Chapter 1188: Five‑Star Dou Saint‑Rank Human Puppet

After all, within their Lin residence, only the three of them could summon Black Demon Thunder, causing it to evolve once more.

As for the other thunders, they are of no use to the "Xuan Kongzi" who is at the high‑level Half‑Saint stage.

The only thing that could trigger Xuan Kongzi's evolution is the Black Demon Thunder that appears when a Ninth‑grade Treasure Pill is born.

Of course, the Black Demon Thunder inside this void thunder pool won't work.

This failure isn't because the Black Demon Thunder in the pool lacks energy; on the contrary, it's because the thunder here is too powerful.

After all, the Black Demon Thunder that normally appears with a Ninth‑grade Treasure Pill could never threaten a Dou Saint.

Yet the one in this void thunder pool can, oddly enough.

After extracting Xuan Kongzi, Lin Feng immediately looked up at the constantly writhing black clouds above.

From within, he sensed a dense destructive power.

This power, compared to the Nine‑Color Pill Thunder he summoned when forging the Eighth‑grade Peak Pill, was countless times stronger.

Of course, although the black clouds above exuded a terrifying aura, they posed no threat at all to Lin Feng now.

After all, the Black Demon Thunder he summoned while refining pills was far weaker—by an unknown factor—than the one in this void thunder pool.

As the black cloud layer above continued to gather, about ten minutes later the ink‑black center of the cloud suddenly and slowly split open a circular void.

Looking into the void, there was nothing else inside, only an utterly black expanse, like the deepest black hole.

Yet at the instant the circular void appeared, something suddenly emerged in the air beneath the black cloud.

At the same time, Lin Feng's hair stood on end as if pulled by some force, all of them slightly rising.

"Hehe, it's coming, huh."

Sensing the sudden electric field around him, Lin Feng smiled faintly.

Then, he lowered his tilted head and fixed his gaze on the dark‑gray human puppet beside him.

"Go ahead, see if you can complete the promotion this time and step into the Dou Saint realm."

Afterwards, Lin Feng's mind shifted, issuing a command in his thoughts.

"Boom!"

With that command, the Xuan Kongzi nearby thrust its foot into the void, sprinting straight toward the circular void in the black clouds above.

"Sss!"

At the moment Xuan Kongzi lunged upward, a strange sound echoed from the void above the puppet, and a black lightning about as thick as an arm shot out violently, then silently surged downward.

Though the black lightning wasn't large in size, the destructive aura it carried was enough to make a Half‑Saint shiver.

However, this Xuan Kongzi is no longer the former Pill Tower titan; it is now a puppet that knows neither pain nor fear.

So when it saw the jetting black thunder snake from above, it didn't retreat; instead, obeying Lin Feng's order, it actively lunged at the lightning.

"Bang!"

With a flash of black thunder, it appeared above Xuan Kongzi's head and, unsurprisingly, struck its body directly.

"Sss—"

The two collided violently in the sky; in an instant, the arm‑thick thunder snake was split and dented, the dent as large as a human head at a glance.

Yet, although Xuan Kongzi suffered, the Black Demon Thunder fared even worse.

Under that blow, it shattered, turning into countless tiny black thunder snakes that roamed the human puppet's body, eventually eroding the interior of Xuan Kongzi's metallic skin!

As the black thunder snakes kept eroding, Xuan Kongzi's dark‑gray metal exterior gradually spewed black impurities like ash.

Simultaneously, as the Black Demon Thunder kept corroding, the dent Xuan Kongzi had received from the Pill Thunder began to heal slowly, and its aura surged rapidly.

"I hope it can pull through and promote to the Dou Saint rank."

Gazing at the scene in the sky, Lin Feng lightly brushed his chin with his palm and murmured softly.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he fell silent, quietly awaiting the outcome.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The circular void within the black storm clouds above, as time passed and after seven or eight Black Demon Thunders fell consecutively, the original jet‑black hue faded to a dark gray.

As for the ferocious power unique to heavenly thunder inside, it gradually depleted.

Finally, when the ninth Black Demon Thunder fell within the storm cloud, it could no longer be sustained and began to dissipate gradually.

The last Black Demon Thunder, carrying the remaining energy of the thunder cloud, struck the now ink‑colored Xuan Kongzi with a fierce blow.

"Boom!"

When they collided, Xuan Kongzi was instantly slashed by the black thunder snake, sliding straight backward hundreds of meters before its roughly two‑meter‑tall robust body finally halted.

At the same time, countless ink‑black thunder snakes continued to crawl over its metal skin, eroding into its interior.

