Under One Person: The Puppet Immortal in the Tang Sect

Cui Ming had long since left that town. At this moment, he was like a ghost, hanging in the shadows of the mountains not far behind the caravan, maintaining a proper distance.

Under the premise of ensuring the safety of the caravan and keeping their whereabouts secret.

He devoted most of his energy to the restoration of the institution and new ideas.

The substitute puppet, which had been severely damaged in its fierce battle with Zhang Zhiwei, was quietly floating in front of him.

Cui Ming manipulated the wooden box, from which several mechanical arms extended to repair and improve the puppet.

The pale blue radiant energy, like a living thing, flowed through the complex meridians and joints inside the puppet, constantly repairing the damaged rune structure and improving the various mechanical components.

Looking at the puppet that looked exactly like him, Cui Ming's thoughts drifted back to the Tang Clan, back to the moment when the rumors first began.

When rumors began to spread within the sect about whether he had transformed himself into a puppet.

This ingenious idea has already been put on his agenda.

Rather than creating other human puppets, one needs to have a meticulous understanding of the other's body structure, meridians, and the flow of true qi, etc., which is not only time-consuming and laborious, but also difficult to replicate.

But what if you create a substitute puppet based on yourself?

Who else could understand this body better than oneself?

Furthermore, this not only further confirms the rumors that are favorable to him and increases his mystique, but more importantly...

A lifelike decoy puppet could play an unexpected role in the storms that may come in the future.

He could even bring this stand-in puppet to the forefront while he himself remained behind the scenes.

Thinking about it this way, the strategic value of this puppet is simply immeasurable.

"and..."

Cui Ming's eyes flickered slightly.

"Perhaps I can use this substitute puppet as a basis to create a real magical artifact right now?"

Magical artifacts are extremely rare in the world of supernatural beings.

It is an ultimate divine object that is nurtured and refined by an extraordinary person with their own true qi over a long period of time, and is in harmony with the user's mind.

However, crafting magical artifacts is by no means easy, requiring extremely high standards in terms of materials, runes, crafting techniques, and the craftsman.

If any step in the refining process goes wrong, all previous efforts may be wasted, or even backfire.

Therefore, weapon refiners have always been extremely rare in the world of supernatural beings. The Tang Clan managed to have two: Liang Wu and Cui Ming. However, Cui Ming was not a proper weapon refiner.

He was a puppeteer.

Given his current advantages, it would be incredibly easy for him to create a magical "base" that can nurture and sustain true qi.

He could even mass-produce a large quantity, but the key lies in the inscription of the runes and the nurturing of the true qi.

But who is he?

Cui Ming's favorite thing is to challenge tradition. You know, a weapon refiner can only create one magic weapon in his whole life, that's already quite an achievement.

He insisted on trying to modularize the production of magical artifacts, and one day Cui Ming would mass-produce them!

The first step will begin with this substitute puppet.

This is also one of the important reasons why he took the initiative to challenge Zhang Zhiwei after discovering him.

Is there a more perfect litmus test than this future genius?

Only in high-pressure real combat can the ultimate performance of the substitute puppet be tested, its synchronization rate with one's own control be tested, and even... an attempt be made to replicate the Tang Clan's ultimate techniques!

Recalling the scenes of his battle with Zhang Zhiwei, a slight smile appeared on Cui Ming's lips.

In the lightning-fast exchange, he not only used his substitute puppet to perform exquisite 'whirlwind steps' to dodge.

Even more importantly, at the crucial moment, he forcibly pushed his true qi to use the puppet to unleash the Tang Sect's killing move, 'Instant Strike'!

Although the cost was that the puppet was almost completely destroyed, this undoubtedly proved the correctness of this path.

As long as the puppet's internal structure is precise enough, the Qi transmission system is efficient enough, and the core runes are powerful enough.

Therefore, it is not impossible to use a puppet body to perform the various techniques mastered by the real person!

This opened up infinitely vast possibilities for his future fighting style.

Imagine what it would be like if he could simultaneously control several, or even dozens, of puppets with different special skills, forming a battle group.

After regaining his composure, Cui Ming finished repairing the puppet.

Continuously nurture it with radiant true qi, in order to improve the runes inside the puppet and deepen its essence and spirituality.

Chapter 51 Night, Owl, Tiger

The substitute puppet was put back into the wooden box and quietly nurtured.

Cui Ming turned his gaze to the side, where there were three figures imprisoned by a special formation.

That was the "harvest" that Cui Ming had carefully selected from the prison in the previous town.

