Hao Gongming examined the items before her, a total of four that she had acquired from Original Sin and Shang Lu.
These items weren't as valuable as Gray's possessions, after all both Original Sin and Shang Lu were natives of this soil world.
"Gray is the only person I've encountered who was born in the real world. That's a significant advantage! Even without bringing any techniques, simply knowing that this world is a fake and understanding the general direction and endpoint is very helpful," Hao Gongming thought to herself.
She had already interviewed both Original Sin and Shang Lu, gathering all the information she could.
Now it could be said that she truly owned this soil world.
The items in front of her were the most valuable possessions she had obtained from them. Three of them belonged to Shang Lu, while one was from Original Sin.
First item was a metal scissor from Original Sin.
This seemingly ordinary tool had the extraordinary ability to cut the souls of beings below the 7th step. It defied common sense and possessed an unbelievable ability.
The soul was a unified entity, and even the slightest flaw could cause a range of problems, including mental issues and hindered cultivation.
Although there were techniques that claimed to split souls, they all had their flaws.
However, this scissor could perfectly cut souls without causing any harm. After the cut, the two divided souls remained intact and undamaged.
Hao Gongming had conducted experiments on a test subject, cutting 1 percent of a third-step mage's soul.
Surprisingly, that 1 percent became an independent entity without any issues, while the remaining 99 percent showed no signs of injury and remained perfectly intact.
She then placed that 1 percent soul into another body, essentially creating a perfect clone of the mage, albeit with a weaker soul and no mage rank.
"It also delves into the higher mysteries of the soul! I attempted to interrogate both the original mage and the clone I created, and both knew everything! It seems even a fragment of a soul contains the complete memories of a person," Hao Gongming mused.
Further experimentation revealed that even a minuscule amount, like 0.000001 percent, of a mortal's soul contained all their memories.
"I really need to acquire the libraries from all these sects and have my clones read them. Then I can gain knowledge without actually reading! I adore my clones!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.
Carefully putting away the scissor, Hao Gongming turned her attention to the next object.
It resembled a bronze mirror, and its function was simple: whatever was reflected on it would age faster. Shang Lu had used this item to cultivate precious, aged plants. Of course, there were restrictions; the larger the area reflected, the weaker the aging power, and vice versa.
"It's not particularly useful to me, but Shang Lu claimed it was a 7th step item found on the worm, so it should be very valuable," Hao Gongming remarked.
Currently, the mirror was covered by an ageless diamond that was almost immune to aging, so it was safe to keep the mirror.
Next, her gaze fell upon a hairpin.
It was crafted from precious materials and possessed a peculiar function.
Stored within it was a time-twister spell.
The longer one wore the hairpin, the stronger the spell would become.
Its power increased continuously as long as the spell remained uncast. At present, the spell within the hairpin was as strong as a 7th step spell.
"The time-twister spell of the 7th step is highly useful! If Shang Lu had the time, he could have effectively sealed me for an unknown duration," Hao Gongming acknowledged.
With the ability to twist time around her, Shang Lu could have prevented her from moving forward or backward in time, effectively sealing her until the spell's power ran out. However, as a 7th step spell, its power wouldn't diminish anytime soon. The system wouldn't have protected her in this case, as it only safeguarded against death.
Unfortunately for Shang Lu, he didn't have the opportunity to use the spell, and now it had fallen into Hao Gongming's hands.
The last item before her was the most precious of them all—a 10th step sword.
Its material was so valuable that the system had offered to absorb it. However, this time she declined, as the sword proved to be incredibly useful for her, considering she had no good weapon of her own.
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It had also been obtained from the worm creature's body.
"Why are there so many high-level items within that worm's body? Could it be that the powerhouses in the real world are intentionally assisting the people of the soil world by placing treasures there? I must investigate more closely later. There may be many undiscovered treasures!" Hao Gongming pondered.
The sword was remarkably lightweight, allowing her to wield it with ease.
“I have to test the power of this tenth step item for myself and see how good it truly is!”
Hao Gongming summoned a clone and opened a portal, then she ventured into the Land of Giants.
…
It didn't take long for her to encounter a massive fifth step giant, as vast as a galaxy.
The giant turned towards her, exuding a terrifying aura, and threw a punch with incredible speed.
Hao Gongming had no time to react, but a protective shield appeared around her, nullifying the punch completely.
It was her new skill, the Perfect Shield, which could defend against all attacks under the eighth step flawlessly, without any limitations (reality point -769110).
Hao Gongming smiled and waved the sword in her hand.
