Chapter 7
This Puppet Is Not Good Enough
“Oh? What kind of puppets have you seen before?” asked Ye Chen.
Meanwhile, the human-shaped puppet was still trying to perform all kinds of complicated actions. The master and the puppet could do different things at the same time without any issues, and the effects of either’s actions would not affect the other.
As such, Ye Chen could keep training while his puppet did all the miscellaneous or dangerous things. Plus, the former could also keep track of the latter’s activities and location.
“I have seen a lot of different kinds of puppets. There are ape-shaped puppets with incredible strength, snake-shaped puppets with strange and flexible movements, crane-shaped puppets that can fly in the sky, and human-shaped puppets with battle armor. But, none of them is as naturally realistic as this puppet.”
Zi Menghan had gained more confidence in the way she carried herself ever since she was able to cultivate. She had become more cheerful and not as depressed anymore.
“How powerful is the strongest puppet you’ve ever seen?” asked Ye Chen through his human puppet. The voice was exactly the same as his own, and it spoke with a sparkle in its eyes. It was truly impossible to be able to tell that it was just a puppet and not a real person.
Even if Zi Menghan could not cultivate in the past, she was still a princess of Zi Wei Empire. Thus, the amount of knowledge she had should not be underestimated. Ye Chen could learn more about puppets from her to inspire or improve the ones he would make in the future.
Zi Menghan thought for a moment, then muttered, “I once saw a thirty-foot tall gold-armored warrior puppet that cut a mountain in half with a sword!”
Cut a mountain in half with a sword?
‘I don’t think even a Primordial Realm warrior would be able to do that!’
If Zi Menghan had witnessed a puppet with a cultivation level comparable to a powerful warrior, the history, resources, and abilities of the Zi Wei Empire were far from what Xuantian Holy Land could compare to.
Ye Chen nodded and tried to control the puppet to use its divine energy. As he did so, he found that the divine energy of the puppet was as powerful as his own.
The Ten Thousand Puppet Art seemed to have a kind of power that could turn something rotten into something magical. Since Ye Chen had just acquired the method, the puppet he had created was still very much a mystery to him despite being a replica of himself.
“Hmm…Let’s call this Puppet Number One.”
Ye Chen gave the puppet a simple and systematic name just so that he could distinguish it from the other puppets he would create in the future.
Suddenly, a powerful divine energy poured out from Puppet Number One’s body and enveloped its entire body. Then, it turned into a beam of light and flew around Qingyun Peak, heading toward a pagoda at top of the peak.
“Let’s go to the training pagoda and see how powerful this puppet is.” Ye Chen used his divine energy to envelope Zi Menghan as well before they turned into a beam of light and landed outside the pagoda where Puppet Number One was already waiting for them.
The training pagoda only had three floors. Each floor had a radius of ten thousand feet and dozens of arrays – the Spirit Gathering Array, Illusion Array, Trap Array, Killing Array, Mustard Seed Array, and so on. It was once used by the disciples of Qingyun Peak.
The first floor was used by Wave Realm disciples. The second floor was for those in Law Realm, and the third floor was used by Vision Realm disciples.
As for those in the Primordial Realm or beyond, well, Qingyun Peak had not gotten that far yet.
Ever since Ye Chen entered the peak, this training pagoda had never been used.
When Ye Chen had set up the Heaven and Earth Five Elements Reversal Array, it had somehow cleaned up the training pagoda as well. Thus, the training pagoda looked spotless without even the slightest bit of stale air.
Ye Chen brought Zi Menghan into the training pagoda and went straight to the third floor, activating the array around it.
In the next fifteen minutes, an illusionary figure appeared with an aura that hinted that he had reached the Peak Stage of Primordial Realm.
Behind this illusionary figure was a huge vision formed by the power of the five elements – blades, spears, swords, and halberds shone with a cold light; huge trees and ancient forests covered the sky; the blazing fire swept across the Heavens; oceans surged; and the mountains emitted a powerful and tyrannical aura.
Vision Realm cultivators could communicate with the natural energy of the world to construct such visions that possessed all kinds of unimaginable power.
This illusory human figure before them had the highest battle power in the training pagoda. With the Five Elements vision, his strength was on par with Holy Maiden Xue Wei.
Of course, Holy Maiden Xue Wei still had many more abilities, treasures, and secret methods up her sleeves. If these two were to fight, this illusory human figure would not even be a worthy opponent.
“Kill!”
The illusory figure let out a soul-stirring roar, and the power of the five elements behind him churned as he rushed toward Ye Chen and the others.
A clang that was so sharp and loud it could pierce through gold and crack rocks came from Puppet Number One’s body. A sharp sword had appeared in the air above its head, shining with a cold light. The sword Qi was so powerful that it was hard for anyone to look straight at it.
Shua!
The sword condensed into a sword light that flashed and disappeared. In the next instant, the illusionary figure’s massive five elements vision instantly collapsed before the figure itself disappeared.
Although the sword light dimmed a little, it didn’t disappear.
Boom!
The sword light struck the training pagoda’s protective array with a deafening boom and the entire pagoda trembled slightly.
“How powerful!” Zi Menghan exclaimed.
Although she did not know how powerful the illusory figure was, she could sense that its aura was not weaker than Holy Maiden Xue Wei’s. For such a powerful figure to be killed by Puppet Number One in one sword attack was indeed shocking.
After Puppet Number One’s attack ended, the huge aura on its body disappeared. Although it still looked no different from a real person, the divine energy inside its body had been completely exhausted and it could no longer use any of it.
This was the difference between Puppet Number One and Ye Chen. Ye Chen’s divine energy could be replenished at any time whereas the puppet’s would be completely gone once it had used it up.
In other words, if Puppet Number One used its Extreme Realm Sword Slash, it could only do so once.
To use the attack again would require Ye Chen replenishing its divine energy, thus limiting the puppet’s long-term abilities.
Ye Chen turned to Zi Menghan and said, “Menghan, what do you think Puppet Number One needs to be improved?”
Zi Menghan thought for a moment before saying, “Puppet Number One’s realistic appearance is enough to convince almost anyone that it is a real person, and its attacking power is also unquestionable. But the disadvantage is that after a full-power attack, it would turn useless.
“I think we can improve the endurance of the puppet by preparing some energy reserves.
“Also, we can carve a teleportation array on the puppet so that it could immediately leave the scene once it has exhausted its divine energy. Just to be safe.”
Ye Chen nodded slightly and encouragingly asked, “Anything else?”
Zi Menghan thought for a moment, then shook her head and said, “I really can’t think of anything else. Please enlighten me, Master!”
“Most importantly, the puppet must have a self-destructing array within its body. If anything goes wrong, it can self-destruct immediately and leave no traces behind! If the puppet falls into the hands of the enemy, the consequences will be unimaginable!”
“Yes, Master! I understand!” Zi Menghan nodded seriously as she thought to herself, ‘Master is still the most prudent person!’