Surviving the Doomsday Apartment—With Infinite Clones!-Chapter 356: The Fallen Leaf of the Formless Tree

The other strong players present were half a step slower, but their reactions were still extremely fast.
Those figures, like startled swans or lightning bolts, also flew toward the Formless Leaves.
The other strong players clearly didn't possess Jiang Wenxing's "creation" ability.
Thus their goal was simply to seize at least one Formless Leaf amidst the chaos.
However, in that brief span of less than 0.1 seconds, the situation instantly changed!
Jiang Wenxing, who had reached for the numerous Formless Leaves, seemed to suddenly remember something...
His pupils abruptly contracted, and he violently pulled back his hand.
The massive black net that had already been thrown out suddenly retracted, transforming back into the thorny black whip in his hand.
This scene appeared quite abrupt.
But every strong player present was essentially a cunning veteran.
Plus, there was already precedent...
So these strong players instantly recalled the scene where a VIP strong player who had forcibly tried to pick a Formless Leaf was directly erased!
The "erasure" mentioned in the announcement...
That was a terrifying method that meant instant death upon contact!
No matter how many revival methods you had, they were useless!
Thus, these strong players also followed Jiang Wenxing's lead and temporarily withdrew.
Clearly, they were worried that—
Even lightly touching the falling Formless Leaves would be judged as "damage," causing them to be directly erased.
So it was better to wait and observe a bit longer.
If someone dared to be the first to try catching a Formless Leaf without being erased...
Then they could make their move.
After all, life only came once, and it needed to be cherished.
However, when everyone held this mindset, there simply wasn't anyone willing to be "the first to try."
Thus, the rustling falling Formless Leaves went from being fiercely contested to completely ignored, all successively falling to the ground.
The ground around this Formless Tree was covered in scorched black soil.
Like the entire Formless Tree, it seemed to emanate a sense of "death aura."
The group of strong players estimated that Jiang Wenxing would select someone to be that "first to try" lab rat.
If the lab rat picked up a Formless Leaf without being erased...
Then the others could spring into action.
However, their thinking was quite idealistic.
Jiang Wenxing indeed planned to do exactly that.
But these landed Formless Leaves didn't indulge them!
On that patch of scorched black land...
All 99,999 Formless Leaves instantly turned into charred black soil!
Just like the poem described—
Fallen petals are not heartless things, they turn into spring mud to nurture flowers.
After these numerous Formless Leaves turned into charred soil...
The entire Formless Tree visibly became even more deathly still!
As if it had absorbed massive amounts of death aura from those vanished Formless Leaves!
This abrupt scene directly stunned all the strong players present!
What?
So many Formless Leaves...
They all disappeared in the blink of an eye??
This??
With the Formless Leaves gone... how were they supposed to obtain Court Session slots?!
And according to the previous announcement, all 99,999 Formless Leaves needed to be bound before the Court Session could begin...
But now, damn it, didn't this make achieving the Court Session conditions completely impossible?!
Of course, after the intense panic, these strong players, including Jiang Wenxing, naturally turned their attention to the single Formless Leaf still hanging on the entire Formless Tree...
At this moment, the Formless Tree had completely become a "bare commander."
Only one human-shaped leaf remained steadily hanging high up.
Although these human-shaped leaves all looked identical.
Both these strong players and Jiang Wenxing were absolutely certain—
That single remaining human-shaped leaf...
Was precisely the one formed from Jiang Ye's corpse after the Formless Tree absorbed his blood!
So...
The seemingly unsolvable problem now had an obvious answer—
They just needed to find 99,998 more Jiang Ye clones to feed blood to the Formless Tree.
Then the entire bald Formless Tree could return to its original state!
Thinking this, Jiang Wenxing's extremely ugly expression slightly eased.
And his attention, which had been captured by the Formless Tree, finally returned to that "Nomadic Merchant" and the countless light shadows behind him.
The other strong players thought those countless light shadows were the Nomadic Merchant's means.
But Jiang Wenxing could see—
Those light shadows were clearly Jiang Ye's clones!
This was also why he questioned the identity of this bizarre-looking "Nomadic Merchant" in his heart.
And now, with the problem returning to its origin, he needed these Jiang Ye clones to nurture more Formless Leaves.
Thus, he could only continue confronting this suspected Nomadic Merchant entity!
At this moment, Jiang Wenxing's forceful gaze turned toward the Nomadic Merchant again.
Perhaps the unexpected changes with the Formless Tree had disturbed him.
