The Long Journey to Immortality

Even if the High Priest tries to curry favor with her in the future, hoping to use the karma he's involved in to get Han Lu or the Illusion Phoenix Clan to help him, Han Lu can simply follow the High Priest's example and shamelessly refuse.

If all else fails, we can simply return this ancient zither treasure, which may become insignificant to Han Lu by then.

Even if they were to break off relations, could the High Priest really use his power to bully the weak, offend Han Lu and the Illusionary Phoenix Spirit, and create another enemy that is close at hand and far too powerful for the Western Regions?

Having obtained the guqin, Han Lu inquired about some information regarding the sacrificial ceremony, thinking that since she had agreed to help, she should do it properly.

As a religion, the Holy King Sect naturally has its own system of rules to restrain its followers. At the same time, it ensures that the "divine tool" of the Holy King Sect, whose fundamental purpose is to consolidate the rule of the Western Regions and increase the cohesion of the Western Regions, will not be used elsewhere or fall into the hands of others.

This system includes a complete hierarchy and a rather strict set of etiquette rules.

This so-called centennial ceremony will naturally be conducted in accordance with these two systems under the organization of the high priest.

As an outsider, Han Lu's role in the ceremony was merely to play music and cast illusions to assist the Holy King's divine intervention. Naturally, she only needed to know the latter set of rituals to make the matter go smoothly.

Because he had already done some preliminary research using the books in the library before visiting the high priest.

Therefore, when the High Priest spoke to Han Lu about the ceremony and etiquette, Han Lu was able to understand it without much effort.

The music that Han Lu was required to play with the other three monks during the ceremony had already been recorded in accordance with the ritual system, and it was enough for the high priest to simply mention the name of the piece to be played during the ceremony.

Finally, the high priest, who also loved music and was skilled at playing several instruments, even took out his favorite erhu and invited Han Lu to play a few pieces together, euphemistically calling it "practice".

Although it was called "practice," Han Lu suddenly understood why the high priest called his fellow countryman a "barbarian" when she saw the high priest's animated expression while playing with him.

Her hands never stopped, gently playing the zither according to the score. Han Lu thought to herself, "Perhaps there is a lack of kindred spirits in this place."

Although Han Lu's best instrument is the xiao (vertical bamboo flute), she has also explored several other mainstream instruments on her long journey of musical training.

In terms of playing the guqin alone, although Han Lu is not as good as the masters who are obsessed with this art for half a century, her level is not much different from the court musicians of the Wen Erya family.

With such skill, one is more than capable of collaborating with others to perform ritual music during sacrificial ceremonies.

However, with the idea of ​​caring for the elderly living alone, Han Lu not only practiced three pieces of "ritual music" that needed to be played in the sacrificial ceremony with the high priest, but also took the initiative to ask the high priest, a senior expert, to help guide her musical skills.

The high priest, who was in high spirits, readily agreed and cherished this rare opportunity to make friends through music.

Han Lu's meeting with the High Priest lasted for a full hour.

When Han Lu left, she was certain that her friendship with the High Priest had surpassed that between the High Priest and Feng You.

Despite their brief contact, their relationship wasn't quite that of close friends, but they were at least on the same page.

Stepping out of the seven-story tower, Han Lu recalled the High Priest's image, which lacked any religious leader's demeanor, and sighed inwardly, "Helpless." She felt a strange sense of sympathy for a cultivator whose cultivation and status far surpassed hers.

With her strength on display, Han Lu doesn't need to make too many preparations, even though the ceremony is still three days away.

Over the course of three days, her only task was to refine the ancient zither magic weapon bestowed upon her by the High Priest as much as possible, so that when she played the ritual music and cast illusions on the day of the ceremony, she could depict the illusions as realistically as possible and let the illusions, with the help of the magic weapon, influence every mortal believer present at the ceremony.

After refining the magic weapon, Han Lu unexpectedly discovered that the ancient zither was extremely compatible with her. When she infused it with spiritual power and used the magic weapon to perform illusions, it was quite similar to when she used the paulownia wood flute when she was in the Qi Refining Realm.

To her surprise, Han Lu fell in love with the guqin and spent seven or eight hours a day with it in the three days leading up to the ceremony.

"If I have the chance, I will definitely find a highly skilled cultivator who knows how to make zithers and ask him to help me transform this zither into a phoenix-headed zither, and then add a few of my feathers and some of my blood to decorate it."

