An Invincible Foundation

More than an hour passed.

His Sea of Consciousness was still growing explosively, becoming larger and larger. Shi Fen himself had no idea how vast it was now. Once it reached a certain size, its growth rate had surged, accelerating at an exponential rate.

During that hour, Shi Fen had first tested the practical functions of Ten Thousand Clothes, constantly trying out different outfits. Thanks to the fundamentals he had built up through forging, he could easily create clothes of artistic quality. Their designs and details were virtually perfect.

After tiring of Ten Thousand Clothes, Shi Fen began testing the uses of his ten clones. When all ten explored the Treasure Refining World together, he felt their astonishing efficiency and started complaining about his name.

"If only my family name were Wan. Then I'd have ten thousand clones, hahaha!" Shi Fen thought shamelessly.

Wasn't that right? Shi Fen had been split tenfold, giving rise to ten clones.

There was a bit of wordplay in it, and it was a mouthful.

Shi Fen wasn't shameless or greedy. Just these ten clones already gave him an absurdly powerful means of survival in the Primordial Universe.

How could he dare ask for more?

Shi Fen sent all ten clones out together. Using Spiritual Force, they searched all one hundred Forging Plazas, turning over everything around the Trash Can. They confirmed that all the Storage Cards he had found earlier in the Image World were there. Still holding on to a sliver of hope, Shi Fen continued checking the cabinets elsewhere, hoping to find something...

Shi Fen's obsessive-compulsive tendencies told him that if he didn't search every last place, the nagging knot in his heart wouldn't go away.

If he didn't do it, he would always feel as if something were missing.

Besides, there might be "bait." Shi Fen was beginning to understand Yi's habits when it came to setting up inheritances.

So Shi Fen's ten clones joined forces, dividing up the work areas and cooperating. Together, they searched every nook and cranny of the Forging Plaza, pushing forward like tanks and bulldozers, relentlessly crushing everything in their path.

Two hours and forty-five minutes after Shi Fen's ten clones appeared,

the clones rummaging through the Forging Plaza suddenly stopped what they were doing and froze in place. The expansion of the Sea of Consciousness in Shi Fen's clones' minds had finally reached its end.

A transformation began!

A mighty force suddenly appeared in Shi Fen's mind, taking control of the minds of all his clones. At a speed beyond light, in an incomparably brief instant, it gave the Sea of Consciousness a hard "squeeze," compressing it to its absolute limit.

"Boom! Bang!"

A terrifying roar erupted inside his mind. Shi Fen froze, nearly losing consciousness and falling into a coma in that instant. After the roar, the boundless ocean of golden Spiritual Force transformed into a Golden Crystal Sphere covered in countless profound black-and-gold Secret Patterns.

Ten Origin Cores formed!

Inside each Origin Core,

space stretched as vast as the starry sky. At its center were ten dazzling, radiant spheres, deep and mysterious like golden black holes, slowly revolving. These were Shi Fen's soul cores.

The soul core inside his Main Clone's Origin Core consisted of ten larger golden black holes. The soul cores inside the Origin Cores of his other nine clones consisted of ten smaller golden black holes.

The vast space inside the Origin Core seemed to have an invisible connection to another world. Shi Fen naturally felt perfectly in tune with it and sensed the Internal World inside the Origin Core.

The Internal World.

Its length, width, and height each reached an astonishing ten thousand kilometers.

Inside the Internal World lay a golden continent, ten thousand kilometers long and wide. Beyond ten thousand kilometers above the land, the sky was filled with hazy, dense golden mist, while endless golden mist surrounded the continent as well.

The entire Internal World shone with dazzling gold. The mountains, plains, hills, and valleys on the continent were all solidified Spiritual Force.

In the sky above the Internal World, two golden streams of air shaped like fish were nestled together, spinning in midair and lending the golden world within him a hint of mystery.

This was a world formed from Spiritual Force, containing no other mixed types of energy.

A pure world of soul energy!

The golden Origin Core was about one centimeter in diameter. It radiated golden light inside Shi Fen's mind. The profound black-and-gold Secret Patterns densely covering its surface seemed almost alive, quivering gently and emitting a faint golden glow.

The instant the golden Origin Core formed,

the newly formed Origin Core transmitted its abilities into Shi Fen's consciousness.

At the same time,

"Rumble..."

