The Long Journey to Immortality

Blood from the head seeped onto the ground. Wen Xiaonan frowned, clearly somewhat displeased with Han Lu's casual actions.

But soon, the news of her nemesis's death made her smile even brighter. "That's right, that's the pirate king."

Immediately afterwards, Wen Xiaonan thanked Han Lu again, "Thanks to Fairy Han's help, otherwise, this pirate king would probably have been roaming freely outside Dongyang City for many more years, leading his pirates to rob countless merchants and causing much disaster to the people of the Central Plains."

After speaking, Wen Xiaonan respectfully bowed to Han Lu, "On behalf of the people of Dongyang City and my colleagues in the garrison, I would like to express my gratitude to Fairy Han."

Wen Xiaonan's gratitude towards Han Lu came from the bottom of her heart.

As the garrison commander, she understood far better than Han Lu, who was new to the city, how much the death of the Pirate King, a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining, could help maintain order in and around Dongyang City.

These words of thanks were well-deserved, and Han Lu did not humbly decline them, but simply accepted Wen Xiaonan's gratitude generously.

Pointing to the bloodstains and the pirate king's head on the ground, Han Lu asked, "Do you still have any use for this head? If not, I'll take care of it for you; it's an eyesore."

Wen Xiaonan said, "The news of the Pirate King's death will definitely spread in a short time. It's unreasonable for this head to appear here. Please, Fairy Han, make sure this head disappears from this world completely."

Han Lu nodded slightly, casually opened her mouth, and exhaled a wisp of flame.

Han Lu, who possesses the bloodline of the Fire Phoenix, has extremely precise control over flames.

The extremely high temperature of the flames burned the Pirate King's head until not even ashes remained, and the blood on the ground was instantly evaporated. However, the floor of Wen Xiaonan's office did not show the slightest trace of burns.

After witnessing his skill, Wen Xiaonan couldn't help but exclaim in his heart, "Impressive!"

After cleaning up the mess, Han Lu sat down in a chair. "Heroine Wen, let me tell you about killing the Pirate King. See if there are any loopholes, so that it will be easier for you to clean up the mess and prevent me from getting involved in any trouble."

“Alright, this is something I promised you long ago,” Wen Xiaonan poured Han Lu a cup of tea. “As long as Fairy Han doesn’t go too far, I’ll take care of the cleanup.”

Han Lu took a symbolic sip of tea and recounted everything she had done on her way to Pirate Island.

The story was short, and Wen Xiaonan listened attentively, occasionally praising Han Lu.

This was the first time Wen Xiaonan had ever seen a Zhengyi Sect cultivator as cautious as Han Lu.

In the past, when she secretly cooperated with several cultivators in the outer stronghold of the Zhengyi Sect, she would always lose a lot of hair because of the cleanup work.

After Han Lu finished telling the story, Wen Xiaonan pondered for a moment before speaking.

"Han Xianzi does everything without making any mistakes. The stories and identities she fabricates can effectively divert the attention of those with ulterior motives."

"The only thing to be careful about is that Fairy Han's cultivation level is very high. There are very few cultivators as powerful as Fairy Han in Dongyang City."

"In my opinion, all we need to do is delete the record of Fairy Han's visit to Dongyang City, and we will be completely safe. No one will pin the blame for interfering in worldly affairs on Fairy Han."

"As for Fairy Han's fellow disciples, although they know that Fairy Han is here, they probably won't reveal it."

Hearing this, Han Lu nodded slightly, "That makes sense, then I'll trouble you, Miss Wen."

"Sure, sure." Wen Xiaonan then asked Han Lu about her future plans.

Han Lu said, "If too many cultivator bandits are killed in a short period of time, that would be too unusual."

"Anyway, I'll be staying in Dongyang City for a while longer. From now on, I'll take action every two or three days, spending over ten days to help you deal with the other four. How about that?"

Han Lu had thought things through very thoroughly, and Wen Xiaonan naturally had no objections.

