The Blood Shadow Sword technique specialized in longsword combat. It had no flashy moves—only one decisive strike: Blood Shadow Kill.
It focused on explosive burst power, gathering all one's strength in a single moment to crush the enemy with overwhelming force.
With one slash, the sword's afterimage became a streak of blood, cutting straight for the enemy's life!
It could be imagined that once Su Zhan mastered this technique, all of his clones would also learn it. Then, each clone would wield a low-grade spiritual sword… If they stood still, there would be no issue. But once they attacked, dozens of long swords would strike in unison —a force so overwhelming that it could reduce a weaker opponent into dozens—no, hundreds—of pieces in an instant.
At first, Su Zhan hadn't intended to choose such an aggressive, battle-focused technique. He preferred to strengthen his body, increase raw strength, and build endurance.
After all, when his clones were duplicated, their own defense and attack power increased as well, which indirectly boosted their mining ability and, in turn, the efficiency of collecting spirit stones.
Without boast, increasing efficiency by ten to twenty percent was no problem at all.
But as the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry.
While real battles were rare, once they did occur, they were a matter of life and death. And in such a decisive moment… losing was not an option.
For that reason, even if it meant sacrificing some low-grade spirit stone income, Su Zhan would not hesitate.
Of course, part of the reason was also personal interest.
Forcing himself to spend all his energy on learning a skill he had no passion for, just for the sake of profit, would be painfully dull for him.
But wielding his favorite weapon and mastering a technique he genuinely longed to practice? That feeling… how could it be described with any word but thrilling?
"Practice. Practice!"
Without hesitation, Su Zhan flipped open Blood Shadow Sword Skill, his eyes shining with interest.
He had only turned a few pages and was just beginning to immerse himself when—
Suddenly.
"Master, I'm under attack! The enemy is strong!"
The voice of Clone Thirteen echoed in Su Zhan's mind.
Thanks to a stage upgrade, its speech was now noticeably more fluent.
Su Zhan froze.
Clone Thirteen had encountered an enemy… and a powerful one at that?!
What happened?
Once the day's work was done, Clone Thirteen should have returned to the mine in an extremely discreet manner. According to Su Zhan's instructions, if it sensed any life aura, it was to take a detour — no matter how far. So how had it been ambushed? And by an enemy it couldn't handle?
"Could it be… the Punishment Team found him?"
Frowning, Su Zhan closed his eyes and quickly linked his consciousness to Clone Thirteen's perspective.
Swish!
The moment his view shifted, a flash of blade light slashed past — so fast it was almost impossible to see.
Clone Thirteen was struck.
But because its body was entirely a black illusion, the blade only tore open a gaping hole without any blood spilling out.
"Tell me, what kind of monster are you?"
"Neither human nor beast… human-shaped, yet without human flesh or blood… and no proper organs beneath that black form."
"The strangest part is, you give off no life aura whatsoever."
"With all my years of experience, I really can't guess what you are… How about you just tell me yourself?"
The speaker was a man dressed in black — the one who had been relentlessly attacking.
But instead of delivering a killing blow, he seemed fascinated by the clone's strange nature. Even though he had an overwhelming advantage and could end the fight with a single strike, he chose instead to keep slashing Clone Thirteen's arms, legs, chest, and abdomen, as if trying to dissect and understand the human-shaped shadow before him.
"Third level of the Mortal Realm," Su Zhan judged instantly.
At the same time, he let out a small sigh of relief.
It wasn't the Punishment Team, nor some untouchable powerhouse — most likely a common bandit who preyed on lone travelers.
A typical case of murder for loot.
Only this time, the intended victim was Clone Thirteen.
"The gap between the second and third levels really is big… His attack speed was so fast, even I could barely follow it."
"And he's clearly using a technique. Cutting Clone Thirteen was like slicing through tofu… His strength is indeed impressive."
"I'll have to pull Clone Thirteen back."
Though Su Zhan felt displeased at seeing his clone targeted, he knew the opponent was too strong. Even if Clone Thirteen were promoted to the third level, victory would be uncertain.
So, he decided not to get involved.
But just as he was about to recall Clone Thirteen, Clone Fourteen, who had been mining nearby, suddenly stopped and spoke:
"Master, I can assist you."
"Hm?"
Su Zhan paused, glancing at Clone Fourteen in confusion. "Assist me? How?"
"Master, I require you to direct me," Clone Fourteen replied mechanically.
"Direct you…?"
Su Zhan hadn't expected that one of his clones would actually teach him a new trick.
His eyes lit up.
"Could it be…? I'll give it a try!"
He sank his consciousness.
When he saw two streams of ethereal mist floating beside the cross-legged clone, an idea suddenly came to him.
He willed Fourteen Clone's mist to push directly toward Thirteen Clone's, making the two streams collide. This was a sudden inspiration—he'd never considered that the mist could actually be moved into another clone's space before.
But this time, he tried it.
And the next moment…
A strange phenomenon occurred.
The two streams of mist fused together and didn't separate!
"Oh, heavens?! It really works?!"
"What kind of new ability is this?!"
Su Zhan was baffled.
Without hesitation, he quickly shifted into Thirteen Clone's perspective.
What he saw left him stunned.
From Thirteen Clone's point of view, Fourteen Clone had actually appeared on the scene!
And the instant he arrived, he grabbed a hoe and charged straight at the black-clad man in the Third Stage of the Mortal Realm without a word.
This time…
Su Zhan wasn't the only one surprised.
Even the black-clad attacker froze in shock.
"Two?!"
Although caught off guard, the man was still an elite at the Third Stage. With a single counter, he struck down Fourteen Clone.
However, the curiosity on his face was now replaced with a clear sense of caution.
The situation had developed far beyond his expectations.