A Regressor’s Tale of Cultivation Chapter 842 Chapter 839: Side Story - Mythical Relic (4)

While Makli Hyun-ah serves Makli Hweol a generous helping of honey-coated potatoes,

In a hidden spot of the puppet subjugation team's ambush zone, Ha-eun partially opens his eyes.

Ha-eun stands up from his position, clutching two short spears, and transmits a message to Jo Yeon, who observes the terrain from afar using a magical tool.

[Miss. I sense it. The puppets are approaching.]

Shortly after, beginning with Jo Yeon receiving Ha-eun's transmission, a message echoes out to the whole subjugation team.

Before long, the entire squad spots dark clouds billowing in from a single side of Cold Yin Marsh.

Wiiiiiing—

A buzzing like a horde of bees emerges from those dark clouds, and as they near, the cultivators hidden in Cold Yin Marsh show signs of mounting tension on their faces.

Those dark clouds consist of individual Heavenly Being level puppets, absorbing the yin energy from Cold Yin Marsh and heading straight toward the team's location.

With every step the puppet swarm takes, Cold Yin Marsh loses even more of its yin energy to the puppets, gradually turning into a barren desert.

Then, the instant the puppet swarm passes a specific [boundary] set in Cold Yin Marsh,

Wiiiiiiiiing!

The Integration stage puppets scattered throughout the Heavenly Being level swarm detect something unusual at the same time and command the puppets to halt.

[Stop. Anomaly spotted. It appears to be the cultivation divine power from the Hundred Families system. Determining ambush locations... done.]

Click, click, click!

The Integration stage general puppets quickly identify the hiding spots of the cultivators and direct commands to the horde of puppets.

[Calling for backup. Sending signal to the Star Shattering stage marquis puppet. Signal failed... blocked. Noticing spirit-wave disruption. Conclusion: likely from Novelist Family Method and Legalist Family Method cultivators.]

Kiririririk—

Managing a vast number of puppets simultaneously, the general puppets realize they've entered a tough position.

Yet, the general puppets swiftly devise a plan and ready themselves for action.

[Link to the factory severed. Expect the factory to soon alert the Star Shattering stage marquis puppet for inspection. Until the marquis puppet shows up, gather as much data as possible on the Hundred Schools cultivators' assaults, aiming to stall for time through intel gathering.]

Resolved to drag the Hundred Schools cultivators down and endure as long as they can, the general puppets organize their lines and unleash assaults upon them.

[All units, form ranks. Unleash focused attacks.]

And so the fight erupts.

Kwagwagwagwang!

Myriad explosions of light burst forth, with countless Heavenly Being stage puppets firing light beams and launching barrages.

They release various mechanical gadgets that shoot out, overwhelming the cultivators and several Heart Dao Blooming martial artists, including Ha-eun.

Meanwhile, as a handful of Heart Dao Blooming martial artists like Ha-eun, along with some Integration stage cultivators, advance to intercept the puppets' relentless bombardment,

From the rear, the Hundred Schools Methods cultivators stay shielded and start unleashing their unique divine powers.

The voice of Legalist Family Method cultivator Ga Beop echoes throughout the Cold Yin Marsh region.

[We, the Human Race, have forged a pact with the Leaf Race, the rulers of Cold Yin Marsh, to safeguard its natural surroundings. Drawing from that pact, I declare the enactment of Cold Yin Marsh's 'Natural Environment Protection Law'. Effective immediately upon this proclamation, any entity damaging Cold Yin Marsh's natural environment, no matter the race, form, or item, will face penalties.]

With the law declared, the Legalist Family Method's influence takes hold.

[Defendants, the puppets are gravely harming Cold Yin Marsh's natural environment, so as of now, you are summoned to trial, and proceedings commence. Any objections?]

In Cold Yin Marsh, filled only with the flow of Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, the Legalist Family Method's law now applies, putting the puppets at risk of being fully ensnared by it all at once.

Simultaneously, the puppets scramble for ways to counter the Legalist Family Method, drawing on what they've observed and processed from past encounters.

[General puppet, model 86041. As spokesperson for the Cold Yin Marsh puppets, I raise an objection.]

Through the general puppet's protest, the Legalist Family Method's implementation starts to falter.

But right away, other techniques activate as well.

Flash!

A Vertical-Horizontal Family Method cultivator materializes inside a blaze of light.

Kiiiiiiing!

Light streaks in vertical and horizontal lines, forming a cross.

