???

No?

What are you talking about??

I’m helping you gather people!

I’m helping you break through the Court of Disorder!

And yet you want me to mortgage ten thousand clones?!

What kind of logic is this?!

This…

Is there still justice? Is there still law?!

The most important thing is—

Jiang Ye generated survival points for these one hundred thousand clones entirely by himself!

The reward for the manhunt order hasn’t even been received yet!

How dare Zhou Yuling say such things?!

Just because she gave him that A-grade Puppet Clone skill book??

But that skill was only supposed to be the price for helping her break through the Court of Disorder!

Jiang Ye remained silent.

On the other end of the voice transmission bead, Zhou Yuling seemed to sense his mood vaguely.

She cleared her throat lightly and explained again:

“What I mean is, mortgaging those ten thousand clones to me is equivalent to them acting as ‘hostages.’”

“Once we all return safely from the Court of Disorder, those ten thousand clones will be returned to you intact.”

“If you put yourself in my shoes, you should understand how I feel—”

“After all, during the entire Court of Disorder challenge, your side accounts for ninety percent of the participants, while I only have ten percent.”

“What if you happen to…”

Before Zhou Yuling could finish,

Jiang Ye interrupted forcefully: “Don’t give me that nonsense.”

“Put myself in your shoes? Ha! Why should I think from your perspective? Why don’t you try thinking from mine?”

“My clones were created by my own effort, using my own survival points, right?”

“We signed a contract about assisting you with the Court of Disorder, and the contract clearly states I will help you, right?”

“We agreed on everything before. Why now do you want me to mortgage ten thousand clones as some damn hostage?”

“Try standing in my shoes—do you think you would accept this?”

“Not just can’t accept, I think you should be the one mortgaging some ‘hostage’ to me!”

“After all, I’m the one helping you; you came to me first for the Court of Disorder!”

“I’m putting it out clearly—”

“Mortgaging clones as hostages? Absolutely impossible!”

“If you really don’t trust me, then find someone else to cooperate with for the Court of Disorder!”

Jiang Ye spoke casually.

But he understood why Zhou Yuling was “going back on her word.”

When they signed the contract before, there was no mention of mortgaging clones.

At that time, she must have genuinely wanted him to join the Defenders’ Alliance.

Their relationship was quite friendly, with a slight foundation of trust.

But as time passed, the relationship became delicate.

That’s why she started worrying that Jiang Ye might do something underhanded inside the Court of Disorder.

Of course, there might be other reasons that made her want his ten thousand clones…

Maybe she intended to use those ten thousand clones for some shady experiments?

In any case, this unreasonable additional condition was clearly ill-intentioned!

Jiang Ye thought he had made himself very clear and strong in attitude.

Zhou Yuling should have no choice but to relent and give up her demand to mortgage clones.

Unexpectedly…

After a moment of silence from the voice transmission bead,

Zhou Yuling’s slightly low voice came again:

“Are you sure you don’t want to cooperate?”

“If not cooperating, then the Puppet Clone skill book I paid you in advance, shouldn’t you return it to me?”

“…”

How could he return that?

Jiang Ye had already created a batch of Puppet Clones!

Although he could recycle Puppet Clones back into survival points by having clones kill clones,

Honestly, he was reluctant to give up the special Puppet Clone skill.

Just as he was thinking about how to negotiate this,

Zhou Yuling’s voice came through the bead again, loaded with meaning:

“Are you thinking about how to return a ‘skill’ that has already been used?”

“It’s actually simple—”

“I already told you before, skill books are much more valuable than skill scrolls.”

“Such precious items also have a special feature.”

“They will drop when the player dies.”

She said this last sentence very slowly.

So the subtext of this sentence was very clear.

Jiang Ye snorted: “Heh, heh heh!”

“You just wanted me to think from your perspective…”

“Now, can you dare to think from mine?”

“I’m gathering people for you, helping you break through the Court of Disorder…”

“And the benefit you give me is something that only drops after death!”

“Can I understand this as you already preparing to kill me like a mule after I help you clear the Court of Disorder, then take back that precious skill book?”

“Heh heh! So now if I refuse to cooperate, your idea is to kill the mule in advance? Burn the bridge before crossing?”

For a moment, both sides were quite unhappy.

Both voice transmission beads were silent for a long while.

