Chapter 193: The Sky Demon Puppet
After distributing the pills, Yao Yan no longer paid attention to the Golden and Silver Elders. Their talent was average at best. Even if he provided some cultivation resources, they could only reach the Dou Zong level at most. From a long-term perspective, a Dou Zong was nothing special. However, for the time being, having them watch over things was still acceptable.
He couldn't stay in the Black Corner Domain forever. In the shortest time, it would be a year; at most, two to three years. He would inevitably leave for the Central State. By then, Golden and Silver Elders would need to monitor the Black Corner Domain.
"Big Brother, what does 'Heaven' mean?" Zi Yan, walking beside Cai Lin, blinked her large, watery eyes and curiously asked.
"It means 'house in the sky.'"
Yao Yan smiled and explained. Currently, Heaven was still in its early stages, just a name. It was mostly for preparation for the future. He also planned to create another realm, Hell, to recruit people from the Soul Hall and the Soul Race.
But by then, the name Yao Yan would no longer be useful. Soul Yan might be more fitting.
Anything bad would be done by Soul Yan. What did it have to do with Yao Yan?
"Oh~," Zi Yan replied, still looking around curiously. Soon, she displayed a look of disdain. "It doesn't look like it."
"Let it be for now, we'll change it later," Yao Yan nodded in agreement with Zi Yan's words and then turned his attention to Cai Lin, softly asking, "Have you finished counting? Mo Yan Valley's accumulated treasures over the centuries should be quite a lot, right?"
Cai Lin cast a cold glance at Yao Yan, tossing him a spatial ring. Her red lips moved slightly, "This is everything of value. The rest, I threw in the treasury, untouched."
Yao Yan swept through the ring with his soul force and found a large amount of rare medicinal herbs and Dou Techniques, including some Earth-tier ones. There were also many magic cores above the fifth rank. It was clear that the most valuable items in Mo Yan Valley were in this ring, and Yao Yan also saw the things that most interested him.
"True-Form Flame Decision, Sky Demon Puppet!"
With a flash of the ring, two scrolls appeared in Yao Yan's hand. One was dark red, the other pitch black. The latter was made of a special material that resembled bamboo, quite vintage.
As the Sky Demon Puppet scroll opened, blood-red characters appeared, looking eerie and ominous.
"Sky Demon Puppet, this method is neither a skill nor a regular Dou Technique but a puppet art passed down from ancient times. To refine a Sky Demon Puppet, three items must be gathered: the body, soul, and magic core. The body serves as the vessel, the soul as the guide, and the magic core as the heart. Additionally, many other materials are needed to complete the puppet. The puppet is classified into three ranks: Heaven, Earth, and Man. The difference in rank depends on the refining materials and the fire used, with immense power but no emotions, no joy or sorrow, no pain or injury. It is a true killing tool."
The content was not long, and the refining method was simple, but the required materials were enough to make one speechless. The stronger the Sky Demon Puppet, the higher the required materials—equivalent to refining a powerful person into a puppet, and also requiring a high-tier magic core.
Of course, there were benefits too. The biggest was breaking through cultivation bottlenecks. By absorbing thunderous power, one could rapidly increase their strength to Dou Zong level.
But no matter how strong the puppet, it was still a puppet. There was a huge gap between it and a real Dou Zong.
Just like Yao Yan, even if his body was strong, without the support of powerful Dou Qi, he would struggle to fight a real Dou Zong. The example of defeating the Earth Demon Old Ghost was something others couldn't replicate, as not everyone could execute a terrifying Dou Technique like the Four-Color Fire Lotus.
This was no different than using a Heavenly-tier Dou Technique at the Dou Huang level. Even the top geniuses of imperial families couldn't do it.
Yao Yan could barely execute such an attack due to the power of the four heavenly flames. Without them, he couldn't have done it.
"Are you interested in this ancient puppet art?" Tianhuo Elder, seeming to recognize the technique for creating the Sky Demon Puppet, asked through sound transmission. His tone carried some emotion, clearly not expecting to see something from the past in this era. In his time, many ancient beings liked to record things in this written form.
