A Family of Hopeless Romantics, Except for the Evil Little Junior Brother-Chapter 56: The Mantis Hunts the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

Fengming Wu Marketplace.

An ordinary-looking rogue cultivator was setting up a stall.

His pills were fair and honest, cheap and plentiful, and you’d get your fill for sure.

So in no time at all, the front of his stall was packed with cultivators.

Li Xuanxiao’s first avatar wore a friendly smile.

Five hundred meters underground, his second avatar, Li Xuanxiao, was hiding there.

Three miles away, within a locust tree,

his third avatar, Li Xuanxiao, lay in wait.

Obviously, those two were just his avatars.

Ten miles away,

the real Li Xuanxiao was sitting by a river, fishing.

In truth, all three of those were his avatars.

“.........”

This time, Li Xuanxiao only used three locations to sell all his refined pills.

Even with all that caution, he still got tailed when he left the marketplace.

*Sigh!*

Li Xuanxiao let out a soft sigh.

The cultivation world really is that brutal.

This wasn’t Mount Shushan’s territory—

the marketplace was jointly managed by several nearby sects, full of all sorts of people.

Four cultivators at the peak of Foundation Establishment.

One at early Golden Core Stage.

Li Xuanxiao quickly identified the number and level of the people tailing him.

He’d already noticed them back in the marketplace.

The moment he left, they started following in secret.

He didn’t act immediately—just pretended not to notice and kept up his pace.

Avatar One, even though only at Qi Refining Stage,

carried poisons strong enough to kill Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The tricky part was the Golden Core cultivator.

The poison made from the Gold-Silver Blood Serpent was with Avatar Two.

Which meant, to deal with those five people, Avatar One and Avatar Two would need to strike together.

Avatar One kept moving at a steady pace.

Avatar Two quietly followed the five stalkers.

The mantis stalks the cicada—unaware of the oriole behind.

Avatar One reached the pre-set escape route.

At that moment, the Golden Core cultivator sped up.

Avatar One suddenly stopped and turned to look at the Golden Core cultivator flying on a magical artifact.

“Senior, why are you following me this far?”

“A man without sin is still guilty if he holds treasure!!”

A lowly Qi Refining cultivator with so many pills—if you don’t die, who should?!

The Golden Core cultivator left only that one sentence—then dropped dead.

His body plummeted from the sky.

A silver needle stuck in his neck.

It had pierced right through his body protection aura,

slipped past his divine sense,

and the poison from the Gold-Silver Blood Serpent spread instantly through his system.

Li Xuanxiao had two natal magical artifacts.

One was the sword case left to him by the old man—still not fully refined.

The other was the Crane-Beak Silver Needle—he’d refined three of them.

Thinner than a hair, deadly and invisible, fast and ruthless.

A magical treasure refined from Red Letter Ore obtained from a heretic cultivator.

The four Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him froze—

totally unaware of the danger.

Their target was just a Qi Refining cultivator—could he really take them all down?

Right then, the pre-laid Four Symbols Formation activated!

Raging flames roared out like hellfire,

twisting and writhing as they surged toward the trapped enemies.

Just as they dodged the fire—

razor-sharp gales howled in next like blades.

Then lightning crashed down like a storm of silver serpents, thunder roaring without end.

Followed by a torrential flood,

sweeping toward them with unstoppable force.

Before half a stick of incense burned out,

the five were all dead, souls scattered for good.

Avatars One and Two swiftly looted the bodies.

Then scattered Bone-Eating Powder.

The five corpses quickly dissolved.

While Avatar One and Two calmly carried out this cleanup operation—

a figure silently landed in front of the real Li Xuanxiao, a hundred miles away.

“Hehe, I’ve gotta admit, you’re pretty cautious...

Too bad you ran into me.”

Li Xuanxiao raised his head and locked eyes with the man.

It was a bald cultivator—stronger than the earlier Golden Core one!!

More importantly,

he had already killed Avatar Three.

The bald cultivator grinned smugly. “I noticed you in the marketplace. You had two avatars.

One selling pills, one hiding underground, one hiding in a tree—your real body was off fishing in the distance.

And each avatar was stronger than the last,

so most people would think the second one was the real you if they spotted the first.

If they realized the second was fake, they’d think the third one was the real body...

In fact, you had three avatars.

Smooth. That was slick.”

The bald cultivator couldn’t help but applaud.

“Too bad your tricks are crude—enough to fool weaker cultivators, sure.

But with me, you’ve got nowhere to hide.

And your avatars weaken your real body.

I already killed your strongest one.

With this kind of avatar spell, the caster suffers backlash when one dies.

I’ve seen right through you.”

With that, the bald cultivator waved his sleeve, and a treasure umbrella unfolded.

“This magic treasure was made to counter your Silver Needle.

So, how will you respond now?

Let me teach you one last lesson, kid—

those who try to outsmart others... will eventually be outsmarted themselves.”

Down below, Li Xuanxiao’s face was grim.

His Crane-Beak Silver Needle was powerful,

but this umbrella just happened to counter it perfectly.

The needle wasn’t strong on its own—best used for sneak attacks.

But the umbrella created a sort of spiritual energy turbulence around the man.

The moment the needle got close, its trajectory would be thrown off.

“Die!!”

The umbrella descended.

Li Xuanxiao drew his sword.

Avatars One and Two didn’t have enough strength to influence the battle.

Avatar Three was already dead.

He pointed his sword—

suddenly, four golden chains burst from behind the bald cultivator, catching him off guard and binding him.

The sword had just been a feint—

its real purpose was to control the golden chains.

But even the golden chains wouldn’t hold him for long.

Li Xuanxiao pulled out another item. “Activate treasure.”

It was a gleaming metal rod.

The bald cultivator tilted his head to dodge—only to see the gleaming hook at the end of the rod.

What the h**l—why are all these underhanded tricks?!

“Ay yo!”

Li Xuanxiao’s real target was actually the umbrella the man controlled.

Seeing the hook hit its mark, two Crane-Beak Silver Needles struck from both sides.

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“...........”

The real Li Xuanxiao sat deep within an underground cavern.

That bald cultivator had guessed wrong.

There weren’t just three avatars—

there were four!!

The man had never once seen the real Li Xuanxiao from start to finish.

From the very first marketplace to the last,

Li Xuanxiao had always been right here.

From the moment the bald cultivator started tailing him at the first marketplace,

Li Xuanxiao had already set the trap.

But even in victory, he felt no joy.

That guy had nearly gotten close to his real body.

He’d already identified three avatars!

Terrifying!!!

It forced me to use fifty percent of my power—

thankfully, nothing unexpected happened.

This External Body Technique has way too many flaws.

First, just like the bald cultivator said,

all the power the avatars use comes from the real body.

It’s fine for tricking those weaker than you—

but if you run into someone stronger, it’s just not enough.

And once an avatar is killed,

the real body loses that portion of its strength and takes damage.

If the enemy finds your real body at that moment,

it’s extremely dangerous.