Taking Action
Lu Changsheng watched everything in astonishment.
Zhao Yang had actually split in two, producing another person.
When he sensed the old man, surprise appeared in his eyes.
"The Soul-Splitting Technique!"
As he spoke, he recalled a Secret Method mentioned in ancient texts, which allowed someone to split off a strand of their soul and lodge it in another person, along with a portion of their cultivation.
From what he saw, Zhao Yang had actually used this method to bring a powerful cultivator's soul into the secret realm.
In doing so, he had circumvented the Cangyun Secret Realm's rule forbidding anyone over thirty from entering.
Not only that, but the azure moon behind Su Muyue enveloped her, radiating astonishing might. She seemed impervious to all arts; even Core Formation cultivators could not harm her in the slightest.
There was no need to say it: these people had all come prepared.
With the puppet suppressed, the old man swept his gaze across them, and his indifferent voice slowly rang out.
He glanced at Su Muyue, surprise appearing in his eyes, but said nothing. Without further words, he simply nodded to her in greeting.
Su Muyue returned the greeting.
The old man was clearly an elder of the Divine Firmament Sect, stronger than Zhao Jing and Meng Lang by who knew how much.
Even so, he still treated Su Muyue courteously, which was enough to show that her background was extraordinary.
A moment later, the old man said, "Zhao Yang, have you summoned me now because you've found traces of the Azure Cloud Map?"
Zhao Yang immediately knelt and bowed. "Elder, the Azure Cloud Map has already manifested, but we can no longer find any trace of it. Moreover, something unexpected happened, leaving us no choice but to ask you to act!"
"What trouble?"
Zhao Yang pointed at the temporarily suppressed puppet. "There's something unusual about this person. We're no match for him. Please take action, Elder!"
As he spoke, his eyes brimmed with resentment.
After their brief exchange, the old man roughly understood what had happened.
"In that case, I do indeed need to act. I'll suppress this vile creature first, then we'll search!"
As his words fell, he stared at the puppet suppressed by the azure moon.
Whoosh!
He swept his sleeve, sending a vast surge of Law Power straight down toward the puppet.
Su Muyue tactfully withdrew to one side.
Boom!
As the killing strike approached, the puppet raised its hand to meet it. Astonishing might erupted from their clash, churning the mountain forests as they fought.
The old man's sleeves shook, and the puppet was driven back. It retreated step after step, leaving deep footprints in the ground, forced back more than a dozen zhang before it smashed through a cliff face and barely came to a halt.
"Something's strange!" The old man studied it.
Zhao Yang asked, "What's wrong?"
The old man did not answer. Instead, he stepped forward, his sleeves fluttering as he sent another swath of Law Power crashing down.
The puppet stamped its feet and shot straight ahead like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
But halfway there, Law Power knocked it over, driving it backward again and again until it stumbled and tumbled away.
As the two sides clashed again, surging Law Power lingered without dispersing.
Sheets of radiance descended from the sky and pressed down on the puppet. An astonishing force fell, slowing its movements.
Seemingly unwilling to keep tangling with it, the old man pressed down with his attack, forming hand seals in succession to suppress it.
The puppet continued to struggle, but ultimately could not withstand the pressure and came to a complete halt.
At the sight, Zhao Yang was overjoyed, a vicious gleam appearing in his eyes.
Su Muyue's expression also darkened at that moment.
Yet in the next instant, the old man let out an exclamation of surprise.
"This is actually a Core Formation Realm puppet!"
"What! A puppet?"
Shock appeared on all their faces.
Xuan Cheng's expression changed the most. He looked over, his brows tightly furrowed, already having a rough guess in mind.
"No wonder it has Core Formation Realm cultivation!"
Zhao Yang snorted. The rules here only allowed those under thirty to enter. He had been wondering how an impoverished place like the Yue Kingdom could produce someone so extraordinary.
In the end, it was actually a puppet.
No wonder he had been suppressed. It was no fault of his.
Su Muyue thought the same.
But they grew curious about who exactly was controlling this puppet.
When their gazes turned to the old man, he stood in midair, looking toward a distant mountain peak. "How much longer do you intend to watch, sir?"
Lu Changsheng stood amid the mountain forest, utterly calm.
He had just controlled the puppet, so it was no surprise that the other party had sensed the fluctuations of Law Power.
After a moment's thought, he slowly said, "Your Divine Firmament Sect certainly went to painstaking lengths to enter this place. You even used a soul-splitting method!"
"Not as much as you, refining a puppet like this!"
"Heh!"
A light chuckle came from the mountain forest.
Zhao Yang now knew that person had been behind everything. Unable to contain the anger in his eyes, he stepped forward, formed a hand seal, and unleashed a killing attack.
The old man did not stop him.
In his view, however extraordinary someone under thirty might be, how strong could they be? Especially in a wilderness like this, none of it amounted to anything.
But the instant Zhao Yang neared the mountain peak, mountain-like pressure struck, immobilizing his body near the peak.
The old man's brow furrowed at the sight, surprise in his eyes.
He immediately acted, sending a swath of Law Power toward Zhao Yang to draw him back.
Unexpectedly, as the Law Power approached, it shattered with a bang, its aftershocks spreading and sweeping in every direction.
"What's going on?"
The old man was shocked. He had sensed an extremely powerful force, seemingly no weaker than his own.
Yet even though he was only a strand of soul, he still possessed cultivation at the seventh layer of Core Formation. For someone to contend with him was altogether too astonishing.
Lu Changsheng could not be bothered to waste words with them either. As his Law Power surged forth, terror appeared on Zhao Yang's face, his body enduring Law Power from every direction.
With a scream, his body exploded.
"You dare!"
The old man flew into a rage and swept across the sky.
To dare kill Zhao Yang before his very eyes-was this person intent on a contest of magical arts with him?
Yet what he had not expected was for endless Law Power to surge into the sky, forming a ribbon of light that plunged straight down.
The ribbon spanned the heavens, accompanied by matchless might.
The old man roared furiously and unleashed his techniques to resist, but in mere moments, everything shattered. All his remaining Law Power collapsed, and the descending ribbon left him unable to move!
Sensing all of this, his pupils contracted as he stared ahead in disbelief.
"The ninth layer of Core Formation, how is this possible..."
A powerful cultivator at the ninth layer of Core Formation had appeared in the Cangyun Secret Realm. Everyone found it inconceivable. It was far too astonishing.
The ninth layer of Core Formation before the age of thirty-how utterly shocking was that?
Su Muyue's expression darkened too. She had never expected this.
She watched no longer, knowing that if she did not act now, none of them would escape. The azure crescent moon appeared behind her again, and the void hummed softly as an unseen force immobilized everything.
The azure moon descended, pressing down on that area.
Even the old man felt alarmed in the azure moon's presence. Yet as moonlight shone, swathes of Law Power converged, and an enormous hand reaching into the heavens appeared.
Its five fingers spread and seized the crescent moon. As the two forces contended, the restraining power instantly dispersed, losing all effect before their eyes.
Su Muyue was shocked, her eyes filled with horror. She tried to control the azure moon, but that force held it locked in place. For an instant, everything seemed to fall still.