The Long Journey to Immortality

"Junior sister, don't you know quite a few super, super, super powerful sword formations? Isn't it quite appropriate to bring them out now?"

Han Lu nodded and said, "Okay, I'll follow Senior Sister's arrangements. I'll set up the sword formation right away."

After several years of study, although Han Lu has not mastered all the sword formations taught by Senior Fang Lin, she has still improved her understanding of many sword formations to a superficial level.

Many sword formations are quite complex for Han Lu to set up now, requiring a certain amount of time and making them difficult to use in daily combat.

However, when we have ample time to prepare, such as setting traps and ambushing enemies, we can smoothly use these tactics.

Yi Qiyan then handed two antidotes to Han Lu and Wen Erya.

"Han Lu, Er Ya, take the antidote first. I'm going to set up a poison array to cover this entire area."

Since her two friends each had their own skills, Wen Erya, who was not good at this, could only say, "In that case, I will just set up a perception array to provide you with some assistance."

With each of them prepared, the three quickly got to work in the woods.

Not knowing when the other party would arrive, Han Lu and the other two didn't want to be seen by the other party while they were setting up the "array trap," otherwise it would become a real charade.

It took Yi Qiyan a full five minutes to place a total of twenty sachets containing poisonous substances and powders near the location of the three people.

Han Lu, on the other hand, relied on the "Divide" technique to divide the spiritual energy sword into one hundred and eight parts, setting up a Star Sword Array with less than one percent of its power in a rather "lazy" way.

In addition to setting up a divine sense array using the "Hun Tian Yi" that she had used in the ancient cultivation secret realm as the array eye, Wen Er Ya also made some small disguises to avoid arousing suspicion and making the other party unwilling to step into the trap.

Once everything was ready, the three of them used the "Gathering of Thoughts" secret technique and sat down in the low-level protective formation set up by Wen Erya. They symbolically closed their eyes and entered a meditative state, pretending to be injured and recovering through internal energy.

This creative inspiration came from the sneak attack they just witnessed.

Thus, if the other party also used detection spells while flying, they would find that they remained in place and did not move.

Alternatively, it can be explained by the appearance of "rest and recovery" to dispel the other party's suspicions and make the performance seem more realistic.

While they appeared to be recovering through internal energy, the three people inside the formation were actually doing different things.

Wen Erya used her divine sense array to keep a close watch on her surroundings, waiting for the three-person team whose identities she did not know to arrive before she used a secret technique to tell her two friends the information.

Han Lu and Yi Qiyan were waiting for Wen Erya's signal.

After luring the attackers into the trap, each side will unleash their pre-arranged sword and poison formations, giving the overconfident attackers an unexpected surprise.

Just as Han Lu and the other two had predicted.

The group of people they had detected in advance did indeed pinpoint the three's location using secret techniques.

Because Han Lu and her two companions possessed over fifty Spirit Beads, they also considered the possibility that their whereabouts might be discovered.

Therefore, they proceeded cautiously and did not harbor any thoughts of "being able to launch a sneak attack".

When they noticed that Han Lu and the other two had not changed their positions but had stayed in the same spot for a long time, the three of them became even more suspicious and thought about the possibility of being ambushed.

Therefore, after approaching the point that the magic had clearly detected, the three of them also used their own concealment methods to cautiously get closer, for fear of falling into a trap.

However, in the end, Han Lu and her two companions were still one step ahead.

His feigned recovery completely dispelled the three men's suspicions.

Using a secret technique different from "Gathering Thoughts," the three communicated silently and quickly, exchanging their joy and devising a sneak attack plan.

With a preconceived notion, the white silk threads connecting Han Lu and the other two were all seen as a means to aid their teammates' recovery.

Unbeknownst to them, their every move was being monitored by Wen Erya's array.

"These three cultivators have appeared in the records. They are from Xishan Academy and should be one of the strongest teams in this low-level secret realm trial."

“Situ Hezheng, He Yiran, Qin Zijin.”

“All three are mid-Foundation Establishment cultivators, and have been at this level for nearly twenty years.”

"The three of us have participated in the competition together for three years, and in terms of teamwork and coordination, they are even better than the three of us."

"Qin Zijin and Situ Hezheng are both from prominent cultivation families, and they have many magical treasures in their storage bags."

"He Yiran is the disciple of the vice dean of Xishan Academy. He is just an ordinary inner disciple, but he should not be a cultivator who lacks magic treasures."

"These three also practice a secret method of communication."

……

"Judging from their every move, I deduce that they have been tricked."

Wen Erya used a secret technique to communicate with her two friends and revealed all the information she remembered about the three "enemies".

Upon hearing the last sentence, Yi Qiyan felt she was losing control of her expression. Her lips trembled slightly, as if she were about to burst out laughing and ruin the performance. She couldn't wait to ask through her secret technique, "When do we make our move?"

Han Lu said confidently, "We'll strike when they're preparing their spells and ready to launch a coordinated attack, when they're at their most vulnerable and unable to use defensive spells to resist, even if they react in time."

"We are sure to achieve something."

“Okay,” Yi Qiyan replied.

The scene of a successful ambush had played out in the minds of the three men at least ten times during the waiting period.

They are prepared to deal with any unexpected situation.

Even though Situ Hezheng, who was not far away, was also putting on an act, Han Lu and the other two had ways to deal with it.

About five breaths passed.

Wen Erya, who was in charge of acting as a "scout," used a secret technique to send signals to her two friends.

"Attack from forty meters away: southeast, northwest, and southwest!"

Reporting the enemy's exact location is crucial so that Han Lu can locate the target and launch an attack the instant the sword formation is activated.

As soon as Wen Erya sent the signal, Han Lu and Yi Qiyan simultaneously activated their hand seals, triggering all the arrangements they had made previously.

