Chapter 152: Puppet Army Formation, Hidden Cards [Large Chapter]
After getting Minghuang Jianzi's affirmation, Ye Linyuan quickly felt at ease.
He immediately took out a batch of Xuanyuan Pills and handed them to him, and then took out a list and handed it to Minghuang Jianzi, saying, "I'm in need of a batch of materials, maybe I need your help?"
"Oh?"
Minghuang Jianzi went to take a look, and then he couldn't help but said in surprise: "You asked for quite a lot of materials this time."
"We are not strong enough. We need to do more preparation if we want to win."
Ye Linyuan took a deep breath, his face looking extremely solemn.
This time, the list submitted by Ye Linyuan included not only dozens of first-grade top-quality spirit-gathering beads, but also hundreds of second-grade materials, including even seven or eight second-grade mid-quality spiritual treasures.
Each of these treasures is worth hundreds of spirit stones, and their total value is no less than 50,000 spirit stones.
Fortunately, Minghuang Jianzi is worthy of being a descendant of the Jindan Immortal Sect. After a brief pause, he said, "Don't worry. With my channels, it's not too difficult to get these materials. Your batch of Xuanyuan Pills is enough to pay the bill."
"Please wait a few more months. I will send it to you when I have collected all the materials."
Seeing this, Ye Linyuan couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you, fellow Taoist."
Having said this, Ye Linyuan said no more. He left the Tianxing Sword Sect and stopped by Lingsang Liu's to buy a batch of second-grade mid-quality spiritual silk.
After doing all this, Ye Linyuan returned to Yejia Island quietly.
After returning to his family, he immediately took out the spiritual silk and twelve pieces of second-grade medium-quality spiritual wood and began to refine the Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag again.
After exploring the Yimu earth veins, Ye Linyuan obtained fourteen pieces of second-grade mid-quality silk. He had the idea of re-refining the Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag, but he was unable to refine it because he did not have second-grade mid-quality spiritual silk.
This time, Ye Linyuan had reserved the second-grade medium-quality spiritual silk from Liu Xuanheng several years in advance, otherwise it would have been very difficult to get enough of it.
Because there are only two spiritual silkworms in the middle stage of foundation building among the Lingsang Liu immortal clan, the spiritual silk they normally produce is not for sale and can only be purchased by those with sufficient connections and channels.
The main reason why Ye Linyuan was able to buy this batch of spiritual silk was because they both shared the same fate, and they had reached a tacit understanding to cooperate.
Now that he had gathered the second-grade medium-quality spiritual wood and the Yuanchen Water Controlling Flags, Ye Linyuan naturally did not delay any longer. He continued to compile the formation flags, and after seven days he finally refined a new set of Yuanchen Water Controlling Flags.
"The power is pretty good."
Ye Linyuan re-refined the Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag, and then activated it again. He immediately found that the new formation flag was far superior to the original one.
The control, suppression, and blessing for Ye Linyuan of this set of second-grade medium-quality formation flags have been greatly improved by about 70% to 80% compared to before.
If the original Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag was roughly equivalent in power to an ordinary top-grade spiritual weapon, then the current Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag was one level more powerful than a top-grade spiritual weapon.
"This power is between a top-grade spiritual weapon and a rare spiritual weapon. Its ability to trap enemies and its defense power have increased by at least 50%."
“If we activate this formation again to trap the enemy, it will be difficult for them to break out when they are in the middle stage of foundation building.”
Ye Linyuan whispered in his heart, although his Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag was powerful before, a cultivator in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment only needed to pay a certain price to break out, for example, Ancestor Meng and Jiuqu Linghe both forced their way out.
The Black Shark demon in the middle stage of foundation building was even able to force its way out of the combined attack of the Blood Soul Formation and the Yuanchen Water Control Flag.
It can be seen that the power of the Yuanchen Water Control Flag at that time was not enough to pose a fatal threat to the middle stage of foundation building.
But the current Yuanchen Water Controlling Flag is very different. The power of this formation has increased by about 50%. In addition, Ye Linyuan's cultivation has broken through the middle stage of foundation building, and his strength has improved significantly compared to the past.
Therefore, Ye Linyuan estimated that it would be very difficult for a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building to break out of the formation.
"With this formation, we may be able to start planning for the battle ten years from now."
Ye Linyuan whispered in his heart, then put away the set of formation flags and began to nurture this new set of Yuanchen water control flags.
Time flies and three months passed quickly.
Until this day, Minghuang Jianzi delivered the materials Ye Linyuan needed as promised.
