Holy crap?!

So…

Does this count as solving the case?!

Du Yuheng… is really a clone?!

A clone severed from the other clones, undetectable?!

So after the eyeball ripped from his body was installed into Li Si’s body…

Jiang Ye could sense the “Li Si” clone?

But…

Li Si’s appearance didn’t change into Jiang Ye.

So…

Maybe Jiang Ye’s previous understanding of clones was one-sided?

Maybe the core criterion others used to judge someone as a “Jiang Ye clone” wasn’t that the whole face had to match the clone’s face…

But rather… the eyeball?

So, even if the outward appearance didn’t change, if the eyeball became his eyeball, it could still be judged as a “clone”?

The eyeball…

It actually made sense.

Jiang Ye remembered that the uniqueness of a person’s iris is supposedly even more precise than fingerprints.

Many high-precision identity systems use iris recognition technology.

So…

It was indeed very likely that the basis for judging his clones was the iris?

Unfortunately, at this moment Li Si’s clone was still only a Fake Clone.

Witch Gui Jiang Ye could sense him.

But Witch Gui Jiang Ye had not yet bound a Formless Leaf, and still couldn’t use Clone Skills.

So this clone sensing could only be a small surprise.

Jiang Ye’s attention quickly fell back to Li Si, using the remaining viewpoint from Du Yuheng’s lone left eye.

After Li Si installed Du Yuheng’s right eye, nothing abnormal happened.

He still seemed unable to clearly see the surrounding world with that right eye.

However, his right hand had again transformed into that same “Hidden Hand” state he had displayed in front of Chen Cang.

Then that now-solid black Hidden Hand slowly touched the eyeball that belonged to Du Yuheng.

The black mass seemed to merge into that right eye.

Visually it looked as if Du Yuheng’s right eye had swallowed Li Si’s Hidden Hand!

After the entire right hand was swallowed…

The right eye sitting in Li Si’s eye socket slowly emitted a dark purple gleam.

A hint of surprise appeared on Li Si’s face as he breathed, “It worked!”

Then the dark purple light flowed in his eye.

It looked like he really had contacted the outside players again through Du Yuheng’s eye.

Not long after…

The whole Blood Pool space seemed to ignite anew.

This group of players felt a sudden inexplicable warmth!

Even the previously calm Blood Pool strangely began to seethe!

After this phenomenon lasted for a dozen seconds or so…

With a “whoosh,” a giant flame-shaped illusion tore through the sky and came through the void!

That massive flame-like figure descended from the horizon and landed among the players.

Witch Gui Jiang Ye immediately recognized it—

That fiery figure was the same presence that had earlier forced Chen Cang to abandon the Fire Chain and hide in the Blood Pool!

Now, this being had actively entered this Blood Pool space!

The flame figure didn’t seem to care about this group of players at all.

It only lingered briefly, then charged straight into the now-boiling Blood Pool.

At that moment, a strange sight appeared—

Previously, the eerie creature that formed from the giant skeleton in the Blood Pool hadn’t caused the pool water to spill even a drop.

But this time…

After the flame figure plunged into the pool…

It was as if a bathtub already full of water had suddenly swallowed a colossal creature.

The Blood Pool water crazily surged out!

Taken off guard, the players instinctively tried to avoid the gushing Blood Pool water.

Very quickly they discovered that the spilled Blood Pool water rapidly changed from liquid to solid!

The flowing Blood Pool water instantly turned into blood-colored iron chains!

Weren’t those the same iron chains that extended from the Blood Pool up to the Apartment Rooftop?

After flowing out of the pool, the chain solidified immediately.

Yet it still seemed to retain a fluidity!

One by one, blood-colored iron chains spread outward like a liquid.

The sight left Lin Dong dumbstruck.

He had entered the Blood Pool space earlier and hadn’t seen that flame figure before, so he thought—

“Could that flame figure be the Fire Chain Key evolved into a being?”

