Chapter 568: Condensing the Clone

But no matter how much he paid, it was worth it.

Splitting his soul in two made him feel as if two selves existed simultaneously. Although his combat power would not increase for now, once he fully recovered, it would be completely different—equivalent to an instant doubling.

Most importantly, the two shared the same thoughts and communicated through意念. Their coordinated attacks were far more than one plus one equals two; they could reach three, four, or even more.

Moreover, the split soul could cultivate like a normal person and would grow stronger over time.

"Let's begin!"

The soul glanced at the original body, smiled faintly, and charged straight toward the Nine Heavens Lotus Fetus.

Whoosh!

As soon as it approached, it felt a tremendous suction force sweeping it up, and in the next moment, it entered a dark space.

"Master..."

Steadying himself, he saw a middle-aged man covered in black aura standing not far away, cupping his fists and bowing with a respectful expression.

Mo Hunsheng!

He had thought this guy, a six-star sorcerer who had lived for so many years, would look like an old man. Unexpectedly, he had a fair, beardless face and a slightly frail build, more like a scholar.

Having signed a soul contract, even after escaping, he was still a servant of this Master Zhang, not daring to disobey any order; otherwise, a single thought from the other party could easily crush him.

"Is this your original appearance?" the clone asked doubtfully.

Souls had no fixed form and could change at will, so his current appearance might be deliberately altered.

"Yes. A sorcerer's soul can maintain the appearance at the moment of soul extraction. I looked like this then, and even if I live another ten thousand years, it won't change!" Mo Hunsheng quickly replied.

Souls could change in countless ways, even altering their form, but they always retained the appearance at the moment of soul extraction, unchanged for ten thousand years.

"Mm. I'm here to replace you now; you can leave."

The clone waved his hand. "But for now, there's no suitable body for you. You can stay in the Soul-less Golden Man for a while. Once a suitable physical body is found, I'll let you possess it immediately!"

Even though Mo Hunsheng was powerful and could stay outside for a while, as time passed, he would still suffer the Five Declines of Soul Power and grow weaker.

To prevent this, he needed to find a suitable physical body.

As a master teacher, Zhang Xuan could not allow him to possess others at will, so he had to temporarily委屈 him into the Soul-less Golden Man to preserve his life.

After all, this thing was refined by sorcerers for possession; entering it was very easy and did not involve the decline from possession.

"Yes, as long as I can get out, I'll stay anywhere..."

Mo Hunsheng nodded quickly, his eyes shining with excitement.

Trapped here for tens of thousands of years, he had almost gone mad. As long as he could get out, even if it meant living a few hundred years less, he would do it.

Besides, Master Zhang had already promised to help him find a body to possess, so there was nothing to worry about.

"I'm going out now!"

Gritting his teeth, his body emitted a special light as he rushed outward.

Feeling his departure, the dark space seemed to send a great force to hold him back. The clone snorted lightly and blocked the way.

Whoosh!

The force stopped, and Mo Hunsheng seized the opportunity to leap out of the Nine Heavens Lotus Fetus, landing outside.

"You're out!" Zhang Xuan, standing outside, looked over.

"Yes!" Feeling the regained freedom, Mo Hunsheng looked around, filled with excitement.

"Go inside for now."

Smiling slightly, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist, and a coffin containing the Soul-less Golden Man appeared before him.

Mo Hunsheng nodded, gently shook himself, opened the coffin, and slipped inside. The next moment, the golden man's eyes opened, and he stood up.

Soul entered the body.

"Master!"

The tall golden man, like a fully armored general, came forward.

"Call me Young Master like the others," Zhang Xuan waved his hand.

"Yes, Young Master!" the golden man cupped his fists.

"How much of your strength can you use now?" Zhang Xuan asked calmly, looking at the golden man.

The golden man's power was limited, but Mo Hunsheng's cultivation was strong. Now that he had left the Nine Heavens Lotus Fetus, he might be much stronger than Zhang Xuan.

"These Soul-less Golden Men were refined by me personally. I can exert about one hundred percent of my strength," Mo Hunsheng said.

"One hundred percent? Mortal Transcendence Ninth Layer?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

This guy was a six-star sorcerer, with his生前 strength reaching the peak of Mortal Transcendence Ninth Layer, only a hair's breadth from breaking through to Half-Saint. Although he had consumed much over the years, he surely still had Mortal Transcendence Ninth Layer.

Didn't that mean he now had a servant at Mortal Transcendence Ninth Layer?

With such a strong person by his side, even without the deterrence of "Teacher Yang," no one would dare to cause trouble.

"Mm," Mo Hunsheng nodded.

"Good. Go outside and guard; don't let anyone in. I'm condensing my clone and cannot be disturbed," Zhang Xuan instructed.

Mo Hunsheng acknowledged and turned to walk out.

Zhang Xuan then looked solemnly at the lotus fetus before him.

"Let's begin."

Flicking his finger, a stream of true energy surged into it.

Mo Hunsheng was terrified of Heaven's Path true energy, but the soul clone did not care. As more true energy poured in, the originally pitch-black lotus fetus gradually turned whiter.

Gradually maturing.

The lotus fetus consumed a tremendous amount of true energy, but Zhang Xuan had enough medium-grade spirit stones and did not worry about the loss.

