Chapter 511 - 465: Miraculous Secret Skill, the Corpse Puppet Idea

Chu Mu was speechless with amazement. With Mithril Blood Fusion, Iron Essence Marrow Infusion, and the Puppet modifications to parts of its body—strictly speaking, this Demon Beast was a living… machine!

The Puppet body modifications were a quantum leap in the Demon Beast's external Defense.

Meanwhile, more refined and deeply internal methods like Mithril Blood Fusion and Iron Essence Marrow Infusion provided a quantum leap for its internal Defense.

One could well imagine that this Demon's internal organs must have also been modified by some means. Only then could they support such an unbelievably powerful Demon Body.

The sharpness of his Sword Intent flowed as Chu Mu, his mind free of distractions, dissected the Demon Corpse bit by bit.

Just as he had expected, besides the Demon Beast's blood being modified with infused Mithril and its bones infused with Iron Essence, its internal organs all had a distinct metallic luster, clearly having undergone some special Refining technique.

The most conspicuous part was the Demon's heart. Beneath a brilliant, deep-blue luster, the Qianlan Ice Flame coiled around the entire organ. A chilling cold emanated from it, seeming to freeze even the blood within the Demon Beast's body.

Chu Mu cautiously dissected and observed it, trying to glimpse the mysteries of this Refining technique.

With his foundation in Artifact Refining, it was naturally not difficult for him to see through it.

In the Dao of Artifact Refining, once one's foundation reached a certain depth, many so-called exclusive Secret Skills were often just a spark of inspiration away.

With a clear direction, as long as the knowledge involved did not exceed his own understanding, it wouldn't be hard to uncover its secrets.

It was just a matter of spending time to reverse-engineer it.

The "Spiritual Radiance Blessing" had descended. Chu Mu's gaze was profound, and with his mind free of distractions, he was as focused and serious as ever.

Holding a Jade Scroll in one hand and manipulating the sharp edge of his Sword Intent with the other, he analyzed the corpse, recording the mysteries he uncovered bit by bit. He worked from clues to a general outline, and finally to a complete and exclusive Artifact Refining Technique.

This process lasted for nearly a month before it finally came to an end.

The Jade Scroll's color had gradually deepened, proving that the information recorded within was nearing the scroll's capacity limit.

The Spiritual Radiance still lingered. Chu Mu looked at the Jade Scroll in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face.

He had now reverse-engineered the mysteries of this technique for fusing blood, forging bone, and refining organs with complete clarity.

But from his perspective, although this exclusive Artifact Refining Technique seemed to fall within the scope of Artifact Refining Skill, its inner core was actually more like… a Body Refining Technique!

A Body Refining Technique that treated a human's or Demon's body as a Magical Treasure and Artifact to be tempered!

Although he didn't yet know the specific Cultivation method, it wasn't hard to see how miraculous this Body Refining Technique was.

Just the ability to devour Spiritual Material Essence and smelt it into the body, both inside and out, was undoubtedly divine.

After all, the existence of Essence, Qi, and Spirit emphasized being naturally formed, a state of perfect harmony.

Normal Cultivation was nothing more than using Breathing techniques to absorb various types of Energy from the world. Whether it was Spiritual Qi, Demonic Qi, or even things like Evil Qi and Yin Qi, these were all pure energies born from the natural world, inherently in harmony with it.

But to devour Spiritual Material Essence…

In this Cultivation Immortal Realm, there were so many Spiritual Materials.

Their properties were varied and diverse.

Unless one only devoured a single, specific type of Spiritual Material, their properties would inevitably clash. It would be like a Cultivator simultaneously using Breathing techniques on Demonic Qi, Spiritual Qi, Evil Qi, and Yin Qi, while also swallowing a Demon Pill raw…

To do something like that and not have your body explode would be a stroke of heaven-sent luck!

But judging by this Demon Body, it was obvious even to the naked eye that more than one type of Spiritual Material was involved.

