Seeking Immortality in a Bizarre World-Chapter 495 - 490 Thornback Tortoise Puppet, Body Integration Realm_1
Compared to dual-fusion materials, the difficulty of triple fusion increased with each passing day, and the challenge was by no means low.
Three years passed. After numerous failures, Jia Ren could only temporarily stop.
The consumption of Spiritual Materials was too high; there wasn’t much left for fusion...
The quality of the Absolute Golden Dragon Scales wasn’t low, and the materials fused with them were not subpar; each fusion consumed Spiritual Materials.
The amount per fusion wasn’t much, less than a standard portion of Spiritual Material, but it accumulated into a significant sum.
Fusing materials was simply too expensive!
He wished to test further, but alas, his pockets were not deep enough.
He had successfully refined twenty-nine types of Peerless Gold Composites, but what about the quantity of Spiritual Materials destroyed due to failures?
If the fusion succeeded, that would be one thing; they could still be used as materials for Artifact Refining or puppet making, eventually finding some use.
If the material fusion failed, the vast majority became worthless, and the precious materials were thus wasted.
But it couldn’t be considered a complete loss.
The Lingbao Sect had methods for handling discarded Spiritual Treasures and Spiritual Materials; although perfect recycling wasn’t possible, they could still retain ten to twenty percent of their original value.
First, I’ll refine a few first and second-generation Mechanism Puppets and make improvements later on.
Jia Ren didn’t know how much longer Grand Ancestor Tai Yuan could hold out. Neither his wallet nor the time at hand allowed him to research triple-fusion Peerless Gold Composites.
He planned to refine first-generation puppets with four types of Peerless Gold Composite as the core, as well as second-generation puppets centered around the Number Twenty-Nine Peerless Gold Composite.
This would maximize the use of the materials at hand, ensuring the Peerless Gold Composites wouldn’t be wasted.
"Go trade these Spiritual Materials for Quintessence Gold..."
Jia Ren instructed his Second Nascent Soul, ordering him to trade the unused Spiritual Materials for the Number Twenty-Nine Peerless Gold Composite.
In the future, second or third-generation puppets would serve as the framework for continuous updates and iterations.
The Second Nascent Soul took the respective Spiritual Materials and went to set up a stall in front of the Spirit Law Pavilion.
Several years ago, he had advanced to become the third Divinity Transformation cultivator under Jia Ren, and his second Divinity Transformation Stage avatar.
Only the Xuan Beast Avatar was still lagging behind, though it too had reached the Late Nascent Soul Stage.
The Second Nascent Soul, now at the Divinity Transformation Stage, was envisioned as an unparalleled puppet of slaughter...
At best, it had only slaughtered Spirit Fish; now, it had become a mere stall vendor.
A hero in his twilight years, with no battlefield to showcase his prowess, Jia Ren mused.
Jia Ren took out the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements and started by practicing with First Order puppets to increase his Proficiency Level in puppet making.
Though Artifact Refining and puppet making shared certain similarities, there were also significant differences; one couldn’t simply transfer the skills directly.
With his Artifact Refining Level, once he grasped the basics, the rest would be smooth sailing.
After finishing a few First Order puppets and familiarizing himself with the puppet refining Method Gate, he directly skipped levels to begin refining Fifth Rank puppets.
It was like jumping from kindergarten straight to university.
There was no shortage of puppet types; the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements recorded them in detail.
The most common were Humanoid Puppets, which imitated humans and were usually paired with treasures exclusive to puppets.
Puppets could also use Magical Treasures, but their power couldn’t match that of treasures specifically tailored for them.
Beast-Shaped Puppets mostly imitated Magical Beasts. Some were Beast-Shaped Puppets crafted primarily from metal and wood, while others were puppets based on Demonic Beast Materials.
There was a significant difference between these two types.
The former relied on their constituent materials, making their creation more akin to refining a Magical Treasure.
The latter utilized Demonic Beast Materials, tending to manifest the Magical Beasts’ own characteristics. If the materials were fully utilized, they could even exhibit some of the Magical Beasts’ Divine Skills.
Beyond these, there were large-scale Mechanism Puppets, war puppets, and warships.
Mixed Primordial Peak possessed war puppets and warships, which were not to be deployed unless absolutely necessary.
The last Secret Realm war against the Shimo Sect was of relatively low intensity. Aside from the Divinity Transformation Level battlefield where a few war puppets were deployed, other battlefronts in the Secret Realm proceeded as usual.
