Puppet

Chapter 89 Puppet

However, it's understandable. The Southern Barbarians are now in a losing position, and all the Foundation Establishment cultivators are about to die out. If this evil cultivator can't finish the battle quickly and escape, even if he can deal with Lu Yang, he'll probably be entangled with others.

Lu Yang brandished his magic sword to defend against the wolf beast's attack.

The evil cultivator opposite him had no intention of speaking again and was already wielding a magic blade to slash at him. Accompanied by the roars of skeletons, Lu Yang felt his mind slow down again.

Meanwhile, arrows continued to rain down from behind the evil cultivator. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be several puppet beasts nocking arrows from bows.

These puppets should all be at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, with some even showing signs of late-stage Qi Refining power. I didn't realize that this evil cultivator had such a high talent for puppetry!

Puppetry is one of the many arts of cultivation, but it is considered a relatively niche art with few lineages and requires a great deal of talent.

Especially in terms of talent in the spiritual realm, since puppets need to be controlled by spiritual consciousness, and spiritual consciousness is actually closely related to the spiritual realm.

The importance of the spirit and soul is not obvious during the Qi Refining stage, but it will gradually become apparent after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

The fact that this evil cultivator could control so many puppets at once demonstrates the strength of his divine soul.

Moreover, this heretical cultivator was also proficient in soul techniques, soul techniques for the Qi Refining stage. It was unclear whether these were spells or the power of the magical artifact.

Lu Yang's gaze fell on the skull knife in the evil cultivator's hand. After the knife was slashed, Lu Yang's eyes instantly turned into a world of skulls. Countless skulls roared in Lu Yang's ears and swung their ferocious skull claws to grab at Lu Yang.

It must be an illusion, but cultivators dare not gamble on such things. If they cannot see through the illusion, they must deal with it with all their might.

Destroy all the skeletons.

Skeletons! Puppets! These alone are enough to wear down a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator. It has to be said, we've really met a tough opponent, even more difficult to deal with than the late-stage Qi Refining cultivator we encountered before.

However, this evil cultivator was greedy; after unleashing a single slash, he still wanted to get close and finish the fight quickly.

Seeing that the evil cultivator looked like he had Lu Yang completely under his thumb, Lu Yang couldn't help but smile. This evil cultivator was indeed powerful, but he was lucky to have met him.

boom!

Seeing the evil cultivator approaching and feeling the sharpness of the magic blade, Lu Yang remained calm and composed, only revealing his cultivation level.

Qi Refining Level 5, Qi Refining Level 6!

Body Refinement Level 5, Body Refinement Level 6, Body Refinement Level 7!

What!

The evil cultivator glared angrily. The moment Lu Yang revealed his cultivation level, the evil cultivator knew he had met his match. Being cautious by nature, the evil cultivator almost instinctively wanted to retreat without hesitation.

He was fast, but Lu Yang was even faster.

With the activation of the Immovable Myo-o Technique, the illusory image of the Immovable Myo-o manifested, and the skeletons that rushed towards Lu Yang instantly dissipated, and the skeleton world also vanished in an instant.

As for the attacks of those puppet beasts, they burst forth with golden light, but could not get within three feet of Lu Yang.

With his feet firmly planted on the wind, Lu Yang had no eyes on the evil cultivator. The Suppressing Void Seal hung high, making the evil cultivator feel his movements sluggish. The next moment, Lu Yang had already appeared behind him.

boom!

The Great Perfection level of the Mingwang Fist, carrying intense karmic fire, directly targets the soul of the evil cultivator.

As he got closer, the evil cultivator felt his soul burning—it hurt! The pain made him even more alert, and without the slightest hesitation, he instantly activated his bone armor.

Ah!

Top-grade magical artifact!

What a rich guy!

The Mingwang Fist struck the evil cultivator, causing him to stagger, but Lu Yang knew that the punch had not damaged his foundation.

The defensive power of a top-grade magic armor is beyond compare. When activated at this moment, even a fully mastered Mingwang Fist would have most of its power deflected.

The evil cultivator, relying on the power of that punch, quickly retreated, actually widening the distance between them.

If it weren't for the suppression of the Void-Suppressing Seal, this evil cultivator would have been able to escape with just this one move.

Having already caught the prey, how could he let it escape? A flash of golden light, and before the evil cultivator could even rejoice at creating distance, the golden light exploded before his eyes.

Then another punch came crashing down.

"hateful!"

The evil cultivator cursed inwardly, "Greedy! Greedy! I only thought he was a minor cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining, yet he dared to pursue me like this. I can't tolerate it."

In his view, killing Lu Yang would only take a blink of an eye and wouldn't take much time.

Who would have thought that this guy was just like him, a wolf in sheep's clothing? He had hidden one layer of cultivation, but Lu Yang had hidden two layers of Qi Refining cultivation and three layers of Body Refining cultivation.

It's common knowledge during the Qi Refining stage: among cultivators of the same level, few Qi Refining cultivators can rival Body Refining cultivators.

Moreover, Lu Yang's body refinement is no ordinary body refinement. The illusory image of the Immovable King appears behind him, which is obviously a Buddhist path. In this southern region, Hanshan Temple has a great reputation. It is no exaggeration to say that its body refinement ability is the best in the southern region.

Thinking of this, the evil cultivator felt even more terrified. Most importantly, he couldn't understand how Lu Yang had managed to deceive his senses.

You should know that he cultivates a spiritual technique, and during the Qi Refining stage, almost no one can hide their cultivation level from him, which is why he is so confident.

But Lu Yang had hidden so much of his cultivation right under his nose.

Surely Lu Yang's soul can't be stronger than his, right?

