Although this method was crude, it was the only one Jiang Chen could adopt at this stage.
Any other approach, Jiang Chen had no confidence in, nor the time to consider.
Yet it was precisely this most primitive method that suited Jiang Chen best at the moment. Because the chain seal within his sea of consciousness had been slowly loosening, and the boost it granted his divine sense was so powerful that even Jiang Chen himself was somewhat surprised.
When he circulated his divine sense, Jiang Chen could clearly feel that both the level and intensity of his spiritual awareness far exceeded his normal baseline.
His divine sense had originally been far beyond that of cultivators at the same level. With this additional augmentation, it became several times stronger still.
This brought his divine sense intensity completely up to the Heaven Rank tier. Even ordinary Heaven Rank cultivators might not necessarily be able to match Jiang Chen in a contest of divine sense.
It was worth noting that this sealed divine sense had loosened only a fraction—not fully unleashed.
Even so, back when the seal had not loosened at all, it had been enough to effortlessly neutralize the divine sense attack from that Elder Xi of Huang'er's family.
And when Jiang Chen had been comprehending the nine Glazed Steles, it was also this seal that had protected his sea of consciousness.
In truth, Jiang Chen did have some experience in this area. When he had possessed the Giant Stone Race's eight stone-statue soul seals, he had been able to faintly sense the power and will contained within those eight sculptures.
Now, although these Enchanted Puppets were different from the Giant Stone Race's souls, the underlying principle was essentially the same.
Both were concealed within the form of stone sculptures; both required one to sense the fluctuations of divine sense…
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration blazed through Jiang Chen's divine sense—as if a prompt had sounded, sending a burst of exhilaration rippling through his sea of consciousness.
"Found one."
Jiang Chen's gaze locked firmly onto that particular sculpture, and he left his divine sense mark upon it.
Having locked it down, Jiang Chen continued.
Time ticked by, second by second.
The atmosphere at the scene was extremely solemn. Jiang Chen's progress, however, advanced steadily and methodically.
Once the first was found, the second followed, and the third…
Half an hour later, Jiang Chen had successfully located three Enchanted Puppets. This already met Marquis Hong's minimum requirement.
Marquis Hong's baseline demand for Jiang Chen had been to find three Enchanted Puppets.
Of course, Marquis Hong had also said that the more Enchanted Puppets one found, the better—the more the merrier. The number of Enchanted Puppets discovered was directly tied to the rewards he would receive in the Third Palace.
Having found three, Jiang Chen's mood settled considerably. The basic task was complete; what remained was the advanced objective.
This was enough to keep Jiang Chen's mindset growing steadier by the hour.
A relaxed mind naturally yielded twice the results.
After a full hour, Jiang Chen's divine sense marks had locked onto seven of the sculptures.
Time, at that moment, was also completely exhausted.
"All right, time's up." Marquis Hong's voice rang out, flat and detached. "Jiang Chen boy, how many did you find within the hour?"
Jiang Chen smiled faintly and answered with composure: "This junior is fortunate not to have failed the task—I found seven Enchanted Puppets."
"What?" Marquis Hong was genuinely stunned upon hearing Jiang Chen's answer. "You're saying you found seven?"
Clearly, a note of disbelief crept into Marquis Hong's tone.
Jiang Chen did not bother to argue. He simply gave a calm nod, indicating that he had spoken no falsehood.
"Good, very good." Marquis Hong nodded. "Now, activate your divine sense marks. Let me see whether these seven Enchanted Puppets you found are what they truly are."
In truth, Marquis Hong was somewhat shocked. Because within his Wall of Sentient Beings, there were exactly seven Enchanted Puppets in total—seven hidden among tens of thousands of sentient stone sculptures.
And this Jiang Chen claimed to have found all seven. How could Marquis Hong not be surprised?
Jiang Chen did not hesitate. He activated his divine sense, triggering the marks on each of the seven Enchanted Puppets one after another, leaving his personal imprint upon each.
Ding, ding, ding!
A continuous string of crisp, clear sounds rang out, like notes being struck on a musical scale—exquisitely melodious.
The seven Enchanted Puppets, stimulated by Jiang Chen's divine sense, each blazed with blinding radiance, their forms erupting with dazzling, splendorous light.
Marquis Hong was completely stupefied.
This Jiang Chen had locked onto all seven of his Enchanted Puppets—and missed not a single one. Not only had every target been hit, but each mark was placed with absolute precision!
The accuracy rate was, without question, one hundred percent.