Tang Rao felt that Dong Xia was indeed an enigmatic and elusive woman.

Sometimes she was passionate, other times indifferent, occasionally deeming a single word too much, yet at other times she talked about everything under the sun.

The fickleness of a woman was fully embodied in Dong Xia.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be on my way then," Tang Rao said after chatting with Dong Xia for a while, preparing to leave. There was nothing more to say, and Dong Xia wasn't divulging what exactly that huge magical tool was.

"Alright, come find me if you have any business," Dong Xia nodded.

"By the way, why don't you use Illusion City? It would make finding you so much easier. We could get in touch at any moment, and chat and exchange feelings anytime," Tang Rao said.

Dong Xia glanced at Tang Rao and laughed somewhat enigmatically.

"Illusion City is indeed a nice thing. However, I do not wish to use it," Dong Xia said with a shrug.

The tone was akin to that of a woman walking through a store, saying: Wow, this piece of clothing looks nice and is cheap, but I just won't buy it—what can you do about it!

A strong, unfathomable aura washed over him.

"Bye!" Tang Rao didn't say any more, waved his hand, and ran off without a trace.

Watching the direction Tang Rao had left to, Dong Xia suddenly sighed: "Tang Rao, when will you be able to hold up a corner of the world."

...

Tang Rao didn't return to Moon, and was still among the Nine Realms and Seventy-two Domains, just that the place he was in now was very remote, so remote that hardly any Cultivators would come here.

Most of the planets here were Death Stars, devoid of all life.

Either unfit for living Wasted Stars or those that had undergone slaughter and were completely void of life.

On one of these Death Stars, Tang Rao found an abandoned building. He entered it and went straight underground.

Underground was an extremely vast bunker with complete facilities, good ventilation, and even lighting, bright everywhere.

"Tu Sheng," Tang Rao called out.

"Present." A few seconds later, Tu Sheng's voice came through.

Following the voice, Tang Rao quickly found Tu Sheng.

The area around Tu Sheng was all corpses. To ordinary people, it might be a bit horrifying. But to Tang Rao or Tu Sheng, there simply wouldn't be much emotional fluctuation.

Just corpses—in the Nine Realms and Seventy-two Domains, the dead were in abundance.

Especially when forces clashed against each other, the number of fallen Cultivators was countless. Just like the current situation on First King Star, it would be strange if you didn't see dead bodies everywhere as you walked on the streets.

"How's it going?" Tang Rao asked. He had told Tu Sheng a lot about the research on Death Energy Puppets.

Tu Sheng had been hiding here and researching all this time.

"Some progress," Tu Sheng calmly said.

Although his tone was flat, Tang Rao saw pride and excitement in Tu Sheng's eyes.

"Show me," Tang Rao said.

Tu Sheng nodded, then directly stimulated his Space Ring and released about a dozen Death Energy Puppets.

These Death Energy Puppets weren't of a high level; aside from one in the early Mahayana stage, the rest were all in the Spirit Severing stage.

"Ah!" Suddenly, the Mahayana stage Death Energy Puppet emitted a roar.

Whoosh!

The next moment, the ten or so Nascent Soul Realm Death Energy Puppets all knelt on one knee, bowed their heads and bent over, looking very obedient.

"Have them commit suicide," Tu Sheng commanded the Mahayana Realm Death Energy Puppet.

"Ha!" The Mahayana Realm Death Energy Puppet shouted again.

The next moment, those Nascent Soul Realm Death Energy Puppets drew out their weapons, and with a series of thuds, each of them held their longswords horizontally and slashed their own throats.

Tang Rao squinted his eyes as he watched; yes, this was precisely the direction he had instructed Tu Sheng to focus on: control.

It was not only the control of a person over Death Energy Puppets but also the control among Death Energy Puppets themselves. Simply put, it was to create a leader among the Death Energy Puppets.

Cui Baiyi had made many Death Energy Puppets, right? If a leader emerged among them, and if all the other Death Energy Puppets obeyed this leader, then Cui Baiyi would lose control over these Death Energy Puppets.

"These are the materials," Tang Rao said, throwing out some items, all of which were top-tier materials for creating Death Energy Puppets, including a corpse.

The corpse of Jiu Zhikong.

"Jiu Zhikong was almost at Half-step Great Perfection in his lifetime. With his body and these materials, one should be able to create a powerful Death Energy Puppet, right?" Tang Rao asked.

"Of course, at least at the peak of crossing the tribulation," Tu Sheng replied.

"Refine him into the leader, and, deal with the face as well," Tang Rao said.

"Okay," responded Tu Sheng with a nod, then without further ado, he grasped Jiu Zhikong's corpse and began the refinement process.

Half a day later, Tu Sheng finished his work.

By this time, Jiu Zhikong was unrecognizable, his face covered with a black iron mask, and his body clad in dark armor, making it impossible to tell he was once Jiu Zhikong.

"I've also destroyed the face underneath the mask, rest assured," Tu Sheng told Tang Rao.

Tang Rao nodded and directly stored Jiu Zhikong inside a Space Ring.

"Shall we go?" Tang Rao looked at Tu Sheng and said.

Tu Sheng gazed at Tang Rao with surprise.

"Mei Fanghua has already left the Central Emperor Realm, and now the Central Emperor Realm is without a ruler. I have said before, follow me and you will have the chance to become the master of the Central Emperor Realm. Now, that opportunity has matured," Tang Rao said.

With his mouth agape, Tu Sheng thought Tang Rao was joking.

"But, my strength... is not quite enough," Tu Sheng worried, as he had just entered the Mid-stage of tribulation crossing. Although this was already quite impressive for most people, it paled in comparison to the position of master of the Central Emperor Realm.

"Actually, compared to personal combat power, I prefer intelligence," Tang Rao said, "The system on Blue Star is very good, the people they select to have power are never the strongest, but most of them are the smartest. Smart people can keep a system constantly developing and progressing."

Tu Sheng furrowed his brow slightly, then nodded.

What Tang Rao said did indeed make sense.

In the Nine Realms and Seventy-two Domains, too many places honored strength above all. But strength did not represent wisdom, and many forces suffered devastating blows because their leaders lacked intelligence.

At the end of the day, the Nine Realms and Seventy-two Domains were ultimately a world for the intelligent.

Those with strength but no brains, sorry to say, might never recover from disaster; those with brains but no strength, they may be able to protect themselves and slowly develop; those with both brains and strength, congratulations, you will become the wave-maker of any era.

"If you agree, then we set off," Tang Rao said.

"Of course," Tu Sheng smiled, "Master of the Central Emperor Realm, when you think about it, I've longed for it for a long time."

Tang Rao also cracked a smile, Tu Sheng was ambitious, but he didn't suppress or hide his ambition. And Tu Sheng was smart; he was very clear about what he needed to do and should do, so there was basically no worry about him rebelling.

Besides, they were bound by the oath of the Heavenly Dao, so Tang Rao had a lot of trust in Tu Sheng.

Appointing him as the master of the Central Emperor Realm couldn't be more fitting.

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