The Long Journey to Immortality

Wen Erya was afraid that if this topic continued, it would make Han Lu sad.

Just as they were thinking of how to change the subject and let the matter drop, Wen Erya suddenly had an idea.

She thought it was a brilliant idea.

"I have a good idea."

"How about this, junior sister, you probably don't have anywhere else to go during the New Year," Wen Erya invited Han Lu, "How about coming home with me?"

"Go home with you? To the Southern Dynasty's palace?" Han Lu was very surprised.

Wen Erya had her own reasons: "We have such a good relationship, like sisters, isn't it only natural that you come home with me for the New Year?"

"Besides, this is perfect. This way, you can also enter the Royal Library and browse the books yourself. Isn't that more convenient than me borrowing books for you?"

Wen Erya felt that her reasons were sufficient.

Han Lu's future was uncertain, and Wen Erya, who was close to her, naturally wanted to spend more time with her during this festive season and take the opportunity to ease Han Lu's homesickness.

Han Lu hesitated for a moment, "But that's the palace. Would it be impolite, or even against the rules, for me to go there with you?"

“What’s the big deal?” Wen Erya didn’t take the so-called secular rules to heart at all. “There’s no problem. Even if there is a problem, I can just say a word to my father and the problem will be gone.”

With Wen Erya's warm invitation, Han Lu naturally accepted without hesitation.

"Then I'll have to trouble you for the next two weeks, Senior Sister."

Wen Erya smiled and said, "I'm overjoyed that my junior sister is willing to spend the New Year with me, so how could I find it troublesome?"

So, Wen Erya and Han Lu agreed on a time to travel together.

[Author's Note] This chapter was uploaded while I was drunk and has not been proofread. If there are any errors, please let me know in the comments.

Chapter 126 Playing the flute, playing chess, and arriving at the destination

Originally, Wen Erya had planned to have a companion on this trip home.

Unfortunately, Wen Erya's study companion, Zhu Cailian, was already deeply involved with her boyfriend in the Zhengyi Sect.

Although they haven't reached the point of discussing marriage yet, they have already secretly pledged their lives to each other and are now at the stage of meeting each other's parents and elders.

Therefore, this time, Zhu Cailian chose to go home with her boyfriend instead of returning to her home in the capital of the Southern Dynasty during the New Year.

Watching her childhood friend drift further and further away, Wen Erya felt somewhat helpless, but all she could do was offer her blessings and hope that Zhu Cailian would find a reliable person to entrust her life to.

The next morning, Han Lu followed Wen Erya into her magnificent carriage.

As for the raccoon demon A Xiao, Han Lu left it enough food and felt that there wouldn't be any major problems.

After all, she had never heard of a domesticated raccoon demon starving to death.

Wen Erya has a complicated identity; she is a nun, a princess, and the emperor's most beloved little princess.

There was a dispute within the Ministry of Rites of the Southern Dynasty regarding how Princess Wenerya, the thirteenth princess, should return home for the New Year.

Having the Zhengyi Sect send Foundation Establishment cultivators back using magical artifacts would be quick, but it's unreasonable.

After all, no matter how powerful your Southern Dynasty royal family is, they are only the overlords of the secular world. How dare they point fingers at the Zhengyi Sect, the largest sect in the Southern Dynasty?

However, arranging for monks from within the palace to greet them would be against protocol.

Ultimately, after comprehensive consideration and taking into account Wen Erya's opinion, a decision was made that no one could find fault with.

Anyway, Zhengyi Gate is not far from the capital, and there is still some time before New Year's Eve.

The Ministry of Rites simply arranged two royal carriages, which were reserved for members of the imperial family, so that Wen Erya could travel home in a mortal manner, accompanied by four maids and two stewards who had been sent from the capital of the Southern Dynasty to serve her throughout her journey.

Han Lu, being a gentle and refined junior sister and best friend, would naturally not sit in the same car as the servants.

Thus, during the three days back in the capital, Han Lu was able to get even closer to Wen Erya, spending three days sharing a bed.

