The Long Journey to Immortality

Chapter 1028 Security Test

After a short wait, a cultivator from the Immortal Pavilion delivered the goods that Han Lu needed.

After carefully counting everything and confirming that nothing was missing, Han Lu handed over the nine thousand spirit stones in her storage bag, completing this "small profit" transaction.

With the payment settled, Han Lu took the opportunity to inquire about the recent promotional activities of Bitter Tea Hermit, wondering if attracting popularity in this way would result in significant losses.

Han Lu was surprised by the answer from the hermit of bitter tea.

"How could we lose money?"

"The 10% discount is a figure derived from careful calculation."

"By selling small amounts of goods at high volume, we can also seize the reasonable business that other businesses are taking away during this period."

"At the end of the day, I didn't earn as much as I used to."

"But to say there was a loss is absolutely not true."

For over 150 years, the hermit of bitter tea has been in charge of the Immortal Pavilion, and his mind is constantly calculating.

Putting aside the issue of profit and loss, he wouldn't do anything that would harm the interests of the Immortal Pavilion for personal gain.

A few words made Han Lu realize that there was actually no difference between cultivators who engaged in business and ordinary merchants. In fact, because of their intelligence, cultivators were even more shrewd and good at paying attention to details.

After chatting for a while about the wedding venue setup and ceremony arrangements, Han Lu took the initiative to offer to fulfill her promise to help the Immortal Pavilion inspect the warehouse restrictions and formations.

Bitter Tea Hermit wasn't joking; he genuinely had such thoughts.

So he sent another paper sword to several cultivators to prepare, and a quarter of an hour later he led Han Lu to the underground part of the Immortal Pavilion Tower.

As they descended the steps, the Pavilion Master of the Immortal Pavilion, Bitter Tea Hermit, explained to Han Lu, "There are three underground floors, all of which are warehouses where the Immortal Pavilion stores its resources and magical treasures."

"On the first floor, any cultivator from the Immortal Pavilion can register to enter. Inside, there are only the most ordinary resources and magic treasures, each worth less than two hundred spirit stones."

"Only the stewards and higher-ranking Immortal Pavilion cultivators can enter the second floor."

"The value of any single resource or magical artifact stored there does not exceed five thousand spirit stones. The resources that the fairy just bought, as well as the spirit dew pill, are stored there."

Han Lu thought that the Bitter Tea Hermit would lead her to stop at the entrance of this floor and test the restrictions and formations here first, but she did not expect that the Bitter Tea Hermit would still lead her to the third floor.

Unlike before, this time, when there were still nearly ten steps to go before reaching the third underground level, the hermit of bitter tea stopped temporarily.

"The next level is the third floor. Apart from me, only five other people in the Immortal Pavilion are allowed to enter and retrieve goods."

"Besides myself and the five cultivators in the Immortal Pavilion, there are also some major clients who have a good relationship with our Immortal Pavilion and are qualified to enter this place, mainly to make it easier for them to select and purchase magic treasures."

"After all, you have to see, touch, and even use a magic weapon in person to know if it is suitable for you."

"The magical treasures and resources inside can be traded on the market for at least five thousand spirit stones."

"The two most precious magical treasures are so valuable that even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be willing to spend 200,000 spirit stones to trade for them."

Han Lu nodded slightly and asked, "What does the Pavilion Master want me to do?"

“Fairy Zhenfeng, please don’t be in a hurry. Let me finish speaking,” the Bitter Tea Hermit pointed to a step not far away. “For the safety of these priceless resources and magical treasures, the Immortal Pavilion has set up five restrictions and formations here to verify the identity of those who come to take the resources and magical treasures, to prevent thieves, and to defend against external enemies.”

Even the Zhengyi Sect in the Central Plains guards the secret vault with utmost care.

Not to mention that most of the cultivators in the East Sea are not benevolent men and women.

Han Lu naturally believed the rumor that some ruthless bandits would try to rob the Immortal Pavilion in an attempt to get rich overnight.

After all, Han Lu had done things like robbery before.

Han Lu nodded slightly but did not speak, knowing that the hermit of bitter tea had not finished speaking.

"There are five restrictions and formations. Three of the restrictions are used to verify identities, and two formations are used to trap and kill enemies."

"Today, I hope that Fairy Zhenfeng can help test the three identity verification restrictions to see if this place needs to be strengthened to prevent villains from sneaking through without triggering the trapping and killing formations and stealing the treasures in the vault."

Han Lu said again, "Okay, I understand, but what should I do?"

The hermit of bitter tea handed a jade tablet to Han Lu, saying, "Fairy Zhenfeng only needs to use the true spiritual power of the phoenix to change her aura and appearance, just like the two people in the jade tablet, and see if she can deceive the three identity verification restrictions."

That will suffice.

Han Lu took the jade pendant and read the message inside.

The jade tablet records information about two cultivators.

One of them is the deputy pavilion master of the Immortal Pavilion, a cultivator from the East Sea named Duanpan Daoren who possesses the cultivation level of the late Golden Core stage.

One of them was Venerable Shanqian, a cultivator from the Central Plains with the late Nascent Soul stage, who had extensive business dealings with the Immortal Pavilion.

The information recorded in the jade tablet was complete, and it also retained the aura of the two people. This allowed Han Lu to perfect her illusionary art and meet the requirements of the restriction as much as possible.

Holding the jade pendant, Han Lu looked at the hermit of bitter tea and asked.

"Which one should we try first?"

