txolops Chapter 196 The Power of the Puppet
Chapter 196 The Power of the Puppet
At the beginning.
Hua Hong felt somewhat worried upon seeing the flying boat appear.
However, when he scanned the cultivation levels of the people in the flying boat with his divine sense, he immediately felt relieved.
He's just a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.
He is a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator and a descendant of a late-stage Core Formation ancestor.
Let alone mid-Foundation Establishment cultivators, he wouldn't even put late-Foundation Establishment cultivators in his eyes, thanks to the many treasures bestowed upon him by his ancestor.
"However, my arrival in the Western Wilderness must not be discovered by the Guardian Alliance, otherwise there will be danger. In order to prevent my whereabouts from being revealed, this person must die!" A ruthless glint flashed in Hua Hong's narrow eyes, and he had already developed the intention to kill Li Ping.
"The hypocrites of the Defenders of Morality Alliance, it's time for them to jump out and play the hero to save the damsel in distress, isn't it?" Hua Hong's lips curled into a cruel smile, as if he had already guessed Li Ping's next move.
To his astonishment, Li Ping not only showed no intention of playing the hero, but instead turned around and ran away without hesitation.
"Tch, coward!" Hua Hong's surprise was only momentary, and he immediately chased after her without hesitation.
Escape? Don't even think about it!
No one else will leave here alive today except him!
……
"Troublesome!" Li Ping frowned as he looked at the two people chasing after him.
The female cultivator ahead was alright; judging from her aura, she seemed to be injured, and he could easily handle her. But the male cultivator was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Even Li Ping wouldn't dare say he could easily deal with a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Whether it was Hu Feng or Liu Wusheng, whom he killed, there was an element of taking advantage of their unpreparedness to launch a sneak attack.
Li Ping has never tried to take down a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in a head-on one-on-one fight.
"Even if you can defeat me, you can't stop me from leaving if I want to," he thought to himself.
Just as the three were each harboring their own secrets, Wei Yiling, who was suffering from the double poison of Soft Dragon Powder and Joyful Union Powder, finally could no longer suppress the toxins in her body. She tried to escape, but her body could not control her and fell downwards.
Hua Hong watched from afar, not daring to approach her.
He worried that his senior sister was pretending to deceive him, and that she would suddenly attack him if he got too close.
However, he dared not let Wei Yiling fall from such a height.
He crashed to the ground from a height of tens of feet, leaving no trace of his body. He wouldn't be able to replenish his essence then.
Whoosh!
He threw out a black shield, which grew to several meters wide and supported Wei Yiling as she slowly landed on the ground.
"Success." Hua Hong breathed a sigh of relief when he scanned Wei Yiling with his divine sense and found that she had indeed been poisoned by the Soft Dragon Powder.
Looking at Wei Yiling's flushed face, and recalling her usual cold and arrogant demeanor, Hua Hong couldn't help but feel excited, wishing he could immediately and intensely replenish his energy.
"No rush. We still need to deal with that passing cultivator. We can't let him escape. If his whereabouts are revealed, it might attract the attention of the Guardian Alliance cultivators. Let's take care of him first." Hua Hong released a second-tier spirit beast resembling a black tiger from his spirit beast pouch at his waist and ordered it to guard Wei Yiling.
Then, he used a secret technique to transform into a streak of blood-red light and quickly chased after the direction Li Ping had left in.
He was already a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and now that he had used a high-level escape technique, his speed was incredibly astonishing, much faster than the Phantom Shuttle, and he caught up with Li Ping in the blink of an eye.
"Fellow Daoist, why are you in such a hurry to leave? I think the scenery here is quite nice, and it's a perfect resting place for you. Why don't you stay here today? Hahaha..." Hua Hong laughed loudly.
A massive, blood-red hand, several meters in size, reached straight for the flying boat!
Li Ping hadn't expected him to have this move, and before he could react, the back half of the flying boat was grabbed by the large hand.
Without time to react further, he hurriedly transformed into a streak of light and left the flying boat.
And at the very moment he flew away—
"Click~ Click~"
With a sudden squeeze of the crimson hand, the Phantom Shuttle was shattered into pieces. The flying boat that had accompanied Li Ping for decades was destroyed just like that.
Li Ping had initially wanted to negotiate, but now he was enraged. He coldly said, "You destroyed my flying boat, so pay with your life!"
Whoosh!
With a tap on the storage bag, two streaks of light flew out from it.
One of the streaks of purple-gold light pierced directly towards Hua Hong, within which a small fork, about a foot long, could be faintly seen. The other streak of blood-red light suddenly expanded, transforming into a shield several feet high, blocking Li Ping and protecting him from the incoming attack.
When Hua Hong saw the purple-gold flying fork coming, he calmly patted his storage bag, and a blood-patterned black hammer flew out, which he controlled and began to fight with the purple-gold fork.
When he looked again at the shield in front of Li Ping, he was instantly stunned: "The Blood Transformation Shield, isn't that the magic weapon Elder Yan used? How did it end up in this person's hands?"
Although Hua Hong's true purpose in coming to Fenglan Immortal City was to replenish Wei Yiling's essence, his nominal mission was to investigate Yan Liming's leak of secrets. Given his cautious nature, he naturally also consulted relevant information about Yan Liming.
The information clearly states that Yan Liming used the top-grade magic weapon "Blood Transformation Shield" before he reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
"Could this person be related to Yan Liming?" Thinking this, Hua Hong was overjoyed: "If we can capture this person, the mission to investigate Yan Liming's leak might also be completed!"
