Sun Erlang did not answer Qiaogong's remark, for his limit lay far beyond this.
One hundred, two hundred, five hundred...
Only when the number of black puppets surging across the testing grounds exceeded a thousand did Sun Erlang stop summoning more, leaving Layman Qiaogong staring at him as though seeing a god.
Over a thousand black puppets clashed with one another, each employing a distinct fighting style so seamless that one could never tell a single mind was controlling them all.
Even after achieving this, Sun Erlang still had the bandwidth to chat with Qiaogong.
"Senior is joking. I am the Sacred Emperor's eldest disciple. When we march upon the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals in the future, I will command as marshal, not fight as a mere general. Besides, strong though these puppets are..."
"I am no weakling either."
Confidence rang in Sun Erlang's voice. "Controlling these puppets can simply be left to my subordinates. I refuse to believe the Sacred Army puppets Senior crafts could outnumber the soldiers of our Sacred Dynasty."
Qiaogong waved a hand, his face etched with disdain. "No, no, no, you've misunderstood, kid. I'm not talking about these ordinary Sacred Army puppets. I mean something like this..."
As he spoke, rays of black light flashed, and the thousand-plus puppets Sun Erlang had summoned vanished from the testing grounds one after another.
In their place, a spatial rift tore open, and a colossal puppet—radiating golden light like the Hall of Heroic Spirits in the skies of the Sacred Dynasty—descended into the space.
A mysterious, majestic aura swept through the entire proving ground.
The surrounding seals rattled under the immense impact, creaking as if on the verge of shattering at any second.
The golden puppet's eyes locked onto Sun Erlang, looking down like a deity gazing upon the mortal realm—cold and detached.
Pinned under that gaze, Sun Erlang actually experienced the illusion of standing before his master.
"This is..."
Sun Erlang turned to Layman Qiaogong in surprise.
Qiaogong said with no small amount of pride, "This is the true puppet that represents the pinnacle of my craftsmanship. Those black Sacred Army puppets just now are nothing more than standard-issue goods—consumable fodder for war.
"Think about it. How could I comfortably let you test something truly high-end without any preparation?"
Sun Erlang felt a momentary embarrassment at those words, but his attention soon returned to the golden puppet standing quietly before him.
"Senior, how strong is this puppet?"
Qiaogong said proudly, "I'm not trying to deflate you, Kid Sun. You may be the Sacred Emperor's eldest disciple, but if it came down to a real fight, I doubt you'd even be a match for this puppet."
Sun Erlang narrowed his eyes, yet did not speak to refute him.
Qiaogong continued, "This puppet is nothing like the mass-produced models. Every single one is crafted by my own hands, and the Sacred Emperor himself..."
Qiaogong paused and chuckled slyly. "Heh, all you need to know is that these golden puppets are exceedingly precious. Even if we poured in the entire Sacred Dynasty's resources, no more than ten could ever be built.
"Likewise, the requirements to control it are vastly higher. Earlier, I was fretting over where to find someone suitable to pilot it. Who knew you were hiding your real strength...
"If you can control over a thousand mass-produced puppets at once, then controlling five golden puppets shouldn't be an issue."
"The gap is that wide?" Sun Erlang asked with a frown.
"Heh, you'll know once you try." Qiaogong pushed a golden sphere into Sun Erlang's sea of consciousness.
Boom!
The scene before his eyes shattered, and in an instant, he seemed to shift from the testing grounds into an endless, dark sea of stars.
Ahead of him, two colossal spheres of reddish gold radiated blazing heat and brilliance.
Sun Erlang was drawn toward them unconsciously. Only when he drew close did he realize with a start that these were the two eyes of the golden puppet!
His consciousness was instantly drawn in. When Sun Erlang came back to his senses, he stared in a daze at his own hands.
He could no longer feel his original shell.
His present body had actually become that golden puppet.
And what was more...
Sun Erlang could clearly perceive a surge of unknown, torrential power coursing through him.
"This is..."
While he was lost in astonishment, Qiaogong's voice echoed beside his ears. "I'm going to transport you to the void outside the Daqi pocket world, into a special hunting ground. There, you can test this puppet body to your heart's content."
The surrounding space warped, and in an instant, Sun Erlang arrived in a pitch-black void.
In the distance, he could vaguely make out the Sacred Dynasty encircled by numerous pocket worlds.
"Roar!"
A silver-scaled giant python spanning ten thousand zhang lunged out from nowhere, gaping its bloody maw.
In the next breath, it was about to swallow the golden puppet whole.
Yet Sun Erlang mounted no defense, merely letting a faint luminescence drift from the puppet's surface.
As if ignited by flames, the silver-scaled python wailed as it turned to ash, dying in agony.
The python's death was like a stone tossed into a pond, stirring wave after wave of ripples.
