The Long Journey to Immortality

In battles among low-level cultivators, magical artifacts are indeed extremely important. If one could possess a magical artifact with compatible attributes and immense power, it would be highly probable that Zhan Yuyun, who already possessed some strength, would make a name for herself in the grand competition.

Perhaps, she might even be chosen by a Golden Core elder and become their disciple, thus fulfilling her wish.

Such incidents have occurred repeatedly throughout the history of the Zhengyi Sect.

Compared to rough gems that have just begun to develop and whose time to mature is uncertain, those who prove themselves in large and small competitions are more favored by Golden Core cultivators.

After all, no one can predict potential. But most cultivators who possess both potential and skill in combat will stand out.

After leaving Zhan Yujun's residence, Han Lu did not return directly to her own courtyard to cultivate. Instead, she turned around and headed to a small market that had recently been established in the East Mountain Courtyard.

Han Lu always felt that she needed to investigate things she didn't know or wasn't familiar with before she could feel completely at ease.

For various reasons, none of the major academies provided places for their disciples to trade goods and spirit stones. This small market was formed only because of the shortage of spirit stone supplies.

Although it was called a market, it was more like a group of cultivators who found an open space and agreed to trade items there.

The major cultivation session had just ended, and the number of cultivators participating in transactions in the small market was only average.

There were about thirty cultivators selling cultivation resources at the stalls, and nearly a hundred people wandering between the stalls, looking for their favorite items.

This size is small, not to mention compared to the official markets in major cities, it's even smaller than the market outside Xiaoyaozi's cave.

Due to its small scale, the range of goods sold is not comprehensive. In addition, both buyers and sellers tend to exchange for spirit stones, so the number of transactions completed here is not very high.

Han Lu had been here several times, and she had obtained those Meridian Opening Pills by exchanging them for spirit stones here.

She came here to learn about the business of selling spirit beasts and to see if the business that Zhan Yujun kept talking about could really make a lot of money.

The Zhengyi Mountains are rich in resources, with numerous spirit beasts and spirit plants. Therefore, most stalls in the market here sell these two items.

Han Lu walked around, looked at all the stalls selling spirit beasts, and chatted with a few stall owners.

"Because the value of spirit stones has increased and the grand competition is approaching, there are quite a few cultivators coming here to buy spirit beasts at this time."

"A raccoon demon? Rare creatures like raccoon demons, though not strong in combat, are still very popular among cultivators."

"Three days ago, a stall owner sold two raccoon demons. They were in excellent condition and each sold for a full ten spirit stones."

"The cultivator who bought those two raccoon demons is said to be a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator. He plans to keep one as a pet and send the other home to his nearly 100-year-old mother as a playmate."

……

After some investigation, Han Lu finally understood the general situation of the spirit beast market in the past few days and was convinced that what Zhan Yujun said was true.

"If we could really get our hands on a few tanuki demons and sell them all, we could make a fortune."

In the afternoon, Han Lu arrived as promised.

Han Lu and Zhan Yujun, two inner disciples of Dongshan Academy, went to the inner treasury together to "ask for leave."

The inner treasury is responsible not only for managing supplies, but also for the daily management of the inner disciples.

Zhan Yujun spent some time explaining the situation, and then brought up Han Lu's identity, trying to use the "privilege" that she had always wanted.

Taking advantage of Han Lu's status as a Golden Core cultivator's disciple, she did indeed carry some weight in such trivial matters as entering and leaving the sect.

Seeing that it was a disciple of a Golden Core cultivator going out to a nearby town to buy items, the steward of the inner treasury didn't think much of it, so he signed the slip, made two notes, and agreed to this short trip that he considered to be without any danger.

However, according to the rules, the manager still gave a special reminder, telling the two to go and return quickly, and to remember to come back to the inner treasury to register after returning to their sect, etc.

Han Lu and Zhan Yujun were already fully aware of all the rules.

After the steward finished giving his instructions, the two solemnly promised and agreed to each one.

