Lu discovered a fellow reader of Fu Chen's novels.

When the cultivator from the Southern Frontier learned that Han Lu's senior brother was the author of his favorite novel, he was quite excited and eagerly asked Han Lu to help him get a few autographed copies to satisfy his desire to "chase a star".

The party lasted for about an hour and a half. When Han Lu returned to her room, she had many thoughts to share.

Originally, she thought that the Central Plains and the Southern Frontier would be like two different worlds due to cultural and other reasons.

However, after interacting with many cultivators from the Southern Frontier, she discovered that the cultivators from the Southern Frontier were no more strange than those from the Central Plains. In fact, genius cultivators like Yi Qiyan were more like people from the Central Plains than many cultivators from the Central Plains.

If it weren't for the fact that the Southern Frontier parted ways with the Central Plains tens of thousands of years ago, and that they were no longer one in the eyes of mortals, Han Lu would even have the feeling that the Central Plains and the Wilderness might become one again after several generations of cultivators.

However, this kind of thing is like ordinary people caring about national affairs; they just chat about it briefly and then don't think about it anymore.

Using the moonlight that was still a little short of full moon, Han Lu sat by the window, holding a water pen she had taken from the ancient cultivation secret realm, and slowly wrote on the paper.

She began to recall the ancient texts about the era of cultivation she had read, and continued to explore which famous figures she might encounter on her journey to the Daoist Assembly, where she would participate in Senior Wang Han's tribulation ceremony with the Illusion Phoenix Clan, and what major events might happen to them.

Holding the pen, Han Lu scribbled and wrote, but in the end, she only managed to write three and a half lines.

These three and a half lines mainly involve two things.

One of the events was Fang Lin teaching disciples. Because the timing of this event was quite sensitive, and because of Wang Han's matter, many of Fang Lin's disciples were in the human territory, and those who attended the lectures were all later famous figures. Therefore, this event was recorded in history books.

If Feng Jiao were present, she would have the opportunity to sit in on a "master class" taught by a Nascent Soul cultivator, and perhaps learn something useful and gain some wonderful insights she had never imagined.

Another matter was that before Senior Wang Lin's tribulation ceremony, many true spirits who had minor grudges against each other, in order to resolve their grudges and unite around the human race in the future, had several relatively private sparring sessions arranged by Fang Lin and other human cultivators, using their fists to communicate their hearts.

Han Lu felt that if she watched a few performances from the audience, she would also gain something from it.

[Author's Note] Do people from Yunnan really not ride elephants when they go out?

Chapter 448 Postpartum Care of Spirit Insects

After thinking for a long time, Han Lu was only disappointed to find that there were only two more possible opportunities.