Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

Chapter 343: Chapter 315: Everywhere Is…
 

In the next moment, Zhu Xuanji saw a past scene of Furnace No. 3.

The doors of the furnace were wide open, and a mysterious cultivator stood before it, holding a sickle, tossing the corpses of demon beasts and cultivators into the furnace.

There were so many corpses that even Zhu Xuanji narrowed his eyes slightly.

The headless body of a cultivator was taken out of a hidden corpse bag.

A jade ring slipped from his finger and fell onto the floor tiles.

The mysterious cultivator moved his wrist lightly, threaded the sickle handle with the jade ring magic artifact, then raised his arm and inserted the handle into the golden furnace.

The corpses in the furnace were nearly filling it up, but space was squeezed out after the compression from the sickle handle.

When the mysterious cultivator retracted the handle, the jade ring magic artifact at the end was gone, left inside the golden furnace.

It wasn’t just this artifact; Zhu Xuanji had seen that many of the cultivators’ magic artifacts and vestment robes had not been removed, and were stuffed into the furnace altogether.

Finally, the mysterious cultivator also placed the sickle in his hands into the golden furnace.

The fire ignited.

The golden furnace burned fiercely, undergoing an exhausting refining.

The refining ended quickly, the flames extinguished, and the furnace was covered with pitch-black cracks.

In the next moment, the golden furnace shattered.

A mechanical giant snake emerged from the rubble and dust, raising its massive head.

It affectionately slithered toward the mysterious cultivator, who lifted his head and caressed the giant snake’s head.

“It’s the Night Rain Demon Soldiers of Zheng Danlian!”

Zhu Xuanji’s heart shook greatly.

“Then who is this mysterious cultivator?”

Gold light burst forth from his eyes, increasingly powerful to the extreme.

The blurry appearance of the mysterious cultivator gradually dissolved, leaving only a rough human silhouette, and within it, a huge purple mark appeared.

The purple mark, shaped like a sea cucumber, emitted a strange purple light; meanwhile, the mark was plump, with countless raised dots on its surface, resembling the greasy body of an insect or newly grown tentacles.

A strong sense of purple radiated forth, actually eroding back into Zhu Xuanji’s eyes.

Zhu Xuanji hurriedly closed his eyes, with gold light overflowing from beneath his eyelids.

After some effort, he managed to dissolve the slight purple intent in his eyes.

Reopening his eyes, Zhu Xuanji’s expression had slightly changed.

“Who is this mysterious cultivator? Could it be Zheng Danlian?”

Zhu Xuanji immediately recalled the conversation he had had with Zheng Shuanggou—

Zheng Shuanggou: “It was about eight years ago, when my cousin entered the Immortal Palace, that he killed a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.”

“At that time, the Foundation Establishment Cultivator, wielding a mechanical sickle, was slashing and killing innocent cultivators like a madman.”

“My cousin couldn’t stand by and watch, he upheld justice, struck him down on the spot, and thus obtained both a damaged Mechanism Demon Soldier and a complete mechanical diagram.”

…

Zhu Xuanji had already seen that mechanical diagram and could not comprehend the construction of the Night Rain Demon Soldiers.

However, relying on the mechanical diagram, following it step by step, it was indeed possible to refine such Night Rain Demon Soldiers!

“The mechanical sickle refined from the golden furnace must be the one in Zheng Danlian’s hands.”

“It was once complete, so why did it later become damaged?”

“What happened?”

“Is it really as Zheng Shuanggou said?”

“Or is this just a well-arranged play by the Zheng Family, and in fact, they had already refined this mechanical sickle long ago?”

Zhu Xuanji did not continue to deduce further.

He lacked more information.

He had discovered an important clue, but what followed was an even greater enigma.

Zhu Xuanji started to run, dashing through the Secret Pavilion.

He had now recovered to Golden Core Level, the arrangements within the Secret Pavilion were not worth mentioning, easily swept aside by him.

In the past, Zhu Xuanji might have alerted Zheng Danlian, but now, he would not do so.