Finally, just as Jiang Ye was about to have his clone army drip his own blood on the Mirror Palace “mirror surface” to create numerous Mirror Puppets…

Zhou Yuling’s voice came through 1st Jiang Ye’s transmission bead with a hint of compromise:

“I’ll be straightforward with you—”

“The Left Alliance has a domain space that needs manpower to maintain.”

“Before, we weren’t sure when we’d explore the Court of Disorder, so I prepared ten thousand followers, and a good portion of them were lent to the Left Alliance.”

“If we explore the Court of Disorder early, those ten thousand followers need to enter the Court, then the Left Alliance won’t have enough manpower…”

“That’s why I want to borrow ten thousand clones from you.”

“Since this matter caused unhappiness, I can do this—”

“We postpone exploring the Court of Disorder.”

“Once the Left Alliance finishes their business and my ten thousand followers are free, we’ll go to the Court.”

“Then I provide ten thousand followers, you provide ninety thousand clones, and I won’t ask you to mortgage clones anymore. How about that?”

This was Zhou Yuling’s concession.

But for Jiang Ye, it was not good news.

Although Zhou Yuling didn’t explicitly say it, Jiang Ye almost immediately understood.

Previously, Zhang Minghan’s clone, while in the Black Ice Domain, saw Lin Ling take those followers Zhou Yuling had found, sticking talismans on each one and turning them into little puppets.

Those puppets had become “pieces” on Lin Ling’s “large chessboard.”

Now Zhou Yuling meant—

If they wanted to explore the Court of Disorder immediately, Jiang Ye had to sacrifice part of his clones to replace those “pieces,” Zhou Yuling’s followers.

Otherwise, they had to wait for Lin Ling’s big chess game to finish before Zhou Yuling’s followers could be freed.

But the problem was…

Jiang Ye was eager to go to the Court of Disorder now!

How could he wait?

Might as well go alone with his one hundred thousand clones without Zhou Yuling.

Or maybe, could he turn Zhou Yuling into clones?

But simply turning her into clones wouldn’t help; what he wanted was information about the Court of Disorder.

And whether one hundred thousand players could trigger the highest difficulty there.

Forget it.

Jiang Ye didn’t respond to Zhou Yuling for now.

Instead, he first had two thousand Puppet Clones in the Mirror Palace secret realm drip his own blood on the “mirror surface” of the Mirror Palace grids.

Then they left the original grids.

So, maybe at that moment…

Theoretically, two thousand Mirror Puppets bearing Jiang Ye’s face should have been generated simultaneously throughout the Mirror Palace secret realm.

But in reality…

Whether it was because he used his own blood, or because he generated too many Mirror Puppets at once?

In any case, the two thousand Puppet Clones had just transferred grids and clearly felt—

The entire Mirror Palace secret realm’s grids seemed to tremble in that instant!

Even the ground beneath all the clones’ feet could feel the vibration!

Two thousand pairs of eyes saw with the naked eye—

The mirror surfaces of those Mirror Palace grids all showed strange cracks amidst this unexplained trembling!

The cracks were called strange because—

Those cracks on the “mirror surface” looked like flesh and blood, with blood strands seeping out from the cracks!

However, those blood strands didn’t flow out completely.

They seemed to be absorbed by something and quickly vanished.

Of course, Jiang Ye soon realized—

Those blood strands in the cracks were absorbed by the newly generated Mirror Puppets!

Just like the initial Void Mirror Puppet with Lu Renjia’s face…

This batch of newly generated Mirror Puppets bearing Jiang Ye’s face also quickly absorbed the blood on the “mirror surface.”

But unlike before—

As the “mirror surface” was drained of blood, accompanied by the trembling, it shattered completely!

They turned into scattered glass shards on the ground.

Those strange Mirror Puppets with Jiang Ye’s face squatted down and picked up the mirror shards, putting them into their mouths!

While eating, they even raised the corners of their mouths, showing a bizarre smile!

Those “mirror surfaces” that were “eaten” naturally could no longer restore themselves.

Thus, during this entire shaking of the Mirror Palace secret realm…

Two thousand mirror surfaces disappeared, forming a specific “passage.”

This passage formed by the vanished mirror surfaces made Jiang Ye suspect—

Was the Void Mirror Palace, which originally looked like a maze, initially filled with mirror surfaces?

Only due to some reason did some mirror surfaces go missing, forming the final so-called maze passages?

