Now that they knew the enemy's route, Lu Xuan naturally set up traps in advance. He also notified Han Laomo. Han Li also took a few days to participate in this siege.
Hongxiu had set up multiple formations on the island beforehand. Then, Lu Xuan, Hongyu, Han Laomo, and Dayan Shenjun joined forces to attack. With the assistance of the formations, the Golden Flood Dragon King had almost no chance to fight back and was instantly crushed.
A Nascent Soul cultivator at the late stage wouldn't be easily killed by a demon beast. Seeing it was no match for the enemy, the Golden Flood Dragon King directly self-destructed its physical body, determined to ensure its opponent gained no benefit from it. Then, its primordial spirit, enveloped in its demon core, instantly vanished into the distance.
"Did it work?" Old Demon Han asked curiously.
"That's right, it worked. I considered all aspects, and all his reactions were exactly as I expected. Now let's test the effect."
That's right, the Golden Flood Dragon King failed to escape. In fact, its final self-destruction was far more convincing than any apparent escape. It was already under the control of an illusion.
The Infinite Tsukuyomi isn't a novel idea; it's been used in everything from action anime to high-concept sci-fi films like The Matrix. However, those stories are purely imaginative fantasies, while Lu Xuan has put this concept into practice.
In the Golden Flood Dragon King's mind, it self-destructed its physical body to escape. Then it possessed one of its own kind and began a long recovery process. This process might last for thousands of years, or even longer. However, given its long lifespan, it naturally wouldn't mind.
In reality, Lu Xuan has already awakened the puppet.
Using the Soul Splitting Technique of the Great Evolution Manual, a wisp of divine thought was separated and attached to the puppet. The puppet's eyes flickered with a faint luster, which then disappeared, transforming it into a humanoid, lively creature. Upon closer inspection, it was indistinguishable from a human.
The puppet's surface is covered with a special material called "skin jade." This material has no other special properties except that it can perfectly simulate all the details of muscles. Hence the name "skin jade." It is a material generally only used in the creation of high-level puppets or lifelike puppets.
However, given Lu Xuan and the Great Evolution God's perfectionist nature, they naturally want everything to be perfect from the very end. They want every aspect to be flawless.
"How are you feeling?" Lu Xuan asked.
“Excellent. Everything is functioning perfectly.” The puppet replied while moving its body. The entire process was seamless, even smoother than a human's, as if it were a cultivator who had practiced some kind of special body-refining technique.
"Very good, now let's test the attack method."
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Chapter 532 The Valley of Fallen Demons Opens
The puppet has many attack methods.
After all, the Great Evolution Divine Lord designed this puppet specifically for combat. Therefore, the entire puppet is essentially a perfect weapon of war in the cultivation world. Every part of it is made of top-tier magical artifact materials, and each part possesses a unique attack method.
First, a blinding light flashed in his eyes, and a dark red beam swept across the sea. These were the Crimson Demon Eyes, the eyes of the evil cultivator Lu Xuan had obtained in the world of Jade Dynasty. The cultivator had refined these eyes for three hundred years, and after they fell into Lu Xuan's hands, he had nurtured them for hundreds more. Their destructive power was now vastly different from what it once was.
The Crimson Demon Eye is capable of destroying all kinds of magical treasures. Even the Heavenly Sword from the world of Jade Dynasty couldn't withstand it. It's considered a top-tier divine ability. After being upgraded by Lu Xuan, it remains an extremely powerful divine ability even in the world of cultivation. Caught off guard, an opponent struck by this divine ability on their natal magical treasure would either die or be severely injured.
The puppet's hands can perform various spells like a normal cultivator's, aided by hand seals and incantations. However, this is merely a means to conceal its puppet nature. In crucial combat, it can completely omit these steps.
Because countless attack formation runes were already engraved on his internal 'skeleton'. With just a thought, he could activate the functional system and instantly unleash various spells.
From basic Five Elements spells to Lu Xuan's signature lightning magic, wind spells, and even ice and poison spells, he handled them all with ease. Furthermore, thanks to the array's assistance, the puppet technique could utilize a Five Elements Divine Light that combined the power of the five elements. This was considered a powerful attack. Lu Xuan himself hadn't even mastered this ability. Mainly because he couldn't install an auxiliary Five Elements Fusion Array within himself. However, for the puppet, this attack was far simpler.
Casting spells with both hands is also a characteristic of puppets. But as mentioned before, in real combat, it's not just the hands. The chest, mouth, knees, abdomen, back, and even the ear canals are all attack points—a humanoid weapon with no blind spots.
Besides their inherent attack methods, these puppets also inherit nearly 90% of the Golden Flood Dragon King's magical abilities thanks to the Golden Flood Dragon King's inner soul core. Except for some abilities involving his natal soul, they can completely mimic the real Golden Flood Dragon King.
It's no exaggeration to say that this puppet's combat power, if placed on the Tiannan Continent, would be enough to easily defeat two of the so-called three great cultivators. It's even more powerful than the puppet used by Han Laomo in the original story.
