The Long Journey to Immortality

Of course, Han Lu also prepared some medicinal stones that could be used to assist in the formation of the Golden Core for Nian Haoge.

Although she started strong but finished weak, she never shortchanged her disciples in terms of spirit stones and resources.

At least, Nian Haoge, Qiu Peng, and several other disciples who had followed Han Lu to the Foundation Establishment stage had no complaints whatsoever.

On the contrary, many of them idolize Han Lu, regarding her not only as their teacher but also as their idol.

After doing everything perfectly, Han Lu finally went to visit the Qingxu Sect Master to say goodbye.

Although Xuan Chengzi had already relayed the message, it was still necessary for Han Lu, who was departing from Zhengyi Gate, to make the trip when it was time to leave, in order to avoid any misunderstandings or impoliteness.

Qingxu Daoist was not surprised by Han Lu's arrival.

Although Han Lu came to "ask for leave" for official business, their meeting and conversation felt like a private one.

The friendly exchange meant that the vacation that had already been unilaterally granted to Han Lu was ultimately written down.

Han Lu did not push her luck and offered to return to the sect as soon as possible to fulfill her duties as an elder.

Of course, in the end, no matter how familiar and friendly they were, the fact that Han Lu would leave Zhengyi Sect in the future was still brought up.

A moment later, Han Lu extended the deadline again.

"My plan is to stay in the sect for at least another thirty years after I return this time, before I consider going home."

She discovered that her ties with her sect, friends in the Central Plains, and disciples had not faded much with time.

She needs more time to truly settle everything, to have a clear conscience, and to return to the wilderness to live with her family.

Fortunately, she was a true spirit, and her family members were also true spirits, all with long lifespans, giving her ample time to complete these preparations.

After leaving Qingxu Daoist, Han Lu headed straight for the teleportation portal.

As an elder of the Zhengyi Sect, Han Lu did not use any special privileges at the teleportation portal. She lined up properly and only paid and teleported after the two merchants heading to the Dayu Dynasty.

Four days later, she returned to the Celestial Palace, but the welcoming line at the portal was beyond her expectations.

"Mo Zhehan, you didn't leave?"

Stepping down from the platform, Han Lu looked at Mo Zhehan, who had just stood up from the throne, and exclaimed in surprise.

"Hehe," Mo Zhehan chuckled, "I was just thinking of escorting you to the Wilderness. I didn't know when you would teleport back, and since it wouldn't take too long, I decided to just wait here."

Han Lu had no intention of refusing Mo Zhehan's "escort" offer, so she didn't comment further.

Then, she looked at the other female cultivator beside Mo Zhehan and asked, "You..."

It looks familiar.

"You're the Extreme Heaven Palace cultivator who won the Central Plains competition back then, right..." Han Lu took three seconds to recall the name of this cultivator, who was also at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm. "Qiu Xing?"

When Han Lu recalled the other person's name, she also remembered the time when they met by chance in front of the teleportation portal.

“Good memory, Fellow Daoist Zhenfeng,” Qiu Xing said, having learned of Han Lu’s fellow Daoist from Mo Zhehan. “I hope Fellow Daoist Zhenfeng can also call me fellow Daoist, Bei Qiu.”

“Okay, Qiu Xing.” Han Lu made a joke about Qiu Xing.

Mo Zhehan couldn't help but laugh, which immediately lightened the atmosphere.

Qiu Xing could easily tell that Han Lu was teasing him, and said without any temper, "Han Lu, call me whatever you want."

"Qiu Xing, you came here to wait for me, surely not to talk to me about names?" Han Lu asked.

Qiu Xingdao said, "That's right. I originally came to challenge Fellow Daoist Mo Qiong, but I didn't expect him to refuse on the grounds that he was waiting for you here."

"When I learned that you had also reached the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, I wanted to fulfill the challenge I had issued back then and have a match with you."

Please don't refuse.

