"Come, let me see properly, how this split-control technique is cultivated."
"Being of two minds, doing two different, or even completely opposite things simultaneously. For example, using the first spirit skill on one person, and the second spirit skill on another. Or, one spirit skill applied to two people with different states of effect, one for binding, the other for attack."
Tilting his head to glance at the description of being of two minds, Wang Zhong pondered, muttering to himself, "Isn't it just thinking of two things in your mind but doing them at the same time?"
"Draw a square with your left hand, and a circle with your right."
Speaking aloud, Wang Zhong conjured two wooden thorns. He found a patch of sandy ground and moved his hands simultaneously, drawing a square and a circle on the ground at the same time.
Wang Zhong froze for a moment. He had managed it with surprising ease.
"The scroll said it would take at least half a year to a year of continuous, arduous training to master the state of being of two minds. How did I achieve it instantly?"
"Was it because I had already completed the split-consciousness exercise of being of two minds before?"
Looking at the square and circle on the ground, Wang Zhong fell into a strange train of thought.
"Let's try again, being of three minds!"
"This time, no hands, direct soul power!"
Three wooden thorns simultaneously erupted from the ground, and Wang Zhong controlled them with his soul power, drawing on the ground.
After a single breath, Wang Zhong covered his eyes, not wanting to look anymore.
It wasn't that he had done poorly, but that he had done too well. On the sandy ground, a square, a circle, and a triangle lay quietly.
The square was perfectly square, the circle perfectly round, the triangle perfectly triangular. The three patterns had no effect on each other, completed independently in an instant.
"Good, very good."
Wang Zhong closed his eyes, applauding himself, marveling at his own performance.
"Next, let's try, being of four minds!"
Following the previous method, Wang Zhong conjured a fourth wooden thorn and controlled it with his soul power, lining it up with the other three in mid-air.
Taking a deep breath, Wang Zhong began to think about the four patterns he was about to draw.
"Since it's already four minds, let's try something more difficult. Let's write some characters."
"These four characters are: Zhong, Hu, Xie, Yan."
Under the control of his soul power, Wang Zhong secretly opened a slit in his eyes to look. Suddenly, he violently covered his eyes, not even wanting to see.
As expected, the four characters were neatly arranged, without any mess, clearly laid out on the ground, while the wooden thorns above them floated quietly.
"Fifth one!"
Wang Zhong gritted his teeth, speaking almost fiercely.
Yet, a quarter of an hour later, he continued in the same tone.
"Sixth one!"
"Seventh one!"
"Eighth one!"
...
"Two hundred and sixty-fourth one!"
Wang Zhong closed his eyes, panting heavily, not from exhaustion, but from anger.
A full two hundred and sixty-four wooden thorns, under the effect of soul power, were each performing their task, without any disorder or mutual interference, as if two hundred and sixty-four independent consciousnesses were holding them, each doing its own thing.
With a powerful sweep of his hand, all two hundred and sixty-four wooden thorns landed simultaneously, neatly planted on both banks of the river.
"What have I been doing for the past month and a half!"
Wang Zhong gritted his teeth, looking at the river water before him, wishing he could slap himself twice.
Simultaneously controlling two hundred and sixty-four wooden thorns to do different things was not his limit. If he wanted to, he could create more.
But it was precisely this fact that made him so furious.
He had spent a full half month wasted on that meaningless split-consciousness method, almost driving himself insane!
And this ability of being of multiple minds, he had achieved it effortlessly, even far exceeding the so-called limit of seven.
Recalling his various attempts over the past month and a half, Wang Zhong realized that what he lacked was not the technique of being of multiple minds, but the vision to oversee the whole and the decisiveness!
Why had he kept falling when he controlled the wooden clone half a month ago, either himself or the clone, was because his vision was limited.
He had separated himself from the wooden clone, drawing a line between the two. He himself was on the left, the wooden clone on the right. He always tried to use his left-side self to control both the wooden clone and his own body simultaneously, completely forgetting that whether it was the wooden clone or his own body, they were all led by one thing!
