Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 340: Upgrading the Golden Puppet

As soon as Su Xuan left, Fang Hao immediately slammed the door shut and set up three Formations to isolate Divine Sense in the room. Only then did he slump onto the floor, panting heavily. His confrontation with that old fox just now, though not a physical fight, had been more exhausting than a life-and-death struggle with Willow Follow Wind due to the invisible pressure.

"Damn it, that old geezer definitely has no good intentions!" Fang Hao cursed under his breath, his mind as clear as a mirror. What load of crap about a ’key’; it was obvious he was after his Chaos power, wanting to use him as a tool and then discard him.

The current situation could be described as being surrounded by enemies on all sides. On Medicine King Valley’s side, he had crippled Willow Follow Wind, and that debt would surely be collected. Although Shen Xinghe of the Heavenly Derivation Sect was graceful, the Sect had lost Face, and there was no guarantee some old fogey wouldn’t try to find trouble with him. Add to that the old fox Su Xuan watching him like a hawk from behind, and those hidden old monsters coveting his ’Dao Pill Prototype’ and chaos pill cauldron...

The more Fang Hao thought about it, the more alarmed he became. To him, Myriad Laws Immortal City was now a trap filled with daggers; every extra moment he stayed was another degree of danger.

"No, I need to find a way to run away quickly!" Fang Hao forced himself to calm down and began to take stock of his belongings.

He had quite a few Spirit Stones; the reward from the Debate championship plus what Mo Yunhe had left behind was enough for him to squander for a while. He also had tools for escaping: a third-rank azure spirit boat, several high-grade escape talismans, and a few Magic Treasures to conceal his aura. However, while these were fine for dealing with an average Nascent Soul Cultivator, against an old monster like Su Xuan who had half a foot in the Soul Transformation Realm, or if he were cornered by several Late Nascent Soul Stage experts, they would be useless.

His greatest reliance was still the golden puppet. But this big guy had been severely damaged while tanking the self-detonation of a Late Nascent Soul Stage expert last time. Now, it could at most exert power at the Middle Nascent Soul Stage, and its endurance was a major issue; it would ’run out of power’ after a short fight.

"I have to fix the golden puppet and make it even stronger!" A look of ruthlessness flashed in Fang Hao’s eyes. Su Xuan had given him three days. During these three days, he couldn’t just sit and wait for death; he had to utilize this precious’safe period’ to the extreme!

He sank his Divine Sense into his Dantian. Deep within that Chaos vortex, besides the nurtured chaos pill cauldron, there was a large pile of miscellaneous Materials. These were the assets he had accumulated over the years through life-and-death situations, most of which were Mo Yunhe’s legacy, along with the rewards from this Debate and the treasures he had scavenged from the marketplace before.

Fang Hao dumped all these Materials out, filling nearly half the room. He sat cross-legged, took out the crumpled fragment of the heavenly craft puppet manual, and began to search through it carefully.

This manual fragment was a treasure that had been with him for a long time. It recorded many obscure secret techniques for repairing and strengthening Puppets, some of which were even a bit ’wicked’.

"Found it!" Fang Hao’s eyes lit up as he turned to a page recording a secret technique called ’Blood Refinement Spirit Fusion’. This technique was extremely domineering; it used the essence blood and inner core of high-rank Demon Beasts, combined with several rare metallic Materials, to forcibly upgrade a Puppet’s core power and material strength, even allowing the Puppet to develop a faint trace of’spirituality’.

"This is the one!" Fang Hao slapped his thigh. This secret technique was practically tailor-made for the current golden puppet!

He immediately began rummaging through the pile of Materials. Although refining the ’chaos unity pill’ had been a massive drain, Su Xuan had invested heavily to ensure he made it to the finals, providing many good things, several of which could be used on the golden puppet.

"The inner core of a Peak Fourth-Rank Demon Beast, the ’Earth Fire Dragon Lizard’. This can replace the golden puppet’s original damaged Nascent Soul Yao core, providing more violent fire-attribute energy!"

"stardust sand—this stuff is a material for refining high-grade Magic Treasures. It’s perfect for patching that big hole in the golden puppet’s chest and can also increase its defense!"

"And this... ten-thousand-year cold iron essence! That old fellow Mo Yunhe really did hide quite a few good things. Using this to reinforce the golden puppet’s frame should make it no problem to tank attacks from the Late Nascent Soul Stage!"

Fang Hao became more excited as he searched, his eyes shining. He picked out all the usable Materials and piled them in front of him, unexpectedly gathering most of the primary Materials needed for the ’Blood Refinement Spirit Fusion’ secret technique! Although he was still missing ’Spirit-Guiding Wood’ to stabilize the Puppet’s core, he had a section of a withered tree root of unknown species he’d bought at the marketplace before. He’d just have to make do with it and hope for the best!

"Let’s do it!"

Fang Hao was a man of action. He first released the golden puppet from his Spirit Beast bag. The big hole in the big guy’s chest was still there, and there were many cracks at the joints. Its originally shimmering golden body was now dull and lackluster, a sight that made one’s heart ache.

"Old partner, sorry for the hardship. This time I’ll give you a ’full service’ overhaul to restore your former glory!" Fang Hao patted the golden puppet’s cold thigh, then took a deep breath and began to work according to the methods recorded in the fragment of the heavenly craft puppet manual.

