novelraw Chapter 209
Chapter 209
After the Earth Puppet Old Demon appeared, his trace vanished without a sound.
Wang Yu, however, kept his eyes locked on the target, and using the giant second-rank formation Jade Spirit Giant Mountain Formation that covered the entire Jade Spirit City, he tried to pinpoint the old demon’s location.
As for the Treasure Exchange Meeting, the Foundation Establishment experts of the Guan and Jiang families had to continue hosting it to quickly settle the matter. Stabilizing public morale was the top priority.
After detecting the Earth Puppet Old Demon’s location, Wang Yu and Qingyang proactively approached and reminded him:
“Senior Earth Puppet, please do not cause trouble within Jade Spirit City. Once you leave the city, whatever happens beyond that will not concern me.”
It was a kind reminder, spoken with a polite tone.
However, the Earth Puppet Old Demon ignored him and stared at Qingyang instead.
“Fellow Daoist Qingyang, you’ve only just broken through to Core Formation. Do you really intend to risk your life for this greenhorn? Or to protect two complete strangers who have nothing to do with you?”
Hearing this, Qingyang True Personage glanced at Wang Yu, whose expression darkened, and calmly replied:
“This True Personage is the First Consecrated of Jade Spirit City Lord’s Manor. You deliberately making trouble and damaging the City Lord’s property means you are setting yourself against me.”The Old Demon burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! You younglings of the Crimson Kite lineage—nearly a thousand years have passed, and all you’ve learned is that dogshit from Taihu Domain. Your environment’s been too peaceful. You’ve lost your respect for seniors! Today, let this old man teach you some manners.”
As an aged Core Formation cultivator, the Earth Puppet Old Demon was already seven hundred years old. Although he claimed to understand the old Crimson Kite Sect, most of his knowledge was hearsay.
Old men like him tended to reminisce about the past, often believing the old days were better and that they themselves were greater than they truly were.
Some people grow cautious with age; others grow arrogant.
He clearly did not take Wang Yu seriously, which made the city lord’s eyes harden with decision.
“Qingyang. Kill him.”
Just as he said this, Daoist Rainflower happened to emerge from the Heavenly Fragrance Palace. Realizing the situation instantly, he leapt onto the spirit vessel summoned by Fenghua Zi.
“Go, quickly!”
Countless spirit talismans flew from his sleeve, summoning a fierce gale. The speed of the vessel soared to its limit.
“Don’t run!”
The Earth Puppet Old Demon couldn’t possibly let such prey escape. Three streaks of light shot out from his storage pouch at his waist.
The first was the early third-rank puppet mentioned earlier in the hall. Once activated, it charged ahead, its heavy steps cracking the wide street in front of the city lord’s manor.
The other two lights landed on the ground and became a peak Foundation Establishment puppet and an early Core Formation puppet, blocking Wang Yu and Qingyang respectively.
Good heavens. The old man actually produced two Core Formation puppets at once. Counting himself, that was equivalent to three early Core Formation combatants. No wonder he was so arrogant.
Perhaps that was the benefit of longevity—he had accumulated enough resources to strengthen his battle power significantly.
Wang Yu immediately threw out the Corpse-Nurturing Coffin. The Yin Corpse of the Lunar Yin Fiend leapt forth and smacked the Earth Puppet Old Demon flying with a single palm.
Qingyang, on the other hand, summoned his newly obtained life-bound magic treasure, a jade-handled crimson brush known as the Pill-Crowned Brush.
Ink scattered as he waved the brush, and in an instant, dozens upon dozens of ink-beast phantoms sprang out of thin air, surging toward the third-rank iron puppet and nearly engulfing it.
Though puppets were strong, in single combat they could not match a true Core Formation cultivator, especially one wielding his life-bound treasure.
“Damn it!”
The Earth Puppet Old Demon cursed. Crawling out of a heap of rubble, he saw the “ant” in his eyes—City Lord Wang, holding a black coffin, his body coiled by a spirit dragon.
Like a hammer striking a nail, Wang Yu smashed the peak Foundation Establishment puppet into the ground, caving in its head completely.
