Puppet
The striking fiend king and man in yellow were so confrontational with each other that spiritual qi in the atmosphere roiled. The only thing chaining them down from going at each other’s necks was the altar keeping the fiend king sealed. For the meantime, the man in yellow had the advantage for he held the fiend king’s heart in his grasp.
“You woke me once already. What do you want this time?” The fiend king’s eyes drifted to Mu Yu and the sand statues.
“You should be smart enough to figure that out.”
“You want to control my army?”
“You can control a conscious. I can control a puppet. We make the perfect team.”
“It’s my army! Mine!”
“And now, it’s mine.”
The man reduced the amount of spiritual energy he released, slowing down the heart beats, causing the heart and fiend king to suffocate.
“You two done? I don’t care if you bite each other or want to lick each other. What did you kidnap so many cultivators for?” Mu Yu interjected.
“To create my puppets,” answered the man.
“You want to control two hundred cultivators?”
Mu Yu prepared himself to spring at the drop of a hat because he sensed danger. If he wanted to control two hundred cultivators Formation Palace’s assistance was compulsory.
Mu Yu analysed to himself, If Flame Skeleton Scorpion can take over bodies and minds, th-
“You want to know how? Let me show you.”
With a wave of his hand, the man spawned freckles of white light in the space above
Xiaoshuai popped out and exclaimed, “Fiend spirits! Those are the fiend spirits he stole from us! Wait, there are even more than that! There are dozens of thousands there! Every fiend spirit you see contains a fiend soul. He’s not planning to plant them in the cultivators, is he?”
You don’t mean to tell me that Flame Skeleton Scorpion isn’t a fiend but one of the fiend souls that’s been converted into a fiend beast using the fiend king as a medium… Mu Yu brooded. He inquired in a husky voice, “You plan to turn them into Sikong Qiwens?”
“At the end of the day, fiend souls are fiend beasts. Desert Eagle Fiend King’s delicate seven-apertures heart equips him with the ability to control fiend beasts’ minds, while I can steal one’s consciousness. If we combine our abilities, we can give brainless fiend souls human minds and fiend beasts’ powerful cultivation. What do you think of my innovation?”
“You can steal one’s consciousness?”
Mu Yu had an epiphany: the one who stole Mu Qingfan’s conscious also had to be the man in yellow, then, not Sikong Qiwen. Mu Yu didn’t want to make an enemy out of the man since the latter extended a hand out to him on two occasions.
“Fiends fused with humans? Combine the two Chinese characters for each race and you have… shemale?” Xiaoshuai mumbled.
“I prefer to call them fiendmen.”
The man hauled sand into the air without physical contact and coated the fiend spirits with the sand. The various fiend souls ejected from the fiend spirits, kicking up a fuss as if to announce their presence – not that they could break free of the sand when they needed the fiend spirits to survive.
“Your turn,” the man said to the fiend king.
Though the fiend king acquiesced, he still threatened, “Remember this: I will take back what is mine.”
The second the fiend king’s eyes turned red, spots of red light illuminated his heart. The heart emanated red rays into the fiend souls, turning the fiend souls from transparent white to red, calming the fiend souls. The fiend souls orderly made their way to the sand statues.
Owing to the cultivators’ and fiend spirits’ various levels, the fiend spirits sought out hosts with compatible cultivation so that they could harness the full potential of their host. There were almost double the number of cultivators available compared to fiend souls. Therefore, there was enough to go around. In saying that, there were very few Body Synthesis Realm cultivators for they were able to escape, forcing level seven fiend beasts to be relegated to choosing Spirit Severing Realm cultivators if they couldn’t find a Body Synthesis Realm host.
Once the fiend souls wriggled their way into their hosts’ body, the sand covering the host would be absorbed into their body, revealing their true appearance once again. The cultivators’ eyes reflected the fact that they were no longer in control of their bodies, and their auras reflected the newfound boost in strength acquired. Golden Core Realm hosts put Golden Core Realm cultivators to shame.
They retained all the thought processes and memories of the host. Nevertheless, they had control over their attitudes and beliefs. The ecstatic fiendmen experimented with their bodies prior to going down on their knees. “Long live Your Majesty!”
With a vindictive undertone, Desert Eagle Fiend King instructed, “Henceforward, you are to obey his commands.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!” The puppets then knelt to the man in yellow and saluted, “Your subject is at your service, Your Lordship!”
The man in yellow didn’t respond, highlighting Flame Skeleton Scorpion’s groans.
“You’re… an earth elemental demon?” Mu Yu questioned, breaking the silence. “Fiends can’t control sand. Only an earth elemental demon can turn two hundred cultivators into sand statues.”
From what Mu Yu could remember, earth demons were rather bulky unlike the man in yellow.
“… Like you, I’m human.”
“Get that nonsense out of here. Humans can’t control s-” – Mu Yu paused and switched to speaking between the gaps in his teeth – “You wouldn’t be… There’s no way!”
“Finally considered me?”
That was the longest hood removal ever from Mu Yu’s perspective.
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