The Long Journey to Immortality

Therefore, in addition to the spirit stones, pills, and magical artifacts she received from the sect for winning the competition, Han Lu received new rewards half a month after the competition ended.

As a Golden Core Elder of Dongshan Academy, Piaomiaozi is allowed to cultivate for one hundred hours each month in the quiet room on Hanchan Peak.

With the consent of the Five Lakes Hermit, two hours of meditation time out of the one hundred hours were allocated to Han Lu's account as an extra reward for her winning the competition.

Although these two hours seem insignificant compared to the hundred hours of cultivation time Piaomiaozi has allotted, only Han Lu among Piaomiaozi's twenty-three disciples enjoys this privilege.

This shows that Piaomiaozi already showed considerable favoritism towards his talented disciple, Han Lu.

After the competition, Han Lu's storage bag was replenished with spirit stones and pills, and she also gained extra time to cultivate on Cold Cicada Peak. Although she spent a lot of time and energy on other things, her cultivation speed in the month after the competition was even slightly faster than before the competition.

In just one month, Han Lu increased the number of acupoints opened in her body to three digits, reaching a total of 108.

Having opened her third spiritual vein and fully entered the Zhengyi Sect, Han Lu, who had embarked on the path of cultivation again in just half a year, had already surpassed many of her fellow disciples and become a cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining.

If Han Lu were practicing ordinary cultivation techniques, she would only need to open more than ninety acupoints to advance to the tenth level of Qi Refining. At this point, she could have already attempted to advance to Foundation Establishment and complete the feat of going from a mortal to a Foundation Establishment cultivator in six months.

Han Lu, who has lofty goals, was not overly delighted by this small breakthrough.

Sitting upright in the quiet room of Hanchan Peak, she absorbed the last bit of spiritual energy in the courtyard as usual before opening the door and leaving.

Chapter 118 Gemstone Mutation

After returning to the courtyard, Han Lu did not go back to her room as usual. Instead, she moved the Dharma seat to the courtyard and bathed in the bright moonlight to clear the "floating ice" in the spiritual veins.

It was a full moon that day, which was also the time of year when water-attribute spiritual energy was most active at night.

Under the moonlight, Han Lu could clearly feel that the spiritual energy around her was a little more active than usual, and the speed at which the floating ice in her body was being cleared was also much faster than usual.

Practice makes perfect, and Han Lu had already figured out the tricks of cleaning, making her cleaning speed at least twice as fast as the first time.

Immersed in her cultivation, Han Lu lost track of time, but could vaguely feel a burning sensation coming from her waist.

"what happened?"

Temporarily putting down her work, Han Lu snapped out of her meditative state and subconsciously looked toward the source of the heat.

The sachet containing red gemstones was right there.

The red gemstone, which had been as cold as ice in Han Lu's hands, suddenly underwent a change. Han Lu quickly took it out of the sachet and held it in her palm.

Looking at the red gem lying in my palm, emitting a faint light.

Feeling the warmth in her hands that she had never experienced before, Han Lu was overjoyed.

After more than half a month of research, there has been no progress whatsoever.

But now, some changes that have never been seen before have suddenly occurred.

For better or worse, Han Lu had reason to believe that this would help her unravel the secrets of the gem and increase her understanding of this mysterious gem.

"Is it because of the time?" Han Lu subconsciously looked up and glanced at the moon, which was a size larger than usual on a full moon night, and muttered to herself, "Indeed, this is the first full moon night that it has spent with me since I obtained this gem."

Although she didn't know if it was really the moonlight that caused the gemstone to change, as she suspected, she decided to give it a try anyway.

Han Lu stood up from the throne, moved to a better position, and held the gemstone in her hands, letting it enjoy the moonlight of the full moon night.

This approach actually works to some extent.

Although the movement was slow, Han Lu could clearly feel the temperature of the red gem in her palm gradually rising.

Looking at the gem in her palm, Han Lu's breathing gradually became rapid.

A thousand thoughts raced through her mind, imagining how the red gem in her hand would change afterward.

"Perhaps this gem is the key to teleporting to some mysterious secret realm?"

"Or perhaps it's a powerful magic weapon that can help me unleash my true spiritual powers?"

"Of course, it might just be a strange gemstone, otherwise it wouldn't have been gathering dust in the inner treasury for thousands of years."

……

Whether it was Han Lu's heartfelt words that were too loud, or the rare heat source of the crimson gemstone in winter that was too attractive, the raccoon demon A Xiao, who was originally hiding in the room to avoid the cold, actually came to the courtyard and started circling around Han Lu.

The raccoon demon Ah Shi, who had gone from being a skinny cat to a fat cat, stood on his hind legs and raised his forelimbs, sometimes leaping with all his might, trying to get closer to the warm red jade.

The sudden appearance of the lazy and gluttonous Ah Xiao gave Han Lu a strange sense of crisis.

"Could it be that it's hungry and wants to eat something?"

"You can't eat this."

She quickly gave Ah Xiao a command in her mind, while speaking kindly to persuade him, which finally calmed down the raccoon demon who, by nature, wanted to get closer to the heat source to keep warm.