"Hahaha, very good, very good. I never thought I would actually see it in my lifetime. I have been obsessed with puppetry all my life, and being able to create such a work is a dream come true. Alright, kid, now I'm going to prepare to possess another body and start cultivating again."
Having fulfilled his long-cherished wish of nearly ten thousand years, the Great Evolution God-Lord finally let go of his inner turmoil and prepared to seize another body to rebuild his cultivation. This was an extremely severe test for him. The main reason was that although his divine soul was powerful, it was ultimately incomplete. Once he broke free from Lu Xuan's protective formation and began the body-seizing process, it would inevitably attract extraterrestrial demons to take advantage of his vulnerability. Furthermore, with his divine soul incomplete, no one knew what would happen during the body-seizing process.
Lu Xuan had done more than enough to help. He hoped this exceptionally talented cultivator would continue on his path of cultivation. But ultimately, whether he could achieve this depended on the cultivator himself.
Now, only one voice remains in the vast sea: the Hidden Immortal Sect. The once-dominant Star Palace is now in a semi-secluded state. This was actually a miscalculation by Ling Xiaofeng.
Back when Lu Xuan was in the mid-Nascent Soul stage, he could fight him to a draw. He really wanted to die with Lu Xuan to pave the way for his daughter. But at that time, Liu Dao and the others were still around, so he didn't dare. He could only cooperate with Lu Xuan, since Lu Xuan's Hidden Immortal Sect was much more law-abiding than the demonic cultivators.
But he never dreamed that just over a hundred years later, Lu Xuan's cultivation partner would suddenly appear and wipe out all the demonic cultivators in the Chaotic Star Sea like chopping vegetables. Thus, only two voices remained in the Chaotic Star Sea: the Star Palace and the Hidden Immortal Sect.
While Ling Xiaofeng hesitated, the Hidden Immortal Sect had already swiftly opened up the market through commerce, completely seizing control of the discourse among lower and middle-level cultivators. Meanwhile, Lu Xuan went into seclusion, leaving Ling Xiaofeng with no opening.
He truly wanted to take a desperate gamble, severely cripple the Hidden Immortal Sect, and leave a way out for the Star Palace. Unfortunately for him, Lu Xuan had anticipated this and made prior arrangements. He simply couldn't find any high-ranking members of the Hidden Immortal Sect.
After much deliberation, Lu Xuan broke through to the late Nascent Soul stage. This left Ling Xiaofeng utterly hopeless. His opponent was prepared, avoiding the Star Palace. Unable to distance himself, Ling Xiaofeng had lost all leverage to fight Lu Xuan.
Their daughter, Ling Yuling, had just advanced to the Nascent Soul stage and had absolutely no chance of protecting the Star Palace. The Hidden Immortal Sect's Sect Master Lu was not only incredibly powerful, but also far superior to the Star Palace in terms of business acumen. Once he and his wife reached the end of their lifespans, Ling Yuling would have no chance against Lu Xuan.
Left with no other choice, the two made their final decision. On one hand, they announced that the Star Palace had been in seclusion for a thousand years and would no longer concern itself with worldly affairs. On the other hand, they secretly contacted Hongyu, hoping to marry Ling Yuling to Lu Xuan as a concubine.
Over the past few centuries, they've come to realize that Lu Xuan is a man of principle. As long as they don't provoke him, he won't resort to ruthless methods. The two women used the cultivation method of the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light as dowry to marry Ling Yuling to them. Even more absurdly, Hongyu agreed without consulting Lu Xuan at all. This left Lu Xuan speechless for a moment, yet also somewhat...
At this point, the Hidden Immortal Sect had become the sole dominant force in the Chaotic Star Sea. The cultivators of the Chaotic Star Sea, upon hearing this, often sighed in amazement. The Hidden Immortal Sect had risen from its inception to its dominance of the Chaotic Star Sea in less than three hundred years!
With no more worries about the sect, Lu Xuan completely immersed himself in his research. Puppetry, Soul Crying, Little Gray, Iron Fire Ant, Silver Moon, Heavenly Demon—he was fully integrating all his resources to transform them into real combat power.
During this time, Han Laomo also emerged from seclusion once, exchanging a large amount of spiritual herbs for Lu Xuan's help. He also made a puppet for Lu Xuan. Han Laomo's vengeful nature was fully revealed. The demonic beast he used to make the puppet was none other than the Gale Beast, Feng hope, who had chased him relentlessly through the Chaotic Star Sea years ago.
Feng hope was originally a level nine demon beast, but Han Laomo was incredibly wealthy. All sorts of rare treasures were piled on top of him. A system that combined spirit stones and demon beast inner cores for power was also used. Ultimately, the puppet was also upgraded to the late Nascent Soul stage.
After that, both Lu Xuan and Han Laomo went into seclusion. Then news came from the sect that the Fallen Demon Valley was about to open.
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Chapter 533 Gathering in the Fallen Demon Valley
Fallen Demon Valley is one of the most dangerous places in Tiannan.