Yet, the Spiritual Material Essences that had been devoured and fused into the Demon Beast's body were integrated almost perfectly, each performing its function in a flawless cycle.

Chu Mu pursed his lips, an undeniable fervor in his eyes. A Body Refining Technique like this was beyond anything he could have imagined.

Against a Demon Beast like this, with such an unbelievably powerful Demon Body, if he didn't have his Sword Intent that could strike the Divine Soul itself, he would have had no choice but to flee with his tail between his legs!

Even with the Unrivaled Attack power of his Sword Intent, he could only leave a trivial, shallow mark on its flesh. Even after it died, he had to work for quite a while just to barely break through and make an incision.

A body this powerful… even a Nascent Soul Realm expert would likely have to put in some effort to kill it.

'Perhaps this is an Artifact Refining Technique derived from that Body Refining Technique?'

Chu Mu guessed silently.

Looking at the external Puppet modifications on this Demon Beast, they were undoubtedly crude, and the skill level was quite limited.

But the internal modifications to the Demon Body were clearly miraculous, a sight to behold.

It was almost impossible that both were the work of the same person.

The possibility that it was a Cultivation Technique was clearly much greater.

He pondered for a long time, but mere speculation couldn't provide a clear answer.

In the end, he had no choice but to suppress the desire in his heart and set the thought aside for now.

His gaze shifted, settling on the Demon Beast's heart, which was encased in the Qianlan Ice Flame.

Although the Qianlan Ice Flame had been smelted into the heart and was no longer usable by him, a heart forged with that miraculous Body Refining Technique and using the Qianlan Ice Flame as its core was undoubtedly a rare Supreme Treasure.

Chu Mu thought for a moment, and a rough idea had already formed in his mind.

The Qianlan Ice Flame had been completely smelted by the Demon Beast, becoming inseparable from it. If he tried to forcibly separate them, even if he could obtain a bit of the tainted Qianlan Ice Flame's fire seed, it wouldn't be very useful.

The best way to use it was to treat the heart, with its Qianlan Ice Flame core, as a single entity—a single piece of Spiritual Material.

With the Mighty Power of the Qianlan Ice Flame, plus the quality of the heart itself, a treasure refined from the heart alone would be absolutely incredible.

Chu Mu's gaze swept over the other organs and parts of the Demon Corpse's body. A rough plan slowly took shape in his mind.

'This Demon Body is so powerful it's almost terrifying. Why not just treat it as a Puppet, a damaged Puppet?'

Chu Mu's eyes lit up slightly. With a thought, a Jade Scroll appeared, hovering before him.

The Jade Scroll came from a trade fair on the Demon Suppression Islands; he had acquired it in a trade with a Corpse Cultivator at the Golden Core realm.

The Corpse Cultivation Technique was quite common in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, even in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World where bloodlines were prevalent.

The reasons were simple. First, Corpse Cultivators had powerful physiques, even more powerful than those of Demon Beasts.

Second was the matter of Corpse Puppets.

After all, in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, you could be short on anything, but the one thing you'd never lack was corpses.

Whether it was a human corpse or a demon's, as long as it was well-preserved, it had the potential to be refined into a Corpse Puppet.

Furthermore, Refining a Corpse Puppet was different from refining a regular Puppet. It didn't require vast amounts of Spiritual Materials, nor did it demand that the Refiner possess an extremely high level of skill.

The Refining of a Corpse Puppet was much simpler.

An Upper Grade corpse was the perfect main material. Supplemented with some Yin-attribute Spiritual Materials and Objects, one could obtain a decent Corpse Puppet.

Of course, if one pursued perfection, the refining difficulty would skyrocket.

The complexity in every aspect would be no less than that of refining an Upper Grade Puppet.

Therefore, in the Cultivation Immortal Realm, most so-called Corpse Cultivators were just pseudo-Corpse Cultivators.

They merely refined one or two decent Corpse Puppets as a means to use in Battle.