"One day, I'll have plenty of enemies. Instead of turning them to ash, refining their bodies into puppets might be more suitable... It seems you've forgotten. I just so happen to have the materials, and the Earth Demon Old Ghost has already prepared a seventh-tier magic core. The only thing missing is a soul."
Yao Yan spoke softly, storing the two scrolls into his spatial ring. He planned to study them in detail later.
"Kid, if you refine them on a large scale, it will stir up some people's displeasure..."
Yao Lao warned as he spoke. While Yao Lao didn't have any good or evil views, there were people in the Central State who would certainly object. If Yao Yan only refined one or two, that would be fine, but if he created many, trouble would surely come.
"I'll be careful," Yao Yan nodded in response.
With that, he walked deeper into Mo Yan Valley, intending to find a secluded room for some serious research. As for the souls... Mo Yan Valley had no shortage of Dou Huang-level experts. It would be easy to extract one.
The most important core of the Sky Demon Puppet was its body and magic core. The soul didn't require much—just enough to maintain the puppet's connection with Yao Yan and allow it to retain basic combat ability. Otherwise, without this connection, it would become a lifeless corpse.
Cai Lin watched Yao Yan's back as he walked away. Her red lips moved slightly. She wanted to ask when Yao Yan would return to the Jia Ma Empire, but she stopped herself. How could she face Cai Die? Could she really claim she wasn't deliberately taking her sister's man?
And then there was Yao Yan. He wanted her and her sister to serve him!
"Big Sister Cai Lin, take me to another place to visit!" Zi Yan tugged on Cai Lin's arm, calling out in a clear voice.
Cai Lin nodded slightly and, holding Zi Yan's hand, flew toward the surrounding Demon Beast Mountain Range in Mo Yan Valley.
As everyone dispersed, the two old men from the Bone Flame Ring also floated out, exchanging looks. Yao Lao's eyes revealed some seriousness as he spoke in a low voice, "I hope this kid doesn't go down the wrong path."
"He shouldn't. It's just a few puppets, as long as he doesn't kill innocents... Besides, you're watching him, aren't you?"
Tianhuo Elder stroked his beard and chuckled.
Yao Lao shook his head slightly, remaining silent. Since the incident with Han Feng, he had a shadow in his heart. He was worried that Yao Yan would stray. Once a wrong path was taken, there was no turning back. Moreover, Yao Yan seemed to be overly obsessed with power.
Hopefully, Cai Lin could keep him in check.
As elders, they tended to overthink. Yao Lao, of course, was no exception.
Inside a cave.
Yao Yan sat cross-legged, a scroll resembling a bamboo slip floating in front of him. As it slowly opened, rows of blood-red characters appeared, and the information rushed into his mind, leaving a deep and indelible imprint.
To refine the Sky Demon Puppet, three main materials were required: the body, soul, and magic core. Additionally, some special metals were needed to reinforce the body, but these were secondary.
The primary materials determined the strength of the Sky Demon Puppet. The weakest materials could only create a human-like puppet with no potential for growth.
Materials of Dou Zong level, however, would create the highest-tier Sky Demon Puppet, one capable of rivaling a Dou Zong expert.
Now that Yao Yan had reached the rank of a seven-star Apothecary, he could easily draw on the power of thunder to temper the Sky Demon Puppet's body, causing it to rapidly evolve. With sufficient materials, he could mass-produce Dou Zong-level puppets.
"Too bad I can't slaughter the entire Black Corner Domain. If I could, I'd create dozens of Dou Zong-level puppets," Yao Yan whispered to himself, but quickly suppressed the thought.
Unifying the Black Corner Domain could be done through force. But slaughtering the entire domain would certainly bring trouble from some old experts. If that happened, Yao Yan could forget about joining the Dan Tower. Puppets were a small path; personal strength was the most important.
"Let's refine one first," Yao Yan said softly, shaking his head. He then took the Earth Demon Old Ghost's remains out of his spatial ring.
