The Long Journey to Immortality

However, Jieyun seems to also have the ability to learn.

Seeing Elder Haoge once again control the spirit sword to launch an attack, streaks of lightning descended from the tribulation clouds.

The electric light intertwined to form a grid, accurately blocking the spirit sword, which had already lost much of its sharpness.

The spirit sword, already slightly injured, lost its spirit in the blink of an eye after being struck by lightning. It became unable to fly, fell from the sky, and crashed into the ground, penetrating three feet deep.

Although he only had a spiritual connection with the spirit sword, the damage to the spirit sword still felt like a thunderbolt to Elder Haoge's mind. His already weak spirit became even more listless, and he broke out in a cold sweat. He looked as if he was about to faint at any moment.

After swaying for a while, a full ten breaths passed, Elder Haoge finally managed to stand up with great difficulty.

Elder Haoge was filled with regret.

He regretted his youthful arrogance more than two hundred years ago when he had just advanced to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm. He had spoken rudely in the sect, causing a grudge against his friend, who was also a Golden Core cultivator, and leading to a break in their friendship.

This incident caused him emotional distress and the loss of a close friend. Otherwise, with his talent, he would have been able to take this crucial step decades earlier.

He regretted that more than three hundred years ago, when he was only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, he had acted recklessly in the East Sea, causing a great deal of trouble.

These misfortunes were perceived by Heaven, which is why, at the moment of his tribulation, he was struck by heavenly lightning far more powerful than that experienced by other cultivators in the Central Plains, as punishment for his past deeds.

He regretted not having declined the small task of accumulating good karma that Sect Master Yunmin had entrusted to him months earlier, under the pretext of preparing for his tribulation.

In his past view, spending time on a few seeds just because of a junior's words was a losing proposition.

If you don't even know if it's true or false, how can you accumulate any good karma?

It would be better to focus on formations and magical artifacts, which would increase one's chances of success in overcoming the tribulation.

He also regretted not confessing his feelings to his junior sister when he was in the Foundation Establishment stage.

More than 350 years have passed, and that junior sister has long since passed away, with countless generations of descendants.

He remains single to this day, without any children.

He regretted focusing solely on his own cultivation, leaving no one to inherit his lineage.

If one had taken in a satisfactory disciple a hundred years earlier, even if he were struck dead by lightning a moment later, his spirit and his lineage could still be passed down.

During this moment of mental confusion, countless images flashed through Elder Haoge's mind. A premonition of death arose from his heart, and negative emotions such as regret and guilt filled his sea of ​​consciousness, making his already corrupt sea of ​​consciousness even more stagnant. His spiritual energy, which was already not functioning smoothly, was completely solidified in his spiritual veins due to his willpower.

A sharp clap of thunder roused Elder Haoge from his reverie.

He looked up at the imminent impending doom of the calamity clouds.

At this moment, the tribulation clouds had become extremely thin, and ninety-nine percent of the spiritual energy contained within them had been used up.

Clearly, Jieyun had concentrated all the remaining spiritual energy into this bolt of heavenly lightning, intending to kill Elder Haoge here with this final blow.

Seeing this, Elder Haoge was not surprised but delighted. He saw a lifeline, a glimmer of hope for his own survival.

"If I use my Golden Core as the foundation and overdraw the Free and Unfettered Umbrella to resist this tribulation lightning..."

There is about a 90% chance.

"However, the Free and Easy Umbrella will definitely be severely damaged, and it may not be able to recover to the level of a spiritual weapon even with the best efforts to repair it."

"My golden core is damaged. Even if I survive the tribulation, the nascent soul that is born will definitely lack spirituality, and I will have no hope of advancing to the middle stage of the nascent soul in this life."

Is it worth it?

Elder Haoge asked himself a question and found himself in a dilemma.

