For Wu Yu, the Unshackled Doppelganger Mystique had broken his understanding of mystiques in this world.
Its ingenuity exceeded that of the Fixed Body Art and the Violent Art. The only word he could think of to describe it would be "unbelievable."
It was as though Wu Yu suddenly had 10 more bodies. However, these bodies could cultivate on their own. As long as Wu Yu was willing to nurture them, they would strengthen constantly. At the end of the day, they still remained as part of Wu Yu.
At this point, the Jindan strength of these 10 doppelgangers was only a little inferior to Wu Yu if combined together. In other words, each doppelganger had Jindan strength equivalent to a fifth tier Jindan Dao cultivator. Considering their Jindan qualities, they might be even stronger, considering that their Jindan were of similar quality as Wu Yu's.
The only difference was that they did not have insanely resilient bodies like Wu Yu. The Invincible Vajra Body couldn't be transferred to these doppelgangers.
These doppelgangers possessed Wu Yu's battle acumen and various dao techniques. They could also rely on Wu Yu's understanding of his dao to cultivate, consume Golden Essence Pills to increase their Jindan essence, and use the Great Way of Immortality Art to refine their Jindan. Their attacking potency and ability to follow through were astonishing.
The only weakness would be that their bodies were extremely fragile. Although they possessed strong attacking potency, they would break down and return to Wu Yu's body as strands of hair if they were hit by their opponents. This was the case even if their opponent wasn't particularly strong. Once they returned to Wu Yu, they would have to recuperate for some time and return to a stable state before Wu Yu could execute this mystique once again.
The resistance of Wu Yu's physical body far exceeded that of other fifth tier Jindan Dao cultivators. Although these doppelgangers had capabilities above this level, their resistances were only at the level of a third tier Jindan Dao cultivator. Wu Yu felt that he should learn some defensive dao techniques so these doppelgangers could protect themselves and wouldn't be destroyed, turning back into strands of hair rapidly....
The greatest surprise to Wu Yu was that these doppelgangers could increase their strength by relying on his understanding of dao. Even though their Jindan were just pseudo Jindan, it would be incredible if they could grow stronger as Wu Yu grew stronger. If Wu Yu became a big shot of a region one day, a strand of hair of his might be able to rule by himself.
To go further, every strand of hair might even be able to form a blood bond with their own spiritual immortal treasure!
Other than their understanding of cultivation and not having autonomy in practicing dao techniques, these 10 doppelgangers were very much identical to humans. They were 10 unique existences that existed as part of Wu Yu and attached themselves to Wu Yu.
For example, the 10 doppelgangers would sit neatly on the floor, with Wu Yu in the middle, and refine their Jindan diligently with a thought from Wu Yu.
"Incredible! This is truly incredible!"
When this mystique reached the third tier, he would have 100 doppelgangers and things would get livelier.
Based on reasoning, the first 10 doppelgangers would be stronger than the doppelgangers in the future. This was also because they had a longer cultivation period.
They were, in fact, unkillable. Every single one of them was no different from Wu Yu. Even their breathing pattern and pace were similar. This could fool many people. In some occasions, Wu Yu might not even have to show up personally.
"They could improve by themselves. However, the limitation on the first tier seems to be that their combined Jindan essence can't exceed mine. If I reach the second tier of this mystique, this limit will be increased. Every doppelganger might be able to reach the same amount of Jindan essence as me. Naturally, it's hard to reach this level of Jindan essence through ordinary refining methods. I would need a large amount of Golden Essence Pills."
At that time, he would have 10 extraordinary hairs.
Naturally, even when the Jindan essence of each strand of hair was similar to his, they would be far inferior to the main body. This was because of Wu Yu's physical body, the Ground Demon Transformation Art, and the fact that their physical bodies were too fragile.
At the third tier, Wu Yu would be able to form 90 additional doppelgangers. It wouldn't be an easy task. First, Wu Yu would require a large amount of immortal medicines. Second, Wu Yu was still far from reaching that level. He made a rough estimate on this. If he wanted to reach the third tier and create 90 doppelgangers equivalent to fifth tier Jindan Dao cultivators currently, he would require at least 300,000 Golden Essence Pills. That was an astronomical amount. After all, the initial strength of each Doppelganger wouldn't come out of nowhere....
If it wasn't the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal who had etched the mystique on him directly and changed the 10 strands of hair, the 10 doppelgangers in front of Wu Yu would cost him at least 30,000 Golden Essence Pills.
"It seems like the Unshackled Doppelganger will be an incomparably costly mystique." At the thought of this, Wu Yu couldn't help but heave a sigh. In the path of cultivation, resources and wealth were the most important things if he wished to reach the highest level. For example, if he wished to nurture these 10 doppelgangers and increase their Jindan essence quickly, he would require lots of Golden Essence Pills. And as of this moment, Wu Yu barely had enough Golden Essence Pills for himself....
The truth was that Wu Yu didn't really understand the core principles behind the mystiques of the immortal, like Fixed Body Art and the Violent Art. This was because the hardest part to gaining the mystique was completed by the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal. All Wu Yu had to do was to become well-versed in it. At least before the fourth tier of the mystique, Wu Yu didn't have to understand the profoundness of these mystiques from the inside out.
