The Puppet

"What kind of person would do such a thing? What kind of grudge could they possibly have? Holy crap, every time I think about it, it makes me feel terrible."

The following night, in the tea room constructed by the system, Li Fan wrote furiously, transcribing the <<Tai Xuan Scripture>>, <<Yellow Heaven Book of Peace>>, and <Blood Record Heavenly Book Fragment> from memory. He then handed them to the Yin Yang Pisces Boy in front of him to read, all the while babble on and on, venting his shock at his worldview.

"At first, I was wondering what kind of demon this 'God Master' was! How could he come up with such a damn sorcery as skinning people alive! Ah, after all that, it turns out he didn't even have any skin to skin! Well! Now I completely understand the cult's ruthless approach to things! They've already crossed the line with this level of absurdity, what else wouldn't they do?"

Sigh... Honestly, I'm starting to really admire God now. Such a deep grudge, such intense hatred, it would probably have warped his personality, yet he simply took his revenge and ascended to heaven so easily, without even taking revenge on society or destroying humanity...

After finishing the celestial books, Li Fan took a breath and drank some wine from his teacup to calm himself down.

The Yang Fish Child hesitated, glancing at the Yin Fish Child. The Yin Fish Child also hesitated, glancing at the Yang Fish Child, before finally both looking at Li Fan.

Li Fan frowned, sensing that this matter was not simple. "What are you trying to say?"

Yin Fish Tongzi scratched his face, "Hmm... if the natives kill the company's special envoy, it will trigger the pest cleanup program, so this revenge might not be completed yet..."

Li Fan was dumbfounded. "What? You're saying the culprit isn't dead yet?! Are you kidding me?! This God Lord has been ascended for so many years! Wait! You're saying the God Lord's enemy is the company!"

Yang Fish Tongzi sighed, flicked his finger, and conjured up the model of the Divine Lord's meridians, bones, and Dao body that Li Fan had previously modeled and deduced using the system. But then his ten fingers flew, adding many auxiliary supports, steel needles, life-sustaining tubes, and artificial life-sustaining systems to the Divine Lord's deformed body.

Have you ever heard of mechanical immortality? A brain in a vat? Does this sound familiar?

"Holy crap!" Li Fan suddenly remembered that during the raid on the Legion's space station, the Thousand-Faced Immortal possessed him and stole one of his brains... No, wait! Could it be that...?

Yang Fish Tongzi explained, "To carve a human stick and maintain its functions for a long time, preventing fungal infections and tissue necrosis, is not as simple as just soaking it in a jar of medicinal wine. Look, the punctures in the internal organs here are probably for administering nutrient solutions, and this area has undergone neural nucleus modification. There's no mistake, it's a system technology, a human intelligent mechanization modification surgery. Although the SEC's Science Ethics Committee prohibits modification of indigenous people, there are still companies doing this kind of thing in private."

This outdated technology requires low-threshold equipment and is civilian technology that can be bought on the black market. Combined with some low-tech consumables that can be produced and distributed locally, it is often used to modify indigenous organisms as commodities or illegal employees. Some are even authorized to access independent systems on the company's subnet.

We know that the Legion members arrived later. In the era of the God, those who possessed such modification equipment and technology should have been the company's apostles."

Yin Fish Tongzi, arms crossed, added, "We also know that the company's apostles have been entrenched in the Central Plains, or rather, in the Three Enclosures Imperial City, parasitizing the immortal clans and families, secretly controlling the entire Immortal Palace. It turns out that the God Lord's true enemy is them. It seems that the Divine Cult's repeated conquests of the Central Plains are essentially aimed at the company. No wonder the Legion has joined forces with them."

Yang Fish Tongzi casually fiddled with the holographic image. "This model retains quite a few redundant parts. Actually, this kind of modification surgery only needs to preserve the brain tissue and nervous system. Perhaps it's due to limited surgical conditions. But like you said, it's so easy to just kill someone with one blow. Deploying these devices and life-sustaining fluids is very expensive. The person with this kind of technology and ability is unlikely to be a local recruited by the system. They're probably just a company employee on a business trip. However, to spend so many resources to perform an upgrade surgery on a native might not be simply out of hatred..."

Li Fan glared at them, "You've made such a mess, isn't it out of hatred?"

Yin Fish Tong Zi shrugged, projecting the god's face onto the screen. "She's probably fallen in love with him."

Holy crap! She's done this to him and she calls it falling in love??

Yin Fish Tongzi picked his nose. "You don't understand. As long as you're handsome enough, someone will love you. This man is so handsome, it's earth-shattering. How could he lack women around him? But people like this are very possessive. I think this company dog has really fallen in love. He's turned to hate because of love and specially arranged this kind of surgery. He probably wants to keep this handsome guy by his side forever, not just in this world, but also to project his consciousness to other planes so they can stay together forever."

Yang Fish Tongzi sighed, "It's very possible. You never know what kind of things some people are capable of doing in the name of love..."

