Actually, before the spirit designs appeared, Wu Yu's attention was riveted on the enigmatic door.
The enigmatic door was closed this time as well, and seemed to be unchanged from the previous time. It did not seem to have been opened before.
Wu Yu had the Eyes of Fire and Gold. Although he was some ways away, he could still see a few new, faint scars on the door. These scars were not apparent if one did not look closely. Wu Yu ascertained that these scars had not been there when he had left previously.
They should have been made by a dao treasure or means of similar caliber. For such a thick door, such scars meant nothing at all.
"It must have been Prince Le who did it. However, even with all his power, resources, and dao treasures, he only left such meager scars on the door. That's a testament to the difficulty level of exposing these secrets."
That was why his greatest goal here was to buy time, and not to uncover the secrets behind the door.
At this time, the appearance of the spirit designs meant that the puppets were also starting to appear.
It was the nine spirit designs again: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue, purple, black, and white.
The scale and sizes of the spirit designs were exactly the same as before as well.
However, the puppets were different now. Last time, Wu Yu was a fourth tier Violent Kingdom of the Inner Sea cultivator. The red Puppet Spirit Design had probably belonged to that tier. And now the previous orange puppet was in the red position, while the last puppet, which had the three heads of joy, anger, and sorrow, had moved from the white position to the black position.
And now a new, stronger puppet had appeared in the white position. It was shrouded in white mist, and its features could not be clearly made out.
"For Prince Le, the weakest puppet that appeared in these nine positions was probably much stronger than the one in my white position now! The Taigu Immortal Path is too awesome. Could this Time Control Pagoda have puppets that correspond to cultivation levels after the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm - the Dao Querying Three Disasters Realm?"
Of course, just Prince Le's level alone was enough to traverse this world.
"Challenge."
He had to succeed in his challenge in order to stay here. This time around, Wu Yu's goal was 600 days. Last time, he had challenged the blue spirit design, five levels ahead. This time, he would go for the purple design - six levels ahead! In truth, the purple puppet this time round was in the black position last time - the second most powerful puppet available to him.
After defeating Gongshu Ku, Wu Yu had gained some confidence.
That was why he did not hesitate to go for the purple spirit design! An unbelievable challenge that leaped six tiers ahead!
As he walked towards the purple spirit design, the other spirit designs dimmed, and the other puppets also moved in accordance to their spirit designs, sinking back into the earth. Only the purple spirit design lit up, and then extinguished. But the puppet remained, springing into life from its immobile state.
At this time, Wu Yu could clearly see his opponent. It was a black puppet about five zhang tall. It was more than double Wu Yu's height, and made of some black metal. It looked cold and deadly. What was most frightening was that it was humanoid, and yet built as solidly as a panther. Its head was not a human head, but a panther's!
This human panther metal puppet had a deadly air to it. Sharp claws half a chi long extended simultaneously from its hands and feet, and they were comparable to dao treasures!
Its entire body was actually made from the material of dao treasures! This was a puppet of the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm.
"Its entire body is made of black yama metal, a primordial chaos treasure with seven spiritual marks. Its entire body is made from the same material as dao treasures, and it has even more spirit designs than dao treasures. Such a puppet could fight with Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators, and is worth even more than dao treasures. If you could control such a puppet, the feeling would be sublime. But a pity that this is the Taigu Immortal Path, and the puppet's master is the Taigu Immortal Path. It cannot be controlled by others." Ming Long sighed in regret. Again, she spoke in a strange mix of admiration and regret.
"How amazing!"
To be made from the same materials as dao treasures, and to have twice the spirit designs. With all kinds of spirit designs combining together, this was a war machine of the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm! If one had an army of such puppets, it would be awesome!
If he defeated it, he could obtain the crafting method.
Prince Le had probably fought even more valuable puppets and gained access to their manufacturing methods as well!
While Wu Yu was admiring it, the Black Panther puppet attacked! The spirit designs on its body activated and the Black Panther moved with terrifying speed, perhaps even faster than Wu Yu's Swift Art! Its body was made of dao treasure material and therefore was about as resistant as Wu Yu's own Unbeatable Dragon King Buddha Body. More, his opponent knew no fear or pain. Once released, it would fight to the death!
A bloody battle!
