Divine Clone Pill

The golden key and the 3,000 layers of Heavenly Tribulations vanished, replaced by something even more shocking than before.

It was a giant arch doorway with two doors symmetrically split down the centre of the arch. The arch door was as black as space itself, but illuminated by golden inscriptions and carvings around the edge. The symbols shone with a dull ancient light that did not seem to belong to this world, as if it shouldn't exist in this place, yet somehow did. The silent pressure released from this door was enough to knock anyone below the Divine Step unconscious, and even Yaan felt like his body and mind were being suppressed when he stood before the towering entrance.

Atop the door, inscribed in a language that Yaan did not recognised, yet somehow understood as if by instinct regardless, was written, 'Boundless Dao Library'. This was the last piece of proof that Yaan needed; it was now certain that Defiance Sovereign had been telling the truth, mostly at least.

'So this is the entrance to the Boundless Dao Library…indeed, this feeling of ancientness, there's no doubt that it is much older than the three millions years that have passed in the 2nd Origin Era. They say that the 1st Origin Era was many times longer than the 2nd…it's likely that this is indeed something from the 1st Origin Era.'

Yaan glanced at the Primordial Sage and Defiance Sovereign cautiously.

Defiance Sovereign was stood silently many miles away, dealing with the injuries that resulted from his reckless actions. In the end, he really did take on all 3,00 tribulations and retributions, and he somehow made it through alive. Not only that, but he even injured the Heavenly Dao in the process thanks to his scheme…

For now, it looked like Defiance Sovereign really had no interest in the Boundless Dao Library, he was fully focussed on the Heavenly Dao and the lingering destructive collapse of the broken Heavenly Karmic Retribution.

As for the Primordial Sage…

She was staring at the giant door without blinking. It was impossible to discern what she was thinking, but her focus told Yaan that she was extremely interested in this library. Just as Yaan was about to say something, the Primordial Sage suddenly turned around and flew away from the door.

"We can return to this later. I will keep watch over the door to ensure that nobody enters."

Yaan glanced at the Sage, who was flying away as if she expected him to follow, and he shook his head.

"Sage, you have countless bodies, but I only have one…I have no doubts that you will enter the library the moment I leave."

The Sage stopped and looked back.

"You spent almost half a day in the trial, this star system is currently in turmoil. If you don't return to the battle, we will either suffer extreme losses, or completely fail to take the star system for ourselves. If we fail to complete our conquest soon, others will arrive and our success will become impossible. We will not get another chance like this." She spoke plainly.

"That's a shame." Yaan smiled.

At this point, he was actually far more interested in this Boundless Dao Library compared to the rest of the Four Divine Star System. Even if they did fail to take over the star system and make it their base of operations on the Qi Plane, he could still attempt to take away the Divine True Inheritances at a later date – their failure here wouldn't be a huge blow to Yaan, who cared more about expanding his understanding of the world compared to conquering territories.

'There are numerous Primordial Treasures, Divine True Inheritances, and territories in this world, but the Boundless Dao Library is from the 1st Origin Era, it's one of a kind; I can't give up this opportunity!'

That said, he did still want to continue with the original plan and conquer the Four Divine Star System if possible, it's just that he wouldn't risk giving up the chance to enter the Boundless Dao Library just for this.

The Sage's body transformed into a mist of black shimmering gas, shooting towards Yaan and rapidly reforming into her small figure, standing directly before him. A single glance into his eyes told her all that she needed to know - he was serious, he would not leave her alone with this doorway, even if it meant giving up on the Four Divine Star System.

After a moment of thought, the Primordial Sage threw Yaan a single, golden pill. The moment the pill was exposed to the world, it actually emanated the aura of divinity; this was clearly a Divine Rank pill!

Yaan was shocked, but he kept this hidden from his face and body language. Divine Rank pills and treasures were exceedingly rare, it was truly unbelievable that she would simply throw something like this towards him without even saying anything.

Yaan was cautious as the pill reached him. He quickly activated Reveal Truth, analysing the pill to the best of his ability during it rapid path of flight towards him. His gaze only flashed briefly with a light of indiscernible colour, before his eyes returned to normal and he caught the pill in one hand. He was seemingly completely at ease, drawing in Defiance Sovereign's brief glance, whilst the Primordial Stage stared at him without blinking.

The Sage did not say anything, but she didn't need to. Without hesitation, Yaan released his aura, quickly forming his domain, but keeping it restricted to the region just a dozen feet around him. His domain didn't spread out far, but he released it with a large amount of power, and when condensed into this small region, he was able to distort the world within the area around him, making it such that he completely disappeared.