“It seems, from the consequences of the refinement in the golden furnace, that this Night Rain Demon Soldiers are quite evil in nature, capable of devouring other bodies to enhance itself.”

“Perhaps, the Night Rain Demon Soldiers later refined by Zheng Danlian also became more powerful after slaying many enemies!”

“Under my Golden Eyes, the mysterious cultivator still hid his true face, only revealing a purple mark.”

“The purple mark is no simple matter, what exactly is its origin for it to erode my Golden Eyes! Fortunately, it was only a few traces of purple intent…”

Just then, Song Fuli suddenly appeared within the range of Zhu Xuanji’s divine sense.

Song Fuli quickly approached Zhu Xuanji.

Separated by several Secret Pavilions, Zhu Xuanji communicated through divine sense: “Song Fuli, stop there.”

“If you proceed further, I will take you for an enemy and deal with you accordingly.”

Song Fuli hurriedly said, “Lord Zhu, I am a friend, not a foe! The Night Rain Demon Soldiers are too ferocious; I bring with me firsthand intelligence.”

“All I want to understand is where Sun Lingtong is.”

“He’s the one who stole my treasure, and I want to recover what was taken from me!”

Zhu Xuanji received Song Fuli’s intelligence, advising him that Miss Rudie had already appeared and released the Qu Guangzhiying Formation. But now there had been a slight change in circumstance, and Zhu Xuanji was unclear about which Secret Pavilion the previous battle had taken place in.

His divine sense expanded outward, covering many cube-shaped Secret Pavilions, but could only sense the presence of cultivators inside them, without penetrating them.

Those like Song Fuli who had concealed their aura had eluded Zhu Xuanji’s detection before. It was only when Song Fuli exposed himself that Zhu Xuanji immediately noticed.

The Vision of the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit differed from that of the cultivators.

It could clearly observe the inside of the Secret Pavilion of Transition as if looking into a blazing fire, knowing it like the back of its hand.

“Ning Zhuo has made a move!”

“He’s heading straight for Meng Chong.”

“Damn it, damn it!”

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit was extremely tense.

Its speech sped up, urging Meng Chong to charge even faster.

If it was Divine Sense, it couldn’t extend outward. Qi Refining Cultivators reading through a Jade Slip had to press the slip against their foreheads. But now, Ning Zhuo had advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage and acquired Divine Sense, naturally allowing him to observe the external situation.

The Golden Core Body Cultivator of the Meng Family and Zheng Danlian formally converged.

Song Fuli distanced himself from Zhu Xuanji, signifying his stance.

Zhu Xuanji headed straight for the Golden Core Body Cultivator of the Meng Family and Zheng Danlian!

Meanwhile, under the cover of the Cloud Concealed Bud, Ning Zhuo pursued Meng Chong with all his might.

Electric light swirled around, emitting a buzzing sound.

This time, the sound of mechanisms was absent.

After the Secret Pavilion of Transition was activated, it created a Universe Path barrier for the main hall, which also affected the minor transition mechanisms.

The second minor transition came sooner than the first!

Thirty-six steps were not enough.

Song Fuli, Ning Zhuo, and Meng Chong rushed forward, using up most of their allotted distances.

Zhu Xuanji, the Golden Core Body Cultivator of the Meng Family, and Zheng Danlian were just one room away from an encounter.

The second minor transition once again pulled everyone apart.

“Just three more secret pavilions to go,” the Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit lamented, punching the throne in frustration.

Whack! Whack! Whack!@@novelbin@@

The flames from the whip behind it moved so fast that they created a visual echo of the whip’s motion.

The Dragon Turtle Fire Spirit’s ferocity was provoked, it clenched its teeth hard, flames shot from its eyes, but it kept silent.

Outside Fire Persimmon Mountain.

“Meng Hu, don’t push people too far!” a Nascent Soul Cultivator from Taiqing Palace cursed.

With that, he took out a shield.

The shield was thin, yet eerily it withstood a powerful blow from Meng Hu.

