The Long Journey to Immortality

In addition, he had learned an external martial arts technique.

Therefore, Han Lu's attack only kept him lying on the ground for five breaths.

When he got up, Li Haoqiong had recovered his spirits. Apart from looking a bit disheveled, he was not seriously injured.

Han Lu maintained a standard sparring stance, refraining from kicking someone when they're down. Li Haoqiong, who was somewhat serious about the matter, couldn't remain silent either, displaying no gentlemanly manners whatsoever.

Rubbing his still slightly stiff and twitching facial muscles, Li Haoqiong began to flatter her, "Junior Sister Han is amazing. This is the first time my move has been countered so quickly. No wonder Master values ​​you so much and sees you as a future Golden Core cultivator."

Han Lu spoke frankly, "It was just luck. I happened to have a magic weapon that could counter Senior Brother Li's move. Shall we continue?"

"Pfft..." Spitting out a mouthful of saliva, Li Haoqiong took out a spirit sword from his storage bag and said, "Continue!"

In just one round, Li Haoqiong already regarded Han Lu, who had entered the martial arts world more than ten years later than him, as a formidable opponent of the same level, and his fighting spirit for this sparring match, which he saw as having some special significance, was raised to a new level.

He infused spiritual energy into the sword, activating it in his hand.

The spirit sword rose into the air and in the blink of an eye transformed into nine smaller swords.

This mother-and-child sword is the most proficient offensive weapon used by Li Haoqiong.

The Mother-Child Sword is not of high grade, only a fourth-grade magic weapon, but Li Haoqiong believes that if this spiritual sword magic weapon is used properly, it can be comparable to some second-grade magic weapons.

Seeing that Li Haoqiong's spirit sword had split into nine, Han Lu simply summoned her own spirit sword and used the "splitting" technique to also split her spirit sword into nine, engaging in a fierce battle with Li Haoqiong's mother and child swords in the air.

Seeing that the spirit sword Han Lu was using looked even stranger than his own mother and child swords, Li Haoqiong couldn't help but wonder, "Junior Sister Han's spirit sword is also so strange?"

Han Lu and Li Haoqiong had a tacit understanding and both commanded their spirit swords to engage in one-on-one battles.

Eighteen spirit swords danced in the air, forming nine local battlefields.

On the arena, the two exerted their best to use their sword control techniques, wielding their nine spiritual swords to the fullest extent.

The fight on the stage was so intense that the audience below felt they couldn't take it all in.

The cultivator known as the third brother then took out a battle power stone.

He was certain that the battle power stone was not faulty, so he decided to use it on Han Lu and Li Haoqiong on the stage during this intense battle to find out their current combat strength.

The third brother looked at Li Haoqiong, whose brows were furrowed and whose forehead was sweating, as if he had already exerted 120% of his ability. "Senior Brother Li... 2,400 combat power, which is about the same as the number I predicted."

"What about Senior Sister Han?"

Looking at the calm and collected Han Lu, the third brother's battle stone, after a moment of recording and testing, gave an answer.

"Six thousand eight? She hasn't even used her full strength yet. My god, is Senior Sister Han really only a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator? That's amazing!"

Han Lu indeed displayed the fighting spirit of "6,800 against "2,400" on the ring.

Han Lu's spiritual sword was connected to his mind, so he had no difficulty in using it and even had spare power.

However, Li Haoqiong encountered some trouble.

This was the first time he had encountered such a complex situation. Even with his best efforts, he could only command the spirit sword to unleash 70% of its power under such circumstances.

The battle was like a large-scale military operation. Han Lu was like an excellent commander who could precisely direct a company or a battalion to attack and fight according to her ideas, while Li Haoqiong could only command his troops to "F2" and "A" forward.

The quality of the spirit sword was inferior to Han Lu's spirit power sword, and in terms of sword control skills, it was no match for Han Lu. Now, it could only exert 70% of its power. Naturally, after the eighteen spirit swords came into contact and fought fiercely for no more than ten breaths, Li Haoqiong showed signs of defeat.

Han Lu's spiritual sword accurately struck the most vulnerable spot of one of the twin swords, instantly extinguishing its spiritual power and creating a breakthrough in the battle.

