The Long Journey to Immortality

Just as the ink wolf was about to leap and pounce, it was suddenly surrounded by a water prison that appeared out of nowhere, and for a moment it became a trapped beast.

Wen Erya was stunned for only a moment before she realized what had happened, "A trap?"

It turns out that Ink Wolf stepped into a "water prison trap" that Han Lu had cleverly set up, using the water on the arena as cover.

Trapped like a beast, the Ink Wolf followed its instincts and began tearing at the water prison surrounding it, trying to escape.

Unfortunately, although it is very resilient, its lethality and destructive power are only average, and all its struggles are in vain.

The Ink Wolf was difficult to destroy, and Han Lu, who had already expended a lot of spiritual energy in the previous battle, had no intention of wasting any more effort on it.

In any case, once the water prison trap is set up, it will no longer consume Han Lu's spiritual power.

Letting the Ink Wolf and the Water Prison fight it out was her choice.

Wen Erya, thanks to her combat experience accumulated from nearly fifty matches, made the right choice in an instant.

The Ink Wolf, which had just been struggling in the water dungeon, instantly turned into a pool of ink, turning the once clear pool black.

Immediately afterwards, Wen Erya released two more streams of spiritual energy, attempting to activate even more powerful monsters on the scroll.

However, at this moment, the bamboo sword, which was already countered by the golden sword, was defeated.

Han Lu, who had previously been shouting "I'll go all out," showed no sign of holding back, even with a Foundation Establishment stage physician watching from the sidelines.

The golden sword struck with such force that it sent the bamboo sword flying, then fell back down, aiming to slash at Wen Er Ya's right wrist, which was gripping the scroll of paper.

Although even a broken wrist can be reattached by a doctor and restored to its original state, Wen Erya still subconsciously let go of the painting, which was a "burden" that hindered her dodging.

Abandoning the painting, Wen Erya unleashed a burst of spiritual energy towards the ground in front of her, using the recoil to propel herself backward seven or eight meters, dodging Han Lu's golden sword strike.

The golden sword fell, striking empty air, but this did not mean that Han Lu's offensive was over.

With her hands forming a hand seal, Han Lu channeled all the remaining spiritual energy in her body into the spirit sword.

Instantly, the golden sword crackled with electricity.

The next second, a giant bolt of lightning the size of a bowl shot out from the tip of the golden sword, heading straight for Wen Er Ya, who had no room to dodge.

Upon seeing this, Wen Er Ya couldn't help but close her eyes.

Just as Wen Erya was preparing to endure the pain and embarrassment brought by the electric shock, Han Lu did her best to make the lightning bolt, which was originally bound to hit the bullseye, miss.

The lightning struck the ground with a loud thud.

After waiting for a long time without feeling any pain, Wen Erya guessed that Han Lu had probably held back, and then slowly opened her eyes.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, stirring up dust which was then dispersed by the wind.

A large crater, half a meter deep, appeared on the arena.

Thanks to Han Lu's precise control, Wen Erya, who was standing by the pit, was not injured at all except for some dust on her body and a slight numbness in her feet.

Han Lu wiped the sweat from her brow, raised her hand, and put the spirit sword back into her storage bag.

She quickly walked up to Wen Erya, extended her hand, and asked, "Senior sister, are you alright?"

"It's alright," Wen Erya said, taking Han Lu's hand with her right hand to straighten up. She touched her slightly numb legs with her left hand and praised, "Junior sister is amazing."

Han Lu didn't think there was anything to praise about this, but simply said, "Actually, I just benefited from my senior sister's advantage. I stood on the sidelines and watched so many of her matches with her sparring partners, and I know her moves and routines very well."

"If I didn't know how powerful your Ink Beast was, I would most likely have been defeated because I got entangled with it."

Han Lu had witnessed many sparring partners with higher cultivation levels than Wen Erya being defeated by the indestructible ink beasts.

