Stealing The Heavens
chapter-273

Eighteen celestial fiend puppets, which had the potential to turn into incarnations that had a similar cultivation base as their master, and could only be controlled by the soul that split from the master...

While fiddling with these celestial fiend puppets given to him by Qu Ping, Wu Qi sent out a thread of divine will into them, and without any obstruction, penetrated easily into all of these heavy puppets. There was nothing much that could be found in the space inside them, except only large patches of dark red fiend energies swirling about. Although they were fiend energies, but through his divine will, Wu Qi did not sense any bloody or murderous aura similar to the fiend energies found on Xiang Yu, as they were only pure and simple energies that were full of combative aura.

Just like the natural energy, they did not contain any negative characteristics, just a simple power that originated from battles.

In that rather emptied space, Wu Qi also saw numerous large or small Primordial Divine Scripts circling about. When he joined all the scripts he found in all eighteen puppets together, they became a complete script of how to properly refine these puppets. According to what Qu Ping told him, in order to control these puppets, he had to split a thread of his own soul and attach to the puppet, then refine it with his own blood essence. It was true to a certain extent, but it was actually the most basic method of refining them.

Only by using this technique - the Heavenly Dao Weapons of Myriad Fiends Incantation, could one freely and smoothly control these celestial fiend puppets. Besides that, the script also provided the technique of how to upgrade these puppets in the future, so as to improved their power - blood refining with fiend flame, and devouring all things under the heaven.

Very quickly, Wu Qi finished reading the script. He was both surprised and delighted to find out that when the script and the eighteen celestial fiend puppets were combined, as long as he was willing to spend a massive amount of materials, he could upgrade them to an unbelievable fantastic level! Even after he stepped into the realm of Divine Golden Immortal in the future, there were also appropriate methods which he could use to slowly upgrade these puppets to the same realm of Divine Golden Immortal. They were not like what Qu Ping had told him earlier, where the strongest overall strength they could achieve was only equal to a Heaven Immortal of thirty-sixth tier.

Perhaps, the reason that made Qu Ping gave up these puppets was that although they had a very bright future, they took overly tremendous time, efforts, and resources to upgrade them. In order to upgrade a single puppet to next level, the amount of energy and materials it took was at least ten times to make its master increase his cultivation base to the next realm. So, in order to upgrade all eighteen puppets at the same time, it would require 180 times the energy and resources that it took for the master to step into the next realm.

So, even if they had the potential of killing a Divine Golden Immortal in the future, no cultivator with a sensible mind would choose to do that, and thus made them treasures of little value. With 180 times of the resources, it was more than enough to improve one's cultivation base to an incredibly powerful state. So, what was the point of relying on these external forces? For cultivators, any resources that could be used in improving their own cultivation base were extremely rare and precious.

Qu Ping did not mention the Heavenly Dao Weapons of Myriad Fiends Incantation to Wu Qi. Perhaps it was because he did not think that Wu Qi had the ability to find so many rare materials to upgrade these celestial fiend puppets, as even he himself did not have the confidence in refining them, let alone Wu Qi, a mere small potato who he did not see as some with much potential?

"Well, you've eyes but failed to see the great treasures! I wonder who is the almighty expert that crafted such insane treasures! He must be really bored during that time! As for any other cultivators, they are simply a burden. However, for me, who has inherited Scroll of Stealing, they are the best treasures which I can use to defend myself and keep my life safe!" Wu Qi murmured, with a bright gleam flickering in his eyes. Sure enough, other cultivators might not have sufficient materials and resources for even their own cultivation, but for the inheritor of Scroll of Stealing, this was totally not an issue at all.

On the contrary, with the unique characteristic of Scroll of Stealing, it was destined that Wu Qi had to act on his own most of the time. However, with him alone, he could not deal with many matters at the same time frequently. Now, with the help from these eighteen celestial fiend puppets, as long as their cultivation base could improve proportionate to his own, it would mean there would be a total of nineteen Wu Qi working at the same time. Thus, these puppets had become his best trump card.

