Chapter 405

Chapter 406: Their ‘Target’

Yu Sheng had wanted to mass produce a bunch of Irene bodies for a while; the idea had been circling in his head for at least half a month.

There was no real reason at first; he just thought it sounded fun, the way most of his ideas pop up for no reason.

Now he finally had a proper reason: to develop Irene’s fighting potential and make it easier to deal with tough enemies like that priest from before.

As the one most involved, the little Doll was clearly supportive; when it comes to wild ideas, Irene and Yu Sheng are always in sync. She loves stirring up trouble, and he specializes in making the chaos happen.

So they put their heads together and agreed on the spot, thick as thieves and perfectly matched in mischief.

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin and got serious about the details: “There’s one problem. Making you a batch of bodies isn’t hard, but can you control them? You’re already splitting your attention in four, and I remember at the start you could barely handle two.”

Irene thought it over while electricity crackled across her skin, then said: “I think I can. Remember what I told you at the beginning? My bodies can run in a low bandwidth mode. If you give them basic instructions, they can move on their own. From the viewpoint of Doll alchemy, once a Doll completes Spirit Infusion, it’s already a full lifeform with basic spirituality. Leave it long enough and it might even grow its own mind.”

She glanced at her sparking fingers and added: “Since I’ll keep a link to those bodies, we can ignore that last possibility. Bottom line, if the shells are only there to move, fight, and act like grunts, I should be able to control them.”

She paused, thought a while longer, and then continued: “Even with that, how many shells I can manage at once is still unknown. We’ll only know after we build the mass produced bodies and test.”

Yu Sheng listened to her careful analysis, watching her thoughtful face and feeling a little stunned. [I’m used to this little Doll being carefree, and she can actually put on a serious hat? Guess skill has its field. She knows herself best. She can’t even last hit a minion online and can spend three minutes fiddling at base just to buy gear, but look at her expertise in Doll control. She was born for split focus.]

Irene caught the change in his gaze in an instant and snapped her head up: “I feel like you’re talking bad about me in your head.”

“It’s your imagination,” Yu Sheng said as he waved it off, adding smoothly, “I was thinking about how awesome you are.”

“That’s right,” Irene beamed and started showing off: “I’ve noticed it too. I’ve got talent for the Clone Technique. Controlling two bodies felt weird at first, but controlling four at the same time now is like play. In short, you have to train. Once you crank out the mass produced ones, I want to really try it. I want to know what my upper limit for the Clone Technique actually is.”

“Deal. I’ll prepare,” Yu Sheng said with a grin, then turned toward the coffee table, shifting gears: “But first we need to study Yun Qing Zi and figure out what’s going on with this ‘Holy Revere Hermitage’ that suddenly popped up.”

Hearing that, the old hunk, Immortal Yuan Hao, and the big nephew, Zheng Zhi, both straightened up, and even Luna, who had been staring out the window, took two steps closer.

Yu Sheng sank onto the sofa, shaking his head as he spoke: “I just don’t get how those mumbling cultists would end up with someone like Yun Qing Zi. Their styles and their spheres shouldn’t overlap at all.”

Immortal Yuan Hao nodded: “True. The Holy Revere Hermitage rarely moves in the Featherwing sector. That ‘priest’ showing up also surprised me.” Then his tone shifted as he added calmly: “But that said, while they didn’t show up before, recently Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain did catch some of those outsiders at the Border.”

Yu Sheng frowned, thoughtful. He remembered that. Xuan Che had told him, and one of his reasons for visiting the Featherwing sector had been curiosity about those suspicious cult activities. Too many accidents had stacked up since he arrived, and the matter had been delayed.

“So you mean those Hermitage Order nests you found out near the Border?” Yu Sheng asked, then looked curious. “I thought you don’t handle sect affairs. How do you know all this?”

Immortal Yuan Hao looked a little awkward: “These years, for certain reasons, I have not personally managed Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain’s business. But the news still reaches me, and since I returned, I’ve learned a lot from my junior brothers.”

“Oh.” Yu Sheng let the awkward topic drop and returned to the point: “But as far as I know, those Hermitage Order nests weren’t anywhere near here.”

Before Immortal Yuan Hao could answer, a familiar voice drifted in from the window: “That only means the places we found were just stray edge outposts. The real root the cult put down in the Featherwing sector has always been at ‘Sentinel Silence’.”

Yu Sheng looked up as a streak of rosy light cut through the rain outside. With the last word, it slid through the small gap of the open window and flashed inside.

Irene’s grounding wire was still looped over the sill for her constant “discharging.” The window had been left cracked open for it.

Everything happened too fast for Yu Sheng to warn anyone. He lifted a hand and the rosy light brushed the grounded steel cable on the sill.

There was a crisp snap. A seven or eight meter long, snaking arc of purple blue spiritual lightning pierced the air, one end clamped to Irene’s forearm and the other to the incoming light. The steel cable vaporized in an instant, and Xuan Che popped out of the glow like a ball of lightning. With a startled “hey,” he shot across the hall and slammed hard into the opposite wall.

Cultivation bodies are tough. Smashed flat against the wall, Xuan Che bounced to his feet in a second, tossed a handful of unknown elixirs into his mouth, spun around on high alert, and barked: “Who unleashed Divine Thunder!”

Residual arcs still snapped over him, his hair stood straight up, and his two eyes were pointed at different corners of the room. It took several seconds before his focus returned, and then he saw the little Doll sitting in the center, and the current humming at her side.

The room went very quiet.

Even Yu Sheng, who often dealt with oddballs, had no idea how to respond for a moment.

Irene broke the silence first as she looked at her palm, then stared at Yu Sheng in surprise: “Hey! Half my charge just dumped out!”

She sprang to her feet and stared right at Xuan Che: “Don’t move!”

Cold sweat burst out on Xuan Che’s brow; his face turned paper white, whether from fear or from the shock: “Miss Irene, please calm down!”

“Calm down my foot. This body feels great for gaming, but right now I don’t even dare touch a phone,” Irene complained, voice buzzing, “just bear with it. Treat it like a tribulation. A few crackles and you’re done.”

Xuan Che looked horrified and turned to Yu Sheng: “Mr. Yu, save me!”

“Irene, sit back down. Don’t make trouble right now,” Yu Sheng finally stepped in. When the little Doll muttered and sat again, he turned to Xuan Che. “You… you broke my train of thought. Where were we? Right. Holy Revere Hermitage. Did you meet the City Lord of Ink City? Any intel on those cultists?”

Xuan Che let out a breath, carefully skirted around Irene, smoothed his hair and straightened his clothes, then said: “No. Whether it’s the Hermitage Order or those black robed cultivators, the City Lord here knows nothing. It’s still early to draw conclusions, but in my view both the City Lord of Ink City and the Youth Form Guardian Elder of Sentinel Silence have grown quite lax these years.”

He sat beside Yu Sheng, took a moment to arrange his thoughts, and continued: “But on the way back, I did think through a few things.”

Yu Sheng raised a brow: “Oh?”

“As for why the Hermitage Order would get tangled up with someone like Yun Qing Zi,” Xuan Che said evenly, “if they have a common target, that becomes another story.”

“A common target…” Yu Sheng repeated, his face growing serious.

He might not know Yun Qing Zi’s full aim yet, but he knew the Hermitage Order’s, or at least their biggest recent goal.

He said in a low voice: “Dark Angels.”