His strength was simply astonishing, utterly terrifying.
Fortunately, the early third-rank puppet, refined by with body-refining cultivator and specialized for close-combat assassination—had already caught up with the fleeing Rainflower and Fenghua.
With one punch, it overturned their second-rank high-grade spirit vessel that had been flying at full speed.
“That’s it. Kill them and seize the treasures.”
Sensing that the two were formidable opponents, the Earth Puppet Old Demon turned into a streak of light and chased after them, activating a puppet-path secret art.
The Foundation Establishment puppet behind him self-detonated instantly.
The third-rank iron puppet burst forth with terrifying power, scattering all the ink beasts. It punched out a massive phantom fist over thirty meters wide, crushing everything before it.
Qingyang threw out a scroll. As it unfurled, it enveloped his entire body, and he even managed to pull Wang Yu along.
“Be careful, City Lord.”
The next instant, a thunderous explosion tore through the area. The puppet’s detonation reduced everything within a hundred meters to rubble, leaving behind a perfectly round crater in the ground.
In that same instant, Wang Yu and Qingyang reappeared eight hundred meters away.
It was the effect of that scroll.
“Spatial teleportation?”
In response to Wang Yu’s doubt, True Personage Qingyang shook his head.
“It’s not true teleportation. It’s a technique that transfers through connected paintings. I hung one beforehand nearby—the range cannot exceed a thousand meters.”
Wang Yu immediately understood. The limitation was significant, but if used in a prearranged duel, it could easily catch the opponent off guard.
Seeing that the iron puppet was chasing again and that the Earth Puppet Old Demon was about to meet up with his close-combat puppet, Wang Yu quickly summoned the Yin Corpse of Lunar Yin Fiend once more to restrain the iron puppet that refused to relent.
He quickly said, “Third-rank puppets do not possess innate magic treasures or divine abilities. Later, I will hold off that melee puppet. You deal with the Earth Puppet Old Devil using our old tactic.”
Qingyang immediately understood. He secretly glanced at the Fiend Corpse fighting fiercely with the Iron Puppet in the rear and grew even more wary of its strength.
The Dao of Puppetry was in no way inferior to the Dao of Refining Corpses.
The problem, however, lay elsewhere.
Wang Yu’s Fiend Corpse was special, and naturally, among puppets, there were also powerful ones. The most renowned among them was the Human Puppet, also called Living Puppet—a puppet refined from a living person.
Such a puppet could perfectly display the strength it had in life. Above it were the Earth Puppet and Heaven Puppet, both far stronger.
The old demon before them called himself an Earth Puppet Master, but in truth, he had not even succeeded in refining a Human Puppet. He only controlled ordinary Iron Puppets and Spell Puppets. Among them, only that melee puppet carried a faint trace of the Human Puppet’s qualities.
It was likely due to his lack of skill. Otherwise, if these two early third-rank puppets possessed innate divine abilities and magic treasures, he could have dominated the early Core Formation realm.
Instead, he had remained stuck at the third layer of Core Formation, unable to advance.
“A decrepit failure dares ruin my plans!”
During the pursuit, Qingyang repeatedly waved his brush. Across a thousand meters, he painted one ink-black flood dragon after another in midair, each diving toward the Earth Puppet Old Devil, harassing him and preventing him from advancing.
This scene was also caught by Daoist Rainflower. He felt a surge of emotion as Wang Yu lent his aid, yet both he and Feng Huazi were already facing mortal peril.
He removed the low-grade Heaven-Earth Ring hanging from his neck and handed it to Feng Huazi, his tone resolute.
“Feng Hua, take these items and leave. Do not return to Cloud Mist City. Find a place to go into seclusion. Once you break through to Core Formation, avenge me.”
Such a scene was exceedingly rare in Crimson Kite Demonic Domain.
On the rare occasion it did occur, it was usually between brothers. For love between man and woman to reach such a depth was inseparable from their cultivation of the Dual Harmony Combined Strike Art.
Only through long years of shared fate could such a bond be formed. Tears filled Feng Huazi’s eyes, yet she did not refuse.
