Refining a Substitute Puppet

Translator: Cinder Translations

---

Corpse Demon Peak.

In a cave residence on the shadowy side of the mountain.

Du Qiu was kneeling with his legs crossed, showing a respectful demeanor.

"Elder Shi, Ji Yin has returned alive. It seems he must have found some kind of spiritual herb that can clear the mind."

Shi Shou was surrounded by corpse energy, the dark and dense corpse qi swirling around his mouth and nose, breathing in and out.

His face was ashen, with long fangs exposed, and his voice was hoarse as he spoke.

"Returned alive, is it? Very good! It seems he's quite resourceful. Even after being contaminated by the miasma of the Corpse Cave, he managed to resolve it himself."

After a brief pause, Shi Shou continued.

"What is his current cultivation level?"

"Qi Refining Fourth Layer."

"Still only at Qi Refining Fourth Layer?"

Shi Shou murmured softly.

"That's true. He's only been in the sect for two and a half years, so reaching Qi Refining Fourth Layer is not too slow."

"Dismissed. Keep a close watch on Ji Yin. When his cultivation breaks through to Qi Refining Sixth Layer, make sure to inform me immediately."

"Understood, Elder Shi." Du Qiu replied.

...

Back in his cave residence, Song Wen began to sort through the spoils from his recent outing.

First, the primary objective of risking his life to enter the cave: the Hollow Cicada Wood.

This Hollow Cicada Wood was approximately 350 years old, which was sufficient for Song Wen to use in balancing the corpse qi within his body.

Additionally, he obtained four storage bags, from Lao Chun, Zi Yi, the Second Sister of the bandits, and the Little Sister.

He also acquired three corpse-raising bags, two from Zi Yi and one from Lao Chun.

The corpse-raising bags contained three corpse puppets: two at Qi Refining Sixth Layer and one at Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

The items in the storage bags were quite varied: spirit stones, talismans, elixirs, magical tools, and more.

The spirit stones in the four storage bags totaled nearly four thousand.

In the cave, Lao Chun, Zi Yi, and Xuan Ye had divided Yan Gu's storage bag, so it was likely that they obtained a significant number of spirit stones from it.

As for the two female bandits, they had probably killed other cultivators, so their storage bags also contained a substantial amount of spirit stones.

However, Yan Gu's set of Evil Buddha magical tools was not among them, so it must have been acquired by Xuan Ye.

Finally, there was the bloodstone that Niu Ding had risked his life to obtain.

Song Wen initially thought the bloodstone was a magical tool or a treasure to enhance cultivation, but after examining it with his spiritual power, he discovered it was actually a legacy item, recording a secret technique.

Puppet Substitute Technique!

This is a secret technique that involves refining a substitute puppet, which, in times of crisis, activates the technique to have the puppet take the cultivator's place and endure fatal damage. At the same time, the cultivator is relocated to another position, determined temporarily by the caster, and can only be within the range covered by the caster's spiritual power.

This is an incredibly miraculous escape technique.

No wonder Niu Ding risked life and death to obtain it.

Song Wen immediately began to study the details of the Puppet Substitute Technique's method.

Refining a substitute puppet can be broadly divided into three steps.

First, create a puppet, which can be of any shape or material, but must be able to carry the cultivator's soul imprint.

Step Five is the most crucial and dangerous.

Soul Severing! This involves separating the soul imprint from the cultivator's soul. It requires the cultivator's spiritual power or soul to be strong enough; otherwise, forcibly severing the soul can damage it. The lighter consequence is that the soul becomes incomplete, leading to mental impairment, while the more severe result is the soul scattering, leaving no place for the body.

The Third Step is to transfer the soul imprint onto the substitute puppet, merging the soul imprint with the puppet.

This way, the substitute puppet will carry the cultivator's soul aura and can take the cultivator's place in times of danger, enduring fatal damage on their behalf.

While the Puppet Substitute Technique is remarkable, it does have drawbacks.

Repeatedly refining substitute puppets will gradually thin out the cultivator's soul, potentially affecting their mental state and future cultivation.

However, for Song Wen, this is not an issue.

He can devour others' souls to enhance his own soul and spiritual power. Severing a portion of the soul imprint poses no significant risk to him.

The problem lies in the first step, refining the substitute puppet.

The puppet must be able to bear the soul imprint, and the imprint must not dissipate, which makes Song Wen feel a bit at a loss.

Firstly, items capable of bearing a soul imprint are generally not cheap.

Secondly, he has no knowledge of crafting techniques. Learning the entire process of refining substitute puppets from scratch would require a significant amount of time.

What Song Wen needs most right now is time, especially with the threat of Shi Shou looming.

"Right, if refining puppets is too difficult, I can try using corpse puppets instead. Corpse puppets are essentially intact corpses refined to bear the soul imprint without dispersing, so it should work."

With this thought, he decided to give it a try. He currently had three corpse puppets at hand.

The Qi Refining Ninth Layer corpse puppet was clearly not suitable; it would be too wasteful to use it for refining a substitute puppet.

Song Wen took out a Qi Refining Sixth Layer corpse puppet. This was a male corpse, well-preserved and as solid as rock, making it capable of bearing the soul imprint.

Next, came the most critical step: severing the soul imprint.

Song Wen began attempting the soul severing method recorded in the Puppet Substitute Technique.

The process of severing the soul imprint was even more painful and difficult than Song Wen had anticipated.

Each time he tried to forcibly separate the soul imprint, a voice in his subconscious warned that the soul was the most important part of the body and should not be tampered with. This made Song Wen hesitant and cautious about severing the soul imprint.

Moreover, the process was extremely agonizing, as if someone was using a knife to cut deep within his sea of consciousness. The pain was so intense that it almost made him stop the spell involuntarily.

After several attempts, Song Wen finally steeled his resolve, cleared his mind of all distractions and reluctance, and forcefully performed the technique. He managed to successfully sever the soul imprint.

At this point, his clothes were completely soaked, and the ground where he sat was covered in water, making him look as if he had just been pulled out of a lake.

Then, Song Wen endured the excruciating pain in his sea of consciousness and transferred the soul imprint to the corpse puppet.

This process wasn't complex but was extremely time-consuming.

Two days later, Song Wen slowly opened his eyes.

The substitute puppet had finally been successfully refined!

The intense pain in his sea of consciousness had gradually eased, and he could clearly sense his soul starting to recover.

If he could devour a few more cultivators' souls, his soul would recover quickly.

Perhaps finding cultivators' souls elsewhere might be difficult, but in the Corpse Demon Sect, they were readily available for purchase.

There were many freshly obtained cultivators' souls waiting to be sold.

Among them, there were mostly righteous cultivators' souls, as righteous techniques are profound and mysterious. These make the cultivators' souls more gentle and pure, unlike those of evil cultivators, whose souls are often tainted and filthy due to miasma.

Coincidentally, Song Wen also needed to visit the market to deal with some unusable items and exchange them for cultivation resources, preparing to refine and absorb the Hollow Cicada Wood and balance the corpse energy in his body.

Song Wen first went to various shops, selling off unusable magical tools, elixirs, talismans, spirit herbs, etc., and earned 1,800 spirit stones.

He then spent several hundred spirit stones to purchase a batch of cultivation resources and three cultivators' souls.

(End of the Chapter)

---

FUN FACT! You can now support me and read advanced chapters of RDC!

Currently up to 142 as of 16Sep24.

Just visit my p atreon: Pa treon.com/CinderTL

If you are content with the free chapters, you can show your appreciation by joining me for as low as $1. You can read this and other series (more coming in the future) on my Pa treon.