The Long Journey to Immortality

The competition had just begun on the third day, and even though it was only the final four, there were already many exciting moments.

With such delicious and appetizing appetizers, the final main course of the competition is naturally even more anticipated.

Hong Tong had a slightly bumpy road in the semifinals but still managed to defeat his opponent, winning the match and securing his ticket to the finals.

Chapter 1093

Besides Hong Tong, Han Lu also discovered a piece of uncut jade on the stage while watching the match.

A cultivator from Nanshan Academy who had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining after only two years of cultivation in the sect.

His name was Zhuge Fang, and he wielded a spirit sword with unparalleled skill, seemingly possessing an unfathomable quality that transcended his own realm.

"Very good," Han Lu said, praising such an outstanding talent in the Zhengyi Sect. Although she did not know him or his master, she did not hold back her praise and praised him in the "four-person chat group". "At such a young age, he has such an understanding of the way of the sword. Xiao Ran, when you were at this level, you should have been far inferior to him."

As a cultivator skilled in swordsmanship, Xiao Ran had already noticed this disciple with exceptional strength a few days ago.

He was very frank, “It is indeed not as good. In fact, I only understood it after I obtained that secret manual in the early stage of Foundation Establishment.”

"When I was still a Qi Refining cultivator, my use of the spirit sword was only so-so," Xiao Ran gave himself a rather unimpressive assessment. "But Han Lu, did you already have his level of skill when you were in the Qi Refining realm?"

If asked about Feng Bailu, the answer would naturally be "no".

But Xiao Ran asked Han Lu, and Han Lu's answer at this time was "yes".

Before Han Lu could answer, Wen Erya started singing for her.

“Junior Sister was also very powerful when she was in the Qi Refining Realm. She was able to fly on a sword at just the ninth level of Qi Refining.”

"Although my junior sister didn't have many opportunities to compete with others back then, in my opinion, she, who was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining, should still be able to defeat this disciple named Zhuge Fang."

Wen Erya had cultivated and grown together with Han Lu, and she was well aware of her outstanding junior sister's abilities.

Xiao Ran was skeptical, but he wouldn't be foolish enough to question his "girlfriend's" judgment.

The three were chatting and laughing when Nian Haoge suddenly interjected, asking, "Which elder is this Zhuge Fang's disciple?"

Nian Haoge noticed that Zhuge Fang was wearing an inner disciple uniform and asked him a question out of curiosity.

"Haoge, you're not trying to steal her away, are you?" Wen Erya teased.

Nian Haoge retorted, "Of course not, I'm just curious. I'm curious whether Zhuge Fang was self-taught or received guidance from a famous teacher to acquire his skills."

“Okay, I’ll go ask.” Wen Erya was the Golden Core elder among the four who was most deeply integrated into the sect.

She could strike up conversations with many other elders from various branches, making it easier for her to find out information about the sect's internal affairs than the other three.

After transmitting his voice to an elder he knew from Nanshan Academy, Wen Erya had the answer.

“He is a disciple of an elder named Xinshan Jushi.”

Upon hearing the name, Han Lu raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Wen Erya noticed the change in Han Lu's expression. "Junior Sister, do you know this elder?"

"We've had some contact. He's quite talented, but he has quite a temper," Han Lu gave a fair answer as much as possible. "He confronted me the first time we met and even challenged me to a duel a month later."

Hearing Han Lu mention this, the group was curious as to how the good-natured Han Lu had come to be enemies with this man, Xinshan Jushi, whom they had hardly ever met.

Unable to discuss the secret meeting with her close friend, Han Lu made up a story.

In the fabricated story, Xinshan Jushi became a lecherous man who had been single for over two hundred years.

It goes without saying why he offended Han Lu by appearing in such a position.

After telling the story, Han Lu added at the end, "Don't tell anyone."

Upon hearing this, the three of them shared Han Lu's indignation and wished they could help Han Lu beat up that lecherous rogue, Xinshan Jushi.

The group chatted and laughed, and soon it was Wen Er Ya's turn to participate in the semi-finals.

Compared to Hong Tong, Wen Er Ya's apprentice is not significantly stronger than others at the same level.

Making it to the semifinals is already a blessing.

Naturally, their performance against the four finalists was less than satisfactory.

Fortunately, Wen Erya had foreseen this and was not too upset after her disciple's defeat. After the three of them comforted her for a while, her mood improved, and she looked forward to another disciple giving her a surprise.

However, things don't always go as planned, and this is especially true on the path of cultivation.

Wen Erya's second disciple suffered an unexpected defeat in the semifinals of the Qi Refining Ninth Level competition.

Looking at Wen Erya's serious expression, Han Lu could imagine how Wen Erya would treat this disciple who "only" won the top four during the post-competition summary.

After a short rest, the disciples who ultimately advanced to the finals were first invited to gather in front of the viewing platform.

Daoist Qingxu addressed the matter directly, praising the performance of several individuals in the competition in front of the sect's disciples, clearly intending to extend the "carrot" without spending any spirit stones.

After the elite disciples who advanced to the finals were "liked," they returned to the arena area using the flying techniques of Golden Core cultivators.

The twenty men who landed on their feet again were full of fighting spirit, as if they had been injected with chicken blood and taken a pill to stimulate their potential.

The first match was the final round for the second level of Qi Refining.

This level is the level Han Lu was at when she won her first championship in the competition.

Back then, due to the nature of her cultivation technique, Han Lu remained at the first level of Qi Refining for a long time, only managing to break through and qualify for the competition half a month before the grand competition.