Recognizing the familiar pattern, Meng Hu exclaimed in surprise, “Night Rain Demon Soldiers?!”

The Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul Cultivator sneered, “This is the Fate Shield. If you can break it, I’ll withdraw without complaint.”

Meng Hu, incited to win, attacked with full force.

Yet, no matter how he attacked, he simply couldn’t break the thin shield.

Instead, he was covered in purple wounds. These were the retaliation injuries from the Fate Shield.

“Well?” the Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul Cultivator asked, smirking with pride.

“Nothing!” Meng Hu spat out a mouthful of blood and charged again.

The Taiqing Palace Nascent Soul Cultivator’s face darkened, and he had no choice but to send a message out, “The Meng Family is determined to take the Lava Fairy Palace and has secretly dispatched Meng Hu for support.”

“They shed all pretense, ignoring my explanations, truly wishing to exclude Taiqing Palace.”

“Such hurried actions further indicate that the competition for the Lava Fairy Palace has reached its final stage.”

“All of you enter the Immortal Palace and strive with all your might for the position of Palace Master!”

There were five from Taiqing Palace on this expedition. Aside from the Nascent Soul Cultivator, there were also two Golden Core Cultivators and two Foundation Establishment followers of the Golden Core Cultivators.

Upon hearing their leader’s command, the two Golden Core Cultivators from Taiqing Palace immediately took action.

They both took out black garments, put them on, and disguised themselves as two Black Shadow Demon Cultivators.

The two concealed their forms and rushed toward the Lava Fairy Palace.

In the inner circle of the Lava Fairy Palace.

Flame Demon Beasts swarmed in groups, like floodwaters breaking through a dike, and breached multiple gaps.

The Cultivators suffered heavy casualties, but still resisted with all their might.

Sun Lingtong was unconcerned about these events; he had discovered the latest news—restrictions in the Secret Pavilion of Transition had weakened significantly, allowing Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment Cultivators to enter.

“I must return!” gritting his teeth, Sun Lingtong’s gaze was resolute.

Yang Chanyu looked at him in surprise, “Have you lost your mind? The battle lines are collapsing; many Golden Core Cultivators are moving about in the inner circle. If we reveal ourselves, we will undoubtedly be besieged.”

“You have already been eliminated, why go back?”

Sun Lingtong shook his head, “I have to go back. Yang Chanyu… take care of yourself. If things look bad, you should retreat first!”

After saying this, Sun Lingtong disappeared from sight, stealthily heading toward the Immortal Palace Main Hall.

“Hmph, wait,” Yang Chanyu stopped him, “Having fought to this point, I’ll return with you!”

“What?” Sun Lingtong looked surprised.

Yang Chanyu snorted, “Don’t use the Invisibility Technique. Once you’re found out, it’s very easy to fall into a desperate situation.”

“Use this instead.”

Sun Lingtong saw what Yang Chanyu took out and immediately gave a thumbs up, “Great idea!”

Both disguised themselves with the garments, becoming two… Black Shadow Demon Cultivators.

At another location.

“Cousin, I’m taking action. I entrust the Zhou Family Cultivators to you,” Zhou Nongying transmitted a message.

The Golden Core Ancestor of the Zhou Family nodded slightly, “You can go without worry.”

So, Zhou Nongying pulled out a set of black garments, dressed himself, and became a Black Shadow Demon Cultivator.

Sometimes, playing the role of a sinister outsider was the most convenient.

A Righteous Path identity at many critical moments, instead, seemed to hinder more than help.

“Finally, it’s my turn to make an entrance!” Luo Shang boldly charged into the Lava Fairy Palace.

In front of his Golden Core Level Ghost General, a clear gap was cut through the Demon Beast Tide.

Luo Shang took the opportunity to enter the inner circle of the Immortal Palace.

Then, he saw nearly ten Black Shadow Demon Cultivators, one after another, taking the stage!

“What’s going on?!” Luo Shang was startled, “Has pretending to be a Black Shadow Demon Cultivator become a trend now?”