His domain was born from his Divine Power - it's core was his heart of fate, and the painting which had allowed him to finally reach the Divine Step and realise the truth within his heart. Usually, he would turn the world around him into a painted world, whilst disguising himself and making him look like a hateful creature that twisted the emotional state of those caught within. This wasn't the only way in which his domain could be used however.

In the eyes of the Primordial Sage and Defiance Sovereign, Yaan simply vanished, as if he had fused with space and disappeared without a trace. If you weren't specifically looking for him, it would be impossible to even notice anything amiss with this area. The Sage and Defiance had been watching Yaan from start to finish though, so they could at least see the strange distortion of space, along with the aura of illusions and paintings in the vicinity, but even so…all they could see was that a small portion of space, now looked like it had been born from a painting, as if it wasn't actually a region of true space.

They could not see Yaan, or the Divine Rank Pill, whatsoever.

Within the centre of the domain, Yaan could see everything clearly.

When the pill was thrown towards him, he was able to determine that there was no trap - at least, he wouldn't be harmed just from grabbing the pill and examining it.

After hiding from the others, he examined the golden pill in greater detail. His eyes once again lit up with Reveal Truth, and he started to analyse the pill to the best of his abilities.

Yaan's analytical ability was amongst the top of all divinities in this world. In fact, whilst he wouldn't dare to claim that his ability of analysis was the best in this world, he certainly believed that he should stand amongst the top three.

He used his Divine Power which was based upon illusions, combined with Reveal Truth. Reveal Truth was his Dao Spell, developed at the Foundation Step, practised and used a myriad of times across the years, and grown into a power that could easily match Divine Spells.

As of right now, Yaan did not know any true Divine Spells. This was also why he was yet to properly utilise his Divine Step cultivation bases, and still relied on his dao-based powers that had been reborn through his Divine Power. Reveal Truth was one of his strongest methods, and when it came to analysing individual artefacts, he believed that very few spells, if any, could hope to match it. After all, this spell which was based upon illusions and truth, and supported by his illusory Divine Power which also manifested as a true, real power, was a Divine Stage Analytical Dao Spell, the likes of which nobody else in this world possessed.

Yaan rapidly analysed the golden pill over the following few minutes. His eyes shone brilliantly as he came to understand the gist of this pill.

The golden pill shone with a brilliant golden light, as if it was no pill, but a living Divine Step being with their own aura of divinity. As Yaan examined the minute but numerous inscriptions which continually moved across the surface of the pill, before sinking into the pill and then re-emerging with certain differences, he swallowed slightly and his heart beat accelerated when he realised what this pill truly was.

All Divine Rank pills were exceedingly rare, and every single one was unique in its effect. In fact, anything related to divinity was extremely rare, be it treasures, formations, spells, pills and anything else. Yaan's lack of true Divine spells, medicines and treasures, was one of his greatest weaknesses as a divinity. He realised this very recently, when the Primordial Sage used some unknown method to instantly overtake him, reaching the golden key first.

This was his first time examining a Divine Rank pill like this…it was the first time that Yaan realised the terror of Divine Rank artefacts.

'This pill…is a refined Divine Step cultivator! This pill contains the complete refinement of an Earthly Deity, with not a trace of their power being wasted. The fact that no traces of their power were wasted…is to be expected, though.'

At the Foundation Step and Immortal Step, all pills were not only ranked numerically, but were also graded. From lowest to highest, pills were graded as such: Entry Grade, Low Grade, Mid Grade, High Grade, Top Grade, Peak Grade, Perfect Grade, Apex Grade.

At the Divine Step, a pill must be 'Perfect Grade', meaning that it must contain zero impurities; a 100% efficacy pill. If a Divine Rank Pill failed to reach Perfect Grade, falling short and sustaining minor impurities, it would be classed as a Transcendent Rank Pill. Even Transcendent Rank Pills needed to be at the Peak or Pinnacle Grade however; anymore than 1% impurity, and a Divine Rank alchemical refinement would result in complete failure.

Divinity symbolised perfection and the completion of one's dao. Any less than perfection, and it could not be considered truly divine.

This was a true Divine Rank Pill, a Perfect Grade pill with 100% efficiency and zero impurities. An Earthly Deity's entire cultivation, dao and Divine Power had been refined into this one pill. This was something that, until seeing it for himself, Yaan would not have believed to be possible. Just seeing this pill for himself caused his eyes to shine strangely as several ideas flooded his mind…

For now though, he continued to examine the pill. He took note of the strange runes coming and going from the surface of the pill, until eventually, with the help of Reveal Truth, Yaan understood the usage of this pill. Or at least, he understood why the Sage had given this to him.

