The Long Journey to Immortality

In Xiaoyaozi's memory, he once encountered a Golden Core cultivator.

That Golden Core cultivator once took in a disciple who was his last disciple. He was very fond of him and kept him by his side, carefully nurturing him.

However, on one occasion, this Golden Core cultivator made a mistake during his cultivation, which directly blew up his cave dwelling into the sky.

He's alright, he only suffered minor injuries and will recover completely after a few days of rest.

However, his closed-door disciple, who was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, was caught in the crossfire of this accident and was blown to pieces.

Han Lu didn't want to be one of the fish caught in the crossfire at this crucial moment.

Just as she was worried and struggling with whether to come back next time, the courtyard where the No. 5 Quiet Room was located suddenly changed.

Just moments ago, it resembled a raging sea, but suddenly it transformed into a calm afternoon lake.

Immediately afterwards, a fleeting glimpse of a beautiful figure flew out from the courtyard, without lingering on Cold Cicada Peak for even a moment, and left straight away.

Han Lu subconsciously channeled her magic power, activating her Cold Eyes, wanting to catch a glimpse of the demeanor of this senior expert.

But the light was too fast; her eyes had barely begun to glow blue when the senior had already vanished.

After withdrawing her magical power, Han Lu compared the auras of Golden Core cultivators and Nascent Soul cultivators in Xiaoyaozi's memories and guessed, "This feeling must have been from a Supreme Elder who was cultivating here just now."

With the passing of the wise and experienced elder, Han Lu naturally had no reason to dwell on her troubles anymore.

Having learned from her first experience, Han Lu was much more skilled this time.

Recalling Si Xing'er's teachings, she touched the token a few times, setting a two-hour time limit for the meditation room before pushing open the door and entering.

Taking out the Dharma seat, Han Lu removed the few spirit stones that were almost completely used up and replaced them with ten newly acquired spirit stones.

Han Lu plans to open up six acupoints within these two hours and successfully advance to the early stage of Qi Refining.

Activating the Dharma seat, Han Lu patted her storage bag, took out a Meridian Opening Pill that she had just obtained from the inner treasury, and swallowed it in one gulp.

The pill fell into Han Lu's stomach and slowly exerted its medicinal effects.

After adjusting for a moment, Han Lu sat cross-legged on the Dharma seat, activated the Spirit Gathering Array, and entered a meditative state.

He silently recited the incantation, and the spiritual energy within his body began to circulate, unleashing the "Great Circulation Water Condensation Technique," which he had practiced countless times over the past few months.

The technique was perfectly suited to Han Lu, and it circulated incredibly smoothly without being affected by the "cold energy".

A large amount of spiritual energy was bewitched and ensnared by Han Lu, becoming her capable subordinates, acting as vanguards and charging ahead in battle.

Having had the experience of the first time, Han Lu was more experienced in manipulating so much spiritual energy for cultivation this time.

It's like a general who could only command 500 men in battle, but after a period of fighting on the battlefield, his command ability improves, and he gains the ability to lead 1,000 men into battle.

As a result, the time Han Lu spent breaking through the fifty-first acupoint was much shorter than the time she cultivated for the first time.

After entering meditation, within six quarters of an hour, a spot on Han Lu's abdomen emitted specks of light. The acupoint there had been opened by spiritual energy, and spiritual power surged in for Han Lu's use.

Time was of the essence, so this time, Han Lu did not allow the spiritual energy to linger in the acupoints for too long.

Once the second wave of spiritual energy arrived and joined the vanguard, she continued to manipulate the spiritual energy to approach the next acupoint.

However, when opening the spiritual energy channel this time, Han Lu's past cultivation experience led her to do something different from how she usually did when opening spiritual energy channels.

In addition to manipulating spiritual energy to open the main spiritual energy channels, Han Lu also uses several wisps of spiritual energy to do odd jobs and detailed work.

The main road branched off into side roads and auxiliary roads, and a series of network channels expanded outward from the spiritual energy channels as their foundation.

Most of these network-like branch paths point towards the direction of the dantian and qi sea.