Therefore, upon seeing the Ink Beast, she used the water prison trap originally prepared for Wen Erya on the Ink Beast, trapping it rather than killing it.

Following that, Han Lu offered her suggestion.

"Senior sister, I suggest you find a metal-attribute spirit sword. Using a wood-attribute spirit sword for weapon control instead of casting spells will put you at a slight disadvantage in combat."

Since Wen Erya's storage bag contained mostly spirit stones, Han Lu naturally suggested that Wen Erya make the most of this advantage and put the saying "spirit stones are power" into practice.

Although Wen Erya was defeated in the fierce battle, she felt that she had gained more than she had in ten matches with her sparring partner.

After the two exchanged a few words, the doctor, who had been waiting in the audience, finally arrived and stepped onto the stage.

Looking at the large crater in the ground, Han Lu instinctively covered her storage bag and asked in a low voice, "We shouldn't have to pay for the arena, right?"

The doctor looked at Han Lu, whose cultivation level was only at the second level of Qi Refining, with the eyes of someone looking at a monster, and said, "No need."

After a brief examination and treatment, confirming that neither Han Lu nor Wen Erya was injured, the physician issued a paper sword, summoning the cultivators responsible for repairing the arena to come and clean up the mess.

Chapter 89 A Stormy Era

There are still three days until the start of the competition.

At noon that day, a number of cultivators gathered in front of the Dongshan Academy.

Most of these disciples had been studying there for less than five years, and they were gathered in front of the academy simply to witness a spectacular sight that was about to unfold.

The sun was high in the sky when the university's doors, which had been half-open, suddenly swung open.

An administrator from the academy came out carrying a gong.

He seemed to have anticipated so many onlookers, and there was no trace of stage fright on his face.

He held a gong in one hand and a hammer in the other.

The steward looked at the sun crown used for timing not far away.

When the shadow of the pointer pointed to noon, the steward struck the gong loudly, signaling to his colleagues in the academy.

Similar scenes were playing out simultaneously in front of various mountain colleges and middle schools.

The sound of the gong was still echoing in the ears of the onlookers when, in the blink of an eye, the man-made spectacle that everyone had been waiting for was staged.

In an instant, thousands of paper swords made of different colored paper flew out of the academy.

A small portion of these paper swords hovered in the air for a moment before disappearing into the crowd and landing in the hands of the recipients.

Meanwhile, many more paper swords flew together in the air to various mountain courtyards, heading towards their respective destinations.

While the commotion was raging at the university, Han Lu had just finished lunch and was sitting in the courtyard, basking in the winter sun, leisurely leaning back in a deck chair, petting the cat in her arms.

One of the paper swords, launched from the academy, flew through the air above Dongshan Academy for nearly a minute before finally sensing Han Lu's presence. It then broke away from the group and flew towards the 17th room of the 7th Academy where Han Lu resided.

Although the paper sword was issued by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was made of special paper, so it easily broke through the outermost layer of restrictions in Han Lu's courtyard and arrived in front of Han Lu without triggering an alarm.

Upon seeing an unidentified flying object fly past in front of him, the true nature of Ah Xiao, the raccoon demon who had been squinting and enjoying Han Lu's caresses, was instantly awakened.

He shook his body, stood up from Han Lu's lap, leaped into the air, and stretched out his front paws, trying to knock the flying sword down.

Unfortunately, although A Xiao, who had been cared for by Han Lu for more than two months, had recovered its health, it had also turned from a skinny cat into a fat cat.

Having quadrupled in weight, even the tanuki demon could no longer be as agile as it once was when it was slender.

Ah Xiao barely managed to jump up a fraction of an inch before falling from the sky like a plane crash, landing face-first in the air.

Seeing Ah Xiao's discomfiture, Han Lu couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.

Seeing the flying sword still hovering in front of Han Lu, A Xiao cried out anxiously, "Meow meow meow!" In an instant, it learned to fight on two legs. Supporting itself on its hind legs, it straightened up and stretched out its forelimbs as much as possible, waving them at the paper sword.

