The Long Journey to Immortality

"Could it be that the Wild Phoenix Clan not only possesses spiritual plants and elixirs to aid cultivation, but also exceptionally intelligent chess masters or ancient chess manuals passed down from ancient times that helped Han Lu open up her twelve spiritual meridians?"

They still don't discuss the game directly while playing chess.

Xuan Chengzi suppressed the urge to ask a question and did his best to continue the game, which was clearly losing ground.

They each walked about fifty steps, during which Xuan Chengzi often pondered for a long time, only to be stunned by Han Lu's several skillful moves.

When the game reached the 170th move, Xuan Chengzi realized that the game was lost and decisively resigned.

"Han Lu," Xuan Chengzi said without hesitation as the game ended, "have you been doing nothing but cultivation and playing Go all these years? How come your Go skills have improved so significantly?"

"Moreover, the playing style and moves are completely different from the past."

Faced with the question that Xuan Chengzi had been asking, Han Lu did not hide anything.

"How could that be? I was just fortunate enough to receive guidance from a renowned master," Han Lu introduced her "half-master" in chess to Xuan Chengzi. "A few years ago, I had contact with a master from the Peacock Clan, and we hit it off immediately."

"When I was traveling from the wilderness to the Great Yu Dynasty, I happened to meet her, who was also on her way to the Great Yu Dynasty to visit a friend and play chess."

"So, I asked her for advice on chess along the way, and we played countless games. I learned a lot of advanced moves from her."

"Although I didn't quite manage to surpass my teacher when we finally parted ways, back in the Central Plains..." Han Lu said with a mischievous smile, "it'll still be no problem for me to scare you when you're completely unprepared."

Despite being treated as a "weakling," Genseiko was neither angry nor resentful.

He frankly admitted that his chess skills were far inferior to Han Lu's at the moment, and cautiously asked Han Lu if she could give him some pointers on more advanced moves.

Xuan Chengzi naturally received the answer that there was no problem.

Just like Que Jie, the chess master of the Peacock Clan, teaching Han Lu chess skills without establishing a master-disciple relationship.

Faced with the complicated relationship with Xuan Chengzi, Han Lu naturally didn't hold back and said no to him at this time.

"Let's do a post-mortem analysis first."

After Han Lu finished speaking, she swept her arm across the chessboard, and the black and white chess pieces floated up and flew back to the various colored chess pieces.

The chessboard was cleared up, leaving 361 intersections for the two players to play.

Since it was a debriefing, the two of them naturally followed the same procedure as the previous game.

When the game reached the Great Avalanche variation, Han Lu remained silent. Instead, she used her artifact manipulation technique to take ten chess pieces from the chessboard beside Xuan Chengzi and began arranging them in various variations of the new opening.

Although Han Lu and Xuan Chengzi are friends, there is still a certain distance between them due to their seniority and other reasons.

Therefore, when teaching chess skills, Han Lu cannot explain everything clearly to create a "master-disciple" relationship between the two, as that would only make them feel awkward.

The most appropriate way to communicate is to simply demonstrate and let Xuan Chengzi understand on his own.

Xuan Chengzi understood this as well, so he was quite grateful to Han Lu when she demonstrated her skills in this way.

There's no need to feel awkward; you can learn real skills and knowledge—this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Han Lu then demonstrated each of the seven variations and personally disassembled them.

The set of movements was repeated three times, giving Xuan Chengzi ample time to memorize and think.

It must be said that Xuan Chengzi's talent in Go is no less than Han Lu's. In just a short while, he had fully understood the timing and thought of another potentially better way to handle it.

When Han Lu restored the pieces to the initial stage of the standard opening sequence, Xuan Chengzi suddenly changed his move, revealing his thoughts on the chessboard.

Xuan Chengzi placed the chess piece in a spot different from the first game and said in a deep voice, "Let's consider this the second game."

"Okay." Han Lu could roughly guess Xuan Chengzi's thoughts.

As it turns out, answers that come from sudden inspirations often simply don't work.

Although Xuan Chengzi has good talent, he is not a one-in-a-million genius.

Although the changes he came up with on a whim had undergone some thought, they were still not entirely comprehensive.

With a few casual moves, Han Lu neutralized Xuan Chengzi's attacks.

Ultimately, the situation that emerged was not as good as the first game.

Seeing this, Xuan Chengzi said helplessly, "Let's start the third round."

Han Lu didn't say much and followed Xuan Chengzi's instructions to clean up the chessboard.

Xuan Chengzi is still playing black.

He had just picked up a chess piece when he felt a pang of regret.

"Oh dear, I should have gone a few more steps to test the waters."

"Now……"

Xuan Chengzi pondered for a moment, then took his first step onto the star position.

The chess game continued, and so did the conversation.

After Han Lu recounted her actions over the years, she inquired about the sect's arrangements and countermeasures.

Speaking of this, Xuan Chengzi, who had been somewhat downcast because of the game, perked up considerably.

[Author's Note] My computer broke down yesterday morning, but thankfully it was just a power supply issue. I took it in this morning and brought it back after get off work.

Chapter 1085 The Preparations of the Zhengyi Sect

"I can't tell you things that are too confidential, but there are some things I can talk to you about."

Xuan Chengzi did not hide much from Han Lu.

