Chapter 1517 - 1077: Puppet City (Part 2)

Chapter 1517: Chapter 1077: Puppet City (Part 2)

Yun Shu, not understanding, followed and leaned over to take a look, curiously asking, "Is there a problem? I see many places are empty."

Pointing to the cliff-like mountain of thousands of meters below, she helplessly said, "Look at all those piled-up parts, they’re all broken and worn out."

"No! They weren’t corroded and fallen!" Yun Ying exclaimed excitedly, "These parts were deliberately removed! It’s the power core of the entire city! Sorry, I’m too excited, I’m not sure if I’m expressing clearly.

I mean—the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect had forged a power source capable of making a city this big respond to commands!

It’s not the Spirit Stones or Immortal Jade we use, it’s some kind of power source currently unknown, shaped like a real heart! This means the treasure Qing Niao described that allows puppets to absorb Spiritual Energy on their own truly exists!"

Jiang Yuan leaned over to take a look, thinking this must be the core marked in the system details—Puppet’s Heart.

"Uh, what if, like us, this is just a power slot?" Yun Shu compared it to the hollow on her arm, saying, "Insert Immortal Jade, and it can provide the power to move."

"Absolutely not!" Yun Ying flatly refused, gesturing to the size, "See how small this is in total? How many Immortal Jade can it hold? Our bodies driven by Immortal Jade consume so much!

Compared to such a large human-shaped Puppet City, even if you filled the entire cavity with Immortal Jade, it wouldn’t be enough to make it move!

So, it must be some more advanced Magical Treasure, perhaps even at the Divine Artifact Level, just like a cultivator’s Spirit Root, it can absorb Spiritual Energy, store it internally, and continually replenish even as it is consumed during use.

Look again at the edges of this hollow, they are not fractures caused by corrosion or destruction. This is where a critical core was, an irreplaceable part that the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect couldn’t bear to discard and took away!"

As she spoke, her eyes shone brightly with hope as she gazed at the damaged city, whispering as if in prayer, "If only we could find any information about the core, even just a drawing, it would be a tremendous gain!"

A strong wind swept over the yellow sand, through the complex network of the Puppet City, filled with all sorts of buildings.

She took a few steps forward, peering into a room through the remnants of a broken wall, vaguely seeing that it once was a traditionally decorated bedroom. The bed, tables, and chairs were decaying in place, with decorative puppet runes carved into the walls.

It was evident that the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect withdrew in quite a hurry, leaving some books on the bookshelf in the room.

Impatiently, Yun Ying squeezed in, wanting to see the papers and notes left by the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect. However, as soon as her fingers touched the pages and bamboo slips, they crumbled into pieces. Just like this remnant city, the frame seemed intact but was actually long rotten inside.

"What a pity, such a pity! These are items left by countless generations of Puppet Masters, even if only insignificant design drafts, they are of great value to me!" She was extremely frustrated, yet every book was untouchable.

Meanwhile, the spread-out papers bore texts and drawings eroded by Demonic Energy, weathering, and yellow sand, leaving them illegible.

The light blue arrow still pointed silently, and Jiang Yuan called out, "This place is heavily invaded by Demonic Energy; nothing of value should remain here. We’d better enter the Secret Realm, maybe we can find clues there."

Indeed! What Qing Niao described, and what Mr. found, were Secret Realms!

With an Array blocking them, the Secret Realm left by the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect might not have been invaded by Demonic Energy yet!

Yun Ying was overjoyed, hastily leaving the wrecked city, following Yun Shu alongside Jiang Yuan as they walked diagonally down the cliff.

"What a spacious road, it looks like there used to be a roof, more like an internal passage in the Puppet City." As she walked and looked around, Yun Shu pointed at the few remaining parts of the roof, sighing, "It’s a pity it’s been so severely destroyed, now it’s more of an open road."

This road was too steep, like a giant slide, revealing the bottom’s top at a glance.

Like a wide-open pocket, sliding down might catch you perfectly.

[Secret Realm of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect: Inner Sect Disciples specialize in Refining Puppets, and even more so love designing and researching the creation of new Puppets. Therefore, the countless Puppet Masters of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect purchase all kinds of rare Refining Materials daily.

And designing and Refining new Puppets often requires multiple versions, continuous improvements to succeed. Failed attempts before a new Puppet succeeds, or old puppets discarded by the sect, all contain many recyclable rare materials.

