The Clone and the True Self

Life is like a game of chess. The scholar Li Qian studied by lamplight, hoping to attain wealth and glory and transform from a serpent into a dragon. But one wrong move on the chessboard sent him down an entirely different path of cultivation.

He enters the Dao through ghost cultivation, purges his violent thoughts, comprehends the mysteries of the mystic sect, and refines nine great avatars. With nine times the opportunities of an ordinary person, he becomes the mystic sect's greatest anomaly.

A mysterious black pearl, secret mystic scriptures, the Formless Demon Sutra... all unfold one by one.

Avatars and true self, a thousand incarnations, creation and conflict, immortality and imperishability!

Bamboo leaves scatter across the sky,

Amid towering mountains, he stands.

Once a drifting leaf in the clouds,

A venerable one arrives, transforming into myriad forms.

(The acrostic poem was contributed by reader “Bandit and Thief.” Many thanks!)