The Long Journey to Immortality

"This... seems wrong."

"This isn't right either."

"This road seems to be the right one, but I also have a vague feeling that there's something wrong with it."

……

Trapped within the formation, Han Lu stood still for about a hundred breaths when she suddenly sensed something unusual in the bamboo forest beyond the hundred paths. She immediately understood the correct answer to the riddle set up by the formation's creator.

"Well," Han Lu chuckled and muttered to herself, "So all those hundred paths were false paths, all wrong options. The real correct answer is right here."

Following the feeling emanating from the bamboo forest beyond the road, Han Lu pressed on, ignoring the sharp edges of the broken bamboo.

The sharp edge of the broken bamboo grazed Han Lu's phoenix feather robe, tearing the garment—formed by her "innate divine power"—which even ordinary magical treasures couldn't leave a mark on, and leaving wounds on Han Lu's body.

What appears to be an ordinary broken bamboo is actually a spiritual sword comparable to a spiritual weapon within the formation.

After only a few steps, Han Lu's legs were covered in wounds, and blood had stained her long, white legs red.

The pain made Han Lu frown involuntarily. This pain was different from ordinary injuries; it struck directly at her soul and consciousness.

But she had no intention of backing down or taking a detour.

After walking about a hundred steps, the world suddenly opened up before my eyes.

Stepping out of the formation, a cave dwelling surrounded by thousands of wind chimes and green bamboo appeared before her.

As she left the illusion array, Han Lu's aches and pains disappeared, and her phoenix feather robe returned to its original state.

Not only are the hundred paths part of the illusion array, but the damage caused by the broken bamboo when you walk the correct path is also part of the illusion array.

Subconsciously touching the "phantom pain" area on her arm, Han Lu used her supernatural powers to slightly adjust her phoenix feather robe before continuing forward towards the cave that clearly concealed the Heaven-Stealing Bottle.

The cave dwelling is located in a clearing in a bamboo forest. Next to the cave dwelling is a simple two-story building, which looks like it is usually inhabited.

After circling around for a while, Han Lu finally spotted the tightly closed main gate of the cave, but was suddenly stopped by two disciples and cultivators who were guarding the Stealing Heaven Bottle.

Upon seeing Han Lu arrive, the two disciples guarding the Heavenly Bottle shouted sternly, "Who goes there!"

They knew very well that most of the cultivators who could bypass the illusion array protecting this place were at the Nascent Soul stage, and if they truly had ulterior motives, they would be more than the two of them could handle.

Although they had given Han Lu a hard time, they were still a little nervous, hoping that Han Lu was an enemy rather than a friend.

Before Han Lu could answer, Daoist Qingxu arrived late.

Upon seeing the sect leader arrive, the two disciples who were symbolically guarding the Stealing Heaven Bottle breathed a sigh of relief.

"Greetings, Sect Master." The two bowed to Daoist Qingxu.

Daoist Qingxu raised his hand in return, looked at Han Lu, and praised, "Elder Zhenfeng is indeed extraordinary, to be able to pass through the bamboo forest illusion array so easily."

"It's just a clever trick," Han Lu replied. "Is this where the Sect Master keeps the Heaven-Stealing Bottle?"

“Indeed,” Qingxu Daoist said, looking at his two disciples. “You may leave for now.”

The disciples who were assigned to this place to do such leisurely work all had some connection with the elders of the sect.

Upon hearing Qingxu Daoist address Han Lu as Elder Zhenfeng, he immediately recognized Han Lu's identity and knew that Han Lu's arrival here must be to discuss important matters with the sect leader.

Without lingering, the two bowed respectfully and then hurried towards the two-story building not far away, as if fleeing.

I left work early and gave this place to Han Lu and Qingxu Daoren.

Chapter 1059 Five Layers of Protection

After the two disciples left, Daoist Qingxu casually set up a simple barrier to prevent others from peeping before speaking to Han Lu about serious matters.

Han Lu successfully passed through the bamboo forest illusion array, which allowed Qingxu Daoist to teach Han Lu one less array-breaking technique.

Now, the problem facing the two is to let Han Lu know what the other protective formations and restrictions are, and how to break them.

"Elder Zhenfeng, the Stealing Heaven Bottle is kept here."

“Besides the outermost bamboo forest illusion array, there are four other protective layers here.”

“Those two disciples were one of them. If an intruder breaks in and either of them is killed or loses consciousness, the restrictions attached to them will be triggered, thus triggering an alarm.”

"Compared to restrictions and formations, it is sometimes safer to have people in charge of guarding it."

"This is the second line of defense protecting the Heavenly Bottle."

This statement may sound a bit cruel, but it is indeed the truth.

Compared to rigid formations and restrictions, cultivators who are more flexible and have autonomy are more suitable for this role.

Han Lu nodded slightly and asked, following Qingxu Daoist's lead, "What about the other three restrictions? How should they be broken?"

Master Qingxu pointed to the stone gate at the entrance of the cave and said, "This is a protective barrier that needs to be opened with a spell."

After saying this, Qingxu Daoist handed a jade tablet to Han Lu and gestured for her to destroy it after looking at it.

Han Lu took the jade tablet and used her divine sense to read its contents.

The jade plaque contains a 108-character incantation.

This is a clumsy method, a clumsy method that is more direct than setting up a responsible restriction.

There are always ways to break through the ban in a gentle and direct manner.

However, such "codes" are impossible to break without triggering an alarm unless one is extremely lucky and tries to guess them all.

