The Name of Eternals

Chapter 169: Twin Li Hao, Dragon Path Forbidden

Continuous spring rain.

The distant mountains and nearby forests outside the pass were shrouded in silver-like rain threads.

The raindrops pattered on the fence of the small courtyard, splashing onto the green stone slabs inside, bringing up the smell of earth.

In the kitchen, a pot of tea boiled, and at the table sat two people.

One was Li Hao, and the other was also Li Hao.

That's right.

At this moment, there were two figures in the courtyard, drinking tea and playing chess, both of whom looked exactly like Li Hao.

From the outside, they were identical.

However, the other Li Hao appeared a bit dazed, with slightly dull eyes.

"As expected, the brain isn't very agile."

Li Hao placed a chess piece down, winning the game again, but his experience did not increase.

Even in this form of play, the panel considered it as playing against himself.

But the lack of experience didn't matter. Li Hao had mastered the essence of chess, enjoying the game regardless of the experience points.

The figure before him, looking identical, was a clone derived from a famous painting gifted by an artist.

The painting was titled Twin Faces.

In the painting was a young girl with a long skirt, gazing into the distance, looking at the sunset.

Although seemingly simple, the painting was full of intricate details, merging light, shadow, symmetry, and painting techniques to perfection.

Using a few simple strokes, it outlined the swaying skirt, with each fold's light and shadow perfectly symmetrical, a masterful piece.

The sunset's pale red hue seemed like a flame melting into the paper, truly burning.

Li Hao, with his six-stage painting skills, felt far from reaching this level.

He thought it would take a nine-stage skill level to achieve the panel's collection requirements.

Such a high level of artistry was rare, even among the few masterpieces passed down through millennia.

Each piece carried centuries of heritage and significance.

After collecting Twin Faces, it disappeared from the world, leaving Li Hao feeling a bit regretful.

Twin Faces embedded into Li Hao's body brought a unique attribute.

Twin Faces: Use your own flesh to create a dark clone with 30% of the original's capabilities.

When the dark clone is destroyed, the original remains unharmed.

The original and the dark clone are not connected; they cannot share memory or vision.

When the dark clone is destroyed, this attribute will restart—(only one dark clone can be created).

The original can give simple commands to the dark clone, which has the original's basic thinking abilities.

...

Upon testing, Li Hao found that this ability provided him with a helper, though only with 30% of his original abilities.

In actual combat, the difference was significant.

Due to the reduction in abilities, the dark clone couldn't use extreme states like Heavenly Form, Divine Power, or Transformation.

Its physical strength was only 300,000 pounds.

Internally, it had vitality instead of celestial energy, with a full-body vitality burst of less than 4 million pounds.

By comparison, royal members had around 2 million pounds of vitality.

The Yuan Battalion soldiers had about 500,000 pounds.

So the clone was only double the strength of royal members.

Fortunately, the yin-yang dual veins weren't locked, allowing 8 million pounds of power when activated.

This was about four times the strength of royal members.

Skills like Divine Travel and Item Manipulation were also halved, only about twice the power of royal members.

With this dark clone, Li Hao estimated it could handle some indestructible demons but would be easily killed by demon kings.

However, Li Hao didn't plan to use the clone for fighting, but rather for tasks like playing chess or running errands.

The dark clone was easily formed from one of his fingers.

His original body regenerated the lost finger in minutes.

The dark clone's healing speed was also reduced, about twice that of Li Hongzhuang's.

However, the biggest disappointment for Li Hao was the clone's poor chess skills, only about one-third of his own.

Playing chess with such a clone was like seeing through every move, making winning feel unrewarding.

The only advantage was that the dark clone could handle errands, like clearing demons outside the pass.

Unfortunately, the clone couldn't earn experience points, so there was no double experience joy.

Apart from the painting's attribute, the chess manual gifted by the little chess saint also brought a special attribute.

The chess manual was named Heaven and Earth Manual.

Heaven and Earth referred to the board, with 19 horizontal and 19 vertical lines, requiring 361 pieces.

Li Hao embedded this into his manipulation path, gaining a unique attribute.

Heaven and Earth Manual:

Choose an item to mark, infusing it with half of your power.

When the mark is destroyed, the power will explode.

Total marks: 180.

...

The 180 pieces, representing black or white pieces, were the total marks Li Hao could make simultaneously.

Testing it, Li Hao infused a military flag with his power, including a sword technique.

He imbued a sword technique and half his power into the flag, making it a mark.

When the flag was destroyed, the sealed sword energy and power would burst out, covering the surroundings indiscriminately.

It resembled the star official's formation but was simpler and tailored for him.

Under the Concealing Light attribute, it took half a day for Li Hao to recover the spent power.

This meant he could only make two marked flags a day.

Li Hao wasn't in a hurry, making a flag each day as his strength recovered.

Now, his courtyard housed 16 marked military flags.

When the rain stopped, Li Hao had the dark clone take the marked flags outside the pass, placing them on the former Three Indestructible Demons' mountains, claiming the territory.

He wanted his flags to mark the areas where demons were forbidden!

In the courtyard, Ren Qianqian was initially shocked by the dark clone, but upon learning it was a technique of Li Hao's, she calmed down.

Such dark clones were not unique.

Reading ancient texts in the Listening Rain Tower, Li Hao knew some indestructible techniques could create clones, with varying quality.

Some Four Unyielding Realm experts crafted mortal bodies, transferring their original mortal hearts while refining their true hearts.

