Chapter 204: Benefit Plunderer
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
However, even if cultivators used such a method and luckily passed the Immortal Ladder test, the subsequent assessment would not be so easy to resolve.
The second stage tested a cultivator’s talent.
Every sect had its own ways to test a cultivator’s talent.
For cultivators below the Foundation Establishment Stage, the sect would make decisions based on the cultivator’s spiritual root.
After all, even if one had reached the Golden Core stage, the quality of the Golden Core stage was determined by the quality and quantity of the spiritual roots that the cultivator had when condensing the golden core.
The more spiritual roots one had when condensing, the higher the quality of the spiritual root, and the higher the quality of the golden core condensed.
Lu Yuan’s way of the heavens golden core, which was condensed from nine Foundation Establishment through the way of the heavens spiritual roots, was the highest quality nine-patterned way of the heavens golden core.
“Nine-patterned” referred to the nine spiritual roots, and “way of the heavens” referred to the quality of the spiritual root.
Not to mention the Lower Realm, there had never been a cultivator as crazy and lucky as Lu Yuan in the Upper Realm.
After all, in order to complete such a Perfect Golden Core Formation through the way of the heavens, not only did one need to first gather nine Foundation Establishment through the way of the heavens spiritual roots, but they also needed to successfully fuse them.
As long as there was a step missing, it would be impossible to complete.
No matter how talented a person was, they could not guarantee that they would not make any mistakes in the process.
If not for the system, Lu Yuan could not guarantee that he could do this.
It was already very good for him to complete more than five Foundation Establishment through the way of the heavens spiritual roots.
Since the cultivators who passed the Immortal Ladder test had different cultivation levels, the second stage of the assessment was slightly different.
For Core Formation Stage cultivators, the test was the quality of their golden cores.
The content of the test for Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators was to the quantity and quality of their spiritual roots. The higher the quantity and the better the quality, the higher the chances of passing.
The second section of the assessment was to get the approval of the Trial Stone.
The so-called Trial Stone was actually a test stone tablet.
Only cultivators who met the requirements would be approved by the Trial Stone.
So far, the cultivators had mostly figured out the criteria to pass the second section.
In terms of Foundation Establishment Stage, one had to have at least two Foundation Establishment through the way of the earth spiritual roots or one Foundation Establishment through the way of the heavens spiritual root.
Any cultivator who did not complete any of the two points would not be able to pass.
The requirements for the Core Formation Stage were similar.
Cultivators either had to have a two-patterned the way of the earth golden core or a one-patterned way of the heavens golden core.
Otherwise, they would not be able to pass.
However, it didn’t matter even if one didn’t pass.
This was because even cultivators who could not pass could choose an Upper Realm cultivation technique from the second stage to cultivate.
It was the Upper Realm’s efforts to prevent any talents from going unnoticed.
After all, after so many years of selection in the Upper Realm, there were some late-bloomer geniuses.
Therefore, giving them the Upper Realm’s cultivation method was actually forming a good relationship with the other party in a sense.
After all, the cultivation techniques given by the Upper Realm were incomplete.
If a potential talent cultivated the cultivation technique given by the Upper Realm, they would need to join the sect that provided the cultivation method in order to finish learning the technique.
The sects of the Upper Realm used such a method to monopolize knowledge and ensure that they would definitely be able to gain something from the Lower Realm.
For most cultivators, the purpose of passing the Immortal Ladder test was to choose an Upper World cultivation technique.
Many of the incomplete cultivation techniques of the five righteous sects and the three devilish sects actually came about because of the test.
Cultivators who obtained the cultivation techniques could obtain a considerable reward from the sect after handing them over.
After passing the Trial Stone of the second stage, they arrived at the final stage of the Path for Immortal Ascension.
The final stage was also known as “Opening the Heavenly Gate”.
At this stage, every cultivator would have a completely replicated mirror image enemy based on their own strength.
Moreover, the enemy’s strength would be about 50% higher than the cultivator’s own.
Therefore, in order to defeat such an enemy, it was definitely not enough to just have cultivation. One also needed strong combat strength.
