Hearing Lu Xuan's words, Han Li felt a strange sense of connection. Although he was now a Nascent Soul cultivator, he still felt somewhat insecure. He carefully guarded his secrets and coldly and rationally rejected some interpersonal interactions.
In the original story, it wasn't until after he reached the mid-Nascent Soul stage, when his cultivation had greatly increased and he was able to fight against late-Nascent Soul cultivators, that Han Laomo truly revealed his domineering aura. However, now, Lu Xuan has prematurely ignited his fighting spirit.
"Those herbs that you asked me to collect, senior, were they for advancing to the Nascent Soul stage?"
“That’s right, but we still have some time. I’ll give you another two hundred years. After two hundred years, I will officially attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul stage. At that time, you’ll prepare those spiritual herbs for me.”
"Okay." This time, Old Demon Han agreed without hesitation.
"Very good. Now, let's take a look at what's in this Great Evolution Divine Lord's cave dwelling."
After a long standoff, the two finally remembered that they were still in a hidden cave. They decided to join forces to explore the secret cave of the Great Evolution God.
As the founder of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, the Great Evolution Divine Lord truly had an extreme love for puppets. Moreover, he had truly mastered puppetry to its fullest extent. At least in the mortal realm, no one understood it better than him.
Lu Xuan considered himself a master of weapon crafting and rune inscription. However, upon seeing the puppet of the Great Yan Divine Lord, he was still filled with emotion.
"This guy is truly skilled in the art of puppetry. Look at the flexibility of these joints, the functional systems, and even the transmission of spiritual energy. He has almost pushed these materials to their limits."
At this point, Han Laomo had only learned a rudimentary understanding of puppetry. He was no match for Lu Xuan. He could only sense that the puppets were powerful, but couldn't pinpoint exactly why.
The two used their respective methods to defeat the group of beast-shaped puppets. It was relatively effortless. The main reason was that although these puppets hadn't moved for thousands of years, their internal power cores had gradually lost most of their energy. The fact that they could still move was a testament to their durability.
"Huh? Senior, look, what's this?" Although Han Laomo remained wary after realizing Lu Xuan meant him no harm, he would never miss an opportunity to get something for free. He was currently showing Lu Xuan a dark, dull-looking stone. This was a device resembling an energy core, extracted from one of the puppets.
Lu Xuan was slightly taken aback when he saw the object. It appeared to be a specialty of the Chaotic Star Sea. It was a Yin Soul Stone, a special kind of spirit stone. However, the spiritual energy within it was filled with a strange Yin attribute, preventing cultivators from directly absorbing it to replenish their spiritual energy. Strangely, however, this thing was extremely compatible with puppets. Using it as the puppet's energy core could greatly increase its agility.
Lu Xuan had actually seen this thing before in the Void Heaven Palace. Its true origin was actually in the Chaotic Star Sea. However, to be more specific, its origin was extremely complex. If Lu Xuan remembered correctly, this thing was a product of the small world within the body of the Rahu in the Chaotic Star Sea.
Lu Xuan couldn't say for sure what realm that Rahu was at. Rahu is a type of True Spirit. However, the levels of True Spirits actually vary greatly. An ordinary True Spirit is only at the Mahayana stage. But Lu Xuan remembered that there was a place in the Spirit Realm where a Super Rahu had fallen. Its entire body had transformed into a small world.
Let alone that super Rahu. Even the one in the Chaotic Star Sea, Lu Xuan was certain was no ordinary Rahu. Lu Xuan knew of its existence and had even secretly searched for it. But he found nothing. Later, Lu Xuan vaguely understood. The creature wasn't actually sleeping in the Chaotic Star Sea, but rather in some kind of spatial rift near it.
For cultivators in the Mahayana stage, tearing through space is not a difficult task. However, tearing through space to achieve physical interdimensional travel is a bit far-fetched.
But look at the later battle between the Rahu in the Chaotic Star Sea and its opponent, the Youtian Kunpeng. The Youtian Kunpeng was clearly from a higher realm outside the human realm, probably a spirit realm. It directly tore through the interface and attacked with its claws.
Luo Hou, on the other hand, was in a spatial rift outside the human realm. An entire human realm separated them. They fought, tearing through the interface as if no one else was there. This was tearing through an interface, not just simple spatial teleportation! In the end, Luo Hou even tore through the interface with his entire physical body, disappearing into some unknown small world. Even with both possessing innate abilities, this was still beyond the capabilities of an ordinary Mahayana stage cultivator.
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Chapter 528 Dare to give it a try?
"This thing is called a Soul Stone, or Yin Soul Stone. It's a specialty of the Chaotic Star Sea. It seems that this Great Evolution Divine Lord is also a restless person. You know, for thousands of years, the cultivators of the Chaotic Star Sea and the Tiannan region have had almost no contact."
