The Long Journey to Immortality

The branch paths slowly extend and converge on the dantian, gently connecting the originally independent spiritual veins to the dantian.

Qi Refining Level 1, Success!

When all this was successful, the once pitch-black dantian area was no longer a mystery to Han Lu. She could mobilize her spiritual power, enter the dantian through the spiritual meridians, and look inside.

Han Lu is currently only at the first level of Qi Refining, and her dantian is completely empty.

Unlike ordinary Qi Refining cultivators, Han Lu's "dregs" containing the Mysterious Female Pearl were disguised as fake pills, floating in the empty dantian. Moreover, the outer wall of Han Lu's dantian was thicker than that of ordinary cultivators.

After three months of arduous training, Han Lu finally opened up fifty-six acupoints and advanced to the first level of Qi Refining. Han Lu was overjoyed.

Just then, Han Lu noticed that the spiritual energy around her had suddenly become scarce, and she knew that two hours had passed.

Looking at the more than one hundred wisps of spiritual energy remaining in her body, and with the attitude of not wasting any, Han Lu recalled the second layer of the "Great Zhou Heavenly Water Condensation Technique" and began to try to direct these spiritual energies to circulate in her body again, attempting to open the first acupoint of the second spiritual meridian.

Han Lu absorbed all the spiritual energy in the quiet room and gathered another twenty groups of fresh troops.

These 120-plus clusters of spiritual energy gathered together and continued their assault on cities and strongholds.

Lacking supplies, these spiritual energies lost their foundation and their combat power decreased significantly, but their sheer number made up for it.

After Han Lu successfully opened the first acupoint of the second spiritual meridian, the "Divine Path Acupoint," by spending eighty clusters of spiritual energy, she then continued to open up the spiritual energy channels slightly, despite the lingering chill in her body, until she had exhausted all the remaining spiritual energy.

Chapter Seventy-One: A Superior Person

When Han Lu exhausted the spiritual energy she controlled, the spiritual energy channel had been successfully advanced to the second acupoint.

If it weren't for concerns about the side effects of forced cultivation due to insufficient spiritual energy, Han Lu might have already made further progress and successfully opened up the second acupoint.

Compared to the first spiritual vein, which requires opening fifty-six acupoints to fully form, the subsequent spiritual veins in the "Great Circulation Water Condensation Technique" are slightly easier to cultivate.

The remaining nine or eleven spiritual veins can be formed by opening twenty-four acupoints.

If he were just an ordinary cultivator, and everything went smoothly, he would be satisfied with cultivating the "Great Zhou Heavenly Water Condensation Technique" to the 10th level of Qi Refining. Then he could try to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage as a Qi Refining cultivator who had opened 272 acupoints.

However, if someone has talent like Han Lu and high standards for themselves, they can try to continue breaking through and open up the eleventh and twelfth spiritual meridians, eventually forming twelve spiritual meridians in their body and opening up a total of 320 acupoints. This would allow them to break through the bottleneck in a near-perfect state and become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Regardless of the method, once Han Lu successfully advances, the dantian and qi sea she builds using the spiritual energy of the spiritual veins will be several times deeper than those of other cultivators, laying a solid foundation for her future advancement to the Golden Core stage and the top-grade dantian.

Since she didn't intend to continue cultivating in the meditation room, Han Lu simply used the remaining few wisps of spiritual energy to cleanse the "icy layer of cold energy" in her spiritual veins.

However, after only two hours of cultivation, the "ice layer" in the spiritual vein was much thinner than last time, and it was not difficult to clear it.

After meditating for another fifteen minutes, exhausting her spiritual energy and clearing away most of the ice layer, Han Lu opened her eyes, got up, and left.

This cultivation not only allowed her to successfully break through to the first level of Qi Refining, but also enabled her to complete a small experiment, confirming one of her hypotheses and obtaining the result she wanted to see.

The clever idea of ​​dividing the four hours into two two-hour periods did indeed achieve the effect Han Lu had envisioned.

The first time, I cultivated on Cold Cicada Peak for four hours straight, but I only managed to break through nine acupoints before the time was up.

This second time, after a minor adjustment, Han Lu successfully advanced to the first level of Qi Refining and opened a spiritual meridian during the first two hours of cultivation.

