A Clone?

With only Aulis left as the mission target, Yin Congyang didn't mind chatting with him for a few moments. The three full-force axe strikes that had just killed Glacha hadn't taken much out of him, but he wasn't at his peak, either. He could use this time to recover a little.

"Give you a chance? What do you mean?" Yin Congyang stared at Aulis, his gaze chilling. "You're a member of the Human Race, yet you've turned traitor and become a lackey to an enemy race, harming the interests of humanity..."

"Hmph!" Aulis interrupted him with a cold snort, his expression twisted. "A lackey? Do you know what the Alien Race can give me? And what has the Human Race ever given me? I was sold as a slave when I was still an apprentice. My people became slaves, and my home planet was turned into a world where slave owners raised slaves. I wanted to serve the Human Race, too, but all humanity brought me was slaughter, humiliation, and hatred... And the Alien Race? They gave me secret techniques, treasures, and money..."

He took a deep breath and calmed down a little. "You're the top Planetary Level genius in the Qingnang Training Camp. I believe in your talent, so I'll give you a chance. Put down your weapons and seal your own power. I'll take you to meet my handler. With your talent, you can obtain even more treasures and more powerful secret techniques in the organization..."

Yin Congyang regarded him with a frigid gaze. "A traitor to humanity deserves to die. And you still think you can tempt me into following you, to live like a rat in a gutter, never seeing the sun?"

Aulis laughed mockingly. "Then I suppose I'll have to beat you half to death and drag you to my handler like a dead dog. Once you get there, you'll understand that even hoping to be a dog is a luxury!"

"I doubt you could manage that alone," Yin Congyang said, a thought striking him. "Call out your helper..."

A giant sword appeared in Aulis's hand. He struggled to break through Yin Congyang's Five Elements Domain and charged at him. "Your instincts are sharp, but even the sharpest instincts are useless without the strength to back them up..."

Once he was close, Aulis swung the giant sword at Yin Congyang with tremendous force. Wanting to test the power of a Star Level Nine fighter, Yin Congyang raised his axe to block the blow and drifted back only a few steps.

Aulis followed with one sword strike after another, each aimed at Yin Congyang's vitals. He'd said he wanted to capture Yin Congyang alive, and half of that had been true. The other half was meant to lower Yin Congyang's guard. With thousands of years of combat experience, how could Aulis not understand the need to give one's all even against a cornered rabbit? Even if he really did want to capture Yin Congyang alive, he'd first have to beat him half to death, leaving him unable to fight back.

Yin Congyang only defended, calmly blocking Aulis's strikes. All the while, he quietly extended his Spiritual Force into Aulis's Consciousness Sea. To his surprise, Aulis's soul was considerably weaker than that of a normal Star Level Nine fighter.

With a thought, he unleashed the Shake God secret technique. His soul power formed a sharp arrow, its head tipped with a backward-facing triple barb, and shot into Aulis's Consciousness Sea.

Aulis seemed to have cultivated some kind of Soul Defense Secret Technique. He suddenly sensed an enormous danger and let out a roar, halting the giant sword in his hand. The veins on his face bulged as his entire Consciousness Sea began to shake violently. The moment Yin Congyang's soul arrow entered Aulis's Consciousness Sea, the violent turbulence wore away most of its power. Only a remnant pierced Aulis's soul. His head drenched in cold sweat, Aulis roared and clutched his head, screaming in agony.

Yin Congyang was about to rush over and kill him when there was a sudden crack. The World Ring on Aulis's hand shattered, and a figure flew out of the broken ring.

Yin Congyang stared at the newcomer in bewilderment. Though he didn't look like Aulis, their souls gave off identical auras, proving they were the same person. More importantly, this man radiated Universe Level energy!

After glancing between the two of them, Yin Congyang guessed, "Is he your clone, or are you his clone?"

Universe Level Aulis frowned at Yin Congyang. "I was careless. I didn't expect your Domain and Law Comprehension to be so advanced, let alone your soul power. Fortunately, I broke through to Universe Level a few days ago. Otherwise, you might really have gotten the better of me. Now, it seems I'm the lucky one and you're the unlucky one. I'd planned to capture you alive, but I can't afford to hold back. I'll have to send you on your way. What a pity!"

He beckoned, and the giant sword in the Star Level Aulis's hand flew into his grasp. The Triple Domain of a Universe Level fighter was far beyond what a Star Level Nine fighter could match. At this point, Aulis's Triple Domain could hold its own against Yin Congyang's Eightfold Domain.

Every swing of the giant sword in his hand carried tremendous force, making it much harder to block than before. Yin Congyang had a deeper understanding of the Laws than his opponent, and his axe technique was both deft and balanced between force and finesse. Sometimes he struck the side of the blade with the back of his axe; other times he deflected its momentum with the body of the axe. He avoided clashing directly with Aulis's Heavy Sword and defended without leaving an opening. For a time, even Universe Level One Aulis couldn't gain a decisive advantage.

The Star Level Aulis stood nearby, blood seeping from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He could barely move, and could only heal himself on the sidelines. He was in no condition to help.

Yin Congyang, however, grew more excited as they fought. Since entering the Training Camp, no one had ever put him under so much pressure. The instructors' training had pushed him hard, but it lacked the desperate pressure of a life-or-death fight. Every move had to be made with all his strength, yet leave room to maneuver. Otherwise, the next moment might see him beheaded by a sword, his body and head separated.