At this moment, could grids missing their “mirror surfaces” but no longer fully sealed still generate Mirror Puppets?

He wanted to discuss this question with Zhou Yuling.

But he soon discovered—

This batch of Mirror Puppets bearing Jiang Ye’s face seemed terrifyingly strong!

After eating the “mirror surfaces” stained with Jiang Ye’s blood, they actively destroyed other “mirror surfaces”!

Then, they ate the shards of those other mirror surfaces…

In this way, under these Mirror Puppets’ operation,

All the “mirror surfaces” that originally divided the secret realm into hexagonal grids gradually shattered and were eaten!

Of course, during this devouring process, if these Mirror Puppets met, they fused immediately on the spot.

Very soon, Jiang Ye found—

Mirror Puppets with Zhou Yuling’s face, with Li Aoliang’s face, and even with Xing Yishan’s face from Li Aoliang’s team…

All Mirror Puppets in the secret realm no longer only fused with those of identical appearance.

Instead, they all actively merged into the Mirror Puppets with Jiang Ye’s face!

Thus, in less than a few minutes,

The entire Mirror Palace secret realm underwent a drastic transformation!

The “mirror surfaces” originally used to separate space all disappeared!

Almost all Mirror Puppets merged!

Saying “almost” because…

Apart from the strongest giant Mirror Puppet with Jiang Ye’s face that absorbed all others,

There was still one Mirror Puppet with Lu Renjia’s face in the secret realm, used as a body by Guiwen, influenced by Guiwen’s consciousness, so it naturally didn’t merge into the strongest Mirror Puppet.

In this way, the entire Mirror Palace secret realm changed from densely packed hive-like grids into two nested hexagons.

The central hexagon was the reincarnation grid where Huang Bo, Guan He, and Chen Cang were trapped.

The outer hexagon was the boundary of the entire Mirror Palace secret realm…

Within this large space between them, light and shadow still flickered.

Without the mirror surfaces blocking sightlines, Li Aoliang and others, Zhou Yuling, and two thousand of Jiang Ye’s Puppet Clones all appeared clearly.

While these people were still puzzled…

Their stunned gazes saw—

That strongest Mirror Puppet with Jiang Ye’s face furrow its brow in confusion.

Then, it flashed and instantly appeared beside the Mirror Puppet with Lu Renjia’s face.

In an instant, the Jiang Ye-faced Mirror Puppet suddenly grew huge, over eight meters tall.

One giant palm directly pinched up the Lu Renjia-faced Mirror Puppet.

Then, like throwing candy, it tossed the Guiwen-possessed Mirror Puppet into its mouth…

After eating this last Mirror Puppet, the giant Jiang Ye-faced Mirror Puppet finally stretched its brow with satisfaction…

The people in the Mirror Palace watched this scene and inexplicably swallowed.

Outside the Mirror Palace secret realm, 1st Jiang Ye spoke into the transmission bead:

“Hey, Zhou Yuling, are you still there?”

“Now, are you going to fight the boss?”

“Can you detect the boss’s attributes and other info? I probably don’t need to help, right?”

While 1st Jiang Ye said this,

Inside the Mirror Palace secret realm, Guiwen Jiang Ye tried to see if he could seize control of this giant Mirror Puppet.

To be honest, he originally thought the chance was slim…

Unexpectedly, the consciousness of the Guiwen clone easily invaded this massive Mirror Puppet boss!

Moreover, in this seized state, there was no discomfort!

The only awkward thing was controlling such an eight-meter giant body.

But the giant body was actually not difficult to operate.

From others’ perspective, they saw—

That ultimate Mirror Puppet boss that had eaten the smaller Mirror Puppets suddenly clumsily turned around.

Then, with a flash, it appeared near Zhou Yuling.

Then, it stepped on Zhou Yuling…

Of course, when it lifted its foot, Zhou Yuling was nowhere to be seen.

But 1st Jiang Ye heard Zhou Yuling panting with a fearful tone through the transmission bead:

“This final boss is terrifying. I’m afraid I can’t handle it…”

Jiang Ye raised an eyebrow: “So, do you need my help? Or are you going to call for backup?”

“But what to do? The clones guarding the Mirror Palace secret realm entrance found—”

“Right when the boss spawned, the silver-white vortex symbolizing the secret realm’s entrance suddenly disappeared.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep