The Long Journey to Immortality

She closed her eyes tightly and silently endured the pain and discomfort. When it subsided, the room, both strange and familiar, reappeared before her.

Seeing Feng Jiao sitting there, having just opened the first page of "The True Phoenix Manual," Han Lu said with relief, "Indeed, this story is a continuous one."

It's important to conduct experiments in the Moon Pearl World to understand your situation, but it's even more important to learn the "True Phoenix Manual".

Han Lu quickly stepped forward and stood beside Feng Jiao, savoring and appreciating the profound meaning of the "True Phoenix Manual" with her.

[Author's Note] Seeking moves suitable for a protagonist at the Qi Refining level, not just names~ Just post them in the thread!

Chapter 137 The True Phoenix Transformation

Last time I left in a hurry, I only took one look before leaving.

Now, having time to stand attentively and learn from the sidelines, Han Lu realized that she didn't actually recognize the characters written in the "True Phoenix Manual".

“However, I can understand the meaning of every single character and word combination,” Han Lu guessed. “Is it because of our bloodline?”

The reason for this is unknown.

Time was incredibly precious in the Moon Pearl World, so Han Lu didn't spend too much mental energy on these details, focusing instead on memorizing the "True Phoenix Manual: Illusionary Phoenix Chapter".

The True Phoenix Manual, as an introductory manual that records many of the Phoenix Clan's supernatural abilities, is not complicated or profound in content.

Even without anyone to guide them, Feng Jiao and Han Lu could easily understand the secret manual.

Unfortunately, Han Lu is currently in a state similar to "astral projection," with neither true spiritual blood flowing within her nor spiritual power existing in her body.

Otherwise, she would definitely start reciting the incantation now, to test it out and see if this enlightenment manual prepared for the true spirit would work on her.

Compared to Han Lu, who was in an awkward situation, Feng Jiao could freely unleash her power and activate the pure true spirit bloodline within her.

Perhaps the attack on her way home made her feel threatened.

Having only flipped through eleven or twelve pages of the cultivation technique, Feng Jiao temporarily stopped reading and studying it. She turned the "True Spirit Treasure Book" over and placed it on the table, closed her eyes slightly, and began practicing according to the contents of the manual.

Feng Jiao practiced happily, but Han Lu was anxious and frustrated on the side.

She had already memorized, understood, and engraved the contents of those short eleven or twelve pages into her mind as she watched them.

She can only come to the Moon Pearl World once a month, and based on her previous experience, she can only stay for two or three hours at most.

With time running out, Han Lu naturally wanted to memorize the entire "True Phoenix Manual" as quickly as possible, so as not to put it off until her next visit and to avoid any unexpected events.

Haste makes waste. Han Lu's current situation is just like eating hot tofu; rushing it won't do any good.

Seeing that Feng Jiao had entered a meditative state, Han Lu estimated that she would not continue to read the "True Phoenix Manual" for another quarter of an hour or two, so she had the idea of ​​starting an experiment.

However, the matter of the "True Phoenix Manual" was of great importance. Han Lu was afraid that, like the memories of Xiaoyaozi that she had inherited, it would be missing pages and words, making it impossible for her to learn or use the original technique.

After hesitating for a moment, Han Lu thought to herself, "I'll conduct the experiments nearby, just some simple ones, and keep a close eye on anything happening inside the house..."

Thinking of this, Han Lu subconsciously touched her waist and tried to take something out of the storage bag hanging on her waist.

"No." The storage bag at Han Lu's waist and the clothes she wore were just empty shells.

Noting this down, Han Lu began the next experiment.

There was a ceramic cup on the table in front of Feng Jiao. Han Lu tried to reach out and grab it, thinking of picking it up.

"Neither."

If mundane objects like ceramic cups won't do, then what about cultivation items like the "True Phoenix Manual"?

“It still doesn’t work,” Han Lu said, feeling the warmth on her fingertips. “But when I touch it, I’m slightly affected.”

Han Lu subconsciously felt that these slight differences were very important.

"Try again to see if you can get out of this room? Or go through the wall."

