Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

But still, it was all worth it.

His soul was divided into two, but he could sense the consciousness of the two, as though his existence had been split in two. Even though his fighting prowess had gone down for the time being, once he recovers, his strength would increase greatly.

Furthermore, given that both minds were linked, and they could communicate via mere thoughts, once they collaborate together, the strength wouldn't be as simple as one plus one equals to two. With perfect teamwork, it could easily be three, four, or even higher.

On top of that, the severed soul was capable of cultivating as well. As time passed, it would only grow stronger and stronger.

"Time to begin!"

The soul glanced at the original body and smiled faintly before dashing into the Nine Hearts Lotus.

Hu!

As soon as it approached the lotus, it immediately felt an overwhelmingly powerful suction force pulling it in into a dark space.

"Master..."

After the soul steadied itself, Zhang Xuan saw middle-aged man standing not too far away. The middle-aged man clasped his fist and greeted the soul respectfully.

Mo Hunsheng!

Considering how that fellow was a 6-star soul oracle and how long he had lived, Zhang Xuan thought that the other party would be an elderly with white hair and beard. Yet, to his surprise, the other party looked like a fragile scholar instead.

Having signed the Soul Contract, even though Mo Hunsheng had successfully escaped from the Nine Hearts Lotus, he was still Zhang shi's subordinate. If he were to harbor the slightest thought of defiance, Zhang shi could easily crush him with a thought.

"Is this your original appearance?" Zhang Xuan's divided soul asked.

As an intangible existence, souls could be morphed to take on any shape.

"Yes. The soul of a soul oracle retains the appearance it had when it was first drawn from the body. This appearance of mine will still remain the same even if I live for another ten thousand years," Mo Hunsheng replied.

While souls could be morphed into countless shapes, they would still have a 'default appearance', which was the form of the body when the soul was first drawn from the body.

"Un. I'm here to replace you. You can leave now!"

The severed soul waved his hand. "However, I can't find a suitable body for you at the moment. You can possess the Soulless Metal Humanoid for the time being. Once I find a physical body suitable for you, I'll allow you to possess it!"

While Mo Hunsheng was powerful enough to exist outside in his soul form, as time passed, he would still suffer from the Five Declines and grow weaker.

The only way to prevent that was for him to possess a suitable body.

As a master teacher, Zhang Xuan couldn't possibly allow his subordinate to possess any innocent bystander. Thus, he could only have the other party possess the Soulless Metal Humanoid for the time being.

As the Soulless Metal Humanoid was a body forged specially for the use of soul oracles, diving in and out of it wouldn't incur the Possession Decline.

"It's no problem. As long as I can leave this darned place, I'm willing to stay anywhere..."

Mo Hunsheng nodded his head excitedly.

He was about to be driven mad from being trapped here for several ten thousand years. As long as he could escape this place, he didn't mind possessing the Soulless Metal Humanoid for the time being.

Besides, Zhang shi had also promised to find a fitting body for him to possess too. There was nothing for him to hesitate for.

"I'll be heading out first then!"

With a bright glow from his soul, Mo Hunsheng dashed out of the Nine Hearts Lotus.

Seemingly realized that Mo Hunsheng was about to leave, a powerful energy lurking in the dark space crept toward him in an attempt to keep him here. However, Zhang Xuan's severed soul harrumphed and blocked its path.

Hu!

The energy was halted for a split moment, and making use of this opportunity, Mo Hunsheng leaped out of the Nine Hearts Lotus and appeared in the outside world.

"You're out!" Zhang Xuan glanced at him.

"Yes!" Having regained his freedom, Mo Hunsheng glanced at his surroundings in agitation.

"You should enter the Soulless Metal Humanoid for the time being!"

With a slight smile, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and took out a coffin housing a Soulless Metal Humanoid.

Nodding his head, Mo Hunsheng opened the coffin and dived into the Soulless Metal Humanoid. The next moment, the eyes of the Soulless Metal Humanoid opened, and it stood up.

"Master!"

