Chapter 59: Seizing the Puppet's Body

Boom! Boom!

The battle between the two Nascent Soul experts instantly caused terrifying air currents to rage wildly within the cage, and dazzling radiances burst forth, frightening the others into fleeing in panic.

"Spare my life, Senior!"
"Save me!"

Under the aftermath of the battle between the two Nascent Soul cultivators, many people were killed instantly. The group of people from the Profound Dan Sect stood aside with ashen faces.

This included Bai Feng as well. Although he had been promised the status of a personal disciple of the Heavenly Emperor Sect Master, in reality, the other party had never taken him seriously at all.

When the fighting started, they completely disregarded whether he lived or died!

"What are you hitting me for?!"
"You're courting death!"

As the two sect masters clashed, the members of both sects also grew furious. Prompted by the battle between their leaders, they immediately broke out into a fierce brawl!

Neither side held back. In the blink of an eye, cries of anguish echoed once again across the small cage. Some rogue cultivators, driven to the very edges, desperately battered against the barrier in a vain attempt to escape, but only their desperate wails echoed through the empty space.

"Let me out!"
"Let me out!"
"I can join you!"

Listening to these mournful cries, a figure in a mysterious hidden dimension wore a mocking sneer at the corners of his mouth. Watching those people trapped in the earth cage, suffering a fate worse than death, the expression on his face carried a sense of supreme, detached enjoyment.

Meanwhile, in a pitch-black space where one could not see one's own fingers—a place completely unknown to everyone—a soft blue light was shining, faintly illuminating Ji Qingyou as she sat cross-legged in meditation.

She kept her eyes tightly closed, her hands crossed over her lower dantian, and her body radiated a blue light from the inside out. This light surrounded her in irregular shapes, as if absorbing something from this spatial realm.

Following the trail of the blue light, one could see a dying, monstrous entity whose body was of an illusory, transparent hue. As the surrounding blue radiance was absorbed, its form became increasingly transparent. It seemed to be suppressed by an invisible force, its upper body sprawled flat on the ground, struggling relentlessly yet completely unable to rise.

Despite being pinned to the ground, its ugly little eyes were filled with rage. Yet hidden beneath that suppressed anger was also an invisible terror, as if it had never encountered anyone capable of suppressing it and stripping away its power!

From time to time, it struggled in despair, but such struggles only caused it to grow weak all the more quickly, and the energy of its resistance was likewise absorbed by some unknown, ethereal force.

Gradually, the terror in its eyes grew thicker, and its body grew fainter. As it became increasingly transparent, the blue radiance emitted from Ji Qingyou, sitting cross-legged there, grew more and more intense, ultimately converging together to transform into the soul of a goddess.

It was her very own original appearance!

Bang!

The moment this blue divine soul took form, an ethereal force of confinement descended abruptly, making even this space feel as though it had grown heavy.

By now, the soul-monster on the ground had been completely subdued and thoroughly devoured by her; turning it into dust was merely a matter of time.

Next to that monster were layers upon layers of stacked human skeletons. Though their eyes were filled with terror, meeting such a fate today was nothing if not karmic retribution.

Hoo...

As the body of the transparent soul-beast was drawn inward like smoke,

the azure divine soul of Ji Qingyou condensed in the void, its might growing stronger and stronger, as if it were about to truly awaken.

Yet, it seemed something was still missing. Although she looked as though she might awaken at any second, she did not open her eyes from beginning to start...

"Anyone who dares touch the puppet shall die!"

Outside, the Master of the Heavenly Emperor Sect was surrounded by countless phantoms of the Heavenly Emperor, every single one of them wearing bloodthirsty gazes. When they erupted, anyone who dared approach the silver puppet was utterly smashed to pieces by him!

The Master of the Vajra Sect was hiding off to the side, coughing up blood from the blows he had received. He had never expected that old bastard to forcibly extract the power of his believers, sacrificing the lives of countless disciples within the sect in exchange for a brief moment of invincible might.

Behind him stood a colossal golden Buddha statue, but at this moment, the golden light of the Buddha statue was dim, its face contorted in agony, and numerous cracks split across its body, bleeding profusely.

This was the manifestation of severe injuries!

Yet, to let him abandon this powerful silver puppet because of this was something he was ten thousand times unwilling to accept! Moreover, they were in such an extremely dangerous place at this very moment!

This silver puppet was his only hope of escaping; to abandon this puppet was tantamount to abandoning his life!

"Great Samsara Art!"

Suddenly, he let out a roar. His body cracked apart like flaking wall plaster, and a stream of Buddha light burst forth, enveloping his divine soul and charging recklessly toward the silver puppet!

Given his current strength, he had clearly fallen into a disadvantageous position. If the battle continued, he would sooner or later be worn down and killed here!

Since that was the case, he might as well stake everything on one desperate gamble!

Taking advantage of the fact that the old bastard from the Heavenly Emperor Sect had not yet fully mastered the silver puppet, he would use his life as the price and his divine soul as a brand to imprint it entirely with his own mark!

Furthermore, within the Vajra Sect, there existed a divine technique capable of fleshly reconstruction.

As long as he could seize this puppet, everything would be worth it!

"You dare?!" Seeing the stream of golden light carrying the divine soul approach, the Master of the Heavenly Emperor Sect was both shocked and infuriated. The thought that the puppet he had fought so hard to seize at such a huge cost was about to be branded by someone else made his eyes split with rage.

He fought desperately to block it, but this stream of Buddha light had been formed at the cost of the Vajra Sect Master's very life!

Since their original strengths were roughly comparable, now that one side had directly paid with their life as a wager, the other side simply could not stop it no matter what!

Whoosh!

That stream of Buddha light directly shattered all the blocks put up by the Heavenly Emperor Sect Master, finally penetrating deep into the silver puppet left behind by Ji Qingyou.

Hoo!

As the divine soul carrying the Vajra Sect Master entered it, the silver puppet—which had previously stood motionless while emitting a mysterious aura—suddenly blossomed with a ring of silver ripples, exuding a powerful aura of revival!

"No!"
"We don't want to die!"
"If you want to die, don't drag us down with you!"

Feeling that familiar aura of death, the surrounding people fled in frantic terror. Among them was the Heavenly Emperor Sect Master as well.

Although he was angered to the point of madness, the terrifying nature of this silver puppet forced him to retreat!

At the same time.

As the divine soul of the Vajra Sect Master entered the Seven-Killed Puppet and used its formidable soul power to instantly activate it,

he discovered that within the silver puppet, there still lingered the residual soul imprint previously left behind by Ji Qingyou. This imprint was like a bone-corroding flame; although it was not as powerful as the Vajra Sect Master's divine soul, it possessed an undying characteristic.

Try as he might, he could not purge it!

After only a brief moment of hesitation, the Vajra Sect Master decided to overwrite it with his own divine soul imprint. Although this move was extremely dangerous and tantamount to handing his life over to the previous controller—

once a backlash occurred, he would die instantly!

However, that "Gai Jiuyou" had been dead for a long time. Although residual imprints remained within the silver puppet, it was already entirely an ownerless object.

Therefore, this concern did not exist!

Having completely taken control of the Seven-Killed Puppet left behind by Ji Qingyou, the face of the silver puppet instantly transformed to resemble the Vajra Sect Master.

A vast power of the Deity Transformation realm slowly revived within this puppet!