Chapter 331: A Magical Beast, Female, and a Serpent Beauty!
Passing through the medicinal herb forest, Lu Bu led Xiao Yi Xian and Zi Yan onward, casually grabbing a few herbs that caught his eye before the three exited through a passage.
With a surge of his powerful soul perception spreading out, Lu Bu quickly pinpointed the direction of the main hall the resting place of a Dou Saint.
"Lu Bu, we've already obtained the Dragon Phoenix Origin Fruit. Where else are we going?" Xiao Yi Xian asked softly.
Their objectives on this trip were twofold: helping Zi Yan acquire the Dragon Phoenix Origin Fruit and assisting Xiao Yan in finding the Soul Infant Fruit. With both tasks accomplished, there was no need to linger in such a dangerous place. Moreover, they had just eliminated three Sky Demon Phoenixes. It was unlikely the Sky Demon Phoenix clan wouldn't notice. If they decided to go all out, things could get troublesome.
"Of course, we're going treasure hunting!" Before Lu Bu could answer, Zi Yan giggled and spoke cheerfully in her crisp, youthful voice. The excitement in her tone was evident finding treasure was her favorite activity!
"Zi Yan is right!" Lu Bu chuckled, patting Zi Yan's small head affectionately. "But there's another reason. I need that Dou Saint's remains to craft a body for Elder Yao."
Hearing this, Xiao Yi Xian was slightly surprised. "I see..."
The materials needed to reconstruct Tian Huo Zun zhe's body had already been prepared: an Eight Colored Bone Melting Blood Pill, blood from an early stage eighth tier Sky Demon Phoenix, and three types of Heavenly Flames.
For a host body capable of holding a powerful soul, Lu Bu already had a viable option: the corpse of the Star Plucking Elder, a former Five Star Dou Zun. Though it couldn't match Tian Huo Zun zhe's former strength as an Eight Star Dou Zun, it was more than sufficient.
However, Xiao Yi Xian hadn't expected that Lu Bu had set his sights on something even more ambitious a Dou Saint's remains.
Inside Lu Bu's storage ring, Tian Huo Zun zhe's spirit trembled with excitement. His future body was finally within reach, and its potential would far exceed his old one. His gratitude toward Lu Bu swelled; it seemed he hadn't misjudged this investment after all!
Lu Bu smiled without saying more. His true purpose extended beyond merely acquiring the remains he was also after the "Grand Heaven Creation Palm."
This Heavenly Class Dou Technique resembled the Devouring Power technique he frequently used. With it, Lu Bu could mask his true abilities, using the technique to disguise his Devouring Power. Unless he encountered a genuine Dou Saint or a Tian tier soul expert, no one would be able to uncover his secret.
It would be more than enough to handle most Dou Zun, Half Saint opponents, or even weaker Dou Saints.
Behind them, hurried footsteps approached. Feng Zun zhe led the reluctant members of the Starfall Pavilion, while Xiao Yan followed silently, his expression unreadable.
Of course, it could be that Xiao Yan had simply become numb to being repeatedly swindled and was resigned to his fate.
"Lu Bu, are you heading to the main hall for that Heavenly Class Dou Technique?" Xiao Yan asked, somewhat surprised. In the Beast Spirit Barrier, Lu Bu's Dragon Claw technique had already shown power rivaling that of a Heavenly Class Dou Technique.
Combined with his mastery of the Emperor Seal Palm, which he wielded with effortless precision, it seemed unnecessary for Lu Bu to take such a risk for another Heavenly Class Dou Technique.
The phrase "a man without sin is condemned for his wealth" came to Xiao Yan's mind. He understood how dangerous it was to possess something so coveted by others.
But... Xiao Yan also knew that Lu Bu never let any potential benefits slip through his fingers. Somehow, he always managed to secure the greatest rewards at the smallest cost.