In terms of the number of acupoints, she opened up seven acupoints in one go this time.

Even a student who has only been taking a week of counting rod courses can clearly calculate which of the two training sessions is superior.

While practice makes perfect, proper time management played a crucial role.

The simple adjustment to the pace of cultivation had a significant effect, which made Han Lu less motivated to leave the mountain gate and search for the "Cold-Repelling Pill" formula, which might not even exist.

Stepping outside the courtyard and breathing in the cool air of Hanchan Peak, Han Lu was in a good mood.

She planned to thoroughly cleanse the cold energy from her body in a few days before returning to Cold Cicada Peak to use up the last two hours of her cultivation time for the month.

"If everything goes smoothly," Han Lu thought to herself, "I should have already advanced to the second level of Qi Refining by the time of the Grand Competition."

A few months ago, Han Lu would never have imagined such an outcome.

For a novice cultivator in the Zhengyi Sect, advancing to the first level of Qi Refining and becoming a cultivator requires a great deal of work.

The most important task for Han Lu was to make a trip to the academy to change her records so that, in the eyes of the sect, she would appear to be a Qi Refining Level 1 cultivator rather than a Daoist disciple.

The treatment of Daoist disciples and cultivators in the Zhengyi Sect is slightly different. The most obvious difference is that after advancing to the first level of Qi Refining, the disciple can receive a "reward for encouraging learning" from the sect.

more or less.

Han Lu was willing to spend some time making this trip, even if it meant earning a few pills.

It was still early, so Han Lu originally wanted to find Wen Erya first, thinking of sharing the joy of advancing to the first level of Qi Refining with her best friend in the sect.

But when Han Lu arrived at the courtyard where Wen Erya lived, she was surprised to find that Wen Erya was not at home.

Slightly disappointed, Han Lu had no choice but to turn around and head towards the university.

At this time, a major cultivation practice was underway, and apart from one steward on duty, there were very few people in the academy.

Within the Zhengyi Sect, the academy is a relatively quiet place. Not many people attend the morning classes, and the evening classes are only once a month for outer sect cultivators, so they are not particularly strenuous or demanding.

However, the competition two months later will be a busy time for the universities.

The organization of the competition was jointly handled by the five academies. Updating the disciples' records was a troublesome matter, not to mention the organization of subsequent activities.

In the past few days, the academy has begun to assign tasks widely and select people to help.

Fortunately, Han Lu arrived at the academy during a major cultivation period; otherwise, she would have had to wait in line for a while to resolve the matter.

There was only one steward dressed in white serving in the hall. Han Lu lined up in a queue that was only about three people long, and after waiting for a while, it was her turn.

"Junior sister, is there anything I can do to help you?"

After being "trained" by Wen Erya, Han Lu, who possessed a large number of beautiful clothes and accessories left by Xiaoyaozi, also put more effort into her dressing up. With her already good foundation, she further enhanced her style and made this senior brother, who did not know her, treat her with kindness.

"Senior, I need to update my file."

"Where is the original information? Write it down so I can easily search for it." The manager picked up a pen and handed it to Han Lu.

Han Lu pondered for a moment, then wrote on the white paper in front of her, "Han Lu, originally a Dao Tong cultivator, a disciple under Elder Piaomiao."

Han Lu was somewhat well-known within the sect; at least the academy manager who received her here didn't recognize her face, but had heard of her name.

"Oh, so it's Junior Sister Han," the steward said, picking up the paper and offering a half-hearted compliment. "As expected of a Golden Core Elder's disciple, you've only been a disciple for three months, yet you've already successfully opened your first spiritual vein and advanced to the first level of Qi Refining? Okay, wait a moment, I'll go find the information for you."

When Han Lu entered the room, her file information stated "seven acupoints," something many people knew.

Ordinary cultivators can usually only open one or two acupoints per month.

In ordinary cultivation methods, a spiritual meridian can usually be completed by passing through only eleven or twelve acupoints.

The manager had no idea how difficult Han Lu's cultivation method was, requiring the opening of fifty-six acupoints to advance to the first level of Qi Refining, so he naturally had no thought of marveling at Han Lu's cultivation speed.

