Chapter 2011: Refining Fifth-Grade Puppet Beasts

Wang Changsheng gently shook the azure spiritual shell in his hand. A blue mystical light flashed by, and on the ground appeared a pile of fourth-tier demonic beasts—fish, shrimp, turtles, and soft-shelled turtles—all alive.

The Lin Turtle let out an excited roar, as countless blue electric arcs emerged on its body. It opened its gaping maw, and a blue lightning orb flew out, striking the fourth-tier demonic beasts.

Wang Changsheng gently pointed his hand towards the void. Points of blue light suddenly emerged, abruptly transforming into a gigantic blue water curtain, ten thousand feet wide, trapping the Lin Turtle and the fourth-tier demonic beasts inside.

A rumbling sound echoed as dazzling blue lightning enveloped the bodies of over ten fourth-tier demonic beasts. Faint, tragic screams could be heard from within.

The next moment, multicolored spiritual light brightened, and the blue lightning abruptly dissipated. Over ten fourth-tier demonic beasts had black smoke rising from their bodies as they all pounced towards the Lin Turtle.

The Lin Turtle was not afraid at all, continuously spewing out bolts of blue lightning that struck the demonic beasts. Whenever these creatures tried to attack, the Lin Turtle would retract its head and limbs into its shell, while bolts of blue lightning continued to fly out and strike them.

The power of the Water Gang Divine Thunder was immense, something they simply could not resist.

In less than ten breaths, all these demonic beasts were on their last breath, bleeding profusely.

The Lin Turtle extended its head and limbs and pounced forward.

A large red soft-shelled turtle lay motionless on the ground. Taking advantage of the Lin Turtle's proximity, it suddenly opened its mouth and spewed out a thick stream of flames, striking towards the Lin Turtle.

A rumbling sound echoed as the intense flames hit the Lin Turtle, which then vanished, transforming into scattered points of blue light.

The next moment, a deafening clap of thunder sounded, and a thick bolt of blue lightning descended from the sky, striking the large red soft-shelled turtle precisely. The creature let out an extremely pained shriek, as a fist-sized blood hole appeared on its body.

A rumbling thunder sounded as dense blue lightning bolts tore through the sky, striking the more than ten fourth-tier demonic beasts.

Ten breaths later, a huge pit appeared on the ground. The more than ten fourth-tier demonic beasts had completely lost their life force, and a burnt smell emanated from their bodies.

The Lin Turtle let out a triumphant roar and began to feast heartily.

A short while later, all the demonic beasts had entered its belly.

The Lin Turtle was already at the late fourth-tier. It had consumed demon cores from fifth-tier demonic beasts but had failed to advance to the fifth-tier. This was not surprising; if merely consuming two fifth-tier demon cores could allow advancement to the fifth-tier, wealthy cultivators would have long ago bred a multitude of fifth-tier spiritual beasts.

If it could obtain a few Myriad Beast Pills, its chances of advancing to the fifth-tier would be much greater.

The Lin Turtle stared intently at Wang Changsheng, seemingly craving something.

Wang Changsheng pondered for a moment, then took out a light blue jade box. Upon opening it, he saw a pigeon-egg sized azure demon core inside, with countless azure electric arcs flickering on its surface.

This was a lightning-attributed fifth-tier demon core, a great supplement for the Lin Turtle.

The Lin Turtle sniffed the scent of the fifth-tier demon core, letting out an excited roar as countless blue electric arcs emerged on its body.

Wang Changsheng fed the demon core to the Lin Turtle. After consuming it, the Lin Turtle's body transformed into scattered points of blue light and vanished.

The Dual-Pupil Rat scurried around the manor. After most of the day, it finally settled down and fell into a deep sleep.

Wang Changsheng placed the Dual-Pupil Rat in a side courtyard, instructing the Lin Turtle and the Wood Demon to guard it and prevent anyone from disturbing the Dual-Pupil Rat.