Refining large-scale war puppets and warships consumed a staggering amount of resources, a burden ordinary Cultivators could not bear.
Jia Ren wanted to refine a warship, but his finances couldn’t bear the strain.
This time, his primary task was to refine the Thousand Mechanism Hundred Refinement Puppet Tower and its corresponding puppets.
The Thousand Mechanism Hundred Refinement Puppet Tower was undoubtedly the core.
With this artifact in hand, the puppets would have the ability to sustain prolonged combat.
With Peerless Gold Composite as the shell, I won’t need to worry about its defensive capabilities; its strength will be remarkable.
As for powering the puppets and their Spiritual Nature...
Puppets of Fifth Rank and below were manageable. Most could be driven by Superior Grade Spirit Stones or lower, and they weren’t difficult to refine.
Fifth Rank puppets corresponded to the Divinity Transformation Level. Superior Grade Spirit Stones were barely sufficient, but their Spiritual Power wouldn’t last for prolonged combat, necessitating frequent replacement of Spirit Stones.
Top-quality Spirit Stones, on the other hand, could drive them for a long time, but the drawback was their excessive consumption.
One Top-quality Spirit Stone was equivalent to a million standard Spirit Stones; using such Spirit Stones to power puppets was truly burning money.
The more battles, the faster the money burned.
A few puppets were manageable, but once their numbers reached a hundred, the Spirit Stone issue alone would be enough to drive one to despair.
The Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements recorded a treasure called the Power Source Crystal—a power source for puppets, refined using the Refining Technique.
Compared to consumables like Spirit Stones, Power Source Crystals were akin to Magical Treasures, able to automatically absorb ambient Spiritual Energy from the heavens and earth for replenishment.
Its effectiveness depended on the grade of the Power Source Crystal.
In the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements, Power Source Crystals were linked to puppet grades; puppets of a certain grade were paired with Power Source Crystals of a corresponding grade. This ensured that a puppet would not be unable to effectively exert its due power because of insufficient Spiritual Energy from its Power Source Crystal or an overload of Spiritual Power.
In areas with scarce Spiritual Energy, Power Source Crystals also faced difficulties in replenishing their energy.
Once a Power Source Crystal was fully charged, its performance surpassed even that of Top-quality Spirit Stones.
Thus, refining Power Source Crystals is imperative.
Puppets are not lifeless objects; they must possess their own... Spiritual Nature.
The vast majority of puppets were created using the Demon Spirit Method, which involved infusing processed Demon Souls into them, turning them into puppets at the owner’s command.
Most powers capable of refining puppets commonly employed this method.
The Lingbao Sect was an exception. They treated puppets and Spiritual Treasures differently, and their most commonly used technique was the Spirit Activation Method.
There was another crucial reason for their extensive use of the Spirit Activation Method: Demon Soul scarcity!
The number of Magical Beasts in the Mysterious Realm was dwindling. Although not yet extinct, they could only be found in rarely frequented and perilous regions.
Aside from those, they could also be found in Secret Realms.
Although the Lingbao Sect had Secret Realms and other locations as sources of supply, these were still insufficient to meet the ever-growing demand for Demon Souls.
The Spirit Activation Method was a reluctant, yet inevitable, choice.
Jia Ren mulled it over. He planned to first use the Number Three Peerless Gold Composite to refine a generation of puppets possessing retaliatory damage capabilities.
For their drive, he could refine Sixth Rank Power Source Crystals. For their Spiritual Nature, he would choose the Spirit Activation Method, as a self-generated consciousness could best unleash the puppet’s power.
A Sixth Rank Power Source Crystal was equivalent to the power source for a Void Refining Level puppet. The cost of refining even one was not low, which also validated Jia Ren’s thinking.
If my finances weren’t so tight, I’d prefer to go straight for refining Seventh-order Power Source Crystals. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about energy insufficiency when the puppets’ tier increases later.
Jia Ren immersed himself in refining puppets and the Thousand Mechanism Hundred Refinement Puppet Tower.
Refining the Thousand Mechanism Hundred Refinement Puppet Tower was not difficult. Its materials were not top-tier Spiritual Materials, so gathering them was also not hard.
「Five years later.」
The Thousand Mechanism Hundred Refinement Puppet Tower was completed, and it turned out to be another Supreme Grade Spiritual Treasure!
