433: Brothers, I've come to take you home.

Xiao Jingyan, with his Divine Soul as the core and the bronze Puppet as the medium, began to attempt absorbing the Evil Qi and earth spirit power from the Ba-Shu region's earth pulse.

He bound his Divine Soul to the Puppet's rune array, then guided the Puppet to absorb the earth pulse's power.

As soon as he began to Cultivate, he experienced immense pain.

The Evil Qi entered his body, instantly tearing his skin, leaving him bleeding profusely and his flesh mangled;

If his Divine Soul, bound to the Puppet, was even slightly careless, it would be backlash by the Puppet's will, turning him into a walking corpse.

Several times, he fainted from the Evil Qi's erosion and the Divine Soul's backlash, almost never waking up again.

But he didn't care. He had long since disregarded life and death; the flames of revenge burned in his heart, supporting him as he crawled back from the brink of death again and again.

Day after day, he refined the Puppet, carved runes, absorbed Evil Qi, and transformed the absorbed Evil Qi and earth spirit power into unique “Puppet Qi” through the sacrificial runes on the cave wall, storing it within the Puppet's body.

Unexpectedly, the “Puppet Heart Pact” on his back was gradually suppressed under the mutual flushing of Evil Qi and Puppet Qi.

That purplish-black rune, which had previously pulsed like a living thing, now became dim and lusterless, no longer able to act at will.

Xiao Jingyan sneered in his heart: “Zhuge Mo, you planted this rune pact, intending to make my life worse than death, but you never expected it would become a whetstone for tempering my Divine Soul! When the day of my revenge comes, I will surely make you taste the flavor of this rune pact!”

Another ten years passed.

This was Xiao Jingyan's twentieth year alone in the Ba-Shu Black Miasma Forest, finally completely repairing the damaged bronze Puppet.

He expended countless efforts, carving seventy-two ancient sacrificial runes onto the Puppet. These runes intertwined to form a complete energy circulation array, capable of maximizing the absorption and transformation of earth pulse power.

He named this Puppet “Zhenchou”.

The repaired Zhenchou Puppet stood twelve feet tall, its entire body covered in newly cast bronze scales, which were inscribed with runes and glowed with a faint red light; its left arm and right leg were re-forged by Xiao Jingyan using black ironwood unique to the Ba-Shu region, making them even sturdier than the original bronze limbs; in its hands, it held a stone axe polished from a giant rock found deep within the cave, weighing a thousand catties, its blade incredibly sharp, capable of easily splitting rocks.

“Zhenchou, move!” A flicker of anticipation flashed in Xiao Jingyan's eyes as he bound his Divine Soul to the Zhenchou Puppet and mobilized the Puppet Qi stored within its body.

“Boom!”

The Zhenchou Puppet let out a dull roar and slowly lifted its heavy feet. Although its movements were somewhat slow, each step was filled with power, causing the entire cave to tremble slightly as it stepped on the stone ground. Xiao Jingyan controlled the Zhenchou Puppet to swing its stone axe, striking a blow at the cave's rock wall.

“Crack!”

The hard rock wall was split with a huge crack by the stone axe as if it were paper, sending gravel flying. Xiao Jingyan nodded in satisfaction; the Zhenchou Puppet's combat power far exceeded his expectations.

With the Zhenchou Puppet, he could mobilize the power of the earth pulse, capable of collapsing a mountain wall with a single punch, his combat power comparable to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

With the Zhenchou Puppet, Xiao Jingyan finally had the capital to establish himself in the Black Miasma Forest.

He commanded the Zhenchou Puppet, sweeping through the Yao Beasts around the cave.

Yao Beasts like the Black Mane Bear and Poisonous Python, which once put him in perilous situations, were no match for the Zhenchou Puppet, easily slain by its stone axe.

Xiao Jingyan extracted the Yao Cores from these Yao Beasts and integrated them into the Zhenchou Puppet's rune array.

Yao Cores contained pure energy, which could further enhance the Puppet's combat power.

After integrating dozens of Yao Cores, the Zhenchou Puppet's combat power surged again, and its movements became more agile, already far surpassing ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Having dealt with the surrounding Yao Beasts, Xiao Jingyan began to wander extensively in the Ba-Shu Dense Forest, searching for the ruins of the ancient Ba people.

