The First Clone, Double the Cultivation

Medusa had already searched this area for several days. Relying on her senses, she could determine that the Green Lotus Core Flame was somewhere within the Tagor Desert.

Yet she could only catch a vague trace of its aura and could not locate its exact position.

The Tagor Desert was already exceptionally rich in fire-attributed Dou Qi. The fire-attributed energy permeating every corner severely interfered with her senses. Moreover, the Snake-People Clan was cold-natured rather than fire-attributed, making the search far more difficult.

Even though she was at the peak of the Dou Emperor realm, she still found it difficult to pierce through the dense fire-attributed Dou Qi and accurately pinpoint the Heavenly Flame's location.

Medusa drew a deep breath, suppressing the irritation in her heart. Once more, she released her soul force and cautiously searched for that faint trace of Heavenly Flame aura.

She could not give up, nor did she dare to.

In recent years, the surrounding human empires had become increasingly harsh toward the Snake-People Clan, constantly squeezing their living space. From time to time, humans would invade Snake-People territory and provoke conflicts.

The Snake-People Clan had steadily weakened and long lost its former confidence. They could only huddle within this desert and struggle to survive.

What worried her even more was that the four elders of the Snake-People Clan were nearing the end of their lives.

The elders were the pillars of the Snake-People Clan. Once they were gone, the Snake-People would face even greater hardship under the human empires' oppression and might even be exterminated.

The Snake-People Clan desperately needed a Dou Zong powerhouse.

As long as a Dou Zong emerged, they could support the entire Snake-People Clan.

Not only could they free the clan from the human empires' oppression and end their suffering, they could also lead the entire Snake-People Clan out of this barren, desolate desert to seek a place better suited for survival.

And the Green Lotus Core Flame was the key to her breakthrough into the Dou Zong realm.

Using the might of a Heavenly Flame to complete her evolution and shatter the bottleneck of her realm was a method Medusa had found in the Snake-People Clan's ancient texts.

The ancient texts stated it clearly: this method was extraordinarily dangerous. The slightest mistake could result in backlash from the Heavenly Flame, scattering her soul and destroying her spirit. Calling it a nine-in-ten chance of death was no exaggeration.

This was nothing less than a gamble.

If she won, she would break through to Dou Zong, the Snake-People Clan would escape its predicament, leave the desert safely, and welcome a new beginning;

If she lost, she would perish. Without their queen, the Snake-People Clan would lose its pillar and deterrent. The surrounding human empires would most likely seize the opportunity to annex them and wipe them out, erasing them from this continent forever.

Medusa did not want to wait for the Snake-People Clan to decline step by step, only to gamble on that illusory sliver of hope when her people stood at the brink of extinction.

At that thought, Medusa's gaze grew even firmer.

She had to find the Green Lotus Core Flame, and she had to succeed!

Meanwhile, Ling Yuan had been diligently cultivating in seclusion in Qingshan Town. After an entire month and a half, he finally succeeded in converting his cultivation technique.

He had originally cultivated a high-grade Heaven-tier technique, and the Ten Thousand Bodies Origin Return Technique he switched to was likewise high-grade Heaven-tier.

There was no change in his realm. He was still a one-star Dou Zong, though the Dou Qi within his body had changed slightly.

That was not the important part. Unable to suppress the urgency in his heart, Ling Yuan immediately began attempting to condense a clone.

This was the core of the Ten Thousand Bodies Origin Return Technique and the true reason he had switched to this cultivation technique.

Ling Yuan sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, concentrated all his focus, and controlled his soul force.

A strand of pure soul force slowly separated from between his brows, floating lightly before him in a faintly transparent form.

Next, he raised his hand and drew upon the Dou Qi within his body, continuously pouring it into that strand of soul force.

Dou Qi and soul force intertwined, gradually outlining a hazy humanoid silhouette.

As the Dou Qi continued to flow in, the outline became clearer and clearer. In the end, it formed a translucent humanoid phantom, identical in build to an ordinary person, yet devoid of facial features or flesh and blood, looking especially illusory.

The next step was to give this phantom flesh and blood, allowing it to truly become a clone of flesh and blood.

Ling Yuan raised his hand and exerted slight force with his fingertips. A thread of bright red blood seeped from his finger and dripped onto the transparent humanoid phantom.

The instant the blood landed on the phantom, it was absorbed as though swallowed in an instant, and the phantom trembled faintly.

Buzz!

Then, a miraculous scene unfolded. Flesh began growing rapidly over the phantom's body, covering its transparent form bit by bit from its limbs to its torso, then its neck. The speed was so fast it was visible to the naked eye.

The flesh grew entirely according to the image Ling Yuan had in mind.

Ling Yuan knew perfectly well that the fewer people who knew the secret of the Ten Thousand Bodies Origin Return Technique, the better. Naturally, he would not make the clone look exactly like himself.

Besides, he was so handsome. If the clone looked just like him, would it not draw far too much attention?

A clone needed to be low-profile and inconspicuous. It had to help him cultivate and search for treasures without a sound; it absolutely could not be too eye-catching.

Thus, Ling Yuan deliberately gave the clone an ordinary face, average features, a medium complexion, and the build of a typical man.

He was the sort who would vanish into a crowd in the blink of an eye, someone no one would make any effort to remember.

A moment later, the flesh had fully formed, and a complete clone appeared before Ling Yuan.

Ling Yuan examined the clone from head to toe, a smile curling across his lips. He was quite satisfied with his handiwork.

From its appearance alone, this clone was no different from an ordinary human man.

No one could tell that it was his clone. Its concealment was perfect.

It had flesh, blood, and a soul. The only thing it might lack was independent consciousness.

It had no emotions, could not think, and possessed no thoughts of its own.

If Ling Yuan gave it no instructions, it would only instinctively do four things—cultivate, seek treasures, fight, and flee when it encountered danger.

To put it plainly, this clone was more like a cold-blooded cultivation machine without emotions, capable only of following instincts and commands.

Unless Ling Yuan's main body died and his consciousness transferred into this clone...

Ling Yuan felt that this was quite good. He did not need to worry about a clone growing stronger than the main body and turning on its master.

It was worth mentioning that the clone's realm did not begin from zero. The moment it was successfully condensed, it already possessed the strength of a one-star Dou Zhe, saving it the trouble of cultivating Dou Qi.

Looking at the clone, a question arose in Ling Yuan's heart.

The cultivation technique recorded that the clone's cultivation speed would be the same as his current speed, but how exactly was this "same" determined?

Did it mean that a one-star Dou Zhe clone possessed the cultivation speed of his current one-star Dou Zong self?

Or did it mean that the clone's cultivation speed was only equal to the speed he had possessed when he himself was a one-star Dou Zhe?

There was quite a significant difference between the two.

As one's strength rose and one's soul grew stronger, cultivation speed would inevitably increase.

His current cultivation speed as a one-star Dou Zong was absolutely incomparable to what it had been when he was a one-star Dou Zhe. The difference was like heaven and earth.

At that thought, Ling Yuan immediately began testing it and ordered the clone to absorb Dou Qi.

If the clone's cultivation speed is the same as my current cultivation speed, then this technique is even better than I imagined!