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A few minutes later, Tang Chuan skillfully pushed open the dormitory door. The room was empty. His roommates were all in class, making the room exceptionally quiet. He closed the door behind him and drew the curtains, blocking out all the light.
"No one here? Perfect, I can try my second spirit ability!" Tang Chuan muttered, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
The reason he returned late wasn't just because it took a long time to hunt the Thousand-Year Clone Vine and absorb its spirit ring. He also took the opportunity to absorb the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's palm bone afterward, which was an unexpected part of his plan. Absorbing the external spirit bone caused him to return half a day late. He hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise on this trip to the Star Dou Great Forest.
Tang Chuan's eyes were bright. With a flip of his hand, a blue-gold grass leaf emerged from his palm, quietly wiggling and exuding a powerful life force. Beneath his feet, two purple spirit rings silently appeared.
"Second Spirit Ability, Blue Silver Clone!" Tang Chuan chanted in his heart.
Instantly, a warm and vibrant spirit power circulated through his body. His body rippled and distorted like water, and an indescribably strange change began to unfold. His chest muscles slowly swelled, and a blue-gold vine pattern appeared on his skin. As spirit power flowed, his entire body seemed to be pulled outward by an invisible force.
Swish
The next moment, a blurry humanoid outline slowly bulged from his body. The outline gradually became clearer, as if bones, muscles, and skin were being copied and pasted. With a faint wriggling sound, an exact replica of Tang Chuan quietly split from his body. The scene was utterly bizarre.
When the second Tang Chuan opened his eyes, his expression was somewhat blank, but his movements were fluid. His appearance, aura, physique, and even his clothes were identical to his main body, except for a slightly weaker soul aura. He was like an empty shell, completely obedient.
"This is my clone?" Tang Chuan briefly closed his eyes and his mental force sank into his body. He tried to establish a deeper connection with the clone and quickly sensed its state.
"Not bad. This clone's spirit power, speed, and strength... are all about eighty percent of my main body's," Tang Chuan murmured, a hint of pleasant surprise in his voice.
Although this clone was a near-perfect copy of his appearance, its strength, speed, and defense were consistently only about eighty percent of his main body. Its spirit power and mental force were even more significantly inferior.
"If one is eighty percent, what about two?" Tang Chuan took a deep breath and activated his spirit power again. A second clone slowly emerged from his body. Moments later, a new version of himself stood beside him. Then came the third, and the fourth!
"Hmph—!"
In just a short while, fine beads of sweat had appeared on Tang Chuan's forehead, and his face was slightly pale. Each time he released a clone, the consumption of spirit power and the burden on his body doubled. A skill like Clone, which uses both mental force and spirit power, was particularly draining on his life essence.
"So tired!" Tang Chuan exclaimed, finally collapsing to the ground, unable to support himself. His chest heaved violently, and he was drenched in sweat.
Before him stood four figures, all identical to him. The four clones surrounded him, each with an aura similar to his main body, but Tang Chuan's mental sense clearly perceived that the power of these four clones had been further diluted. Each one now had only about twenty percent of his main body's strength.
"As expected," Tang Chuan panted, speaking in a low voice. "The core principle of this spirit ability is to extract my spirit power and life force and reshape it into a substitute with basic combat power. If that's the case, then when I cultivate to level ninety or above, and my spirit power and life force are strong enough, I can mass-produce clones, even creating a small Spirit Master army."
"Currently, I can maintain four clones simultaneously, which is my limit. In terms of quantity, the more clones there are, the lower their individual combat power. The total combat power of all clones should never exceed eighty percent of the main body's."
"However, for my initial battles, having an extra helper with about eighty percent of my main body's combat power is more than enough. This spirit ability can even serve as a way to take a fatal blow in certain situations."
"If I combine it with the Simulation spirit ability, I can disguise one of the clones as someone else." A glint flashed in his eyes, and an even crazier idea emerged in Tang Chuan's mind. Thinking of this, he immediately raised his right hand. A wisp of blue-gold light shone from his palm, then gradually became transparent and illusory—it was his first spirit ability, Simulation.
"Change," he said with a low shout.
