As Qi Ping activated his Treant Clone innate talent, a magic array, similar to the one used for the Life Pact, quickly and steadily took shape before him. Once the array was complete, under the influence of those mysterious, dark green and blood-red energies, a figure with an aura very similar to Qi Ping’s gradually formed.
Through this array, Qi Ping himself, the Blazing Sun Wood, and the body gestating within the Blazing Sun Wood all began channeling their power into that Treant Clone. With the infusion of power from all three, Qi Ping’s Treant Clone rapidly took form.
“No wonder you have to establish the Life Pact first before you can condense the Treant Clone!”
He only understood this after feeling the unique power and aura of the Treant Clone.
Turns out, the reason this Treant Clone could replicate most of Qi Ping’s power was based on the close connection between the Blazing Sun Wood and the body inside it. Only with that connection could such a powerful clone be formed.
Condensing this clone was much simpler than forming the Life Pact.
Although it took nearly two days to fully condense, the drain on Qi Ping was significantly less, because most of the burden was borne by the Blazing Sun Wood and the body within it. And since the Blazing Sun Wood was located within the Natural Sanctuary, Qi Ping wasn’t worried about its recovery.
When the Treant Clone in front of Qi Ping was fully formed, Qi Ping gradually gained a strange new perception.
“It really does feel like having an extra hand!”
Qi Ping felt that the body in front of him was like a special extension of his arm. It wasn’t two souls controlling two bodies; it was simply a hand he could control remotely.
This felt incredibly strange to Qi Ping at first, after all, he’d been used to one body for so many years. Especially when he controlled the Treant Clone to look directly at his main body, the feeling was oddly awkward.
In terms of appearance, the Treant Clone was almost identical to him, except for a peculiar mark on its chest, composed of blood-red and dark green energies.
However, this strange feeling didn’t last long. Before long, he had fully adapted to it, and his control over the Treant Clone became increasingly proficient.
“Not bad!”
“After getting used to it, it actually feels even more convenient than before!”
As Qi Ping gradually experimented and familiarized himself with it, he found that having the Treant Clone made multitasking much easier! He could now use the clone to handle tasks when his main body was tied up.
“Next, I need to test the basic and special powers of the Treant Clone.”
After starting the tests, Qi Ping tried everything out one by one.
“Physical strength, spiritual energy intensity, and soul power weren’t simply split in half; it’s much more complex. But overall, in terms of raw strength, it’s about half of the main body.”
“Special skills like Plant Growth, Natural Perception, Heart of Nature, Animal Companion, and Wilderness Transformation… it seems I can’t use those.”
“Healing Technique, Barkskin, and Beast King’s Blaze can all be used, though their power is reduced.”
“Boosts like Beast King’s Will, Yang Fire Body, Enchanting God Seal, and Tricolor Spirit are still there, but again, their intensity is lowered.”
“Aside from these, there’s also an additional power within the clone originating from the Blazing Sun Wood. That was a pleasant surprise.”
After a series of careful tests, Qi Ping finally had a relatively comprehensive understanding of the Treant Clone’s strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, the basic attributes and the enhancement of those attributes by special talents were still present, but all were correspondingly weakened.
Those talents and skills that Qi Ping had mastered deeply were still there. After all, if he had fully comprehended something, he could naturally use it himself.
Things like the Hundred Pupil Demon Domain, which he had some understanding of but hadn’t mastered thoroughly, could still be used, but their power wouldn’t be as great as when used by his main body.
But special talents like Animal Companion couldn’t be used by the Treant Clone.
“At this rate, I estimate its actual combat power should be about 70% of the main body’s. Although a bit weaker, it should still handle an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator without issue.”
“It doesn’t affect my manipulation and execution of formations much. Other techniques and spells I’ve learned in the cultivation world can be used perfectly normally, it’s just that the foundational boosts aren’t as high.”
Adding formations into the equation, Qi Ping felt confident the clone could unleash about 80% of his formation’s killing power.
“This combat ability is already pretty good!”
This level of power had already exceeded Qi Ping’s expectations.
This way, when the Treant Clone went out, he wouldn’t need to worry too much about its combat effectiveness.
“Finally, I need to find out how far away I can control this Treant Clone.”
This directly determined how useful the clone would be. Because if it could only operate near the main body, its utility would be greatly diminished.
But this final test did not disappoint Qi Ping!
A few days later, Qi Ping spoke three words with a face full of delight:
“Qing Tian Domain!”
Qi Ping controlled the Treant Clone, using his self-created Thousand Transformations Art to conceal its appearance and aura, and sent it on a long trip outside.
He eventually determined that he could maintain strong control over the clone within the entire Qing Tian Domain. It was only when approaching the edge of the domain that this control began to weaken.
“Success!”
“I wonder if this control range will gradually increase as my cultivation realm and strength improve?”
“Even at this long range, having control over the clone opens up so many possibilities!”
Qi Ping had thought of many uses for the Treant Clone ever since he obtained this skill.
The most important was that while his main body stayed in his territory cultivating spiritual herbs and improving his cultivation, the clone could do many things the main body wouldn’t dare to do.
Things like carrying out tasks from the Mysterious Black Market, or purchasing hard-to-find Tier-2 spiritual herbs.
But before that, Qi Ping had to do one thing before daring to send the Treant Clone out on missions and resource-gathering trips.
That one thing was learning the most terrifying, the most thorough self-destruction technique!
Because Qi Ping was increasingly aware of the terror of this cultivation world. The last time he returned from outside, his back felt cold almost the entire way.
If his guess was correct, this cultivation world was nothing but a livestock farm!
Mortals and Qi Condensation cultivators were scattered and kept like oblivious livestock. The beings that protected them only did so to produce special variants useful to mysterious entities. Anyone who tried to break this pattern or uncover the truth would be erased by those mysterious entities!
Once you advanced from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment and began to approach the ruling class and the truth of the cultivation world, you would feel the true oppression and shackles from above. At that point, every move you made might be watched by those mysterious entities.
Perhaps, for those mysterious beings, anyone who clawed their way up from the bottom was worth a look. If they found you useful, they’d raise you, waiting until you matured to harvest you. If they found you threatening, they’d strike early to eliminate you.
And Qi Ping was gradually realizing that in this harsh cultivation environment, as long as he went out—whether to buy things, sell things, gather information, or carry out tasks—he would leave traces and expose his location. As soon as he showed any abnormality, he would attract more and more attention!
Under these circumstances, Qi Ping wouldn’t dare act recklessly, even with a Treant Clone.
So at this point, a thorough self-destruction technique was crucial!
This self-destruction technique had to be able to burn up all of the Treant Clone’s flesh, blood, soul… absolutely everything. It needed to erase all traces of the clone while unleashing the most terrifying power!
That way, if anyone dared to set their sights on Qi Ping’s Treant Clone, they’d receive a big gift from him!
