Immortality begins with meditation puppets

With his hands wielding Qilin arms, imbued with the true power of mountains and seas, his strength reached the fifth level of divine ascension, as hard as the scales of a divine beast, giving him the ability to contend with beings of the fifth level.

"It's roughly equivalent to the strength of a small punch hitting their chest, but at least it can break through their defenses and cause injury. It's not like we're completely helpless against fifth-tier beings. As for beings of the same tier, well, that old man, Master Fuhu, can take them down with one punch each without any problem!"

A great calamity has begun, with demons and monsters emerging one after another, each more ferocious and stronger than the last. Everyone feels a sense of urgency, and Su Qing is no exception.

It's pitiful that he has only been cultivating for a little over a hundred years, and is still just a primary school student in this cultivation world. Yet he has to do the postgraduate entrance exam questions, which are the most difficult in history. What can he do? He can only cheat by using a puppet to put his mind at ease.

"Legend has it that during the great calamity of antiquity, a demonic tide descended from the heavens, corrupting countless living beings. Dao patterns transformed into evil patterns, becoming unusable by cultivators and instead a scourge to heaven and earth. Demons and other beings corrupted by the demonic tide became even more tyrannical, while those belonging to immortals and gods became fallen immortals and demon gods."

During the great calamity, humanity flourished, and thus suffered the most from the demonic tide. Human cultivators who were corrupted by evil became evil cultivators, and evil cultivators who became demons became demons. It was these demons who united to stage the cataclysmic disaster that shook the heavens and destroyed the world in ancient times.

Calamities arise and perish, much like the ebb and flow of the tide. Over these millions of years, the demonic tide has receded, calamity has not arisen, and few evil cultivators have become demons; none of them have amounted to anything.

Now, calamity strikes again, and demonic energy is rampant. It is unknown how many evil cultivators will transform into demons, or how many ancient demons will reappear in the world.

In contrast, although the Western Sea is plagued by demonic Buddhas and the Great Sage Who Overturns the Sea, its islands, like solitary boats separated by the endless ocean, offer freedom of movement and are ideal for establishing a foothold, perhaps even escaping the calamity of man and demon when the great tribulation begins!

Su Qing put away the Qilin Arm, feeling more worried than happy, and sighed inexplicably.

Even with his current puppetry skills, a fourth-tier puppet would normally be difficult to create on the first try, and wouldn't be as smooth as it is now, being able to complete the creation in ten days or half a month.

However, during the process of refining this puppet, he vaguely felt the blessing of heaven and earth, and with the help of heaven and earth, he increased the success rate from 30% to 40% to 70% or 80%.

If heaven and earth only see his good looks and favor him alone, then that would be a good thing.

But based on his observations in Wanghai City over the past few decades, the cultivation world seems to have been accelerated over the past few decades or even centuries.

The aging cultivator, who had been stuck at a bottleneck for many years, experienced a resurgence and made another leap forward.

For cultivators who have practiced for less than a hundred years, breaking through to the Golden Core stage is as easy as drinking water.

Even the stubborn rocks and weeds by the roadside have a much greater chance of developing intelligence and becoming spirits than before.

Heaven and earth equally favor everyone.

A grand era of spiritual practice that benefits all living beings in the world is about to begin.

This golden age of cultivation is also accompanied by a surging tide of calamity. No one can say for sure whether modern cultivators can withstand the waves that will overthrow the ancient great powers and sages, and all the gods and Buddhas in the sky.

Therefore, Penglai, the tallest island in the West Sea, which reaches the heavens, is currently building a humanistic heavenly court and sealing off the West Sea Heavenly Domain to prevent outside cultivators from landing on the island, in order to prevent it from being taken advantage of by demons.

The Thousand Islands Immortal Kingdom also gathers many cultivation seeds on Fangzhang Immortal Island, opens its treasure trove of resources, and imparts true methods and secret teachings to those who are chosen. It is precisely because of this great world of cultivation that it wants to cultivate more people who have the ability to turn the tide.

Su Qing, having abandoned his ambition to establish a foundation in the inland immortal kingdom, fled overseas to watch the changing winds of time.