I just felt that this was the normal level of a disciple of a Golden Core Elder.

After about half a cup of tea's time, the manager returned to his seat with Han Lu's file.

In addition, he had an extra medicine bottle in his hand, which contained Han Lu's "student aid" reward.

Lying about one's cultivation level is strictly prohibited in the rules of the Zhengyi Sect. Therefore, when the academy changes the information in the records, it does not require disciples to prove their cultivation level.

After making a copy of the new file in front of Han Lu, the steward handed the medicine bottle to Han Lu and said, "Junior Sister Han, this is a reward from the sect for you, two Meridian Opening Pills."

After accepting the pills, the steward kindly reminded her, "Junior Sister Han, there are some things I need to remind you of."

"The Grand Competition is in two months. The assessment for cultivators at the first level of Qi Refining is different from that for Daoist disciples. They will need to participate in arena battles."

I wonder if this manager was trying to show off and demonstrate his extensive information network.

After saying that, he whispered, "It is said that this competition is different from the past. Even new disciples who have just entered the sect will be punished in the same way as the senior disciples if they fall behind in the rankings."

"Although there are still nearly sixty days left, you'd better practice your fighting skills more, so you don't end up among the last few in the competition."

Han Lu really didn't know about this.

But she felt it had no impact on her whatsoever, and simply thanked him out of habit.

Chapter Seventy-Two: Questioning, Warm Jade

The next day, while Han Lu was cultivating, a paper sword suddenly broke through the restrictions on the courtyard and flew directly into her room.

This is the power that only a paper sword given by a Golden Core cultivator from the Zhengyi Sect possesses.

She knew without looking that the paper sword was sent by her master.

"I heard from the academy that you've advanced to the first level of Qi Refining? Come here for a bit."

Piaomiaozi was proficient in magic. The short sentences in the paper sword, which contained only a few words, were written with a high degree of artistry, but the content was in plain language.

This tone, coupled with the beautiful handwriting, is indeed the work of Piaomiaozi.

Although Wen Erya did not immediately learn of the good news that Han Lu had advanced to the first level of Qi Refining, Piaomiaozi, as Han Lu's master, learned of it through the academy immediately.

Piaomiaozi was quite surprised by this.

Although he didn't know Han Lu very well, he had heard her say that the first spiritual vein of the "Great Zhou Heavenly Water Condensation Technique" required opening up a total of fifty-six acupoints to fully develop the spiritual vein.

In such a short time, Han Lu had opened up so many acupoints, which naturally filled him with questions. He was curious about what kind of magic pills Han Lu had taken to achieve such results, and he also wanted to find out if Han Lu had mastered any techniques for opening acupoints.

Piaomiaozi wondered if he could shamelessly inquire about this matter and use some cultivation resources to obtain the possible secrets so that he could pass them on to his other disciples.

While we're at it, let's also keep an eye on this promising disciple.

Therefore, this was the third time that Piaomiaozi sent Han Lu a paper sword, inviting her to the courtyard on Hanchan Peak for a chat.

Han Lu knew without guessing why Piaomiaozi had summoned her.

Holding the paper sword, Han Lu muttered to herself, "I don't know why I can cultivate so quickly."

On the way from the small courtyard to Piaomiaozi's residence, Han Lu had already prepared a set of words to deal with Piaomiaozi's "interrogation".

She didn't intend to lie and planned to share her series of guesses.

She even wanted to hear what Piaomiaozi had to say, so that her master could help her figure out the reason for her rapid breakthrough.

"Perhaps Master can give me the answers to things that Nascent Soul cultivator Xiaoyaozi doesn't know or understand, since he also cultivates water-attribute techniques."

With this in mind, Han Lu returned to Hanchan Peak a day later.

The same old man who had helped open the door during her first visit to Piaomiaozi opened it. However, this time, Han Lu waited in the courtyard garden for a full quarter of an hour before Piaomiaozi appeared.

When Han Lu saw Piaomiaozi appear, she quickly stood up and bowed, "Master."

Piaomiaozi waved his hand and said, "No need for formalities."

The two sat facing each other. Piaomiaozi asked a question, and Han Lu answered.