Over a hundred unknown ferocious beasts surged from the darkness, charging at Sun Erlang with no semblance of sanity.
Sun Erlang could clearly sense that every one of these ferocious beasts specially bred by the Sacred Dynasty possessed strength no weaker than a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Yet faced with their coordinated assault...
Sun Erlang extended his left hand and swept it lightly through the air, as if plucking the strings of a zither.
Ripples surged across space.
The ferocious beasts, still radiating monstrous malevolence, froze with the expressions they had held in life. In an instant, their bodies were dismantled into countless fragments, raining down into the void.
"The power of laws."
"The law of space."
Sun Erlang quietly looked at his left hand as understanding dawned upon him.
Even as this enlightenment struck, he vaguely saw a silhouette hidden within his body.
"A Soul of Heaven and Earth?"
Even after unleashing such a lethal strike, Sun Erlang, piloting the golden puppet, felt no fatigue whatsoever.
The energy contained within the puppet seemed boundless.
"A puppet stronger than a Dao Integration cultivator?"
Sun Erlang was certain that the seemingly effortless stroke just now would be enough to severely wound a Xuanhuang Realm Dao Integration cultivator.
And this was still far from the puppet's mechanical limits.
"No wonder Senior Qiaogong said I wouldn't be its match."
Amid his unspeakable shock, a sense of despondency crept into his heart.
He was the Sacred Emperor's eldest disciple, showered with limitless resources, blessed with miraculous encounters from the Taiyan Sect...
Yet in the end, was he inferior to some casually built puppet?
If so, what was the meaning of his cultivation?
While he was lost in wild thoughts, the golden puppet flickered, and he was back inside the testing grounds.
Sun Erlang was ejected from the puppet's frame, returning to his true self.
Frail.
An extreme sense of contrast instantly welled up inside him.
"Heh, took a hit to your pride, didn't you, kid? There's really no need.
"The sheer resources we poured into this golden puppet could forcibly stack an ordinary cultivator all the way to Dao Integration."
Qiaogong clapped Sun Erlang on the shoulder. "I'm sure you felt it too: within every puppet resides the power of a Soul of Heaven and Earth. With such a soul serving as its core, these puppets fight like fish in water within the Xuanhuang Realm's environment, gaining nearly a one-third boost in combat strength.
"Furthermore, if the same person controls multiple puppets..."
Qiaogong's tone suddenly grew excited. "The puppets can borrow the law power from each other's Souls of Heaven and Earth!
"In a short burst, their combat strength can multiply several times over!"
Sun Erlang stared at the majestic golden puppet standing like a deity back in the testing space, speechless.
"In the future, a clash between the Sacred Dynasty and the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals is inevitable. What truly determines the course of the war will be high-end combat power. How many Dao Integration cultivators does the Alliance have? At least near a thousand. And how many disciples does the Sacred Emperor have?
"Besides, you're all still too young. Compared to those veteran Dao Integration experts of the Alliance, you might not come out on top. The Sacred Emperor can hardly take the field in person just to deal with every Dao Integration enemy, can he?" Layman Qiaogong's voice turned faint and wistful.
"At the highest realms, whoever reveals themselves first is the first to expose a flaw. Kid, you must be mentally prepared. In the coming war, the Sacred Emperor will likely not intervene lightly."
Sun Erlang nodded. "I understand this truth, of course."
"With these golden puppets, we can drastically shift the balance of power between us. Kid Sun, do you want to give it a try?" Qiaogong asked.
"As long as you can control three at once, besieging and slaying an Alliance Dao Integration cultivator will be effortless," Qiaogong promised.
Sun Erlang nodded slowly.
...
Upon the Holy Emperor Throne.
The dialogue between his eldest disciple and Qiaogong naturally did not escape the Sacred Emperor's eyes and ears.
The golden puppets utilized Source Power essence combined with Xuanhuang Souls of Heaven and Earth as their core, turning the ordinary into the miraculous. Through sheer resources, they had forged puppets capable of crushing Dao Integration combat power.
The inspiration, of course, had come from Tianyang.
In fact, after being modified by Golden Source Power and Qiaogong, Tianyang's own strength had already surpassed Dao Integration, reaching the Longevity realm. Furthermore...
He was not far from reaching the mortal limit.
Regrettably, some invisible shackle seemed to exist in the unseen depths. The path of advancement Tianyang had walked could not be replicated in other puppets.
Even with an identical crafting blueprint, subsequent puppets were inherently weaker than Tianyang by an entire major realm.
Aside from Tianyang's special circumstance of having transformed his own body into a puppet, Li Ping surmised there was an even deeper principle at play.
"The first to tread the path exhausts its Dao. Just like attaining the realm of a Nameless True Immortal, a path allows no intrusion from others. It is the same for these puppets.
"Only the restrictions seem even harsher."
