144: Chapter 144 Doppelgangers Everywhere, Ascension Channel

Lu Hu took the alias Lin Hu, his body covered in a layer of thick, rough black and yellow scales, and entered the Scale Demon Clan.

The Scale Demon Clan, ranked thirty-fifth and at the bottom of the Thirty-Six Upper Demon Races, consisted of members who all possessed scales and formidable defense.

Just like in the Ya Demon Race, Lu Hu hid his cultivation and showed his brilliance as a youth in the Scale Demon Clan. In just ten days, he broke through from the Master Realm to Grandmaster, attracting the attention of many low-level Scale Demons.

Lu Hu continued his cultivation. When he was about to break through to the Immortal Realm, he noticed that the Scale Demon Clan did not value the aptitude he displayed as much as the Ya Demon Race did.

The Ya Demon Race provided both techniques and resources.

But here, not only were there no techniques or resources, but Lu Hu was also assigned to a high-risk area by an Immortal Realm Scale Demon.

It was even hinted that he had to give an offering to his superior every ten years.

"No wonder they're at the bottom of the Higher Demon Races; they're just a bunch of short-sighted, internally corrupt pests."

Lu Hu complained, abandoning the idea of standing out and entering the core circle as he had with the Ya Demon Race.

Even if he joined the core circle of such a race, it would be difficult to obtain valuable intelligence, and he would have to spend energy maintaining relationships. Lu Hu had no time to waste here, and an avatar that only followed orders sluggishly couldn't handle such things.

"A trashy place; no point staying."

Lu Hu gave up on this place. He stopped being intentionally flashy and found a time to 'break through' to the Entering Immortal Realm, establishing a foothold among the low-level immortals of the Scale Demon Clan with his powerful physical body. Under the guise of going out for training, he secretly hunted demon immortals of other races. After accumulating enough origin and resources, he immediately activated the Great Avatar Technique, stripped away his Scale Demon body, and refined it into the avatar Lin Hu. After leaving a single command, Lu Hu left the Scale Demon Clan for the next demon race.

In the following days, Lu Hu traveled through the territories of various major demon races in the upper realm.

He hunted members of the Feather Demon Clan to cultivate a Feather Demon body and sneaked into the clan to gather intelligence. He then traversed through the Shadow Demon Clan, Giant Demon Clan, Speed Demon Clan, and the remaining Higher Demon Races. In each clan, he refined the corresponding constitution, either showing a bit of talent to root himself at the bottom or directly lurking in secret. After figuring out the clan's structure and power dynamics, he would strip the constitution to refine an avatar and depart.

With accumulated experience, Lu Hu's mastery of the Great Avatar Technique became increasingly proficient. From taking several days to strip the Sub-Demon body at first, to later refining a race's constitution and creating an avatar in just half a day.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

Lu Hu had left avatars in all of the Thirty-Six Upper Demon Races.

"The Higher Demon Races are ultimately just slightly larger cannon fodder. Only in the Twelve Eternal Demon Race can I find the information I want."

Lu Hu thought to himself. However, the Twelve Eternal Demon Race were too mysterious.

Lu Hu didn't know how many top-tier experts the Eternal Demon Clan had. If he barged in and his identity was exposed, whether he could escape would be a problem.

"I'll polish myself a bit more."

Lu Hu suppressed his impatience and continued to lie low.

Having nothing better to do, Lu Hu went to the Seventy-Two Lower Demon Races and used the same method to refine their constitutions and leave avatars.

Although the Seventy-Two Lower Demon Races were very weak in his eyes, they were still an important part of the Demon Immortal Clan. Regardless of whether they would be useful, he left avatars anyway.

Another two years passed. In the territories of the upper realm, Lu Hu's avatars were hidden in every piece of land of the Seventy-Two Lower Demon Races and the Thirty-Six Upper Demon Races. In some races, he left a single avatar lurking at the bottom to gather daily intelligence; in others with complex power structures, he left two or three avatars rooted in different factions to support each other and exchange information.

These avatars were like Lu Hu's tentacles spread across the upper realm, constantly transmitting information about local power struggles, resource locations, and cultivation essentials. This information converged on Lu Hu, giving him a clearer understanding of the layout of the entire Demon Immortal Clan in the upper realm.

Thousands of avatars formed a vast web. Any slight disturbance would immediately reach Lu Hu's ears.

Another year passed, and a piece of news from an avatar made Lu Hu's spirits lift.

"Ascension Passage!"

Lu Hu pondered. This news came from the White Demon Clan, ranked seventh among the Thirty-Six Upper Demon Races, where he had left a Bai Hu avatar.

With his impressive talent, Bai Hu had made it into the ranks of the Heaven's Chosen in the White Demon Clan and was a key target for cultivation.

Since he was being focused on, he naturally learned things that ordinary White Demons didn't know.

Ascension Passage!

As the upper realm, all cultivators from the three thousand worlds would naturally ascend to this realm upon reaching completion.

Somewhere in the upper realm, there were Ascension Passages connecting to the three thousand worlds.

However, the upper realm was now occupied by the Demon Immortal Clan, and the current location of the Ascension Passages was a secret.

But now, Lu Hu knew through Bai Hu.

The Ascension Platform was controlled by the Twelve Eternal Demon Race.

And the top twelve races among the Thirty-Six Upper Demon Races were subordinate forces of the Eternal Demon Clans.