Under this life-and-death pressure, the fluctuations in his Dantian suddenly accelerated dozens, even hundreds of times faster than before. His evolution, which had slowed as he neared the limit of the Planetary Level, suddenly sped up again.

But there was still a limit to the body and Spiritual Force at the Planetary Level. Once both had truly reached their limits, Yin Congyang would only need a few quiet hours of cultivation to break through to Star Level. But he was in the middle of a life-or-death battle. How could he find the time to break through?

The fluctuations in his Dantian continued to surge. When his body and Spiritual Force could no longer grow by even the smallest amount, they all turned toward the soul in his Consciousness Sea instead. Yin Congyang's soul power began to grow at a visible rate.

Aulis's attacks grew faster and more relentless. He couldn't understand why someone at Planetary Level Nine had the physical strength of a Star Level Six or Seven fighter, or the seemingly endless stamina of a perpetual-motion machine. When throwing everything he had into the fight still didn't give him a decisive advantage, and his opponent remained steady in defense despite being at a disadvantage, Aulis began to think about retreating.

There were two reasons he hadn't retreated earlier. First, the Star System Defense System had told him that the intruder's energy signature didn't exceed Star Level, so he'd wanted to avenge his subordinates before leaving. Second, he'd estimated that the other side's spaceship was a high-grade model. Given how wealthy the Virtual Universe Company was, it was probably an E-Grade Spaceship. His D-Grade Spaceship might not be able to evade pursuit. If he couldn't shake them, then with the convenience of the Virtual Universe, he wouldn't be able to escape. That was why he'd waited on Red Leaf Planet, hoping to eliminate the threat before leaving.

Now he'd used every means at his disposal without achieving his goal. The longer the fight dragged on, the worse things would get for him. For some reason, he also sensed a faint threat from Yin Congyang, which struck him as absurd. There was an entire major level between Universe Level One and Planetary Level Nine. Could anyone really kill a Universe Level One fighter while still at Planetary Level Nine?

But just as he made up his mind to retreat, a wave of soul power suddenly erupted from Yin Congyang...

The battle between them hadn't lasted very long. But as the fluctuations in his Dantian poured into his soul, Yin Congyang's soul power had grown faster than ever before. It had already been close to the peak of Star Level, and soon reached that peak—yet it kept growing.

"Boom!"

It was as if something had thundered inside his Consciousness Sea. Yin Congyang's soul power surged dramatically, transforming from the peak of Star Level to Universe Level.

Seeing that Aulis was about to flee, Yin Congyang had no time to feel out his own transformation. He unleashed all his soul power and activated the Shake God secret technique—

Both the Universe Level Aulis and the Star Level Aulis beside him widened their eyes. Their souls scattered, and Aulis's final thought was: I'm a Universe Level One fighter. How could I die at the hands of someone at Planetary Level...

"Whew..."

After confirming that he'd killed Aulis, Yin Congyang let out a long breath. Universe Level One had put him under tremendous pressure, and during their brief exchange, he'd repeatedly come within a hair's breadth of death.

Once he confirmed that the mission was complete, Yin Congyang waved a hand and shut down the Virtual Universe livestream.

Only then did he walk over to Aulis. He followed the same procedure as before, first collecting the corpses and all the storage rings, then searching the residence.

Perhaps Aulis had already decided to abandon this hideout. The residence had been cleaned out so thoroughly that nothing was left behind.

Yin Congyang flew into the sky and soon entered the E386 Spaceship. He ordered it to return to the Training Camp.

He went to the largest cabin on the ship and took out all his spoils. The Storage Rings came in all sizes, with varying amounts of contents. He emptied them all and sorted everything into categories.

Aside from Aulis's belongings, the others' storage spaces held nothing of value. That made sense. Star Pirates were like the pirates of ancient Earth; they wouldn't have been able to hold on to anything good for long. They'd have squandered it all. Anything valuable would surely have been in their leader Aulis's hands.

Aulis had two storage spaces. One was enormous. Besides a D-Grade Spaceship, some treasures that could promote the evolution of a Universe Level body, and various odds and ends, it contained more than a thousand cubic meters of Universe Crystals worth a million Universe Coins. Most people exchanged their Universe Crystals for Universe Coins and deposited them in a bank. Their bank cards were linked to their Spiritual Force, making theft impossible. Why had Aulis kept so many Universe Crystals? What did he need them for?

The smaller storage space was made of a very unusual metal that seemed to have some kind of shielding effect. Yin Congyang probed it with his Spiritual Force and found only two things inside: a stone roughly twenty centimeters tall, shaped somewhat like a statue, and a spherical object about one meter in diameter, resembling a seed. The sphere was covered in the tiniest, most intricate patterns. Even with Spiritual Force, he couldn't make them out clearly, and staring at them too long made him feel dizzy.

Yin Congyang took out the statue-shaped stone. It gave off no fluctuations, so the strange ring probably wasn't meant to shield it.

He turned the stone over in his hand. Looking closely, he saw that it really was a statue, though it was very crude. Whoever had made it clearly wasn't much of a sculptor.

There was nothing unusual on the outside, so Yin Congyang carefully poured his Spiritual Force into the statue.