Two clones moved quickly.

One to the left, one to the right.

One in front, one behind.

One dark, one bright.

One clone first reached out a hand from underground, grabbing Li Xuanxiao’s ankle.

That hand was almost immediately severed.

Li Xuanxiao looked at the spreading poison on his ankle and frowned slightly.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, although no ominous aura came from behind him at this moment,

Li Xuanxiao still wielded the Myriad Soul Banner to strike fiercely backward.

Sure enough!!

The other clone’s hand emitted a glow, a lotus-shaped hidden weapon swirling within it.

With the sound of breaking air,

Li Xuanxiao summoned a body from within the Myriad Soul Banner to block in front of him.

He controlled the soul formed by that figure and, after catching the hidden weapon with the body, instantly exploded it as a shield.

Li Xuanxiao barely had time to steady his steps before realizing something was wrong.

A formation!?

Such a familiar battle method.

Beidou Demon Suppressing Formation!

Standing within the formation, Li Xuanxiao immediately felt a powerful pressure—a pressure from the surrounding star power.

They tightly bound Li Xuanxiao, making it impossible for him to move.

This formation was recorded in the Mount Shushan annals but had many flaws.

Li Xuanxiao made numerous modifications, improving it into a new formation.

Now, he looked at the formation trapping him with surprise.

Isn’t this the formation I improved?

Li Xuanxiao had no time to ponder further and mobilized his spiritual energy, attempting to break free from the restraint.

But he quickly found his spiritual power suppressed by the star power, unable to exert its true strength.

As time passed, Li Xuanxiao felt his spiritual energy being rapidly drained by the star power.

Seeing this, Li Xuanxiao’s heart stirred.

He immediately realized this was a sign the formation was nearing completion.

Li Xuanxiao performed footwork beneath him—reversing the Beidou Maze Step.

This was a footwork technique that could disrupt the trajectory of star power. Li Xuanxiao had spent a great deal of time and effort studying it.

As Li Xuanxiao moved, his figure became blurred.

The star power originally concentrated together lost its original trajectory because of his footwork.

The star power’s trajectory was completely disrupted, and the formation could no longer withstand the chaos;

it began to collapse gradually.

Li Xuanxiao raised the Myriad Soul Banner.

Three souls formed a shield around him, alert and watching the surroundings.

This person’s actions—how are they so much like my former self!?

Before Li Xuanxiao could figure it out, the ground beneath him suddenly cracked open.

A burst of white light surged forth.

A dazzling sword light stabbed toward Li Xuanxiao.

Without hesitation, Li Xuanxiao pushed the soul figure before him to collide fiercely with the sword light.

Black energy swirled like a dark tornado, roaring as it swept upward, fiercely clashing with the sword light.

Li Xuanxiao held a sword at his side.

The other Li Xuanxiao held the Myriad Soul Banner.

They locked eyes, each seeing astonishment in the other’s gaze.

Who!?

Myself!?

The Nascent Soul within Li Xuanxiao’s body separated from the physical form to join the battle.

The Nascent Soul transformed into a streak of white light, rushing directly toward the Li Xuanxiao wielding the Myriad Soul Banner.

Both Li Xuanxiaos were at the Nascent Soul cultivation realm.

One had just succeeded in forming the Core, yet wielded the Myriad Soul Banner.

The Myriad Soul Banner waved rapidly in the air;

suddenly, cold winds howled.

Sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling echoed repeatedly;

the sky darkened ominously, the sun and moon lost their light.

Li Xuanxiao held a sword in one hand while forming sword seals with the other.

A powerful true energy surged out from his Purple Palace Dantian.

The Lifebound Flying Sword inside the Purple Palace Dantian began to vibrate violently, humming as if responding to Li Xuanxiao’s summons, eager to unleash its sharpness.

Li Xuanxiao concentrated all his true energy to his fingertip, then suddenly pointed forward, aiming into the darkness.

A dazzling white light shot from his fingertip like lightning, slicing through the dark sky.

With unparalleled might, it stabbed straight toward the Myriad Soul Banner.

Li Xuanxiao was wounded by the sword qi;

the Myriad Soul Banner trembled.

He gripped the banner firmly, staring in shock at the other.

“Who are you!?”

Both spoke almost simultaneously.

Heart demon!?

Almost at the same moment, this thought rose in their minds.

In the cultivation world, there has always been the saying of slaying the Three Corpses.

The heart demon form is the embodiment of obsession.

Slaying the Three Corpses requires severing the obsessions of good, evil, and self, then entrusting them to external objects. However, during the severing, the obsessions condense into a physical heart demon.

The Good Corpse: manifests as an incarnation of excessive compassion.

The Evil Corpse: filled with a murderous desire.

The Self Corpse: the most dangerous mirror image, possessing all memories and divine powers of the original.

Slaying the Three Corpses is a supreme trial for cultivators to break through realms.

Success leads to transcendence beyond cause and effect;

failure results in eternal entrapment in the abyss of obsession.

However, no matter what, slaying the Three Corpses shouldn’t involve him, Li Xuanxiao.

He was only barely at the Nascent Soul realm.

Besides, he had slept in the Tian Sha Hall of Di Nü Feng for thirty years.

Upon awakening, the entire world had turned upside down.

Even his own heart demon had become manifested.

Li Xuanxiao’s thoughts raced.

The Li Xuanxiao wielding the Myriad Soul Banner had already reacted first.

He once again activated the Myriad Soul Banner.

A mass of black energy appeared, enveloping him in space.

Li Xuanxiao saw this and raised his sword to intercept.

But the other’s figure had already vanished from this place,

Leaving behind only a meaningful glance.

Li Xuanxiao quickly deployed his divine sense but could not detect even a trace of the other’s aura.

“...........”

Li Xuanxiao’s figure appeared on a mountain peak.

He retracted the Myriad Soul Banner into his body and rapidly made his judgment about what had just happened.

That familiar sword qi, that familiar combat method—there was no doubt it was himself.

The Three Corpses?

How could there be Three Corpses at my realm?

But recalling previous events,

When I passed through the Nascent Soul Thunder Tribulation, I almost got struck dead by the Heavenly Dao.

It’s not unreasonable for the mysterious Three Corpses to appear.

But the key question is...

Which one of us is the corpse?

Li Xuanxiao recalled everything with no contradictions.

But...

How did I escape when Mount Shushan was destroyed?

Why was my awakened memory completely blank, with no recollection of escaping from Mount Shushan?

Meanwhile, the other self was at Nascent Soul realm while I had to start over.

And recalling the subtle strange behaviors of Di Nü Feng before.

Oh! So... so I am the corpse.

Li Xuanxiao suddenly understood the key to it all.