Or perhaps the scales of suspicion in his heart tilted even more toward this "Nomadic Merchant" being an imposter.
So now, his tone toward this suspected Nomadic Merchant was noticeably less polite than before.
Instead, it carried the arrogance and aggressiveness he typically showed toward ordinary strong players: "The doubts I raised earlier still await the Nomadic Merchant's explanation."
The previous Jiang Ye, unsure how to deal with Jiang Wenxing, had indeed been panicked.
But now, with the changing situation, he had come up with an excellent idea!
So this time, he didn't remain silent.
Instead, he emitted a meaningful light hum from the direction of the mutated clone entwined with red snakes.
Then he hurled words down from above toward Jiang Wenxing, faintly revealing mockery and contempt for him.
However, this wave of mockery didn't lose the imposing demeanor expected of a Nomadic Merchant—
"All karma in this world is deserved."
In other words—
The Formless Tree ending up in this state...
And you failing to obtain Formless Leaves...
Is all exactly what you deserve!
Of course, mere verbal mockery naturally couldn't suppress Jiang Wenxing.
That guy's face turned livid, veins bulging on the hand gripping the black whip.
As if he might actually dare to attack the "Nomadic Merchant" at any moment!
And Jiang Ye certainly wouldn't give him the chance to attack!
After his arrogant mockery, he frantically chanted in his heart—
Clone fusion clone fusion clone fusion...!!
In that instant.
The countless flickering floating streams of light abruptly vanished!
Including that pure black mutated clone entwined with red snakes...
All fused in one breath into the single remaining Formless Leaf on the Formless Tree!
Jiang Ye had actually experimented extensively with clone fusion before.
He discovered that when fused clones exceeded a certain number, the clone receiving the fusion would struggle to contain them.
Unlike the fatigue and discomfort from the main body generating numerous clones, the clone that fused with many others would experience distending pain.
And its control over the body would become sluggish.
He even faintly felt that if he continued forcing fusion, he might explode on the spot.
This situation was probably because the "physical body" of the fused clone wasn't strong enough.
But that Formless Leaf didn't seem to have this problem!
Jiang Ye's ninety thousand light clones, along with that eerie mutated clone, all fused into it...
Yet he felt no discomfort whatsoever!
Including the Formless Leaf's appearance, which showed no visible changes to the naked eye.
However...
In the eyes of other strong players, they simply saw sudden disappearance.
But Jiang Wenxing seemed to possess unique detection methods.
His gaze instantly shifted from the direction where the "Nomadic Merchant" disappeared to that Formless Leaf.
In that moment, surprise and shock flashed in Jiang Wenxing's eyes.
Along with a trace of confusion.
But what shocked him even more the next second was—
The single remaining Formless Leaf on the entire Formless Tree...
Just vanished right before everyone's eyes!
Replaced by a light shadow shooting straight toward Jiang Wenxing's direction!
It looked quite imposing.
But in Jiang Wenxing's eyes, this was just one of Jiang Ye's light-element clones.
Standing firm without fear, he directly transformed the black whip into a black net again, trapping the light shadow!
The trapped light clone Jiang Ye felt shocked inwardly.
He hadn't expected this black net could even trap light!
But he wasn't panicked at all internally.
The disappearance of the Formless Leaf was actually him secretly using clone swapping.
He had swapped the entire Formless Leaf fused with numerous clones with the light clone he had lent to Zhou Yuling to divert the strong players.
Honestly, this action of his carried considerable risk.
After all, there was already precedent—
Formless Leaves that left the Formless Tree were clearly dead objects!
Only when growing on the Formless Tree could they "live" as clones.
Such rash clone swapping...
What if after leaving the Formless Tree, it became a dead object again, no longer recognized as his clone?
In fact, honestly, Jiang Ye wasn't even sure if such clone swapping could succeed.
If not for the threat of Jiang Wenxing, he naturally wouldn't have attempted this.
But Jiang Wenxing was clearly growing increasingly suspicious that he wasn't the Nomadic Merchant, even showing signs of preparing to attack!
So he had to take the risk!
Mainly because Jiang Ye had a vague feeling...
The main body's integration might be extremely special for that Formless Leaf?
Otherwise, why did all the other Formless Leaves fall after the main body integrated?
So he thought that after the main body integrated...
Even if it left the Formless Tree again, this Formless Leaf might no longer be a dead object!
The facts proved exactly right.