Although we knew long ago that the company's apostles were hiding in the Central Plains and controlling the Immortal Palace, their specific identities were difficult to ascertain. This was because there were too many forces within the Immortal Palace, the political situation in the Three Enclosures was too complex and dangerous, the ruling families were often wiped out, and the ruling faction changed frequently. We were also unsure how the company had managed to stand firm amidst the turbulent struggles. Therefore, we initially suspected that they had a mysterious organization, such as a society or political party, that exercised a deep-seated government-like behind-the-scenes rule over the Immortal Palace.

Now it seems that the apostle from the same era as the God Lord was very likely a "she." Perhaps the company's influence is hidden in the Immortal Palace Imperial City of Ziwei Yuan. That way, it's not too far removed from power, allowing for influence, but also not too affected by political struggles..."

Yin Fish Tongzi shook his head. "Of course it could be him, but it's been so long. The local company's special envoys have probably been replaced several times over. I think the God Lord left so decisively because he's probably going to chase after an enemy or a lover."

Li Fan was completely dumbfounded, his worldview was trembling. What kind of twisted, abusive love story was this?!

Yin Fish Tong Zi snapped his fingers twice in front of Li Fan to bring him back to his senses. "Alright, stop being so shocked. Other people are hell. The God Lord is a mess created by the company, it has nothing to do with us. Li Fan, you have more important things to do. The progress in collecting the Heavenly Book is quite good, but haven't you been dragging your feet on some tasks for too long?"

Yang Fish Tongzi nodded, "For example, raising fish."

Li Fan, "..."

Honestly, Li Fan was speechless. Why did these two systems value aquatic products so much?

"I've been feeding those two fish with feed, giving them extra food and energy, and they've grown big and fat. But how can an animal so easily transform into a demon? Can't you guys have a little patience...?"

Yin Fish Tong Zi shook his head. "It's not that we're in a hurry, it's that you're progressing too fast, and you're involved in too many things. Your predecessor died after only passing the second assassination attempt, and you're already on your nth?"

We originally thought that after you broke through to the Golden Core, you would have ten or twenty years to cultivate peacefully in Ink Bamboo Mountain, raise fish, and we could come and help. But we never expected you to get directly involved in the feuds and vendettas between the Central Plains forces. We can only watch from the sidelines."

Li Fan was momentarily surprised. "You guys actually want to help me? Turn into a fish? I appreciate your kindness, but I think my current battle is beyond your reach."

"How about this, I'll cultivate two Carp Tai Su Dao Body, then use the Tai Xuan Dao model to research the cultivation methods of demon bodies and accelerate their evolution, okay?"

"You decide what to do. The assistance we can offer you right now is very limited, mostly just technical and intelligence support. However, if the God Lord was inspired to comprehend the Primordial Spirit Method because he had contact with the system network, then perhaps he has thought of a way to harmonize and link the system and Primordial Spirit signals together... I have a new idea that you can try."

Yang Fish Tongzi operated the system, eliminating all the superfluous skeletal organs from the God-Master simulation system, leaving only the neural network. Then, he selected Li Fan's Dao body model and input some golden code, like stitches, to perfectly coordinate the two neural maps of the God-Master and Li Fan, finally converging them into a strange embryo composed of red blood vessels. The embryo contracted, overlapped, integrated, and transformed into a red capsule.

What is this?

"The hacker viruses used to deal with the system are called 'magic puppets' where we're from. It's like a packaged intrusion protocol. Once implanted into the other party's system, it can hack into the system and run the pre-written hacking program to control or destroy it," Yang Fish Tongzi explained. "You lack the attack methods of the Yuan Shen technique, right? Of course, this can't be considered an attack yet. It's just a prototype program. After you scan the target with your Gu Guan Method Divine Sense and lock onto it, you will project the Divine Sense puppet into the other party's divine court to form an imprint."

This puppet will act like a virus—no, a demon—interfering with the opponent's primordial spirit. I directly copied the God Lord's data package and borrowed his 'code,' so theoretically, a cultivator who gets infected will probably experience what the God Lord felt like when he was trapped in a jar, right? Anyway, give it a try. If there are no technical problems, we have quite a few useful hacking tools that we can package and send to you."

Holy crap, the Black man's spirit is so awesome...

Li Fan held the pill, frowning slightly. "By the way, you're not going to use this virus to control me, are you?"

Yin Fish Tong Zi chuckled, "Then this isn't a problem that can be solved technically, but rather a problem of trust."

So here's the question, Li Fan: do you trust us?

"... So far, you haven't done anything to lose my trust. And I'm not trapped in a jar, so I'll take the gamble."

Li Fan glanced at the two boys in front of him who looked like his own shadows, shrugged, and downed the medicine in one gulp with his wine.

Opening his eyes, Li Fan's view returned to the earth god temple, a dilapidated building where a cold wind blew quietly.

Li Fan was able to observe through his inner vision that in his crowded divine court, there was another blood-red infant, seemingly born prematurely, curled up in the arms of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul with its eyes tightly closed. The Daoist Qiongqi, the rabbit, the Guiche, and the Five Mountain Gods all clearly expressed their disgust and fear towards this new tenant. Even Kun darted over, bulging its eyes to look, and then swam away with its tail wagging.

