Chapter 403: Puppet Warrior
Translator: 3heryl Editor: Hitesh_
Pushing his Zhen yuan, Ye Chen slowly dove into that pitch black gap of the lake.
"The burning speed of Zhen yuan is too fast. It seems to be one hundred times more than in the water before. And, that makes it three hundred times more compared to the ground."
Ye Chen was shocked at how the Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi dissolved most of his protective Zhen yuan. If it were not for this Zhen yuan replenishing pellet, he might have run out of his Zhen yuan by now.
After diving for another thousand meters, he arrived in a huge underground world that was filled with Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi. There was a silvery light shining in the back of it, which was a semi-circular silver light cover. It was unbelievably huge - under Ye Chen's soul power detection, it went on for another dozens of miles. Within the light cover, there were countless buildings with different heights and shapes. They were different from the normal buildings, as they were all made from strong wood. He could also see some gears that had been stuck together into a mechanism through some cracks in the wall. There were also spirit stones that had been carved into the walls as well.
"Gears, spirit stones… It must be the remains of the Puppet School."
Ye Chen did not rush into the silver light layer. Right now, his priority was to notify Feng Yanrou, since he was not the kind of person who would take everything for himself. It would be the opposite of the quality of the sword arts that he trained.
Crawling out of the giant gap, he increased his speed. After long away from that place, he then resurfaced from the water in case other people found out the ruins as well.
At the gathering point, Feng Yanrou and Qingzhu had been there for a while now.
"Sister Feng, it has been eighteen days! What if we never find it?" Qingzhu asked.
Feng Yanrou replied, "Don't worry, have some patience."
Qingzhu was about to say something before realizing a beam of blue light was shooting right towards them.
Once he landed on the ground, Ye Chen said, "Hey, I have found the remains!"
"Really?"
Qingzhu seemed to be pleased on hearing that. The past eighteen days had been extremely boring for her, and having to continuously use her mental power was also very tiring for her. After hearing Ye Chen, her mood was lifted for the first time after a while.
Feng Yanrou laughed, "It seems like that inviting Mr. Chen was the right decision."
There were two meanings in what she had just said. One meant that Ye Chen was very lucky, as they did not know when they would be able to find the location without him. Without luck, they might have never found it. At the same time, it also meant that Ye Chen had come directly to notify them after finding the location, which meant he was a worthy friend, since not many people could say no to a rank 5 martial institution and its treasures.
"No wonder he has such horrifying sword arts… Even the rank 5 martial schools did not shake his heart."
Feng Yanrou thought to herself, feeling even more admiration for Ye Chen.
The three did not want the others to find out about it as well, so they dove into the lake thousands of miles away from the true location. They then dragged out a distance between them and released their mental power, creating a huge mental power web in case anyone tried approaching.
Soon, the three arrived at their destination.
Feng Yanrou frowned, "This is the Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi?"
Ye Chen nodded, "Indeed, it is the Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi comprising of the yuan qi of gold and wind. Warriors at a level lower than the Extreme Astral Reaching Realm might have their defensive layer dissolved completely. Of course, Miss Feng would not have to worry. But Miss Qingzhu, you have to use your Ice Snow Sword Realm protective layer."
"Is it really that horrifying?"
Qingzhu could not believe him. She took out a low rank spirit item that was just as tough as her protective Zhen yuan. If this item made it through safely, then it meant that the Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi could not hurt her.
Swoosh!
Within three blinks' time, the low rank item disappeared completely.
"Oh my, it is true!"
Qingzhu made a face.
Feng Yanrou said, "Alright, no more messing around. Use your Ice Snow Sword Realm Art now. Let's go down!"
Just like that, Qingzhu with her Ice Snow Sword Realm protective layer followed right behind Ye Chen and Feng Yanrou, disappearing into the white gold Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi.
'It is indeed like its reputation… The Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi has the power that is four times more than the yuan qi of gold or wind individually. Luckily, it is only infused with two different Zhen yuan. If there were even one more, then its power would increase even more. In that case, only the Seas of Souls Realm warrior would be able to make it inside.' Feng Yanrou thought to herself.
In the underworld, the three took a hundred spirit pellet each in order to maintain their Zhen yuan levels.
"It is definitely the old Puppet School branch. Only the door of the Puppet School was made of wood. But of course, this wood would not be like the normal kind. It is an extremely rare spirit wood which has yuan qi flow like normal great weapons. That gear should be controlling some kind of mechanism here."
Feng Yanrou projected her mental power within the silver light cover, and was shocked at what she had found.
"This silver light cover is not simple. Perhaps, we need to find a way to go in." Ye Chen got close to the light cover, reaching out his hand to touch it.
A sizzling noise was generated as the light layer touched the Zhen yuan and rubbed out some electricity.
"Its tenacity should be about the same as the protective layer created by a Seas of Soul Realm warrior."
Ye Chen continued to say.
Qingzhu started to yell, "Normal Seas of Souls Realm warrior level? Then, we cannot make it inside then. Do we have to go invite the grand master from Snowy Martial School?"
Feng Yanrou looked around and said with a hesitant tone, "This silver light cover was not man-made. In other words, it is not constantly maintained, so I think there should be a weak point!"
Ye Chen chuckled, "Indeed, I have already found one! However, this weak area is not entirely weak. It is sometimes smooth and sometimes rough. The power at the smooth area is ten times the rough area, so we have to attack it at the time it's the roughest and shatter it within a short period of time."
"Let me do it!"
