The Long Journey to Immortality

"As for the facial features..." Xiao Ran used his spiritual power to draw a few strokes in the air, "It's roughly like this."

The spiritual energy formed a delicate face in the air.

"When we were still together, he was at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage."

"He's probably already advanced to the Golden Core Realm by now," Xiao Ran deduced. "His talent in cultivation is almost the same as his talent in wine, so advancing to the Golden Core Realm seems like a sure thing to me."

Looking at that face, Han Lu simply memorized it, but Mo Zhehan vaguely felt a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Chapter 942 A Strange Old Friend

However, Mo Zhehan only felt that the face was familiar, but he couldn't immediately recall where he had seen this cultivator before.

There was no other way; the Great Yu Dynasty had a population of nearly 100 million, and many cultivators looked alike.

Because of their spiritual practice, most monks are handsome men and beautiful women.

While beautiful faces are not all the same, they all share some similarities.

Aside from the striking feature of his chestnut-colored hair, Xiao Ran didn't actually explain what made this "old friend" so different.

Han Lu asked a few more questions out of curiosity, prompting Xiao Ran to recall the scene before he got drunk that day after losing his storage bag.

"At that time, I had known Brother Long for three months and we agreed to travel around the Great Yu Dynasty together, seeking fine wine and improving our cultivation."

"In those few days, we spent a lot of time finding a pot of delicious spiritual wine at the home of a hermit in the countryside."

"So, to enjoy the wine, we arranged to have a drink together in the tavern room."

"The wine tasted so good that I naturally indulged in a few drinks."

"After drinking about seven or eight glasses of wine, I got drunk and don't remember what happened."

……

Xiao Ran held his head and tried his best to remember, but in the end he shook his head, "I really can't remember."

"And then?" Han Lu pressed.

"Later," Xiao Ran said with a pained expression, clearly feeling distressed by recalling this painful past, "I woke up about two days later."

"When I woke up, I was already in bed and not at the table."

"His clothes were disheveled, and he had spilled alcohol on himself while drunk."

Xiao Ran unconsciously rubbed his left hand on his clothes twice, as if wiping away non-existent wine.

"Then, while I was still hungover and my mind was not clear, I tried to find my brother Long, who lived in the next room, by leaning against the wall, only to find that he had disappeared."

"It took me another half day to fully wake up."

"That's when I realized my storage bag had disappeared," Xiao Ran sighed.

"But after I stayed in that town for another half month, I realized that the Long brothers really did steal my storage bag and abandon me."

Immediately afterwards, Xiao Ran made a self-deprecating remark.

"At first, I thought Brother Long was just leaving for a few days."

"Fortunately, Brother Long left me some gold and silver before stealing my storage bag. Otherwise, as a pseudo-core cultivator at the time, I would probably have had to help out in that shop for several days before I could escape."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu asked, "And then you met me?"

"No, it was about half a month before I ran into you." Xiao Ran helped organize the timeline.

"I'm afraid that by then, my storage bag would have already been resold and fallen into the hands of some stranger."

Remembering that his storage bag once contained mementos that originally belonged to his fellow disciples, Xiao Ran felt a pang of regret.

Fortunately, after years of enduring hardship and biding his time, Xiao Ran finally cultivated to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm and avenged his fellow disciples.

Otherwise, he would have no face to meet his former fellow disciples in the afterlife.

"I understand now," Han Lu added another label to Xiao Ran's "old friend"—a drinker—before finally asking, "So what exactly is your brother Long's surname and given name?"

“This… his name is very strange,” Xiao Ran recalled. “It’s called Long Mei’er, which doesn’t sound like a name from the Great Yu Dynasty.”

Hearing the name, Mo Zhehan frowned and said, "This name is indeed a bit strange, it sounds more like a surname plus a nickname."

"I'm afraid your brother Long had his eye on you when you first met him and gave you a fake name."

Xiao Ran sighed again, "Perhaps, I hope not."

Having a "name" and some information about this "Brother Long" who left without saying goodbye provided Han Lu and Mo Zhehan with some direction in their search.

As they continued flying towards the wilderness, Xiao Ran recounted some of his memories.

Han Lu, an old friend, and Mo Zhehan, a new friend, also shared their past experiences with Xiao Ran.

When Xiao Ran learned that Mo Zhehan possessed the bloodline of the Candle Dragon, he understood why Mo Zhehan and Han Lu were so close.

Compared to Xiao Ran's relatively monotonous life, Han Lu's cultivation story is much richer.

Hearing Han Lu talk about many periods in the Central Plains, Xiao Ran couldn't help but feel a longing for the Central Plains again. He wished he could accumulate enough spirit stones as soon as possible, cross the portal, and go to see the place that appeared several times in the legends of the Great Yu Dynasty.

It took about a month and a half to travel from where the three met to the wilderness, and still no foolish bandits or thieves tried to rob the three Golden Core cultivators traveling on the magical ark.

With a smooth journey, Mo Zhehan, Han Lu, and Xiao Ran arrived safely at Manxi Prefecture, a prefecture bordering the wilderness of the Dayu Dynasty, a little earlier than expected.

The slender "body" of Manxi Prefecture made it the first fortress of the Great Yu Dynasty to defend against the threats of wild beasts and true spirits.

Although there has been no large-scale battle between human cultivators and wild beasts and true spirits for a long time, there are still many cultivators from the Jitian Palace and its affiliated sects stationed here.

