The Long Journey to Immortality

"It seems that in the future, the injuries of the Venerable Lingjiu will worsen and become more deeply rooted, making the illness more difficult to cure. The few late-stage Golden Core cultivators in the East Sea will probably have to spend the rest of their lives in a daze, just like now."

Judging from the tone of Lü Zhi's introduction of the Slaughter Venerable, Han Lu guessed, "Lü Zhi, is this Slaughter Venerable a 'good person'?"

Han Lu emphasized the word "good person" to avoid Lü Zhi misunderstanding.

As expected, Lü Zhi understood Han Lu's meaning and said, "He should be considered a good person."

"I don't know the specifics, but I do know that when the Slaughter Venerable was still in the early Golden Core stage, he took on many bounty missions to help capture villains."

"From this perspective, he should be considered a good person."

"If you want to know more details, I will have Kong Qiaosheng bring the information from the Immortal Pavilion here for you to browse."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu replied with a "Okay".

Even disregarding the matter of slaughtering the Venerable One, we still need the assistance of Kong Qiaosheng, Lü Zhi's friend and part-time assistant, to properly handle the "Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault" matter.

Before Han Lu could continue the story, Yi Qiyan chimed in with a question, "So what did the Slaughter Venerable want with you two? He's not planning anything bad on you, is he?"

“No, that’s not it,” Mo Zhehan replied. “It’s about a place called the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault. They said they want to use my and Han Lu’s blood as keys to open the vault’s door and are looking for us to cooperate.”

Since Mo Zhehan was the mastermind behind the final part of the plan, Han Lu chose to keep quiet for the time being and act as a listener who had already been spoiled, letting Mo Zhehan explain the whole story.

By the time Kong Qiaosheng rushed over with the jade tablet containing information about the Slaughtering Venerable, the story had already reached its final stage.

After the story was finished, without waiting for Mo Zhehan or Han Lu to make a request, Lü Zhi took the initiative to take on this troublesome matter.

"Han Lu, leave the search for the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault to me. Consider it a return gift."

"I want to see what this legendary Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault really looks like."

Chapter 878 Numerous Difficulties

Upon hearing this, Han Lu smiled and said, "Lu Zhi, if you want to go in, and you really find the treasure vault, Mo Zhehan and I will definitely take you, our great hero, inside to see the scenery."

"However, although this place is a treasure trove, the pair of dragons and phoenixes back then probably set up many traps and challenges within it."

"When the time comes, you'd better be prepared that you don't end up with nothing but injuries."

Because they were friends, Han Lu spoke very politely, without mentioning the matter of life and death, nor did she ridicule Lü Zhi for his lack of strength.

However, upon hearing of the risks involved, Lü Zhi wisely backed down and opted for a less desirable option.

Lu Zhi said, "Is it that dangerous? Then forget it. My dad only has me as his son. I'd rather live a peaceful life."

"However, Han Lu, if you find anything useful in that Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault, remember me."

Lu Zhi didn't stand on ceremony. After a month of communication, he knew that Han Lu wasn't the kind of cultivator who was petty or particularly concerned about spirit stones.

“Alright, if you have anything good, either bring it to the Immortal Pavilion for auction to boost your popularity, or sell it directly to the Immortal Pavilion so you can make more money from it. I certainly won’t pass the profits on to other merchants in the East Sea.” Han Lu agreed casually, without calculating in detail how this one sentence would “loss” her tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Lü Zhi was overjoyed and said with a smile, "Then I'll thank you in advance."

Having a pleasant conversation, Lü Zhi turned to Kong Qiaosheng, who had just arrived, and asked, "Brother Kong, how many people and how much funding are needed? And how much time will it take to help Fairy Han get this done?"

Within the Immortal Pavilion, Lü Zhi's main role was to act as a leader, determining the direction and overseeing the overall strategy.

Kong Qiaosheng served as Lü Zhi's deputy and assistant, responsible for details and the execution of the plan.

Naturally, after agreeing to these things, Lü Zhi's first question was how much effort it would take for Kong Qiaosheng to accomplish what he had promised.

Amidst this enthusiastic atmosphere, the pragmatic Kong Qiaosheng had no choice but to pour cold water on the situation.

After exchanging glances with Han Lu and Lü Zhi for a moment, he said, "Gentlemen, this matter is probably not as simple as you think."