At this moment, the Earth Demon Old Ghost's body was completely frozen in ice, resembling a block of ice sculpture. Cold air continued to pour out from within, which was the profound ice energy the Earth Demon Old Ghost had gathered during his life. It had almost merged with his body, becoming part of him.
After taking a few glances, Yao Yan flicked his finger, and green fire instantly engulfed the body. The intense heat rapidly melted the ice layer surrounding the body.
Once the ice melted, the clothes on the body instantly turned to nothing, and the terrifying temperature turned the body a deep red.
The body of the seven-star Dou Zong was almost like metal. Even the heavenly flames couldn't easily destroy it.
Yao Yan was patient, slowly burning it, while also refining the profound ice energy from within. Some corpse energy also floated out. This was the residue left in a body after death. To refine it into a puppet, purging the body of these remains was necessary.
If these corpse energies were left, the resentment within them might one day cause a rebellion in the puppet.
About half an hour later, the Earth Demon Old Ghost's body had been fully refined.
At this point, the body had shrunk by several circles, its skin now a cold, gray-white color, tightly attached to the dry muscles. Its hands had grown longer, resembling sharp daggers.
Yao Yan didn't stop. He opened two small holes in the head and chest, then placed a seventh-tier magic core in the chest. After doing this, he looked at the jade bottle beside him, opened it without hesitation, and a terrified-looking soul floated out.
This soul was one he had recently taken from Mo Yan Valley's dungeon. The person had been a Dou Huang peak-level expert and one of the elders of Mo Yan Valley.
Before the soul could beg for mercy.
Yao Yan's green flames surged from his palm, immediately wrapping around the soul and refining its consciousness. Using the Heartfire, the soul had no resistance and quickly turned into a fragment of its original soul, which then entered the body's head.
As soon as the soulless spirit entered, the Earth Demon Old Ghost's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, filled with pitch-blackness, as if he had risen from the dead.
Yao Yan was not surprised at all. He took out some metal materials from his ring and began the final tempering process. He needed to reinforce the body as much as possible to withstand more thunderous power, which would increase the upper limit of the puppet.
The refining process lasted a full three days before the Sky Demon Puppet's body was fully integrated with the metal solution, and a brilliant bronze color appeared on its surface.
Yao Yan did not stop but instead increased the temperature of the flames, even bringing out Bone Spirit Cold Fire and Haixin Flame to refine the Sky Demon Puppet with all four heavenly flames. As the temperature intensified, silver dots began to appear on the surface of the puppet's body.
As the silver dots densely covered its body, it slowly turned completely silver, and a fierce aura was released into the surroundings.
"It's done~"
Yao Yan smiled slightly, flicked his fingers, and pressed a drop of blood into the puppet's forehead. He then used a secret method to brand his mark, immediately feeling the connection between them. With a slight thought, the puppet knelt on one knee, clenched its fist, and heavily struck its chest.
"Boom!"
The sound of metal striking echoed through the cave.
"Not bad," Yao Yan muttered as he observed the puppet, then gestured for it to strike him.
As soon as Yao Yan gave the order, the puppet, without hesitation, stood up and threw a punch. The simple yet powerful blow carried strong winds as it smashed toward Yao Yan's forehead, showing no signs of holding back.
As the punch swung, the air in front of them slightly concaved. A giant air compression cannon, around ten meters long, erupted from the concave space. With a deafening roar, it shot out like a cannonball, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound and powerful gusts of wind.
Yao Yan's eyes narrowed, and in an instant, silver light surrounded his body. He threw out a punch in return.
"Boom!"
As the two blows collided, the entire cave shook, and violent power poured in all directions. Cracks appeared on the cave walls, and a sharp metallic sound rang through the air. The Sky Demon Puppet's body slammed into the mountain wall, but its expression remained cold, its black eyes staring silently at Yao Yan, as if waiting for the next command.
"Tsk, with this power, even Su Qian wouldn't last more than a few punches," Yao Yan commented, sensing the force.
He then raised his hand and stored the Sky Demon Puppet back into his spatial ring. He planned to continue refining the flying Dou Technique and make some pills, as the Sky Demon Puppet still hadn't reached its full potential.
(END CHAPTER)
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