"I think this should make the guqin completely connected to me by blood, and I should be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort when using it to perform illusions and soul attacks."

"The quality of this treasure should also be improved slightly as a result, reaching the level of a mid-grade spiritual weapon."

Han Lu's plan was brilliant, but such a powerful figure was not easy to find. Even if she did find one, she would need to pay a lot of spirit stones and cultivation materials to get someone to help her.

An hour before the ceremony began, the hotel staff knocked on Han Lu's door again and handed her a moon-white robe.

Clothing and attire are the outward manifestation of a hierarchical system.

The High Priest was very accommodating, sending Han Lu a moon-white robe that was the attire worn by a second-ranking priestess in the Holy King Church's hierarchy.

According to seniority, in the Holy King Church, only the so-called "Holy Maidens" are allowed to wear robes of a higher rank to attend religious ceremonies.

This was a high level of courtesy for Han Lu, an outsider who did not believe in the Holy King's religion.

Holding the robe, Han Lu used her divine sense to scan and capture every detail of the robe. Then, she used the "True Phoenix Manual" to directly transform her into the phoenix feather robe, "wearing" the robe on her body.

This loose, moon-white robe was probably the most revealing outfit Han Lu had ever worn.

Not only were her arms and calves completely exposed, but even the front and back hemispheres of her chest could breathe fresh air through the gaps in her robe.

Fortunately, Han Lu directly transformed into the Phoenix Feather Robe and put on this outfit.

If you change into the clothes that are delivered, there is a 30% chance that you will accidentally expose yourself when you make big movements, causing people to see things that you shouldn't see.

Looking at herself in the mirror wearing this outfit, Han Lu completely defined the high priest who established the clothing hierarchy as an "unorthodox monk".

At the same time, she began to use illusion magic to change her appearance.

A moment later, a beautiful woman with light brown skin, long silver hair, and a slender figure replaced Han Lu in front of the mirror.

Although this beautiful woman has exquisite features, no one would associate her face with the famous Zhenfeng Fairy in the Central Plains.

Not to mention her slender figure, which is completely different from Han Lu's.

Looking at her drastically changed reflection in the mirror again, Han Lu waved her hand, made a few movements, and then made some minor adjustments to the illusion before feeling confident that everything was foolproof.

Chapter 670 Ritual Music Troupe

While Han Lu was disguised, the grand ceremony in the entire Western Regions royal city had already begun.

Guided by the priests of the Holy King Church, large groups of hundreds of residents of the royal city who believed in the Holy King Church slowly moved through the streets.

We set off, paid homage before the largest statue of the Holy King in the royal city, and then, led by the priest, proceeded to the grand square where the final ceremony would be held.

Everything is proceeding smoothly.

In this intense religious atmosphere, even many non-believers living in the royal city couldn't help but participate.

Of course, the prospect of profit is also one of the reasons why these non-religious mortals want to participate in this sacrificial ceremony.

The high priest announced early on that he would invite the blessings of the Holy King from the upper realm to heal the believers' illnesses and restore their health during the ceremony.

Participating in sacrificial ceremonies allows you to join in the fun, witness miracles, and also benefit your health—why not?

When about half of the believers had entered, Han Lu finally left the hotel to find the high priest.

Thanks to her high-level sacrificial robes, even though Han Lu was a complete stranger, she easily found the high priest who was making final preparations for the sacrificial ceremony.

Fortunately, the High Priest was a Nascent Soul cultivator with exceptional spiritual sense, and with a little effort, he was able to see through the illusion that Han Lu had set up on her body, thus recognizing Han Lu's true identity.

"As expected, Fairy Han's illusion skills are extraordinary. After such a disguise, even if other Nascent Soul cultivators see you during the solemn ceremony, they will definitely not be able to discover your true identity unless they use their divine sense to spy on you."

Only after hearing the words of the High Priest, a Nascent Soul cultivator, did Han Lu feel completely at ease.

"High Priest, where are the other three monks who are in charge of playing the ritual music? I want to go find them now and play three pieces together to practice our coordination."

Seeing that even an outsider like Han Lu was completely focused on the sacrificial ceremony, and considering that there were still a few high-ranking cultivators in the tribe who looked down on the "Holy King Cult" they had created, the High Priest felt somewhat complicated.

Noticing the high priest's change in expression, Han Lu was slightly puzzled, wondering, "Did I say something wrong?"

The high priest did not explain his true feelings to Han Lu, but simply said, "That's easy. However, in order to conceal your identity, please think of another name for yourself, Fairy Han. I will find someone to take you to meet those three disciples."

