CHAPTER 584: CHAPTER 581: REFINING THE HUMAN DEMON PUPPET!

"Arhat Fist," "Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic," "Dharma Scripture," "Flower Pinching Finger," "Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill"...

The secret martial arts manuals treasured by Huaxia Martial Arts, at this moment, scattered everywhere like discarded old textbooks after graduation.

After rummaging for a full two hours, a sandalwood box covered in dust came into Li Chen’s view.

A large "Forbidden" character was still on it.

It signified that the secret technique within the box was an Evil Technique.

Li Chen raised his eyebrows; a whirlpool condensed in the palm of his hand, like the Azure Dragon Absorbing Water, drawing the box over.

A thin barrier was on it, traces left by the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng.

Li Chen could easily erase the divine sense of the Eighteen Copper Men. Naturally, this mere barrier was not worth mentioning.

Having erased the barrier, the box was opened. Four dark red characters jumped into Li Chen’s eyes.

Demon Puppet Secret Technique!

Seeing this, Li Chen was overjoyed and grabbed the secret manual in his hand.

Finally, I’ve found you!

The text of the manual wasn’t lengthy, containing only 13,500 characters, but it was written in ancient Miao Territory script, mixed with plenty of Sanskrit and regional dialects, making it very obscure and difficult to understand.

Even Li Chen found it challenging to read the original text directly.

Fortunately, Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng had annotated every sentence, even every character, of this "Demon Puppet Secret Technique." The annotations totaled no fewer than a hundred thousand characters, which saved Li Chen a lot of effort.

Li Chen spent two days thoroughly studying it.

The so-called crafting of Demon Puppets, the Curse Technique of Miao Territory and Thailand, held a similar genius.

However, crafting Demon Puppets mostly used lifeless objects and required as much tempering of their essence as possible to make them indestructible.

The Curse Technique targeted living beings, controlling others’ consciousness for one’s own use.

For tempering the essence, the ideal power was naturally lightning.

Jiangnan was rainy, but lightning was rare. If it was only about refining the zombie body of Zhang Xiaolin, it would be sufficient, but for the Eighteen Copper Men as well, it was far from enough.

Li Chen thought for a moment and decided to take a trip to Thunder State.

That place had the most frequent lightning in the country and hence got its name, making it the ideal place for crafting Demon Puppets.

No sooner said than done!

Li Chen rested for a day at Cloud Mist Mountain and then set off for Thunder State.

Two days later, under the guidance of a local elderly man, he found a place called Thunder God Ridge.

Moreover, the elderly man told him that Thunder God Ridge was continuously filled with thundering roars and was mostly dry thunder without rain. There was a Thunder God Temple on it; last century, many villagers went up to worship. However, after a few people were struck dead by lightning, hardly anyone went there anymore.

Li Chen thanked the old man and went straight up to Thunder God Ridge.

Thunder God Ridge truly lived up to its name.

All sorts of colored lightning, just like fireworks during the Lantern Festival, were dazzlingly brilliant. The sounds of roaring thunder reached the ears. If an ordinary person spent three to five days here, they’d either be struck dead or scared to death.

Li Chen, of course, was not afraid of this lightning.

Jiao Long was also very excited; its first awakened talent was the Thunder Claw. It felt an inexplicable kinship toward lightning.

Li Chen circled around Thunder God Ridge and found a miniature basin, high around and low in the middle.

In just a few minutes, three bolts of lightning struck down here. If a Lightning Attraction Formation was set up here, it would be the perfect place for tempering.

Li Chen spent three days constructing the Lightning Attraction Formation.

Then, he began arranging the Eighteen Copper Men and the zombie body of Zhang Xiaolin in a constellation pattern across the basin.

Jiao Long found a hollow and lazily lay down in it. The lightning striking its body felt like tickling, making it comfortably hum. Uninformed onlookers might think it was basking in high glory!

Crafting a Human Demon Puppet generally takes forty-nine days.

Li Chen, having nothing else to do, started to browse through the Shaolin Scripture Pavilion’s secret martial arts manuals.

Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic?

This is something for cleansing the marrow and transforming the tendons, greatly enhancing the probability that a Martial Artist at the Inner Strength Peak could ascend to the Innate Realm.

However, for Li Chen, it was utterly useless.

Vajra Unbreakable?

His perfect Spiritual Body was ten times tougher than this. Moreover, he was protected by the Five Elements Battle Armor. Thus, in his eyes, it was completely unnecessary.

Arhat Fist?

...

Other than the "Dharma Scripture," which could barely catch Li Chen’s interest among the other Shaolin secret manuals, they were essentially too inferior to be worth mentioning.

The "Dharma Scripture," as the name suggests, is a scriptural mental method compiled by Shaolin’s founder Dharma in his later years, crystallizing his lifelong efforts. It is said that on the day the scripture was completed, he passed away and ascended, leading thousands to worship.

Li Chen opened the scripture, and the first thing that caught his eye was a Zen poem written by the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng.

The Bodhi is originally without any tree,

The mirror also is not a stand,

Originally there is not a single thing—

Where can the dust be attracted?

Further down, there was the text written in Sanskrit by the Dharma Ancestor.

One must admit, the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng was indeed a diligent student. No matter which book he read, he had the good habit of making annotations. These lines were full of dense notes.

Possibly for the sake of easier reading, he also translated all the Sanskrit into Chinese.

It reads:

"When the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was practicing the profound Prajnaparamita,

Shariputra,

Form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form.

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.[Note 1]

...

Li Chen, like an old monk in meditation, began to comprehend the "Dharma Scripture."

Thus, after thirty-three full days, he suddenly opened his eyes, his body enveloped in a golden light, resembling a reincarnated Buddha.

"So that’s it!"

These thirty-three days of reflection gave him a deeper understanding of the Buddhist Techniques.

"Roar, roar!"

The Jiao Long, sensing the change in Li Chen, suddenly raised its head and let out a series of low growls.

Meaning, do you need my help? Just two Dragon Blood Fruits will do!

Li Chen disregarded it, slowly stood up, and checked the Lightning Attraction Formation.

The Spiritual Power absorbed by the Eighteen Copper Men was almost saturated. Only Zhang Xiaolin’s zombie body, like a starving baby, was vigorously sucking as if drawing milk from its mother.

Seeing this scene, Li Chen’s expression became somewhat grave.

Is this likely to evolve into a Drought?

After pondering briefly, Li Chen took out the Dragon Abyss Sword, slashed across his palm, and let his Essence Blood flow like a babbling brook into the Lightning Attraction Formation, following the lightning into Zhang Xiaolin and the Eighteen Copper Men’s bodies, starting to implant his own consciousness.

In this way, as long as he himself was still alive, these Demon Puppets would possess Undying Bodies!

The lightning infused with Essence Blood instantly turned blood-red. It struck the top of Zhang Xiaolin’s skull, forming a thunder mark at the center of his forehead.

This was the Divine Sense planted by Li Chen, to begin controlling these puppets once the crafting was complete, all it would take is a thought!

Note 1: From the "Dharma Sutra," this book indeed exists. Emptiness is form, form is emptiness, it comes from this.