Chapter 2226

He Lingchuan pressed his temples: "How did you even think of going after stone bass?"

"Stone bass" isn't a common fish, but it has appeared repeatedly in the intelligence I've received lately.

"We were originally capturing a giant grouper, just got our hands on it, when this stone bass leapt out from somewhere, ripped a big hole in the grouper's back." Dong Rui rubbed his hands, "When it fled, it knocked over a large chunk of reef. We looked and thought, 'Well, well, this must be it.'"

He Lingchuan sighed, half-laughing: "You've been away these days, and a fleet of Beiji ships was ambushed in the southern sea area of Mou State, with only a few survivors. Witnesses said the fleet was attacked by a large number of sea clans, including sea demons, sharks, and stone bass."

"Hey hey, that definitely has nothing to do with us! We went after stone bass just to poke holes, on a whim." Dong Rui quickly waved his hands, "We finished checking Thousand Eye Cave and headed back, we didn't go to the southern part of Mou State to stir up trouble along the way."

"I know." Without He Lingchuan's order, how could Dong Rui and Zhu Xiuer go play with dragging ship fleets? "What did you gain in Thousand Eye Cave?"

"There are thirty-six demon puppets in total, thirteen land-based demons, twenty-three water-based demons."

"That few?" He Lingchuan frowned, "Thousand Eye Cave covers a large area, yet you only keep this many demon puppets?"

"They said they'd relocate within one or two years, so after disposing of the old experimental subjects, they temporarily halted expansion." Dong Rui continued, "Oh right, two demon puppets escaped during a typhoon, one of them being Ashmo Na."

He Lingchuan blinked slightly: "Cao Wendao's demon puppet was actually sent to Thousand Eye Cave?"

Turns out it's still an old acquaintance.

"Yeah. They sealed it in the Thunder Prison Cage, never expecting the typhoon to destroy the formation, letting it break out. The other demon puppet came out and started killing on sight, so it was quickly captured and subdued; but Ashmo Na is sharper, it fled immediately after escaping, and since its true form is an earth spirit, Thousand Eye Cave couldn't stop it in time."

Indeed, Ashmo Na looks like it has a human shell, but it's actually unrelated to humans. Its true form is an earth spirit mutated by the celestial demon's remains. Thousand Eye Cave is underground, so once it escapes, it's hard for others to recapture it.

"Thanks to Ashmo Na, when we entered, Thousand Eye Cave was in chaos." Dong Rui paused, then continued, "Just as we expected, the experimental fields established by the Heavenly Palace mainly study the humanoidization of demon puppets. I saw many unstable test subjects, but three of them, when viewed from behind without seeing the face, already resemble humans quite closely."

"Can these three be stabilized?"

"Although their faces are ferocious, their outward form is stable—two are alive, one died from internal organ malformation. When I entered Thousand Eye Cave, they had already dissected this dead demon puppet. I saw its brain structure somewhat resembles that of humans, just too small." Dong Rui sized up He Lingchuan, "About only... thirty percent of yours."

"That's not small after all. After all, later we'll have to receive the celestial demon's descent." He Lingchuan stood with arms crossed, "Do they have the Eight Extraordinary Meridians?"

"No." Dong Rui frowned, "Overall, the demon puppets in Thousand Eye Cave progress faster than those in Red Furnace, and there are some similarities, but whether in Thousand Eye Cave or Red Furnace, their research doesn't pay much attention to meridians."

"Perhaps because the celestial demon's cultivation of divine arts doesn't emphasize meridians."

Dong Rui scratched his head: "Or perhaps because the body for descent doesn't actually need to be a complete replica of the human form?"

He Lingchuan, upon hearing this, felt uneasy: "Are you sure?"

"Originally, the body for descent could only be human. The celestial demon wanted to use demons for transformation, so it first needed to clarify how similar this kind of demon puppet must be to a human body." Dong Rui spoke solemnly, "From the humanoid demon puppets in Red Furnace and Thousand Eye Cave, I found no trace of meridians—either the test subjects still can't develop human meridians, or the descent body doesn't need them."

"Do you lean toward the former?"

"In Thousand Eye Cave, there is an experimental subject, a skeleton from seven years ago, still carefully preserved. It's not a demon puppet, but a ghost infant!"

He Lingchuan startled: "What?"

"It's the offspring of the Jin Du Ghost Mother!" Dong Rui said word by word, "You've seen Jin Du ghost infants—most are oddly shaped. But this one has five senses, four limbs, hands shorter than feet but able to stand upright, aside from being ugly, it even has a tail, and already resembles humans closely. Most importantly, I asked two captives, and both said this skeleton received the descent seven years ago!"

He Lingchuan drew a sharp breath.

"Though the barrier between worlds is strong, the Jin Du Ghost Mother can make human women pregnant, giving birth to ghost infants. These monsters carry both human and divine blood in their veins, but by nature they are more stable and coordinated than the demon puppets made in the experimental fields." The secret of life, indeed, is intoxicating, "I've also thought, if there were a human-shaped ghost infant, perhaps it would be a ready-made body for descent. Looks like the Heavenly Palace thought the same, and put it into practice."

"How did that ghost infant die?"

"Too weak—before and after the descent, it lasted less than two quarters of an hour, the ghost infant's body collapsed, and the celestial demon's avatar could only return." Dong Rui pointed to the sky, "Fortunately, fortunately, the Jin Du Ghost Mother's birth rate is very low, and the yield uncontrollable, so it can't serve as a stable source for descent bodies."

If the Jin Du Ghost Mother were an emotionless birthing machine, producing offspring of exceptionally stable quality, would the Heavenly Palace still need to research humanoid demon puppets? This world would have long been invaded by the celestial demon from below.

"But I focused on examining that ghost infant's skeleton—though its outward form resembles a human, its internal structure is not entirely consistent with humans; its acupoints and meridians differ from those of humans."

He Lingchuan sighed: "This is hardly good news."

"I also found some experimental medicines, one labeled 'Mixed Divine Blood,' very fresh. I asked the captives, and he actually said it's the blood of the Jin Du ghost infant. Every year, the Heavenly Palace sends people to deliver it, but the quantity is small." Dong Rui spread his hands, a small crystal medicine bottle lying in his palm, inside indeed a dark red liquid, only one-fifth full, "I even did two experiments on the way, using it to stimulate demon puppets—they were remarkably stable, with excellent results! And—"

He shook the medicine bottle: "The owner of this blood is extremely powerful! Far beyond that little ghost infant in Thousand Eye Cave. I had No. 66 sniff the blood, and it immediately entered alert mode, very irritable; the ghost ape even showed fear."

"Does the Heavenly Palace still have such a powerful Jin Du ghost infant?" He Lingchuan's heart stirred, "Could it be the Devourer?"

"Wait, does the Heavenly Palace have a Devourer?" Dong Rui urged anxiously, "Are you sure?"

"You forgot, we saw that giant nest in the Demon Nest Swamp?" He Lingchuan reminded him, "Back then, the Demon Nest Swamp appeared with an extremely rare Devourer—who sent troops to surround and annihilate it?"