Chapter 96: Gu Ning Promoted to Level 3
The three Mountain-Pulling Warriors entered the fortress and handed three sets of rock-type materials to a man.
After the man collected the materials, he took out a map, spread it on the table, pointed to a location, and explained, "This is the area where the Stone Man Graveyard is located. Most people are currently digging here, but the digging progress is quite slow, so we need your support."
The three nodded lightly and said, "Understood."
Afterward, the three left the fortress and quickly headed towards the area where the Stone Man Graveyard was located.
The Voodoo Doll underground immediately followed the three.
The three Mountain-Pulling Warriors did not notice the Voodoo Doll and concentrated on their journey.
Half an hour later, the three arrived at the entrance of a canyon between two mountain peaks.
At the canyon entrance, a simple wall was built, and many Professionals were patrolling there.
After the three Mountain-Pulling Warriors walked over and conversed for a moment, they crossed the wall and walked inside.
Beyond the canyon was a wide plain.
At this time, the Professionals were using various tools to pound the ground, trying to pierce through it, but the tools only broke off a few small pieces of rock when they hit the ground.
Next to them, several Water Controllers summoned water to moisten the ground, attempting to reduce its hardness, but it was useless.
When the Mountain-Pulling Warrior appeared, a Professional closest to the canyon shouted loudly, "The Mountain-Pulling Warrior is here!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the Professionals who were destroying the ground looked up excitedly.
The Mountain-Pulling Warrior walked to the center of the wide plain with a slight smile, lifted his left foot, and stomped on the ground with force.
"Crack~"
The sound of rock shattering emanated from beneath the Mountain-Pulling Warrior's foot.
Immediately after, fine, spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards from beneath the Mountain-Pulling Warrior's foot, and the sounds of rocks shattering rose and fell.
"Bang bang!"
The Mountain-Pulling Warrior stomped two more heavy steps, and the ground cracks widened, then slowly collapsed downwards.
The Mountain-Pulling Warrior quickly retreated a few steps, moving away from the collapsing area.
The others quickly gathered around, looking at the collapsing ground, filled with emotion.
Everyone had been digging here for most of the day, yet their destructive power was not as strong as the Mountain-Pulling Warrior's three stomps.
He truly lived up to his title as a Mountain-Pulling Warrior Professional, the pinnacle of strength. A place like the Stone Man World, which specializes in physical defense, was truly too suitable for the Mountain-Pulling Warrior to display his abilities.
After a moment of emotion, everyone excitedly gathered at the pit entrance, watching the continuously sinking rocks.
Not long after, a loud sound with an echoing hollow reverberation came from underground, and the dormant earth energy directly rushed out from the sinking area, scattering the white clouds in the sky.
"It's opened!"
"That's great!"
Everyone cheered excitedly, but the cheers quickly faded, turning into fear.
Because the Mountain-Pulling Warrior, who had been full of vigor just moments before, suddenly collapsed to the ground, devoid of life!
Immediately after, a female third-tier Water Controller next to him also inexplicably collapsed to the ground, dying on the spot!
"It's poisoned! Retreat quickly!"
The nearby Professionals screamed in terror and quickly ran away.
The other people around didn't have time to think much and also fled, leaving only the corpses of the Mountain-Pulling Warrior and the Water Controller by the pit.
...
In the underground space, Fang Che put away the Nailhead Seven Arrows Book, a relaxed smile on his face.
Just now, when he confirmed the earth energy overflow through the Voodoo Doll, Fang Che directly used the power of the Nailhead Seven Arrows Book to eliminate the two targets.
Fang Che wanted to frame the earth energy for the deaths of the targets.
Therefore, Fang Che did not use the energy of other Professions to activate the Nailhead Seven Arrows Book, but instead, just like before, eliminated the two targets without leaving any traces!
After dealing with the enemies, Fang Che immediately manipulated the Voodoo Doll to move away from that area.
Although there was a Stone Man burial ground and precious rock-type materials underground, the rocks in that area were too hard, and the Voodoo Doll couldn't penetrate them, so it could only stay on the periphery.
Since it couldn't get in, there was no need to force it. It was better to leave early to avoid being discovered by the enemy.
After manipulating the Voodoo Doll for a few seconds, gusts of cold wind suddenly blew in the cave where Fang Che was located.
Immediately after, the soul of the third-tier Mountain-Pulling Warrior Professional emerged from the wall and automatically entered the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
One second later, the soul of the Water Controller also emerged from the wall and walked into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
At this moment, Gu Ning's excited voice came from outside the cave: "Which soul did you gather?"