"The spiritual power of these spirit stones is strange; they seem unusable directly."
"That's right, that thing isn't actually a spirit stone. It's more like a special kind of demon beast's inner core. I can take you to see that kind of demon beast sometime." Lu Xuan spoke casually, but Han Li still sensed that there might be some secret involved. However, Lu Xuan didn't seem inclined to explain further, so Han Li didn't press him.
All kinds of knowledge and secrets in the cultivation world are valuable. Sometimes, the value of a piece of news or secret is equivalent to that of a rare and precious treasure.
The two continued their exploration deeper, encountering more high-level puppets. However, they still lacked any real deterrent power. In the cultivation world, puppets were expensive, high-level magical artifacts. They required frequent maintenance and the consumption of vast amounts of resources to see any effect. Without these two conditions, they were essentially useless.
Moreover, Lu Xuan noticed a crucial issue: many of the puppets were not actually complete; they were unfinished products. Clearly, when the Great Evolution Divine Lord entered this place, he must have been in a great hurry and had to somewhat forcefully activate all his abilities.
The cave dwelling wasn't large; it seemed to be a place specifically for researching puppets. Besides a large number of puppets, there were various puppet materials. There were also abundant spirit stones, soul stones, and other special gems that could power the puppets, as well as demon beast cores, and so on.
Over time, most of the demon beast cores had lost their spirituality. However, a few had retained a crystalline state. This crystalline demon core was an extremely rare material. Especially when making puppets, it could serve as a spiritual energy conduction device for key parts. It was practically a superconductor in the cultivation world.
The two of them undoubtedly split the materials equally. Lu Xuan was also somewhat interested in puppetry and planned to go back and study it as well.
Soon, the two entered the deepest part of the cave. After breaking through several complex restrictions, they entered the final section of the cave.
Along the way, Old Demon Han was actually somewhat disappointed. The information he'd gathered indicated that this Great Evolution Divine Lord was a formidable figure back in the day. But now it seemed this cave dwelling held nothing of value. There were no cultivation techniques or secret arts whatsoever. Not even a few spirit stones. He'd spent over a year traveling to this place, only to find it was a huge loss.
However, Lu Xuan didn't think so, because something truly valuable had already appeared.
The deepest room was empty except for a puppet, and an unfinished one at that. It looked like a puppet-making room. But this final piece was never completed.
Old Demon Han curiously stepped forward to examine the unfinished puppet. Being displayed alone in this room, this puppet must be something special.
"If I were you, I wouldn't go near that thing so easily," Lu Xuan suddenly spoke from behind, startling Han Laomo. But Han Laomo quickly displayed his exceptional teammate skills. He didn't stand still and put on a show like, "What? What did you say? Why can't I get close? I'm going to get close anyway!"
Conversely, the instant Lu Xuan spoke, he instantly teleported away from the puppet. This made Lu Xuan burst out laughing. Han Laomo initially didn't understand why Lu Xuan was laughing. But the next second, his expression changed drastically. He sensed a divine power emanating from the unfinished puppet.
"That thing." Without a word, Han Li immediately deployed thirty-six Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords, intending to use the Great Geng Sword Formation to cut the puppet into pieces. However, Lu Xuan stopped him.
"Wait a moment. Let us ask who this is first!"
Lu Xuan said with a smile. At the same time, a wisp of divine thought pierced directly into the puppet. Simultaneously, a powerful divine thought force also emerged from the puppet. It not only blocked Lu Xuan's intrusion but also invaded in reverse, attempting to directly seize Lu Xuan's divine consciousness.
"Hehe." Lu Xuan chuckled lightly. The two people's divine senses collided within Lu Xuan's consciousness.
Han Li only heard a painful groan coming from mid-air. Then, silence returned. At this moment, Lu Xuan spoke slowly and deliberately.
"Alright, we've had our fight. Now, it's your turn to speak. Or shall we have another round?"
After a while, a voice came from the puppet.
"Good lad, are the spiritual power of the younger generation this strong these days?"
When the Great Evolution Divine Lord uttered these words, he was utterly shocked. Years ago, he created the Great Evolution Technique, specializing in the cultivation of divine soul power; his divine sense was so strong that he dominated the entire mortal realm.
Having spent nearly ten thousand years within the puppet, he was weakened to the extreme. However, he had always reserved the power to unleash a final attack. He was confident that even a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator would be unable to withstand his full-force strike.
But that previous attack was simply indescribable. How to put it? The moment they made contact, he sensed that the opponent's divine sense was extremely powerful, but far from being able to resist him. However, when his own divine sense surged into the opponent's consciousness...
The feeling was like this: if one's own divine sense were a surging wave, then the opponent's divine sense was like a solid reef. It was a difference in quality. No matter how strong the wave, it would only shatter into spray when it crashed against the reef.