There were three steps to using the Nine Clones Secret Technique: first was to sense one’s own consciousness. Second was to separate that consciousness into nine pieces, using the secret technique to use the cultivator’s blood to create a body for it. After that, the final step was to merge each consciousness with its body, making a true clone with its own mind and body, which would then allow it to cultivate on its own. This was the Nine Clones Secret Technique.
Lu Yin had not fully cultivated the secret technique before. While he had been capable of splitting his consciousness into nine parts long ago, the idea of having nine versions of himself was too disturbing for him.
Only when he was trying to cultivate the Nine Heavens with his consciousness at the Universe level had Lu Yin made the attempt. However, his consciousness had been weakened significantly after he split open his Nine Heavens, which had left him unable to block Emperor Wu’s serrated blade during their earlier fight.
Because he had used the Nine Clones Secret Technique, the consciousness that he had used to form the Nine Heavens had practically come alive; each layer was like a copy of himself. He could use that consciousness to roll his die, but whether that would allow him to Possess a conscient remained to be seen. Lu Yin still needed to test it.
He tapped the die with his finger, causing it to slowly spin before coming to a stop. Four pips: Timestop.
The scenery around Lu Yin changed as he entered his Timestop Space. Since he had rolled Timestop, he would not waste it. He trained for a year before leaving, and he immediately resumed rolling his die. His next roll was Pilfer, and something useless fell out.
Even in the Spirit Nidus, the die’s Pilfer could be used. However, given Lu Yin’s current strength, it was practically impossible for him to gain anything useful.
He continued rolling the die.
He got Blackhole Decomposition, but with nothing to break down, he immediately rolled the die again.
For his fourth roll, Lu Yin saw six pips: Possession. His consciousness roared around him as he used his Nine Heavens consciousness to power the die. Possession sent him to the strange dark space, but as far as he could see, the space was pitch black. He started to get anxious. Without any orbs of light, Possession would be useless.
His consciousness moved through the space, and Lu Yin eventually found a boundary that marked the limit of the universe. There was no need to stop there; Wu Wei was in the Spirit Nidus, so Lu Yin was determined to keep searching.
After some time, Lu Yin finally saw balls of light that shone like twinkling stars. While there were not many, their existence meant that he could Possess those individuals.
These orbs of light undoubtedly represented conscients. This meant that there were conscients in the Spirit Nidus that had not been in the Consciousness Domain. Lu Yin wasted no time and rushed over to Possess one of the orbs.
He was met with coldness and cruelty. There was a desire to survive, to strengthen its consciousness, and to kill. To kill the humans. All of them were enemies, and all enemies should die.
Various emotions flooded Lu Yin’s mind as he looked around. He had Possessed a conscient. The one that he had Possessed was a conscient without a fixed form, so they took on the appearance of whatever their observers perceived. This was the same as Wu Wei.
This was Lu Yin’s first time sensing the thoughts of a conscient. There was coldness and killing intent but nothing else.
Humans had seven emotions and six desires, but conscients did not. They only possessed hostility and a desire for slaughter, growth, and survival. Despite all of that, the conscient that Lu Yin had Possessed put on a show of being very respectful towards the people of the Spirit Nidus, behaving like an obedient servant.
Lu Yin understood why Yuan Qi and so many others had warned him to be wary of conscients. These beings lacked most emotions. Their only motivation upon identifying an enemy was to kill them.
The only meaning for a conscient’s existence was to survive and kill.
To survive, they needed to strengthen their consciousness. As for killing, that was necessary because there were enemies. Things really were that simple for them.
Lu Yin was in the Northmount Domain, which was one of the domains that formed the lower part of the "灵" character that formed the Spirit Nidus. It was a rather average domain, and at the moment, the conscient that Lu Yin had Possessed was looking at a vast plaza where several people were fighting. There were both chaotic battle royales and one-on-one duels taking place. It was the competition to become one of the Northmount Domain’s Peak Masters.
The ruler of the Northmount Domain was known as the Mountain Lord, just like the Primal Beastland’s Mountain Lords. Those Mountain Lords each ruled over a mountain, but in the Northmount Domain, there was only one Mountain Lord, and their authority encompassed the entire Northmount Domain. In the Primal Beastland, there were as many Mountain Lords as there were mountains.
The Northmount Domain’s ruler possessed a rather average strength, as they were only a sequence powerhouse, which was true of most of the rulers of the thirty-six domains. If such a person lived in the Primal Beastland, they would still be a Mountain Lord.
Beneath the Mountain Lord were the Peak Masters.
The Northmount Domain had seventeen peaks, each ruled by a Peak Master. Most of the Peak Masters were Spirit Ancestors, with a few rare sequence powerhouses sprinkled in.
The conscient that Lu Yin had Possessed was a slave to a Peak Master. The conscient had been recognized by the Spirit Nidus and could therefore be controlled. Naturally, this meant that it had been branded.
For a conscient to be allowed to live in the Spirit Nidus, the Spirit Nidus cultivators needed a way to control the conscient, and their surrender needed to be recognized. The only way a surrender could be recognized was if the conscient was branded by a Seraph.
Only a Seraph could allow a conscient to live in the Spirit Nidus. After all, conscients were quite peculiar creatures, and the Seven Seraphs knew that they were devoid of most emotions. The only thing that conscients understood was survival and killing. As soon as they grew strong enough, they would quickly turn on their previous masters.
However, it was very rare to encounter a Seraph. For the average person, let alone requesting a Seraph to brand a conscient, simply locating a Seraph was practically impossible. This was the main reason why rarely any conscients could live openly in the Spirit Nidus.
As Lu Yin roamed about the Spirit Nidus, he rarely ever encountered any conscients.
Originally, there had been a location in the Spirit Nidus specifically dedicated for the Seven Seraphs to brand conscients, but as time passed, the Seraphs had either gone into seclusion or gone on expeditions to the Consciousness Megaverse. The branding location had eventually fallen into neglect, and only a few lucky individuals were able to find a Seraph and ask them to brand their conscients.
If a conscient was not branded, then keeping it was considered a terrible crime. An example was Little Yao, who had been adopted by Ba Liu and Yi Yao.
The conscient that Lu Yin had Possessed had been branded, and it had been branded by the deceased Seraph Bai Cao from the Hundred Grasses Domain.
Being able to find a Seraph and ask them to brand a conscient indicated that the master of the conscient was no simple figure.
Sure enough, Lu Yin found that the conscient’s master was a Peak Master who was a Spirit Ancestor, and his father was the Mountain Lord of the Northmount Domain.
If not for the Mountain Lord, it would have been very difficult for the Spirit Ancestor to find a Seraph.