With a warcry, Wu Yu immediately activated his most powerful form! He firstly used the Immortal Ape Transformation and then divided into many clones that spread out throughout the Time Control Pagoda. This was a wicked battle, and he had to go all out!
Boom!
The panther's sharp claws, made from the same materials as dao treasures, were no weaker than dao treasures. As they clashed against Wu Yu's Violent Dragon Pillar of the Vast Ocean, a loud, screeching sound resulted!
Bang, bang, bang!
The opponent was an unkillable war machine, made in the semblance of a hunting panther. It was suited for close combat, and Wu Yu was like a hunter closing in on the panther! Immense danger!
Crack!
The black panther ignored Wu Yu's attacks, directly lashing out a bloody wound on Wu Yu's chest! Anyone else would have been disemboweled, but his claws snagged on Wu Yu's flesh!
Wu Yu activated the offensive spirit designs as he brought his staff cracking down on the black panther's misshapen head. But it was useless. Even if its skull was cracked, he was still fine!
"Sun Vessel!"
Wu Yu immediately activated the third tier of the Eyes of Fire and Gold. However, he was merely accumulating energy for now. During the battle, the sun's truefire continued to gather in his eyes, which were rapidly turning into miniature suns themselves.
This did not affect Wu Yu's combat ability!
There were also offensive spirit designs among the black panther's spirit designs, which were directly inserted into its body. It became even more savage, heedless of its own defense!
The tens of thousands of spirit designs were closely arrayed in an intricate layout. Many times, it was a brain-wringer. One had to consider the billions of permutations, and Wu Yu was a novice to the field as well. However, he had to admit that it must have been a real genius who could arrange these tens of thousands of spirit designs. Such a person was even more fearsome than someone who could only fight.
The black panther's body concealed many effects.
All of its attacks were difficult to predict.
Wu Yu's clones had already used the Prime Heavenly Lord Supreme God Technique, but they still died from a single paw swipe. At the same time, huge barrages of Ten Thousand Furnace Lords' Supreme God Technique rained down on the black panther, but Wu Yu could see that such flames had limited offensive effects on the black yama metal of the panther's body. At most, it limited the panther, scalding it red, and it refused to melt.
During the battle, the Sun Vessel continued to accrue energy. This did not require much effort, which was why Wu Yu's eyes continued to glow more brilliantly as the battle dragged on, the flames growing even more potent.
However, the black panther was not human, and could not sense such danger.
"Heavenly God of War's Overwhelming Despair Design!" The power of this black panther had forced Wu Yu to even bring out the Emperor's Pagoda, which he sent crushing down on the black panther's head. This heavy blow pinned the black panther to the ground, unable to move for a moment. At this time, Wu Yu finally unleashed the power of the Sun Vessel. The golden pillars of fire burst forth from his eyes, which liquefied more than half of the metal of the panther's body into metallic slush. The molten metal oozed to the ground.
After melting, the spirit designs were completely ruined, which destroyed the puppet.
After being destroyed, there was a black cloth at the most central position of its body. Wu Yu opened it to see tens of thousands of true spirit designs, large and small. They all clamored for attention and were unbelievably complex. It made his head hurt just looking at it.
"So this puppet is called the Panther General."
The Skysilver Protector and the Panther General. The puppets only grew stronger.
Wu Yu stored the cloth. This successful challenge must have gained him sixfold the amount of time.
With such a long time, he was both ecstatic and relaxed.
Suddenly, the Time Control Pagoda lurched!
CLANG!
Wu Yu had not expected the enigmatic door to spring open at this time with a loud rumble. And yet it had only opened a crack that was three fingers' width. And it was open for only three breaths of time. It rapidly started to close before Wu Yu even reacted to it.
Of course, Wu Yu could not possibly enter a gap three fingers wide.
But this sudden change had surprised him. He went over to the enigmatic door, touching it, astounded. Just then, when the door opened, Wu Yu had felt an extreme compulsion towards it.
"What does this mean? Will it open if you challenge the puppet again? Or will it completely open if you come a few times? But why did it close again? Are you supposed to go in quickly?" Ming Long also did not get it.
Wu Yu looked back. He saw the marks that the Panther General had left. Recalling that nothing had happened when he had challenged the Skysilver Protector, he felt that the truth had to be something else.
Suddenly, a wild idea came to him.