Han Lu's purpose in doing this was to lay the groundwork for completely opening up the spiritual meridians later and connecting the complete spiritual meridians with the dantian and qi sea.

In all cultivation techniques, the last acupoint of each spiritual meridian in the Qi Refining stage is mostly located in the abdomen of the cultivator's body, so as to facilitate the connection between the spiritual meridian and the dantian after the spiritual meridian is formed.

This method ensures that when a Qi Refining cultivator advances to the Foundation Establishment stage, they can more easily gather the spiritual energy from all the meridians in their body into their Dantian Qi Sea, strengthen and thicken the outer wall of the Qi Sea, and successfully establish and perfect this foundation for cultivation.

Han Lu's current actions are aimed at making it easier to open the fifty-sixth acupoint later, so that the spiritual vein can be formed and connected to the dantian more quickly.

This is also a collection of cultivation experiences that Feng Bailu and Xiaoyaozi have gained.

However, this experience is only useful for monsters like Han Lu who can open up several acupoints in one cultivation session. Even if ordinary cultivators do the same, the results are minimal.

These advance preparations did not negatively impact Han Lu's resting speed.

After spending fifteen minutes opening up the spiritual energy channels to the fifty-second acupoint, she raced against time and immediately commanded her newly recruited troops to launch an attack.

With a strong and well-equipped army, their offensive was swift and devastating.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the previously tightly closed fifty-second acupoint also loosened, and when attacked again, it raised the white flag and surrendered in an instant.

Just as Han Lu was about to press her advantage, that familiar "chill" reappeared in the spiritual energy channels within her body.

The cold air forms "floating ice," which hinders the flow of spiritual power and energy in the spiritual energy channels.

The fact that such an annoying thing appeared so early left Han Lu feeling somewhat helpless.

But in the blink of an eye, another idea popped into her head: "Would it be effective against these scattered wisps of cold air, just like when we cleared the ice last time?"

Han Lu tried to divert some of her attention and deliberately used her spiritual energy to impact the cold air as it circulated, hoping to dispel it when it accumulated in her body and formed a layer of ice.

The idea was good, but the results were mediocre.

Han Lu's cultivation level is still shallow. Although she can occasionally multitask when fighting, such reckless behavior is likely to cause problems when she is breaking through in her cultivation.

After trying it once and finding that it was counterproductive, either affecting her cultivation or not being very effective, Han Lu simply gave up on the idea and devoted herself to her cultivation again, thinking of opening up a few more acupoints before the ice layer formed.

[Author's Note] Actually, according to the setting, if the protagonist had practiced ordinary cultivation techniques, he should already be at Qi Refining Level 4 or 5 by now, which isn't slow. It's not as exaggerated as you guys saying, still at LV0 at Chapter 70.

Chapter Seventy: First Level of Qi Refining

As things progressed, the fifty-third acupoint opened its arms to Han Lu in just a quarter of an hour.

With the opportunity to advance to the first level of Qi Refining right in front of her, Han Lu suppressed her excitement and focused all her energy on controlling her spiritual power, racing against time.

The spiritual power, carrying nearly a hundred clusters of spiritual energy, surged forward into Han Lu's body in a rapid, marching manner.

What might seem like a wild approach to others is surprisingly suitable for Han Lu, this fertile ground.

Wherever the spiritual energy reaches, the roads become clear, and spiritual energy channels are established in an instant.

The fifty-fourth acupoint in the first level of the Condensing Water Technique happens to be the last acupoint of the first spiritual vein of the "Stealing Heaven Technique," making it quite easy to open. Under the general trend, this acupoint almost collapses at the slightest touch.

This bought Han Lu a lot of time.

The chill gradually spread through Han Lu's body. When she circulated her spiritual power again to rush to the front line, she could clearly feel that the circulation of spiritual power had slowed down considerably.

Han Lu thought to herself, "I wonder how much time has passed?"

The fifty-fifth acupoint is not far from the fifty-fourth acupoint.

With over a hundred clusters of spiritual energy, Han Lu cultivated her spiritual energy channels to the fifty-fifth acupoint in the blink of an eye.

The fifty-fifth acupoint is called "Henggu". Once it is opened, it can strengthen the body's muscles and bones and increase strength.