Han Lu had a vivid memory of that past event, and naturally paid far more attention to this level of competition than to the other elders.

However, cultivators at the second level of Qi Refining who are as "experienced" as Han Lu are ultimately few and far between.

Although the two disciples on the stage were already elites, their strength was ultimately insufficient. In Han Lu's opinion, it was not much different from children fighting.

The fact that the disciple from Dongshan Academy won the final was perhaps the only reason for Han Lu and the others to applaud and congratulate them in this final.

Soon, including the break in between, it was only a quarter of an hour before it was Hongtong's turn to take the stage.

The two fighters on the stage were evenly matched, and since they had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining, Han Lu, watching from the perspective of a Golden Core cultivator with no vested interest, considered this to be the first final match worth watching.

Hong Tong's use of magical artifacts on the arena was remarkable, reminiscent of Han Lu and Qiu Peng's fighting styles, showing a clear lineage.

Meanwhile, the talismans that Han Lu gave him the night before last also came in handy on the arena.

The two equally matched cultivators fought for a full three hundred rounds before a victor emerged.

Although Hong Tong's opponent was also quite capable, he was ultimately no match for Hong Tong, whose spiritual power was more profound and whose magical artifacts were of a higher level.

Amidst applause from Han Lu, the elders, and the audience in the stands, Hong Tong successfully won his first major competition title since joining Zhengyi Sect.

Whether Hong Tong can defend his title as many times as she and Nian Haoge does not know, but she does know that at this stage, her grand-disciple is definitely one of the best among his peers.

Chapter 1094

On the evening of the day the competition ended, Han Lu received a paper sword from Qingxu Daoist.

In addition to agreeing to meet at midnight, Qingxu Daoist also asked Han Lu to find a reason to invite Wen Erya to come along.

The paper sword was not very secretive, so Qingxu Daoren did not explain the reason for the invitation in the paper sword.

However, considering that Han Lu had arranged for Wen Erya to come along, Han Lu could guess that Qingxu Daoist was finally going to put the two tokens that had been lying in her storage bag for two days to use.

Finding a reason to invite Wen Erya to go along was no problem for Han Lu.

Without any preamble, Han Lu went straight to business with Wen Erya, who was lecturing her disciples.

"Erya, the sect leader has a secret matter to entrust to you, which requires your divination skills," Han Lu continued without waiting for Wen Erya's consent, "The time is midnight tonight."

"When the time comes, come to my place first, and then I will take you there."

With her disciple by her side and Han Lu saying that the matter was confidential, Wen Erya naturally wouldn't ask too many questions.

After agreeing, Wen Erya continued to use the analogy of "other people's children" to urge her disciples to keep working hard.

Han Lu listened for a while, then felt a little embarrassed and made up an excuse to slip away.

Wen Erya was a punctual person, and she arrived at Han Lu's residence at midnight that day after completing all the necessary preparations for the divination.

Before setting off, Wen Erya finally asked, "Junior sister, what exactly is it? What does the sect leader want me to do for divination?"

Han Lu gave a barely passable answer: "I need my senior sister to help me find someone using two tokens, someone who is not suitable to be mentioned to outsiders."

"Looking for someone, is that it? If there's a token, that makes things easier. But I don't know..." Entrusted with this important task, Wen Erya naturally wanted to handle the matter properly.

"It's alright," Han Lu reassured her. "With your skills, Senior Sister, you definitely won't make a mistake."

"Let's go first, we'll talk when we get there."

The agreed meeting place was still that secret room in the Five Elements Mountain Courtyard.

This time, in the secret chamber, besides the sect leader Qingxu Daoist, Xuan Chengzi was also among the sect cultivators waiting for Han Lu.

Clearly, the heavy responsibility of finding the missing person will most likely fall on Xuan Chengzi's shoulders.

Upon entering the secret room, after a brief greeting, Master Qingxu vaguely began to discuss the important matter.

"Elder Wen, we have summoned you here today in the hope that you can use your divination skills to help find a cultivator," Qingxu Daoist said, looking at Han Lu. "Elder Zhenfeng, please bring out those two tokens."

"Okay." Han Lu replied simply, then patted her storage bag and took out two items that she had kept for almost two days.

A single black hair, about the length of her forearm.

A small bottle containing traces of spiritual energy.

"These are the hair and spiritual energy aura of the mysterious person we're looking for," Han Lu explained simply. "Senior sister, with these two items, you should be able to find the mysterious person's exact location through divination, right?"

Wen Erya's answer was somewhat conservative: "I can't be sure about that, but I can determine the approximate location of that mysterious person based on that."

"The exact location will probably require several divinations to determine."

Upon hearing this, Qingxu Daoist smiled and said, "That's enough. I would appreciate it if Elder Wen could first divine a rough estimate today so that I can make a judgment and make the next arrangements."

Wen Erya nodded slightly and said, "Okay, I'll begin now."

Wen Erya did not ask Qingxu Daoist about the mysterious person's background.

She figured out that since neither Qingxu Daoist, Han Lu, nor Xuan Chengzi had taken the initiative to explain to her, it meant that either none of the three knew about the mysterious person, or they were unwilling to mention it to her.

Asking is pointless.

The weather was bad that day, and since she needed to get results quickly, Wen Erya did not use the astrology she was gradually getting used to for divination.

The counting rods that once belonged to Senior Wang Han 100,000 years ago have reappeared in Wen Erya's hands.