The Long Journey to Immortality

It's unclear whether Shen Xingsheng showed mercy or He Lanyan had a unique method for dealing with this senior brother.

The two fought fiercely on the ring for half an hour, but in the end He Lanyan was the better fighter and won the championship in this weight class.

Among the audience, only Yu Hetong and He Lanwei saw through the trick.

Yu Hetong smiled without saying a word, while He Lanwei secretly reminded herself that she must find an opportunity to tell her cousin the truth, lest her cousin fall for the "love trap" and be tricked into becoming a Daoist partner by Shen Xingsheng, who appears dull and slow-witted but has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

Before the sun set, the final battle ended. The Five Lakes Hermit smiled and applauded, congratulating his only disciple who had advanced to the finals on his triumphant victory and becoming, in name, the strongest Qi Refining cultivator in the East Mountain Academy at that moment.

It was a small competition, and the awards ceremony was not complicated.

After the numerous rewards were distributed to all the disciples who advanced to the third and fourth days of the competition through the academy, according to their level, the current dean, Daoist Qingxu, said a few words and then announced the end of the event.

In the past, the Xiaobi incident would mostly be forgotten by everyone as the new year arrived.

However, the unusual outcome of this competition ensured that Han Lu and her disciples, representing a lineage of cultivators, would be temporarily remembered by all the disciples of Dongshan Academy.

Chapter 731 Chinese New Year

As the second largest sect in the Central Plains, the cultivation life in the Zhengyi Sect is stable, peaceful, and regular.

After the small competition comes the ordinary New Year.

After the New Year, there will be another recruitment drive.

Twice a year, one time more new disciples are recruited, and the other time fewer.

This year, which is close to the New Year, is the year with the most new hires.

With more new disciples, naturally there will be more disciples with a certain foundation and great potential among them.

Han Lu had already set her sights on this disciple recruitment event when she decided to recruit disciples and cultivate the next generation for the sect.

Because they had already established connections, they had made arrangements through the sect leader, Xuan Chengzi.

As a disciple of Piaomiaozi, the administrator of the academy, and a friend of Qingxu Daoren, the dean of Dongshan Academy, Han Lu naturally obtained the qualification to enter the "elegant room" in this disciple recruitment conference, experience the whole process, and be "selected first" from among countless disciples with ease.

Han Lu's thinking was simple: if she left, the Zheng Yi Sect would be one less Golden Core cultivator. She would then train a younger generation of Golden Core cultivators to fill the vacancy, so that she could leave with a clear conscience.

This task is clearly beyond the capabilities of those four outer disciples who just won the top two spots in each level of the minor competition.

But relying on Nian Haoge ultimately falls short of the mark.

Therefore, the heavy responsibility of advancing to the Golden Core realm as Han Lu's disciple basically falls on Qiu Peng and the new disciples he will recruit in the future.

She hoped that she could become a talent scout, finding exceptional individuals among the countless disciples who joined the Zhengyi Sect's Dongshan Academy.

I don't need many; one thoroughbred horse that has finally reached the Golden Core realm after seventy or eighty years of arduous cultivation would be enough.

Is this difficult? Actually, it is quite difficult.

In the world of cultivation, there is no shortage of talent scouts, but there is a shortage of exceptional individuals.

If every disciple recruitment event could find one or two outstanding talents who could advance to the Golden Core realm, then in the resource-rich Central Plains, the number of Golden Core cultivators in the two major sects would surely have already reached three digits.

Given this, it is quite difficult and requires a bit of luck. On the one hand, Han Lu hopes that she will have the opportunity to encounter a hidden talent among the new disciples. On the other hand, she also finds a way out for herself and a way to find good disciples again.

But that's all for later. The two things right in front of us are the Chinese New Year and taking on apprentices.

Han Lu is used to thinking ahead, but she doesn't rush into things and create unnecessary trouble for herself.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment Realm, Han Lu only symbolically celebrated the New Year once, which was the time she returned to her secluded mountain forest to "visit" her mother and incidentally resolve the plague.

Having advanced to the Golden Core realm, one is further removed from the mundane world, and naturally loses the desire to celebrate festivals.