Upon hearing that she had come to challenge her to a duel, Han Lu was slightly surprised. But after carefully recalling what Qiu Xing had once told her, Han Lu felt that it was quite normal for her to want to fight after their chance encounter.

Seeing Qiu Xing's seriousness, Han Lu, who hadn't sparred with anyone for a long time, did indeed have the idea of ​​competing with Qiu Xing, the top genius of Jitian Palace.

Nodding slightly, Han Lu said, "I'm not in a hurry to go to the Wilderness, but I need to ask you a question first. Qiu Xing, when did you advance to the mid-stage of the Golden Core Realm?"

Knowing that Han Lu was asking about her cultivation level, Qiu Xing replied, "I advanced to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm twenty-three years ago, and now I have three Core Formations. How about it, am I qualified to be your opponent?"

Back then, Qiu Xing was a pseudo-Core Formation cultivator.

Now, more than fifty years have passed, and such a speed of progress in cultivation can be described as extremely fast.

In her opinion, Han Lu, who had only achieved the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm for a little over ten years, was definitely no match for her in terms of cultivation.

Hearing Qiu Xing's answer, Han Lu was slightly disappointed. After pondering for a moment, she shook her head and said, "Fellow Daoist Qiu Xing, it is not suitable for us to have a contest of magic right now."

"Hmm?" Qiu Xing raised an eyebrow and said, "Han Lu, you don't actually think that you can dominate the same realm just because you have a True Spirit Bloodline?"

“The last few times I challenged Elder Mo Qiong to a duel, he was only able to fight me to a standstill.”

"No, that's not it," Han Lu quickly explained. "Although it sounds a bit scary, by sheer coincidence, I have now successfully drawn eight pill patterns on my golden core."

"Based on this, and with many true spiritual powers, I believe that defeating you should be no problem. There is no need to fight and damage our relationship."

Upon hearing this result, Qiu Xing and Mo Zhehan were both extremely surprised.

Qiu Xing was astonished that Han Lu was able to draw the Dan patterns so quickly, raising her cultivation level to a level far surpassing her own.

Mo Zhehan's surprise was more akin to terror.

She was alarmed by Han Lu's rapid progress, fearing that she might miss out on love again.

“I don’t care,” Qiu Xing said. “Han Lu, no matter what, you must fight me today.”

Han Lu sighed, looked around, and said, "Alright, but let's talk about this outside."

Chapter 928 Twenty Moves

The main hall built upon the sudden appearance of the portal was not complicated; apart from the main building, there was only a short corridor.

In order to find out the general situation of Qiu Xing, Han Lu deliberately walked ahead and slowed down a bit, while sending a telepathic message to Mo Zhehan to inquire about the situation.

Among the disciples of Jitian Palace who have advanced to the Golden Core stage in the last hundred years, Qiu Xing, the former champion of the Eastern Division of the East-West Arena, is a warmonger.

Her personality is nothing like the quiet and gentle appearance she has.

Besides her daily cultivation, her main activity was seeking out fellow cultivators of similar cultivation levels to spar and exchange techniques.

Qiu Xing is a disciple of the Tonglu Mountain lineage below the Jitian Palace.

Tonglu Mountain is far inferior to both Qingcheng Palace and Zixiao Sect, and its lineage doesn't even have a single cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage.

Therefore, Qiu Xing is regarded as the hope for the rise of Tonglu Mountain and the main candidate for the future leader of the Tonglu Mountain lineage.

In Tonglu Mountain, many cultivators hope that Qiu Xing will be able to advance to the Nascent Soul stage in the future and carry forward the small sect under the Jitian Palace.

Because they were once the "core" members sent by the Jitian Palace to compete in the East and West, and their cultivation levels happened to be comparable to Qiu Xing's, Mo Zhehan was often dragged into sparring and fighting by this battle-crazed female cultivator.

Initially, Mo Zhehan, who also had a fighting spirit, was very interested in this matter and never refused.

