Martial Peak
chapter-5193

Taking the jade slip, Yang Kai immersed his mind into it. He discovered that the jade slip contained the refining method of the humanoid mechanical puppet Grandmaster Ma Fan had explained earlier, but it was much more detailed and comprehensive.

It was almost like a complete pill recipe. The problems that should be watched out for during the refining process, when to use what materials, what issues might arise, and the solutions to fix these issues, everything was recorded neatly inside the jade slip.

With this jade slip in hand, refining the puppet would not be difficult even if they didn’t have someone to guide them through the process, so what more was needed when Grandmaster Ma Fan was willing to explain everything in person?

While Ma Fan was explaining the refining method for the humanoid puppet, numerous Eighth-Order Masters rushed over from various directions and handed the Space Rings in their hands to Xiang Shan before leaving once more.

As a steady stream of Eighth-Order Division Commanders came and went, the number of Space Rings that Xiang Shan was carrying gradually increased.

Xiang Shan handed these Space Rings to Li Xing, along with some instructions. Nodding lightly, Li Xing walked directly to a group of Artifact Refiners and said, “Please come to me, one at a time, to receive the necessary materials for refining the mechanical puppets.”

The Artifact Refiners quickly gathered around him upon hearing those words and soon surrounded him tightly.

Yang Kai did not go immediately and instead walked towards Ma Fan and asked, “Grandmaster, the Division Commanders issued an order earlier to gather some materials. Are those the materials needed for refining the mechanical puppets?”

Grandmaster Ma Fan nodded, “That’s right.”

Yang Kai was puzzled, “What’s the point of refining so many of these things?”

Grandmaster Ma Fan answered patiently, “I’m not too sure about the exact details either. I simply received a request from Army Commander Xiang Shan to teach the refining method of these puppets. As for what he plans to do with them, that’s up to his own considerations. However, the refining method of these puppets is something I learned on a whim when I was younger. Although they seem quite realistic from a distance, they aren’t much use in reality. According to my guess, these puppets can only be used as a distraction at most.”

Yang Kai seemed pensive.

On the other side, Xiang Shan spoke up once most of the Artifact Refiners had received the supplies, “After receiving the materials, please refine them carefully. Do your best to refine as many puppets as possible.”

Everybody nodded in acknowledgement.

Yang Kai guessed that he had been summoned here because he was now decently proficient in Artifact Refining. Since he already knew the reason behind this matter, there was no need to continue staying here. The other Artifact Refiners had to wait to receive their supplies, but he did not; therefore, he turned around and rushed towards Dawning Light after informing Grandmaster Ma Fan about his intentions.

Upon returning to Dawning Light, Yang Kai began refining the humanoid puppets right on the deck. The members of Dawn watched his movements curiously at the beginning, but they lost interest and went back to their own affairs as time passed.

Three days later, the Army set off again and continued to sail towards the Great Evolution Theatre. The marching speed of the Army was neither fast nor slow.

Another few days later, Yang Kai’s refining process came to an end. It was not difficult to refine the humanoid puppets as the process was easy to master as long as one had the standards of a Great Master, and Yang Kai was already a Grandmaster.

After the various components were refined, one simply needed to assemble them together. In that way, a mechanical puppet could be completed in just seven or eight days.

A group of Dawn members gathered on the deck and observed the finished product curiously. They were rather familiar with puppets as each of them had more or less seen similar objects throughout the journey of their growth.

From the external appearance, the humanoid puppet that Yang Kai refined did not look particularly special. It could even be said to be rather ugly. Although it had a humanoid frame, anybody who was not blind could see that it was not a living thing at a glance.

Yang Kai made the final checks to ensure that nothing was missing from the puppet he refined before nodding.

Shen Ao rubbed his chin as he muttered, “Say, why do the higher-ups want to refine these puppets?”

Qi Tai Chu thoughtfully suggested, “Maybe they will be used to increase the combat power of our Great Evolution Army? Speaking of which, how much strength can this puppet exert upon activation?”

Feng Ying shook her head, “They are probably not meant to strengthen the combat power of the Army. The Dao of Puppetry is profound and mysterious, so even if you refine a puppet, you will need to master special Puppet Arts in order to bring out their full strength. There are a few cultivators in Blue Sky Pass who are proficient in the Dao of Puppetry, so they might be able to make some use of these puppets, but with such a large number being produced, it’s obvious that these puppets were not prepared for them. Besides, most of them didn’t even come along on this campaign.”

“If they are not meant to strengthen our combat power, then what are they for? Are they meant to be nothing more than ornaments?” Ning Qi Zhi laughed, “Don’t tell me the higher-ups are planning to use these puppets to scare the Black Ink Clan away?”

“I don’t know whether they can scare the Black Ink Clan away, but these puppets probably aren’t meant to just be ornaments,” Yang Kai, who was busy working, suddenly interjected.

Feng Ying inquired, “Squad Leader, do you know what they are for?”

He shook his head, “I don’t. The higher-ups did not state their intentions clearly, they simply asked us to refine as many of these puppets as we could. Be that as it may, the resources consumed during the refining process are not particularly valuable and can even be considered common items. The refining method is not too advanced either, so even if these puppets were given to those who cultivated the Dao of Puppetry, they would not be able to play a significant role in battle. Any random Low-Rank Black Ink Clansman would be able to destroy one of these puppets in a single blow.”

