In the original story, it took Han Laomo decades to finally gather all the materials needed to make the puppet. However, with the support of Lu Xuan's vast commercial network, this time was shortened by more than tenfold. In just a few years, he collected all the necessary materials. Incidentally, he also increased his number of Thunder Pearls to six.
Lu Xuan's magical artifacts, combined with his thunder magic, were finally beginning to show their true power.
After refining his magical artifact, Lu Xuan immediately devoted his energy to creating the puppet. Even the Great Evolution Divine Lord emerged from seclusion to assist him.
The two exchanged ideas and verified their findings, jointly completing and improving the entire theoretical system of the puppet. With the support of Lu Xuan's vast financial resources, they also completed various practice works.
Although they were described as practice pieces, the weakest of the four was at least a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, while the strongest had reached the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm. But this wasn't enough. Lu Xuan and the Great Evolution Divine Lord's ultimate goal was to create a final puppet capable of reaching the late-stage Nascent Soul realm.
The biggest problem limiting the puppet's combat power is actually energy. How strong is the attack of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator? To put it bluntly, even a single high-grade spirit stone can't withstand three full-force attacks from a powerful cultivator. To make the puppet engage in a true late-stage Nascent Soul level battle, at least ten high-grade spirit stones would be needed.
In the original story, Han Laomo rarely allowed his puppets to engage in direct combat. He usually used them for intimidation or to ambush people from hidden locations. Otherwise, even his wealth wouldn't be enough to sustain him. Lu Xuan could afford it, but he felt that frequently changing spirit stones had a significant weakness.
He planned to use his own method of spirit manipulation and artifact crafting to power the puppet.
"Your method of erasing the consciousness of demonic beasts and sealing their souls and essence within a magical artifact is indeed very interesting. But I'm afraid it has quite a few limitations." The Great Evolution Divine Lord was also a shrewd person, and he could tell at a glance that there were probably some difficulties that were hard to solve.
"That's right. My method seems simple, and it can mass-produce magical artifacts with built-in special attack and recovery attributes. However, it also has a huge flaw. No matter how well it is preserved, the spirit of a demon beast that has lost its soul will eventually weaken in the magical artifact. These magical artifacts will completely dissipate in less than ten years. Then they will need to return to me to replenish their energy."
"Hmph, that's just something you say to fool laymen. That way you can keep earning their spirit stones." The Great Evolution Divine Lord saw through Lu Xuan's scheme at a glance.
However, this isn't really a secret; many astute cultivators have already figured out its intricacies. But so what? For most cultivators, it's still an extremely worthwhile deal. After all, these magical treasures are incredibly useful in battles or adventures. They allow one to use a powerful divine ability without expending boundless mana. They can also self-heal, making them practically an extra, unwavering companion. Who wouldn't want that!
"If we add those hidden methods, we can extend this time to fifty to one hundred years, depending on the level of the demon beast. But is that all you're satisfied with, senior?"
"I understand what you mean, if you're going to do it, do it the best. You want to create a puppet that doesn't need spirit stones for power, can regenerate on its own, and can maintain its condition for a long time without weakening! Haha, even I didn't think of something so unreliable!"
"It does sound incredible, but it's not impossible. I already have an idea."
"Given your personality, you wouldn't just say something casually, so let's hear it."
"To explain my idea, we must first start with my weapon-refining technique."
"Senior, do you know why those magical artifacts can automatically regenerate their spiritual power?"
"I have studied your method and have gained some basic understanding. It's because those souls are not completely devoid of consciousness; they retain some basic awareness. You used a special secret technique to fuse the essence, energy, and spirit of the demonic beasts into one and infuse it into the magical artifact."
When their energy is depleted, they automatically absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth to replenish themselves. This is an instinct of demonic beasts. I don't know what methods you used to erase their consciousness, but you preserved this instinct. Therefore, those magical treasures are essentially alive, just without intelligence. However, this method cannot last forever, just as I can only barely maintain my consciousness despite my best efforts. That essence, energy, and spirit will inevitably dissipate over time. Therefore, those magical treasures cannot last long.”
“That’s right, we’re going to apply that concept to the puppets now.”
"Those magical artifacts have simple and singular functions, but the puppets we need to make are tens of thousands of times more complex than ordinary magical artifacts. How can we generalize?"
"Of course, they won't be exactly the same. However, the basic concepts are the same. Senior, do you know why a demon core can no longer absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth to restore itself after leaving the demon beast's body?"
"Good lad, testing this old man. The reason the demon core stagnates isn't because it lost its physical body. I've hunted countless powerful demon beasts in the past, and many of them, when beaten to the point of no return, would make a choice: their divine soul would envelop the demon core, attempting to escape. It's the same principle as a Nascent Soul cultivator abandoning their physical body, letting their nascent soul escape. However, for human cultivators, their essence, energy, and spirit reside in their nascent soul. Demon beasts, on the other hand, are composed of both their divine soul and demon core. Therefore, they must carry the demon core with them. So, the divine soul is the key to whether the demon core is active or not. Wait a minute, I understand, you want... to keep the demon core alive!!!"