Without a hint of hesitation, she took Daoist Rainflower’s Heaven-Earth Ring, turned in another direction, and fled. Only her voice echoed between heaven and earth.
“I will make that filthy scum pay with his life.”
Daoist Rainflower did not look back. Pouring all his strength into his final charge toward the melee puppet, his true essence boiled as he unleashed his life-long ultimate art. The vast streams of water transformed into rain.
Countless water ropes bound the puppet like a zongzi, but it lasted only a single breath before being torn apart. A massive Canglang Water Sword, nearly a hundred meters long, condensed and slashed down fiercely with Rainflower’s motion.
Unfortunately, it was shattered by a single punch from the puppet.
In an instant, the puppet took a single step, appearing right before Rainflower. Its metallic hands were cold and merciless. Without giving him the slightest chance to breathe, it cleanly crushed his head.
Only a few hundred meters behind, Wang Yu burned with rage. He had already arrived at full speed, but still a few breaths too late.
“Arrogant fiend!”
The man was dead, and the dignity of Jade Spirit City had been gravely violated. The Earth Puppet Old Demon had to die here, or else who would dare attend the Fragrant Gathering in the future?
The remaining distance was but a few breaths.
The melee puppet, which had been about to pursue Feng Huazi, was kicked into a nearby house by Wang Yu, carving a hundred-meter-long trench of shattered stones through the street.
After his physical body advanced to mid-second rank, his cultivation progress had slowed down. Even with the aid of Dragon Blood Essence, he had only condensed three hundred and thirty-three drops of new essence blood.
This was equivalent to the fifth layer of Foundation Establishment. To reach the late stage, he would need to condense nine hundred and ninety-nine drops, merge them into one, and then disperse the fused blood throughout his body to achieve a higher transformation of the flesh.
The Earth Puppet Old Demon claimed this puppet was made from a Body Refining cultivator, but in truth, it was not a pure body refiner. It was a pseudo dual-path cultivator who had fused orthodox cultivation arts.
In terms of physical body, Wang Yu feared nothing.
Lunar Fiend Body Refining, Dragon Blood Nourishment, Corpse Demon Secret Technique, and Taiyin Nether Eyes—fourfold effects, each amplifying or modifying his power.
His foundation in body refinement was deeper than even those of orthodox cultivators. In other words, he could suppress this puppet through brute force.
The prerequisite was that the Earth Puppet Old Demon did not interfere.
There were now three battlefields in total.
Wang Yu fought the melee puppet, Qingyang fought the Earth Puppet Old Demon, and the Fiend Corpse battled the third-rank Iron Puppet. All three battles were deadlocked.
At this moment, a sudden figure appeared atop a building—it was Little Talisman Luo Chen. After observing the scene, he nodded slightly toward Wang Yu, then his figure vanished.
Wang Yu’s gaze darkened further.
That beast had clearly gone after Feng Huazi.
To retrieve what had already been traded, such shameless behavior—combined with his previous words and promises at Heavenly Fragrance Palace, made Wang Yu feel as though he had fallen into an icy pit. It had all been lies.
He should never have offered Luo Chen advice. Thinking carefully now, if that man had not been in the same faction as Zhuo Shouqing, he would never have sought to befriend him.
Being scheming was one thing, but a man without faith could not stand tall. In the demonic domain, reputation and trust were truly vital.
Luo Chen was not someone who could be trusted.
Moreover, if he really seized the Flood Dragon Soul Heavenly Water Essence back and word got out, it would completely destroy the Fragrant Gathering that Wang Yu had painstakingly built.
That would be an even greater disaster than fighting the Earth Puppet Old Demon here in Jade Spirit City.
Boom.
Another punch collided head-on. Wang Yu engaged the melee puppet once more, splitting a portion of his attention toward Qingyang’s side. He needed to slay the Earth Puppet Old Demon as soon as possible.
Just then, an unexpected figure appeared near him. It was True Personage He Gu of Scorpion City. With a solemn expression, he said,
“City Lord Wang, do you require assistance?”