A vast amount of golden mist flowed from the Internal World into Shi Fen's body, swiftly gathering at the Dantian in his abdomen. It spun and coalesced rapidly. As a tremendous amount of pure soul energy from the Internal World poured in and transformed, a tiny Origin Energy planet quickly took shape in Shi Fen's Dantian.

Shi Fen's Martial Artist strength officially entered the first tier of Planetary Level!

At the same moment, the vast soul energy surging out of the Origin Core rapidly left it and flooded into the empty Sea of Consciousness in Shi Fen's head. The surging soul energy continued to gather, soon undergoing fusion and forming a soul planet.

At that same moment, Shi Fen's Spiritual Master strength officially entered the first tier of Planetary Level!

The birth of the Origin Core had brought a breakthrough in Shi Fen's strength.

These events seemed as though they would take a long time, but in reality, they were all completed in a mere ten-odd seconds.

Shi Fen slowly came to after the sudden upheaval in his Sea of Consciousness. When he sensed the information transmitted by the Origin Core, both his Main Clone and his nine other clones were stunned.

"Th-this... This is insane!"

While stunned, Shi Fen hadn't even noticed that he had broken through to Planetary Level, much less realized the size of the Internal World inside his Origin Core. Compared with the innate talents that Yi had granted his Origin Core, those things truly didn't amount to much.

The black-and-gold Secret Patterns of Shi Fen's Origin Core bestowed three innate talents upon him.

"Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique"

"Clone"

"Yin-Yang Possession Technique"

All three innate talents were related to clones. They had no other complicated functions.

"I already have ten clones, but this isn't even the end? It's only the beginning? I can have even more clones?" Shi Fen was shocked by his innate talents and stunned by Teacher Yi's grand gesture.

First, the innate talent "Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique."

The "Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique," modified by Yi, no longer required great strength to use. It was now completely under Shi Fen's control. It could only be described as an absurdly powerful clone technique that made him virtually immortal.

By using the "Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique," the Main Clone could condense the Origin Cores of the other nine clones.

If an Origin Core belonging to a clone other than the Main Clone died, it could be condensed again through the Main Clone's Origin Core. Even if an enemy destroyed both the Main Clone's body and its Origin Core, Shi Fen didn't have to worry about the Main Clone dying. One of the other clones could use the "Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique" to become the new Main Clone, and the new Main Clone could easily fill the vacancy.

In other words, as long as even one Origin Core remained, Shi Fen could make a comeback, no matter how terrifying the disaster he faced.

The Main Clone and the nine clones it condensed were collectively known as "Main Clones."

Second, the innate talent "Clone."

This was a "Clone" talent similar to the Golden Horned Beast's innate secret technique, "Clone."

When Shi Fen's "Main Clones" reached Planetary Level, Star Level, Universe Level, Domain Lord Level, or World Lord Level, each could cultivate another clone.

That meant each of Shi Fen's "Main Clones" could cultivate five more clones.

When Shi Fen reached World Lord Level, he could have sixty clones at once through his ten "Main Clones"!

If the innate talent "Clone" could do "nothing more than that," then Yi's abilities would be greatly underestimated.

The materials needed for a "Main Clone" to cultivate a clone weren't affected by the lifeform's genes or strength.

Even the life materials of Universe Masters and True Gods with a Perfect Gene of 10,081 times could still be used to nurture clones. The innate talent "Clone" would inevitably produce clones with the same life essence.

Even if the genes of the life materials exceeded the 10,081-times Gene Level, they could still be used. Whether they came from a Universe Master, a True God, or any lifeform that had ever appeared in the Primordial Universe, as long as life materials were available, they could be used to nurture a clone. There were no restrictions on the life materials.

As long as Shi Fen was lucky enough,

he could use the fifty cultivation slots for these clones to directly cultivate fifty biological clones with genes at or above Perfect Gene! This was the cornerstone of invincibility!

Even so, the innate talent "Clone" had two limitations.

First, if he cultivated a Special Lifeform with the ability to create clones, the clones it produced would no longer possess the Clone talent.

The Cosmic Rules didn't allow "dolls within dolls."

Second, clones with Perfect Gene and those with even higher Gene Levels would all be at Planetary Level when created. They couldn't be born as Universe Masters like Natural Beast Gods.

To grow stronger, the clones needed Shi Fen to cultivate, comprehend laws, and accumulate energy.