The first clone standing to his left suddenly began to change. Its muscles rearranged, its bone structure compressed, and its height slowly shortened by a few inches. Moments later, a young man in blue, with long hair and gentle features, stood in its place. That face was identical to Tang San's!
"Again," Tang Chuan said, not stopping. He turned his gaze to the second clone. Light shimmered, and this clone also began to transform rapidly. Its slender figure became delicate, its waist gracefully narrow, and a head of dark hair flowed down to its waist, with two adorable wisps of hair curling slightly at its forehead. It was none other than Xiao Wu!
"Haha, interesting..." Looking at the fake Tang San and Xiao Wu before him, Tang Chuan's lips curved into a meaningful smile. Then, with a thought, he issued a silent command.
The next moment, the clone disguised as Xiao Wu flashed and suddenly pounced on Tang San. Its speed was astonishing, and its attack was merciless, directly striking the fake Tang San's lower abdomen.
"Boom—" A violent impact erupted, shaking the air. The fake Tang San didn't even have time to parry, being kicked away and smashing heavily against the wall before sliding down and collapsing to the ground.
"Haha, this is fun!" Tang Chuan mused, a fiery glint in his eyes. Just then, a young boy's voice came from outside. "Did you hear that? There seems to be some movement in the dormitory."
Tang Chuan's expression changed. Ignoring his heavy breathing, he immediately had a thought, and the several clones instantly shattered like bubbles, merging back into his body. The spirit power fluctuations also receded. He quickly walked to his bed and sat down, just closing his eyes and pretending to be napping.
"Creak—" The dormitory door was pushed open, and several boys in school uniforms filed in. Leading them was a tall, sharp-eyed young man, Wang Sheng. As soon as he entered, he saw Tang Chuan and quickly asked, "Brother Chuan, where did you run off to? I heard you didn't return to school, and the academy teachers were all looking for you."
"I already reported to Director Su after I came back," Tang Chuan said calmly.
"Oh, that's good then." Wang Sheng didn't think much of it, shrugging and smiling. "I thought you had dropped out and run away." After speaking, he walked toward his bed to tidy his sheets, when another light footstep sounded at the door.
"Brother!" a familiar and clear young voice called out.
Tang San ran in quickly, his eyes lighting up. Upon seeing Tang Chuan, his face immediately showed joy. "You're finally back! I just heard from Director Su that you reported, so I hurried to find you." Tang San jogged over eagerly. "Where did you go this time? Why did it take you so long to come back? But... it's good that you're back safely."
As an adult who had been reborn, Tang San had naturally discovered Tang Chuan's uniqueness from a young age; his older brother's mind wasn't like a child's. He even wondered if his brother was also a reincarnator like him. But Tang San knew that everyone had their own secrets, so he never asked too many questions.
Tang Chuan looked at Tang San and was about to explain when the latter seemed to remember something and casually took a letter out from his clothes. "Brother, after I returned to Saint Spirit Village, Dad... he was already gone, leaving only a letter for us," Tang San said, his expression immediately dimming. "Do you want to read it?"
Hearing this, Tang Chuan looked at the letter in Tang San's hand. After a long moment, he gently shook his head. "Forget it, no need. It's fine if you've read it." His tone was calm, his face expressionless, but the light in his eyes held a few more layers of complexity.
Seeing this, Tang San said nothing more. The atmosphere was slightly silent. After a while, he asked again, "So where exactly have you been these past few days? Why did you suddenly disappear?"
"Me? I went to hunt spirit beasts and get a spirit ring," Tang Chuan said seriously, looking at his younger brother.
"You, alone?" Tang San was slightly stunned, his expression showing surprise.
"Mm," Tang Chuan nodded, his tone understated.
At this moment, Tang San's pupils slightly contracted. He had long sensed an indescribable difference about his older brother; his mind was not like that of a child. "Brother," Tang San suddenly smiled, an imperceptible glint flashing in his eyes. "Since you've already become a Spirit Master, why don't we spar a bit?"
"Spar?" Tang Chuan raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at Tang San with a half-smile.
"Yes," Tang San said, nodding seriously. "The teacher said that students in our academy should practice more combat sparring in their daily lives to improve their fighting abilities. Since both of us are Spirit Masters, sparring will help us understand each other's strength."