Naturally, cities of all sizes formed around the fortresses where these monks were stationed.

Xiao Ran wasn't particularly picky about the location, so Han Lu and Mo Zhehan sent him to a city called "Yu Dong".

This is the last city controlled by the cultivators of the Great Yu Dynasty that you pass through on the shortest route to Sanfeng Forest.

Mid-stage Golden Core cultivators will "start a business" here, attempting to make a comeback and accumulate wealth.

Han Lu and Mo Zhehan also chose to stay here for a day or two to contribute to the economic development of "Yu Dong Cheng".

Since all three knew they would meet again in the future, they simply said "goodbye" and offered each other a few simple blessings when saying goodbye.

After parting ways with Xiao Ran, Han Lu, accompanied by Mo Zhehan, began a large-scale shopping spree in Yu Dong City.

Han Lu will purchase the elixirs and materials she needs for her cultivation over the next ten years here, as well as prepare gifts for the many phoenixes in the Three Phoenix Forest that she is familiar with.

This was the third time Han Lu had done something like this while returning to the wilderness, so she was naturally very familiar with it.

She already knew exactly what each phoenix liked and what her parents liked, so getting the medicine according to the prescription was enough.

However, it took a little effort to purchase the materials needed for cultivation.

Although there are at least two thousand Golden Core cultivators in the Great Yu Dynasty, this number is not large compared to the vast cultivator population of the Great Yu Dynasty.

Even a border city like Yu Dong City, which has at least one Golden Core cultivator stationed there year-round, could not provide Han Lu with a large quantity of the pills she needed all at once.

Unfortunately, in order to ensure that their cultivation in the wilderness was not delayed, Han Lu and Mo Zhehan had to stay in Yu Dong City for five more days so that the pharmacy could mobilize resources and complete the transaction.

That evening, Han Lu was sitting in her room playing with the Moon Pearl, staring blankly at the moon in the sky, when Mo Zhehan sneaked in.

[Author's Note] It seems there was a chapter number error somewhere earlier... But I'm too lazy to fix it.

Chapter 943 Suspected Person

Although no restrictions or formations were set up in the room, Han Lu already knew that Mo Zhehan had arrived when he quietly pushed open the door and entered the room.

She tilted her head, turned to face the moonlight outside the window, looked at Mo Zhehan, and teased, "What, suddenly got the guts to raid me at night?"

Mo Zhehan chuckled and said, "I would never do something so despicable. I was just curious about what you were doing, and seeing that the door wasn't locked, I just pushed it open and came in."

"I'm basking in the moonlight; it's a way for phoenixes to cultivate themselves," Han Lu joked, talking nonsense. "Have you satisfied your curiosity?"

Mo Zhehan didn't believe it and tried to lighten the mood with the same topic, "Really? I thought it was just that our Zhulong wanted to sunbathe and cultivate."

Han Lu chuckled twice, "You're definitely much more humorous than before."

"You too." After spending two months with Han Lu, Mo Zhehan increasingly felt that the Han Lu in front of him was like a completely different person from the Han Lu of the past.

Fortunately, they shared the same thing that he was attracted to, which prevented Mo Zhehan, who had finally found a "mate," from losing his way again.

Han Lu knew that Mo Zhehan wouldn't bother her for no reason, so she asked directly, "So, have you found a solution for the pills I bought?"

"No, it's about Xiao Ran."

They had been staying in Yudong City for five days. On the first two days, Han Lu and Mo Zhehan had seen Xiao Ran and the three of them had a sumptuous dinner together.

But three days later, Xiao Ran found a "new job" and joined a hunting team composed of two other cultivators to go to the wilderness to make money.

At this moment, Mo Zhehan mentioned Xiao Ran, which surprised Han Lu slightly.

"What? Has Xiao Ran run into new trouble?" Han Lu asked, slightly nervous.

“No, no,” Mo Zhehan explained, “it’s about Xiao Ran’s brother Long.”

"Oh?" Han Lu became interested. "Could it be that you met a cultivator in the city today who looks similar to that Brother Long?"

Mo Zhehan said, "No, it's not that coincidental."

"Hey, what happened?" Han Lu asked, slightly disappointed.

“Actually, it’s even more coincidental than that, but I wasn’t sure and didn’t dare to say for sure, which is why I didn’t mention it to Fellow Daoist Xiao,” Mo Zhehan paused and continued, “Actually, the day I learned about this, I vaguely felt that Fellow Daoist Xiao’s friend’s face was somewhat familiar to me.”

"I just can't remember who it is for the moment."

"Just now, I thought of a friend I know who looks nine-tenths like that face."

"To be precise, she should be a relative of mine, we are related by blood to some extent."

Mo Zhehan's words were a little awkward, mainly because he felt it was somewhat difficult to explain his relationship with the "suspected Long brother".

"Huh? A relative? Why didn't you say so earlier!" Han Lu asked in surprise.

“It does look somewhat similar, but I’m not sure,” Mo Zhehan explained. “Besides, I only just remembered it this morning, and Fellow Daoist Xiao isn’t here. How can I tell him about it?”

Han Lu was stunned for a moment, then realized that this was indeed the case.

"My fault, my fault," Han Lu apologized and continued to play with the Moon Pearl in her hand.

Soon, Han Lu realized what Mo Zhehan meant and noticed another key point in his words: "Your relatives? Which side?"

As soon as she said that, Han Lu felt a little stupid. "Okay, okay, it must be your mother's side."