Zhang Xuan's Clone

Zhang Xuan's Clone is a second body created when Zhang Xuan fuses a severed piece of his soul with a lotus embryo. The material is initially treated as a Nine Hearts Lotus, but the Firmament reveals it to be a Nine Skies Lotus Embryo, the core of the Primordial Golden Lotus of the Nine Skies. The clone shares Zhang Xuan's memories and learned techniques while developing a distinct consciousness, cultivation, and boastful personality. (Chapters 568–573, 2,100, 2,261–2,264)

He is separate from both Zhang Xuan and Kong shi's Clone. Zhang Xuan's clone is a loyal, competitive companion whose soul originated from Zhang Xuan; Kong shi's hostile clone is a different being formed from Kong shi's severed malevolent will. The hostile clone's rule over the Azure, corrupted Aura of Divinity, and attempt to seize a fragment of the heavens do not belong to Zhang Xuan's clone. (Chapters 2,083–2,100, 2,228, 2,237)

Biography

A second body grown from a lotus embryo

Zhang Xuan obtains the gray lotus while it is occupied by the soul oracle Mo Hunsheng. After moving Mo Hunsheng's soul elsewhere, he nourishes the plant with Heaven's Path zhenqi until it changes from black to milky white. He then severs a piece of his own soul and fuses it with the matured lotus, producing a body with the same appearance and knowledge as his own. The operation establishes a two-way mental connection: knowledge acquired by one can pass to the other, but the clone's cultivation remains separate. (Chapters 568–569)

The new body begins without zhenqi and cannot simply copy its creator's flawless cultivation. Because it does not possess the Library of Heaven's Path, attempting to use the complete Heaven's Path Divine Art places crushing pressure on it. Zhang Xuan instead compiles a modified art with minor flaws, which the clone uses to rise from Fighter 1-dan to Transcendent Mortal 3-dan pinnacle in three days. Shared understanding lets it execute Zhang Xuan's battle techniques immediately, but it must still accumulate its own energy and cannot independently derive the Library's perfect versions. (Chapters 568–569)

Its first contest with Zhang Xuan establishes a pattern that lasts through most of the story. The newborn clone punches the main body through several walls and takes obvious pleasure in being stronger. It later learns the Heaven's Path Disguise Art and can stand in for Zhang Xuan's invented elder identities, allowing “Yang Xuan” and Zhang Xuan to appear together. Zhang Xuan insists that it call him “Main,” yet the clone quickly speaks and acts as a person rather than an obedient projection. Its disguise can fool ordinary observers, but a sufficiently perceptive high-ranked master teacher might notice flaws because the clone lacks the Library. (Chapters 568–573)

An indestructible double in the ancient domain

Zhang Xuan initially deploys the clone where its extraordinary body matters more than refinement. In the Ghost Domain Illusory City, it smashes the formation's tough stone core with one strike and accidentally causes the artifact to collapse. Later, while disguised as Sun Qiang, it is traded into Skyleaf King's custody as part of Zhang Xuan's deception. The enemy can flatten the clone like a pancake, but the lotus body restores its shape and continues attacking, making conventional blunt force ineffective as a means of restraint. (Chapters 577, 1,081–1,084)

That resilience is formidable rather than absolute. In Qiu Wu Palace, the clone interposes itself before a sword attack and continues fighting with a hole through its body. When Skyleaf King gains control of the palace, however, an attack that severs space tears the body in two despite its having absorbed an entire Lightning Elemental Orb. Luo Ruoxin's intervention prevents the crisis from ending in Zhang Xuan's death. The encounter establishes that recovery from crushing, piercing, and deformation does not protect the clone from forces powerful enough to divide the space containing it. (Chapters 1,084–1,085)

The clone's durability also changes how Zhang Xuan plans. It can remain inside a storage ring without air because the lotus body does not need to breathe, tolerate environments that would endanger an ordinary human body, and absorb punishment while Zhang Xuan studies an opponent. Those qualities make it an effective shield, decoy, and close-range attacker, but its defeats show that Zhang Xuan cannot treat it as an invulnerable substitute for himself. (Chapters 573, 1,081–1,085)

