Capture One for Study

Upon scanning the Foundation Establishment Heavenly Venerable standing in Bai Qiuran's Sea of Consciousness, the Heavenly General Puppet drew its sword Bai Qiuran without saying a word.

His sword strike carried the power to split mountains and cleave seas. As he swung the sword, golden light emanated from his entire chest cavity, a powerful True Essence flowing from his Purple Mansion —this Puppet truly intended to kill Bai Qiuran.

Bai Qiuran clasped his hands together, catching the Heavenly General Puppet's sword with his bare hands. At the same time, the Puppet that were originally aiming at the Void Vessel opened fire on Bai Qiuran and his companions.

At almost face-to-face range, various powerful spells, projectiles, Flying Sword, Gang Qi attacked the three of them. In that fraction of a second, Bai Qiuran's thoughts raced and a plan formed in his mind.

The entire spacetime seemed to pause for a moment, but no one noticed. The next instant, countless attacks slammed into the Void Vessel, and in the massive explosion, the ship was reduced to rubble and a pile of books.

Please wait a moment.

Bai Qiuran's voice rang out from a distance, and the Puppet's heads all turned, some even turning 360 degrees, looking straight in the direction from which the voice came.

Over there, Bai Qiuran held Jiang Lan in one arm and Tang Ruowei in the other, with Wisdom Immortal hanging from his belt, and beneath his feet stood a Divine Sword that shimmered with blue light like the vast Vast Sea.

"We have not been Consciousness Demon Body Seizure."

Bai Qiuran said, "The Consciousness Demon in this Sea of Consciousness is the Consciousness Demon that we controlled after we Body Seizure."

Upon hearing his words, the Puppet seemed momentarily confused. Then, the Heavenly General Puppet that initiated the attack spoke in a mechanical voice, "According to the highest command, eliminate all Consciousness Demon! Consciousness Demon must die! Annihilate the target!"

Damn it.

Bai Qiuran stomped her foot.

"He who does not listen to others is not worthy of being called a son."

But his angry curses were obviously useless; the Puppet turned around and attacked him.

Bai Qiuran raised his leg and kicked away several close-combat Puppet that rushed towards him. Then, he transformed into a streak of blue light on his sword, passing through the Puppet army at an extremely fast speed. He weaved through the middle of the Puppet ranks, then turned around and fled into the depths of the Consciousness Domain without looking back.

The Puppet chased after it for a while, but the Sword Light was too fast. In the vast and boundless Consciousness Domain, they quickly lost sight of their target. When they turned around to count the number of people in their ranks, they found that the Heavenly General Puppet who gave the orders was no longer there.

The Sword Light continued to fly until it reached the Material World where the Immortal Realm Survey Ship was docked. Bai Qiuran then used the sword to enter the Material Plane and found the Immortal Realm research team that was investigating and sampling the Ruin.

These Immortals are very efficient. In the Heavenly Timing that Bai Qiuran was away, they had already pulled an Ancient City out of a folded space. Currently, the Ancient City is floating in the universe using their Immortal Arts, and the Immortals are studying the remnants of this civilization on it.

Bai Qiuran went directly to Red Dust Immortal Elder. Seeing that Bai Qiuran's expression was not right, Red Dust Immortal Elder hurriedly asked, "Grandmaster, what's wrong? You look so rushed. Did you encounter something on your trip?"

"Um."

Bai Qiuran nodded.

"We encountered a Consciousness Demon under the command of the Taste Desire Venerable, and then followed the clues to find the Taste Desire Venerable. However, we also discovered a new force..."

He told the Red Dust Immortal Elder about the Puppet Legion he had encountered, and with a wave of his hand, he took something out of his spatial storage.

"Look, this is the kind of guy."

What Bai Qiuran took out from his spatial storage was the Heavenly General Puppet that had attacked him first with its sword. In the instant he caught the blade barehanded, Bai Qiuran activated Time Stop to dodge the attack, and at the same time, he sensed the location of the Souls controlling this Puppet. After his attempts to reason with it failed, Bai Qiuran rushed into the Puppet army, captured it, and sealed its Souls in Soul-Suppressing Stone specially produced in the Ghost Realm.

"This kind of thing..."

The Red Dust Immortal Elder was slightly startled. He circled the Puppet twice, then reached out and drew a line on its chest.

He unleashed his most proficient Spatial Divine Ability, temporarily separating the outer shell of the Puppet's Immortal Emperor to reveal the complex mechanical structure inside the chest cavity, as well as the Puppet's Purple Mansion.

"This Purple Mansion is man-made..."

Looking at the nascent Nascent Soul sleeping in the Purple Mansion, and the Houtu Continent that had already taken shape beneath Nascent Soul feet, the Red Dust Immortal Elder's heart sank.

"The Houtu Realm is entirely within the realm of our Immortal Realm."

"This Puppet is clearly connected to Shuhua."

Bai Qiuran added, "No one knows what kind of Thought Imprint he applied to that Consciousness when he was creating that [weapon]. It could have been a well-thought-out decision made under rational circumstances, or it could have been a desperate act of self-destruction. Considering that Shuhua was nearing his end at the time, the latter is probably more likely... Moreover, I tested them. These Puppet don't seem to have much hostility towards material beings, but they exhibit extremely strong aggression when facing Consciousness Demon, as if they were born to kill Consciousness Demon. After scanning the Foundation Establishment Heavenly Venerable within my Sea of Consciousness, no matter how I explained, they resolutely launched an attack on me."

"That's it."

The Red Dust Immortal Elder said, "Currently, almost all the elites and pillars of the Immortal Realm have cultivated their own Consciousness Demon Clone using your method of splitting Consciousness Demon, Grandmaster."

"Let's put that aside for now. Our most important task right now is to tell Zhentian this news."

Bai Qiuran looked the Red Dust Immortal Elder up and down.

"By the way... Mo Chen, you haven't developed Consciousness Demon Clone, have you?"

"This disciple is of dull aptitude and has not yet mastered the art of creating a clone."

The Red Dust Immortal Elder said with shame.

Bai Qiuran naturally didn't believe his modesty.

Of Bai Li's disciples, only these three have survived to this day. Over time, Bai Qiuran has come to know them somewhat.

The disciple of the Red Dust Immortal Elder was quite modest. In fact, he would be a first-rate Immortal Emperor no matter where he was placed. His Spatial Arts was almost unmatched, but he always felt that his aptitude was not good enough.

He still doesn't have Consciousness Demon Clone, not because he can't learn Thought Splitting, but mostly because he and Le Zhentian have other plans in the Immortal Realm.

Although Le Zhentian was relatively humble in front of Bai Qiuran, he was more like his master, approachable, able to rally and rally his team, and he also had far more witty remarks than his junior brother.

As for the Immortal Emperor Shuhua, Bai Qiuran only saw his mentally challenged side after losing his memory and thinking ability. However, judging from the things he left behind, it was not unreasonable for Bai Li and the others to say that the Immortal Emperor Shuhua was most like him.

At least he, like Bai Qiuran, enjoys tinkering with all sorts of strange gadgets.

"These Immortals in the expedition team also did not have Consciousness Demon Clone."

Seeing that Bai Qiuran's gaze was fixed on the other Immortals in the expedition team, the Red Dust Immortal Elder added another sentence.

"Very good."

Bai Qiuran.

"Then you shall remain here and continue your research on the Ruin... Bring the research vessel into the Material Plane. Do not leave it in the Void, nor go out. Wait for my message. I will return to meet you as soon as I am back."