The Long Journey to Immortality

Lan Daoren's senior brother was the former deputy head of his sect, so naturally he didn't have a place to live near the capital.

Being unfamiliar with the place and its people, even with his junior brother Lan Daoren by his side, he was not qualified to bring his disciples to stay in the palace villa where Lan Daoren lived.

Naturally, "Cultivator's Abode" became Senior Brother Lan Daoren's place of residence in the capital of the Southern Dynasty.

When flying to the cultivator's cottage on his sword, Lan Daoren sent a paper sword to his senior brother in advance to let him know.

When Lan Daoren led Wen Erya and Han Lu to the cultivator's cottage, Lan Daoren's senior brother had already made preparations and borrowed an empty arena to wait for Lan Daoren's arrival.

The "Cultivator's Abode" has an arena for cultivators to spar and fight, which is one of the reasons why Lan Daoren's senior brother chose to stay here.

It was still early, and there were already five cultivators standing in the arena area: four young men and one middle-aged man. Han Lu and Wen Erya were not blind, so they immediately recognized the middle-aged cultivator, whose appearance was somewhat similar to that of a mortal Confucian scholar, as Lan Daoren's senior brother.

Upon seeing Master Lan arrive, Master Lan's senior brother took the initiative to greet his disciple and say hello to Master Lan.

Based on her intuition, Han Lu judged that the four cultivators not far away, who were not much older than Wen Erya, were all at the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Hearing the repeated calls of "Uncle-Master," Master Lan smiled and maintained the demeanor of a senior expert. He also introduced Wen Erya and Han Lu, who had followed him there, to his senior brother.

"Senior Brother Ran, this is Wen Erya, my eldest disciple."

Wen Erya was also quite polite, bowing respectfully and saying, "Greetings, Senior Uncle Ran."

Compared to "Senior Brother Ran," who was the deputy leader of a small sect, handling various sect affairs and cultivating disciples, Daoist Lan, who was a court cultivator in the Southern Dynasty, was much more prestigious.

"Brother Ran" already knew perfectly well which two disciples Master Lan had taken on.

That's why he specially selected several disciples from the sect who were skilled in combat and whose cultivation was around the sixth level of Qi Refining to come to the appointment.

Naturally, "Senior Brother Ran" knew Wen Erya's true identity perfectly well.

Ran Siyuan, a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator addressed as "Senior Brother Ran," praised sincerely, "Oh, this must be the Thirteenth Princess. She is indeed outstanding, possessing such cultivation at such a young age. Junior Brother, you have truly taken on a fine disciple."

In the pursuit of cultivation, although there is a saying that the final achievement is "five parts talent and five parts effort," every cultivator understands that the five parts talent are the most important.

Ran Siyuan was the head of a small sect, and the disciples he recruited were far less talented than Wen Erya. He wished he could have a disciple with outstanding talent, a distinguished background, and abundant wealth, like Lan Daoren, and carefully nurture him.

Now that he knew Wen Erya was Wen Erya, Ran Siyuan looked at Han Lu and took the initiative to say, "Then this must be Junior Brother Lan's second disciple, Zhu Cailian, right?"

Although they didn't introduce themselves, the three of them felt a little awkward being called by the wrong name.

Lan Daoren quickly explained, "Senior Brother Ran, my second disciple is indeed named Zhu Cailian, but she is not this female cultivator."

Lan Daoren had no intention of having Han Lu help him fight in the arena. "Han Lu is Er Ya's junior sister in the Zheng Yi Sect. She's just here to join in the fun."

Ran Siyuan was slightly surprised, but upon reflection, he felt it made perfect sense.

After all, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Lan Daoren, this palace cultivator, only truly had Wen Erya as his disciple, and Zhu Cailian was merely taken in as a side effect.

If it was for the purpose of keeping the appointment, it would be reasonable to only arrange for Wen Er Ya to fight.

“However…” Ran Siyuan looked at his four disciples who had come to the capital to broaden their horizons, and was slightly troubled. “Junior Brother Lan, you only brought one disciple here. How should this competition be arranged? Why don’t you give me an explanation?”

