The Long Journey to Immortality

Chapter 113 The Grand Competition Ends

After confirming her victory, Han Lu immediately dispelled her magic, raised her arms high, and accepted the cheers and applause from the spectator area, enjoying what was absolutely an honorable moment for a disciple of the Zhengyi Sect.

With Daoist Yunmin, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, acting as a healer, and Han Lu not deliberately controlling the spirit sword to stab vital points at the last moment.

After some emergency treatment, Mu Yangxia was naturally out of danger.

For safety reasons, Daoist Yunmin casually summoned three white clouds and used them as a stretcher to carry Mu Yangxia off the stage.

Mu Yangxia, lying on the white clouds, was pale and depressed.

His previous series of victories gave him some unrealistic expectations for the final.

Now, although he is lying on the clouds, he has indeed been knocked from the clouds to the bottom of the valley by Han Lu's five moves.

Ultimately, Mu Yangxia is still six months away from his sixteenth birthday. It would be strange if such a setback were to befall a fifteen-year-old boy so mature as to accept it calmly.

Han Lu, on the other hand, took the initiative to step forward after the celebration to comfort and inquire about Mu Yangxia's injuries, in order to show her grace.

The words he spoke were platitudes, but they were platitudes based on the content of the competition just now.

In addition, Han Lu has such a face.

These polite words seem particularly persuasive, as if they were the truth.

Lying on the white cloud stretcher, Mu Yangxia felt quite comfortable, and the frustration she felt from losing the final dissipated considerably.

For a fleeting moment, he even had the most common romantic delusion in life: "Does Han Lu think I performed exceptionally well in the competition and has fallen for me?"

However, a moment later, he dismissed this conjecture.

The cultivation novels in this world have not yet entered the "advanced" stage.

There is no plot in the novel where the protagonist loses but still manages to win the heart of the beauty.

Lacking theoretical basis, Mu Yangxia naturally had no reason to continue fantasizing along this line, and silently accepted the fact that he might be the protagonist of a single-person novel.

After stepping off the stage, Wen Erya also gave Han Lu a hug.

"Junior sister, you did it! Your strategy on the stage just now was really ingenious."

Influenced by Han Lu, Wen Erya was also captivated by that flash of inspiration during the magical duel.

Han Lu smiled and said, "This is all thanks to what my senior sister said."

In front of the arena, the senior and junior sisters celebrated each other's victories.

On the viewing platform, the two's master, Piaomiaozi, naturally became the focus of attention among the Golden Core cultivators.

The Qi Refining cultivators' competition was divided into ten groups. Piaomiaozi, an unremarkable Golden Core elder, had just taken in a highly skilled disciple who won the championship in two groups. This made many Golden Core elders who didn't have good disciples feel envious and remarked that Piaomiaozi had encountered a stroke of luck.

It's not uncommon in the cultivation world for masters to gain wealth and status through their disciples.

Several Golden Core elders who were familiar with Piaomiaozi were even more direct, leaving their seats and coming to Piaomiaozi's side to say "Congratulations".

Although he had long expected this moment to happen at the end of the competition, when the congratulations and envious glances fell on him, Piaomiaozi was still overjoyed, as if he had returned to the day twenty years ago when he had just achieved the Golden Core.

Han Lu and Wen Erya are both from Dongshan Academy, and Wuhu Jushi, as the abbot of Dongshan Academy, naturally also basked in some glory.

In the subsequent seven rounds of the finals, two more students from Dongshan Academy are considered favorites to win the championship.

Wu Hu Jushi believes that in the next five years, he can hold his head high among the academy's deans and secure more resources for the academy from the Zhengyi School.

The two vice sect leaders, however, simply applauded politely, just like any other spectator, to express their praise for Han Lu's excellent performance on the stage.

Because of the ancient cultivation secret realm incident, they focused more attention on high-level Qi Refining cultivators.

Five or ten years ago, they might have highly praised Han Lu's performance on the stage and taken out some scraps from their storage bags to reward her, as the sect leaders, to show their support and encouragement for their promising disciple.

