Chapter 955: Boosting the Puppets' Strength

The witch soul, formless and silent, carried the storage ring close to the ground, slipping out through the crack in the door.

Once outside, he immediately saw countless alien clansmen guarding the area, enveloping the entire space with no gaps at all; no matter which direction he fled, he would be discovered.

"It seems these alien clansmen are battle-hardened..." Zhang Xuan said helplessly.

Only through constant fighting and adept coordination could they defend so tightly.

Not only that, but there were also defensive formations; one could say not even a mosquito could fly out. No wonder the two kings had spoken a few words and then left—they were emboldened, knowing that he and the master teachers couldn't escape.

"Eye of Insight!" His mind calm, expression impassive, patterns emerged in Zhang Xuan's eyes.

"The defense is very tight. For a cultivator, it's indeed impossible to escape, but for a witch soul, it's still quite easy..."

After watching for a while, Zhang Xuan smiled lightly.

Although the surrounding defenses were meticulous, they were aimed at cultivators. A witch soul could expand or shrink and was hard to detect, so escaping was not difficult.

"If I just leave like this, wouldn't that make me seem too easygoing?"

The alien clansmen had set up such extensive defenses, surely with ill intentions. Since he had already discovered them, wouldn't it be beneath the dignity of the head of the Master Teacher Academy to simply turn and leave?

"When I came, I specifically observed that this building is arranged according to the Seven Profound Spirit Light Formation. If I destroy the most critical point, the formation will immediately reverse. Even if it doesn't backfire, it will ruin all their hard work these days!"

The corners of his mouth lifted.

He might not be skilled at construction, but when it came to destruction, he was definitely at the king level!

Even the Ten Elders could do nothing against him; collapsing these buildings was nothing.

"Let's go take a look!"

After another look around, he pinpointed the direction, moved lightly, and flew straight forward close to the ground.

"Hmm!"

As soon as he left, Golden Leaf King on one side frowned.

"Brother Yin, what's wrong?"

Green Leaf King looked over.

"Nothing, just felt something was off, as if something passed by!" Golden Leaf King hesitated before saying.

He was naturally perceptive, with a strong understanding of his surroundings. Just now, he seemed to sense something dart past in front of him, though his naked eye didn't see it.

Of course, if he used divine sense to scan, it would be exposed.

At the Divine Sense realm of Saint Domain Layer 2, one could release their spirit. Even a witch soul could be easily detected, but releasing divine sense consumed a lot of mental energy. Even as a Saint Domain Layer 4 expert, he couldn't constantly probe.

Zhang Xuan exploited this loophole to escape successfully.

Leaving the encirclement, the witch soul controlled the storage ring and flew straight ahead.

Before long, he saw a majestic palace standing before him.

The alien clan's formation method differed slightly from humans, but with the Eye of Insight and the Library of Heaven's Path, this difference was nothing. He had observed during his arrival that this palace was the core of the entire structure.

He quietly descended.

To guard against him, the alien clansmen had been sent to the previous palace, leaving only a few defenders here, making it very weak.

None of these few had reached the Divine Sense realm or were skilled in the soul. Coupled with Zhang Xuan's advance preparation and knowledge of the flaws, he infiltrated without a trace, completely undetected.

The hall was spacious, covering over a hundred meters. The walls and pillars were carved with all kinds of strange runes, and in the center was an altar about seven or eight meters in diameter.

"What are these runes?" After looking for a while, he didn't recognize any and communicated with the Cruel One in his mind.

"These are the unique runic script of the alien clan. Carved in a special way, they can gather spiritual energy, somewhat similar to the human race's spirit-gathering array."

The Cruel One glanced and said.

"Spirit-gathering array?"

"Well, similar but different. The spirit-gathering array only gathers spiritual energy, while this runic formation can provide the gathered spiritual energy to the alien clansmen, increasing their power. It's the same as the formation in my underground palace!" said the Cruel One.

"Increase power? Doesn't that mean it can provide energy for those puppets?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

Back in the underground palace, he had seen the Cruel One replenish energy for many puppets. After being subdued, the puppets had been used many times, and their stored energy was nearly depleted. That was why he hadn't used them for a long time recently.

If this could replenish energy, he could borrow it.

"Normally, this formation has restrictions that make it hard for outsiders to use, but it's nothing for me. As long as the master releases the puppets, I can replenish their power!"

Said the Cruel One.

"That's good!"

Smiling lightly, Zhang Xuan flipped his wrist, and over twenty puppets appeared before him. Then he extended his hand, and a finger flew out, hovering above, emitting a dense aura of slaughter.

Feeling this power, the many puppets immediately knelt down, each with a devout attitude.