In that instant, the light clone appeared on the high branch where the Formless Leaf hung.
He directly dove toward Jiang Wenxing's direction to attract his attention.
Of course, such a small Calamities clone, even being light-element, naturally wouldn't be Jiang Wenxing's match.
But that wasn't a big problem.
The Formless Leaf clone that had escaped everyone's attention secretly accomplished something major!
That was...
Performing [clone swapping] again with a clone in the prison!
Thus, the Formless Leaf fused with numerous clones freshily entered the time-stop prison.
As for Jiang Wenxing's side...
After quickly trapping the light shadow in the black net, he seemed to detect something, his face suddenly darkening.
But soon, he abruptly swung his whip.
The black net smashed fiercely onto the ground.
Jiang Ye's trapped light clone felt a wave of fatigue.
In that moment, it seemed all his strength and vital energy had been drained away!
Suddenly, the Light and Shadow Escape effect dissolved, and he transformed from light shadow into human form!
The other strong players then discovered—
This light shadow actually had Jiang Ye's appearance!
Zhou Yuling witnessing this scene wasn't particularly surprised.
But in her heart, she finally began to form an extremely terrifying, horrifying thought—
Were all those numerous light shadows surrounding the Nomadic Merchant earlier...
All Jiang Ye's clones?!
Those ninety thousand clones he generated to clear the Court of Disorder...
Could they all, damn it, possibly be light-element?!
No, that shouldn't be possible, right? That's too absurd!
Honestly, Zhou Yuling also had some suspicion—
Was that "Nomadic Merchant" earlier also impersonated by Jiang Ye?
This was just... too damn bold!
A mere newcomer daring to impersonate the Nomadic Merchant, directly confronting a Reincarnator?!
Did he know the consequences of such actions?
Perhaps now, he should know...
Zhou Yuling felt heavy-hearted, watching helplessly as that Jiang Ye exposed by Jiang Wenxing's whip had his skin torn by the whip's thorns the next second.
Thus, just like the previous Clone No. 1.
This light clone's blood continuously seeped from the wound, transforming into blood mist that surged toward the blood mark on the Formless Tree.
And this wasn't the end!
Jiang Wenxing's face remained dark as he threw the black whip into the air again!
Then the next second, the black net formed by the whip, while continuously contracting, seemed to form a fist that violently crushed the void!
The entire space trapped by the black net seemed to form a black hole!
The next second, as the black hole dispersed, another Jiang Ye clone appeared...
Jiang Wenxing showed no mercy, acting with thunderous decisiveness.
Another thorn tore through this other Jiang Ye clone's skin.
Thus, more blood mist surged toward the blood mark on the Formless Tree!
Fortunately, the Formless Leaf escaped in time, and Jiang Wenxing clearly couldn't capture clones in the time-stop prison.
And the numerous Jiang Ye clones had all fused into the Formless Leaf.
Resulting in extremely few Jiang Ye clones remaining in the entire Formless Domain.
One was the light clone Jiang Ye actively offered;
The other was the prison clone swapped out when moving the Formless Leaf into the prison.
These two clones were ones Jiang Ye had decided to sacrifice.
Moreover, for him, bleeding to feed the Formless Tree didn't count as sacrifice.
It just felt quite humiliating being forced by Jiang Wenxing.
But soon, Jiang Ye would regain his dignity.
Because...
When he swapped that prison clone with the Formless Leaf.
He also brought out one most special clone.
That was... the Observer clone!
Due to [Existence Negation], the Observer clone couldn't use clone swapping.
And couldn't be detected by any existence.
So clearly, Jiang Wenxing at this time also didn't detect the Observer's presence.
After all, this thing itself "didn't exist."
Just as Jiang Ye prepared to stealthily use the Observer clone to throw the [Dice of Fate] at Jiang Wenxing.
He saw Jiang Wenxing, while capturing another Wu Ying clone, use the Wu Ying clone to create another [mimic mask]!
Then, he directly threw that [mimic mask] to a strong player present, saying in a forceful tone:
"Wear it, bleed."
These words directly stunned the strong players present!
And Jiang Ye, who was preparing to use the Observer clone against Jiang Wenxing, was equally stunned!
After brief consideration, he temporarily abandoned the decision to throw the [Dice of Fate] at Jiang Wenxing.
Instead, he decided to observe a bit longer...
Because Jiang Wenxing's operation seemed to imply—
He wanted to test whether players who transformed into Jiang Ye's face could also nourish the Formless Tree when they bled?