Puppet Arts, Battling Four Eight-Star Dou Sheng

A day later.

Within the valley, Lin Yang suddenly erupted with the aura of an early Eight-Star Dou Sheng.

A fiery pillar of light erupted from Lin Yang's body along with an oppressive pressure, shooting into the sky.

After a long while, Lin Yang opened his eyes. Flames shot straight from them, igniting a short tree before him.

"Awesome, I'm an Eight-Star Dou Sheng now." Lin Yang let out a long roar toward the sky and rose to his feet.

"It's been two days. Time to return to the Xiao Family. I wonder if that old fellow Yao Chen knows puppet arts." He murmured to himself.

Lin Yang swept up Hun Yan, tore open space, and returned to the Xiao Family.

Xiao Family, Xiao Yan's courtyard.

Xiao Yan watched intently as Little Fairy Doctor used a fourth-tier poison-attribute beast flame to attempt refining a Poison Pattern Pill.

A day earlier, Hai Bo Dong had brought back the companion beast flame of a fourth-tier Purple Flame Poison Cat.

Using the secret technique Yao Chen had provided, Little Fairy Doctor refined it into her body.

Little Fairy Doctor originally only possessed a poison attribute mixed with a trace of wood attribute. By all rights, she had no talent for alchemy.

However, Yao Chen had obtained a secret technique years ago that could help cultivators with only a wood attribute refine beast flames, allowing them to concoct pills.

Still, since it relied on a secret technique, her control over flames could not compare to someone born with a fire attribute.

Even so, Little Fairy Doctor was already satisfied. Possessing a beast flame was something she had never dared dream of before.

A powerful repulsion suddenly arose between the medicinal liquids inside the second-tier pill furnace. The furnace flame trembled violently, and with a bang, the furnace exploded.

Little Fairy Doctor jumped in fright. Fortunately, she had only been refining a first-tier pill, so the furnace explosion was not too severe and did not leave her covered in soot.

Seeing this, Xiao Yan was just about to say something.

Suddenly, the space before them rippled, and Lin Yang stepped out of the spatial ripples with Hun Yan.

Xiao Yan abruptly stopped himself. Looking at Lin Yang, he spoke again, "Uncle, you're finally back." A trace of delight shone in his eyes.

"Mm." Lin Yang nodded slightly without saying much, then looked at Xiao Yan's ring. "Yao Chen, come out. I need to talk to you!"

Yao Chen had been secretly alarmed within the ring. Hearing Lin Yang call for him, he hurriedly emerged.

"Mr. Lin, is this person from the Soul Clan?" Yao Chen asked. He recognized the Soul Clan's attire very well.

He could vaguely sense that Hun Yan's aura was at least above that of a Five-Star Dou Sheng, though for some reason, he seemed like an idiot.

"Mm. He's one of the Soul Clan's Four Demon Saints. The Ancient Clan's patriarch beat his soul into stupidity," Lin Yang explained.

Yao Chen was shocked once again upon hearing that.

A Seven-Star Dou Sheng? Lin Yang actually knew the Ancient Clan's patriarch?

Taking a deep breath, Yao Chen asked, "Mr. Lin, do you intend to refine this Seven-Star Dou Sheng of the Soul Clan into a puppet?"

"Yes. Gu Yuan said eighth-tier alchemists knew these arts, so I wanted to ask whether you could do it." Lin Yang nodded slightly.

"I do know a little about it, but refining such a thing requires time. Like alchemy, it is rather complicated. This old man must do it personally; there's no way to pass it on to you, Mr. Lin," Yao Chen explained.

"As long as you can do it, that's enough. How long will it take?" Lin Yang asked.

"About seven days. Once refined, it will possess part of this old man's consciousness, but it will also be connected to my soul. If the puppet suffers severe damage, this old man will suffer a backlash as well," Yao Chen explained again.

"Seven days... That's a little too late. Fine, start refining it first. I have things to do." Lin Yang said.

"Mm, alright."

Lin Yang did not linger. He left Xiao Yan's courtyard and headed to the Xiao Family's back mountain.

He had originally thought that puppets merely required controlling their souls and could be refined in no time. When the Soul Clan's Eight-Star Dou Shengs came knocking, the puppet could still provide support.

But now, that clearly would not work. He had to quickly prepare some other measures.

Lin Yang had already thought it through on the way. He decided to imitate Xiao Yan and seal Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses inside jade bottles. At the critical moment, he could simply throw out three or five bottles of Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses, which would definitely severely wound the enemy.

