Chapter 81: Refining Puppets

The sound of bones breaking was particularly harsh in the silent pile of rubble.

Chu Chang lay among the cold gravel and debris, the hideous sword mark on his chest almost cutting him in half. Dark red blood mixed with golden Qi fragments continued to gush out, staining the rocks beneath him mottled.

The light of his Purple Mansion was dim, and his Meridians were in a state of ruin.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Footsteps, at this moment, were like the death knell of the Grim Reaper, ringing out in the canyon without haste.

Sect Master Lin Wuwen carried a blood-red magic sword, followed by two hideous Blood Fiend Magic Puppets, a cruel and mocking smile hanging on the corners of his mouth as he walked step by step.

"Chu Chang, your struggle truly made this Seat feel amazed."

Sect Master Lin Wuwen's voice was cold and calm, "With your Purple Mansion Realm Early Stage cultivation, you were actually able to destroy one of this Seat's Magic Puppets. But, it ends here. The Qi in your body is exhausted; now, you can't even stand up, can you?"

Looking at Sect Master Lin Wuwen, who was only ten zhang away, Chu Chang took a deep breath, a flash of extreme madness and forbearance hidden deep in his eyes.

Can't?

"System, activate trait [Slide]!"

Chu Chang let out a roar in his heart that felt like it was tearing him apart.

Boom!

Just as the magic sword in Sect Master Lin Wuwen's hand was about to be raised to completely end Chu Chang's life, Chu Chang's body suddenly stuck to the ground at an extremely strange angle that defied physical common sense.

He did not retreat; instead, he followed the slope of the rubble, his whole body like a golden fish swimming rapidly on ice, moving at a speed almost impossible to capture with the naked eye, 'sliding' right through from between Sect Master Lin Wuwen's legs and the gaps in the defense line of the two Magic Puppets!

"What?!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen only felt a blur before his eyes, a faint yet extremely flexible Pure Yang wind scraping past his feet.

When he turned around and slashed down with the magic sword, only a trace of forcibly torn rubble remained on the spot.

And Chu Chang's body, having used the terrifying absolute speed of the [Slide] trait, had instantly slid a hundred zhang away. Even the moment he stood up, he directly used the momentum to turn into a streak of light, frantically fleeing towards the other exit of the canyon!!

"How is this possible?! What kind of movement technique is that?!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen's refined face instantly became incomparably hideous. How could a Cultivator who was clearly dying, with all his bones shattered, perform such a bizarre and fast movement technique that even he couldn't react in time?

"Little beast! You can't escape!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen roared in exasperation, his figure turning into a scarlet blood line, chasing after him frantically.

"Hoo… Hoo…"

The strong wind scraped past his ears like a knife.

While frantically urging the last trace of remaining Qi in his body to maintain the escape light, Chu Chang kept taking healing herbs out of his Storage Pouch. He didn't even have time to chew them before swallowing them raw, using the "Taiyin-Taiyang Chaos Physique" to forcibly convert the medicinal power into wisps of cool vitality, barely maintaining his crumbling remnant body.

However, although the [Slide] trait helped him avoid the fatal blow, it could not create magic power out of thin air.

The price of the forced breakout was that the blood from his wounds sprayed out again, and even his vision began to blur and overlap.

"Little beast, stay for this Seat!"

Behind him, Sect Master Lin Wuwen's violent roar grew closer and closer.

"Blood Curtain Sealing Heaven, Nine Nether Barrier!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen bit his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood to prevent Chu Chang from using that strange movement technique again.

That mouthful of essence blood swelled in the wind, turning into a sky full of sticky blood mist. At a terrifying speed, it overtook Chu Chang, then transformed into a huge, hemispherical blood-colored giant bowl that descended from the sky, booming and completely sealing the heaven and earth for several miles.

Bang!

Chu Chang crashed into the iron-hard blood-colored light curtain, bouncing back and falling heavily to the ground.

He struggled to stand up, but his Dantian transmitted a parched, intense pain at this moment.

The Meridians were empty; he couldn't squeeze out even a trace of Qi.

"Thump."

Chu Chang lay weakly on the ground, letting cold sweat and blood soak his clothes, the scene before his eyes gradually sinking into darkness.

He was completely exhausted.

