Of course, this so-called seven-eighty percent largely pertained to the outer structures. Places of critical importance, such as the Scripture Depository and the Valley of Mechanisms, were areas the Ghost Assassins had yet to touch for the time being. Those locations were not only guarded with extreme vigilance, but their defensive measures were also intricately complex to the extreme. Especially the deepest recesses of the Valley of Mechanisms, where countless formations and traps lay scattered, constantly overseen by a Nascent Soul stage expert.

To avoid alerting the enemy previously, the Ghost Assassins kept their distance from these spots. However, this fact alone allowed Lei Dong to deduce the few locations where the God Transformation puppet techniques were stored. Various plans flowed through Lei Dong’s mind one after another. The reason Lei Dong hadn't acted recklessly before the Puppet Competition was because the Myriad Puppet Sect saw virtually no outsiders entering their grounds.

If anything went wrong, suspicion would invariably fall upon internal personnel, with the disciples and elders attending the Puppet Competition being the first targets. Now, the initial rounds of the competition had concluded; only one more session testing puppet refinement remained before it ended. Over the next few days, the vast majority of invited guests would gradually depart.

This meant the current moment was the perfect opportunity to fish in troubled waters. If the theft succeeded, Lei Dong wouldn't need to take any further desperate risks. Even if the theft failed and the Myriad Puppet Sect was alerted, he could easily shift the blame onto one of the more powerful guests. He could then proceed with his original plan.

That night, the sky was heavily overcast; the silver moon and bright stars were nowhere to be seen. With the chilling wind whistling, it was the ideal weather for clandestine activities. Lei Dong muttered to himself that heaven was aiding him, then left a puppet in his room. This puppet was one Lei Dong had crafted in his spare time, utilizing techniques learned, naturally, from Old Man Gongsun. As far as Old Man Gongsun’s craftsmanship went, setting aside everything else, the verisimilitude of his puppets was exceptionally rare. Lei Dong had been genuinely startled by those two maid-servant puppets back then.

The puppet crafted using this method was almost an exact replica of Lei Dong in physique and appearance, capable of speech and simple rote responses. It was the perfect tool for misleading people within a secret chamber.

In the courtyard, Lei Dong reactivated the Circulating Heaven Breath Concealment Art, drawing his aura inward until it was faint, almost non-existent. Unless one possessed immense power and exquisitely sharp divine sense, detecting his presence would be utterly impossible. Back then, Tantai Bingyun, merely at the Foundation Establishment stage, had managed to deceive a Nascent Soul expert using this very concealment art, showcasing how miraculous the Circulating Heaven Breath Concealment Art truly was. Even an ordinary early-stage God Transformation cultivator would struggle to locate Lei Dong without actively searching for him.

Speaking of the Circulating Heaven Breath Concealment Art, it was truly a remarkable esoteric technique. Not only could it conceal one’s aura and suppress one’s cultivation state at will, but it could also mask one's movements. Although concealment was not invisibility, cultivators who possessed divine sense had long grown accustomed to constantly using it for reconnaissance and exploration. Vision, by comparison, had become a relatively secondary sense.

Yet, Lei Dong had countermeasures even for vision. His Ghost Shadow Evasion movement technique was perfectly suited for deployment on such a dark and windy night, allowing him to transform into a wisp of black mist and merge seamlessly with the gusts of cold wind. A lesser cultivator, even flying right past him, might fail to detect his presence.

Like most top-tier sects, the Myriad Puppet Sect spanned an immense area, strictly demarcating zones from the quarters of menial servants to core disciples, and then to the various stewards, elders, and grand elders. Lei Dong walked with his hands clasped behind his back, his aura compressed to its utmost limit, gliding like a silent breeze amidst the cool night air, drifting smoothly through the various sections.

The internal defense system of the Myriad Puppet Sect comprised three main categories: defensive or alarm formations, mechanical defenses, and alert disciples. Defensive formations were standard for any sect; countless arrays, both overt and hidden, were deployed throughout the entire complex—some for defense, some for alarms, and some to trap or kill intruders.

The mechanical defense was the unique specialty of the Myriad Puppet Sect. Despite their unparalleled skill and devotion to mechanical puppets, it would be impossible for such a sect, supremely adept at crafting automatons, to have neglected conventional mechanics. Layers of mechanisms, coupled with countless mechanical puppets of every conceivable shape, formed iron-clad defensive lines.

The alert disciples served to supplement the mechanical components, which possessed rigidity but lacked flexibility. They were stationed at every critical choke point or checkpoint, sometimes patrolling to inspect whether any formations or mechanisms had been disturbed.

But the majority of these elements had already been scouted out one by one over the past six months by the Ghost Assassins dispatched by Lei Dong. While he couldn't claim perfect knowledge, he grasped seventy to eighty percent of the layout. As the saying goes, guard against deception day and night, but the hardest to guard against is a thief from within. Lei Dong was currently acting as a half-insider, making his movements naturally more clandestine and convenient.