However, after exchanging blows seven or eight times over three or four years and figuring out each other's strengths and weaknesses, the initial thrill and enjoyment of their sparring sessions faded.

Since then, Mo Zhehan has refused Qiu Xing's invitation four out of five times.

The last time the two fought was ten years ago when they had just advanced to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

Just as Qiu Xing had told Han Lu before, she and Mo Zhehan were evenly matched, neither able to gain the upper hand.

"In short, Qiu Xing is extremely powerful. Han Lu, you should be very careful if you want to spar with her."

"Although she is a bit belligerent, she is of good character, so there is no need to worry about her getting injured during sparring and hindering your plans to go home."

Hearing Mo Zhehan's words, Han Lu became more cautious and largely abandoned her previous contempt for Qiu Xing, whose cultivation level was lower than hers.

"Mo Zhehan has fought Qiu Xing several times and knows Qiu Xing's strength very well. He has also witnessed my battle with the three Azure Dragons in the East China Sea last time."

"To draw such a conclusion under such circumstances, I should indeed be more careful."

Having received this reply, Han Lu already had a clear idea of ​​what to do and a general plan for how she should conduct her sparring match with Qiu Xing.

Han Lu led them for a full twenty breaths on that short distance. When the setting sun shone on the three of them in the sky above Jitian Mansion, Qiu Xing couldn't wait to start talking about sparring and fighting again.

Qiu Xing recalled, "Back then, if you hadn't wanted to return to the Central Plains, I would have challenged you to a duel."

"I never thought that after so many years, I would find the opportunity to fight you again."

"Han Lu, cultivation level doesn't represent everything."

"Although I don't know what methods you used to advance so quickly."

"But I imagine you are still as strong as you were back then, worthy of being my opponent."

"Let's have a match and see who was the real champion of that competition back then."

Although it was just a fabricated title, Qiu Xing was often compared to Han Lu by his fellow disciples for various reasons, leading them to conclude that Qiu Xing was inferior to Han Lu. Qiu Xing cared a lot about this title.

This obsession has been lingering in Qiu Xing's mind for so many years, no wonder she felt compelled to fight Han Lu to vent her frustrations when she heard that Han Lu's cultivation was half a head higher than hers.

When Qiu Xing challenged her to a duel, Han Lu's answer remained simple: "Sure, it's just a friendly spar, it won't interfere with anything important."

Hearing Han Lu's positive response, Qiu Xing was overjoyed. "Great! There's the arena from the competition not far away. It's usually empty, so we can use it freely."

"It's more fitting for our status to fight up there."

Qiu Xing was clearly still resentful about not being able to compete with Han Lu back then.

“No need for such trouble,” Han Lu said. “We’ll stop here and stop here. We’re both at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, so let’s just have a simple match in this open space right here.”

“This…” Mo Zhehan interjected, “Han Lu, you’re not a cultivator from the Extreme Heaven Palace, so you probably don’t know.”

Private duels are not allowed in the Jitian Palace.

“If we follow your plan, it will break the rules.”

"Although it's just a minor rule, it's best not to break it."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu said, "Then let's do as you say."

Qiu Xing and Mo Zhehan were, after all, elders of the Jitian Palace, so borrowing the arena for a duel was incredibly easy for them.

Even including the travel time, it was only a quarter of an hour before Qiu Xing and Han Lu were standing on the arena where Han Lu had once faced off against Mo Zhehan, Chai Tianjiao, and Dong Fengyu.

Mo Zhehan will act as referee, making symbolic rulings and intervening at appropriate times to protect both sides from losing their lives in the sparring match.

Looking at Qiu Xing, who had already assumed a fighting stance, Han Lu suggested, "Qiu Xing, how about we only exchange twenty blows? If we have a winner, then we'll have a winner. If we don't, then no matter how long we fight, we won't be able to determine a true winner."

"Okay." Qiu Xing readily agreed, not thinking that Han Lu was being scheming or had any ulterior motives.