Sage wiped the sweat off his forehead. In front of him was a large round furnace. It was like a spherical pot or cauldron, with legs like a clawfoot bathtub and a round lid. On the sides it also had large decorated animal necks and heads. Looking closer, those heads and long necks stretched out from the side of the cauldron where their bodies were engraved. They were stylized versions of the Four Guardians. Black Tortoise of the North, Azure Dragon of the East, Vermillion Bird of the South, and White Tiger of the West.

The cauldron was designed in such a way that flames could be inserted into the mouths of these four beasts and it would travel down the necks of these beasts on the outside of the pot and down to small holes on the inside of the cauldron. Despite the impressive creatures depicted upon the cauldron, it was no great treasure. It was a tool used for Alchemists up to 3 stars which Sage brought out of the Inner World. The library of the Timeless Master as well as the skills he’d learned from the Holy Flame Sect had been carefully doled out there and over the years many professions had spread. Since he needed a cauldron, he had the Prosperity Company buy one for him.

At this time, the waist high cauldron was still glowing red with heat, and Sage was resting from the exertion. He had been using the Samsara Flame to carefully input heat into the cauldron at a steady rate for nearly a week. He had to keep the temperature in a precise range and normal fire stones couldn’t create a high enough heat. If he had access to a hot enough Earth Flame, a natural volcano, he could have saved some effort, but he could hardly leave the Mount Song Sword Sect, let alone get permission from other big powers. A few Earth Flames sources had appeared on the Inner World after he gained the Heart of Eruption, but he couldn’t actually enter the Inner World with his physical body so he was forced to labor.

While he seemed to be resting, he was actually carefully monitoring the temperature with his Spiritual Sense. After a quarter hour of inactivity, he suddenly leapt to his feet and struck the side of the cauldron with his palm, creating a dull thudding noise. The thud reverberated within the cauldron and then a few moments later the lid popped off and shot into the air. Sage caught it with a wisp of invisible Spirit Power and a ghostly shape flew out of his body and dove into the mouth of the cauldron.

Swirling light and energy flooded into the room, spilling out of the cauldron as some sort of reaction took place. Then, in just a few moments, the light and energy suddenly faded and the room returned to its tranquil state. The cauldron rapidly cooled, losing its reddish tint and returning to a dark iron color. A figure flew out of it and landed next to Sage. Sage placed the lid back onto the cauldron and took a moment to observe the changes.

It was quite the spitting image of his own Nascent Soul. The Soul Clone now seemed more substantial than before, and he was quite happy to no longer have a burning sensation in the back of his mind. Over the week of refining, the Soul Clone had entered a special state, linked to the Dragon Pearl through the whole process. Now that it was finished that link had flourished and the clone had its own core. While it couldn’t practice the Life Nebula cultivation technique that relied upon the Seed of Life, it could practice any of the many cultivation techniques he’d picked up along the way.

Sage was about to have his Clone start practicing Connecting Heaven and Earth, the wood nature cultivation technique he used previously, but then he realized this was an opportunity. His own Life Nebula was very similar to Connecting Heaven and Earth, having a high Qi recovery and cultivation rate. It would just end up being a worse version of his own cultivation. Wouldn’t this be a good chance to practice something else?

Haha, time to go all in on another build, right?

Sage created another Soul Spawn and the Soul Clone used the same technique to enter it. Then when the egg hatched, he sent the Soul Clone, in its new body, into the Inner World onto an island he had prepared for it. Allowing it to consume as many insects and beasts as it wished.

A few days later, his plan finally came to fruition.

When the Soul Clone’s spider body grew large enough, and it regained its mind, Sage felt the difference. The clone could think and act independently, but it was also intimately connected to his mind. He had an extra mind and body to think and act with. Having another physical body was quite disconcerting, but he’d already become used to having two minds already so it wasn’t a terrible leap. Especially since his plan seemed to work.

He had always kept the Soul Clone by his side to act as a secret weapon. Spying upon and ambushing his enemies. It was only after this great conflict that he realized he might have an even better use for it and now he was satisfied to find it worked. He had no idea how, but it did. Sage sent the Soul Clone onto his Inner World not just to help accelerate the growth of its body, but to take full advantage of the time dilation!

Now that he had reached level 67, time on the Inner World was 700 times faster than on the outside world. A day for him was nearly two years in the Inner World. The problem of course being that he could only perceive the Inner World and not travel there in the flesh. How could a person enter their own body after all? The Soul Clone on the other hand, was not under the same restriction. Sage had the feeling that his mind was expanding. As a test he did some mental math and found the answers came to him in a flash.

If he thought about something for a second, the Soul Clone had already been contemplating it for over 11 minutes. By leaving the Soul Clone on the Inner World, Sage’s mental faculties were given a powerful enhancement.

“Hahaha!”

He couldn't help but to laugh out loud, pleased that his hypothesis had proven correct. Even if he lost the combat ability of having a second body, he gained the benefit of many times faster thought. He immediately called over some Dragoons and started doing tests, finding that his reaction time and memory were also greatly enhanced. A cultivator already had a powerful memory in comparison to normal humans, but now he felt he could be truly considered to have a photographic memory.

The Soul Clone could theoretically double his combat power if it fought side by side with him, but Sage felt that he would be a fool to give up this benefit. Even if faster calculations and reactions were not that impressive, they were not the reason he chose this path, only icing on the cake. The true benefit was that the Soul Clone could perform all the research that he always wished he had the time for! There were so many techniques, devices, strange objects, and many other things he wished to study and learn, but never enough time to do them all. Back in the Hidden Domain where he’d gathered so many Psionic Crystals, Sage had mined while the Soul Clone had focused on learning new Spirit Powers.

This was merely taking that principle to the extreme. Every day that passed, his Clone would have years to train and research. It would only be a matter of time until he could finally get even with all his enemies!