Now, my Clones army is just around the corner!
Su Zhan raised his hand, looked at the black mark on his palm, and the corners of his mouth curved upward.
As he continued to speculate about what new abilities might come in the next stage—
"Master, a life aura is approaching."
Suddenly, Clones No 2, stationed a little outside the mine, sent a warning to Su Zhan.
Then, all the other shadow clones reacted in unison.
They stopped their work one by one, their dark, faceless heads turning toward the mine entrance.
"There really are people coming—and more than one."
Su Zhan sensed it too. He silently put away the spirit stones and stood up.
"It seems we'll have to change locations."
If only one person had come, he could simply have shown his strength and driven them away.
But since several people were approaching—even though he had plenty of "muscle" to deal with them—it wasn't worth making too much noise yet. He decided to hold back and keep a low profile for now.
After all, he'd only been developing his forces for a few days.
Once his preparations were complete, he could come back, clear them all out at once, and reclaim the territory.
With a wave of his hand, all the little black figures collapsed and vanished, their hoes quickly stored away in Su Zhan's storage space.
At the same time, three figures carrying hoes came into view.
"Huh? There really is someone in this forsaken place."
"Hey, he's just a brat."
"Let's hope he's smart enough not to make me waste my energy."
The three men's expressions were unfriendly, their eyes cold and voices dripping with cruelty.
Su Zhan's own gaze hardened, showing no sign of retreat.
In the mine, this was a rule of survival:
If you dared to show weakness, others would bully you without hesitation.
But if you acted fierce and strong, they would think twice before provoking you.
The bloody and violent law of the jungle was alive and well here.
The two sides passed each other calmly.
Su Zhan made a calculated note of their faces—weren't these just perfect targets for Clones future killing-and-robbing missions?
But before he had taken more than ten steps—
"Boy, stop!"
The tallest of the three, a burly man in gray clothes nearly 1.9 meters tall, called out coldly.
"Lao Gao, did you notice something?"
"Kid, I said stop!"
The other two reacted instantly, as if this kind of thing was routine—one kept watch while the other moved to block Su Zhan's path.
"Well…" Su Zhan stopped and sighed in regret.
"We could have gone our separate ways in peace… why force my hand?"
"Hah! From the sound of it, are you planning to kill us?" The man blocking him sneered, his tone mocking.
In the mine, harsh words were thrown around all the time—no one took them too seriously.
But this kid was only at the first level of the Mortal Realm.
All three of them were also first-level, and "Lao Gao" had personally slaughtered several others at that stage.
Where did this brat get the confidence to talk tough here?
Absolutely laughable.
"One, two, three… six." Lao Gao examined the mine wall. "Six mining holes here, several of them deep, with fresh marks. And you don't have any loaded bags on you… must be hiding them somewhere. Interesting. Hand over all your spirit stones. If you dare hide even one, you know what happens next."
His tone was full of threat.
Su Zhan glanced at him—so they'd noticed the fresh mining holes . He'd been a little careless.
"I don't know what my end will be," Su Zhan said, "but I do know what yours will be."
He turned to face them, a playful and almost eager smile on his lips.
The three frowned.
What was wrong with this kid?
Faced with certain death, and still pretending?
"Damn brat, who do you think you're talking to?" another of the men cursed, stepping closer.
"Alone, and you dare act arrogant? Do you want to die? Fine—I'll count to three. If you don't tell us where you've hidden your spirit stones, I'll smash your head right here."
"Three—"
"Wait." Su Zhan raised his hand.
"What? Regretting it already?" the man sneered.
"You just said I'm alone?"
The curve of Su Zhan's mouth deepened.
"Why don't you count again—how many people do you see?"
As his words fell, his raised hand slowly clenched into a fist.
The three men's doubtful expressions shifted to shock.
From Su Zhan's body, black illusory figures emerged one after another.
In the blink of an eye, the smoke-like shadows solidified into six eerie, human-shaped shades.
"Wh-what… what is this?!"
Never in their lives had they seen such a sight.
Their worldviews shattered in an instant.
"Not one of you leaves alive," Su Zhan said lightly. "Kill them all."
Almost instantly, a hoe appeared in each shadow's hands.
Their black feet struck the ground—