The Great Evolution Divine Lord truly lived up to his reputation as a once-dominant genius cultivator. He could even keep up with Lu Xuan's wildly imaginative thinking!
"Hahaha, the Divine Lord is indeed clever, he actually understood my idea! That's right, I want to keep the demon core alive. My idea is to seal the demon core and soul of a sufficiently powerful demon beast together in the puppet. The demon core will circulate and breathe on its own, continuously generating spiritual power."
"I admit there's some merit to your idea, but it's not that simple. The souls and inner cores of those high-level demonic beasts have long since formed an absolute connection, completely different from those low-level demonic beasts. Once they sense that you want to erase their consciousness, they can self-destruct their demonic cores and perish together with you in an instant. No matter how powerful your divine sense is, it's impossible to erase the opponent's consciousness instantly without killing them, while ensuring their soul doesn't die and preventing them from self-destructing. That's impossible; even a Nascent Soul cultivator can't do it."
“That’s right, but this time we don’t need to erase their minds.”
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Chapter 531 The Infinite Tsukuyomi of the Cultivation World
Lu Xuan learned a trick from an anime called "Legend of the Eyes." He didn't need to kill the monster; he only needed to create an illusion, allowing it to continue living within that illusion. This way, he could obtain an infinitely looping super battery.
After hearing Lu Xuan's explanation, the Great Evolution God remained silent for the duration of an incense stick burning.
“Alright, I admit, you are indeed the most unique cultivator I have ever met. Only you could come up with such a wildly imaginative idea. However, if this is really accomplished, it will break the shackles that have bound puppetry for nearly ten thousand years.”
"It's just an idea; we'll need your assistance to implement it. I've also asked Brother Han to come. With the three of us using the Divine Shock Thorn simultaneously, we should be able to completely suppress the soul of a level ten demon beast. However, before that, we need to prepare an illusion array. This illusion array needs to be installed directly inside the puppet, so it needs to be extremely streamlined, but it can't be too weak. Hmm, there are still many problems to solve."
"Hehe, having a problem means you have a direction. Anyway, I haven't found a suitable body for the time being. I'll just help you with this first. But have you thought about this? Doing this will completely offend the demon race."
"Completely offended? During the last beast tide, the demon race slaughtered over seventy islands in the Chaotic Star Sea and abducted millions of people as food. Human cultivators have also hunted millions of various demon beasts over thousands of years. Do you think neither side has completely offended the other?"
"That's true. The human world is only so big; it can't accommodate two major cultivation clans. If they want to advance further, they have no choice but to compete..."
The two once again immersed themselves in the research of puppetry. The Great Evolution Divine Lord was responsible for perfecting the various transmission details of the puppets, while Lu Xuan began designing the illusion array.
Just then, a disciple arrived saying someone was requesting an audience. Lu Xuan went out to see who it was, and it turned out to be Yuan Yao. It seemed his title as a Grand Cultivator still held true. Yuan Yao was returned unharmed. The Soul-Crying Beast that Lu Xuan had been longing for had finally fallen into his hands.
Little Grey was very interested in the Crying Soul Beast, circling around it incessantly. This terrified the Crying Soul Beast. After all, Little Grey had been nurtured by Lu Xuan for hundreds of years, and had also consumed spiritual liquids and elixirs from the Heavenly Emperor's treasury. This made Little Grey a genuine level nine demon beast.
Strangely, it hasn't shown any signs of taking human form yet. Lu Xuan used numerous methods to examine it. The final conclusion was that this was likely due to its hidden bloodline being too advanced. It hadn't yet fully developed the potential within its bloodline.
Lu Xuan's original idea was to transplant the Soul-Crying Bloodline into Little Grey, hoping to see if Little Grey could possess two abilities simultaneously. However, he ultimately abandoned the idea. He didn't want this attempt to taint Little Grey's bloodline.
While Han Laomo went into seclusion, Lu Xuan continued his research into puppetry. It took Lu Xuan a full five years to completely perfect the entire illusion array system. The final step was to seal a sufficiently powerful demonic beast's soul within the puppet.
Lu Xuan's target was the Golden Flood Dragon King, the patriarch of the flood dragon clan in the surrounding seas, a genuine level ten demon beast, and the most powerful among level ten demon beasts.
Speaking of the Golden Flood Dragon King, he is considered an old rival of the human race. The Flood Dragon clan is a truly powerful clan among the demon races. It's not just a matter of numbers. The main reason is that Flood Dragons, as demon beasts, are at least level five demon beasts once they reach adulthood. This bloodline advantage gives them a pivotal position among the sea demon races.
The Golden Flood Dragon King was one of the masterminds behind the previous beast tides. Hundreds of mortals were captured and used as food. If this guy weren't so hard to find, Lu Xuan would have skinned him alive long ago.
However, thanks to the increasingly powerful intelligence network in the Chaotic Star Sea, Lu Xuan managed to grasp the Golden Flood Dragon King's activity route. This guy would visit a remote island every few years.
Lu Xuan secretly went to investigate and found that a spiritual fruit called Dragon Scale Fruit grew on the island. This fruit was considered an extremely delicious delicacy by the dragon race. Furthermore, long-term consumption could enhance physical strength. It was a very tempting spiritual fruit.