The hermit of bitter tea replied, "As you wish, fairy, those three restrictions are right there..."

The hermit of bitter tea pointed to the last step.

"The fairy only needs to use illusion magic to cross that step."

"If there are no problems, the restriction will naturally not be triggered."

"If there is a problem, the illusion on the fairy will not only be dispelled immediately, but two formations will also be triggered."

"However, with me here, the fairy need not worry about the formation."

Since the hermit of bitter tea had made his words clear, Han Lu had no more concerns and began to act according to her own ideas.

By performing hand seals and circulating the "True Phoenix Treasure Scripture," Han Lu used illusion magic to cover herself with a layer of "skin," transforming her appearance into that of the Silk-Clad Taoist.

Although the aura had not yet been imitated, the appearance was 99% similar, so the Bitter Tea Hermit couldn't help but gently clap his hands and praise, "Wonderful!"

As she unleashed her supernatural power once more, Han Lu's aura changed accordingly.

Three breaths later, in the eyes of the Bitter Tea Hermit, there was no longer the True Phoenix Fairy, only the Satin Pan Daoist.

Not knowing what the Daoist Duanpan's voice sounded like, Han Lu didn't speak, but continued walking forward, actively triggering the restriction.

As her feet crossed the last step, a chill spread across her body.

Holding her breath and pretending nothing had happened, Han Lu continued forward and successfully reached the unadorned black treasure vault door on the third underground floor.

"How is it?" a female voice came from the mouth of "Taoist of the Satin Coil".

The hermit of bitter tea sighed and said, "I've been completely fooled."

Chapter 1029 Gift

"Huh? Is that so?" Han Lu returned to the Bitter Tea Hermit's side, dispelling the illusion spell on her. "Completely fooled?"

The hermit of bitter tea replied, "More or less. There was a moment's hesitation when the barrier verified your identity, but it still regarded you as Daoist Duanpan and let you pass."

Han Lu smiled and said, "It seems that the protective restrictions of the Immortal Pavilion still have some loopholes."

Han Lu then offered words of comfort.

"However, this matter is not a big problem. After all, there are not many cultivators in the East Sea who are skilled in illusion techniques, and there should be very few who are at the same level as me."

"As for the phoenixes that dwell in the East Sea, there are no phantom phoenixes among them."

"As things stand, there shouldn't be any major problems."

Although Han Lu's analysis was very logical, the Bitter Tea Hermit didn't feel comfortable listening to it.

“What the fairy says makes sense. Why don’t you try transforming into the Venerable Shanqian again?”

“For a major client like Venerable Shanqian, these three restrictions are even more stringent.”

"If the restriction is triggered this time, I only need to find someone to slightly modify the restriction here, and the problem will be solved completely."

Han Lu nodded slightly and said, "What the Pavilion Master says is true. Then I will test you again."

Using her supernatural powers once again, Han Lu transformed into Venerable Shanqian from Xuanyang Valley in the Central Plains.

Unfortunately, her cultivation level was only at the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm, making it somewhat difficult for her to simulate the aura of Venerable Shanqian.

If Han Lu's previous transformation into the Duanpan Daoist could be rated 99 points, then Han Lu's current transformation into the Venerable Shanqian could only be rated 95 points.

Although there were flaws, because the Bitter Tea Hermit was not particularly familiar with the Venerable Shanqian, even with his divine sense, he could not see what was wrong with the illusion on Han Lu's body.

Fortunately, the restrictions placed outside the treasure vault were not as "blind" as those placed by the Bitter Tea Hermit.

This time, when Han Lu passed through the restrictions, one of the three restrictions detected something unusual.

A warm current flowed through her body, and an alarm sounded in Han Lu's ears.

Although the formation was not activated immediately to attack Han Lu, the restriction still sounded an alarm, announcing that the "Venerable Shanqian" who was approaching the treasure vault was in trouble.

Hearing the piercing sound of the restriction being triggered, Master Kucha breathed a sigh of relief.

After performing a hand seal to close the restriction, the Bitter Tea Hermit said, "Thank you very much, Fairy Zhenfeng, this time."

Han Lu dispelled the illusion, "It was nothing..."

Han Lu's explanation of the obvious oversight in her transformation into the Venerable Shanqian, where her aura was off, made the Bitter Tea Hermit's heart, which had just relaxed, jump again.

"So...it seems we'll have to do some more work."

The loopholes could have been patched up with just a few adjustments, but Han Lu's two sentences added several more possibilities to the problem.

What was originally a minor problem that could be fixed with a thousand spirit stones now seems to require tens of thousands of spirit stones to patch up this "hole".

However, considering the treasures stored in the third tier of the vault, spending this money is definitely not a loss.

He did Han Lu a great favor. Although no reward had been agreed upon beforehand, the Bitter Tea Hermit brought it up and led her into the treasure vault on the second basement floor, allowing her to choose any material or magic item to take away as she pleased.

Following the hermit of bitter tea into the second-floor treasure vault, Han Lu was dazzled by the various magical treasures and materials inside.

Considering that she hadn't yet prepared a suitable gift for her two close friends who were about to get married, Han Lu simply started looking for something presentable in the treasure vault on the second floor of the Immortal Pavilion.

As for the selection principles.

The monetary value is secondary; the main thing is to obtain a good meaning.

Of course, it would be even better if it could also be practical.

There are many conditions, and it seems difficult to find a suitable one, but the treasure trove is full of magical treasures.