"Roar!"

When the final strand of Black Demon Thunder transformed into a thunder snake and entered Xuan Kongzi's body, it suddenly lifted its head, its faintly angry blood‑red eyes flashing a brief glimmer, then mechanically raised its head and let out a long howl toward the sky.

"Bang!"

With that long howl, the aura of the human puppet surged dramatically, instantly breaking the barrier between Half‑Saint and true Dou Saint, thus stepping into an entirely new realm!

"A one‑star Dou Saint, huh? Not bad."

Seeing this, Lin Feng's face broke into a faint smile.

After waiting a while for Xuan Kongzi to settle completely, Lin Feng instantly thought to summon the aerial human puppet back.

"Bang!"

As for the human puppet high above, upon receiving the command, it instantly surged downward, and amid the spreading terrifying shockwaves, its form appeared instantly before Lin Feng.

After the puppet landed before him, he then began to examine it closely.

Yet, upon scanning the dark‑skinned puppet before him, Lin Feng noticed extremely fine cracks already appearing on its body.

Though the cracks were minute, he knew their emergence signified that the puppet's evolution had reached its apex.

From then on, it could no longer absorb thunder power to ascend.

Otherwise, the promotion might fail and the puppet could explode outright, causing it to be completely destroyed.

"Alas, what a pity. If you don't reach the threshold, then I can place you in the preceding Black Demon Thunder zone, to ascend together with those Three Great Dragon Kings."

As he spoke, Lin Feng couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment.

However, recalling that Xuan Kongzi was only a mid‑grade Half‑Saint in life and, unlike the Three Great Dragon Kings, was not a demonic beast, his constitution was extremely robust.

Reaching the Dou Saint realm now is already remarkable. Therefore, he didn't sigh much; after the disappointed shake of his head, he simply waved his hand and sealed Xuan Kongzi into his Nascent Ring.

"Bang!"

And at the moment the former tucked away the puppet, the massive copper‑colored fire dragon in the distance also erupted simultaneously, turning into a raging blaze that swept the sky.

"Whoosh!"

Yet at the instant the fire dragon burst, a grayish streak of light, taking advantage of the exploding flames as cover, silently shot out from the sea of fire at great speed, then darted swiftly toward the outer rim of the Void Thunder Pool.

"Hehe, you think you can just leave?"

But the instant the streak of light slipped away, Lin Feng almost simultaneously turned his head and let out a light laugh.

He swiftly flickered his form, appearing like a phantom without warning before the streak of light, then spread his hand and seized the grayish flash.

"Roar!"

Sensing Lin Feng's intent, the streak of light immediately gave up fleeing, its form rapidly expanding until it became a massive, ferocious energy beast; its huge claws rose with a sharp rush of wind, and it slapped a powerful paw at Lin Feng.

"Aoo!"

When the hand met the massive claw, the next moment the snarling energy beast let out a mournful howl, its huge body flung backward by a tremendous force.

After all, although this Nine‑grade Treasure Pill already possesses sentient intelligence, its power is only around the Half‑Saint level and could not defeat a Five‑star Dou Saint like Lin Feng.

When Lin Feng saw the pill shot back, a faint smile curved his lips, and he immediately pursued it again.

At the same time, he spread his hand, slamming a palm onto the beast, and a surge of Dou Qi forcefully poured into it, shattering it outright!

"Whoosh"

With its transformed exterior shattered, the Nine‑grade Treasure Pill instantly revealed its core, the size of a dragon's eye.

Seeing the grayish pill, Lin Feng lightly said, "Nine‑grade Treasure Pill, finally forged. However, we have all undergone the Bodhi Ancient Tree's hundred‑life reincarnation trials, so taking this pill won't have much effect. Never mind, let's see if Feng'er and Cai Lin need it."

As he spoke, Lin Feng immediately took out a high‑quality jade bottle and placed the dragon‑eye‑sized gray sphere into it.

After setting the seal, he promptly tossed it into his Nascent Ring.

As for the name of the Nine‑grade Treasure Pill he forged, it is actually the Refining God Pill, one of the formulas he grasped during the hundred‑life reincarnation.

Its effect is somewhat similar to the Bodhi Ancient Tree's hundred‑life reincarnation.

After ingestion, the person who swallows the Refining God Pill falls into a strange state.

Meanwhile, the pill's medicinal force can retrieve memories from the taker's mind, including deeply hidden ones that the person may have forgotten, and bring them forth.

Subsequently, the Refining God Pill constructs an illusionary realm in the user's mind, using memory fragments—previously extracted from the user's brain—as material for the illusion.

