Chapter 1524 - 1080: Origins (Part 2)
The soul can think, can imagine, but the body cannot move, cannot speak, and outsiders don’t even know there’s a weak soul inside.
Either trapped endlessly by seals; or helplessly watching one’s puppet body being dismantled, the soul tormented until it moves towards death.
Secondly, no matter how strong her soul power is, it is still confined by the puppet body without motivation.
Besides sensing, she cannot physically touch anything outside, and cannot truly understand if the array is mended or not.
With only a few cards in hand, and wanting to keep many souls alive, she had thought before that Mr. Jiang and his group seemed alright. If he wanted puppets, she could let him take a few good ones, giving those souls at least a path to survival.
But now, the things they need aren’t in her hands at all, what could she possibly do?
"I was thinking to discuss this with the City Lord." Jiang Yuan said, unaware of her thoughts, now pondering how finding a small object or few from so many discarded parts is like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Upon hearing this, he seized the opportunity and said, "Originally, Ten Thousand Puppet Sect didn’t care much about your little space, there’s indeed a symbolic obstructive array outside, but it’s really crude. The reason it hasn’t been invaded by demonic energy yet, this more significant credit belongs to this independently developed small space’s blockade.
But the demonic energy outside will only become stronger and stronger, I think when the City Lord mentioned repairing it, it should mean reinforcing the Dream Realm.
After all, you cannot touch any external objects, besides using soul power to reinforce the Dream Realm to keep demonic energy from entering easily, there’s no other way to respond.
If using an array to protect the whole small space is possible, it’s not out of the question.
The problem is, the more advanced the array, the better its protective effects, but correspondingly, it consumes more spiritual power. Without sufficient spirit stone reserves, simply relying on consuming the spiritual energy within this small space, I’m afraid it won’t be long until the spiritual energy runs out, and the array fails, making demonic energy easier to invade and corrode.
The best way to eliminate the hazard from its root is to move away. Leave Mingqi Star which has been invaded by the Demon Realm, go to a safe place with ample spiritual energy and no threats to start over, what’s the City Lord’s opinion?"
Pack up all the discarded puppets in the small space and leave?
Yan Zheng was stunned for a moment, frowned slightly, and said, "Daoist Jiang is not aware. If it’s without the core of a discarded puppet, it can be casually packed into a storage bag or such places to take away; but if there’s a soul sealed inside, it cannot enter any portable storage space.
This is also one of the most important reasons why Ten Thousand Puppet Sect abandoned us—it’s inconvenient to carry away, unless possessing a personal space that can hold so much waste, taking ten or eight would be quite good."
"Why?" Yun Ying curiously asked further: "If Mr. Jiang presented a large sum of spirit stones for all puppets with souls, wouldn’t you restore their mobility? The rest without souls can just be packed up and taken away?"
The counterpart opened the mouth but could only let out a bitter smile, "Miss Yun Ying, don’t be deceived by this dream illusion of mine. Puppets with souls, still able to have spirit stones added for actions, only account for two or three out of ten. More are left with half a body, and some even without a head, even if given spirit stones, they can’t walk.
Additionally, if transported beyond a certain distance, my Nightmare Technique can’t encompass it, and the soul within will leave Dream City.
The souls of cultivators are better, for they are stronger and have a chance to return; but the souls of mortals, especially those children, once they leave, they can never return and will be trapped alone in a broken body until the soul vanishes."
"I happen to have a personal space; I can try to relocate you all collectively into it." Hearing this, Jiang Yuan became curious and asked further: "Before that, may I ask City Lord Yan, where exactly are all these souls of yours coming from?"
Sounds like all souls in the waste landfill are still rescuable!
With a request, sincerity is needed in return.
Yan Zheng sorted it out carefully and began, "Since Mr. Jiang is curious, let me start with my origins. I used to be the Sect Leader of An Meng Sect, my main cultivation was in Nightmare Technique, although the Soul Emergence Realm isn’t much to Ten Thousand Puppet Sect, but in the three-thousand-mile Qingchuan Mountains on the northwest, it counts as a powerful figure.
