Su Chen's consciousness blurred, and before he could react, everything faded into darkness. He collapsed, falling into complete unconsciousness.
The moment his mind went blank, a sudden eruption of brilliant light and pure Qi burst out from his body. Above him, a Yin-Yang symbol slowly took shape in the air, spinning silently with mysterious energy before gradually fading away.
Then, an astonishing transformation began.
A vision of his physique manifested faintly above him, shimmering like a mirage. Su Chen's body started changing—his muscles began expanding unnaturally from one side of his body, growing rapidly. Streams of immortal energy surged out from the lake, pulled in by the rapidly forming tissue.
Soon, new bones began to emerge as if his body was constructing a duplicate from scratch. The muscles and bones greedily absorbed the dense immortal energy from both the lake and the radiant golden tree nearby. As the transformation intensified, the entire process became shrouded in divine light, making it impossible to see what was happening inside.
Time passed—how long, no one could say.
Eventually, the brilliant light dimmed and then vanished completely, revealing two golden cocoons lying side by side. They were identical in size, and in the tranquil silence of the sealed space, only one sound could be heard—the rhythmic, synchronized beating of two hearts.
After what felt like an eternity, a faint crack echoed through the stillness.
A thin fracture appeared on the surface of one cocoon. Then another. The cracks quickly spread like spiderwebs until the entire shell shattered like glass.
From within, Su Chen slowly emerged, his body steaming slightly from the process.
He sat up quickly and examined himself.
"No injuries… bones, meridians, dantian—all intact."
He closed his eyes and sank into his sea of consciousness. Everything there was calm, stable. Nothing had collapsed or gone out of balance.
"Let's check the status—" he paused.
"Ah, right… the system said it was going through an update," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Tch, just when I need it the most…"
Su Chen slowly turned his attention to the surroundings—and immediately froze.
The immortal pond… was half-dried.
"…What the hell?" he muttered under his breath, his brows twitching. "Just what kind of freakish fruit did I eat…?"
The entire mysterious lake, which had once been brimming with dense immortal energy, was now nearly drained. He couldn't believe it. Before this, he wasn't even confident that he could absorb a single liter of the water safely. In fact, his original plan had been simple—dig up the entire pond and store it inside his system space for future use.
And now?
It was already gone. Just like that.
His gaze then fell on the golden cocoon next to him—the one identical to the one he had just emerged from.
Only… now it was gone.
No—wait. A strange sensation tugged at his chest. A deep, indescribable connection.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a faint crack appeared on the surface of the second cocoon.
Crack!
In an instant, the entire cocoon shattered like glass, and a figure slowly stepped out.
Su Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, but he wasn't surprised.
It was… himself.
An exact copy. No differences, no flaws.
But instead of panic or disbelief, Su Chen merely smiled. After all, he'd already expected something like this the moment his consciousness blurred earlier.
Back then, a strange thought had passed through his mind—"I'm going to split… into two."
And now, here it was, reality before his eyes.
The two of them stared at each other silently for a long while.
Then—
"Pfft... hahaha... jejeje…" Both Su Chens burst into laughter at the same time.
"It really happened," the original Su Chen chuckled. "Looks like I've been divided into two parts… but we still share one soul."
"Yeah," the other Su Chen nodded, his tone relaxed. "We can both cultivate separately. And in the future, once we reach the Supreme Realm… we can merge back into one."
"That's for later," the original Su Chen said, waving a hand. "The real benefit right now is this—I finally have someone I can fully trust. Myself."
He narrowed his eyes and added, "But we need to confirm something important. Do you have my physique or not? I still possess the complete Innate Sacred Dao Fetus Physique. I don't think it was divided."
He looked seriously at his double. "Check your body. If you don't have the physique, then I'm the main body—and you'll need to be cautious. We'll also have to get you some powerful support, like a special physique or a strong bloodline, to ensure you can cultivate properly."
Su Chen nodded and began checking his physical condition. "Hmm… I don't think I have any special physique," he muttered. "But my qualifications are definitely high. Even my body is filled with a large amount of immortal energy… and strong yang energy too. Maybe in the future, or with help from the system, I can awaken something…"
He glanced at his copy and continued, "Even though the system is currently under maintenance, its previous choices should still remain the same. I've already decided—I won't accept the inheritance. But you will. You'll accept it, maybe even more than one… and then share it with me once we're outside." Su Chen grinned as he said that.
The copy nodded in understanding. "Alright. But I need to change my name. Otherwise, it'll be confusing if we're both called Su Chen. From today onward, we'll be like twins," he said calmly.
Su Chen agreed with a nod. "That makes sense."
Then he added, "You'll also need to develop a personality that's different from mine. We can't be too similar."
"Yeah," the duplicate replied with a slight smile. "I'll figure something out."
[Dear readers,
I've recently come up with some new ideas to make the story more interesting, and I've started including them—hope you enjoy the direction it's going! 😊
Also, if you have any suggestions or feedback, please don't hesitate to share them with your dear author!
As for the irregular updates lately… I was attending a marriage function, so things got a bit hectic. Really sorry about that!
But don't worry—updates will be regular from now on.
Thank you all for your patience and support! ❤️]**