Chapter 2278

"Other demons are about to rise, and the Lingxu Holy Venerable can ignore them or take action." Du Shan chuckled, "But internal strife within the Lingxu faction will surely give the Lingxu Holy Venerable a headache with no solution."

"Internal contradictions within the organization are the most deadly," he said, "If the hearts of the Lingxu faction are not united, the demon realm will again fall into great chaos."

He Lingchuan fell silent for a few breaths, then warned Du Shan: "I see, if the Lingxu Holy Venerable dares to boast such a grand claim, it likely isn't far from the node of a large-scale descent of the heavenly demons. What it now seeks is nothing more than a bit of time."

Would the Lingxu Holy Venerable not know what kind of tremendous uproar the announcement of thirteen thousand god-descended bodies would cause throughout the entire demon realm?

Yet it still did this, partly because the contradictions and conflicts in the demon realm have reached their peak and are already out of control;

and perhaps because it is not far from its end, so it fears no consequence in taking this potent medicine.

Du Shan's smile faded: "Your Majesty's concern is very reasonable."

"Cangyan also has its own internal work to do."

Du Shan spoke solemnly: "Your Majesty, Cangyan is always prepared."

Since the founding of the nation, besides proclaiming to the world and taking resistance against the heavenly demons as its goal, Cangyan has also earnestly declared to its people that the heavenly demons will soon make a comeback, and that Cangyan and the heavenly demons must inevitably fight one battle.

Cangyan and Mou are the only two nations in the world to have made such a declaration.

Moreover, only Cangyan has, over these years, repeatedly warned and admonished, truly giving its people earnest instruction.

The turmoil on the Jinjin Plains ended only ten years ago, and the vast majority of Cangyan people still remember their own suffering, still retaining their wariness and hatred toward the heavenly demons, so they deeply believe the edicts of the Dragon God.

Because they have endured the utmost bitterness, they now cherish present blessings all the more.

Everyone knows that Cangyan's current prosperity was hard-won, and to continue it is even harder, requiring every person to exert their utmost strength to defend it.

Du Shan added: "Our latent military strength and the number of cultivators are more than twenty or thirty times what appears on the surface."

In Cangyan, every household takes pride in enlistment; even if one cannot join the Dragon God Army, it does not prevent the young and strong from joining the local defense militias to hone their skills. The endless emergence of threatening new monsters and wild beasts also forces the populace to esteem martial virtue even more.

Over these ten years, the number of new cultivators has surged like a spring. The quality and overall strength of the Cangyan people are steadily increasing.

Alas, if only we could be granted a few more years of time.

But He Lingchuan knows the enemy will not wait for him to be fully prepared, and moreover, for a nation, there is no such thing as being "fully prepared." He nodded: "You know what to do. Go."

……

After Du Shan withdrew, Dong Rui and Zhu Xiuer arrived.

Upon hearing that the heavenly palace's demon puppet experiment had made major progress, Dong Rui's eyes lit up. He Lingchuan asked him: "In your view, can the demon puppets developed by the heavenly palace truly bear the full soul of a heavenly god for a long-term descent?"

"The intelligence Mou shared half a year ago indicated that the demon puppet experiment has already neared initial success. They can now dispatch two heavenly gods to run amok everywhere, and I find that unsurprising." This day will come, sooner or later, "The two specimen materials you obtained from Mou, which resemble the 'mask people' described by Sun Hongye, should both be skins directly molded into form, not directly transformed from demons."

He Lingchuan felt a heavy weight in his heart: "Yin Shenjun?"

"Exactly. Many years ago, Jia Lou Tian defeated Yin Shenjun, seized its body. The Lingxu faction paid a great price to occupy this harmless creature, and ultimately, it was still for its unique nature." Dong Rui drew a light breath, "The traditional approach to making demon puppets—like the ones under my command—suffers from the problem of 'one thing, one alteration,' with uncontrollable mutations, making it unsuitable for large-scale transformation."

Originally, demon puppet creation required using existing demons as a base, stimulating mutation and enhancing strength with divine blood.

Thus, the choice of demon is crucial and highly random; so-called 'mutation' itself is a manifestation of uncontrollability.

Following this old method to create god-descended bodies, the Lingxu faction, despite great effort, could at most produce a few hundred.

Hence, the heavenly demons' large-scale god-descent plan has always been regarded by Lingshan and Mou as an impossible gimmick.

"Those two specimen materials, I have also tested them, and their quality surpasses that of the vast majority of demon puppets." Dong Rui's tone also carried some admiration, "The nature of Yin Shenjun truly solves the heavenly demons' major problem. Whoever first thought to use Yin Shenjun must have a sharp mind."

Yin Shenjun's body is a certain special fungus, capable of arbitrary extension and deformation, able to manifest countless human-form avatars—truly a heaven-chosen ancestor of demon puppets.

"But still, that saying holds: research on god-descent skins is by no means that simple. Even if the human form and spiritual intelligence problems are solved, the most critical strength problem remains a bottleneck. I believe what descends are merely minor gods, yet there are still many attendant gods and true gods above. For them to achieve full god-descent, they would need extraordinarily strong skins. Such skins are not something you can just make and have."

Zhu Xiuer also spoke: "Exactly, if these heavyweight great heavenly gods cannot descend to the human realm, then the heavenly palace's demon puppet experiment need not be done. Relying solely on minor gods descending would pose no threat to Lingshan at all."

Such a grand spectacle, without a heavyweight climax, would be unthinkable?

"Even if they only use Yin Shenjun to create skins for minor gods and attendant gods, the quantity would certainly be limited." Dong Rui licked his lips, "Although Yin Shenjun is a true immortal and can produce countless avatars, the number must have a definite limit; otherwise, relying solely on this trick, it could have long occupied the human realm—why hide in the deep sea? And I dare swear, the stronger the individual avatar it produces, the fewer in number."

Even as a true immortal, an individual's power always has a limit.

He Lingchuan nodded: "The number of god-descended bodies the Lingxu Holy Venerable can produce is likely calculated based on Yin Shenjun's limit of ability. But everyone doubts the figure of 'thirteen thousand.'"

The leader's mouth, a ghost that deceives people.

As the head of a state, the Nine Abyssal Great Emperor is well-versed in this; judging others by himself, he naturally feels this data has been inflated by the Lingxu Holy Venerable.

He then asked Dong Rui: "By the way, you once specially told me about that experiment—how is it going now?"

Not only is the heavenly palace rushing work, but Cangyan is also working overtime.

The heavenly palace studies demon puppets, Dong Rui studies the heavenly palace's demon puppets.

Dong Rui laughed, showing a mouthful of white teeth: "Progress is encouraging."

Zhu Xiuer evidently knew what riddle they were playing: "Wait a moment, Dong Rui's research mainly targets traditional demon puppets. If the heavenly palace uses Yin Shenjun to mass-produce god-descended bodies, it likely won't need divine blood at all. Then what use would his experiment still have?"

Yin Shenjun is indeed a true immortal's body, and the stimulating effect of divine blood on it is negligible.

Dong Rui glared: "Hey hey, just a few days ago I just sent you good wine, madam, how can you bear to dismantle my platform?"

His funding—his research funding simply cannot be cut!

"Er..." Zhu Xiuer rubbed her eyeballs. Having just drunk, she was slightly tipsy; it can't be blamed on her for forgetting.