Even the young are bound to grow old in the world. He has spent a hundred years in the clouds, the demons, and the sea. The human affairs, emotions, and entanglements of the past century are not something he can easily sever by hiding overseas!
"Looking back and forth, being hesitant and indecisive is not a good idea. The calamity of the human demon has not even begun yet. How can we be frightened by it now? We should focus on the present and subdue the sea witch first!"

Reading too many ancient Taoist texts is not necessarily a good thing. The more you know, the more worries you have. After thinking for a while, Su Qing put aside these worries and troubles.

From the very beginning of his cultivation journey, Su Qing has faced numerous challenges, each step fraught with difficulty. There is no reason for him to worry unnecessarily or act timidly because of things that have not yet happened.

Stepping out the door, he picked up his talisman brush and began to write talismans. Watching demonic warriors being born under his hands, and with more and more usable weapons in the puppet arsenal, his restless heart couldn't help but feel much more at ease.

Sure enough, puppets are the source of confidence, and firepower is the source of faith. It doesn't matter how many humans and demons there will be in the future, as long as there are more puppets than humans and demons, that's enough.

"Speaking of which, since advancing to the fourth-tier Nascent Soul stage, the Divine Art of Divine Intervention has had a negligible effect on my spiritual sense. I really need to find some time to get Shen Wuyai out of Hai Changqing's ancestral tomb and rescue the tomb raiders while I'm at it, provided they're still alive."

If you want as many puppets as possible, your spiritual strength must keep up. In the past, when he was a Golden Core cultivator, the amplification of his spiritual strength by the Puppet Master realm, coupled with the perfect combination of the Transformation Yuan Hand and the Divine Art of Technique, made his spiritual strength far surpass that of his peers and comparable to that of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

However, after reaching the Nascent Soul stage, although the fourth-level puppeteer still provides an enhancement to his divine sense, the Divine Art of Divine Interpretation, a secret divine sense technique he had used from Qi Refining to Golden Core, was somewhat insufficient. Now, the strength of his divine sense was only comparable to that of an ordinary peak Nascent Soul cultivator.

For others, this would be more than enough, but with Su Qing's vast wealth and numerous puppets, there's never a time when his divine sense would be sufficient!
"Slaying the sea witch and becoming the master of the Nine Li Dao Patterns will allow my physical body to advance further, and I may even be able to condense the embryonic form of my inner world. In the future, it will be a process of gradual refinement, allowing me to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, enjoy the five elements treasures, utilize the resources of the outer world, and nurture my own inner world until the yin and yang of my inner world are separated and the five elements are established. Then I will be able to step into the threshold of the fifth rank."

Physical cultivation no longer needs much attention, but the progress of magical cultivation depends on the efforts of the meditation dolls. The Star Sun dolls are still usable at the fourth level, but the original number is obviously not enough to meet the requirements, and we need to expand and increase the number of dolls.

Regarding puppets, the fourth and fifth-tier blueprints produced by the panel can be slowly crafted. Alternatively, existing fourth and fifth-tier puppet blueprints in the cultivation world can be collected. As one's cultivation level increases, puppets must be updated to keep pace with one's growth. The previous situation of using third-tier puppets as the main force and fourth-tier puppets as trump cards is no longer viable. A batch of fourth-tier puppets as the main force and fifth-tier puppets as trump cards must be quickly created.

But all of this requires spirit stones! Spirit stones, spirit stones, why can't you just fall from the sky?!

When one's strength is low, one earns and spends spirit crystals; when one's strength is high, one earns and spends spirit stones. Now that one has advanced to the fourth-order Nascent Soul stage, the amount of five-element treasures one needs to consume daily, as well as the high-grade spirit stones required for cultivation, are all counted in the hundreds or thousands of spirit stones, not to mention the enormous expenses of refining high-level puppets.

"The puppet factory in Wanghaixian City operates day and night, and is combined with the industries of Jiatianxia and Langyafang. As long as the situation is not so dire that the city is destroyed and people are wiped out, it can make a fortune every day, and it is still my biggest source of wealth."

