The Operational Difficulty of the Raven Shadow Puppet

The moon was dark and the wind was high as the Gathering Place gradually fell silent.

It was already midnight, and the streets were completely empty.

Luo Ling carefully opened the window, lightly leaped out, and headed toward the place he had investigated during the day.

"That kid has left." Ghost Douluo's voice sounded from outside the window of a guest room.

"He finally came? He's quite cautious." Bibi Dong opened the window. "Let's go take a look, then."

"Looks like the kid doesn't have a Letter of Authorization and plans to sneak in." Ghost Douluo spoke blandly.

"Did you find any information on him?" Bibi Dong asked.

"I took his portrait to several nearby Martial Soul Hall Branches, but no one had ever seen him."

"Could he be from some major power?" Bibi Dong frowned.

"Doesn't look like it." Ghost Douluo shook his head.

Bibi Dong said nothing more. The two had already arrived not far from the Gathering Place, where Chrysanthemum Douluo had been waiting for quite some time.

All three extended their Spiritual Power toward Luo Ling, who was sneaking over from nearby.

Luo Ling was completely unaware of this.

Even if Luo Ling racked his brains, he would never have imagined that the Pope of Spirit Hall, accompanied by two Titled Douluo elders, was spying on him.

If Luo Ling had known, he would have cursed, Are you that bored with nothing better to do?

At that moment, Luo Ling was cautiously approaching the wire fence surrounding the Soul Hunting Forest.

The guards in the distance yawned sleepily.

Luo Ling came to a concealed bush and sat cross-legged, an eerie red glow rising in his eyes.

He entered the Soul Leaving Body state once more.

His shadowy spirit body slowly drifted toward the guards. When it reached them, red light also flickered in its eyes.

In only a moment, the guards swayed and collapsed, falling into a deep sleep.

"Is that a hypnosis ability?" Chrysanthemum Douluo spoke in surprise from afar.

A trace of astonishment appeared in Bibi Dong's eyes as well, but the next scene made all three of them change expressions.

The spirit body swiftly returned to Luo Ling's body. Luo Ling quickly arrived before the wire fence, and a pale yellow Soul Ring rose beneath his feet.

The Soul Ring lit up, and invisible Darkness Threads shot forth. Relying on the Darkness Threads, Luo Ling climbed directly up the wire fence and effortlessly vaulted over the full ten-meter-high barrier.

"This is..." Chrysanthemum Douluo trailed off. The Darkness Threads might have been invisible to others, but they could not escape their eyes. After all, Luo Ling was only a Soul Master.

Yet what shocked the three of them was not the Darkness Threads, but the Soul Ring on Luo Ling's body and the dark aura he gave off.

"This isn't that Psychic type Martial Soul!" Ghost Douluo suddenly said.

As the owner of a pure darkness-type Martial Soul, Ghost Douluo was exceptionally sensitive to the power of darkness. The power in the Darkness Threads and the dark aura that had suddenly appeared were entirely different from that of the spirit body just now.

At that moment, all three realized something.

After exchanging glances, they spoke in unison, "Twin Martial Souls?"

Bibi Dong's expression finally turned serious. Looking at Ghost Douluo, she said, "Ghost Elder, investigate this kid again. You must uncover his identity!"

Then Bibi Dong turned to Chrysanthemum Douluo. "Chrysanthemum Elder, go wake Na Na. It's time that child got some nighttime training as well. We'll enter the Soul Hunting Forest together and meet this kid!"

Luo Ling knew nothing of what had happened outside.

After entering the Soul Hunting Forest, he found a relatively safe place and stopped.

He took out the information he had acquired from Yu Xiaogang.

He had scavenged quite a few good things from Yu Xiaogang's office, including plenty of theoretical materials. Most bore the mark of Spirit Hall, though there were some others as well.

Among them was a record of the soul beasts within this Soul Hunting Forest.