Take the time in the Pill Realm, for instance. Defeating Mu Gu was something Xiao Yan was already obligated to do. Yet Lu Bu had managed to turn it into a bargaining chip, extracting the highly valuable Earth Core Soul Essence and Pill Spirit Essence from Xiao Yan.
In the end, Lu Bu had paid next to nothing but walked away with immense gains.
Damn it!
The thought made Xiao Yan vigilant. Could Lu Bu be up to something again?
"I'm not interested in the Heavenly Class Dou Technique," Lu Bu replied bluntly, lying without batting an eye. "If you want it, I can help you. I only need the Dou Saint's remains."
"You just need to help me hold off one faction, and I'll handle the rest."
"Huh?" Xiao Yan blinked in surprise. "You're being that straightforward about it?"
"Do you even know what a Heavenly Class Dou Technique is?" Xiao Yan asked, unable to suppress his excitement. After all, how could anyone not covet such a legendary skill?
"How would I know?" Lu Bu rolled his eyes. "I'm just saying that if you help me fend off the others and happen to get a technique scroll, I'll give it to you. Sound fair?"
"Heh, that's great..." Xiao Yan licked his lips, barely able to contain his excitement.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, kid," Lu Bu snorted. "Don't forget about the Hall of Souls. That garbage heap of a faction won't pass up any visible benefits. Don't think this will be easy."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan's heart sank. He had almost forgotten about the Hall of Souls.
Nearby, Feng Zun zhe, Nalan Yanran, and the others grew solemn. They had only recently fought against the Hall of Souls to rescue someone. If another confrontation occurred, it would undoubtedly be a fierce battle.
"Wait... isn't this the wrong way to the main hall?" Xiao Yan suddenly realized as he looked around.
"Don't you smell it?" Lu Bu replied irritably, darting off in the direction Zi Yan had indicated.
Hearing this, Xiao Yan sniffed the air and froze. The faint scent of medicinal pills lingered, though it was incredibly subtle. After spending so much time in the herb forest, the aroma had nearly escaped his notice.
"Ugh..."
Watching Zi Yan nestled comfortably in Lu Bu's arms, Xiao Yan's eyes turned green with envy. Zi Yan was such a wonderful person how had she fallen for someone like Lu Bu, that scoundrel?
As they spoke, Lu Bu, Xiao Yi Xian, and Zi Yan stepped into a grand hall. Above the entrance hung a plaque adorned with two gilded words written in elegant calligraphy: "Pill Hall."
"Damn it!" Xiao Yan muttered, activating Three Thousand Lightning Movement as he raced to catch up.
But ahead of him, Lu Bu and the others disappeared in a flash of golden light, using the exquisite Phoenix Step movement technique to vanish without a trace.
"Damn Phoenix Step..." Xiao Yan sighed, lamenting the technique's superiority over Three Thousand Lightning Movement.
Inside the Pill Hall, Lu Bu released a surge of his soul power, spreading it like a tidal wave. The vast, majestic hall unfolded in his perception as though it were right before his eyes.
Behind him, Xiao Yan's expression shifted dramatically. "How is Lu Bu's soul power this strong?"
As an alchemist, Xiao Yan understood how difficult it was to strengthen soul power. Even with specialized soul cultivation methods, progress was painstakingly slow. How had Lu Bu achieved such a massive leap in such a short time?
Could it be related to the essence of his soul?
"Late stage Soul Realm... almost complete..." Within the Bone Spirit Ring, Yao Lao's heart sank. Even he had only reached the early Tian Realm in his current state.
"It's not that strong only mid stage Soul Realm, just slightly ahead of you," Yao Lao's voice rang in Xiao Yan's mind. He didn't want to discourage him; Xiao Yan needed confidence to grow.
"I see..." Xiao Yan nodded, leading the Starfall Pavilion members to begin searching the numerous chambers within the hall, which seemed untouched.
Meanwhile, golden light flashed around Lu Bu. He disappeared and reappeared in a room filled with jade shelves stacked with treasures.
