The Long Journey to Immortality

The light, already as swift as lightning, trapped Tang Bochao in the same cage made of light.

Tang Bochao felt unwell under the light.

The spiritual energy in the meridians within his body was somewhat out of control, circulating at a rate at least three-tenths slower than usual.

He wanted to control the iron ball to fly back and rescue him, but his connection with the iron ball outside the cage was temporarily lost, and his plan to break through the cage from the outside failed before it even began.

Under these circumstances, Tang Bochao understood that unless he could produce another powerful magic weapon or use magic to break free of the cage, the competition would definitely end in his defeat.

But so what if we lose?

Seeing Wen Erya begin to form hand seals, preparing to unleash a powerful spell, Tang Bochao, trapped in the light barrier, readily surrendered, "I surrender, I surrender, Senior Sister Wen, please have mercy!"

Upon hearing this, Wen Erya waved her hand and put the spirit sword and pagoda back into her storage bag.

Although she relied on the advantage of the magic weapon, Han Lu still took 30% of the credit for Wen Erya's victory for herself.

Despite losing the match, Tang Bochao actually took the initiative to flatter Wen Erya, showing no sign of defeat.

"Senior Sister Wen's magical power is so great that I am completely convinced of my defeat."

"I think this pagoda is at least a top-tier (high-grade) magical artifact. My shabby iron ball can't break through this restraint at all. I wonder if such a powerful pagoda has a nice name?"

Wen Erya also didn't have much affection for people like Tang Bochao who liked to talk a lot, but the etiquette education she received since childhood made her remain polite when facing Tang Bochao. "He has a name, called the Soul-Locking and Spirit-Suppressing Tower."

Tang Bochao pretended to savor the words for a moment before finally uttering the words he had prepared beforehand: "Soul-Locking and Soul-Suppressing Tower? What a nice name."

"What about that spirit sword from earlier? It was able to unleash three sword energies in the blink of an eye, so it must have been something extraordinary."

……

Han Lu noticed a hint of displeasure in Wen Erya's eyes and quickly stepped in to play the bad guy, "Senior Brother Tang, your duel with Senior Sister Wen is over. Please step down from the stage and don't waste everyone's time."

"Junior Sister Han is right, I was too hasty." Tang Bochao naturally knew that Wen Erya did not like his behavior.

Having achieved his goal, he lingered on the stage to avoid upsetting Wen Erya.

After stepping down from the stage, Tang Bochao became a sycophantic spectator, cheering and encouraging Wen Erya as she sparred with her fifth sparring partner.

As Tang Bochao's friend, Duan Mingcheng was disgusted by his deliberate flattery and subconsciously kept his distance.

In the fifth match, Wen Erya faced off against another cultivator from Zhongshan Academy.

This time, Wen Erya will cleverly use the Soul-Locking and Suppressing Tower as a spirit sword instead of the previous imprisoning magic weapon.

The pagoda seemed to become a long mace, working in conjunction with the spirit sword to outnumber the opponent. Within a few rounds, it knocked the opponent's spirit sword away and won the match.

With three wins out of five battles, Wen Er Ya felt good.

Seeing that Wen Erya's expression had improved, Han Lu was certain that she had not wasted the past half hour.

It was still early, but Wen Er Ya didn't plan to play a second round.

Learning something requires digestion and absorption. More importantly, being knocked unconscious twice in a row is not a pleasant experience. Wen Erya felt she needed to rest for a while to avoid any aftereffects.

"Thank you so much, everyone..." As she spoke, Wen Erya deliberately avoided glancing at Tang Bochao, who had been chattering on stage earlier. "You all played very hard, and I learned a lot from you."

"Today's spirit stone reward belongs to Duan Mingcheng, Junior Brother Duan. I hope to see you here again tomorrow."

Wen Erya handed a spirit stone to Duan Mingcheng as a reward.

Duan Mingcheng was overjoyed and repeatedly assured her, "Senior Sister Wen has made an appointment, I will definitely come tomorrow."

