"Your Majesty, the return route must be changed-we can't go back the way we came. The sandstorms shift unpredictably, they don't stay fixed." The pilot reported that the return route needed alteration.
"Mm, just adapt on the fly based on the Weather Airship's readings." Mo Caihuan said.
"Yes."
She gazed out the window at the vast sea of sand, thinking that building a sealed railway wouldn't be a bad idea-digging tunnels underground, or laying pipelines on the surface.
If there were no Demon Beasts and no great calamities, a sealed railway could connect Mo Kingdom and the Extreme Western Lands.
She still wanted to unify things, after all-only the Extreme Western Lands remained in Heavenly South.
"Stop!" Just as the aircraft flew along steadily, a thunderous shout rang out, and a silver radiance overtook the plane, intercepting it.
The man was around thirty years old, dressed in a black Daoist robe, with a broad face and wide cheeks-he didn't look like a bad person.
"Core Formation Stage cultivator?!" Upon seeing the newcomer, Food Immortal immediately judged the other's realm from his spiritual pressure.
"Core Formation Stage?" Mo Caihuan was exasperated. Why was it always someone this powerful? The aircraft hovered in midair as she asked, "May I ask what guidance the immortal master has for us?"
"Hand over the young master." The man said coldly, as if he might strike at any moment.
"What young master? There are indeed guests from Cloud Kingdom on the plane, but I don't know which one is your young master?" Mo Caihuan asked.
"The young master is the future sect master of the Thousand Bamboo Sect-he cannot be lost. You'd best hand him over, or I'll have you all dead!" The man said without courtesy.
Mo Caihuan said helplessly, "Give me a moment, I'll go look for him."
She found the guests from Cloud Kingdom and asked, "Which of you is the young master of the Thousand Bamboo Sect? If so, step forward quickly, otherwise this man is going to start killing people."
But everyone looked at each other, not knowing who the young master was.
Mo Caihuan sighed and went to search the cargo hold, worried someone might have stowed away. And this time she really found him-in the cargo hold was an extra tall puppet with intricate patterns, not on the cargo manifest.
"You're the young master of the Thousand Bamboo Sect?" Mo Caihuan sensed no human aura, so she could only guess the puppet was the young master.
"Shh." The puppet raised its index finger and whispered, "Don't let the Right Protector hear."
"Since he came looking, he must be certain you're on the plane." Mo Caihuan frowned. "Everyone on this plane is innocent. I hope you won't drag them into this."
The puppet's emerald crystal eyes stared at Mo Caihuan. Helpless, he said, "Fine."
He walked to the cockpit and said to the man outside, "Right Protector, I'm not going back. I'm going to Mo Kingdom."
"Don't be willful. You must inherit the sect."
"I won't." The young master refused decisively. "Just because my dad is the sect master, does that mean I have to inherit the sect? I have no interest in managing a sect-I only want to learn more techniques. Right Protector, you can say you didn't find me. Father thinks so highly of you-with me gone, you can inherit the position of sect master."
Mo Caihuan thought to herself that if the Right Protector had disloyal intentions, the young master dying would be the best outcome. She watched the Right Protector anxiously, and sure enough, his gaze shifted as he weighed whether to kill everyone.
Not good-they might get caught up in this. The other party was a Core Formation cultivator; the crew was no match. She inwardly complained that the young master couldn't have hidden anywhere else but had to hide on the plane-truly an undeserved disaster.
The Right Protector pondered, then made up his mind. The Magic Power within his body surged, ready to unleash, as he opened his Storage Bag. Whoosh-thirty assorted animal puppets surrounded the aircraft.
"Right Protector, what are you doing?" The young master asked in shock.
Mo Caihuan couldn't help but say, "Silencing witnesses. If you go to Mo Kingdom, maybe one day you'd return. But if you die, he eliminates all future trouble and truly becomes the heir of the Thousand Bamboo Sect."
The young master puppet fell silent. He hadn't expected the Right Protector to be so cruel, and his disgust for the struggle over power deepened. In his view, the Right Protector was a decent person, but to rise in position he would slaughter the innocent and abandon his own heart. He became even more convinced he should leave the Thousand Bamboo Sect.
Mo Caihuan smiled bitterly and asked, "Senior, can we win?"
Food Immortal's expression was also grim. He said speechlessly, "Win my ass-these puppets are all Late Foundation Establishment level, thirty of them at once, we can't beat them at all. It depends on whether this young master has any tricks."
Everyone looked at the young master.
