Zhang Yu asked, "Shang Shangzhen, how many external bodies do you have?"
Daoist Shang answered truthfully, "Since the beginning of our conflict with your side, we have been refining external bodies. Daoist Chan and I each currently have two remaining external bodies. Daoist Pang Xue is likely the same. At most, there will not be any more than this."
It was not the case that the more external bodies one refined, the better. Having three or four suitable ones was usually quite sufficient, for the higher one's cultivation, the harder they were to refine.
Moreover, aside from certain taboos in cultivation and Dao methods, one had to constantly maintain them with qi and intent, or they would deteriorate. Ordinarily, one could only control a single one at a time. Thus, people at their level could not possibly accumulate a dozen or more external bodies. Such a situation could only occur among cultivators of lower realms.
But if a cultivator devoted all their attention to refining external bodies, they would be busy with nothing else all day and would have no need to cultivate at all.
In truth, if Origin Xia's Heavenly Sequence were completely stabilized, then in principle there would be no phenomenon of deterioration. Yet the existence of the annual cycle meant that this flaw could not be plugged.
Zhang Yu asked again, "Apart from the few of you, are there any other cultivators participating in this attack?"
Daoist Shang replied, "Aside from us, Origin Upper Hall should have other people hidden away. They are merely unwilling to send them out. In my view, they fear your side's methods. As for the few of us, we are not usually valued, which is why they had us take the field first."
Zhang Yu nodded. After asking in detail about several