"If we can establish a foothold in the far west and utilize its spiritual mineral resources to build a puppet kingdom, then we can dump our puppets on the Thousand Islands of Penglai, the Immortal Kingdom of Ten Thousand Demons, and even the Martial Kingdom of the Central Plains and the northern border of the Eastern Wilderness. Then we'll truly never have to worry about spirit stones again!"

Drawing third- or fourth-tier runes and forging third-tier demon god weapons were as easy as taking candy from a baby for Su Qing. Therefore, he still had time to daydream during the forging process.

The mechanical process of drawing runes consumed most of the third and fourth-tier rune water he carried, and the ever-increasing number of sea monster corpses were finally refined to nothing.

Then look at what's in front of him.

The demon soldiers, lined up in formation, were all imbued with demonic energy, as if they had been reborn. In addition to the ferocity of the demon race, they also carried a chilling and murderous aura of cold iron and metal.

At the very front were golden crabs, their golden shells radiating out large golden pincers, each holding a golden battle spear, mostly second-tier spears, with only a few reaching third tier.

Most of these battle spears were brought by the Golden Crab Demons themselves, and a few were scavenged from Zhao Zhengquan. After he refined them for the Golden Crabs, each of these Golden Crab Puppets could use the Earth-level combat skill—Eight-Step Battle Spear—and were no longer as ignorant and incompetent as they were in life.

【Demon God Soldier - Crab Vanguard】

[Quality: Tier 3, Superior]

Quantity: Twelve teams (ten crabs per team)

[Ability 1: Eight-Step Spear Combat] [Ability 2: Armor-like Shell]

[Ability 3: Combination Skill - Crab Spear Centipede Formation: Ten crabs form a team, arranged in a vertical line. Their shells are lowered, and their pincers are retracted inward, leaving only two spears protruding, resembling a multi-legged centipede. This formation can be used to divide the battlefield and act as the vanguard in charging into enemy lines.]

Put away the panel and let the Crab Vanguard go to the deck to wait for orders, then look at the other demon soldiers.

Because the water monkeys and evil shark demons do not have the hard shells of the golden crabs, there were far fewer water monkeys and evil shark demons that were able to preserve their bodies intact in the battle at the Heavenly Master's Ruins than golden crabs. In addition, although Xiong Er and other puppets have caught a lot of sea monsters these days, most of them are not of the same race.

Therefore, the remaining demon soldiers could not be as uniform as the Golden Crab.

Look around.

There are water monkeys with black skin all over their bodies, like they are wearing thin armor.

A vicious shark demon with a mouth full of large steel teeth and wielding various weapons.

A swordfish demon with a body shaped like a sword, so large that it has no feet to walk on the shore.

A black-bodied, round-mouthed thunder eel capable of stunning third-tier body cultivators with water, lightning, and electricity.

······
No matter how strange their shapes or races, they are now all part of the Demon God Soldier family, forming teams of ten or groups of a hundred.

"Together with the Crab Vanguard, there are a total of 472, enough to rival two or three fourth-tier Nascent Soul cultivators!"

Having felt the oppressive aura emanating from this group of demonic soldiers, even he, with his abilities, felt somewhat threatened, let alone ordinary cultivators. He was momentarily filled with pride and made boastful pronouncements. Upon checking the panel description, he found that it was indeed the case.

【Demon God Legion】

[Quality: Tier 3, Superior]

Quantity: 472

[Synopsis: In ancient times, powerful clans stood tall, with demons among them. Ten thousand demons swept across the four directions, capable of conquering divine courts and immortal islands. Their might was unstoppable throughout the eight directions and six realms.]

There are currently puppeteers who use puppets to unleash the power of the demon race. They form a demon god legion with 472 demon god soldiers. Although the legion only contains demon soldiers and no demon generals, it can still condense its power into a unified force, manifesting the Dharma form of a toad demon lord. This form can disregard the pressure of a fourth-tier Nascent Soul cultivator, and its prestige can be displayed even before immortals and gods.

[Ability 1: Toad Demon Lord. Toads inhabit the seas, feeding on dragons; they are immense demons capable of devouring the heavens and the earth. The Demon God Legion can summon the Toad's Dharma Form, recreating the ancient Demon Lord's might. (Current Toad Demon Lord power: 4%. Power increases with the number of Demon God Soldiers and Demon God Generals. At peak Demon God Legion levels, the Toad Demon Lord's full power can be unleashed.)]