Yaan glanced out from his concealment domain, towards the Primordial Sage. For her to simply give him this Divine Rank artefact showed that she was trying to mend their alliance, keeping things amicable whilst showing him that he could trust her. At the same time however, it showed that the Sage actually valued both the Boundless Dao Library and the conquest of this star system extremely highly…

But this gift was too valuable, Yaan wasn't about to reject her generosity. That said…he wasn't going to use this pill in the way that she expected.

It was a pill, but not all alchemical pills were medicines that were supposed to be consumed. At the Divine Step, the line between alchemical medicines, treasures, and formations, became somewhat blurred, and this pill was the perfect example of this. Consuming this pill would actually have some significant benefits for Yaan, because he might even be able to devour the entire dao possessed by the former Earthly Deity whom was refined into this pill. But, he could always do that later. For now, he understood the Sage's intentions, and he wouldn't turn them down.

But he would do this his own way.

In essence, this Divine Rank Pill was extremely valuable, because it could be used to create a weaker Divine Step clone. The clone created using this pill would not be like Yaan's Dao Clones, it would be a more typical clone wherein his main body would share its consciousness with the clone; they would not be separate individuals, but one and the same person.

Yaan could clearly sense that by using any of his cultivation bases to stimulate this pill, he would be able to create a complete Divine Step clone within a relatively short period of time, though of course, this clone would be a bit weak compared to other divinities. Such a clone would be more than enough to leave behind in this place to watch over this doorway, because if anything happened to the clone or the doorway, he could immediately rush back with his main body.

Yaan smiled slightly. He was not going to create this sort of 'adequate' clone.

'The Sage will probably expect me to create a clone by imbuing my Divine Qi or my Divine Blood Energy into the pill, or less likely, I could also use my Divine Soul Force, or my Divine Sage Power…that would be the reasonable thing to do.'

When Psyche Power was ascended to the Immortal Step, it became something known as 'Immortal Sage Power'. As for the Divine Step, it would simply transform into Divine Sage Power. 

Likewise, Spirit Qi transformed into Immortal Qi, then to Divine Qi. Vital Energy became Immortal Blood Energy, then Divine Blood Energy. Soul Force became Immortal Soul Force, then Divine Soul Force.

'But the Sage has overlooked something…or rather, she doesn't understand my Divine Power at all. She knows that all of my cultivations are 'illusory', but she doesn't understand what this means. In a way, I possess four cultivation bases, but at the same time, I posses a single cultivation base, formed from all four perfectly fused cultivation paths.'

Yaan's cultivation bases were 'illusory', making others believe that they were 'just illusions', and 'not real'.

This was not the case.

In the past, Yaan had developed the 'Slaughter Variant' into his cultivation bases. Now, having all of his cultivation bases become illusory, was sort of like possessing the 'Illusion Variant' in each of his cultivations, but since his Divine Power was based upon illusions, it went much deeper than that.

Yaan possessed Divine Illusory Qi, Divine Illusory Blood Energy, Divine Illusory Soul Force, and Divine Illusory Sage Power. 

But at the same time, his four cultivations were fused into one, and he possessed a singular power. He could call this power 'Divine Illusory Blood Qi Sage Force', but that was a serious mouthful. Since it was a new, fused power, Yaan decided to simply call it 'Illusion Power'. It was his own unique cultivation, so he could name it whatever he wanted.

Within Yaan's body, his Qi and Blood were one and the same; his Qi Channels and Blood Vessels had fused into one. All of his Qi infused blood channels led into his Dantian, within which was a towering palace, nine floors high, and black, red and gold in colour.

The outside of the palace was purely black, but it sat atop a solidified island of black-gold, surrounded by a golden sea. Within the top floor of the palace, a blood-red core floated whilst emanating a terrifying bloody pressure. The Blood Qi that flowed to and from his body, ended up flowing into and out from this core.

When the Blood Qi flowed into the core, it passed through the illusory outer membrane, then much like his Divine Power, it was converted into an illusory red stream. This red illusory stream flowed into his Divine Illusory Spirit Soul, which sat in the centre of the Blood Qi Core and acted as the true centre of his fused illusory cultivation bases.

After phasing into the core and entering the soul in the centre, the illusory power was rejuvenated, flowing back out and undergoing another transformation, going from 'illusory' to 'real' as it reentered his blood channels.