Ran Siyuan thought that the challenge to compete back then was initiated by Lan Daoren. Now, Lan Daoren only has one disciple who has not been taken into his sect for several years. Naturally, he assumed that Lan Daoren already had a plan in mind on how to conduct the competition and extend the "battle" between the two of them when they were seeking the Dao to their disciples and grand-disciples.

Seeing his senior brother's serious expression, Lan Daoren had no choice but to say, "How about we have a round-robin battle? Your four disciples can take turns fighting Er Ya in order."

"Then how do we determine the winner?" Ran Siyuan asked again.

Lan Daoren only wanted to get by, so he replied, "If any of your disciples win a match, then you win."

Thirty years have passed, and Lan Daoren no longer cares about his "rival relationship" with Ran Siyuan. No matter who wins in the end because of that joke, he is indifferent.

If others heard this, they would definitely think that Lan Daoren was a bit arrogant.

In Ran Siyuan's view, there wasn't much of a problem with this rule arrangement. Although he had a slight advantage, Lan Daoren wasn't without a chance of winning.

However, Ran Siyuan's apprentices did not think so.

Their cultivation levels were comparable to Wen Erya's, so they naturally wanted to fight Wen Erya fairly and squarely to complete the task assigned by their master and prove their own abilities.

"Master, let me do it. I promise I won't embarrass you." Ran Siyuan's eldest and most skilled disciple volunteered.

Seeing the changes in the expressions of his other three disciples, Ran Siyuan could naturally guess what the four of them were thinking.

But he found it difficult to bring it up.

We couldn't very well dampen the spirits of our four ambitious disciples by saying they were no match for Wen Er Ya.

The situation reached a stalemate, and in the end, it was Han Lu, an outsider, who spoke the harsh truth.

"You guys couldn't beat my senior sister even in a tag team battle, and you still think you can settle things with her one-on-one? You're dreaming."

"If you ask me, maybe if all four of you came at me together, my senior sister could take you all down in one go."

Such sharp and outspoken words were not in Han Lu's nature. She simply couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to use words to mock those four cultivators who didn't recognize their own abilities.

Han Lu's words were quite harsh, which naturally angered the four disciples of Ran Siyuan.

The cultivator who had volunteered earlier, his eyes filled with anger, said, "What's your cultivation level? Why don't we go up on stage and have a match?"

Han Lu did not answer the question directly, "You don't need to practice, you still can't beat me."

Looking at the four people, Han Lu suddenly had a very feasible idea.

"How about this, we have a group battle?"

"With my senior sister and me, we can take on all four of you in one go."

"If we win, then the outcome of the thirty-year agreement is naturally beyond discussion."

"If you win, then as you wish, choose one of you to fight Senior Sister Wen again, and the result of that fight will determine the winner, how about that?"

Han Lu's suggestion completely messed up the four of them.

In the end, things actually went according to Han Lu's plan.

After Wen Erya handed over the healing pills she carried with her to Lan Daoren, all six of them stood on the arena.

Four on one side and two on the other, a chaotic battle is about to erupt on this arena.

Chapter 133 One Plus One is Greater Than Four

The six people were not familiar with each other. Although they came on stage to fight with some anger, they still followed the usual rules and introduced themselves before the fight.

Neither side was representing their respective sects, so when introducing themselves, they omitted their sect affiliation and only reported their names and cultivation levels.

"Song Zhengqi, Qi Refining Level 7," Ran Siyuan's eldest disciple, who had just been arguing with Han Lu, introduced himself.

"Moon Tower, Qi Refining Level 6."

"Yue Shaobai, Qi Refining Level 5."

These are two brothers; the younger one has a higher cultivation level, while the older one has a lower cultivation level.

"Xiao Shoushou, Qi Refining Level 7."

Nominally, Xiao Shoushou was Song Zhengqi's junior brother, but in terms of cultivation, he was on par with Song Zhengqi.

Ran Siyuan had made prior preparations. The four disciples he brought were chosen based on the cultivation levels of Wen Erya and Zhu Cailian, and each was chosen to fight one-on-one. However, judging from their cultivation levels, the contests were definitely fair.

"Wen Erya, Qi Refining Level 6."