After leaving the inner treasury, Zhan Yujun said with a smile, "Mission accomplished. We'll set off as soon as our intensive training ends tomorrow morning. We'll meet at the same place we met today. I'll prepare some tools to capture the raccoon demon then."

Hearing this, Han Lu was convinced that Zhan Yujun was also a reliable person, so she didn't say anything more. "Okay, see you there."

After saying goodbye to Zhan Yujun, Han Lu returned to her small courtyard.

Just as she was about to cleanse her eyes and cultivate, before she could even warm her seat, a paper sword broke through the restrictions and flew into her room.

The paper sword was sent by Piaomiaozi.

The message simply expressed concern for Han Lu, asking what she wanted to buy and offering to arrange for someone to deliver it to her.

Han Lu was somewhat surprised that her master, Piaomiaozi, cared about her so much.

Han Lu naturally couldn't ignore the message from her master.

Unfortunately, due to her limited cultivation, she could not send a paper sword to reply directly. Han Lu could only get up and set off to visit Piaomiaozi's residence on Hanchan Peak once again.

In front of Piaomiaozi, Han Lu had nothing to hide, so she told him that her trip was actually to search for the Tanuki Demon in the Zhengyi Mountains.

Knowing that his name had been used to do his bidding, Piaomiaozi wasn't angry. He just told Han Lu to be more careful next time and not to act recklessly and cause him trouble.

After several encounters, Han Lu had roughly figured out Piaomiaozi's temperament. After repeatedly assuring him, she even took the initiative to ask him questions.

"Does Master like tanuki demons? If we catch any extra this time, how about I send one to Master?"

The raccoon demon was indeed interesting, but in Piaomiaozi's opinion, it was still not as good as the flowers and plants in the courtyard. Besides, how could a Golden Core cultivator like him take his disciple's things?

"No need for that. One of your senior sisters is quite fond of the Tanuki Demon and has been wanting to find one to keep as a pet. If you have caught a few, you could send one to her, which would also be a good opportunity for you to get to know each other."

"Don't worry, your senior sister has plenty of spirit stones in her storage bag, so she won't be short a few coins to buy a cat."

The senior sister mentioned here is not Wen Erya, but a female disciple that Piaomiaozi took in when he first became a Golden Core cultivator.

Before the business even opened, Han Lu found a buyer through Piaomiaozi's introduction, and she felt that everything was going too smoothly.

"Since Master introduced this business, I must do it. I wonder if that senior sister's name is known and which courtyard she lives in."

"I will have her come to find you the day after tomorrow."

Afterwards, Piaomiaozi, as Han Lu's master, encouraged her and generously gave her a few Meridian Opening Pills, which were worthless to Golden Core cultivators, as a sign of encouragement.

When Han Lu left Hanchan Peak with the pills, she still felt somewhat incredulous.

He thought he would inevitably be scolded on this trip, but he never expected that with the help of Piaomiaozi, he would not only find a generous buyer, but also get five auxiliary pills from him for the first time.

"Master is truly a generous person."

After silently expressing her gratitude, Han Lu went back into her courtyard to focus on cultivation, hoping to open up all fifty-four acupoints and develop the first spiritual meridian in her body as soon as possible.

[Author's Note] I saw someone asking in the comments why I didn't prepare any cultivation techniques. I wrote in the section about possession that the inherited memories were not complete, so techniques with missing words or pages naturally cannot be practiced.

Besides, if you can have everything without being a simp, then the protagonist might as well just find a remote, impoverished place, sit down, meditate, and level up.

Chapter Fifty-Three: The Cat-Catching Operation

I wonder if the Meridian Opening Pills in Piaomiaozi's possession are of slightly better quality than those usually distributed to Qi Refining cultivators.

During the second day of intensive training, Han Lu successfully broke through again after taking the elixir, increasing the number of acupoints in her body to thirty-one.

Feeling the spiritual energy around her thinning again, Han Lu opened her eyes, stopped her cultivation, and exhaled a long breath of stale air towards the sky.