Strangely, as the Blood Qi continued to flow, it was as if it transformed again at an unknown point, taking on a form that was both real and illusory at the same time.

This was the nature of Yaan's cultivation. So far, his 'cultivation bases' had only really been of use when it came to enhancing his intelligence, and strengthening his body.

Because of this, Yaan had no qualms about what he was about to do.

Still concealed within his painted domain, Yaan flicked the golden pill such that it was floating directly in front of him. He then waved his hand, causing the pill to twist and distort. A bead of sweat appeared on Yaan's forehead as he rotated his Divine Power to its fullest, giving his all to alter the shape and nature of this Divine Rank Pill without damaging it.

Soon enough, the golden pill had transformed into a golden painting canvas.

Next, Yaan retrieved the wooden sword. When the sword appeared in his hand, it was very much a sword, but by the time his hand reached the canvas, the sword had mysteriously transformed into a paint brush.

Yaan started to stroke the brush across the canvas, softly but firmly, without any hesitation in his movements. He didn't use any paint, but he channelled his Illusion Power into the brush, using this as the paint.

A Divine Rank Pill as the canvas…

A Dao Treasure as the brush…

Four fused Divine Cultivation Bases as the paint!

Any one of these three things would be shocking on their own, but when combined together, the result was simply terrifying.

Yaan's face turned pale with the first stroke. With the second stroke, he turned as white as a sheet. With the third stroke, his eyes turned blood shot and for a moment, his body trembled. With the fourth stroke, blood dripped down from his mouth, ears nose and eyes. With the fifth stroke, he coughed up blood, but forcefully swallowed it back down. With the sixth stroke, he couldn't hold it in; blood erupted from his orifices like a fountain, splashing over the canvas.

Yaan did nothing to stop the blood hitting the canvas. In fact, this blood contained even more of his Illusion Power, but it was actually much deeper than that…

With each stroke of the brush, Yaan was not only painting with his Illusion Power, but with his cultivation base itself!

As the blood splattered across the canvas, it dripped down slightly, before soaking in and forming a certain image…the image of a crimson robe.

With the seventh stroke, blood and miasma erupted from Yaan's entire body, but he forcefully quelled the trembling through his illusory body, and channeled all that was lost from his body into the brush and onto the canvas.

With the eight stroke, Yaan's body…exploded. 

However, the paintbrush was held in place by the very faint illusion of a pale hand. With this blurry hand, Yaan channelled his entire exploded body into the canvas. His blood, flesh, pulverised organs, his shattered core and his disintegrated soul, his dantian and his Qi, were all fused into the brush according to a forceful will, forming the eighth stroke across the painting.

With the ninth stroke, the explosion was so tremendous that Yaan's domain shattered. His body seemed to vaporise, and even his dao was on the verge of breaking down. Yaan quickly used the remnants of his collapsing domain to gather every trace of the power that left him, fusing it into the painting.

Just as he barely managed to reform a portion of his illusory body, Yaan's eyes shone with a manic light, and he stabbed towards the painting with killing intent. This time, however, he struck the painting not with a brush, but with the wooden sword…and he held nothing back!

BOOM!

Blazing killing intent, in the form of painted crimson flames, erupted from the sword and stabbed directly into the centre of the painting's chest. The painting was of Yaan's self, or rather, it was a painting of the version of him that he envisioned without his dao; an entity of pure cultivation.

The moment the tip of the wooden sword touched the painting's chest, threatening to tear it apart, Yaan's overbearing will and killing intent stormed into the painting, and…the painting suddenly clasped its hands shut, clamping down on the wooden sword before it could pierce through the canvas.

BANG!

Yaan's body exploded once again, and when he reformed, he looked extremely weakened, covered in abyssal black cracks. However, he ignored all of this and resisted the shockwave that threw him back so far that he couldn't even see the painting any longer.

He activated Reveal Truth and grasped hold of his own illusory karmic chain without hesitation. He took two steps, and within moments, he was standing before…himself.

Yaan stood there, facing a near enough perfect copy of himself. Only Yaan could tell that he and the painted clone before him, were actually very different.

And yet, in their own ways, both of these Yaan's were perfect.

After putting away the wooden sword, Yaan faced his new Divine Step clone with a shining gaze. The clone looked back at him with a smile.

The two gave one another a slight nod, before flying past the other in opposite directions.

Yaan - the original Yaan - flew towards the Boundless Dao Library. He didn't wait for the Primordial Sage, but directly flew up to the giant doors, then punched out with his full strength.

BANG!