But the Jade Scroll he had obtained was naturally not some common, run-of-the-mill item.

He had traded a Tier Three Lower Grade Puppet to that Corpse Cultivator at the Golden Core realm to get this Corpse Puppet Refining technique.

According to that Golden Core Corpse Cultivator, his inheritance came from a True Inheritor of the ancient Corpse Puppet Sect.

Whether it was true or not remained to be seen, but from his perspective, the Corpse Puppet Magic Technique recorded in the Jade Scroll was truly extraordinary.

According to its records, the biggest difference between a Corpse Puppet and a regular Puppet was that a Corpse Puppet had a certain capacity for growth.

Puppets were inanimate objects and had basically no capacity for growth in any real sense.

But after a Corpse Puppet was refined, due to the special nature of the corpse, it would possess a certain degree of life essence and could grow by devouring corpses, Yin Qi, and other such evil things.

Of course, this growth was extremely difficult.

The Jade Scroll stated that because Corpse Puppets originated from corpses and did not enter the cycle of reincarnation, they were detested by heaven and earth, abhorred by Gods and ghosts.

Whether this claim was true or not was up for debate, but Chu Mu had heard plenty about how difficult it was for Corpse Puppets to grow.

At least, among the Corpse Puppets he had seen, he had never witnessed one whose strength had significantly increased even after many years.

Even that Corpse Cultivator at the Middle Stage of Golden Core, despite his Cultivation, only possessed a few Corpse Puppets that were all at Tier Two strength.

And based on their potential, Corpse Puppets were divided into four Grades: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow.

In Chu Mu's understanding, this Grade system was clearly no different from an Immortal Dao Cultivator's Spirit Root or a Bloodline Cultivator's bloodline.

Given how difficult it was for Corpse Puppets to grow, this potential-based classification might seem meaningless. However, according to the Jade Scroll, the higher a Corpse Puppet's potential, the stronger it was compared to others at the same realm.

Thus, for pure Corpse Cultivators, the pursuit of Upper Grade corpses was all the more frenzied.

He had been on the Demon Suppression Islands for several years. Countless Demon Beasts and Cultivators had fallen, and there had been no shortage of farces breaking out over their corpses.

Although Corpse Puppets had all sorts of advantages, they also had an extremely fatal flaw compared to regular Puppets.

Just like evil Artifacts such as the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, just like a Human Cultivating a Demon's bloodline, just like an enslaved Demon Beast…

All of these shared one trait: they could turn on their masters!

Corpse Puppets, naturally, were the same.

Corpse Puppets were a type of evil thing, wicked by nature. Even if a Seal was placed on them during the Refining process, the instincts of such evil creatures would never allow them to be willingly controlled by another.

Backlash during normal times was a certainty, and them turning on their masters during a crisis was also highly probable.

The best way to control a Corpse Puppet was to always maintain a position of strength.

Whether in terms of strength or Cultivation, as long as you were stronger than the Corpse Puppet, you could naturally command it at will.

Achieving this was obviously not easy.

After all, the Immortal Path was perilous, and no one could guarantee they would always be safe and sound.

Take himself, for example. Since starting on the Path to Immortality, he had lost count of how many injuries he had sustained.

A Tier Three Corpse Puppet, and one so powerful at that… if it were to turn on its master in a moment of crisis…

Chu Mu was visibly conflicted.

Given how powerful this Demon Corpse was, if he refined it into a Puppet, he would have to remove a large part of its Demon Body, turning it into a completely inanimate object.

Doing so would be far from perfect.

Only by refining it into a Corpse Puppet could he preserve the power of this Demon Body to the greatest extent. If refined properly, he could even make the Demon Corpse's power greater than it was before!

'Leaving behind some countermeasures shouldn't be too difficult…'

Chu Mu mused. When it came to evil things, both his Great Sun True Flame and his Sword Intent had an almost natural suppressive effect…

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