This time, Minghuang Jianzi sent nearly a hundred first-grade superior spirit-gathering beads at one time, which were enough to cultivate ten second-grade inferior spirit springs.
Ye Linyuan first collected these spirit gathering beads, traveled to the depths of the ocean, and secretly placed them on the deep-sea islands.
He then returned to his family and began to process hundreds of second-level materials.
He first used seven or eight pieces of second-grade medium-quality materials as a basis and refined them into several medium-quality spiritual weapons, including three spiritual flying swords.
Then he distributed these mid-grade spiritual weapons to Shui Hanqing, Zhou Yuwan and two other girls, so that each of them got two mid-grade spiritual weapons.
According to Ye Linyuan's estimation, after the three girls break through to the middle stage of foundation building, and then refine these mid-grade spiritual weapons, they should all be able to possess the top strength of the middle stage of foundation building.
This kind of strength is probably similar to that of the great demon Hei Kui. It is not a problem for him to fight two people at once, even if he is in the middle stage of foundation building like Taoist Xuanyu.
In addition to these mid-grade spiritual weapons, Ye Linyuan plans to use the remaining second-level materials to refine puppets.
The spiritual awareness of a foundation-building cultivator is limited, and he can only sacrifice three spiritual weapons at most, or two spiritual weapons and a foundation-building puppet.
Ye Linyuan plans to refine a batch of puppets and give them to Ye Qinchu, the puppeteer, to use, which should greatly increase their strength.
Refining a foundation-building puppet consumes a huge amount of materials. These hundreds of second-level materials can only refine seven or eight foundation-building early-stage puppets. Fortunately, Ye Linyuan has three demon crocodile skeletons in his hands, which can make up for some of the material shortages.
With the materials in hand, Ye Linyuan immediately took action and started to refine puppets together with Ye Qinchu, who was also a second-level puppeteer.
They were busy for more than half a year and finally used up all the materials. They obtained a total of nine puppets comparable to the initial stage of foundation building, namely three crocodile puppets, three wild bull puppets, and three giant eagle puppets.
"With these nine puppets, we can form a puppet army formation."
Looking at the puppets in front of him, Ye Qinchu couldn't help but show a look of surprise.
Ye Linyuan couldn't help but nod slightly. The puppet army formation was a method exclusive to puppet masters.
The puppet master himself does not have strong fighting ability, but he is very good at controlling puppets. He can even use special skills to arrange the puppets into military formations, greatly increasing the strength of the puppet military formation.
As a second-rank low-grade puppeteer, Ye Qinchu controls this puppet army formation with the secret method in the Puppet Refining Sutra. He dare not say that he can fight against the late foundation building stage, but he should be able to protect himself when facing the late foundation building stage.
It was precisely because of the puppet army's abnormal ability that Ye Linyuan had never killed a Jindan puppet master in his previous life and had never obtained the Jindan-level puppet inheritance.
"The lineage of puppet masters is broad and profound, and is often a model of the weak defeating the strong."
Knowing this, Ye Linyuan couldn't help but smile and said, "Second uncle is practicing the puppet refining sutra, so from now on, this puppet army formation will be handed over to you for safekeeping."
Ye Qinchu did not answer, but asked thoughtfully: "Puppets are a great way to protect yourself. Do you want to give some to your clansmen?"
"No need."
Ye Linyuan shook his head, and then said: "Only you can form a puppet army formation, and the more puppets there are, the more powerful the army formation will be. These puppets can only exert their greatest power in your hands."
After hearing this, Ye Qinchu didn't say anything more.
In fact, Ye Linyuan is also a second-level puppet master, but the puppet army formation also has great limitations.
This is because the puppet army formation is suitable for positional warfare, but is not flexible enough in combat, and driving nine puppets at the same time will inevitably occupy almost all of the cultivator's spiritual consciousness.
Ye Linyuan has mastered so many magical spells and also has a set of second-level intermediate-grade Yuanchen Water Controlling Flags. Naturally, he would not go far away to pursue the path of a puppeteer.
The main reason is that the practice of a puppeteer consumes a lot of energy. If he practices multiple fields at the same time, it is likely to delay his progress in cultivation.
The reason why Ye Linyuan was able to become a second-class top-grade puppeteer in his previous life was mainly because after his cultivation broke through the Golden Core Great Perfection, he was unable to make any progress in his cultivation for nearly three hundred years.
Since his cultivation could not improve, he could only practice various arts. He was bored anyway, so it made sense for him to improve his knowledge and experience.
