Chapter 668: The Unrivaled Prodigy of Puppet Arts! The Peach Blossom Fate!

In the Mirage Domain of Vast Sands, three figures descended from three different directions atop a towering mountain peak.

The grotesque-faced True Lord Mingsha, clad in a dark red ghost robe, noticed the expressions of the two before him and realized they hadn’t found any trace of Yangming Zhenren; his expression darkened instantly.

He had spent a hefty price to persuade the two.

“True Friend Mingsha, the Mirage Domain is vast, and our senses are restricted by the secret realm. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack to find one person here.”

“Indeed, and I suspect this person is hiding away, entirely avoiding this secret realm’s opportunities; otherwise, there would be some stirring or news.”

True Lord Tiancang and True Lord Yunmei spoke.

Although they had chosen to hunt down Yangming Zhenren under the temptation of True Lord Mingsha’s words, they weren’t keen on wasting any more time after a fruitless search.

Their primary concern was that True Lord Mingsha’s words sounded too preposterous—talking about treasures surpassing the Yin Ghost Sect’s Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pool, along with a top-tier spirit pet that had awakened its true spirit bloodline.

“True Lord Tiancang, your expertise lies in beast control at Beast God Mountain. Can’t you find that Roc?”

True Lord Mingsha said, clearly reluctant.

The two before him, True Lord Tiancang and True Lord Yunmei, remained unfazed.

But he held a deep-seated grudge against Yangming Zhenren! This person held a treasured artifact, and his combat power rivaled that of a Nascent Soul cultivator.

In their previous encounter, but for the protection of the Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pool, he had nearly been defeated and his physical body obliterated.

In light of this, his fears regarding Yangming Zhenren were immense—more so than mere caution; he feared for his safety, especially worried that Yangming would break through to Nascent Soul.

Once he reached the Nascent Soul stage, Yangming would undoubtedly be among the top of his realm, his combat powers at least equal to the current True Lord Xuanjian.

Even with the Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pool, he couldn’t consider himself a match, putting his life in jeopardy!

“Though I have some means, I believe True Friend Mingsha is aware. In such a secret realm, with many Nascent Soul cultivators gathered, any losses would be too costly to bear.”

The plump man known as True Lord Tiancang shook his head and replied.

While the allure of a top-tier beast that had awakened its true spirit bloodline was enticing, he had never seen it in person, and he wasn’t willing to pay a hefty price for an uncertain beast.

What if too much was consumed, and he encountered an enemy later?

Among Nascent Soul cultivators, battles rarely ended in death because they possess the means for Soul Escape.

As long as they wouldn’t be thoroughly exterminated, no one would wish to irreparably offend a Nascent Soul true monarch.

But in such a secret realm, the Nascent Soul spirit bodies couldn’t escape into the void; it would be much easier to slay a Nascent Soul cultivator than outside.

If he ended up severely depleted, other Nascent Soul cultivators would likely not hesitate to move against him.

After all, a Nascent Soul cultivator’s worth could surpass many opportunities in these secret realms.

Of course, saying this was also a tactic to extract benefits from True Lord Mingsha, as he wasn’t inclined to expend effort for nothing.

As a Nascent Soul cultivator, True Lord Mingsha naturally understood what True Lord Tiancang was implying.

He had tricks up his sleeve but reckoned the costs were too great and demanded compensation.

After pondering for a moment, he said, “True Lord Tiancang, I’ve heard you are attempting to transform your Heavenly Silkworm. If you can find Yangming Zhenren, I have a Ten Thousand Spirit Blood Pill here.”

“Three portions plus three portions of fourth-grade Ten Thousand Spirit Blood.”

True Lord Tiancang thought for a moment, then extended his chubby, pale fingers, speaking.

“Three portions of fourth-grade Ten Thousand Spirit Blood.”

True Lord Mingsha’s face was slightly grim.

The Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pool was not only defensive and offensive but also had an unparalleled capability to condense Ten Thousand Spirit Blood!

