Chapter 1352, Kill It
Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Cai He thought about it for a moment before smiling bitterly. When the old woman was still alive, the four of them had carefully searched this place and confirmed that there was no other way out except for the exit guarded by the giant puppet. If they wanted to leave here, they needed to pass through that gateway.
The only other option was to remain here and wait for Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters to come rescue them, but there was no guarantee that would ever happen. Whether Fei Zhi Tu and the others could even find this place was debatable, so doing nothing might just be akin to waiting here to die.
Rather than depending on hope, they might as well take their chances trying to escape. If they were lucky, they may be able to find some kind of weakness in the puppet they could exploit to escape from here.
Although such hope was thin, it was better than doing nothing.
Considering all this, Cai He’s expression became firm and he nodded to Yang Kai, “Brother Yang, I’ll accompany you. Although this Cai is not very good at fighting, two people sharing the burden is still better than one.”
Yang Kai, however, just slowly shook his head and said, “No, I am just going to test its abilities, I don’t need Brother Cai’s help for the time being. After learning more about that puppet’s strengths and weaknesses, we can come up with a plan to leave here together.”
“Very well, but Brother Yang, you must be careful!” Cai He exclaimed nervously.
Yang Kai nodded before turning around, raising his vigilance as high as it could go, then slowly approaching the puppet while Cai He and Du Si Si stood nervously and observed.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai returned in a disheveled state.
This test forced Yang Kai to use all of his methods, and thanks to his strength greatly exceeding those in the same realm as him, combined with a bit of luck, he was able to avoid taking any serious damage from the puppet. Only once was his body brushed by the statue’s giant stick, causing half of his clothes to shred and his body to go a bit numb.
Cai He and Du Si Si watched this battle from beginning to end, and when Yang Kai returned, both of their eyes contained a trace of awe, because the various probes Yang Kai had just made were all taken by risking his life. Many times, both were convinced Yang Kai would die, but no matter how desperate the situation was he always managed to find a way to survive.
After watching this life or death struggle for half an hour, the two of them were even more tired than Yang Kai, the one who was doing all the fighting. Both of their palms were drenched in cold sweat as they felt it had been an entire year since the fight began.
From this exchange though, the two of them clearly saw that Yang Kai was no ordinary Saint King Realm cultivator. The methods he displayed were both varied and powerful, exceeding even those or ordinary Origin Returning Realm masters.
Neither Cai He nor Du Si Si dared look down on Yang Kai anymore.
After returning, Yang Kai silently took out several healing pills and sat down cross-legged to meditate.
A day later, Yang Kai exhaled lightly and opened his eyes, a strong light flashing across their depths, seemingly fully recovered. Cai He and Du Si Si, who had been waiting nearby, saw this and quickly walked over with expectant looks upon their faces.
Yang Kai obviously knew what they were thinking and did not keep them in suspense, declaring firmly, “There’s an opportunity!”
Hearing this, Cai He and Du Si Si’s eyes lit up as a touch of joy appeared on their faces. Cai He quickly sat cross-legged in front of Yang Kai and asked anxiously, “Brother Yang, how do we get past that puppet? Just inform us and Si Si and I will do our best to cooperate.”
“Get past it?” Yang Kai smiled strangely as he stared Cai He in the eye, “We can’t get past it. You should have seen what happened when I tried just now. Although its build is massive, it is extremely fast and agile. If it was just me, I might have a chance to slip past it, but with the two of you, there’s absolutely no possibility of success!”
This was not Yang Kai underestimating them, but simply telling them the truth. Even with Yang Kai using his full speed and boosted by his Wind and Thunder Wings, he still had less than a fifty percent chance of slipping through the puppet’s blockade. He had experimented with this just now, rushing towards the gateway several times during the fight, but each time he had been forced back by the statue.
This puppet seemed to have extreme hostility towards any living creature that tried to pass through this gateway and went all out to kill anyone who tried!
Hearing Yang Kai say this, Du Si Si pretty face paled and she immediately shouted, “You can’t leave us here!”
She instinctively thought that Yang Kai planned to leave here without them.
Cai He forced out a smile and said loudly, “Si Si, you’re thinking too much, Brother Yang won’t do that.”
His words weren’t just meant to comfort Du Si Si, but himself as well, and while he said them, he quietly observed Yang Kai’s reaction, obviously a little worried Yang Kai might really do this.
Yang Kai did not try to explain himself either way. In all honesty, if he really was confident that he could slip past the puppet, he would have done so. That did not mean he intended to abandon these two here, though. If he was able to leave, he would have gone to look for Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters before returning to rescue them; after all, one person escaping and looking for help was better than three people being trapped here with no hope of survival.
Ignoring Cai He’s thinly veiled probe, Yang Kai simply continued his explanation, “If we want to leave this place now, we need to work together. With just my abilities, protecting myself is the best I can do, while being its opponent is completely out of the question.”
Cai He nodded repeatedly for a moment before asking, “Brother Yang, you just said that we can’t get past it, so what are we going to do? From the looks of it, that thing won’t leave too far from the exit.”
This was something Yang Kai had also confirmed while probing the situation. Once he got to within a hundred metres of the gateway, the puppet would immediately attack, but if he left this range, it would return to being an inanimate object.
Listening to Cai He’s question, Yang Kai grinned meaningfully, “Naturally we’re going to kill it!”
