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Chapter 838 Puppet
🕑 Added 2024-07-07 09:21:17 +0000 UTCImmortal Path Space : Table of Content/Chapter List
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In space, some of the Fusang Wood that Wang Hong originally planted had already grown for tens of thousands of years.
The Fusang Wood was known as the ancient Divine Wood, capable of producing the Golden Crow Fire, renowned on par with the true fire of the sun.
However, this famous Golden Crow Fire, while playing a huge role when Wang Hong was at the Golden Core Nascent Soul Realm, was almost an invincible existence, but after reaching the Soul Transformation stage, this Golden Crow Fire had become increasingly inadequate. Compared to the reputation of its ancient Divine Wood, the power it manifested was a bit undeserving of its name.
Until recently, one of these Fusang Woods mutated, with this tree, from its trunk to its leaves, enveloped in scorching flames.
Even the Fusang Woods originally growing around it were burned to ashes.
The runes on the leaves also became clearer and more profound, giving a feeling of being burned by flames when seen.
Wang Hong was now sitting cross-legged in front of this mutated Fusang Wood, his gaze and Divine Sense fully concentrated on the runes on a leaf.
At this moment, his feeling was as if he was in the Sea of Fire, his entire body being smelted by the scorching flames, his Nascent Soul seemingly about to be melted.
Although his Nascent Soul was undergoing extreme pain, he had no thought of giving up, fully focused on that one rune, not willing to miss any detail of its changes.
At the same time when Wang Hong was in seclusion contemplating the Grand Dao Rune, the Ministry of Works received the materials brought back by Wang Hong and was working hard on refinement.
The top priority was to refine a full set of armor and weapons for the newly added four million troops.
There were still more than one hundred million sets in stock in the national treasury, and for the remaining two hundred million or so sets, the Ministry of Works was working at full capacity to complete them all within five years for delivery.
By this time, the four million new soldiers had completed their training and were dispersed and integrated into various armies.
The reedit eight million troops were divided into eight armies, with one million each, stationed on the front lines of the Flying Fish Island to take turns fighting the savage tribes.
These new armies soon became seasoned through continuous battles.
Quickly another thirty years passed, and the secret chamber where Wang Hong was cultivating in seclusion opened its doors again.
"Respectfully welcoming Your Majesty out of seclusion!"
When Wang Hong emerged, the ministers came to congratulate him. After everyone had paid their respects, Chen Xiaofeng rushed in excitedly.
"Your Majesty! We succeeded!"
Chen Xiaofeng came in with a delighted expression, forgetting to pay respect. "Your Majesty, the high-tier Puppet has been successfully refined, please review it."
"Oh! Bring it out and let me see."
Previously, Chen Xiaofeng was working on developing a high-tier Puppet with strength between the late Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation stages, and this matter was known to the higher-ups of the Great Chu Immortal Nation.
Now that the Puppet refinement was successful, everyone looked at Chen Xiaofeng with interest, their eyes like a group of old men starved for hundreds of years suddenly seeing a barely covered beauty.
Currently in an excited state, Chen Xiaofeng paid no attention to everyone's gaze: "This place is too small, please follow me to the Training Ground for inspection."
"Good! Let's go! Let's go!"
Soon the group followed Chen Xiaofeng to a Training Ground within the Royal Palace.
This was a place specifically for internal testing of Cultivation Techniques and Magic weapons in the Royal Palace, and was absolutely confidential from the outside.
At this moment, a Puppet was placed in the center of the Training Ground. This Puppet was human-shaped, ten feet tall, with complete limbs, but without any facial features, just a blank surface.
"Why doesn't your Puppet have a face?" Skinny Monkey circled the Puppet but couldn't find where its face was.
"Those details are irrelevant, they can be added later." Chen Xiaofeng grinned. For a Puppet, having facial features or not was truly unimportant and did not affect its function at all.
At this moment, Luo Zhongjie had summoned five late Nascent Soul cultivators and ordered them to jointly attack this Puppet. Only through actual combat could the Puppet's functions and strength be truly tested.
The two sides quickly clashed, and this Puppet could surprisingly cast Magical Arts with ease, its attacks and defenses smooth and unhindered.
Under the scrutiny of Wang Hong and others, the five late Nascent Soul cultivators found it unexpectedly difficult to subdue a single Puppet, and the five of them felt humiliated.
In the next moment, the five formed a formation and launched a fierce attack on the Puppet. When five combined their efforts, the power was naturally formidable. They soon broke through the defense, and one Magical Art struck the Puppet's head, instantly shattering it into many fragments.
But before the five could catch their breath, one of the Puppet's wind blades had slashed towards a Nascent Soul cultivator's neck.
Fortunately, Wang Hong intervened in time to block this strike for this Nascent Soul cultivator. But if it were a real battle, he would have been killed.
"Your Puppet doesn't die even with its head blasted off?" Skinny Monkey felt this was like cheating.
Chen Xiaofeng glared at him: "It's not a real person, why should it die?
In fact, the Puppet's head is just for show and is unnecessary. Even without a head, it doesn't matter - its core is not located in the head."
