After Bai Yue and the others left, only Ji Qing and Lord Yinxue remained in the room.
"Why did you do that?" Lord Yinxue sighed softly.
Ji Qing bit her lip, lowered her head, and remained silent.
The answer was already written clearly in her eyes—pain, resolve, and an unwillingness to turn back.
…
After this incident, Hong threw himself completely back into cultivation. Not long afterward, he caught the attention of the higher-ups of the Giant Axe Fighting Arena and was transferred into a batch of specially selected elite trainees. Soon, he boarded a universe-class spaceship bound for a mysterious training camp, beginning an even harsher path of tempering.
Luo Feng, having once again witnessed the brutal law of the jungle that governed the universe, chose the same path as in the original trajectory—breaking through to the Domain Lord level and being dispatched to the Ganwu Universe Country to serve as an inspection envoy.
As for Bai Yue, he remained in seclusion within the Initial Universe, quietly waiting for the earth-and-space attribute beast god inheritance token he had applied for. However, while his true body stayed still, his clones were far from idle.
A Forward Base Near the Zu Shen Mystic Region
Five hundred million light-years away from the Zu Shen Mystic Region, within a barren rocky planet on the seventh orbit of a dim star, one of Bai Yue's clones had carved out an independent space, turning it into a temporary forward base.
This location served as the staging ground for the eight clones he planned to send to the Ancestor God Religion.
In the past few years, after acquiring Kan Deli's Secret Technique of Clones, Bai Yue had already fully comprehended it. Compared to the Golden-Horned Beast's innate cloning ability, each method had its own strengths and weaknesses.
The Golden-Horned Beast's innate technique—combined with the Original Universe—allowed a maximum of four bodies. Each clone was highly independent, capable of autonomous growth, and had immense potential.
Kan Deli's Secret Technique of Clones, on the other hand, imposed no numerical limit as long as one's soul consciousness could bear it. However, the clones had to use the original body as a template. Each clone possessed only about sixty percent of the original's strength, and their growth potential was limited—only improving as the original body improved.
Moreover, creating a clone was not free.
For an Undying existence, it required splitting off part of the god body and soul. Splitting off more produced a stronger clone but weakened the main body significantly; splitting off less required massive amounts of resources and treasures to nurture the clone afterward. Either choice carried heavy costs.
According to Bai Yue's estimation, Kan Deli himself had likely nurtured no more than a few hundred clones throughout endless ages.
But that was far from enough for Bai Yue.
Birth of a New Technique: Outer Body Incarnation
Relying on the terrifying deduction and integration ability of his Original Universe, Bai Yue took Kan Deli's technique as a foundation. He absorbed and analyzed:
The cloning abilities of special lifeforms he had encountered,Various god-body splitting techniques,Avatar and incarnation methods recorded within the Virtual Universe treasury.
After years of continuous refinement, the technique finally reached a qualitative transformation.
Bai Yue renamed it:
Outer Body Incarnation.
This new technique retained all the advantages of previous methods and eliminated their limitations.
First—there was still no hard limit on the number of clones, only constrained by the strength of one's soul consciousness.
Second—the clones were no longer restricted to the original body's race. Like the Golden-Horned Beast's innate ability, Outer Body Incarnation allowed the nurturing of clones from other races using genetic material.
Third—the consumption of soul and energy still existed, but Bai Yue's Original Universe had grown to a scale comparable to a miniature Primordial Universe. Such losses were negligible.
With this technique, Bai Yue could finally exceed the four-clone limit imposed by the supreme laws of the Primordial Universe. Every clone now possessed a legitimate identity and would not be erased.
Of course, Bai Yue had no intention of creating countless clones.
Even with his current soul strength, controlling more than ten thousand World Lord–level clones was unrealistic—and unnecessary. Beyond a certain point, additional clones brought diminishing returns.
Departure of the Golden-Horned Beast Clone
Inside the rocky planet, six clones of different races cultivated quietly. Through their shared consciousness, they sensed the experiences of the Golden-Horned Beast clone, who had already boarded a spaceship heading toward the Zu Shen Mystic Region.
The choice was deliberate.
The Golden-Horned Beast was naturally aligned with the Gold–Space Beast God Dao. Thus, this clone carried the golden-space beast god inheritance token and became the first to head out—both to explore the path and to receive the inheritance.
Within the spaceship's control room, Bai Yue gazed through the external projection.
Ahead, the void was filled with colossal black gales—like ancient python-shaped storms—roaring across billions of kilometers of space, colliding and intertwining with terrifying might.
"So this is the Zu Shen Mystic Region…" Bai Yue murmured.
According to information from the Virtual Universe, the Zu Shen Mystic Region was among the most dangerous secret realms in existence—on par with an entire universe country in scale.
Even Universe Exalts could perish here with a single misstep.
Its maximum diameter reached 160 million light-years. Traversing it at sub-light speed would take hundreds of millions of years. Fully exploring it was practically impossible.
Mystery. Danger. Inaccessibility.
These were the defining traits of the Zu Shen Mystic Region.
One of its most infamous phenomena was the Black Annihilation Tornado—something that could severely injure a Universe Exalt, or outright annihilate one if large enough.
The Golden-Horned Beast clone slowed the ship, then exited into the void, putting the vessel away.
He took out the golden-space beast god inheritance token.
The surrounding space twisted violently.
Before he could react, a spatial vortex swallowed him whole.
Entry into the Inheritance Land
When his vision cleared, the scene before him changed entirely.
Endless, dreamlike streams of five-colored aurora surged in the distance, forming a vast, mesmerizing river that seemed to contain boundless power. Even Bai Yue's will was momentarily drawn in before he forcefully steadied himself.
"You woke up quickly."
A cold voice rang out.
Beside him stood a towering rock-like lifeform clad in purple armor, flames swirling across its surface—clearly a member of the Feicang race.
A Universe Exalt.
"I am a guide of the Ancestor God Religion," the Feicang Venerable said indifferently. "Show your beast god inheritance token. Trespassers die."
A terrifying pressure descended.
After verifying the token, the Venerable nodded.
"You are qualified. Follow me."
Five-Colored Aurora Lake · Zijing Island
What appeared to be a river was, in truth, an immense circular lake nearly ten light-years in diameter—the legendary Five-Colored Aurora Lake.
Each aurora stream alone possessed enough power to severely injure a Universe Exalt.
This lake was the ultimate protective treasure of the Ancestor God Religion.
Passing safely through it, the Golden-Horned Beast clone arrived at Zijing Island—the residence of Beast God inheritors.
Countless palaces dotted the land, each radiating powerful auras. Above the island, rings of law-light formed and dissipated endlessly, interpreting the profound mysteries of the universe itself.
The Golden-Horned Beast clone stood in silent awe.
"This," the Feicang Venerable said solemnly, "is the manifestation of the universe's operating laws."