Finally, under the Refining God Pill's influence, the user experiences various hallucinations in the mind, enhancing their intellect.

Although the Refining God Pill isn't as world‑shaking as the Bodhi Ancient Tree's hundred‑life reincarnation and cannot directly boost strength,

its miraculous effect can compensate for many people's shortcomings.

"Very good. Since we've succeeded once, let's press the advantage and forge several more Nine‑grade Treasure Pills. Ideally, we should also take this chance to quickly forge that Nine‑Nether Yellow Spring Pill!"

Recalling the earlier success and the Nine‑Yin Yellow Spring Pill needed when the Pure Lotus Demonic Fire emerges, Lin Feng decided to take the ingredients from the Golden Core Master's Nascent Ring and continue refining.

Without hesitation, as soon as Lin Feng's words left his mouth, he eagerly retrieved an equally terrifying amount of ingredients, summoned exotic fire, and began the forging.

In the following period, in the area where Lin Feng was, the thunder there frequently erupted in violent surges and fled.

At the same time, the sky occasionally hurled down streaks of ink‑black raging thunder.

However, because Lin Feng no longer has puppets to absorb these Black Demon Thunders,

Thus whenever he successfully forges a Nine‑grade Treasure Pill and thunder falls from the sky, Lin Feng directly strikes, blasting those Thunder Serpents away so they fall into the Black Demon Thunder Zone of the Thunder Pool.

In the end, they are snatched away by those immensely powerful Black Demon Thunders.

However, Lin Feng's forging continued for nearly two months before he finally, with lingering enthusiasm, ceased.

After all, he has other matters to attend to; he can't stay here forever refining pills.

Of course, most importantly, he has just forged the Nine‑grade Treasure Pill and the Nine‑Yin Yellow Spring Pill he needed, both of excellent quality.

Consequently, his enthusiasm for forging Nine‑grade Treasure Pills has waned considerably.

"Damn, I almost forgot the Three Great Dragon Kings!"

He carefully stored the Nine‑Yin Yellow Spring Pill, which causes the surrounding environment to continuously form frost, in the jade bottle; Lin Feng suddenly recalled that earlier he had placed three puppets in the Black Demon Thunder Zone of the Void Thunder Pool to absorb thunder and ascend.

"Damn it, those Three Great Dragon Kings won't be sliced apart by Black Demon Thunder, will they?"

Realizing this, Lin Feng immediately smacked his own head and hurried to contact the three puppets in the dark thunder domain ahead.

After he succeeded in contacting the three puppets, Lin Feng let out a sigh of relief and said, "Good, we managed to contact those three puppets; it seems there's still hope."

As he spoke, he casually executed a move, commanding the three massive bodies within the black thunder ahead to fly toward him.

As for the Three Great Dragon Kings, forged into puppets, they obediently burst out from the Black Demon Thunder Zone in an instant and slowly descended before him.

"Hmm, they've already ascended to Five‑star Dou Saint, not bad."

Gazing at the three hundred‑zhang‑tall, jet‑black, faintly lustrous puppets before him, Lin Feng's eyes flashed with delight.

Now that these Three Great Dragon Kings have successfully ascended to Five‑star Dou Saint, he effectively has three fearless, injury‑unfazed Five‑star Dou Saint subordinates.

What thrilled him most was that the strongest of them in life, the North Dragon King, has now reached the mid‑stage of Five‑star Dou Saint!

With three new Five‑star Dou Saint‑level warriors added, how could Lin Feng not be excited?

"It's been about three months since I left; it's time to return and see how my wives are doing—especially whether Ying'er and the others have successfully forged Nine‑grade Treasure Pills, whether the long‑secluded Cai Lin has emerged, and whether Zi Yan has finally found the Dragon‑washing Pool the old Dragon Emperor mentioned."

Thinking of this, Lin Feng immediately stopped delaying, waved his hand, and sealed the three hundred‑zhang‑tall puppets before him into his Nascent Ring.

He then turned his direction and flew at full speed away from the Void Thunder Pool.

After all, the continent's situation is now extremely complex, and it differs greatly from the original work; many times, the original content no longer holds any reference value.

The most, that is, some objective unchanging things—such as the places where certain things are located, the Soul Clan's objectives, and so on—still have a great effect on Lin Feng.

As for the subjective thoughts among the various forces—their relationships, who they are friendly with, who they are hostile to—right now they are already vastly different from the original work.

And this situation makes it impossible for Lin Feng to find peace even while in seclusion; he has to divert his energy to pay attention to external affairs. (End of chapter)