It was that not Feng Yanrou was being arrogant, because judging on their power, she was naturally not Ye Chen's opponent. But, when her Ice Snow Sword Realm Art turned into its attacking mode, then its power became extremely powerful, and even Extreme Astral Reaching Realm warriors at the same level would be hurt.
Ye Chen did not say anything, as he hoped for her to break it. But if she could not, then he would have to do it himself.
Taking a deep breath, Feng Yanrou twisted her wrist and changed her sword spell. A white gold light layer had formed up around her body, replacing her protective Zhen yuan. This time, she did not let go of her protective Zhen yuan because she was surrounded by the Oblivion Bone Disappearing Qi. If her protective layer got dissolved first, then she would not even have the time to perform her Ice Snow Sword Realm Art.
She projected her mental power to where Ye Chen said the weakest point would be, then closed her eyes and felt for that light vibration. She was waiting for its roughest and most intense moment, because that would be her time to attack it.
She did not do it at the first peak, nor the second time, or even the third time. She finally managed to figure out the rhythm and attacked it with her longsword half a second early.
"Sword Realm Cut!"
The sword light from her Ice Snow Sword Realm rushed out through her sword light and landed at one point of the silver light layer.
Pap! Paw! Pap! Paw!
Electricity sparks spilled everywhere, bringing up one wave after another in the air. That light layer started to dissolve at a visible speed. However, it looked like it was lacking a tad bit, and the surrounding light layer was trying to repair it.
Right then, Ye Chen took out his Destruction sword and threw out a sword attack, seizing the great chance.
Pooh!
The light layer was torn apart, creating a one-inch big crack which was then stretched to human height.
"You two get in first."
Feng Yanrou and Qingzhu knew they had a rare opportunity, so they flashed their bodies once before entering the light layer. Ye Chen followed right behind.
By the time he turned back his head, the light layer was fully repaired.
"A rank 5 martial school is indeed powerful, that even a branch had a Seas of Souls Realm level layer's protection. It was like the protective cover of the Blood Demon Battlefield." Ye Chen shook his head as retrieved his focus right back from the light layer. What he first saw was a huge palace.
The three arrived at the door, then walked in after a slight hesitation.
The palace was extremely empty. There were blood red wooden columns supporting the roof. There were eighteen of them, with each one of them being thicker than a table and thirty-three meters high. They all had natural beings carved on the surface. Besides, there were dim lights flashing through the patterns.
Crack!
A huge wall on the side suddenly cracked open, and a human being rushed out with burning red qi flow shining around it. It threw a blade attack right at Ye Chen.
"Eh?"
Ye Chen frowned as he twisted his wrist. His Destruction sword drew a bright light in the sky, crossing right past the human figure.
Crack!
A circular thing fell down.
It was a skull, a wooden one with two unknown stones shining with a red light. The light within slowly dimmed out, as if its life was slowly disappearing.
Looking at the body on the other side, it was also made of wood, and there was an expensive armor around the body, with some parts even glued to the body. Right now, this headless body stood three meters away without falling down.
"It is a Puppet Warrior from the Puppet School!"
Feng Yanrou's eyes brightened.
Ye Chen knew just as much as Feng Yanrou. The Puppet Warriors were the most common puppets of them all. Their cultivation was just as powerful as a normal Astral Reaching Realm warrior, which was so much more powerful than the puppets in Sky Cloud Martial School. With a puppet warrior around, Astral Reaching Realm warriors would benefit a lot, since it would be like having an opponent that would always match his or her power level. In order to use a puppet warrior, one must leave a mental mark inside the Puppet Warrior's body, and had to continue to feed that mark and connection, since it would go out of control without the mark. In addition, the Puppet Warrior would need a lot of top rank soul stones as the source of power, since mid rank soul stones would not be able to support it at all.
"Unfortunately, this puppet warrior is useless now. Right now, there aren't many people out there who have the ability to repair it." Feng Yanrou felt regretful, but also surprised again at Ye Chen's power. Judging on attacking power, although the Puppet Warriors were just as powerful as normal Astral Reaching Realm warriors, they had an extremely powerful defense. Even Extremely Astral Reaching Realm warriors could only leave a few marks on them, and never be able to cut their heads off with one sword attack. So, Ye Chen in her eyes seemed even more mysterious, as no one knew how exactly powerful he was.
Qingzhu said almost painfully, "You are so wasteful! A puppet warrior is so much more expensive than your stupid puppet chicken. And you just ruin it like that."
Ye Chen forced a laugh, "I think there should be more than one here in this huge palace."
"Alright, we should move forward. This whole building is a giant mechanism. There must be more trigger points, so we might be able to see another puppet warrior soon."
Ye Chen had guessed it right. When the three of them moved forward for another ten steps, the wall cracked open again, with a second warrior jumping out. It was wrapped in light blue qi flow, also infused with electricity sparks. It stabbed at Feng Yanrou, who was the closest to it.
Feng Yanrou made a light sound, using her longsword to block the spear in the puppet warrior's hand. The clashes between the spear and the sword brought up huge electrical sparks.
Ting!
Right then, Ye Chen flicked his finger and shot out a beam of green lotus sword qi, blowing away the long spear in the puppet warrior's hand. Without the weapon, the puppet warrior continued to attack, tightening his fists and ready to fight Feng Yanrou. She was prepared to use her ace attack instead of having a long fight, because she would not be able to stop it before the top rank soul stones inside the puppet warrior's body burnt out, unless she destroyed it directly like what Ye Chen did before.