"Watch out!"
Nalan Yanran burned with anxiety, her voice distorting with panic. Even the normally composed Nalan Su could not help shouting a warning.
After all, Xiao Qian had not even reached the Dou Zhe level, while the Fourth-Order Magical Beast charging at him possessed strength comparable to a Dou Ling!
They truly feared that the magical beast would swallow Xiao Qian in a single encounter, leaving not even his bones behind.
"Just in time!"
Yet Xiao Qian remained utterly unafraid. Dust billowed before him, and in the blink of an eye, the Demon Bull's gaping, blood-red maw was right in front of him. The breath spewing from its mouth was so foul and pungent that it nearly made him retch.
However, rather than showing the slightest intention of dodging, Xiao Qian raised a hand to cover his nose, his face full of disgust.
At this sight, every muscle in Nalan Su and the others standing outside the arena tightened, their hearts leaping into their throats.
"Roooar-"
Amid a roar that thundered like an exploding bolt of lightning, the Demon Bull's enormous, ink-black form hurled itself down upon the young Xiao Qian with crushing force, like Mount Tai bearing down on him, as though it would grind him to pieces in an instant.
"I must have lost my mind! To actually believe this brat had a way to handle this-I was bewitched!"
Nalan Su roared, his Dou Qi surging wildly through his body like a raging river. He sprang into motion and charged into the arena like a bolt of lightning, bellowing, "Wretched beast! Don't you dare hurt him! Get back!"
Boom!
Yet at that critical instant, something utterly unexpected happened.
The Demon Bull's enormous body, which had been barreling forward with unstoppable, crushing momentum, suddenly seemed to strike an invisible wall in midair, freezing for an instant.
"Mooo-"
Immediately afterward, an agonized roar burst from the Demon Bull's mouth. Its massive body flew backward like a cannonball and slammed heavily into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.
"What?!"
Nalan Su and Nalan Nan abruptly halted their charge, landing blankly at the edge of the arena. Their eyes filled with astonishment, scarcely able to believe what they had just seen.
As the dust gradually settled, the figures concealed within it slowly emerged.
There were actually two figures in the arena!
At some point, a flawless, graceful figure dressed in purple had appeared in front of Xiao Qian. Even seeing only her profile and silhouette, Nalan Su and the others could sense her peerless beauty, like a fairy descended to the mortal world.
One of her hands remained extended in the posture of a punch. Clearly, she was the one who had blocked the Demon Bull's lethal strike.
"Who are you? When did you trespass into the Nalan Family's grounds?!"
Nalan Su's expression turned deadly serious. His eyes blazed as he stared at this "uninvited guest," his heart full of wariness.
"I think a puppet should count as part of my own fighting strength, too."
Xiao Qian scratched his head as he spoke, looking entirely at ease.
"What?!"
Once again, Nalan Su could not help exclaiming.
He hurriedly concentrated and examined her carefully. Only then did he discover that the girl in the purple dress had no aura of life whatsoever, like an exquisitely crafted doll.
"A puppet comparable to a Dou Ling..."
Nalan Su murmured to himself, a trace of numbness in his voice.
"Someone still at the Dou Qi stage can control a Dou Ling puppet?"
He felt his entire understanding of the world suffer a tremendous blow at that moment.
Crack.
While everyone was still immersed in astonishment at the Fairy Spirit Puppet's miraculous power, a faint sound, like a fine thread snapping, drew everyone's attention.
Xiao Qian hurriedly focused his gaze. A shocking crack had appeared on the Fairy Spirit Puppet's previously flawless arm.
Like a hideous wound, the crack marred her overall beauty.
"So it's only good for one use. That makes more sense."
At the sight, Nalan Su muttered under his breath. Only then did his heart settle slightly, and the tension born of his shock and fear eased a little.
He thought that if just anyone could freely control a puppet several ranks above their own, the entire continent would surely have descended into chaos long ago. Just imagine how horrifying it would be if a Dou Zhe could command a Dou Emperor-level puppet!
"This puppet looks like Xiao Xun'er. If she's destroyed in this fight..."
Nalan Yanran's heart clenched as she looked at the crack on the Fairy Spirit Puppet's arm. She knew how important this puppet was to Xiao Qian.
Yet amid her worry, she was startled to detect a flicker of inexplicable delight deep within her heart. These tangled emotions left even her at a loss.
She watched Xiao Qian's expression intently, only to discover that he remained perfectly composed, as though everything had been within his expectations.
"The magical beast skeleton used before was too low-ranked, and the meridians hadn't fully formed, making the puppet's movements stiff. On top of that, she could only use her own strength before, without a magic core incorporated into her. It's perfectly normal for cracks to appear..."
Xiao Qian murmured to himself as he slowly circled the Fairy Spirit Puppet, carefully inspecting every detail.
Then he suddenly reached into his Storage Ring and retrieved the two Fourth-Order Magical Beast skeletons he had obtained earlier. With two thunderous crashes, the skeletons landed in the arena like two small mountains, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Mooo-"
On the other side of the arena, the Demon Bull, left reeling by the Fairy Spirit Puppet's all-out punch, had yet to recover from its severe dizziness. It lay on its back with all four legs in the air, groaning softly in pain. It seemed incapable of launching another attack anytime soon.
"Now's the time."
Xiao Qian's gaze flashed, the depths of his eyes as dark as ink. He circulated the Dou Qi within his body, winding it around his Storage Ring like strands of thread.
Under everyone's astonished gazes, he slowly withdrew his Ancient Void Dragon magic core from the Storage Ring.
In an instant, a sound like dragons and phoenixes crying in unison rang through the heavens. Those powerful, mysterious cries echoed repeatedly above the beast-training grounds, as though ancient divine beasts were roaring in the sky.
"That's a magic core? What rank is it to possess such overwhelming pressure?!" As Nalan Su felt the force within the dragon and phoenix cries sweeping toward him like toppled mountains and overturned seas, his astonishment deepened.
His eyes widened, disbelief filling his face as he wondered, What is going on with this brat? Could a small family like the Xiao Clan really possess all these things he has? What secrets are hidden behind this?
Spirit-Devouring Puppet Refinement!
Xiao Qian gave a low shout in his heart, his hands rapidly changing seals. His Dou Qi poured wildly into the magic core like a surging tide.
The next moment, as though stirred by some powerful force, the magic core gave a sudden hum and spilled a wash of mysterious light as dense and dark as ink.
As though alive, that mysterious light rapidly spread toward the two Fourth-Order Magical Beast skeletons, enveloping them completely in an instant.
Crack, crack, crack.
A sharp, spine-chilling sound rang clearly through the silent beast-training grounds. It was the sound of bones contracting, as though a pair of invisible hands were squeezing them with all their might, or some mysterious force were forcibly extracting their purest essence.
Wisps of light, crystalline and translucent as snowflakes, were slowly drawn out of the skeletons. As though pulled by a powerful suction, they drifted toward the magic core, finally merging into it one after another...
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