On the shelves were countless jade bottles neatly arranged, each containing multicolored pills that shimmered faintly, dazzling the eyes and overwhelming the senses.
"Wow, wow, wow… These are real treasures!" Zi Yan exclaimed excitedly. Her bright, gem like eyes sparkled with tiny stars as she dove forward, grabbed a jade bottle, and eagerly tried to pour its contents into her mouth.
But nothing came out.
Before she could even open the bottle, it vanished from her hand, snatched away by Xiao Yi Xian in one swift motion.
"Xiao Yi Xian, what are you doing?!" Zi Yan's face flushed red with urgency as she protested loudly.
"You little troublemaker, you're so reckless!" Xiao Yi Xian flicked Zi Yan's forehead with her finger, scolding her in an exasperated tone.
"Do you even know what kind of pills these are? Whether they're poisonous? Whether the owner of this relic left traps on them? And yet, you just want to shove them into your mouth? What if something happens to you?"
As she spoke, Xiao Yi Xian's delicate brows furrowed sharply, and her tone grew sterner.
"Hehe…" Zi Yan scratched the back of her head awkwardly, her small face lighting up with an embarrassed smile. Only now did she realize that she had indeed been careless.
"Let's gather the pills first and assess their properties and safety before consuming them," Xiao Yi Xian instructed. She reached out to grab another jade bottle from a nearby shelf.
However, her fingers suddenly stopped mid air. Though it appeared empty, her hand seemed to collide with a solid, invisible barrier.
"What an incredibly sturdy spatial barrier… Zi Yan, how did you manage to grab something just now?" Xiao Yi Xian asked, startled.
"Hehe… It's because I'm naturally talented!" Zi Yan said smugly, placing her hands on her hips and raising her small, proud face.
Xiao Yi Xian couldn't help but laugh at this response, momentarily forgetting that Zi Yan was a Taixu Ancient Dragon. If the spatial barrier had been in its prime, it might've been formidable. But after countless years of erosion, it was no match for a dragon's natural affinity for space.
Meanwhile, Lu Bu stood before a cabinet, rummaging through its contents. One scroll after another was carefully pulled out and examined.
Alchemy recipes!
The reason Lu Bu had unleashed his soul power to search the area was precisely for these alchemy recipes. Knowledge, in his eyes, was far more valuable than material treasures. Compared to the pills on the shelves, the alchemy recipes hidden in this cabinet were clearly more precious.
"Huh? Human Puppets?" Lu Bu's hand suddenly froze as he retrieved a bone white scroll, a glimmer of surprise flashing across his eyes.
"Human Puppets?" Hearing this, Zi Yan and Xiao Yi Xian quickly rushed over, their heads one big and one small leaning close to Lu Bu as they curiously examined the scroll in his hand.
"This is a method for refining puppets," Lu Bu explained as his gaze scanned the information on the scroll. His brows furrowed slightly, and his voice deepened. "It's an evil technique used to refine living humans into puppets."
"Puppets made using this method can retain some awareness of their past lives and even perform certain Dou Techniques, making them more brutal and formidable in combat than Sky Demon Puppets."
Lu Bu lightly tapped the scroll against his palm, his expression growing darker. If his memory served him correctly, the main hall housing the Dou Saint's remains was guarded by several ancient Human Puppets.
How strong were they? He couldn't recall precisely, though he did remember one fighting Xiao Yi Xian in the original story. While its combat power was formidable, its intelligence left much to be desired it had been lured away and got so lost it couldn't find its way back.
That said, the concept wasn't entirely foreign. Over in the Tianxuan Continent, there was a similar technique for crafting puppets: the Blood Spirit Puppet.
During his travels in the Great Wasteland of the Da Yan Empire, after exterminating the Yin Puppet Sect, Lu Bu had seized control of a Blood Spirit Puppet. Unlike Lin Dong, he had never refined the puppet's murderous aura, opting instead to enhance it by allowing the puppet to absorb the essence of advanced and supreme level experts, as well as powerful magical beasts.