With the Pirate King dead, Wen Xiaonan foresaw that he would likely be leading his troops out to sea to wipe out the pirates in the next few days, leaving him no time to teach Han Lu swordsmanship.

Fulfilling the agreement in half a month is a good thing for her.

After finishing her tea, Han Lu asked a few more questions about the remaining bandit leaders before using her illusion technique again to quietly leave.

From then on, Han Lu's life in Dongyang City became not much different from her life in Zhengyi Sect.

To cooperate with Wen Xiaonan in erasing his tracks, Han Lu kept a low profile, only leaving her room at the inn when hunting down the bandit leader.

Compared to the pirate king living on the pirate island, the four bandit leaders who need to be killed in the next few days are completely insignificant.

Two are at the third level of Qi Refining, and two are at the second level of Qi Refining.

Even if these four people were combined, they might not be able to defeat the Pirate King, let alone oppose Han Lu.

Lacking sufficient strength, these four bandit leaders naturally did not have the spare money to set up magic arrays for defense in their lair.

Therefore, Han Lu carried out assassinations on all four occasions.

After killing the person and disposing of the body, they left quietly without leaving even the slightest trace.

Even two or three days after Han Lu committed the crime, the bandits who had lost their leader did not realize that their "cultivator" was missing and his fate was unknown.

Soon, on the eleventh day after Han Lu arrived in Dongyang City, she completed her transaction.

Just then, Wen Xiaonan returned from his campaign to suppress bandits at sea.

Han Lu didn't stand on ceremony and pulled Wen Xiaonan, who hadn't rested for long, to a small martial arts training ground in the government office that belonged to Wen Xiaonan personally. She wanted to learn from Wen Xiaonan, a first-rank swordsman who was proficient in swordsmanship, here.

Chapter 576 The Art of Word Transformation

Strike, stab, collapse, point, chop, transform, divide.

Han Lu recited the seven-character mantra, along with some of Fang Lin's insights into swordsmanship, and passed it on to Wen Xiaonan.

After listening, Wen Xiaonan quickly understood why Han Lu had taught her these word techniques.

After a long silence, Wen Xiaonan drew his sword and said, "Perhaps it is because I became the garrison commander at a young age that I have to fight at least a hundred battles a year."

"This job requires me to be on the front line for more than 300 days out of 365 days a year."

"Therefore, compared to killing enemies, my swordsmanship focuses more on self-defense."

"Especially for protecting oneself in front of low-level cultivators."

“If I had to link it to a specific word technique, I would say I’m better at the ‘transformation’ word technique,” ​​Wen Xiaonan expanded on the word “transformation,” “I understand it as using a sword as a weapon to neutralize the opponent’s attack.”

"The Transformation Technique?" Han Lu was slightly surprised.

After all, the swords held by mortals are just ordinary iron or steel swords, unlike the spiritual swords that cultivators wield, which can be summoned at will and possess boundless power.

Using a sword for defense is definitely far less efficient than using a shield or armor.

Not to mention using a sword to neutralize the magical attacks of low-level cultivators.

Seeing Han Lu's disbelieving look, Wen Xiaonan didn't complain. He simply said, "Perhaps it's because I didn't explain clearly. How about I demonstrate it for Fairy Han now?"

"Seeing is believing. I believe that once Fairy Han has seen my swordsmanship, she will understand what I mean."

Han Lu nodded and said, "Alright, since it's about neutralizing attacks, Miss Wen, how do you need my assistance?"

After pondering for a moment, Wen Xiaonan said, "If you want me to use a piece of ordinary iron to resist the spells of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like Fairy Han, I can't do it."

"Alright then, Fairy Han, please hold back nine-nine percent of your strength and freely cast a spell on me equivalent to that cast by a cultivator at the first or second level of Qi Refining."

Han Lu nodded slightly, took a few steps back to distance herself from Wen Xiaonan, so that the speed of her spell would be too fast and Wen Xiaonan would not be able to react in time, thus failing to neutralize it and getting injured instead.

After driving nearly thirty meters with Wen Xiaonan, Han Lu finally asked, "Are you ready?"