“The Fire Chain Key… has become sentient??”

Li Ku and Li Si didn’t answer him.

Li Ku stared at the iron chains spilling from the pool and said bluntly, “Now we should be able to explore the Blood Pool!”

With that he moved to probe into the Blood Pool.

Li Si followed closely.

Their swift actions showed not the slightest intention of returning Du Yuheng’s eyeball.

Du Yuheng also headed toward the Blood Pool, frowning, “My right eye, you’re not planning on giving it back?”

Li Si paused, then replied in a low voice, “One eye won’t affect vision.”

“Why not let me borrow the right eye a bit longer?”

“We’ll return it after we explore the Blood Pool?”

That shameless line…

Both Jiang Ye and Lin Dong thought Du Yuheng would lose it.

But he only kept a stern face and swallowed his anger: “You better keep your word!”

So Li Ku and Li Si were the first to jump into the Blood Pool.

Lin Dong hesitated a moment, then followed immediately.

Outside the Blood Pool, where the blood-colored chains continued to spread, only Lin Jing’s five-man team and Du Yuheng the one-eyed remained.

Lin Jing looked at Du Yuheng with a complicated expression.

He said little, then felt around for a chain and jumped into the Blood Pool.

The remaining four copied him.

This time Jiang Ye saw clearly…

Although the blood-colored chains seemed to be the Blood Pool water that had flowed out then solidified, those same chains also existed within the pool.

This group of players could explore the Blood Pool by following the chains as a path…

When only Du Yuheng remained, Jiang Ye couldn’t help asking, “You’re not going to explore the pool?”

Du Yuheng was silent, offering no answer.

A few minutes passed.

The ground of the Blood Pool space became covered with blood-colored iron chains.

Then the entire ground inexplicably began to tremble slowly.

This kind of tremor was not unfamiliar to Jiang Ye.

He had felt this on the Apartment Rooftop before!

Sure enough, along with the tremor…

A strange stone pillar rose slowly from the center of the Blood Pool!

It looked exactly like the pillar the Blood Skin clone had seen in the pool.

When the Formation Master took the Blood Skin clone, it had been by peeling the clone’s blood from this very eerie pillar!

Now he saw the pillar again…

Jiang Ye’s mind stirred, and in the next second his vision darted.

Du Yuheng, sharing the dual-soul fusion with him, leaped directly onto the pillar.

He hadn’t jumped into the Blood Pool like the other players; rather, he seemed to be waiting for this stone pillar.

The pillar obliged him.

Once he stood on it, the pillar slowly sank deeper into the pool.

Only then did Witch Gui Jiang Ye get a deeper perspective of the Blood Pool.

From the outside, it didn’t seem very large.

But inside it resembled what the Blood Skin clone had experienced—the space seemed boundless.

Using Du Yuheng’s view, Jiang Ye saw blood-red stretching in all directions.

As the eerie pillar descended, the pool’s surface above seemed to vanish.

Where he looked was nothing but blood-red.

The other players who had jumped in were completely out of sight.

They sank on with the pillar for an unknown length of time.

The red in the view grew deeper and deeper.

It shifted from red into a dense black.

Until the black approached a kind of visual void.

Just as Jiang Ye wondered if Du Yuheng’s remaining left eye had a problem…

The steadily descending pillar suddenly hit a pause.

Then came a slight vibration.

Although the view remained a black void…

It felt like the sinking pillar had finally reached the bottom region of the Blood Pool?

Jiang Ye was puzzled.

The shared body with Du Yuheng felt his left hand once more cover the left eye.

That movement… it seemed as if he removed the left eye, too.

Jiang Ye didn’t know how Du Yuheng handled the peeled-off left eye.

He only sensed Du Yuheng press the right palm onto the pillar.

Immediately a dull pain came from the center of his right palm.

It seemed something had cut his hand.

Then came a very familiar sensation!

The feeling of blood being sucked away!

