Heaven rewards diligence, but there are always fairies plotting against me.

The Great Yuan Dynasty, Iron Sword Mountain.

The Iron Sword Sect's stronghold, once towering into the clouds and exuding a heavy aura of warfare, is now shrouded in a thick stench of blood and a chilling atmosphere.

Iron Sword Mountain was in ruins after the war, with remnants of the battle still burning among the broken walls.

The disciples of the Divine Sword Sect were busy counting the spoils of war and moving spirit stones and cultivation manuals from the ruins, but every face was filled with exhaustion and awe.

On the ruins of the Iron Sword Sect's main hall, Chu Chang stood with his hands behind his back, the wind whipping the hem of his black robes.

Behind him, Lin Wuwen stood silently like an iron tower, his eyes vacant and his body radiating a cold, deathly aura.

"Supreme Deacon, the Iron Sword Sect's treasure vault has been cleared. We obtained 300,000 low-grade spirit stones, 12,000 mid-grade spirit stones, and countless third-tier pills and medicinal herbs. But..."

The elder in charge of statistics stepped forward, nervously handing over the roster, hesitant to speak.

"Speak," Chu Chang said calmly.

"However, in this battle, our Divine Sword Sect also lost nearly three hundred elite disciples, and the rest are all wounded. Now, there are only five Golden Core stage elders left in the sect. If we immediately turn to fight the Zhao family, or even deal with the City Lord's Mansion that may intervene... our forces are really stretched thin."

The elder's words pointed out the most fatal weakness of the Divine Sword Sect.

Although the Divine Sword Sect is nominally a major sect within a radius of thousands of miles, its vitality has been severely damaged after the massacre in the main hall, the killing of the Grand Elder Zhao Wuji's faction, and today's strong attack on the Iron Sword Sect.

Although Chu Chang possessed extraordinary personal combat strength and was protected by Lin Wuwen, a "Heavenly Demon Reincarnation Puppet" at the Purple Mansion Realm, the conquests of the cultivation world were not merely duels between top experts.

Defending territory, suppressing subordinate families, collecting resources, transporting spirit stones... these complicated and trivial tasks all require a large number of cultivators to carry out.

"Having too few subordinates is ultimately a hidden danger."

Chu Chang frowned slightly, deep in thought.

His next goal is not only to annihilate the Zhao family, but also to use the clues from the black "Dust-Severing" ancient sword to explore the ruins of the ancient sword immortal. In this process, he will inevitably encounter more and more powerful sects and reclusive families. If he has to take action personally every time, or lead this group of defeated soldiers on a desperate mission, the efficiency will be far too low.

"Since there aren't enough living people, then let's make up for it with dead people."

A strange, cold glint flashed in Chu Chang's eyes.

He thought of the ancient technique he possessed, the "Heavenly Demon Puppet Technique." This secret technique could not only transform living people into puppets devoid of pain, but also reshape the corpses of cultivators who had recently died, whose bodies and souls had not yet completely dissipated, into fighting machines.

To perform large-scale alchemy, extremely demanding conditions are required: abundant Yin Iron veins, rich Five Metal Qi to strengthen the physical body, and a Yin-gathering place that isolates one from the secrets of heaven.

Chu Chang closed his eyes, and his vast divine sense spread out like a tide, instantly covering the entire Iron Sword Mountain.

A moment later, he opened his eyes and looked toward a valley deep in the back of Iron Sword Mountain.

"Found it. There is a natural Cold Iron Earthly Fiend Valley beneath the Iron Sword Sect."

Cold Iron Earthly Fiend Valley is located beneath a bottomless abyss on the back of Iron Sword Mountain.

This place is perpetually shrouded in darkness. The extremely cold, fiery energy emanating from the earth converges with the unique metallic energy of Iron Sword Mountain, creating a distinctive blackish-red mist.

If an ordinary person were to inhale even one breath of this, their internal organs would instantly freeze. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have their true essence frozen by the Earthly Fiend if they stayed here for half an hour.

However, for crafting puppets, this place is an impeccable holy land.

The Cold Iron Earthly Fiend can lock in the last trace of spiritual power within a corpse, while the Geng Metal Qi can be integrated into the bones, making the puppet's body comparable to a refined iron magic weapon.

Chu Chang led Lin Wuwen and several Golden Core elders from the Divine Sword Sect into the deep valley.

