The Long Journey to Immortality

Despite their differences in attitudes towards the Zerg, Feng Yanxi and Feng Aoshuang held different views.

Feng Yanxi was able to appreciate the beauty of the Zerg, and even gave it a slightly higher score than Han Lu.

Feng Aoshuang, on the other hand, had no good feelings towards the Zerg and gave them a mere 60 points to express her attitude.

The three of them put their heads together and came up with another score of 70 before submitting it.

In the end, this handsome man, who could be considered "dashing" among the Zerg, only scored seventy-five points, slightly behind contestant number one.

Han Lu could only think to herself, "This is probably racial discrimination."

Chapter 979 "Racial Discrimination"

Han Lu's statement was somewhat exaggerated, and even she gave contestant number two a slightly lower score due to some "prejudice".

However, there is no political correctness at the Bird Festival, only some gentle humanistic care.

The fact that the average score of the Zerg contestants in the beauty pageant has been increasing year by year shows that the judges only gave slightly lower scores because of "differences in aesthetics".

One can imagine that in the future, the Zerg will be able to stand on the starting line with other birds at the Bird Festival.

A judge who is recognized and participates in the scoring will emerge.

One contestant ultimately won a championship by virtue of their own charm.

But that's a matter for the future. Han Lu can see right now that even a novice like her can't fully appreciate the charm of the Zerg.

One by one, the contestants took turns appearing on stage.

Each participant has only twenty breaths to present.

Most participants simply lit up their images, which took up all their time.

Only a very few people came on stage to strike a few poses or showcase their talents.

While talent and inner beauty are important, beauty pageants are ultimately a domain of those who prioritize appearance.

These additional presentations did not add any extra points for the participants.

Most participants scored between 70 and 80, with the occasional exceptional participant scoring above 80.

Han Lu sat on the judges' panel for nearly four hours. Only after Feng Yanxi announced the end of the first round of the competition did she stretch lazily, quite unlike a lady, and loosen her limbs.

Even if each contestant only has a short twenty-breath time to showcase their skills.

However, even including the time allotted for the formalities and scoring, the 230 contestants barely managed to get a chance to appear in front of all the judges from morning till night.

Fortunately, even the weakest cultivator present was at the early stage of the Transformation Realm.

Otherwise, I'm afraid one or two judges would be exhausted.

Initially, Han Lu was somewhat unaccustomed to the responsibility of being a judge, and the scores she gave were always different from those of her two senior colleagues.

Fortunately, both Feng Yanxi and Feng Aoshuang were willing to communicate with Han Lu more through their divine senses, praising, criticizing, and analyzing things openly in front of Han Lu.

This kind of verbal and physical instruction gradually enabled Han Lu to appreciate the charm of other birds or insectoids from the perspective of a phoenix.

She was quite at ease, and when it came time to judge the twenty contestants, Han Lu was able to offer a few comments and reach some consensus with one of the two senior judges.

After the competition, Han Lu lingered a little longer on the judges' panel, prompted by senior Feng Yanxi.

Soon, the judges from various ethnic groups gathered together, waiting for the phoenix, who had been responsible for recording the scores, to come and report the statistical results.

The competition consists of two rounds, and it is quite necessary to temporarily rank the top ten based on the scores in the first half.

Now, all the judges are waiting for this result.

Of course, confirming that there was no underhanded dealing between the parties is also one of the purposes of this step.

Soon, the phoenix named "Feng Dian" appeared with the judges, holding several copies of the score plaque.

"Look everyone, these are the scores of each participant and your ratings for them."

However, the seven jade tablets were passed from one judge to another.

Han Lu waited a moment before taking a jade tablet from Feng Aoshuang to examine the information inside.

The scores of all 230 participants were clearly recorded, and the scores given by each judge were also clearly written down.

Finally, Feng Dian also compiled the serial numbers of the ten contestants with the highest scores.

As a Golden Core cultivator, Han Lu has a good memory; she can recall which contestant each number corresponds to just by looking at the serial number.

The top ten contestants all scored above 84 points.

The highest-scoring roc even achieved a high score of 92 points.

Han Lu had a deep impression of that Peng bird cultivator.

Just the sight of that dazzling golden plumage made her instinctively give the contestant who was spreading his wings in front of everyone a high score.

After everyone had looked at the jade plaque at least once, Feng Yanxi, who was hosting the event, asked a couple of symbolic questions.

"Does anyone feel that their scores differ from their own evaluations, or that there are any errors?"

"Or if you discover that a judge has engaged in favoritism, you can report it to me directly via voice message."

After waiting for a moment and seeing that no one was communicating with him, Feng Yanxi said, "Since there are no problems, everyone can leave now. You've all had a hard time."

Seven days later, in the second round of the competition, only the Three Phoenixes and the True Spirits of the other two clans could serve as judges, so Feng Yanxi didn't say much polite talk and announced "disbandment".

Han Lu politely thanked the two seniors and said goodbye before leaving.

