Chapter 250: Leaving

Chapter 250: Chapter 250: Leaving

"You have the same problem all Sword Cultivators have—you’re obsessed with fighting. While that’s the nature of a Sword Cultivator, it’s a trait that can easily land you in dangerous situations."

"I, for one, think that personality of yours is a terrible liability. But you’re not me, and you have your own ambitions."

"You don’t need to be influenced by me. You’ll only go far on the path of the Sword Dao if you stay true to your own nature."

Hearing Jiang Xu’s words, Zong Ziqi understood he was worried about him.

"Don’t worry, I’m not an idiot. I’ll fight the battles I think I can win, and I won’t just throw my life away on a hopeless one."

Jiang Xu nodded and patted Zong Ziqi’s shoulder. "Take care," he said, then turned and left.

Zong Ziqi watched Jiang Xu’s retreating figure, a storm of complex emotions brewing in his heart that wouldn’t settle for a long time.

Jiang Xu was just too mysterious.

When they first met, Zong Ziqi hadn’t thought much of Jiang Xu.

He just figured the man was a somewhat peculiar Body Cultivator.

But the more time they spent together, the more Zong Ziqi realized how different Jiang Xu was.

It wasn’t just Jiang Xu’s rapid progress and incredible comprehension.

His unique Magic and his overly cautious attitude all made Zong Ziqi even more curious about him.

And gradually, he had come to see Jiang Xu as a true, trusted friend.

’After this parting, who knows when I’ll see Jiang Xu again.’

’The next time we meet, he’ll probably already be a Golden Core Zhenren, won’t he?’

"Looks like I can’t afford to fall behind!"

A Sword Cultivator’s indomitable spirit filled Zong Ziqi with the drive to press onward.

"At the very least, I have to become a Body Cultivator in the Primordial Martial Realm!"

...

’Next, I need to head back to the Demon Communication Workshop. This time, I’ll be leaving this place for good.’

On his way, Jiang Xu gazed in the direction of the Demon Communication Workshop.

’Thinking about it, I’m actually a little reluctant to leave. After all, I’ve lived in Dinghai State ever since I transmigrated.’

Despite this fleeting thought, Jiang Xu’s desire to leave was much stronger.

’Killing those three villains from the Demon Sect was certainly satisfying.’

’But it will also escalate the conflict between the righteous and demonic factions.’

’Which in turn will accelerate the war’s escalation.’

’Who knows when the Golden Core experts will finally get involved?’

’Knowing all this, I logically shouldn’t have taken the risk to help Zong Ziqi kill those three.’

Jiang Xu sighed to himself.

’But what could I do? Zong Ziqi is my friend, and those three nearly killed him.’

Ordinarily, Jiang Xu would have been more restrained.

But he wanted to give his friend a helping hand one last time before he left.

’After all, Zong Ziqi was only his second friend in this world.’

’As for the first?’

’That was Shen Ji, of course.’

However, Shen Ji never needed his help. In fact, it was Shen Ji who had helped him a great deal, which left Jiang Xu with even more mixed feelings.

Just before he reached the Demon Communication Workshop, Jiang Xu stopped and used the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body to alter his entire appearance.

He glanced at his Skill Level for the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body.

[Thousand-Faced Illusion Body (Skilled): 170/200]

During the month he had Wuji Fairy trapped, Jiang Xu had done little else. Aside from letting Mumu out to "fertilize" it every few days, he had spent all his time practicing the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body.

In just over a week, his Thousand-Faced Illusion Body would reach the Master Level.

By then, the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body would be powerful enough to become one of his constantly active Magic, just like the Spiritual Eye Technique and the Concealing Breath Spell.

Even now, however, the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body was already quite powerful, enough that the average Cultivator couldn’t spot any difference at all.

Now, Jiang Xu could alter not just his face, but his entire body.

This included changing his height, skin tone, body shape, and even the length and color of his hair.

He could alter his entire external appearance at will.

If Jiang Xu wanted to, he could even transform himself into a well-endowed woman, complete with the ability to use Locking Yang in the Belly.

’Of course, this was just one of the transformations possible at the Skilled Stage of the Thousand-Faced Illusion Body. He absolutely had no such strange thoughts, and he had definitely never tried it!’

’He had absolutely never tried transforming into celebrities from his past life, like Ju, Di, or Xin Yuan!’

After fiddling around for a good while, Jiang Xu finally settled on a new appearance.

Creating a new look wasn’t difficult.

Since Immortal Cultivators have all been baptized by Spiritual Qi and have expelled most of the impurities from their bodies, they generally don’t look shabby. There are plenty who look quite presentable.

Even someone who looked merely average would draw strange looks in a crowd of them.

So Jiang Xu started by replicating his face from his past life, then toned down his good looks by more than half, settling on a moderately handsome appearance.

At this level, he was still quite handsome, but among a crowd of Cultivators, he was only slightly above average—not enough to draw attention.

Looking at his reflection in the Water Mirror, Jiang Xu nodded in satisfaction.

He had altered his appearance so drastically that he felt even his own mother from his past life wouldn’t be able to recognize him.

’Sigh, the standards of beauty in this world are a bit low. I had to tone my looks down this much. Oh well, I’ll just have to make do.’

Jiang Xu dismissed the Water Mirror.

’Since I have a fake appearance, I’ll obviously need a new name.’

’I might be a nobody, but if someone was determined enough, they could still find a clue or two based on my name.’

’Using Zong Ziqi’s name before was a bit reckless. For one, it could have brought him trouble. For two, his fame is on the rise, so using it again might make people realize something’s off.’

’This time I’m heading to the Demon Spirit State. I’ll take inspiration for the name from my destination and myself. I’ll call this identity... Yao Xu!’

After examining his new appearance again, Jiang Xu felt something was still missing.

He looked from side to side for a good while before it dawned on him. He then activated a small portion of the Affinity from his Cangmu Skill.

’This Affinity had appeared automatically after his Cangmu Skill reached the perfect level.’

’At the time, he’d been afraid of drawing too much attention, so he had used the Concealing Breath Spell to suppress it and had never activated it since.’

’But thinking about it now, perhaps it would be better to let a little of it show.’

’As long as he controlled the "degree," a strong Affinity had only benefits and no drawbacks.’

...

After paying the entrance fee once more, Jiang Xu re-entered the Marketplace.

This time, Jiang Xu didn’t waste any time and headed straight for the back gate of the Marketplace.

The Demon Communication Workshop was the starting point of the Demon Passage.

Only by going through the back gate of the Demon Communication Workshop could one board a Dharma Ship and begin the voyage across the Youxian Sea.

Now that all his preparations were complete, Jiang Xu intended to board a Dharma Ship and set sail immediately.

But when he arrived at the back gate of the Marketplace, he was dumbfounded by the sight.

Jiang Xu saw that a long line had formed there as well.

This didn’t surprise him.

With the righteous and demonic factions fighting in Dinghai State, the ones who suffered the most were naturally the small and medium-sized Sects, Cultivation Clans, and the majority of Loose Cultivators.