Heavenly Puppet Sect

"A Living Corpse?"

The moment the burly giant howled in agony, Xie Xuanyi realized what was happening.

Whether it was the art of mechanisms in Great Chu or the Southern Borderlands, they were, in fact, just proper orthodox traditions, albeit slightly unorthodox.

Unorthodox, but never evil!

The evil art of refining living people into mechanisms was something Xie Xuanyi had seen in the hands of heretical cultivators in the Ten Thousand Mountains. It was a technique known as "Living Corpse Refinement." This technique often selected physically strong body refiners, and after a series of blood sacrifices, they would become so-called "Living Corpses."

This technique went against the Heavenly Dao and human ethics. Both Great Chu and the Southern Borderlands had listed it as a forbidden art.

But those heretical cultivators in the Ten Thousand Mountains of the Southern Borderlands... didn't care about morality or the law.

All they needed to do was abandon their principles and perform blood refinement to transform a fresh and strong young body into a loyal attendant, a devoted and fearless death warrior.

Many heretical cultivators had refined their own exclusive "Living Corpses"!

Xie Xuanyi clenched the sword sheath in both hands, using it as a long blade, and pierced it firmly through Rank Six's chest. He knew that he was only fighting a puppet, and the real master was someone else, most likely hiding nearby, using their divine sense to control the puppet Living Corpse in battle.

Now he had the advantage. This Living Corpse had a strong physique, but unfortunately, the terrain of Sunken Chime Mountain was treacherous and narrow, offering almost no room for close combat.

This sword pierced right through it.

As long as Xie Xuanyi didn't let go...

This Living Corpse, even with its immense strength, wouldn't be able to turn the tables.

"So, not only are you the good son that the Revered One of the Demon Realm believes in, but you're also a shady little ghost from the Southern Borderlands."

Xie Xuanyi released his hands, placed a foot on the sword hilt, and slowly stood up.

A strong wind billowed his black robes.

He looked around, and all was silent.

The real Rank Six was lying low in the mountains.

He finally understood what Rank Six had been doing during the three-day delay of the plan... This Southern Borderlands heretical cultivator's identity was truly terrible. He must have gone through great hardship just to enter Qing Province.

If he wasn't mistaken, Rank Six had two goals for tonight's transaction.

The first was to obtain the finger bone.

The second was to kill Rank Three.

"Aren't you the same?"

A few mocking laughs were mixed in with the sound of the wind echoing through the dark night.

"The information the Demon Realm provided about Rank Three is completely different from what I see... The Rank Three in the intel was skilled with a spear and at the peak of the Qi-Driving Realm. You're only at the Qi-Refining Realm, and you must be a body refiner. Carrying a broken sword, trying to impersonate a sword cultivator?"

Hearing this, Xie Xuanyi couldn't help but laugh.

Interesting.

Very interesting indeed.

Judging from the other party's tone, this "Rank Six," who was deeply trusted by the Revered One and entrusted with an important task by the Demon Realm, seemed to be a fake as well?

"Since we're kindred spirits, why resort to swords and blades?"

Xie Xuanyi said calmly, "Why not come out and meet, and turn hostility into friendship?"

After identifying the Living Corpse's identity, he released his divine sense, covering most of the Sunken Chime Mountain.

Although his vital energy was weak, his divine soul was still powerful.

Those who controlled mechanisms and strings feared others discovering their true bodies the most. The mastermind behind this puppet must be hiding in Sunken Chime Mountain at this moment!

Each time he transmitted his voice, there would be fluctuations in his divine soul.

Xie Xuanyi wanted to stabilize the Living Corpse's master and directly find his hiding place through conversation!

"Bullshit."

A cold laugh echoed again from the mountain, "Who's a kindred spirit with you? There's only one Bai Ze finger bone. Tonight, either you die, or I perish!"

As soon as the words fell.

Xie Xuanyi chuckled, "Is that so? Isn't Your Excellency a bit too confident?"

The next moment.

Xie Xuanyi's gaze fell on an extremely secluded and dark corner deep within the purple bamboo forest.

He kicked the sword again, but this time, what flew out was no longer just the sword sheath, but the snow-white flying sword hidden within!

Buzz!

A wisp of golden vital energy was attached to the flying sword's blade, instantly piercing through a hundred zhang!

"...?"

The flying sword instantly disappeared into the darkness, and a spray of blood splattered from deep within the purple bamboo forest. Accompanied by a muffled groan that was a mixture of bewilderment and pain, an extremely petite figure fled from the shadows of the bamboo forest.

