Chen Jingzhai took the Grade 3 puppet off his body, and it followed him up to the fifth floor. It then stood next to him without moving, like a well-trained bodyguard.
As the 12 Zodiac Puppets were all Superior Grade 2 puppets, it wasn’t hard for Chen Jingzhai to process them. Once he was done, he realized that he could now freely control all 12 of them.
He was even able to control all of them at once without spending too much energy. That was the change that was brought by the spiritualization of his acupoints and the divine mind enhancement he had gotten from the divine stone.
The excitement did not slow him down. On the contrary, he immediately summoned the 12 man-made Grade 3 spirit deities from the space inside the divine stone and inserted them into the 12 Zodiac Puppets.
The Black Swamp Divine General, obtained from the Swamp Black Crocodile, entered the puppet representing the dragon zodiac. Essence power began to appear, and the head of the puppet started to take on a human-shaped head with a dragon-shaped helmet on it.
“Sky Master!” the dragon puppet greeted as he knelt in front of Chen Jingzhai.
“I did it!” Chen Jingzhai slightly exclaimed. “How do you feel?”
“I can only use half of my actual power for now,” the puppet replied. “However, since I don’t consume a lot of energy, I’m able to replenish from the core of the puppet itself.”
“Don’t worry about regaining your full power right away. This is a puppet made out of the ocean star black metal, a Grade 3 ingredient. It’s powerful enough to handle your full strength. It’s best if you can use Grade 3 attacks in the future.” Chen Jingzhai smiled.
The only thing that was restricting the spirit deity from achieving its full potential was the core of the puppet. Spiritual stones had to be consumed whenever it used its skill, but it was also able to gather essence power when it was idle.
However, that was only a minor problem. Chen Jingzhai was still satisfied with the fact that the result was pretty much what he had expected and that the puppet was able to host the spirit deities. It meant a lot to him.
With a wave of his arm, he kept the puppets in the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens. He then let the Supreme Sky Master put the origin marks on the puppets.
With that, other than Chen Jingzhai, only the 12 spirit deities would be able to use the puppets. These origin marks were a way for the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens to acknowledge the puppets.
If the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens were to achieve a higher rank in the future, the puppets would benefit from it as well. They might even have the chance to break the barrier of the spiritual item and become magic treasures.
After doing all of that, Chen Jingzhai used the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens to summon the remains of the Grade 4 sea beast. He had absorbed the beast when it was drawing its last breath.
Once it died, the flesh of the beast became nourishment for the innate money tree while its soul remained in the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens. Chen Jingzhai then turned it into a spirit deity and became his only Preliminary Grade 4 spirit deity.
“Do you need me to give you a name?” Chen Jingzhai asked.
“The past should remain in the past,” the Dark-face Humanoid Puppet said in a female voice. “You can call me Hei Ji. I can only use about 70 percent of my original power in this body. It needs some improvements.”
“It’s already amazing that you can retain 70 percent of your power,” Chen Jingzhai laughed. “It’s an Intermediate Grade 3 magic treasure, after all. So you’ll have to bear with it for the time being.”
Grade 4 spirit deity was as strong as a lord. In order to ensure that her grade remained the same, Chen Jingzhai had to use the only Innate Essence Power in the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens.
“Yes, Sky Master!”
“Do you still remember anything from your past life?” Chen Jingzhai asked.
“Only a part that was hard for me to forget,” Hei Ji replied. “I still remember that a lot of expensive ores can be found in the deepest part of the Eastern Ocean, but you or this body won’t be able to reach there.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because of the immense pressure and extreme temperature. There are a lot of Grade 4 sea beasts residing there too.”
“That’s a bummer.” Chen Jingzhai sighed as he immediately understood what Hei Ji meant.
It was most likely the place where she had lived when she was still a sea beast. Grade 4 sea beasts loved to reside in the deep ocean as an abundance of essence power could be found there, and the ores there could serve as food for them.
“However, if you need the resources, I’m willing to go get some for you from the Eastern Ocean.”
“It’s okay. Thank you.” Chen Jingzhai smiled. “Tell me about the sea beast. It seems that they haven’t fully awakened their sentience and are moving according to their instinct. Why’s that?”
“Most sea beasts won’t be able to leave their basic instincts behind before they reach Grade 5,” Hei Ji said after a short pause. “This is because of their unique bloodline, which made them strong on the outside but weak on the inside.”
If Hei Ji had not become a spirit deity, she would not have understood that either. However, she was no longer a sea beast but a spirit deity.
She didn’t feel anything when she talked about the sea beasts and was able to talk about them from an objective standpoint. When Chen Jingzhai realized that, he couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.
Although Hei Ji was the result of spiritualizing the remains of a Grade 4 sea beast, she was now the spirit deity of Chen Jingzhai and part of the Grotto-heavens. She was now a part of Chen Jingzhai’s battle unit.
Chen Jingzhai felt as if he had just found a priceless treasure to have a Preliminary Grade 4 spirit deity that had sentience. He didn’t have to worry about its loyalty either, as he was now controlling the spirit deities’ lives.