Fang Che reached out and picked up the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, walked to the entrance of the cave, and directly handed the Ten Thousand Soul Banner to Gu Ning, replying, "Both targets have been gathered!"
Gu Ning was slightly stunned, then quickly took the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, and after careful inspection, excitedly said:
"That's great, you've worked hard. I'm going to break through to the third-tier now. After I break through, I will ask the Plane Will for some third-tier treasures and give them to you as a mission reward."
After saying this, Gu Ning hurriedly returned to his own cave with the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and casually set up a barrier, sealing off the cave.
Fang Che looked at Gu Ning's cave, feeling puzzled.
Under normal circumstances, after breaking through, one must return to the Emperor Plane to receive rewards from the Plane Will.
When Fang Che awakened, he was summoned back to the Emperor Plane and then granted skills.
Additionally, when Gu Ning broke through to the third-tier, he had to shape a humanoid Professional gem in advance, which was quite dangerous. It would be safer to just return to the Emperor Plane to break through.
Fang Che couldn't guess the reason why Gu Ning was breaking through here.
However, as soon as he thought that Gu Ning was the Child of the Plane, Fang Che dismissed all his doubts.
Gu Ning breaking through here must have his reasons.
Even if Gu Ning was forcibly taken away by the Emperor Plane Will, Fang Che didn't need to worry.
Before coming, Gu Ning had already provided the black jade pendant required by the Plane; he could just crush it to leave.
Fang Che could leave at any time and would not be trapped here.
Afterward, Fang Che turned and returned to the cave, manipulating the Voodoo Doll to wander around, searching for materials buried underground.
As for cultivation, Fang Che temporarily stopped to avoid affecting Gu Ning's breakthrough.
Of course, this was just an excuse; the main reason was that cultivating for too long made him a bit irritable and he wanted to rest.
After manipulating the Voodoo Doll for more than half an hour, Fang Che still hadn't found any materials buried underground.
Underground in this Stone Man World, there was nothing but rocks, not a single resource.
Just then, Gu Ning's voice came from outside the cave: "I have already broken through to the third-tier. Is it convenient for me to come in?"
"Please come in," Fang Che responded, immediately getting up and walking towards the entrance to greet Gu Ning.
The next second, Fang Che saw Gu Ning, who had already broken through to the third-tier.
And on Gu Ning's body, Fang Che detected the aura of the Soul Escape and Elemental Body skills!
Fang Che curiously asked, "Did you return to the Emperor Plane just now?"
Gu Ning understood that Fang Che had this question because he believed that only by returning to the Emperor Plane could one obtain skills granted by the Emperor Plane Will.
Gu Ning smiled slightly and replied, "After I break through anywhere, I can directly communicate with the Plane Will and receive skills, as well as various rewards."
Upon hearing this, Fang Che gained a deeper understanding of the powerful privileges of the Child of the Plane.
Then, Fang Che congratulated him, "Congratulations on your promotion to the third-tier."
+++
Chapter 97 The Storage Capacity of the Voodoo Doll
Upon hearing Fang Che's congratulations, Gu Ning smiled slightly, took out a storage ring, handed it to Fang Che, and said, "Thank you for helping me collect souls. This is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it."
Fang Che excitedly took the storage ring, but instead of immediately checking its contents, he asked, "Is there anything else you need my help with?"
Gu Ning nodded gently and explained seriously, "I just communicated with the Plane Will, and the Plane Will decided to permanently bestow the Stone Man World upon me for my cultivation and breakthrough."
Fang Che felt a hint of envy upon hearing this.
Most people only receive a not-so-important Plane coordinate as a reward from the Plane Will after completing various dangerous missions, and it's always recalled after a certain period.
The Plane coordinate stolen by Hong Fei was exactly this type.
However, Gu Ning had permanently obtained a valuable Plane that could produce rock-element materials.
The Plane Will was truly too partial towards Soul Masters.
Gu Ning continued, "To make my future cultivation smoother, I plan to bury some items in the Stone Man World in advance to form a rule-based formation that will suppress the Plane Will of the Stone Man World. For this, I need to borrow your Voodoo Doll."
Fang Che shook his head gently and said, "Although the Voodoo Doll can dig and tunnel underground, it doesn't have the ability to transport resources, so I'm afraid it can't help you."