Once the defense system was thoroughly understood and mapped out, it was as defenseless as a woman stripped bare. Lei Dong easily crossed checkpoints and bypassed traps, along with the overt and hidden mechanical puppets. It had to be said, the Myriad Puppet Sect lived up to its name; their mastery of mechanical puppet arts had reached an astonishing level, showcasing unimaginable creativity. The puppets deployed for defense were almost universally non-humanoid, and even beast forms were rare. Sometimes, what appeared to be an ordinary pavilion might, in fact, be a mechanical puppet that would instantly sound an alarm and desperately engage any unknown person who approached.

Perhaps a rockery was a puppet. A tree, too, could be one. It could be said that puppets were truly omnipresent within the Myriad Puppet Sect.

Fortunately, after half a year of exploration, Lei Dong had grown accustomed to this pattern. As he swept past like a spectral gust, the puppets showed no reaction whatsoever. Using puppets for vigilance required specific triggers to activate; they couldn't hear, see, or even sense an intruder, so naturally, they remained inert.

However, an unsuspecting person stumbling in might easily let down their guard near a rockery, revealing their presence only to be discovered by a puppet. In truth, Lei Dong believed that if he had rashly attempted to infiltrate the Myriad Puppet Sect three years prior, there was a very high probability he would have been detected by these bizarre puppets, perfectly integrated into the landscape and architecture, leading to his exposure.

With his cultivation level, Lei Dong moved with incredible speed, deftly and skillfully traversing obstacle after obstacle until he reached the Scripture Depository, an area he had never explored before. Many sects maintained a Scripture Depository, housing various texts, perhaps secret techniques or potent arts, and certainly, in this sect’s case, potential puppet mastery manuals.

Thus, the Scripture Depository was Lei Dong’s objective. But as a vital hub of the sect, even a repository of its very legacy, its defenses would naturally be impregnable. Lei Dong was mentally prepared for this and had no intention of exploring the entire structure in one go. His movement technique, ghost-like and ethereal, carried him up onto the carved rafters of the Depository. A faint, flickering ghostly mist enveloped him, blurring his form so that he merged with the night shadows and the chilling wind.

He swept his gaze, now extremely solemn, over the complex of buildings representing the Scripture Depository. Under the cloak of night, they appeared fierce and sinister. A place that seemed unguarded might, in fact, be the most dangerous of all. Thankfully, Lei Dong’s divine sense far surpassed that of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator, even humbling many peak Nascent Soul experts, bringing him close to the God Transformation level.

His subtle divine sense spread out like mist and clouds, silently and gently expanding. His sense was so potent and keen that upon sweeping over anything, the true nature of almost everything was instantly laid bare. Formations, mechanisms, puppets—all were revealed before him. Lei Dong even detected a Nascent Soul cultivator stationed within a secret room on the first floor of the Depository. Yet, Lei Dong's arrival failed to arouse the slightest suspicion from this Nascent Soul expert. The discovery actually relieved Lei Dong slightly; at the very least, it confirmed that this Scripture Depository held an exceptionally high status within the Myriad Puppet Sect, otherwise, such a guard would never have been assigned.

Even so, Lei Dong proceeded with extreme caution, investigating repeatedly. Only after confirming there were no issues did he transform into black mist and drift along a safe path, careful not to disturb the Nascent Soul cultivator. Otherwise, even if his superior strength allowed him to escape, it would alert the Myriad Puppet Sect and complicate future actions.

It took a full half hour before Lei Dong entered the first level of the Scripture Depository without incident. Upon entering the interior, the external formation alarms were significantly fewer, as this was an area where disciples frequently came to retrieve texts. But there was no doubt that these jade slips or ancient written scrolls would possess trip mechanisms; perhaps a mere touch would trigger some form of warning. Lei Dong was far too intelligent to randomly touch anything.

Like a wisp of light fog, he drifted into a secluded corner. His divine sense, semi-materialized, stretched out like a spirit snake, directly probing into the texts or jade slips from a distance. As expected, everything on this floor consisted of scriptures and jade slips suitable for Qi Refining stage disciples, or some early Foundation Establishment disciples. However, when Lei Dong attempted to proceed from the first to the second floor, he encountered a formidable obstacle.

The second floor was a completely sealed space, accessible only through a single entrance. The formations and mechanisms guarding that entrance were practically flawless. In particular, the complex mechanical door was engraved with a strange array that Lei Dong did not recognize. Out of options, Lei Dong had no choice but to again seek the aid of the Spirit of the Competition Tower. Although the entity was a mere tower spirit, in the art of artifact refinement, it was comparable to a Grand Master, possessing much ancient, lost knowledge. Over the years, Lei Dong had frequently consulted and discussed with it while cultivating his puppet arts.