"Damn it, how could this be?! This kid is merely a Perfected Demigod, so why is he so difficult to deal with?"
The old man had thought that as long as he swiftly took control of Ye Yunfei's Soul Body, seizing his body would be straightforward. But he never imagined that Ye Yunfei would possess two Soul Bodies. While one was preoccupied by him, the other remained completely unaffected and instead launched a frenzied counterattack, utterly disrupting the rhythm of his Body Seizure.
Soon, both of Ye Yunfei's Soul Bodies appeared beside the old man, launching a torrent of blows with fists and feet, attacking madly.
"Kid, what kind of Soul Power technique have you cultivated? How can it manifest so many Soul Bodies? Could it be... the legendary inheritance secret art of the Soul Race, the Soul Force Planet technique?"
Seeing more than twenty manifestations of Ye Yunfei surrounding him, the old man blurted out in a mixture of shock and anger.
"Still wagging your tongue when death is upon you," Ye Yunfei sneered.
He was confident that this old man could no longer seize his body and was certainly trapped, destined to perish within his Soul Sea.
The battle within Ye Yunfei's Soul Sea continued. With everyone joining in the frantic siege against the old man, he finally began to falter.
Although he had been using an advanced Soul Power secret art to restrain one of Ye Yunfei's Soul Bodies while attempting to devour and seize it, the other Soul Body remained free, making a successful Body Seizure impossible.
Finally, the old man could hold out no longer. Swarmed by the combined assault, his form exploded, blasted into scattered pieces.
"This fellow must be proficient in Puppet Art. You should devour his Soul Body so you can obtain his puppetry techniques," Huang Shang said to Ye Yunfei, holding back from consuming the remnants himself after the old man's Soul Body was destroyed.
"Very well!" Ye Yunfei nodded.
He also thought it likely that this old man was the master of the puppets outside. If he could gain the old man's memories, he could learn the Puppet Art. As a ghost cultivator, Huang Shang wouldn't obtain another's memories upon devouring their Soul Body. This was one of the superior aspects of the Soul Force Planet technique, setting it apart from ordinary Soul Power martial skills.
With everyone's assistance, Ye Yunfei successfully used the Soul Force Planet technique to completely devour the old man's Remnant Soul.
From the old man's memories, Ye Yunfei learned his identity and experiences.
This old man was named Wu Dechang. He hailed from an ancient sect primarily focused on puppet techniques, the Tianlei Sect. Wu Dechang was once an ordinary elder there. By chance, he secretly infiltrated the sect's forbidden grounds and stole its core puppet inheritance. He immediately fled afterwards.
Furious upon learning this, the Tianlei Sect's Sovereign dispatched numerous experts to hunt him down.
After a desperate escape, Wu Dechang eventually arrived at the headquarters of the True Phoenix Divine Clan and sought refuge there. During that era, the True Phoenix Divine Clan was one of the most powerful races in the world. Wu Dechang had thought that by joining them, he would gain their patronage, living a prestigious life with their backing and his puppetry skills.
Yet, after learning of his actions, the True Phoenix Divine Clan's higher-ups neither expelled him nor placed great trust in him. They merely allowed him to reside within the headquarters, providing some resources in exchange for him crafting puppets for them.
Marked for a bounty and hunted by the Tianlei Sect, Wu Dechang had nowhere else to go. Furthermore, during his infiltration into the forbidden grounds, he had been injured by the guardian there, a wound that never fully healed. So, he had no choice but to accept his situation and stay within the True Phoenix Divine Clan's headquarters, assisting them by crafting puppets.
Later, a great calamity befell the True Phoenix Divine Clan's headquarters. Enemy forces of unknown origin suddenly invaded. As part of the headquarters' inhabitants, Wu Dechang had no choice but to face the battle with his puppets, albeit reluctantly.
In the end, he sustained fatal injuries during the conflict. He returned to this thatched hut where he resided and passed away not long after, leaving behind only his corpse and this Remnant Soul.
Wu Dechang's Remnant Soul had been lying in wait within the hut all this time, prepared to launch a surprise Body Seizure attack on any intruder who was not a Deity.
But he never expected to encounter Ye Yunfei, whose strength far surpassed his cultivation realm and who possessed two Soul Bodies along with over twenty Soul Force Planets. In the end, his Body Seizure attempt failed, and his Remnant Soul was completely devoured by Ye Yunfei.
"Tianlei Secret Art!"
Having devoured Wu Dechang's Remnant Soul, Ye Yunfei finally obtained his puppetry skills. He also acquired the puppet inheritance Wu Dechang had stolen from the ancient Tianlei Sect's forbidden grounds — the Tianlei Secret Art.
