The Long Journey to Immortality

Although a supreme treasure like the Heaven-Stealing Bottle is not among them, according to Daoist Qingxu, three of the twenty-seven spiritual treasures recorded in this book still possess a spirit.

This is why this book can help Han Lu in her exploration of the matter of weapon spirits.

However, since it was a book to read, Han Lu proceeded unhurriedly, without hastily flipping through the pages and rushing straight to the point.

Reading it from beginning to end, Han Lu treated the book as a "profound" miscellaneous book, taking the opportunity to broaden her experience and prepare herself for the possibility of encountering a magical treasure recorded in it during a future battle.

Compared to magical artifacts and magic tools, the supernatural powers of higher-level spiritual treasures are not as simple and direct as "going from ten to twenty".

Just like how only spirit artifacts exist in magical treasures.

Many supernatural abilities that are beyond the imagination of ordinary cultivators can only be used in combat or daily cultivation with the help of spiritual treasures.

Like the spiritual treasure recorded in "Spiritual Treasure Review" that belonged to a cultivator from the Western Regions.

It is a square black box about the size of a palm. It looks ordinary, but it is a mid-grade spiritual treasure called the Ruyi Box.

The book page featured a detailed painting of a Ruyi box, allowing Han Lu to imagine the scene of this small black box being held in the hands of a cultivator from the Western Regions.

This treasure has the ability to manipulate time and can be transformed into a private space the size of an ordinary bedroom when activated by a cultivator.

The owner of the magical artifact can enter it and manipulate time within this black box space.

A day of cultivation in the black box space is equivalent to half a day passing outside.

If there are enough spirit stones or spiritual power to keep this treasure running, an ordinary cultivator can have twice the cultivation time, thus "overcoming talent with sweat" and improving their cultivation at a faster pace in the eyes of others.

Such wondrous supernatural powers cannot be seen in magical artifacts or magical implements.

However, although the supernatural power is formidable, there are many limitations to its use.

According to Xuanjing's records in the book, maintaining the Ruyi Box for a month would cost at least five thousand spirit stones, which even a Nascent Soul cultivator's wealth could not sustain for long.

That is why this treasure is not particularly famous and cannot be compared with the Heaven-Stealing Bottle, a supreme treasure of the Zhengyi Sect.

That cultivator didn't do anything grand like founding a sect; he simply followed the High Priest of the Western Regions and quietly used this treasure to "make money" by renting it out, while also benefiting the cultivators of the Western Regions.

There are many other magical treasures as wondrous as the Ruyi Box recorded in the book, but Han Lu is most interested in the three spiritual treasures that possess spirits.

The first item is a spirit sword, belonging to a Supreme Elder of Xuan Yang Valley. It was also a weapon spirit born during a tribulation of lightning.

That spirit sword was originally a low-grade spiritual treasure, which could only be barely activated by a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, and it did not advance or improve after the tribulation.

Compared to other magical treasures, this spirit sword has no special abilities, and the book describes it very briefly, so it cannot provide Han Lu with any help.

The second magical artifact with a spirit was a puppet. According to Xuanjing, when the book was written, this magical artifact of the spirit level with a spirit was nowhere to be found.

Because it possesses a spirit, this puppet, forged from countless rare materials, has the intelligence of a cultivator and can even activate magical artifacts and unleash unique supernatural powers.

In terms of practical effectiveness, it is about 70% similar to the shadow transformed by Han Lu and Li Feng's divine powers.

Regarding this puppet, Xuanjing left behind some detailed information based on the conversation of a cultivator who had fought with the puppet.

After reading it, Han Lu came to a potentially useful conclusion.

"If the magical artifact possessed by the spirit remains unclaimed for an extended period of time."

“The spirit of the artifact will indeed gradually weaken over time.”

Knowing this, Han Lu murmured, "No wonder Daoist Qingxu gave such an ambiguous answer back then."

"Indeed, so many years have passed, and this treasure has been unclaimed in the sect for a long time. Whether the spirit within it is still alive is indeed something that cannot be predicted."

The twenty-third magical artifact in "Lingbao Commentary" is also a magical artifact with a spirit.

What Han Lu cared about most about this magical item wasn't because it was a fishing rod.

It was because the owner of this fishing rod was a monk she knew.

"So, Senior Zhen actually possesses a magical treasure with a spirit?"

Upon discovering that the owner of the "treasure-hunting fishing rod" mentioned in "Lingbao Review" was actually the real senior, Han Lu could only describe her current feelings as surprise.

"How about..." Han Lu hesitated slightly, "we go see Senior Zhen in a few days?"

Chapter 1064 Concerns

The thought flashed through Han Lu's mind but did not take root.

After all, Han Lu wasn't actually that familiar with Senior Zhen, the Nascent Soul Realm expert who "lived in seclusion" in the small world within the sect.

Visiting someone for such a strange private matter seems rather inappropriate.

At least, Han Lu wasn't entirely confident that she could walk up to that little thatched hut and knock on the door, and then rely on her connections to smoothly meet the real senior.

She didn't want to approach him expectantly, only to make things awkward for both of them.

"Let's try to think of solutions on our own first, and only try as a last resort."

Han Lu recalled the praise Qingxu Daoist had given her by the sect's higher-ups the day before, and she still had some confidence that she would be able to meet the senior again.

Whether the senior is willing to answer is another matter.

Even if the true senior is willing, it's uncertain whether the spirit within his magical artifact is willing.

With so many changes, Han Lu decided to put her mind at ease for the time being.