Sect Master Lin Wuwen floated down in front of him, his face somewhat gloomy; clearly, this wild run and the casting of the barrier had consumed him significantly.

Looking at Chu Chang, who was lying on the ground panting like a dead dog, Sect Master Lin Wuwen sneered and slowly withdrew the magic sword.

"Rest assured, I won't kill you."

Sect Master Lin Wuwen used the tip of his foot to lift Chu Chang's chin, looking at Chu Chang's still cold and unyielding gaze, a flash of burning greed appearing in his eyes.

"This Physical Body of yours is simply the most perfect work this Seat has ever seen. Not only does it contain pure Pure Yang power, but there is even a faint Supreme Law that even this Seat cannot see through. This Seat happens to be lacking some powerful Puppets; if you are refined into a 'Blood Yang Magic Puppet', this Seat even has the confidence to surround and kill experts in the Purple Mansion Realm Late Stage!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen reached out and tapped dozens of Restrictions on Chu Chang's body, completely sealing Chu Chang's extraordinary Meridians and Divine Sense.

Then, he picked up Chu Chang like trash, took the remaining two Magic Puppets, and turned into a streak of blood light, flying towards an extremely hidden desolate mountain behind the Divine Sword Sect.

About half an hour passed.

Chu Chang opened his eyes slightly amidst the violent jolting.

He discovered that he had been brought by Sect Master Lin Wuwen into an extremely hidden underground cave.

The air here was filled with a nauseating, fishy stench, and eternal lamps with ghostly green flames were lit on the walls, rendering every inch of the illuminated stone wall like Nine Nether Hell.

In the very center of the cave, there was a huge stone pool with a diameter of about five zhang.

There was no water in the pool; instead, it was filled with black-red, viscous liquid.

Huge bubbles constantly bulged and burst on the surface of the liquid, releasing pale green poisonous mist.

Even more chilling was that the bottom of the pool was piled with heaps of white bones, some from Cultivators, some from Mortals, and there were even countless severed limbs that had not yet completely rotted, floating within it.

This was the "Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Marrow Pool" that Sect Master Lin Wuwen used to refine Blood Fiend Magic Puppets!

"For this pool of 'Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Marrow', this Seat secretly captured tens of thousands of Mortals and thousands of Cultivators, and it took ten years to formulate it successfully." Sect Master Lin Wuwen stood by the pool, a fanatical smile on his face, "Chu Chang, it is your honor to become the main ingredient in this pool!"

After speaking, Sect Master Lin Wuwen picked up Chu Chang and, without the slightest hesitation, threw him directly into the medicine pool that was churning with poisonous mist and demonic blood.

Splash!

The moment Chu Chang fell into the pool, the viscous black-red liquid acted like a living creature, drilling into his body through his mouth, nose, wounds, and even his pores.

"Ah!!!"

Even with Chu Chang's iron-like will, he couldn't help but let out a painful scream at this moment.

That kind of pain was simply not something an ordinary person could imagine.

It was not a simple tearing of the Physical Body, but thousands of poisonous Gu insects gnawing at his bone marrow at the same time, and countless shrill, aggrieved Souls frantically tearing at his Divine Soul!

"Hahahaha! Struggle! Feel the pain! The more painful you are, the heavier the resentment, and the more powerful the Magic Puppet refined will be!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen laughed wildly by the pool, then sat cross-legged, his hands beginning to form extremely complex blood-colored hand seals, which he struck into the medicine pool.

As the hand seals merged, the pool water boiled even more violently, and blood-red magic patterns began to spread across the surface of Chu Chang's skin, attempting to erase his consciousness and seize control of his body.

Pain.

Boundless pain.

Chu Chang felt his consciousness being swallowed by an infinite darkness.

Every moment, countless aggrieved Souls who died tragically at the hands of the Xiao Family and Sect Master Lin Wuwen let out shrill curses and wails in his ears, attempting to drag him into this abyss of eternal damnation as well.

"Are you going to give up?"

"Just like this, become a killing machine without a Soul?"

"No… absolutely not!"

Chu Chang let out a world-shaking roar deep in his heart.

"My Physique is special; mere demonic heresy also wants to refine me?!"

At this life-and-death juncture, the Extreme Yang Physique, which had been silent in Chu Chang's sealed Meridians, was strongly stimulated by the demonic poison and finally began to instinctively resist.