The high priest made hand gestures and transmitted his voice in secret.

In less than ten breaths, the Green Lion Daoist pushed open the door and entered, bowing respectfully and saying, "High Priest, what are your orders?"

At this time, the Green Lion Taoist also changed into religious attire.

Based on what Han Lu learned from reading and studying about the hierarchy of the Holy King Sect, and combined with the light blue attire of the Azure Lion Daoist, Han Lu realized that the Azure Lion Daoist, a cultivator who had only recently advanced to the Golden Core Realm, was actually a big shot at the same level as "her".

The High Priest was considered half a mentor to the Green Lion Daoist. He entrusted many tasks to this cultivator who had just advanced to the Golden Core realm, also in order to cultivate this "fanatic's" ability to handle affairs and provide him with an assistant for the next High Priest.

However, the fact that the high priest controls the position of the "divine artifact" means that there is no place for Qing Shi Dao Ren, a cultivator who is willing to dedicate everything to the sect, which is somewhat ironic.

"Green Lion, take this fairy to the music and etiquette troupe."

"Yes."

As expected, the Green Lion Taoist did not recognize Han Lu. After replying, he looked at Han Lu and respectfully asked, "May I ask how you are addressed, Fairy?"

"A single name, Huan." Han Lu casually made up a name that would only be used for a mere hour or two.

"Fairy Illusion, please come with me."

Before they had gone far following the Green Lion Taoist, the Green Lion Taoist became curious about this colleague he had never seen before.

“Illusionary Fairy, I am Qing Shi,” he introduced himself first. “It’s strange, I have never seen the fairy in the sect before.”

Han Lu said, “I am not a member of the sect, but I have achieved some success in music and am familiar with the high priest. It just so happens that this ceremony is short of a musician to play the guqin and lead the ritual music, so the high priest asked me to give it a try.”

"These clothes were only given to me temporarily by the high priest."

In front of a rather serious believer, Han Lu felt it was very important to explain the latter matter clearly.

Although he was slightly displeased that a cultivator who was not a member of the Holy King Sect was wearing high-level clothing, which violated the rules of etiquette, the Green Lion Daoist did not criticize him because it was the High Priest's decision.

For the next few hundred steps, the Green Lion Taoist kept preaching to Han Lu, seemingly wanting the clothes to be worn by a suitable person.

Han Lu felt somewhat helpless about Qing Shi Dao Ren's behavior and could only occasionally utter a few perfunctory words to get through this period.

Upon arriving at the rest area of ​​the music troupe, Qing Shi Dao Ren introduced Han Lu to the other three disciples who participated in the music performance before leaving on his own.

Even though she had just arrived, Han Lu, who was ranked first in the etiquette and music class in terms of level and cultivation, was regarded as the leader of the four-person team, even though she had not yet uttered a word and the other three had not yet known her name.

Including Han Lu, the music troupe consisted of two women and two men, and the instruments they used were the flute, erhu, pipa, and guqin.

The group was fairly complete, but Han Lu, who had taken over the leadership of the team, didn't know whether the other three knew that the role of the music and dance troupe was to perform illusions during the ceremony, so she didn't mention it at all.

She simply thought of it as organizing a band, with the aim of ensuring that the four of them would work together seamlessly and perform the three ceremonial music pieces perfectly during the ceremony.

As for casting illusions, with the help of her ancient zither and magical artifact, Han Lu believed that with her current supernatural powers, it would be no problem for her to "bewitch" 100,000 mortals after entering the semi-real spiritual realm.

The three Western Region cultivators who were chosen were all handpicked, and naturally they were all quite proficient in the musical instruments they played.

After rehearsing each of the three pieces twice, the four of them were already able to play in perfect harmony, making the three pieces sound beautiful and melodious.

At the very least, captivating believers who are immersed in the atmosphere of religious fervor should not be a problem.

With everything prepared in the music troupe, Han Lu stopped playing the guqin.

She sat upright in her seat, closed her eyes to rest, and prepared to unleash a stunning illusion that would soon affect 100,000 people.

About fifteen and a half minutes later, there was a knock on the door of the music troupe, and a servant brought a message.

"Esteemed immortals, the ceremony is about to begin. Please follow me."

The four quickly put the musical instrument-shaped magical artifacts into their storage bags and filed out.

The servant led Han Lu and her party of four to an open space on the side of the ceremonial altar before leaving.