"Ya know... I’ve never really paid attention to Zhen Liu’s puppets before, because they’re usually in motion, but I am actually surprised how lifelike they look."
[Oh, they have no idea.]
"One’s made of stone, one’s made of metal and another made of...I want to say wood and bone?"
[Surprisingly, yes. Although, if they wanted to shake hands with me to check, maestro, all they gotta do is ask.]
"Wait...isn’t that one the Razor Maiden from the Marquis? Why does it look... different?"
[Feh! Are they unable to recognize star power when they see it?]
’Huh...going better than anticipated...than again, I am using their aliases and not their true identities.’
Zhen Liu had entertained the idea of subjecting his cousins to the martial training of the kaijin, multiple times since he broke through to Grandmaster back in Spider Hell.
He had figured since he was now comfortably strong enough that he could hand his cousins’ their asses on the off chance they went traitor, now would be a good time to raise their level up a bit.
Whenever the kaijin would perform their aether arts, they would always do so with maximum efficiency and with maximum power as well.
As such, Zhen Liu had planned installing the exact same aether arts his cousins used into the kaijin and have the kaijin essentially show them how it was done...physically and with pain. Of course, he never got around to implementing this training plan before due to partially getting lazy, while also understanding that having his "puppets" handily kick his cousins asses due to them actually being super strong kaijin was an accident waiting to happen.
That being said, this did give him time to come up with a better training plan, one that didn’t possibly end with his cousins in hospital beds no less.
He couldn’t help but to think how it would’ve been wiser in hindsight to try and figure out a way to empower his cousins before coming to Willow Scale. Then again, he didn’t think he’d be shanghaied into another tournament so goddamn soon.
Zhen Liu gave his cousins time for them to eye his "puppets" up a bit, while the "puppets" made their own critiques about them. It was generally positive, but they also discussed who’s ass they would probably whoop faster in comparison to the others.
Hero’s journey be damned.
Once he felt enough time had passed, he cleared his throat and made an announcement to his cousins and the (kaijin).
"Alright, to reiterate a warning and provide further elaboration, the little...trick...I performed on Zhen Hai wasn’t me simply inserting the knowledge of what to do into his mind. Its a bit more...invasive than that."
’Nepherage. Mind helping me out with this?’
[Of course, milord...what do you need me to do?]
’Just follow my lead and read my mind as you do.’
Under the gaze of his cousin, Zhen Liu made a motion with one of his hands to make it look like that he was controlling Nepherage’s movements and cause her to step forward from the rest of the group.
’Okay...showing off...now!]
With a snap of his fingers, Nepherage suddenly released her aura and formed it into an oversized version of the aether formula that was inscribed into her soul. Technically speaking, any aether warrior was able to do this trick, but it was considered a bad idea unless one was absolutely confident about their ability to intimidate and overpower their opponents.
In this instance, however, it was to show to his cousins why what they were requesting was incredibly dangerous.
"So...yeah, big secret as to how my puppets work, I have to painstakingly carve into each of them aether cultivation formulas, including the channels, in order to get them to do...well, what you’ve seen them do. Perform arts, fight like crazy...allow me to use aether arts."
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[Ah, I see we’re going with half truths, director.]
[To be fair, that weird space he floats in to do the kaijin creation thing is technically how our lord perceives his power and we get swept up in it. Who knows, maybe from an outside point of view, he is actually carving out our channels?,] Spring Brawler mentioned, [at least...the recordings seem to show us his perspective more so than others...]
’Wait, my activities have been recorded?! When did-wait...not the time....got cousins to warn before doing something dangerously stupid.’
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"What? How does giving them formulas...oh."
"Yeah. And let me tell ya...it tickles."
The narrative Zhen Liu was spinning for his cousins was that due to his inherent lack of aether channels, his formula essentially allowed him to "cheat" his channels into existence by using his puppets as a surrogate. In essence, he was telling them that the only reason he could do the whole "insert puppets into his soul without going crazy", was because...he didn’t have anything for the formulas to interfere with.
His cousins on the other hand, definitely did have something those formula could interfere with, and they had heard the stories of people trying to forcefully cultivate two formulas at the same time...they never ended well.
"Now, you’re probably wondering why I was okay with doing this weird trick on Zhen Hai, despite the implications of having two different formulas in one’s soul and the usual...bombastic finish, but the reason is very simple: he’s stronger than you."
As soon as this statement was made, Zhen Tai, Zhen Xing, Zhen Guo and Zhen Feng all looked at Zhen Liu with a look on their face that is hard to describe, but can best be summed up with the words: "no shit sherlock".
(Un)surprisingly, even the "puppets" gave their lord that same look.
"Alright, alright, I will explain further...," Zhen Liu began to lie while signaling Nepherage to retract her formula, "my master taught me that for whatever reason, one’s formula is considered the most unstable at the Acolyte stage. Probably because that is when it’s first formed...anyways, he then informed me, that it was due to this inherent instability that if a strong enough traumatic force acts upon the formula, it will cause it to mutate and twist into ways that could be detrimental to the cultivator. Hence why, I blasted Zhen Hai with her-that one."
To make things clear for his audience, Zhen Liu pointed at Hurricroak, her was doing her best impression of a statue at the moment...not that anyone but the kaijin and Zhen Liu would notice.
"Due to Zhen Hai being an Aether Master, his channels and formula are solid enough that me forcefully injecting him with one of my puppets, wouldn’t change anything drastically...usually. Congratulations Zhen Hai, turns out your formula was oddly compatible with the one inscribed in her. "
"That...sort of explain things," Zhen Hai commented.
"Back to the matter at hand though, I cannot in good faith forcefully insert any of my puppets into your souls the same way as I did Zhen Hai, otherwise, there could be consequences that permanently destroys your cultivation paths..."
Zhen Liu went silent after he made this statement, in order to let the gravity of his words sink in.
From what he saw in his cousin’s eyes, they understood the risk...but there was a surprising amount of courage mixed in too.
So much so, Zhen Xing was the first one to pick up where Zhen Liu off with a very simple, "...unless..."
Zhen Liu smiled at this pick-up of the conversation.
"Unless, y’all get exposed to the formulas that are about to be injected into your souls in the first place."
The empty yard that the Zhen Clan scions had hid themselves in was surprisingly roomy, but it was, unfortunately, not conducive to host multiple bouts between multiple groups.
That is, until Frosttusk did his thing and create multiple platforms of ice, turning the empty courtyard into a pseudo training ground with four fighting areas.
Once the ice platforms were established, Zhen Liu’s "puppets" proceeded to walk into their own individual platforms, far enough that whomever was going to enter next would have to stare them in the eyes as they did.
None of the Zhen Clan scions were stupid, they could predict what Zhen Liu was going to say next...but they still stared at him in disbelief.
"The best way to expose you guys to the possible powers you might be able to tap into if I do my little parlor trick on you, is having you fight them in honorable combat....so who’s first?"
Evidently, none of Zhen Liu’s cousins were very eager to spar with Zhen Liu’s "puppets"...mostly because they saw what the damn things could do.
"If it at all makes you feel any better, I will try to dial down the power so they’re about the same level as you guys."
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’You guys can do that, right?’
[I promise to only stun them.]
[I’ll only do it skin deep...mostly.]
’Brilliant...sorry you can’t help this time, Spring Brawler.’
[Its cool, my core hasn’t formed yet anyways.]