Heaven Puppet Sect, Shu Tianhe!

With a single slash, he severed the puppet before him at the neck and erased the imprint within. Chen Guan leaned against the dim wall, gasping for breath.

More than a dozen black Puppet Remains lay piled on the ground. Chen Guan cast a wary glance at the inner chamber, took out a bottle of pills, poured one into his palm, and swallowed it with a pained expression.

A Tier 3 Pill, the Qi Recovery Pill could rapidly restore Dou Qi. Even he only had five of them in total.

He hated to use it, but he had no choice. His Tier 2 Recovery Pills had already run out. After seven days of nonstop combat, Chen Guan had noticed a pattern: every time he destroyed a puppet, he had Half an Hour to rest and adjust.

The next puppet would certainly be stronger. He had to remain in peak condition.

The time returned to seven days earlier.

That day, Chen Guan had eagerly pushed open the Stone Gate at the bottom of the lake and entered. With a casual stroke of his sword, he also finished off the Crimson Ice Snake King that had been hiding in the shadows, waiting to ambush him.

He had given it a chance, yet it had not known how to seize it. Chen Guan would not show mercy again. Besides, he was far more curious about the opportunity here and had no time to waste on the Snake King.

The inside of the Stone Gate was pitch-black. He took out several Moonlight Stones for illumination and tossed them into the corners. Though it remained dim, he could now see the interior clearly.

It was an empty underground chamber. It was not very large, only about half the size of a sports field. It looked like a looted tomb chamber—one glance was enough to reveal its complete emptiness. Only on the right stood a Stone Table, upon which rested several bottles and jars, material components whose purpose he could not discern, and a few Magic Cores that had already lost their effectiveness.

With a light touch of his sword, the material components that had barely retained their shape shattered into ash. It was clear just how ancient this "great tomb" was.

The pills in the bottles had also lost their medicinal properties and become useless. Only the largest jar still contained something spiritual: less than half a jar of murky yellow liquid. It looked awful and radiated an intense chill, as if the words "highly poisonous" were written across it.

Chen Guan sensed something familiar within it. It resembled the venom spat out by the Crimson Ice Snake King, and he roughly guessed the reason behind the Crimson Ice Snake King's mutation.

There was a ninety percent chance that it was related to this substance.

Unable to identify it, he did not dwell on the matter. He packed it up and tossed it into his storage ring.

Chen Guan then arrived before the door to the inner chamber. Just as he was considering how to open it, the door opened by itself, accompanied by a black shadow lunging at him.

Chen Guan's expression changed drastically. It was not because the black shadow posed much of a threat, but because he heard the Stone Gate outside slam shut completely.

He sent the black shadow flying back with a sword strike, then turned to inspect the Stone Gate. It had been sealed tight without even the slightest crack. He pushed against it twice with both palms, but it did not budge.

"Only by dismantling all test puppets will you have a chance to leave."

A nearly inaudible voice drifted from the inner chamber into Chen Guan's ears.

Weren't they afraid of suffocating me to death? Chen Guan grumbled inwardly, but quickly calmed down and roughly understood his situation.

This truly was an opportunity. Whether he could obtain it depended on his own ability. The danger was unknown, but it should not be enough to threaten his life.

Unable to resist, Chen Guan could only accept the arrangement.

He turned his gaze toward the black shadow opposite him. It was a humanoid puppet, forged from some unknown material. From their brief exchange, he estimated that it possessed only the strength of an early Da Dou Shi. It was far less agile than a normal person, and aside from being tougher, it posed no threat to him.

The outcome was just as he had expected. Before the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, he had dismantled the puppet, revealing a Magic Core that had completely failed.

This puppet had actually been powered by a Magic Core.

Half an Hour later, another puppet rushed out from the inner chamber. It was clearly stronger, but its weaknesses were just as obvious. Chen Guan still felt no pressure.

The third puppet, then the fourth. After leaving behind a floor full of remains, just as Chen Guan began to question their standard, a puppet roughly at the Five or Six-Star Da Dou Shi level entered the battle.

Unlike the previous puppets, this one remained lively even after its head had been cut off. Its movements were no longer so stiff, as though it possessed a little more "spirit."

As he fought and probed, Chen Guan discovered the key: only by erasing the imprints within them could he completely destroy them.

Starting from that puppet, Chen Guan fell into a tedious and exhausting struggle, suffering the dual depletion of mind and body.

By today, he had consumed every bottle of Tier 2 Recovery Pills he carried.

The depletion of Dou Qi was a minor matter. Even without pills, he could continue enduring through the recovery provided by his Xuan-tier cultivation technique. What worried him most was the exhaustion of his Spiritual Power.

After swallowing a Qi Recovery Pill, the Dou Qi within his body rapidly recovered and filled him once more. Yet he still felt deeply weary. This was the sign of excessive Spiritual Power consumption, and Chen Guan was worried about the next battle.

After all, the puppet just now had nearly reached the strength of a Dou Ling in terms of raw power alone. Had it possessed consciousness, he would have been forced to reveal all his Trump Cards.

The next puppet would likely be a genuine Dou Ling. In his current state... Half an Hour quickly passed, and Chen Guan rose to await his opponent's appearance.

With a rumble, the inner chamber door opened. Yet after a long while, no puppet emerged.

Just as he was wondering about it, lights suddenly appeared in the pitch-black inner chamber. The braziers on the walls had ignited in an eerie fashion.

"Come in, young man."

That voice again!

This time, it was much clearer. He could tell that the speaker was very old.

Chen Guan hesitated for a moment, but still stepped inside.

The inner chamber was even smaller than the outside. A stone bed indicated that this was merely a place for rest.

The furnishings were exceedingly simple. Chen Guan circled the room, yet discovered nothing unusual. Everything was ordinary.

On the stone bed sat a skeleton cross-legged. A dark blue ring adorned the skeleton's left hand, and that was probably the only eye-catching thing in the room.

Just as Chen Guan was secretly examining it, an incomparably illusory "ghost" emerged from the ring. Sure enough, it was an Old Man with White Hair and Beard. His immortal bearing reminded Chen Guan of a movie called Shu Mountain that he had watched in the past. The old man looked very much like that White Eyebrow character.

Strangely, perhaps because he sensed no hostility, Chen Guan felt no fear at all. Instead, he was overcome by a strong urge to complain.

Yao Chen was an old grandpa hidden inside a ring.

Venerable Skyfire was a budget version of an old grandpa hidden inside a ring.

And now one had appeared for him too? Was the Dou Qi Continent a major producer of old grandpas or what? "Your Spiritual Power has been greatly depleted. Recover first, then we can discuss the rest."

As the old man spoke, a pale yellow speck of dust, so tiny it could easily be missed by the naked eye, flew from the ring toward the Young Man's brow.

Chen Guan felt a trace of coolness at his brow. His exhausted mind was like parched earth receiving sweet rain after a long drought, greedily absorbing its nourishment. His Spiritual Power recovered at a terrifying speed.

Half a quarter-hour later, Chen Guan's fatigue had completely vanished.

Not only that, he discovered that he was in better condition than ever before. Everything within his sight seemed clearer, and his entire body felt as though it were soaking in a comfortable hot spring.

"This is..."

"Just a small benefit distributed by the sect this old man once belonged to. Not worth mentioning," the old man replied calmly.

If Chen Guan had not seen the corners of his mouth rise so high, he might have believed him. This was Versailles at its finest! "Young man, let us introduce ourselves. This old man is Shu Tianhe of the Heaven Puppet Sect!"