The Long Journey to Immortality

In the span of three breaths, a thousand thoughts raced through Wen Erya's mind.

Suddenly, an answer appeared in her mind.

"Could this cultivator be the third person my junior sister found?"

The original invitation was for Han Lu to come over and discuss the matter of a third member of the team. However, Han Lu happened to bring another cultivator with her, which naturally led to a misunderstanding. Wen Erya assumed that the unfamiliar female cultivator behind Han Lu was a fellow disciple from the Dongshan Academy, an excellent teammate that Han Lu had painstakingly found.

"Junior Sister," Wen Erya gave Yi Qiyan a friendly smile, trying to leave a good impression, "Is this fellow disciple a teammate you found?"

Han Lu wanted to explain, but Wen Erya didn't wait for her to speak and invited her in, "Come in quickly, it's a bit silly to just stand outside and talk."

Han Lu nodded in agreement, thinking that she should sit down first and then work with Yi Qiyan to clear up Wen Erya's misunderstanding.

The three sat down around a small table. Han Lu quickly spoke up before Wen Erya could deepen the misunderstanding, introducing Yi Qiyan's identity.

Wen Erya knew about the relationship between Han Lu and Yi Qiyan.

Upon learning the identity of the unfamiliar female cultivator, she immediately realized that she had guessed wrong.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, it's a misunderstanding," Wen Erya said with a smile. "Welcome, Fellow Daoist Yi, to the Zhengyi Sect."

Yi Qiyan was somewhat bewildered.

She was unaware of the Zhengyi Sect competition, nor did she know that Han Lu and Wen Erya were looking for teammates.

Following Han Lu into the courtyard, I listened for a while before realizing that it was a misunderstanding.

However, it was precisely because of this that she developed a strong interest in joining Han Lu and Wen Erya's team to participate in the Zhengyi Sect's grand competition.

"Han Lu, it just so happens that I will be staying at Zhengyi Sect for a few months. I wonder when the competition you mentioned is going to take place? I would like to team up with the two of you to participate."

Han Lu replied, "The timing is perfect. The Zhengyi Sect Grand Competition is just a few days away in three months. You should be in the Zhengyi Sect by then."

"However, this grand competition is an assessment for the cultivators of the Zhengyi Sect. You come from the Southern Frontier and are also the Holy Maiden of the Five Poisons Sect, so you should..."

"I probably shouldn't get involved."

Han Lu was a little unsure.

She wasn't entirely clear about the rules and regulations of the sect.

However, Wen Erya's misunderstanding did give her a new perspective.

From any perspective, Yi Qiyan is an excellent teammate.

If the three of them can get together and participate in the secret realm exploration segment of the competition, they will surely reap a great harvest and win first place.

Wen Erya had put a lot of thought into this matter, so she said, "That's quite possible. After all, every time there's a major or minor competition, don't sects that are friendly with the Zhengyi Sect send disciples to participate?"

"Now that relations between the Central Plains and the Southern Frontier have eased, if Fellow Daoist Yi can go through official channels and obtain an official document to participate in the competition, then it would be a natural thing for him to team up with us."

"If not, I'm afraid it won't work."

Yi Qiyan's extremely high status in the Five Poisons Sect is both an advantage and an obstacle.

Upon hearing that there was hope, Yi Qiyan, who was already full of interest, patted her soft, limp chest.

“Is that so? That’s easy. I’ll send a letter to Master right away.”

As she spoke, Yi Qiyan asked Wen Erya for a pen and took out a specially made piece of letter paper from her storage bag.

This letter paper, inscribed with runes, has a range a thousand times greater than that of a paper sword, allowing it to deliver Yi Qiyan's letter directly to the southern border.

He presented her with pen and ink, and in no time, Yi Qiyan had written a letter and sent it out.

The letter paper transformed into a paper sword, and its flight speed was several times faster than the paper swords that Han Lu casually made.

"Alright," Yi Qiyan said with a smile, as if she had already qualified for the competition. "Come on, tell me more about the team adventure. It sounds very interesting."

Chapter 509 Team Formation

Yi Qiyan only had a vague understanding of the competition, yet she anxiously sent a letter to the sect, leaving Han Lu at a loss for words.

Fortunately, both she and Wen Erya were willing to bring Yi Qiyan into the team to explore the secret realm built by the sect's Nascent Soul cultivators.

Otherwise, it would be embarrassing to offer a warm welcome only to be met with a cold shoulder.

After Yi Qiyan's outburst, Wen Erya felt that the possibility of Yi Qiyan joining the team and participating in the competition had increased from 10% to 80%.

Besides, since she was already here and had already asked, she was naturally willing to spend some time talking to Yi Qiyan about the competition.

Incidentally, let Han Lu, who doesn't seem very enthusiastic about this matter, clarify things more clearly so that problems don't arise during the competition.

Wen Erya said, "Fellow Daoist Yi, the rules of the Grand Competition's Secret Realm Exploration Section are not complicated; the main issue is the rules regarding team formation."

To prevent any mistakes, Wen Erya specially took out three booklets and gave them to the two of them, explaining the rules to Yi Qiyan and Han Lu by referring to the booklets.

Because of her own abilities, Han Lu didn't take the competition too seriously.

In her opinion, unless there is a hidden master in the sect who is a top-tier Foundation Establishment expert, she should be a sure thing to win first place in the arena competition.

As for exploring secret realms, Han Lu felt that her eleven months of wandering outside and her experience in ancient cultivation secret realms had given her a lot of experience in this area.

Combined with the experience from the memories of Xiaoyaozi, a rogue cultivator from the East Sea.

Taken together, she should be the most experienced Foundation Establishment cultivator in the sect in terms of outdoor training and adventure.