As soon as Han Lu left the judges' panel, she saw her mother waiting for her not far away.

The two first exchanged a warm hug and greeting in public before Han Lu finally asked, "Mom, what's up? Did you need me for something?"

Feng Rubing said, "I just wanted to see if my daughter had been captivated by any handsome man in the beauty pageant. What, do you have someone you like? I don't mind if you find a Zhulong, and I don't mind if you find a Peng bird boyfriend."

As always, Feng Rubing behaved more like an unconventional older sister in front of Han Lu in private.

After that heart-to-heart conversation, Han Lu was much more at ease dealing with her mother's teasing.

Han Lu said calmly, "I've taken a fancy to a handsome Zerg guy. Why don't you take a look and see if he's to your liking?"

Hearing this, Feng Rubing became anxious instead, "The Zerg won't do, I..."

Feng Rubing trembled, clearly thinking of something that made her uncomfortable.

But soon she noticed the smile on her daughter's face, and Feng Rubing realized that she had been tricked.

Reaching out, Feng Rubing ruffled her daughter's hair and said, "Not bad. I thought you would blush and say that nothing of the sort happened. But you're much smarter now, and you're becoming more and more like me."

"Alright, alright," Han Lu didn't dodge, letting Feng Rubing ruffle her smooth, long hair. "Mom, what do you need me for? Is there some diplomatic occasion that requires my attendance?"

Before attending the Bird Festival, Han Lu was already prepared to act as a diplomatic tool.

Feng Rubing said, "No, I'm standing here waiting for you mainly because I want to talk to you about some private matters."

"Let's go home and talk about it."

Han Lu asked in confusion, "Private matters? What private matters? What are they related to?"

Before she could ask any more questions, Feng Rubing put her arm around her daughter's waist, seemingly unconcerned about the stares of others, and walked intimately with her daughter toward their home.

Chapter 980 Feng Rubing's Childhood Playmate

Feng Rubing pulled Han Lu back to Han Lu's room, hurriedly closing the door behind her, looking rather serious and mysterious.

Seeing her mother's posture, Han Lu's doubts deepened.

She asked in a low voice, "Mom, what's wrong? Has something serious happened?"

Feng Rubing nodded and said, "It's a big deal, a huge deal."

Upon seeing this, Han Lu swallowed hard, her heart pounding. "What's the big deal? Explain quickly."

Feng Rubing said, "Daughter, do you know? Several..."

"Que Chuyao, the chieftain of the Peacock Clan, is coming to Sanfeng Forest to attend the Hundred Birds Gathering."

Both the Peng bird and the peacock are true spirits, but only the Peng bird clan was led to the gathering by its clan leader at the first opportunity. The peacock clan leader was delayed by a minor matter and agreed to arrive a few days after the Hundred Birds Gathering began.

This is what Feng Rubing was referring to.

"I know that," Han Lu blinked, not quite understanding. "It's not a big deal, and there's no need to be so nervous."

"The patriarch of the Peng Bird Clan also came. I even helped receive him. He's a very kind senior," Han Lu commented simply, not regarding the patriarchs of the other two clans as some kind of monster.

Feng Rubing doesn't see it that way.

“Daughter, you don’t know,” Feng Rubing sighed, and began to tell the story of her and Que Chuyao, “Que Chuyao, the patriarch of the Peacock Clan, and I grew up together as children…”

Although Que Chuyao is now the patriarch of the Peacock Clan, she spent nearly twenty years of her childhood growing up in the Three Phoenix Forest because her family was related to the Ice Phoenix of Feng Rubing's lineage.

They were distant relatives, and since Feng Rubing was still a fledgling phoenix at the time, the two naturally became playmates.

Feng Rubing said that she and Que Chuyao had been playing together since they were little, and that was no exaggeration at all.

Hearing this, Han Lu was even more puzzled. "Wouldn't it be a good thing to see old friends again? It would also be a good opportunity for you to catch up with your childhood playmates."

"Why do you make it sound like a disaster is about to happen?"

Feng Rubing repeated the same words, "Daughter, you don't know..."

"Actually, I don't know either. After Que Chuyao grew up, her personality changed for some reason. She was no longer as close to me as before."

"Every time we meet, they compare this and that with me."

“Compare the resources in the storage bag, compare the spirit stones in the storage bag, compare appearance, compare figure, compare boyfriend, compare cultivation level…” Feng Rubing counted on her fingers, and with each item mentioned, she could recall a memory from more than five thousand years ago.

“Decades ago, the first thing she did after I returned to Sanfenglin was to come looking for me after hearing the news, and she even bragged about her daughter and son-in-law.”

"So," Han Lu finally understood, "it's time to compare the children now?"

Feng Rubing nodded in agreement.

"She is bringing her granddaughter to Sanfenglin for a gathering this time."

"They're about your age, maybe thirty or forty years older."

"That's why I came to find you, so you can prepare in advance."

"Don't let me look inferior to her and be outshone."