Skinny Monkey pondered for a moment and realized it made sense. Since the Puppet was an artificial construct, its core could be installed anywhere.
"If you don't need a head, why bother making one? Just a waste of materials." Skinny Monkey asked, puzzled.
"Of course it's to mislead the enemy. Generally in battle, people would prioritize attacking the head and chest area.
However, even if the enemy blasts off this Puppet's head or pierces through its chest, it would only count as minor damage, and it can still operate and attack the enemy," Chen Xiaofeng said with a smug look, hoping to gain some admiring glances from the crowd.
Unfortunately, everyone's attention was now on the Puppet, trying to locate its core, so Chen Xiaofeng was ignored.
At this moment, the five late Nascent Soul cultivators joined forces again and blasted the Puppet's upper body into pieces, and its two arms also fell to the ground.
With a "boom", the remaining lower half of the Puppet finally collapsed to the floor.
Seeing this, the five Nascent Soul cultivators all breathed a sigh of relief, feeling utterly disgraced that the five of them, at the late Nascent Soul stage, had struggled so hard against a single Puppet and had nearly lost a life.
However, the battle seemed not over yet. The fallen lower half of the Puppet suddenly glowed and shot forward like a loose arrow towards the five people.
"Boom!"
With a tremendous blast, the remaining lower half of the Puppet actually self-destructed right in the midst of the five, forcing those observing from afar to quickly erect a defensive barrier to block the spreading impact.
After the blinding light faded, a large pit remained at the original spot.
The five Nascent Soul cultivators who had attacked the Puppet peered nervously into the deep pit from behind Wang Hong, utterly shaken.
Not long ago, if it weren't for Wang Hong promptly using Spiritual Power to pull them behind him, they would probably have been shattered to pieces by now.
"Huh?"
Skinny Monkey looked around the large pit, puzzled: "Does this Puppet also pretend to be dead? You didn't put the core in its toes, did you?"
"That definitely won't work. The toes are too fragile. Losing an arm or a leg on the battlefield is nothing unusual," Chen Xiaofeng explained.
Suddenly, Skinny Monkey remembered the Puppet's round, perky buttocks. He slapped his forehead: "Could it be in the buttocks?"
"Brother Skinny Monkey is indeed perceptive!" Chen Xiaofeng affirmed with praise: "The enemy would find it hard to imagine that the core of this Puppet is in its buttocks."
"That's true. Who would think of attacking someone's buttocks in a battle? Only a depraved person could come up with such an idea."
"Ahem! You flatter me!" Chen Xiaofeng didn't feel ashamed at all; instead, he took it as a compliment.
"Your Majesty! What do you think of this Puppet? Can we Refine more on a large scale?" Chen Xiaofeng turned and inquired.
"Of course, but I'm not sure how many of these Puppets can be Refined with the existing materials," Wang Hong was quite satisfied with the Puppet's performance.
Although Great Chu Immortal Nation had many Nascent Soul period Cultivators, only a small fraction had reached the late Nascent Soul stage.
Such a Puppet on the battlefield could match at least five or more late Nascent Soul Cultivators.
"Based on the available materials, I estimate we can Refine about a hundred or so," Chen Xiaofeng had calculated this many times in his mind.
"Good! Then Refine a hundred first. After successful Refinement, they can be incorporated into the Puppet army," Wang Hong ordered.
"Yes! I'll go and organize manpower to Refine the Puppets right away." Chen Xiaofeng saluted and rushed off.
After Chen Xiaofeng left, everyone returned to the Great Hall and continued reporting their work to Wang Hong.
At this time, Liu Changsheng saluted and said, "Your Majesty! Decades ago, an unknown powerful being massacred the Demon Race and the Abyss Clan, resulting in the loss of over a hundred Soul Transformation Cultivators.
Later, the two races unanimously blamed the Demon Clan for the attack. Their Void Refining experts went to the Demon Clan to settle the score, leading to several major battles.
Eventually, the Void Refining experts of the two races retaliated in kind, slaying over a hundred Soul Transformation Cultivators of the Demon Clan.
This incident caused turmoil until more than ten years ago, and after all the upheaval, the three races lost many Soul Transformation Cultivators, greatly diminishing their strength."
As Wang Hong listened to Liu Changsheng report this intelligence, it all felt very familiar. He had carried out this deed himself and went into seclusion upon returning, without mentioning it to his subordinates, afraid of causing trouble if the news leaked out.
Now it seemed that the intended effect had been achieved.
"What about the savage tribe's movements?" Wang Hong was most concerned about the savage tribe, as they were closest to his territory and the main target of this campaign.
"Due to the decline of the Demon Clan's strength and lack of restraint, we've been facing an increasing number and strength of the savage tribe during this period."
"It seems the decisive battle with the savage tribe can no longer be delayed. Xu Lun, go and mobilize the preparation of supplies. Have enough supplies ready within a year for an army of eight hundred thousand to use for three months."
Wang Hong then instructed Xu Lun further, "Additionally, you can send people to contact the various Human Clan forces, hoping that the clans can send reinforcements to assist us."
After assigning all the tasks, the various departments swiftly began preparations for the upcoming great battle.
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Next Chapter >>Chapter 839: Various Schemes