I stayed at the sixth level of Qi Refining for about three months.

Wen Erya, who enjoys the privileges of being a disciple of a Golden Core Elder in the Zhengyi Sect and possesses abundant cultivation resources, is not far from advancing to the seventh level of Qi Refining.

"Han Lu... Qi Refining Level 3."

Although Han Lu has opened a total of 109 acupoints, even surpassing many mediocre cultivators who have reached the tenth level of Qi Refining, in terms of cultivation level, she is indeed only at the third level of Qi Refining. This cannot be considered lying or deceiving others, or "pretending to be weak to deceive others."

Upon hearing that Han Lu was only at the third level of Qi Refining, Song Zhengqi burst out laughing.

He was going head-to-head with Han Lu, so naturally he wouldn't miss the opportunity to seek superiority in cultivation.

Song Zhengqi asked, "Your cultivation level isn't high, but your mouth seems to have formed a golden core. Who gave you the courage?"

Han Lu was too lazy to explain to this passerby whom she would probably only meet and chat with once in her life. She simply said, "You'll find out when I beat you to a pulp later."

Ran Siyuan listened from below the stage, quite puzzled. He whispered to Daoist Lan, "What exactly is Han Lu's cultivation level? Is she the kind of cultivator who is particularly skilled in combat?"

Lan Daoren smiled and replied, "There was no exaggeration in her cultivation level. Han Lu only advanced to the second level of Qi Refining in the last two months."

"As for combat strength, you'll see in a moment."

Through Wen Erya's letters, Lan Daoren learned about Han Lu, Wen Erya's best friend and junior sister in the Zhengyi Sect.

He knew that Han Lu had sparred with Wen Erya and won, and he felt that the only suspense in this large-scale battle where the few fought the many was how long the side with more people could hold out.

Ran Siyuan and Lan Daoren lived in the same courtyard for nearly forty years. Just from the tone of Lan Daoren's voice, one could tell there was a story behind it.

Feeling a little uneasy, he thought to himself, "Four against two, one of whom is at the third level of Qi Refining, can they really lose? It can't be that bad."

4 is indeed greater than 2.

However, the four stones combined are certainly not as expensive as two beautiful jade hairpins.

In this competition, Song Zhengqi and the other three were like stones that could be crushed by Han Lu and Wen Erya in just a few moves.

There is no charge for using the arena in the "Cultivator's Abode", so there are no cultivators specifically serving "consumers" in the arena.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators, Lan Daoren and Ran Siyuan, became the referees for this competition. They jointly channeled their spiritual energy to activate the protective barriers of the arena, acted as healers, and judged the outcome together.

Because it was a group battle, the participants were given some time to discuss tactics before the competition officially began.

Wen Erya and Han Lu had been together for half a year, but their tacit understanding was as if they had been together for ten or twenty years.

The two men on the ring simply turned their heads at the same time, looked at each other for a moment, and then nodded almost simultaneously, indicating that they understood each other's thoughts.

Song Zhengqi and his four fellow disciples, who had been together for at least three years, gathered together for a good half-minute chat before signaling to the two Foundation Establishment cultivators that they were ready.

"Begin." Lan Daoren didn't count down and announced the start directly.

Having just gone through the grand competition, Han Lu and Wen Erya had not completely shed their "battle mode." As soon as Lan Daoren announced the start of the competition, they immediately began to unleash their skills ahead of the other four.

Through their eye contact, Han Lu and Wen Erya quickly devised an offensive and defensive strategy.

Wen Erya, who possesses numerous magical artifacts, is responsible for offense, while Han Lu, who is rich in spiritual power and has mastered the Five Elements Qi, is responsible for defense.

Wen Erya took the lead in presenting the scroll, attempting to summon the Ink Beast from it to assist in the battle.

Han Lu patted her storage bag, drawing her golden sword. While moving around and keeping the opponent at bay, she was also on guard against their attacks, ready to use defensive spells to parry at any time.

Compared to Han Lu and Wen Erya, the two cultivators who won the competition, their opponents were much more mediocre.

They were from small, unrefined sects, and the techniques they practiced were not particularly sophisticated.