Gu Ning smiled slightly, pointed to the storage ring he had just given Fang Che, and explained,
"Inside this is a special enhancement item. Using this enhancement item can grant an object the ability to store and retrieve items."
Upon hearing this, Fang Che immediately opened the storage ring and took out the most conspicuous enhancement item.
The enhancement item was a token-shaped object, but this enhancement token was adorned with various complex patterns that other enhancement items did not possess.
Fang Che briefly examined the enhancement item and said, "Please wait a moment, I'll recall the Voodoo Doll right away!"
Then, Fang Che immediately controlled the Voodoo Doll to burrow into the ground.
Not long after, the Voodoo Doll emerged from the ground and appeared in a gathering area of Stone Men.
The Stone Men quickly noticed the Voodoo Doll, then one of them stomped on it.
"Crack ~"
The Voodoo Doll didn't dodge and was instantly crushed.
Immediately after, the shattered Voodoo Doll dematerialized and disappeared.
Meanwhile, in Fang Che's Niwan Palace, the humanoid curse gem gently flickered, and a stream of energy floated out from the symbol representing the Voodoo Doll.
This energy continuously twisted and contracted, and when it contracted to its limit, it transformed into the appearance of the Voodoo Doll!
Fang Che lightly flipped his hand and retrieved the Voodoo Doll.
Then, Fang Che placed the enhancement item on the Voodoo Doll and activated the Spiritual Flash skill.
The enhancement item instantly merged into the Voodoo Doll, and the Voodoo Doll also emitted slight spatial fluctuations.
The Voodoo Doll's original abilities remained unchanged, but a new ability description was added:
[The Voodoo Doll possesses an internal storage space of one cubic meter, capable of storing and retrieving various items. If the Voodoo Doll is destroyed, stored items will be lost at the destruction location.]
Fang Che's face showed a slight smile as he read this new information.
The original Voodoo Doll could observe conditions in certain areas, making it useful for discovering treasures.
However, if the treasure couldn't be used by the Voodoo Doll, Fang Che would have to go to the treasure's location himself to excavate it.
But to avoid trouble, Fang Che usually wouldn't personally go to excavate treasures.
Now that the Voodoo Doll had the ability to store and retrieve items, it could more easily collect underground treasures.
Although a one-cubic-meter storage space wasn't large, as long as the storage ability appeared, it could be enhanced, and one day it could collect treasures of any size.
As for the weakness of items being lost if the Voodoo Doll was destroyed, that could also be solved through enhancement.
The weakness of the Revenge Evil Mirror was resolved through enhancement, so Fang Che was mentally prepared.
Gu Ning, who was beside him, saw Fang Che smiling and immediately asked, "How is it? Does it have the ability to store items?"
Fang Che nodded gently and said, "It has a one-cubic-meter storage space and can transport some things."
Upon hearing this, Gu Ning immediately took out a pile of palm-sized black cones and a map marked with various spots.
Gu Ning pointed to the only red spot on the map and explained, "This is the location of the map. The other black spots are the areas where the cone items need to be buried.
Each burial area is underground, but at different depths. When the cone item reaches the fixed position, the black spot will turn golden.
You can have the Voodoo Doll carry these cone items and slowly explore the burial locations."
"No problem." Fang Che nodded and threw the Voodoo Doll towards the cone items.
The Voodoo Doll instantly stored the cone items within its body and then burrowed into the ground.
Fang Che stared at the map, calculating the distance, and directed the Voodoo Doll towards the nearest black spot.
Gu Ning, who was beside him, took out the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and said, "The map will stay with you. Additionally, I need your help to eliminate ten third-tier Stone Men.
I need their protection to go out and collect the souls of the deceased that have not yet dispersed in this Plane, to enhance my own strength."
Fang Che took the Ten Thousand Soul Banner and nodded gently, "No problem."
Then, Fang Che injected a trace of energy into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, temporarily gaining control of it, and then took out white paper and the Nailhead Seven Arrows Book, beginning the slaughter.
...
In the Stone Man gathering area, a group of Stone Men were staring at the sole of another Stone Man's foot, discussing animatedly:
"That's strange, there was clearly a small person that burrowed out from underground just now, but after one stomp, it was gone!"
"There wasn't even a speck of residue. It can't be that all of us are hallucinating, can it!"
"Could it be a trick left behind by those squishy little things?"
"If it's those squishy things, there's no need to worry about them at all. Except for a few that are stronger than us, everything else is just a toy!"
Just as everyone was discussing, the Stone Man who had crushed the Voodoo Doll suddenly collapsed to the ground.