"Bring down the corpses of Zhao Wuji, the Second Elder, the Fourth Elder, as well as Tie Kuangtu and the four Golden Core elders from the Iron Sword Sect," Chu Chang ordered.

Before long, eight corpses exuding a powerful aura were neatly arranged on the black stone platform at the bottom of the valley.

These eight corpses were at least at the late Golden Core stage in life, with Zhao Wuji and Tie Kuangtu being even stronger experts at the Purple Mansion stage. Even though they had perished, the residual pressure emanating from them still caused the surrounding temperature to drop slightly.

The elders of the Divine Sword Sect couldn't help but swallow hard as they looked at the eight corpses, their hearts pounding with fear.

"Supreme Deacon...you are going to..." an elder's voice trembled slightly.

"You all retreat to the outside of the valley and wait. No one is allowed to trespass without my order. Anyone who disobeys will be executed." Chu Chang did not answer, but simply flicked his sleeves coldly.

"yes!"

As if granted a pardon, everyone scrambled out of the Cold Iron Earthly Fiend Valley.

Only Chu Chang and Lin Wuwen, who stood woodenly to one side, remained in the entire deep valley.

Chu Chang looked at the eight corpses on the ground and took a deep breath. He knew that simultaneously refining two Purple Mansion level puppets and six Golden Core level puppets was a huge challenge for his current cultivation level and spiritual power.

However, with the support of the Taiyin-Taiyang Chaos Body and the continuous supply of Chaos True Essence, this is not an impossible task.

"Let's begin."

Chu Chang clasped his hands together in front of his chest, then slowly opened them. A small cauldron, about the size of a palm and exuding an ancient and chaotic aura, slowly rotated in his palms—this was the Chaos Divine Cauldron.

"rise!!!!!"

Chu Chang flicked his finger, and the Chaos Divine Cauldron instantly grew to several zhang in size, hovering above the deep valley.

The cauldron tilted, and streams of gray chaotic demonic fire poured down like a waterfall, engulfing all eight corpses at the same time.

Chi Chi Chi

The Chaos Demon Fire is extremely hot, but this flame does not harm the flesh of the corpse. Instead, it penetrates directly into the bones and meridians, refining the impurities, waste blood, and violent death energy left behind by the corpse before its death.

At the same time, Chu Chang's ten fingers moved rapidly, drawing mysterious dark runes in the air.

These runes are the "Heavenly Demon Soul Control Script" from the "Heavenly Demon Puppet Technique".

"With my divine soul, I command the Nine Netherworlds! Go!"

Chu Chang let out a low shout, and the powerful divine sense in his sea of ​​consciousness split into eight solidified soul threads, which merged into the dark runes. Then, the eight runes trembled in the air, transformed into eight black rays, and disappeared into the depths of the brows of the eight corpses.

boom!

The remaining soul within the corpse instantly collided violently with the runes.

In particular, the remnant souls of the First Elder Zhao Wuji and the Iron Sword Sect Master Tie Kuangtu, under the stimulation of the Chaos Demon Fire, actually let out a faint roar of unwillingness, trying to resist Chu Chang's control.

"Hmph, you couldn't do anything to me when I was alive, and now you want to cause trouble after I'm dead?"

Chu Chang sneered and stomped his right foot hard on the ground.

Hundreds of golden Sanskrit characters instantly fell from the Chaos Cauldron, transforming into chains that tightly bound the remnant souls of Zhao Wuji and Tie Kuangtu.

At the same time, Chu Chang activated the Yin and Yang energies within his body. With his left hand, he gathered the ultimate Yang fire of the sun to temper their physical bodies; with his right hand, he gathered the ultimate Yin energy of the moon to stabilize their Niwan Palace (a point on the back of the head).

"Cold Iron Earthly Fiend, heed my command, enter!"

Chu Chang lifted both hands upwards.

The earthly evil energy and metal energy that had accumulated deep in the valley for thousands of years transformed into eight enormous black dragons at this moment, roaring as they rushed into the Baihui acupoints of the eight corpses.

Ka Ka Ka

As the cold iron and earthly evil energy and the Geng metal energy were poured in, the bones inside the corpses began to undergo a strange transformation. The originally pale bones gradually developed a dark golden metallic luster; and their skin also became as hard as pig iron, radiating a cold light.

This is a heaven-defying method that uses the human body as a magical artifact for refining.

The refining process is extremely tedious and dangerous.