In the third stage, each cultivator could choose three divine abilities from the Treasure Pavilion of the Immortal Ladder.
The three abilities were the key to defeating the mirror image.
Therefore, the stage tested the cultivator’s comprehension ability, be it in terms of cultivating divine abilities or in terms of real-time combat.
Comprehension ability was the key to determining whether a cultivator could defeat their mirror image.
Such difficulty could almost stop the vast majority of people.
It was worth mentioning that the strength of the mirror image would increase according to one’s previous strength.
For example, when one first entered, one didn’t learn the divine ability from the Upper Realm.
Then, the newly learned divine power would not appear in the mirror image this time.
But the next time one entered, the new mirror image would know the divine power.
If one’s cultivation level increased during this period of time, the next time one entered, the mirror image’s cultivation level would also increase.
Therefore, if one could not defeat the mirror image in one go, the difficulty would only increase.
If one couldn’t defeat the mirror image within ten years, then the cultivator’s final outcome would be to be teleported out.
There was a time limit, and the difficulty was also high. The Path for Immortal Ascension thus denied countless geniuses that the outside world acknowledged.
Only those true monsters remained.
After learning about this, Lu Yuan had some wonderful ideas.
Originally, Lu Yuan did not want to go to the Path for Immortal Ascension because he felt that he did not want to go to the Upper Realm and felt that there was no benefit to him in participating in such a test.
However, upon learning that he could actually obtain some cultivation techniques from the Upper Realm after participating in the assessment, Lu Yuan’s interest was immediately piqued.
In general, participating in the Path for Immortal Ascension would give one chance to choose a cultivation technique and three chances to choose a divine ability.
However, Lu Yuan felt that he had a way to increase such opportunities.
He planned to disguise himself as a different cultivator and enter the assessment.
However, Lu Yuan had to solve a problem, which was masking his golden core.
However, that was not a difficult thing for Lu Yuan.
This was because he happened to have a skill that could solve his problem to some extent.
“Divine Soul Disguise.”
“Effect: able to change one’s divine soul and cultivation to a certain extent.”
Although the description of the skill was not much, Lu Yuan realized it in actual practice.
The skill allowed Lu Yuan to disguise his golden core as another golden core.
For example, he had a nine-patterned way of the heavens golden core now.
Lu Yuan could disguise it as a one-patterned way of the heavens golden core, the minimum requirement to pass the second stage.
As long as he passed the second stage, Lu Yuan could directly go to the Treasure Pavilion to choose a divine ability.
After that, he just needed to leave the Path for Immortal Ascension and return in another disguise with a one-patterned way of the heavens golden core.
Then, he could replicate the previous operation.
In other words, Lu Yuan had a total of nine chances to repeatedly shuttle through the Path for Immortal Ascension.
The idea was undoubtedly very attractive to Lu Yuan.
After all, his current strength had reached the Core Formation Stage, and his current cultivation techniques had basically been cultivated to the maximum level.
It just so happened that he needed to change its cultivation method.
If Lu Yuan could choose a cultivation technique from the Treasure Pavilion in the Upper Realm, it would undoubtedly be a very good thing for the current him.
It would be extremely beneficial for Lu Yuan when he attempted to reach the way of the heavens Nascent Soul Stage.
After all, there wasn’t much information in the Lower Realm about how a Core Formation Stage cultivator could break through to the Nascent Soul Stage.
Lu Yuan’s master, Han Yuanshan, was only a Core Formation Stage cultivator.
He didn’t know much about how to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage, so he naturally couldn’t tell Lu Yuan.
Using the method of the Treasure Pavilion in the Upper Realm to reverse deduce the key to breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage was undoubtedly a very effective plan.
As a steady person, Lu Yuan naturally would not be content with the current situation.
Instead, he maintained a sense of danger at all times. While being careful, he tried his best to increase his cultivation.
Therefore, Lu Yuan finally decided to participate in the Path for Immortal Ascension.
Lu Yuan had also given his participation operation the code name “Benefit Plunderer”!
What he was plundering was the benefits given by the Upper Realm!