He first used Chaos Fire to melt the pieces of ten-thousand-year cold iron essence and stardust sand, carefully filling the hole in the golden puppet’s chest and the cracks across its body. This process required extremely high temperature control; the slightest mistake could melt the golden puppet. It was only because Fang Hao possessed Chaos Fire and had just refined a ’Dao Pill Prototype’ at the Debate—reaching an incredible level of flame control—that he dared to do this.

As the scalding metal solution was injected, the golden puppet’s body emitted a’sizzling’ sound. The original cracks healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. The newly fused ten-thousand-year cold iron essence and stardust sand gave its body a dark-gold metallic luster with faint starlight flickering, making it look much heavier and sturdier than before.

Next was the most critical step—replacing the core and performing Blood Refinement Spirit Fusion!

Fang Hao took out the fist-sized Earth Fire Dragon Lizard inner core that radiated a scorching aura, then pulled out several bottles of essence blood from fourth-rank Demon Beasts he’d gotten from Mo Yunhe. He bit his fingertip and forced out a drop of his own life-essence blood, dripping it into the bottle of Demon Beast essence blood. His Chaos blood was the key to activating this technique!

"With my blood, fuse your spirit; the world as the furnace, creation as the craft... Fuse!"

Fang Hao gave a low shout and formed hand seals, striking the mixture of his own essence blood and the Demon Beast essence blood, along with the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard core, into the core Formation in the golden puppet’s chest!

"Boom—!"

A surge of violent energy instantly exploded within the golden puppet! The terrifying Yao power contained in the Earth Fire Dragon Lizard core, mixed with Fang Hao’s Chaos blood and the Demon Beast essence blood, rampaged through the golden puppet’s meridians and Formations like a wild horse breaking its reins!

The golden puppet’s massive frame trembled violently. Its originally dull body instantly erupted with a piercing red light, and a terrifying pressure far exceeding its previous state boomed outward! Had Fang Hao not set up isolation Formations in advance, this pressure would have been enough to alarm half of Myriad Laws Immortal City!

"Stay steady for me!" Veins popped on Fang Hao’s forehead as he fully circulated the Chaos Derivation Art. His powerful Divine Sense acted like countless invisible hands, forcibly suppressing and channeling the violent energy within the golden puppet, guiding it to flow along specific trajectories and merge with the golden puppet’s original core Formation.

This was an extremely perilous process. The slightest slip-up would cause the golden puppet to be completely scrapped or even explode due to energy conflict! Fang Hao’s Divine Sense was being consumed rapidly, and his Face grew paler, but his gaze remained incredibly firm.

Time passed minute by minute. The red light within the golden puppet gradually receded, and that violent pressure slowly became stable and heavy. Its originally dark-gold body now displayed a strange luster of interwoven dark red and gold. At the core position on its chest, a brand-new energy core, throbbing like a heart, was slowly taking shape.

Seeing this, Fang Hao dared not delay. He immediately took out that section of withered tree root, refined it with Chaos Fire into a wisp of pale green Spiritual Qi, and injected it into the core. Although the quality of this ’Spirit-Guiding Wood’ was mediocre, it served somewhat to stabilize the spirituality.

"Buzz—!"

As the final step was completed, the golden puppet’s massive body gave a sudden jolt. Its eyes snapped open, and two dark-red beams of light shot out like physical substance, scorching two charred holes into the wall in front of it!

A powerful, steady pressure carrying a hint of primal aura radiated from the golden puppet. This pressure had impressively reached... the Late Nascent Soul Stage!

"It’s done!" Fang Hao was overjoyed. He slumped onto the floor, nearly collapsing from exhaustion, but his Face was filled with wild delight.

The golden puppet’s appearance had changed significantly. Its height seemed to have increased by a few inches, reaching over two zhang. Its entire body was a mix of dark gold and dark red, its muscle lines more fluid and powerful, and its joints shimmered with a metallic luster. At its chest, a fist-sized energy core throbbed steadily, emitting heart-pounding energy fluctuations. Especially those eyes—though they still held the dullness of a Puppet, there seemed to be a trace of faint spirituality deep within, no longer as rigid as before.

Fang Hao tried giving a command with his Divine Sense. The golden puppet moved instantly; its movements were as swift as lightning yet carried an indescribable steadiness. A single punch thrown out brought an ear-piercing sonic boom, its power more than twice what it was before!

"Hahaha! Late Nascent Soul Stage! Now let’s see who can stop me!" Fang Hao couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The frustration and pressure of the past few days were swept away in this moment.

With this Late Nascent Soul Stage golden puppet, combined with his own various methods, he now had a trace of self-preservation even against Su Xuan—at least... his chances of escaping were much higher!

"These three days were worth it!" Fang Hao looked at the revamped golden puppet, a cold light flickering in his eyes. "Old man Su Xuan, you want to plot against me? I want to see who ends up plotting against whom!"

He stowed away the golden puppet, swallowed a few Medicinal Pills to recover his Divine Sense and Spiritual Qi, and began to seize the time to meditate. The three days weren’t over yet; he had to adjust his state to its Peak, and then... go Face the ’dragon’s den’ at Withered Willow Ferry!