From the heart of that light cluster, the avatar of a Divine Path Method cultivator emerges and declares.

[Divide.]

Continuous Charge (連衝).

Suddenly, as the Vertical-Horizontal Family Method cultivator's light bathes the puppets, their links to the general puppet break, causing each to briefly separate into an individual entity.

The puppets fracture into numerous groups right away, and the general puppet 86041 loses its leadership role in a flash.

The Naming Family Method's key feature involves twisting reality by controlling voids and essences, along with wielding the strength of names.

The Legalist Family Method's core is crafting and enforcing laws via declarations and statutes.

If the Confucian Family Method focuses on suppression, sealing, banishment, and denial, then the Vertical-Horizontal Family Method's prime trait is division and merger, collection and dispersal.

It pursues oneness and separation within targeted forces, using such splits and joins to amass belief for advancing cultivation and realms. This stands as the defining essence of the Vertical-Horizontal Family Method.

The puppets divide in a blink into scores and hundreds of factions, sparking arguments over puppet leadership.

And amid these myriad divisions and mergers, the Legalist Family Method's decree starts to constrict the puppets' freedom gradually.

Nevertheless, even as they divide, the puppets continue blasting attacks at the cultivators via pre-set mechanisms.

Under the puppets' intense volley, the martial artists and Immortal Family Method cultivators guarding the Hundred Schools Methods experts clench their jaws.

Ha-eun glances back and calls out.

"Seol Ga! How much longer until it's ready?"

Seol Ga, practitioner of the Novelist Family Method.

Resurrected as a wandering soul by Ahn Geum, he employs his soul form to wield the Novelist Family Method, positioning himself as a character in a tale, and gathers intel that way.

Transformed into the lead in a story titled 'The Child Who Can Talk to Animals,' Seol Ga turns Ahn Geum's wandering souls into beasts and serves as the main character, nodding while he receives reports from the souls.

A short time passes, then Seol Ga ends the narrative and shares the intel he's acquired via transmission to every cultivator.

[I've uncovered the component names and model numbers of the puppets' inner mechanisms. Relay this to cultivator Makli Hyun-ah!]

Meanwhile, Makli Hyun-ah, positioned at the back, understands it's finally his moment to act.

Chwararak!

Makli Hyun-ah draws a thick tome from his robes.

Next, he applies the Confucian Family Method to morph his form into a line of symbols, then incorporates the model numbers from Seol Ga into that line and inscribes them into the tome.

Quickly, the tome fills up with the mechanisms' model numbers.

Following that, Makli Hyun-ah conveys orders to his spirit beasts.

Right away, Badger and the Rabbit Seven Heavenly Lords unfurl banners and signal from Cold Yin Marsh's eight cardinal points.

As the setup for the Confucian formation comes alive, Makli Hyun-ah's societal influence extends across the zone.

"Suppression, engage."

Tududududu!

The entirety of Cold Yin Marsh's Heaven and Earth spiritual energy, along with odd forces and turbulent essences, gets subdued.

In a flash, a brief calm settles between the puppets and the cultivators.

The cultivators find their energy sources, including spiritual power, restrained and left helpless, while the puppets freeze momentarily as they shift from spiritual energy to electrical power.

Click, click!

All puppets switch their energy sources together.

If things stay like this, the Cold Yin Marsh cultivators will linger powerless under suppression, leading to their inevitable doom.

At that very point,

The Cold Yin Marsh cultivators, with determined looks, extract talismans from their robes and trigger them.

Flash!

From those talismans, phantom versions of themselves—powered versions sealed earlier via the Confucian Family Method—emerge to resume fending off the puppets, restoring the battlefield's tense equilibrium.

Still, should this persist, the assembled Cold Yin Marsh cultivators will face total wipeout once the talismans exhaust fully.

But the very next instant,

Makli Hyun-ah's divine ability activates.

Chwararak!

Makli Hyun-ah swiftly pages through the booklet inscribed with model numbers and invokes the Naming Family Method.

"In the Naming Dao, I bind the deities."

Wiiiiiiing!

Makli Hyun-ah's spirit speech in Ascending Metamorphosis!

This spirit speech pushes the Naming Family Method to its peak, regarding the model numbers on the pages Makli Hyun-ah compiled as [names], and starts to 'summon' them.

Wing, wing, wing, wing!

Responding to Makli Hyun-ah's summons, the steam engine components within the puppets linked to the model numbers in his grasp begin to vibrate and echo.

