Chapter 522

"No need to look, these flesh-and-blood puppets are the guards of this stone workshop. It is said that they are special puppets refined by combining corpse refining and mechanism arts. Each one has the combat power of a second-rank warrior, and even ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators are no match for them. This is also one of the biggest foundations for this Three Venerables Stone Workshop to be able to open safely until now." Yan Lingxiang cast a Dharma technique at the wooden boat, shrunk it, and put it into his sleeve, then explained to Wang Yu.

"Flesh-and-blood puppets, equivalent to second-rank warriors."

Wang Yu muttered, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

The bloody aura on these puppets could not be faked. Either the materials used for refining were extremely special, or these flesh-and-blood puppets had indeed killed many living beings. Of course, these living beings could be human or demon beasts.

If it were really as Yan Lingxiang said, each one was equivalent to a second-rank warrior, that would indeed be extremely terrifying.

After all, being of the same second rank, second-rank body-refining warriors are powerful, generally far above ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. Unless they are the very few true dual practitioners of Dharma and body, pure second-rank warriors are few and far between.

First, the path of body refining is full of difficulties. There are not many people with aptitude for body refining. Just the initial entry of evil energy into the body makes most people unable to enter the path.

Second, pure second-rank warriors cannot increase their lifespan and remain like ordinary people, mostly turning into a pile of dust within a hundred years, which naturally makes fewer people willing to go for body refining and aim for high-rank warriors.

Think of the Four Symbols Gate back then; even as a Golden Core sect, there was only one second-rank warrior in the sect.

But even so, many cultivation sects and even larger cultivation families do not lack first-rank warriors in their sects, because this is the only way for those mortals who have no spiritual roots but have aptitude for body refining to embark on the path of cultivation.

Moreover, if one can really become a second-rank warrior, it is not impossible for those cultivation sects and families to bestow one or two life-extending pills.

However, even if one has the aptitude for body refining and knows that high-rank warriors are powerful, cultivators who practice body refining are extremely rare. After all, ordinary people have limited energy, and they feel they have too little time to practice on the path of cultivation; it is naturally rare for people to be willing to be distracted by the more difficult body refining.

It is not just high-rank cultivators who practice both Dharma and body; those high-rank array masters, alchemists, artifact refiners, and even planters and mechanism masters of the hundred arts of cultivation are all rarer the higher their rank.

The fundamental reason lies in the large amount of time spent on being distracted by researching other things, which will slow down the cultivation speed of cultivators and ultimately affect their advancement.

This is also the reason why major cultivation sects and families respect high-rank array masters, alchemists, etc., in their sects and clans, and heavily subsidize resources, even encouraging cultivators with aptitude to practice the hundred arts of cultivation.

If it weren't for the assistance of "Tai Yuan," Wang Yu would also be unable to be distracted by body refining. Although he is not considered a second-rank warrior now, he has already practiced the Profound Armor Art for several years and knows the difficulty of body refining to the second rank.

Now, at the entrance of this "Three Venerables Stone Workshop," placing more than ten "second-rank warrior puppets" at once can indeed suppress most cultivators below the Golden Core level.

Just as Wang Yu was thinking this.

Yan Lingxiang greeted Wang Yu and took the lead in walking toward a street on the side of the square, continuing to explain:

"Wang Wang Shidi, follow me. I will take you to meet a good friend first."

"He has lived in this Three Venerables Stone Workshop for a long time and is a true local snake. Let's ask him first if the stone workshop has entered a large amount of Chaos Stones recently. If not, I advise Wang Wang Shidi to gamble less."

"After all, those Chaos Stones that cannot be sold must have been seen by fellow Daoists countless times long ago. Since they still haven't been sold, what is there to gamble on?"

Yan Lingxiang spoke with great enthusiasm, looking exactly like an old gambler who knew the way, which made Wang Yu feel a bit speechless, but he could only follow the other party all the way.

There were not many people on the white stone square, just a sparse dozen or so.

But as soon as they walked onto the street, they could see the crowd bustling and very lively. There were even many figures dressed in strange ways strolling on the street, and from time to time, they would drill into some shops on both sides of the street.

Most of them had more or less fluctuations of magic power on their bodies, mostly at the Qi Refinement level, but there were also a few who could not be seen through. It seems that either they had special Dharma artifacts to cover their aura, or their realm level was indeed not below the two of them.

But when Wang Yu saw the appearance of some people on the street clearly, his heart could not help but feel a great awe.

Many of these people actually had scales on their cheeks and fangs in their mouths, looking not at all like ordinary human beings.

"Li Li Shixiong Yan, who are these people?" Wang Yu could not help but ask.

"Wang Wang Shidi, don't be surprised. Although they look like the demon clan, they are not the real demon clan, but half-demons who possess both the bloodlines of the demon clan and the human clan." Yan Lingxiang turned a blind eye to this and replied as if it were casual.

"Half-demons?" Wang Yu was even more surprised upon hearing this.

"Yes, the war between the human clan and the demon clan in the Chaotic Spirit Domain that lasted for more than ten years back then, although it caused heavy losses to both clans, also gave birth to these half-demons who retain the bloodline of the demon clan."

"Once the demon clan transforms into a human body, it is almost no different from a human being, and their aesthetics are similar. Therefore, whether a human cultivator catches a beautiful demon woman or a demon woman catches a handsome human man, it is possible to give birth to these half-demons who possess the bloodlines of both clans."

"Although the two clans will not kill the half-demons, they certainly don't like them very much. Therefore, half-demons generally only appear in a few special areas, and the Three Venerables Stone Workshop is the largest settlement for half-demons in the Chaotic Spirit Domain. Half-demons are actually the masters here."

"One of the three Golden Core backers of the Three Venerables Workshop is a half-demon True Person." Yan Lingxiang explained casually again.

"So that's how it is." Wang Yu was enlightened.

"So in a while, the good friend I'm taking you to see is actually a half-demon, and he looks a bit... well, anyway, Wang Wang Shidi, keep your eyes disciplined when the time comes, and don't lose face for me, your senior brother." Yan Lingxiang said, suddenly changing the subject.

"Him? Is this good friend of Li Li Shixiong Yan's appearance very strange?" Wang Yu was a bit confused and could not help but ask again.

"Hmm... you'll know when you see the person yourself. Just follow me now. Anyway... just be honest when the time comes, and you won't go wrong." Yan Lingxiang actually became a bit hesitant.

This made Wang Yu's gaze toward him look a bit strange, secretly guessing whether the other party's good friend was "male" or "female."

"In this Three Venerables Stone Workshop, it is not allowed to hover or fly with artifacts. Therefore, to go to a slightly further place, you either have to work hard to walk or spend some spirit stones to take that kind of beast cart." Yan Lingxiang stopped a cart that was slowly walking on the street, introduced it to Wang Yu, and then pulled him onto the cart.

This cart looked similar to an ordinary horse-drawn carriage in appearance. The only difference was that the one pulling it in front was not a steed, but a monster with two horns and six hooves, resembling both a cow and a wolf.

"Go to Soul Fragrance Residence."

Yan Lingxiang ordered a middle-aged coachman wearing a straw hat in front of the carriage and threw over a few spirit stones very skillfully.

"Two young masters, please sit tight. Soul Fragrance Residence is not too far, and we will be there soon." The coachman took the spirit stones, felt refreshed, and said. He whipped his leather whip in the air, urging the two monsters in front of the cart to turn around, and pulled the cart speeding toward the front of the street. ===== CHAPTER 523 =====