The Stone Men fell silent for a moment, then cried out in horror, "He's dead!"
"How could he die? He still has five hundred years of life left!"
"There are no enemies around, and his body hasn't cracked open, so how could he..."
Before he could finish speaking, this Stone Man also fell to the ground, with a new gap in his chest, as if pierced by a sharp sword.
The Stone Men stopped talking and quickly huddled together, staring around in terror.
However, Stone Men continued to die.
The Stone Men quickly dispersed, their bodies continuously expanding, but people still died.
It wasn't until ten Stone Men had died that silence returned to the area.
The remaining Stone Men looked at each other, their faces filled with terror.
A moment later, one Stone Man spoke, "It seems that besides that strong thing that can harm us, there's another invisible thing harming us. Let's move!"
"If it can be invisible, where can we hide?"
"No matter what, let's move!"
Then, many Stone Men tore open the earth, buried the ten corpses, and left the place.
+++
Chapter 98: Stand-in puppets and enhancement
In the underground space, a cold wind howled as ten Stone Man souls lined up and walked into the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
Gu Ning, who was standing by, looked at the ten souls with no joy on his face.
Just now, Gu Ning had witnessed Fang Che's killing method with his own eyes.
Gu Ning felt that the defensive Curse Tool prepared for him by the Plane Will could not withstand Fang Che's enhanced Nailhead Seven Arrows Book.
It seemed he needed to continue researching defensive Curse Tools.
After all ten Stone Man souls entered the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, Gu Ning immediately adjusted his emotions and smiled, "Thank you. When I return, I will give you other gifts."
Fang Che handed the Ten Thousand Soul Banner to Gu Ning and smiled, "I wish you a smooth journey."
Gu Ning took the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, took out a gem, and placed it on the wall, immediately opening an upward Crack channel.
Gu Ning quickly left the place, and the Crack channel slowly closed.
Seeing this, Fang Che immediately took out the storage ring Gu Ning had given him and checked the items inside.
Inside the storage ring were some materials for advancing to Fourth Order, some materials for enhancing Curse Tools, a large quantity of curse materials, and cultivation pills.
Fang Che carefully inspected these materials and found that they were enough for him to refine a brand new Curse Tool!
Fang Che excitedly took out these materials, selected a yellow piece of wood, planed it flat, drew a human figure on it, and then, following the outline, carved out the human-shaped wood.
Next, Fang Che used a knife to slice the human-shaped puppet into many thin pieces.
In the end, Fang Che obtained a total of forty-nine human-shaped wood pieces, each about the thickness of a fingernail.
Fang Che arranged the human-shaped wood pieces in order, then took out other materials and mixed them into black ink.
Fang Che dipped a brush in the ink and drew various strange symbols on both sides of the human-shaped wood pieces.
When the symbols were completed, Fang Che would stick them together.
After sticking together twenty-four human-shaped wood pieces, Fang Che picked up the twenty-fifth piece and wrote down the functional information of the Substitute Puppet:
"The Substitute Puppet can be dispersed into one core talisman and forty-eight Substitute Talismans. By integrating the Substitute Talismans into the bodies of other Curse Masters, these Curse Masters can be treated as substitutes;"
"When the owner suffers fatal damage, the core talisman can transfer the damage to any substitute, who will bear the fatal damage."
After writing this information, Fang Che flipped the wood piece over and wrote the same functional information on the other side.
Then, Fang Che stuck this twenty-fifth wood piece onto the other wood pieces and continued drawing symbols on the remaining pieces.
After a long time, all forty-nine wood pieces were completely stuck together.
The wood piece with the Substitute Puppet information was sandwiched in the middle, serving as the core talisman of the Substitute Puppet.
Next, Fang Che condensed curse energy to envelop the Substitute Puppet and activated the Spiritual Flash skill.
The next second, all the wood pieces seemed to come alive, freely stretching their 'bodies'.
At this moment, the Substitute Puppet had been successfully refined!
Fang Che placed the Substitute Puppet into his Niwan Palace and touched the curse master gem.
The curse master gem instantly displayed the Substitute Puppet's symbol, indicating that the Substitute Puppet had successfully bonded with Fang Che!
Afterward, Fang Che closed his eyes with some anticipation, but the Plane Will's reward was slow to arrive.
Fang Che sighed and murmured to himself, "A Temporary Plane Son is ultimately inferior to a Soul Master. It seems I'll only receive the reward after returning to the Emperor Plane."