Each Higher Demon Race corresponded to an Eternal Demon Clan.

At the Ascension Platform, once an ascender arrived, the Ascension Passage between the upper realm and the ascender's world would open.

The Eternal Demon Clan would take the opportunity to descend to the lower realm and harvest blood food.

The top twelve Higher Demon Races served as the vanguard for the Eternal Demon Clan. If they performed well, they could be recruited by the Eternal Demon Clan.

This time, an ascender had arrived in the upper realm, and the corresponding world had been discovered by the Eternal Light Demon Clan.

As a subordinate race, the White Demon Clan had begun preparing for the descent. The avatar Bai Hu was also in the vanguard army and would soon follow the Eternal Demon Clan to the lower realm.

"Heh, the masters of the Eternal Clan are quite picky."

Lu Hu had thought that all Thirty-Six Upper Demon Races and Seventy-Two Lower Demon Races were subordinates of the Eternal Demon Clan.

But from the news sent by Bai Hu, it was clear that the Eternal Demon Clan was picky about their servants and looked down on them.

If they didn't need people to do chores and dirty work, they probably wouldn't want to choose even a single subordinate race.

"Where is the Ascension Passage for the Continent of Desolation? Which Higher Demon Race is guarding it?"

Lu Hu thought of this question.

He came from the Continent of Desolation. If the Eternal Demon Clan and their subordinates descended in the future, knowing the intelligence in advance would make them easier to deal with.

He would have to pay more attention to this in the future.

Then, Lu Hu began to think about the avatar Bai Hu.

He was wondering whether to let Bai Hu awaken self-awareness.

All the avatars he had refined before only followed pre-set instructions. If they weren't investigating intelligence on the Demon Immortal Clan, they were just tools for Lu Hu's cultivation.

But this time, Bai Hu was going to follow the Eternal Demon Clan to the lower realm. In a rapidly changing battlefield, the slightest slip-up could expose his abnormality.

He needed to let Bai Hu awaken an independent self-awareness so he could adapt to circumstances in critical moments and maintain his identity.

Of course, if he returned, there would also be more intelligence.

But to awaken Bai Hu's self-awareness...

"Forget it."

Lu Hu sighed.

Without any hesitation, he rushed toward the territory of the White Demon Clan.

He met with Bai Hu in a remote location.

Looking at this Bai Hu avatar, whose appearance was almost identical to his own except for the color, Lu Hu raised his hand and cut off a strand of his own Origin Soul.

If an Origin Soul is separated from the main body, it can give birth to a new consciousness.

This strand of Origin Soul was the core for awakening the avatar's consciousness.

"It's yours."

Lu Hu struck this strand of Origin Soul into Bai Hu's sea of consciousness.

The Bai Hu avatar's body trembled, and a glimmer of light gradually appeared in his originally hollow eyes. Within the chaotic sea of consciousness, an independent consciousness slowly condensed. He possessed part of the memories and insights into the Great Dao given by Lu Hu. It took only a day to go from ignorance to clarity.

"Hello, Lu Hu." Bai Hu's eyes were lively; he was no longer the tool avatar from before.

"Since you have self-awareness, you should call me Great King."

"Alright, Great King. I've just been born and don't have a single cent. Can you give me a couple of Immortal Artifacts to play with?" Bai Hu reached out toward Lu Hu.

"??" Lu Hu was stunned and looked at the Bai Hu in front of him again.

Why did this scene feel a bit familiar?

Dammit!

How did he even inherit the tendency to be a parasite?

The avatar doesn't have that memory; it shouldn't be possible!

"You're young and able-bodied, how can you have the nerve to say that?" Lu Hu scolded with a dark face.

"If you want Immortal Artifacts, work hard to get them yourself. This Great King looks down on parasites the most. I hope you don't disappoint me."

After saying that, Lu Hu felt it wasn't quite right either, so he took out a branch of the god-slaying thatch.

"Here, find some time to refine it yourself."

"Oh~" Bai Hu put away the material with a depressed look.

Lu Hu nodded slightly and urged, "During this trip to the lower realm, focus on keeping your tiger life safe above all else."

"I will!" Bai Hu said with a smile, "I'll come back alive."

"Take care."

Since they were a subordinate race of the Eternal Demon Clan, Lu Hu didn't want to stay too long. After giving his instructions to Bai Hu, he left the White Demon Clan.

"It's time for me to cultivate as well."

Lu Hu thought to himself. The aptitude of the countless avatars he had refined over the years depended entirely on the stripped origin foundation. Among them, Ya Hu, refined from the origin of the Sub-Demon Ancestor's Immortal Undying body, had the most top-tier aptitude. His cultivation speed was incredible, approaching the Immortal Undying level in just a few years. But even so, limited by the origin's upper limit, the end of Ya Hu's potential would likely stop at the Immortal Undying level.

As for the other avatars, they were either from the origin of the Lower Demon Races or the ordinary bloodlines of the Higher Demon Races. Their aptitude was far inferior to Ya Hu's, and their cultivation progressed slowly. At most, they were suitable for gathering information and could not become his main combat force.

To fight against the Eternal Demon Clan, these avatars with ordinary foundations were far from enough.

Now that he had gathered a lot of intelligence on the upper realm and could use the Great Avatar Technique proficiently, it was time to cut out his true foundation.

Lu Hu couldn't wait to see how fierce the cultivation speed of an avatar with a true foundation would be.

...