Yuepo was speechless. "Pharmacist, your comprehension is too outrageous... You've managed to comprehend the Divine Sect's Primordial Spirit Method in just a few fragments, two nights and a day?"

Li Fan shrugged and said, "What can I do about being exceptionally talented? But why are you still calling me a pharmacist? Did you say I'm Qingyue?"

Yuepo said, "The one at the Sword Worship Shrine is the Pharmacist, so of course I'll call you Pharmacist. Pharmacist, let me remind you, this Blood Infant you've cultivated contains immense power and is extremely ferocious. It's not so easy to control; be careful of a backlash! It's safer to lock it up!"

Li Fan scratched his head. Whatever, the name doesn't matter. As for the blood infant...

"It's been imprisoned long enough already. Anyway, I have enough inherited demonic power, so one or two more won't make a difference. It's fine."

Li Fan waved his hand dismissively. "Are you kidding? A mere Blood Infant can't compare to the Thousand-Faced Immortal! Let it backfire if it's powerful enough; it'll be perfect for a showdown with the Thousand-Faced Immortal. But I wonder how effective this puppet the system gave me will be. Hopefully, someone foolish enough to test its power on me and see how formidable the Blood Infant is..."

Hey, you know what, it's like a pillow being delivered when you're sleepy. Li Fan casually scanned the area with his Divine Sense and actually discovered that there were cultivators fighting nearby again. Sigh, they're out robbing people in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. What a simple and honest folk.

So Li Fan immediately flew over to join the fun. He used his Divine Sense to investigate and found that it was a three-on-one fight. Three masked Golden Core cultivators in black attacked the post station outside the city, smashing things with magic weapons and bombarding it with Daoist magic. The person who was attacked was also Golden Core cultivator, but he obviously did not have Li Fan's one-on-one fighting skills. He was beaten bloody and could only run away in a sorry state.

Li Fan glanced at the post station, which had also been affected by the attack. Several houses were destroyed, two servants were dead, and many others were injured. He didn't care who was good or bad, or which side they belonged to. He took action directly, randomly pointing out a masked cultivator and locking him with his Divine Sense.

Then the blood infant, or the demonic puppet, suddenly opened its eyes, revealing a pair of large, bright yellow eyes. It grinned, and a cry like that of a wildcat suddenly came from the darkness. In an instant, it pounced into the void. The next moment, it pounced out from above the cultivator whose head Li Fan's Divine Sense had locked onto. It opened its mouth and smiled, reached out and grabbed a phantom from the cultivator's body, and swallowed it whole!

The masked man didn't react at all; he shuddered and fell from the sky, disappearing without a trace.

Huh? What does this mean? Wasn't it supposed to be hacking into the system to disrupt the primordial spirit's execution program or something? How come it was defeated in an instant? Could it be that the primordial spirit of Golden Core Stage cultivator is too weak?

Li Fan was momentarily distracted, and the blood infant had already pounced out again, pulling the souls of the other two masked men out of their bodies and devouring them!

Well, it's still an automatic attack. This brat is indeed quite fierce, devouring souls whole; no wonder other Dao bodies fear it. However, as a primordial spirit attack method, it can attack targets within the range of Divine Sense at an incredibly fast speed, almost like teleportation, unrestricted by space, and can cause real and effective primordial spirit damage. It's truly a formidable weapon. It's rare for the system to be so helpful, adding a primordial spirit damage skill!

With a thought, Li Fan summoned the Blood Infant back. The Blood Infant obeyed, pounced on the head of the person being chased, and then vanished into nothingness, curling up in the embrace of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul.

The man being chased had somehow escaped death, and was still kneeling on the ground, crying out for his life-saving grace and asking for a favor.

Li Fan was busy researching new skills and couldn't be bothered with this side quest. Without even showing himself, he slapped the other man twice across the face, sending him sprawling, and yelled, "If you're in trouble, deal with it yourself! Don't drag others into it!"

Then he turned around and flew back to the local temple.

The blood infant obeyed him, obediently nestled in the arms of the Gui Xu Nascent Soul, its bright yellow eyes fixed on the epiphyllum flower atop the Gui Xu Nascent Soul's head, drooling with delight.

It wants to eat the Three Flowers? No way, one Three Flowers costs 1200 per flower. Thinking about it carefully, since the Blood Infant can eat the Primordial Spirit, it can also eat the Tai Su Dao Body. Wouldn't it be perfect to feed the Blood Infant all the maximum emotional capacity?

Of course, Daoist Qiongqi has already advanced to the Nascent Soul Stage. Although he lost face in Guigu Valley, considering that Qiongqi has been relatively well-behaved recently, let's give him another chance.

However, the Five Mountain Gods Divine Body can be created with just a hundred points of maximum limit...

Cough cough, it's just a thought, you guys don't need to stay so far away...