Wen Xiaonan nodded slightly and warmed up by performing a sword flourish.

A hard sword made two sharp sounds in Wen Xiaonan's hand.

Han Lu made a hand seal and uttered a single sound, and a water bullet the size of a fist attacked Wen Xiaonan's left shoulder.

This is a trick that Han Lu often used during her Qi Refining stage, and it's perfect to use it now for experimentation.

Watching the trajectory of the water bullet, Wen Xiaonan took a step forward, then turned to the side and raised his hand to wield his sword.

A slightly sharp piece of ordinary iron, but under Wen Xiaonan's skill, it swiftly slashed several times at the water bullets released by Han Lu.

Based on Han Lu's intuition, the water bullets, which were not very powerful, should be temporarily cut into several smaller water bullets by Wen Xiaonan. Then, following the route that Han Lu had arranged when she cast the spell, they continued to fly forward.

However, the actual situation was beyond Han Lu's expectations.

Wen Xiaonan's sword seemed not to be attacking the water bullet, but rather cutting through the spiritual energy that made up the water bullet.

Han Lu could clearly feel that her spell was already on the verge of collapse after Wen Xiaonan slashed four times. If it were an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator who used this spell, the water bullet would probably disintegrate and disappear from the world in the blink of an eye as soon as Wen Xiaonan slashed the third time, because the spiritual power that sustained its existence disappeared.

Because this spell was cast by Han Lu, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the water bullet eventually flew a considerable distance before completely losing the spiritual power that sustained the spell.

After failing, the water bullet did not turn into mist but disappeared directly, causing no harm to Wen Xiaonan whatsoever.

"Wonderful, wonderful!"

Han Lu applauded and praised Wen Xiaonan's performance.

"Wen, the heroine, truly lives up to her reputation as a first-class hero."

Wen Xiaonan smiled and said, "Fairy Han, it's just some petty tricks, nothing to praise."

"If Fairy Han doesn't mind, I'll take some time in the next few days to try and teach you this move, how about that?"

"Okay," Han Lu readily agreed.

Wen Xiaonan rubbed his shoulders and said, "I'm a little tired from just returning from a voyage. I'll demonstrate it for Fairy Han again now. Fairy Han can take the time to study the subtleties. Later, I'll exchange sword techniques with Fairy Han."

Wen Xiaonan was, after all, just a mortal. After working hard for several days, she was exhausted both physically and mentally. If it weren't for Han Lu's genuine help, she probably wouldn't have been willing to use those two sword strikes and would have just wanted to rest as soon as possible.

Han Lu understood Wen Xiaonan's fatigue and said, "It's alright, I'll leave everything to Lady Wen's arrangements."

Just like before, the two took turns attacking and defending.

This time, Han Lu used the fireball technique.

Perhaps because most rogue cultivators who mingled among bandits preferred to use fireballs against Wen Xiaonan, a chivalrous hero, Wen Xiaonan was more experienced in dealing with the more aggressive fireballs.

This time, Wen Xiaonan only swung his iron sword twice before Han Lu's fireballs vanished into thin air.

With her eyes slightly narrowed, Han Lu felt the magic spell composed of spiritual energy dissipate due to Wen Xiaonan's attack, and she vaguely gained a deeper understanding.

Seeing Han Lu's outfit, Wen Xiaonan didn't say anything to disturb her.

He put down his sword, yawned lazily, and went to rest in the side room next to the office.

Standing naturally, Han Lu stood there from noon until sunset before opening her eyes again.

Han Lu licked her dry lips and murmured, "It seems so?"

Before she finished speaking, Han Lu casually pulled out the steel sword given to her by Bu Haoxia from her storage bag.

Holding the sword in her right hand, Han Lu made a hand seal with her left hand, sending several water bullets vertically into the air.

The water bullet flew out from in front of Han Lu, soared into the sky for about thirty or forty meters, and then slowly fell back down.

Holding a steel sword, Han Lu moved like the wind, quickly taking several steps before leaping up and thrusting the steel sword at the water bullets that were still falling from the air.

The sword flashed several times.