The Soul-Stitching Crone didn't even spare the soldiers a proper glance.
All her attention was focused on manipulating the remaining Yin Qi, trying to reconnect the severed nodes of the formation, while keeping an eye on the battle between Butcher Liu and Wu Tong.
As long as the Butcher took care of that knife-wielding brat quickly, the situation would still be under control.
As for the little bastard at the doorway playing with paper dolls, she glanced at the indistinct figure outside, her resentment deepening. Once she dealt with the one in front of her, he would be next!
Outside, Chen Mo pressed himself against the wall beside the doorframe, showing only half his face as he watched the battle inside.
A Weaponized Paper Puppet stood beside him, keeping watch on their surroundings.
"I can't hold out much longer... That Butcher's far too strong. We're not even in the same league." He furrowed his brow, thinking it over, and sensed that things were taking a turn for the worse.
Although Wu Tong's swordsmanship was exquisite and his blade had narrowly missed Butcher Liu's vital spots several times, his opponent had thick skin and a sturdy build. On top of that, the greasy leather apron seemed to have something strange about it and offered astonishing protection, making it difficult for Wu Tong's attacks to inflict fatal wounds.
Wu Tong, on the other hand, felt his blood and qi roiling and his arms trembling every time he blocked Butcher Liu's heavy blows. The wounds on his body kept splitting open and bleeding, and his movements had already slowed noticeably.
"That old hag's still up to something... I can't let her reconnect the formation."
Chen Mo's gaze swept over the Soul-Stitching Crone's left hand as she formed a spell, then the faintly glowing traces of runes on the ground.
At a thought, the Weaponized Paper Puppet that had been hiding in the shadows since entering the room suddenly sprang into action.
It shot out from behind a pile of ragged dyed cloth, lunging straight at the Soul-Stitching Crone as she tried to reconnect the formation!
The Puppet's battered paper blade silently stabbed toward the wrist of the Crone's left hand, the one holding the banner!
The ambush was so devious that an ordinary person would never have dodged it.
But the Soul-Stitching Crone had made a name for herself among the disreputable practitioners of the underworld. Her alertness and experience were far from ordinary.
Though the Puppet had moved as stealthily as possible, the moment it entered within three feet of her, she sensed the distinctive fluctuations of Yin Qi!
"Hmph! You little bastard, you dare come back?!" A murderous glint flashed in her eyes. She hurriedly cut off the spell she had only half-completed, then flipped her left wrist and dodged the paper blade's thrust by less than a few centimeters.
At the same time, her five fingers, as withered as a chicken's claws, curled like hooks. With a gust of rancid wind, she swiped back at the arm holding the Puppet's blade!
Faint black light swirled at her fingertips. If she landed a clean hit, the already damaged Paper Puppet would likely be torn to pieces on the spot.
But injuring the enemy had never been the point of Chen Mo's ambush.
All he wanted was to interrupt her spellcasting.
The instant the Soul-Stitching Crone's attention was diverted by the Puppet's attack, the runes that had just lit up beneath her feet abruptly dimmed, and the connection was severed.
The Yin Barrier in front of her, which had been blocking the bullets, wavered as her focus slipped and grew much thinner.
"Pfft!" The Soul-Stitching Crone's fingers clamped down on the Puppet's arm. Paper scraps flew, and its arm broke off with a snap.
But under Chen Mo's control, the Puppet used the force of her grab to surge forward, slamming its damaged body into the Soul-Stitching Crone's abdomen!
The impact wasn't powerful, but it carried a surge of icy force. The already badly injured Soul-Stitching Crone grunted and staggered half a step backward, her aura growing even more erratic.
"You little bastard!!"
The Soul-Stitching Crone steadied herself and stared at the battered Paper Puppet standing in front of her, trembling with rage. The venom in her eyes seemed ready to spill out.
She wanted nothing more than to rush outside and tear Chen Mo limb from limb. But Butcher Liu and Wu Tong were locked in fierce combat inside, she herself was in poor shape, and that troublesome Paper Puppet had just held her up. For a moment, she couldn't lash out.
