The Six Great Powers of the Blood Sun Tribe

Similar to the beast tamer's situation, Wu Sheng's innate secret art "Mind Control" cast on Man Gu was a soul secret art leaning toward the puppet path, but its methods were more refined.

As the master, Wu Sheng held absolute command over Man Gu's physical body, able to make him fight or even self-destruct, yet he could not stray too far from him, or the innate secret art would automatically dissolve, restoring his freedom.

Moreover, his Mind Control slots were limited to two. To replace a puppet, he had to first remove the innate secret art from the previous puppet's soul.

Whether he removed it himself, had the puppet self-destruct, had it killed in battle (a passive removal), or let it dissolve automatically—any method worked. Only by freeing up a slot could he cast "Mind Control" on a new target.

At the same time, Wu Sheng could apply the laws and secret arts he had comprehended to his puppets. This was incredibly powerful, nearly rivaling the soul techniques of a Zerg Mother Queen.

A Zerg Mother Queen could impart her own law insights and secret arts to the Zerg warriors she created, granting them formidable strength.

The difference was that Wu Sheng's "Mind Control" slots were limited to two at most, and there was a risk of backlash.

It was still that hidden cave entrance, but now Wu Sheng had widened it to several dozen meters.

Bai Yu looked pitifully at the green-clad youth before him, but Wu Sheng remained unmoved.

Between them floated a red orb the size of a glass bead, inside which crouched a blood-red spider, exuding an evil aura.

Death or enslavement under a soul brand?

Bai Yu thought for a long time, then gritted his teeth and swallowed the red orb.

If someone could enter Bai Yu's sea of consciousness, they would see his soul—a miniature bird form—slowly being wrapped by strands of blood-red spider silk. When those silks covered his entire body, they flashed red and adhered to the surface of the miniature bird, like a layer of blood-colored secret patterns.

Only then did he open his eyes, a hint of dejection in his gaze.

Though it wasn't true soul enslavement, with this soul brand in place, he had lost half his freedom. From then on, he not only had to fight and die for the person before him but also could not stray too far, or the soul brand's self-destruction would be no joke.

"Alright, go keep watch at the cave entrance for me. After I finish cultivating, I'll discuss the next steps with you. Here are fifty sets of battle suits; take them for now!"

With the matter settled, Wu Sheng sent him to stand guard at the entrance while not forgetting to offer some rewards.

He took out fifty of the hundred-plus battle suits stripped from Man Gu and gave them directly to Bai Yu.

Though the quantity was small, it was a real morale boost for Bai Yu.

"Yes, yes! Thank you, master! Rest assured, master, this humble one will do his duty and let no one disturb your cultivation!"

Seeing his new master so generous, Bai Yu was overjoyed and cast aside his earlier displeasure.

After all, relying on his mediocre spiritual mind power to fight others, he could never earn so many battle suits in one go. He might even have his gains snatched away mid-battle, putting himself in danger.

Watching Bai Yu leave, Wu Sheng finally began to calmly use his innate secret art "Soul Devour." He intended to refine the three pure soul essences from the others besides Man Gu and Bai Yu, to further boost his strength.

Three days later, Wu Sheng opened his eyes, somewhat exhausted.

Enduring three consecutive journeys through others' dreams to temper his will was still too draining.

It was like watching a series of very real movies, where he was thrust into the protagonist's role, experiencing different lives—joy or sorrow. He would gain some insight from one, barely calming his mind, only to be dragged into the next real scene, forced to accept another life.

This extreme experience was dangerous. The slightest misstep could lead to permanent obsession or will backlash.

If Wu Sheng's will hadn't already broken through to the Star level, he wouldn't dare play this game.

But the benefits were enormous. The effect of three scene shifts on tempering his will far surpassed any single previous attempt, or even ten combined.

His will had now reached Star level, third tier, and his spiritual mind power was gradually approaching Planetary level, ninth tier.

"It seems I need to do more of this in the future. The higher I temper my will, the better. After all, for every major realm my will surpasses, the amplification of soul secret arts increases at least tenfold."

Wu Sheng muttered to himself. Though this method wasn't particularly fast, it was the only one he had for now. Since he hadn't encountered any so-called will bottleneck, he naturally planned to push his will to the Star level peak first.

"Hmm, six major forces! Blood Sun City, Thunder Star Mountain, Nine Spirits Society, Extreme Flame Realm, Cangming Valley—and dozens of Domain Lord families besides. These families seem like scattered sand, but in critical moments, they band together to resist the oppression of the other five forces, indirectly forming a sixth force."

This was the information he had gleaned from those three dreams. Though it didn't involve any secret arts, it gave him a solid understanding of the various forces in this trial ground.

Aside from the holy lands of the two Immortal Gods, the number of Domain Lords and Realm Lords in the other three organizations was no less than the former, because these organizations had colluded with forces outside the Blood Sun Tribe.

They acted as proxies for those external forces, giving the three organizations a certain say against the two holy lands and even the entire Blood Sun Tribe.

Next were the Domain Lord families. On the surface, each was independent, but behind the scenes, they engaged in activities that the two holy lands and three organizations despised, while maintaining intricate ties with the five major forces.

Every Blood Trial was a reshuffling of these forces and families. Through repeated slaughter, they gradually eliminated the elites carefully cultivated by their rivals, leaving them without successors, weakening them until they were swallowed by some force.

Coupled with the Prison Clan's higher-ups occasionally offering incentives to stir up the tribes' factions, making them more bloodthirsty and their killings more frenzied, the current state of the Prison Clan was forged.

Thus, in the Prison Clan, staying aloof was impossible.

Either kill your opponent, or be killed!

There was hardly a third path!

"It seems this trial ground of ours is one of the bigger gambling tables. I just wonder what the prize really is!"

The more Wu Sheng learned, the more alarmed he became!

Those Prison Clan higher-ups had essentially placed a bait of immense temptation in this trial ground. The forces of the Blood Sun Tribe, for the sake of this "delicacy," spared no effort in throwing their secretly cultivated elites into the struggle of this Blood Trial.

As for Wu Sheng and the others, they were merely small pawns swept in by chance, there to fill the numbers.

"A headache. I'll only get a glimpse of the specifics if I join the elite squads sent by these forces. Unfortunately, these three knew too little, and the information is too fragmented. For now, I'll focus on controlling this 'Triceratops.' With a Planetary level, ninth tier martial artist as a bodyguard, my strength will be even greater."