Han Lu looked at the half-open wooden door of the room and the surrounding sycamore wood walls.

Walk towards the gate, take a step outside... no problem.

Passing through walls... is also possible.

But when you look out, all you see is darkness, and you can't see anything at all.

Feng Jiao could break free of her meditative state at any time, so Han Lu's plan to test the distance of the Moon Pearl that allows her to leave the Moon Pearl world had to be postponed for the time being.

"No rush, we come every month anyway. The most important thing now is to memorize the entire 'True Phoenix Manual'."

Everything has its priorities, and Han Lu, who had thought about this matter at least seven or eight times in the past month, had already figured things out, distinguished what was important and what was not, and made meticulous and detailed arrangements.

Sure enough, as soon as Han Lu passed through the wall back to Feng Jiao's room, Feng Jiao broke out of her meditative state and picked up the book again.

Compared to Han Lu, who was merely a human cultivator with the bloodline of the Illusionary Phoenix, Feng Jiao was a true spirit who had simply transformed into a human form.

She found cultivating the "True Phoenix Manual" much easier than Han Lu's cultivation of the "Great Zhou Heavenly Water Condensation Technique."

Han Lu didn't dare to delay and quickly moved closer, afraid that Feng Jiao would turn the pages too fast.

The "True Phoenix Manual," specifically the Illusionary Phoenix chapter, is only a little over a hundred pages long. Feng Jiao entered a meditative state after reading about a dozen pages, combining theory with practice.

Han Lu felt helpless, but now she was just an audience member sitting in the audience watching the show, unable to applaud or cheer, and could do nothing.

Because of Feng Jiao's rather unique cultivation method, by the time the Moonlight Pearl's energy was exhausted and brought Han Lu back to the world 100,000 years later, Han Lu had only memorized about 70-80% of the "True Phoenix Manual".

Looking at the rising sun on the horizon, Han Lu, who had just put away the Moon Pearl, felt a mix of emotions.

The trip was fruitful, but we didn't return with a full load of goodies.

"I just hope that next time it will be like this time, continuing from where we left off, and not skipping any chapters."

After silently praying, Han Lu didn't bother with mundane things like eating breakfast and went straight back to her room.

Sitting cross-legged on the Dharma seat, Han Lu recalled the "True Phoenix Manual" cultivation method she had just memorized from the Moon Pearl World and began to cultivate.

The True Phoenix Manual's cultivation method is divided into five levels. Han Lu "borrowed" the incantations for the first three levels from Feng Jiao.

The mental technique that fully activates the bloodline and transforms human cultivators into true spirits is located in the first level of this cultivation method.

Compared to Zhenling Fengjiao, Han Lu, a human cultivator with the bloodline of the True Spirit, is not the best practitioner of the "True Phoenix Manual".

Feng Jiao cultivates the "True Phoenix Manual" in order to learn how to master the various supernatural powers of the Illusionary Phoenix True Spirit.

Han Lu, however, needs to complete one more step.

Transforming from a human into a True Spirit Phoenix, and then unlocking the potential of their bloodline, they unleash numerous powerful divine abilities engraved within the Phoenix's bloodline.

Although Han Lu spoke casually about this matter when she was in Xiaoyaozi's cave that day, as if even a cultivator without true spirit bloodline could do it.

But when this matter actually fell on her, whose cultivation level was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, even though she did have some of the True Spirit Bloodline of the Illusionary Phoenix in her body, Han Lu could still understand the difficulties involved.

After meditating all day, Han Lu felt her blood boiling within her body, and she felt as if she had turned back into the talentless Feng Bailu she once was.

"It's not fair to say there's been absolutely no progress."

Silently reciting the incantation, Han Lu exerted all her strength.

A piercing pain shot through the back of her right hand, and she could smell blood in her nose, as if blood would spurt out of her nostrils at any moment.

A moment later, the pain subsided, but Han Lu's head still felt slightly swollen.

She focused her gaze on the back of her right hand.

In addition to human skin, there was also a patch of light-white feathers.

