A Clone!

"Ding! Congratulations, host! Check-in successful. Check-in reward: one clone slot! Additional reward: Salamander Whale blood."

"A clone? I'm already a Universe Venerable, and I can still gestate a clone?" Yang Hao was a little bewildered.

In the Swallowed Star universe, a clone was unquestionably one of the greatest opportunities anyone could obtain. With a clone, as long as one avoided Soul Enslavement or Soul Annihilation, losing a body meant nothing more than losing divine power and the Supreme Treasures it carried. One could simply condense another body.

After all, once someone reached the Universe Master level, they could no longer be resurrected. If they ventured into the cosmos in search of treasures and carelessly met their end, everything would truly be gone. Universe Masters without clones could only proceed with the utmost caution.

Having a clone changed everything. They could dare to enter dangerous places, risking only divine power and Supreme Treasures at worst. High risks brought high returns, and with good luck, the rewards could be substantial.

"A clone slot! That solves my most pressing problem. As expected of the system-it can even give rewards like this." Yang Hao grew excited. With a clone, no matter how vast the universe was, where couldn't he go?

But now he faced a question: what should he gestate as his clone?

Based on the original story, the best choices should have been a World Tree or a Nine Nether Clone. If the system hadn't given him Salamander Whale blood, he would definitely have chosen one of those two.

But could anything supplied by the system be bad? A single drop of blood was enough to gestate a clone.

"What kind of creature is this Salamander Whale? What makes its blood worthy of being an extra reward from the system?" Yang Hao frowned slightly. What should he choose now?

"The Salamander Whale is a powerful special lifeform nurtured by the Primal Universe several reincarnation eras ago. Its characteristics include an enormous divine body, a high life gene multiplier, and clear comprehension of the space-time law."

As though afraid Yang Hao would agonize over the choice, the system actually volunteered an explanation.

"Damn it, would the system screw me over? Of course I should trust it. I'll gestate a Salamander Whale!" Yang Hao gritted his teeth and stamped his foot.

Could anything from the system be bad?

"An enormous divine body and a high life gene multiplier are just the basics. The key is its clear comprehension of the space-time law. Leaving the space law aside, clear comprehension of the time law is exactly what I need." After considering it briefly, Yang Hao concluded that choosing a Salamander Whale clone was sound.

Clear comprehension of the two higher laws alone made it worth choosing.

Although a World Tree clone had an enormous divine body, its main purpose was to guard the divine kingdom. It couldn't serve as a clone with formidable combat strength, making it clearly unsuitable as a second body.

A Nine Nether Clone had an even larger divine body, but its combat strength still left something to be desired. In the original story, Luo Feng's Nine Nether Clone could barely move because its divine body was too enormous.

Most of the time, it served to replenish expended divine power. Its other use was as a bomb-the perfect vehicle for a suicide explosion.

With only one clone slot, Yang Hao had to choose something with strong combat ability or something that could aid his law comprehension. Luo Feng's second clone, his Mosha Clan clone, was one example. Its combat strength was ordinary, but it excelled at concealment and assassination. It was also a darling of space, with clear comprehension of the space law.

After all, Luo Feng's original body was a Golden Horned Beast, which already had an enormous divine body. After cultivating the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual, his life gene multiplier skyrocketed, giving him considerable combat strength.

"My original body has a life gene multiplier of 6,000 and a divine body ten kilometers tall. That's already extremely powerful. Besides, I've only cultivated Hunyuan Ten Turns to the third turn. There's still plenty of room for growth." Thinking about his original body, Yang Hao realized it was already formidable. Compared with many unique special lifeforms, perhaps only its divine body was a little smaller.

Yet he already possessed such a powerful divine body after cultivating only the third turn of Hunyuan Ten Turns. What about the fourth or fifth turn?

"There's nothing wrong with choosing a clone with strong combat ability."

I need to return to my divine kingdom to gestate the clone, Yang Hao thought.

A powerful aura of laws began to ripple faintly around him as he gazed into the endless void. Suddenly, a dazzling light flared from his body and spread in an instant, filling the surrounding cosmic space for dozens of kilometers.

Whoosh!

Dazzling golden light enveloped Yang Hao's entire divine body. Through that brilliant glow, a distant, immense purple-and-gold palace could vaguely be seen.

