Arrangements for the Clone

Eastsea City, top floor of the Forging Masters Association

A handsome young man with an imposing aura like the blazing sun pushed open the office door and strode inside, his blood and qi still unsettled from having just finished work.

"Master, you were looking for me?"

Mu Chen looked at his proudest disciple and said, "Ziming, your senior uncle has already made arrangements. In a few days, someone will come take you to Heaven Dou City.

"Your Soul Forging skills are already quite mature. As far as Soul Forging goes, there is nothing more I can teach you.

"Next, as long as you continue refining your experience and blood and qi, you can prepare to challenge the rank of Eight-Star Saint Craftsman.

"Are you ready for your trip to the Heaven Dou City Forging Association for further study?"

"I'm all prepared. But Master, Senior Uncle only just became a Divine Craftsman, and plenty of people are asking him to forge Three-Word Battle Armor. He must be extremely busy. Does he really have time to guide me?"

"Don't worry. He is more than willing. And sending you to his side this time isn't just for further study—it is also for your safety."

[After all, you are now the youngest Seven-Star Saint Craftsman in the history of our Forging Masters Association.]

Indeed, Li Ziming's forging skills had already reached the level of a seventh-rank forger, directly breaking the Forging Masters Association's record.

Whenever Mu Chen recalled the day Li Ziming had successfully challenged the seventh rank a year ago, he felt immensely proud. For the following month, he told practically everyone he met in the forging world about it.

"Ah? What? How did you know my disciple became a Seven-Star Saint Craftsman?!"

In response, Zhenhua, the president of the Douluo Continent Forging Masters Association and a Nine-Star Divine Craftsman, sent his enthusiastic congratulations.

Part of the message read—

"Gold! I'm the Divine Craftsman here! Is Mu Chen even worthy?!

"What?! Can you even teach a genius like this?! Yet you took him in!

"If you can't teach him, give him to me! I'll teach him!"

According to information leaked by an unnamed staff member, during that month at the Forging Masters Association headquarters, one could often hear young forging geniuses screaming like pigs being slaughtered.

Over the past six years, Li Ziming had made tremendous progress. Under Mu Chen's full support, his Soul Power had reached rank 73, making him a Soul Saint. He possessed three purple and four black Soul Rings, blood and qi comparable to that of an ordinary Title Douluo, peak Spirit Sea Realm spiritual power, and even a set of Two-Word Battle Armor forged for himself—"Blazing Sun."

Although Liu Tianran could make Li Ziming a Spirit Douluo at any time, he chose to wait a little longer.

After all, the sudden emergence of a twenty-year-old Seven-Star Saint Craftsman had already shattered the Dao hearts of countless forgers.

Not only had he crushed an entire generation of prodigies in the forging world, but he had also drawn the attention of numerous factions.

Many believed that after Zhenhua, he was the person most likely to become the next Divine Craftsman.

Yet this also touched the nerves of many people, especially those from the Star Luo and Heaven Soul Continents.

After all, the Federation had just produced a Divine Craftsman, which had already given them endless headaches. Now, the likely candidate for the next Divine Craftsman had practically been chosen as well.

When that time came, the Federation's combat strength would rise to an unimaginable extent.

Faced with such a terrifying future, they had no choice but to take desperate risks and resort to radical measures.

Over the past three months, Li Ziming had endured no fewer than twenty assassination attempts. He had personally killed at least eight assassins below the rank of Spirit Douluo.

As for those above Spirit Douluo, Mu Chen and the Title Douluo-level friends he had invited dealt with them.

Still, for safety's sake, Mu Chen decided to send Li Ziming to Zhenhua's side. Heaven Dou City was one of the Federation's central cities and home to the Forging Masters Association headquarters, where powerful experts gathered in droves.

Moreover, Mu Ye, the Body Sect's leader, protected Zhenhua at close range. Unless a Limit Douluo personally intervened, anyone else who came would simply be delivering themselves to their deaths.

Of course, behind Li Ziming's astonishing achievements, aside from Mu Chen's wholehearted cultivation, there was also Liu Tianran's full financial support.

However, constrained by his age and status, Liu Tianran could not personally focus on gathering energy forever. In order to develop Li Ziming as quickly as possible and gather more energy sooner, he created a second clone—"Xie Jiayun."

To gather energy, one inevitably had to pursue killing and death. And where else had more killing and death than the military?

Under Li Ziming and Liu Tianran's arrangements, Xie Jiayun entered the Federation Military, specifically the Western Legion, where combat was at its fiercest.

Furthermore, to ensure that Xie Jiayun had a sufficiently high starting point, allowing him to obtain energy safely and steadily in the military over the long term while earning the attention and cultivation of its upper ranks, Liu Tianran specially arranged an exceedingly rare healing-type super Martial Soul for him—the "Tree of Life."

This Martial Soul was exceptionally rare and possessed formidable healing abilities. Li Ziming had gone to no small effort to acquire it.