"How so?" Han Lu raised an eyebrow.

The Immortal Pavilion wields immense power in the East Sea. With the help of the young master of the Immortal Pavilion, both she and Mo Zhehan felt that the matter should be a sure thing. The only possible point of failure was that Venerable Slaughter would successfully seize the treasure during his trip.

Hearing Kong Qiaosheng say that this matter was not simple, Han Lu was naturally somewhat surprised.

With ample time, Kong Qiaosheng slowly analyzed the situation for everyone.

He took out a very detailed East China Sea nautical chart from his storage bag.

Kong Qiaosheng used his magical artifacts to spread them out completely on the ground.

"Fairy Han, after you and Fellow Daoist Mo tracked down Venerable Slaughter and Venerable Coffin, could you finally determine the approximate location of the treasure vault in which area of ​​this map?"

Upon hearing this, Han Lu exchanged a few words with Mo Zhehan using her divine sense, then pointed her finger and released a few specks of deep red spiritual energy, circling a not-so-small area on the sea map.

“This is probably the place,” Han Lu then pointed with her finger, “The highlight here is the place where the two of us completely lost track of the Slaughter Venerable.”

Upon seeing this enormous circle, which was about three thousand miles in diameter, Kong Qiaosheng felt a headache coming on.

“Look everyone,” Kong Qiaosheng stood up from his seat, walked to the sea chart, half-squatted down, and gestured with his hands, “This area is neither too big nor too small. For those of you at the Golden Core stage, it won’t take too long to traverse it.”

"But finding things is not like traveling. Even if you just turn all the nearly eight hundred islands in this area upside down, it would take countless years."

"Not to mention the changes of time; the island that hid the treasure tens of thousands of years ago may have been submerged by the sea."

"If that's the case, I'm afraid even spending three times the time wouldn't be enough to thoroughly explore all the possible locations where treasures might be hidden in this area."

Listening to Kong Qiaosheng's analysis, Han Lu also realized that completing this task would require a tremendous amount of effort. "Then how much time will it take?"

Kong Qiaosheng changed a few words, added one more, and then answered almost exactly the same way, "It would take at least twenty years, but the difficulty of finding the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault is not limited to this."

"What other difficulties are there?" Although Han Lu was also good at planning, she did overlook many details due to her optimistic mood.

Kong Qiaosheng pointed out one by one, "Although even a Qi Refining cultivator who can pilot a flying magic weapon can handle the task of finding the lost item, the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault is of great importance. I suppose you don't want someone who would sell out all information for twenty spirit stones to get involved in this matter, do you?"

Lu Zhi recalled the methods he had used to assassinate Young Master Lan Ya before, and quickly replied, "Of course not. If this deal succeeds, even disregarding the fact that there is no initial investment, we can earn at least three or four hundred thousand spirit stones."

This is still an underestimate. Lü Zhi even suspects that the ancient pair of dragons and phoenixes may have hidden nearly a million spirit stones in their treasure vault.

“So, the lack of manpower during the search will naturally reduce efficiency. Taking that into account,” Kong Qiaosheng said after calculating, “I’m afraid that under the same conditions, it would take at least seventy or even eighty years to find the treasure.”

"This..." Han Lu's slight smile froze completely. "It's still barely acceptable, but we'll have to replace the search team several times."

Han Lu was thinking that she and Mo Zhehan were both true spirits, and even with their current cultivation levels, they had a lifespan of nearly three thousand years. Eighty years was nothing to them.

"Besides," Kong Qiaosheng thought carefully and felt that this matter was difficult to achieve, so he brought up all the problems he had been considering at this time, "This place is not far from the Phoenix Wing Islands, and a large-scale search will definitely expose the news."

"If we take this into account, I'm afraid even a hundred years wouldn't be enough."

These words reminded Han Lu and Lü Zhi of the conspiracy they had plotted some time ago.

They'd rather work hard all that way only to have it all go to someone else's benefit; they're not willing to do that.

Once Kong Qiaosheng had a clear understanding of the situation, Lü Zhi lost his initial enthusiasm and optimism.

He said, “Brother Kong, it seems that this matter is time-consuming, laborious, and difficult to accomplish.”

Do you have any good ideas?

