Chapter 216 - Seclusion
In the basement of the Nameless guild's guild house, a young man sat cross-legged on the floor as his Qi swirled wildly around him. His upper body was exposed, his posture was composed, and he was sweating from head to toe. The young man was none other than Xiao Fang.
For the past few days, he had been doing nothing but practice his [ Solid Clone ] technique, and in that time he was able to make a considerable amount of progress.
His Natural Qi gradually changed into Illusory Qi then it began to mold into a familiar shape. Within seconds, a clone of him began to form, and it was sitting in front of him. At first the image was hazy, but then the clone began to gain some substance. Slowly, the Illusory Qi filled in the gaps. Before long, the clone became identical to the real Xiao Fang.
Despite making the clone, Xiao Fang didn't move. This wasn't the first time he had made it this far, so he knew the hardest part was keeping the clone solid. After a few more seconds, the Qi around the clone finally settled. Xiao Fang opened his eyes and marveled at the sight of his creation. He never made it this far before so he didn't know what to expect.
Xiao Fang finally took a deep breath in, then out as his posture became noticeably more relaxed. He stood back up then made his solid clone do the same.
Xiao Fang walked around as he inspected his own craftsmanship. When he was done, a smile finally appeared on his face because he was satisfied with the result.
The clone didn't only appear solid, it also closely resembled the real Xiao Fang. Happy with the way it looked, he continued onto the next step, durability.
Xiao Fang felt the clone's robes then poked its arms and chest hesitantly. The texture didn't feel anything like the real thing, but he was just happy that it didn't disappear the moment he touched it.
Finally, he moved onto the final test, damage output.
Xiao Fang stood in front of the clone then made it punch him right in the chest. The clone threw its fist at Xiao Fang then it made a thud sound when it hit, Xiao Fang hardly reacted to the punch because it was too weak, so he made the clone punch again, but this time a bit harder.
Boom!
The punch hit, sending Xiao Fang sliding back a few meters. To Xiao Fang's surprise, the clone's fist was still okay.
The force behind that attack was equal to a punch from a peak Solid Body realm cultivator, but it seemed like it could hit even harder. Xiao Fang tried it one more time, this time making the clone attack as hard as it could.
Xiao Fang hesitated for a moment, thinking about whether what he was doing would be a good idea or not, but he eventually decided to go with it.
He stood in front of the clone again then prepared himself for the punch. When he was ready, he made the clone do it.
Boom!!
Xiao Fang was sent flying across the room till he eventually crashed into the wall. He eventually climbed out of it then noticed the bruise mark left on his chest. That punch was just as strong as his own, but the clone's fist was completely destroyed. Since its fist had faded into Qi, the rest of its body eventually faded as well.
Even if it could only punch once at full strength, Xiao Fang was still extremely impressed with the result.
Once the clone was completely gone, Xiao Fang concentrated on making another one, then continued to run more tests on it.
He repeatedly created and destroyed his [ Solid Clones ] as he tested its capabilities. Each time improving the speed in which he could make it.
From his tests, he learned that the clone's strength resembled his own base strength, but it couldn't compare to Xiao Fang when he activated his spirit attribute. Also, it couldn't compare to Xiao Fang's speed even without the spirit attribute because the blue beast core he absorbed dramatically increased his real body's base speed by another level.
Although the clone's ability was limited, Xiao Fang was still happy with the results. He eventually concluded his long training session once he was able to make his [ Solid Clone ] consistently.
Xiao Fang had been training in the basement for the past few days, but there was no way to determine what time of day it was from down there. Just in case, he ended training early so that he wouldn't miss his first day of class.
The sky was already darkening, so he didn't leave the guild house. Instead, he went downstairs to wash up.
After taking a quick shower he entered the bath place then discovered Jiang Mei, Su Yun, and Rong Shi already inside.
"Long Wang, you came!" Su Yun exclaimed, making the other 2 turn around.
The moment they saw Xiao Fang, their faces immediately lit up. Although Rong Shi was happy to see him, she eventually felt a bit embarrassed because Jiang Mei and Su Yun were also naked in the pool with them. However, seeing that they weren't trying to hide their bodies, she felt a little more comfortable doing the same.
"Did your training go well?" Jiang Mei asked as Xiao Fang walked into the pool.
"See for yourself," he replied before releasing some of his Illusory Qi above the water.
[ Solid Clone ]
In under a second, a clone made of Illusory Qi was formed, and it stood on top of the pool.
Although it looked like an ordinary [ Illusory Clone ], Rong Shi couldn't believe what she was seeing. This was the first time she was seeing Xiao Fang perform an Illusory technique, so she was surprised by how indistinguishable it was from the original. If she didn't see him make it just now, she never would've assumed it was a clone.
Like Xiao Fang, Rong Shi was new to the inner court. She only recently started cultivating the Illusory Body method, so seeing one of the illusory techniques being performed by someone that got accepted into the inner court at the same time as her made Rong Shi admire Xiao Fang even more.
Jiang Mei and Su Yun, on the other hand, were not impressed. Even though his skills were great, they had already seen him do it before. In fact, they also knew that he could make another one too.
"Isn't that just an ordinary Illusory Clone?" Su Yun asked.
"Not quite," Xiao Fang replied.
In the next moment, the clone that was standing on the pool began to descend into the water. However, it didn't fade like Jiang Mei and Su Yun expected it to.
"What!?" Su Yun exclaimed.
"B-But how is that possible?" Jiang Mei also couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Both Jiang Mei and Su Yun approached the clone then tried to inspect it closely. Eventually, Su Yun did the daring thing and attempted to touch it. The moment her fingertips touched its skin she quickly pulled it away. This was too bizarre. Seeing that it didn't fade away, Su Yun touched it again, but this time she put her whole hand on it and applied a bit of pressure. To their surprise it still didn't fade away, so Jiang Mei curiously did the same.
Although Xiao Fang wasn't able to get the texture of his robes to feel right, it wasn't difficult for him to make its skin, hair, and body temperature feel exactly the same as the real thing.
Rong Shi didn't understand why the 2 elders in the room were impressed with a clone. It was supposed to be the sect's signature technique, so she assumed they must've seen it countless times already.
Xiao Fang could see that Rong Shi was confused, so he tried to explain.
"Rong Shi, do you know what an illusory clone is?"
"Yeah... a little bit."
"The Illusory Clone technique is the Black Paradise sect's signature ability, and there are several other techniques that branch out from it. However, as great as it is, it has one major flaw. Do you know what it is?"
Rong Shi shook her head as she looked up into his violet eyes. She didn't realize it, but she was naturally gravitating towards him ever since he got into the pool. Now she was only inches away from him, close enough for him to accidentally touch her wet naked body.
"It only takes a single touch to make them melt away," Xiao Fang said as his hand caressed her lower back.
Feeling his touch and hearing his seductive voice gave her pleasurable chills. She felt all tingly everywhere, making her feel like she was melting.
"S-So your clone..."
"It's called a [ Solid Clone ]. It won't disappear that easily, and I believe it will open the door to countless other possibilities."
Xiao Fang was clearly excited about his new technique, so Rong Shi was happy for him, but before she could congratulate him Su Yun suddenly interjected, saying,
"I can already think of one door you can open."
Su Yun smirked mischievously.
Suddenly, Rong Shi's face turned red when she saw where Su Yun was touching.