Chapter 130 - Corpse Puppet (1/2)

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”You think it's that simple?” Yan Zaizen questioned Pinaka, his voice filled with disbelief. Earlier, Pinaka suggested that the moat only affected those who come into contact with. If that was the case, one could, theoretically, walk up to the door and simply open it.

”You all are overthinking the situation. Your assumption of the moat is pointlessly cautious. If there's no solution and no one willing to take the chance, then wouldn't you be stuck here forever?” Her words were true. If there wasn't a problem to begin with, their assumptions and deductions would be irrelevant and a waste of time. However, could it truly be so simple?

”I see. In that case…” Yan Zaizen's eyes flickered with intelligence. Recalling the Li Clan Patriarch's corpse, he'd already refined it thoroughly to become a puppet of his. It didn't contain a trace of lifeforce or a soul, so the moat wouldn't be able to infect it normally. Despite that, its strength couldn't be fully maintained, nor could its comprehension into the laws as that originated from the soul.

If he could use the puppet to test Pinaka's theory, if he lost it, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but if he didn't, then it'll be fine. Normally, one would think that there should be others with puppets, but in truth, they weren't practical. For one, the stronger the puppet, the greater your spiritual sense requirement must be to control it. Not only that, the puppet is similar to a formation, if destroyed the backlash would be intense.

There were other issues as well, such as the inability to bring out its previous owner's full strength, access their bloodline, cultivate them to be stronger, or anything really besides a body that could induce a backlash.

Corpse puppetry was essentially a lost art, and many would instead use a True Essence Realm's corpse for elixirs, pills, or armament creation. In the past, only incredibly strong cultivators who've had accomplishments in the soul would control puppets. Normally, they would control metallic puppets called golems who bolstered incredibly strong physical defense and contained Spirit Forms.

Thinking up to here, he informed the group of his intentions, ”I'll be sending my puppet to confirm a theory of mine.” Their eyes flickered with interest but didn't say anything in refusal. Not a single cultivator amongst the thousands had a golem nor used a corpse puppet due to its issues.

With a motion of his hand, a pale white faceless corpse emerged into the surroundings. Those who were keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary were immediately drawn to its existence. Their eyes glistened with intrigue, but similar to his group, they didn't say anything but stayed in observation.

Not too far away from their current location, the Xiāo City Lord was looking about cautiously. Noticing the oddity that attracted others attention, his eyes turned to see a handsome youth standing beside a faceless humanoid. For some reason, when he looked at the youth, his heart couldn't help but feel a little irritated. A bloom of hatred was slowly forming, but he didn't recognize why.

Yao Wuhen and her group were far away, but they seemed to have noticed something and looked towards Yan Zaizen's direction.

”Go!” Ignoring the nearby gazes honed on him, he sent the Li Patriarch's puppet towards the moat. Its body radiated with a dim true-essence containing traces of fire. At the moment, the Li Patriarch's corpse puppet only possessed sufficient strength to rival a half-step True Essence expert, but it was still sufficient.

With a zooming dash, the puppet traversed several li of distance, causing everyone's eyes to be drawn to the rapidly moving form. It reached the moat in seconds, and then, without stopping, barreled through that twenty feet of distance. As it skipped past the inky black moat, the moat showed no reaction. However, the door glistened with a faint crimson light.

”This?!” Yan Zaizen was shocked. As he controlled this puppet with his spiritual sense tied to soul energy, he felt an indescribable feeling pass through his soul form. A bright crimson light shot out from the door, penetrating the corpse puppet. Like an electrical line, it traced back to Yan Zaizen from his connection with the corpse puppet and burrowed sharply between his brows.

Everyone here, no matter how powerful, couldn't perceive what had just happened. Yan Zaizen's eyes went blank for several seconds but later resumed its vibrant lifeforce. His brows furrowed in deep contemplation.

The light seemed to wish to control his soul, to dominate and transform it into something else, but the moment it entered his brow, the swirling black hole in his soul form's glabella gobbled it up instantly. Pinaka, however, saw it all.

”That's…” She felt a little surprised but also expected it. One must remember that she originated from the Chaos Era. The chance that there was a soul attack at the gates of the Asura Phantom Palace was about 99% probability from her experience, but she knew it was irrelevant due to Yan Zaizen's innate soul protection. What she didn't expect, however, was Yan Zaizen gaining some benefits due to the attack.

Yan Zaizen was shocked as well. From this attack, he gained knowledge. It was strange. The light transmitted information directly into mind before attempting to reach his soul. It held a faint intent to transform his soul. This transmitted knowledge would be beneficial to him afterward. However, due to his innate-soul protection from the black hole, only the information was transmitted. It contained soul arts, a soul method for cultivation, and comprehension into a unique Astral-grade language.