Laughing loudly, Wu Qi began reciting the incantation in his mind. He had given up using the basic blood sacrificing method that Qu Ping told him, but focused all his attention in rotating the full version of soul splitting technique found in the Heavenly Dao Weapons of Myriad Fiends Incantation. Again and again, he kept reciting the mystic incantation, and gradually sent out a thread of his divine will into these puppets. As his divine will was being slowly injected into them, the puppets began to flicker with dazzling lights, while their stature grew taller slowly, from one foot to the exact height of Wu Qi.

Then, an immense, dark red combative aura began emanating and spreading from inside of these celestial fiend puppets. Buzzing noises were heard coming out from their bodies, and a feeling of them being a part of Wu Qi's own flesh and blood rose from the bottom of his heart. Suddenly, while reciting the incantation in his mind, Wu Qi issued a miserable shriek, as he clutched both hands on his head, fell to his knees, rolled and tumbled violently on the mountain peak. His strong soul, which was equal to the combined strength of several early-stage Nascent Divinity cultivators, was hacked into nineteen portions by an invisible force. One of the portions contained about ten percent of his original soul, while the rest of them were split into eighteen equal portions.

These eighteen parts of his soul then shot out and plunged into all the puppets, and immediately condensed and transformed into a soul pearl the size of an adult's fist, hovering quietly inside each celestial fiend puppet. After that, numerous runes lit up on the smooth and clean surface of the puppets, and the dazzling lights on them dimmed down abruptly. A total darkness suddenly engulfed the surrounding area of ten miles in circumference, as if a black hole had just collapsed in the area. Then, the natural energies existed within the atmosphere began to ripple violently, as all the natural energies within one thousand miles circumference kept surging and rushing towards these puppets.

Wu Qi howled miserably, with tears streaming down and nose running because of the severe pain, as he finally managed to struggle to his feet. Then, he pulled out the Sword of Greedy Wolf and ruthlessly made a cut on his own wrist. Immediately, a massive amount of his blood essence burst out from the cut, injecting into all the celestial fiend puppets. As the blood essence kept being injected into them, the glossy and metallic surface of the puppets suddenly became very vivid, and gradually, they turned into real flesh and blood like a human. Their color had also taken a shift; the once dark metallic skin quickly transformed into human skin, with human hair and fine lines.

Meanwhile, inside their deep, emotionless eye sockets which once only shone with dark red gleams, eyeballs that looked exactly like a human were now present. Human fingernails had also grown out from their once sharp claws made from blades. Following the constant flowing of Wu Qi's blood essence, they gradually transformed to look exactly like Wu Qi. Even the eyebrows, the fine hair near their lips, looked identical to Wu Qi.

Wu Qi felt there were eighteen bottomless holes that kept crazily extracting his blood essence. Even as the blood essence kept rushing into these bottomless holes, slowly but surely, he could sense that he now had some extra bodies. But, the feeling was vague and obscure, as his soul could not properly control them yet. The extracting of his blood essence became faster and faster, and it did not even require Wu Qi to control the progress, as these puppets just kept drawing his blood essence like draining a pond for fishes.

"You are indeed an extraordinary treasure of Fiendish Dao. If not for me having prepared for this, perhaps I would have been long sucked dry by you!" Clenching his jaws, Wu Qi took out a barrel of flood dragon blood essence, and sucked this barrel of nearly 5000 kilograms of flood dragon blood essence into his body like a whale drawing water. Very quickly, his nearly depleted body absorbed and digested the blood essence. Every single cell of his was like a dried-up desert, as they devoured the blood essence hastily, turning it into Wu Qi's own blood essence and pumping it back into his body.

The arrival of this massive amount of fresh blood essence had greatly satisfied these celestial fiend puppet's need for their master's blood essence. Fully satisfied and contented, they actually opened their mouths and let out loud laughs. Looking at how eighteen men that looked identical to him wantonly devouring his own blood essence while letting out such wild and complacent laughs, Wu Qi could not help but curse the eighteen generations ancestors of the person who created these puppets.