This time, however, she took in four more disciples who were still closely connected to the mortal world.

Since it's her apprentice's New Year, she, as the master, naturally has to do something too.

We called them over one by one to chat about Xiao Bi's affairs, how to go home for the New Year, and when to leave and when to return.

Han Lu's four apprentices each have different circumstances, so their arrangements for the Spring Festival are naturally different as well.

Although the Helan sisters were distant relatives, after entering the Zhengyi Sect to cultivate, their secular residences were incorporated into the main family's residence under the arrangement of their clansmen.

Naturally, the two returned home together for the Chinese New Year.

Furthermore, since both of their families were a moderately large cultivation family, there were many things to do during the New Year.

Therefore, when the two sisters came to Han Lu's place for the commendation meeting, they took the initiative to ask Han Lu, their master, for leave, saying that they would be leaving the sect for at least twenty days, and repeatedly promised that they would supervise each other and ensure that they would not slack off in their cultivation.

Han Lu did not interfere with the two's arrangements in any way. In fact, she gave them some extra pills and wrote a note so that they could go to the inner treasury to get a Dharma seat to take home and use, ensuring that they would be full of spiritual energy when cultivating.

Yu Hetong was an orphan who began wandering the streets at the age of eight. If it weren't for Han Lu's help in innovating technology in the Central Plains and increasing productivity, which allowed the Southern Dynasty government to have surplus grain to establish relief systems in some cities, Yu Hetong would most likely have starved to death on some dark street and would not have been able to find this sliver of divine fortune as he does today.

Because he was an orphan, Yu Hetong, who discovered his own shortcomings in the competition, naturally made very simple arrangements for the New Year.

He stayed in the sect to cultivate.

Aside from attending the banquet held by the branch on New Year's Eve, there were no other entertainment activities.

Upon hearing Yu Hetong's arrangement, Han Lu immediately extended an invitation, inviting Yu Hetong to stay at her residence during the Chinese New Year, just as she had when she first became a disciple.

Staying for half a month allows one to enjoy the relatively abundant spiritual energy within the Hanchan Peak area, and also to occasionally meet with her and seek her guidance and answers to questions.

Upon hearing Han Lu's invitation, Yu Hetong was overjoyed.

He had such thoughts, but he felt that he was just an outer disciple and did not think he had the right to shamelessly disturb his master's life.

Now that Han Lu had taken the initiative to invite him, his concerns were relieved, and he naturally agreed readily, fearing that Han Lu might change her mind.

After receiving the reward promised before the competition from Han Lu, Yu Hetong left excitedly.

In his view, he might be able to advance to the third level of Qi Refining in the next half month.

How could he not be happy, given his lack of worldly desires?

Unlike the other three disciples, Shen Xingsheng's situation was more complicated.

He belongs to the category of people who have a home but cannot go back.

The situation was complicated, and Han Lu had no intention of asking, nor did Shen Xingsheng say much.

It's just that he didn't have a good relationship with his parents and was raised by relatives from a young age.

This upbringing shaped Shen Xingsheng's somewhat dull and silent personality.

Even the most upright official finds it difficult to settle family disputes, and even a Golden Core cultivator lacks the ability to help his disciple resolve family conflicts.

Since she couldn't go home, Han Lu invited Shen Xingsheng to stay at her place for a while, just like she had with Yu Hetong.

Since I cannot devote myself to my family, I will focus my energy on spiritual practice.

Slightly surprised, Shen Xingsheng agreed as easily as Yu Hetong.

Having inquired about the New Year arrangements for her probationary disciples, Han Lu naturally did not forget her two personal disciples.

Although Nian Haoge, who had no parents, did not know his origins, he developed a deep bond with the adoptive parents arranged by the sect.

As her cultivation progressed and her spiritual realm deepened, her adoptive parents, who were merely mortals, grew increasingly old and drew ever closer to their death.

That's why Nian Haoge still goes home once a year after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage to visit his elderly parents and spend the Lunar New Year with them.

And what about Qiu Peng?

