Book 7, Chapter 67: Infiltration 4
Book 7, Chapter 67: Infiltration (4)
“Even though our enemies are powerful, they have a fatal flaw. If we can take advantage of this flaw, then our enemies will fall at our feet.”
These words came out of Frost’s mouth as well.
If he wanted to fight against the gods, then merely putting in effort to fight against them would not be enough to win. He needed to find their weakness and exploit it.
And what was the gods’ weakness?
Their overreliance on divine power.
In other words, the very existence of this world was their weakness.
And only by targeting this weakness would the humans in the Origin Realm have any chance of defeating the gods.
All Su Chen was doing right now was just the beginning.
His research on Laban lasted for three whole days.
Three days later, a completed puppet lay before him.
Unlike the metal puppets that he had created back on the Primordial Continent, the puppet before him was made out of real flesh and blood. It looked just like a normal human, but the bones inside its body had been replaced with metal. Even its sea of Qi and reserves of Origin Qi had been altered.
The biggest difference between this new flesh and blood puppets and the older mechanical ones was that their ability to manipulate Origin Energy was far greater, making them much more adaptable. Their bodies also possessed a certain amount of innate vitality, which made them much stronger as well.
Su Chen knew how to create these kinds of puppets in the Primordial Continent as well, but as the leader of the Boundless Sect, he needed to consider the ethical implications of his actions. He needed to demonstrate to those around him that he had a bottom line.
Even though constructing these flesh and blood puppets would make the Boundless Sect stronger, doing so would also greatly damage peoples’ impression of the Boundless Sect. In that sense, Su Chen’s hands were tied.
But here, there were no restrictions tying Frost down. He wouldn’t hesitate to turn all of the humanoids in this world into puppets if that could deal with the gods.
Humans needed to have principles, but they also needed to know when to take a stand.
After completing the puppet, Frost let out a sigh of relief.
Before the power of Su Chen’s bloodline fully awakened, this would be his most powerful trump card.
After taking care of this matter, Frost leapt onto the puppet’s back and said, “Take me to the Lonely Forest.”
The flesh puppet’s intelligence was also higher than a metal one, and it could understand basic commands. The metal puppets would likely have gotten lost in the Lonely Forest, but the flesh puppet retained a small portion of its former body’s memories, allowing it to navigate the forest with relative ease.
The puppet began to race towards the Lonely Forest under Frost’s direction.
The first role that the flesh puppet filled after being created was to serve as a mount.
When Frost arrived at the bandit hideout that was situated deep in the Lonely Forest, the sight that greeted his eyes was completely different from the one that he had left behind.
Fresh blood and decimated trees littered the ground, as did upturned boulders and large chunks of earth.
A pile consisting of a few dozen corpses was laid on the side of the river, all belonging to the bandits.
On the other side was a pile of corpses from the Church’s expedition. Two of the corpses were particularly eye-catching. They were still wearing long white robes, and the hems of their garments were fringed with gold. But currently, those exquisite-looking robes were quite tattered and torn.
The bandits that were still alive had gathered together beside the stream and were using its water to wash out their wounds. It seemed as if the battle had concluded quite recently.
“It seems that you discovered the key to victory,” Frost said nonchalantly. “Who thought of it? If I had to guess, I’d choose Miss Isabella.”
Isabella was sitting in the middle of the bandits. Obviously, her accomplishments in the recent battle had won her the respect of the other bandits.
She stood up. “Boss, your wisdom astonishes me.”
“I’m very satisfied with your performance. But since you were able to kill the Moon Goddess’ disciples, her Church will not spare you. Soon enough, new pursuers will arrive, and they will be even stronger than before.”
His words caused all the bandits’ expressions to grow grim.
Isabella, however, remained calm. “You didn’t come here just to sentence all of us to death, did you?”
“Of course not,” Frost replied.
He flicked his arm, tossing a booklet over. “Learn this, and your strength will greatly increase.”
“Learn it?” Isabella glanced at the book and saw that its title was Foundation Cultivation. A simple title, but that was not important. As she skimmed through the book, she blurted out, “This is not a technique we warriors have ever cultivated.”
“You’re right. It’s a unique cultivation method that I copied down, and it doesn’t belong to the realm of martial arts,” Frost nonchalantly replied.
He had indeed adapted his cultivation technique to the physiques of the people living on this side of the Barrier. If one followed the cultivation methods within this booklet, their strength would greatly increase, and their latent potential would improve as well.
Giving such a prized item to a bunch of bandits was like casting pearls before swine.
One of the bandits chuckled disparagingly. “You wrote this? You’re just a level one warrior. What kind of wisdom could you possibly impart?”
That bandit truly did not fear death.
But if he did fear death, then he wouldn’t have been a bandit in the first place.
Frost didn’t even blink as he said, “Kill him.”
Whoosh!
A black figure charged forwards — the flesh puppet. It virtually teleported in front of the disrespectful bandit before thrusting its clawed hands deep into the bandit’s chest. When it reemerged, its claws were clutching the bandit’s still-beating heart.
