The patrol reached the Huo Clan compound as the sun dipped toward the western peaks, bleeding deep purples and bruised oranges across the sky.
The eastern gate guards noted their arrival with brief nods. There was no fanfare for the return of a routine patrol; in a clan built on the grind of the mines, survival was expected, not celebrated.
The group moved directly to the Contribution Hall, a modest pavilion thick with the scent of old paper and the sharp tang of Qi-illuminated lamps. Elder Huo Rong stood at the central counter, his voice a steady drone as he recorded the mission's spoils: four wolf cores, twelve mid-grade spirit stones from the primary vein, and the coordinates of the new branch discovery.
Huo Chen stepped forward when the attending disciple called his name. "Eighteen points total," the disciple confirmed, his brush dancing across a fresh jade slip. He slid the shimmering green sliver across the scarred wood. "Ten for the base mission, two for the decisive kill assist, and six for the resource discovery. A productive day, Huo Chen." Eighteen points. Huo Chen kept his expression neutral as he accepted the slip, but inside, satisfaction bloomed warm in his chest.
In two days, he'd earned what would normally take him a month of grueling mine work. He moved to the exchange window, where the rewards were housed behind heavy iron bars. Instead of luxury, he chose utility.
He traded sixteen of his points for two low-grade Qi Gathering Pills and a thin, leather-bound manual titled Earth Root Breathing Method. The manual was a basic text, common among those who worked the lower levels of the clan. Perfect. By choosing it, Huo Chen reinforced his established cover.
To any observer, he was simply a branch disciple who had finally saved enough to start specializing in his primary root after years of mining work. A "safe" ambition—one that would raise few eyebrows. As he turned to leave, a flash of finer silk caught his eye. Huo Lian stepped from the shadows of a side corridor, her movements light and deliberate.
"Eighteen points on a routine patrol, Cousin," she observed, her voice carrying a sharp edge. "And that 'sensing' of the hidden vein… quite the fortunate intuition for a man who usually only sees the end of a pickaxe." Huo Chen met her gaze, his expression as flat as the stones he mined. "The ground speaks if one listens long enough, Cousin Lian.
The vibrations of a hollow vein are distinct to those who live in the dark." He offered a slight bow—the bare minimum required by clan etiquette. "If you'll excuse me, the day's labor has been taxing. I must consolidate these meager gains." Huo Lian's smile remained fixed, though her eyes narrowed.
She said nothing as he walked past, but the weight of her gaze stayed on his back until he cleared the hall's threshold. Let her wonder. Huo Chen allowed himself a brief flicker of amusement as he walked toward his quarters. Suspicion without proof was just paranoia, and there was nothing she could actually point to. He'd done everything properly, earned his merit fairly.
Once inside the privacy of his courtyard chamber, Huo Chen barred the heavy wooden door and sat upon his thin meditation mat. The room was silent, save for the distant, rhythmic clink-clink of the night shift miners. He placed one Qi Gathering Pill on his tongue. It dissolved instantly, turning into a warm, viscous current that flowed down his throat and settled into his dantian.
The second pill he placed in a small wooden box; he would need it for the final push toward the fifth layer. He began the circulation. First, he used the familiar foundational method of the Huo Clan to steady his internal rhythm.
Then, he layered in the techniques from the new Earth Root Breathing manual. The shift was immediate. Huo Chen's eyes snapped open in surprise. "What—?" Usually, the spiritual qi in his body felt like thick sludge—sluggish and resistant to movement due to the poor quality of his triple spirit roots.
But now, as he focused on the new pathways, the Qi moved with liquid ease. Bottlenecks in his meridians that had previously required hours of agonizing effort simply parted like loosened soil under spring rain. "This... this wasn't normal. Even with the manual, the improvement shouldn't be this dramatic."
Huo Chen paused mid-cycle, his brow furrowed as he probed deeper into his own dantian. His Earth Clone rested there, a dormant pulse of dense ochre light. It wasn't merely sitting idle. As Huo Chen circulated his Qi, the clone resonated in perfect harmony with his Earth spirit root, acting as an unseen internal amplifier.
The clone was purifying the incoming energy, stripping away the turbulent "noise" of the pill's medicinal dregs and smoothing the pathways before the Qi ever reached his primary meridians. "Incredible." A slow grin spread across Huo Chen's face in the darkness of his chamber.
The effect was profound—his Earth-affinity cultivation was proceeding at a speed that shouldn't be possible for someone with his talent. It was as if his spirit root had suddenly jumped an entire tier in quality.
So the clone doesn't just help on the outside. It's improving my cultivation foundation itself. The realization sent a thrill through him. This was the hidden brilliance of the Sovereign Clone System.
The clone wasn't just a tool for the outside world; it was a biological upgrade. It functioned as an extension of his foundation, filtering impurities and reducing the "leakage" that usually plagued mixed-root cultivators.
A cold gust of wind rattled the shutters, pulling Huo Chen's attention outward for a brief moment before he sank deeper into his meditation, barely able to contain his excitement. "If I can maintain the clone in its dormant state while I cultivate, I could shave weeks, maybe even months off my advancement through the Qi Refining stages.
Time I would have wasted struggling against my own poor talent." Huo Chen resumed the circulation with renewed focus, his heart beating faster with anticipation. He felt the warmth of the pill expanding his dantian, the energy being pressed and refined by the clone's presence until it was as dense as bedrock.
The session stretched deep into the evening, the moonlight creeping across the floor like a silver ghost. The Qi flowed smoother with each circulation. Cleaner. Purer. Each cycle reinforced the pathways, making the next one easier. It was intoxicating—this feeling of actual progress, of barriers crumbling that had seemed insurmountable just days ago.
By the time the last of the pill's energy was integrated, the distance to the fifth layer of Qi Refining felt tangibly shorter. He could feel the threshold—the point where his Qi would become dense enough to begin nourishing his bones. "Close. So close now." He opened his eyes, and despite the darkness, the room appeared crystal clear to his sharpened senses. The courtyard outside was still, the stars hanging like cold diamonds above the mountain peaks.
Huo Chen couldn't suppress the smile that spread across his face. For the first time in his twenty-five years, cultivation didn't feel like pushing a boulder uphill. It felt... possible. The Earth Clone remained steady within him, a silent, permanent ally in his ascent. Huo Chen stood up, feeling a new weight in his limbs—not the weight of exhaustion, but the heavy, solid power of the earth settling into his foundation.
This is just the beginning. With the clone, with the resources I'll gather from that hidden vein... the ninth layer isn't a dream anymore. He was no longer just surviving within the Huo Clan. He was beginning to thrive.