A blunt partner against Qingtian Emperor and Vicious

Against Qingtian Emperor, the clone's enthusiasm for direct violence becomes both useful and comic. It pummels the enemy's Primordial Spirit, helps hold him in place for Soul Search, and volunteers to enter an unknown passage first. When Zhang Xuan wins over a group of puppets through teaching, the clone imitates his speech without understanding the Library-assisted judgment behind it and is attacked instead. Shared memories give the two access to the same information, but not identical instincts, persuasion, or decision-making. (Chapters 1,220–1,224)

The clone later consumes Qingtian Emperor's soul and cultivates a simplified Heaven's Path Soul Art with concentrated high-tier spirit stones. Its soul reaches Quasi Leaving Aperture, giving it enough force to suppress Half-Grand Dominion opponents and contend with Grand Dominion primary-stage experts. In a direct comparison, it can still move within Zhang Xuan's newly formed Dominion-like field and defeat him. The gain belongs to the clone's own cultivated soul; their common origin makes its rate similar to Zhang Xuan's, but does not merge their cultivation bases. (Chapters 1,269–1,270)

It also shows independent tactical judgment. When Ji Lingzhen and several hundred sword practitioners turn hostile, the clone redirects their greed against Ji Lingzhen and knocks the remaining crowd unconscious instead of killing them. During the great battle against the Otherworldly army, it dispenses with Zhang Xuan's elaborate infiltration and kills two High Commanders with direct punches. The contrast defines its mature role: Zhang Xuan manipulates formations, identities, and weaknesses, while the clone prefers the shortest physical route through an obstacle. (Chapters 1,283, 1,686)

A Semi-Divinity shield in the Azure

By the conflict at Starchaser Island, the clone can participate in a battle against Semi-Divinity experts. It locks Fu Chenzi's joints in a full-body hold while Zhang Xuan's tamed sharks and sword formation finish the opponent. This is not a clean solo victory, but it demonstrates why the clone remains dangerous at higher realms: even an expert who can resist ordinary attacks can be pinned long enough for coordinated force to become decisive. (Chapter 2,053)

The palace of Kong shi's hostile clone exposes another limit. A barrier rejects Zhang Xuan's clone even while it is hidden inside a storage ring, forcing it to remain behind. Zhang Xuan infers that the hostile clone deliberately prepared the defense because their earlier confrontations had ended in draws. Once the barrier is bypassed, Zhang Xuan's clone hides within an altar's flames and ambushes the hostile clone, but a Semi-Divinity weapon carrying Gods' Sword Intent only scratches the God-tier body. That small wound is nevertheless enough to introduce the corrupted Aura of Divinity that begins breaking the hostile clone down. (Chapters 2,083, 2,097)

When the hostile clone retaliates, Zhang Xuan's clone and the eleven direct disciples form the front line around Zhang Xuan. They repeatedly rush the enemy inside the range of a golden page that strikes allies and enemies indiscriminately, accepting near-suicidal exposure so that the page can keep finding its target. Their resistance buys time for the purification ritual and Zhang Xuan's breakthrough. The clone survives the battle, while the hostile clone is later sealed and ultimately erased by the real Kong shi; those outcomes belong to two different beings. (Chapters 2,098–2,100, 2,228)

The Primordial Golden Lotus of the Nine Skies

In the Firmament, the clone's cultivation continues to rise alongside Zhang Xuan's without becoming identical to it. God Essence Pills can strengthen the lotus body without ordinary physical tempering, allowing it to pressure a God King together with Zhang Xuan even while both remain below that realm. Its injuries still vanish almost immediately, but the pair cannot overcome the opponent's superior domain through recovery alone. Later, Zhang Xuan channels spirit essence into the clone until it reaches God King pinnacle and can match ordinary Conferred God Kings; because it lacks both the Pathos of Heaven and the World's Conferment, its next soul breakthrough demands more energy than Zhang Xuan's. (Chapters 2,179–2,180, 2,239, 2,246–2,247)

