Endless Clone Emperor

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"Su Zhan, right? Look at these 105 miscellaneous spirit stones. Many of them are of very poor quality!"

A big man in a tight robe with a hideous scar on his head examined a pile of dimly glowing stones on the table in front of him.

He picked them up casually, then stared at a young man, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a dirty face and a tired look, and said indifferently, "Only about ninety of these spirit stones are usable. That's less than a hundred. You won't get any reward today, and the stones are confiscated. Take care of yourself."

"This…"

The young man frowned, his expression changing to one of unwillingness.

These stones were the result of a whole day of digging, without rest. He hoped to earn a low-grade pure spirit stone as a reward.

But with one word from the man, the reward was gone, and the stones were taken away. This meant he would not only be beaten up later but also have to mine tomorrow while hungry, a feeling he had already experienced and hated.

"Brother Zhang…"

"Next!"

Su Zhan began to argue but stopped when he saw the bald man's unfriendly eyes and heard his intimidating shout. He sighed, turned around, and left the house reluctantly.

"Wait."

Behind the bald man, another man, thin and dangerous-looking, with closed eyes, suddenly spoke. His gaze was sharp, and Su Zhan felt seen through.

Su Zhan was at the first level of the ordinary realm, while the thin man was at the fourth level.

"Baldy, give him the spirit stone."

"Master Zhou, this…"

"Stop talking nonsense."

The bald man wanted to argue but quickly handed over a low-grade spirit stone after a glance from the thin man.

"Thank you very much, Master Zhou!" Su Zhan quickly bowed and thanked him. The thin man said nothing, sipping his wine and closing his eyes.

Outside, Su Zhan saw a long queue of people like him, dressed in simple, worn-out clothes, with tired faces. They were teenagers, middle-aged people, and elderly folks. Everyone was a cultivator at the first level of the mortal realm, working to dig spirit stone veins.

Some looked hopeless and numb, others excited and hopeful, and many whispered to each other about the day's events to lighten their mood.

But Su Zhan's thoughts were different.

"I hope this time, I can really have a chance to leave this place!"

He looked at his right palm, where a mysterious black mark had appeared. He'd accidentally cut his palm while digging, and the blood was absorbed by the mark, revealing ancient-looking characters.

Su Zhan thought of the system or gold finger often mentioned in fantasy novels but found no response when he tried to communicate with it. It remained silent.

However, when he received his reward and was about to eat, he noticed the black mark absorbing his low-grade spirit stone, emitting a bright light. But after the light faded, it returned to silence.

Despite various attempts, nothing happened. Su Zhan realized the mark might react to spirit stones but only pure ones. The mixed stones he dug didn't work.

Yesterday, after hard work, he fed it a low-grade pure spirit stone, but nothing happened. Today, he almost lost a day's work, but thanks to Master Zhou, he saved his spirit stone.

the gold I saved before will be used up. Should I feed it or save it?"

Su Zhan was hesitant.

The mine was a harsh place where people were treated poorly.

100 mixed spirit stones could be exchanged for 10 low-grade pure spirit stones in the outside world, but here, the ratio was one hundred to one!

Not only that, outside, one low-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for 100 gold or more, enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for a lifetime. But here, it was worth only 10 gold.

Even worse, the food sold in the mine was extremely expensive. A bowl of noodles cost 5 gold, and dishes cost dozens or hundreds of gold each. As a newcomer who had been forcibly brought here for less than a month, Su Zhan could barely afford it.

He had been surviving on savings from eating one meal a day, but tonight, his gold would run out. If he didn't exchange the low-grade spirit stone for gold, he would start starving by noon tomorrow.

"No matter! I'll be hungry!"

Without thinking too much, Su Zhan gritted his teeth and decided to act.

However, he didn't immediately place the spirit stone in his right hand. Instead, he walked straight to his "dormitory," a small broken wooden house with leaks on all sides.

After closing the door and confirming that there was no one around, Su Zhan transferred the spirit stone to his right hand.

Instantly, the spirit stone melted, and the black mark on his palm began to glow.

Su Zhan stared at the black mark, not wanting to miss any changes. But until the entire spirit stone was absorbed and the light dimmed, he noticed no differences.

"Three pure spirit stones and still no response... Would it take 10 or even 100 pure spirit stones to activate it?"

Su Zhan was speechless, "If that's the case, I'll be stuck in this hellhole for a year or two!"

If it were elsewhere, Su Zhan could wait, but this mine treated people inhumanely!

Every day, people starved to death, died of exhaustion or illness, or were beaten to death by strong men. Human lives were worthless, and bodies were thrown into mass graves. Even if the strong killed someone in public, no one cared. This was why Su Zhan had to swallow his anger when his spirit stones were confiscated.

If he stayed here for a year or two, he might die before the black mark was activated!

"We are all time travelers, and my life is too miserable..."

Su Zhan sighed and shook his head helplessly, "There's no way. I'll fill my stomach first and see if I can borrow some food tomorrow."

Just like when he was forcibly brought here, he had to accept the reality to survive.

But as Su Zhan turned around, he suddenly saw a black figure standing quietly in front of him—

"Ah!"

At that moment, Su Zhan's scalp tingled, his face turned pale, and he panicked!

He had been discovered!

When did the person behind him arrive?

How come he didn't notice at all?!

If the black mark on his hand was exposed, what would happen to him?!

Countless bad thoughts filled Su Zhan's mind, and various tragic outcomes played out in his head.

But then—

"Huh?"

Su Zhan noticed something was off.

This black figure... why wasn't it wearing pants? No... it looked unreal?

Su Zhan looked up suddenly.

He saw the full picture of the black figure.

It was a black phantom, almost identical in height and appearance to him, as if carved from the same mold.

It had no flesh, no hair, and no facial features, just a black illusory outline.

"What... what is this?"

Su Zhan's forehead was sweating, and he couldn't help but take two steps back, feeling a chill.

He looked at the black phantom's face. Although it had no features, Su Zhan felt as if it was staring at him.

Suddenly.

A strange, mechanical melody sounded in Su Zhan's mind.

Su Zhan was stunned.

His expression changed from astonishment to horror, then to shock.

Logically, he couldn't understand it, but he naturally understood the melody's meaning. It was two words: Master!

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