Chapter 31: The Dragon Horse Automaton

“What is this?”
The moment he stepped into the dragon’s belly and touched the viscous fluid within, Ma Buti felt his body go weak, as if it were melting.
He hurriedly released his inner energy to form a barrier, isolating himself from the corrosive slime. Only then did he feel somewhat better.
“The stomach acid of this fourth-rank flood dragon is astonishingly potent!”
“What about my elder brother…”
Recalling the terrifying power of the slime, Ma Buti let out a mournful cry. In his heart, he was now certain of his brother’s fate—
Swallowed alive by the flood dragon and soaked in such corrosive stomach acid, Ma Buting’s body must have long since dissolved into liquid.
“All of my brother’s belongings are in his spatial pouch. That pouch was forged by a grandmaster—it can’t possibly dissolve that quickly!”
“And the Flying Dragon Horse Puppet! Although I don’t know what rank that treasure is, there’s no way a fourth-rank flood dragon could digest it!”

The Flying Dragon Horse Puppet had been discovered by a master from the Earth Ranking within the Divine Ruins, but initially, he took little notice of it.
It was only when the brothers Ma Buting and Ma Buti came across the puppet that, thanks to the celestial steed bloodline of the Ma Clan of Xiliang, they sensed the puppet’s eager thirst for their blood.
Thus, the two brothers used cunning and trickery against the Earth Ranking master and seized the Flying Dragon Horse Puppet for themselves.
Though uncertain of its precise rank, after leaving the Divine Ruins, they happened to encounter that master again. By chance, their celestial steed bloodline activated the puppet’s power—
In an instant, the Flying Dragon Horse soared into the sky, not only smashing the Earth Ranking master to bits but also carrying the brothers from Thunder Gate Island in the South Sea Islands thousands of miles east to Dragon Mulberry Island.
However, the price was steep: Ma Buting’s blood was entirely drained by the puppet.
With the help of various elixirs, Ma Buting barely clung to life, but it took him four or five years of nourishment from the dragon mulberry fruit to recover his martial prowess to the level of a great martial master.
In the years that followed, the brothers worked to regain their strength while secretly studying the puppet. In the end, they concluded:
The Flying Dragon Horse Puppet was crafted from the body of a flying dragon horse of indeterminate rank, but like other artifacts from the Divine Ruins, its energy had long since faded.
Ma Buting’s celestial steed bloodline had awakened a trace of vitality within it, allowing him some measure of control.
To fully awaken and command the puppet, however, they needed to provide it with an energy core.
As a living puppet forged from the flesh of a flying dragon horse, the most suitable energy core was naturally the demon core of such a beast.
Yet flying dragon horses were exceedingly rare, let alone those of the fourth rank or higher who had developed a demon core.
The brothers could only seek alternatives, hoping to use the demon cores of other beasts to activate the puppet.
Yet, demon beasts only formed cores upon reaching the fourth rank, and aside from grandmasters who could slay such creatures, few others ever laid hands on a core.
Both Ma Buting and Ma Buti were ordinary great martial masters; the same limitations applied to them.
The Ma Clan of Xiliang did have a grandmaster. If they returned home and confided in him, they might obtain a demon core—

But in that case, the puppet would likely become the grandmaster’s property!
Unwilling to accept such a fate, the brothers tended their wounds on Dragon Mulberry Island and continued their research, hoping to glean new insights or develop a technique from the puppet.
All the while, they gathered information about demon cores and searched far and wide for one.