An Meng Sect I founded isn’t big, including me as the Sect Leader, there’s more than fifty people.
But Nightmare Technique can remove heart demons and treat nightmare illnesses, both cultivators and mortals need it. Thus, though small, my sect was financially abundant.
Besides, practitioners of Nightmare Technique prefer to reside in solitude away from disturbance. So, the whole sect generally stays closed on the mountain unless taking an order requiring descending, we don’t engage with external conflicts or disputes.
That year there was plenty of rain, the gorge at the top of Qingchuan Mountains was washed away by flooding.
Countless mortal citizens died and got injured in the natural calamity; at that time, plagues were rampant, many cultivator sects descended to aid in disaster relief, our An Meng Sect was no exception. I took more than a dozen disciples to distribute food, drive nightmares for disaster victims, busy for half a month.
Upon returning to the sect, I found out my chief disciple Ding Mao was killed by disciple Wan Chong of Ten Thousand Puppet Sect!
Upon asking for details, they said Ding Mao heard of a magical treasure at auction that could clear plagues and heal the wounded. Thinking of the disaster victims in Qingchuan Mountains, he set out to buy the treasure for disaster relief.
Unbeknownst to him, Wan Chong also fancied that treasure capable of healing the wounded.
They bid against each other at auction; Ding Mao, concerned for disaster victims, spent lavishly. Wan Chong couldn’t compete, grew resentful, and using his identity as a Ten Thousand Puppet Sect disciple exerted pressure, after the auction came to know Ding Mao’s real identity, then carried many puppets to intercept and kill halfway!
Wan Chong not only robbed belongings but also extracted my disciple’s soul, crushed the corpse to dust!
Such an enmity, could I possibly sit idly by?"
"You couldn’t have come to seek revenge, yet got killed by Wan Chong as well?" Yun Shu gasped, murmuring: "Earlier hearing from Zhile, many hypocritical cultivators, poor and unable to obtain desired treasures, find faults with opponents, considering murdering and seizing treasures as acts of justice, sure traits of evil cultivation!"
Yan Zheng took several deep breaths, suppressing the soul’s anger palpitations to avoid affecting the Dream Realm.
Afterward, she shook her head slowly and said, "That mere Wan Chong is not my opponent. At that time, I was still too naive, thinking that Ten Thousand Puppet Sect is one of Mingqi Star’s major sects, occasionally a few ruthless ones are considered normal.
𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
But Wan Chong’s master is Ten Thousand Puppet Sect’s Great Elder — Zhang Bingyi, a person whose name could make Mingqi Star shudder three times.
Then I thought, with details of the enmity unclear and disciple Ding Mao’s soul in their possession. Instead of confronting Wan Chong, better to directly go to his master Zhang Bingyi to explain the reasons, at least understand the facts, and return Ding Mao’s soul.
Ha! I never expected...
Wan Chong seized the auction treasure simply for a long-extinct refining material used in making that magical treasure. Unwilling to pay a high price, after murdering and seizing, he melted the treasure, extracted the refining material, and created a puppet beast, defeating the sect leader’s direct disciple and winning the sect’s annual puppet contest championship.
Besides glory, he also gained access to the sect’s most advanced secret realm.
Zhang Bingyi just felt his good disciple brought honor, fearing I’d cause trouble and the sect leader would find out, thus ending Wan Chong’s bright future. Then pretended to be furious, cunningly deceived me, verbally saying he would call Wan Chong to clarify, indeed master and disciple secretly ambushed me, extracted my soul alive, sealed in trash, thrown into this landfill!"
Finishing the resentful tale in one breath, Yan Zheng’s voice trembled: "To inform everyone well: Ten Thousand Puppet Sect’s puppet masters excel in the art of soul extraction, they think as long as the soul remains, it doesn’t count as death, even soul extraction and body destruction don’t count as killing.
Therefore, even if silencing, they wouldn’t let others’ souls scatter like other evil cultivators.
Instead, they’ll find a scrap to hold the soul and fuse it, sealing the soul inside. Puppet masters might brazenly claim to provide an eternal, undying body for the soul, not doing harm, but rather doing good deeds!"