The Blood Spirit Puppet's greatest strength lay in its hair raising bloodthirsty aura. To refine it would be to cripple one of its core advantages.
That said, refinement did have its benefits, as it would prevent the puppet from rebelling against its master. Back when Lu Bu had faced off against the experts of the Xixuan Region, the Blood Spirit Puppet's ferocity had enabled it to slaughter several elite Nirvana disciples at the sixth or seventh yuan stage. It even managed to help Lu Bu block attacks from one or two Reincarnation Stage powerhouses.
Still, given Lu Bu's death in his previous life, the Blood Spirit Puppet had likely either been seized or destroyed in a fit of rage.
"What a sinister method!" Xiao Yi Xian's face paled slightly as she muttered, clearly unsettled. Refining living people into puppets such a cruel method was undoubtedly evil.
"It is indeed wicked…" Lu Bu nodded faintly, his tone somber.
Though he had used the Blood Spirit Puppet to kill, he had specifically targeted those who provoked him first. On the battlefield of the Hundred Empire War, where survival was a constant struggle, he had never felt any guilt about it.
But using live humans to create puppets? Honestly, that was a line he found hard to cross.
Before crossing over, his girlfriend had been a medical student who often teased him about his squeamishness around human anatomy. "It's just a heart or a brain what's the big deal?" she'd say.
He wondered how she would've reacted to seeing his mangled body after that fateful truck accident.
Lu Bu sighed inwardly. Still, the technique itself wasn't without value. He'd been pondering ways to refine Heaven Devouring Corpses recently, and this Human Puppet technique might provide useful insights.
"Well, well… my friend and fair lady, since you find it so vile, how about gifting it to me instead?"
Suddenly, a whirlwind swept through the room, causing the windows and doors to creak noisily. Three figures appeared in the pill room in the blink of an eye.
Two of them a middle aged man and a young man each held a folding fan, lightly fanning themselves as waves of energy rippled from their movements.
The third was a muscular man in a purple robe. His cold, fierce eyes and menacing demeanor made it clear he was no pushover.
The Evil Blossom Lord's thin lips curved into a faint smile, his gaze lingering on the white robed Xiao Yi Xian. He waved his fan lightly, his expression both playful and threatening.
"The Sky Serpent Sect?" Lu Bu's expression darkened, and a chilling killing intent seeped into his eyes.
The newcomers were none other than the Sky Serpent Sect's Evil Blossom Lord and Xuanming Sect's Chen Xian. Judging by his appearance, the purple robed man was likely Xuanming Sect's sect master, Chen Tiannan.
Behind her veil, Xiao Yi Xian's delicate face turned icy. Her deep black eyes suddenly transformed into a strange grayish purple hue, radiating cold killing intent and powerful Dou Qi.
The Evil Blossom Lord's face stiffened in shock, a chill running down his spine as he instinctively took a step back.
"Damn it!" A moment later, his anger surged. How could a mere Five Star Dou Zun intimidate him, a proud Six Star Dou Zun?
"Well, well… so many pills. I haven't seen such a collection in a long time!"
Just as tensions were about to explode, a soft, seductive voice rang out, followed by two graceful figures stepping into the pill room.
The newcomers were two women or perhaps girls?
Their mature, well developed figures suggested women, but their playful, lively demeanor made them seem like mischievous maidens.
With pointed oval faces, pale yellow eyeshadow, and swaying hips, they exuded an air of serpentine beauty.
"The Nine Nether Earth Python Clan?!" The Sky Serpent Sect trio gasped in alarm, their expressions changing dramatically.
"Oh? So this is the Nine Nether Earth Python?" Lu Bu raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over them. A magical beast, female, and a beauty at that...
Tsk, tsk… Seems like the regret left by the Heaven Ascending Boa has been remedied.
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