For example, why would a doppelganger have a Jindan like a human? The core principle behind it was difficult for one to understand.
When the group of Wu Yus sat neatly and started refining their Jindan together, it was a majestic view.
"Disregarding its weak defense, the 10 doppelgangers together would likely be able to defeat a seventh tier Jindan Dao cultivator. However, the value of it isn't just so. Moreover, their potential and future are unfathomable."
They were still at the first tier of the mystique. Wu Yu made a rough estimate. When the doppelgangers reached their pinnacle, they would likely have Jindan essence equivalent to sixth tier Jindan Dao cultivators. If he wished to increase this further, he would have to reach the sixth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm, or increase the mystique to the second tier. In either method, the 10 doppelgangers would then be able to grow stronger and get closer to Wu Yu's level. Considering the quality of their Jindan essence, they were probably approaching the Jindan essence level of a seventh tier Jindan Dao cultivator.
Now that he had mastered a Great Dao Mystique, Wu Yu could become a Huang sword rank disciple.
However, Shen Xingyu was aware that he didn't have a Great Dao Mystique three days ago. If he were to become a Huang sword rank disciple now, it would be a little too quick. Moreover, Wu Yu wished to wait for Nangong Wei for a while so he wouldn't have to worry about her not finding him if he went to the Huang sword domain.
Therefore, he decided to stay behind and refine his Jindan.
In the process of understanding his Great Dao Mystique, Wu Yu gained a deeper understanding of the dao many cultivators had talked about. Now was a great time for him to rapidly refine his Jindan.
In the meanwhile, he went to the Dao Arts Hall and Immortal Treasures Hall to trade for some dao techniques and immortal treasures. He spent a total of 2,000 merit points. He left the immortal treasures to his doppelgangers to form blood bonds with while focusing on the practice of dao techniques. Once he mastered them, the doppelgangers would be able to use them easily. Among the dao techniques he had gotten, three of them were for protecting his life. Wu Yu had chosen them to allow the doppelgangers to maintain their fragile lives....
Seeing that his 10 doppelgangers had all formed blood bonds with their immortal treasures, Wu Yu was satisfied. With these immortal treasures and dao techniques, the battle strength of these doppelgangers would be even stronger.
Any one of them could fool the rest if they walked out.
For the remaining time, other than deciphering new dao techniques, Wu Yu used large amounts of Golden Essence Pills to refine his Jindan. The great enlightenment he had received while understanding the mystique had substantially improved his speed of refining Jindan. As various mysterious experiences fused into his Jindan and became one, the Jindan maintained strong stability despite Wu Yu using a large amount of Golden Essence Pills in a short period of time.
This made Wu Yu deeply understand the accelerating effects of his personal enlightenment, understanding of dao, and his spirit and will when it came to refining Jindan.
When conversing with the Great Sage, Heaven's Equal in a cross-generational process, Wu Yu felt his Heaven-defying Dao vividly. This dao also belonged to him. When he integrated the word "defying" into his Jindan, the speed of refining exploded!
Even those 10 doppelgangers' Jindan were strengthening. Wu Yu spent a total of 1,000 Golden Essence Pills on these doppelgangers. However, these Golden Essence Pills were still too limited and therefore the effects weren't distinct.
For the remaining 1,000 Golden Essence Pills, he had used them on himself. It took a total of three months for Wu Yu to exhaust 3,000 Golden Essence Pills and 2,000 merit points. Wu Yu was almost able to reach the sixth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm. However, he was limited by the lack of resources and therefore had to stop the refining of his Jindan through Golden Essence Pills, slowing down his cultivation. After which, he spent more time on practicing dao techniques.
Now that his spirit and mind were cleared, understanding dao techniques became easier and quicker.
Two more months passed and Wu Yu reached the sixth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm. The Jindan essence of his doppelgangers had also increased substantially. However, he would likely required over 10,000 Golden Essence Pills to raise all his doppelgangers to the limit of the Unshackled Doppelganger. If they weren't at the limit, their strength would be a drag since Wu Yu's main body was too strong.
As such, Wu Yu didn't feel the joy of reaching the sixth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm. Rather, what he felt was the moodiness of lacking in wealth and resources.
He was too poor!
So poor that he didn't even have a single Golden Essence Pill or merit point left!
He realized that this mystique was truly burning through his resources at an insane pace.
However, with the thought of the million-strong army in the future, he couldn't possibly stop.
At the sixth tier of the Jindan Dao Realm, Wu Yu estimated that he would be barely able to go against a 10th tier Jindan Dao cultivator. This was the level of Xuan sword rank disciples. In fact, most of the Xuan sword rank disciples wouldn't be a match for him.
Although Wu Yu was progressing rapidly, Ming Long still found an opportunity to mock him.
"Haha, look at how poor you are now! Your old mother here faced the same issue in the past. Look at how haughty you were before. Without wealth and resources, you can stop dreaming about these doppelgangers playing an important role."
A total of five months had passed. Mastering a Great Dao Mystique in five months could be considered fast. However, it was still reasonable. Therefore, Wu Yu was prepared to head to the Immortal Ascension Hall to be promoted to a Huang sword rank disciple.
However, there was one matter that had been bothering him.
Why hadn't Nangong Wei appeared?