Thus, he began making them.

Meanwhile, in the Soul Clan.

All four great elders of the Soul Clan had set out.

The First Elder was an intermediate Eight-Star Dou Sheng, while the other three great elders were all early Eight-Star Dou Shengs.

At this moment, the four great elders had already arrived at the Cloud Mist Sect.

Ten minutes later, Lin Yang had finished making three jade bottles containing Buddha's Fury Fire Lotuses.

Each one contained the full-force strike of an early Eight-Star Dou Sheng.

Although Lin Yang had given half of his Heavenly Flame origin to Gu Yuan, as his cultivation rose, the Heavenly Flame origin had also recovered somewhat with his breakthrough.

Now, empowered by the strength of an Eight-Star Dou Sheng, the Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus was only more powerful than before.

Lin Yang put away the jade bottles and was about to make a fourth.

Suddenly, the system issued a prompt.

"Ding! Detected four Dou Shengs from the Soul Clan rapidly approaching the Xiao Family. Please kill them. Mission reward: Nine Nether Wind Flame."

"They're here!"

Lin Yang immediately stopped what he was doing, opened the system panel, and checked the location tracking.

After seeing their location clearly, Lin Yang immediately tore open space and prepared to intercept them.

He was not confident he could defeat four Dou Shengs, but as long as he stalled them first, Gu Yuan would be able to follow the disturbance and find them.

Within the spatial passage.

The Soul Clan's four elders were only two breaths away from reaching the Xiao Family.

Suddenly, space was forcibly sealed by an immense power. Then, a figure slowly walked out from the end of the passage.

"What's going on?!"

The four Soul Clan elders' expressions tightened. Once they saw who it was, they cried out in unison, "Gu Yuan? It's actually you?"

A thought flashed through the First Elder's mind, and he suddenly understood. "Gu Yuan, so that's it. You deliberately set a trap to lure us out, intending to weaken the Soul Clan's fighting strength. What a scheme."

Gu Yuan said nothing. His right hand, hidden within his sleeve, tightly gripped a three-colored fire lotus.

He had already refined the Heavenly Flame origin Lin Yang had given him. Though he did not possess the Burning Art, back when Xiao Xuan had still been alive, Gu Yuan had sought his guidance on balancing Heavenly Flames. The Ancient Clan had only possessed one Heavenly Flame, however, so there had been no opportunity to try it.

Now, he could finally fulfill that wish.

"Gu Yuan..." The First Elder was about to continue.

Suddenly, Gu Yuan moved. A soul attack shot fiercely toward the four of them.

The four were startled and hurriedly raised their Heavenly Soul Shields.

However, the soul attack was merely the appetizer. The Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus in Gu Yuan's hand, containing the full-force strike of a peak Nine-Star Dou Sheng, was the true main course.

The soul attack struck the Heavenly Soul Shields, and cracks immediately appeared on all four shields.

But they held.

The four of them relaxed slightly, preparing to form a formation.

Yet at that moment, a three-colored fire lotus suddenly pierced through space and was hurled by Gu Yuan directly before them.

"What?!"

The four men's pupils contracted as the fire lotus violently exploded.

The already cracked Heavenly Soul Shields shattered instantly, and the four were directly swallowed by a heaven-shaking mushroom cloud.

Even the space sealed by Gu Yuan developed countless cracks, but they were swiftly repaired and sealed again by the spatial law domain of a peak Nine-Star Dou Sheng with Emperor Realm soul strength.

By then, Lin Yang had arrived outside the spatial passage. Seeing that space had been sealed, he sighed faintly in relief. Gu Yuan had arrived ahead of him.

Sensing Lin Yang, Gu Yuan waved his hand and tore open a gap, allowing Lin Yang inside.

Lin Yang flashed through the gap and saw endless flames swallowing the Soul Clan's four great elders.

He was slightly shocked. So this was Gu Yuan's true strength.

When the flames finally dispersed, the Soul Clan's four great elders each spat out a mouthful of black blood. They had clearly been injured.

"Lin Yang, take the intermediate Eight-Star Dou Sheng. I'll deal with the other three. End this quickly," Gu Yuan said.

"Alright." Lin Yang nodded heavily.

Gu Yuan said no more. A red longsword appeared in his hand, and he charged toward the Soul Clan's four great elders.

Seeing this, Lin Yang activated the Saint Sun Heavenly Flame Transformation. His aura rose to the late Eight-Star Dou Sheng level, and a flaming longsword condensed from Heavenly Flames in his palm as he charged forward as well.