High Martial Arts: Invincible Starts from Basic Archery

Gao Jinming's eyes gradually dimmed, eventually losing their luster, and he fell to the ground.

Chen Fan slowly exhaled a breath.

With this, the matter should be settled.

Of course, it would be better if the person named Du couldn't escape.

But there was nothing that could be done about it. These Awakeners have all sorts of bizarre superpowers. Comparatively, having a clone is not that uncommon. As for future retaliation—

He wasn't stupid. After causing such a big commotion with this identity, naturally, he would have to lay low. It's just a pseudonym, after all.

The only concern was whether using the Windward Slash in the future would be recognized by clever people.

"Forget it. I'll deal with it later. To be safe, let's bring these bodies back. They might have some valuable space items on them."

Chen Fan crouched down and touched a corpse with his palm.

The corpse immediately vanished from its original spot and appeared inside the space item.

This was something he learned only from reading the association's item descriptions.

Living things cannot be placed inside space items, but once they die, they can.

In the next moment, his figure appeared at the site where the battle had erupted earlier,

placing the few corpses on the ground into the space item as well.

His gaze swept around, finding the surroundings eerily quiet,

the guards that were usually seen everywhere seemed to have vanished into thin air.

"This place is not safe for long. Let's take Meng Xue back first."

His figure disappeared from the spot once more.

...

"Pfft!"

A man who had been sitting cross-legged with closed eyes on a cushion suddenly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, dyeing the large area in front of him red and shocking.

"Huff, huff…"

The man propped his hands on the ground, panting heavily. After one or two minutes, he slowly lifted his head, revealing a familiar face.

Yes, it was Du Hao, who had been killed by Chen Fan in Anshan City.

However, compared to his previous rosy and radiant complexion, now he looked frighteningly pale, like a ghost.

"Damn it!"

Du Hao gritted his teeth, his heart filled with a desire to carve Chen Fan into pieces.

Indeed, his superpower was cloning; as long as his true body wasn't dead, he could continue to live.

But this didn't mean the death of a clone had no effect on him.

On the contrary, whenever a clone died, he paid a heavy price,

each clone's death caused about thirty percent regression in his true body's strength. This might seem insignificant, as he could just cultivate the lost strength back later.

Initially, he thought so and did not hesitate to risk his life, venturing into dangerous places or leading powerful Fierce Beasts away alone to ensure his team's safe retreat, eventually getting killed.

This brought him huge benefits and reputation, and he was proud of his superpower.

Until later, he gradually realized something was wrong.

To be precise, when he broke through from a D-level Awakened to a C-level, he started noticing the issue.

Compared to his peers who became C-level within half a year, he spent nearly two years.

What did this mean? His cultivation speed was theoretically double theirs since he summoned a clone to cultivate together. But his effective cultivation time was more than double theirs. In essence, his cultivation efficiency was one-fifth of theirs!

After becoming a C-level Awakened, the issue became even more apparent.

With the same resources, even several times more resources, his cultivation speed was one-tenth of theirs!

While others had already surpassed the C-level threshold, becoming B-level Awakeners, he was still stuck.

That's when he realized that the cost of a clone's death not only included strength regression but also increased difficulty in advancement.

Every clone's death increased the difficulty of cultivation substantially,

each subsequent death raised the difficulty significantly!

The higher the death count, the greater the difficulty increase, eventually reaching a point where he had to exert ten or even dozens of times more effort than others to keep up.

Thus, from a certain perspective, despite his seeming immortality, he feared death more than anyone else.

That was one of the reasons he tried hard to recruit Chen Fan before; having died almost ten times, another death might forever confine him to the C-level Awakened tier in this life.

The second reason was that he believed a mere Martial Artist, even a True Essence Realm Martial Artist, should grovel in gratitude for his favor.

But in the end…

Thinking of this, Du Hao's anger surged, causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood.

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, stood up, and walked out of the room.

"Lord!"

The two Awakeners at the door were shocked upon seeing him.

What happened? Did Lord Du experience a mishap during cultivation?

"Bring Ling Shiyao here, and find an artist for me as well."

"Yes!"

The two executed the orders immediately, despite not knowing what was going on.

Du Hao's lips curled into a cold smile.