“You......!” the bandit stammered out before toppling over in disbelief.
“Laban! It’s Laban!” the other bandits cried out in shock.
They finally noticed that there was something standing behind the black figure. It was their former leader, Laban.
“As you can see, this is Laban. He is now my puppet, and one with great combat power at that. This is my skill and my strength! This is why I don’t care if you all live or die. If any of you ignore my orders or express discontent with my leadership, then I will simply turn you into a puppet and use you as such. But if you all obediently follow my orders and demonstrate your worth to me, I am willing to let you live. After all, constructing a puppet takes quite a bit of time and energy.”
The bandit gang fell into a terrified silence.
Frost chuckled darkly. “That’s more like it. You can curse me all you like in your hearts...... I imagine some of you are calling me a demon right about now, right?”
The bandits received another wave of shock. This guy was truly a demon if he could even hear their thoughts.
Frost continued speaking. “I don’t care about what you think in your hearts. All I care about is whether or not you will carry out my instructions. Study the techniques that are recorded down in this book. Those who succeed will be used by me, and those who fail...... will be turned into puppets. Am I clear?”
Everyone nodded simultaneously.
Frost then glanced at Isabella. “You have done very well, but this is only the beginning. Keep on working hard. This is an opportunity both for them and for you as well.”
After saying this, he hopped back on Laban’s back and left.
The bandits were speechless when they saw that their former leader had been turned into a mount. Only now had they finally gained a glimpse into their boss’s true personality.
Isabella fell deep into thought.
This was an opportunity for them, and for her as well.
If this booklet really lived up to Frost’s description, then it was likely that she would soon become very strong.
If she wanted to be the leader of these bandits, then mere intelligence was not enough. She needed strength!
And this booklet could be the key to changing everything!
Isabella’s grip on the booklet tightened imperceptibly when she realized this.
That night, Isabella began to cultivate according to the methods recorded in the booklet.
The martial artists living in Kun’s territory all focused on tempering their physical bodies by using external stimulation to activate a unique organ in their body. This organ absorbed Origin Energy when stimulated by pain. This Origin Energy would remain in their body in the form of a unique cloud. This was the foundation upon which they would form their Fighting Seed.
These warriors could obtain quite a bit of power through such methods, and they would continuously grow stronger and stronger over time.
Foundation Cultivation, on the other hand, worked by establishing a foundation directly through meditation.
This was also the reason why the bandits initially lacked faith in it.
Isabella was perhaps the only one who believed that it might work.
Because the booklet promised to give her exactly what she needed. After all, physical tempering was a bit extreme for most women. And she had no other cultivation methods aside from the one found in the booklet that she was holding in her hand.
Perhaps it was for this reason that Isabella was extremely interested in the technique.
After just a night of such meditation, she could already feel the difference in her strength.
A Fighting Seed had already formed in her body. Isabella was both surprised and delighted. “A Fighting Seed!? I actually formed a Fighting Seed!”
“What?” The bandits were all stunned by her improvement.
Bart rushed over. “Leader, do you really possess Fighting Qi now?”
“I’m not entirely sure if I have it or not, but it definitely feels like Fighting Qi,” Isabella replied.
“That’s not possible. It’s ten times harder for a woman to obtain Fighting Qi than a man, let alone obtaining it overnight.”
Males typically needed a year of constant training to develop Fighting Qi. Only those with high-level cultivation techniques from the Church could form a Fighting Seed in around three months.
Developing Fighting Qi in a single night was basically incomprehensible.
“Why don’t we test it out?” One of the bandits boldly reached out and touched Isabella’s cheek. Obviously, he had wanted to do so for a long time.
Isabella instinctively struck out with her palm, badly startled.
Her palm slammed into the bandit’s arm. With a faint white light, Fighting Qi burst forth from her body and snapped the bandit’s arm in two, sending the bandit flying.
All of the bandits were stunned when they saw this. Isabella, however, retracted her hand and sighed after sensing her physical condition. “That simple palm strike used up a large portion of my Fighting Qi. I can unleash two more palm strikes at most. What an incredible amount of expenditure!”
Everyone was flabbergasted.
Fighting Seeds were seeds in every sense of the word.
The seed itself did not pose much of a threat, but it had the potential to grow without limit. A freshly formed seed should only have been capable of powering a single palm strike, but not only had Isabella managed to form her seed in a single night, she had even accumulated enough Fighting Qi to unleash three palm strikes in rapid succession.
That cultivation speed was practically divine!
No one knew what to say.
They all glanced at each other before suddenly sprinting off in different directions without another word, all of them anxious to start cultivating.
When Isabella saw this, she let out a long sigh of relief.
She finally had obtained enough strength to guarantee her safety. Hopefully, she would not be harassed by the bandits as much after this.
Speaking of which, this boss of hers was really mysterious.
Who was he? And how did he come into the possession of such a shockingly powerful cultivation technique?
Just what was he after?
Isabella fell deep, deep into thought.