The Long Journey to Immortality

Han Lu didn't recognize the dragon-headed monster that charged at her, but seeing that it was covered in black flames and exuded evil energy, she naturally regarded it as an evil creature.

That's why I thought of using "thunder" to defeat the enemy, and testing the waters for now.

The spirit sword flew from his hand, accompanied by a muffled thunderclap, and stabbed towards the head of the dragon-headed monster.

While engaging in direct confrontation, Han Lu did not forget to issue some threats to Venerable Pot Lamp.

In the flash of lightning that shot out, several bolts of thunder struck towards Venerable Pot Lamp.

Venerable Pot Lamp listened to the thunder beside him without changing his expression. He raised his hand and used the Five Elements Qi to dissolve the several golden lightning bolts.

Compared to Venerable Pot Lantern, the dragon-headed monster that directly fought Han Lu's Sword Pellet Spirit Sword was not so lucky.

He was already causing damage by charging recklessly in a sluggish manner, and he didn't even try to dodge the spirit sword.

Han Lu's spirit sword easily pierced through the dragon-headed spirit beast from head to tail, and the golden lightning on the sword even turned the flesh around the wound into a charred color.

These electric wires rendered the dragon-headed monster's ability to rapidly heal its external injuries useless. Thick black blood gushed from the wounds, and the dragon-headed monster, flying halfway through its flight, opened its mouth and let out a painful howl.

Despite the pain, the dragon-headed chariot did not slow down at all; it continued its relentless charge towards Han Lu.

The stench of the filthy blood was palpable through her nose and mouth, but Han Lu did not choose to dodge it. Instead, she used her own methods to resist and respond directly.

It was as if two magical barriers had been activated, then a golden bell artifact had been activated, and finally the phoenix feather robe on her body had been changed, with the tough phoenix feathers serving as a shield to protect her.

The first two magical barriers were shattered by the dragon-headed monster in one blow.

The golden bell artifact only held out for three breaths before its surface cracked and it lost its spiritual power.

In the end, it was Han Lu's phoenix feather that firmly held the dragon-headed monster's forehead, blocking it in front of her.

Having lost its motivation to move forward, the severely injured dragon-headed monster naturally fell into a brief state of confusion.

Seeing this, Han Lu did not hesitate. Her eyes shone with golden light as she used her ability to see through things, taking in more than ten weaknesses on the dragon-headed monster.

"Look carefully!" Han Lu murmured to herself, and with a wave of her hand, she grasped the sword pellet spirit sword that had just pierced through the dragon-headed monster.

With a flick of her wings, Han Lu's figure flashed several times around the dragon-headed monster's body, precisely stabbing each of the dozen or so weak points on the monster's body with her spirit sword.

Venerable Pot Lamp saw all of this.

Knowing the monster he controlled inside and out, Venerable Pot Lantern said with a hint of disdain, "How can such superficial injuries be of any use..."

Before he could finish speaking, the array around Venerable Pot Lamp collapsed.

The dragon-headed monster lost its sparkle, and the black flames on its body, having lost the power to support its roar, instantly went out, disappearing from the sight of the two combatants along with the falling battle chariot.

Han Lu chuckled lightly, casually flicked her spirit sword to remove the black bloodstains from its surface, and looked at Venerable Pot Lamp with a smile, saying, "Venerable Pot Lamp, don't speak too soon. An old gentleman like you wouldn't recognize the ruthless methods of a young man like me."

Venerable Pot Lamp snorted coldly, recalling a rumor about Han Lu, and tentatively asked, "Han Lu, did you learn your swordsmanship from Senior Fang Lin?"

"Guess." Han Lu knew that most of her cards had already been revealed, so she naturally didn't want to divulge the last few secrets to others.

This "guess" forced Venerable Pot Lamp to swallow his next words.

He casually remarked, trying to deflate Han Lu's arrogance, "It's just a mere demon; the effort you put into dealing with it isn't impressive."

"According to Venerable Pot Lamp, what would be considered powerful?" Han Lu had the idea of ​​arguing with this former Nascent Soul cultivator, thinking that she could use verbal sarcasm to force Venerable Pot Lamp to reveal all his methods and test her own strength after advancing to the Golden Core realm.

Venerable Pot Lamp opened his mouth, but was speechless for a moment.

Han Lu's performance in dealing with the dragon-headed monster was far better than he had imagined, and the prepared plan he had made was now difficult to put into practice.

