Free Web NovelChapter 294: Chapter 23: The Wind Rises
Zi Luan’s two puppets were truly exceptional items. The central region of their bodies contained three ’Vine Wood Cores.’ These were Celestial and Earthly Treasures of the Wood Spirit attribute and were extremely difficult to obtain, with a starting price of one million.
The other parts were all constructed from genuine Ten Thousand Year Spirit Wood. What truly captivated Wang Ping was the array system built inside the puppets. It mimicked the human body’s hundreds of meridians, enabling the circulation of a Qi Sea. Furthermore, the precision of their various sensory systems was comparable to that of a human.
Wang Ping resisted the strong urge to immediately implant the two Spirit Body consciousnesses he had reshaped. First, he needed to refine the two puppets to fully understand their internal workings, and then he had to implant new memories into the Spirit Body consciousnesses.
The process wouldn’t take long. As a Third Realm Cultivator, Wang Ping already had a thorough understanding of the human body’s meridians and sensory systems. Refining the puppets would only take a moment, after which he would just need to place his own consciousness imprint within their internal Arrays.
Next, Wang Ping specifically inscribed two new Soldier Talismans and stored the two puppets within them, creating a connection to the three Talismans already in his Primordial Spirit Consciousness.
CLATTER CLATTER.
He tossed the divination blocks to the floor. It wasn’t until the fifth throw that a Holy Trigram appeared.
Without even picking up the divination blocks, Wang Ping summoned one of the newly refined puppets. He then drew a reshaped Spirit Body consciousness from the Inspiration Realm and used the Enlightenment Skill to drive it into the central region of the puppet’s internal Array.
The stiff puppet froze. Beneath its sinister mask, its blank eyes flickered with halos of cyan light, and then it stirred with the vibrancy of life. "Master!" Upon seeing Wang Ping, it set its long spear on the ground and knelt on one knee.
It was a combat puppet. To better control it, Wang Ping had implanted some necessary thoughts into its memory.
’Mm, its thoughts are normal, the Qi Sea within its body is stable, and the meridians are clear. A success.’ Wang Ping had no intention of developing unnecessary attachments to the puppet, maintaining a cold and detached demeanor as he observed it.
With that, he summoned the Soldier Talisman and stored the puppet back inside it.
Then, Wang Ping began to work on the second puppet...
As he finished reshaping the second puppet’s consciousness, a thought suddenly crossed Wang Ping’s mind. ’What if I made a puppet in my own likeness and retreated behind the scenes?’ But he immediately shook his head.
The method seemed brilliant, but it was practically unfeasible. Unless Wang Ping was only facing small-time minions, any Cultivator of the same realm would be able to tell it was a fake at a single glance.
’Still, it could have a surprisingly good effect in certain situations. It wouldn’t hurt to make one or two.’
...
Time seemed to suddenly slow down.
At least, it felt that way for a small number of people in Mozhou Road and Nanlin Road. It was a rare, sunny day. As Wang Ping completed his daily cultivation, his progress in fusing with the Heaven-Reaching Talisman finally advanced a step, reaching (1/100).
By his calculations, it had been less than a year. This meant that if he continued cultivating at his current pace, he could completely fuse with it within a century.
This realization eliminated a significant Heart Demon that had been weighing on him.
His journey had largely been thanks to the glowing panel, which made him feel somewhat insecure. He had always been exceedingly cautious, afraid of making a single mistake.
Everything in this world came with a price. The glowing panel had soothed his anxious heart and given his cultivation a clear purpose, but it had also given rise to other concerns. Such was the nature of gains and losses.
Just as Wang Ping was about to continue refining the Pocket World Mirror, a streak of light flashed across the sky and landed before him.
It was Yu Lian!
She landed on Wang Ping’s shoulder and nuzzled her head against his cheek. "Xiaozhu has successfully reached Foundation Establishment!" she said. "Master is teaching her what to do next. His little courtyard is so lively right now! A bunch of Second Realm Cultivators came to visit. They’re Master’s old friends."
"Oh? Tell me more!"
Wang Ping’s interest was piqued.
Yu Lian cheerfully landed on a nearby meditation cushion and began telling him about Yu Cheng Taoist’s friends.
Time passed without notice.
Around Noon, sunlight brightly illuminated most of the pavilion. Wang Ping felt a sudden premonition and took out his familiar divination blocks to cast a reading.
A Holy Trigram!
He cast another.
An inauspicious one!
And another.
A Holy Trigram.
After a dozen or so readings, Wang Ping put away his divination blocks. He walked out of the pavilion and stood on the Celestial Platform, gazing toward the distant horizon. There, two pillars of energy soared into the sky and converged.
Meanwhile, in the Inspiration Realm, countless Spiritual Creatures grew frenzied from the two columns of energy. Some charged directly toward the pillars of light, while others rushed to nearby sources of spiritual power. However, they couldn’t break through the barrier between worlds to directly affect things in the material plane.
And so, they grew even more frenzied.
Their frenzied state drove them to devour one another. In the process, they grew stronger, transforming into irregular, grayish-black masses of energy that radiated desire and negativity. It seemed their influence was beginning to pierce through the Inspiration Realm and affect the physical world.
Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit Consciousness stirred. With a single thought, he completely annihilated these twisted Spiritual Creatures. When he looked back at the horizon, the Energy Light Pillar had already vanished.
However, the residual energy was still spreading in all directions. A moment later, Wang Ping felt a faint fluctuation in the Spiritual Qi of Jinhua Prefecture City.
Just then, Zi Luan appeared by his side.
"Someone self-detonated their Qi Sea, taking another person down with them. This is serious!" he said, his voice laced with concern.
The words had barely left his lips when a Cultivator in a Blue Daoist Robe rushed to the base of the pavilion. He cupped his fist and reported, "According to feedback from the monitoring devices, the energy originated from a region in southern Mozhou Road. The power at the core of the event was nearly at the Third Realm."
"Fellow Daoist Zuo!"
"Hongyuan!"
Wang Ping and Zi Luan had each called out a name.
In the next moment, Zuo Xuan and Hongyuan appeared one after another below the pavilion. Zi Luan remained silent, allowing Wang Ping to give the orders. "Take your identity seals and go investigate the site of the incident. Remember, do not act rashly!"
"Yes!"
After receiving their orders, the two transformed into streaks of light and shot into the sky.
Wang Ping and Zi Luan also transformed into a streak of light, appearing in the main hall of a pavilion in the guest quarters.
Four figures were sitting cross-legged in the middle of the hall: Wu Quan, Ganxing, Mingxin, and Tianshan. With the addition of Wang Ping and Zi Luan, there were now six Third Realm Cultivators present.
"That was quite a commotion," Mingxin said, frowning at Zi Luan.
"Isn’t a bigger commotion better? It gives us a more convincing reason to intervene," said Ganxing. A formation of Magical Artifacts shimmered faintly around him. He was clearly eager for a fight, his entire presence like a drawn sword.
Just as Wu Quan was about to say something, all six of them turned to look out the window at the same time.
They had all sensed at least two Third Realm-level energy signatures flaring up in Mozhou Road. One of them burned with palpable rage, as if it wanted to tear everything to shreds!
"So soon?"
Tianshan Daoist muttered to himself as he looked toward Wang Ping.
Wang Ping looked just as puzzled.