As for the others, Wen Erya only expressed her gratitude verbally and did not offer any further substantial rewards.

Apart from Tang Bochao, the other three sparring partners only felt slightly disappointed and did not feel dissatisfied.

After all, everyone had witnessed Duan Mingcheng's performance in the magical duel.

The initial reward of a low-grade spirit stone was enough to cover the cost of this sparring session.

Tang Bochao, on the other hand, argued that the spirit stone should belong to him.

He boasted, "Senior Sister Wen, you fought me, which is like fighting a Golden Core cultivator. Even if you don't give me Senior Brother Duan's spirit stones, giving me an extra spirit stone as a reward shouldn't be too much to ask, right?"

Duan Mingcheng, naturally believing his friend had been blinded by "beauty," smiled apologetically, said no, and took the initiative to pull Tang Bochao away.

The other three sparring partners didn't linger in front of Wen Erya any longer. Two of them chose to return to their respective mountain academies, while the third continued to wander around the arena, wanting to explore the area further and see if any wealthy fellow disciples would hire someone else to spar with.

Seeing that Wen Erya showed no intention of leaving, Han Lu assumed that she wanted to have a few more private words with her.

Unexpectedly, Wen Erya suddenly looked at Han Lu and made a bold suggestion.

"Junior sister, this arena still has plenty of rental time left. How about we have a match?"

Chapter 46 The First Showdown with Wen Er Ya

"Ah!" Han Lu exclaimed in surprise, "You want to fight me?"

"Is that not allowed?" Wen Erya knew there was a huge gap between them in cultivation and realm, so she added a few more restrictions. "I promise I will only use the spiritual power of one spiritual vein and will not use any spells that only cultivators at the second level of Qi Refining can master. As for..."

Wen Erya then took out the dark green spirit sword from her storage bag. "As for magical artifacts, I will only use this top-grade black bamboo sword to fight you, junior sister, what do you think?"

Han Lu subconsciously shook her head, thinking that Wen Erya had probably injured her head during the magic competition, which was why she suddenly had this strange idea.

"This is pointless. Even with these restrictions, I still can't beat you, Senior Sister."

Compared to Han Lu, Wen Erya had more confidence in Han Lu. "Junior sister, I was just curious about your strength, which is why I suddenly wanted to fight you. I was thinking of learning something from you."

"How about this..." Wen Erya decided to offer some tangible reward to get Han Lu's approval and satisfy her curiosity.

“As long as you agree, Junior Sister,” Wen Erya casually grabbed a handful of spirit stones from her storage bag, quickly counted them, and said, “These twelve spirit stones are yours.”

Being generous to outsiders, Wen Erya, this "second-generation royal," would naturally not be stingy with Han Lu, her best junior sister.

"This..." Han Lu had already said "okay" in her heart, but on the surface she still looked hesitant.

No cultivator would ever complain about having too many spirit stones, a form of hard currency.

Not to mention that Han Lu would activate the spirit-gathering array on her throne every day when she cultivated alone to improve efficiency.

Her need for spirit stones is much greater than that of ordinary cultivators.

Even if it's just getting two thousand low-grade spirit stones from Xiaoyaozi's cave, it's always good to earn a little more on a daily basis.

Seeing that Han Lu was softening, Wen Erya continued to raise the stakes, "If Junior Sister beats me, I'll give you another eight spirit stones to round it up, how about that?"

"Alright," Han Lu nodded, "but let's make it clear, senior sister, in addition to the two rules you just mentioned, I want to add one more."

"Go ahead." Seeing that Han Lu agreed, Wen Erya's face lit up with joy. She immediately pulled Han Lu's hand and stuffed the twelve spirit stones in her hand into Han Lu's hand, as if afraid that she would change her mind.

Han Lu held the spirit stone in her hand and made a small request, "During the competition, Senior Sister, you mustn't go too far, so as not to hurt the bond between us sisters."