After an unknown time, with a slight tremor, the entire lotus fetus turned milky white, emitting a warm, firefly-like glow.

"Truly a... divine object!"

Looking at it, Zhang Xuan felt his whole body tremble, as if he were being drawn in.

The previous lotus fetus had been pitch black and eerie, resembling an evil object, but now it gave off an inviolable sense of coming from the nine heavens.

Truly extraordinary!

It was foreseeable that if outsiders knew of it, they would surely fight over it, and even six-star, seven-star, or eight-star master teachers would not be exempt.

Master teachers were also human, with emotions and desires. When encountering treasures, they would claim them for themselves; they could not be like sages, without desires or demands.

Besides, even Confucius was protective of his own. He once flew into a rage for his disciple and annihilated a country, let alone others.

"Refine!"

Knowing this object was extremely precious and could not be leaked, Zhang Xuan did not hesitate. He grabbed with his hand, sending a mass of true energy into it.

The method to refine it into a physical body had been passed to him by Mo Hunsheng and was not complicated.

True energy enveloped the lotus fetus, making it perfectly契合 with the soul. The previously small lotus gradually merged with the separated soul, forming a clean, flawless physical body.

After an unknown period of tempering.

The spirit and flesh perfectly融合, and slowly opened its eyes.

"It's done!"

Seeing the clone stand up, Zhang Xuan smiled slightly.

They looked at each other, and Zhang Xuan felt a very奇妙 sensation, like looking in a mirror—sometimes feeling that the other was himself, sometimes feeling that he was the other.

The clone was the original soul split in two. In both thinking and ideas, it was identical to the original, indistinguishable. Even the knowledge they learned and the martial techniques they cultivated could be shared.

That is, as long as the clone read a book, the original could easily acquire the knowledge. Of course, this was limited to such things; the clone absorbing spiritual energy and improving cultivation was different from the original.

"The clone is now a原始 embryo. Even if it has cultivation, it's only from the soul power it carries. First, let's raise its strength."

The clone was refined from the Nine Heavens Lotus Fetus and had no inherent strength. Any power it now had came from the sorcerer soul融入 its body. It must quickly improve its true energy cultivation.

Putting on clothes, it sat cross-legged in the center of the spirit gathering array.

Creak! Creak!

With a thought, the Heaven's Path technique began to circulate according to the method in its mind.

"Hmm?"

After a moment, it frowned.

He had already cultivated the Heaven's Path technique once and was familiar with it. Logically, it should be very simple to circulate, so why couldn't the clone do it?

As soon as it started circulating, it felt a great pressure bearing down, as if trying to crush its body into powder.

"Could it be... that aside from my original body, no one else can cultivate the Heaven's Path technique, not even the clone?"

A thought emerged.

Previously, he had tried to teach the complete Heaven's Path technique to several students, but none could cultivate it. So he had to modify it, leaving some flaws.

He had thought it was only others, but now it seemed even his clone was the same.

"It probably has to do with the Heaven's Path Library."

He had a thought.

The Heaven's Path Library accompanied his rebirth and appeared in his original body. Perhaps because of this thing, he could cultivate it. The clone, even with his soul, without the library, could not recklessly cultivate the Heaven's Path technique.

The Heavenly Dao cannot be spied upon; the Great Way cannot be without flaws. With the Heaven's Path Library concealing the heavenly secrets, he would not be discovered and could cultivate however he wanted. Without it, he could not.

"Since it doesn't work, I'll modify it."

Since the Heaven's Path technique could not be cultivated, he would leave some flaws. After all, Zhao Ya and the others cultivated this way and were already familiar with it.

Gurgle, gurgle!

Cultivating with the flawed technique, true energy indeed circulated smoothly. His entire aura gradually increased, and his cultivation steadily rose.

Truly a body refined from a divine object. Compared to it, Zhao Ya and the others' cultivation speed was nothing.

In just three days, he went from the First Layer of Martial Artist, Gathering Breath Realm, to the peak of Mortal Transcendence Third Layer, Yin-Yang Realm!

Exactly the same as his original body's cultivation.

Although it was due to sufficient spirit stones, this speed was indeed astonishing and would scare countless people to death.

"Since cultivation has reached this level, martial techniques don't need to be practiced; they can be directly shared through the soul."

Cultivation techniques needed practice, but martial techniques did not. They could be achieved through soul sharing. That is, even without practicing martial techniques, the clone would have the same Heaven's Path swordsmanship, fist techniques, movement techniques... as the original, without any difference.

"Let's see how strong it is... Come, punch me!"

Smiling slightly, Zhang Xuan looked at the clone.

There was no strength-testing pillar in the room, so he couldn't determine the cultivation level. But he knew very well how much strength his original had. A punch exchange between them should easily confirm the clone's strength.

Whoosh!

The clone punched at him. Zhang Xuan smiled lightly and met it with his own fist.

The fists collided.

Bang!

Before he could react, Zhang Xuan felt a sharp pain in his arm, as if hit by a giant mountain. His head smashed through several walls and flew out, landing headfirst on the rocky ground in the courtyard.

"What the hell... what's going on..."

Zhang Xuan was on the verge of tears.