Still, with Tianyang and these current golden puppets at his disposal, Li Ping was already well satisfied.
War, in the end, was a contest of who held more trump cards.
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals was undeniably unfathomable, but what he could deploy was far from meager.
Besides, Qiaogong was wrong on one point.
"The truly strong do not lack weaknesses.
"They simply do not fear others exploiting those weaknesses."
In this coming war against the Alliance, he would by no means remain hidden behind the scenes forever.
Otherwise, how could he be worthy of the title of Sacred Emperor?
"Chuanfa."
Li Ping sat in silence, yet his gaze pierced the vault of heaven and reached beyond the Xuanhuang Realm.
In his hand, he toyed with a brilliant, seven-colored crystal.
A Kongming Flowing Crystal.
Through the records sensed by the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, Li Ping had already preliminarily grasped the Alliance's Rainbow Light escape technique.
He decided that before the war began, he would borrow a puppet body to journey into the depths of the star sea.
Not to spark an early war with Chuanfa, but to comprehend the Dao within the star sea.
"In this war, I shall prevail."
The Sacred Emperor's conviction had never once wavered.
...
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Within the space of the Dharma Formulation Jade.
Sensing the faint conviction transmitted from his clone, Li Fan nodded slightly.
Although his perception of the Sacred Emperor had grown increasingly faint as the latter's strength deepened, the Sacred Emperor's course of action remained firmly aligned with the intended direction.
Combined with the contingencies he had left behind, Li Fan was not worried about losing control.
Furthermore, as long as the goal of forcing out Chuanfa was met, it would be enough.
As for the rest...
With a single thought of Truth-Attainment, all would be vanity.
Sitting in isolation within the Dharma Formulation Jade for so long, drawing upon the continuous insights flowing from both the Sacred Emperor and the Sacred Embryo, Li Fan himself had reaped immense benefits.
In particular, from across the star sea where he had touched higher laws transcending the limits of Xuanhuang, Li Fan had developed deeper thoughts regarding his future path.
"Though bound beneath the shackles of the new method, one can forge an alternative path.
"The system created by Chuanfa relies on the Xuanhuang Realm itself. If one builds an entirely new foundation out in the starry sky, one won't be subject to those constraints.
"However, doing so forfeits the support of Xuanhuang. There are pros and cons. Moreover, resources in the starry sky are scarce; to truly achieve something, I may have to rely on the Xuan Celestial Vessel.
"And there is also that invisible high wall.
"It seems to be a power completely distinct from the system of the Pitch-Black Star Sea. Yet since it can suppress the power of a True Immortal, its might is readily apparent. If I can draw upon it, it might serve as a trump card in a future battle against Chuanfa.
"My only concern is..."
Li Fan frowned slightly. "Chuanfa and the Heavenly Physician left the Xuanhuang Realm far earlier than I did. Their talents also surpass mine.
"All the insights I've uncovered so far, they surely discovered long ago.
"So these supposed advantages... are no advantages at all.
"..."
"It seems only by truly fighting a battle will I know the truth."
It had to be said that with the increasing number of reincarnations, the mysterious veils cloaking Chuanfa and the Heavenly Physician were gradually being peeled away. Li Fan had shifted from avoiding them at all costs in the beginning to wanting more and more to probe them now.
And from there to truly defeating them—perhaps that day was no longer far off.
Li Fan's thoughts then turned to the cat treasure found by the Sacred Emperor clone.
If there was anything in this lifetime he cared about above all else, it was this treasure from beyond the high wall, which had never been fished up before.
"The angler is also angled..."
A strange light flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
The unusual reaction of the entire Crossing Adversity Sect toward the cat treasure had given Li Fan much food for thought.
However, it remained mere conjecture for now.
The Sacred Emperor clone had likewise sensed this anomaly.
His trip to the Yishi Sect to collect the obliterating wind calamity and the remains of the Archmage had also been motivated by this consideration.
...
While Li Fan was deep in thought, the long-standing tranquility within the space of the Dharma Formulation Jade was suddenly broken.
Someone had come to visit.
It was none other than Sun Luyuan of the Sun Clan.
"Lu'er, joyous news, wondrous news!"
After greeting the other two Dao Integration garrisons, Sun Luyuan spoke to Li Fan.
"I know."
Li Fan's response gave Sun Luyuan a brief pause.
"Through bloodline resonance, how could I not know?"
"How is Ningjiu?" Li Fan asked, seemingly suppressing a smile at the corner of his lips.
Sun Luyuan sighed softly. "Ningjiu has unfortunately perished. Fortunately, the child is unharmed. That is also why I took so long to come find you; I feared you wouldn't be able to take it."
Changing the subject, Sun Luyuan said, "Do you know just how extraordinary that little child is? Born into Dao Integration..."
Chapter 1260