It was his will!
It was his will that made the wooden clone move, and the wooden clone would move. It was his will that made his own body move, and his body would move! His will was the master of all these actions, the king, and at the same time, the puppeteer!
He shouldn't have placed his will only in his left-side body, nor should he have separated the two and controlled them individually. He should have elevated his will high above, looking down on both with a gaze of supreme authority.
If his body was to move, his body would move. If the wooden clone was to move, the wooden clone would move. When he didn't issue a command, neither was allowed any change. Only his own will was the absolute commander of all actions!
The body, or the wooden clone, were both puppets under his will!
The so-called sluggishness and dullness, caused by the time lag, were merely external manifestations limited by the speed of thought. Wang Zhong did not need the so-called split-control technique; he was a complete genius, a genius not limited by any conventional theory!
The only thing that could limit him was the human body, the limits of this flesh and blood, and the speed of thought was one of them.
But now, with the system's thought acceleration, this limitation had been fundamentally liberated. All that Wang Zhong needed to do now was one thing.
To remove his will from his body and place it at the highest point where it could oversee everything, treating both his body and the wooden clone as puppets simultaneously, and then, with the judgment of his will, to control every aspect of them, their movements, expressions, and voices.
His eyes slowly closed, suppressing all the surging anger towards himself. Wang Zhong emptied his mind, allowing his soul to carry his will high up, until he could encompass both his physical body and the wooden clone in his sight. A voice echoed in his mind.
"Thought Acceleration, Two Times!"
The grinding of gears sounded continuously in his mind, and the ticking sounds also emitted in an orderly fashion.
Wang Zhong opened his eyes!
The wooden clone also opened its eyes!
The two looked at each other, their expressions extremely cold. Not the coldness of a blank stare, but a chilling intent as if viewing an enemy.
The ground beneath Wang Zhong's feet suddenly exploded, and his body shot towards the wooden clone like an arrow released from a bow.
The wooden clone let out a cold laugh, "What are you doing? Don't forget, in terms of strength and ability, I am no different from you!"
"No matter how hard you try, you'll only fight me to a draw!"
"No, you will lose!"
The wooden clone possessed the ability to absorb the soul power of others as a source of power. As long as its own soul power was not exhausted, it was immortal.
But Wang Zhong was flesh and blood, with limited physical strength, and he could get injured. Not only did his soul power need to supply the wooden clone, but each soul power attack would be largely absorbed by Wang Zhong as a source of power. In any aspect, he was far inferior to the wooden clone before him.
"Less nonsense, we'll know after fighting!"
A powerful right cross was thrown out, its immense force carrying invincible might as it struck.
Shaking his head, the wooden clone said with a sigh, "Truly foolish. You only realize how powerless you are when reality is presented before you!"
His gaze suddenly sharpened, and with an equally fearsome right fist, he met Wang Zhong's incoming punch.
As the two fists collided, the immense force instantly caused the ground beneath them to crack and split. Bursts of soul power swept outwards, startling countless birds.
Both retreated simultaneously. Their strength was equal, their moves the same, but the wooden clone retreated only half the distance Wang Zhong did!
This was because the wooden clone had absorbed half of the soul power of that strike!
"Damn it!" Wang Zhong cursed.
"How is it? Do you recognize the gap?" the wooden clone replied with a cold laugh.
"Sword Flash!"
"With this... Bastard, you're cheating!"
Amidst a similar curse, Wang Zhong's sword sliced off the wooden clone's head.
Holding the opponent's head in his hands, Wang Zhong tossed it up and down, saying with a wicked smile.
"You probably forgot, I am the original body!"
Yes, at the last second, Wang Zhong withdrew his will, which had been observing everything from the highest point, and returned it to his own body. Without the control of his will, the wooden clone before him was merely a puppet.