Wherever high-rank demon beasts gathered in the world—apart from the vast southwestern mountains—was in the deep sea beyond the Haizhou archipelago. Most demon cores came from these two places.
The “deep sea,” or deep sea territory, was the collective name for the waters beyond Haizhou, teeming with countless sea beasts.
In ancient times, the Golden Flood Dragon King who battled Emperor Qin hailed from the deep sea.
After that epic battle, wounded, the dragon king also fled back into the deep.
Along the way, many fourth- and fifth-rank beasts under the king’s command tried to stop Emperor Qin.
In the end, Emperor Qin, relying on unmatched strength, slew or crippled dozens of such powerful beasts and even killed the Golden Flood Dragon King—
But he suffered grave injuries and was forced to recuperate for decades.
There were even rumors that, had he not attained the ultimate path, Emperor Qin might have perished from those wounds.
As a result, many grandmasters spoke of the deep sea with dread!
As for Emperor Qin, though he later investigated the deep sea after becoming a supreme grandmaster, he kept his findings secret and never shared them.
After Emperor Qin and Emperor Jing unified the land, they established the province of Haizhou, governing its many islands and creating a defensive line against the sea beasts—
All to prevent the deep-sea monsters from approaching the coast, threatening shipping lanes, or even endangering the heartlands.
But maintaining such defenses was costly, and after the fall of the Great Jing, Haizhou was the first to be abandoned and ceded to local powers.
Of the islands, the North Sea and South Sea archipelagos were the largest, each home to tens of millions and protected by grandmasters with relatively intact defenses.
The East Sea archipelago, however, was fragmented and sparsely populated, never exceeding a million souls even at its peak.
On rare occasions, a grandmaster might settle there, but no stable legacy ever formed.
Now, not only is there no grandmaster in the East Sea archipelago, but even martial lords are few—perhaps only one or two remain!
For centuries, the islands’ defensive lines have long since collapsed, and deep-sea beasts prefer to pass through these waters when hunting in the shallows.

For the people of the East Sea archipelago, this was nothing short of calamity.
But for Ma Buting and Ma Buti, seeking demon cores, it was precisely the opportunity they needed.
Demon beasts were not only hostile to humans but also engaged in brutal internecine slaughter.
There were many tales in the martial world of weak warriors stumbling upon beasts clashing, and after both sides lay dying or dead, seizing their bodies and cores, and rising to greatness overnight.
Such fortunes were not for everyone, nor could everyone survive to enjoy them.

Yet Ma Buting and Ma Buti, relying on their ability to activate the Flying Dragon Horse Puppet, were highly confident—
Not to mention the puppet’s power, it surely brought them here for a reason.
Yet, after years of searching, they had encountered fourth-rank beasts before, but never one that was already gravely wounded.
That was why, upon discovering the sea dragon ginseng transforming into a flood dragon, they were overjoyed and willing to take the risk—hoping it would develop a dragon pearl, which they could then seize.
Only with the dragon pearl could they fully control the puppet and truly soar to greatness!
Otherwise, in a few years, they would be forced to surrender the puppet to the grandmaster in exchange for a chance at becoming martial lords—
Now in their late forties, once they passed sixty and their vitality waned, progress would be all but impossible.
Only by becoming martial lords, fully merging their essence, energy, and spirit with their inner power and harmonizing with the world’s energy, could they remain at their peak and hope for further advancement.
Now, Ma Buti saw a broad path ahead—one that might lead not only to martial lord, but to grandmaster!

“That Flying Dragon Horse Puppet, whatever its rank, was at least forged from the body of a sixth-rank flying dragon horse.”
“If I can fully refine it and comprehend the martial techniques from it—
“Not only martial lord, but grandmaster, even supreme grandmaster, I am confident I could reach!”
As a scion of the Ma Clan of Xiliang, Ma Buti cultivated the Celestial Steed Soaring Art, itself derived from the innate powers of a fourth-rank celestial steed, and was thus adept at understanding techniques from the flying dragon horse.
Because of this, he and Ma Buting were unwilling to simply turn the puppet over to their family’s grandmaster—
A puppet forged from such a powerful steed surely held innate secrets. If they could draw out its arts, not only grandmaster, but even supreme grandmaster, would be within reach!

“Now my elder brother is gone!”
“But the Flying Dragon Horse Puppet has absorbed a fourth-rank dragon pearl—”
“With an energy core, it can be refined and controlled!”
“It should belong to me alone!”
“Lu Sheng, whether you’ve been controlled by the Myriad Venoms Howl, or dissolved by the dragon’s stomach acid—”
“Now, perish within!”
With a double-handed strike, Ma Buti sent his inner energy surging forth, forming a massive wall that drove the sea water mixed with dragon’s stomach acid inward—
His intent was clear: to crush Lu Sheng with overwhelming force and claim the Flying Dragon Horse Puppet for himself!