Fang Che shook his head helplessly, quickly adjusted his emotions, and silently uttered in his mind: Observe!
The next second, a pair of illusory eyes condensed in his Niwan Palace, staring intently at the Substitute Puppet.
A moment later, the enhancement information of the Substitute Puppet became clear to Fang Che.
After noting down all the enhancement information, Fang Che discovered that the method for enhancing this Substitute Puppet was very different from the previous three Curse Tools.
To enhance the Substitute Puppet, in addition to finding suitable curse materials, one also needed to find the corpses of various Professionals and devour both the corpses and curse materials to complete the enhancement.
And at this moment, Fang Che's storage ring contained many corpses.
These corpses were all people Fang Che had killed in the past!
Previously, Fang Che didn't know how to deal with corpses. To avoid being discovered, he stored the corpses in his storage ring, and now they came in handy.
Fang Che searched carefully for a moment and took out two common attack Professional corpses: one Fire Manipulator and one Water Controller.
Next, Fang Che took out two more curse materials from his storage ring and stuffed them into the corpses' mouths.
Finally, Fang Che took out the Substitute Puppet, placed it on the corpses' faces, and activated the Spiritual Flash skill.
The next second, the corpses turned into light and merged into the Substitute Puppet.
After absorbing the two corpses and two materials, the Substitute Puppet's information also changed:
"The Substitute Puppet can be dispersed into one core talisman and forty-eight Substitute Talismans. By integrating the Substitute Talismans into the bodies of Curse Masters, Fire Manipulators, and Water Controllers, these three can be treated as substitutes;"
"When the owner suffers fatal damage, the core talisman can transfer the damage to any substitute, who will bear the fatal damage. The Substitute Talisman can conceal its aura in environments with stacked stones."
At this moment, the Substitute Puppet could choose from three types of substitutes and gained a certain level of concealment, making it easier to attach to others.
Especially in the current Stone Man World, with its enhanced concealment ability, it would be easy to find substitutes!
Unfortunately, although Fang Che's storage ring currently contained corpses, he no longer had the exclusive materials for enhancing the Substitute Puppet, preventing him from finding more substitutes.
As for general enhancement Curse Tools, Gu Ning did give him some, but Fang Che planned to use those on the Revenge Evil Mirror. The issue of enhancing the Substitute Puppet could only be resolved in the future.
Subsequently, Fang Che took out the Revenge Evil Mirror and used the enhancement Curse Tools.
After using all the enhancement Curse Tools, the Revenge Evil Mirror's information changed again:
"After being attacked by a mysterious force, it can display all useful information about the enemy on its surface;"
"If the information of the target to be found is pasted onto the Revenge Evil Mirror, the target's location can be discovered. After finding the target's location, the user will be blind for one year."
The enhanced Revenge Evil Mirror reduced the harm to the body.
As for the blindness, there was no need to worry too much; since it stated blindness for one year, vision would definitely be restored after one year.
However, anything could happen during that year, and if Fang Che encountered danger, he might not be able to resolve it.
Moreover, Fang Che now needed to help Gu Ning bury the conical Curse Tool, so his eyes could not be compromised.
Therefore, Fang Che put away the Revenge Evil Mirror, temporarily set aside the idea of finding Hong Fei, and controlled the Voodoo Doll to return to this place.
When the Voodoo Doll emerged from underground, Fang Che tore off all forty-eight Substitute Talismans, placed them in the Voodoo Doll's storage space, and controlled the Voodoo Doll to search for suitable substitutes.
As for burying the conical Curse Tool, Fang Che temporarily postponed that matter.
The most important thing now was to find substitutes. As long as he had substitutes, Fang Che wouldn't have to live as cautiously as before and could have more room for activity.
+++
Chapter 99: Finding a Replacement
Fang Che put the core talisman of the Substitute Puppet into his Niwan Palace, then controlled the Voodoo Doll to go to the area where the Mountain-Pulling Warrior died.
At this time, in this area, a large group of Professionals were hiding in the canyon, watching the place where the Mountain-Pulling Warrior and the Water Controller died.
At this moment, a man was carefully examining the two bodies.
Hundreds of items were attached to the man's clothes, and the light from the items intertwined, completely enveloping his body.
The man meticulously checked for a moment, then, with a look of doubt, put away the bodies, jumped into the deep pit, and put the buried Stone Man bodies into his storage ring.
