His soul and mind logged in from another location. Lu Sheng awoke in another body.
"Hoo—"
He slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, quickly familiarizing himself with this Clone body generated from a Mutant Cell. Compared to Sheng's last incarnation, the Mutant Clone's strength had increased again. [TN: Check my section "Evolution of the Mutant Clone" down below.]
"Peak level 12, almost breaking through to level 13!"
Sheng felt the terrifying power contained within this body, and a complex mix of emotions swirled within him. This was just too damn unfair. Sheng had been diligently cultivating, never stopping for a moment, and he had only just reached level 12. Level 13 still felt like a distant dream. But his clone, on the other hand, could just lie around all day, yet its strength was steadily increasing, and it was about to break through to level 13. It was truly infuriating.
Compared to his last visit, the Mutant Clone's body had grown considerably larger. However, its main form hadn't changed much. It was still that enormous black mollusc shell.
Sheng was now at the very center of this mollusc shell, surrounded by deformed and twisted eyes, tentacles, teeth, and other organs. It looked extremely bizarre and disgusting; even Sheng himself felt somewhat repulsed by his doppelganger. If it weren't for the ability to generate a partial humanoid body, he probably would have been even less willing to "log in" to this "alt account."
Sheng used his mind to manipulate the clam shell before him, slowly opening it outwards. Unexpectedly, what appeared before him wasn't the scene of the bottomless abysses of planet Azure's ocean. Instead, it was a completely unfamiliar world.
This world had no sun; the sky was chaotic and murky. Various colors—black, dark green, and crimson—flowed in the sky, like clumps of thick pus and blood. The entire space was filled with an aura of chaos, disorder, evil, destruction, and annihilation. Sheng suddenly realized.
"This is... the Dark Side universe!"
His mind trembled slightly. The Dark Side universe, which had devoured and destroyed countless universes, treated his universe as prey; Sheng considered it his greatest enemy, the ultimate enemy. And now, he had actually arrived here.
Sheng surveyed his surroundings, finding himself on a vast, boundless land. The ground was covered with blood-red tentacles, densely packed, thrashing wildly in the air, sometimes emitting piercing screams. From Sheng's perspective, the entire land resembled a gigantic, blood-red carpet. The characteristics of the Dark Side universe—utterly repulsive.
"Yes, with strength approaching level 13, and my size expanded to this extent, the abysses of planet Azure can no longer contain me..."
"Did He bring me here?"
The "He" Sheng referred to was naturally the Dark Side universe being who had diligently nurtured the Mutant clone, painstakingly raising it to its current size.
"Using planet Azure as a breakthrough point, the one who ultimately invaded the Celestial Serpent galaxy was a level 15 lord from the Dark Side universe. As a subordinate of a level 15 lord, He should be a level 14 being." Sheng thought.
In the battle with the Lord of Oblivion, Sheng had witnessed some of the power of a level 14 being. His impression of Him was no longer as mysterious and unknown as it had initially been, so unapproachable. His fear of Him had greatly diminished, and he became more relaxed and natural when controlling his Mutant Clone, unlike before when he was trembling with fear, lest He discover his secrets.
"So... His expectation for me is to achieve a level 13 advancement within this world?"
Sheng reviewed the information left within his Mutant Clone, roughly understanding the cause and effect of his arrival here.
"Then let's give it a try."
The Mutant clone was a "side move" for Sheng; whatever its development, it would only benefit him, not harm him. Even if it went astray, became useless, or went wrong, he wouldn't feel any remorse.
Therefore, he felt no psychological burden about the Mutant Clone breaking through to level 13.
"If it can break through, then it will; who cares what it ultimately becomes? Even a creature from the Dark Side of the Universe needs to comprehend Powers of Laws to break through to the level 13, General-Rank. Then what kind of Powers of Laws can the Mutant Clone comprehend?"
Sheng pondered for a moment and quickly found a direction for the breakthrough. Continue to comprehend the Yin Fire Dao, following the path of the Dark Side's Stellar Dao.
"Of course, the first step is to accumulate energy. Only when you're full can you have a chance to break through."
Slaughter, devour! The eternal theme of the Dark Side universe. These chaotic rules were deeply imprinted in the genes of the Mutant Clone, an innate instinct. Sheng slightly loosened his control over the Mutant Clone, and his consciousness was immediately overwhelmed by a surging wave of hunger.
Eat! Eat! Eat!
On the blood-red carpet, countless enormous tentacles sprouted from beneath the giant black clam shell. These tentacles propelled the clam shell forward at incredible speed. During this process, Sheng was able to see the appearance of the native creatures living in this world. Similar to the Alien Beasts that had invaded his universe, they were all bizarre, disgusting, and terrifying in appearance.
Of course, Sheng's current appearance was even more terrifying than these creatures. Countless thick, long tentacles extended from within the black clam shell, plundering everything in their path. They accepted anything, stuffing it into the shell to chew and swallow.
Sheng allowed his Mutant Clone to grow wildly and unchecked. He remained within the shell, helping organize the Clone's self-comprehended the path of the Dark Side Stellar Dao.
This step was actually not complicated; it only required following the development direction of the main body. From now on, let's call them Mutant Immortal Cells.
"In fact, the number of Mutant Immortal Cells within the Clone was considerable, approaching thirty million. Although the mass of an individual cell couldn't compare to an Immortal Cell of the main body, the sheer number was enormous. This guy certainly hadn't slacked off at all while Lu Sheng was away.
"No wonder that after comprehending the Dark Side of the Stellar Dao and understanding the Protostar Form, he hadn't been able to enter the Main Sequence Star Form." It turns out all the energy was being used to expand the base number.