After all, for him at that time, practicing all the second-level cultivation arts was a very high-level undertaking, and its difficulty was much simpler than that of an ordinary foundation-building cultivator.
Back to the topic, after handing over the nine-headed foundation-building initial stage puppet to Ye Qinchu, Ye Linyuan began to continue his cultivation, taking care of the spiritual fields while making various preparations for the war.
"..."
Time flies so fast, and nearly ten years have passed in the blink of an eye.
This year, Ye Linyuan was eighty-five years old and had been practicing for exactly seventy years.
"call!"
On this day, Ye Linyuan slowly finished his training, and then took a deep breath.
He calmly sensed himself, and the powerful true energy in his Dantian, and nodded slightly: "Two hundred and forty-eight magical powers."
Seventeen years have passed since he broke through to the middle stage of foundation building. His true essence has increased by nearly a hundred Dao compared to when he just broke through, and his cultivation has barely reached the threshold of the sixth level of foundation building.
If compared with an ordinary cultivator in the late stage of foundation building, he is probably equivalent to a cultivator in the eighth stage of foundation building.
In addition to magical powers, Ye Linyuan's means of protecting the way have also improved over the past ten years. His four spells, namely, the brilliance of the pure moon, the sharing of the bright river's shadow, the bright moon in the nine skies, and the long autumn sky, have all reached the pinnacle of Mahayana magic.
Next, all it takes is a suitable opportunity to transform it into the realm of pseudo-divine power.
In addition, he practiced the Dao Yun visualization method day and night, and his consciousness had already touched the pinnacle of the foundation-building realm, roughly comparable to a cultivator who had reached the great perfection of the foundation-building realm.
Overall, Ye Linyuan's strength has improved significantly, and has been improved from the seventh level of foundation building to a level comparable to the eighth level of foundation building.
Although his means of killing were not as good as those of the late foundation building cultivators with golden spiritual roots, he was definitely not a weakling among the late foundation building cultivators.
"My strength has been raised to its current limit."
"Next, if there is no chance of sudden enlightenment, I can only rely on hard work to improve my magic power."
"Fortunately, I am not the only one in the family who is improving."
Ye Linyuan whispered in his heart and couldn't help but smile.
In the past ten years, Chu Lingxi, Zhou Yuwan, and Shui Hanqing have all broken through to the middle stage of foundation building one after another, and their overall strength has greatly improved compared to before the breakthrough.
Among them, Zhou Yuwan and Chu Lingxi are both as strong as the top sixth level of foundation building. Shui Hanqing is even stronger with the blessing of his Taoist body, and can be considered to have half the combat power of the seventh level of foundation building.
In addition, Jiaoyuebei also broke through to the middle stage of foundation building not long ago, and is considered to be the most ordinary middle stage of foundation building combat power.
The King Kong Giant Ape is still in the early stage of foundation building, but his cultivation has reached the third level of foundation building. His overall strength is barely comparable to that of an ordinary cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building.
In addition to these mid-stage foundation building warriors, Han Chi has already broken through the mid-stage foundation building, and his strength is even comparable to that of the late stage foundation building, but this is the last trump card that Ye Linyuan dare not use easily. Ye Qinchu's own strength is average, but relying on the power of the nine-headed puppet army formation, he can fight with the late stage foundation building in the positional battle.
Ye Qinxin's strength is average, and Shuikae doesn't have much combat power. These are forces that cannot be used easily.
"In addition to me, the family can deploy three top-notch mid-stage foundation building warriors, two ordinary mid-stage foundation building warriors, and a set of puppet army formations."
"Since Wu Gu and Shui Can are not strong enough, let them stay in the family."
Ye Linyuan whispered in his heart, then came to the hall on the top of the mountain and summoned all the foundation-building cultivators in the family.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Ye Linyuan got straight to the point and said, "We have been preparing for this battle for many years, and it is time to start the battle."
When everyone heard this, they all looked solemn.
Ye Qinchu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "How should we arrange the candidates?"
"I have already made a plan for this battle."
Ye Linyuan spoke calmly, then sealed the hall with prohibitions and told everyone the secret of his deployment.
It was unknown how long it had been before the door of the hall opened again. A mighty conscription order was issued from Yejia Island and quickly spread throughout the Xinghu Islands.
"..."
In the Jiazi War, the troops attacked the Heikui Islands.
As soon as this news came out, it quickly caused an uproar in the Star Lake Islands.
Many young people have only a vague understanding of the Jiazi War, and some elderly people who survived that year all showed expressions of fear.
