A Scolding

The light of the laws enveloped Clone No. 3 completely. The power around him climbed steadily, and his once-restrained aura erupted in full, connecting tightly with the origin laws of this mental world. Streaks of earthen-yellow law patterns flowed across his body, forming a law domain uniquely his own.

Xing Yao completely forgot his earlier heartache and anger, and his argument with Clone No. 1. His eyes were fixed on the figure breaking through, his heart pounding wildly, his whole body trembling slightly with excitement.

Another clone... had broken through!

Xing Yao's heart jolted, and he instantly cast his argument with Clone No. 1 and the heartache of having his Resentment Points squeezed dry beyond the ninth heaven.

"He broke through! He really broke through!"

His feet moved, and he broke into a wild sprint almost instinctively, his figure becoming a blur within the mental world as he rushed headlong toward the erupting aura, unable to wait.

In the blink of an eye, Xing Yao rushed beneath the figure in midair and snapped his head up-

At the center of the law radiance filling the sky, faint law patterns circled Clone No. 3. He hovered in midair, his robes fluttering without wind, his aura as steady as an eternal mountain. His original first-tier aura had long since vanished, replaced by an immensely weighty second-tier pressure, closely connected to the world and wholly one with it.

Under Xing Yao's gaze, so fervent it almost shone, Clone No. 3 slowly opened his eyes. A condensed, profound gleam of law flashed through them, then the light around him receded slightly as he slowly drifted down from midair.

The instant his feet touched down lightly, the ground trembled gently. A stable, weighty, supremely condensed second-tier aura spread slowly outward, and even the surrounding void seemed to sink slightly beneath its pressure.

The moment Xing Yao saw Clone No. 3 land steadily, he rushed forward with hurried steps, his tone eager and expectant as he hastily asked:

"How was it? Are you like Clone No. 1? Did you successfully fuse with a law too?"

At this, Clone No. 3 first gave Xing Yao a bland glance, then glanced at Clone No. 1 beside him. An utterly speechless expression tinged with distaste appeared on his face, as though he had watched the entire farce of playing in the mud and asking for computers earlier and found it both stupid and embarrassing.

He sighed softly, his tone calm but every word piercing the heart. "I'm not like him."

"How are you different?" Xing Yao immediately pressed, his face full of urgency.

Clone No. 3's face was expressionless, his gaze indifferent, as he uttered a sentence that instantly froze everyone present:

"I don't play in the mud."

At those words, the air instantly grew frighteningly quiet, and even the fluctuations of the laws seemed to halt for a moment.

Clone No. 1's expression stiffened on the spot, his smile freezing on his face. His ears reddened slightly, and he was so embarrassed he did not know what to do with his hands and feet. He wished he could dig a crack in the ground and crawl into it, his entire body rooted in place.

Xing Yao choked too, his cheeks instantly burning, his scalp tingling with embarrassment. His toes strained furiously against the ground, carving an entire three-bedroom apartment with a living room right into the mental world out of sheer embarrassment. He wished he could lose his memory on the spot.

Seeing that the awkwardness had reached its peak, Clone No. 1 hurriedly cleared his throat, forcibly concealing his embarrassment as he changed the subject with a solemn air and explained earnestly:

"Ahem... yes, our abilities are different. Mine is the law of space. His is the earth element origin, and he's already fused completely with the law of the earth element. It isn't the same type as my law system."

"I know that." Xing Yao hurriedly waved a hand, forcibly suppressing the embarrassment on his face. He gave a dry cough, attempting to maintain his dignity as the original, but his slightly reddened ears still betrayed just how embarrassed he had been.

Just as the atmosphere eased a little and Xing Yao was still forcibly maintaining his dignity as the original, an extremely strange yet incomparably familiar expression suddenly appeared on Clone No. 3's perpetually steady, cold, unchanging face.

That expression was identical to Clone No. 1's when he had shamelessly asked for computers earlier-only even more direct and matter-of-fact.

The instant Xing Yao saw that expression, his stomach churned, and a wave of physical nausea surged straight to his head-he knew all too well what that expression meant!

Sure enough, the next second, Clone No. 3 spoke casually, his tone perfectly natural:

"Buy a few computers, would you? I want to play too."

Xing Yao: "???"

Xing Yao froze on the spot, his pupils quaking, every trace of color instantly draining from his face.

I was just thinking you were aloof and steady, that you didn't play in the mud and were different from that screwup of a clone!

And then the first thing you say after breaking through is to ask for computers?!

He looked at the clone before him, who had just broken through to the second tier and mastered the earth element origin law, then at that utterly sincere expression asking for computers. An indescribable wave of nausea, mental exhaustion, and collapse instantly overwhelmed him.

So...

I'm the only one in this entire mental world who cultivates seriously, is that it?!

The two spoke in unison, casually tossing out a sentence that pierced him to the core:

"Have you... ever cultivated?"

Their voices were quiet, yet they struck Xing Yao's heart like two massive boulders.

Xing Yao stiffened on the spot, his cheeks suddenly burning. His gaze instinctively drifted aside, not daring to meet either of their eyes.

The corners of his mouth twitched several times, his throat bobbing. For a long while, he could not squeeze out a single retort and could only feign composure, coughing softly twice in an attempt to conceal his guilty conscience.

"Ahem... cough, cough-"

With that soft cough, he tried to put on the dignity the original ought to possess, but his slightly tensed shoulders, wandering eyes, and faintly reddened ears had already betrayed him completely.

At his cough, the two clones exchanged a glance, the meaning in their eyes unmistakable:

-As expected, he hasn't even been cultivating properly.

On the surface, Xing Yao forced himself to remain composed, but inside, he was already exploding with embarrassment, wishing he could find a pit and bury himself on the spot.

So now...

Both clones have broken through to the second tier of laws, while I, the original, am still slacking off in the same place?

At this critical moment, with Xing Yao left speechless by the Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix that were Clone No. 1 and Clone No. 3, so embarrassed that his toes were frantically clawing at the ground of the mental world and nearly digging an underground tunnel, his eyes, which had nearly crashed, suddenly darted craftily. His gaze swept across the area and locked straight onto Clone No. 2 and No. 4 in the corner, who had been quiet and well-behaved and had not taken part in any of the farce from beginning to end!

At that moment, Xing Yao's eyes lit up in a flash, as though he had suddenly spotted an oasis after thirsting in the desert for three days and nights, or suddenly discovered his deskmate had laid the answers out before him while he was cheating on an exam!

A lifeline!

An absolute lifeline!

Eight hundred schemes instantly raced through his mind at the speed of light, and his face went from cloudy to sunny. His wilted, half-dead-with-anger appearance vanished without a trace. His confidence as the original shot upward, his back snapped straight, and even his chin lifted slightly, his presence swelling to the maximum.

Xing Yao deliberately cleared his throat loudly, then whipped up his hand and pointed straight at Clone No. 2 and No. 4 in the corner, who remained wholly focused and undistracted, not even lifting their eyelids. His tone instantly shifted from embarrassed and guilty to a stern, self-righteous scolding, full of exasperation at iron failing to become steel, his voice rising a full eight degrees:

"Look at them! Open your eyes wide and take a good look at Clone No. 2 and No. 4!!"

He puffed out his chest, raised his head, and clasped his hands behind his back, putting on the solemn air of a patriarch lecturing his unfilial descendants. His gaze swept back and forth between Clone No. 1 and Clone No. 3, as stern as could be, as exasperated at iron failing to become steel as could be.

Note:

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