Rank Six's final words employed a soul-bewitching technique.
Among the major sects of the Southern Borderlands that cultivated evil paths, aside from their closely guarded secrets that were never passed on, they often shared lesser techniques and minor arts without reserve...
This neither-human-nor-ghost, half-Buddha-half-demon appearance was clearly something Rank Six had learned from the Joyous Union Sect, which stood alongside Yin Mountain and the Heavenly Puppet Sect.
"Disgusting."
Xie Xuanyi's divine soul was like an immovable boulder, utterly unaffected. Faced with Rank Six's soul-hooking voice transmission, he merely snorted coldly and shattered the lascivious sound!
Hearing that crisp, decisive two-word assessment.
Rank Six, who had been pretending to remain composed, immediately darkened.
She stopped pretending. With a shrill scream, all four arms formed hand seals at once. The formerly silent Sunken Chime Mountain instantly became "lively," and a scarlet palm burst from the earth beneath Xie Xuanyi's feet.
"So you refined more than one living corpse after all?"
Expressionless, Xie Xuanyi raised his foot and stomped down heavily, crushing the palm into the ground and grinding it to pulp!
Blood splattered everywhere, burning several holes into his black robes.
Xie Xuanyi narrowed his eyes at the distant mountain ridge. Accompanied by Rank Six's hand seals, this once tranquil and peaceful ridge became, in an instant, a mass graveyard strewn with wails!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Palms and heads burst from the soil like spring bamboo shoots after rain!
More than a dozen figures struggled up from underground one after another. These were the "living corpse puppets" refined by Rank Six. Such things were hardly rare to the Heavenly Puppet Sect. The reason the plan to exchange the White Marsh Finger Bone had been delayed by three days was because Rank Six needed time to prepare these "living corpses"...
To her, this mission was of immense importance.
Killing Rank Three and taking the Finger Bone—neither could be missing.
Thus, she could not tolerate the slightest mistake. She had to make absolutely certain of everything!
Under Azure Prefecture's strict prohibitions, reaching Carp Tide City had already been extraordinarily difficult.
To avoid attracting attention and being discovered by Fly Eyes, Rank Six had not brought her natal puppet with her. And to ensure she obtained the Finger Bone smoothly... she had carefully selected Sunken Chime Mountain as the exchange site.
Many years ago, Sunken Chime Mountain.
Had been a burial mountain.
The Heavenly Puppet Sect loved refining living corpses, but if there truly were no "living people"... then using the dead as substitutes was also possible.
These death puppets crawling from the graves had one and only one purpose.
That was to let Rank Six's Blood Refinement Art reach its full potential!
Human-wave tactics had always been good tactics for Heavenly Puppet Sect cultivators!
As long as there were enough death puppets, even the strongest physique and the sturdiest treasure artifact would eventually be defiled and shattered by Gu Blood.
"...There really are a lot of them."
Xie Xuanyi stood in the very center of the "sea of people."
He chuckled. "Unfortunately, you know how to refine corpses, but not how to carve formations. Otherwise, you might truly have had a chance to keep me here today."
Hearing those arrogant words, Rank Six frowned slightly.
"These are already enough to deal with you."
She sneered. "To see my death puppets before you die—you can count yourself fortunate!"
She raised her four arms and was just about to continue her technique.
Whoosh!
An exceptionally crisp sound of something tearing through the air rang out.
Xie Xuanyi stepped out and kicked apart a stalk of purple bamboo. The shattered bamboo shot upward like a flying sword, but this time it was not used for slaughter—the broken purple bamboo skimmed away from the ground like a flying sword, while Xie Xuanyi, who had kicked it apart, lightly stepped onto the hastily made purple-bamboo flying sword. Man and sword became a rainbow streak soaring from the earth.
"???"
Rank Six instinctively retreated to defend herself. She froze for a moment, then her eyes widened round.
That streak of light did not attack her.
It flew right over her head!
Flying on a sword!
A sword cultivator! This brat really was a sword cultivator?!
According to the intelligence she had on "Rank Three," this fellow's weapon was clearly a great spear. He excelled at close-quarters combat, and his physique should have been incredibly formidable... To ensure that she could kill Rank Three without mishap, Rank Six had deliberately spent three days setting up this killing trap. Yet she had never imagined something so absurd would happen.
The Demon Kingdom's intelligence on "Rank Three" had been completely false!
Not only could this brat fight, he was also full of tricks, and he had hidden the ability to fly on a sword!
"Don't even think about running!"
Rank Six's vertical pupils widened. She hurriedly activated the Blood Refinement Art, transforming into a streak of bloodlight that soared from the ground in pursuit.
