Plot armour engaged?

If the journey didn't take multiple days, I would probably just rush forward and eliminate Fang Yuan, but this is taking too long! I don't know why I grew such a hot head, but I have calmed down and rethought my decision.

Actually, is there even a point in killing him? He has nothing. I can just help Bai Ning Bing and keep him around as my pet. People like him aren't good for friendship, so the best he is getting is being my pet.

After that Fang Yuan will just be powerless. Maybe I can even threaten Spring Autumn Cicada out of him. He will most definitely have to use it at least once more through his journey, so if I take it away, he will most definitely die on his own. This would be quite profitable and I will gain another Half Dao, whatever that it.

This is a more solid plan and I even have a poison vow Gu to back myself up. For now I have to wait and see how it all plays out.

...

Man do I love my cultivation speed! My first aperture had upgraded after only 4 days and now I have crimson red primeval as the base and dark red with my liquor worm. I am at 1200% light red primeval essence storage, so now I am as strong as a rank 3 middle stage cultivator. I out-Gu and out-cultivation the both of them, so it is completely impossible for both Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing to defeat me! Let's see how you keep any benefits after this Fang Yuan!

Wait a fucking minute! Why is this little bastard suddenly going so far?

I have been observing Fang Yuan for the last couple of days and he has gone quite a bit away from the village, more than he ever has. What is going on? My delay shouldn't have been this long. We even solved 3 beast hordes, which would have cost us like 2 days of travel.

Fang Yuan should be there, waiting for us and waiting for his death! Everything is stacked against him, including luck and information. I am the dominant side here in every way. Hell his death luck is gigantic! with my intent on killing him, it should have even gone up! There is no way he just got lucky and randomly left.

This worlds fate is quite annoying. So, I guess directly messing with causality isn't a good idea. I should have killed Fang Yuan in the village, but him being the MC of the original story probably gave him some plot armour in the form of fate Gu, which will make him the next Venerable.

You can escape for now Fang Yuan, but I will find you at Shang Clan city! You will be coming for that legendary Gu, as that is your plot's turning point! You will be there and so will I!

For now I will just cultivate and maybe help out a little with the shopping. It is quite a sight, seeing a bunch of mortals dragging along hundreds of boars and wolves to sell as food or Gu materials. I could probably refine some interesting Gu worms using those bodies, but I won't be making any profit off of that. I would rather just cultivate and become rank 3 sooner, so I can enter the rank 3 world, which I will most definitely dominate.

Even if I barely become rank 3 with my apertures, using all of my advantages, I will be a bit stronger, than the common C grade talents at the peak of rank 3, so even fighting above my rank Is not Impossible and all the rank 3 Gu worms in my aperture aren't misplaced.

Too bad feeding them all is a hassle. Some of my Gu worms require minimal feeding, like spring weed and snake rope, which just need to eat plant matter and most are technically self-sufficient. Thought I have a couple hungry Gu worms I can easily fix them.

I thought up a new way of parallel refinement, which I call re-refining. If you can't find a Gu worm's food and it is dying of starvation, you can use the lower rank versions of it to re-refine the Gu, effectively turning it into a new version of itself. This fully recovers it and is way cheeper, than just buying a new one.

This can theoretically substitute food for a while, but I wouldn't recommend it. The success rate is ten or so times more than refining it anew, but that isn't that good. 1% times ten is only 10%. Risking a Gu worm like that is impractical. The only reason I use it is because of my Baby Dao Alchemist's almost guaranteed success rate.

"We have arrived at our first destination!" There we go! Time to check for Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing. If I remember correctly, they stayed with an old woman. "Brother Jack and Da, I am going to ask the local populace if they have seen those sinners!"

My voice was low enough to where some random gossipers can hear it, but not in a way, which makes it seem intentional. They will attribute it to inexperience and think I am actually looking for a sinner and am from the righteous path, which is technically true, but we don't have the best look to be fair. A gigantic titan of a mortal, two zombies and me. This seems more like a band of bandits or mercenaries.

Althoug we might technically be from the righteous path, I will go lone cultivator as soon as I reach rank 4 and just go fuck off and go exploring. I want to explorr the lands and learn more about the different types of luck there is in the world.

First destination being maybe central continent. It sounds like a rad place. They have a sect system, so I will be welcome literally everywhere! I ain't even 20 man and I am already reaching rank 3. Also reaching rank 4 will be even easier, because my aperture gains the 'self-nourishing' ability, so my cultivation speed will be at least double what a 99% guy will have, meaning I am the cream of the crop for the big sects. I might get into the best one of them and become the next sect leader.

For now I need to figure shit out. The plot armour kicked in a bit too fast IMO. I can easily be convinced to let Fang Yuan off, if he offers the Spring Autumn Cicada to me. It is worth a lot of points, 750k buying, so 250 selling. The Gu I need costs 468k, so I will be around 40k Gu points away from affording my dream Gu worm.

If such a proposition was made to me, I would most definitely spare Fang Yuan, so why would his plot armour kick in to protect the Cicada? My plan was to take it, then let Fang Yuan die off naturally, so why would plot armour protect the Cicada over him?

This is weird, but it is completely inconsequential enough to be ignored. This just means I have to kill Fang Yuan and then get the Cicada. Plot be damned! I will become the main protagonist by using this Cicada. The question is, what happens next? Anything during and after Shang clan is a blur to me.

My goal was always to soul search Fang Yuan and get information that way, but it is no longer possible. I can hunt him down, but that will inconvenience my family a bit too much, so I will let him off and wait till the huge weakness called my family is settled down before I filly commit to hunting down Fang Yuan. His future knowledge is too important, so letting him go just like that is not a good idea.

I don't care about anything else! Only 1 thing matters, I need to cultivate and hunt down Fang Yuan and for that, I need to reach Shang Clan City. Untill then, my journey shall never be complete! My Gu are fed, most of my preparations are over, so it is time to permanently go into seclusion!

nnn