Afterward, the man climbed out of the deep pit, walked up to the crowd, and said:
"The two people who died had no wounds on their bodies, only some earthly aura was detected in their bodies;
Although this earthly aura contained toxins, it couldn't cause instant death. There should have been time for treatment, so these two people died in a rather strange way."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
A Professional said, "Since there's poison, then it's normal for people to die from poison, and they've been quite tired lately, so it's normal for them not to be able to resist the toxins."
The others nodded in agreement, saying, "It's normal for toxins to kill people, as long as it wasn't an attack by someone else."
"Yes, it's very normal."
"Never mind the issue of toxins killing people, tell us how many treasures are at the bottom of the deep pit!"
The man who jumped into the deep pit still had doubts about the cause of death of the deceased, but seeing that no one cared, he stopped thinking about it and replied:
"There are seventy-six Third-Order Stone Man bodies down there. I haven't counted the lower-level Stone Man bodies; we'll tally them when we get back."
Everyone nodded and walked outside.
Halfway there, the man who jumped into the deep pit took off the various items on his body and handed them to the people beside him.
These items were all jointly provided by everyone, with the purpose of investigating the cause of death of the Mountain-Pulling Warrior and the Water Controller, and collecting the Stone Man bodies.
Now that everything was done, they naturally had to be returned.
A moment later, the group walked out of the canyon and ran towards the fortress.
However, as certain individuals passed through a specific area, a yellow humanoid talisman inexplicably appeared on the soles of their shoes.
And this talisman quickly disappeared, as if it had never appeared.
After everyone left, the ground trembled slightly, and then, the Voodoo Doll emerged from underground.
The Voodoo Doll touched the ground, and a Substitute Talisman instantly appeared on the originally unremarkable ground.
The Voodoo Doll collected the Substitute Talisman, then ran to other places and collected the remaining Substitute Talismans.
After collecting all the Substitute Talismans, the Voodoo Doll burrowed underground, continuing to pursue the departing Professionals, and along their path, it placed Substitute Talismans, waiting for them to step on them.
After placing Substitute Talismans several times, most of the eligible Professionals in this group stepped on them.
So, the Voodoo Doll moved away from this group and went to look for other groups entering the Stone Man Plane.
At this time, in the underground space, Fang Che noticed that whenever a Substitute Talisman merged into a Professional's body, the core talisman in his Niwan Palace would release a ball of energy.
This energy slowly formed a phantom figure, whose appearance was exactly the same as the person who stepped on the talisman!
Immediately after, the phantom figure would rapidly compress into a thin sheet, adhering to the side of the core talisman, replacing the original Substitute Talisman.
A few days later, all forty-eight Substitute Talismans found their targets!
The Substitute Puppet in the Niwan Palace returned to its original thickness, but this Substitute Puppet looked more like overlapping humanoid stickers, completely different from before.
Subsequently, Fang Che immediately summoned the Voodoo Doll to return.
Half an hour later, the Voodoo Doll returned.
Fang Che placed the conical tool into the Voodoo Doll's storage space and controlled the Voodoo Doll to continue burying the conical tools.
At this very moment, Gu Ning was strolling around the Stone Man Plane with his Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
Gu Ning walked to an area with obvious signs of battle, gently shook the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, and instantly, gusts of Cold Wind (yin wind) swept through the surroundings.
Immediately after, more than a dozen Stone Man souls drifted out from underground and entered the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
Gu Ning observed the strength of the souls, shook his head in disappointment, and continued to walk forward.
"Boom! Bang!"
Gu Ning walked for a moment, then suddenly heard a series of violent noises.
Gu Ning looked around and quickly saw plumes of smoke rising from his left.
Gu Ning lifted his leg and walked to the left, quickly discovering some Stone Man bodies, as well as a Third-Order Professional who had been beaten into a pulp.
Gu Ning waved the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, collected the souls, and continued to walk forward.
Not long after, Gu Ning saw a group of Stone Men chasing a Third-Order Fire Manipulator.
The Fire Manipulator continuously released fire to attack the Stone Men behind him, but the destructive power of the flames was mediocre, only shattering some of the stone on the Stone Men's surface.
Just then, a Stone Man chasing the Fire Manipulator noticed Gu Ning.
"Roar!" The Stone Man roared, and a portion of the Stone Men stopped chasing the Fire Manipulator and ran towards Gu Ning.
Gu Ning watched the Stone Men emotionlessly, and a black mist emerged from his body, forming a dark cloud that rushed towards the Stone Men.