He attended auctions held by many major factions before finally collecting a branch from the Tree of Life, using it as material to create the clone.

Then, Liu Tianran directly invested the energy reserves he had accumulated over two years, giving him the starting point of a five-ring Spirit King and equipping him with One-Word Battle Armor.

The result did not disappoint Liu Tianran. Relying on the Tree of Life's powerful healing abilities, Xie Jiayun thrived in the military, earning considerable military merit. With his outstanding talent, he also received vigorous cultivation from the military's upper ranks.

Now twenty years old, he had become a proud Federation colonel with his cultivation of a rank-72 healing-type Soul Saint.

It was also thanks to Xie Jiayun's diligent collection efforts that Li Ziming could improve so quickly.

The matters concerning the first and second clones could now be considered settled. However, Liu Tianran's arrangements for Li Ziming and Xie Jiayun were mostly focused on logistics, equipment, and securing their positions.

As for their combat strength, Liu Tianran did not currently demand that either of them possess especially outstanding battle prowess. He might enhance them in the future, but for now, both resources and energy reserves were still in their early stages, so there was no need.

Therefore, Liu Tianran now needed a battle-type clone with exceptionally strong talent, someone who could ensure his safety during the initial stages.

With his own talent, this clone would truly enter the sights of major factions, allowing him to gain sufficient status and authority in the future and handle identity and background issues for Liu Tianran's later clones.

After all, Liu Tianran could not possibly choose dead people to replace for every clone. He could not guarantee that everyone would be like Li Ziming, with such a limited social circle. Sooner or later, that would cause problems.

If someone noticed something wrong one day, it would be troublesome.

Otherwise, no matter how outstanding their talents were, their unclear identities would likely keep them excluded from the core ranks of those factions.

Cemeteries were more suitable for Liu Tianran to gather the energy needed to create clones. Naturally, some corpses in those cemeteries had been dead too long to yield much energy, but there were simply too many of them.

After collecting energy for four hours, Liu Tianran saw that there was little left to gather and departed East Sea Cemetery.

Three days later,

It was time once again for the annual Martial Soul awakening. Spirit Pagodas throughout the Federation began their busy work.

Inside the Tianhai Spirit Pagoda, an orphan named Zhou Mingyu entered the public Martial Soul awakening room alone, without anyone accompanying him.

A staff member led Zhou Mingyu into a small room. The moment he entered, he saw dense patterns inscribed across the floor, walls, and even ceiling.

As soon as Zhou Mingyu stepped into the room, a strange sensation swiftly spread through his heart. It felt as though some hidden force was stirring deep within his body, as though something were urgently calling to him, quickening his heartbeat without his realizing it.

The staff member stood in the center of the room and released his Soul Power.

"Little one, get ready. I'm starting!"

"Mm, I'm ready, Uncle."

The moment Zhou Mingyu finished speaking, an icy blue radiance carrying a frigid aura rose from his entire body. It then transformed into a white longsword, its chill engulfing the room. In an instant, even frost formed upon the Spirit Pagoda staff member's hair and eyebrows.

The Mysterious Ice Sword—a top-tier weapon Martial Soul with an exceptionally pure ice attribute, only a step away from Ultimate Ice. It was enough to attract the Spirit Pagoda's upper ranks and earn their cultivation.

This was also the Martial Soul Liu Tianran had prepared for this clone. To improve his talent and combat strength, Liu Tianyi had specifically visited Eastsea Academy to obtain a sample from Wu Changkong, then used a Century-Grade Mysterious Ice Herb to purify and strengthen its Martial Soul attribute.

Choosing Wu Changkong as the clone template was also a helpless decision. Liu Tianran only knew of top-tier geniuses like Wu Changkong who were relatively easy to approach.

After all, though he was nearly thirty and only a Soul Emperor, that was purely due to psychological issues. Later, he would rise from rank 70 all the way to rank 98 in just a few years. His talent spoke for itself.

Watching this scene, Zhou Mingyu inwardly exclaimed in admiration. He rather wished his main body's Martial Soul were a sword as well. Never mind how strong it was—at least it looked cool!

After all, strength was temporary, but being cool lasted a lifetime!

"Little one, how do you feel now?"

At some point, a middle-aged Spirit Pagoda deacon had appeared in the awakening room. Casting aside his unrealistic thoughts, Zhou Mingyu looked at the man, who smiled and said, "Little brother, congratulations on awakening such a powerful Martial Soul."

"Your Martial Soul is an extremely powerful ice-attribute weapon Martial Soul, already very close to the ultimate of the ice attribute."

"Martial Souls of this ice-attribute quality have not appeared often throughout history, but every person who awakened one was a super genius who shocked the world."

"Basically, nearly every Soul Master with a Martial Soul of this quality cultivated to the realm of a Super Douluo."

