Chapter 161: Without Him, Me; Creating Him, Me

Boom!

The void before him rippled silently, and then the patch of heaven and earth belonging to the Plantation appeared before him; Zhang Xuan did not pause, his entire person turning into a streak of light as he plunged directly into the Plantation.

Inside the Plantation, the projection brought by Zhang Xuan via the Chat Group nodded at Zhang Xuan, transformed into a streak of light, and merged into the center of Zhang Xuan's brow.

Zhang Xuan's expression remained unchanged as he brought the Nine-Orifice Stone Man out from that spot in the Plantation.

Having stayed in the Shenmu World for only a very short time, the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's posture and movements were already vastly different from before; the heart area had completely turned blood-red, indicating that its heart was just about to gain sentience, and it was about to take the most crucial step.

And it was precisely because it had taken this step, indicating that there was already a bit of Origin within the Nine-Orifice Stone Man, that this was enough.

Zhang Xuan's gaze flashed as he operated the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art simultaneously.

The incredibly vigorous and vast Origin power within his body surged at this moment, and then Zhang Xuan intercepted a small portion of it.

For any person under heaven, severing one's own Origin is an extremely painful and terrifying matter; once the Origin is damaged, it will inevitably lead to major problems for the cultivator.

After all, cultivation is a process of continuously strengthening the Origin and allowing the Origin to undergo transformation; if there is a problem with the Origin, it will lead to a clouded spirit, a decadent will, and even a total collapse, causing many problems in the aspect of Dao comprehension.

However, Zhang Xuan's own Origin was incredibly vast and magnificent, and having pondered for a long time, he used the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art as the core to actively sever some "branches and leaves" from his Origin; although this also caused Zhang Xuan's body to tremble from the pain, this step was not too difficult to execute, and in the end, it was slowly and firmly completed.

A brilliant piece of Origin transformed into five-colored blood, suspended before Zhang Xuan.

His body trembled slightly, feeling quite painful, and his face turned pale; he plucked two Blood Bodhi in the Plantation and consumed them, only then did his state recover somewhat.

And what followed was the most crucial part; that vigorous Origin Essence floated before him under Zhang Xuan's manipulation.

Above the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's head, a Great Dao Treasure Bottle Seal appeared, but that Great Dao Treasure Bottle Seal was not suspended on Zhang Xuan's side, but instead merged into the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body.

The Heaven and Earth Essence was surging, and what was particularly special was that the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body seemed to become transparent at this moment, and the many circulation paths within its body operated according to the steps in the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art.

Then, the Great Dao Treasure Bottle Seal trembled slightly, swallowing and spitting Zhang Xuan's Origin into it.

The next moment, the vigorous Life Essence and Origin merged into the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body.

In particular, the mass of five-colored blood that flowed out from Zhang Xuan's body vibrated with a bang, and then it all merged into the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body, completely covering the little bit of Origin within the Nine-Orifice Stone Man, but without directly swallowing that bit of Origin.

Instead, it circled around that mass of Origin within the Nine-Orifice Stone Man, standing upon the foundation of the Nine-Orifice Stone Man.

This step was quite dangerous, and in Zhang Xuan's previous deductions, it was also the most difficult step; if he were the slightest bit careless, it was very likely that Zhang Xuan's vigorous Origin would directly cover and crush the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin, which was not yet very strong.

If he were practicing the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art, then this step would of course be excellent, to swallow the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin.

But Zhang Xuan's goal was to cultivate the Nine-Orifice Stone Man, so he could not do that.

Once the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin was swallowed, the nature of this peculiar creature naturally nurtured by heaven and earth would change, and if it were placed back into heaven and earth, the seed would be considered a bad seed, and heaven and earth would not continue to nurture it.

During this process, the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin trembled several times, seemingly on the verge of collapse.

Zhang Xuan stopped his operation repeatedly, and even actively severed parts of his own Origin, integrating them into the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body using the extraordinary techniques from the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art, actively strengthening its Origin.

After several such continuous operations, the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin was finally stabilized.

Then, Zhang Xuan's Origin flowed bit by bit within the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body, becoming the dominant force in the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body.

"The previous deductions still had quite a few oversights; to replace the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin, one cannot use too much Origin to cover it."

"Too much Origin covering it will cause it to be completely suppressed; one can only use a portion of the Origin as an embellishment, just like grafting in agriculture, where all the 'branches' of a plant are cut off, but its main trunk cannot be cut and must be preserved; in this way, a tree that would take many years to bear fruit can bear fruit in the same year."