Subconsciously, she rubbed her ears, and the sounds from the outside world became slightly clearer in Han Lu's mind.

This time, Han Lu opened an acupoint called "Jingfeng Acupoint," which is said to help improve a cultivator's hearing.

Legend has it that if a cultivator opens all the acupoints in the body that are related to enhancing hearing, they can cultivate a supernatural ability similar to having super hearing.

Han Lu was skeptical about this.

Han Lu stood up and followed the flow of people away.

She waited for a while in front of the small courtyard where they had met yesterday before Zhan Yujun arrived.

Although she was late, Zhan Yujun didn't apologize to Han Lu at all.

She excitedly took out two small items from her storage bag and showed them off to Han Lu, "Look, with these two things, we're sure to catch that thing today."

To maintain secrecy, when Zhan Yujun was outside, she subconsciously used "that thing" instead of "raccoon demon" to avoid being overheard and having her business opportunities stolen.

Han Lu looked at the two small toys in Zhan Yujun's hand, "They look like very ordinary little toys."

"Moreover," Han Lu said, taking the "cat toy" from Zhan Yujun, "it looks rather simple and rough."

“I made this myself,” Zhan Yujun said, not thinking so. “Whether it’s a red stick or a yellow stick, a cat teaser stick that can catch the raccoon demon is a good stick.”

"Okay, what about this ball of yarn?" Han Lu pointed to another toy, a ball of yarn that smelled strange.

Zhan Yujun shared her capture plan and made simple divisions of labor: "This is bait, coated with the smell of meat, to attract that thing."

"This cat toy is the tool we use to get close to that thing."

"I'll be in charge of teasing the cat, and you'll chant the spell and throw the demon-catching net."

The monster-catching nets for weak spirit beasts are very cheap. Yesterday, Zhan Yujun specially used some contribution points to exchange for two from the inner treasury.

Although demon spirits do not have different levels like Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment, they are still divided into strong and weak.

Most of the raccoon demons are only at the level of a novice Daoist, so Han Lu's chanting of incantations to bewitch spirit beasts can also be effective.

"Is there a problem?" Zhan Yujun asked casually after assigning the tasks.

“No problem, but I have something to tell you,” Han Lu then told Zhan Yujun the good news, “My mentor has helped us find a good buyer.”

"Your master?" Zhan Yujun swallowed hard. "Buyer? Is it the kind of buyer who's willing to spend spirit stones to buy a raccoon demon, or a buyer who snatches a raccoon demon based on their name or connections?"

“Of course it’s the former,” Han Lu added, “a senior sister I’ve never met.”

“Alright then,” Zhan Yujun breathed a sigh of relief, “We definitely have to accommodate the business that Elder Piaomiao introduced.”

Zhan Yujun started making calculations in her mind. She gave Han Lu some benefits for introducing the business, saying, "Okay, after we catch the cats, you can pick one, and I'll give you 70% of the proceeds."

"Okay." Han Lu didn't mind earning more spirit stones into her storage bag.

After resolving all potential disagreements, Han Lu and Zhan Yujun arrived at the gate of Dongshan Academy.

At the mountain gate, there was a line of ten people.

It's just that recently more people have been thinking about earning spirit stones from outside. Otherwise, there wouldn't be at least ten disciples from the various mountain academies thinking about leaving the academy every day.

The shortage of spirit stones made the various mountain academies lively, but it also caused the disciples in the various mountain academies to focus more on trivial matters outside of cultivation.

Standing at the back of the line, holding the entry and exit slips approved from the inner courtyard, Han Lu and Zhan Yujun were not in a hurry at all.

When it was their turn, Zhan Yujun and Han Lu presented their permits and waist tokens and were allowed to leave the sect temporarily.

With practiced recitation of an incantation, Han Lu once again demonstrated the skill of walking on water without leaving a trace.

Only after the towering mountain gate was blocked by the trees in the mountains did Han Lu dare to speak and ask Zhan Yujun for more information about the raccoon demon.

"Zhan Yujun, where did you see the raccoon demon's tracks? Is it far?"