Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique

Shi Fen entered the Treasure Refining World.

He had barely steadied himself when he looked around and froze. "Why was I forcibly teleported here? Didn't I choose the black disc?"

Shi Fen looked around, baffled. Nothing here has changed.

He was in the same place where he had found the transparent little box, near ten sets of strange silver objects with no explanation.

As he tried to figure out what was going on, all ten silver watermelons floated up before him. Countless silver scales rippled across their surfaces, and they slowly blossomed open, revealing what lay inside.

Their silver shells vanished completely, leaving only a mass of colorless liquid suspended in the air, quietly churning.

It seemed to be waiting for something.

Nearly all ten sets of silver objects whose purpose Shi Fen didn't know floated up as well. They opened in the air, their silver shells vanishing to reveal all kinds of objects inside.

The objects that appeared took many forms: clouds of gas, liquids, and solids. They came in every color and shape imaginable.

They either churned or spun in the air.

Everything gathered overhead. The Treasure Refining World had never been this lively.

Shi Fen watched the transformations with curiosity. "I wonder what Teacher Yi is up to this time."

The ten original sets of objects had now dwindled to ten silver cubes and ten silver spindles that looked a little like ancient bolts of cloth. Everything else had shed its outer shell and floated in the air.

Shi Fen didn't have to wait long for the surprise.

One by one, the objects that had floated up later shot into the colorless liquid released by the silver watermelons. The liquid began to boil. A vortex formed at its center, pulverizing each object that entered and dissolving it into the liquid.

In an instant, all the objects had fused into ten masses of crimson liquid, quietly spinning in the air like blood-red whirlpools.

From this close, he could almost smell blood.

"Why aren't they all the same size?" Shi Fen had clearly seen that all the objects were the same size before they were mixed together, yet after fusing, they had ended up different sizes.

"They're changing again!"

The whirlpools began to shrink as great quantities of crimson liquid were sucked into their centers. Gradually, they became ten Crimson Blood Beads, each many times smaller. Their color was deep red, and on close inspection, faint glimmers of color shimmered within them.

Nine Crimson Blood Beads were large, and one was small.

The large ones were about the size of ping-pong balls, while the small one was about the size of a quail egg.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Without warning, all ten beads shot toward Shi Fen's head. They moved so fast that he had no time to dodge. The beads entered his head, but he felt no discomfort—in fact, he felt wonderful.

"Ah..."

Shi Fen couldn't help letting out a blissful moan. The sudden rush of pleasure, coming right on the heels of his alarm, sent his mind reeling. For an instant, he lost control of his thoughts.

Shi Fen hurriedly inspected his mind with his consciousness.

After the smallest bead entered his mind, it melted instantly, merging with his golden Sea of Consciousness and his body. His golden Sea of Consciousness swelled enormously, while his body underwent a profound evolution.

The swollen golden Sea of Consciousness forcibly pushed outward, expanding at an incredible speed. Like a balloon being inflated, its volume increased by countless times.

The violent expansion of his Sea of Consciousness caused Shi Fen no discomfort.

Before the bead had touched his Sea of Consciousness, it had first made contact with his body. His body evolved first, providing ample room for his Sea of Consciousness to expand. If an ordinary person's sea of Spiritual Force had grown so violently, their head would have burst apart like an exploding rotten watermelon.

The bead merged with his body and enhanced it in a way he couldn't understand. Shi Fen couldn't feel himself getting stronger, yet he could clearly sense that his body was improving. He didn't know exactly what had changed; he would have to test himself to find out.

The process was extremely comfortable. The pleasure eased some of the tension caused by the strange changes in his mind.

Those changes came from the nine larger beads.

They were different from the small one.

Each was wrapped in a layer of special energy. After entering his Sea of Consciousness, none of that energy was consumed.

They had a clear target.

They were headed for the nine Golden Crystal Spheres in his Sea of Consciousness, which had evolved from the Dark Golden Spheres. The nine beads collided with the nine Golden Crystal Spheres, one by one. As soon as they touched, each pair fused into a mass of blood that glimmered with golden light and churned violently.

The newly formed masses reacted more and more violently, rapidly expanding in volume. When each reached a diameter of about one meter, it slowly compressed inward until it reached its limit, then expanded outward again until it reached its maximum size, before compressing once more...

They repeated this cycle several times in a short time, showing no sign of stopping.

Shi Fen had never understood what the Golden Crystal Spheres were for. At last, the mystery was about to be solved. He was both nervous and excited.

"What are they? They can't be innate talents, can they?"

Shi Fen made a bold guess.

