"Be careful! This man has actually mastered the third level of the Great Evolution Art and can command this many puppets! Just keep him occupied. Once the poison takes effect, even if he has heaven-defying abilities, he'll have no choice but to surrender."
With that, the burly cultivator ordered his puppets to attack.
The man and woman exchanged a glance, then released more than two hundred puppet beasts and sent them charging in as well.
In an instant, an extraordinary battle between puppets broke out.
Light arrows and beams of every color flew back and forth without pause. Meanwhile, great swaths of armed soldier puppets and mechanical beasts clashed at close quarters on the front lines!
Both Naruto and Han Li, who had been hiding in the air and watching all along, were dumbstruck by the sight.
By now, the situation was perfectly clear:
Before joining Yellow Maple Valley, Senior Brother Lin had belonged to the Thousand Bamboo Sect. He was even the former sect leader's son!
Clearly, he had fallen from power, which was why he had remained hidden in Yellow Maple Valley until now.
But because he still coveted the second half of the Great Evolution Art, the enraged new sect leader had sent his former fellow disciples to finish him off.
Yet as Naruto watched the puppet battle in the distance, his heart began to bleed.
The puppets' attacks consumed spirit stones directly. Each had spirit stones installed inside to power its attacks.
Just like the giant tiger puppet earlier—a single enormous beam attack consumed an entire mid-grade spirit stone!
Naruto's primary target today was Senior Brother Lin. His secondary targets were these Thousand Bamboo Sect cultivators and their puppets!
These cultivators surely had spirit stones by the handful in their Storage Pouches.
In Naruto's eyes, those