Outside, Chen Mo saw that the Soul-Stitching Crone's attempt to set up the formation had been interrupted, and felt slightly reassured.
He then turned his gaze toward the dark-red lump of flesh on the stone altar, which was throbbing faintly.
He had no idea what that thing was, but it felt even more dangerous than the injured old woman and the Butcher combined!
Just sensing it from afar unsettled Chen Mo.
Nearly all the sinister Yin Qi filling the area seemed to center on that lump of flesh.
"I can't let it remain!" A fierce resolve rose in Chen Mo's heart.
The Soul-Stitching Crone had been so anxious to protect this base that she was still trying to reconnect the formation even now. She was probably doing it to protect that bizarre lump of flesh!
Destroying something that seemed so crucial to them might have an unexpected effect.
With that thought, Chen Mo didn't hesitate. He summoned another Weaponized Paper Puppet.
Rather than have it charge in from the front, he controlled it to hug the shadows along the wall and circle around to a crack in the side wall of the main room, where a grenade had blasted through.
Thin as a sheet of paper, the Puppet slipped silently through the edge of the crack and blended into the deeper shadows inside. It concealed itself in the dim light and slowly moved toward the stone altar.
When it was five or six steps from the altar, the details of the lump of flesh became clearer. Its surface was covered in crude, twisted black stitches. As it throbbed, the seams gaped slightly, revealing dark red and purple flesh beneath.
The Puppet crouched low in the shadows, channeling all its Taiyin Qi into its right arm, the one holding the blade. The paper edge caught a faint, nearly imperceptible purple glimmer in the dim light.
Now!
The Soul-Stitching Crone's attention had shifted slightly, and the lamplight briefly flickered as the oil lamp swayed!
The Puppet sprang into action!
It burst from the shadows, its speed surging to its limit in an instant. A blurred gray streak, it lunged straight for the stone altar!
The paper blade, charged with all its strength, sliced through the Yin Barrier, then stabbed viciously toward the core of the throbbing lump of flesh in the stone trough!
"What is that?!" The Soul-Stitching Crone sensed the Puppet's sudden attack and spun around in alarm!
She saw the gray shadow lunging toward the Divine Child, and the purple glint aimed at the core of the lump of flesh!
"No—! Stop!!!"
She let out a terrified scream and, heedless of her injuries, rushed madly toward the altar. Black light blazed from the five fingers of her left hand as she reached for the Puppet from afar!
But it all happened in the blink of an eye!
"Splurt—!"
A sound like a sack filled with thick, pus-like blood being punctured rang out!
The Puppet's blade sank deep into the lump of flesh!
The hilt vanished inside.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
"Guh... gurgle... roar—!!!"
A shrill howl, unlike anything a human could make, burst from inside the lump of flesh!
It was so piercing it seemed ready to split their eardrums. The intense mental contamination made everyone in the room feel their heads throb with pain and their vision go black!
The impaled lump of flesh swelled several times over, then rapidly shrank!
Every black stitch on its surface snapped in an instant!
The dark red mass writhed violently, as if countless things were struggling to burst out from within!
Thick, foul-smelling liquid gushed from the ruptured stab wound, splattering everywhere. It landed on the stone altar and the ground with a sizzling, corrosive hiss!
An immense, violent aura of sinister Yin Qi, far greater than when the Soul-Stitching Crone had activated her formation, erupted from the damaged lump of flesh like an uncontrollable volcano!
The temperature in the entire main room plummeted. The oil lamp's flame flickered wildly, nearly going out.
The dark red runes on the ground lit up with uncontrollable, glaring blood-red light, then shattered one after another!
The Soul-Stitching Crone had rushed halfway to the altar when she felt the terrifying aura erupt. But instead of looking pleased, she was filled with despair. "No! No! It's not time yet! The Divine Child... the Divine Child woke up too early! It's out of control!!"
Even Butcher Liu and Wu Tong, who had been struggling through their fierce battle, were affected by the sudden upheaval. Their movements slowed involuntarily as they looked toward the altar in alarm and confusion.
Before you continue