The Long Journey to Immortality

Although the commotion in the stands was quite significant, even the disciples in the adjacent stands did not notice what had happened to Kong Du, nor did they see Han Lu rushing to his aid.

Although the Golden Core cultivators on the viewing platform were sensitive to their six senses, only Qingxu Daoist, who occasionally paid attention to the platform and knew that Han Lu had left, noticed the strange things happening on the platform.

Although Han Lu stepped in immediately to resolve the crisis, Qingxu Daoist, who had noticed the development of the situation, still couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Upon seeing Han Lu fly back to the viewing platform, he immediately sent a telepathic message to inquire about the situation.

"Han Lu," Qingxu Daoist preferred to call Han Lu by her first name in private, "what happened?"

Ignoring Wen Erya's surprised gaze, Han Lu directly reported via telepathy, "Just now I noticed the spiritual energy fluctuations of Huan Feng casting illusion magic on the stands. I found it strange, so I followed the spiritual energy fluctuations to find the source. As a result, I found a disciple of Zhongshan Academy who was under the influence of illusion magic and was about to self-destruct, so I stepped in to save him."

"Being under an illusion? Self-destruction? Or are there other phantom phoenixes involved?" The Qingxu Sect Master immediately grasped the important information in Han Lu's two short sentences.

His expression changed slightly; he sensed something was wrong almost immediately.

"Could it be that one of your clansmen wants to stir up trouble in the Zhengyi Sect so as to take advantage of the chaos and gain something from it?" This deduction had barely been transmitted when Qingxu Daoist refuted it, "No, your father is the patriarch of the Huanfeng Clan, so your clansmen must know that you serve as an elder in my Zhengyi Sect."

"In that case, it's clearly unreasonable for them to have designs on matters within our Zhengyi Sect... then..."

Upon further reflection, the Qingxu Sect Master had another guess.

“Since Fairy Zhenfeng’s judgment of the spellcaster is not wrong, it means that the Illusionary Phoenix who cast the illusion is very likely completely unaware of your existence,” Qingxu Daoist continued to transmit his analysis to Han Lu. “Then perhaps the Illusionary Phoenix who cast the illusion is not even one of our people.”

Han Lu didn't understand what "people from here" meant at first.

But with the next telepathic message from Qingxu Daoist, she suddenly understood and elevated the importance of this matter to a higher level in her heart.

“Zi’e once told me that there are also dragons and phoenixes in the Eastern Land. I suppose she must have mentioned this to you as well.”

"If that's the case, it's not impossible that the Eastern World would send a phantom phoenix to the Central Plains to cause trouble."

Qingxu Daoist immediately pinned the blame on the Eastern Land.

After a moment's thought, Han Lu felt that this was indeed somewhat possible.

"Sect Master Qingxu, you're right. There's a 90% chance this matter is related to the Phoenix of the Eastern World. As for its purpose..."

Han Lu returned to her seat and began to think.

Suddenly, Qingxu Daoist's anxious voice reached Han Lu's ears.

"This is bad. They might be trying to create chaos and seize the Heaven-Stealing Bottle."

"Decades ago, a cultivator also tried to do the same." Qingxu Daoist was referring to the story of Wanghan Jushi back then.

"Han Lu, go quickly to check the cave where the Heavenly Bottle was kept."

Master Qingxu issued an order, instructing Han Lu to handle the matter.

Han Lu was about to agree immediately, but she sensed something different about it.

"Sect Master, this matter seems to be more complicated than it appears..." Han Lu replied telepathically.

Chapter 1093 Interrogation

Qingxu Daoren was not a domineering cultivator.

He respected Han Lu's differing opinion, "What, Han Lu, have you discovered something else?"

"Hmm," Han Lu replied telepathically, "This matter is not that simple."

"Sect Master Qingxu, think about it. If the other party really is in the Zhengyi Sect, planning to take advantage of the chaos during the competition to commit theft, would they still continue under these circumstances?"

The suicide bombing did not occur, and the competition proceeded in an orderly manner. Naturally, if Qingxu Daoist were the thief, he would not have continued to make a move.

Master Qingxu replied with his thoughts.

“That’s right, and I even think…” Han Lu guessed, “that thief only knew that the Heaven-Stealing Bottle existed, but didn’t know where it was stored in the Zhengyi Sect.”

"The real purpose of this treacherous thief, Huanfeng, is to find the location where the Heaven-Stealing Bottle is kept."

"Now, Sect Master, if I rush to the bamboo forest, he might discover me in some way and find the location of the Heaven-Stealing Bottle."

"That's exactly what I wanted."

Finally, Han Lu concluded, "Anyway, the restrictions at the Stealing Heaven Bottle site are very strict, and there are no alarms, so there's absolutely no need for us to rush there to check."

Han Lu's analysis made a lot of sense. The Qingxu Sect Master had changed his mind and had a new plan. "Alright..."

"Okay, Han Lu, first take him away under the guise of helping Kong Du, and then conduct a thorough investigation in various ways to try to find out two things."

"When and where did he fall under the illusion spell?"

"If we can figure out these two points, we can determine whether there really is such a hypothetical enemy, and roughly in which area that troublemaking phantom phoenix is ​​active."

Han Lu replied, "Okay."

Qingxu Daoist then spoke to Han Lu about his other plans.

"As for the bamboo forest, I will now send a message to arrange for a senior elder from the sect to secretly investigate there."

"It seems that someone might really be plotting against the Heavenly Bottle."

"Within the sect, any of the Supreme Elders can respond in a timely manner."

"That should be appropriate."

