Chapter 222: Escaping Is the Best Policy
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Fellow Daoist Yu is right. The physical body is a huge bonus to the mirror image. In addition, the mirror image also has 50% more cultivation than the cultivator. No matter how you look at it, it’s very difficult to defeat an enemy who has the same physical body as oneself, who doesn’t know fatigue or pain, who has the same ability as oneself, and who has one and a half times one’s cultivation base. In the end, Lu Jiu might be dragged down by his own body. What a pity, what a pity.”
After the two of them finished speaking, they did not continue to talk about this problem.
While Lu Yuan’s previous performance was already very good, to the two of them, it was just not bad.
Although cultivators with one-patterned way of the heavens golden cores were not common in the Upper Realm, they were not rare.
The reason why they were interested in Lu Yuan was because they felt that it was very interesting for Lu Yuan, an array master, to possess such a physical body.
However, finding that interesting did not mean that they would make an exception and let Lu Yuan pass the assessment. If Lu Yuan could not pass the third stage, he would still be out of the Full Moon Mountain Range like the other failures.
In their opinion, Lu Yuan had almost no possibility of passing the third stage within the stipulated time.
Therefore, Lu Jiu was destined to be just an interesting interlude in their ordinary lives.
But what they didn’t know was that Lu Yuan didn’t want to pass the assessment from the beginning.
The Upper Realm that everyone yearned for was just a place filled with danger to Lu Yuan.
His idea was to stay in the safe Lower Realm and live his own life.
After returning to the Sacred Realm where the nine-story pagoda was located, Lu Yuan pretended to want to go out and relax, then left the entire Immortal Ascension Assembly.
At first, Lu Yuan was worried that it would be too obvious.
However, when Lu Yuan realized that he wasn’t the only one who left the Immortal Ascension Assembly at this time, his worry vanished into thin air.
He carefully observed and found that the cultivators who left the Immortal Ascension Assembly either couldn’t even pass the first stage or were going to find a place outside to break through.
As mentioned before, someone deliberately stuck their cultivation at the peak of the Foundation Establishment Stage, then broke through in a short period of time to pass the first stage.
And even among those who could enter the second stage, many would choose to go outside and look for other opportunities.
After all, they had just obtained a cultivation technique of the Upper Realm.
Some cultivation techniques required special herbs to cultivate.
While the third stage’s environment had more spiritual energy than the outside world, there were no special herbs or special environments in there.
Therefore, if one wanted to cultivate the cultivation technique they had just obtained, they would need to return to the Full Moon Mountain Range.
In the Full Moon Mountain Range, there were many blessed grotto-heavens that could satisfy the requirements of those cultivators.
Thus, Lu Yuan’s action of leaving the Immortal Ascension Assembly was not very strange.
After Lu Yuan left the Immortal Ascension Assembly, he returned to the Qingyun Sect’s stronghold.
At the moment, the stronghold was no longer as lively as before.
Most of the Qingyun Sect cultivators had entered the Immortal Ascension Assembly, causing the entire Qingyun Sect to look very empty.
After Lu Yuan observed for a moment, he returned to his small courtyard.
After confirming that there was no one around, he returned to his original appearance.
At the same time, he also withdrew his clone from the outside.
In order to create an alibi for himself, Lu Yuan had specially sent his clone to the most prosperous brothel in the city, thereby choosing the most high-profile position to tell everyone that he did not participate in the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
Moreover, for safety reasons, Lu Yuan even disguised his clone’s cultivation as a one-patterned way of the heavens golden core.
In the entire Qingyun Sect, only Bai Dafei knew that he had broken through to the Core Formation Stage.
Outside the Qingyun Sect, the only person who knew that Lu Yuan had broken through to the Core Formation Stage was Xu Wan’er.
However, Xu Wan’er was limited by her own cultivation and did not know the exact quality of his golden core.
Knowing Lu Yuan’s character very well, Xu Wan’er also never asked about Lu Yuan’s cultivation.
