Liu Qingshu's body froze in the lightning, like an insect sealed in amber, unable to move even his fingertips.
Self-destruction? The thought was too strong to even hold onto.
The Puppet Sect Master, hundreds of miles away, suddenly felt an indescribable force pressing down on him through his soul connection.
He had never experienced such power before, like billions of mountains crashing down at once, or like being thrown into a bottomless abyss, surrounded by icy water pressure from all sides.
His consciousness seemed frozen, even his movements became extremely slow.
At that moment, he finally understood what he had done wrong.
The other party was neither an ordinary elder from the Celestial Masters' Mansion, nor some reclusive master; he was Celestial Master! Moreover, he was a being who stood at an extremely high level of the Celestial Master realm, a being that even he could only look up at with a sense of distance.
He was like an ant, lying in the dust, being looked down upon by those on the high platform.
He couldn't move, he couldn't escape, and he didn't even have the choice to die.
At the critical moment, he spat out a mouthful of blood essence, sacrificing his life soul to unleash the Soul-Severing Secret Art passed down through generations of the Puppet Sect.
The thread connecting his soul to Liu Qingshu snapped abruptly amidst the blood-red light.
He felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow and fell to the ground. A wave of excruciating pain washed over him, but he couldn't care less about that now.
He lay on the ground, drenched in cold sweat, his heart pounding, his eyes still fixed on that purple lightning.
"Too strong... too strong!" His lips trembled, his voice hoarse, as if he had just been pulled from the water. "That person must be Celestial Master, and Celestial Master among Celestial Masters! How could there be such a monster in the Celestial Masters' Mansion!"
So, he fled even faster through the bamboo forest!
On this trip to the Celestial Masters' Mansion, he stole nothing, lost a fine puppet, and even damaged his vital soul.
But at this moment, he was only grateful that he was still alive; to have survived was already an incredible stroke of luck.
To be honest, the Puppet Sect Master was truly terrified; he had never been so afraid before.
Even though they were hundreds of miles apart, he dared not stop for a moment. He used the Puppet Sect's most advanced escape technique and a life-saving incantation to conceal his aura, and raced all the way southwest.
Like a terrified wild dog, he traversed forests and ridges, crossed rivers and climbed mountains, without closing his eyes for three days and three nights, not daring to look back.
Only after he was certain that he had escaped five thousand miles away did he collapse in a desolate mountain cave, leaning against the cold rock wall, panting heavily.
Sweat soaked through his robes, his hair clung to his forehead, and even his fingertips trembled slightly.
"Heaven Slayer... Heaven Slayer!" he cursed under his breath, his voice echoing through the cave. "Who said the Celestial Masters' Mansion was in decline? It's terrifyingly strong, more terrifyingly strong than most times in the world."
How could an old Daoist priest, a menial laborer, have driven me to this point!
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and the more he felt that he was lucky to have survived.
Five thousand miles away, even Eighth Realm Celestial Master could not possibly make a move from five thousand miles away, not even a god.
He exhaled a long breath and was about to get up from the cave when a chilling laugh suddenly fell on his ear:
"What, finally not running away?"
The Puppet Sect Master felt as if his blood had frozen in that instant. He stood there, his pupils constricted, and he dared not turn his head or breathe.
The voice was right next to his ear, like someone was speaking close to the back of his head.
"You think that even if you run five thousand miles, I can't kill you?" the voice continued, unhurriedly. "How laughable, you have no idea just how strong my [Celestial Master] and [Cangming Abyss] Divine Status truly Divine Status."
"Don't even mention five thousand miles, even if you escape ten thousand miles, you'll still be in my grasp. I'm keeping you here for three days only to see just how far you, a stray dog, can struggle."
The Puppet Sect Master finally realized that the deep blue light spot he had never noticed had been embedded in his soul all along.
He fled for three days, thinking he had nothing to lose, but in reality, he was under the watchful eyes of others the whole time.
He whirled around, his knees buckled, and he collapsed to his knees, his face a bloody mess of mud. His voice was shrill. "Senior, senior, spare my life! I was blind and ignorant, I offended the Celestial Master! I beg you, senior, to have mercy and spare my life! I'll serve you like a slave, and obey your every command from now on!"
There was no response. Suddenly, two terrifying, indescribable auras descended from the void.
That was the power projected from two Divine Status, like the sky turned upside down, like the abyss hanging upside down.
The Puppet Sect Master realized with despair that he was always standing within the range of the opponent's power.
