Wild Dogs

"It seems the corpse puppet is being crafted much faster than expected."

Seeing this, Zhou Peng said with satisfaction.

As he originally thought, one of them should have been completed later, but unexpectedly, both were completed at almost the same time.

"Yes, it was indeed unexpected. It seems that we won't need to pre-process the corpse puppets anymore."

Yang Fan pondered this, then looked at the two puppets in front of him.

Although he had dripped his essence blood and established a connection with the puppet, he was completely unable to control it at this moment.

"How do I control these puppets? I can't move them right now."

Zhou Peng spoke.

"The master only needs to spare a wisp of divine consciousness and project it onto the puppets, and they will then obey the master's commands completely."

"Oh? It has that function?"

Yang Fan stretched out his hand slightly, and the puppet followed suit.

"Very good, I can control this now."

Then Yang Fan tried to control the puppet to move forward, but after taking just one step, the puppet crashed heavily to the ground.

"Master, please don't worry. This thing has just been made, and its joints are stiff."

"I'm not very skilled at controlling it yet, but I'll get used to it and be able to use it like an extension of my arm."

Yang Fan naturally understood and patiently controlled the two puppets.

After a while, the puppet walked around the area and then obediently stopped.

Yang Fan made the puppet jump around a few more times, and after trying it several times, he nodded in satisfaction.

The puppet was indeed as easy to control as an arm.

He carefully hid the puppet to the side.

"Very good, we've finally got our hands on two puppets, but unfortunately they're both at the Qi Refining stage."

Yang Fan sighed helplessly.

Zhou Peng chuckled awkwardly.

"I didn't expect this either. It seems the materials were a bit lacking, and these two corpses were also a bit off."

Yang Fan sighed and nodded.

"That's true, there's really nothing we can do about it."

The corpses that could be sent to the Skinning Cave were mostly at the Qi Refining stage. Although there were a few at the Foundation Establishment stage, they were all in a terrible state.

Those tattered corpses of Qi Refining stage disciples cannot be used to refine corpse puppets.

After much deliberation, this was the only option I could find.

"Master, there's no need to worry too much. Although he's only at the Qi Refining stage, he's still a peak Qi Refining disciple."

"Two Qi Refining stage peak puppets working together are equivalent to Foundation Establishment stage puppets."

Zhou Peng then said respectfully.

"Congratulations, Master, on acquiring these two puppets. With their assistance, you will surely thrive."

Hearing Zhou Peng's flattery, Yang Fan was at a loss for words, neither laughing nor crying.

He waved his hand with a smile.

"Don't flatter me, I know that much about you."

"These puppets aren't so easy to use; they're only good for dealing with Qi Refining Foundation Establishment disciples."

"There is absolutely no way to deal with Elder Xue Ming."

After thinking for a while, Yang Fan shook his head.

"Well, it's always good to have more self-defense measures. Let's take it one step at a time."

"We need to find out the marks on their bodies; that's the most urgent thing."

Yang Fan hid the two corpse puppets well; these things couldn't be exposed to the light of day, and he would take them out again at the right time.

"Why does Master always have to focus on dealing with Elder Blood Demon? Why don't we turn the tables and control him instead?"

"What?"

Yang Fan looked at Zhou Peng in surprise.

"To control Blood Demon in turn? Are you kidding me?"

Zhou Peng laughed.

"Although Elder Xue Ming is a Core Formation stage cultivator with great strength, even a lion can have moments of weakness."

"If we find the right opportunity, using the Mind-Capturing Gu might just work."

"It's a waste for the master to use the Mind-Controlling Gu on a puppet."

"Although that puppet is comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it is not very useful."

"If we can turn the tables and control Elder Xue Ming, we will have another Core Formation stage cultivator in our hands."

"With a Core Formation stage cultivator, where in the world can't they go?"

Yang Fan's heart skipped a beat, then he gave a self-deprecating laugh.

"If you want to lie, you'd better come up with a good reason. Only you would dare to think of letting me control a Core Formation cultivator as a puppet."

He shook his head repeatedly.

"You're overthinking it. That's absolutely impossible. The other party is a Core Formation Elder. They'd be too busy running for their lives to even think about it."

Zhou Peng, however, said...

"It's not entirely hopeless. If the poison is potent enough, we can control him."

Even if it can't be controlled, it can still severely poison him, rendering him unable to fight back.

"Wouldn't that give us a chance to take advantage of the situation?"

Yang Fan hesitated, realizing that Zhou Peng's words did make some sense.

"You mean to poison him first, rendering him powerless, and then cripple his spiritual root cultivation, turning him into a puppet?"

"That's right, exactly."

Zhou Peng nodded repeatedly.

"If it can be successfully refined, it will be a Core Formation stage cultivator."

"Once we refine the corpse puppet, we will have another Core Formation stage puppet, and our master can run rampant without restraint."

Yang Fan frowned.

"Although Xue Ming is a Core Formation cultivator, it's not that easy to refine him into a Core Formation puppet. I'm afraid we don't have enough resources."

Zhou Peng was taken aback, then nodded.

"That's true, those materials are indeed not easy to buy."

"After all, refining a Core Formation puppet consumes far more energy than Foundation Establishment cultivation."

"Even if I can't refine a Core Formation puppet, refining a Foundation Establishment peak puppet can still be of great help to my master."

"Besides, doesn't the master want to escape? This way, he can get away and also get a puppet for free."

"Isn't this a wonderful thing?"

Yang Fan was now truly tempted.

He paced back and forth a few steps, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"That's right, we should use poison. Rather than waiting to die, we should take the initiative."

"I'll poison him and then strike when I get the chance."

Yang Fan nodded.

Zhou Peng had figured out what he meant: first poison Xue Ming, then use the Mind-Controlling Gu to control him.

They then destroyed his cultivation and golden core, and refined him into a puppet.

To be honest, Yang Fan would certainly be willing to control Xue Ming for a long time.

But Yang Fan was clear about his own strength; he was only at the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage.

It's simply impossible to control a Core Formation stage cultivator.

Even if you use the Mind-Control Gu to temporarily control Xue Ming, he can slowly break free.

In that case, Yang Fan will be the one who dies.

The more Yang Fan thought about it, the clearer he became. He took a deep breath and clenched his fist heavily.

"Then poison them."

"But how do we concoct poisons? With Xue Ming's strength, he would definitely be able to detect ordinary poisons."

Yang Fan asked Zhou Peng eagerly.

"Let me think about it."

Zhou Peng immediately began to think.

"Master, you might as well focus on improving your strength during this time, and I'll help you figure out how to prepare the poison."

"We'll eventually find something colorless and odorless that won't attract his attention."

Yang Fan nodded, then returned to his cave and began to cultivate patiently.

Now that more than ten days have passed, Yang Fan must raise his cultivation level to the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible.

After returning to his cave, Yang Fan devoted himself to intensive cultivation.

In the following days, Yang Fan focused on cultivation, while Zhou Peng helped him figure out poisons.

But no matter how hard Zhou Peng thought about it, he couldn't find a suitable poison.

He was only at the Foundation Establishment stage before and knew nothing about poisons that were effective against Core Formation stage cultivators.

He simply couldn't think of a poison that could fool a Core Formation stage cultivator.

Zhou Peng thought about it for several days, but still couldn't come up with a clue.

This made Yang Fan extremely anxious.

Fortunately, at the crucial moment, his cultivation finally broke through to the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage.

Yang Fan was extremely excited.

Once he reaches the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage, he can attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.