The magic weapon was borrowed from the sect, the future represented by the golden core belongs to oneself, and life itself belongs to oneself as well.

but……

Feng Haoge looked into the distance at his fellow disciples who were silently watching him and anticipating his triumphant return, disciples who might need to borrow the Free and Easy Umbrella from the sect to overcome their tribulations in the future.

He felt a pang of sadness, as if he had been transported back to countless moments in his memory when he had made wrong decisions.

"This time, I don't want to have any regrets."

With his mind clear, Elder Haoge broke free from his previous state, which was like that of a living dead, and the spiritual energy within his body began to circulate smoothly once again.

But in the next moment, he waved his hand and sent the Xiaoyao Umbrella flying into the distance.

Elder Haoge opened his mouth, his voice loud and clear, reaching the ears of the cultivators managing the area in the distance, "Sect Master Yunmin, please accept the umbrella."

"I ask the sect leader to grant me a request: if, after my death, a Golden Core cultivator gives birth to a Dao embryo, I hope the sect leader will find an ordinary family to help take care of it."

"Don't let it cultivate immortality, for if it does, it will be struck by lightning!"

Upon hearing Elder Haoge's sudden last words, everyone's expression changed.

No sooner had Elder Haoge finished speaking than thunderbolts descended from the sky.

Feeling powerless to resist, Feng Haoge made no further defensive moves. He simply opened his arms, letting the heavenly lightning pour into his body, embracing the final outcome he had finally achieved after nearly five hundred years of diligent cultivation.

Three breaths later, the lightning disappeared, the tribulation clouds dispersed, and the rumbling thunder in our ears also vanished.

The sun returned to the earth, and Elder Haoge's presence completely disappeared on the distant Pingdingshan Mountain.

Everyone fell silent. A long-awaited good thing had ended like this. Even many disciples who had only known Elder Haoge for half a month found it difficult to feel anything different at this moment.

In this somber atmosphere, Daoist Yunmin was the first to recover.

He raised his hand and caught the carefree umbrella that had just floated over, rolled it up casually, and stuffed it into his storage bag. Then he said in a deep voice, "Everyone, please disperse first. The two deans will follow me to clean up the mess."

Although Daoist Yunmin made such arrangements, not a single Golden Core elder departed alone on a cloud.

Everyone followed Daoist Yunmin to Pingdingshan, which had changed in appearance in the distance, to bid a final farewell to Elder Haoge, who had made a selfless decision at the last moment.

[Author's Note] The previous example of Huang Zong and Guan Yu was to make everyone understand that this is a normal human emotional expression, not that this senior brother is particularly petty.

In fact, if we insist on scrutinizing whether the protagonist is a time traveler, the description cannot be too modern. That would render almost all idioms unusable.

Even if the protagonist really is a time traveler, others probably still wouldn't understand him if he used idioms.

That would be completely unnecessary.

Chapter 474 Dao Embryo

The power of the heavenly lightning was immense, and the last bolt struck the mountaintop directly without any obstruction, hindrance, or weakening.

Naturally, when everyone set foot on Elder Haoge's tribulation site, the place had undergone earth-shattering changes compared to before the tribulation.

Affected by the lightning, the flat ground on the mountaintop was sheared off by a full twenty meters.

The few remaining plants that had been growing were either burned to ashes by the lightning or completely erased without a trace.

Because Elder Haoge's storage bag was damaged during the lightning tribulation, a lot of his belongings, which originally belonged to Elder Haoge, were scattered on the ground of Pingdingshan.

The ordinary gold, silver, and clothing were all damaged in the lightning tribulation. There were even some strange solids on the ground where the gold and silver had melted and then solidified again.

The pills stored in ordinary porcelain bottles were scattered all over the ground, and the pills, which were originally of different colors, had all turned charcoal color due to the influence of the lightning tribulation.

Only a few precious elixirs survived because they were stored in small bottles of magical artifact quality.

Elder Haoge's magical treasures were all on the ground. The few magical treasures he used during his tribulation were more or less damaged. In particular, the spirit sword that Elder Haoge had used many times had been demoted from the level of a spiritual weapon to the level of a magic weapon.