Watching Wen Erya and Han Lu both win the championship, the person with the most complicated feelings was Zhan Yujun in the stands.

She was happy for her two friends, but also worried about how she should conduct herself in front of them in the future, and felt a little jealous.

Finally, Zhan Yujun chose to express her congratulations to her two friends with the loudest and longest applause of anyone else, while inwardly raising the bar for the promise she had made to herself.

Han Lu stepped down from the stage, and the competition continued.

As the matches progressed, the cultivation levels of the cultivators battling on the arena became increasingly higher.

In the final round, when two cultivators at the twelfth level of Qi Refining stepped onto the arena, the Qi Refining cultivators' competition came to an end and also reached its climax.

Neither of the two Qi Refining Level 12 cultivators who advanced to the finals were on the list of "treasure hunters," which surprised almost all the disciples and elders of the Zhengyi Sect.

The matter of the ancient cultivation secret realm has made this final match even more important.

Both contestants on the stage were determined to win the championship and make it onto the list of "treasure hunters." As soon as Daoist Yunmin shouted "start," they unleashed their best skills.

One of them summoned a fierce tiger at the seventh level of Qi Refining from his spirit pet pouch.

One of them summoned a total of seventeen spirit swords from his storage bag and set up a sword formation.

You have Zhang Liangji, I have a wall ladder.

You use the move "Ten Thousand Swords Return to Their Origin," and I'll counter with "Tiger Returns to the Mountain."

The two sides traded blows, fighting fiercely, and the audience was quite engrossed in the game.

Because they won the championship, Han Lu and Wen Erya were able to stand below the arena, pointing and commenting on the two cultivators fighting fiercely on the stage from this best viewing position.

True gentlemen observe chess without speaking, but the two women, while watching the contest, couldn't help but exchange a few words and express their own opinions.

"Junior sister, who do you think will win?" Wen Erya asked this simple question after watching for a while and having made up her mind.

Han Lu's gaze shifted between the two people on the stage for a moment before she gave her answer.

"I think that senior brother from Zhongshan Academy will win in the end," Han Lu said, looking at the cultivator who was putting all his strength into his sword formation. "His skill in controlling weapons is outstanding. He just showed off his real sword flight. The sword formation he formed is also quite exquisite. In terms of strength, he is a notch above that senior brother from Nanshan Academy who is riding a black tiger."

The hero sees the same.

Han Lu finally managed to get Wen Erya to say, "That's what I think too."

The two champions shared the same view as many Golden Core cultivators.

After the battle had lasted for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and once the situation became clear, only the Golden Core stage master of the tiger-riding cultivator still harbored a sliver of hope, thinking that his disciple could seize upon his opponent's mistake and ultimately turn the tide.

In the end, the swordsman from Zhongshan Academy did not give his opponent a chance to turn the tide.

Although the seventeen spirit swords were all damaged in the battle, they eventually formed a sword formation, completely surrounding their opponent.

Faced with the flashing swords and seeing the wounded black tiger beneath him, the other cultivator knew victory was hopeless. He could only grit his teeth and shout out the word "surrender" to avoid losing the championship and also suffering damage to himself and the monster he had finally obtained.

With the final champion decided, the competition for the vast majority of Qi Refining cultivators has come to an end.

For the ten champions, including Han Lu and Wen Erya, there is still one crucial step in their competition that has not yet been completed.

Selecting treasures.

Chapter 114 The Treasure Selection Meeting

Magical implements are extremely precious to ordinary Qi Refining disciples.

Ordinary low-grade magic tools require a full seven or eight spirit stones to obtain.

If it is of a higher grade, such as a spirit sword or a magical artifact with other special supernatural powers, it can even be sold for twenty low-grade spirit stones in an ordinary market.

However, what is a luxury for Qi Refining cultivators is nothing in the eyes of the Zhengyi Sect, the second largest sect in the Central Plains.