A clone is, after all, a clone. Its cultivation can only be driven by a vague instinct; it can't comprehend anything too complex. Sheng felt that if he hadn't "logged in", the Mutant Clone would probably have piled up the number of Mutant Immortal Cells on its body to an unbearable limit before even considering further improving the quality of individual Cells. Thus, it would enter the Main Sequence Star Form.
Now that Sheng's here, he can significantly accelerate this process. He immediately began controlling the energy continuously being absorbed into this body, preventing it from flowing to lower levels to generate more Mutant Immortal Cells. Instead, he redirected it to stimulate the already existing ones.
A massive amount of energy surged into a Mutant Immortal Cell, which immediately began a frenzied transformation and evolution. At a visible speed, the entire cell slowly emitted a dark purple light. It was as if a dark purple sun had appeared inside.
"Hoo—"
As the transformation reached its peak, a wisp of dark purple flame suddenly rose from this cell.
"It's done!"
Sheng's eyes flickered slightly, knowing that the first step had been successfully taken. Gazing at the eerie purple flames, he muttered to himself, "The Divine Fire corresponding to the Immortal Cells, ignited on the Mutant Immortal Cells... let's call it Demonic Fire."
It perfectly echoed the name of the cultivation technique Sheng previously gave his Mutant Clone, the *Summoning Demon Scripture*.
After the first Mutant Immortal Cell ignited Demonic Fire, came a second, third, fourth... hundredth, thousandth, ten thousandth... the evolution became much smoother.
On the boundless blood-red carpet continent, at the center of a gigantic black clam shell, a handsome young man with long black hair and dark purple eyes sat quietly, his lower body connected to the shell, his expression one of intense concentration.
Around him, dark purple flames gradually emerged. These flames were initially just a few wisps, but as time passed they grew stronger and stronger. Until finally... they spread across the entire black clam shell.
Where the dark purple flames touched, large chunks of flesh and organs began to crumble and fall from the black clam shell. It began to shrink rapidly. But the aura emanating from it surged wildly at an alarming rate, becoming increasingly terrifying. It was like a process of purging the dross. And the black clam shell seemed to have become even hungrier, even more frenzied.
Suddenly, countless tentacles within the shell detached simultaneously, and eight new black tentacles sprouted, rapidly extending in all directions, to capture prey that was stronger and farther away. Each of these eight new tentacles was far more powerful than the old ones.
These tentacles were covered with countless intricate, grotesque, dark purple patterns; upon closer inspection, they appeared to be eyes. Or, perhaps, twisted, deformed sun totems.
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Translation notes by dhoo
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clone aka doppelganger, Mutant Clone, Alienated Clone, Alienated Cell Clone
Lu Sheng has created a clone a while ago in the Yamu arc.
The clone's appearance is described as 貝殼 seashell/clamshell (chap. #520-#571), 黑色貝殼 black clamshell (idem), 蚌 mollusc/bivalve (chap. #521-#613), 巨蚌 huge mollusc (chap #605-#609), and 蚌殼mollusc shell (chap. #521-#613).
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Mutant Cell (x1) aka Alienated Cell,Mutated Cell
Sheng's Clone—also called the Mutant Cell Clone—was generated from a Mutant Cell, a mix between a cell of Lu Sheng and one of a Dark Side Alien Beast. Mutant Cells appeared for the last time in this chapter, as they have now evolved into Alienated Immortal Cells.
Mutant Immortal Cells (x10) aka Alienated Immortal Cells
Evolved Alienated Cells equivalent to Sheng's own Immortal Cells.
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Protostar Form, Main Sequence Star Form
They are stages of a star life and in this story they are stages of body transformation within the Stellar Dao.
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Divine Fire and Demonic Fire
Divine Fire of Sheng's Immortal Cells, Demonic Fire of his Clone's Mutant Immortal Cells.
神性之火 and 魔性之火
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Demon Summon
唤魔 (trad. 喚魔), huàn mó: 唤 arouse/call out 魔 demon - I found 6 occurrences of 喚魔 in chapters 521 (x5), 604.
The author gave it different names, enclosed quotation marks:"喚魔經"Demon Summon Channel,"喚魔功"Demon Summon Technique,"喚魔功體系"Demon Summon Technique System
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In the previous episodes... Evolution of the Mutant Cell Clone:
Chapter 519, "Lu Sheng suddenly remembered the Mutant Cell Clone he had left deep in the abysses of planet Azure's ocean." [陸聖忽然想...]
Chapter 520, "Lu Sheng was astonished to discover that the Mutant Cell seed he had casually planted had now grown into a colossal creature. It was essentially an enormous, irregular mass of flesh. The outer surface was covered by a thick, hard shell. If its shape had to be described, it would be an enormous black clamshell. This black clamshell resided at a depth of several thousand meters in the deepest part of the abyss, its total length likely dozens thousands of meters. This seashell was filled with all sorts of strange and bizarre arms, limbs, and legs; most numerous were eyeballs and tentacles." [陸聖赫然發現,當初隨...] - 怕 perhaps 不 not 下 below 數 several 萬 myriad/ten thousand 米 meters
Chapter 521, "Lu Sheng watched as his Mutant Clone's strength broke through from level 9 to level 10. Having been nurtured, the clone grew several times its original size, the black clamshell spanning over ten square kilometers." [陸聖眼看着...]
Chapter 521, "'Let it be like this for now, I'll log in every now and then to check on it...' Lu Sheng copied the Yin Fire Dao he obtained from Gray and left it within the Mutant Clone. As for how to cultivate, he'd let it do as it pleased. [陸聖將從格...]
Chapter 571, "Moreover, Lu Sheng unexpectedly discovered that his Mutant Cell Clone's current strength had actually reached level 12. It was progressing even faster than his original body." [而且,陸聖意...]