If they're innate talents, I've hit the jackpot. They have to be innate talents. They have to be... He watched the masses of blood in his mind, repeating his wish over and over.

After the masses had expanded and contracted exactly one hundred times, they transformed into fleshy spheres.

Just as Shi Fen was getting excited, an invisible force drew the spheres away. They vanished from his Sea of Consciousness and "jumped" into the outside world.

A horrifying scene unfolded.

Shi Fen's body had already finished evolving, but his Sea of Consciousness was still expanding, seemingly without end. His attention had been fixed on the masses of blood in his mind. When they disappeared, he immediately opened his eyes—and saw something that left him stunned.

The nine fleshy spheres quickly transformed into nine embryos in midair. Through their transparent membranes, he could see them rapidly taking human form before his very eyes. Once they became human-shaped, they grew even faster.

They raced from the infant stage to toddlerhood, then childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood...

When they reached the infant stage, Shi Fen suddenly felt nine consciousnesses link with his own, as if the nine embryos before him were all him.

"Cough, cough..." The words caught in Shi Fen's throat. His face flushed, and he was too excited to speak.

Only after a long while could he force his mouth open and stammer, "I've got nine clones???"

As Shi Fen stood there in shock,

the nine embryos finished developing. Their membranes dissolved, and nine naked clones of Shi Fen slowly dropped to the ground, standing there in a daze. They looked exactly like Shi Fen—not a single difference in appearance or build.

As soon as the nine clones landed, Shi Fen's consciousness naturally and perfectly linked with theirs. The nine clones opened their eyes at once and struck the same stunned pose as his original body.

The scene was a little eerie, and a little funny...

"This..."

"This..."

All ten Shi Fens spoke at once, in perfect unison.

The chorus snapped Shi Fen out of it. Excited, he focused and began taking control of the situation.

Shi Fen had Spiritual Force beyond the Apprentice Level limit and had long since gotten used to the feeling of Consciousness Splitting. He quickly adapted to the nine new clones and gained perfect control over all ten consciousnesses.

As he brought his consciousness and bodies under control, another sudden surprise made him jump.

The ten silver spindles that looked like ancient bolts of cloth began floating on their own and merged into Shi Fen's original body and his clones. The Black God Set on his original body was "kicked" out, and the spindles brazenly merged into his body, transforming into a set of imposing, old-fashioned clothes.

At the same time, a message from Yi entered Shi Fen's consciousness, revealing the origins of his nine clones.

Shi Fen's nine new clones were no longer left in the awkward predicament of being naked.

The spindles were called Ten Thousand Clothes, a special defensive treasure.

Ten Thousand Clothes could not only defend, but also change shape. By controlling it with his consciousness, Shi Fen could turn it into anything he wanted, freely changing it into all kinds of complete outfits. Hats, tops, bottoms, shoes, full suits of armor—it could transform into them all!

If he could think of it, it could do it.

Such flashy transformations came at a price.

The defensive ability of Ten Thousand Clothes was downright bizarre: it depended entirely on the user's own level of energy. Put simply, the stronger the user, the stronger its defense.

In an ordinary person's hands, an ordinary knife could pierce the clothes. Ten Thousand Clothes wouldn't be damaged, but the wearer would certainly die.

As the saying went:

You might not fear ten thousand things—but you'd better fear Ten Thousand Clothes.

Shi Fen was overjoyed by this. To him, that flaw was the best advantage imaginable.

He was confident he could easily become a Venerable and a Universe Master. Becoming a True God would take a little effort, but even braving Reincarnation wouldn't be difficult if he worked hard enough.

By then, Ten Thousand Clothes would be a Supreme Treasure, even one of the strongest Supreme Treasures...

Yi had prepared Ten Thousand Clothes for Shi Fen. It was the defensive equipment best suited to his talent.

"Ten future super-powerful Supreme Treasures? This is incredible!"

Shi Fen's confidence also came from his ten new clones. They were a special ability called the Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique.

The Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique was an ability granted by Shi Fen's unique soul. Under normal circumstances, he could only condense clones through his own strength after becoming a powerful being in the Primordial Universe.

Yi had used incredible power to help him.

Not only had Yi enabled him to condense the Nine Extremes Soul Clones ahead of time, he had also added a little extra. That extra had triggered a mutation in his Sea of Consciousness, causing it to expand wildly.

When his Sea of Consciousness expanded to the size of a world, each clone would condense an extraordinary Origin Core.

The extraordinary Origin Core would grant an ability even more astonishing than the Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique!

As Yi had described it:

Become an Origin Core!

Become the foundation!

The "foundation" in the Foundation Trial was exactly what it said on the tin!