Chapter 212: Sacred Realm
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
As for why Zhuang Yangbing was being so cautious at the start, Jing Ming had already deduced it.
Perhaps he was trying to test the Upper Realm cultivators, which were Jing Ming and the other two.
If Zhuang Yangbing came prepared, he probably knew that every sect would send a person to the Immortal Ascension Assembly. However, Zhuang Yangbing probably wasn’t sure about the cultivation of the people who came this time. Therefore, he was careful at the beginning and waited to see the situation.
Not long ago, the three examiners, including Jing Ming, had used their spiritual sense to observe the people participating in the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
Jing Ming was also very cautious during the process.
He understood that he could not alert the enemy at this time, so he deliberately disguised his spiritual sense as belonging to a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator.
The three spiritual senses that Zhuang Yangbing had scanned through were probably only at the Nascent Soul Stage. Then, Zhuang Yangbing likely concluded that the Upper Realm did not know that their luck had been stolen.
It had to be said that the speculation was reasonable and without any flaws.
After some thought, Jing Ming was 80% sure that Zhuang Yangbing was the person he was looking for.
Therefore, Jing Ming focused all his attention on Zhuang Yangbing during the following period of time.
At the same time, after the first day ended, Lu Yuan followed the main group and quietly arrived at the second stage of the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
However, he did not look relaxed at all.
Something was wrong. There was something wrong with the cultivators who came this time.
Lu Yuan silently glanced in a certain direction above his head and sank in deep thought.
Previously, when he was on the Immortal Ladder, Lu Yuan felt the spiritual sense of three cultivators scan his body.
Those three cultivators were all Nascent Soul Stage cultivators.
If that was the case, Lu Yuan would not feel that there was anything wrong with it.
Lu Yuan had expected three Nascent Soul Stage cultivators to host the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
However, one of the three cultivators’ spiritual will made Lu Yuan feel strange.
As a cultivator whose divine soul had already reached the peak of the Emptiness Realm, coupled with the enhancement of the nine-patterned way of the heavens golden core, Lu Yuan had extremely sharp divine soul perception.
Among the three spiritual senses, one of them was clearly extraordinary.
Although the other party had already concealed themself very well, Lu Yuan still sensed the abnormality of the other party’s spiritual sense.
The feeling was like the difference between two ordinary ropes and a rope with steel bars hidden inside.
Among the three spiritual senses, one of them was extremely tough.
That was a spiritual sense that Lu Yuan had never encountered before.
Due to the lack of reference, Lu Yuan could not determine whether the spiritual sense was released by a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator with a powerful divine soul or an Apotheosis Stage cultivator.
However, as a steady person, Lu Yuan felt that it was best to prepare for the worst.
That was to assume that the strange spiritual sense was released by an Apotheosis Stage expert.
Thinking of that, Lu Yuan immediately panicked a little.
What he feared came true.
The only fearful variable in his Benefit Plunderer plan this time was the possibility of encountering an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse, and it seemed that there really was one in the present Immortal Ascension Assembly.
That also made Lu Yuan think of leaving now.
After all, it wasn’t an easy task to deceive an Apotheosis Stage expert.
However, when Lu Yuan arrived at the second stage, he discovered that the spiritual sense sweeping over his body had become much lesser.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Yuan decided to slightly modify the contents of his plan.
Originally, he had planned to take part in the Immortal Ascension Assembly nine times for free, but now it seemed that nine times was still a little too much.
Three times was enough.
If it was only three times, Lu Yuan was confident that he could get what he wanted without alerting anyone.
Thinking of that, Lu Yuan calmed down and tried his best not to show his strength.
The second stage of the Immortal Ascension Assembly was the Trial Stone’s test.
The content of the assessment was to test the cultivator’s golden core or spiritual root.
The assessment was not difficult. One just had to walk in front of the Trial Stone and place their hand on it.
After that, the Trial Stone would show the cultivator’s spiritual root or golden core.