[Ability Two: Demonic Roar, a roar from a demon god that can terrify living beings and make even true dragons tremble!]

[Ability Three: Battle Formations. The demon god soldiers are like battle-hardened warriors, obeying orders without question and mastering various demon battle formations.]

The demon gods and soldiers are arrayed in formation, and the team has three skills.

Among them, what pleased Su Qing the most was the Toad Demon Lord, whose ability to condense the Dharma form of an ancient great demon.

With this ability, the Demon God Legion can both clear out the mobs and help him relieve the pressure from fourth- or even fifth-tier opponents.

"It's a shame the sea monsters aren't enthusiastic enough; Xiong Er hasn't caught a single third-tier sea monster in the past few days!"

Su Qing shook her head regretfully, but there was nothing she could do.

Although there are many sea monsters in the Western Sea, just like among the thousands of human cultivators, only a few million can stand out and become Golden Core cultivators.

In the vast Western Sea, even third-tier sea monsters are rare creatures, the pride of the monster world, not like cabbages that can be picked at will.

If it weren't for Xiong Er's high comprehension and excellent fishing skills, and the fact that the Nine Dragon Boats were all top-notch fishing vessels, he would have had a hard time assembling even this demon god weapon.

"To improve the combat power of the Demon God Legion, in addition to the Demon God soldiers, we also need to start with the fourth-tier Demon God generals. Without generals, soldiers are just a ragtag army!"

Su Qing turned her gaze to the three fourth-tier sea monsters that Xiong Er had caught in the past few days.

Nine-headed dragon.

Dragon blood is superior to demon blood, belonging to the dragon rather than the demon, and the material is rare. It can be used to refine the fourth-tier peak puppet, the Steel Sea Dragon Beast, with its nine dragon mouth nozzles. It would be a real waste not to use it. Making it into a demon god general would be a waste of its talent.

A powerful toad.

An extraordinary species among toads, an unparalleled toad prodigy. Although a toad, he was born with the strength of a dragon and an elephant. After advancing to the fourth rank, he became known as one of the four great demon kings in this sea area, alongside the nine-headed dragon. His strength should not be underestimated.

"Is a toad the same as a toad? Is there a difference between the two? Regardless of whether there is a difference, they must be related by ancestry. Maybe this toad is even the offspring of the Toad Demon Lord. They are both family toads. If we make him a demon god general, how could the Toad Demon Lord not put in his efforts?"

After setting a quota for a demon god, look at the other fourth-tier demon who has died of exhaustion, lying next to the toad.

However, he was a catfish spirit named Benboerba. It was said that his ancestors had produced a powerful figure who fought against the Great Sage of Refining Emptiness. Relying on the demon race's combat skills passed down from his ancestors, he served under the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon. However, because Xiong Er had his eye on the Nine-Headed Flood Dragon, he had a way to die and ended up being disemboweled by Tiger Egg.

"This little catfish spirit has an ordinary bloodline and mediocre talent, far inferior to the toad prodigy with super strength, but it is enough to be a demon god general."

Having selected two demon generals, Su Qing was still not satisfied. He rummaged through his storage bag for a while, reluctant to take out the corpse of the Black Ape King, but instead found the Golden Crab King and the Evil Shark King.

"In this way, we can gather the four great demon god generals, each leading a hundred demon god weapons. Even if a fifth-level immortal god were to face us, we could probably put up a fight. At least covering my retreat should not be a problem!"

The most difficult part of crafting monster puppets is obtaining a complete monster corpse. If the corpse is incomplete, it is difficult to unleash its full power in life. This is also the cheapest part of crafting monster puppets.

As long as the death is peaceful and the body is intact, there is no need for other precious materials. The most authentic demon god general should be made from the original corpse of a demon king.

It saved us a lot of precious materials!

There are no valuable materials available!

"I need to speed things up. Ideally, I should finish refining these four demon generals before reaching Giant Corpse Island. Ever since I decided to come find this sea witch, my brow has been twitching constantly. I suspect there are some unforeseen dangers on that island!" (End of Chapter)