With her strength and experience ranking first, how could she not be among the top performers when teaming up with Wen Erya?

Because of her confidence, Han Lu's understanding of the rules was less than one-tenth of Wen Erya's.

Han Lu didn't take the competition to heart at all.

And what about Feng Bailu back then? With Yuan Fei by his side forming a team, he only needed to focus on fighting.

However, when Wen Erya earnestly explained the rules to her and Yi Qiyan, Han Lu listened very attentively without the slightest slack.

With the rulebook as a guide, Wen Erya was naturally able to interpret it with ease. Even if some details were not explained clearly, Han Lu and Yi Qiyan could look up the book themselves to find the answers.

It took Wen Erya fifteen minutes to explain the rules clearly, and Yi Qiyan also took the initiative to ask questions about the parts she didn't understand.

"Fellow Daoist Wen," since they were only nodding acquaintances, Yi Qiyan and Wen Erya both addressed each other as fellow Daoist, "what is the Spirit Rhinoceros Pearl used to measure the ranking of victories?"

It's clearly written in the rulebook.

The only treasure that disciples of the Zhengyi Sect can obtain from the secret realm is the "Lingxi Pearl," a material used for refining weapons. The number of Lingxi Pearls obtained from the secret realm determines the ranking order of each group at the corresponding level.

"The Spirit Rhinoceros Pearl comes from the egg produced by a Foundation Establishment Realm Spirit Rhinoceros Beast that was tamed in the sect."

"The appearance of the Spirit Rhinoceros is somewhat similar to that of the rhinoceros in southern Xinjiang, but it is five times larger than an ordinary rhinoceros."

“It gives birth once every five years. Each litter contains one Spirit Rhinoceros Beast and lays nearly a thousand eggs, but only a handful of eggs will hatch into new Spirit Rhinoceros Beasts after being nurtured.”

"This spawning rhythm happens to coincide with the cycle of the Great Bi."

"The other dead eggs were collected by the sect and reused as spoils of war during the Foundation Establishment disciples' competition."

Upon hearing this, Yi Qiyan found a small loophole in the rules.

"If we just stuff some Spirit Rhinoceros Pearls into our storage bags, wouldn't that be cheating?"

"After all, it's just a Foundation Establishment stage demon beast. There must be Spirit Rhinoceros Pearls for sale outside, so it shouldn't be too rare or expensive."

But after saying that, she immediately realized she must have been stupid.

The Zhengyi Sect has been passed down for thousands of years, and its rules have been revised and improved countless times. How could such a low-level mistake occur?

Sure enough, Wen Erya explained, "Each Spirit Rhinoceros Beast's Spirit Rhinoceros Pearl carries a different aura, which is easy to verify."

"When the final results are measured, and you take out the 'fake' you prepared, any cultivator who is even slightly sensitive to aura will notice the difference."

"I remember that several hundred years ago, a fellow disciple with some talent tried to cheat, but was discovered by the sect."

"I don't know what the final punishment will be, but it should be quite severe."

This somewhat embarrassing incident is not recorded much in the history of the Zhengyi Sect.

In fact, Wen Er Ya only learned this information when she inquired about the themes of previous years' secret realm explorations.

Yi Qiyan had no intention of cheating; she was just finding fault, so the three of them didn't continue discussing the issue.

Han Lu flipped through the booklet, also having questions.

She called out "Senior Sister" and then asked directly, "What does this secret realm theme mean? Is the secret realm theme to be announced three days before the competition?"

These things were not detailed in the rulebook, so Wen Er Ya immediately got into position and shared the information she had gathered with her two "teammates".

“To give an example,” Wen Erya said, disliking straightforwardness, “if you were to go on an adventure in the Southern Frontier, wouldn’t you need to prepare some antidote herbs and a map of the Southern Frontier beforehand?”

Han Lu understood what Wen Erya meant, but she wanted to joke with Wen Erya, so she deliberately didn't cooperate and said, "No need, I'm naturally resistant to poison. As for maps, I'll find them when I get there."

Wen Erya was speechless upon hearing this.

Of course, she knew that Han Lu understood her meaning with just one sentence and was simply joking, so she stopped looking at Han Lu and looked at Yi Qiyan instead.

“Fellow Daoist Yi,” she explained her example more clearly, “different preparations are needed for going on adventures and training in different places.”

Because her relationship with Wen Erya was not as close as her relationship with Han Lu, Yi Qiyan spoke frankly and replied, "Fellow Daoist Wen is right, I understand what you mean."

"What are the different themes of the competition?" Yi Qiyan pressed further.

After recalling for a moment, Wen Erya said, "I put in some effort and inquired about some information, but I only managed to find out the themes of the first three Secret Realm courses."

"They are the sky, the ocean, and the underground..."

“It is said,” Wen Erya continued, “that there was another time when the sect threw a Foundation Establishment disciple into a secret realm full of Foundation Establishment magical beasts.”

"However, because more than a dozen Foundation Establishment disciples died in the secret realm that time, such dangerous secret realms will no longer be used in the competition."

"It is said that Master will also be involved in the construction of the secret realm this time, so I tried to get information from Master."

"Since Master hasn't said a word, this secret realm probably won't be too easy."

"Let me tell you about the underground secret realm from last time..."

Yi Qiyan and Han Lu concentrated intently, writing down everything Wen Erya said.

Chapter 510 Qualification for Participation

As Wen Erya said before, different environments require different preparations.

If it is a secret realm with an ocean theme, then the disciples participating in it will spend most of their time in the water. Therefore, having a magic weapon that allows cultivators to move freely in the water or a spell that helps them breathe underwater becomes especially important.

Five years later, the things that participants needed to prepare for the underground-themed adventure had changed again.