Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"You think it's that simple?" Yan Zaizen questioned Pinaka, his voice filled with disbelief. Earlier, Pinaka suggested that the moat only affected those who come into contact with. If that was the case, one could, theoretically, walk up to the door and simply open it.

"You all are overthinking the situation. Your assumption of the moat is pointlessly cautious. If there's no solution and no one willing to take the chance, then wouldn't you be stuck here forever?" Her words were true. If there wasn't a problem to begin with, their assumptions and deductions would be irrelevant and a waste of time. However, could it truly be so simple?

"I see. In that case…" Yan Zaizen's eyes flickered with intelligence. Recalling the Li Clan Patriarch's corpse, he'd already refined it thoroughly to become a puppet of his. It didn't contain a trace of lifeforce or a soul, so the moat wouldn't be able to infect it normally. Despite that, its strength couldn't be fully maintained, nor could its comprehension into the laws as that originated from the soul.

If he could use the puppet to test Pinaka's theory, if he lost it, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but if he didn't, then it'll be fine. Normally, one would think that there should be others with puppets, but in truth, they weren't practical. For one, the stronger the puppet, the greater your spiritual sense requirement must be to control it. Not only that, the puppet is similar to a formation, if destroyed the backlash would be intense.

There were other issues as well, such as the inability to bring out its previous owner's full strength, access their bloodline, cultivate them to be stronger, or anything really besides a body that could induce a backlash.

Corpse puppetry was essentially a lost art, and many would instead use a True Essence Realm's corpse for elixirs, pills, or armament creation. In the past, only incredibly strong cultivators who've had accomplishments in the soul would control puppets. Normally, they would control metallic puppets called golems who bolstered incredibly strong physical defense and contained Spirit Forms.

Thinking up to here, he informed the group of his intentions, "I'll be sending my puppet to confirm a theory of mine." Their eyes flickered with interest but didn't say anything in refusal. Not a single cultivator amongst the thousands had a golem nor used a corpse puppet due to its issues.

With a motion of his hand, a pale white faceless corpse emerged into the surroundings. Those who were keeping a lookout for anything out of the ordinary were immediately drawn to its existence. Their eyes glistened with intrigue, but similar to his group, they didn't say anything but stayed in observation.

Not too far away from their current location, the Xiāo City Lord was looking about cautiously. Noticing the oddity that attracted others attention, his eyes turned to see a handsome youth standing beside a faceless humanoid. For some reason, when he looked at the youth, his heart couldn't help but feel a little irritated. A bloom of hatred was slowly forming, but he didn't recognize why.

Yao Wuhen and her group were far away, but they seemed to have noticed something and looked towards Yan Zaizen's direction.

"Go!" Ignoring the nearby gazes honed on him, he sent the Li Patriarch's puppet towards the moat. Its body radiated with a dim true-essence containing traces of fire. At the moment, the Li Patriarch's corpse puppet only possessed sufficient strength to rival a half-step True Essence expert, but it was still sufficient.

With a zooming dash, the puppet traversed several li of distance, causing everyone's eyes to be drawn to the rapidly moving form. It reached the moat in seconds, and then, without stopping, barreled through that twenty feet of distance. As it skipped past the inky black moat, the moat showed no reaction. However, the door glistened with a faint crimson light.

"This?!" Yan Zaizen was shocked. As he controlled this puppet with his spiritual sense tied to soul energy, he felt an indescribable feeling pass through his soul form. A bright crimson light shot out from the door, penetrating the corpse puppet. Like an electrical line, it traced back to Yan Zaizen from his connection with the corpse puppet and burrowed sharply between his brows.

Everyone here, no matter how powerful, couldn't perceive what had just happened. Yan Zaizen's eyes went blank for several seconds but later resumed its vibrant lifeforce. His brows furrowed in deep contemplation.

The light seemed to wish to control his soul, to dominate and transform it into something else, but the moment it entered his brow, the swirling black hole in his soul form's glabella gobbled it up instantly. Pinaka, however, saw it all.

