Chapter 974: Helping the Puppet Improve Strength

The witch soul, formless, immaterial, and silent, subtly slipped out through the crack under the door, its storage ring pressed close to the ground.

Stepping out, he immediately saw countless Otherworldly Demons guarding the area. They had completely sealed off the surrounding space, leaving no vulnerabilities, so any attempt to escape would be discovered.

"It seems these Otherworldly Demons are battle-hardened," Zhang Xuan muttered, a helpless expression on his face.

Such a tight defense could only be established by forces accustomed to frequent combat and skilled in coordination.

Not only that, but a defensive formation was also in place, making it impossible for even a mosquito to escape. No wonder the two Kings had merely exchanged a few words with him before confidently leaving; they knew he and the other master teachers had no way out.

"Eye of Insight!" With his mind calm and his face devoid of emotion, intricate patterns surfaced in Zhang Xuan's eyes.

"The defenses are indeed tight," he mused, "making escape impossible for cultivators. But for a witch soul, it's quite easy..."

After observing for a while, Zhang Xuan smiled faintly.

Although the surrounding defenses were meticulous, they were designed to thwart cultivators. A witch soul, however, could alter its size and was difficult to detect, making escape relatively straightforward.

"If I just leave like this," he thought, "won't they think I'm too easy to deal with?"

The Otherworldly Demons had set up such extensive fortifications, surely with malicious intent. Since he had already discovered their plot, simply turning around and leaving would hardly be befitting of the dean of a Master Teacher Academy.

"When I arrived, I specifically observed," he thought. "This building is positioned according to the Seven Illumination Spirit Formation. If I destroy the most crucial point, the formation will immediately reverse. Even if it doesn't backfire on them, it will ruin all their hard work of the past few days!"

A smile played on his lips.

He might not be skilled at construction, but when it came to destruction, he was absolutely a master!

Even the Grand Elder was helpless against him, so tearing down these buildings would be child's play.

"Let's go take a look!"

After another quick survey to confirm his direction, Zhang Xuan moved gently, staying close to the ground, and flew straight ahead.

"Hmm!"

The moment he departed, King Jin Ye, positioned nearby, frowned.

"Brother Yin, what's wrong?" King Qing Ye asked.

"Nothing much," King Jin Ye replied with a slight hesitation, "I just felt something was off. It was as if something had just passed by!"

He was naturally astute and possessed a keen understanding of his surroundings. For a fleeting moment, he seemed to sense something darting past him, though his physical eyes saw nothing.

Of course, if one were to scan with divine sense, nothing could escape detection.

At Saint 2-dan, in the Spirit Perception realm, one could project their spiritual energy, and even a witch soul could be easily detected this way. However, projecting divine sense consumed a vast amount of spiritual energy, so even as a Saint 4-dan expert, he couldn't constantly maintain such a scan.

Zhang Xuan had exploited this loophole to make his escape.

Having left the encirclement, the witch soul, controlling the storage ring, flew straight ahead.

Before long, a majestic palace appeared before him.

The Otherworldly Demons' formation layout was slightly different from that of humans, but under the Eye of Insight, this difference was negligible. He had noted upon arrival that this palace was the core of the entire structure.

He quietly descended.

To guard against him, almost all the Otherworldly Demons had been dispatched to the previous palace. Here, only a few individuals were on guard, making the defense very weak.

None of these few guards had reached the Spirit Perception realm, nor were they skilled in soul arts. Coupled with Zhang Xuan's prior preparations and knowledge of the loopholes, he stealthily infiltrated without being detected in the slightest.

The hall was vast, spanning over a hundred meters. Its walls and pillars were intricately carved with various strange runes, and in the center stood an altar, seven to eight meters in diameter.

"What kind of runes are these?" he wondered, having recognized none after observing for a while. He then communicated with the Fiend in his mind.

"These are unique runic scripts of the Otherworldly Demons, carved in a special way," the Fiend explained. "They can gather spiritual energy, somewhat similar to the Human Race's Spirit Gathering Formation."

"A Spirit Gathering Formation?"

"Yes, but while similar, it's also different," the Fiend continued. "A Spirit Gathering Formation only gathers spiritual energy, whereas this runic formation can provide the gathered spiritual energy directly to the Otherworldly Demons, allowing them to increase their strength. It's the same as the formation in my underground palace!"

"Increase strength? Does that mean it can provide energy for those puppets?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Back in the underground palace, he had personally witnessed the Fiend replenishing energy for numerous puppets. After he subdued them, the puppets had been used multiple times, and their stored energy was almost depleted. This was why he hadn't used them for a long time recently.

If this formation could replenish energy, he could certainly make use of it.

"Normally, this formation has restrictions, making it difficult for outsiders to use," the Fiend replied. "But for me, it's nothing. As long as Master releases the puppets, I can help them replenish their strength!"

"That's good!"

With a faint smile, Zhang Xuan flipped his wrist, and over twenty puppets immediately appeared before him. Then, he stretched his palm forward, and a finger flew out, hovering in the air, instantly exuding a dense aura of slaughter.

