Chapter 43: The Immortal Alliance’s Trump Card

The elders of the Immortal Alliance successively drew out various objects from their robes. Those items came in different shapes, resembling pieces of an irregular jigsaw puzzle. As a few of them channeled their spiritual power, the puzzle pieces instantly lit up, flew into the air, and assembled together, forming a disc in less than a moment.

Luo Ying then produced a blue crystal, reached out, and placed it right at the center of the disc. The next moment, a crisp click echoed through the air.

The disc emitted a brilliant white light, and a massive array lit up within the Immortal Alliance, instantly spreading across the entire island. Immediately following that, dozens of beams of light soared into the sky, from which clusters of light and shadows slowly rose, breaking out of the island and charging toward the giant beasts outside.

Meanwhile, the members of the Xuantian Sect outside were still desperately trying to breach the void array surrounding the Immortal Alliance. Although the Alliance resided in a celestial realm visible yet untouchable, the void array still had its limits of endurance. Destroying that array would naturally grant them entry.

Thus, raging fires, sharp ice crystals, wind blades, water vortexes, and lightning strikes—a variety of exotic beasts and mystical arts—were unleashed directly toward the Immortal Alliance. The beasts even surrounded the island tightly, and the booming sounds of attacks were ceaseless.

Though unable to strike a physical entity, the void array was visibly weakening. Just as everyone intended to press their advantage in one go, they saw dozens of rays of light suddenly darting out from the Immortal Alliance, heading straight for the surrounding exotic beasts.

"What is that?!" Yu Xuan, whose cultivation was profound and whose senses were the sharpest, noticed something was wrong first. His expression changed drastically, and he shouted loudly, "Watch out!"

Yet, it was a step too late. With a swift swish and a flash of light, one of the tentacles lashed out by an exotic beast was severed right at the base, crashing down with a thunderous roar like a snapped pillar.

Awo suministro~~~~~

The giant beast immediately let out a heart-wrenching, painful wail, its massive body curling up tightly in agony.

Only then did everyone clearly see that more than a dozen black figures had suddenly appeared before them. Their entire bodies were encased in pitch-black armor, wrapping even their heads, with only a gem-like crystal embedded atop each of their heads, glowing with a glaring red light at the moment.

The crucial point was that everyone could sense no fluctuation of cultivation whatsoever coming from them. Logically speaking, these should merely be mortals, yet with a single blow just now, they had severed the tentacle of a giant beast.

"Wh... what kind of people are these?" The crowd was startled.

Qi Hong couldn't help but ask loudly, "Are these the trump cards of the Immortal Alliance?"

"..." The opponents gave no response whatsoever.

"I, Qi Hong, never kill nameless people. State your names!" Qi Hong crossed his sword and demanded again.

"..." The opponents still remained silent, but this time, they moved.

A faint buzzing sound could be heard. In the right hands of those dozen black figures, a deep blue glow simultaneously appeared, shaping into the form of sharp blades within a moment. Following that, their figures flashed.

The black figures dispersed once more, hurtling swiftly toward the surrounding giant beasts.

"Watch out! Beasts, fall back!" Qi Hong's heart tightened. He immediately turned his head and shouted a warning toward the giant beasts, even infusing his voice with spiritual power to ensure all the beasts could hear him.

However, the speed of those black figures was simply too fast. Their figures flashed through the air like streaks of light, launching direct attacks on the giant beasts. The deep blue radiance in their hands was as sharp as divine weapons; even the exotic beasts whose primary trait was defense were instantly wounded, leaving gashing trails of cuts all over their bodies.

For a time, the mournful cries of the exotic beasts echoed endlessly. Within mere breaths, some had their legs hacked off, some had their wings severed, and others even had their protective shells sliced open with multiple gashes.

The members of the Xuantian Sect were burning with anxiety, never expecting that the giant beasts, which had been as indomitable as mountains just moments ago, would be defeated as easily as cutting vegetables under the onslaught of these black figures.

"Stop!" Fueled by anger, Yu Xuan charged toward one of the black figures. Channeling all his spiritual power, he swung his sword in an attempt to block the attack aimed at a beast, only to find that his spiritual sword snapped the instant it touched the deep blue blade in the opponent's hand, and the blade came straight at his body.

Alarmed, it was already too late for him to dodge sideways. He had no choice but to throw his palm forward with all his might, striking the opponent and instantly forcing the black figure back by three feet. Even so, he was grazed by the deep blue blade, which carved a bone-deep gash across his chest in a split second, sending a torrent of blood gushing out to stain his entire robe crimson.

"Supreme Elder!" Shocked, Qi Hong flew over to catch him in mid-air and handed him a medicinal pill.

Yet Yu Xuan stared blankly at his own palm, his eyes wide open with shock and disbelief. The palm strike he had just unleashed failed to sense even a wisp of vitality from the opponent. Those things were...

"Puppets!" he said urgently, "Those black figures are all puppets."

"What?!" Qi Hong's face was equally filled with shock. Could there be puppets this powerful in the world? Even an exotic beast at the Deity Transformation stage was no match for them in a single exchange.

"It's true. There is no vitality whatsoever in them; they are not living things at all," Yu Xuan affirmed decisively.

Everyone was stunned. They had heard of the art of puppetry, and some disciples had even practiced it, but they had never seen anything this powerful!

Meanwhile, the Bo Shi beside them suddenly thought of something. "Puppets... could it be... the legendary Heavenly Puppets!" Its expression shifted drastically, and at the thought, its entire remnant soul shuddered. "If that really is the case, we are in deep trouble!"

Watching more and more exotic beasts get injured, the Bo Shi gritted its teeth, let out an angry roar toward the sky, and its spiritual body instantly emitted a dazzling light.

Its transparent form suddenly expanded, transforming back into the mountain-sized giant it had been in the Beast City within the blink of an eye. Gale winds whipped up around it, instantly forming a massive wind vortex that dragged the dozen black shadow puppets into it, preventing them from advancing even an inch.

"All beast clans, retreat!" it shouted loudly.

The beasts that had been charging at the very forefront only then dragged their battered bodies back.

However, this move by the Bo Shi could only hold them off temporarily, and given that it was still merely a remnant soul, it could not last long. Sure enough, those dozen black shadow puppets quickly stabilized their stances, standing rigidly in place. Seeing that they could not break through the wind wall whipped up by the Bo Shi, the red lights on their foreheads flashed a few times before emitting an even more dazzling radiance.

Next, everyone witnessed a shocking spectacle. Those dozen puppets suddenly began to scatter and disintegrate like fireworks, transforming from their original humanoid shapes into clusters of black, sand-like fine particles. Like smoke and mist, they dispersed and spread across the entire sky.

"Wh... what is this?!" Not only Qi Hong and the others, but even the Bo Shi, which was maintaining the wind wall, was dumbfounded. An ominous premonition lingered in everyone's hearts.

True to that, the next moment, beams of red light ignited. The sea of black mist across the sky twisted and shifted like a massive red net, and then suddenly halted at a certain moment, darting toward the crowd with the rapid, myriad-arrow-shooting force of a downpour.

The Bo Shi's wind wall instantly collapsed, and its towering soul form was pierced right through. A glaring red light pressed down overwhelmingly from all directions.