"That's…" She felt a little surprised but also expected it. One must remember that she originated from the Chaos Era. The chance that there was a soul attack at the gates of the Asura Phantom Palace was about 99% probability from her experience, but she knew it was irrelevant due to Yan Zaizen's innate soul protection. What she didn't expect, however, was Yan Zaizen gaining some benefits due to the attack.

Yan Zaizen was shocked as well. From this attack, he gained knowledge. It was strange. The light transmitted information directly into mind before attempting to reach his soul. It held a faint intent to transform his soul. This transmitted knowledge would be beneficial to him afterward. However, due to his innate-soul protection from the black hole, only the information was transmitted. It contained soul arts, a soul method for cultivation, and comprehension into a unique Astral-grade language.

This was a language produced by someone who possessed an Astral Soul!

The method was named the Phantom Monarch Method. One would cultivate their soul form into a phantom, which could exit the body, possess other bodies, consume and transform other souls into lesser phantoms. They could even evolve into a phantasm!

"It wanted to turn me into a phantom?!" He was shocked, his back dripping in cold sweat at the thought, silently cursing Pinaka for her inappropriate reasoning. Sure, she was right, the moat was an irrelevant piece, but the door had a trap! Anyone who attempted to enter the door would be struck by a beam of crimson light that'd infect and transform their soul into a freaking phantom!

The corpse puppet remained standing beside the door, completely inactive and awaiting orders.

"Go!" A powerful, tyrannical voice shouted out as a cultivation base equivalent to the late-True Essence Realm erupted. A dashing middle-aged man dressed in a black and white robe flew towards the door with blinding speed His group followed behind as if under some pre-decided course of action. This event caused everyone's eyes to flare up in realization, and they took action immediately lest they be late.

If the corpse puppet was fine, then the moat was safe! They just needed to open the door!

Some people stayed behind, not willing to be the first to enter. In truth, their actions could be considered intelligent and would've kept them alive if Yan Zaizen hadn't devoured the crimson light. Initially, it was supposed to infect someone and return, but since it was thoroughly consumed, there were no defenses left on the door.

Blasting past the corpse puppet, the late-True Essence expert launched a palm containing a ferocious might. A manifestation of a large dark silver palm slammed heavily into the entrance. Almost immediately, it exploded, revealing a set of wide stairs that led down below. The man had no hesitation as his body soared downwards into the depths. In an instant, he disappeared into the stairs darkness. His allies followed behind decisively, gritting their teeth and praying.

Soon, the entire stairs were flooded with experts of all sizes. Some flew at maximum speed, others flew modestly behind in caution, and a few waited.

"Let's go!" Guàn Cui thunderously ordered. Her mid-True Essence cultivation base erupting in an elegant cyan light, a single step from her took her into the entrance and then into the stairs. The rest followed behind with zero hesitations. As for Yan Zaizen, he felt odd but kept up. As he approached the entrance, he grabbed the corpse puppet and restored it into the Meteor Ring.

Tang Li spoke, "The Asura Phantom Palace has seven floors! Be cautious, it's likely we'll have to deal with remnant defensive formations at each floor."

The Asura Phantom Palace was known to have seven floors, each with a corresponding theme. Each floor has their own halls, locations, and various other areas. The deeper one goes, the higher the benefits will likely be. However, one would still have to reach that floor! Luckily, it's been nearly 50,000 years since the Asura Phantom Palace has perished, and many of the formations were likely eroded by time and lack of maintenance.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the first floor. The room was wide and circular, very reminiscent of the Anima Syndicate's Main Floor. However, it didn't lead to any corridors. Instead, there was a vast empty space and a singular door that stood at the end of the entrance. The room could fit the giants that were hundreds of meters. The entrance to exit covered about several li of distance, but to them, this was a single step.

But nobody took a step forward.

The reason was simple.

A single metallic humanoid figure stood there, patiently, with closed eyes and two long swords in its hands. Not only that, it had several faces, similar to an asura. The metal was deep red like the color of fresh blood, and it gave off a strange yet odd feeling to all those who saw it.

It, alone, stood between the entrance and door to the other side.