Sensing this power, the many puppets immediately knelt, each with a devout demeanor.

"Hmph!" The Fiend let out a satisfied grunt, uttering a strange language. The puppets, hearing the command, formed neat lines and marched forward in unison.

As they reached the central altar of the grand hall, the hovering finger tapped several times in the air, drawing a series of strange runes.

A soft hum resonated in the air, followed by the sight of spiritual energy gathering from the air, like a massive vortex, pouring straight into one of the puppets.

*Creak! Creak!*

The puppet, which had just been weakened, instantly gleamed, its power returning to its peak.

"How amazing!" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

This method of energy infusion was even more terrifying than the 'enlightenment through infusion' technique used in cultivation.

However, it seemed only puppets could be used this way. For a normal cultivator, such a violent surge of spiritual energy would likely cause their meridians to burst within seconds, leading to instant death.

While the power infusion was incredibly fast, it far exceeded what a human could withstand.

The Fiend, being familiar with the process, quickly finished replenishing the energy of all twenty-plus puppets.

Fully re-energized, these puppets were brimming with fighting spirit, their aura soaring.

"Too bad their strength is too weak, only at Saint 1-dan," Zhang Xuan muttered. "They were acceptable before, but to fight against so many Otherworldly Demons outside, they fall far short..." He shook his head.

These puppets were only at the late-stage or peak of Saint 1-dan. 20 puppets against over 200 Otherworldly Demons would surely be a suicide mission.

"Hmm, right," a thought suddenly occurred to him. "They were cultivators, refined into puppets by Wu Yangzi. I've always treated them as cultivators. But if I treat them as puppets... by modifying their internal mechanisms to be more logical, I can definitely rapidly increase their strength..."

Zhang Xuan had previously treated these as deceased individuals, and naturally, they couldn't cultivate further. But if he treated them as puppets, modifying their internal mechanisms could perfect their structure, and their strength would naturally increase.

Earlier, at Record Mountain, he had altered the structure of Mo Liuzhen's Rib Bone Puppet, significantly boosting its strength.

If these could also be modified, their combat power could be completely enhanced.

"Defects?"

He silently commanded the puppets to simultaneously perform martial arts techniques.

Soon, all the numerous defects on their bodies appeared before him.

"Their biggest defects are in the refining techniques and materials," he muttered. "Although Wu Yangzi was known as the Hongyuan Empire's foremost artifact forging master, he hadn't reached seven stars after all. Even if every component of these puppets were perfect, they would probably only reach Saint 3-dan!"

After reading through all the generated books, Zhang Xuan exhaled.

He had initially thought that perfecting every aspect of the puppets would make their strength reach an astonishing level. Now, it seemed he had over-estimated.

Refining techniques and materials were insurmountable hurdles. Even if everything else was perfect, without resolving these two issues, their strength would remain limited.

"It's still good if they can reach Saint 3-dan," Zhang Xuan smiled.

Although it didn't meet his full expectations, the combined strength of over 20 Saint 3-dan experts simultaneously attacking would still be formidable.

Of course, compared to the numerous puppets outside, they were still slightly inferior.

Not to mention others, King Qing Ye and King Jin Ye were both Saint 4-dan experts. If those two alone unleashed their full power, the 20-plus Saint 3-dan puppets would find it difficult to contend.

Upon reaching the Saint realm, each increase in cultivation level brought about earth-shattering changes, making comparisons meaningless.

Especially between Saint 3-dan and Saint 4-dan, with the gaps of low-grade and mid-grade, the difference was even greater.

"Never mind that for now," he decided, "let's just raise their strength first..."

Having identified the problem, Zhang Xuan moved swiftly, appearing before the many puppets and repeatedly slapping his palms.

*Crack! Pop!*

A series of crisp sounds followed, and the twenty-plus puppets seemed to undergo a complete transformation, becoming more formidable and terrifying.

"Help them infuse energy now..."

Zhang Xuan let out a sigh of relief, his face etched with exhaustion.

If not for having studied numerous books from the Heavenly Arts Academy over the past three months and gaining a thorough understanding of puppet structures, achieving this would have been almost impossible.

Even so, after all that, his soul felt completely drained, and he felt as though he could collapse at any moment.

It was no wonder; to perfect so many components, no single step could be wrong, and no part could have a flaw. Furthermore, with over twenty puppets, each with different forms and refining techniques, the calculations naturally weren't easy.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, took out the soul of the Azure Horned Dragon Beast, and began replenishing his depleted energy.

The Fiend, meanwhile, continued to activate the runes, helping these newly upgraded puppets replenish their energy.

At any other time, even if their structure were perfected, without enough energy, they would still only be Saint 1-dan, incomparable to Saint 3-dan experts.

It was like a car without fuel; no matter how powerful its engine, it wouldn't be as good as a donkey cart.

But now, with so much energy, it was simple.

*Rumble! Rumble!*

As more and more energy was replenished, the entire hall shook violently, and the surrounding carved runes continuously peeled off, their colors fading.

"Master," the Fiend's voice came through, "it seems there isn't enough spiritual energy here..."