Chapter 489 - 448: Approaching Success

Chapter 489: Chapter 448: Approaching Success

Chu Mu laughed heartily, accepting congratulations from one Artifact Refiner after another.

The Soldier Puppet wasn’t fully repaired yet, but with its most crucial component—the Puppet Core—now fixed, it meant a complete restoration was just a step away.

Even if mistakes were made with the other parts, there was plenty of room for correction.

This was something every Artifact Refiner present understood perfectly well.

Despite their different motives for participating, everyone shared the same ultimate goal: to repair the Soldier Puppet. Even the secret schemer Chu Mu suspected would surely want the puppet successfully restored.

After an exchange of pleasantries, Chu Mu leaped before the Soldier Puppet. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Magical Power surged around him. A True Flame erupted, enveloping the puppet’s head and staining the sky a fiery red.

At that very moment, several gazes seemed to pierce through the void and converge on him.

Chu Mu’s heart instinctively tightened, but he quickly relaxed.

’The Demon Suppression Islands have resisted the Demon Beast invasion for many years. How could they not have a few Nascent Soul Cultivators watching over them?’

’A Tier Four Soldier Puppet is undoubtedly a Supreme Treasure, even for the entire Chen Family.’

’How could its final repairs not attract attention?’

The glimmer in his eyes calmed until it was as serene as an ancient well. Under the Spiritual Radiance Blessing, the massive Soldier Puppet before him seemed to transform into the diagram he had once drawn on Spirit Paper.

Every structure, every pathway, every Inscription and Rune became crystal clear.

His gaze shifted to the almost beautiful Puppet Core. In that instant, it seemed to overlap with the Heart of the Demon Realm he had seen long ago.

In his calculations, once it was integrated into the Soldier Puppet, its intricate network of pathways would connect with the puppet and its countless bloodline patterns, ultimately becoming the puppet’s brain, controlling its every move.

It was the same concept as the Heart of the Demon Realm controlling the crisscrossing pathways of the Demon Realm, just with different underlying mysteries.

And that backdoor was equivalent to a virus hidden within the puppet’s brain.

When needed, one could simply activate this backdoor to seize control of the Soldier Puppet.

And the backdoor he had placed within that backdoor was like a hidden entry point within the virus program itself.

It would expose the original backdoor the moment it was activated, making its existence known to whoever was in control of the puppet at the time. This way, he wouldn’t be left holding the bag.

If the secret schemer managed to seize the Soldier Puppet and win, his own backdoor would remain completely hidden, waiting for the day it could be activated.

If the Chen Family won, kept the Soldier Puppet, and removed the original backdoor, his own backdoor would enter a state of suspended animation. On the surface, it would seem to be destroyed along with the original, but it would actually use the puppet’s flesh-and-blood systems to hide itself once more.

However, at that point, his backdoor would be detached from the Puppet’s Core and would naturally be unable to influence its central hub.

If, one day, he wanted to use this backdoor to take control of the Soldier Puppet, it would no longer be something he could do with a single thought.

At most, he could use the backdoor to affect the puppet’s flesh-and-blood systems, thereby interfering with the controller’s command over it. He could no longer seize it instantly.

As these thoughts flowed through his mind, Chu Mu’s gaze grew deep. He spread his hands, and the flames intensified. Under the control of his Divine Sense, the Puppet Core slowly descended toward the Soldier Puppet’s head.

At that moment, a perfectly sized socket appeared on the puppet’s head.

Finally, it slotted in with a perfect fit.

A jet-black light suddenly erupted, sweeping across the Soldier Puppet’s entire body in an instant.

Bathed in this dark glow, the towering Soldier Puppet slowly straightened its body. Its eyes, like Copper Bells, also began to gleam with a profound, dark light.

It was as if a terrifying entity had awakened. A horrifying aura spread out, seemingly changing the color of the sky. The Array Prohibitions surrounding the square began to CREAK and tremble.

"Excellent!"

A hearty laugh seemed to ring out from the void, followed by a flurry of congratulatory exchanges via Divine Thought.

A series of daunting gazes once again converged on Chu Mu.

Fortunately, these gazes didn’t linger for long before dissipating one by one.

Chu Mu breathed a sigh of relief, and his figure, suspended in the sky, slowly descended.

The Cultivators gathered for another round of pleasantries, but this time, there wasn’t much conversation.

The Puppet’s Heart had been repaired, which meant the most difficult step was complete.

From here on, it was just a matter of course.

With each assigned to their own tasks, the Golden Core Cultivators had work to do. After a few brief words, they all departed to get busy.

Chu Mu didn’t stay idle either. He returned to his room and rested for several days. Then, he spent over a month Refining the Puppet Sword and Shield Treasure, pocketing a large surplus of rare Spiritual Materials in the process.

When he next emerged from the residence, the Soldier Puppet’s damaged state was completely gone. It looked no different from the puppet Chu Mu had seen in the recordings.

A few Golden Core Refiners formed the core of the workforce around the Soldier Puppet, with a large group of Foundation Establishment and Qi Cultivation Realm Artifact Refiners assisting them, all bustling with activity.

Chu Mu observed for a moment, subtly glancing at the Soldier Puppet’s head. He then looked at the busy crowd in the square but noticed nothing unusual.

Over the next few dozen days, in stark contrast to the other busy Artifact Refiners, Chu Mu became completely idle.

He would stroll around the square once a day, nominally to "coordinate the puppet’s repairs," but in reality, he was discreetly observing the Artifact Refiners, trying to pick up on any clues.

However, this behavior only lasted for about half a month before Chu Mu decisively gave up.

The Puppet’s Heart was repaired. This meant that as long as the backdoor wasn’t activated, any and every change in the Soldier Puppet was under the control of that Array Dao Nascent Soul.

Trying to pull any tricks right under a Nascent Soul’s nose was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

’I didn’t notice anything before. Now that the Soldier Puppet’s repairs are nearing Perfection, it’s even more impossible.’

With this mindset, Chu Mu actually managed to let it go.

’After all, no matter what happens, I’m a beneficiary.’

After that, he truly relaxed.

He would walk a lap around the square each day to make his presence known. When he was in a good mood, he would occasionally offer guidance to a Chen Family Artifact Refiner he took a liking to, considering it a way to help the younger generation and build some good karma.

The rest of his time was spent inside his residence, designing his Sword Dao Supreme Treasure and mulling over other Artifact Refining ideas.

Living so leisurely, time flew by.

Meanwhile, with the passage of time, the collective effort of the numerous Artifact Refiners, and Chu Mu’s occasional coordination, the Soldier Puppet’s repair progress was astonishingly fast.

The head, limbs, torso, armor...

Each part visibly transformed from a rough form into a complete whole.

The reviving puppet grew ever more imposing, and the aura it emanated became increasingly terrifying...

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