As the dark cloud advanced, it was accompanied by gusts of Cold Wind (yin wind), and from time to time, some menacing human faces appeared within the dark cloud, looking quite eerie.
Not long after, the dark cloud enveloped the Stone Men, and intense fighting sounds emanated from within the dark cloud.
Two seconds later, the fighting sounds disappeared, and the dark cloud moved on without stopping, leaving only shattered Stone Man bodies.
Not long after, the dark cloud caught up with the remaining Stone Men.
After devouring them all, intense fighting sounds emanated from within the dark cloud.
The fleeing Fire Manipulator relaxed slightly, cupped his hands, and said, "Thank you for saving my life."
After saying this, the Fire Manipulator spat out a large mouthful of blood, fell to the ground, his face full of pain.
Gu Ning glanced at the Fire Manipulator, shook his head, and said, "You are too severely injured; if no one rescues you, you're doomed. I can help you end your suffering."
As his voice fell, the dark cloud devoured the Fire Manipulator's body, then moved towards Gu Ning.
And on the ground, another pile of Stone Man bodies lay.
That Fire Manipulator also lay on the ground, devoid of life.
When the dark cloud transformed back into smoke and burrowed into Gu Ning's body, Gu Ning smiled and said:
"I've gained seven more Third-Order souls and more than a dozen Second-Order souls. The harvest is not bad."
Afterward, Gu Ning began to clean up the battlefield and collect resources from the bodies.
When he came to the Fire Manipulator, a hint of confusion flashed in Gu Ning's eyes, and he murmured to himself, "That's strange, how did I suddenly detect Fang Che's aura?"
Gu Ning sensed carefully for a moment, but still couldn't find where Fang Che's aura was specifically hidden.
Gu Ning shook his head, stopped thinking about it, and began to scavenge for resources.
At the same time, in the underground space, Fang Che noticed that the Substitute Puppet in his Niwan Palace vibrated slightly, and a humanoid sticker suddenly turned into mist.
The atomized energy did not dissipate but reformed into the appearance of a Substitute Talisman.
Fang Che knew that one of the substitutes he had chosen had died!
+++
Chapter 100 Reward Plane Coordinates
Fang Che felt a bit regretful about the death of the Substitute Puppet.
It was such a waste for a perfectly good Substitute Puppet to die before it could even help Fang Che bear any damage.
However, Fang Che had no intention of avenging the Substitute Puppet.
Firstly, Fang Che didn't know how the Substitute Puppet died, and secondly, Substitute Puppets weren't valuable; if one died, he could just find a new one.
Fang Che quickly put the issue of the Substitute Puppet's death out of his mind and continued to control the Voodoo Doll to search for the buried conical tools.
At this moment, the Voodoo Doll was digging downwards in a straight line, and after some time, the Voodoo Doll stopped and retrieved a conical tool.
In an instant, a black spot on the map turned gold.
This indicated that the Voodoo Doll had successfully found the buried location.
The Voodoo Doll left the conical tool there and proceeded to the next burial site.
With the experience from the first time, the speed of finding subsequent burial sites increased significantly.
Fang Che no longer paid too much attention and instead resumed his cultivation.
Time flew by, and soon more than half a month had passed.
By now, Fang Che had buried half of the conical tools, and half of the black spots on the map had turned gold.
On this very day, a crack passage suddenly opened on the wall, and Gu Ning walked in from outside.
Gu Ning looked at Fang Che, paused for a moment, then immediately closed his eyes. The next second, Gu Ning opened his eyes and exclaimed:
"I didn't expect you to refine new tools again. No wonder some Professionals I've encountered recently have your aura on them."
Fang Che smiled, "I just happened to create a tool by chance. With your status, I'm sure you wouldn't even bat an eye."
Gu Ning shook his head, gazing at Fang Che seriously, and spoke with some excitement:
"Your Substitute Puppet is very powerful, and I'm quite envious. You will definitely receive the highest-level reward from the Plane Will."
Fang Che looked at Gu Ning's expression and asked in surprise, "Is this thing that powerful?"
Gu Ning nodded solemnly, "It's very powerful, more powerful than all the tools you've created before.
The most powerful aspect is that this thing can be combined with Soul Masters to increase the Soul Master's survivability!"
Fang Che immediately understood that what Gu Ning meant by "powerful" was from the perspective of its usefulness to Soul Masters.
And Soul Master is the core Professional of the Emperor Plane, so anything useful to Soul Masters would certainly receive the highest reward from the Plane Will.