It's like pouring "boiling water" into a jar and then putting the lid on.

Chapter 535 The Power of Stars

A series of explosions rang out around Han Lu and the other two, part of the trap set by Yi Qiyan.

The explosion detonated more than twenty sachets filled with poisonous powder that she had placed there, spreading the non-lethal powder and enveloping the area in a dark green poisonous fog.

The composition of the toxic fog is complex, but its actual effects are quite simple.

That is to suppress the flow of spiritual energy and at the same time paralyze the cultivator's body.

Unfortunately, under the rules of the competition, Yi Qiyan couldn't use the numerous poisonous substances with "killing" effects in her storage bag.

Poisons, which are less effective but can significantly weaken an enemy's fighting ability, became her preferred targets when using poison techniques.

Because they had taken the antidote beforehand, Han Lu and the other two were not affected by the seemingly "extremely poisonous" fumes.

Meanwhile, three male cultivators who were about to launch a sneak attack using spells and magical artifacts around the three of them ended up suffering the consequences.

After being exposed to the poisonous fog, one's hands and feet become numb and uncontrollable, and even the speed of one's brain's thinking slows down considerably, as if it were stuck in a quagmire.

The spiritual energy that had been flowing smoothly just moments before seemed to have been frozen.

The spiritual energy that was undergoing transformations in the dantian also stagnated due to the effects of the toxins.

The liquid spiritual energy became viscous and difficult to control, while the gaseous spiritual energy simply disappeared, as if it had found an outlet and leaked out.

Combining the explosions that had occurred a few breaths earlier with their current internal conditions and reactions, Situ Hezheng, He Yiran, and Qin Zijin, who had been plotting a sneak attack, realized, even though they had become sluggish due to the poison, that they had fallen into a trap set by Han Lu and the other two.

"Oh no! It's poison!"

Upon hearing his friend mention poison, Qin Zijin, one of the three, finally realized the identities of the three, including Han Lu, who was "pretending" not far away.

"I understand now. These three must be Han Lu, Wen Erya, and Yi Qiyan. Yi Qiyan is the Holy Maiden of the Five Poisons Sect, which is why we were poisoned."

"Ah!" Situ Hezheng interrupted his spellcasting and quickly took out the antidote pills he had prepared for the competition from his storage bag. "Then aren't these three people just as strong as the three of us?"

Initially, when they learned that the target team also had at least fifty, Situ and Zheng did not fully understand their position. Now that they had suffered a loss, they no longer thought too highly of themselves and no longer looked down on other "small fry".

He Yiran was the strategist among the three. After being poisoned, he figured out the cause and effect.

"Han Lu and her group must have known that we were coming to cause them trouble, so they deliberately set up this trap and pretended to be injured and recovering from a fierce battle."

"Oh, we were thinking too simply."

They were one move behind, but the defeat was not yet irreversible.

Situ Hezheng was the backbone of the team. "Don't panic, you two. Quickly take the medicine to heal your injuries. The antidote pills prepared for this competition are effective against this poison."

"Even if the three of us work together, we might not be able to defeat the enemy, but escaping will definitely not be a problem."

Since it was unknown what specific techniques or magical artifacts Situ Hezheng, He Yiran, and Qin Zijin were using, Wen Erya's command to launch the sneak attack was a little premature.

This allowed the three of them to still have the energy to obtain medicine to detoxify, preserving at least 70% of their fighting strength.

However, Han Lu's subsequent attack quickly plunged the three into a desperate situation.

The Star Sword Formation that Han Lu set up was the formation she needed to break and deal with when she underwent the test left by Senior Fang Lin in the ancient cultivation secret realm.

The power of this formation lies in its ability to draw upon the power of the stars in the sky, amplifying the 108 spiritual swords that make up the sword formation, allowing each sword to unleash power far exceeding its own grade.

Combined with the massive number of 108 swords, they can be randomly arranged into simple yet effective small sword formations, allowing for flexible responses to the enemy.

Because this was the first sword formation set up by Senior Fang Lin that Han Lu had ever seen, she was deeply impressed by it and spent a lot of time trying to understand its mysteries during her daily cultivation.

Fortunately, she had the spiritual energy sword, so although Han Lu only had a superficial understanding of this formation, she was still able to use it with some difficulty.

However, Han Lu had her own reasons for setting up and deploying this sword formation as a sneak attack trap in the secret realm. It was not simply to "show off" her skills and demonstrate the mystery and power of the ancient cultivation techniques she had acquired to her two friends.

Being in this secret realm, which is not the "subspace" of the Central Plains, Han Lu's half-baked Star Sword Formation can only draw upon a very limited amount of stellar power, providing only a slight boost to the spirit sword.

This is a good thing given the rules of the Grand Competition Secret Realm and its relatively "friendly" atmosphere.

Although Han Lu didn't mind, she still didn't want to cleave her complete stranger in two with a single sword strike.

The numerous smaller sword formations that extend from the Star Sword Formation are all fast, accurate, and ruthless, making them ideal for surprise attacks.

As soon as the sword formation was activated, turning the small world of the forest, which was only five or six hundred meters square, from day to night, Han Lu's spirit sword launched the most fierce and swift attack she could muster against Situ Hezheng.

"Ying Huo."

As Han Lu uttered those two words, the spirit swords that had transformed into twinkling stars in the sky obeyed the command and unleashed sword techniques corresponding to the name of the move.

The pale white light formed by dozens of stars converged on a certain star in the sky.

Immediately afterwards, this star was fully activated, emitting a dark red light, and accompanied by two secondary swords that returned to their original forms, descending from the sky with immense power.

This sword technique carries an undeniable sense of authority, as if wherever the sword goes, everything will be as the swordsman desires, unstoppable.