Looking at the "foreign object" growing from her body, Han Lu curiously stroked it gently with her left hand twice.

"Some of them feel quite comfortable to touch."

"However, even if the technique involves learning to grow a feather every day, and the incantation is easy at first and then becomes difficult later, it would probably take ten or twenty years to fully master the secret art of transforming true spirits."

……

When Han Lu thought about the possibility that she might grow a "phoenix heart," "phoenix lungs," "phoenix belly," and so on in the future, her already hungry stomach started growling.

She touched her stomach, suppressing the urge to rattle off a list of dishes, and muttered, "Let's eat first. Today, I'll have a bowl of beef offal soup."

Chapter 138 One Year Later

It has been a full year since Han Lu returned to Zhengyi Gate from the capital of the Southern Dynasty.

During this year, Han Lu, who had secretly learned the entire "True Phoenix Manual" from Feng Jiao, spent a lot of time practicing the secret techniques that were "only one word in her birth chart" compatible with her.

In the world of Moon Pearl, Feng Jiao has mastered the True Phoenix Manual completely thanks to her talent. Except for a few more profound True Spirit Divine Powers that she cannot use, her combat strength is no different from that of an ordinary late-stage Golden Core cultivator.

Han Lu, however, faced numerous difficulties on this path.

However, hard work pays off. After a year of diligent practice of the "True Phoenix Manual," Han Lu, who possesses the bloodline of the Illusionary Phoenix True Spirit, was able to completely transform her right arm into a true spirit when activating the technique, thus releasing a slight pressure of true spirit.

But only there.

Han Lu hadn't even scratched the surface of powerful secret techniques like True Spiritual Power, let alone using them in battle—that was a pipe dream.

Human time is limited, and if one thing is neglected, Han Lu's cultivation speed in the "Great Zhou Heavenly Water Condensation Technique" will naturally be slowed down considerably.

Fortunately, Han Lu is exceptionally talented, with a perfect match between her physique and cultivation techniques. She can also ascend to the Cold Cicada Peak, a treasure trove of cultivation, every month to improve her cultivation. This allows her to advance in her cultivation level at a speed far exceeding that of ordinary mediocre cultivators.

In a year, it would be considered a passing grade for an outsider to be able to open up a spiritual vein with eleven or twelve acupoints.

However, in those twelve months, Han Lu opened up more than 130 acupoints, raising her cultivation level from the fourth level of Qi Refining to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

The 248 acupoints opened in her body allowed Han Lu, whose cultivation level was only at the ninth level of Qi Refining, to possess a spiritual power far exceeding that of most cultivators at the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

As her cultivation level increased, the new techniques and secret arts she mastered and used further boosted Han Lu's combat power exponentially.

During the year-end competition, Han Lu, with her formidable strength, successfully won the championship in the Qi Refining Level 9 competition at Dongshan Academy, once again earning the qualification to enter the inner treasury and choose a magic item she desired.

It is worth mentioning that in the final of the competition, Han Lu's opponent was Wen Erya, who also advanced to the ninth level of Qi Refining that year.

The final match between the two, who knew each other inside and out, was arguably the most exciting competition among the nine-level Qi Refining contests at Dongshan Academy in recent decades.

Han Lu won the championship by relying on her abundant spiritual power, but the biggest winner in this competition was Piaomiaozi, a Golden Core cultivator.

Although Piaomiaozi only contributed a little effort and provided some guidance in Han Lu and Wen Erya's growth, it didn't seem so to outsiders.

The abbot of Dongshan Academy, Wuhu Jushi, has recognized that Piaomiaozi possesses a talent similar to that of a talent scout, and plans to arrange for him to attend several more apprenticeship ceremonies to cultivate a few elites for Dongshan Academy.

As for Wuhu Jushi's opinion of Han Lu, it has changed drastically compared to a year ago.

Although the Hermit of the Five Lakes did not know how Han Lu, whose records only showed a superior water spiritual root, was able to advance and improve her cultivation at such a fast pace.

But he knew that at this pace, based on Han Lu's fighting talent shown in one major competition and one minor competition, it was clear that...