Chapter 2658: Holy Venerable Changes His Mind

"Three years ago, at most there could only have been over 1,800, less than 2,000." Xiao Ping deliberately omitted the location "Yanxia Bay".

The Jiuyou Great Emperor ambushed Yanxia Bay, taking the trunk of the Hidden God Sovereign, which in one move seized two-thirds of the Heavenly Gods' inventory.

The most troublesome part is that self-replication and proliferation is a function of the main trunk. Once the Hidden God Sovereign's fragments turned into starfish, they would no longer grow.

This means that the Hidden God Sovereign fragments left behind by the Spirit Essence Palace after the calamity decrease one by one with each loss and cannot be replenished.

Therefore, over these three years, the Spirit Essence Palace's research materials have been extremely restrained, and many puppet masters have been severely punished for wasting materials.

Initially, He Lingchuan stole the Hidden God Sovereign's trunk precisely to cut off the source of the Heavenly Demons mass-producing divine bodies.

"However, after Du He Yun achieved a technical breakthrough, combined with our several years of extended research, the utilization rate of the fragments can be increased by more than tenfold." Xiao Ping pondered, "That is to say, the existing fragments can support us in producing nearly twenty thousand divine bodies!"

When she said this number, her heart was full of pride.

This technology came from Du He Yun's hands, but it was carried forward and expanded by her.

From this, it can also be seen that the Lingxu Holy Venerable indeed did not deceive the Heavenly Realm; the number of divine bodies the Lingxu multitude can produce is not less than what he said, but more.

If the Jiuyou Great Emperor had not stolen the Hidden God Sovereign's trunk three years ago, perhaps not long after, the Heavenly Realm gods could descend upon the six thousand or more!

What does this mean? Humans almost have no ability to resist.

Even Helu Tian could not help but praise her: "Excellent, no wonder you are the puppet master appointed by the Holy Venerable, able to push the divine body count to such an extreme."

Xiao Ping smiled and bowed: "Thank you, Heavenly Venerable, for your praise."

"However..." Helu Tian said in a deep voice, "What I am about to say, not a single word is allowed to be transmitted out of the Spirit Essence Palace."

"Yes." In the Spirit Essence Palace, keeping secrets is the norm.

"The Holy Venerable has changed the original plan, no longer needing twenty thousand divine bodies." Helu Tian said word by word, "The final number is set at three thousand."

Xiao Ping's heart surged with tumultuous waves.

Although she slightly lowered her head, her eyeballs kept turning nonstop.

What does this mean?

She originally estimated the number of divine bodies according to the descent standard of ordinary heavenly gods. Of course, each heavenly god's cultivation, ability, and level differ, so this is merely taking a rough figure.

As she knows, the Lingxu Holy Venerable has always wanted to create the grand spectacle of the gods' descent, and the more heavenly gods that can descend to the mortal realm, the better.

And for thousands of years, the Lingxu Holy Venerable has been making this promise to the Heavenly Realm in this way.

If the Spirit Essence Palace produces twenty thousand divine bodies, although it is only one-third of the number of heavenly gods in the Heavenly Realm, it can also be considered that the Lingxu Holy Venerable has fulfilled his promise.

He never said he would bring every single heavenly god down to the mortal realm, each and every one.

Even the most naive heavenly god knows this is impossible.

But clearly, being able to produce twenty thousand, yet in the end only producing three thousand... how many times has it been reduced?

If the Lingxu Holy Venerable only needs over three thousand divine bodies, then have the Spirit Essence Palace and she been wasting their efforts these three years?

Alas, as she knows, the Heavenly Realm had a hundred thousand heavenly gods thirty years ago, but now only sixty thousand remain.

Where did those forty thousand go?

Naturally, they were transformed by the spring wind and rain into the myriad things competing to grow in the mortal realm.

This shows how fierce the struggles in the Heavenly Realm have been over these thirty years.

Now, with over sixty thousand heavenly gods in the Heavenly Realm, how are they to compete for these three thousand or more positions, not to mention, the quotas?

This total number is still too large. Thinking about it deeply is terrifying.

But she could only respond flatly:

"Yes."

She differs from Du He Yun; Du He Yun's emotions and questions are written on his face, while Xiao Ping usually does not proactively question the tasks handed down by superiors.

Helu Tian obviously also appreciates this point of hers, and then continued:

"Besides the two thousand eight hundred ordinary divine bodies, there also need to be one hundred ninety higher-grade divine bodies."

"Yes." Xiao Ping thought to herself, there are still ten.

"All the rest are to be invested into the remaining ten." Helu Tian indeed said, "These ten divine bodies must be able to contain the power of the True Gods!"

"Ten True God bodies?" Xiao Ping startled and raised her head, "Heavenly Venerable, I fear we cannot produce that many."

"Exerting our utmost effort, we produce as many as we can." Helu Tian said firmly, "The Lingxu Holy Venerable has instructed, prioritize guaranteeing ten True God bodies; for this, we can reduce the number of ordinary divine bodies."

"If producing True God bodies, it may take longer in time." Xiao Ping's heart pounded violently, as if she had heard an earth-shattering secret.

Three thousand divine bodies mean at most three thousand heavenly gods descending to the mortal realm.

What about the remaining over sixty thousand heavenly gods in the Heavenly Realm? Is the Lingxu Holy Venerable going to abandon them?

"It must not exceed five months." Helu Tian said solemnly, "Between you and success, there are already no barriers, merely a matter of time. We have already transferred the top puppet masters from all other puppet trial grounds to come here; they will arrive continuously at the Spirit Essence Palace within the next seven days. Their number exceeds eight hundred, each a veteran with the richest experience, capable of making up for the Spirit Essence Palace's lack of talent and manpower."

Xiao Ping was startled: "Actually there are so many!"

She is the person in charge of the Spirit Essence Palace, but she does not know how many puppet trial grounds the Heavenly Palace has built in the mortal realm, nor does she know the exact number of Heavenly Palace puppet masters.

"Puppet research originally had many directions, scattered across different trial grounds. Now the main direction has been set, namely, the Spirit Essence Palace will lead, and the other trial grounds no longer need to retain personnel; all are transferred to you."

The final stage has arrived, full-speed advance!

After the Yanxia Bay incident, the Spirit Essence Palace's puppet masters underwent a batch of purges, then slight replenishment, and now number around one hundred twenty. The Heavenly Palace's allocation of six times the number here can indeed greatly alleviate the manpower problem in research.

Many experiments cannot proceed due to lack of manpower.

Just thinking about having to manage a research team of over nine hundred people makes Xiao Ping's scalp go numb.

Excited to the point of numbness.

But she immediately steadied herself:

"Too many people, I fear the Spirit Essence Palace's secrets will again..."

Many mouths, much chatter; what if there are again foreign spies among them, and the Yanxia Bay accident happens again?

However, the Heavenly Palace has already learned the lesson of Yanxia Bay, dividing the remaining Hidden God Sovereign fragments, that is, the starfish, into four parts, and hiding them respectively in several secret locations. Once the Spirit Essence Palace suffers another mishap, the Hidden God Sovereign fragments will not be completely wiped out by the enemy.

"No need to worry." Mentioning Yanxia Bay, Helu Tian seemed to have some emotion, but still said, "No one can transmit the news out."

The deity said not to worry, so does that mean there's really nothing to worry about? After experiencing the battle at Yanxia Bay, Xiao Ping felt like a startled bird: "But some of the puppet masters in the palace follow different beliefs and still pray devoutly before sleep. The secret of Lingyun Palace only crafting three thousand divine bodies—can it truly be kept?"

(End of Chapter)