Chapter 303: Chapter 296: Indignant!
"Forest of Slumber?" Duan Li raised his brows as the name felt familiar to him before he thought deeply, trying to uncover any sorts of information of the place from his future recollection before he shook his head.
Not good, I can't seem to remember anything about the place!
"That's right. It's a forbidden region in the South of the Jiu Empire. As to why it was called as such, its because of the natural environment, or specifically, all the living plants there constantly released numerous types of pollens!" Liu Sheng Juan replied.
He then explained that the pollens were so small to the point that just breathing in the air would inhale hundreds of different types of pollens at once! This was fatal to any living creatures that was not local to the environment as the pollens were mostly poisonous!
In fact, there were cases that some of the pollens could infect and control the host like a parasite!
The only known way to enter the forest and survive was to not breath in the air. As for cultivators, they also must not breath in the spiritual Qi in the area as some pollens could enter through the pores!
For cultivators, not breathing in and absorbing spiritual Qi for some time was not a problem as long as they were not engaged in a fight. All it would do to them was at most a significant reduction to the rate of Qi cycle in their body. However, the Forest itself was home to some multitudes of ravenous monsters of 2 stars and above, therefore fighting against such beast was always part of the equation when one entered the forest.
This was the main reason why it was named as the Forest of Slumber, unless one was really an expert in self-preservation, it would become the eternal resting place for those that entered!
"Are you thinking of going after her? I don't think that's a good idea. Besides, your mother is one of the most tenacious woman I ever know, and it would take more than a forest to bring her down." Liu Sheng Juan calmly said. "This is especially the case after you managed to resolve her long-time affliction from the Demiruke's virus. She was a barbaricly strong woman before, and now that she had regained her strength, I am more worried that she would burn the whole forest down instead." he added with a sigh.
Hearing this, Duan Li's face turned red in embarrassment. Knowing his mother, she might really go overboard and destroy the nature in a fit of anger if she was annoyed!
"How about this then? We will inform the patrols in the southern border to look out for your mother. Once she was found or returns, we will be able to know by then." Liu Sheng Juan suggested. But seeing that Duan Li was still worried, he continued on, "If you are still worried, why not give it a week's time? If she still did not return by then, you can go after her."
Duan Li pondered for a moment before nodding to his suggestion.
"Good. It would be inconvenient if you were to suddenly depart to somewhere else. After all, you have just been crowned as the Imperial Overseer so you have some things to do." Liu Sheng Juan then took out a jade slip as he handed it to Duan Li.
"Inside that jade slip are the list of things that you should complete in a week's time. Go through them one by one and if you are not sure on what to do, you can always contact Bian Tianyu. He'll be able to advise you with Zhang Xi."
Receiving the jade slip, Duan Li's brows twitched as he browsed through the contents.
"There are so many..."
He almost bursted down into tears. He hadn't imagine that being the Imperial Overseer was something like this. It looks like this Liu Sheng Juan fellow was really calculative and had prepared all these lists beforehand!
He thought that as someone sitting at the very top of the hierarchy, he would only have to instruct others to do his biddings. But who would have thought that he had to do all the cumbersome stuff such as listening to the whims of nobles and citizens, as well as settling disputes of influential people and putting down stamps of approval for everything else?
What the heck is this? Isn't this supposed to be the job of the Emperor?
Don't tell me this is the reason why he wanted to make me the Imperial Overseer?
Clutching at his hair, Duan Li was about to go mad before he recalled something.
"Hang on...!"
With a flick of his finger, a golden talisman appeared on his right hand. This was the Ethereal Golden Talisman that he got as a gift for defeating his clone back in the second region!
"If I remember correctly, he said that this thing can produce my clone?" Duan Li cupped at his chin.
Let's give it a try!
Injecting his spiritual Qi into it, the golden talisman shone bright with a golden color before bursting into flames. This flame then enlarged itself before morphing into the shape of a human!
Looking at the newly formed figure, Liu Sheng Juan could not help but to widened his eyes a little in shock.
"Is that.. a clone?"
He previously had considered the possibility that Duan Li would have the means similar like this to shirk his responsibility away, and he planned to reject such an idea outright from the start. After all, a clone was far too lacking to do a proper desk job with their low level intelligence.
Furthermore, what if high profile envoys from the other empires were to come, wanting to seek audience with him? Those experts would surely be able to tell the difference between a human and a clone! If they were to be offended, wouldn't that be creating unnecessary enemy?
However, the clone standing still before them with a solemn look to it right now appeared to be very life-like!
In fact, even when he scanned it with his Soul Sense, he couldn't tell the difference between the two!
"Hello clone!" Duan Li greeted the other party with an excited face.
The clone stared at Duan Li for a while, scanning him from top to bottom before it furrowed its brows together, seemingly to be in displeasure.
"What do you want?" the clone replied with a serious tone.
Hearing such a cold reply from the other party, Duan Li's lips twitched. Then, he was stunned silence for a while.
"What's wrong?" Liu Sheng Juan asked curiosly.
"It seems that... we can connect to each other's thoughts!" Duan Li answered as he finally comprehended something.
No wonder he felt displeased, it turns out that it had read my mind!
"You guys are able to share your thoughts together?" Liu Sheng Juan was once again surprised.
It was fortunate that he had prepared himself mentally to never be too shocked with Duan Li's means, ever since the day he knew the other party was able to cultivate all three dantians. As far as he knows, no matter how delicate one made their clone were, clones would never be able to emulate their original perfectly!
"Hmph. That much is a given. I am an artifact at the God-level tier after all. We can not only share our thoughts, but we can practically communicate with each other over vast distances, as long as we are in the same dimensional space anyway." the clone harrumphed as he replied to the obvious question posed by Liu Sheng Juan as if looking at a fool.
He then threw a suspicious look at Duan Li. "However, what I do not understand is that how someone lowly like you were able to possess something as rare as me... are you a thief?"
"Ah? You dare to accuse me as a thief? I've beaten the a*s of someone of your kind before, do you want to give this daddy a try too?" Duan Li said in exasperation.
Just what is up with clones? Why are they more overbearing than the original? Is this normal?
Even calling me lowly! I'm your damned original you fool!
I'm extremely indignant right now!
Hearing this, the clone was visibly surprised. "You are able to beat a clone like me?"
Seeming to be untrusting of Duan Li's words, the clone dived into Duan Li's memories before a gasp could be heard.
"He really was able to beat one of my species!" he looked at Duan Li as if staring at a ghost.
As a God tier artifact, they were originally crafted to be more powerful than their original counterpart as they could emulate everything as long as one was below the realms of an immortal. They were normally used to replace powerful figures that stood at the apex of the thousand worlds within the mortal realms. This was because some people would sometimes lose their minds once they no longer found joy in being the strongest one in their world.
Most of the time, these people would either go on a killing spree before ending their own life once every single living being died under their hands, while the more sinister one would conduct a demonic ritual to sacrifice millions of people in order to break through to become an immortal. At such cases, the Heaven's Will committee would usually step in to save the world by replacing them with a clone like him.
To date, there was no one that was able to beat a clone of his species, but he was staring at one right now!
By the looks of it however, this original of his had to pay an extremely heavy price for it!
"Hmph.. fine! I, Utmost Being, gives you the permission to be my original!" the clone declared as it clasped its hands behind its back, raising its chin upwards to look at Duan Li with a higher eye level, as if looking at a dirty person.
"..." Duan Li and Liu Sheng Juan.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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_Ram_ Second release of the week! Enjoy and thanks for reading! ;)
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