Jia Ren did not rush to refine puppets. He entered the Heaven and Earth Mountain and Sea Pearl and placed the Thousand Mechanism Hundred Refinement Puppet Tower into the Demon-Sealing Spirit Tower to improve its quality.
"It’s time to improve my Cultivation Level!" he thought.
The Demon-Sealing Spirit Tower had accumulated decades of Heavenly Treasure Spirit Power. He needed to quickly absorb and utilize it to advance his Cultivation Level.
In the Cultivation World, one’s Cultivation Level is fundamental.
External items like puppets are merely tools for protecting one’s Dao.
He could still clearly distinguish between the primary and the secondary.
After absorbing all the Heavenly Treasure Spirit Power within the Demon-Sealing Spirit Tower, combined with his previous accumulations, his progress in the Late-stage of Divinity Transformation reached the halfway mark.
Relying on the Heavenly Treasure Spirit Power supplied by the Demon-Sealing Spirit Tower, Jia Ren could reach the peak of the Late-stage of Divinity Transformation within another thirty to forty years at most.
The time he spent absorbing Heavenly Treasure Spirit Power wasn’t particularly long; the most time-consuming part was polishing his Spiritual Power and stabilizing his cultivation foundation.
With a massive influx of Spiritual Power, his Cultivation Level had soared as if he were riding a rocket; stabilizing his Cultivation Level was essential.
「Four years later.」
His Realm stabilized, and his aura became steady. Only then did he emerge from his cultivation.
Next came the refining of puppets.
The materials were all readily available. The Peerless Gold Composites could be used directly without much additional effort.
Puppets had relatively low requirements for Spirit Patterns. The Number Three Peerless Gold Composite was paired with the Spirit Pattern configuration of the Xuan Gui Shield, aiming for a reflective damage effect—using defense as offense.
Unfortunately, due to compatibility issues with the mixed Spiritual Materials, the Spirit Pattern integration wasn’t perfect; the effect could only be considered barely satisfactory.
「Five years later.」
The first puppet took shape.
This was a tortoise-shaped puppet, about one zhang tall. Its appearance was somewhat similar to the Mysterious Turtle, with an entirely dark green body and deep tortoise-shell patterns emerging on its surface.
As a first-generation puppet, it possessed three abilities.
First, it could enlarge its body. This made it easier to protect its master and withstand wider areas of damage; gigantification also simultaneously increased its own defensive power.
Second, thorns. These further enhanced its reflective damage effect. An attacker would suffer double reflective damage from the combination of the Peerless Gold Composite and Spiritual Materials.
An eye for an eye, returned twofold.
Third, a slowing effect. This reduced the damage the puppet received and also slowed the target’s movement capabilities.
The giant tortoise puppet had more than enough defense, but its offense was lacking. Its primary methods of attack were defense and counterattack—especially its counterattack, which was truly pushed to the extreme.
Attacking it was practically suicide.
The giant tortoise puppet moved slowly, but as long as you attacked it, it would drag your speed down to its own level...
"I’ll call you... Thornback Tortoise Puppet!"
Jia Ren gazed at the Thornback Tortoise Puppet. Its Power Source Crystal was Sixth Rank. Although the puppet itself was currently late-stage Fifth Rank, it was far superior to other Fifth Rank puppets.
Once it received a Sacrificial Fire infusion, its advancement to a Sixth Rank puppet, comparable to the Lianxu Stage, would be a matter of course.
With the Thornback Tortoise Puppet completed, Jia Ren prepared to refine the second type of puppet.
This second type of puppet was called the Massive Mountain Puppet.
The Massive Mountain Puppet could project its defensive power as a force field, enhancing the defensive capabilities of puppets and their guardians within its area of influence.
It could be used in tandem with the Thornback Tortoise Puppet and could also more effectively protect itself.
This made it the undisputed choice for the second type of puppet.
Jia Ren had already thoroughly reviewed the refining method for the Massive Mountain Puppet and was preparing to begin.
「Just then.」
His Second Nascent Soul delivered some startling news.
"Ancestor Ji Kong has emerged from seclusion! He has advanced to the Body Integration Realm and is now summoning all disciples to gather!"
Master has advanced to the Body Integration Realm?
Jia Ren halted his puppet refining, his eyes brimming with delight.
The higher Ancestor Ji Kong’s status in the Lingbao Sect, the higher the status of his disciples will rise accordingly.
The stronger the Sect’s backing, the better the treatment for its members, even if war breaks out.
This is the best news I’ve heard in a long time!