After all, Venerable Pot Lamp originally thought that Han Lu would transform into a true spirit immediately.

Now that Han Lu is acting unpredictably, he naturally doesn't know what to do.

Just as Venerable Pot Lamp was hesitating, Han Lu interrupted, saying, "I understand what you mean, senior. As long as we can capture you alive, you will surely know how powerful I am."

"The seniors always made the first move before; now it's the juniors' turn."

Chapter 679 Random Playing of the Qin

Upon hearing Han Lu's words, Venerable Pot Lamp simply went with the flow, thinking of changing to a reactive approach, using his rich combat experience to gain the upper hand in the upcoming battle.

"Alright, I'd like to see what other strange tricks you have up your sleeve, young man."

The words were spoken lightly, but Venerable Pot Lamp dared not be negligent in the slightest.

He took out a defensive magic raincoat from his storage bag and put it on. Then, he summoned the fourteen intact spirit swords from the set of twenty-four, ready for battle.

Seeing how seriously Venerable Pot Lamp was taking it, Han Lu even began to doubt whether he had truly been a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Although she didn't know what kind of attack the opponent's raincoat was designed to resist, Han Lu still followed her own battle strategy and played to her strengths.

A phoenix cry rang out from Han Lu's mouth, and the true spirit aura on her body rose to another level, reaching the limit of semi-true spirit transformation.

Needless to say, Han Lu wanted to use her True Spirit Divine Power to teach Venerable Pot Lamp a lesson.

Han Lu took out the magical zither, which she had recently obtained from the high priest of the Western Regions.

Han Lu's fingertips sparkled with silvery-white "starlight" as she rapidly and haphazardly stroked the guqin.

One chaotic syllable after another leaped on the strings, as if they had been brought to life.

Although illusions and soul attacks are expressed in similar ways.

Just as playing beautiful ceremonial music can more easily deceive people and draw enemies into a carefully crafted illusion.

Using magical artifacts in this chaotic manner allows for greater destructive power of soul attacks on the sea of ​​consciousness.

The moment Han Lu took out the guqin, Venerable Pot Lamp already knew the general method Han Lu intended to use.

Although he was somewhat surprised that Han Lu had acquired an extra ancient zither artifact, he still added another layer of protection to his defenses, following the same method used to deal with soul attacks.

The Venerable Pot Lamp swallowed the two golden pills that guarded his sea of ​​consciousness, and then he began to chant the mantra of the cultivation method rapidly.

The mantra recited by Venerable Pot Lamp is a hundred times more advanced than the most basic "Heart-Cleansing Mantra," which is mastered by almost every cultivator.

Back then, he and his two junior brothers were able to fight Huan Feng Fengyou for five hundred rounds before being defeated, and this incantation was their greatest reliance in protecting their sea of ​​consciousness.

However, things are different now. Venerable Pot Lamp's cultivation level has fallen to the Golden Core stage, and he still has old injuries left by Feng You in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Even with his rigorous defenses, he couldn't completely ignore the mental damage caused by Han Lu's "random piano playing."

The starlight from Han Lu's fingertips, aided by the guqin, transformed into dark waves of light that surged toward Venerable Pot Lamp.

These light waves appear gentle, but they harbor deadly intent.

Enveloped by these light waves, Venerable Pot Lamp's previously relaxed facial muscles tensed up. The immense pressure in his sea of ​​consciousness caused his features to involuntarily clench together, as if he were exerting force to resist the giant cauldron.

Han Lu's spiritual attack was as if she had transformed herself into a saw, sawing back and forth across the rotten wood of Venerable Pot Lamp's sea of ​​consciousness, trying to saw it into two pieces.

The various protective measures employed by Venerable Pot Lamp were like trying to stop a saw while simultaneously dressing the rotten wood in metal garments to keep it away from the saw's sharpness.

The two cultivators engaged in a fierce mental battle, vying for power back and forth.

If there were ordinary people who didn't understand the path of cultivation watching from the sidelines, they would definitely think that Venerable Pot Lamp was suffering from constipation, and that Han Lu, the musician who had just received praise from the High Priest, was a tone-deaf person who didn't understand music.

Venerable Pot Lamp's resistance to spiritual attacks far exceeded Han Lu's expectations.