During the conversation, he finished doing the final checks and confirmed that there were no issues with the puppet. According to the instructions written in the jade slip given by Grandmaster Ma Fan, only the final activation step was left. If there were no problems with this final step, then the refinement of the puppet could be considered a success.

Activating the puppet was simple, one only needed to inject World Force into the puppet. Needless to say, after consuming the injected World Force, the puppet would stop moving. This was typically why the power source of a puppet would generally be something other than a cultivator’s own strength. There was no need for Yang Kai to worry about these details though as his job was simply to refine these puppets. The higher-ups would make their own arrangements when the time came.

Raising his hand, Yang Kai pressed his palm against the chest of the puppet, circulated his World Force, and poured it into the puppet. As the World Force entered the puppet, the patterns on the body of the puppet lit up. Immediately after that, the puppet seemed to come alive and radiated a vibrant aura.

He immediately sensed an inexplicable connection forming between him and the puppet in front of him. This connection came from the World Force he poured into the puppet earlier. In other words, he could now easily control the puppet.

Be that as it may, what shocked everybody was that the puppet exuded the aura of a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master after being activated by Yang Kai!

Shen Ao was so shocked that he blurted out, “Are you serious!? Fifth-Order!?”

The puppet that Yang Kai spent seven or eight days to refine had the aura of a Fifth-Order Master! If it could exert the strength of a Fifth-Order Master as well, then that would be beyond astonishing! After all, the Human Race would only need to refine these puppets on a large scale and send them into battle to never have to worry about the casualties again!

Unexpectedly, Yang Kai seemed thoughtful, “The aura is realistic, but it’s just the aura.”

Thanks to the inexplicable connection between them, he had a deeper understanding of the puppet. The mechanical puppet developed by Grandmaster Ma Fan had a slightly different approach to the norm. Generally speaking, any puppet could exert a certain amount of strength when powered and controlled properly. Unfortunately, this puppet seemed to only imitate the aura of a Master and couldn’t actually utilize much strength at all. Its greatest use would be to frighten and mislead others.

With a simple thought, the puppet immediately began moving around on the deck. It could jump, run, and walk with ease. Judging by its posture, it was not very different from an actual person in terms of mobility, with its movements being agile and fluid.

Next, Yang Kai controlled the puppet to throw a punch.

As soon as the puppet punched out, the anticipation and excitement overflowing from the members of Dawn immediately turned into bitter disappointment. This couldn’t be helped though as in their eyes, the punch was so weak that it was practically powerless. None of them would even need to block this blow as they could simply stand there and take it without suffering any damage.

Sure enough, it was just as Yang Kai had mentioned earlier. The refining method for this puppet was not very advanced, and the materials used were not particularly valuable. It was not surprising that the puppet turned out so useless; hence, everybody couldn’t help feeling confused by the orders from the higher-ups. Why refine such useless puppets in such large quantities?

Having satisfied their curiosity, the members of Dawn lost interest in the useless puppets and returned to their own affairs.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai gave the puppet the order to move around freely before he began refining a second one. The refining process went much smoother than the first time, and the time he took was shortened by half a day. Everybody would go through a period of practice before they became skilled at anything after all. Yang Kai estimated that he would only need four to five days to refine another puppet to completion once he became proficient in this process.

After a series of checks, he confirmed that there were no problems with the second puppet. He then poured his World Force into it for the final activation. The puppet once again released the aura of a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, almost identical to the first puppet.

The first puppet had already been stored in his Space Ring. Since Yang Kai had not provided it with much World Force to begin with, and did not continue to provide it with more, the puppet completely stopped moving after an incense stick or so.

The Army continued to march forward slowly, and the days gradually slipped by.

During this period, Yang Kai concentrated on refining the humanoid puppets and his speed increased with practice. Half a year later, he only needed five days to finish refining one.

In addition, as he became more proficient in this process, the aura released by the mechanical puppets he created were no longer limited to the Fifth Order. Oftentimes, the puppets he refined would release the aura of a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master when powered up. When his luck was particularly good, the puppets he refined would release an aura that was comparable to a Seventh-Order Master!

Unfortunately, that was his limit. Yang Kai had the feeling that if Grandmaster Ma Fan and the other Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster were the ones to refine these puppets, they might be able to exude the aura of an Eighth-Order Division Commander.

In any case, regardless of how powerful the aura the puppets exuded, their foundation remained the same. They were still weak and useless existences that would be destroyed by any random blow from a Low-Rank Black Ink Clansman.

Another half a year later, Yang Kai had refined almost 80 of these puppets. All of them had been stored inside a single Space Ring, ready to be delivered to the higher-ups at any time.

After sailing for over a year, the Great Evolution Army had finally arrived within the Great Evolution Theatre. They would be able to see Great Evolution Pass from a distance if they continued marching forward for another two or three months.

At this time, the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies began to reduce the size of their formation. They used the power of various artifacts and Spirit Arrays to conceal the whereabouts of the 30,000 troops and in addition, many teams of scouts were dispatched to investigate the route ahead and prevent any possibilities that their presence might be revealed.