Tong Ruobing searched the Sea of Consciousness. She immediately noticed the latter had a significant amount of Spiritual Strength, but she didn't find anything similar to a soul or Primordial Spirit.
Knowing time was of the essence, she increased the pace of her search, using every means available to her to discover this place's secret. Then, she found something deep in his Sea of Consciousness, towering above this internal space.
"This thing looked like a puppet core," muttered Tong Ruobing as she gazed at the white orb with a strange rune inside. At some point in history, Puppet Dao flourished in the Myriad Emperor World.
Puppet Masters would sell puppets as battle strengths, for labor, or for people to use for their tombs. The Puppet Dao experienced something not recorded in detail by the history books and almost became extinct. Although it survived, it was no longer prosperous, becoming a Side Door Dao not approved or used by many cultivators.
Only recently, with the development of the Dao Opening Sect's Mortal Territory, Puppet Dao had a slight resurgence.
As such, Tong Ruobing also studied or learned about Puppets because of this resurgence. So, she knew puppets would be installed with a Puppet Core containing the runes that gave them different functions or purposes.
The Puppet Core also allowed people to control the puppet by leaving a Soul Imprint on the core.
Tong Ruobing felt a mysterious power emanating from this core, trying to destroy it. So, she waved her hand and used a Sealing Talisman to reinforce her control of this Sea of Consciousness.
She gazed at the core and did not recognize the specific runes. Furthermore, she even found it difficult to remember after removing her eyes for a few seconds.
'I don't have much time to study this rune, so let's use other means.'
Tong Ruobing summoned a unique talisman from her space ring: [Truth Talisman]. This talisman served the same purpose as divination, but the core runes used for its creation were not Fate Runes but Heaven Dao Runes, which involved knowledge and the path of omniscience.
[A talent that resulted from the mutation of the soul. It allows the user to create unique Puppet Cores.]
Tong Ruobing immediately frowned as the information received was too small.
'My intuition is telling me something greater is at play here, but I cannot pinpoint what it is,' she analyzed. She felt Chen Chen's change was more than meets the eye. Unfortunately, she did not have enough information to analyze or deduce this situation.
'The only thing I can summarize is Chen Chen's soul mutation allowed him to break the limitation of using clones for professions. However, such a limitation is one of the fundamental laws of Heaven and Earth. So, how could someone break it?
'Unless Heaven and Earth allow it. But who would do such a thing? Heavenly Dao? True Heavenly Dao? Or maybe, something even more?'
Tong Ruobing was momentarily frustrated by it. Her intuition and intelligence told her Chen Chen's secret was deeper than meets the eye. Sadly, she had no way of finding it.
Eastern Quadrant:
Wang Wei observed everything calmly. And even before Tong Ruobing, he discovered Chen Chen's soul mutation and talent. And he knew the scary part about this talent.
Chen Chen can create clones with the exact strength as him and control them with this Puppet Core. And these clones only require resources.
So, he imagined the scenario of Chen Chen after becoming a peak Paragon. As long as he has enough resources, he can create unlimited Paragon Tier Clones of himself.
'If such life forms could control one or two Chaos Worlds–even normal ones–they could manufacture Peak Paragons like they were cheap meat at a factory by using the resources of the entire world.'
Wang Wei squinted his eyes. Such Paragons will have the same mindset, which makes them easier to analyze and counter. However, their advantage is their number and ability to work together perfectly.
Such a race that only requires resources to manufacture powerhouses is a balance breaker, so they should not be tolerated. However, they are also the perfect war machines to face an enemy.'
Wang Wei understood why Grand Dao would allow their existence. He could foresee how, somewhere in Primordial Chaos, there are currently a few Source Chaos Worlds taken over by a species similar to Chen Chen.
They are mining the entire world's resources to create Paragon, Empyrean, and Emperor Tiers puppets in batches like a clone or robot factory.
'I understand why my future self would send Chen Chen in my direction. I will need such a race under my control for this battle,' he analyzed before sighing.
'I feel bad for such a race since their final fate will be destruction.'
Once the war between himself and Grand Dao ends, the fate of Chen Chen's new race will be extinct since they have already served their purpose. Or maybe, if Grand Dao is benevolent, it will restrict their natural talent and essentially nerf them.
Wang Wei internally shook his head, not focusing on this issue since something more pressing was on his mind.
'One of the advantages I always had in my cultivation journey was access to Earth Civilization. I can use their ideas, philosophies, and myths as inspirations. But now, Grand Dao might also have access to Earth, thus leveling the playing field.'
He knew Chen Chen's race, based on robots or automatons, was not good news for him and his battle against Grand Dao. So, he took note of this and decided to prepare; he needed more advantages besides Earth's civilization.
'I need other civilizations.'
Without wasting time, he accessed his Science and Technology World. He separated another layer of space and recreated the universe, including the Earth, by manipulating the fate of that second layer of that space.
However, the Earth he created was based on primitive humans when Homo Sapiens had just become the ruler of the wild. Wang Wei was not satisfied, so he made other layers, some of which are when Homo Sapiens and different types of humans like Homo Erectus or Home Neathandalis lived together with many ancient animals long extinct.
Then, he accelerated the Time in these layers and let a new civilization evolve. He also made sure to leave other places in the universe with the possibility for the birth of life and evolution.
However, he did not interfere. What he wanted was the clash of civilizations to provide him with ideas and knowledge.
'That should be enough for now,' he thought before focusing on the battle, which had reached its peak.
…
Tong Ruobing's Primordial Spirit rushed out of Chen Chen's body as it felt a great sense of danger from its body. After returning and synchronizing with her body, Tong Ruobing found herself placing layers of defensive methods.
She felt a great sense of danger emanating from the floating city. And to prove her intuition, she also sensed a disturbing amount of energy gathering somewhere.
So, without hesitation and wasting time, she used layers upon layers of defensive talismans and arrays. If not for the sealed space, she would have teleported away.
Deep in the floating city, the real Chen Chen looked at a screen before him.
'My secret cannot be revealed as of yet. So, Tong Ruobing must be destroyed at all costs.'
One of the first instincts he developed after transforming into his current self was never to reveal the secret of his soul mutation. So, his current priority is no longer defeating Tong Ruobing but eradicating her.
'This attack will condense all the city's power in one blow, thus weakening the city and forcing it to enter sleep mode. However, it will be enough.'
He designed this attack to deal with Di Tian and Wang Wei. He planned to hide and wait until they battled it out and decided the winner. Then, he would use this attack on the winner, using their weakness to his advantage.
According to his calculations, he can win the final battle if this method succeeds and prove the Dao. His Soul Talent will further develop, and he will also escape the shackles and limitations of death.
From then on, his future will be limitless.
But if he fails, he only needs to hide and survive this battle. Then, wait for a few generations to succeed. Anyway, he had a longer lifespan than ordinary flesh and blood species and could increase his lifespan by nourishing his soul.
But now, he had to eliminate Tong Ruobing at all costs.
What Chen Chen did not know was Wang Wei–who was secretly reading his mind–was sighing deeply because he could no longer find Chen Chen's desire to use Existence Reconstruction to return to normal from his mind.
'I will give you one last chance,' thought Wang Wei.
A hole appeared at the center of the floating city, and a humongous cannon mouth floated from underground. It pointed at Tong Ruobing.
Boom!
A brilliant light emanated from the cannon, destroying everything in its path. Once everything finished, not a single piece of Tong Ruobing remained in view.