The cave dwelling in the valley was something he deliberately dug to trap Wei Yiling; in reality, he couldn't find any trace of Yan Liming at all. Turning the page, it was another world. He only found a storage bag filled with a lot of useless items.
Unexpectedly, this is where the breakthrough came from.
"Killing two birds with one stone, double happiness!" At this moment, Hua Hong felt that even God was on his side.
……
While Flying Fork and Little Hammer were locked in combat, Hua Hong made another hand seal, and a blood-red hand reached out to grab Li Ping, intending to capture him.
"Hmph!" Li Ping snorted coldly, taking the blood-red banner into his hand.
At the same time, a figure dressed in black robes appeared out of thin air beside him; it was Jia Yi, a second-tier high-grade puppet he had created.
Under Li Ping's divine control, Jia reached for his waist and pulled out a small, exquisite, emerald-green bow, a few inches in size, with clearly visible patterns on its limbs.
Jia stared blankly at Hua Hong, stretched out one hand, and the exquisite small bow rapidly enlarged to its normal size, which he then grasped in his hand. With his other hand, he drew a black arrow from the quiver on his back!
Without hesitation, he drew his bow and nocked an arrow, slowly pulling back the bowstring and aiming it directly at Hua Hong in the distance. Brilliant spiritual light emanated from the bow and the arrow.
"What?" Hua Hong was also surprised to see that there was suddenly another person next to Li Ping.
But after quickly scanning with his divine sense, he determined that the newly appeared person was actually a puppet.
However, upon seeing that astonishing spiritual light, he dared not be careless in the slightest. A dark shield flew out of his storage bag, rapidly enlarged, and floated in front of him.
Li Ping dodged the blood-red hand in a flash, secretly manipulating the Blood-Corroding Poison to spread towards Hua Hong.
At the same time, Jia Yi immediately released his grip!
"boom!"
With a deafening roar, a black streak of light rushed toward Hua Hong at an alarming speed.
boom!
The arrow collided directly with the dark shield, and with a huge impact, the black arrow turned into ashes.
Under this terrifying impact, the dark shield also lost all its luster, its surface covered with cracks, and finally shattered into countless fragments with a series of cracks.
Hua Hong's face was grim; his shield was a second-tier high-grade magic weapon.
As a result, the puppet destroyed it with a single blow, indicating that its strength had definitely reached the late Foundation Establishment stage.
"Not bad!" Li Ping was quite satisfied with Jia Yi's performance when he saw this.
If he were to use the bow and arrow, its power would probably be inferior to that of the first-class weapon. After all, it can unleash a massive amount of mana equivalent to that of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator at once, something Li Ping cannot do.
However, correspondingly, unleashing such a full-force attack also consumes an exaggerated amount of spirit stones.
Li Ping could sense that more than a third of the spiritual power within Jia Yi's mid-grade spirit stone had been consumed in the previous attack.
One more attack and we'll have to exchange spirit stones!
"Continue the attack!" Li Ping didn't hesitate; he had plenty of spirit stones!
……
With a blank expression, A drew another arrow from the quiver on his back.
Draw your bow and nock your arrow; lock onto Hua Hong.
"A top-grade magic artifact, a second-tier high-grade puppet..." Hua Hong's expression changed, no longer daring to underestimate Li Ping: "This guy is not simple, we can't be careless, we must capture him as soon as possible!"
He's decided to play his trump card.
Whoosh!
Faced with the puppet's full-force attack, Hua Hong's body plummeted to the ground.
Then, he carefully took out a golden talisman from his storage bag, tore it open, and a ball of golden light quickly formed, enveloping him.
He then sat down cross-legged, took out a talisman with a small blood-red sword drawn on it from his storage bag, and carefully infused it with magic power.
boom!
The black streak of light struck the golden shield directly, turning the arrow to ashes, while the golden shield only rippled slightly before remaining completely still.
A sneer appeared on Hua Hong's lips. A third-tier Vajra Talisman was not so easy to break.
Once he activates the talisman in his hand, it will be the opponent's death day.
……
"It actually blocked it. It should be a third-tier spirit talisman, and... what he has is a talisman treasure. Even with the magic power of a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, it still needs to be treated like this. This is no ordinary talisman treasure!" Li Ping made a judgment instantly.
The talisman possesses one-tenth the power of the magic weapon itself.
In other words, the stronger the main magic weapon, the more terrifying the power contained in the talisman.
The talisman crafted by a cultivator in the early stage of Core Formation is naturally incomparable to that crafted by a cultivator in the late stage of Core Formation.
Of course, the more power a talisman contains, the more time and mana it will take to activate.
The two talismanic treasures in his hands, the Fire Ring and the Void Seal, were both crafted by early-stage Core Formation cultivators. With his mid-stage Foundation Establishment power, he could activate them in just a moment.
Judging from the serious demeanor of this person, the talisman in his hand was most likely crafted by a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator, or even a late-stage Core Formation cultivator.
With such power, once activated, Li Ping would have no choice but to flee!
"We must stop him!"
His conventional methods were no longer effective against third-tier spirit talismans.
Even if dozens of second-tier high-grade spirit talismans are thrown at it, this shield can only hold out for a moment.
"It's too late!"
Li Ping made a quick decision, and the venom sac of the third-tier poisonous dragon appeared in his hand.