This Ten Thousand Spirit Blood, aside from being critical for Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivation, could also be used to refine pills and nurture ghost beasts, representing the true foundation of the Yin Ghost Sect.

However, this Ten Thousand Spirit Blood required a vast amount of resources and blood from living beings to condense; his own stock was extremely limited.

Especially since in order to break through to Nascent Soul and repair the damaged foundational treasures from his tribulations, the Yin Ghost Sect had no additional resources to invest in the Ten Thousand Ghost Blood Pool.

“I’ve used all the Ten Thousand Spirit Blood during my previous attempt at Nascent Soul. We have exhausted our stock. I can only give True Lord Tiancang one portion of fourth-grade Ten Thousand Spirit Blood at most.”

True Lord Mingsha contemplated briefly before he reluctantly said.

“In that case, you can give me one portion first, and after a hundred years, send me another. True Friend Mingsha is also aware that seeking for something in this secret realm is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and sensing the heavenly secrets demands great costs.”

While True Lord Tiancang traveled with True Lord Mingsha, their partnership was primarily strategic; thus, he was not shy about asking for what he deserved.

“Since that’s the case, I invite True Lord to make your move.”

Considering the situation of Yangming Zhenren, True Lord Mingsha painfully agreed to the request, hoping to slay him in the secret realm.

“Rest assured, True Friend Mingsha. This person aided Jiang Kingdom back then and disrupted our schemes, leading the True Lord Tiansha to fall into the hands of the Heavenly Sword Sect. I will do everything in my power to eliminate this scum!”

With benefits secured, True Lord Tiancang grinned and responded, his eyes squinting into slits, patting his round belly.

His belly resonated like a drum, emitting deep, powerful sounds.

Right after that.

“Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!”

A sound akin to a silkworm humming emanated from his belly, sending rippling waves of energy flowing outward.

As True Lord Tiancang’s hefty body began to swell, an unpleasant odor wafted from his pores, and his eyes shimmered with a crystalline merging aura.

“In this current state, I can sense the bloodline auras of all third-grade top-tier flying beast kings in a radius and their Yin-Yang magical energies. Unless this person completely hides away, they will struggle to evade my senses.”

True Lord Tiancang, with his plump body, had skin as pale and tender as a child’s. Under the light, it seemed to flow with an invisible silken sheen, and two small antennae sprouted from his forehead as he spoke in a hoarse voice.

True Lord Mingsha and True Lord Yunmei observed and closely followed him.

“Hmm?”

In a cave, Lu Changsheng, whose body flowed with Yin and Yang energy, opened his eyes, staring at the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror cradled in his hands.

Although he had left the Golden-Winged Roc to guard outside, his true means was the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror! Without the Sun-Moon Token as a bloodline medium, it could not provide Lu Changsheng with the detailed images he desired, but it could still sense and monitor the energy signatures within a hundred miles.

If a powerful Nascent Soul energy or a third-grade demon king’s aura approached, the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror would sound an alarm at the first moment.

Even if cultivators tried to obscure their auras with magical artifacts, as long as they came too close, it would be difficult to hide from the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror.

At that moment, the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror detected a strong wave of energy approaching.

Lu Changsheng immediately plunged his consciousness into the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror to assess the situation.

He saw several vague silhouettes engaged in battle three hundred miles away, moving toward his location.

As Ah Wu took control of the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror, the image gradually sharpened.

“Is that a puppet battle formation?”

Lu Changsheng witnessed a man controlling thirteen puppets as they surrounded and attacked two practitioners at the peak of Core Formation—one male and one female.

Though aided by the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror, he couldn’t clearly sense the magical energy; through the interconnections of the thirteen puppets, a formation pattern was emerging, showing it was indeed a puppet battle formation.

“Controlling thirteen puppets at the late stage of Core Formation, and at least they are average quality third-grade puppets. Tsk, tsk, tsk, the hero of the world really is like leaping carp.”

Lu Changsheng understood puppet arts clearly.