"At the same time, there is no logic in directly grafting the branches of a towering tree onto a tender seedling; grafting is often done by cutting a tender bud from a better tree and then grafting it onto a newly born tree."

Zhang Xuan had a faint realization in his heart; the heart area of the Nine-Orifice Stone Man before him was still a mass of brilliant red radiance, but around its heart, five-colored radiance was already flickering completely; that was derived from Zhang Xuan's Origin and Essence blood.

The posture of the innate Holy Spirit within it had not been changed, and the Divine Essence would still continuously pour into that beating heart, and then, using that heart as the source of power, it would be emitted through Zhang Xuan's Origin; all the blood that flowed out would turn into five-colored Essence blood.

After such a transformation, what was nurtured would still be an innate Holy Spirit, but it would be dominated by Zhang Xuan's bloodline.

Zhang Xuan looked on, beaming with joy, and could not help but wave his fist forcefully.

It was worth it that he had endured a round of lightning strikes and then spent so much time and effort carefully reading through all the insights explained by the Heavenly Venerable and Qingdi.

But just doing this step was not enough; doing this step only meant that this Nine-Orifice Stone Man had a bloodline of the same origin and species as Zhang Xuan, and it could not yet be considered his 'Other-Self'.

Having operated to this point, Zhang Xuan still did not stop his actions.

He buried the Nine-Orifice Stone Man back into the Plantation, and seeing the endless Earth Vein Qi and Dragon Qi beneath the Plantation pouring back into the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's body without changing the relevant properties, he breathed a sigh of relief.

But a moment later, his brows furrowed.

Because a portion of the five-colored Essence blood circling the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's heart area had dimmed, and was then expelled from the body by the Nine-Orifice Stone Man.

Then, at that location, the blood-colored radiance belonging to the Nine-Orifice Stone Man flowed, spreading along the expelled Essence blood to its left arm.

"This part of the 'grafting' is not going smoothly, and the connections of the other parts also have certain problems."

Zhang Xuan's brows twitched as he discovered the subtle problem.

The technique he had deduced previously still had partial omissions, which would cause corresponding problems in some areas and trigger a rejection reaction.

However, Zhang Xuan was not very discouraged when he saw this; he sat cross-legged in this patch of heaven and earth to carefully deduce, and then once again took out the key parts explained by the Heavenly Venerable and Qingdi to examine them.

"Understood, one must not cause any harm to the most original, deep-seated strand of Origin of the Nine-Orifice Stone Man; one must protect its growth as much as possible, protect its connection with this heaven and earth, and let it be as thick and strong as possible, but one must be ruthless toward the other branches, not giving them even the slightest chance..."

Zhang Xuan quickly understood the relevant tricks, and then he dug out the Nine-Orifice Stone Man once again.

The vigorous, sea-like Qi and blood within his body surged, brushing over the Nine-Orifice Stone Man from top to bottom.

The Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art swallowed the Essence between heaven and earth, and actively absorbed a portion of the Origin that Zhang Xuan had given out, incorporating it into the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's deepest Origin, allowing its Origin to further strengthen and its connection with the Divine Essence to become even deeper.

But as for the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's Origin that was about to be nurtured and spread to other areas, which was slightly less deep, it was all severed by Zhang Xuan, and all opportunities for nurturing were blocked off, leaving only one opening, all of which was grafted using the Origin flowing out from Zhang Xuan's body.

After achieving this step, Zhang Xuan carefully deliberated once more, and after repairing a few more loopholes, he buried the Nine-Orifice Stone Man into the Plantation again.

This time, the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's speed of absorbing Heaven and Earth Essence increased greatly; even in this Universe of Covering the Sky, it would only take about one hundred and fifty years to mature.

At the same time, the Essence blood flowing within the human body was indeed dominated by its heart area; its root system seemed to be rooted in the boundless heaven and earth, absorbing Essence from heaven and earth, and the root system seemed even deeper, but the branches and leaves that grew out were all dominated by the five-colored Essence blood nurtured by Zhang Xuan, flowing continuously along its body.

Even more specially, even the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's heart area gradually turned five-colored, and only those root systems connected to the entire heaven and earth had a closer connection with the entire heaven and earth.

That was the Nine-Orifice Stone Man's true foundation.

The foundation remained, but it was already completely used by Zhang Xuan, becoming the root of Zhang Xuan's growth and development.

The Nine-Orifice Stone Man's appearance did not seem to have changed much, but the features revealed on the outside looked a bit like Zhang Xuan.

