Five dark figures stood halfway up the mountain, each watching through infrared binoculars.
One of them, a wiry man, said sinisterly, "This brat actually knows the Clone Technique. He really is something."
Another man, a chubby fellow smoking a cigarette, said, "Heh, once we kill the brat, none of you had better fight me for his Spirit Artifacts. I want them all."
"Do whatever you want with the brat. Just leave that chick to me. I've been out on missions every damn day and haven't touched a woman in almost two weeks. She looks like she's got a nice figure. Bet she's pretty good in bed, too." Another man dug at his crotch and grinned lecherously.
As the men joked among themselves, another spoke in a noticeably steadier tone. "Joke all you want, but I hope none of you let your guard down. He outright destroyed my Lifebound Yin Spirit."
At those words, the others fell silent.
One man, wrapped entirely in black gauze, leaned against the mountainside without saying a word from beginning to end.
With the sudden increase in his clones, the spiritual energy inside Chen Hao was draining rapidly. Every clone had also moved to intercept the tumbling boulders, and the sheer consumption was far beyond what he could bear at his current level.
The instant all dozen or so clones used spiritual energy to stop the falling rocks, an enormous amount of spiritual power surged uncontrollably out of Chen Hao like water through a burst dam.
Chen Hao was shaken by the terrifying drain. At this rate, even with the support of the Spirit-Gathering Array inside him, he would not last more than a few seconds.
After directing his dozen or so clones to smash whatever falling rocks they could with the Golden Cudgel, Chen Hao