However, creating puppets is highly time-consuming and resource-intensive, and the returns are not high, so aside from acquiring second-grade puppet techniques at the beginning, he had not upgraded or researched further.

But he knew that a practitioner at the late stage of Core Formation could at most control seven or eight third-grade puppets.

Even a peak Core Formation practitioner couldn’t exceed ten third-grade puppets.

As for the thirteen puppets, their souls might very well reach the Nascent Soul level? If it weren’t for the past experiences with the Soul Path Dream Realm, condensing his Dao Golden Core and awakening the Taiyi Soul Body, Lu Changsheng’s own soul would never have achieved the Nascent Soul level at the late stage of Core Formation.

So, for this person to reach such a level at the late stage of Core Formation, Lu Changsheng was quite amazed.

“It seems that anyone brave enough to enter the Mirage Domain as a Core Formation cultivator has some skills, possessing barely enough to contend with a Nascent Soul-level power; otherwise, they wouldn’t be here at all.”

While puppet battle formations are suitable for positional warfare.

But this person’s thirteen puppets were anything but ordinary.

Not only did they form a puppet formation elaborately sketched with intricate light patterns of the array, but the coordination between the puppets was flawless and seamless, like flowing water.

While Lu Wangshu had studied puppet battle formations for quite some time, she could only achieve an energy connection and act together in rigid movements, drastically different from this person’s puppets.

The couple under siege was no ordinary pair; they were indeed a married couple, demonstrating a remarkable synergy.

Yet under the assault of the thirteen puppets, they sustained heavy injuries and were willing to negotiate a settlement.

However, the man controlling the puppets completely ignored them, even summoning a set of needle-shaped magical artifacts to attack the two.

“Damn! Does this man truly possess a Nascent Soul-level soul?”

Lu Changsheng gasped sharply.

Suddenly, he began to understand how others felt when they viewed him during his battles at Core Formation against Nascent Soul cultivators.

This individual, a late-stage Core Formation practitioner, not only controlled thirteen puppets but could additionally multitask to wield magical artifacts for offense? Was he for real?

However, as he kept watching, Lu Changsheng began to uncover the truth.

Among these thirteen puppets, one was a top-tier third-grade puppet, with the others seemingly centering around this main puppet.

“This person likely cultivates a puppet technique similar to the Nine-Nine Profound Talisman Sutra, enabling him to forge puppets into his life puppets, thus lowering the manipulation threshold.”

Lu Changsheng thought to himself.

The fourth-grade puppet technique of the Lu Family originates from the True Lord of Tianyuan.

While it is exquisite, it is not the best.

Thus, Lu Changsheng speculated that the method this person used for puppet control must be from a top-tier puppet technique.

Only in that instance could it account for how a Core Formation cultivator could manage so many puppets.

After a while, seeing the husband and wife duo fall in battle under the assault of the thirteen puppets, Lu Changsheng gently shook his head, having no intention of engaging in black-on-black theft.

Although this person’s puppets had lost some energy, and a few appeared damaged, his own state was still recovering, and he didn’t want to complicate things further.

Watching the man clear the battlefield, retracting twelve puppets and flying with the main puppet towards his direction, Lu Changsheng immediately activated the Yin-Yang Glass Wall, concealing himself and the unconscious Lu Ping’an nearby.

However, as the man passed by, he seemed to notice the Golden-Winged Roc lying in wait not far from the cave. He exchanged a glance with the puppets beside him and released all twelve puppets.

“Damn it!”

Lu Changsheng hadn’t expected the opponent to target the golden roc.

But upon reflection, it made sense.

Among these twelve puppets, there were eight animal-shaped forms clearly built from demon king bones.

Now the sight of a third-grade demon king would be hard to pass up, especially with the Golden-Winged Roc’s appearance and aura—it was clearly no simple feat.

“Caw!”

The Golden-Winged Roc, seeing this, shrieked and soared into the skies, asking Lu Changsheng whether to fight or flee; it could draw the attackers away.