How is that possible? It's one thing to be strong in Qi cultivation and body refinement, but to have an even stronger soul would be some kind of freak.

Also, this is a technique of escape!

No matter how you look at it, Lu Yang looks like he's only in his teens. Where does he get so much energy to cultivate so many techniques?

Damn it!

Regret reached its peak at this moment, but it was too late to say anything. Now, they had to suppress Lu Yang and escape as soon as possible.

Their gazes fell upon the Void-Suppressing Seal. In the eyes of the evil cultivators, the Void-Suppressing Seal was now the biggest obstacle.

He possesses a magic ability to escape; if he can break the Zhenkong Seal, he will have a chance to flee.

Otherwise, under the Zhenkong Seal, escape techniques would be difficult to use. On the contrary, Lu Yang's escape techniques were powerful, and he couldn't escape at all. The Buddha Fist was fierce, and if this continued, even the top-grade magic armor would be destroyed.

boom!

Another punch landed, but the evil cultivator decisively used the force to retreat, and then several puppet beasts gathered to directly meet Lu Yang.

Without a word, they just exploded.

boom!

Ah!

Lu Yang felt the explosive power of the puppet beast and dared not underestimate it. As his magic robe activated, he also retreated rapidly.

But seeing the evil cultivator's actions, his eyes narrowed again.

Good lad, Xiang Zhuang's sword dance was aimed at Liu Bang! He actually went for his Zhenkong Seal. Seeing that his magic knife was about to knock down the Zhenkong Seal, Lu Yang didn't care about the explosive power. He activated his body defense to the maximum and went straight to meet it.

Having expended so much effort, if this evil cultivator were to escape, Lu Yang would be so angry that he wouldn't be able to sleep for days.

This evil cultivator has many tricks up his sleeve. Without the Zhenkong Seal, Lu Yang isn't very confident he can keep him.

The residual power of the puppet beast's self-destruction was still present. Lu Yang punched it away, but the spiritual light around him dimmed considerably, and even his mid-grade magic robe lost all its spiritual light.

Lu Yang shook his head as he felt the mid-grade magic robe losing its power. He would have to change his equipment when he got back, as the current mid-grade magic robe was no longer keeping up with his pace.

Ah!

The evil cultivator saw the Suppressing Void Seal within reach. Although it was powerful, he believed that a full-force attack should be able to knock it down.

Just then, the Buddha's Fist suddenly appeared behind him again, leaving the evil cultivator stunned. Seeing Lu Yang charging towards him with the puppet exploding, he cursed his bad luck.

His puppets were ultimately only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. Even if they self-destructed, their power would still be limited for those at the late stage of Body Refining.

boom!

Seeing the force of the punch explode behind him, the evil cultivator, despite his resentment, had no choice but to turn around and defend himself. After all, if he were to take that punch, he would be crippled if not killed.

The magic knife swung back down, and a loud explosion rang out. The evil cultivator intended to activate the Skeleton Secret Technique, but as soon as the technique was activated, it was annihilated upon touching the Buddha's light and karmic fire.

I've been completely outmatched.

not good!

Just as the evil cultivator was preparing to retreat and think of another way, he felt the immense force on the blade and thought to himself that something was wrong. He saw that Lu Yang had actually changed his attack into a grip during the clash of fist and blade, and had actually grasped the evil cultivator's magic blade directly in his hand.

Before the evil cultivator could react, the magic knife was pulled away, and the evil cultivator quickly approached Lu Yang. The evil cultivator reacted as fast as he could, and seeing that the situation was not right, he abandoned the knife and tried to run away, but it was too late.

As the Buddha's fist struck the evil cultivator's face, karmic fire reached straight to his soul, making the evil cultivator fully experience what it meant to be injured in both body and soul, causing him excruciating pain.

Most importantly, once he was completely close in, Lu Yang didn't hesitate and unleashed a set of Mingwang Fist.

Even the best magic armor couldn't withstand such an attack; after only a few punches, the best magic armor lost its luster.

The star-shaped punches all landed on the evil cultivator, causing him to become mentally disoriented.

Human energy is ultimately limited. While cultivating evil arts, he also cultivated spiritual arts to increase his spiritual power. Puppetry also consumed a lot of energy. After cultivating one or two more spells and escape techniques, he had already exhausted his energy.

Using puppetry as a means of attack, evil cultivators truly lack sophisticated close-combat techniques.

His defenses depended entirely on this top-grade magic armor, and he thought that top-grade magic armor would be enough to deal with most emergencies. Who would have thought that he would encounter such a freak today?

The magical light of the armor had faded, and he was unable to escape, so he was crushed to death.

After Lu Yang unleashed a set of Mingwang Fist techniques, he felt refreshed and relieved. Looking at the mangled flesh on the ground, he was completely at ease.

The top-grade magic armor had lost its luster, and Lu Yang easily took it off. However, the armor had been badly damaged by his smash, and it would need to be nurtured before it could be used again.

The puppet beast was blown up, leaving only two small beasts. They had lost their master's control and had become toys.

Lu Yang didn't mind the puppet fragments left after the self-destruction, and directly collected them. He also took the magic knife and storage bag from the evil cultivator. Seeing that he hadn't missed any other gains, Lu Yang immediately used the Thousand Soul Banner to collect the evil cultivator's soul, then burned the evil cultivator's flesh to ashes with a fire, and retreated directly.

The battle with the evil cultivators has lasted quite a while. If we continue to pursue other evil cultivators now, we might not be able to catch up in time. It would be better to return to Juma County as soon as possible.

Piloting the Flying Cloud Shuttle, Lu Yang returned to Juma County, only to witness a scene that would shock him for half his life.