Although Qingxu Daoist's worries about the Stealing Heaven Bottle had lessened somewhat, he was still afraid that such a precious treasure might be lost.

However, this arrangement could indeed be described as "perfect," so Han Lu did not raise any further objections and went to take on her tasks.

After giving Wen Erya a casual explanation via telepathy, Han Lu, who had just returned to the viewing platform, got up again and flew to the platform, arriving at Kong Du's side, who was still unconscious.

"Duanxing, the sect leader has arranged for me to treat Kong Du. You can hand Kong Du over to me now. Three days later, I will arrange for a disciple to send him back to Zhongshan Academy."

Han Lu is an elder, and she has just saved his companion's life, so Duan Xing naturally wouldn't go against Han Lu's wishes at this time.

After carefully handing Kong Du over to Han Lu, Duan Xing gave her the address of the two of them at Zhongshan Hospital.

He only hoped that his friend could recover quickly and not suffer any aftereffects that would affect his future spiritual practice.

Although she could probably get some information about this matter from Duan Xing, Han Lu, who was proficient in illusion magic, did not intend to play tricks that went in the opposite direction.

In her view, directly "interrogating" Kong Du was the simplest and most direct method.

With a wave of her hand, Han Lu made Kong Du float beside her as if controlling a spirit sword, and then left in a rather discreet manner.

How to keep a low profile?

Han Lu swiftly transformed into a beam of light and departed, leaving many disciples who hadn't noticed her departure unaware that one of them had unexpectedly fainted and been "taken" away from the competition venue by her.

Considering that the hypothetical enemy, the Illusionary Phoenix, might be spying outside the Zhengyi Gate with supernatural powers and magical treasures, Han Lu and Kong Du returned to their residence without any delay on the road.

As soon as she entered the room, Han Lu touched her identity token and activated all the restrictions and formations inside and outside her house at full speed, in order to prevent any accidents from happening when she interrogated Kong Du later.

“Okay,” Han Lu said to herself after feeling that everything was in order, “Now it’s time to wake up Kong Du and then use illusion magic to control him so that he will speak the truth to me.”

Kong Du was only at the seventh level of Qi Refining, and he had no resistance to the illusions cast by Han Lu, who possessed the bloodline of the Illusionary Phoenix.

Using illusion magic, Han Lu invaded Kong Du's sea of ​​consciousness.

Just like before when he was manipulated by the "imaginary enemy" with illusions, Kong Du has once again lost control of his body and has temporarily become a puppet at Han Lu's mercy.

This tactic was generally considered despicable by cultivators from the Central Plains, and Han Lu also disliked using such methods on her "own people."

But this matter is extraordinary, and naturally it cannot be resolved by ordinary means.

If you do this in private, as long as you keep it confidential, you won't be criticized for it.

With a flick of her finger, Han Lu controlled Kong Du to get up from the ground.

Kong Du's eyes were lifeless and his expression was stiff, like a corpse.

"What's your name? Where are you from?" Han Lu asked a casual question first, testing the effect of her illusion spell.

Kong Du stiffly controlled the opening and closing of his mouth, "Kong Du is cultivating at the Zhongshan Academy of the Zhengyi Sect."

With a certain degree of autonomy and orderly thinking, Han Lu's illusion magic was very successful.

"Kong Du, what do you remember before you fell under the illusion?"

Although Han Lu's question was somewhat vague, it did not affect Kong Du's answer.

"About a month ago, I accepted a simple task from the outer sect: to go to Xuanxuan Village, which is about a day's journey from the sect, to help the farmers harvest rice during the busy farming season."

"I only remember that I spent half a day in Xuanxuan Village to complete the task. Just as I was about to return, I completely lost consciousness and had no idea what happened."

In just two short sentences, Han Lu revealed all the information she wanted to know.

Han Lu thought to herself, "Although I don't know where Xuanxuan Village is, since a disciple at the seventh level of Qi Refining can get there in a day, it must not be very far."

"The specific time was a month ago, which is quite a long time ago. I don't know if Huanfeng, who attacked Kongdu, left any traces there."

Feeling hopeless, Han Lu sighed and asked Kong Du a few more questions.

But Kong Du couldn't answer any of these questions.

After struggling for a while, only those two sentences provided Han Lu with some help.

"Fine, let's leave it at that."

Han Lu waved her hand, releasing her control over Kong Du. She then carefully cleansed Kong Du's mind before dispelling the "sleep spell" and waking him up.

Chapter 1094 Skillfully Recruiting Disciples

Kong Du was in a daze and only slowly woke up ten breaths after Han Lu's sleeping spell was lifted.

This time, when he woke up, facing an unfamiliar environment and a beautiful but unfamiliar female cultivator, Kong Du was much calmer.

Still shaken, he looked around and, seeing no one else, mustered his courage and whispered.

"Senior..." This time Kong Du was smarter and changed his form of address, "What happened to your kidneys?"

Having just woken up, I was a little nervous. Kong Du spoke with a local accent instead of using the official language of the Southern Dynasties.

Explaining this matter to the victim was somewhat complicated and difficult for Han Lu.

However, relying on his own cultivation and status as an authoritative expert, even if he is talking nonsense, he can basically resolve the matter.

Still using the same explanation she had given to others, Han Lu spoke in the same gentle tone she used when speaking to Nian Haoge and Qiu Peng in private.

“Kong Du, you made some mistakes in your cultivation before, which confused your mind and allowed external evils to invade your soul and consciousness. You not only lost yourself but also almost self-destructed at the competition.”

"Fortunately, I discovered it in time and resolved the crisis."