After waiting for a moment, Lu Yuan arrived in front of the Trial Stone.
It was a huge stone tablet that was 20 meters tall.
The stone tablet was densely covered with all kinds of arrays.
Lu Yuan only needed a glance to analyze one-tenth of the array’s function on this Trial Stone.
The arrays could be roughly divided into “Spiritual Energy Inspection”, “Merit Inspection”, “Spiritual Energy Absorption and Storage” and “Material Fixing”.
In a sense, the Trial Stone in front of him was a product of pure spiritual energy.
It was similar to the use of magic items and magic instruments.
After Lu Yuan observed for a moment, he placed his hand on the Trial Stone.
In the next second, Lu Yuan felt a special power enter his body.
With the help of the Divine Soul Disguise Technique, the power disappeared after a simple analysis.
An emotionless and cold voice suddenly appeared in Lu Yuan’s mind.
“Name?”
“…Lu Jiu.”
In the next second, a golden light appeared on the Trial Stone.
A deep voice echoed in the hall, “Cultivator Lu Jiu, one-patterned way of the heavens golden core, passed.”
Seeing that Lu Yuan was actually a one-patterned way of the heavens golden core cultivator, the surrounding cultivators all revealed envious expressions.
After the Trial Stone announced the result, an illusory passage appeared behind it.
As long as he passed through this passage, Lu Yuan would be able to enter a Sacred Realm between the third and second stages.
Inside the Secret Realm, there were cultivation techniques and divine abilities specially selected by the Upper Realm.
Those who passed the second stage could choose one cultivation technique and three divine abilities there.
Those who did not pass the second stage could choose a cultivation technique through the Trial Stone.
Ultimately, everyone could choose one cultivation technique.
The only difference was that those who did not pass the second stage could not enter the Sacred Realm.
Lu Yuan passed through the illusory passageway and soon arrived in front of a huge nine-story pagoda.
The huge pagoda seemed to be built in a void, surrounded by white clouds.
It looked very mystical.
Lu Yuan looked into the pagoda from afar and discovered that there was a long staircase behind it.
It was obvious that the staircase led to the third stage.
Presently, many cultivators who had passed the second stage were surrounding the pagoda.
There were also some people who came back from the passage of the third stage. It was obvious that they could not defeat their mirror image in the third stage.
Lu Yuan was not in a hurry to go to the third stage. Instead, he began to observe the surrounding environment.
There was no doubt that the place was similar to a heavenly grotto.
It was likely specially created by some mighty figure.
In addition, the spiritual energy there was very dense.
Lu Yuan felt that the concentration of spiritual energy there was at least ten times that of at the Qingyun Sect.
If he cultivated in there, he would definitely get twice the result with half the effort.
It was no wonder the cultivators of the Upper Realm adjusted the difficulty of the third stage to such a high level.
Perhaps the purpose of the third stage was not to let the Lower Realm cultivators pass it first.
Instead, they would learn some of the cultivation techniques and divine abilities in the pagoda before passing the test.
As the saying went, it was easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.
After experiencing the rich cultivation environment and the profound cultivation techniques as well as divine abilities, very few cultivators could resist the temptation of the Upper Realm.
In that way, most cultivators would try their best to enter the Upper Realm.
In addition, they had also cultivated the cultivation techniques of the Upper Realm in advance, causing them to almost certainly join the Three Upper Realm Sects when they entered the Upper Realm later.
With the capability to leverage a superior cultivation environment and cultivation techniques to carry out a dimensional attack, it was no wonder that the cultivators of the Upper Realm were so arrogant and looked down on the cultivators of the Lower Realm.
Compared to the environment of the Upper Realm cultivators, the Lower Realm was indeed no different from the countryside.
But what did all that have to do with Lu Yuan?
Lu Yuan just came over to learn something and then slip away quietly.
Thinking of that, Lu Yuan directly walked toward the pagoda in the center….