My Clones Can Cultivate

Chapter 44: How???

Chapter 44

Silence permeated the bloody ground where tons of beast corpses lay scattered. Li Yu stood still, his gaze locked onto the four humans standing right before him.

From the old Li Yu’s memories, he could tell exactly who they were, but sincerely, he had not expected himself to run into this particular group of people.

Truthfully, he had already made his plans after reaching the Peak of the Body Refinement Realm. He was going to wipe this section of the forest clean of its beasts, collect all their beast cores, and then leave the forest altogether.

After that, he would sell the beast cores and begin his journey anew without associating himself with the Li Clan. The original Li Yu was the one who had attachments to the Li Clan.

But Rayden? Well, he really had no connection to them, and he was not about to tie himself to something he wasn’t particularly concerned about.

The amount of wealth he would obtain from selling thousands of beast cores would surely be tremendous... sincerely, extremely so. He wouldn’t need to rely on the Li Clan for anything and could become completely independent.

Li Yu had deep responsibilities because he was closely associated with the clan. After all, he was the heir. But he was gone now. What remained was Rayden. So yes, he wasn’t planning to tie himself down with any Li Clan.

Yet now, with all those plans already made, they were about to be ruined by the group standing before him. Truthfully, Rayden’s smile wasn’t entirely warm. It was simply a mask.

Why the hell are they here now? He opened his mouth and asked a question, not letting any of the irritation he felt seep through. "What brings you guys here?" he asked, still maintaining the smile on his face.

Meanwhile, the four people simply stared at him, unable to look away. Then, one after another, they asked their questions. "Is it really you, Brother Yu?" Yuexin asked.

"Wait, you aren’t dead?" Li Feng asked. "Why the hell did you enter the Beast Forest to run away to? You made us suffer a lot, you know," Li Xie asked. "What kind of outfit is that?" Li Jie asked.

Li Yu’s face twitched slightly as he listened to the barrage of questions. Then he spoke, replying to all of them at once.

"Yes, as you can see, it’s me. And I’m alive because I fought and survived. About running here... sincerely, I think I must have drunk too much and sleepwalked here. And this outfit—" He pointed at his elegant black attire. "—is a piece of art worn by one of my role models."

The four simply continued staring at him in silence after he finished answering. Surely, they weren’t satisfied by those answers at all. One could clearly see it in their eyes. They had plenty more questions to ask.

Right now, however, they were simply too stunned to ask them. The uncomfortable silence continued for several minutes before it was finally broken by Yuexin. She rushed forward. Li Yu instantly tensed up, his battle instincts honed over the past month activating automatically.

However, he couldn’t sense even the slightest hostility from her. Of course. What was he even thinking? If there was one person who loved the old Li Yu, it was this insanely beautiful girl. Yuexin wrapped her arms around his body, her tense frame finally relaxing.

"Thank the heavens..." she whispered. Her voice broke slightly. All the tension that had built up inside her over the past few weeks, ever since she heard that Li Yu had entered the Beast Forest despite being a mortal, finally erupted.

She had been terrified of being too late. Terrified of finding only a corpse. That fear had never left her. No matter how much she tried to suppress it. She knew she would break if she ever saw Li Yu not with his warm smile, but with a lifeless face.

But thank goodness. He was alive. "Thank the gods..." She repeated the words again as small sobs escaped her lips. Her face buried itself into Li Yu’s shoulder. It seemed he had truly scared her.

Li Yu looked down at the scene and honestly didn’t know what to do. Wait. Should he push her away? He really wasn’t familiar with girls. One could say he was a super nerd. Not because he was scared of girls, though. No.

He simply had never had many meaningful interactions with people in general, much less the opposite sex. Even with all those thoughts running through his mind, Li Yu found himself wrapping his arms around her and gently patting her head.

Even he didn’t know why he was doing it. It simply felt like the right thing to do. He had done it instinctively. "No worries, little sis." He smiled faintly. "Sorry for making you worry. But as you can see, I’m all good."

Yuexin stopped crying but only hugged him tighter, almost as though she feared he would disappear again if she loosened her grip. Li Feng, watching the scene unfold, couldn’t hold back any longer and let out a loud cough, ruining the touching atmosphere.

Li Yu and Yuexin quickly separated. Though Yuexin still held onto his hand. Looking directly into his eyes, she spoke. "Promise me, Brother Yu. You won’t ever leave me again." Li Yu rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

He didn’t want to make such a promise. Because truthfully, he already planned on leaving all of them sooner or later. And he wasn’t fond of lying. Still, Yuexin’s gaze remained fixed on him. Pleading. The longer she stared, the more awkward he became. frёewebηovel.cѳm

Wait. What exactly was he supposed to say now? Fortunately, the awkward situation didn’t last long. Li Jie’s troubled voice suddenly sounded. "Hey, Brother Yu... are you the one who killed all these beasts yourself?"

His expression had become incredibly complicated. He was already at the Mid Stage of Qi Gathering Realm. Yet he was one hundred percent certain that he couldn’t replicate such a feat.

Even if he entered Qi Refining Realm, he still wouldn’t be confident in slaughtering several hundred beasts so brutally while leaving none alive. And Li Yu was supposedly a mortal.

Now that he thought about it, Li Jie’s gaze shifted back toward Li Yu. As he sensed his aura once more, he froze. "Wait a minute..." The words barely formed on his lips before he forced down his shock and spoke in a stupefied voice.

"When did you start cultivating... and when did you reach the Peak of the Body Refinement Realm?"

The group’s attention instantly focused entirely on Li Yu. Actually, their gazes had already been locked onto him before. Now they simply became even more intense.