Normally, spiritual beasts advancing to the fifth-tier do not attract lightning tribulations, but there are exceptions.

After the Dual-Pupil Rat consumed the essence blood and demon core of the Golden-Eyed Rat, its bloodline improved and its eyes underwent a strange change. It was hard to guarantee that it wouldn't attract a lightning tribulation when advancing to the fifth-tier.

After settling the Dual-Pupil Rat, Wang Changsheng returned to his secret chamber.

He took out a light blue spiritual shell and infused it with spiritual power. The shell glowed with a dazzling blue light, and a beam of blue light shot out, abruptly transforming into a topographic map. The map showed mountains and rivers; some places had gold markers, some red, and some blue, with the words "Xuanfeng" written next to them.

On that day, to escape, he only took some valuable treasures. Most of True Monarch Xuan Gui's wealth had been seized by the Beastman race. True Monarch Xuan Gui had visited the Xuanfeng Grotto-heaven, so this spiritual shell likely contained the route map he used to enter it.

Unfortunately, the map lacked detailed annotations, and he didn't know what the markers represented. He could only wait until he entered the Xuanfeng Grotto-heaven to slowly investigate.

Wang Changsheng put away the spiritual shell, took out refining materials, and began to refine artifacts.

He possessed a considerable number of treasures: the Glazed Spirit-Severing Axe, Nine Flood Dragon Drum, Profound Moon Shield, Blood Toad Gourd, Spirit-Fixing Bead, Ice Soul Spirit-Slaying Needle, and Sea-Calming Bead were all low-grade Heaven-reaching Spiritual Treasures, while the Azure Chi Bead and Demon-Locking Rope were mid-grade Dharma Treasures.

Besides these, he had already gathered the materials for refining a clone. However, deep within the territory of foreign races, refining a clone would only be a burden and wouldn't be of much help. If he returned to human territory, it wouldn't be too late to refine it then.

Clones (化身) have many flaws; any Core Formation cultivator can refine one, but a clone is merely equivalent to a high-grade puppet. Avatars (分身) are more advanced than clones, possessing independent thought and essentially acting as a second self. However, one must possess cultivation above the Void Refinement stage to have an avatar, primarily because an avatar requires one-tenth of the caster's primordial spirit. If the refining fails, the primordial spirit attached to the avatar is ruined.

Precisely because of this, avatars are very rare, and not many high-level cultivators possess them. However, avatars have many benefits; even if the main body is destroyed, the avatar remains unaffected as it is an independent entity.

Each time an avatar is refined, whether successful or not, the caster must spend a great deal of time repairing their primordial spirit. Cultivators with stronger primordial spirits have a higher success rate for casting and faster recovery speeds. However, avatars require too much primordial spirit, so high-level cultivators do not have many of them; possessing even one is considered fortunate.

In over a hundred years, Wang Changsheng was not confident he could advance to the late Soul Transformation stage. However, he was confident he could refine another fifth-tier puppet beast. He had just obtained a batch of refining materials from True Monarch Xuan Gui's immortal's cave, and combined with the materials he had previously purchased at the Tianjiao Market, he could refine a fifth-tier puppet beast.

Wang Changsheng took out a piece of light blue ore, tossed it into mid-air, and allowed it to float there.

He opened his mouth and spewed out a stream of white flames, enveloping the blue ore.

As time passed, the blue ore showed signs of melting, slowly transforming into molten iron.

Under the control of his divine sense, the molten iron slowly condensed into the shape of a humanoid arm.

He took out an azure porcelain bottle, and with a gentle sprinkle, a scattering of light golden powder flew out, disappearing into the humanoid arm.

After a while, the humanoid arm cooled and solidified.

Wang Changsheng quickly took out a light silver jade brush and began carving spiritual patterns onto the humanoid arm.

After carving the spiritual patterns, he set down the humanoid arm, took out another piece of blue ore of similar size, tossed it into mid-air, and white flames enveloped it.

After a while, the blue ore showed signs of melting…