A human-height puppet walked toward Zhang Xuan and bowed grandly, as though a valiant commander greeting his superior.

"You should call me young master like the others!" Zhang Xuan waved his hands.

"Yes, young master!" The humanoid clasped his fist.

Glancing at the humanoid, Zhang Xuan asked, "How strong are you at the moment, and how much of your strength can you exert at the moment?"

Given Mo Hunsheng's powerful cultivation, there was a good chance that the other party was more powerful than him now that he was freed from the Nine Hearts Lotus, even when he was within the Soulless Metal Humanoid.

"I was the one who crafted these Soulless Metal Humanoids, so I can bring out almost hundred percent of my strength in them!" Mo Hunsheng replied.

"Hundred percent? Meaning, you can bring out the full strength of a Transcendent Mortal 9-dan expert?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

The other party was only inches away from achieving the breakthrough to Half-Saint before he was trapped in the Nine Hearts Lotus. Even though he had expended much of his soul energy throughout the years, he was still able to retain his cultivation of Transcendent Mortal 9-dan.

Didn't this mean that he had a Transcendent Mortal 9-dan subordinate beside him now?

With such an expert, even without 'Yang shi's' presence, no one would dare to cause him any trouble!

"Un!" Mo Hunsheng nodded.

"Not bad. For the time being, guard the entrance and don't allow anyone to enter. I'm going to forge my clone and I don't want anyone to interrupt me!" Zhang Xuan instructed.

Mo Hunsheng nodded and left the room.

After which, Zhang Xuan turned his attention to the Nine Hearts Lotus, and a serious expression appeared on his face.

"Time to start!"

With a flick of his finger, a surge of zhenqi gushed into the Nine Hearts Lotus.

The Heaven's Path zhenqi was deadly to Mo Hunsheng due to the imperfections of his Soul Guiding Method, but Zhang Xuan's severed soul didn't possess such weakness. As Zhang Xuan pumped his zhenqi into the Nine Hearts Lotus, its black surface gradually turned white.

This showed that it was gradually maturing.

The lotus required a vast quantity of Heaven's Path zhenqi to mature, but fortunately, Zhang Xuan had sufficient middle-tier spirit stones on hand.

After a period of time, with a light jolt, the last shred of darkness disappeared from the surface of the lotus, resulting in a perfectly milky-white appearance.

"As expected of a God artifact!"

With just a glance, Zhang Xuan felt a jolt run through his body, and he couldn't help but feel allured by the Nine Hearts Lotus.

Previously, the lotus was as black as ink, similar to a demonic tool. However, at this instant, it felt like a treasure that had come from the highest heavens, an inviolable item.

Every single aspect of it spelled extraordinary!

He could foresee that if its existence were to be made known to the public, a huge fight for it would occur. Even 7-star or 8-star master teachers would find themselves unable to hold back their greed.

After all, master teachers were still mortals as well. Unlike true saints, they possessed worldly desires and experienced negative emotions too.

Even the wise Kong shi had once destroyed an entire kingdom out of rage when his student was killed, needless to say, others.

"Forge!"

Knowing how precious this item was, Zhang Xuan decided to get it done as soon as possible. Thus, without any hesitation, he grabbed the lotus and infused a surge of zhenqi into it.

Mo Hunsheng had imparted the way of forging a physical body to him, and it wasn't a very complicated process.

He enveloped the entire lotus with his zhenqi to facilitate the fusing of his severed soul along with the lotus. At the same time, the zhenqi also tempered the lotus, and slowly, a flawless body was being formed.

After some time, the severed soul had fused perfectly with the body, and the formation of the body was complete. Slowly, the pair of eyes on the body opened.

"Done!"

Seeing his clone getting to his feet, Zhang Xuan smiled in delight.

Two pair of eyes in the room stared at one another, and Zhang Xuan suddenly felt a very peculiar sensation. It was as if he was looking into a mirror. At a moment, it felt as though he was the other party, and in the next, it felt as though the other party was him.