She knew that she was only using the power of the magic weapon to unleash the supernatural abilities in her bloodline in a semi-realistic spiritual state, and that she could only continue this stalemate.

But what if it transforms into a phoenix and uses its supernatural powers? Han Lu didn't think that would be a good idea at this time.

“Venerable Pot Lamp has come prepared; it would be best if he came up with some new tricks.”

The "saw-and-pull" continued, with Han Lu's hands showing no sign of stopping.

At the same time, they relied on their control of the battlefield.

Although Han Lu did not intend to take down Venerable Pot Lamp in one blow through a sneak attack, she still used this spare time to wield her spirit sword and set up a sword formation.

Slightly raising her head, Han Lu glanced at the starry night sky and the half-moon in the Western Regions, still having made up her mind.

Han Lu marveled at Venerable Hudeng's impregnable defense, while Venerable Hudeng himself marveled at the formidable talent of the younger generation.

As the demonic sound pierced his ears, Venerable Pot Lamp broke out in a cold sweat on his back. He felt a splitting headache, and the old wounds in his sea of ​​consciousness, which had not yet healed, seemed to be recurring.

Exhaling a breath of turbid air, Venerable Pot Lamp swallowed another pill, narrowed his eyes, and caught the spiritual swords flying and scattering outwards from around Han Lu. He thought to himself, "This is bad. I have to think of a change of tactics, otherwise I will really be injured by this unpleasant zither music."

Having made up his mind to change the stalemate, Venerable Pot Lamp did not hesitate any longer and brought out some methods that would damage his foundation.

Venerable Pot Lamp bit his index finger and squeezed out seven or eight drops of dark golden blood.

As blood flowed out, his already sallow complexion darkened even further.

This blood quickly transformed into black mud, which flowed into Venerable Pot Lamp's ears.

The addition of black mud had an immediate effect; Venerable Pot Lamp seemed to have reinforced his sea of ​​consciousness into a steel skeleton, completely disregarding the blade of Han Lu's saw.

Han Lu was completely unaware of this, so Venerable Pot Lamp used the situation to his advantage. He pretended to be struggling to resist the divine sense attack and secretly took out three poisonous insects from his spirit beast bag and released them outwards.

During the century that Venerable Pot Lamp's cultivation level plummeted, in order to improve his combat power, he practiced many unorthodox methods that were originally looked down upon by cultivators in the Central Plains.

The dragon-headed monster that was cast earlier was one, the black mud that was just cast was another, and the poisonous insects that are being released now are yet another.

These techniques allowed him to remain a powerful Golden Core cultivator, but they also made him unpopular and ostracized in Xuan Yang Valley.

Although the Three Poisonous Insects might not be a good medicine for dealing with True Spirits in Venerable Pot Lamp's opinion, they could at least free him from his current predicament and help him quickly break free from the Black Mud Secret Technique, so as not to cause him too much damage and make him even more injured, as he had already fallen in realm and was injured.

Little did anyone know that the centipedes, wasps, and scorpions, which had been raised by Venerable Pot Lamp and tempered with countless toxins, had only been flying towards Han Lu's direction under the cover of magic for a short while.

Han Lu had already completed the setup of the sword formation and fully deployed the "Starry Sky Sword Formation".

The moment the sword formation was deployed, everything within it was under Han Lu's control, and she naturally noticed the three poisonous creatures that were quietly attacking.

Without hesitation, he mobilized the power of the stars.

As three beams of starlight fell from the sky, the three poisonous creatures were instantly reduced to dust, which drifted away with the wind and mixed into the swirling sand and dust.

[Author's Note] Using "lowbrow" is indeed a bit inappropriate, so I'll change it to "tone-deaf".

Chapter 680 Stars Attack the Enemy

In the night sky above the vast yellow sand, as Han Lu fully unfolded the "Starry Sky Sword Formation," the spiritual swords that formed the formation shone brightly in the sky, reflecting the twinkling stars.

The stars in the sky twinkled, as if guided by Han Lu's spiritual power, giving them a touch of life.

The 108 sword pellets that made up the sword formation were also shimmering with white light.

The stellar energy drawn from the sky was temporarily integrated into the spirit sword, allowing the spirit sword, which was originally divided into 108 parts, to barely reach the level of a spirit weapon.

If Han Lu's cultivation level could be improved further, she could draw a pill pattern on the sword pellet or cultivate a level one technique called "Sword Self".