Watching Han Lu destroy the jade pendant, Qingxu Daoist said, "This is a protective method commonly used tens of thousands of years ago. It is very simple and effective."

"As long as you use your spiritual power to transmit this code word to the lion on the stone gate," Qingxu Daoist pointed to the lifelike lion head carved in the center of the gate, "if the code word is correct, the gate will open."

"If the code is wrong, all the elders in the sect will receive a message immediately and come here to provide assistance."

Han Lu nodded slightly, indicating that she understood.

He quickly reviewed the coded message he had just seen in the jade tablet in his mind, temporarily treating the stone lion in front of him as a cultivator, and used the secret transmission technique of a Golden Core cultivator to "enter the password".

Han Lu naturally wouldn't forget the mere 108 characters of the code. Even though the words in the code had no logical connection, she still conveyed them to the stone lion in front of her word for word.

The password was correct. Although the stone lion did not actually come to life, it still let out a roar. Then, the stone door blocking Han Lu and Qingxu Daoist slowly opened.

"Let's go."

Qingxu Daoist walked in front, with Han Lu following half a step behind.

They had barely stepped into the cave for five breaths when the stone door closed automatically, temporarily isolating Han Lu and Daoist Qingxu inside the stone chamber from the outside world.

"Sect Master Qingxu, can this stone gate withstand an attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator?" Han Lu turned her head, looked at the heavy stone gate, and asked casually.

Qingxu Daoist replied, "I don't know, but with my abilities, even a full-force attack wouldn't be able to break through this gate in the slightest."

"If a cultivator wants to break through the stone gate and the restrictions by force, he would probably need to be at the mid-Nascent Soul stage to have a chance."

"And it will take several attacks to completely break the formation and the stone gate."

"The commotion we've caused in this period of time is enough to elicit a reaction from several of the sect's Supreme Elders and Nascent Soul Realm cultivators."

Such an arrangement has been in place for thousands of years without any problems, naturally taking everything into account.

Han Lu secretly praised, "Judging from the current situation, the methods used by the sect to protect the Heaven-Stealing Bottle are much more sophisticated than the methods used by the Immortal Pavilion to guard its own treasure vault."

Here, Han Lu actually made a small mistake that only an amateur would make.

Although the secret vault on the last floor of the Immortal Pavilion contains precious magical treasures and resources, Immortal Pavilion cultivators enter and exit several times a week.

However, the place where the Zhengyi Sect keeps the Heaven-Stealing Bottle is only accessible to one specific elder per week to collect the spiritual liquid.

The number and frequency of people entering and leaving the two places are different, so the protective barriers and formations deployed are also different.

The Zhengyi Sect is suitable for some efficient, albeit cumbersome, methods.

There are some practical new methods available at the Immortal Pavilion.

After a moment of distraction, Han Lu noticed a long-necked black bottle in the center of the cave.

"Is this the Heaven-Stealing Bottle?" Han Lu wondered to herself. "It doesn't look particularly special."

However, upon closer reflection, Han Lu was no longer surprised when she realized that the greatsword in her hand, which originally belonged to Senior Fang Lin but was now relegated to a shelf, looked quite ordinary.

Approaching the Stealing Heaven Bottle, about five steps away from it, Daoist Qingxu stopped in his tracks.

"Elder Zhenfeng, this is the second-to-last restriction. If you only want to activate the magic weapon and extract the spiritual liquid from it, you only need to activate this one restriction."

"This restriction serves as both a protective measure and an aid to elders who come here, enabling them to use their Golden Core or Nascent Soul cultivation to slightly activate the Heaven-Stealing Bottle and extract spiritual liquid from it."

Qingxu Daoist walked around the Stealing Heaven Bottle placed in the center of the cave, and only then did Han Lu notice the array on the ground.

Because most of the time, the Stealing Heaven Bottle will not be moved or taken out of this heavily guarded cave, that's why the Zhengyi Sect made such an arrangement.

Provide comprehensive protection for the Stealing Heaven Bottle without affecting its use.

Han Lu noticed that the formation depicted twelve true spirits in striking colors, which was similar to the mural in Xiaoyaozi's cave.

"I suppose the key to driving this formation lies here," Han Lu thought, making a rather conservative guess.

Without keeping him in suspense, Master Qingxu directly taught Han Lu how to use this formation.

In order to prevent traitors or accidents from occurring among the sect leaders and elders who had previously been granted "authority" to enter and exit this place, thus endangering the safety of the Stealing Heaven Bottle.

Therefore, this restriction adopts a "dynamic password".

The Taoist Qingxu brought Han Lu here so that she could "change the password" with his help, so that only the two of them would know the new password.

In this way, the possibility of this restriction being broken can be minimized.

After learning how to use this formation from Daoist Qingxu, Han Lu already had her own plans.

Han Lu transformed her spiritual power into a hand and reached out to the formation that had been triggered by Qingxu Daoist and had entered the "old password," completing the first half of the password change process.

"Should I select three True Spirits and trigger them in sequence?"

"Then I will choose these three true spirits as the new password to activate this formation."

Chapter 1060 Obtaining the Spiritual Elixir

Qingxu Daoist originally thought that Han Lu, as a cultivator with phoenix blood, would use the phoenix totem when setting the "new password".

Ultimately, however, Han Lu did not choose the phoenix as any of the three passwords, but instead chose three true spirits that had little to do with her as passwords.

The mythical rhinoceros, the peacock, and the soaring serpent.