The Flooding Sea finally reveals what the body is. A Nine Skies Lotus Leaf draws the clone toward it, and the clone reverts to a lotus core identical to the embryo from which it was forged. The leaf's power merges into that core and produces the Primordial Golden Lotus of the Nine Skies, an ancient natural artifact associated with establishing order in the Five Elements and Four Extremities. Zhang Xuan realizes that he had mistaken the drained Nine Skies Lotus Embryo for an unripe Nine Hearts Lotus on the Master Teacher Continent. The revelation explains the body's abnormal strength without making its later power retroactively available in earlier battles. (Chapter 2,261)

After fully assimilating the lotus leaf, the clone becomes a God Monarch and resumes human form. The breakthrough strengthens Zhang Xuan through their divided but connected souls, yet both are still driven back by Vicious after he seizes the Firmament's spiritual energy. In the final confrontation, Zhang Xuan beckons the clone over; it returns to lotus form, and Zhang Xuan draws on the Primordial Golden Lotus's cultivation and world-stabilizing nature to steady the Nine Skies and reach beyond his existing bottleneck. This is the clone's latest direct state. The corpus does not show a later separate reappearance or say whether the final combination is permanent, so it should not be described as either a confirmed death or a confirmed return to independent life. (Chapters 2,263–2,264)

Appearance and personality

In human form, the clone normally looks exactly like Zhang Xuan. Its lotus body is unusually malleable: it can reproduce a chosen disguise, flatten under extreme force, reform after piercing or crushing damage, and revert completely into a lotus core or flower. When it completes the Primordial Golden Lotus, it manifests as a brilliant nine-colored lotus before taking human shape again; at God Monarch, it theatrically makes lotus flowers blossom beneath its feet. (Chapters 568–573, 1,081–1,085, 2,261–2,264)

The clone is haughty, combative, and compulsively eager to show off. It resents losing a chance to make an impressive entrance, embellishes attacks with decorative effects, and repeatedly treats a contest with its main body as a matter of pride. Its directness can become poor judgment, as when it copies Zhang Xuan's words to puppets without reproducing the circumstances that made them persuasive. It is nevertheless capable of reading a battlefield, setting traps of its own, and sparing defeated opponents. (Chapters 1,221–1,224, 1,283, 2,263–2,264)

Beneath the rivalry, it is loyal and willing to absorb danger for Zhang Xuan. It shields him from lethal attacks, submits to being used as a hostage or decoy, remains within the golden page's indiscriminate attack zone, and joins the final defense of the Firmament. The personality difference grows as its cultivation diverges from Zhang Xuan's, allowing the two to converse as distinct individuals even though their souls and knowledge remain connected. (Chapters 1,081–1,085, 2,098–2,100, 2,263–2,264)

Abilities and cultivation

Shared soul, separate cultivation

The clone originates from a severed portion of Zhang Xuan's soul, producing a mental link through which memories and learned techniques can pass. That connection allows immediate use of battle techniques already understood by Zhang Xuan and later lets each one's breakthrough reinforce the other. It does not give the clone the Library of Heaven's Path, the Pathos of Heaven, the World's Conferment, or Zhang Xuan's cultivation base. Their souls gradually diverge enough for their thoughts and personalities to cease being completely synchronized. (Chapters 568–573, 2,100, 2,239, 2,263–2,264)

Without the Library, the clone must use modified Heaven's Path arts containing minor flaws and accumulate energy independently. It progresses from Fighter 1-dan to Transcendent Mortal 3-dan pinnacle immediately after creation, later develops Quasi Leaving Aperture soul cultivation, fights at Semi-Divinity level in the Azure, and advances through the Firmament's God and God King stages to Conferred God King pinnacle. Completing the Primordial Golden Lotus carries it to God Monarch. The story never grants it Zhang Xuan's final realm beyond the God Monarchs as an independently acting body. (Chapters 568–569, 1,269–1,270, 2,053, 2,179, 2,239–2,247, 2,261–2,264)

Lotus body and recovery

The Nine Skies Lotus Embryo gives the clone physical strength that initially surpasses Zhang Xuan's perfect Heaven's Path body. It does not need to breathe, can remain in a storage ring, tolerates fire, water, and ordinary blades, changes shape for disguises, and rapidly restores severe deformation or wounds. Absorbing the Lightning Elemental Orb further strengthens it before the Qiu Wu Palace confrontation, while God Essence Pills later raise its body and cultivation without conventional tempering. (Chapters 568–573, 1,081–1,085, 2,179)