Then they all realized what they had overlooked due to the shock they had been in. It was true. Li Yu was at the Peak Stage of the Body Refinement Realm.

The last time they saw him, he had been nothing more than a mortal with a broken spirit root. Someone destined to never walk the path of cultivation. Yet now, after only a few short weeks, he was no longer a mortal but a Peak Stage Body Refinement cultivator. It simply made no sense.

Li Feng and the two brothers looked at him with visible shock and disbelief written all over their faces. Meanwhile, Yuexin looked extremely happy for him. Though she was also shocked and deeply curious.

Without anyone needing to tell him, Li Yu could already guess what was about to happen next. They were going to bombard him with endless questions.

Before they could open their mouths and drown him in inquiries, Li Yu raised a hand. "I know you all have questions, but this isn’t the ideal place for me to explain myself." He pointed deeper into the forest.

"I have an abode nearby. Let’s discuss everything there." With that, he began walking. Yuexin immediately followed closely behind him. It seemed she was deadly serious about never letting him disappear again.

Li Feng and the two brothers exchanged quick glances before following after the duo. As they walked, Li Feng couldn’t help but turn around and look at the countless beast corpses littering the area.

Most of them had their heads or chests smashed inward. It was strange. Li Feng was extremely knowledgeable about combat. Because of that, he was certain of one thing.

Most of these beasts... Had been killed with a single punch. Most of these beasts were killed by a punch, which made no sense at all.

After all, Li Yu was only at the Peak of Body Refinement Realm, and even assuming he was especially powerful at that stage, he still shouldn’t have been able to kill Level One beasts with an ordinary punch.

Yet not only had Level One beasts died from what seemed to be simple punches, but even several Level Two beasts had been killed the same way. How can this be? Li Feng thought before shaking his head.

He shouldn’t be thinking about this right now. He would learn the truth from Li Yu himself. With that thought, he turned and joined the others, all of them heading toward Li Yu’s abode.

Li Jie’s thoughts, however, were completely different from Li Feng’s. Instead, he was thinking about sneakily coming back later to carve up all those dead beasts.

They would fetch more than a fortune, and he would finally be able to buy things truly fitting for his fabulous style. What Li Jie didn’t know, however, was that this would never happen.

If there was one aspect of Li Yu’s personality that overshadowed most of his other traits, then it would be his greed. There was absolutely no way he would allow someone else to reap the rewards of work that he had sown.

Never. Ever. Unless he was the one reaping somebody else’s work. Now that was perfectly acceptable. But someone else enjoying the fruits of his struggle? Absolutely not.

That was why he had already made plans to harvest all the beast cores himself. A few minutes after the group left, a figure flashed onto the battlefield covered in corpses.

Green hair flickered with residual green lightning, and his robes bore several bloodstains as he surveyed the scene. King Rayden’s expression became complicated.

He knew the original was strong. But this? This was crazy strong. Yes, he had been sent to hunt in another part of the forest and had successfully killed over two hundred and sixty powerful beasts while harvesting their cores.

But compared to this... Looking around, there had to be at least four hundred and fifty beasts here. His own achievements suddenly seemed almost pathetic by comparison.

Shaking his head wryly, King Rayden wiped some blood from his face and got to work. Several lightning hands materialized in the air. Then they immediately began harvesting the cores. By the time the harvesting was complete, there were over five hundred and fifty beast cores in total.

Without wasting any time, King Rayden headed toward the larger cave where the previously gathered cores were being stored. It was separate from the abode where they resided.

Adding the five hundred and fifty beast cores to the two hundred and sixty he had gathered himself, they now possessed a total of eight hundred and ten beast cores. And with the ones already stored there from before, the total number had surpassed a thousand.

With this many beast cores, the original would surely possess tremendous wealth. Just what the hell is he planning to use all these cores for? King Rayden wondered.

Remembering the maniac grin on the original’s face when he declared that he had a plan... A great plan.

King Rayden couldn’t help rubbing the side of his head. No matter what, he was certain of one thing. The original was planning something crazy again.

------

Meanwhile, Li Yu and the four members of the Li Clan arrived at his cave. The damaged section of the wall that Li Yu had smashed apart the previous night was still there, but he paid it no attention.

The interior was relatively messy. Piles of bones lay scattered here and there. It almost looked less like the home of a man and more like the nest of some wild beast that devoured everything in its path.

Now that they were here, however, they couldn’t help but become curious about what Li Yu had to say. After ordering them to take seats, Li Yu sat down upon a massive skull belonging to some large beast.

The more the group looked at Li Yu and the things surrounding him, the more they felt as though they weren’t looking at Li Yu at all, but rather some powerful horror wearing his face.

Even his grin appeared strangely feral. All of them thought so. Well... All except Li Yuexin. She sat right beside Li Yu. Carefully, she cleaned the blood from his face and hair before turning to look at him.

A warm smile practically lit up her face. It was as though merely seeing Li Yu’s face brought her immense happiness. "Okay, Li Yu." Li Feng finally spoke. "Begin your story.

Tell us everything that happened to you in this forest and how you suddenly became a Peak Stage Body Refinement cultivator." Li Yuexin and the two brothers nodded. They all seemed extremely eager to hear his explanation.

The four sat before him on their skull chairs while Li Yu sat at the head, legs crossed like some wise elder preparing to advise a group of junior disciples. His gaze suddenly became serious.

Seeing that expression, all four immediately straightened up and focused entirely on him. Li Yu spoke. His voice was calm. His expression serious.

"All of you listen carefully. This is the story of how I, Li Yu, died... and came back alive as a new being."