Clones created by the innate talent "Clone" were collectively known as "Secondary Clones."

Although the two kinds of clones were nominally divided into primary and secondary, they were actually equals. A "Secondary Clone" could surpass a "Main Clone" in strength. The distinction was made only to tell them apart, not to rank their abilities.

Moreover, if a "Main Clone's" Origin Core shattered, neither that "Main Clone" nor its "Secondary Clones" would die immediately. They could survive for a short time, and if the Main Clone promptly condensed a new Origin Core, they would all be safe.

This was an astonishingly powerful means of survival.

For ordinary Special Lifeforms, such as the Golden Horned Beast, if their Origin Core shattered, both the main body and the clones would die immediately.

The Origin Core was otherwise the same as the Golden Horned Beast's. If a "Main Clone" and its clones died, the lost bodies could be re-formed through the "Main Clone's" Origin Core.

Third, the innate talent "Yin-Yang Possession Technique."

Did Shi Fen remember the Consciousness Splitting ability he had mastered long ago? It wasn't actually a simple ability to "split consciousness." Shi Fen's soul was, in fact, divided into "two parts."

Besides possessing the "Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique" by nature, Shi Fen also had the "Yin-Yang Possession Technique." Originally, he would have had to comprehend the "Yin-Yang Possession Technique" himself. But when Yi saw that Shi Fen had astonishing talent and worked especially hard, he was so pleased that he helped Shi Fen master it in one go.

"Wuji gives birth to Taiji, Taiji divides into the two forms, and the two forms divide into yin and yang."

The "two parts" of Shi Fen's soul could be called the "Yang Pole Soul" and the "Yin Pole Soul." This ability to embody both yin and yang meant he could send one part of his soul out to possess another lifeform and gain another clone.

Once Shi Fen's "Main Clones" had grown to the peak of World Lord Level and the "Yang Pole Soul" and "Yin Pole Soul" had finished cultivating, each "Main Clone" would gain a chance to possess another lifeform.

Using this chance, Shi Fen could possess another Special Lifeform with the ability to create clones and cultivate clones once more.

Once all the "Main Clones" had completed their possessions, the "Yang Pole Soul" and "Yin Pole Soul" inside the Origin Cores would separate. When Shi Fen advanced to Immortal, his two opposing souls wouldn't collide with world-destroying force. He could avoid the danger, advance safely to Immortal, and gain additional clones.

Clones gained through the innate talent "Yin-Yang Possession Technique" were collectively known as "Possession Clones."

If a "Possession Clone" died completely, it could be re-formed through the Internal World inside its corresponding "Main Clone's" Origin Core.

Because "Main Clones" could store energy normally in both their Sea of Consciousness and Dantian, they could cultivate on their own without relying on their Origin Cores.

Therefore,

once a "Main Clone" reached a certain level of strength, its Origin Core could be removed and stored inside an item or within a "Secondary Clone."

This was just like the Golden Horned Beast, which could hide its Origin Core inside a clone or an item to avoid danger.

With these three great clone abilities,

it was fair to say,

as long as Shi Fen hid one Origin Core inside the world of the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror and protected his soul so he wouldn't be enslaved and killed, he would truly be impossible to kill.

Then, he really wouldn't have to fear anything! His ability to survive would be maxed out!

Counting all his clones together,

the "Nine Extremes Soul Clone Technique" granted Shi Fen ten "Main Clones."

"Clone" granted Shi Fen fifty "Secondary Clones."

"Yin-Yang Possession Technique" granted Shi Fen ten "Possession Clones."

That made at least seventy clones.

If the "Possession Clones" were powerful enough to possess the Clone ability as well, Shi Fen would have far more than seventy clones.

Take the example of all ten "Possession Clones" being Golden Horned Beasts. Those ten Golden Horned Beasts could cultivate another thirty clones, bringing the total to a full hundred!

One hundred clones. What a terrifying number.

The guardian of the Chaos Stele Cultivation Chamber, the three-eyed elder who guarded the fifty-two Chaos Tablets in Chaos City, Candri, had at least fifty-three clones.

Once Shi Fen had all his clones, he could definitely go toe-to-toe with Candri in terms of clone numbers.

As for exactly how many clones he would have by then, even Shi Fen couldn't say.

It all depended on fate.

Faced with such an invincible foundation, how could Shi Fen not be stunned?