Having done this, the "grafting" could be considered truly and genuinely completed.

But Zhang Xuan knew that he had not finished yet; if he wanted to truly and genuinely achieve what he wanted to do, this follow-up would still require more refined operations.

The work related to the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art and the Indestructible Heavenly Art has already been completed; what is needed next is a portion of the techniques from the Eight-Nine Profound Art originating from the Yishi Zhi Zun World.

Create an "Other-Self" anew!

The "Other-Self" is a unique cultivation system within the Yishi Zhi Zun World; the Yishi Zhi Zun World possesses a Main World, and along with the generation of the Main World, countless worlds similar to the Main World were created.

Those countless worlds generated alongside the Main World are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, numbering in the hundreds of millions.

They seem like projections or shadows of the Main World; some shadows are larger, covering the entire Main World as if it were a grand Universe.

Some shadows, however, are very small, only projecting the life trajectory of a certain individual to manifest as a world.

Among these countless worlds, if a person is alive in the Main World, then as they are born along with the projections in the hundreds of millions of worlds, hundreds of millions of "Other-Selves" will likewise appear.

The life trajectories of these figures are very similar to the life trajectory of the entity in the Main World; of course, there are also those that are completely different, and such figures are called "Other-Selves."

Naturally, the figure in the Main World can become the main body, and figures in other worlds can likewise become the main body; this depends on whose strength and realm are stronger, and who communicates with a world first.

In the Yishi Zhi Zun World, to reach the Legendary Realm, one must communicate with their "Other-Selves" in ten thousand worlds, gather the projections from the hundreds of millions of worlds back into one's own body, and become the only existence across the heavens—the "I" of the heavens.

To achieve strength at the Legendary level, one must at least communicate with thousands of worlds and collect thousands of "Other-Selves."

And Zhang Xuan, as the Group Owner of the Chat Group, does not possess any so-called projections himself.

Normally, when practicing the techniques of the Yishi Zhi Zun World, if one does not have an "Other-Self," one can ascend to the heavens in one step and directly step into the Legendary Realm.

This is also the reason why Zhang Xuan valued the techniques of the Yishi Zhi Zun World so highly before; there are far too many shortcuts he can take, even if he cannot compare to Meng Qi, who has top-tier big shots feeding him meals right to his face.

But Zhang Xuan himself is sufficient.

Zhang Xuan does not have an "Other-Self" himself, but now Zhang Xuan wants to inversely create an "Other-Self."

In the Yishi Zhi Zun World, no one has ever actively done such a thing—projecting oneself outward instead of retracting power back into one's own body.

After all, cultivation emphasizes the return of great power to one's own body; this is the principle in any world.

But just because no one in the Yishi Zhi Zun World does this kind of thing does not mean it cannot be done.

At the very least, if an "Other-Self" can be absorbed by the "True-Self," then in a fundamental sense, the "True-Self" can split off an "Other-Self."

Theoretically speaking, this path is viable.

The Eight-Nine Profound Art explained by the Heavenly Venerable of Dao is profound and visionary, explaining various principles very thoroughly and in an easy-to-understand manner; Zhang Xuan has read it many times and is certain that this path is practically feasible.

Originally, he had no "Other-Self," but creating one is not very difficult.

Just follow the principles within the Yishi Zhi Zun World: if one wants to create an "Other-Self," one can directly create a Universe Light Fragment on the basis of the existing world, creating a world identical to the Main World.

Then, cultivate a similar "self" in that world, and afterward, either enlighten that "Other-Self" or simply not absorb that "Other-Self" and let it fend for itself—both are possible.

But basically, no one would do such a thing.

For one, to want to create a world, one must reach above the Legendary level; if one has not reached the Legendary level, one cannot do this kind of thing. But if one has reached the Legendary level, one is already the unique "I" of the heavens, and creating a brand-new world will not give birth to projections of such a figure.

Therefore, such a world is theoretically feasible, but if relying on personal operation, it cannot be done; it requires the help of a big shot to operate.

And since the theory is sound, Zhang Xuan can walk this path to the end.

Right now, the Nine-Orifice Stone Man by his side can, in a certain sense, already be considered an "Other-Self"; of course, calling it a clone is also fine.

But Zhang Xuan does not intend to use this Nine-Orifice Stone Man directly right now.

What he wants to do is throw this Nine-Orifice Stone Man into other worlds, and then, when the Nine-Orifice Stone Man is truly strong enough, communicate with the Nine-Orifice Stone Man and absorb the Nine-Orifice Stone Man into himself in one go.

(End of this chapter)