This was a method to reach the True Heart Realm but was not perfect.

A shattered mortal heart would affect the true heart, like a cracked bowl.

The Li family and those known to Li Hao all refined their true hearts without mortal bodies.

Among demons, the practice of Dividing Heart was encouraged.

The three-headed snake demon Li Hao encountered could transform its three heads into one, reaching the True Heart Realm.

The ten-thousand-cave ghost woman was more extreme, combining thousands of ghostly hearts into one True Heart Demonic Seed.

This process often led to becoming a wandering ghost or mountain spirit, requiring luck and strategy to succeed.

Every demon king who reached the Four Unyielding Realm had a tumultuous journey.

Once achieving this realm, unless seeking death, they rarely faced mortal danger.

Reaching the Reverse Fate Realm made them nearly invincible.

Li Hao had the power to slay several demon kings but ultimately only managed to kill the True Heart Realm ghost woman, with the others escaping.

...

Time flew by.

Spring rain grew denser, with brief sunshine.

More flags were planted outside the pass, each one like a slap to the demons' faces.

Finally, a demon couldn't bear the humiliation.

In a torrential downpour, an indestructible demon roared, rushing to a flagged mountain, its half-built new home now a bare mountain with the flag.

Seeing the flag with "Hao Tian" written on it, the demon's eyes filled with bloodlust and fury.

"Lord Longze, no!"

A bird from Tianji Hall arrived, shouting urgently.

But the demon ignored it. It preferred to find a new home rather than live in constant fear, hiding and fleeing.

It decided to destroy the human's flags and leave.

As it smashed the flag, a sword aura burst forth, splitting the rain and clouds, stopping the downpour.

The sword aura fell like a divine slash, splitting the demon in two, scattering its remains.

The bird demon, witnessing the scene, trembled, realizing the flag contained a terrifying sword formation.

Such power left it frozen in fear, understanding that the spring brought dread for demons.

The bird blew a signal whistle, soon joined by other Tianji Hall birds, all shocked by the scene.

Learning the cause, they were dumbfounded, seeing the demon's corpse by the broken flag.

A single flag had killed an indestructible demon!

With over thirty such flags planted, the realization spread terror among the demons.

"This is the boy's war flag!"

"He's claiming this five thousand miles as his territory!"

The birds trembled in fear, unable to comprehend the boy's power.

The red-dressed girl, experienced in intelligence work, felt overwhelmed.

In her years, she had seen many geniuses, but none compared to this boy's fearsome prowess.

Realizing the boy's true might, she understood why he dared to guard the border alone.

His presence was not a blessing for demons but a threat, like a released fierce god showing his true power.

"Spread the word, avoid the flags. We'll retrieve one to study the sword formation later."

The girl ordered, and the birds dispersed.

...

In the courtyard.

Li Hao saw the panel update, indicating a mark had been destroyed, reducing the count from 35/180 to 34/180.

Knowing a mark was broken, Li Hao sent the dark clone to investigate and demand an explanation from Tianji Hall.

The clone soon returned with a demon's corpse and a Tianji Hall bird apologizing and explaining.

The clone killed the bird without a word.

Tianji Hall, enraged but helpless, sent another bird the next day, to which Li Hao stated this was just a lesson.

Actions spoke louder than words, and Tianji Hall's fear of Li Hao's wrath spread, causing many demons to leave the border, seeking new territories.

Though the border was a "homeland" for many demons, they knew it didn't belong to them during the boy's guard.

Patience was a demon's virtue, and they planned to return after decades or centuries when the boy had left.

The border grew quieter, devoid of demons, with only occasional wandering small demons unaware of the situation.

...

Time passed, and summer arrived.

Cangya City flourished, bustling with travelers and merchants.

In the scorching heat, a path led to Cangya City, with sparse travelers and a caravan.

In a forest dozens of miles from the path, a large, bloated demon crawled through the woods.

Spotting the wide, white Dragon Path ahead, its eyes filled with bloodlust.

As it moved forward, an old tree in the forest spoke, "Don't go any further."

"Hmm?"

The demon stopped, looking at the tree demon, realizing it hadn't noticed it until it spoke.

"What is it?"

The tree demon rasped, "Ahead lies the Dragon Path."

"Ha, so what?"

The demon sneered.

"Beyond the Dragon Path is human territory," the tree demon sighed.

"Humans?"

"That path has been demon territory for a long time. Do humans still dare to come?"

"You're from another province."

The tree demon swayed, "That was long ago. Now, there are only demon corpses, a sea of blood."

"Hmm?"

The demon frowned, seeing only tasty humans ahead, like walking snacks.

"See that flag?"

The tree demon pointed to a flag on a high rock by the path, "When you see that flag, leave quickly. Your strong scent of human blood will bring disaster."

"Hmph, trying to scare me with a flag?"

The demon sneered, "I've eaten armies. If you weren't so dry, I'd eat you."

Ignoring the warning, it rushed to the path.

"Grandpa, it won't listen," a small tree nearby said.

The old tree sighed.

The bloated demon rushed onto the path, heading for the figures in the distance, eyes filled with bloodlust.

As it neared, a breeze swept by.

In the summer heat, the breeze brought a chill, slicing through the demon.

"This..."

The demon's pupils shrank, trying to evade but too late.

Its body split open, innards spilling, blood flowing.

The breeze seemed to come from Cangya City or perhaps a year-old sword aura, slicing through time and space.