Makli Hyun-ah knows exactly his battlefield duty.

'The model numbers for devices revealed by the Novelist Family Method. Those are tied to the steam engines in the puppets... specifically, the turbine components' numbers.'

Remembering Jo Yeon's strategy, he executes the maneuver with haste.

'The Naming Family Method lets me treat a product's model as a name, control it, and seal it. Which means...'

"...I, Makli Hyun-ah, drawing on the Name Owner's societal might, decree. Every entity responding to the names I uttered shall be sealed without fail!"

'By invoking the names, I can lock the puppets' turbines instantly! I might not extract the turbines entirely... but at minimum, I can drain the energy they hold!'

Kwaduk, kwadudududududuk!

The turbines powering the puppets' steam engines all eject simultaneously and get sealed into the book Makli Hyun-ah clutches.

The Integration stage general puppets manage to reroute their internal circuits to resist, but with the turbines' spin force taken, their steam engines grind to a halt.

Suddenly, the battle's momentum shifts.

The raw, overwhelming puppet force that dragged the Human Race into a grueling endurance fight now falters without sustained electricity, coming to a standstill.

Now the puppets endure the attrition war.

Kwagwagwang!

The puppets' forte in swarm assaults and energy barrages gets neutralized.

Concurrently, the Legalist Family Method's decree starts ensnaring the puppets more firmly, and finally, the puppets suffer legal retribution.

[This court declares the puppet forces guilty and sentences them to destruction!]

Bang, bang, bang!

As Ga Beop, the Legalist Family Method cultivator, delivers the verdict, the horde of puppets crumbles into piles.

Their energy cores shatter completely, forcing the Integration stage general puppets to erect shields and expend their final reserves to defy the law's execution.

And all of this unfolds roughly one shichen into the conflict.

Kugugugugu!

Even the general puppets holding off the law briefly with energy barriers see those barriers shatter and collapse once their stored electricity depletes.

Witnessing this, Ha-eun, Makli Hyun-ah, Ahn Geum, and every cultivator cry out together.

"Victory is ours!!"

"Haha, take that, you puppet scum!"

Patstststs!

Makli Hyun-ah deactivates his Confucian Family Method, restoring the Heaven and Earth spiritual energy.

Makli Hyun-ah calls back and assembles the spirit beasts he deployed across the Eight Directions, then tuts his tongue.

"The Hundred Schools cultivation system... When their abilities combine, the synergy is massive. Such powerful traditions, yet... why can't they expand like this in the Purple Gold Realm?"

To Makli Hyun-ah's query, Makli Hweol replies.

"It boils down to the Heart Tribe. Even if loads of Hundred Schools cultivators team up, cover flaws with strengths, and amplify their forces... it struggles against the Heart Tribe."

"Mm, what's the reason?"

"Hoho...that's due to the Heart Tribe's core strength in defiance. They're built to shatter old laws with their own from the start. Unlike the robust Immortal Cultivation framework of the Immortal Family Method, the Hundred Schools system has some softer spots, making it vulnerable to the Heart Tribe. Their top trait is chaos. Whatever order any cultivation system imposes, the Heart Tribe's near-primeval disorder proves hard to counter."

"Heok."

Makli Hyun-ah tuts and inquires.

"So, does the Heart Tribe have zero weaknesses?"

"Not exactly. Their intense individualism makes them weak to each other too... Mostly, the puppets you battled embody sheer brutality and ruin, so overwhelming them with numbers and blasts can wear down even the Heart Tribe until they perish."

"Huh, so ultimately, barring tools like puppets, no other system inherently counters the Heart Tribe?"

"Not quite. Take the Buddhist Family Method delving into heart's true essence...or the Shaman Family Method tapping higher entities' might—they hold the upper hand against the Heart Tribe."

"Ooooh...!"

Only now does Makli Hyun-ah exhale in relief, knowing ways exist to oppose the monstrous Heart Tribe, or martial artists.

'That technique I found via odd forces and wild essences in the Makli Clan archives...the Canvas of Myriad Forms and Star Genesis?'

Thinking how it falls under the Shaman Family Method that channels higher beings' power, Makli Hyun-ah gains some comfort.

"I wish I could master the Shaman Family Method or Buddhist Family Methods one day too."

Makli Hyun-ah ponders the Confucian Family Method's flaw.

The primary flaw of the Confucian Family Method is outlaws, in other words, those c