As the clone was forged from his soul, it shared the same consciousness as the original body. In fact, even the knowledge and battle techniques they cultivated were shared as well.

In other words, if the clone were to read through a book, the original body would learn the same knowledge as well. But of course, this was all there was to it. The cultivation of the two of them was still separate.

"Currently, the clone is still in its nascent form. The bulk of is cultivation consists from my severed soul. I should first raise its cultivation first!"

The newborn clone possessed no strength whatsoever-even if it did, it mainly originated from the soul fused into the body. It had to start its cultivating its zhenqi from scratch.

After wearing clothes, the clone sat at the center of the Spirit Gathering Formation formed by the formation plate.

Geji! Geji!

The clone began cultivating according to the Heaven's Path Divine Art.

"Hmm?"

A moment later, Zhang Xuan frowned.

He had cultivated the Heaven's Path Divine Art before, and he was very familiar with it. Yet, why was his clone unable to do the same?

The moment his clone tried to do so, an immense pressure would push down on it, threatening to reduce the body into dust if he were to push on.

A conjecture appeared in Zhang Xuan's mind.

"Could it be that... other than my original body, no one else can cultivate Heaven's Path Divine Art, not even my clone?"

He did try to impart the complete Heaven's Path Divine Art to his students before, but none of them had been able to cultivate it for some reason. Left with no choice, he could only modify it or introduce a few minor flaws into the technique.

He thought that it might just be a matter of level of comprehension, but from the looks of it now, given that his clone shared the same consciousness as him, that wasn't the case.

'This might have something to do with the Library of Heaven's Path!' Zhang Xuan thought.

The Library of Heaven's Path had been accompanying him since his rebirth. Perhaps it was only because of its existence that he was able to cultivate the Heaven's Path Divine Art. On the other hand, his clone, even though it was sharing his soul, due to the non-existence of the Library of Heaven's Path to it, was unable to cultivate the Heaven's Path Divine Art.

Most likely, the Library of Heaven's Path was a loophole in the world in itself. The heavens would never allow anyone to peer into its essence, and the very concept of perfection is non-existent in the world. This is a law of the world, and those who attempted to break it would find themselves hindered.

"Since it's impossible, I just have to modify it then!"

Since Heaven's Path Divine Art was out of question, Zhang Xuan would have to introduce some minor flaws into it. He had done the same for Zhao Ya and the others as well, so it wasn't too difficult for him to do so.

Gugugugu!

Cultivating the Heaven's Path Divine Art with some minor flaws introduced, the clone could finally circulate his zhenqi smoothly without any hiccups, and his aura began growing more and more powerful as his cultivation surged.

As expected of a physical body forged by a God artifact. The cultivation speed of Zhao Ya and the others couldn't begin to compare with it.

In just three short days, it progressed all the way from Fighter 1-dan Juxi realm to Transcendent Mortal 3-dan Yin-Yang realm pinnacle!

In other words, the clone possessed strength equivalent to him now.

While part of the reason was due to there being sufficient spirit stones to fuel his cultivation, it was still a shocking feat.

"This would suffice. There's no need for it to cultivate battle techniques since we can just share them via our souls!"

Given that the clone and the main body shared a common consciousness, they could easily share knowledge. Even without any practice, the clone was able to execute Heaven's Path battle techniques at the same level of the original. But of course, these had to have some minor flaws introduced into them as well.

"Let's see how powerful it is... Come, give me a punch!"

Zhang Xuan looked at his clone with a smile.

Since there was no Strength Measuring Rock Pillar in the room, there was no way to ascertain the current strength of the clone precisely. However, Zhang Xuan could still fathom a rough gauge through trying it out with his own body.

Hu!

The clone sent a punch over, and with a casual smile, Zhang Xuan faced it with one of his own too.

The two punches collided.

Peng!

Before Zhang Xuan could react, he felt a sharp pain on his arm, as though he had been struck by a humongous mountain. He was immediately sent flying, and his head crashed through several layers of walls before being planted in the rock-filled courtyard.

"The heck... What is this..." Zhang Xuan cried.