Then, much like the butterfly effect, Li Haoqiong's mother and child swords were defeated one after another in the remaining eight battles.

Ten breaths later, Han Lu manipulated the spiritual sword to return to its original state, while Li Haoqiong could only watch as his beloved magic weapon temporarily lost its spirituality, became unruly, and fell to the ground like hailstones.

Han Lu's attack was measured, and she did not seriously injure the mother and child swords. Li Haoqiong only needs to nurture the magic weapon with spiritual power for seven days after the sparring session, and the magic weapon will regain its luster.

The magical artifact was damaged, its spiritual power was greatly depleted, and its spiritual power was completely exhausted due to the fierce battle just now.

Logically speaking, when sparring with his close senior brothers and sisters, Li Haoqiong should take the time to rest and recover before fighting again.

But this time, Li Haoqiong didn't want to show weakness in front of Han Lu again, so he gritted his teeth and continued fighting in this state.

Since neither magic nor magical artifacts could defeat Han Lu, he decided to try external martial arts and fight her hand-to-hand.

"what!"

With a roar, Li Haoqiong's upper clothes ripped to shreds, revealing his muscular physique.

Golden light emanated from the muscles of Li Haoqiong's upper body, and the faint phantom images of dragons and tigers appeared behind him.

"Han Lu! Come on, let's see if my fist is hard enough."

After issuing the battle declaration, Li Haoqiong used his lightness technique to its fullest extent, shooting towards Han Lu like a sharp arrow.

Seeing this, Han Lu remained calm and said softly, "Okay, let's give it a try."

Chapter 464 Cultivating Both Inner and Outer Strength

Li Haoqiong's external martial arts technique was of a high grade, and it was considered one of the most powerful external martial arts techniques in the Zhengyi Sect's library.

Unfortunately, this technique requires additional external aids to cultivate.

Li Haoqiong was not a "second-generation immortal" like Han Lu, who had a large number of spirit stones in his storage bag, and he did not have enough capital to find these auxiliary cultivation materials.

Without the help of these external aids, Li Haoqiong's progress in cultivating this external martial art was relatively slow.

This is why he, who was fortunate enough to obtain this excellent external martial arts technique, only used it as a trick, and relied more on the spells he had mastered and the magic weapons he possessed to fight against others, battling on the arena in large and small competitions.

Today, Li Haoqiong is using this technique on the stage more out of a sense of pride than anything else, and with a "nothing to lose" attitude.

His previous encounters had shown him that he had no way to deal with Han Lu in terms of spells and magical artifacts.

Using external martial arts techniques, fighting with fists and feet, became the only way he believed he could possibly defeat Han Lu.

After all, based on the previous rounds, he used magic, and Han Lu used magic; he used a spirit sword, and Han Lu used a spirit sword.

Naturally, since he uses his fist and foot skills to display his external martial arts, Han Lu is very likely to switch to using her fist and foot skills to fight him as well.

Judging from her appearance and figure, Li Haoqiong did not think that a female cultivator as beautiful and well-built as Han Lu had ever practiced any external martial arts techniques.

This is the source of what he considers a slim chance of winning.

“There’s no chance of a complete victory,” Li Haoqiong thought to himself as he rushed toward Han Lu and saw that Han Lu was indeed ready to fight him with her external skills. “Winning one round is one round at a time. Master, you really did take on a disciple who is much more powerful than me a few years ago.”

A whooshing sound emanated from Li Haoqiong's body, and the phantom behind him solidified, while the aura he exuded increased significantly.

At the scene, besides Han Lu, the person who felt this most deeply was Lao San, who was standing below the stage holding the battle power stone.

"He clearly suffered some minor injuries, yet his combat power has increased again?" The third brother looked at the numbers on the combat power stone, somewhat surprised.

"Two thousand seven hundred? She must have used some techniques or secret arts that can temporarily boost her strength," the third brother speculated, based on the changes in the numbers. "However, this number is still far from Senior Sister Han's combat power."

Judging solely from their combat prowess, even if Li Haoqiong switched to external martial arts and used secret techniques, he would still be far from being a match for Han Lu.

Seeing Li Haoqiong charging towards her with a punch, Han Lu was indeed planning to test the current level of her external martial arts skills.