Five thousand miles was nothing more than a few steps in the eyes of the other side.
"This is impossible... Even Celestial Master shouldn't possess such methods..."
He muttered to himself, his body limp, filled with deep regret.
If he had known earlier that the Celestial Masters' Mansion was hiding such a monster, he would have preferred to die rather than steal it.
But there's no going back in life; he's going to die today.
The power of the two Divine Status pressed down from the void, without any fancy moves or techniques, simply by "pressing down".
The rocks turned to dust, the air became compressed, and even the light seemed to be bent.
The Puppet Sect Master's body shattered into dust in that instant. Before his soul could even leave his body, it was crushed into nothingness, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.
The cave is still a cave, the mountain wind is still a mountain wind, but this person is no longer in this world.
Chen Du never left the Celestial Masters' Mansion from beginning to end!
The Puppet Sect Master, at the Peak Stage the Seventh Realm, possesses the Puppet Great Method, capable of controlling a person's body from hundreds of miles away. He is a powerful figure who can command the winds and rains in the outside world.
But in his eyes, such a person was no different from an ant that occasionally crawled across the courtyard.
From the very beginning, his [Cangming Abyss] Divine Foundation had already locked onto the opponent.
That Divine Foundation possesses the ability to lock down and trap enemies. Once you are entangled by it, the mark on your soul is like a bone-deep infection, and it is useless to escape no matter where you go.
Even thousands of miles away, it's just a matter of flipping the palm of your hand.
Killing him is easier than crushing an ant.
The head of the Celestial Masters' Mansion's Mansion and several True Immortals were still discussing matters in the main hall atop the mountain.
Unbeknownst to them, someone had infiltrated the Magic Treasure Hall that night, and that person was a Puppet Sect Master at the Peak Stage of the Seventh Realm.
Little did they know, the stalker had already been casually wiped out thousands of miles away by an old gatekeeper.
This ancient Celestial Masters' Mansion, hidden away in a corner unknown to anyone, had just escaped a smoldering fire.
And everyone was completely unaware.
Meanwhile, at the Puppet Sect's Ancestral Hall.
The rows of life tablets were enshrined under the yin candles. Because the sect cultivated the way of puppets, the life tablets were connected to the soul, and they were often more able to perceive life and death than ordinary sects.
But precisely because of this, when the life tablet at the top, engraved with the four characters "Contemporary Sect Master," suddenly cracked and shattered on the ground, all the elders in the hall were shocked and turned ashen-faced.
"Sect Master... Sect Master is dead!" The disciple guarding the hall scrambled out of the Ancestral Hall, his voice shrill and distorted.
Moments later, the entire sect was thrown into chaos.
Several elders staggered to the Ancestral Hall, their faces pale as they looked at the fragments of life tablets scattered on the ground, as if they had lost their parents.
One of the white-bearded elders had known the sect leader for over a hundred years and knew that his cultivation was extraordinary and that he had many ways to protect himself, making him impossible for ordinary people to kill.
He knelt before the offering table, holding the fragment of the life tablet in his hands, and said in a trembling voice, "When the sect leader left... he only said one sentence to me, saying that he was going to the Celestial Masters' Mansion to retrieve a magical artifact. How... how could he..."
"The Celestial Masters' Mansion?" another elder exclaimed. "Wasn't the Celestial Masters' Mansion long ago in decline? Wasn't it said that there wasn't even a single Celestial Master left in the mansion? The sect leader possessed the Puppet Divine Skill, already at the Peak Stage the Seventh Realm. Where in the world couldn't he go? How could he have died there!"
"The rumors circulating outside are likely deceiving all of us." The white-bearded elder slowly closed his eyes, his voice trembling. "I know the sect leader's abilities all too well. If the Celestial Masters' Mansion can truly keep him, then there must be Eighth Realm Celestial Master in the mansion, and certainly no ordinary Celestial Master."
The Ancestral Hall was deathly silent for a moment, with only the flickering flames of the candles burning softly.
After a long while, the white-bearded elder stood up and said in a deep voice, "Pass down the order. From this day forward, all members of my Puppet Sect shall give way to anyone from the Celestial Masters' Mansion and shall not provoke them."
The waters of the Celestial Masters' Mansion are unfathomable; we can only swallow the death of our sect leader.
Everyone bowed their heads and accepted the order, no one daring to say another word.
The admonition to "retreat three steps" was like a seed, quietly planted in the hearts of everyone in the Puppet Sect.
The Celestial Masters' Mansion is not to be trifled with!