I Cultivated Too Long and Got Isekai’d Into a Game

"Ugh... What a nightmare."

Xu Tao groaned as soon as he left the mirror room. Even with the Heart Sutra supporting him, he almost failed several times inside. The trial was so frustrating that he truly thought he'd fail despite all he did.

Thankfully, he managed to survive and come out before he reached his absolute limit.

Without even the need to look around, he found what he was looking for.

"So that's the stairs to the 49th floor..." he whispered in a serious tone.

Only one floor left, and they could finally return!

Xu Tao stepped onto the final stretch of the straight staircase, each footstep ringing faintly against the smooth, stone-like material. As he continued, the air grew thinner yet heavier, as though the weight of the entire Tower pressed upon his shoulders.

'Climbing the stairs itself is already a trial!' he thought as he covered his entire body with Qi.

Each step he took was a wonder. Could he make it to the top? The answer, of course, was set in stone. Xu Tao wasn't one to give up once he started something!

After a few minutes, when he crossed the last step to arrive at a landing, his vision was robbed by a bright flash. He closed his eyes tightly by reflex, before slowly and warily opening them when the light vanished.

"Hmm..."

He hummed, observing the weird location he was sent to.

There was no floor, no sky, no horizon—just an endless, pure void. His boots made no sound when he moved, yet his presence felt solid, as if gravity only existed where he was present.

The next moment, the ground in front of him shifted.

With a faint rumble, a tall, rectangular block of stone emerged slowly from beneath the blank surface. Its texture was impossibly smooth, its color an almost metallic gray. At the center of its face, ancient characters began to carve themselves into existence, glowing faintly.

Xu Tao narrowed his eyes, reading aloud in a calm, measured voice.

[The Final Trial: To step beyond the present, and defeat your past self.]

"...A trial to overcome myself?" He let the words linger in the void.

For a change, this truly sounded like a "trial." Something that he couldn't overcome with simple brute force.

Before he could think further, the monolith shook.

Its edges warped, surface rippling like disturbed water. Then, with uncanny precision, it molded into the shape of a human. Its features were slowly coming into place... Xu Tao's features!

It was like staring into a mirror, except the reflection was alive.

Same posture.

Same robes.

Same worn sword at his waist.

And the same faint smirk that said, 'I already know your next move.'

The figure spoke, voice perfectly matching his own. "You've come far. But this is the end."

"Heh. Believe me, I'll go even further," Xu Tao announced, full of confidence.

After that short banter, no more words were needed.

Both moved at the same instant. They kicked off the ground with a powerful boom, their figures disappearing like a mirage.

Flashes sped through. Their blades clashed, the sound ringing far sharper in the silence than it should have. Sparks scattered, brighter than even the white void around them, vanishing as quickly as they appeared.

A single step forward—slash. Twist the wrist—deflect. Pivot—counter.

Each movement was met with perfect anticipation. It was as if two grandmasters of chess were fighting each other, reading the next move of the opponent before they could even think.

Their techniques mirrored each other flawlessly, like two dancers performing the same choreography.

Sword a blur, Qi rippling from each strike, yet neither gaining an inch of advantage.

Xu Tao's eyes narrowed.

'The clone is a perfect copy. From my cultivation, to my weapon and techniques, to even my thinking process. Each of my strengths… and all my weaknesses.'

They separated for a heartbeat, running in circles around each other. The "fake" Xu Tao tilted his head slightly, as if amused.

"You should give up. You can never beat yourself," he said mockingly.

Xu Tao exhaled slowly. "You're right."

They were equals at the start, but now... not so much. Xu Tao realized that the copy was conserving his Qi, gunning for a battle of attrition. As he was in a rush, he had used up quite a bit of his strength during the initial exchanges.

The difference might be minuscule, but to a master of Xu Tao's level, such a difference could be fatal. Thus, he came to a decision right at the next instant.

"Which is why I won't fight you as myself."

They clashed again—blades ringing, Qi flaring, movements flowing like mirrored rivers.

But Xu Tao wasn't aiming to win by force. He tested angles, pushed feints, and wove deception into each step.

His doppelgänger read them all, countering before the thought was fully formed.

A straight path would not work.

For the first time in centuries, Xu Tao felt a faint bead of sweat trail down his temple.

'So this is what it means to be perfectly countered.'

They locked blades again, pushing against each other, faces inches apart. The fake Xu Tao's eyes gleamed. "Without an obvious edge, you'll never surpass yourself... No, at this rate, I will win."

Xu Tao smiled faintly.

"It's true that I have no edge against you..." he whispered, grinning. "So, I'll make one."

He disengaged, taking several light steps back, and slipped a brown bottle from his Storage Ring. Without hesitation, he pulled the cork with his teeth and swallowed the glittering blue-green pill inside.

A Condensed True Qi Pill!

"Guh...!"

Its potency roared through his meridians, as if trying to destroy everything. The familiar burn of compressed spiritual power flooded every corner of his body. His Qi spiked sharply, distorting the air.

"Heh... How about now?" he taunted, smiling fiercely, with cold sweat dripping down his forehead.

The mirrored Xu Tao tilted his head again, expression unreadable.

Xu Tao didn't delay. The pain of Qi ruining his insides couldn't be held back for too long. He had to finish the fight before he lost control of all the Qi he had just injected himself with.

Using Ground Shrink, he rushed to the fake Xu Tao.

Swords flashed once more, this time no longer looking equal.

"Kugh!" the fake groaned, small cuts appearing all over his body.

The slightest delay, the slightest opening—Xu Tao didn't miss a single one of them. In a fight between equals, the smallest delay was equivalent to death.

He moved, blade flashing faster than lightning, Qi coiling like a dragon behind him.

The clash that followed shook the white void.