Although she did not specifically cultivate any external martial arts techniques, she possessed the bloodline of a true spirit and had a solid physical foundation. Even without transforming into the form of a true spirit, her external martial arts combat power surpassed that of many cultivators at the same level.

Although Li Haoqiong looked like he had practiced martial arts, Han Lu felt that she could still compete with him and use him as a benchmark to measure her current level of external martial arts skills.

Facing Li Haoqiong, Han Lu slightly shifted her stance, and the phoenix feather robe on her body changed shape under her active control.

The sleeves of the phoenix feather robe shed their "disguise," revealing the true form of white phoenix feathers.

Feathers instantly appeared on Han Lu's arms and the backs of her hands, enveloping her fists as if putting on a pair of boxing gloves for her.

Immediately afterwards, she activated her spiritual vision, and two beams of golden light shot out from Han Lu's eyes.

Han Lu saw countless weaknesses in Li Haoqiong, and his seemingly swift movements appeared half a beat slower in her eyes.

This change is similar to the semi-true spirit transformation, but it does focus on enhancing Han Lu's external martial arts abilities.

All preparations were completed in an instant. Han Lu, whose appearance had changed slightly, did not stand still and wait for Li Haoqiong's attack, but took the initiative to attack.

Although neither of them were cultivators who specialized in external martial arts, at this moment, they displayed strength comparable to Foundation Establishment cultivators who practiced external martial arts.

Almost immediately, intense pain shot through the area where his fists and feet collided with Han Lu's. If he hadn't used his external martial arts techniques to strengthen his body, he probably would have had his bones shattered by Han Lu and would have been unable to fight any longer.

Once they were engaged in battle, Li Haoqiong only exchanged two moves with Han Lu before secretly lamenting his misfortune and calling her a monster.

"What are Junior Sister Han's fists made of? Wasn't it supposed to be that all beautiful female cultivators have delicate skin?"

"Could it be that she's also incredibly skilled in external martial arts, even more so than me?"

In this situation, Li Haoqiong felt as if he were fighting a demonic beast that was proficient in external martial arts.

In the blink of an eye, the two exchanged dozens of blows and kicks in the ring.

The speed was extremely fast, and the onlookers below the stage could only barely make out the general idea, and did not know which side had the advantage in the several attacks and defenses.

"Bang bang bang!"

The sounds of fists and feet clashing echoed continuously from the ring, accompanied by sharp, piercing wind noises.

After gritting his teeth and wrestling with Han Lu for several rounds, Li Haoqiong suddenly stomped on the ground and leaped back several meters, putting distance between himself and Han Lu.

At this moment, Li Haoqiong's bare upper body had many fist wounds, and his fists not only failed to cause Han Lu any harm, but were also covered in blood.

Seeing the two separate, the third brother hurriedly took out his battle stone and aimed it at Han Lu.

This time, the battle stone showed no reaction.

"Huh?..." At first, the third brother thought the battle stone was malfunctioning, but then he remembered a limitation on its use. "Could it be that Senior Sister Han already has the strength of the Golden Core stage?"

Indeed, by using her abilities to enter a semi-true spirit state, Han Lu's aura already possessed some of the characteristics of a Golden Core cultivator.

It's quite normal for the third brother to misjudge the combat power stone he just created not long ago.

Having been beaten to such a state, Li Haoqiong had completely lost his will to fight.

The jealousy in his heart, which made him wonder why Han Lu was valued by their master despite being inferior to him, completely disappeared after Han Lu's few punches and kicks.

Dispelling his secret techniques, Li Haoqiong casually used magic to wash away the bloodstains on his body, and then put two pills into his mouth.

In the blink of an eye, his injuries had healed considerably, but his face was withered, as if he had been up for three days and three nights, and even his voice sounded tired.

"Junior sister is amazing," Li Haoqiong said to Han Lu with even more affection, "I was rude to you today."

With a flick of her wrist, the traces of blood on the back of Han Lu's hand vanished into gas, and her phoenix-feathered robe returned to its usual appearance.

Clean and tidy.

"Senior brother, you're too kind. It was just a friendly spar. I've forgotten what you said on Cold Cicada Peak."

Han Lu's magnanimous actions impressed Li Haoqiong, who felt increasingly ashamed.