Martial King Fifth Layer, get on your knees!

Su Zhan's attention, however, was not on the sphere.

He was looking at the east side of the sphere.

There, half-hidden in the shadow of the Spirit Stone's light, sat a person.

To be precise, he's half a person.

The upper body of the "person" resembled that of a middle-aged man, with a sinister face, sharp features, and closed eyes.

Its lower body was not human-shaped, but rather a cloud of black mist. The mist took root in the ground of the Core Space and merged with it.

It looks like a half-body statue that has been forcibly stuck into the ground.

Su Zhan recognized the face at a glance.

I saw it in the memories of the three Elder during the Soul Search.

The Black Demon Sect Sect Master.

But it is not the main body.

The true body is still healing from the backlash it suffered from the Thunder Emperor Divine Seat, deep within the Demon Sea, thousands of miles away.

This is a Clones.

A Dharma Form Clones pre-placed in the Grotto-Heaven Core, intended to seize control of the grotto-heaven at a crucial moment.

[Nine Heavens Divine Lightning]: This guy is so cunning. On the surface, he sent a bunch of cannon fodder out to fight to the death, but in reality, he had already stuffed half of his own manhood into the safest place.

[Blazing Dragon Venerate]: Wait, what's the cultivation level of this Clones?

Su Zhan's senses swept over it.

The answer isn't very good.

"Martial King Fifth Layer."

The Chat Group exploded.

[Blazing Dragon Venerate]: Fifth level?! Damn, that's even more powerful than those three rocks outside combined!

[Immovable Wisdom King Wall]: No wonder they sent those cannon fodder to buy time. This Clones needs to be synchronized with the Grotto-Heaven Core to unleash its full Combat Power, and synchronization takes time.

[Shadow Thousand Silk Lock]: Judging from the residual aura, this Clones has been here for at least three days. Three days of synchronization time... is enough for it to bind with the Grotto-Heaven Core.

Su Zhan looked at the half-body Dharma Form that sat motionless in meditation.

It hasn't opened its eyes yet.

Wrong.

It's being installed.

Su Zhan's intuition told him that this Clones had already sensed him the moment he broke through the wall.

It is waiting.

Wait until Su Zhan gets closer.

"How long are you planning to keep this up?"

Su Zhan spoke directly, his voice echoing in the empty Core Space.

There was a three-second silence.

Those tightly closed eyes slowly opened.

There were no whites in their two jet-black pupils, only endless darkness.

The Clones looked at Su Zhan, a slow smile spreading across its lips.

"You've moved faster than I expected."

The voice was hoarse and deep, exactly the same as the one I heard when Ten-Thousand-Mile Soul Lock.

"None of the 'gifts' I gave you could stop you."

"The Bone Dragon Legion, three useless Elder, three golems, the Myriad Demons Heart-Devouring Stone..."

The Clones counted them one by one.

"You've broken them all."

"Even my curse of death was devoured by you."

Its upturned corners of its mouth turned up.

"I have never seen anyone like you before."

Su Zhan stood ten feet away, his hands in his pockets.

"So what?"

"So I'm very curious."

The lower half of the Clones's black mist began to writhe and slowly rose from the ground.

"I'll kill you, then I'll dismantle your body and see what those interesting things are."

The black mist condensed and took shape: a pair of black legs, a long black robe, and a complete human form.

The aura of Martial King Fifth Layer was fully released.

All the Spirit Stone in the Core Space shattered, and the white light was swallowed by the dense darkness.

The suspended "heart" sphere of the grotto-heaven trembled violently, its golden patterns now bound by layers of black chains, merging with the Clones.

It not only borrowed the energy from the Grotto-Heaven Core.

It is part of the Grotto-Heaven Core.

"In my domain."

The Clones raised its palm.

The gravity in the entire Core Space suddenly changed direction—no longer downwards, but instead, it pressed down madly towards Su Zhan's head.

"You are just a -- "

"Bang!"

Su Zhan didn't let him finish speaking.

He shattered the ground beneath his feet and shot out like an arrow.

Lightning and fire clashed on his fist.

"Just fight, why all the talk?"

Before Su Zhan's fist even arrived, his Clones had already moved.

With a gentle push of the withered hand, the darkness in the Core Space coalesced into a tangible barrier, standing between the two.