After confirming that he had killed him, Li Chen immediately ran over and kicked over the two remaining wooden crates. He found the one holding Old Hou, smashed it open, and pulled him out.
"Brother Hou, how are you? Wake up!"
Li Chen pulled the Soul-Stabilizing Nail from Old Hou's chest and rubbed him vigorously, trying to wake him.
But his expression soon darkened.
"Brother Hou..."
Only now did he abruptly realize that Old Hou had already become a cold corpse!
"When Zuo Hao used the Soul-Binding Method, he never protected Old Hou's life force. He went straight into the process of refining a human puppet!"
"He never intended to leave anyone alive from the very beginning. He might even have planned to kill all of us after the contest!"
Perhaps, in Zuo Hao's eyes, Old Hou's only purpose had been to force Li Chen to agree to compete with him. What happened after the contest had not mattered at all.
After all, even if he turned on them then, Li Chen and You An would have been powerless against him.
Alongside his shock and sorrow, Li Chen felt a chill spread through his entire body. Deep loathing and anger toward the man welled up within him.
"You beast!"
Li Chen clenched his fists, but Old You was still fighting for his life nearby. He could only leave Old Hou for the moment and immediately summon his Combat Puppet, the Armored Warrior, to join the battle in the way he knew best.
Meanwhile, You An had already equipped the Heavenly Soldier War Armor and brought the full strength of a Mechanical Martial Artist to bear in a fierce battle against the Sword Slave.
You An used an incomplete martial manual called the Demon Dragon Tyrant Fist. It was said to have originated from a supreme cultivation art from the Other Continent, originally named the Demon Dragon Transformation. But because it was incomplete and could not unleash its full power, it had been reduced to an adapted fist manual for Mechanical Martial Artists at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.
Fortunately, You An was no ordinary rogue cultivator. He came from a family with a long martial tradition, had trained diligently since childhood, and was now a Martial Artist who had already attained a measure of mastery.
Combined with his high-grade two-star Heavenly Soldier War Armor, this allowed him to hold off the Zuo Household's Sword Slave single-handedly.
Yet in the brief time it had taken Li Chen to kill Zuo Hao, both he and the Sword Slave had accumulated sword wounds and fist marks of varying severity.
That was because the Sword Slave was intent on saving her master. Time and again, she had tried to break through You An's obstruction with devastatingly fierce attacks.
You An had likewise thrown caution to the wind. Relying repeatedly on his War Armor's toughness and its defenses far superior to flesh and blood, he had used his own body to block her sword, leaving wound after wound across both his armor and himself.
Sensing the change in the situation, the Sword Slave's face hardened with resolve. She charged forward again, heedless of everything, but what met her was Li Chen's puppet.
As for Li Chen himself, he had already activated the concealment effect of the Puppet Master's Robe and vanished into the night.
Ignoring her injuries, the Sword Slave held her sword before her. Sword Qi, almost solid enough to touch, formed sharp blades that slashed at the Armored Warrior in succession.
Clang, clang, clang!
In an instant, several clearly visible cuts appeared on the Armored Warrior's body.
As expected of a sword cultivator skilled in slaughter. But... it's no use!
Beneath a large tree not far away, Li Chen's pupils narrowed slightly.
Feeling the impacts transmitted from the Armored Warrior Puppet, he gained an unmistakably deep sense of his opponent's ferocity and danger.
But the Armored Warrior was only a puppet. Even if it were hacked into eight pieces, the Puppet Master himself would not suffer the slightest harm.
Moreover, it possessed steel sinews and iron bones. These minor cuts did not hinder its movements, and it still succeeded in closing the distance.
Pivot, cantilever, Wrist Blade!
Li Chen silently recited the formula of the Mechanism-Performance Method. The Armored Warrior Puppet responded as naturally as fingers to an arm, its steel palm suddenly opening to extend a blade roughly two feet long.
Whoosh!
It brought the blade crashing down in a straight chop.
Clang!
Another crisp collision rang out. The Sword Slave instantly blocked the Wrist Blade, then turned her edge downward. The blade in her hand darted like a venomous snake toward the puppet's arm.
Her strike carried white Geng Metal Sword Radiance. Empowered by vital energy, it severed the Armored Warrior's little finger and ring finger on the spot.
Had it been a living person, it would no longer have been able to grip a sword firmly.
But Li Chen, hidden in the darkness, merely sneered. His fingers moved slightly as his Magic Power reached out remotely, and the completely unaffected Armored Warrior Puppet thrust its sword straight forward.
He had already glimpsed You An catching up behind the Sword Slave.
"Rising Dragon Break!"
Spiritual light flashed across You An's body. Five-colored vital energy beat fiercely like wings, and his speed abruptly surged.
He leaped several yards and, in the blink of an eye, slammed a heavy punch into the Sword Slave's left shoulder.
This was the very move You An had used to shatter the Wild Ox leader's skull. Its power was enough to kill a low-tier Demon Beast instantly.
The Sword Slave grunted. Her entire left arm was dislocated, twisting at an unnatural angle.
Despite that, she still reversed her grip and thrust her sword out beneath her own left armpit.
This was an exceedingly perilous move, a lethal strike that fused her swordsmanship with the resolve to fight to the death, seeking life amid certain doom. She would succeed or die trying.
You An was badly startled. By the time the sword's edge reached him, he could already see that there was no avoiding it.
Intense Sword Radiance enveloped her longsword, plainly sharp enough to slice through iron like mud. Even though You An's Heavenly Soldier War Armor offered defenses far beyond those of ordinary Body Tempering cultivators, it would likely still be pierced.
Fortunately, Li Chen brought the Armored Warrior Puppet forward in time. Just as she was about to kill You An, its sword pierced her chest first.
Her blade scraped past. Its edge, robbed of force, narrowly cut through the armor and ultimately left a wound slanting toward You An's left abdomen.
You An arched backward in pain on the spot.
But the Sword Slave still did not die. Instead, she struggled to pull her body off the blade, intending to attack again.
"Secret Art, Swarm of Bees Mechanism Performance!"
Li Chen hurriedly unleashed another Secret Art. Using the Swarm of Bees Technique he had studied and practiced for years, he directed over a dozen Flying Discs to dive from the nearby sky.
At the same time, the Armored Warrior did not stop moving even as he divided his attention to control the other puppets. It continued lunging forward, entangling the Sword Slave once more.
The Flying Discs closed in, and their Needle Launchers took aim. In almost an instant, over a dozen puppets of different sizes each carried out their own movements, the entire sequence perfectly coordinated and completed in one seamless flow!
As a string of shrill whistles pierced the air, the Sword Slave, who had just been about to move again, was shot full of needles like a hedgehog.
Clatter!
As her longsword slipped from her hand, the Sword Slave's body finally trembled, and she collapsed helplessly.
The needles were coated in a deadly, fast-acting poison. Like the final straw that broke the camel's back, it at last extinguished her life completely.
"Scared the shit out of me!" You An grimaced, still shaken. "Good thing she really was only at the Qi Refining stage and hadn't undergone any bodily modifications. If you hadn't killed her in time, I'd have been in dire straits."
As You An spoke, every wound on his body was bleeding, and he could not stop trembling. Even so, he asked, "Little brother, how did things go on your end?"
Since Li Chen had been able to come to his aid, he knew their side had won.
But when he clutched his stomach and returned to the campfire, the sight of Old Hou on the ground instantly reddened his eyes.
"Brother Hou... is dead!"
Li Chen walked slowly out of the woods and spoke with a hollow sigh.