Compared to Shen Xingsheng, he was the one who truly couldn't go home.

Han Lu did not mention going home for the New Year to hurt her disciple's feelings. Instead, she found an excuse to inquire about his cultivation progress and how much of the "teaching material" he had compiled was complete.

It must be said that Qiu Peng, who grew up in the ancient cultivation secret realm, possesses a more profound mind and a systematic methodology than ordinary cultivators.

Although many of the terms used in the "textbook" seem incredibly amateurish, Han Lu believes that if she helps to correct and revise them, Qiu Peng's textbook will definitely be useful in the future.

Seven days after the minor competition ended, ninety percent of the outer disciples from each branch academy had left, and the New Year, which the mortal world had been looking forward to, finally arrived.

Chapter 732 Bole's Horse Judging

After attending the New Year's banquet as a representative of the Golden Core cultivators of Dongshan Academy, Han Lu devoted herself entirely to her disciples and her own cultivation.

Although she mainly took in these four outer disciples for the sake of her reputation, she was not the kind of person who would abandon someone after starting a relationship.

One of Han Lu's small goals in the past few years has been to help the four people who might otherwise have remained at the Qi Refining stage advance to the Foundation Establishment stage.

The training during the Chinese New Year was no different from usual, but Han Lu changed some of her methods when disciplining her disciples.

He would act as a punching bag for his disciples to "beat," allowing them to practice their magic to their heart's content.

At Qiu Peng's request, it transformed into a phoenix to broaden the horizons of its apprentices as a New Year's gift.

He would tell his disciples stories about what he had seen and heard around the world, inspiring them to aspire to improve their cultivation and travel the world.

In the span of fifteen days, the three disciples who accompanied Han Lu in her cultivation had not improved their cultivation levels much, but their aspirations for the Dao had become much more stable than before the Lunar New Year.

Qiu Peng, in particular, developed a strong desire to learn a transformation technique after advancing to the Golden Core realm.

As the first month of the lunar calendar passed, the cultivators in the academy gradually began to continue the preparations for the disciple-acceptance ceremony, which was already mostly completed.

Piaomiaozi has been in this position for almost five years and is no longer as "naive" as she was back then.

In addition, Xuan Chengzi's reforms to the sect's organizational structure streamlined a series of processes, making institutions such as academies increasingly efficient.

All Piaomiaozi needed to do was issue instructions and make some basic, decisive arrangements to make this "machine," which was mostly composed of cultivators, run perfectly.

In just three days, the task of acting as a guide was announced to the outside world through the internal treasury. At the same time, information about "potential disciples" from various outer sect strongholds was also sent out before the official start of the disciple recruitment conference.

Because the situation in each region was known to the outer sect strongholds of the Zhengyi Sect long ago, it was only a matter of guessing or asking around to find out which well-known and suitable young talents from each region would attend each disciple recruitment conference.

In order to allow the sect to prepare in advance, or rather, to allow the Golden Core cultivators participating in the disciple recruitment conference to prepare in advance and to think about which young talents to recruit into their ranks.

Wen Erya, for example, was on this list back then.

As soon as the list arrived at the academy, Piaomiaozi sent a copy via paper sword, informing Han Lu of the general situation of the talented young disciples with water spirit roots who might enter the East Mountain Academy.

As a senior and mentor, he also gave Han Lu some pointers in the paper sword, instructing her on how to use this information to select her favorite disciples.

Compared to the information recorded about outer disciples in the academy, the information obtained from the outer sect stronghold is much thinner and more rudimentary.

Since formal testing has not yet been conducted, the spiritual root conditions of many talented individuals are still unknown.

Some talented individuals were only recorded as having started their spiritual practice at a certain age, having cultivated for a few years, and currently possessing a certain level of cultivation.

Based on this information, even Han Lu could only follow the methods and approaches instructed by Piaomiaozi to roughly select a few disciples.

Han Lu did not hide this matter from her disciple, and even took the initiative to ask Qiu Peng for help, hoping that this disciple, who was "different in mind" from ordinary cultivators, could give some good advice, or use his luck and opportunity to select a worthy successor for herself.