Chapter 126: Substitute Avatar, Wham!
TL: Etude
The talent for substitution was indeed as Ye Tian had speculated—it could be used to cheat death once. However, it wasn't unconditional. Materials for a substitute were needed, such as the corpses of fierce beasts or humans. Utilizing the power of the substitution talent, he could modify these corpses into a substitute avatar.
Afterward, this avatar would be hidden somewhere. If Ye Tian were killed in the outside world, he could instantaneously activate the talent for substitution. His true body and the substitute avatar would swap places instantly, letting the substitute die in Ye Tian's stead. (O:)
Because the substitute avatar and the true body were nearly indistinguishable, as long as the enemy didn't inspect carefully, they would think they had killed the real deal.
Such an against-the-heavens talent had its restrictions, however. It could be used only once every three years, and there were distance limitations—the true body couldn't be farther than a million meters from the substitute avatar, otherwise, the talent would become ineffective.
Perhaps if he were to advance his medium-level death substitution talent to a higher level, the distance limitation would increase considerably and the time interval would also reduce. But for now, Ye Tian could only make do with the medium-level talent.
"I should take some time to create a substitute avatar. It's basically like having an extra life," Ye Tian muttered to himself.
Shortly after, his attention shifted back to his spatial talent.
[Spatial Talent: High-tier]
"The medium-level spatial talent grants spatial perception, spatial markings, portable space, and teleportation. After upgrading to high-tier, my portable space has increased tenfold, equivalent to a small plaza. Additionally, my other abilities have also greatly improved. Truly deserving of being a high-tier spatial talent," Ye Tian was quite satisfied.
What he valued most, however, was the skill called Spatial Blade!
"Spatial Blade!"
With a mere thought, a black blade materialized in front of Ye Tian, formed entirely from spatial forces. It looked like a crack in space, but its shape resembled that of a blade.
"Disperse!"
Ye Tian deactivated the Spatial Blade talent. He didn't dare test it here; otherwise, the other Kings would come to know of it. How would he explain it then?
He couldn't expose his high-tier spatial talent just yet.
"I better focus on cultivation," Ye Tian murmured to himself.
His soul was damaged, which would affect his comprehension of runes, intentions, and techniques. However, it would not affect his cultivation of the Purple Blood Body Refining Technique.
Thus, Ye Tian began to cultivate like mad, consuming the blood of King-level fierce beasts to cultivate the Purple Blood Body Refining Technique daily.
The next vein he aimed to refine was the Yang Wei Vein, and he was not far from completing it.
In just ten days, Ye Tian successfully refined the Yang Wei Vein, reaching a physical strength of 21 elephants.
The third meridian he chose was the Yin Qiao Meridian from the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.
Days that followed were monotonous—cultivating, cultivating, and occasionally clearing out some fierce beasts.
In this manner, Ye Tian had been guarding the spatial rift for two months.
"26 units of strength, that should be enough," Ye Tian packed up his things and walked out of the room with Xiao Xue.
Today was the day to leave the top-grade array. Not only him, but other Kings and Array Masters were also leaving, leaving behind just one Array Master and one King to guard the place.
The top-grade array had stabilized, as had the spatial rift, so there was no need for multiple people to guard it.
Wham!
An airship flew in.
"Hahaha, people have come to take over, let's all prepare to leave," said a King-level individual.
Soon enough, a group of people disembarked from the airshi
"So many people?" Ye Tian frowned.
Wasn't it said that there would only be one Array Master and one King? Why were there so many people, and aside from two men, all were women!
Suddenly, he had an epiphany and smiled wryly.
The King and the Array Master who would be stationed here would surely be here for more than two months. Long-term guarding would inevitably be boring. Bringing along some maids could occasionally satisfy emotional and other needs.
The king-level mage and the array master assigned to this location would certainly stay for more than two months. A long-term deployment was bound to be tedious, so bringing along some maids could occasionally meet their basic and other needs. Ye Tian would not judge their lifestyl
After completing the mission, Ye Tian and the other king-level mages and array masters returned to the Demon Sea Base in a flurry. Riding on Xiao Xue, Ye Tian returned home swiftly.
Once he was home, it was already afternoon. Ye Tian saw Ye Yu, his younger sister, who was cultivating. She had already reached the Great Martial Warrior realm and graduated from the Martial Arts School.
"Big Brother, you're back!"
Upon seeing Ye Tian, Ye Yu, who had been missing him for months, quickly threw herself into his arms.
"Good girl, I'll cook tonight. Let's have a feast!"
Ye Tian patted Ye Yu's head and smiled.
"Mmm, yes!"
Ye Yu nodded her head, her eyes full of anticipation and her face brimming with cuteness.
Consequently, Ye Tian personally prepared a sumptuous meal with various beast meats, vegetables, and fruits. The siblings ate happily, and Ye Tian relished the warm family gathering.
"To protect this home, I need even greater strength. In this era, to stagnate means potential obliteration at any moment."
Staring at Ye Yu's smiling face, Ye Tian silently vowed.
After dinner, Ye Tian resumed his intense cultivation. He aimed to reach the king-level realm as quickly as possible. Only by ascending to that level would he qualify to compete in this wondrous age of talents.
He would go to that super base and contend with numerous prodigies.
Time flew, and days passed.
In the basement of his villa, Ye Tian was tinkering with a corpse of a high-level peak beast. He planned to transform this corpse into a death-substitute clone.
At that moment, a mere corpse was insufficient; he also needed some auxiliary materials, along with his own blood. These past days, he had people acquire the materials. Though not precious, gathering them took several days.
Finally, everything was in place.
Eagerly, he wanted to create a death-substitute clone to give himself an extra life. He divided the materials, ground them into powder, dripped in his own blood, mixed it, and then applied it to the beast corpse.
"Let's begin!"
Ye Tian channeled his moderate death-substitute talent's power into the beast corpse.
Thud, thud, thud!
The beast corpse began to transform, gradually shrinking into a flesh sphere. After a while, it started morphing into a humanoid shape.
Eventually, the beast corpse became an identical human form to Ye Tian, albeit devoid of life force, like a dead person.
"My death-substitute clone is done!"
Ye Tian sighed in relief.
He could sense the connection between himself and the clone. Once a year, he could activate his death-substitute talent to switch places with the clone.
Subsequently, Ye Tian sealed the underground chamber, even setting up defensive and concealment arrays.
Three months quietly passed by.
After these three months, Ye Tian's soul injuries were fully healed, leaving no aftereffects or impairments. Moreover, during this period, he was mostly in the home's intermediate-level Qi cultivation chamber, increasing his strength by 27 elephants, taking his body's power to 53 elephants.
Additionally, with the healing of his soul injuries, he could now comprehend new techniques and cultivate the Silver-level technique—Heavenly Extreme Slash!