Chapter 27: The Divine Demon Puppet

"Qingyou? Why are you here?" Lin Jun turned around, a flicker of astonishment crossing his face, though he understood the moment he gave it a second thought.

His disciple was a reincarnated quasi-emperor. Her decision to take a mortal like him as her master must have been calculated, perhaps even aimed at this very corpse of a god-demon hidden within Myriad Laws Peak.

"I..." Ji Qingyou's face flushed a deep crimson, and she fidgeted, unsure if she should speak her mind.

Just then, an alarm bell rang in Lin Jun’s intuition; he sensed an immediate threat to his life. The heart of the god-demon corpse suddenly began to beat with ferocious intensity! It sounded like the tolling of morning bells and evening drums, so violent it left one dizzy and disoriented.

"Watch out! This place is dangerous!" Lin Jun exclaimed, grabbing his disciple to flee.

Boom!

They were fast, but the thunderous rhythm of the heart was faster. Yet, to their utter shock, as the world-destroying power of the god-demon surged toward them, it inexplicably dissipated into nothingness just before impact.

"What on earth?"

Lin Jun froze, sensing the danger had vanished. He stood there, stroking his chin as he gazed up at the towering god-demon corpse. Beside him, Ji Qingyou stood with a blushing face, lost in her own thoughts, ultimately deciding to keep her secret from her master.

As the mysterious commotion subsided, the god-demon’s grand heartbeat gradually slowed, returning to a steady rhythm, though a lingering vitality remained within its frame. Seeing this, Lin Jun—ignoring the mystery behind the phenomenon—was struck by a bold idea as he looked at the corpse.

*If I could harness this vitality properly, could I forge it into a god-demon puppet?*

*What would happen if I gifted it to my disciple? Would I get a system return?*

Lin Jun was startled by his own audacity, yet his eyes gleamed with excitement. Before his system had awakened, he had spent time studying the puppetry arts of the Sacred Sect of Spirit Puppets—a specialized path that allowed mortals to rival the gods. Back then, he had planned to walk this path if his system never activated. Now, the thought had resurfaced.

This massive entity before him was a legendary "Ancient God-Demon"! Though he had no idea why it was here, imagine the power it would wield if it were under his control. The only challenge was how to convert this corpse into a puppet. A flurry of ideas raced through his mind, though none seemed like the perfect solution yet.

"Master, what are you thinking about?" Seeing him standing there motionless, Ji Qingyou asked curiously. Since reuniting with her master here, she had already decided to relinquish this fortuitous encounter to him; she even began to suspect that the destiny she had sensed here might have belonged to him all along. This realization made her face grow shy.

"First this, then that, and then this... Yes, this plan is feasible!" Lin Jun thought, his eyes brimming with excitement. It took a while for him to calm down. He had a rough blueprint for the puppet, but it was not a task that could be completed overnight.

Not wanting to rush, he turned to Ji Qingyou, his expression still lingering on the idea. "It’s nothing. Let’s leave this place for now. By the way, how are you progressing with the Hunyuan Immortal Scripture I taught you?"

"Disciple believes I possess the bearing of a Great Emperor..." Ji Qingyou replied respectfully, her mind flashing back to the profound mysteries of the scripture.

...

Months passed in the blink of an eye. Deep within Myriad Laws Peak, having exhausted nearly all of the peak's resources and endured countless failures, Lin Jun—with Ji Qingyou's help—was finally about to complete the "God-Demon Corpse Puppet."

The puppet was now embedded with thousands of small and medium-sized drive arrays designed to fully unlock the god-demon's latent vitality. In the head, Lin Jun had fashioned a "pilot cabin" linked to every nerve of the corpse. By sitting inside and using one's divine sense, one could command the puppet entirely.

Lin Jun estimated that if driven at full capacity, this puppet could approach the power of an "Immortal." Unfortunately, his current strength and resources were insufficient, allowing him to tap into less than ten percent of its potential. Still, he couldn't resist the urge to take it out for a trial.

As the final major component was installed, the puppet was ready. Watching the transformed god-demon, Ji Qingyou felt a tremor of shock. While others might not notice, she could faintly perceive that the puppet, modified by her master, now possessed a trace of "Emperor's Might."

If given enough opportunity, it might even achieve a unique form of Emperorhood in the future. In the outside world, such a feat would shake the entire realm, yet she found it entirely unsurprising when it came to her master.

"Haha! Give it a try, disciple!" Lin Jun waved his hand, placing the awestruck Ji Qingyou into the cockpit.

"Thank you, Master!" Thrilled by the prospect, Ji Qingyou did not hesitate. As she sat within the skull and connected her divine sense, the god-demon's vitality erupted, and the puppet roared to life. Because of their earlier preparations, Lin Jun had hollowed out a massive tunnel through Myriad Laws Peak, allowing the puppet to pass through.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under Ji Qingyou's control, the giant stepped forward, ascending straight into the firmament! The residual shockwaves filled the disciples of the Great Dao Sect with terror, drawing them all out to watch.

"Heavens! What was that?"
"Has an ancient god-demon been resurrected?"
"Has an Immortal descended?"
"My soul is trembling!"

Whoosh...

High in the nine heavens, Ji Qingyou piloted the god-demon, her hand reaching out as if to grasp the stars and the moon. Further up lay the boundary of the starry sky, a realm only accessible to those who had reached the rank of Quasi-Emperor.

Just as Ji Qingyou was reflecting on the moment, two streaks of light flashed past one after the other. A massive, phantom hand manifested from the golden streak of light, followed by a voice dripping with disdain:

"What ant dares to stand in my path? Die!"