“Since they’ve come knocking, why run?”

Lu Changsheng didn’t want to stir up trouble but wasn’t afraid to confront it either.

Even though he wasn’t at his peak condition, he was certainly not a pushover against a minor late-stage Core Formation practitioner! Besides, he felt somewhat tempted by the sight of those thirteen third-grade puppets.

He stored Lu Ping’an in the Wuxiang interface, and the Da Luo Sword Embryo manifested in his hand.

“Ah Wu.”

The fourteen top-quality spirit stones he previously acquired were put to use, given to Ah Wu, signaling it to use a bit of Taiyin Xuanguang to disrupt the opponent.

Facing such a heaven-defying prodigy, Lu Changsheng remained exceptionally cautious and prepared for battle.

He then fully unleashed the Yin-Yang Glass Wall to suppress his aura, waiting for an opportunity.

From his earlier observations, Lu Changsheng could see that once the puppet battle formation was set, the man would become the critical breakthrough point.

Outside the cave, the Golden-Winged Roc resembled a wild demon king, exuding overwhelming menace as it charged at the puppet man.

The energy of the thirteen puppets began to intertwine, unleashing mysterious, intricate patterns of the formation, encapsulating the Golden-Winged Roc.

To speak the truth, this man’s puppet battle formation was indeed extraordinary; even a Nascent Soul true monarch would be challenged to last more than a few rounds.

As the thirteen puppets worked tirelessly to suppress the Golden-Winged Roc, Lu Changsheng carefully stepped out of the cave using the Yin-Yang Glass Wall before unleashing a mighty explosion of the Nine Treasures Dao Bone alongside a strike from the Da Luo Sword Embryo.

“Clang!”

The dazzling, peerless sword light lit up the skies, unleashing an unparalleled, sharp beam of brilliance.

“Not good!”

The man controlling the puppets suddenly felt a warning frantically ringing in his heart. He activated his magical garment and protective shields along with the puppet formation.

However, at the moment Lu Changsheng released his sword strike, the Yin-Yang Diagram and Brahma Demon True Form appeared simultaneously, surging forward.

The Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror in his hands ignited a top-quality spirit stone, unleashing a strand of cold, enigmatic white light.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

The man’s magical garment and protective shields shattered beneath the radiant sword light, akin to fragile porcelain.

When the Yin-Yang Diagram and Brahma Demon True Form approached, they hurled against him, and blood began to seep from his brow, cascading down to his legs.

Blood spattered.

The man’s body split apart, his face frozen in disbelief.

“???”

Lu Changsheng looked on in confusion.

What the heck?

Wasn’t this man supposedly a heaven-defying prodigy who could control thirteen puppets and multitask with magical artifacts? How did he just go down from one sword strike?

Though he had utilized the Nine Treasures Dao Bone for a full-power sword strike, which was enough to fell a peak Core Formation practitioner.

Such a prodigy shouldn’t be without several hidden cards up his sleeve, right?

Not far away, the third-grade top-tier puppet displayed an expression of disbelief in its pitch-black, deep-set eyes, as if two flames flickered within.

It hadn’t expected there to be someone lurking in the shadows for a sneak attack.

It hadn’t sensed anything earlier.

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Of the thirteen puppets, nine swiftly abandoned the Golden-Winged Roc and fled, while the remaining four acted like war machines, humming to life and beginning to self-destruct.

“Hmm?”

Lu Changsheng was taken aback.

What the hell? The master is dead, and the puppets still move on their own?

These puppets were off!

Lu Changsheng recalled his family’s Qianmian Fox puppet.

The Qianmian Fox puppet, though possessing some awareness, lacked autonomy!

In the blink of an eye, Lu Changsheng had no time to contemplate further. He enveloped the split body of the man with the Yin-Yang Diagram, unleashing waves of brilliant Yin-Yang divine light that blazed and enveloped the area, wrapping the four self-destructing puppets with the Yin-Yang Qi Great Capture.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

But in such a rush, the self-detonation still sent Lu Changsheng reeling with blood surging.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Lu Changsheng’s gaze turned cold as he focused on the Golden-Winged Roc, immediately flying dozens of miles to catch up with the nine fleeing puppets.