“I see. Alright, then. From now on, you’ll follow me as my puppet and act as my personal bodyguard.”
“Yes, Sky Master! Someone is spying on you from 3 kilometers away. Do you want me to take care of them?”
“No need for that.” Chen Jingzhai frowned. “Next time, let’s talk using our divine minds.”
Hei Ji nodded and moved to stand behind Chen Jingzhai.
Although the young man didn’t show it on his face, he was actually really excited.
He had already noticed the Golden Core Sage, who was keeping an eye on him from three kilometers away.
He had noticed the Sage when he was compiling the Foundation Establishment passage and advanced to the intermediate Foundation Plane. However, he didn’t take any action against that.
Instead, he was able to find out who the Sage was when he went to capture the sea beast in the Eastern Ocean. It was just as he had expected. The Sage was his guardian, his senior sister from the Hongluan Peak, Su Qinghuang.
He was able to detect the aura of the Hongluan Sky Scripture as his Foundation Establishment passage was made by absorbing the Foundation Establishment and meditation passages of the Hongluan Sky Scripture.
If Chen Jingzhai was able to detect her presence, it was natural that Hei Ji would be able to as well.
However, Chen Jingzhai was troubled by Su Qinghuang suddenly appearing out of nowhere as his guardian. It meant that even with the help of the Dragon and Phoenix Consummation Seal Script, she had failed in creating her technique.
Chen Jingzhai had no idea what face he should make when he met Su Qinghuang. In the end, he decided to pretend that he had not noticed her and stop thinking about it.
He still thought that his senior sister was too arrogant when it came to her training. She could have switched to studying the Dragon and Phoenix Consummation Seal Script as it was not the inheritance of any branch of the Luo Sheng Sword School. It would be a great chance for her to advance to the next stage.
Perhaps because her pride was getting in her way or because she was being loyal to Hongluan Peak. No matter the reason, Chen Jingzhai didn’t know how to help her anymore. To make matters even worse, she had suddenly become his guardian.
Chen Jingzhai shook his head, telling himself not to think about it. He crossed his legs into a meditation pose and started to study the way of spiritualization of one’s acupoints mentioned in the Foundation Establishment passage. He also wanted to understand the power of the spirit deities in his body.
Since the puppets were able to host the deities, it would mean that he should be able to do the same with his spiritualized acupoints. However, after trying it out, he was disappointed to learn that he was still unable to materialize the spirit deities.
The main problem was that the spirit deities were still too weak. Even the Supreme Sky Master would have a hard time doing that, as leaving his body would be equal to leaving Heaven.
The first thing he had to do to solve that problem was to strengthen his body first. Yet, his body was already stronger than Chu Jingsong from Sky Whale Peak.
Spiritualizing one’s acupoints was a gathering of intelligence with the help of the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens. He was able to do that easily because of his past life’s knowledge as well.
“It’s best if I can get into that state. But, if I do, then I might have already reached the Golden Core Plane by then,” Chen Jingzhai said to himself while he was comprehending the Foundation Establishment passage.
If he were able to fuse his divine mind and the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens, his comprehension and deduction ability would skyrocket. He would basically become like a super-computer that could produce a billion results in under a second.
“I might even be able to comprehend the Hongluan Sky Scripture once again if I reach that stage.” It made him think of Su Qinghuang and the Hongluan Sky Scripture, and it made him anxious.
He knew for a fact that Su Qinghuang was dying. Hongluan Peak would get kicked out of the clan if she were to pass away, and he would no longer be the direct disciple.
The only other way for him to prevent that from happening was if he inherited the branch. However, the requirement was for him to reach the Golden Core Plane, and he was still far from achieving that.
However, the state he was hoping to reach was something that could only be attained by luck. All he could do was calm himself down and think of other solutions.
As for the problems with the spirit deities, he speculated that the solution lay in the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens. The Innate Qi it had absorbed had benefited the deities a lot.
Every time it absorbed essence power, a small part would get returned to Chen Jingzhai as well, making his spiritual power even denser and purer.
According to that, the best course of action was to enhance the Primordial Essence Grotto-heavens so that it could absorb even more Innate Qi. However, that would cost a lot of resources.
“Well, there’s no need to hurry. The Eastern Ocean Remains is a Spirit Cave Residence. There should be a lot of treasures in it,” Chen Jingzhai thought. “Once this is over, I’ll have to head to the Mingyuan Dao Sect to meet with Wuque. I’ll return to the clan after that to pursue the ancient path.”
He finally calmed down after coming up with a plan.
The young man was confident that the finds in the Spirit Cave Residence would not disappoint him.
However, it would be challenging to enhance the Grotto-heavens. The celestial clans in Pulao Kingdom were where all the resources were gathered. That was why he had decided to consult Headmaster Fu Yun once he got back to see if he could get another chance to explore the secret zone.
As the path toward becoming a celestial was long, taking one step at a time was the only way for him to reach the finish line.