So, under the full moon, a person and a cat stared blankly at the gem that was emitting a faint red light, looking at it intently, hoping that it would undergo more different changes.

It remained in this awkward position for about fifteen minutes, and the temperature of the gemstone no longer rose.

Although it wasn't as hot as charcoal, Han Lu had to use a protective spell to hold it smoothly in her hands without getting burned.

Han Lu had sharp eyesight; she could clearly see that the gemstone, which had only emitted a faint glow under the moonlight, had become increasingly bright over this period of time.

However, this speed was so slow that it was almost imperceptible, causing Han Lu's excitement to gradually dissipate over time.

Looking at the moon overhead and then at the gem in her hand, Han Lu muttered to herself, "My current state is somewhat like that of a Qi Refining cultivator with low magical power trying to wield a magical artifact."

Han Lu likened the gem in her hand to a magical artifact that only those with a cultivation level of Qi Refining or above could wield, and the moonlight to burgeoning spiritual energy.

She didn't know if the analogy was accurate or close to the truth, but this realistic understanding made her more willing to try and see if she could accelerate the development of this phenomenon or actively generate some other changes.

As for the method, Han Lu didn't have any creativity. She simply took out the same three-piece set she used when she first obtained the gem on this full moon night.

"Infuse with spiritual power."

"invalid."

"A drop of blood."

"invalid."

"Refine and recognize its master."

"Still ineffective."

Despite trying various methods, the gem remained unmoved, leaving Han Lu somewhat helpless.

Fortunately, Han Lu's initiative did not affect the changes that were taking place on the gem.

During the time Han Lu was busy with this, the gemstone continued to slowly absorb moonlight in the moonlit night.

Left with no other choice, Han Lu could only wait silently.

Holding the cat, he placed the gemstone on the ground in the courtyard.

Han Lu moved the sun loungers she used for sunbathing during the winter daytime to the moonlight.

She waited patiently.

The weather was indeed fine that day; the moon was bright and the stars were few, and there were no clouds in the sky. The full moon shone outside almost all night, illuminating the small courtyard where Han Lu lived.

Before lying down on the recliner, Han Lu tried her best to maintain the lazy state she usually had when sunbathing, but as she gently stroked the cat, her mind was anything but calm.

Every now and then, Han Lu would unconsciously crane her neck and turn her head to look at the gems in the yard, afraid of missing something.

However, even as dawn broke and the sun was about to rise, Han Lu, still in a half-asleep state, did not witness any other unusual phenomena from the gemstone.

Looking at the moon, now just a blurry afterimage in the sky, Han Lu straightened up from the recliner and lazily stretched.

Han Lu first took A Xiao Guan back to the room, saying, "Stay put and behave yourself. I'll make you breakfast later."

After taking good care of the cat, she walked over to the red gem that was still placed in the center of the yard.

She looked at the red gemstone, which was only slightly brighter than before, and subconsciously shook her head. "Did it not absorb enough moonlight? Maybe we should try again tonight. Perhaps it will only work on a full moon night."

Having grasped a sliver of the clue, Han Lu bent down to pick up the red gemstone while pondering its meaning.

Unexpectedly, the moment Han Lu touched the gemstone, an accident occurred.

Xiao Xiao leaned against the window, watching her owner vanish into thin air in the courtyard. She blinked, looking somewhat bewildered and at a loss.

Chapter 119 Where am I?

Han Lu bent down to pick up the gemstone.

The instant her right hand touched the gem, Han Lu felt an irresistible suction force pull her up, as if she had been teleported several times before.

Feeling dizzy and lightheaded, Han Lu felt like a piece of duckweed caught in a storm.

Being manipulated at will, Han Lu felt dizzy and suffocated.

Her expression was pained, and she involuntarily closed her eyes, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

The long-awaited vision has occurred, but as things stand, it may not be good news for her.

In this state, Han Lu was completely unaware of the passage of time.

She could only silently endure it, waiting and hoping that this teleportation-like process would end soon.

After an unknown amount of time, Han Lu realized that her breathing had become smooth again.

After taking a few breaths of fresh air into my lungs, the dizziness and discomfort disappeared.

I slowly opened my eyes, and something happened that was both expected and unexpected.

When Han Lu experienced that terrible feeling again, she knew that she had most likely been "teleported" under the influence of the mysterious red gem.

But when she regained consciousness, the scene before her eyes was truly beyond her expectations.

Han Lu found herself in a wooden house.

Everywhere you look, the furnishings and decorations in the room are not in the style of the Southern Dynasties at all.

The still-blurry bronze mirror on the dressing table, even after polishing, made Han Lu feel that she had probably left the Central Plains cultural sphere.

"Where did they teleport me to?" Han Lu wondered, thinking to herself, "Could it be that I've been sent to the Southern Barbarians or the Western Regions?"

Just as she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard soft, steady breathing behind her.

She turned around instinctively and found a young girl dressed in linen clothes standing there, leaning against the corner of the wall, taking a nap.

The girl looked about twelve or thirteen years old, still quite childish, with a darker complexion.

Although the style of her clothing was extremely ordinary, the girl's facial features and skin tone looked about 70% similar to the southern barbarians Han Lu had seen before.