He knew that a single Zhenchou Puppet was not enough to support his great cause of revenge; he needed more Puppet blueprints and rune classics, and he needed to create more Puppets.

The Ba-Shu Dense Forest was vast and boundless, with ancient Ba people's ruins scattered everywhere.

Xiao Jingyan, commanding the Zhenchou Puppet, traversed mountains and ridges, crossed valleys filled with miasma, delved into treacherous swamps, and found one Ba people's ruin after another.

In these ruins, he obtained a large number of Puppet blueprints and rune classics, including methods for manufacturing some high-grade Puppets and powerful attack runes.

With these blueprints and classics, Xiao Jingyan's Puppet arts advanced by leaps and bounds, and he began to attempt manufacturing Puppets himself.

One day, Xiao Jingyan, commanding the Zhenchou Puppet, arrived at a valley outside Ba-Shu. The valley was strewn with white bones and rusted weapons, and his eyes turned cold.

This was where one hundred elite members of the Xiao Family were killed by Zhuge Mo's Ghost-Faced Men.

“Brothers, I've come to take you home.” Xiao Jingyan knelt down, gently stroking the white bones on the ground, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes. “I will avenge you! What Chu owes our Xiao Family, I will make them repay a thousand, ten thousand times over!”

He collected all the white bones in the valley one by one, cleaned them with clear water, and then carefully transported them back to the cave.

He took out the “Soul Gathering Rune” obtained from the Ba people's ruins and carved it onto each white bone.

This Soul Gathering Rune could gather remnant souls. Although it couldn't resurrect these Xiao Family elites, it could bind their remnant souls to Puppets, allowing them to “Rebirth” in another form.

Subsequently, Xiao Jingyan delved deeper into the Ba-Shu Dense Forest and felled a large number of ancient Ba-Shu trees.

These ancient trees were as hard as iron and contained faint Spiritual Qi, making them excellent Materials for manufacturing Puppet bodies.

He spent a full ten years refining brand new bodies for these one hundred Xiao Family elites, embedding their white bones into the ancient wooden bodies, then carving dense runes, finally refining over a hundred Xiao Family Puppets.

Each of these hundred Xiao Family Puppets retained their combat instincts from life, and with the enhancement of runes, their combat power far surpassed ordinary Cultivators. More importantly, Xiao Jingyan could bind his Divine Soul to these hundred Puppets, using them to simultaneously absorb earth pulse power and Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, transforming it into Puppet Qi, which flowed into his body.

One hundred Puppets Cultivating simultaneously, the transformed Puppet Qi continuously surged into Xiao Jingyan's body. His Cultivation speed actually reached a hundred times that of ordinary people! Moreover, Puppet Qi was purer and more violent than ordinary Spiritual Qi, and its power was stronger.

Under the nourishment of Puppet Qi, Xiao Jingyan's Divine Soul grew increasingly powerful, and the Puppet Heart Pact on his back completely subsided, no longer having any effect on him. His cultivation also began to improve rapidly, soaring from the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, quickly Breaking Through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, reaching the Foundation Establishment Peak.

On this day, Xiao Jingyan sat cross-legged in the center of the cave, with one hundred Xiao Family Puppets surrounding him, simultaneously absorbing the earth pulse's power. Majestic Puppet Qi surged into his body like a tide, impacting his Divine Soul barrier.

“Break for me!” Xiao Jingyan roared, his Divine Soul power exploding, forcefully shattering that invisible barrier.

“Boom!”

A powerful aura erupted from his body, sweeping through the entire cave. Stalactites rattled, rocks rolled down, and even the Zhenchou Puppet sensed this aura, letting out a dull roar, as if celebrating for him.

Golden Core! He had finally Broken Through to the Golden Core Realm!

Xiao Jingyan slowly opened his eyes, brilliant light flickering within them. He could clearly feel that his Divine Soul had become incredibly powerful, capable of simultaneously controlling over a hundred Puppets without feeling fatigued; his perception range had also expanded tens of times, and all movements within several miles outside the cave were clearly presented in his mind.

“Hahaha! Hahaha!” Xiao Jingyan couldn't help but burst into laughter, his laughter filled with ecstasy and relief. “Zhuge Mo! What if you crippled my Meridians and planted Gu poison in me? Now I am also at the Golden Core Realm! Your head, King Wei of Chu's head, and the heads of all the nobles in Chu, I will surely take them!!”