Chapter 660: The Copy

Gao Jie Ming rubbed his temples.

The strange entity that had looked like an old man was now compressed into a grey crystal the size of a fingernail, lying quietly inside a sealing talisman in his palm.

Its ability was quite troublesome: "Oblivion."

Any living being that approached it would begin to lose their memories without even realizing it.

It was no exaggeration to say that while this ability wasn't particularly swift at killing, its lethality to a wizard was immense.

Making a wizard forget their own knowledge was far more agonizing than taking their life!

Gao Jie Ming had felt the erosion of that power the moment he approached it.

Then, the Body Refining Art was activated.

Gao Jie Ming withstood the entity's power, walking toward it step by step.

The entity looked like a gaunt old man, hunched over, its skin as rough as tree bark, its eyes a murky, ashen white.

It looked up at Gao Jie Ming, a flicker of confusion in its murky eyes—likely confused as to why this person hadn't collapsed yet.

Gao Jie Ming didn't give it more time to think.

His right hand pressed directly onto that wrinkled face, fingers tightening, knuckles exerting force.

The old man's head was gripped in his palm like an egg; its body struggled violently, its gaunt arms flailing in the air, fingernails scraping against Gao Jie Ming's forearm with a harsh, metallic sound.

Gao Jie Ming simply used his raw physical strength to lift the entity from the ground, and then—slammed it down!

Boom!

The ground shattered.

The entity's body twitched a few times amidst the rubble before a sealing talisman Gao Jie Ming had inscribed was slapped onto its forehead.

A grey light flashed, and the entity's three-inch-tall hunched form shrank into a crystal the size of a fingernail, lying quietly in the center of the talisman.

Gao Jie Ming put the seal away and brushed off the non-existent dust from his hands.

Since entering the Hollow City, he had encountered over a dozen entities.

The harvest was bountiful; the vast majority were Disaster-tier, and there were even several Calamity-tier ones!

He looked up at his surroundings.

The figures of the other wizards were no longer visible.

After resolving the Umbrella-Bearer, the few Level 6 wizards who had accompanied him had dispersed according to the directions indicated by their respective fate lines.

Everyone's path was different, and Gao Jie Ming had chosen the one that felt the most "weighty" to him.

Gao Jie Ming looked at the small orb containing the sealed Oblivion entity, a hint of doubt on his face.

His harvest along the way was indeed not small.

But compared to the significance indicated by the fate lines, it fell far short.

Truth be told, based on the importance of the fate lines he had perceived, following this path should have led him to his most significant harvest in this plane.

Yet, Gao Jie Ming truly couldn't imagine what could be considered the greatest harvest of this plane.

Following the guidance of the fate line, he walked forward for another stretch until he finally arrived at his destination: an amusement park.

The iron gate was crooked, the sign reading "Children's Park" with most of its paint peeled away.

Inside, he could see facilities like a carousel and a roller coaster, all in operation as if people were sitting in them.

Everything that should be spinning was spinning, everything that should be swaying was swaying, and every light that should be on was lit.

But there was no life in those facilities; the other parts of the Hollow City at least used projections to feign existence, while here, it didn't even bother with the pretense.

Gao Jie Ming pushed open the crooked iron gate and walked in.

The colorful wooden horses suddenly turned their heads in unison, staring at him with painted eyes.

Gao Jie Ming ignored them and continued walking forward.

Following the fate line's guidance, he passed through a path lined with game stalls and arrived deep within the amusement park.

Here stood a circular building with a sign at the entrance: Magic Mirror Palace.

"A mirror maze, then."

Gao Jie Ming stood at the entrance, lost in thought, considering what type of entity might be inside.

Undoubtedly, since it was a mirror maze, it had to be related to mirrors.

However, the specific form of manifestation was uncertain.

Gao Jie Ming pushed open the door without hesitation and walked in.

Mirror surfaces spread out on both sides, his figure reflected, copied, elongated, compressed, and distorted in countless mirrors...

Because of the distortion of the mirror surfaces themselves, each reflection of him was slightly different from reality.

Gao Jie Ming walked forward step by step along the corridor, vigilantly sensing the changes around him.

But to his surprise, no expected enemy appeared.

It wasn't until he reached the center of the maze that he saw the mirror.

Truth be told, amidst the plain mirrors surrounding it, the sudden appearance of a mirror with an ornate frame was so conspicuous that even Gao Jie Ming couldn't help but turn his head toward it.

But the moment he saw that mirror, Gao Jie Ming knew he had fallen into a trap.

Because, in that mirror, his reflection was not looking at him.

Gao Jie Ming stopped walking.

The "him" in the mirror was looking down, as if examining its own hands.

Then, that "him" looked up, staring at him through the mirror's surface.

The moment their gazes met, the person in the mirror seemed to become more active.

The mirror surface turned into water, and that "him" stepped out of the mirror.

Gao Jie Ming didn't strike first; instead, he stood there with a hint of curiosity, the Myriad-Use Eye and the Fate System operating simultaneously, scanning the entity before him from head to toe.