Han Lu was slightly excited as she boarded the luxurious carriage.

Once the carriage was on the pipe, she couldn't wait to lift the curtain and peer out.

The horses pulling the carriage were hybrids, with blood mixed with that of demonic beasts. They possessed astonishing stamina and speed; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to pull this carriage, which was even larger than Han Lu's bedroom in Zheng Yi Gate, across hundreds of miles in just three days.

Looking at the four tall horses pulling the cart ahead, Han Lu felt it was all a bit unreal, as if she were in a dream.

There's no way around it; in terms of worldly experience, both Feng Bailu and Xiaoyaozi were born poor boys.

Ordinary people never enjoyed such privileged treatment. After becoming cultivators and learning to fly on swords, they naturally had even less chance to travel in carriages that resembled mobile homes.

It's normal for Han Lu, this cultivator, to feel some curiosity and find it novel.

Wen Erya, on the other hand, as a princess, was already used to all of this.

As soon as she boarded the carriage, she was quickly helped by her maids to remove her bulky outer garment and princess crown, reverting to her usual casual and natural demeanor.

After helping Wen Erya change her clothes, the maid, whose appearance was seven-tenths more outstanding than the other two, went back and forth between Wen Erya's carriage and her casual carriage three times, bringing various fruits and snacks to the two of them.

Despite being on the road, the treatment they received was not much different from that of Wen Er Ya in the palace.

Han Lu, who had just put down the car door to keep the cold wind out of the carriage, watched curiously from the side, gaining a more concrete understanding of Wen Erya's identity as a princess.

Seeing her usually mature and independent junior sister watching like a "country bumpkin," Wen Erya resisted the urge to tease Han Lu and instead invited Han Lu to sit down in the seat next to her.

Han Lu, after all, was a cultivator who had witnessed grand scenes through Xiaoyaozi's memories. After sitting down for a while, she no longer had any special feelings about these worldly valuables.

It's not that I see money as dirt, it's just that I have higher aspirations.

Wen Erya observed Han Lu's behavior and became increasingly convinced that Han Lu was like her, sharing similar ideals and goals.

Although he was surrounded by fine clothes and delicacies, he also had four beautiful maids serving him.

However, since they were still traveling by car, Wen Erya, who was eager to get home, did not stop along the way to arrange sightseeing activities.

Aside from meditating and practicing meditation, the only way the two could pass the time and entertain themselves was in the car.

Music lessons, which had been suspended for half a month, were resumed at Han Lu's initiative. However, this time, Wen Erya was not the only one teaching Han Lu music; a maid who accompanied Wen Erya was also there.

Most of the servants and palace maids in royal households were well-educated and possessed some form of refined skill.

Coincidentally, one of the maids serving Wen Erya this time was skilled at playing the xiao (a type of vertical bamboo flute).

This maid's musical skills far surpassed Wen Erya's; in Han Lu's eyes, she was definitely a master, a renowned teacher.

However, Han Lu noticed that the maid's basic skills seemed to be lacking. Her posture while holding the flute was not very standard, and she added a lot of unnecessary mouth movements when playing the music.

She did not learn these bad habits.

After being instructed for several hours along the way, Han Lu felt that her skills had improved considerably with the help of this maid.

Besides music lessons, the numerous books in the carriage and Go, a game that has flourished in the Central Plains cultural circle for countless years, became one of the few forms of entertainment for the two women.

The books in the carriage were not chosen by Wen Erya, but were stuffed into the carriage by those old stubborn men from the Ministry of Rites, so they were not very suitable for the two women's tastes.

At first, Han Lu was quite interested and selected three books from the bookshelf, intending to read them while enjoying delicious snacks and drinks to pass the time.

In the end, however, she only flipped through a few pages of these books and didn't finish reading them at all.

However, Han Lu and Wen Erya played Go, a popular and accessible form of entertainment, for no less than ten games in the car.

The reason for playing chess in the car was that Wen Erya wanted to bully Han Lu, who was "uneducated".