The self-destructing puppets attempted the same trick again, with five charging toward him to explode.

But Lu Changsheng was not going to let them off easily.

The Taiyin Xuanguang, initially prepared for the man, erupted forth from his chest.

This level of Taiyin Xuanguang posed no threat to Nascent Soul cultivators, but it was entirely sufficient against a few third-grade puppets.

The five puppets meant for self-detonation immediately became frost-laden, their movements slowed, and they shattered, captured in the embrace of the Yin-Yang Qi Great Capture.

As the situation unfolded, three more puppets charged forward from different angles, attempting to stall for time for the third-grade peak puppet Lu Changsheng had been focused on.

“This puppet is unmistakably problematic!”

Previously, Lu Changsheng had eyed this third-grade peak puppet, suspecting it might be the man’s life puppet; but now, he felt inclined to investigate further.

The Brahma Demon True Form roared, its body rising several feet, as it gripped the three puppets tightly to prevent them from self-destructing.

Then, a snow-white pill transformed into the Three Treasure Incarnation, steering the Yin-Yang Diagram to swiftly shoot toward the fleeing third-grade top-tier puppet.

Although these puppets had brilliant performances, once the puppet formation was disrupted, they became very ordinary.

The three puppets held by the Brahma Demon True Form were subdued within moments under Lu Changsheng’s divine powers.

As for the fleeing third-grade top-tier puppet, it was no match for the Three Treasure Incarnation, tangled and unable to break free.

Lu Changsheng and the Golden-Winged Roc swiftly caught up, slashing out with the Da Luo Sword Embryo, dealing a sharp blow that left the third-grade top puppet with minor damage.

At that moment, Lu Changsheng felt a faint signal from the Peach Blossom Gu resting in his consciousness.

Indicating a chance to form a fate with the puppet before him—it urged him not to miss this opportunity.

“???”

Lu Changsheng was bewildered.

What the heck?

Although the Peach Blossom Gu was increasingly hungry and indicated charm when seeing women, suggesting a chance for a fate connection, this was a puppet!

Could it be this puppet was like the Qianmian Fox puppet, a result of the man transforming his wife? Was it female? Lu Changsheng didn’t heed the Peach Blossom Gu’s warnings, utilizing the Yin-Yang Qi Great Capture to avoid causing severe damage to the puppet.

After all, these were all his spoils.

If it ended up too damaged, his current puppet skills wouldn’t be able to repair them.

However, recalling the previous prompts from the Peach Blossom Gu, he applied the Six Desire Heart Demon Technique’s spiritual secret method on the puppet.

Under normal conditions, puppets like the Three Treasure Incarnation would lack any soul and thus wouldn’t fear spiritual attacks.

But once this spiritual secret technique was unleashed, Lu Changsheng instantly sensed a wave of soul fluctuation emanating from the puppet.

Only this soul fluctuation was somewhat different from a normal soul.

“Does it truly possess a soul awareness?”

Lu Changsheng was taken aback. He immediately cast a sealing divine light, tossing out an unrefined rope-type magical artifact to tightly bind the puppet, preparing to research the situation of this puppet later.

“Master!”

At that moment, the Sun-Moon Yin-Yang Mirror in Lu Changsheng’s hands began to tremble violently, sounding alarm bells.

Indicating three formidable auras obscured their presences and were heading in this direction.

One of the magical energy signatures was very similar to True Lord Mingsha’s.

“True Lord Mingsha!?”

Lu Changsheng was startled. He promptly used his magical energy to sweep up the puppet before storing it in the Storage Belt, signaling the Golden-Winged Roc to flee.

After all, these three strong auras meant that they were definitely reinforcements summoned by True Lord Mingsha.

Given his current circumstances, he was absolutely no match.