Luo Ling had originally planned to hunt for Soul Rings in the Star Dou Great Forest or Sunset Forest. After all, Psychic type soul beasts were difficult to find, until he came across this soul beast record.

It contained detailed records on the soul beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest, including one Psychic type soul beast.

The Netherworld Bird!

This was an extremely rare soul beast that appeared only at night. It was a dual-type darkness and psychic soul beast.

The Netherworld Bird possessed the ability to temporarily transform its physical body into a spirit body. It was also incredibly fast and extremely difficult to capture.

This was Luo Ling's target for coming here, and the reason he had set out at night.

After reading the information on the Netherworld Bird, Luo Ling put the book back into his pack. Looking at the several books and bag of Gold Soul Coins inside, he inexplicably felt a little regretful.

He had left Yu Xiaogang's office in a hurry. Though he had scavenged the place clean, he had not found Tang San's Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges. Otherwise, why would he need to carry things himself?

With a sigh, Luo Ling suddenly raised his head a few seconds later.

He summoned the Raven Shadow Puppet and tossed the pack to it.

He clearly had such a laborer, yet he had not thought of using it for so long!

The Raven Shadow Puppet was controlled through the Darkness Threads that came with the First Soul Skill Darkness Weaving, but it could still move without activating the First Soul Skill.

It could only carry out simple, foolproof commands then, just like a real puppet.

But carrying a pack did not require any complicated control.

After tossing the pack to the Raven Shadow Puppet, Luo Ling conjured three crows and scattered them around the surrounding area.

Crows were perfect as scouts. They consumed little Soul Power, and issuing simple patrol and follow commands did not take much mental effort.

Only after doing all this did Luo Ling officially venture into the depths of the Soul Hunting Forest.

The Soul Hunting Forest was more dangerous at night than during the day, but for the Netherworld Bird, Luo Ling had no choice but to become nocturnal.

Soul beasts hidden in the dark were difficult to detect. Fortunately, the crows possessed dark vision, while the Soul of Desire had granted Luo Ling the ability to see through darkness.

That was what allowed Luo Ling to move through the Soul Hunting Forest with ease.

As he controlled the Raven Shadow Puppet, Luo Ling encountered many soul beasts.

Mottled Cats, Solitary Bamboo, Gale Demon Wolves, and more.

Most were merely ten-year soul beasts, however, and were not difficult to handle.

As the battles continued, Luo Ling grew more and more proficient at controlling the Raven Shadow Puppet, but he also discovered a problem.

The Raven Shadow Puppet's First Soul Skill Darkness Weaving could be unleashed either by Luo Ling himself or by the Raven Shadow Puppet.

The Raven Shadow Puppet was controlled using Darkness Threads. If he wanted to control it in battle, he had to concentrate, which made it difficult for his own body to move.

If he used the Raven Shadow Puppet to control others through Darkness Threads as well, he would need to devote even more focus to it, leaving him even less attention for his own body.

Of course, if he had his own body fight alongside the Raven Shadow Puppet, it would be two against one, greatly increasing his combat strength.

But that required multitasking, and the consumption of Soul Power would increase greatly as well.

Thinking about how he might one day fight with his own body while using Darkness Threads to control others, while the Raven Shadow Puppet simultaneously used Darkness Threads to control even more people...

This was no longer merely multitasking. He had no idea how many things he would have to focus on at once!

Looking at the Soft Bone Rabbit bound by the Raven Shadow Puppet ahead, Luo Ling's mouth twitched slightly.

There was no doubt about the Raven Shadow Puppet's power, but its operational difficulty...

Luo Ling shook his head. Just thinking about it made his scalp tingle.

"Maybe I could consider joining the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and learn the Distraction Control Method?" Luo Ling suddenly thought of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect from the original work.

"With my talent, it wouldn't be hard to make a name for myself in the Soul Master Competition. Joining the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect might not be impossible..." Muttering to himself, he took out a dagger and instinctively stabbed it into the Soft Bone Rabbit's head.