"Hmm!" The Cruel One grunted in satisfaction and uttered strange words. The puppets, hearing the command, lined up in neat rows and marched forward.

Seeing them arrive at the altar in the center of the hall, the floating finger tapped several times in the air, drawing a series of strange runes.

Buzz!

A soft hum of air, and then they saw spiritual energy converging from the air, like a huge vortex, pouring straight into one of the puppets.

Creak! Creak!

The puppet, which had been weak, suddenly shone with brilliance, its power returning to its peak.

"Impressive!" Zhang Xuan's eyes brightened.

This method of infusing energy was even more formidable than the cultivation technique of crown injection.

But it seemed it could only be used on puppets. If used on a normal cultivator, such a violent influx of spiritual energy would likely cause their blood vessels to burst and die on the spot within seconds.

This method of power infusion was very fast, but it exceeded what a human could withstand.

The Cruel One, familiar with the process, soon replenished all over twenty puppets with energy.

Re-energized, these puppets were full of fighting spirit and momentum.

"But their strength is too weak, only at Saint Domain Layer 1. They were useful before, but against so many alien clansmen outside, they fall far short..."

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

These puppets were all at late or peak Saint Domain Layer 1. Twenty against over two hundred would surely be a suicide mission.

"Hmm, right. They were cultivators, refined into puppets by Wu Yangzi. I've always treated them as cultivators. But if I treat them as puppets... modifying their mechanisms to make them more rational could quickly boost their strength..."

A thought suddenly occurred to him.

Previously, Zhang Xuan had treated these puppets as people, but they were already dead and couldn't cultivate. However, if he treated them as puppets and modified their internal mechanisms, he could make their structure more perfect, naturally increasing their strength.

Earlier at Record Mountain, he had modified the structure of Mo Liuzhen's rib puppet, greatly enhancing its power.

If he could modify these as well, he could make them stronger in combat.

"Flaws?"

He had the puppets perform martial techniques simultaneously and called out softly in his mind.

Soon, all their flaws appeared before him.

"Their biggest flaws are the refining technique and materials... Although Wu Yangzi was known as the number one refining master of Hongyuan Empire, he hadn't reached Seven Stars. Even if all parts of these puppets were flawless, they could probably only reach Saint Domain Layer 3!"

After reading all the generated books, Zhang Xuan exhaled.

He had thought that by perfecting every aspect of the puppets, their strength would reach a terrifying level. Now it seemed he had overthought.

The refining technique and materials were an insurmountable gap. Even if everything else was perfect, without solving these two points, their strength would be limited.

"Being able to make them reach Saint Domain Layer 3 is not bad..."

Zhang Xuan smiled.

Though it didn't meet expectations, over twenty Saint Domain Layer 3 experts acting together would still be a force to be reckoned with.

Of course, compared to the many alien clansmen outside, they were still slightly inferior.

Not to mention others, Green Leaf King and Golden Leaf King were both Saint Domain Layer 4 experts. Even if these two alone used their full strength, over twenty Layer 3 puppets would struggle to contend.

At the Saint Domain, each level increase brought earth-shaking changes, incomparable.

Especially between Layer 3 and Layer 4, there was also the gap between lower and middle grade, making the difference even greater.

"Let's not worry about that for now. First, let's boost their strength..."

Identifying the problems, Zhang Xuan leaped over to the puppets and struck them repeatedly with his palms.

Crackle!

With a series of crisp sounds, the over twenty puppets seemed reborn, becoming sharper and more fearsome.

"Now replenish their energy..."

Letting out a breath, Zhang Xuan looked exhausted.

If not for the three months of studying many books from the Engineering Academy, giving him a thorough understanding of puppet construction, this would have been nearly impossible.

Even so, after all this, his soul felt drained, as if he might collapse at any moment.

No wonder—making so many parts perfect required no mistakes in any step, no loopholes in any link. Plus, with over twenty puppets of different forms and refining techniques, the calculations were naturally not easy.

He sat cross-legged on the ground, took out the soul of the Green-Horned Dragon Beast, and replenished his losses.

Meanwhile, the Cruel One continued to activate the runes, replenishing energy for the newly upgraded puppets.

At other times, even if their structure was perfected, without sufficient energy, they would only be at Saint Domain Layer 1, incomparable to Layer 3 experts.

It was like a car without fuel—no matter how powerful the engine, it was still inferior to a donkey cart.

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

Rumble!

As more and more energy was infused, the entire hall shook violently, and the runes carved around it began to peel off, their color fading.

"Master, it seems the spiritual energy here is insufficient..."

Just then, the Cruel One's voice came through.