He closed his eyes tightly, biting his teeth hard, even biting his gums until they shattered, blood mixing with the demonic blood flowing down.

Sect Master Lin Wuwen's Restrictions sealed the operation of his Qi, but could not seal the Origin of his Physique within him!

"Chaos opens the heaven, the universe reverses! Refine!"

Chu Chang's Divine Sense firmly guarded the last bit of clarity in his mind.

He began to actively release the defenses of his body, letting those Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Marrow flow into his bone marrow and flesh and blood.

Sect Master Lin Wuwen thought this was Chu Chang giving up resistance, and just as a look of joy appeared on his face, his expression changed the next moment.

Because he discovered that Chu Chang's body did not begin to shrivel and demonize like an ordinary Magic Puppet, but instead emitted an extremely profound gray light.

Wherever that gray light passed, the violent Devilish Qi and gloomy resentment within the Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Marrow were forcibly stripped away, turning into wisps of black smoke and dissipating in the air. As for the pure energy contained within, which was condensed from countless Heaven And Earth Treasure and the life Origin of Cultivators, it was greedily absorbed and transformed by Chu Chang's body.

He was using Sect Master Lin Wuwen's medicine pool to heal his wounds!

He was using Sect Master Lin Wuwen's resources to temper his own body!

"This… how is this possible?!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen stood up abruptly, his eyes full of shock and disbelief.

He could feel that the corpse-controlling mark he had planted into Chu Chang's body was melted away cleanly like snow melting the moment it touched that gray light.

Not only was Chu Chang not refined, but the aura on his body began to recover at a strange speed, even becoming deeper and more terrifying.

"Damn it! What kind of monster is this little beast's Physique? It can even purify the Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Marrow Pool?"

Beside the stone pool, Sect Master Lin Wuwen's refined face had long been twisted beyond recognition.

He stared fixedly at Chu Chang, who was emitting a faint gray light in the black-red medicinal liquid, the shock in his eyes gradually turning into ruthlessness.

He could not allow any factors that were out of his control to exist.

"Hmph, this Seat wants to see how long your Physical Body can hold out!"

Sect Master Lin Wuwen snorted coldly and slammed his hand against the Storage Pouch at his waist.

In an instant, dozens of bone jade bottles carved with skull patterns flew out.

Sect Master Lin Wuwen pointed his fingers like a sword and slashed through the Void Realm, the jade bottles shattering one after another, revealing the ghostly green, deep purple, and even pitch-black poisonous medicinal liquid inside.

These were all poisonous magic medicines he had spent decades collecting, such as "Nine Nether Bone-Eroding Marrow" and "Ten Thousand Calamities Soul-Devouring Powder," every drop of which could turn an ordinary Purple Mansion Realm Cultivator into thick water.

Clatter!!!

With the pouring of these poisonous magic medicines, the "Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Marrow Pool," which was already churning non-stop, instantly turned into a strange dark purple, as viscous as sludge.

Violent and sinister Demonic Path Laws intertwined in the pool water, turning into phantom blood-colored evil ghosts, frantically drilling into Chu Chang's seven orifices.

In the pool water, Chu Chang's mind was greatly shaken.

The moment these poisonous magic medicines were added, his Meridians, which had just begun to show some improvement, transmitted an intense, burning pain once again.

"No… if I fight hard like this, it is extremely disadvantageous to me!"

Chu Chang calmly analyzed the situation in his heart.

His Extreme Yang Physique was indeed the nemesis of these sinister magic medicines.

As long as he was given enough time, he could completely grind down, refine, and convert the medicinal power in this pool into his own use, just like a millstone.

However, Sect Master Lin Wuwen, this Devil Head of the Purple Mansion Realm Middle Stage, was guarding by the pool!

If he showed too much resistance and signs of being able to purify the medicine pool, Sect Master Lin Wuwen would definitely spare no cost to personally take action and kill him on the spot.

In a situation where his Qi had not fully recovered and his Physical Body was severely injured, facing a crazed Purple Mansion Middle Stage Demonic Cultivator, he had no chance of winning.

"Since that is the case, then I will feign weakness and play along!"

A flash of determination appeared in Chu Chang's eyes.