Chu Chang had to maintain a high level of concentration at all times, precisely controlling the temperature of the Chaos Demonic Fire and the rate at which the Earthly Fiend Qi was poured in. The slightest carelessness would cause the corpses of these powerful figures to explode, turning into wasteland, unable to withstand the violent power.

Time passed by, second by second.

one day.

Two days.

Three days.

By the morning of the fourth day, the mist throughout the Cold Iron Earthly Fiend Valley had turned completely black. A terrifying, violent, yet extremely disciplined death aura was brewing deep within the valley, even causing the void to slightly distort due to this power.

At this moment, Chu Chang's face was also slightly pale, and his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat.

In order to fully refine these eight corpses, he consumed almost 80% of his chaotic true essence.

"Give it to me, Ning!"

Suddenly, Chu Chang's eyes snapped open in anger, and two dazzling beams of light shot out from them.

He slammed his hands together.

The Chaos Cauldron, suspended in mid-air, emitted a clear chime and transformed into a beam of light that entered his body.

At the same time, the chaotic demonic fire and black mist enveloping the eight corpses were instantly absorbed into their bodies.

At the bottom of the valley, all is calm.

Eight figures stood in perfect unison before Chu Chang.

Their eyes were tightly closed, and their skin had an eerie dark iron color, with faint black runes moving across it. The aura emanating from them was devoid of the restlessness they possessed in life, leaving only a deep, abyssal stillness and terror.

"Open your eyes," Chu Chang's weak but cold voice rang out.

Swish!

Eight pairs of eyes opened at the same time.

Those were not human eyes; they had no pupils, only two burning, icy black demonic flames.

"Zhao Wuji (Iron Madman)...Greetings, Master!"

Two puppets at the Purple Mansion Realm and six at the Golden Core Realm knelt down on one knee in unison, their voices hoarse like the friction of metal, making the entire deep valley hum.

It worked!

Looking at the eight puppets before him, Chu Chang finally managed a hearty smile.

"From this day forward, you shall be known as the Eight Heavenly Demons."

Chu Chang stood up and took out eight jet-black pills that exuded a strong demonic aura. These were "Soul Gathering Demon Pills" that he had refined using Yin-attribute spiritual herbs from the Iron Sword Sect's treasure pavilion.

He flicked the pills with his fingers, sending them into the mouths of the eight puppets.

As the pills entered their mouths, the aura emanating from the Eight Fiends surged once more. Iron Madman, in particular, saw his physical strength, under the combined effects of the Geng Metal Qi and the Soul Gathering Demon Pill, subtly surpass the average late-stage Purple Mansion realm cultivator, approaching the peak of the Purple Mansion realm!

With the addition of Lin Wuwen, Chu Chang now commands an army of three Purple Mansion Realm and six Golden Core Realm ruthless puppets!

Such combat power is enough to sweep aside any second-rate sect in the Great Yuan Dynasty in an instant, and even challenge those first-rate powerful clans.

Chu Chang slowly walked out of the Cold Iron Earthly Fiend Valley.

Behind him, Lin Wuwen was in the lead, followed closely by the Eight Demons of Heaven.

Nine puppets, radiating overwhelming demonic power, stood in a row, their oppressive presence nearly suffocating the Divine Sword Sect elders guarding outside the valley.

"Supreme Deacon...this...this is..."

When the elders saw Zhao Wuji and Tie Kuangtu following behind Chu Chang, they were so frightened that they fell to the ground, their faces ashen.

"The dead are naturally more obedient than the living."

Chu Chang glanced at them indifferently, his voice devoid of any warmth: "How is the reorganization of the Divine Sword Sect disciples going?"

"Reporting to the Supreme Elder, the army is fully prepared and the warships are ready to depart at any time!" The elder swallowed hard, his voice trembling as he answered.

"very good."

Chu Chang flipped over and leaped onto the blue stone warship that was waiting outside the mountain gate.

Nine puppets, like ghosts, silently floated down behind him, remaining motionless, like nine statues.

Chu Chang stood at the bow of the ship, coldly gazing at the southern sky, the direction of the Zhao family's stronghold.

"The Zhao family... my puppet army, is here to send you on your way."

The warship roared, transforming into a streak of light, carrying endless killing intent and death energy, and hurtled towards the Zhao family's stronghold.

The cultivation world of the Great Yuan Dynasty is about to face an even deeper darkness and reshuffling under Chu Chang's iron-fisted rule.