After several breaths...
The dazzling radiance gradually faded, and the scene inside the secret chamber became clear once more.
On the Cloud Bed, the handsome "Cheng Buzheng" remained seated cross-legged.
Before the Cloud Bed, however, an additional tall, upright figure had appeared.
Whether in height, appearance, or the Spirit Power fluctuations emanating from their bodies, the two were exactly alike, like mirror images.
The only difference was that...
The figure standing before the Cloud Bed wore a somewhat stiff expression, its eyes devoid of liveliness, and its entire body exuded a deathly stillness.
It possessed not the slightest fluctuation of the life field that a living person should have.
It was like a finely crafted puppet, yet one without a soul.
That was right.
This was precisely the greatest flaw Cheng Buzheng had never been able to perfectly resolve, even after repeatedly deducing and refining his paper-man incarnation—
It lacked a genuine living aura and soul fluctuations.
Under the Divine Sense inspection of high-level Mortal Cultivators, it would be extremely easy to expose.
Cheng Buzheng's Dharma Body looked at the paper-man duplicate before him, one realistic enough to pass for the original yet bearing such an obvious flaw.
A trace of regret could not help but flash through his eyes.
With a soft sigh, he said:
"As expected!"
"All methods beneath heaven cannot escape the way of balance.
If one wishes to obtain the convenience and power of a substitute body, one can hardly have perfection as well.
A method that is cheap, practical, and flawless is ultimately nothing more than a fantasy."
After that brief reflection...
Cheng Buzheng's Dharma Body flipped his wrist, and a jade pendant, emerald green throughout and carved with cloud patterns, its Spirit Light restrained within, appeared in his palm.
With a casual flick, the