"Excellent. With Wu Dechang's memories and his Soul Body's aura, I can try to control the puppets he left behind," Ye Yunfei thought, a flicker of excitement rising within him.
A significant portion of the puppets Wu Dechang left behind possessed the strength of the Deity level! If Ye Yunfei could control them, his available force would skyrocket instantly.
"This is a tremendous resource for me. Alright, I must immediately sort out and familiarize myself with Wu Dechang's, and the Tianlei Sect's, puppetry art. Then I'll seize control of the puppets he left. With those puppets, the forces I command will increase dozens of times over," Ye Yunfei mused to himself.
"Senior, Miss Xiao Xiao, I need to cultivate for a while," Ye Yunfei informed Cui Hong and Xiao Xiao. He then entered the Phantom Tower to go into seclusion and practice.
Meanwhile, Cui Hong and Xiao Xiao were rummaging through Wu Dechang's few thatched huts, finding a large quantity of treasures.
Most were Deity-grade energy crystals, Deity-grade magical treasures, Deity-grade pills, and other rare materials and treasures of the Deity level.
Though Wu Dechang had felt frustrated and undervalued within the True Phoenix Divine Clan's headquarters, as a competent puppet master, many people often sought his help to craft puppets. Crafting puppets required payment, so Wu Dechang had grown quite wealthy, amassing significant riches over time.
Cui Hong and Xiao Xiao's haul was excellent. They even obtained several types of legendary, extremely rare treasures of immense value.
"Wonderful! I found two ancient flower seeds. They seem to be the legendary Soaring Dragon Flower. These two Soaring Dragon Flower seeds will surely take my strength to the next level." Xiao Xiao discovered the two seeds on a windowsill inside one of the huts, emitting an enchanting floral fragrance. After examining them, she recognized their name and couldn't help but feel thrilled.
Cui Hong found a black tree branch exuding a strange Soul Power energy aura. It very likely was the legendary Chaos Dark Soul Wood—a treasure with enormous benefits for Soul Bodies.
Now reduced to a mere Remnant Soul himself, using this Chaos Dark Soul Wood to nourish his soul would definitely restore his remnant soul's power considerably.
"Let's wait here for Young Master Ye."
After thoroughly plundering the few huts, Cui Hong and Xiao Xiao went to sit cross-legged on the open ground before the huts to await Ye Yunfei.
Meanwhile, inside the Phantom Tower, Ye Yunfei was familiarizing himself with and practicing Wu Dechang's Puppet Art, as well as the Tianlei Sect's Tianlei Secret Art.
Since Ye Yunfei possessed Wu Dechang's memories and Wu Dechang had already been a skilled puppet master, Ye Yunfei only needed to organize and absorb the puppetry knowledge within those memories to attain considerable proficiency in crafting and controlling puppets.
The Tianlei Secret Art from the Tianlei Sect was a famed puppet inheritance from ancient times. Moreover, Ye Yunfei himself possessed two Soul Bodies and over twenty Soul Force Planets, granting him astounding comprehension. No matter what technique or art he cultivated, he achieved twice the result with half the effort.
Thus, not long after, Ye Yunfei had mastered Wu Dechang's puppet secrets and began studying the Tianlei Sect's Tianlei Secret Art.
"Alright, that's enough for now. I'll find time to practice and improve my puppetry art later. For the moment, I should manage well enough," Ye Yunfei concluded. He hadn't spent too long within the Phantom Tower; time was precious, and he couldn't dedicate too much of it to cultivation right now. With a flicker of movement, he emerged from the Phantom Tower.
"Young Master Ye, are you alright?" Cui Hong and Xiao Xiao immediately came forward, with Cui Hong asking with concern.
"Senior, Miss Xiao Xiao, rest assured, I'm fine now," Ye Yunfei replied.
"To think the owner of that corpse left behind a Remnant Soul that even attempted a Body Seizure against you. Thankfully, that remnant soul's energy had depleted significantly over the long passage of time, making it no match for us," Cui Hong remarked.
"Alright, let's leave this place now. Xiao Xiao and I searched this Small World earlier and found some cultivated medicinal herbs, but not many. As you can see, there aren't many treasures left here, so we shouldn't waste any more time," Cui Hong continued.
"No, wait for me a moment," Ye Yunfei said. His figure blurred, quickly arriving before a vast, open square.
This square was filled with rows of standing puppets.
According to Wu Dechang's memories, all these puppets had been personally crafted by him. Some were made for the True Phoenix Divine Clan, while others were crafted for sale to earn profit. They were all assembled here, awaiting disposition, before the True Phoenix Divine Clan's headquarters suddenly came under invasion by powerful enemies.
After Wu Dechang perished, the puppets remained stationed here all this time. Now, Ye Yunfei was going to claim them all!