After flipping through the books in her hands again, focusing on several magical treasures still in the hands of cultivators in the Central Plains, Han Lu picked up the third book.

The third book is titled "A Young Man's Journey to Immortality."

Initially, Han Lu was quite skeptical when she heard Qingxu Daoren recommend this book to her as a reference.

After all, just looking at the title, Han Lu found it hard to imagine how this book could help her increase her understanding of the concept of spirit artifacts.

When she received the book, she thought it was an autobiography written by a somewhat arrogant, narcissistic, yet highly talented and accomplished cultivator.

But as she began to flip through the book, she realized, after only reading the beginning, that it was actually a novel.

According to the author, this is a novel that is seven parts true and three parts false.

"This..." Han Lu gently rubbed the pages of the book with her hand, thinking to herself, "Could it be that the Qingxu Sect Master judged the description of the artifact spirit in the book to be true, which is why he recommended this book to me?"

With some questions in mind, Han Lu continued reading.

This novel, titled "A Young Cultivator's Journey to Immortality," was written two thousand years ago by a Golden Core cultivator in his spare time.

The core and main points of the book are very simple.

It is the story of a young man of average talent who, through a series of fortuitous events, eventually ascends to the spirit world over a thousand years.

The novel begins by employing the technique of building suspense before revealing the truth, describing a young man whose cultivation progress is slow for unknown reasons despite his above-average talent.

The reason for his slow progress in cultivation was an ancient ring he inherited from his ailing mother when he was thirteen.

This ring is not a magical artifact, but it is inhabited by a spirit.

It was this originally dormant spirit that stole the spiritual power the boy had accumulated through his daily cultivation to heal himself, which triggered the previous story.

With the awakening of the artifact spirit, the young man levels up at a speed far exceeding that of his peers with the help of the artifact spirit. Along the way, he also defeats countless women and has too many confidantes to count on two hands.

This series of plot points may not seem novel to Han Lu, who has read many miscellaneous books two thousand years later, and may even seem somewhat outdated, but two thousand years ago, it was a rather eye-catching opening.

Since she was there to study artifact spirits, Han Lu naturally focused her attention on the white-haired artifact spirit in the novel who possessed a wealth of knowledge about alchemy.

Novels are written for readers, so they naturally need to have a well-developed setting and logical consistency.

The author devoted considerable space to describing this strange and suddenly appearing spirit.

With the narration and the spirit's own account, there are about two thousand words of material for Han Lu to read, and she tries to find about 70% of the so-called "truth" in it.

The book provides a very detailed description of the origins of the spirit artifact.

In the story, the spirit within the ring is a close friend of the protagonist's ancestor.

It perished in a battle, and only a few fragments of its soul were preserved by the protagonist's ancestors and are temporarily stored in this ring.

As time went by, the fragmented soul gradually regained its intelligence and was assimilated by the ring, becoming a spirit-like entity.

Everything was explained clearly. Although Han Lu, a Golden Core cultivator, could not distinguish between truth and falsehood, she could fully understand the origin of the artifact spirit in the book.

“If we take it as a completely true situation,” Han Lu murmured, “that means that if a cultivator’s soul is imprisoned in a certain artifact, it is possible for it to develop sentience and become the artifact’s spirit.”

"This..." After drawing her conclusion, Han Lu couldn't help but add, "This is truly unexpected."

"but……"

Han Lu shook her head, closed the book, and sighed, "These things don't seem to be of any help to me in awakening the spirit of the artifact."

“Unless,” Han Lu offered a conjecture, “the spirit within the Heaven-Stealing Bottle is not the original spirit, and I can find the relics that the spirit once left behind in the world, causing it to be moved by the sight and thus awaken.”

With a soft laugh, Han Lu was at a loss for words regarding her own vivid imagination. "The probability of that is probably less than one in ten thousand."

After making a self-deprecating remark, Han Lu pulled herself together and began to think about the matter from a more practical perspective.

Unfortunately, the information at hand was still too little. Apart from gaining two "failure experiences", Han Lu spent an hour in the library of the Five Elements Mountain Academy, which can be said to be a complete waste.

Standing in front of rows of bookshelves, Han Lu paced back and forth, struggling with the decision for a long time before finally making one.

"Let's go see the real senior," Han Lu finally decided to be shameless. "Even if we don't talk about the spirit, it would be nice to meet him, chat, and talk about the catastrophe a thousand years from now."

Han Lu found a "big reason" that completely convinced herself.

Without lingering in the library any longer, Han Lu followed the route she remembered from her first meeting with Senior Zhen, walking along the path in the Five Elements Mountain Academy.

The last time Han Lu met Senior Zhen, a master of the Nascent Soul Realm, was forty years ago.

At that time, Han Lu had only been at the Golden Core stage for a few years and was still a "newcomer" among the sect elders, with little say in the sect.

However, forty years later, Han Lu was already close to the late stage of the Golden Core realm and had successfully entered the most core circle of the sect.

Han Lu naively believed that the changes were due to her own efforts, and also to the special regard that Senior Zhen, a Nascent Soul cultivator who had high hopes for her, had given her.

The feeling of facing a Nascent Soul cultivator is ultimately somewhat different.

As Han Lu caught sight of the thatched hut leading to the small world in the distance, she encouraged herself in her heart once again.

"No problem, Senior Zhen shouldn't mind saying a few words to me."

Chapter 1065 The Spirit of Senior Zhen

Standing in front of the thatched hut, Han Lu held her breath for a moment and carefully tidied her hair in front of the ice mirror she had casually conjured.

After confirming that there were no problems with her appearance, she knocked on the door respectfully and gently.