Two or three minutes later, two men entered one after the other,

The leading man was one of the two who had just left.

The man following him was an extraordinary middle-aged man, tall and nearly a meter ninety, towering over the leading man.

But upon seeing Du Hao, the middle-aged man deflated like a punctured balloon,

his previous imposing manner instantly vanishing, he bent down and looked at the tea-drinking Du Hao obsequiously:

"I wonder what business Lord Du has to summon me? If there's anything you need, please just direct me."

"Chairman Ling, have a seat."

Du Hao pointed to an empty seat beside him.

"Yes."

Ling Shiyao cautiously sat down, barely half-sitting.

"Please wait a moment, Chairman Ling. I have an urgent matter to discuss with you shortly."

"No problem, no problem."

Ling Shiyao hurriedly replied, his heart leaping to his throat.

What could this person want with him? Would it be good or bad?

"Sigh."

Thinking so, he sighed heavily in his heart.

Despite being the chairman of the Jiulong City branch of the Jiangnan Sub-district Martial Arts Association, with notable strength and status,

he had to remain humble before this person. If he angered Du Hao, all his previous effort would vanish.

Soon, a rush of footsteps sounded,

two more people entered,

The one behind him carried a backpack, hunched over, head lowered,

"Lord, the artist you requested has arrived. He is the best in town, his work indistinguishable from photographs."

The leading man said,

"Is that so?"

Du Hao set down his teacup and beckoned the artist over. "Come here."

The man shivered at the command, looking like he was hanging by a thread, approached cautiously, his heart pounding.

"I instruct, you draw well, and you'll be rewarded. If not—don't blame me for being harsh."

Du Hao said coldly.

"Y-yes."

The artist nodded repeatedly, terrified.

He was sure that the person could kill him without difficulty.

He quickly spread out the parchment and prepared the paint.

The two men and Ling Shiyao watching showed puzzled expressions,

but dared not ask more, only observing quietly.

Soon, the artist picked up the brush, in a voice as faint as a mosquito's: "Lord, I-I'm ready."

"Good,"

Du Hao recalled Chen Fan's appearance and started describing it.

After making several adjustments, soon, the parchment displayed a fierce-looking man holding a long knife,

closely resembling Chen Fan's disguised appearance, except for minor details.

"L-Lord."

The artist swallowed nervously, looking at Du Hao anxiously.

The person drawn was exactly as described, but he didn't know if it was to Du Hao's satisfaction.

Du Hao seemed mesmerized, staring intensely at the drawing.

After a moment, he burst into harsh laughter, his eyes showing deep hatred,

"Yes, yes, that's him!"

"Wang Liang, transfer one million to his account."

"Yes, Lord."

The addressed man replied.

"Thank you, Lord! Thank you!"

The artist knelt, repeatedly kowtowing to Du Hao.

One million, when could he earn that much?

But drawing one picture here earned him that.

Soon, there were three left in the room. Du Hao looked up and beckoned Ling Shiyao.

"Chairman Ling, take a look. Do you know this person?"

"Okay."

Ling Shiyao quickly came over, his eyes wide like an ox's, fixated on the drawing.

Du Hao took a sip of tea.

He wasn't drinking out of leisure or thirst,

the tea had excellent stabilizing effects on the Divine Soul.

Bringing Ling Shiyao here was simple,

there were only so many True Essence Realm Martial Artists,

excluding those who served under the Awakeners, even fewer.

Asking Ling Shiyao to identify,

if he could recognize this person directly,

it would be perfect,

he could bring people to capture that person,

and he wouldn't rest until he had tortured them thousands of times.

If he couldn't recognize,

he would ask him to investigate,

if he failed to discover—

humph!

Time passed second by second, three minutes gone in a flash,

Ling Shiyao's brows knit tightly,

he couldn't recognize this person?

But if Du Hao called him, it was likely he wanted to know who this person was, some conflict between them must have happened.

If he spoke the truth, he might be blamed.

"Have you decided what answer to give me?"

Du Hao sneered at Ling Shiyao, who was practically burying his eyes in the drawing.

"Lord, I truly don't recognize this person, haven't seen him before. However,"

Ling Shiyao quickly said, "Please give me a week. Then, I will surely bring this person to you."