These are three freshly made human puppets.

As human puppets, they had already been modified by Cui Ming and were now just three living puppets.

Cui Ming perfectly preserved their physical structure, meridian characteristics, and the flow of Qi within their bodies.

As for the other Quanxing...

Unfortunately, not everyone is qualified to become a human puppet.

Besides, they were just Quanxing, so their deaths were not a pity.

While repairing the substitute puppets, Cui Ming was also extracting useful memories from their minds through array formations and pill devouring.

According to their memories, these three people had fearsome reputations in the outside world.

They are: Night Slayer, Black-faced Owl, and Corpse-Splitting Tiger.

As for their original names? Cui Ming didn't care, and it didn't matter to him.

The important thing is the "treasure" contained within their bodies.

Among them, the Corpse-Shattering Tiger follows the path of external martial arts training, with muscles and bones far stronger than ordinary people. He also practices Xingyi Quan, and his explosive power is astonishing. He is considered relatively ordinary.

But the other two are much more interesting.

Both of them awakened innate superpowers.

Night Slayer's awakened innate ability is the manipulation of shadows.

He can materialize his shadow and shape it into any weapon, as hard as iron, and as easy to control as an extension of his own arm.

What's strange is that he can throw shadow weapons, and if the shadow weapon gets tainted by other shadows, he can gain control of that shadow for a period of time, thus affecting the actions of the original body.

This is a rare ability involving light and shadow.

Unfortunately, someone like him would be instantly killed the moment he met Zhang Zhiwei, without even having time to use his abilities.

As for Black-Faced Owl, his abilities are relatively straightforward, yet equally formidable.

He can instantly turn parts of his body into metal.

It exhibits a unique, dark metallic appearance, absorbing light without reflecting it, and is indestructible. If further enhanced by Qi, each punch and kick possesses the power to shatter stone tablets and split rocks, making it a veritable human-shaped weapon.

"Hehehe, next..."

Cui Ming let out a laugh that didn't sound quite respectable, his eyes gleaming with the focused concentration typical of a researcher.

"Then we can carefully dissect and compare the source and operating path of the superpowers within these three puppet bodies."

Inside the wooden box, more detection runes lit up.

Multiple robotic arms extend out, their tips transforming into various surgical instruments.

We begin to delve into the details of the three puppets: Night Slayer, Black-faced Owl, and Corpse-Shattering Tiger.

Cui Ming wanted to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of these three puppets to see how many could be replicated and utilized.

"Let me see if these unique innate abilities... can be analyzed, copied, or even... optimized and improved, and ultimately used for my own purposes!"

Inside the wooden box, a faint light flickered.

Countless hidden threads, like meridians, seeped into the bodies of the three puppets: Night Slayer, Black-faced Owl, and Corpse-Shattering Tiger.

Cui Ming guided his radiating true qi with his mind, carefully analyzing the special energy node within the Black-Faced Owl's body that had triggered the metallization mutation.

It was a strange talent that ran deep in the bones and was closely integrated with the innate Qi. Its operating path was unpredictable yet stable, as if it were something that was born that way.

Just as Cui Ming's analysis touched the surface and captured a trace of the energy flow pattern,

The Shadow Spiders, which were scattered several miles ahead of the caravan, sent Cui Ming a warning through layers of nodes.

"Ok?"

Cui Ming's mind stirred, and he immediately pulled himself out of the in-depth research.

Through the vibrations sensed by the Shadow Spider, Cui Ming "saw" at least twenty or thirty people lurking in the dense forest on both sides of the road.

Each of them exuded a sinister aura, their bodies shrouded in undisguised malice, clearly targeting the caravan.

After Zhang Zhiwei killed most of the Quanxing members who were blocking the road, he also arrested people to collect the reward.

Most petty thieves wouldn't even dare to glance at this caravan.

This vengeful style of behavior, coupled with the sharp and assertive nature of his Qi.

It's obvious even to a fool that it must be those evil sorcerers from the Quanxing sect causing trouble again.

I wonder if they're here for fun or for revenge...

"What a coincidence..."

Instead of panic, Cui Ming found it amusing.

The moment I got my new toy, a sensible training partner came knocking on my door.

Perfect timing to test the results of this period of time, and... the actual combat effectiveness of my puppet army in group battles.

In the blink of an eye, the internal mechanisms of the wooden box began to creak.

The three human puppets that had been dissected and studied were quickly reset by the mechanical arm, and the binding formation was lifted.