Because of its efficacy, many body-refining techniques incorporate this acupoint into a certain spiritual meridian, hoping to open up this acupoint, improve the cultivator's bones and muscles, and thus enhance the combat power of body cultivators who specialize in external martial arts.

This particular acupoint is difficult to unlock, but difficulty only applies to mediocre people. For Han Lu now, it's an extremely simple problem.

Racing against time, Han Lu spared no effort in using her spiritual energy, no longer thinking about how to maximize the effect of the spiritual energy cluster.

When this general attacked Henggu Pass, she fought a battle of great wealth.

Numerous spiritual energies surged forward, like groomsmen at a wedding, trying to force open the door that "Henggu" was closed.

This crude method, which borders on "violence," takes on a unique flavor when skillfully employed by Han Lu.

Although she could force the door open in one go, Han Lu only controlled her spiritual energy, bumping the door a few times at just the right moment to loosen the lock rather than break it.

After using this move three times and consuming nearly thirty units of spiritual energy, the "Henggu" Pass was already on the verge of collapse.

At this point, Han Lu switched to a clever method and went into battle against the enemy.

Using both soft and hard tactics, Han Lu quickly gained complete control of the Henggu acupoint, making it part of the first spiritual vein that was not yet fully formed.

When they set off again, the chill in the spiritual energy channel had become quite intense, and the feeling that she had experienced not long ago returned to Han Lu's body.

Although she was prepared, Han Lu was still a little annoyed when she felt her spiritual energy moving through her body like a snail. She wished she could find the "Cold-Repelling Pill" immediately and eat it like a candy to make the cold energy that had ruined her good plan get rid of it as soon as possible.

However, the situation was urgent, and the last acupoint of the first spiritual vein was right in front of her. Han Lu could only temporarily put aside her resentment towards the cold energy and continue to focus on improving her cultivation.

The last acupoint in the first spiritual meridian of the "Great Circulation Water Condensation Technique" is called the "Qi Acupoint".

As its name suggests, this acupoint functions similarly to the Lingtai acupoint, both serving to enhance a cultivator's Qi perception.

Naturally, the difficulty of making it possible is also quite high.

The spiritual energy waited for a while in the Henggu acupoint before the newly collected spiritual energy broke through the layers of cold air and arrived at the front line.

Regrouping, the spirits embark on their journey once more.

However, it took Han Lu a full quarter of an hour to fully open the spiritual energy channel, which was only the length of a little finger, due to the influence of the cold air.

The network extending outward from the main channel of spiritual energy has become increasingly complete under Han Lu's meticulous cultivation.

In Han Lu's view, once she opens the fifty-sixth acupoint and completes the first spiritual meridian, this originally rootless spiritual meridian can connect with the dantian and sea of ​​qi in an instant, stabilizing her cultivation and making her a true cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining.

"A Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator who has opened up fifty-six acupoints? Unprecedented!"

Sighing inwardly, Han Lu put in even more effort to slightly improve her ability to control spiritual energy, so that she could truly control the more than 130 clusters of spiritual energy under her command and use them in the final battle against the final obstacle.

However, something unexpected happened to Han Lu soon afterward.

Just as she was thinking of launching her first probing attack and had just summoned spiritual energy to attack the checkpoint,

The "energy well" that had initially shown no reaction suddenly surrendered, instantly accepting the spiritual energy that had been attacking them, somewhat like "if you can't beat them, join them."

This was the first time Han Lu had ever seen such a situation.

"Perhaps it's because the spiritual energy of many Mysterious Pearls is hidden in this energy cavity?"

"These are all good things."

Han Lu made up a random excuse to smooth things over.

The energy channels were opened in an instant, and the first spiritual vein was finally fully formed.

Having completed this step, the foreshadowing laid earlier has begun to take effect.

A moment later, under Han Lu's control, the net-like spiritual energy channels expanded further, developing towards the dantian.

Although these channels are small and dense, they can still carry spiritual energy. Connecting the spiritual veins to the dantian with these branch channels is not only quick, but will also bring great benefits when building the foundation in the future.