With a single strike, the giant, as vast as a galaxy, was cleaved in half.
The cut was so perfect that the giant's healing power immediately activated, and all the severed parts reattached.
If the cut had been uneven or blunt, it would have been challenging to heal, but due to the precision of the cut, reattachment was relatively easy if done swiftly.
However, the giant didn't have any thought to remain and fight and attempt to flee at its maximum speed!
This was just one strike, so the smart giant had realized that if Hao Gongming were to strike a hundred times, it would die without knowing when.
The giant swiftly disappeared, moving at incredible speed.
"The cutting power of this sword is absolutely perfect. I can control the range so there is no unintentional damage, and it's so light that I can make millions of cuts in a second. With this, anything below the eighth step should be easy," Hao Gongming remarked.
She predicted that creatures at the eighth step were so fast that she wouldn't have the opportunity to use the sword effectively and would simply be killed, with the sword potentially being stolen.
However, before reaching the eighth step, her Perfect Defense skill would prevent that from happening. Moreover, with her teleportation and portal powers, she could pursue the enemy no matter where they went.
In this case, the giant was intentionally allowed to flee.
If she wanted to kill it, she could instantly teleport in front of the giant and cut it into countless pieces a million times over!
Now that she had tested the sword's capabilities, she summoned another clone and returned to the Hao Harem Sect.
She looked at her new skill, Cloning Skill, which allowed her to create 100 trillion clones at the third step (reality point -563000), and smiled.
She had already instructed all her clones to search for the world essence of various elements and bring in as many harem members as possible.
The world she made was already larger than the mage world already!
In addition, she sent her clones to diligently reading the libraries of mages, demons, and cultivators.
Everything was going according to plan, and the number of her harem members had already exceeded sixty digits. It could be said that most people in the soil world were now a part of her harem.
Then she turned her attention to another skill: Puppet Clone Skill - the host could create a googol number of clones that were weaker than mortals and would disappear after one week (reality point -56941).
This skill was specifically for her harem members. The male members lived apart from any other women except her, and as their harem master, it was her duty to satisfy these poor boys, hence the creation of this skill.
As for the female harem members, she had no interest in them, so they were allowed to have relationships with men who were not part of her harem.
However, the problem arose when almost all men in the universe were already in her harem, making it difficult for these women to find partners.
"Hold on a minute, what I'm doing here is a recipe for disaster! This way, after one generation, the human race would go extinct! After all, my clones cannot bear children!" Hao Gongming realized the implications of her actions.
"I have to allow some male harem members to go and be with those women harem members to procreate! But it's painful to give up on anyone. It's a really difficult problem."
She pondered for a while and then came up with a brilliant idea.
She called Su, and he entered the room with a serious expression, saying, "Gongming, the situation with food has improved thanks to the supplies you brought, and the cannibals are now dead. The situation is improving."
Hao Gongming smiled and replied, "Alright, I don't really care about day-to-day operations. I called you here for you to make a sacrifice."
Su, who always appeared serious, seemed even more grave, as if the world was on the verge of exploding. He asked, "What is it, Gongming?"
"I want you to allow me to clone you a googol number of times," she stated.
Su looked confused and replied, "What?"
Hao Gongming explained the problem with the human population and the need for more children.
After contemplating the situation, Su responded, "But if you do this, literally everyone in the next generation of humans would be my children."
The cloning technique didn't allow Hao Gongming to bear children due to being a woman, but Su could father children after one night of hard work.
"I know, and I like it! You are so great that I want the next generation of harem members to be like you," Hao Gongming expressed her admiration.
Su suggested, "But the human gene pool is going to be so limited! Let's do this, Gongming! You like Kang too, right? Let half of the clones be his and the other half be mine. This way, there won't be genetic problems later on as my children wouldn't have to marry each other."
Hao looked at him with confusion and responded, "What are you talking about? Your male children will all come here to my harem! As for your daughters, we can get Kang to clone himself for your daughters. Then, for Kang's daughters, we can have Eagle Eye be their partner. It's great! I can choose the people I like to be the fathers, and the harem will be even more perfect!"
Su was truly speechless after hearing her fantasies. He couldn't resist her requests, so it was decided.
Hao Gongming created another skill to clone Su a googol times and sent his clones to the women's harem.
He wasn't forced on anyone, but he was very handsome. It was one of the reasons Hao Gongming liked him so much.
Combining that with the fact that there weren't any other men around, Hao Gongming predicted that she would soon have many more harem members, all of whom would be Su's children.
And with that, the population problem of humanity was solved!