This sensation could transmit across all disconnected clones, terrifying every clone!

Earlier, when drained by the Little Red Snake and when the Formless Tree had drained blood…

Jiang Ye had felt this extreme fear before!

This time it felt exactly the same!

He was stunned—

Was Du Yuheng trying to turn himself into a Desiccated Corpse?!

Or… a Blood Corpse?

He didn’t ask, only waited quietly and endured that inexplicable fear.

The final result was…

His body, or rather Du Yuheng’s body, seemed to transform into a blood-like state!

It looked similar to the clones who had been arranged by Salvation to jump into the Blood Pool and become blood-state clones.

But there were clear differences—

Those blood-state clones were immersed in the Blood Pool water.

Right now, somehow, Du Yuheng’s blood-state seemed to flow inside the eerie pillar!

Not along the surface patterns of the pillar.

It was as if inside the pillar there existed an internal space the blood flowed through!

In this state Jiang Ye’s vision remained pitch black.

He only felt himself flowing like a liquid.

He tried calling, “Du Yuheng?”

There was no response.

It was as if the Du Yuheng who had his blood sucked dry had vanished…

So Jiang Ye remained in this strange liquid state, flowing down inside the pillar…

After an unknown time of drifting in that void, a faint light finally poured into his blank vision.

At the same time—

“tic-tic—tic-tic—”

The faint sound of water broke the long, deathlike silence.

Jiang Ye’s sight and hearing slowly reawakened, making him feel as if he had died and been brought back to life!

Although his Conscious Soul Body did not rely on a physical body, Jiang Ye felt a strange rot, as if both flesh and spirit had decayed…

It was like he had slept for a very long time and was just now awakened.

After quite a while, his decayed consciousness and senses became fully alert.

Sight, hearing, sensation, and thought gradually cleared.

He found he was still a strange liquid body.

But not the red liquid of the blood-state clones.

It was a milky white mist-like liquid.

This liquid body seemed contained within some vessel.

Drops of fluid from the same source kept falling, one by one, into his liquid form.

The “tic-tic—” water sounds were probably those drops falling into his liquid body.

What…

was happening?

Jiang Ye tried to move, or at least use Witch Gui’s conscious soul body to change into a physical form…

But all attempts failed!

He felt sealed inside a vessel as a liquid body!

He called again inside his mind, “Du Yuheng?”

Still no answer!

Just as he wondered whether he would be sealed here for a long time…

Besides the dripping, he suddenly heard other voices at his ear:

“This… is the bottom of the Blood Pool? Or… the root of the World Tree?”

“But… it’s so dark, I can’t see anything!”

“Is there something wrong with my eyes, or is this place inherently so dark?”

Those voices—surprisingly—were Lin Dong and the Moon People who followed him!

Their voices sounded distant.

Their tones carried obvious fear and cautious probing.

To Jiang Ye’s surprise…

Although his vision couldn’t clearly see, he perceived a definite brightness.

The light even felt a bit dazzling.

It seemed the container holding his liquid body existed in a particularly bright space.

But Lin Dong and the others were saying… darkness?

Perhaps their eyes were malfunctioning?

As Jiang Ye thought this, the discussion settled to a conclusion—

“It should be that the World Tree root area has no natural light… that’s why it’s so pitch black here…”

“Quiet for a bit, I think I hear… faint water sounds coming from afar?”

That water sound should be the droplets falling where Jiang Ye was located.

After the talk paused, Lin Dong said, “Let’s try walking toward the water sound.”

Light footsteps followed.

Jiang Ye was judging something by those footsteps when another uncertain voice from the distant discussion said:

“Is this really the World Tree root?”

“Would there really be such solid ground beneath the earth?”

Then came two knocks, “dong dong,” and the questioning voice continued, “Listen, the sound my finger makes when I tap the ground…”

“This ground doesn’t feel like soil at all, more like… crystal?”

“Could we have… fallen into some crystal palace?”