The patterns on the young master puppet flickered with light, but his bearing remained relatively calm. He said, "Right Protector, I can guarantee I will never return to the Extreme Western Lands for the rest of my life."
The Right Protector said, "A person's words cannot be trusted. You think that way now, but in ten years your thinking will be different. People's hearts always change-only the dead can be trusted."
Cultivators didn't believe in verbal promises-better to kill and silence.
The young master said in a low voice, "Right Protector, are you really forcing me?"
"Heh heh, I know the young master's Puppetry isn't weak, but I also know the young master is too much of a perfectionist-you only refined one puppet. Even if your puppet is Late Foundation Establishment level, it's no match for my thirty Mechanical Beasts."
The young master knew there was no room for discussion. He charged straight out of the cockpit, floating within the Right Protector's encirclement, and said coldly, "Right Protector, your puppets are many but not refined-you're no match for me at all."
"Then let's try." The Right Protector struck, his ten fingers nimbly controlling the puppets as they charged at the young master. Kill the young master first, then eliminate all the witnesses-then no one would be the wiser.
The young master's puppet moved, and unexpectedly emitted a surge of lightning power, reaching the Protector in the blink of an eye.
But the Right Protector was a Golden Core cultivator. Though surprised by the young master's speed, he quickly maneuvered his puppets to block.
A punch-the young master's fist shattered a rooster puppet.
But in that delay, a puppet beast behind him opened its mouth and shot two red beams, striking the young master's back.
The patterns on his back instantly charred black, but were not pierced through. The young master could still move. He spun around and continued pursuing the Right Protector.
"Futile." The Right Protector maneuvered his puppets to surround him. Though these puppets weren't very sturdy, there were many of them, and their mix of melee and ranged attacks was very troublesome.
The young master was surrounded, his puppet covered in mottled scars.
"Young master, a puppet is a puppet. You insist on abandoning tradition, insisting on being different and developing wearable puppets. Even if you wear a puppet on your body, what good does it do? The puppet's power doesn't increase-instead you've put yourself in a death trap."
Hearing the Right Protector's words, Mo Caihuan understood that the young master was inside the puppet. No wonder this puppet was so tall and sturdy-it was meant to hold a person.
"Your Majesty, the turrets are ready." At that moment the flight engineer reported that two turrets had risen from the top of the aircraft, one fore and one aft, not interfering with each other.
"Fire." Since the enemy wouldn't give them a way out, she would carve out a path to survival.
The autocannons fired-Anti-Cultivator Weaponry, converting kinetic energy into corrosive chemical energy. The autocannon's power was thirty times that of a rifle, and its corrosiveness even stronger.
The rate of fire was three thousand rounds per minute, fifty rounds per second.
The Mechanical Beasts were corroded, their movements greatly slowed.
The young master's eyes lit up-Mo Kingdom's technology was truly marvelous. The pressure suddenly eased. He roared, "Today I'll show you the power of the Hundred-Refined Puppet-activate!"
The patterns on the puppet flowed with brilliant light. It surged forward at increased speed toward the Right Protector, aiming to slay a Core Formation Stage cultivator with Late Foundation Establishment cultivation.
The Right Protector split off some puppet beasts to attack the aircraft, and dividing his forces left him stretched thin.
The autocannons roared, fighting back with full force.
"Reload!" The gunner shouted tensely.
The loader immediately swapped magazines, pulled the charging lever, and fed ammunition into the autocannon.
Da da da...
Food Immortal wasn't idle either. He threw out iron chopsticks to kill the enemy-a single puppet was no match for him. He coordinated with the autocannons: the cannons slowed the puppets, and the iron chopsticks killed them.
At that moment a goat puppet beast opened its mouth and aimed at the aircraft. Mo Caihuan hurriedly grabbed the Six-in-One Flying Sword she had captured earlier and launched a hundred-step flying sword strike.
No Magic Power, but plenty of physical strength.
It wasn't meant to kill the puppet-only to knock it off course.
The Six-in-One Flying Sword whooshed and struck the goat puppet's head. The red beam it fired veered off and missed the aircraft.
Food Immortal immediately counter-killed it.
"Six-in-One Sword? I never thought I'd see you again. Then fight alongside me." Upon seeing the Six-in-One Flying Sword, the young master waved his hand, and the flying sword obediently flew over to him.
The flying sword was originally something he had refined. He had only sold the Six-in-One Sword back then to make money-he never expected to regain it. Fate was truly wondrous.