Xie Xuanyi gently raised his hand.

The flying sword returned, re-entering his palm.

The entire process took only three or four breaths, and he kept stepping on that massive puppet with its burly frame.

Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected that Rank Six, who had gained the Demon Realm's trust, would actually be a woman... However, this woman's looks were completely incomparable to those of the Demon Realm's previous spy, Shen Yan.

Rank Six's face was contorted, covered in scars, and her entire body was shrouded in a black robe.

At this moment, she was holding her shoulder with one hand.

Fresh blood gurgled out, flowing down between her fingers.

Just now, Xie Xuanyi's flying sword was too fast. Rank Six never thought her position would be exposed... However, she didn't show much pain at this moment.

After being struck by a sword.

Rank Six's scarred face instead revealed a nonchalant smile.

"There are many evil cultivators in the Southern Borderlands who are skilled in mechanisms."

Xie Xuanyi looked at the woman in front of him and slowly said, "These shady characters choose to huddle together for warmth in order to protect themselves. After gathering together, they formed the 'Heavenly Puppet Sect,' which is as infamous as Yin Mountain... If I'm not mistaken, your 'Living Corpse Refinement' technique comes from the Heavenly Puppet Sect, right?"

"You know quite a bit."

Rank Six gave a cold laugh, "One moment you call us shady characters, but what about yourself? If you can be seen in the light, why hide yourself? Didn't you want to meet me frankly earlier? Now that you've seen me, why not take off your mask and talk?"

The Heavenly Puppet Sect is good at skinning and bone extraction, blood refining living people!

The "resin mask" that Xie Xuanyi concocted was simply child's play in their eyes, because they would really peel off an entire human face to make a "human skin mask"!

Rank Six was an expert in this.

So, with just one glance, she could tell that Xie Xuanyi was wearing a fake mask.

Xie Xuanyi smiled freely and shook his head.

"You chose to meet at Sunken Chime Mountain, and you've had three full days. You wouldn't have only prepared one living corpse, would you?"

He twirled his sword, pointing the tip at the woman not far away.

"Guess?"

Rank Six still had that nonchalant sneer on her face. After a pause, she slowly asked, "Guess... does this disciple of the Heavenly Puppet Sect only know the art of blood refining mechanisms?"

Xie Xuanyi frowned slightly.

He noticed a very strange thing.

The bloody hole on Rank Six's shoulder, which had been pierced by the flying sword earlier, was still bleeding profusely. If he wasn't mistaken, this woman was very likely a Grotto-Heaven Realm cultivator!

With the Grotto-Heaven Realm's Yuan Qi cultivation, sealing the wound and quickly stopping the bleeding wouldn't be difficult!

Wait... blood?

Xie Xuanyi's expression turned gloomy as he lowered his head. The snow-white and shiny sword body of the flying sword that had returned was now stained with a touch of scarlet. This was the blood that had been brought back when it pierced Rank Six's shoulder.

"I like 'eating' you body refiners the most."

The woman covered her shoulder and chuckled softly.

The next moment, she suddenly raised her head—

At the center of her brow, a wisp of scarlet light burst out, condensing into a vertical pupil. Thousands of strands of bloody stench intertwined and converged to form this vertical pupil.

There is a world of difference between the Grotto-Heaven Realm and the Qi-Driving Realm.

To step into this realm…

Cultivators need to concentrate Yuan Qi and condense their own "Grotto-Heaven Divine Mansion" in the Dantian position!

A thousand cultivators will often condense a thousand different "Grotto-Heavens".

After this realm, the Grotto-Heaven will become the source of power for the cultivator. Due to differences in cultivation techniques, qualifications, and many other factors... this leads to extremely large differences in strength in this realm. Two Grotto-Heaven Realm cultivators with similar realms may very likely form a one-sided crushing situation when they attack each other!

Three thousand Great Daos, billions of seeds.

Each Grotto-Heaven can be called a seed of the Great Dao. As long as the Grotto-Heaven's master cultivates diligently and earnestly excavates it, it will exert unique Great Dao traits!

The path of cultivation begins at the feet.

One day, you can reach the Grotto-Heaven.

This is the origin of the word "Grotto-Heaven."

At this moment, the residual blood attached to the flying sword resonated with the scarlet vertical pupil opened in Rank Six's brow.

An extremely strong sense of crisis, far exceeding the night attack on Taian City, suddenly surged into Xie Xuanyi's heart!

With a "bang"!

The flying sword exploded!

A huge cloud of blood mist exploded in the purple bamboo forest!