The conditions were reasonable, and Wen Erya readily agreed. However, she still added, "Junior sister, you can't just take my spirit stones and surrender after casting a couple of spells."

"Of course not." Han Lu always takes things seriously. Since she had agreed to fight Wen Erya, she naturally wouldn't do it half-heartedly.

She had even prepared to have Wen Erya take out eight more spirit stones from her storage bag.

The two stepped onto the arena, stood facing each other, their eyes locked, about ten feet apart.

Just as the fight was about to begin, a strange voice suddenly came from below the ring, asking, "What? You two still want to fight?"

The questioner was the doctor who had been serving the group by the ring.

“Okay,” Wen Erya said, “Thank you for your help. I’ll leave after this match.”

A Daoist boy fighting a Qi Refining Stage 5 cultivator?

Even with all the restrictions, the doctor knew he was going to be very busy later.

"I hope it doesn't get so bad that elbows are flying everywhere, otherwise I'll have to call my master out to help clean up the mess."

The doctor, who had just wanted to "go home" after silently praying, reluctantly sat down at the edge of the ring again to continue this job that could potentially kill someone.

Interrupted by the doctor for a moment, when the two looked at each other again, for some reason they both felt an urge to burst out laughing.

Wen Erya broke the awkward atmosphere by saying, "Junior sister, let's begin."

"it is good."

As soon as Han Lu finished speaking, the two of them moved at the same time.

As always, Han Lu used her lightness technique.

This is her fighting habit, or rather, her fighting habit during the Qi Refining stage.

Qi Refining stage cultivators cannot fly like Golden Core stage cultivators, nor can they ride spirit swords and soar through the air like Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

Therefore, in Han Lu's view, when cultivators at the Qi Refining stage engage in combat, nothing is more important than agility.

With limited magical power and insufficient precision in controlling spells, many attacks can be neutralized by dodging rather than using protective spells.

Wen Erya, meanwhile, wielded her spirit sword and launched an attack, intending to test the waters.

Although her spiritual power and other aspects were under Wen Erya's deliberate control, they were only about the same as the three Qi Refining Level 2 cultivators that Han Lu had fought that day.

However, in terms of weapon control and magic, Wen Erya was superior to the three cultivators.

After barely dodging twice, Han Lu realized this and patted her storage bag, taking out the golden sword from Lei Zhu's swords, intending to fight sword to sword.

In order to avoid hurting their relationship, the two deliberately made their two spirit swords fight fiercely in the air for several rounds.

Both spirit swords are top-grade magical artifacts. Although Wen Erya's magical power is currently superior to Han Lu's, she is slightly inferior in terms of weapon control skills and the elemental advantage of the spirit swords.

Mo Zhu released three sword energies, which were all severed by the golden sword.

The golden sword unleashed its lightning magic, summoning a bolt of lightning the size of a thumb. The wooden sword caught it completely, but only its surface changed color slightly.

In conclusion, the two spirit swords fought fiercely in the air, evenly matched, with neither gaining the upper hand.

Although she had already opened as many as twelve acupoints, for Han Lu, wielding a spirit sword for a long time in combat with the cultivation level of a Daoist disciple was ultimately a burden.

In just ten breaths, she was already panting heavily, as if she had done a hundred push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and completed a 10-kilometer run.

Looking at the two spirit swords still locked in a stalemate in the sky, Han Lu thought to herself, "This can't go on."

Make bricks without straw.

With limited cultivation, Han Luzhen couldn't think of a suitable way to break the deadlock in such a situation.

So she simply focused all her attention on controlling her weapon, maneuvering her spirit sword across the sky and fighting Wen Erya for twenty rounds.

Just as Han Lu was running out of magical power and was thinking of surrendering, Wen Erya withdrew the ink bamboo and said, "Junior sister is amazing, I have lost."

Han Lu, panting heavily, put the golden sword back into her storage bag and asked in confusion, "What's going on, Senior Sister? My magic power is about to run out."