Some people are afraid of the war, but others are eager to fight it.
Because the stakes offered by the Ye family for this battle are not low, anyone who can make a contribution in this battle will receive rewards far exceeding any previous ones, even including a foundation-building pill.
According to Ye's instructions, whoever can seize the Canghai Pearl or perform sufficiently great merits on the battlefield will receive a Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward.
Moreover, in recent years, the number of monks in the Qinghe Islands has increased, and some radical factions have already had the idea of expanding the territory.
Now that he had received Ye's imperial edict, he immediately began to prepare for the war.
About a few months later, tens of thousands of monks gathered outside the Seven Islands of Star Lake. After a simple formation, they split into three groups and headed for the Heikui Islands.
This time, they took the same route as the Qinghe Immortal Sect back then. The central army was led by Ye Linze and the right army was led by Ye Huaixue.
Both of them have achieved great perfection in Qi training and have broken through to the foundation-building stage many times, but they have never been able to break through except for the last step. They each possessed a rare magical weapon, and their strength was among the best among those who had achieved great perfection in Qi training.
The left army was brought by Ye Chongyun, who was the only true disciple of the Ye family. Not only had his cultivation reached the great perfection of Qi training, he had also defeated the combined forces of four Qi training masters in a single battle.
Everyone in the world believed that Ye Chongyun was extremely talented and was a future superior Taoist seed, and that he might have a hint of golden elixir potential.
"This place is Xuanling Island."
In a fleet consisting of nearly a thousand treasure ships, Ye Chongyun and Ye Yingxu stood together at the bow, and then looked at the Xuanling Island in front of them, and couldn't help but smile.
Seeing this, Ye Linchu at the side could not help but smile and said, "Jiu Zi years ago, many foundation-building forces such as Qinghe Xianmen, Minghuang Jianzi, and Chixia Sect were fighting here."
"In the end, our Ye clan leader was the better one. He took advantage of the situation and got the opportunity to build a superior foundation."
Hearing this, Ye Chongyun couldn't help but smile and said, "That's right, the head of my Ye family, who doesn't know about his skills and courage?"
Having said this, he looked at the people around him and said, "Pass the order down. Rest here tonight, replenish water and supplies, and then set out to the Heikui Islands."
"clear."
Everyone nodded, and the order was quickly passed down.
The ship quickly docked and came to the shore of Xuanling Island. Ye Chongyun took a look at the island and said in surprise: "How strange, why are there so many reefs here?"
Ye Linchu, who was standing by, heard this and immediately transmitted his message: "This was left behind by the person behind Xuan Ling San Ren. It is said to be the foundation of the Taiyin Soul Capturing Formation. Back then, this formation was able to temporarily resist those in the late stage of foundation building."
Upon hearing this, Ye Chongyun wanted to say something else.
But Ye Yingxu shook his head and stopped him from asking any more questions.
After reaching Xuanling Island, Ye Chongyun saw that there was no one around, so he couldn't help but look at Ye Yingxu excitedly and asked, "Yingxu, what's going on? Did the family secretly set up a backup plan here?"
"There are some things we shouldn't know." Ye Yingxu shook his head.
Seeing this, Ye Chongyun immediately understood something and immediately smiled and said, "I understand. The ancestor must have made some preparations here and even upgraded the Taiyin Soul Capture Formation to be able to withstand attacks from the late stage of foundation building."
“Hehe, when the time comes, the ancestor might be able to kill them with this formation.”
Ye Yingxu did not answer, but a hint of depth flashed in his eyes.
He pondered for a moment, and finally said: "Those people who lured the clan leader to snatch the Canghai Pearl will definitely not put the Canghai Pearl on the body of a foundation-building expert."
“So at that time, they will definitely hunt down the clan leader, and we will all have the possibility of taking away the Cang Hai Pearl.”
"Remember, once you are able to seize the Cang Hai Pearl, you must escape all the way here. Only then will you have a chance to keep the Cang Hai Pearl."
Ye Chongyun was slightly stunned, and couldn't help but touch his head curiously and asked: "I'm just curious, why don't they put the Canghai Pearl on the foundation-building strongman?"
"Confused."
Ye Yingxu immediately shook his head, and then said: "If it is given to a Foundation Establishment expert, the clan leader will not be sure to take it away. Do you think the clan leader will still fight hard with them at that time?"
Ye Chongyun hesitated for a moment, and after a long time he said: "The enemy is strong and I am weak. If I am not sure of getting the Canghai Pearl back, then I can only give up."