After weighing the options in his mind and deciding what he could and could not say, Xuan Chengzi finally began to answer Han Lu's question.

Xuan Chengzi picked up a black stone and let it fall to the ground.

“This matter is of great importance. So far, among the sect elders, including you, only about fifteen or sixteen people know about it.”

"Therefore, in these twenty years, just as when I went to the Great Yu Dynasty with you, I have spent a lot of time traveling around and contacting trustworthy forces."

……

As the previous leader of the Zhengyi Sect, Xuan Chengzi was a familiar face to various factions.

Naturally, he was quite successful in his role as a diplomat.

In recent years, apart from a few secret missions to Xuan Yang Valley, Xuan Chengzi also made a trip to the Western Regions.

"So, the High Priest of the Western Regions Holy King Sect also knows about this?"

“Hmm,” Xuan Chengzi nodded slightly, holding a chess piece in his right hand, rubbing his stubble with his knuckles, thinking about his next move. “The high priest of the Western Regions is not only highly skilled, but his thinking is also very similar to that of ordinary cultivators from the Central Plains. It is very easy to communicate with him.”

"He believed our story without presenting much evidence and clearly stated that the Western Regions would do their part in this matter."

"However, the high priest's lifespan is less than seven hundred years and he cannot completely control the selection of the next high priest."

"Therefore, he only guaranteed that he would carry out some preparatory work and actively prepare for the battle."

"As for whether the Western Regions will follow the Central Plains and the Great Yu Dynasty to charge ahead, we will have to follow the arrangements of the high priest at that time."

Xuan Chengzi deliberately praised the result first before stating the less-than-ideal outcome, in order to express his emotions in a "refined" way.

Clearly, Xuan Chengzi was very dissatisfied with the High Priest's performance.

In short, it boils down to this: "I may have a good attitude, but I may not necessarily cooperate."

Faced with this outcome, and on such a crucial issue of right and wrong, even Han Lu, who was acquainted with the High Priest, was unable to defend him.

“That’s too selfish,” Han Lu sighed. “But it doesn’t matter. If we really fight with the Eastern World, they won’t care whether you’re a cultivator from the Western Regions or not.”

"As long as the Western Regions exist on the border of the Central Plains, they are destined to be drawn into this possible war."

Xuan Chengzi's thoughts were similar to Han Lu's; she was simply angry about the High Priest's actions.

"By the way, where's Zi'e? I haven't seen her since I got back."

Han Lu then asked about the "purple monster" from the Eastern Land.

“You should be able to see her during the Grand Competition in a few days,” Xuan Chengzi said. “Zi’e has now recovered to the strength of the early Golden Core stage and has joined the Zhengyi Sect as a guest elder.”

"Huh?" Han Lu was somewhat surprised by this result. "Aren't you afraid...?"

Even though she only spoke halfway, Xuan Chengzi understood what Han Lu meant.

“We have naturally considered this as well,” Xuan Chengzi said after careful consideration, placing a black chess piece on the board. “Zi’e has been placed under some restrictions to monitor her every move.”

“Besides,” Xuan Chengzi smiled, “there are no secrets to discuss in places where elders and disciples can move around freely.”

"Even if she is pretending to surrender but actually infiltrating our ranks, she won't get any important or crucial intelligence."

Xuan Chengzi's words were not wrong.

Most of the secrets about the Zhengyi Sect are kept in the minds of the higher-ups, and the forbidden areas are protected by multiple layers of restrictions.

Even if Zi'e wanted to cause trouble, she couldn't find a suitable target.

"That's very thoughtful," Han Lu praised, picking up two chess pieces with her fingers and gently rubbing them together. "And what about the sect's internal affairs? Have they made any special preparations?"

“This actually involves some secrets,” Xuan Chengzi said, unsure whether it was appropriate to tell Han Lu. “I can only tell you the basics.”

Despite having already gained the qualification to access the Heavenly Bottle, Han Lu was still treated this way, but she wasn't angry with Xuan Chengzi.

After all, Xuan Chengzi was unaware of this matter and did not know that Han Lu had actually entered the innermost circle of the Zhengyi Sect.

"Tell me about it." Han Lu was very curious about what kind of preparations a major sect like Zhengyi Sect would make.

Xuan Chengzi's gaze fell on the chessboard. After a while, he placed a piece before continuing to answer, "It is said that the Qingxu Sect Master has sought out several cultivators from the sect who are skilled in weapon crafting to forge a magical treasure."

"What kind of magic weapon?" Han Lu asked.

"A magical artifact similar to an ark, which can be controlled by three or five ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. It allows them to temporarily combine their strength and at least exert the combat power of Foundation Establishment cultivators."

The gap between each major realm is enormous.

Even if three or five Qi Refining cultivators joined forces, unless one of them was a genius like Han Lu, there was absolutely no possibility of them contending with a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Han Lu could understand why Qingxu Daoist made such an arrangement, but she did not think it had any chance of success.

This is like a client asking you to lay two water supply pipes, each about three kilometers long, within three months.

That's completely impossible.

"Isn't this a bit far-fetched?" Han Lu questioned mercilessly.

Xuan Chengzi simply smiled slightly, "There are still over nine hundred years to go. Who knows what will happen?"