250: Reunion

Carefully examining the initially refined corpse puppet, Su Ling felt a clear connection established with the Netherworld Corpse Tiger before him.

He could sense the cold power flowing within its body, as well as the Netherworld Corpse Qi that had been forcibly transformed and fused with wind spirit characteristics.

With a thought, the corpse tiger submissively lowered its head, its ghostly blue soul fire calmly gazing at him, awaiting orders.

Su Ling took out a pre-prepared black Beast Collar inlaid with Yin Jade and placed it around the corpse tiger's neck.

The Beast Collar flashed with light and vanished beneath the fur; it could both assist in gathering Yin Qi and sense its position within a certain distance.

At this moment, the Howling Wind Tiger corpse puppet was merely freshly refined.

Its strength was, at most, at the Late Stage of the fourth rank.

Furthermore, the Swift Wind Wolf Soul's control over the corpse was very unfamiliar, and there was a noticeable sluggishness in its movements.

To restore it to the Early Stage of the fifth rank, it would still require a long period of Yin Qi infusion.

Elementary corpse puppets cannot Cultivate independently or absorb heaven and earth energy.

They can only replenish the Netherworld Corpse Qi in their bodies through the Nine Nether Spirit Gathering Array.

Unless one day the Swift Wind Wolf Soul completely takes control of this body, only then can it absorb energy on its own.

But its strength is almost fixed at the Early Stage of the fifth rank.

There was no way around it; Su Ling's mastery of the Netherworld Corpse Refining Art was still in the Elementary stage.

To make the corpse puppet break through its own limits, there was still a long way to go.

Waving his hand to let the Howling Wind Tiger corpse puppet head to the pre-prepared Yin Pool on its own, Su Ling took out another fifth-rank Orc corpse and continued refining... Half a year later, Su Ling and Lu Tao finally met Song Moting, Murong Yue, and the others.

Originally, this batch of reinforcements had arrived five years ago.

But due to the war at the time, Ye Feibai was in a great battle with the Sub-God Mangu, and there was simply no time to make specific assignments.

As a result, Song Moting and the others were assigned to another war zone for reinforcement.

It was only now that the follow-up matters were handled and they were reassigned under Su Ling's command.

"This Planar War is indeed cruel!"

Qi Yunling touched the Storage Pouch, looking emotional.

In this battle, of the two great beast pets, the Crimson Flame Demonic Ape had actually perished.

On the contrary, the Swift Wind Golden Pupil Falcon had devoured a large number of Demonic Beast Cores on the battlefield, its strength soaring all the way to the Late Stage of the fourth rank, and it survived.

Qi Yunling himself was now only at the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

"Those previous battles were truly just child's play compared to this."

Song Moting, with a bit more of a killing aura on his face, shook his head and said helplessly, "Even a Spirit Transformation Cultivator might not survive if they are accidentally surrounded by a large number of fourth-rank Demonic Beasts."

His strength was about the same as Qi Yunling and Chen Miaoyin.

The slightly weaker Murong Yue and Zhao Lie were only at the Middle Stage of Nascent Soul, just one step away from ascending to the Late Nascent Soul Stage.

On the contrary, Luo Xuanxiao had already ascended to the Peak Nascent Soul stage.

His mastery of a Thunder and Fire Cultivation Technique was peerless on the battlefield, earning him many military merits.

He had once faced off against a fifth-rank Early Stage Demonic Beast, fighting fiercely for a long time before killing it at the cost of some minor injuries.

Such proud achievements made the Spirit Transformation Cultivator leading the team at the time full of praise.

Yet compared to Su Ling and Lu Tao, he was still far inferior.

"The Spirit Transformation Cultivator of our squad was relatively reckless and was besieged to death by many fourth and fifth-rank native creatures."

The always frail Murong Yue, sitting beside Lu Tao, said with lingering fear, "If it weren't for the reinforcements arriving then, I'm afraid Senior Sister Chen and I wouldn't have seen you again."

They had not been assigned to the same team when they first arrived.

Only Chen Miaoyin was with her, participating in a mopping-up operation in another war zone.

Unfortunately, the Beast Race's deathbed counterattack was exceptionally fierce.

Coupled with many fifth-rank Demonic Beasts hidden among them, many people were lost.

The two of them still had some unhealed injuries on their bodies.

The situation Song Moting and the others encountered was actually not much different from the two women's.

Having never truly experienced a Planar War, they had now gained an initial taste of the cruelty of war.

"No matter, follow us from now on, and I guarantee you'll live a life of luxury."

Lu Tao waved his hand and laughed heartily.

These words also broke much of the heavy atmosphere inside the Immortal Cave.

Hearing this, everyone revealed a knowing smile.

They had already heard a lot about Su Ling and Lu Tao's combat power from others when they first arrived.

Plus, with Lu Tao's big mouth, he couldn't wait to show off in front of these familiar fellow disciples.

He really boasted about his achievements quite a bit.

As for Su Ling, he was still in seclusion refining corpses at that time; Lu Tao only called him out when he hadn't emerged after a month.

"I've refined quite a few corpse puppets, and I can't control them all by myself."

Su Ling smiled slightly and took out several tokens to give to them. "Since you're here, one for each of you; don't think it's too little."

"Corpse puppets?!"

Song Moting and the others were all startled, examining the jade tokens in their hands that felt cold to the touch.

"Yes, the ones I'm giving you are all fifth-rank Early Stage corpse puppets."

Su Ling nodded and explained, "I can't refine any higher than that."

Over the course of half a year, he had refined a total of over ten fifth-rank corpse puppets.

They had been buried in the center of the battlefield, nurtured with the help of the dense Power of Lost Souls and corpse Yin Qi in the area.

Calculating the time, they should have nearly recovered their fifth-rank strength.

Seeing that everyone else had received a token but he hadn't, Lu Tao couldn't help but get anxious. "Why didn't you give me one of such fun things?!"

"Damn!"

Su Ling rolled his eyes and raised his middle finger in salute. "With your fighting style, if I gave you a corpse puppet, would you even have time to control it?"

At this stage, the corpse puppets cannot fight autonomously and still require the controller's commands.

After more than half a year of soaking in the Blood Pool, Lu Tao's Immortal Golden Body Art had finally reached the stage of Major Achievement.

It could withstand attacks at the level of a low-grade spirit tool.

Given this guy's temperament, he certainly wouldn't be willing to shrink back and use long-range attacks on the battlefield.

He would definitely charge straight to the front lines for a satisfying slaughter.

If the corpse puppets he worked so hard to refine were given to him, he would likely just release them and never bother with them again.

On a battlefield with concentrated fire, even a fifth-rank corpse puppet wouldn't last long before being destroyed by the enemy.

"That's true!"

Lu Tao scratched his head, then his eyes darted around as he leaned in toward Su Ling with a sheepish grin. "How about you give me one anyway? Even if I don't use it myself, I can give it to someone as a gift!"

"Gift it to someone?"

Su Ling looked him up and down curiously. "Who else do you have to give gifts to that I don't know about?"

"Oh, don't worry about so much; just say whether you'll give me one or not!"

Lu Tao stiffened his neck and refused to explain.

"Fine."

Su Ling was helpless and had no choice but to take out the token for that Howling Wind Tiger.

"Thanks."

Lu Tao chuckled, grabbed the token, scrutinized it for a while, and then tucked it into his Storage Ring.

As for who it was for, he remained unwilling to say.

Beside them, Murong Yue pursed her lips, a hint of gloom inevitably appearing in her eyes.

All of this was seen by Su Ling and Chen Miaoyin.

The two of them exchanged a glance and both shook their heads helplessly.