The Long Journey to Immortality

"Based on these insights, I've heard that there are even swordsmen with no cultivation who can fight against cultivators at the second or third level of Qi Refining without being at a disadvantage."

"If you are determined to follow the path of Senior Fang Lin, studying with the best among them for a few days should bring you a lot of inspiration."

Han Lu listened and nodded slightly, finding Jin Zhenren's words quite reasonable.

"Alright, thank you for your guidance, Elder Jin. I'll give it a try and hopefully I'll find something useful." Han Lu bowed and thanked him again.

Chapter 567 The Mortal Martial World

Jin Zhenren's suggestion made a lot of sense. After returning home and thinking about the matter for a full quarter of an hour, Han Lu decided to give this approach a try.

After all, this path is feasible from any perspective.

Asking a skilled mortal swordsman for guidance on swordsmanship, even if it's a futile effort, won't cause her much harm; it's just a waste of time and emotion.

But from whom should one learn kendo?

This is indeed a difficult problem, as Han Lu is not familiar with the situation of the martial arts world in the mortal realm.

The last time Han Lu lived a life in the mundane world was nearly forty years ago.

Back then, when he was still living on Fengbai Road, he had indeed heard many stories of ordinary heroes from his mother when he was a child.

However, it's just a story; even if it were based on a true story, it would be from forty years ago.

In the Central Plains, ordinary people who are free from disasters and illnesses generally only live to be sixty years old.

Forty years is nothing to Han Lu, but for a martial arts world composed of a group of short-lived heroes with no cultivation, it is enough time for three generations of people to come and for countless predecessors to be swept away on the beach.

If Han Lu were to follow the story and search for those heroes of yesteryear, she would most likely only find a few graves or a few white-bearded old men who might not even be able to lift a sword.

Who in the Zhengyi Sect understands the mortal world best?

Han Lu didn't need to think much about the problem to find the answer.

Princess Wen Erya of the Southern Dynasties.

Although the strongest fighting force in this world is cultivators.

However, the vast majority of cultivators with high strength and cultivation level cultivate within sects.

The unspoken rule in the cultivation world of the Central Plains is to interfere as little as possible with worldly affairs.

Naturally, the real threats and destabilizing factors to the Wen dynasty's rule came from the ordinary heroes and knights-errant.

Therefore, anyone who wanted to leave their profession and travel around as a chivalrous knight-errant, earning money with swords and fists, had to register with the Southern Dynasty government and obtain a chivalrous token; otherwise, it would be considered illegal and criminal.

This was true not only in the Southern Dynasties but also in the Northern Dynasties.

Therefore, Han Lu felt that by simply relying on Wen Erya's power to obtain the list from the Southern Dynasty government, she could naturally find out which swordsman who roamed the world could be considered the number one swordsman in the martial arts world, who knew more about the mysteries of the sword, and who had a deeper understanding of the way of the sword, thus helping her in her cultivation.

Coincidentally, Han Lu had not yet paid a visit to Wen Erya after advancing to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, so she took the opportunity to tell her the good news.

When Wen Erya learned that Han Lu had advanced to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, she was overjoyed, as if she herself had advanced.

She first pestered Han Lu to ask if there was any difference between the late and middle stages of Foundation Establishment, and then asked Han Lu about the techniques for "solidifying" spiritual power.

Han Lu had nothing to hide from Wen Erya.

They shared everything they had seen, heard, known, and felt, and chatted for a full fifteen minutes before finally bringing the topic to a close.

"Senior Sister," although their relationship was a hundred times closer than when they first met, Han Lu still habitually addressed Wen Erya, who was one level lower in cultivation, as Senior Sister. "When I advance in the ancient cultivation technique 'Seven Kill Sword Art,' I need to improve my understanding of swordsmanship, so I want to find an outstanding mortal swordsman to teach me swordsmanship."

"Could you please help me write a letter so that I can go to the Southern Dynasty government office to look up the list of heroes in the Southern Dynasty and find a suitable teacher?"

Although Han Lu knew that Wen Erya would agree to even her small request, she still talked on and on, explaining the whole story.

Han Lu felt that this was a basic respect for her friend.

Wen Erya listened attentively, and naturally understood why such an outstanding and talented cultivator as Han Lu would want to become an apprentice of a mortal swordsman when Han Lu made her request.

“This is no problem, leave it to me.” Wen Erya took the responsibility upon herself.

After saying this, Wen Erya picked up his pen and wrote a letter.

In the blink of an eye, a letter of no more than thirty words was completed.

Finally, Wen Erya took out her princess seal from her storage bag and stamped it with a red seal, which gave this backdoored letter authoritative power.

"Junior sister, take this," Wen Erya instructed Han Lu, "Take this letter to the Ministry of Revenue in the capital of the Southern Dynasty. You will find what you are looking for in half an hour at most."

"Thank you very much, Senior Sister." Han Lu smiled and handed over the letter.

After sending the letter, Wen Erya added, "You will most likely be spending at least half a month mingling in the mortal world on this trip."

"If you have the time, you might as well help keep an eye out whether the three volumes of 'Common Sense' that you and I jointly published were promoted in the Southern Dynasty, and how the general public viewed these three books."

Although every few months, the palace steward assigned by Wen Erya to handle this matter would send Wen Erya news about the sales and promotion of the book "Common Sense".

The principle of seeing is believing is always upheld.

