Similar to the Beast Tamers, Wu Sheng's Innate Secret Art, "Mind Control," which he used on Man Gu, was also a Soul Art that leaned toward the path of puppetry. Its methods were simply more sophisticated.
As Man Gu's master, Wu Sheng had absolute command over his body. He could make him fight in his place or even self-destruct. However, Man Gu couldn't stray too far from him, or Wu Sheng's Innate Secret Art would automatically解除, restoring Man Gu's freedom.
Moreover, Wu Sheng only had two Mind Control slots. If he wanted to replace a puppet, he first had to remove the Innate Secret Art from the puppet's soul.
It didn't matter whether he removed it himself, made the puppet self-destruct, allowed it to be killed and thus released it passively, or let it解除 automatically. Only after freeing up a slot could he use Mind Control on a new target.
At the same time, Wu Sheng could use the Laws and secret arts he had comprehended through his puppets. This was extremely powerful, almost on par with the soul techniques of the Zerg Mother Empress.
The Zerg Mother Empress could use her Law Comprehension and even her secret arts through the Zerg Warriors she created, granting them formidable strength.
The difference was that Wu Sheng's Mind Control had limited slots, with a maximum of two, and there was also a chance of backlash.
It was still the same hidden cave entrance, except Wu Sheng had now widened it to several dozen meters.
Bai Yu gazed pitifully at the Green-Robed Youth before him, but Wu Sheng remained unmoved.
Floating between the two was a red orb of light, about the size of a glass bead. Inside it crouched a blood-red spider, radiating a sinister aura.
Death, or submission to enslavement by a soul imprint?
Bai Yu thought it over for a long time. In the end, he gritted his teeth and swallowed the red orb.
If anyone could enter Bai Yu's sea of consciousness, they would see the tiny bird that represented his soul slowly being wrapped in strands of blood-red silk. Once the threads covered his entire body, they flashed red and adhered to the surface of the tiny bird, as though a layer of blood-colored secret patterns had been applied.
Only then did he open his eyes, a trace of dejection in his gaze.
Though it wasn't true Soul Slavery, the soul imprint still cost him half his freedom. From then on, he would have to fight and risk his life for the man before him, and he couldn't stray too far from him either. Having the soul imprint self-destruct was no joke.
"All right. Go keep watch at the cave entrance for now. Once I'm done cultivating, we'll discuss the next step of the plan. Here are fifty sets of battle armor. Take them."
With everything settled, Wu Sheng sent him to stand guard at the entrance, and didn't forget to offer him a reward.
Of the more than a hundred sets of battle armor he had taken from Man Gu, he gave fifty directly to Bai Yu.
It wasn't much, but it was certainly a boost for Bai Yu.
"Yes, yes! Thank you, Master! Please rest assured, I'll do my duty and make sure no one dares disturb your cultivation!"
Seeing how generous this new master was, Bai Yu was overjoyed, and promptly forgot his earlier displeasure.
After all, as a lousy Spirit Reader, there was no way he could earn so many sets of battle armor in one go by fighting others. He might even have someone steal the spoils right out from under him during a battle, leaving him in danger as well.
Only after Bai Yu had left did Wu Sheng begin to calmly use his Innate Secret Art, "Soul Devour." He intended to refine the three remaining reserves of pure soul power, excluding Man Gu and Bai Yu, to further increase his strength.
Three days later, Wu Sheng opened his eyes, feeling somewhat exhausted.
Experiencing someone else's dreams three times in a row to temper his will had been exhausting.
It was like watching a series of incredibly realistic movies, except he was cast as the protagonist, experiencing all kinds of lives, with their joys and sorrows. He had barely gained some insight from one scene—and his Mindset still hadn't settled—when he was immediately plunged into the next realistic setting, forced to experience another life.
This kind of extreme experience was dangerous. The slightest mistake could leave him lost in the dreams forever or suffering a backlash that damaged his will.
If Wu Sheng's will hadn't already broken through to the Star Grade, he wouldn't have dared to try this.
The benefits, however, were immense. The three shifts in scenery had tempered his will far more than any previous experience, even more than the previous ten combined.
His will had now reached Stellar Level Three, and his Spiritual Force was gradually approaching Planetary Level Nine.
"Looks like I'll have to do this more often from now on. The more I temper my will, the better. After all, every time your will rises by one major level, the amplification it provides to Soul Arts increases at least tenfold."
Wu Sheng murmured to himself. This method of tempering wasn't particularly fast, but it was the only one available to him right now. Besides, he hadn't encountered any so-called bottleneck in his will, so he naturally had to raise it to the Star Grade peak first.
"Hmm, the six great powers! Blood Sun City, Thunder Star Mountain, the Nine Spirits Society, the Extreme Flame Realm, Cangming Valley, and, besides them, dozens of Realm Lord Clans. These clans look like a loose collection, but at critical moments they join forces to deal with pressure from the other five powers, indirectly forming the sixth."
These were some of the things he'd learned in those three dreams. They didn't involve any secret arts or the like, but they were enough to give him a basic understanding of the various factions in this Trial Ground.
Aside from the Two Great Holy Lands, where the two Immortal Gods resided, the Three Great Organizations had no fewer Realm Lords or Domain Lords. That was because they all had ties to the extraterritorial powers beyond the Blood Sun Tribe.
They acted as representatives for those extraterritorial powers. As a result, the Three Great Organizations held a certain amount of influence over the Two Great Holy Lands and even the entire Blood Sun Tribe.
Then there were the Realm Lord Clans. On the surface, each clan was independent, but behind the scenes they engaged in the very shady dealings disdained by the Two Great Holy Lands and the Three Great Organizations. They also had countless connections to the five great powers.
Every Blood Trial was a purge of these powers and clans. Through one massacre after another, they gradually eliminated the elites their rivals had carefully nurtured, leaving those rivals without successors and eventually weakening them until some other power swallowed them up.
On top of that, the Prison Clan's higher-ups would occasionally offer up some prizes to spur on the factions within each tribe, making them even more bloodthirsty and their killing ever more frenzied. That was how the Prison Clan had come to be the way it was.
So in the Prison Clan, it was impossible to stay out of things.
Either kill your opponent, or be killed!
There was hardly a third path!
"Looks like our Trial Ground is one of the bigger betting pools. I just don't know what the prize is."
The more Wu Sheng learned, the more alarmed he became!
The Prison Clan's higher-ups had essentially cast a hugely tempting bait into their Trial Ground. For the sake of this "feast," the Blood Sun Tribe's powers were willing to throw the elites they had secretly cultivated into the contest of this Blood Trial.
As for Wu Sheng and the others, they were just minor figures who had been dragged into it by accident, there to make up the numbers.
"What a headache. I won't learn the specifics unless I join one of the elite squads dispatched by these powers. Unfortunately, those three knew far too little, and the information they had was fragmented. For now, I should focus on controlling this 'three-horned dragon.' With a Planetary Level Nine martial artist guarding me, I'll be that much stronger."