A businessman is a businessman after all, and Lü Zhi still couldn't forget about this fortune.

Han Lu chimed in, "That's right. It seems that using rigid methods to find the item won't work. Fellow Daoist Kong, do you have any other clever ideas?"

After pondering for a moment, Kong Qiaosheng said, "I do have a solution. I can point out two paths for Fairy Han and Fellow Daoist Mo."

Chapter 879 Two Roads

Kong Qiaosheng didn't keep anyone in suspense. He just pondered for a moment, and after thoroughly sorting out his thoughts, he revealed the two ideas he had come up with.

"First, I suggest that Fairy Han and Fellow Daoist Mo try to contact Venerable Slaughter again."

"If his trip ends in failure, you can then cooperate with him again."

"Not only this time, his failure will give you more mental preparation when you cooperate to enter the treasure vault, and save you some trouble."

"Moreover, having experienced the first failure, you two can take the opportunity to raise the price and extract more profit from the treasure vault."

Kong Qiaosheng pointed to the jade tablet on the table, "The Slaughter Venerable is quite powerful and of relatively upright character. Cooperating with him should not be too risky and is a good choice."

Han Lu subconsciously picked up the jade pendant again and handed it to Mo Zhehan.

She had already quickly read through the contents of the jade tablet and roughly knew the public image of the Slaughtering Venerable in the Immortal Pavilion or, more specifically, in the East Sea.

While he can't be described as upright, he's not a scoundrel who only cares about profit.

The feeling Han Lu got from him was about 70% similar to that of Xiao Ran, whom she met in the Dayu Dynasty.

They adhere to the principle of "I will not offend others unless they offend me," and at the same time, they frequently do good deeds and accumulate positive karma.

As Kong Qiaosheng said, when cooperating with such a person, there is indeed no need to worry too much about the other party using any insidious means to harm you.

“That sounds good,” Han Lu agreed with Kong Qiaosheng.

Mo Zhehan, however, had reservations. "If he finds out what we've been doing in secret, then there's no point in even discussing cooperation."

Lu Zhi reassured him, "Fellow Daoist Mo, there's no need to worry. This matter is known only to us, and we won't reveal it to anyone else. Even if Venerable Slaughter advances to the Nascent Soul or Divine Transformation stage, he won't know what you've been doing in secret."

Since his words made sense, Mo Zhehan said no more.

Wen Erya, standing nearby, asked curiously, "What about the second way?"

Yi Qiyan guessed, "Could it be that they're going to use force or money to force the Slaughter Venerable to reveal the exact location of the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault?"

Kong Qiaosheng replied, "I have thought about that, but the other party is not short of spirit stones and has a high level of cultivation. If they want to enter the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault, they will most likely need to obtain some special resources. Using this method is not in line with our style of doing things, and it may also bring us a bad reputation, and it may even ruin our state of mind."

"If the Slaughter Venerable is unwilling to cooperate obediently, then it is destined to be a losing proposition."

“My second path is the same one that the Venerable Slaughter took.”

"Since the Venerable Slaughter only learned the exact location of the Dragon and Phoenix Treasure Vault by finding an ancient book, are there any other books or classics that record this matter or reveal even a single word about it?"

"Find it, narrow down the search area, and then try searching again. That will definitely improve efficiency a lot."

“Perhaps all we need to do is…” Kong Qiaosheng gave an optimistic estimate, “look through the data from May and June, and search for it for another ten or fifteen years, and we can get a good result.”

"Even if you're unlucky, it's still less time, less manpower, and less spirit stones than trying to talk to someone in silence."

Kong Qiaosheng, also a businessman, naturally thinks about saving expenses and leveraging greater profits with less effort when considering problems.

This second suggestion was also excellent, and everyone agreed with it, praising Kong Qiaosheng as a first-rate strategist.

Being praised so quickly and in such a concentrated manner by so many Golden Core cultivators made even the usually calm Kong Qiaosheng a little smug.

The path has been laid out; now it's up to Han Lu and Mo Zhehan to make their choices.

Mo Zhehan was the first to speak, saying, "I don't care. With the teleportation portal, it won't be difficult for me to travel from the Jitian Palace to the Central Plains and then come to the East Sea with Han Lu."

"So we'll follow Han Lu's arrangements."