Wen Erya still wanted to know whether the efforts she and Han Lu had made had actually helped the people of the Southern Dynasty.

How did the common people of the Southern Dynasties view the publication of the three-volume book "Common Sense," which imparted knowledge about daily life?

This is probably the mindset of an author who wants to see book reviews and hear praise from readers.

Han Lu had the same idea. "Senior sister's idea is good. I will definitely spend a few days traveling around the mortal world to see if the books that you and I have brought back to the Central Plains have been welcomed by the mortals."

After making a few more remarks about "writing books to benefit the people," Wen Erya suddenly remembered something and her mood suddenly became depressed.

"Junior sister, Zhan Yujun is planning to leave the sect."

"Huh?" Han Lu was very surprised to hear this news.

Although Zhan Yuyun's talent is far inferior to Han Lu and Wen Erya, she is still at a mid-level in the Zhengyi Sect.

Furthermore, with Han Lu and Wen Erya always "deliberately" providing her with some help before the competition, Zhan Yuyun, who had already reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, had no possibility of being "kicked out" of the sect.

“I don’t know the specifics very well,” Wen Erya said. “It’s probably because he’s lost interest in cultivation and is planning to return to the mundane world.”

"With her talent, the probability of her reaching the Foundation Establishment stage before the age of thirty is not small."

"Spending the rest of your time happily is also a good choice."

Wen Erya expressed her understanding of Zhan Yujun's choice.

Similar choices had crossed Feng Bailu's mind countless times, so she naturally understood why Zhan Yujun made such a choice.

"And what about her boyfriend?" Han Lu asked.

Wen Erya replied, "I don't know, but I think I'll leave the sect with her."

"These two have been inseparable for a long time, and I think they will eventually get married, have children, and live a happy life."

Han Lu nodded and said, "I hope so."

At the same time, a promise she had once made to Zhan Yujun came to Han Lu's mind.

She silently reminded herself once again not to forget the promise she had made.

Chapter 568 Bu Anlan

At noon the following day, Han Lu appeared in a small town in the southeastern part of the Southern Dynasty.

She carried a water-attribute magical sword at her waist, and her attire was distinctly modern.

Although her attire might seem outrageous and eccentric to outsiders, the "sword" at Han Lu's waist alone tells everyone that she is not someone to be trifled with.

He is either a cultivator walking among mortals or a chivalrous knight errant roaming the world with his sword.

If it weren't for Han Lu's outstanding figure and beautiful face, which made her easily gain the goodwill of others, she would probably have been regarded as a dangerous character and targeted by the Southern Dynasty's government as soon as she appeared in this small town.

A day earlier, Han Lu had already made a trip to the capital of the Southern Dynasty with the letter issued by Wen Erya.

The name of the thirteenth princess was extremely useful in the Southern Dynasty government.

Han Lu also gained some fame in the Southern Dynasty government due to her outstanding performance in the Zhengyi Sect for a long time.

The official from the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of receiving Han Lu had heard of Han Lu's name and knew that Han Lu was a close friend of Princess Wen Erya. Upon seeing Wen Erya's seal on the letter, he naturally did not hesitate at all and presented Han Lu with a register containing information on many chivalrous figures from the Southern Dynasties.

Although this world is a world where the cultivation civilization is flourishing, there are only about 70,000 "people" active in this world as cultivators in the Southern Dynasty.

And what about the chivalrous figures of the Southern Dynasties?

The number of registered individuals alone is a full 1.7 million, which is about 25 times the number of cultivators.

These knights-errant primarily provide inexpensive services that monks cannot offer in the mortal realm.

When traveling as merchants, they often pass through areas infested with bandits and need protection, but they cannot afford to hire monks.

This is when the heroes make their appearance.

According to the roster, these many heroes were divided into nine ranks and three levels.

From weakest to strongest, they are divided into knights, knights-errant, and heroes, with each level further distinguished by third rank, second rank, and first rank.

A typical swordsman is slightly stronger than an ordinary person, but still not as powerful as a Taoist disciple.

The swordsman, relying on his martial prowess, was able to defeat even the weakest Taoist disciple, but he was still no match for a true cultivator.

A true knight-errant must have at least one record of defeating a cultivator in a direct confrontation.

There were no more than three thousand heroes in the Southern Dynasties, and the weakest among them could only gain an advantage against cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining.

The powerful hero even defeated a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining, and with just a sword, escaped unscathed from an even stronger cultivator.

Han Lu wanted to become an apprentice, so naturally she had to seek out the most powerful and skilled of the top-ranking heroes.

So, after obtaining the book and flipping through it a couple of times, Han Lu found three target individuals and once again began her journey across the Central Plains.

This small town in the southeast of the Southern Dynasty was Han Lu's first stop in her search for someone.

According to the register of heroes, there was a first-rank hero who was skilled in swordsmanship in a small town called "Tangxi City" with a population of only 100,000.

This chivalrous man is named Bu Anlan, and he is just fifty years old this year.

In his youth, Bu Anlan defeated a cultivator at the second level of Qi Refining with an ordinary iron sword, thus gaining fame and becoming a chivalrous hero recognized by the Southern Dynasty.

Later, Bu Anlan made a name for himself in the martial arts world of the Central Plains by relying on his swordsmanship and reputation.

With increased fame comes more and more invitations to hire "bodyguards".

With more invitations, gold and silver naturally ended up in Bu Anlan's pocket.