Divine Kingdom Teleportation was similar to teleportation over an extremely long distance. However, it wasn't teleportation achieved through comprehension of the space law. Rather, it was a special ability inherent to the divine kingdom, one it naturally possessed from the moment it came into existence.

For example, ordinary teleportation could be used directly in battle, but Divine Kingdom Teleportation could not. It required establishing two specific points.

A spatial passage had to be opened between them, and it had to remain stable throughout the process. Combat would cause that passage to collapse, making successful teleportation impossible.

Moreover, a divine kingdom was the absolute foundation of a powerful cultivator. Once it was destroyed, its owner would have virtually no chance of improving his strength any further.

Thus, Divine Kingdom Teleportation also had to be performed in a safe environment. If another powerful cultivator discovered the divine kingdom's coordinates, followed the teleportation, and attacked it, the danger would be immense.

Of course, fighting within one's own divine kingdom raised one's strength by an entire tier. In a desperate situation, a cultivator could lure an enemy inside and use the divine kingdom's immense power to turn defeat into victory. But that was far too dangerous. Unless facing utter desperation, no powerful cultivator would do such a thing.

Yang Hao's divine kingdom lay within a space interlayer at certain coordinates in the Qian Wu Universe Country.

The space interlayer contained thousands upon thousands of layers. The first was made up of space fragments, the second was the Divine Kingdom Layer, and the third was the Space Torrent Layer.

The deeper one went into the space interlayer, the greater the danger became. A World Lord could withstand the space interlayer near the Primal Universe, but the farther one ventured into its depths, the greater the strength required to survive. Within the Space Torrent Layer, even Immortals could perish.

Although Yang Hao's divine kingdom lay in the Divine Kingdom Layer, it was already extremely close to the Space Torrent Layer.

Here, space fragments reached diameters of a billion, ten billion, or even a hundred billion kilometers.

"The divine kingdom belonging to this body's former owner, Qian Wu, is certainly sizable." Yang Hao surveyed his divine kingdom. Its vast expanse measured eight light-years in diameter.

Qian Wu had been one of the universe's earliest Venerables. Over countless years, his divine kingdom had gradually expanded, and it was now close to the maximum size of a Universe Venerable's divine kingdom.

Generally speaking, a World Lord World measured ten thousand kilometers in diameter, an Immortal's divine kingdom ranged from one million to one billion kilometers, and a Venerable's divine kingdom ranged from a hundred billion kilometers to ten light-years.

Of course, the higher one's life gene multiplier, the larger one's World Lord World would be, and the divine kingdom that followed would also be correspondingly larger.

However, Yang Hao's life gene multiplier had only increased sharply recently, so his divine kingdom hadn't grown much in such a short time.

At the very center of the divine kingdom stood an immense purple-and-gold palace, surrounded by numerous smaller buildings. The land was divided into four continents in the east, south, west, north, and center. Blue-violet oceans connected throughout the kingdom, while enormous bridges linked the continents.

Some living beings inhabited Qian Wu's divine kingdom, but there weren't many.

Because of a divine kingdom's special nature, the cultivation ceiling of its inhabitants depended primarily on the strength of its owner.

For beings living in an Immortal God's divine kingdom, reaching Domain Lord Level was extremely difficult, while reaching Star Level or Universe Level was relatively easy.

In the divine kingdom of a Universe Venerable like Yang Hao, reaching World Lord Level was likewise extremely difficult for its inhabitants, while reaching Domain Lord Level was much easier.

The inhabitants of divine kingdoms already had less talent and fewer resources than those living in Universe Countries. On top of that, they faced the restrictions imposed by the divine kingdom owner's cultivation level.

Thus, Yang Hao hadn't placed many living beings in his divine kingdom. He kept only a small population that reproduced naturally, enough to give the kingdom a little life.

Given his current strength, bringing in too many inhabitants would be a waste. They wouldn't be able to produce any truly powerful cultivators.

(This section reflects my personal understanding, based mainly on this passage from the original story: Once I become an Eternal True God, powerful cultivators within my Miniature Universe will be fully capable of becoming True Gods, Luo Feng thought.)

That's all for today. While I'm here, please send some recommendation votes.