"That's right." Ye Yingxu nodded, and then said: "Once the Canghai Pearl falls into the hands of young people like us, the clan leader will not be able to give up the Canghai Pearl."
"In order to ensure that you can take the Cang Hai Pearl back or hand it over to him, he will definitely engage in a fierce battle with the other Foundation Establishment cultivator."
"As long as the clan leader doesn't run away, those hostile foundation-building cultivators will not take the Cang Hai Pearl from you, because once the Cang Hai Pearl is recovered by them, the clan leader will definitely give up entanglement with them and run away directly."
"Now, do you understand?"
Ye Chongyun was a little confused after hearing this, and it was not until a moment later that he roughly understood something.
So he couldn't help scratching his head, frowning and saying: "Doesn't that mean that this Canghai Pearl will definitely fall into the hands of my Ye family?"
"Instead of going through so many twists and turns, they might as well just hand over the Cang Hai Pearl to me."
Ye Yingxu did not answer. He lingered there for a moment, then said thoughtfully, "Some things are not that simple. Since the other party dared to make such a move, I'm afraid their apparent strength far exceeds ours."
"In this battle, the pressure on the clan leaders is probably greater than we expected."
At this point, Ye Yingxu thought of Ye Linyuan's soaring luck, and the pressure in his heart could not help but ease again: "Yes, if he can't even pass this level, I don't think the ancestor will have such luck."
Putting the thought in his mind aside and calming down, Ye Yingxu arranged for his tribesmen to rest.
"..."
Early the next morning, they set off again, heading all the way to the Heikui Islands.
They fought their way to the deep sea on the edge of the Heikui Islands and then to the outside of the Conch Islands.
After many years, the conch clan here has disappeared, and they were replaced by a group of demons called white-feathered sparrows. They have been living and multiplying here for decades, and there are nearly a hundred of them, including a demon beast that has reached the great perfection of Qi training.
At this time, facing the attack of the crowd, this group of white-feathered birds did not dare to be negligent and had long since fled to the depths of the void.
Although those Qi-cultivating perfected cultivators rushed over before them, they only had time to capture a few Qi-cultivating monsters, and most of the rest of the white-feathered birds escaped.
"The Spirit Bird Clan is indeed not easy to deal with."
Seeing that most of the white-feathered birds had fled, Ye Chongyun couldn't help but shook his head with some regret.
He ordered the army to the outskirts of the Conch Islands for final repairs, and then looked at Ye Yingxu, only to find that Ye Yingxu was staring at the place in a daze.
"what happened?"
Ye Chongyun couldn't help but ask.
Ye Yingxu shook his head, and then said: "I heard that this place used to have the Five Elements Returning to Origin, but now it seems to have changed a bit."
"Change?" Ye Chongyun was slightly stunned.
Ye Yingxu nodded, and then said: "The ground veins here have changed, turning into the sea tide terrain recorded in the making."
Ye Chongyun was a little confused and couldn't help asking, "What's so special about this kind of terrain?"
"It can bless water-attributed formations." Ye Yingxu spoke calmly, then took a deep breath, looked at Ye Chongyun helplessly and said, "In order to prevent others from calculating, there are some things that the clan leader cannot say clearly."
"He asked you to bring me along this time because he was worried that you, with your stupid head, wouldn't be able to see through the layout of this place."
Having said this, Ye Yingxu took a deep breath and said, "Forget it. When the battle starts, just run to this place and Xuanling Island."
After resting for a night at the Conch Five Islands, now the White Feather Five Islands, the army continued its march towards the Heikui Islands.
They fought their way into the Heikui Islands, and Ye Chongyun ordered according to the plan: "Everyone spread out to hunt the monsters. Whoever can find information about the Canghai Pearl will be rewarded heavily by my Ye Immortal Clan."
At the same time, Ye Linyuan in the depths of the sky saw this scene and couldn't help but said thoughtfully: "The scene today is almost exactly the same as it was back then."
"The opponent's layout is somewhat similar to Minghuang Jianzi's. I just don't know whose method will be better in the end."
"I think that Xuanling Sanren must be behind all this, right?"
Zhou Yuwan frowned slightly, then sneered, "They want to recreate the battle of that year, but with such an open conspiracy, I'm afraid it's definitely not just the same layout as that year."
"I think they have some unexpected means in secret, right?"
Shui Hanqing nodded and said, "But they think we are here just for the Canghai Pearl, but they don't know our strength and true purpose is far more than that."
"In this battle, it all depends on which of us has the better trump card."
(End of this chapter)