“Kill it…” Cai He parroted dumbfounded.
Du Si Si also gawked and retorted, “Are you insan…”
Before she could finish speaking though, she saw Yang Kai shoot her a cold glare and quickly swallowed down the rest of her words; however, her face remained sullen, clearly indicating she thought Yang Kai’s proposal was ridiculous.
“Since I dared to speak about this, naturally I have confidence in accomplishing it,” Yang Kai knew that if he didn’t explain things properly these two wouldn’t cooperate with him. The great power of this giant puppet and the scene of it killing the old woman had left a shadow in their hearts, making it impossible for them to summon the courage to oppose it.
“First, let us talk about its biggest shortcoming. That puppet only guards that gateway, so what lies beyond it must be too important for it to leave its post; however, we can use this to our advantage. Since the two of you are Array Masters… it should go without saying what we need to do, yes?” Yang Kai glanced at the two of them.
Cai He and Du Si Si’s expressions became thoughtful and both soon gently nodded.
This huge shortcoming of the puppet gave them ample time to arrange a large Spirit Array, and if they could coordinate this Spirit Array with Yang Kai, there might really be a chance for them to kill this puppet.
“Arranging an array isn’t a problem; moreover, we can arrange one specifically to limit that puppet’s speed. From what I have seen, while that puppet’s resistance to damage from various attributes is a problem, its speed is the most troublesome issue. If we can slow it down, it will become far easier to deal with,” Cai He stroked his chin slowly.
“You can arrange such a Spirit Array?” Yang Kai was overjoyed. It seemed that Cai He was thinking the same as he was. Puppets were different from living creatures, so there were some Spirit Arrays that, although powerful, would have no effect on it. Yang Kai’s original intention was to ask Cai He and Du Si Si to arrange a Spirit Array to dampen its speed, and Cai Hi had unexpectedly drawn this same conclusion.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult, I have the equipment to arrange the Mirror Lake Clay Dragon Array while Si Si should have the materials to arrange the Painting Earth Prison Array, right?” Cai He looked towards Du Si Si.
“En,” Du Si Si gently nodded, not surprised he knew about such details; after all, the Cai Family and Du Family both specialized in arranging Spirit Arrays, so it was normal for there to be some competition and intelligence gathering between them.
“How powerful are these two Spirit Arrays?” Yang Kai asked hurriedly.
Cai He quickly showed a proud look, “The power of these two Spirit Arrays is naturally immense. If they can be fully activated, even if a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master falls into it, their speed will fall dramatically,” Saying so though, an embarrassed look flashed across his face, “Unfortunately, with just mine and Si Si’s strength, we’ll only be able to display about half that kind of power.”
“Half…” Yang Kai frowned slightly. Seeing this, Cai He quickly followed up, “Rest assured Brother Yang, even at only half strength, these two Spirit Arrays will be able to display incredible might. They’ll be able to reduce that puppet’s speed by at least ten percent, possibly even twenty percent!”
“Ten to twenty percent, it’s a bit less than I was hoping for, but it’ll have to do!” Yang Kai nodded.
“But Brother Yang, even if Si Si and I used our Spirit Arrays to slow it down, how do you plan on eliminating that puppet?”
“En, you weren’t able to damage it in the slightest when you were testing it yesterday!” Du Si Si also hurriedly asked. This was a life or death matter so no one dared act carelessly after all, if they couldn’t coordinate and cooperate properly in the upcoming battle, there was a chance all of them would die.
Yang Kai showed a faint grin, “Although I wasn’t able to damage it, I was able to verify one thing.”
“And that is?”
“The reason that puppet can move autonomously without being operated by a cultivator is because there is some kind of Soul Wisp inside it!”
“Soul Wisp?” Cai He and Du Si Si asked curiously.
“En, you can think of it as a kind of Soul Clone. Have you ever observed Lian Guang operate his puppets?” Yang Kai looked at the two of them as he said solemnly, “Lian Guang inserts a wisp of his Divine Sense into each of his puppets that allows him to operate them. Although this puppet is much higher in grade than Lian Guang’s, the principle behind its operation should be similar; after all, puppets aren’t living creatures. If you want it to act, it needs to have something giving it commands! Since this puppet is not being operated by some external cultivator, it must have some kind of Soul Wisp sealed inside of it, but as to what exactly this Soul Wisp is, I can’t be certain.”
Listening to Yang Kai’s analysis, both Cai He and Du Si Si suddenly felt their confusion clear up. Before, both of them had simply been overwhelmed by this puppet’s incredible power and had not considered the issue carefully. Now that Yang Kai explained this to them though, the two of them immediately felt he made sense.
“So Brother Yang’s meaning is…”
“En, I don’t need to destroy this puppet, as long as I can find where the Soul Wisp is located and destroy it, the puppet naturally won’t be able to move anymore,” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed fiercely.
Cai He’s eyes also lit up as he nodded, “So that’s how it is. In that case, this approach might really be feasible!”
Compared to destroying such a solid puppet, finding and eliminating the Soul Wisp controlling it was naturally much easier.
“Then, do you know where that Soul Wisp is located?” Du Si Si asked.
Yang Kai’s face darkened upon hearing this question and slowly shook his head, “I’m not sure yet; however, there are a few suspicious places, which is why I need to borrow your strength to restrict its speed so I can investigate these locations to find where that Soul Wisp is stored.”