The Zhengyi Sect has a dedicated organization responsible for weapon crafting.

Every year, countless magical implements are made from the scraps used to refine magical artifacts, not to mention those that are specially made.

All of these items, when added together, were piled up like mountains in the inner and outer treasuries of the various temples of Zhengyi Gate.

Distributing these magical items as prizes to outstanding disciples during each major and minor competition was hardly a burden.

This is why, half a year ago, Feng Bailu complained to his companions that the steward of the inner treasury was stingy, preferring to leave magical artifacts and tools idle in the treasury rather than letting them go outside and waste cultivation resources.

Feng Bailu had previously received a reward from the sect for his excellent performance in the competition, but that time was different from this one.

On that occasion, Feng Bailu was at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, ranking thirty-second.

Although they were bestowed with magical artifacts, they were not qualified to enter the inner treasury for selection.

Obtaining the valuable Xuanhuo Spirit Sword was one of the few times he had good luck.

This time, although Han Lu's cultivation level was low and she only won a championship at the second level of Qi Refining, it was still a championship after all.

She and ten other champions, including Wen Erya, can enjoy certain privileges.

Enter the Five Elements Mountain Academy and spend half an hour there to choose your favorite magical item as a reward for this competition.

This basically means that after the treasure selection is completed, two high-grade magical artifacts that are quite compatible with Han Lu will enter Han Lu's storage bag, allowing her already rich combat skills to reach a new level.

If Han Lu, a champion at the second level of Qi Refining, receives such generous treatment, one can only imagine how much more Qi Refining cultivators at higher levels receive.

Even the sword cultivator who wins the final battle can choose a magic weapon from his inner treasury for himself when he advances to the Foundation Establishment stage in the future.

With such generous rewards, naturally no one would be late for this "treasure selection event".

After lunch, Han Lu and Wen Erya, who arrived at the Wuxing Mountain courtyard warehouse a quarter of an hour early, became the last two to arrive in the group.

Upon arrival, a long-waiting academy administrator hurriedly handed Wen Erya and Han Lu two storage bags that had been prepared beforehand.

"This is part of the reward for winning the grand competition."

Han Lu opened the storage bag, inside which, in addition to 30 spirit stones, 150 meridian-opening pills, there was also a top-grade spirit stone that had been cut.

This top-grade spirit stone is only a quarter the size of an ordinary spirit stone. It has been carved with patterns using special tools, changing its shape. It is a trophy symbolizing winning first place in the competition.

Although the materials used in this trophy are precious, its significance is also quite great. If it were to be pawned and exchanged for low-grade spirit stones, exchanging it for 30 stones would not be a problem.

Looking at this souvenir, which had only been seen in the hands and rooms of certain cultivators, Han Lu was overjoyed. She felt that her efforts over the past six months had been highly recognized, and she believed that this thing was even more precious than the spirit stones and pills in her storage bag.

Wen Erya, who had no shortage of elixirs and spirit stones, was also like this.

Just as Han Lu was struggling with where in the room to display and collect the souvenir, seeing that all ten champions had arrived, the Golden Core cultivator Seven Flower Fairy, who was in charge of the management of the Zhengyi Sect Academy, announced that the "Treasure Selection Meeting" would begin ahead of schedule.

The Seven Flower Fairy is one of the most famous female Golden Core cultivators in the Zhengyi Sect.

She wore a light-colored long dress embroidered with various flowers, which perfectly matched her Taoist name and temperament.

Although Fairy Seven Flowers formed a fourth-grade golden core when she reached the Nascent Soul stage, she was still a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Like Si Xing'er, she was responsible for the daily management of a mountain academy as a Foundation Establishment disciple. Therefore, even after advancing to the Golden Core stage, she remained active in the Zhengyi Sect academy, carrying out activities as a deputy.

Someone like the Seven Flower Fairy, with her good looks, high cultivation, and status as a Golden Core elder in charge of the academy, would be most suitable to preside over this treasure selection event.