But the wealthy and busiest Puppet Masters lacked the time to dismantle and recycle each one. The Sect Leader designated a small independent space for discarding these waste products as a ’Puppet Junkyard,’ offering sect disciples a place to discard their discarded items.

Accumulating over time, various puppets piled up in the small space like mountains. It eventually became a place for newly admitted disciples with fewer resources to collect Refining Materials and seek insights from the exquisite ideas of their predecessors, ultimately turning it into an entry-level Secret Realm.

Whenever new disciples enter the sect, they receive their first reward, allowing them to enter and search for recyclable finished puppets and Refining Materials here. Many disciples, faced with numerous samples, also derive new puppet crafting methods here.

However, as it’s not truly a treasure-rich Secret Realm, after the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect relocated entirely, this spot was abandoned. The Array around the Secret Realm was extremely simple, showing minor breaches, which allowed a little Demonic Energy infiltration]

Jiang Yuan continued moving downward, lifting his head to gaze at the "passage," and suddenly realized—it was, in fact, an entrance to a waste management plant! High Tier Puppet Masters tossed numerous scrapped and discarded puppets from the upper entrance directly into this so-called Secret Realm to pile them up.

This does explain why the treasures in Qing Niao’s memory would relate to this Secret Realm.

Presumably, before the puppet "charger" was designed and developed, it too underwent a series of updates and modifications, with likely discarded versions thrown in the Secret Realm!

As long as those versions of the charger are found, and with the system-supplied cheat item Information Collection Device to generate blueprints, everything will be easily resolved!

Thinking of all this, Jiang Yuan felt that this trip would likely solve their charging issues, his confidence surged as he rushed ahead to click and crack the Array on True Examination 100.

After about ten seconds of loading, he led Yun Shu and Yun Ying to click and enter the Secret Realm of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect.

"Buzz~"

The imagined scene of discarded machinery didn’t appear; instead, the light was gentle, seemingly breaking through a barrier with soft lighting. Jiang Yuan stood in front of a dreamlike beautiful scene, completely dazed.

Yun Shu and Yun Ying were also stunned, "Sir, where is this place?"

Among beautiful mountains and clean waters, a city was built on a misty mountainside, filled with blossoming flowers, people fishing by the stream, others working in the fields. Shops were bustling, with someone on a bamboo raft hawking apricot flower wine and seasonal fruits, painting a picture of a peach blossom paradise.

A scrap factory? Puppet City?

Not in the least!

Especially with the men, women, old and young moving through the city and fields, showing no signs of being puppets.

Of course, the appearances of Yun Shu and Yun Ying also looked no different from real people, but the key was they required Immortal Jade as a power source. In the Secret Realm, with so many puppets, where did they find so many Spirit Stones and Immortal Jade?

"Splash!"

A little girl emerged from the water on the grassy riverbank, her adorable twin buns tied with red ribbons, wearing a wet red bellyband. She wiped the water from her face, asking with a smile, "Where do you come from? Are you peddlers here to the Puppet City for supplies?"

The system didn’t give a prompt for an Illusion Realm attack, nor did any health bar light up; Jiang Yuan was momentarily confused by the situation.

If it’s not an Illusion Realm, the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect creating such an elegant and delightful waste dumping site is truly...baffling. Where are the discarded puppets? What about the loads of rarer materials to be recovered?

These beautiful green mountains and clear waters might be lovely, but there’s nothing here!

"Yes! What are the specialties of your Puppet City?" Yun Ying picked up the conversation, countering, "I see, your city is so pretty, nothing about it looks like a puppet, why name it so?"

The little girl giggled, "Specialties, well, handcrafted items, liquor, all sorts of fruits, everything we produce here is the best! It’s called Puppet City because, close to our city, there was once the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect.

Puppets used to frequently come here to trade, but they moved away long ago, leaving no puppets in the city but just the name remained."

She looked up, noticing the sun leaning west, and called, "I’ll call Uncle Niu to bring a boat to take you into the city!

Night is approaching quickly here, wild beasts come out after dark, and it’s very scary! So, we must get into the city before nightfall to be safe."

Then, with a splash, the little girl dived back into the water like a nimble red fish swimming away.

"What a strange place," Yun Shu whispered, "There’s no Spiritual Energy or Demonic Energy here, those seem to be real living people, yet something feels not quite right."