As for Elder Haoge's body?

Not a single hair was left.

Seeing this mess, the disciples who could only vaguely see it with their naked eyes realized just how terrifying the tribulation Elder Haoge had experienced was.

Most of the Golden Core elders looked solemn upon witnessing this tragedy. Several elders who were on the verge of advancing to the Nascent Soul realm couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow, imagining what it would be like for them to undergo their own tribulations in the future.

Elder Haoge's last words still echoed in the ears of the elders. At first, many elders who had thought they would definitely survive the tribulation after seeing the "Free and Easy Umbrella" magic treasure completely lost their initial optimism.

Yunmin Daoist was still thinking about Elder Haoge's dying wish. He narrowed his eyes and released his divine sense to search for traces of the Golden Core among the many relics left by Elder Haoge.

In the time it takes to breathe, Daoist Yunmin found his target. With a wave of his hand, a bead no bigger than a thumbnail rose from the ground and flew into his hand.

This is the golden elixir that Elder Haoge cultivated for over four hundred years.

Because Elder Haoge had died, the Golden Core lost its source of spiritual power, and the originally glittering Golden Core became dull and lifeless, just like an ordinary mud ball.

The patterns on the golden elixir were still clearly visible.

Even from more than ten meters away, Han Lu could still feel the spiritual energy naturally emanating from the Golden Core.

“Phew,” Daoist Yunmin, holding the golden core, naturally sensed this as well. “Fortunately, the golden core is intact. I hope I can live up to Daoist Haoge’s dying wish.”

Holding the Golden Elixir, Daoist Yunmin looked around and called out to a Golden Elixir Elder in the crowd, then transmitted a few words of instruction to him.

Han Lu did not know this Golden Core Elder and did not know his cultivation level.

After receiving instructions from Daoist Yunmin, the elder quietly said "Yes," took the golden elixir, placed it in a small box to nurture it, and quickly rode away on a cloud.

After everything was arranged, the dean of Nanshan Academy took the initiative to ask, "Sect Master, what should be done with Fellow Daoist Haoge's belongings?"

After a moment of contemplation, Sect Master Yunmin said, "The magic treasures borrowed from the sect will be returned to their original positions. As for the others..."

"If, after eighty-one days, Fellow Daoist Haoge's Golden Core gives birth to a Dao Embryo, then let these relics remain for it. Regardless of whether the Dao Embryo cultivates in the future, these things will belong to it."

"If, after eighty-one days, Fellow Daoist Haoge's Golden Core does not develop a Dao Embryo, then these relics..."

Upon hearing an unfamiliar term, Han Lu couldn't help but wonder, "What is a Dao Embryo?"

Master Yunmin paused, clearly finding the decision difficult, "Let's just give it to his three nominal disciples."

"Although the master-disciple relationship among the four was not deep, they were still master and disciple after all."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu noticed that Elder Hao Ge's disciples were not present to attend the ceremony. Clearly, Elder Hao Ge's relationship with his disciples was merely that of someone who remembered their names.

This arrangement was quite reasonable, and none of the people present had any say in the matter. Naturally, the matter proceeded according to the arrangement of Daoist Yunmin.

Everyone pitched in to help pack up the deceased's belongings.

In the end, the scattered valuables were gathered together and stored separately in a storage bag.

There were also some remnants of clothing, which were divided into two parts under the arrangement of Daoist Yunmin.

One copy was used to build a cenotaph on the spot, while the other copy was taken back to the sect and stored in the Hall of Heroes for future generations of disciples to admire and worship.

Before the cenotaph, everyone observed a moment of silence for Elder Haoge.

Han Lu was no exception.

Following Piaomiaozi in observing a moment of silence before the hastily erected cenotaph, Han Lu couldn't help but sigh deeply.

“Cultivators can predict the future and know the end of life and death.”

"But where does the path of cultivation end?"