The Long Journey to Immortality

Unless a Qi Refining cultivator uses the Wing Transformation Talisman, they can only fight others while standing on the ground.

This technique, which can generate several sharp spikes on the ground to attack opponents, is indeed very suitable for battles between Qi Refining cultivators.

However, Han Lu didn't care about this little trick.

She didn't even try to dodge.

The completed wood-attribute spells do not require additional mental effort to control.

Han Lu easily mobilized her spiritual power and unleashed the Five Elements Qi, gathering most of it beneath her to guard against the ground spikes that might emerge from the arena floor at any moment.

The rock spikes and Han Lu's spells ignited almost simultaneously.

Since Han Lu's magic was already close at hand, Shi Yiran did not exert more precise control over the "Earth Spike Technique," but simply let it play out naturally.

The dark spiritual energy disappeared half a meter in front of Han Lu. In an instant, a sharp rock spike suddenly appeared on the marble arena and stabbed towards Han Lu's face.

The rock spikes came on strong, but the ending was both laughable and tragic.

The seemingly ferocious rock spikes were perfectly neutralized in a way similar to decomposition after colliding with the Five Elements Qi.

The rock spikes, which were originally supposed to be about three meters long, ended up growing to less than two meters.

The rock spikes that had lost their sharp ends and were now standing in front of Han Lu were more like a wall-building technique she had used. Apart from slightly obstructing Han Lu's vision, they did not cause her any harm whatsoever.

Han Lu's spell, which arrived quickly but took a long time to take effect, did have some effect.

Four clusters of cyan spiritual energy plunged into the arena.

A moment later, it sprang up from the ground and sprouted four strong vines.

Under Han Lu's control, the four vines formed a pincer attack on Shi Yiran from four directions.

Sensing that the vines were not purely products of spiritual energy, Shi Yiran had a sudden inspiration and decided to use fire-attribute magic to completely eliminate them.

The vines produced by magic are tough and powerful, but somewhat cumbersome.

At this point, a skilled martial arts master from the secular world would most likely be able to escape the encirclement smoothly.

Shi Yiran reacted quickly, but his lack of external martial arts training meant he couldn't simultaneously cast spells while dodging and weaving through the vines.

This not-so-tight encirclement was an inescapable trap for Shi Yiran, a cultivator who had just reached the second level of Qi Refining.

The situation where the body couldn't keep up with the reaction happened to Shi Yiran.

After trying to dodge twice, a vine wrapped around Shi Yiran's left wrist, temporarily immobilizing him.

Shi Yiran had a bad feeling. He was thinking of finishing the incantation quickly when, unexpectedly, one of the vines controlled by Han Lu was stuffed straight into his slightly open mouth.

Not only were his four front teeth broken, but his mouth was also effectively gagged, preventing him from finishing the incantation he had only half-recited.

Once the rabbit falls into the trap and is severely injured, it is left with no choice but to be slaughtered.

Knowing that the situation was hopeless, Shi Yiran wanted to shout "I admit defeat," but he couldn't bring himself to say it, and he couldn't even do that.

Fortunately, Han Lu was not a cultivator with a perverse sense of humor, nor did she have the habit of teasing her opponents in a competition.

If Shi Yiran were to face off against a certain "femme fatale" from southern Xinjiang at this moment, many things that the people would love to see would likely happen.

Han Lu did not control the remaining two vines to attack Shi Yiran's vital parts, but instead lashed them at Shi Yiran's abdomen.

Shi Yiran felt excruciating pain from the blow to his stomach, his abdomen churning violently. If his mouth had been gagged, he probably would have vomited up his dinner from the night before.

Seeing the pained expression on Shi Yiran's face and his somewhat dazed eyes, Han Lu confirmed that Shi Yiran was no longer able to resist before controlling the vines that had been blocking Shi Yiran's mouth to pull them away.

The vines wrapped around Shi Yiran's right wrist swung him around twice in the air like a hammer, before tossing him off the stage.

While flying in the air, Shi Yiran felt as if his whole body had fallen apart. Before he could even experience what it felt like to crash into the arena's barriers, he had already passed out.

Seeing Shi Yiran lying unconscious on the ground, the referee immediately announced the verdict.

"Dongshan Academy, Han Lu wins."

With the restrictions on the arena lifted, in addition to the cultivator responsible for medical care at Arena No. 3 rushing towards Shi Yiran, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator skilled in healing techniques appeared out of nowhere and came to the arena to treat Shi Yiran.

Although he was beaten badly, Shi Yiran felt that the injury was not too serious.

The only thing that needs to be repaired is the broken front tooth, which will take several days to heal.

In the upcoming matches, Shi Yiran, whose mouth is lisp, will likely encounter some minor trouble when trying to recite incantations and use spells.

[Author's Note] I'm sure it will be available for purchase tomorrow (I hope to get at least 400 average subscriptions so I'll still have some motivation instead of just finishing the book as a routine). I will update 4-5 chapters then, and the update time will be a little later than usual.

Chapter Ninety-Five: Seven Consecutive Wins

Shi Yiran's miserable state was witnessed by the cultivators who were watching from the third arena and waiting for their match to begin.

The next morning, Han Lu thought that after these two matches, her reputation would spread among these Qi Refining Level 2 cultivators.

But when she was eating breakfast, she noticed some cultivators avoiding her and giving her the cold shoulder, and she wondered if her prestigious reputation had been distorted by word of mouth among the cultivators.

After finding a place to sit down, Han Lu ate her food while listening intently to the whispers among the cultivators not far away.

"See that? Such long hair, a very beautiful female cultivator."

"I saw it. What's wrong? You're bored down there, looking for a cultivation partner?"