Following that, Fang Che thought of a question and then asked, "The Substitute Puppet is a Curse Tool, different from ordinary tools. Can a Soul Master use it?"
Gu Ning smiled faintly and spoke with some pride, "You underestimate the Emperor Plane Will's favoritism towards Soul Masters.
As long as something is useful to Soul Masters, the Emperor Plane Will pay any price to equip it onto a Soul Master. Do you know how many development directions one can choose after awakening the Soul Master Professional?"
Fang Che was slightly stunned. He thought carefully for a moment but found that he had not learned this kind of knowledge.
Fang Che thought of the three Professional selection methods for Curse Masters, pondered for a moment, and replied uncertainly, "Five development routes?"
Upon hearing this, Gu Ning scoffed disdainfully and replied, "A total of seven hundred and twenty-four development directions."
Fang Che was shocked speechless upon hearing this. This number was truly beyond Fang Che's imagination.
Gu Ning, looking triumphant, continued to explain, "After a Soul Master chooses a development direction, they can select their favorite from hundreds of skills.
As long as a Soul Master is willing, they can gain the attack power of a Sword Immortal Professional, the healing ability of a Fleshly Body Bodhisattva Professional, or even, like a Curse Master, apply curse statuses to enemies during battle. However…"
Gu Ning suddenly changed the subject and said disdainfully, "However, these are all minor paths. The truly powerful strength lies in commanding the souls of all Professionals!"
At this moment, Fang Che truly realized the power of the Soul Master Professional.
Fang Che's vigilance towards Soul Masters increased infinitely at this moment. Under no circumstances should he offend them unless he had absolute certainty.
And Gu Ning, looking at Fang Che's solemn expression, also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
Up until now, the defensive tools created by the Plane Will had been unable to withstand the attack of the enhanced Nailhead Seven Arrows Book.
Fang Che, in Gu Ning's eyes, was a very dangerous person.
Gu Ning had once thought of eliminating Fang Che ahead of time.
However, after Fang Che created the Substitute Puppet, Gu Ning abandoned this idea.
A creative person can make Soul Masters even stronger and should not be harmed casually.
Therefore, Gu Ning chose this time to reveal the strengths of the Soul Master and conceal his own weaknesses, in order to deter Fang Che.
Now, it seemed the effect was good.
Of course, simple deterrence wasn't very effective. It also needed to be combined with some benefits to better win over Fang Che.
So, Gu Ning took out a jade pendant from his storage ring and handed it to Fang Che, smiling:
"If you inject energy into this, you can directly summon the Plane Will to bestow upon you the reward for creating the Substitute Puppet. With my jade pendant, the reward you receive will be at least one grade higher."
"Thank you," Fang Che took the jade pendant and injected a trace of curse energy.
The jade pendant immediately transformed into a ball of light, drilling into Fang Che's Niwan Palace and converging into a mass.
Immediately after, this mass of energy disappeared, and the eye of the plane appeared out of thin air!
The eye of the plane rotated gently and locked onto the Substitute Puppet.
The eye of the plane showed a hint of joy, released a ray of light that merged into the curse master gem, then dropped a rhomboid gem, and subsequently disappeared.
Fang Che immediately focused his attention on the curse master gem and found that the promotion to Tier 4 plan recorded on the curse master gem had changed, becoming even better than the previous plan.
This was the Plane Will helping Fang Che improve his promotion plan!
However, Fang Che wasn't overly excited.
He himself possessed the ability to improve promotion plans and didn't need the Plane Will's help.
Even if the Plane Will helped Fang Che improve the promotion method now, Fang Che would still refine it again in the future before using it.
Subsequently, Fang Che's attention focused on the rhomboid gem.
Inside the rhomboid gem, there was a miniature continent, with some information marked above it:
[After one thousand years, this Plane's coordinates will be automatically retrieved]
Fang Che opened his eyes with some excitement and cupped his hands towards Gu Ning, "Thank you, thank you!"
Gu Ning smiled and asked, "What did the Plane Will reward you with?"
Fang Che replied excitedly, "An improved promotion plan, and the right to use a Plane for one thousand years!"
Fang Che did not hide anything about this matter.
Fang Che believed that even if he didn't say anything, Gu Ning would be able to learn about it from the Plane Will.
Upon hearing this, Gu Ning didn't show any envy, merely nodding gently:
"Congratulations. In the future, you can create more tools that are helpful to Soul Masters. This might allow you to obtain more Plane coordinates, and the more Plane coordinates you have, the greater the benefits to you."