The deacon smiled at Zhou Mingyu. "Little one, your Martial Soul awakening is complete. Now let's test your Innate Soul Power."

Zhou Mingyu nodded and stepped forward, placing his hand on the Soul Power testing disk.

"Ten!"

His gaze flickered slightly, but he was not particularly surprised.

This time, the Spirit Pagoda deacon's reaction was quite calm. With such a top-tier Martial Soul, Innate Full Soul Power was only natural. After telling Zhou Mingyu that he possessed Innate Full Soul Power, he began inviting him to join the Spirit Pagoda.

After pretending to think for a moment, Zhou Mingyu decided to join.

In this era, joining a major faction was inevitable. Being part of one made everything much more convenient. Given the choices of Shrek, Tang Sect, Spirit Pagoda, and War God Hall, Liu Tianyi arranged for Zhou Mingyu to enter the Spirit Pagoda.

"Your talent is quite good. The master of our Tianhai Spirit Pagoda thinks highly of you." After completing Zhou Mingyu's entry procedures, the deacon encouraged him, "Work hard. If you perform well, there is a strong chance the Tower Master will take you as his disciple."

Zhou Mingyu nodded.

Every city's Spirit Pagoda had an administrator, but only Spirit Pagodas in larger cities had branch Tower Masters. As the Federation's largest coastal city on the Eastsea Coast, Skysea City had a flourishing economy.

At the same time, coastal regions had developed rapidly in recent years. As one of the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars, the Skysea City Spirit Pagoda was assigned a branch Tower Master directly appointed by the headquarters.

Those qualified to serve as branch Tower Masters of the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars were all super experts within the Spirit Pagoda. None could be below the rank of Super Douluo.

Those who could become branch Tower Masters possessed not only talent and strength, but also their own impressive methods, with intricate factions standing behind them.

[Becoming a branch Tower Master's disciple is already quite good. At the very least, resources needed for early development will definitely be plentiful.]

Zhou Mingyu knew his own limits. In this era, Innate Full Soul Power was no longer such an outrageous talent. It was not exactly common, but the number awakened each year already exceeded the number of Limit Douluo. A top-tier Martial Soul alone was likely insufficient to make Limit Douluo compete to accept him as a disciple. Having a Super Douluo take interest in him was already a perfect start.

"Come. The Tower Master is already waiting for you."

The deacon led Zhou Mingyu to the upper levels of the Spirit Pagoda and into one of the rooms.

The room was brimming with technological sophistication. Many glass spheres resembling eggs stood inside, each containing different types of rare Spirit Souls.

"Tower Master, Zhou Mingyu has arrived."

"Mm. You may leave first."

Zhou Mingyu shifted his gaze away from the various strange Spirit Soul eggs and looked toward the man standing with his back to him.

The man turned around.

His face was stern and imposing, carrying authority without anger. Though he had not used Soul Power, the elemental energy of heaven and earth around him naturally revolved about his body.

"Greetings, Tower Master."

"Mm. You are Zhou Mingyu?"

Wang Yupeng examined Zhou Mingyu once, then nodded.

Zhou Mingyu stood respectfully in place without making any overly presumptuous movements.

"You possess Innate Full Soul Power, so you can already fuse with your first Spirit Soul." Wang Yupeng said, "Can you show me your Martial Soul?"

Following Wang Yupeng's instructions, Zhou Mingyu summoned his Martial Soul.

A frigid aura surged forth beside him. Ice crystals began condensing around his body, while sharp sword qi circled around him.

After carefully sensing that aura, Wang Yupeng's pupils contracted slightly.

[It truly is an exceptionally pure ice attribute, almost comparable to Ultimate Ice.

If he reaches the rank of Title Douluo in the future and equips a hundred-thousand-year ice-attribute Spirit Soul, the quality of this Martial Soul might allow it to evolve naturally into Ultimate Ice. He has a chance at reaching the limit.

It is just a pity that his attribute does not match mine very well. Should I take him as a disciple?]

After considering it, Wang Yupeng decided he should establish the master-disciple relationship first. Zhou Mingyu's talent was outstanding. If he hesitated, someone else might snatch him away.

After all, the flower language of geniuses was: hesitate, and you lose them.

"Zhou Mingyu, are you willing to take me as your master?"

"I am willing," Zhou Mingyu said.

He respectfully performed a salute and knelt before Wang Yupeng.

Wang Yupeng's smile was radiant.

"I, Wang Yupeng, have accepted five disciples in total. You are the fifth, and most likely the last."

Zhou Mingyu listened quietly.

"From today onward, you will cultivate by your master's side. I am Wang Yupeng, known as Thunder Bear. My cultivation is rank 96, a Super Douluo. I am also a Three-Word Battle Armor Master and possess some renown on this continent."

"If anyone dares bully you in the future, simply tell them your master's name."

"Very good. The initial layout is complete. Now, all that remains is to leave it to time."