Hot-Blooded and Sage

Hassan of the Hundred Faces was one of the successive Old Men of the Mountain Hassan, the nineteenth leader of the Assassin Order to inherit the name "Hassan-i Sabbah."

She was an all-purpose Assassin who could freely switch among countless talents and bodies of knowledge in any situation, using her abilities to complete her missions.

At times, she excelled at schemes; at times, she understood foreign languages; at times, she possessed knowledge of poisons; and at times, she was a skilled trapmaker.

Legend had it that she could sometimes display monstrous strength and speed her original body should have been utterly incapable of, use forgotten martial arts, disguise herself so skillfully that neither gender nor age mattered, and make her refined words and mannerisms so convincing that no one could believe it was merely an act. Even her personality changed according to the time and situation, leaving even her closest confidants unable to discern her true face in the end.

Because of her diverse skills, extensive knowledge, and utterly unpredictable, bizarre mentality, she had been bestowed the awe-inspiring title of "Hundred Personas." In truth, however, she suffered from a mental disorder known in modern times as multiple personality disorder.

Thus, unlike the previous Hassan-i Sabbahs, she had done absolutely nothing to alter her own body—nor had there been any need to. Though her body was entirely ordinary, she could freely change the mind controlling it according to the situation.

Within her body resided a group of independent souls. By using the knowledge and abilities of the cohabitants living inside her, she bewildered enemies, breached their defenses, and hunted down targets through methods no one could have imagined.

Especially after becoming a Servant and no longer being bound by her physical body, the personalities she split off as needed could each possess their own bodies. However, since the total amount of spiritual power still belonged to only "one person," each individual's abilities fell so low during divided operations that they could not compare to other Heroic Spirits at all.

Yet every individual benefited from Assassin's inherent skills. In terms of being able to act independently, they could be called an invincible group when it came to intelligence operations alone.

The moment Wu Ling was possessed by Hassan of the Hundred Faces's phantom, a skull mask appeared on his face. His skin also darkened slightly, changing from tender white to a healthy wheat color. Most importantly, his shadow began expanding without end, until it covered even the shadows of the surrounding plants.

As Wu Ling's shadow expanded and churned, pairs of hands stretched out from within it.

The scene looked as though the gates of hell had been thrown open, with countless wronged souls and evil ghosts crawling out from the underworld.

Though the display was imposing, Gui Mei, standing beside Wu Ling, could not sense even a trace of danger. He merely watched the scene before him with some curiosity.

When the churning ceased, the pairs of hands suddenly pressed against the ground, and dozens of black silhouettes leaped out of Wu Ling's shadow.

"I am Zayd of the Foundation."

"I am Maqul of Swiftness."

"I am Gozur of the Monstrous Arm."

"I am Troy of Cunning Schemes."

"..."

Each time a black silhouette emerged, it announced its codename, and through the information he received, Wu Ling learned each clone's abilities.

Once all the black silhouettes had emerged, the grass, trees, and rocks around Wu Ling and Gui Mei were all filled with black-clad figures wearing skull masks. They bowed to Wu Ling in unison, then shouted together.

"We eighty-eight are the Clones of Hundred Personas, the Heroic Spirits of our Master! Please give your orders!"

Wu Ling was fairly satisfied with these eighty-eight Clones.

After the adjustments, the combined overall qualities of the eighty-eight clones equaled the physical qualities of Wu Ling's original body. In other words, if he summoned only one, it would be a clone physically identical to Wu Ling, and it would not affect Wu Ling's own strength.

However, combat-oriented Clones such as "Swiftness" and "Monstrous Arm" were the ones Wu Ling cared least about. He had never held any hope for these Clones' combat ability. What truly caught his attention were the support-type abilities rated above B, such as poison-making, tactics, concealment, and deception.

What Wu Ling cared about most, of course, was the ability to accelerate cultivation that he had been unable to stop thinking about.

Naturally, these eighty-eight Clones would not do. After all, they were Hassan of the Hundred Faces's Clones. If he wanted Clones that could help him cultivate, he needed to create Clones of his own.

With a wave of his hand, Wu Ling dismissed them. The eighty-eight Clones turned into eighty-eight black shadows and returned to Wu Ling's shadow.

After seeing Wu Ling withdraw the black-clad figures, Gui Mei stepped forward and tapped the mask on his face.

"This Spirit Skill is quite miraculous. Once you used it, I could barely detect your Soul Power.

"And your presence has become extremely faint. If you during Heart-Piercing were a calm tree, then you now are an inconspicuous flying insect. So long as you do not appear directly before others, you simply will not draw anyone's attention.

"In this state, unless they are Title Douluo above rank ninety-five or possess detection abilities, no one else will be able to discover you.

"Not bad, truly not bad. You are becoming more and more like me."

Seeing Wu Ling remain silent, Gui Mei remembered why he had chosen this skill.

"So, can it help with cultivation? If it cannot, do not be discouraged. An ability that can erase your own presence is already very valuable."

Imitating Ichigo, Wu Ling pushed the mask up onto his forehead and said with barely concealed excitement, "Grandpa Ghost, I'm fine. This Spirit Skill has indeed achieved my goal, but just as I need to turn sword techniques into my own, only my own Clones can help me cultivate."

"Then how can you create your own Clones? This is not like sword techniques, something you can learn simply through training."

Wu Ling revealed a troubled expression. It was not that he did not want to explain, but explaining minds, splitting, and all that was simply too troublesome.

"Grandpa Ghost, I don't know how to describe it either, but I feel like I can do it."

Gui Mei did not doubt Wu Ling's answer. After all, Martial Souls could have any number of possibilities. He could not deny their existence just because he did not understand them, could he?

"Alright. Then, Wu Ling, do you need any help? Or do you need anything to create your Clones?"

Wu Ling shook his head. "No. I only need time. Half an... no, one hour."

"Good. Then let's take this chance to return to the Pope Palace. Once you create your Clones, we'll show them to the Pope immediately."

Wu Ling agreed to Gui Mei's suggestion without a second thought. Creating Clones only required him to "download" them once everything had been decided. Aside from the beginning, it did not require much attention.

And so, after Wu Ling ate a little and rested for a while, he followed Gui Mei toward Spirit City.

Travel always passed quickly. By the afternoon, Wu Ling had returned to Spirit Hall, and as soon as he arrived, Gui Mei led him to meet the Pope once more.

"Teacher, I'm back."

"Welcome home. Tell me about what you experienced this time."

Afterward, Wu Ling began recounting his experiences. He also summoned those Clones once again for Bibi Dong to see.

"Not bad. Even I cannot sense the presence of you or those Clones. Now, how is the matter of your own Clones progressing?"

"They're finished, Teacher. I gave them the codenames Wu Ling (Hot-Blooded) and Wu Ling (Sage)."