"No, I wouldn't dare."

"what happened?"

"If I were to find this beautiful woman as my Daoist partner, I'm afraid I wouldn't live long enough to reach the Nascent Soul stage."

"You kid, come on, Nascent Soul? But what's going on? Tell me, brother."

……

After finishing her food, Han Lu roughly understood what had happened.

Everything that happens in the ring is distorted and exaggerated when it is passed down by word of mouth.

Originally, the reputation she wanted to build with two victories was spread for a while but turned into a fearsome one.

Fortunately, she was a cultivator from the Zhengyi Sect, and they were all from the same sect. The two battles were also part of the Zhengyi Sect's grand competition, which was a fair and square contest.

Otherwise, she would most likely be labeled with a name like "flat-chested witch" or "long-haired enchantress".

Hearing the rumor that your breath will cause water to ooze out, I feel inexplicably sad.

Hearing the rumors that she had broken three of Shi Yiran's legs, Shi Yiran thought there was no way to make things better for her.

Han Lu suspected that the first person to create an artistic interpretation of the story might have something strange or unusual in their head.

Fortunately, his reputation turned into a fearsome one rather than a glamorous one, which still had some effect in the competition.

In the three matches on the second day, Han Lu's opponents were all afraid of being ruthless by Han Lu, and they became like Shi Yiran, unable to wield weapons in bed anymore, and could only play with their balls.

They had all just stepped onto the stage, and upon seeing Han Lu, they were already intimidated before even starting the fight.

After giving a perfunctory answer, he immediately raised his hands in surrender, shouting "Senior Sister Han is all-powerful," for fear of offending Han Lu.

This left Han Lu somewhat at a loss for how to react.

Her reputation has suffered, but she won easily. Han Lu doesn't know whether this is good or bad for her.

Although Han Lu's opponent for the seventh match contacted her a day in advance, promising her three spirit stones and three pills, Han Lu, who was wealthy and had already won six consecutive matches, still had no intention of holding back in the seventh match.

On the third day at noon, Han Lu returned to Arena No. 10 and completed the last match of the first round of the competition on Arena No. 10.

I don't know if it was because they knew they would be facing Han Lu in the final round and that their bribery attempt had failed, but their opponent, who had already won four and lost two, didn't even show up to participate.

Han Lu waited on the stage for a long time, only to gain a victory for nothing.

With this, Han Lu achieved a perfect record in the first round of the competition and successfully advanced to the top 64.

After stepping off the arena, the academy cultivator who was in charge of the arena restrictions and medical care at arena number ten stopped Han Lu, congratulated her, and told her some information about the second round of the competition.

"Junior Sister Han, congratulations! You've secured seven consecutive victories with a clean sweep and advanced to the top 64 of this competition."

"The second round is an elimination tournament; losing one match will result in elimination."

"The deans of all the major academies will be present to watch the competition."

……

"The competition will take place tomorrow on the arena of the Five Elements Mountain Academy, starting at 9:00 AM. Don't be late then." Perhaps because he was worried that Han Lu would be late like her opponent today, the academy cultivator added a sentence at the end.

Han Lu thanked them repeatedly, trying her best to show her elegant demeanor in front of everyone and to salvage her bad image from the rumors.

Unfortunately, it's easy to spread rumors but difficult to refute them, and Han Lu will probably have to live with this "bad reputation" for at least ten days to half a month.

Han Lu is doing well here, and Wen Erya is doing just as well.

Although she had only advanced to the sixth level of Qi Refining for two months, Wen Erya, who possessed numerous magical artifacts, was still one of the top cultivators at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

The endless stream of magical artifacts left every gentle and refined cultivator feeling overwhelmed.

After all, when faced with magic, experienced cultivators can always come up with several ways to parry and deal with it.

However, when faced with strange and unusual magical artifacts, not everyone can immediately understand their functions or how to counter them.

Wen Erya also won all seven of her matches, advancing to the top 64 of the Qi Refining Level 6 competition.

Compared to her two "senior sisters," Zhan Yujun's performance was somewhat mediocre.

Having just advanced to the third level of Qi Refining, she was not considered outstanding among cultivators at the third level of Qi Refining in terms of spiritual power and combat experience.

Fortunately, she bought a suitable ritual implement before the competition and had good luck in the draw, which allowed her to barely win four out of seven matches.

For a new disciple who has just entered the Zhengyi Sect, this achievement is quite remarkable. In the past, Zhan Yujun would probably have been happy for a while.

Unfortunately, Zhan Yujun now has two top-tier talents, Han Lu and Wen Erya, by her side, so she is quite dissatisfied with her current performance.

Zhan Yujun secretly vowed in her heart, "Next time, I must win at least six games to qualify for the tiebreaker. I can't fall too far behind Senior Sister Wen and Han Lu."

On the fourth day, the second round of the Zhengyi Sect Grand Competition officially began at the Five Elements Mountain Academy.

Besides the 640 cultivators like Han Lu and Wen Erya who successfully advanced to the second round, nearly 10,000 disciples from various academies of the Zhengyi Sect also went to the Five Elements Mountain Academy on this day, hoping to watch the competition from the sidelines, learn combat experience, and find some fun in their somewhat dull and boring cultivation life.

Among the disciples who did not attend the competition, many have already been sentenced to "death," and it is basically certain that they will lose their status as disciples of the Zhengyi Sect after the competition.

They need some time to pack their bags and think about the future.

Should I try submitting a resume to the management organizations of various mountain temples, or become active in the mortal world as a cultivator, or return to peace and become a long-lived "mortal" who knows some magic?

Several large groups of people set off from various mountain academies and converged on the Five Elements Mountain Academy.