Seeing this unique paper sword, Han Lu temporarily abandoned her intention to let A Xiao continue to be teased, and quickly reached out to take it.

Having participated in five major competitions, Feng Bailu naturally knew what was written on the paper sword in front of him.

She dared not be negligent, lest the gluttonous raccoon demon Ah Xiao eat this "dry garbage".

The entire Zhengyi Sect has nearly 25,000 people, of whom about 23,000 are Qi Refining cultivators qualified to participate in the Grand Competition.

If we further subdivide them according to their skill level, we can divide them into groups for separate competitions.

There are probably two thousand cultivators at the second level of Qi Refining who will become Han Lu's potential rivals.

The paper sword contained Han Lu's competition schedule for the tournament three days later.

The paper sword is blue, which means that Han Lu's seven matches in the first three days of the competition were held in the Dongshan Academy's arena.

This saved Han Lu a lot of time, saving her the trouble of traveling back and forth.

The paper sword contained little information, only briefly telling Han Lu the names of her opponents in the seven matches, the approximate time, and the arena at Dongshan Academy where she would compete against each other.

The process of selecting opponents is carried out secretly and randomly within the academy, but there is absolutely no possibility of any underhanded manipulation.

Who will meet whom in the grand competition will only be known when the paper sword is obtained.

There is an element of luck involved, but almost no one will complain to the university.

After all, opportunity is also part of a cultivator's ability.

Feng Bailu, who had previously encountered bad luck, often faced opponents of average or above-average strength in the competition, resulting in tough battles and the depletion of too much spiritual energy and stamina.

Bad luck meant that despite his outstanding combat strength, Feng Bailu only made it into the top 64 twice in the competition, participating in the second round.

Looking at the seven completely unfamiliar names on the paper sword, Han Lu had no intention of going to the other party's mountain courtyard to gather information.

During her practice the previous night, Han Lu successfully opened her eighty-fifth acupoint.

Her confidence stemmed from the fact that her spiritual power far surpassed that of a typical Qi Refining Level 2 cultivator and her combat experience was comparable to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

After reading the text on the paper sword, Han Lu simply noted down when and where the competition would take place, and then casually stuffed the paper sword into the storage bag at her waist.

There are many competitions, but few arenas. The time on the paper sword is only an approximation. In most cases, in order not to lose without a fight due to being late, the disciples participating in the competition will arrive early and watch their fellow disciples fight on the sidelines while waiting for their own match to begin.

Standing up and bending down, Han Lu pulled A Xiao, who was still meowing and throwing a tantrum, into her arms and gently stroked her.

She is using this method to revitalize her "dried-up" state of mind, which had become "dry" from staying up late for meditation.

Cultivators like Han Lu, who are confident and well-prepared for the competition, are ultimately few and far between.

After receiving their individual competition schedules from the academy, the vast majority of Zhengyi disciples began to get busy.

Those who lack spirit stones in their storage bags will have to expend more effort and persuasion to travel to the mountain academy where their opponents are located to gather information.

Meanwhile, wealthy but incompetent cultivators like Wen Erya's two elder brothers began to utilize the power of spirit stones. They would either sell materials in the market to gather information about their opponents in a relatively simple way, or simply carry spirit stones, find their rivals, and bribe them with the spirit stones.

After all, according to the sect rules, many cultivators who participate in the competition, even if they are at the bottom, will not be kicked out of the sect, but will only receive some minor punishment.

Naturally, these cultivators were also willing to sell a victory and put on a show on the arena that could earn them ten or even twenty spirit stones.

Money makes the world go round; if you replace "money" with "spirit stones," the same applies.

The Eight Immortals each displayed their unique abilities as they crossed the sea.

Even before the competition began, the cultivators started using supernatural abilities such as "money power" to strive for a better ranking.