As a result, the outside world did not know what Lu Yuan’s exact cultivation was at all.
That also created very good conditions for Lu Yuan’s disguise.
The reason why Lu Yuan was so careful was naturally because he considered the possibility of an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse appearing in the Immortal Ascension Assembly.
At that time, before the Immortal Ascension Assembly had begun, Lu Yuan had already formulated some countermeasures against the extremely small probability of an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse appearing.
One of them was to try his best to disguise his cultivation as ordinary.
He felt that there was no reason for an Apotheosis Stage expert to take a fancy to him, whose cultivation was ordinary.
After all, Lu Yuan didn’t have any treasures, and he didn’t show any shocking talent.
As long as Lu Yuan was careful enough, he would not be noticed by an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse.
Unless an Apotheosis Stage expert was standing in front of him, Lu Yuan felt that he would never be exposed.
However, for some reason, Lu Yuan felt that even if he was so cautious, things would not develop in the direction he had expected.
As for the source of this uneasiness, Lu Yuan could not find it for the time being.
However, that did not stop him from perfecting his plan.
Now, after confirming that there were already Apotheosis Stage experts appearing, Lu Yuan had no choice but to leave.
He had to start thinking about how to disguise himself when an Apotheosis Stage expert appeared in front of him.
If an Apotheosis Stage expert knew about the nine-patterned way of the heavens golden core, he would definitely want to be able to obtain it.
It would be fine if an Apotheosis Stage expert only took a fancy to Lu Yuan’s talent. That would only entail joining an Upper Realm sect.
However, if the other party wanted to possess Lu Yuan, then things would be very troublesome.
Therefore, Lu Yuan’s current plan had to be updated.
Thinking of that, Lu Yuan immediately stood up decisively and prepared to leave the Imperial capital temporarily.
The place he was going to after leaving the Imperial capital was the Niu Family Village.
Since there was an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse in the city, Lu Yuan would not place his hopes on the other party not having any ill intentions toward him.
He always did things while imagining the worst possible scenario.
What Lu Yuan was thinking about now was what he should do if he offended an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse.
Lu Yuan’s original Benefit Plunderer plan was built upon his own flawless disguise.
However, now that an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse had appeared, there was a one percent chance that his disguise would not succeed.
Although one percent was not a lot, an Apotheosis Stage powerhouse was an existence that Lu Yuan was completely unable to resist.
Therefore, once the one percent doubt appeared, Lu Yuan had almost no way to deal with it.
Instead of taking that risk to obtain one or two more cultivation techniques or divine abilities for free, Lu Yuan might as well quit while he was ahead and find an opportunity to leave early.
As long as he didn’t appear in the range of an Apotheosis Stage expert, he couldn’t possibly offend the other party, right?
Escaping was the best plan!
With that thought in mind, Lu Yuan prepared to have his clone complete the arrangements and then leave this troublesome place.
However, before Lu Yuan left, he put a letter in the courtyard, saying that he had recently gained some enlightenment and would go out to find a place to cultivate for a period of time, and that he would return after a while.
That way, when Xu Wan’er or Bai Dafei returned, they wouldn’t say he left without saying goodbye.
Meanwhile, in the Sacred Realm of the Immortal Ascension Assembly, Jing Ming’s sudden rise stunned Yu Wenbai and Li Yuanhao. “Fellow Daoists, 1 still have something to confirm, so I’ll take my leave first.”
However, after a moment of shock, the two of them immediately said, “Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Jing Ming. We’re not the kind of people who like to pry into other people’s privacy.”
Jing Ming nodded. Then, in a flash, he appeared in the combat arts practice field of one of the participants.
The cultivator was none other than Xu Wan’er.
He was right. The child was indeed his descendant, and one of his direct descendants at that!
As Jing Ming looked at Xu Wan’er who was fighting her mirror image not far away, his eyes softened as if he had recalled something.
Then, he looked at Xu Wan’er, his eyes filled with guilt.
From where he was, Jing Ming could already sense Xu Wan’er’s bloodline..