Height, build, appearance, attire—the external, obvious traits were naturally identical; this copy that had emerged from the mirror was just like him, though all its various adornments were in a mirrored state.

But the copy's expression was not Gao Jie Ming's usual calm; it was one of undisguised, even naked, hatred.

Its corners of its mouth were turned down, brows furrowed, eyes narrowed into slits, and dark golden light flickered in its pupils—

That was the Myriad-Use Eye, and it was the aggressive glow that only appeared when fully activated.

"Oh? Can it copy my abilities?" Gao Jie Ming remarked.

The copy didn't answer; its body moved the moment it stepped out of the mirror.

It raised a hand, and a beam of dark golden light, thinner than a strand of hair, shot from its fingertip straight toward Gao Jie Ming's brow.

Gao Jie Ming tilted his head.

The white beam of light grazed his temple and struck the mirror behind him.

The mirror vaporized upon contact with the beam, which passed through the vaporized surface, continued extending backward, pierced through the maze's outer wall, through the amusement park's Ferris wheel, and vanished into the dark purple sky.

Gao Jie Ming's Myriad-Use Eye captured the energy parameters of that beam, quickly analyzing what the attack was.

It was the Li Huo Mie Jue Divine Light.

Indeed, the structure and principles were correct, but the power was less than one-thousandth of his full output.

"Interesting—can it even copy modified spells?" Gao Jie Ming's interest was piqued.

The copy still didn't want to answer any questions; seeing the sneak attack fail, it threw a punch without hesitation.

The fist, carrying a dark golden luster, smashed toward Gao Jie Ming's face.

Gao Jie Ming didn't dodge; he raised his right hand, fingers spread, and caught the punch directly.

The moment palm and fist collided, a visible shockwave exploded in the air, the stone floor shattered under the shockwave, and the mirrors on both sides developed dense cracks.

If not for the dual protection of the Hollow City and the mirror entity's power, the aftermath of that single punch alone would have been enough to send the entire city flying.

Gao Jie Ming's footsteps didn't waver, but the copy's arm trembled slightly from the recoil.

The Myriad-Use Eye captured more data during this round of collision.

Body Refining Art—present, and complete.

Modified spells, physical resistance, spiritual energy—from the contact just now, this copy even possessed the Dharma Body.

But—the base stats were too low.

The copy's physical strength and energy intensity were only at the level of Gao Jie Ming's Level 3, with other ability strengths scaled down proportionally.

Gao Jie Ming released the copy's fist and took a step back.

The copy didn't pursue, standing in place, its chest heaving violently, those eyes filled with hatred fixed on Gao Jie Ming.

"You hate me?" Gao Jie Ming looked at its reaction with curiosity. "What is the reason? Is it hatred born from your own thoughts, or is it something forced upon you by this entity? Since you copied my abilities, you must have copied my knowledge as well. So, did you completely copy my personality, or is the hatred a result of your personality being the exact opposite of mine?"

The copy's lips moved, making no sound, but a look of agitation appeared on its face.

Seeing this, Gao Jie Ming understood.

In those two rounds of questioning, he had confirmed the essence of the copy.

This entity—or rather, the ability of this mirror maze—was quite simple: it copied another him.

But to say it was simple would be wrong, because this entity had copied his memories, knowledge, skills, and even his way of thinking, down to the last detail.

Everything Gao Jie Ming knew, the copy knew.

Body Refining Art, Internal Circulation, Li Huo Mie Jue Divine Light, Gui Xu Armor—even the Dharma Body.

Creating copies wasn't difficult for wizards; they had various means to create copies of enemies, but these copies themselves had various limitations.

Just like Gao Jie Ming's most commonly used training method, the Time Residual Image, it was considered relatively "faithful" among various copy-creation methods.

Time Elasticity could copy a target's spiritual power and physical strength, and could also copy a portion of low-level knowledge.

But for knowledge above Level 6, the Time Residual Image couldn't copy it.

Because that knowledge was deeply bound to laws, and things at the level of laws could not be copied by simple time regression.

Gao Jie Ming's cultivation knowledge and its underlying principles corresponded to very high levels; Time Elasticity could copy the energy in his body, but it couldn't copy his essential understanding of the concept of "spiritual energy."

Therefore, Time Residual Images could only ever use low-spec versions of spells and couldn't use those core skills that required high-level knowledge to support.

The Time Residual Image itself could have the resistance brought by the Body Refining Art, but it couldn't learn the Body Refining Art itself.

But this copy was different.

It had completely and perfectly copied all of Gao Jie Ming's knowledge; it knew the complete theory of the Li Huo Mie Jue Divine Light, the construction of every energy circuit in the Gui Xu Armor, and the core structural principles of the Dharma Body. The depth of its knowledge was exactly the same as Gao Jie Ming's own.

The only gap was the intensity of power.

From the perspective of difficulty in handling, this copy was actually inferior to the copies created by Time Residual Images.

But—in terms of "value," this copy was far more precious!