Chapter 2
[Summoning a clone]
[Clone appearance generated at random]
Liu Ming saw the clone’s appearance in his mind.
It looked nothing like him. Even if someone spotted the clone, they wouldn’t connect it to him.
He was very satisfied with this.
[Please select items to assign to the clone]
He could assign items, too?
Liu Ming was taken aback. He keenly sensed that this was an incredibly powerful feature.
Unfortunately, he had only just arrived in this world and owned nothing, so naturally he had nothing to assign to the clone.
“I won’t assign anything.”
[Please name the clone]
“Liu Yi.”
[Please select a summoning location]
Clones couldn’t be summoned too far away from him. Liu Ming silently fixed his gaze on the space beyond the bars...
[Summoning clone... Please wait]
In the blink of an eye, the air warped, and a young man appeared out of nowhere outside the cell.
Liu Ming silently savored the sensation, finding it utterly wondrous.
It was like using two minds at once. He controlled both bodies simultaneously without the slightest discomfort!
“Brother, how did you get out?” The burly man from earlier stared at him in disbelief. “Hurry and save us! If you get me out, I’ll make you my boss!”
Liu Yi, standing outside the cell, glanced at him and was astonished.
The man seemed to care only that he was outside, and wasn’t the least bit surprised by his sudden appearance!
The Myriad Forms Body’s ability seemed even more impressive than he’d imagined!
Unfortunately, Liu Yi had been summoned directly outside the cell and couldn’t help the others get out.
Liu Yi gave the burly man a slight shake of his head, with no intention of speaking to him.
He planned to follow the direction the thin man had gone and find out what lay ahead.
If he really could escape, he’d then figure out a way to help his main body get out, too.
Just as he was thinking this, the burly man suddenly turned vicious. “So you want to escape on your own, too?”
“If I can’t get out, then neither can you!”
The burly man suddenly raised his voice and shouted:
“Help! Someone’s escaped from the cell!”
“Someone’s trying to escape!”
Liu Yi froze, not expecting the burly man to go back on his word so quickly and stab him in the back.
The next second, a gust of wind struck from behind him.
He had just started to turn and run when one palm strike killed him!
“How strange. How did he get out...”
The masked maid crouched down and carefully examined Liu Yi’s corpse, but couldn’t find the slightest clue.
She called into the cell, “Did any of you see how he got out? Whoever knows, I’ll guarantee they survive the first two days.”
“Of course, if I find out you’re lying to me...”
Everyone hurriedly shook their heads. They knew nothing.
They’d just seen how readily she killed anyone who displeased her, and didn’t dare gamble their lives.
Besides, she was only guaranteeing the first two days. What about the third?
No one was willing to speak up.
When no one answered, the maid didn’t seem to mind. She easily lifted the corpse from the ground.
Just then, the burly man suddenly called out, “Immortal, since I earned merit by reporting him, could you give me a reward?”
The maid’s gaze swept over the burly man, and she gave a cold laugh:
“If you report someone again, I’ll reward you.”
“But if you try to escape... you’ll end up like this corpse!”
After issuing her warning, she quickly carried the body away, apparently with other matters to attend to.
Only the burly man looked pleased. He began wondering how he could report someone else.
Just then, he suddenly felt a cold gaze from behind him.
But when he turned around, he saw only a group of men with their heads lowered. He couldn’t spot anything unusual.
...
[Your clone, Liu Yi, has died]
[Liu Yi was reported by a fellow inmate the moment he arrived, drawing a guard over and setting a record for the fastest death. Yet, unwittingly, he also diverted attention away from you.]
[Talent acquired: “That Damn Presence”: Gained a weak concealment effect.]
Liu Ming sat in a corner of the cell, sensing the talent he’d just gained within his body.
Though its effect was weak, the burly man who’d been targeting him had indeed overlooked him.
“If a few more clones die, maybe I’ll gain even stronger talents...”
He pondered this as he tried to summon another clone.
However, the system issued a prompt:
[Today’s clone summons have been used up. Please wait until tomorrow]
“Only one clone a day?” Liu Ming frowned. “Looks like I’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
For now, he could only find a way to delay the effects of the Yang-Attracting Pill.
Su Meier had said that whoever could last three days without activating their yang energy would live.
But how could he last that long?
He looked down at himself. Apart from his ragged clothes, there was a yellowed, tattered sheet of paper tucked into his clothes: the fragment of the Profound Female Art the maid had tossed him.
“Since I’m just sitting here waiting to die, I might as well see what this cultivation art says.”
He opened the booklet and began reading carefully by the faint light inside the cell.
“The Gate of the Mysterious Female is the root of Heaven and Earth; it endures, seemingly without end, and is inexhaustible in use...”
“Absorb and replenish Yin and Yang, seize the creations of Heaven and Earth, and enter the Dao!”
The opening was obscure and difficult to understand, but as he read further, Liu Ming gradually grasped the essence of the art.
It was a cultivation art for absorbing and replenishing Yin and Yang!
Men who practiced it could control their yang energy and absorb yin energy; women could control their yin energy and absorb yang energy.
If successful, one could break through the Qi Refining stage and embark on the true path of cultivation!
“I see...” Liu Ming finally understood.
Practicing the Profound Female Art required balancing Yin and Yang, but the men in the cell had no way to come into contact with yin energy.
Su Meier hadn’t given them the art so they could cultivate. She wanted them to learn to control their yang energy and delay the medicine’s effects, so she could extract even purer yang energy from them!
“That woman... she’s truly vicious.”
Liu Ming tried circulating his breath according to the art, and the burning sensation within him indeed eased a little.
But if things continued like this, he’d still be drained dry in the end.
He still had to find a way to escape!
Just then, the system’s prompt finally sounded:
[A new day has arrived. You may summon a new clone]
“At last!” Liu Ming’s spirits lifted.
This time, he decided to use his clone more carefully.
[Summoning a clone]
[Clone appearance generated at random]
[Please select items to assign to the clone]
“Assign the talent ‘That Damn Presence.’”
[The clone will inherit this talent]
[Please name the clone]
“Liu Er.”
[Please select a summoning location]
Liu Ming looked around. The cell was dim, and most of the other prisoners were curled up in the corners, studying the fragment of the cultivation art.
He chose to summon Liu Er in the shadows outside the cell, where he would be hidden from everyone’s view.
[Summoning clone... Please wait]
Liu Er was a slightly plump, middle-aged man with an unkempt beard and a disheveled appearance. He appeared silently at a bend in the corridor, unnoticed by anyone.
“It worked!” He felt a surge of joy.