Wen Erya was bored, so she asked Han Lu to put down the wooden flute, saying that she wanted to be Han Lu's Go teacher and play a few games with Han Lu to give her guidance.

Indeed, Han Lu and Feng Bailu were "uneducated and incompetent." Apart from recognizing a few characters, they were mediocre in all arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

But Xiaoyaozi was different. He was a master of Go, and during the time he lived as a wandering immortal in the East Sea, he made a name for himself in the East Sea with his Go skills.

Thus, when the half-baked Wen Erya placed four black pieces on the nanmu chessboard and pushed the porcelain pot containing the black pieces in front of Han Lu, the outcome was already decided.

It was fortunate that Wen Erya was sitting opposite Han Lu playing chess. If it were anyone else, they would have given up long ago after being crushed in several games, instead of taking it so seriously and dragging Han Lu to play a few more games with handicap, just to find out how good they were at chess in front of their junior sister.

Only when Wen Erya barely managed to defeat Han Lu with five pieces was she satisfied. She put away the nanmu chessboard and jade chess pieces and never mentioned playing chess with Han Lu again.

Han Lu attributed her exceptional chess skills to talent.

Wen Erya believed this absurd excuse without a doubt.

"Junior sister is so good at sparring and fighting, no wonder she also has a talent for Go."

"From a certain perspective, the battle between black and white is indeed seven parts similar to the contest of skills on the arena."

They spent three days in this semi-closed environment. Although there was little entertainment on the bus, the two, who got along well and shared similar interests, did not find it boring.

On the third day at noon, just as the two had eaten some snacks in the carriage, the not-so-impressive city walls of the Southern Dynasty's capital finally appeared before the two carriages.

[Author's Note] Because I was drunk, I accidentally uploaded the previous chapter ahead of schedule, so there will only be one chapter today.

Chapter 127 The Thirteenth Princess's Residence

Lacking the threat of war, the capital of the Southern Dynasties did not erect towering walls. In fact, plans to further demolish parts of the city walls to facilitate urban expansion were already on the agenda of the Southern Dynasty emperors.

If Han Lu had come here two years later, she probably wouldn't have even seen the city walls on all four sides.

Princess Wen Erya arrived as scheduled. The small right gate of the capital, which was usually only opened occasionally, was opened for her arrival, saving Wen Erya and Han Lu the trouble of queuing to enter the city.

Because she disliked formalities and trivial matters, Wen Erya did not dismount from her carriage when entering the city. Instead, she had the two palace stewards who also served as her coachmen handle all the annoying formalities.

Wen Erya was a nun, and also the emperor's favorite little princess, so the mortal officials who came to greet and flatter her naturally didn't mind her rudeness.

They exchanged greetings and bows across the train carriage, and also presented carefully selected gifts.

The gift was stuffed directly into the back of the car without being registered, showing no consideration for the giver whatsoever.

As Wen Erya's carriage traveled further away, many auspicious words and phrases related to cultivators and fairies were applied to her by those who had never even seen her.

Sitting in the carriage, Wen Erya felt helpless about all of this. She scratched her head and complained to Han Lu, "Junior sister, do you think these people are shameless? I almost told them to get lost, but they still shamelessly came up to me. Don't they have any sense of shame at all?"

Han Lu has a say in this issue because of a part of Xiaoyaozi's memories.

"Senior sister, when you achieve the Golden Core stage and advance to the Nascent Soul stage, this kind of thing will happen again."

"However, when the time comes, those who will fawn over you will probably not be these ordinary mortals, but rather cultivators who have achieved success in their cultivation."

Although Han Lu's answer was somewhat roundabout, Wen Erya was a smart person and naturally understood it.

Wen Erya rested her chin on her hand, seemingly lost in thought. "Junior Sister is right. Once I reach the Foundation Establishment stage, I will take the initiative to tell Father Emperor to remove my title of princess."

"That way, when I return to the capital, I should be able to have some peace and quiet and go home safely."

Upon hearing this, Han Lu simply smiled. How could a mere word make a common person overlook or erase the status and glory that existed within them because of their bloodline?