Blazing killing intent erupted in all directions. When he saw the doors resisting the extreme force of this punch, Yaan released his domain, attempting to convert the doors into an illusory painting so that he could manipulate it and slip through…as expected, this didn't work. For the first time, he had encountered something that could completely resist his Absolute Domain!

But this only made Yaan feel even more anticipation.

The Primordial Sage arrived by his side.

"It seems that you have no intention of returning the Divine Clone Pill." The Sage commented, as if unbothered by his brazen actions.

"I will naturally repay you for this gift. We can discuss this later on."

The Sage just nodded and didn't say anymore.

Yaan knew that she had only intended to lend him that pill. So long as he dropped some blood essence onto the pill, he would be able to refine a clone with strength between the Transcendent Realm and Divine Step…but this would be easily reversible.

Instead, Yaan decided that he would take advantage of the Sage's 'generosity', using this profound pill to create a permanent clone for himself.

Or more accurately speaking, he had separated himself into two parts - Dao, and Cultivation.

His original self was his dao self, which could now be considered a true purest of the Dao Path. This was the version of himself that he wanted to enter the Boundless Dao Library - even though he had given up his vast intelligence to the Cultivation Clone, which possessed all of his cultivation bases and his Illusion Power, Yaan believed that a 'Dao Library' would be better explored by the him that was better versed in dao, not intellect.

As for the newly formed clone…

Yaan shared his consciousness with this clone. Unlike his Dao Clones, this clone could not possibly betray him, because it was him. They shared the same consciousness, the same dao; they were the same person, just split into two different bodies.

In fact, they even shared the same Divine Power. They had each received different parts of the Divine Power, but the core principles of fate and illusory rebirth remained the same.

The Primordial Sage arrived with two bodies, one accompanying each Yaan.

As the newly formed cultivation clone flew into the portal manifested by the second body of the Primordial Sage, she glanced at him and asked:

"Your power stems mostly from your dao…will this clone be sufficient in the coming battle?"

The newly formed Yaan looked very similar to the original Yaan. The main differences with this new clone, included his majestic golden eyes, the four golden runes imprinted on his crimson robe, and his aura - this clone possessed a faint golden aura that emanated a feeling of majesty and danger.

The clone looked at the Sage and nodded.

"I might lack Divine Spells and treasures, but I still possess four Divine Step cultivation bases. This body will pursue cultivation itself, whilst my other body will pursue dao. Assuming we don't need to face any Empyreans, it will be more than enough. If there are Empyreans, I will call my dao body to help."

Yaan didn't mention that right now, he was rapidly digesting the dao of the Earthly Deity whom was refined into the Divine Clone Pill. Both his dao body and cultivation body were experiencing this strange absorption of power, with each body receiving the portions of that Earthly Deity's dao that was most relevant to themselves.

And with that, the pair slipped into the portal, vanishing from this place and heading towards their first target.

*****

Not long after Yaan completed the Boundless Dao Trial, resulting in the Heavenly Dao shaking under its injury, far away from this place, a chaotic battle was ongoing in the midst of the Divine Star System. In this place, a woman with dark, messy hair and bloodshot eyes, suddenly stood up straight and turned sharply towards the Four Divine Star System.

She casually flicked her sword, sending an explosion of black lightning and spatial cracks into the body of a weaker divinity whom was already impaled through her sword. That person cried out miserably as their body, cultivation, and even their very dao, were all completely destroyed, wiped away from this world with no hope of ever returning.

Various Divine Court members glared at Shi hatefully. This was the second member of the Divine Court that she had killed in the past half day, not to mention the dozens of Transcendents, the countless immortals and the tragic number of mortals who died under her reckless destruction.

Shi ignored all of this, staring into the distance as a strange, vague feeling surfaced in her heart. She seemed oblivious to the stares directed her way, from enemy and ally alike, which were filled with a mixture of hatred…and terror.

Nobody had expected this newly ascended divinity to be so terrifying, even if she was an Empyrean!

"Uncle…so that's where you are…"

Without hesitation, Shi shot into the distance. Space was torn apart in her wake, causing grievous harm to everyone and everything in the vicinity. Unlike most divinities, Shi did not care at all about the destruction that wantonly using her strength inflicted upon everything around her.

"Uncle…finally, I found you…finally, I have earned the qualifications to face you once again!"

The Destruction Empyrean's name had already shaken the Divine Star System, and the Divine Court was starting to truly panic when they realised just how formidable this madwoman was. She was nothing like a cultivator, and at this point, everyone had started to view her as some sort of living natural disaster…

And then, she simply left without a word, leaving her enemies and 'allies' alike at a complete loss.