Desire for a Clone

Song Zhong listened to Lord of Illusory Eyes, and for a moment, he was utterly dazed. Mysterious Cloud blind boxes could even open up something fatal? The blind boxes from his previous life had been scams, sure, but they had never scammed anyone to death!

This thing...

For some reason, he recalled a very old game. There had been something in that game called the Mysterious Set—Mysterious Rings, Mysterious Helmets, and the like. Before putting them on, you had no idea what their attributes were; only after wearing them did you find out.

But some of them could not be removed once worn.

For example, you might have been a warrior, only to discover after putting one on that your helmet boosted magic. You wanted to take it off, but you could not. It was stuck there, meaning an equipment slot had been wasted for nothing.

But that was merely wasting a piece of equipment. If your luck was bad with a Mysterious Cloud, it could kill you outright.

No...

Song Zhong suddenly realized something. "Can't the Mysterious Cloud be opened by another cultivator? Then, if there is danger, it will be the other cultivator who faces it."

"That is correct. Other cultivators can indeed open them, and many cultivators in the Universe do precisely that." Lord of Illusory Eyes gave Song Zhong an approving glance. If nothing else, his reactions were genuinely quick.

"To open a Mysterious Cloud, one must reach the Supreme Realm. Thus, some cultivators capture Supreme Realm cultivators specifically to make them open Mysterious Clouds.

"If there is danger, it is the cultivator opening the Mysterious Cloud who dies. If there is no danger and a treasure appears instead, they can fly over at once and take the treasure away. It seems foolproof.

"However, you must understand that some special inheritances directly acknowledge an owner.

"Something once happened. A Supreme Path Realm cultivator captured a Supreme Realm cultivator and had him open a Mysterious Cloud. The Supreme Path Realm cultivator had also kept some distance away.

"After all, if he stood too close, he might be caught up in any danger and die as well.

"Then, the Mysterious Cloud opened by that Supreme Realm cultivator contained a Saint's inheritance. The inheritance entered the Supreme Realm cultivator's body directly.

"That Saint cultivated the Dao of Shadows. After receiving the inheritance, the Supreme Realm cultivator swiftly used one of its techniques and vanished into the darkness in an instant, escaping.

"Later, that Supreme Realm cultivator actually surpassed the Supreme Path Realm cultivator and took revenge by destroying him!"

Lord of Cherished Flowers was stunned. "That worked? Cases like that should be rare, shouldn't they?"

Lord of Illusory Eyes nodded slightly. "Naturally, they are rare. In most cases, even if a cultivator receives a Saint's inheritance, they will not instantly become that powerful, nor will they be able to escape. That Supreme Realm cultivator was simply fortunate enough to receive an inheritance that allowed him to conceal himself.

"Yet even if the cultivator forced to open the Mysterious Cloud does not escape, they have still obtained the inheritance.

"If the other cultivator then kills them, they still will not obtain the inheritance. It means they gain nothing at all."

"Or," she paused slightly before continuing, "even so, most cultivators will still choose to capture a weaker cultivator to open Mysterious Clouds.

"After all, gaining nothing is still better than dying.

"We have calculated that, on average, one out of every ten Mysterious Clouds contains danger."

"That probability is not low." Upon hearing this, Song Zhong could not help thinking of Lord of Ceaseless Battles. What if Lord of Ceaseless Battles were the one opening them?

Lord of Ceaseless Battles had so many clones. He could open them however he pleased. Even if one died, it was only one clone; he could simply condense another.

Why did it suddenly seem like Lord of Ceaseless Battles was so perfectly suited for the Mysterious Realm?

Song Zhong had suddenly spotted the key point.

The Mysterious Realm was filled with danger and had to be explored bit by bit, but Lord of Ceaseless Battles had plenty of clones!

When the time came, Lord of Ceaseless Battles could send a clone ahead, with his other clones following behind, and explore all the way forward like that.

Then he could open any Mysterious Clouds he encountered at will. This was practically a bug!

Unless Lord of Ceaseless Battles' clones could not be re-condensed, and each death meant one fewer clone, there was no reason he would not explore this place.

But ordinary Clone Techniques should all be able to condense new clones, right?

Clones...

He was now someone who had received a Saint's inheritance as well. Yet he had been in this world for so long and met so many Saints, but apart from the Saint of Ceasing War, he had truly not seen any cultivator with clones.

If he could get his hands on a Clone Technique someday, exploring the Mysterious Realm would be unbelievably sweet.

As she flew, Lord of Illusory Eyes continued, "Also, the map is mostly accurate, but the Mysterious Realm is constantly operating and changing.

"Sometimes, places that previously held no danger will become dangerous.

"Of course, you are entering the outer region, where changes generally will not occur. The places that change frequently are deep within the Mysterious Realm, where Saints go.

"So I have heard. I have only heard of it, since I have never entered the depths of the Mysterious Realm.

"Apparently, whenever the Mysterious Realm changes and danger appears in a place that was originally safe, there will certainly be a Mysterious Cloud there, and certainly a great opportunity.

"Of course, that has nothing to do with us."

Song Zhong nodded lightly. That made sense. They had only just joined the Benevolence Dao Alliance, so the alliance would not allow them to enter the depths.

Thus, this map should be safe enough.

As the three conversed, they had already flown to the rear of the Island. A five-colored vortex slowly turned there.

Lord of Illusory Eyes pointed at the vortex. "From here, you can enter the region explored by our Benevolence Dao Alliance. Once you enter, follow the map and proceed slowly."

"Although other cultivators can also enter that region, most will not. That is territory explored by our Benevolence Dao Alliance. Other cultivators have not explored that stretch of territory, so they will not enter it. If you encounter other cultivators, they will be cultivators from our Benevolence Dao Alliance.

"Alright, go in. I do not have the chance to enter now."

"Thank you, Lord of Illusory Eyes."

After thanking Lord of Illusory Eyes, Song Zhong and Lord of Cherished Flowers entered the vortex.

About a minute after entering the vortex, Song Zhong's feet landed on solid ground. Raising his eyes, he saw shattered stretches of vast land everywhere around him.

In the void, there were even countless broken boulders floating about, so immense that their boundaries could not be seen, like pieces of land themselves.

Looking downward, he could likewise see one floating mass after another, things he did not know whether to call giant boulders or land.

Lord of Cherished Flowers' voice rang out beside him. "This does not feel like entering a Great Thousand World. It feels more like entering the Universe."

Feeling the power of the void around him, Song Zhong slowly said, "Could it be that this place is actually within the Universe? Come on. Let's take a look ahead."

Since cultivators from other Universes could be encountered in the Mysterious Realm, it had to be connected to other Universes. Naturally, it was not a Great Thousand World.

He felt that this place was likely a passage connecting the various Universes.

As he spoke, he took out the map and examined it.

"Fortunately, this is at the very edge of the outermost region. There are none of those most terrifying undercurrents here."

Song Zhong looked around, then turned to Lord of Cherished Flowers. "Wait. Do not move forward yet. Let me study my Immortal Artifact."