Chapter 2958: Chapter 2958
"This feels just like last time!" Tang Hao remarked after waiting for a while, turning to Tang Xinyao and Tang Qianyu.
The two women nodded in agreement, their suspicions growing stronger.
Tang Xinyao then sent a mental message to the other two: *"Once they start fighting, we’ll move in closer to observe!"*
Meanwhile, the First Doppelganger had already begun eliminating the martial cultivators stationed around the planet to intercept and encircle them. He had even equipped the Vermilion Bird with an invisibility cloak, coordinating with it to silently implant slave seals on their targets one by one using soul attacks.
Three Black Tortoises were also released, tasked with swiftly killing those cultivators who wore soul-defense treasures, then discreetly collecting their corpses. The outer perimeter of martial cultivators was being cleared without a sound. Even two Unity Realm experts hiding in the void were swiftly executed by the Black Tiger, cloaked in invisibility and striking them down with beams of white light.
However, it didn’t take long for the An Family’s leading elder to realize that some of their members had gone silent. He immediately ordered all An Family cultivators to regroup, preventing the enemy from picking them off one by one.
At this point, the Second Doppelganger and the Crimson Viper also emerged, both draped in invisibility cloaks. Working in pairs, the Second Doppelganger used his Scarlet Eye Illusion to ensnare the martial cultivators, while the Crimson Viper drained their power of bloodline. The entire operation was a silent, methodical hunt—everyone was quietly eliminating An Family cultivators from the shadows.
As a result, Tang Xinyao and her companions waited for a long time without witnessing any visible conflict.
"Why haven’t they made a move yet?" Tang Qianyu muttered, growing impatient.
"Let’s go take a look ourselves!" Tang Xinyao decided, no longer willing to wait. She led the other two toward the planet.
By now, the An Family cultivators had withdrawn to positions surrounding the source energy, maintaining a cautious distance while keeping watch, waiting for the doppelgangers to reveal themselves.
But the First Doppelganger and the Vermilion Bird were still working covertly, having already taken control of many An Family members. The rest of the team was holding back, waiting for the signal to strike. Because of this, even after a full day, the An Family cultivators hadn’t been completely wiped out—the planet remained eerily quiet.
Tang Xinyao and her group had already infiltrated the planet by then. Yet, the unsettling silence only deepened their confusion. Cautiously, the three of them advanced toward the location of the source energy.
But the moment they drew near, the An Family cultivators detected them.
Without invisibility cloaks, they were easy to spot. At the same time, the doppelgangers—through the minds of the controlled An Family members—learned that the trio had followed them and were now exposed.
"It must be Tang Xinyao’s idea!" he inwardly grumbled, still blaming her.
The An family’s martial cultivators had already confirmed their identities and were tightening their encirclement, preparing to ambush them.
The An family elders hadn’t expected this either. Originally, they had intended to lie in wait for Ye Liuyun and his group, but instead, they had stumbled upon three of the Tang family’s prodigies. Given their current setup, eliminating them would be an easy task—one they certainly wouldn’t pass up.
Meanwhile, the first doppelgänger and the Vermilion Bird took advantage of the An family’s focus on Tang Xinyao and her companions to seize control of even more of their martial cultivators.
Soon after, the Black Tiger stealthily approached the An family’s lead elder, who was at the third level of the Guiyi Realm—far beyond their strength. That was why they planned to take him down with the white light.
But the Black Tiger wasn’t careful enough with the invisibility cloak, and the elder detected him prematurely. The elder immediately struck, forcing the two doppelgängers to unleash their full power with their blades to block the attack. In that instant, the Black Tiger fired a beam of white light, piercing straight through the elder’s chest.
The doppelgängers then used spatial teleportation to instantly remove the elder’s corpse, leaving no trace of the white light’s lethal strike.
"Attack!" the doppelgängers immediately signaled everyone to begin eliminating the remaining An family experts. Meanwhile, the An family members they had already controlled were ordered to gather near the source of primordial energy, keeping them out of the crossfire.
Only when the battle erupted did Tang Xinyao and her two companions realize they were surrounded. However, Tang Xinyao had witnessed the entire sequence of the An family elder’s death.
"That white light... but those two who wielded blades—they weren’t the ones who fired it! Could there be others who can use that light?" Tang Xinyao was puzzled.
The two most powerful sword auras had clearly come from the doppelgängers, originating from a different position than the white light. But since all of them were cloaked in invisibility, she couldn’t tell who had unleashed the beam.
She had seen Tang Xiaofeng use that white light before—she was certain of it.
"Could it be that all of them have mastered these techniques—the sword aura, the flames, and the white light?"
Tang Hao and Tang Qianyu had also seen the white light and confirmed it was identical to the one Tang Xiaofeng had used. Yet, this only made them more uncertain about whether the first doppelgänger was actually Tang Xiaofeng.
Unaware of the situation, the remaining An family martial cultivators assumed Tang Xinyao and her group had launched the attack and charged toward them. With no choice, the three of them joined the fray.
The clones took advantage of the chaos to swiftly eliminate the remaining An Family martial artists. The three Black Tortoises moved with deadly efficiency, alternating between assassinations and strikes of black light.
Tang Xinyao’s group was no less formidable, and the battle concluded quickly, plunging the planet back into silence.
The clone team then activated their stealth cloaks, reappearing before the martial artists they had subdued. The weaker ones had their souls devoured by the Black Tortoises to replenish their energy, while the stronger few were directly stored away by Tian Dao Ye into his spatial realm. The corpses were all collected by the demonic beasts for later use.
Only then did they remove their cloaks, revealing themselves. The Second Clone went to retrieve the planet while the others entered the First Clone’s spatial world to recuperate.
Noticing the fighting had ceased, Tang Xinyao and her companions approached. The First Clone quickly gathered the corpses of those they had just slain.
"What are you doing with those?" Tang Qianyu asked him.
"Feeding them to the savage beasts. No point wasting them now that they’re dead. Also helps cover our tracks," the First Clone replied casually.
"That habit of yours really reminds me of Junior Brother Xiaofeng," Tang Xinyao remarked, her tone seemingly offhand.
The First Clone shrugged. "Of course. We all share that habit."
Hearing this, Tang Xinyao realized she couldn’t use that detail to identify them and smoothly shifted the topic. "How effective is our Buddha Light against the alien races?"
The First Clone didn’t overthink it, focusing instead on the question. "Based on your level of Buddha Light, you can suppress about twenty percent of their strength."
"Oh? You know how strong our Buddha Light is?" Tang Xinyao pressed, her eyes sharp.
The clone nearly flinched—almost falling into her trap again. But he recovered swiftly. "How would I know? Everyone here has the same ability to counter them."
"But the intensity of Buddha Light varies from person to person here," she pressed further.
"Roughly the same, I’d say," the clone replied, now wary of saying too much.
At that moment, the Second Clone began absorbing the planet, pulling it entirely into his spatial world.