Suddenly, a great amount of profound aura rushed out from these celestial fiend puppets, while more information was being branded into Wu Qi's spiritual ocean. Apart from the incantation used to refine and upgrade the puppets, more information concerning these puppets kept being transmitted over to him. As a matter of fact, this information could only be obtained by the person who personally refined them. Any other people, no matter how strong their divine will was, they could only obtain the incantation but not this obscure information.

After Qu Ping found these puppets, he only studied on the method of how they were made, researching on whether the incantation could be used in controlling undead warriors, but he never personally refined them. Therefore, Wu Qi was the only person who obtained this information.

From the information, Wu Qi learned that right inside Great Chu's current territory, in the immortal's cave deep in the mountains where Qu Ping found the puppets, there was once a sect of ancient immortals at the time of great antiquity, who was expert in the study of various Fiendish Dao divine abilities. These puppets were personally crafted by eighteen strongest patriarchs of that sect, serving as the legacy for their disciples in the future to keep guard of their sect's fortune.

Actually, not only did these puppets contain an incantation which one could use to refine them, there was also a cultivation technique of Fiendish Dao, called the 'Celestial Fiend Battles the Heaven Script'. It was an ancient cultivation technique used specifically in cultivating the fleshly body, with the goal of becoming a saint with a pure fleshly body. It was also purposely prepared for these puppets.

When the puppets were refined using the Heavenly Dao Weapons of Myriad Fiends Incantation, and supplied with sufficient blood essence, they would then transform into a body between half puppet and half flesh. With that, meridians identical to a human would form inside their bodies, which allowed them to cultivate with Celestial fiend Battles the Heaven Script, and slowly increase their strength. Together with the ability to devour all sorts of rare and precious natural treasures under the heaven to strengthen their bodies, the future potential of these puppets was far greater and promising than what Wu Qi learned from the Heavenly Dao Weapons of Myriad Fiends Incantation.

Theoretically, as long as they kept cultivating the Celestial fiend Battles the Heaven Script, and were fed with an endless amount of rare and precious natural treasures, each of these puppets had the potential of becoming the strongest existence throughout the entire universe.

After a brief moment of pondering, Wu Qi waved his left hand, and from his earth element dragon scale shield came shooting out eighteen tiny dots of innate earth element energy essence, which then fused into all the puppets. One after another, the puppets let out very pleasing laughs, then quickly sat down with legs crossed, and began slowly rotating the Celestial fiend Battles the Heaven Script, controlling the tiny dot of innate earth element energy essence to flow through their bodies, washing the newly born meridians.

Even when they did that, the surrounding natural energies kept rushing quickly into their bodies. Controlled by Wu Qi's soul pearls, a Gold Core, dark red but shining with a faint layer of golden gleam, was gradually forming inside these puppets' dantian. Just like that, they had attained the cultivation base of early-stage Gold Core realm, which was similar to Wu Qi's current cultivation base.

Finally, these puppets concluded their cultivation a few days later. They rose to their feet, and with a thought in Wu Qi's mind, these puppets had their bodies suddenly turned half transparent like some phantoms. Then, they walked into Wu Qi's shadow one after another and fused into it.

Wu Qi could clearly feel that there were a total of eighteen incarnations of himself, who were currently sharing the same body with him. And with just a thought in his mind, these eighteen incarnations would leave his body immediately, transforming into celestial fiend puppets and fighting with his enemies. While residing in his body, these puppets breathed together with him, and shared his blood, flesh, and energy.

Taking a deep breath, Wu Qi finally concluded the refining of the celestial fiend puppets and rose happily.

Suddenly, a towering pillar of blue light was seen emerging on the ocean in the far distance. Then, the big-headed Catfish-flood-dragon flew out from the blue light with her huge body swaying back and forth.