Its recovery has explicit ceilings. Spatial severance can divide the body faster than it can resist, a specially prepared barrier can reject it even through a storage ring, God-tier flesh can withstand its Semi-Divinity weapon strike, and a God King domain can suppress its movements when its true cultivation is lower. Even after becoming a God Monarch and completing the Primordial Golden Lotus, it cannot overpower the ascendant Vicious. The final lotus grants world-stabilizing power, not unlimited supremacy. (Chapters 1,085, 2,083, 2,097, 2,179, 2,264)

Combat and soul techniques

The clone can reproduce Zhang Xuan's shared battle techniques and disguise methods, but its characteristic style is close-range force. It punches through bodies and artifacts, grapples stronger enemies so allies can attack, and uses its recoverable body to exchange wounds that an ordinary cultivator could not afford. It can also wield weapons such as the Glacier Rain Sword and combine with formations or coordinated assaults, though no weapon is presented as permanently belonging to it. (Chapters 568–577, 1,220, 1,686, 2,053, 2,097–2,098)

Its simplified Heaven's Path Soul Art allows it to resist Vicious's killing intent and cultivate the soul taken from Qingtian Emperor. The resulting soul force can suppress opponents across cultivation boundaries, but the clone remains dependent on large stores of suitable energy. At Conferred God King level, the lack of Zhang Xuan's special comprehension and conferment makes its energy requirement especially steep. (Chapters 1,223–1,224, 1,269–1,270, 2,239, 2,246–2,247)

Power progression

Relationships

• Zhang Xuan: Zhang Xuan creates the clone from his severed soul and the Nine Skies Lotus Embryo. They share knowledge and a telepathic connection but cultivate separately and develop distinct personalities. Their relationship combines genuine loyalty with constant competition: the clone repeatedly shields Zhang Xuan, yet remains determined to defeat or outshine its “Main.” In the final battle it returns to lotus form so Zhang Xuan can use their linked power to stabilize the Firmament. (Chapters 568–573, 1,081–1,085, 2,098–2,100, 2,261–2,264)
• Kong shi's Clone: Kong shi's hostile clone is a separate entity born from Kong shi's malevolent will. It prepares a barrier specifically against Zhang Xuan's clone and previously fights him to draws. Zhang Xuan's clone later helps wound and restrain it, while the real Kong shi ultimately erases it. (Chapters 1,220–1,224, 2,083–2,100, 2,228)
• Luo Ruoxin: Luo Ruoxin saves Zhang Xuan and the bisected clone during the Qiu Wu Palace crisis. Much later, she fights beside both of them against Vicious and entrusts her power to Zhang Xuan as part of the attempt to restore the heavens. (Chapters 1,220–1,224, 2,263–2,264)
• Vicious: The clone helps Zhang Xuan resist Vicious's killing intent and plans in Qingtian Emperor's underground chamber. In the Firmament's final crisis, the fully restored Vicious overwhelms the God Monarch clone along with the other Monarchs, forcing Zhang Xuan to combine the lotus's stabilizing power with the complete powers of the heavens. (Chapters 1,221–1,224, 2,263–2,264)
• Little Chick: Little Chick and the clone are fellow companions whose unusual bodies repeatedly survive dangers beyond ordinary cultivators. They fight on the same side in the Azure and against Vicious, though Little Chick's rebirth through corrupted Aura of Divinity is explicitly something Zhang Xuan doubts the clone could have survived. (Chapters 2,179–2,180, 2,239, 2,246–2,247)
• Zhang Xuan's direct disciples: The clone often serves as their front-line ally. At Starchaser Island, it and all eleven disciples repeatedly expose themselves to the golden page's indiscriminate attacks to keep Kong shi's hostile clone occupied while Zhang Xuan completes the decisive breakthrough. (Chapters 2,098–2,100)

Items

No scoped items are associated with Zhang Xuan's Clone.