The death puppets that had crawled from Sunken Chime Mountain's mass graves had no time to adjust themselves and hurried after their master... But most had been incomplete in life and existed only as Blood Refinement cannon fodder. Even as they ran for their lives, they were still left behind by the two figures.
"Stay!"
Rank Six roared. Seeing the distance gradually widening, she hurriedly drove the Blood Refinement Art.
The vertical eye opened between her brows shot out a scarlet beam!
Standing on the purple-bamboo flying sword, Xie Xuanyi heard the unusual whistling behind him and frowned slightly.
He drew in a soft breath and deliberately pretended to react a little too slowly. The instant he turned his head, the Blood Refinement beam pierced through his shoulder.
Rip!
The Heavenly Puppet Sect's offensive techniques were truly vicious.
With only that one strike, Xie Xuanyi felt as though his shoulder had been smashed apart... He immediately grunted, his face turning pale at once.
This time, it was not an act. This madwoman from the Heavenly Puppet Sect had a killing move even more vicious than he had imagined.
The Gu Blood from the Scarlet Grotto-Heaven erupted directly at his shoulder!
Using that opening, Xie Xuanyi endured the piercing pain and glanced back.
Rank Six had already killed until her eyes were red. Leading a host of death puppets, she was desperately chasing after him!
Good...
She had taken the bait.
Everything had been worth it.
The flying sword wobbled, then quickly regained its balance.
Xie Xuanyi bit through his tongue, gathered his focus, steadied the sword, and turned toward the Ninefold Bright Phoenix Fire Grand Formation!
"Was it going smoothly?"
"Was it not going smoothly?"
At the summit of Little Barren Mountain, Deng Baiyi hugged her knees as she sat, clutching the radiant primary formation talisman and murmuring to herself without end.
Her gaze never left the direction of Sunken Chime Mountain.
If possible, she would rather spend this night muttering to herself alone... just as she had during their parting in Taian City. When they met again, Xie Zhen would calmly tell her that everything had gone smoothly, there had been no need to activate the grand formation, and the trouble was already over.
But Heaven did not grant her wish.
The unease in Deng Baiyi's heart grew stronger and stronger. Before long, she stood. A flock of crows rose into the night sky from the direction of Sunken Chime Mountain, and as their shrill cries echoed, the unease in her heart reached its peak.
A familiar figure appeared in her field of vision.
Covered in blood and pale-faced, Xie Xuanyi rode shattered purple bamboo, hurtling toward her at tremendous speed—
Deng Baiyi instinctively clenched the talisman tighter.
"Don't activate the formation yet!"
Xie Xuanyi's voice transmission entered her ears. "Wait until everyone enters the formation!"
Deng Baiyi froze for an instant.
"Everyone?"
What the hell did everyone mean? There was more than one person?
The next moment, she understood what Xie Xuanyi meant... A blood-red streak of killing intent followed closely behind his flying sword, and behind that came dense masses of death puppets racing over the ground! For a time, Sunken Chime Mountain shook as earth and mountains trembled! Even Little Barren Mountain's summit began to quake!
Deng Baiyi's face suddenly turned pale.
This was the first time she had seen such a scene!
Xie Xuanyi guided his flying sword in a circle through the air. He deliberately waited until the death puppets had caught up somewhat before crashing into the Ninefold Bright Phoenix Fire Grand Formation with his sword.
Sure enough, the blood-red streak followed close behind!
Rank Six had not the slightest suspicion. Leading the death puppets, she charged in with overwhelming momentum!
Tonight, she had to kill Rank Three!
Deng Baiyi held her breath.
"Activate the formation, now!"
Xie Xuanyi's hoarse voice exploded beside her ear like wind and thunder. Deng Baiyi reacted instantly.
She exhaled a long breath of turbid air and activated the grand formation.
Buzz—
At that instant.
The space-time atop the barren mountain seemed to freeze. The death puppets kept charging forward without awareness, but Rank Six, her eyes red with slaughter, realized something was wrong. Before her, exquisite scarlet and scorching Dao patterns rose through the void.
The wind-tossed wild grass was suddenly ignited.
Then came the entire mountain.
An entire mountain.
It was instantly illuminated by tens of millions of blazing rays. The Dao patterns standing within the void burned fiercely, transforming into streams of searing Phoenix Fire!
Rumble—
Deng Baiyi's robes fluttered wildly in the gale. Her face was flushed, her bearing radiant, and she seemed like an immortal descending from the heavens to rule this realm of mortals.
She grasped the primary formation talisman.
And with it, she grasped nearly ten thousand scarlet Phoenix Fires swaying through the void!
It's ninth on the new book rankings now. The climax is next—brothers, can you give it another push? TAT
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