Chapter 1665: Battlefield Shift (Part Two)

The falling Zhao Min was covered in blood. A large patch of flesh was missing from her right ribs, and blood continued to drip. She didn’t even have time to heal. She now understood what Gong Chenying meant about how hard it had been for Li Yan and the others to face a Spirit Transformation expert. They were fighting with their lives, yet they were being crushed. Every exchange left them more injured. But Zhao Min’s face showed no pain, as if the flesh weren’t hers.

She sensed the golden rope above her vanish. Then a stronger pressure descended. She grew more vigilant, thinking the rope was going to ambush her by hiding in the void. But her Divine Sense revealed the rope was flying past her toward the ground. Zhao Min’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest despite her injuries and being trapped. Li Zhaoyan was standing at the gate, looking up, having not reacted at all. Not just her—none of the Golden Core disciples at the gate had reacted. This was a Spirit Transformation master’s attack; they couldn’t even sense it. In their Divine Sense, the experts were still fighting in the sky, and no one was paying them any mind.

“Zhaoyan, retreat!”

“Zhaoyan!” Zhao Min’s voice shook the area, joined by Mo Qing’s. Mo Qing chased the golden rope, but as he sent a warning, a cold snort reached his ears.

“You can die too!” The cultivator rushing toward Zhao Min didn’t even look back. He just waved a hand, and another giant axe appeared before Mo Qing, cleaving down. This axe wasn’t as powerful as the one Gong Chenying faced, but it was enough to make Mo Qing’s hair stand on end. He didn’t dare to take it directly and had to dodge. These Spirit Transformation masters truly weren’t that exceptional; had it been someone like Xue Longzi, only Gu Jiuqi would still be standing.

As Mo Qing dodged, the falling Zhao Min punched the green shell with all her might. This slowed her descent, and the Spirit Transformation cultivator caught up instantly.

Boom!

With her all-out eruption, the green shell shook violently. A massive sound echoed from within. Cracks appeared on the shell, and the Heaven-Demon White Jade Disk unleashed unprecedented power, but it still didn’t shatter. At the same time, the approaching Spirit Transformation cultivator let out a cackle. His divine abilities were beyond the imagination of a mere Nascent Soul. The golden rope appeared above Li Zhaoyan, who still hadn’t sensed the danger. Everything was too fast. She saw her mother falling and the golden rope chasing her. Her hand was still over her mouth; she didn’t want to affect the battle with her screams. Her eyes and Divine Sense were still on the previous moment.

But then, Li Zhaoyan felt a massive force. Several voices reached her ears simultaneously—her mother’s frantic voice (which was no longer cool, but a roar) and Senior Uncle Mo’s voice. As she was sent flying back into the gate by the massive force, her sect token flashed, recognizing her identity and allowing her through. In that moment, another voice reached her ears.

“Don’t come out!”

As everyone watched, just as the golden rope was above Li Zhaoyan, a massive arm descended from the sky. It seemed to extend infinitely, and with incredible speed, it slapped Li Zhaoyan away. The golden rope missed her by a hair, passing through the space where she had stood.

Bai Rou had saved Li Zhaoyan, but it had left her vulnerable. She was in the middle of a fierce battle with a late-stage Nascent Soul enemy. As she sensed the crisis, Bai Rou felt a wave of self-annoyance. Not at Li Zhaoyan, but at herself! When the Dual Ancestors were at her stage, they could use the Thousand-Net Ancient Ape to face multiple demon generals at once, including late-stage ones. Why was she so incompetent?

She had seen the Golden Core disciples rush out to retrieve the fallen elders, and she had seen Li Zhaoyan among them. She felt a sense of pride. Though she was weak-willed, she didn’t want Li Zhaoyan to be like her. She envied the resolve of Zhao Min and Gong Chenying. But then she realized something was wrong. Everyone had retreated into the gate, but Li Zhaoyan was looking up. At that moment, Bai Rou sensed something falling toward Li Zhaoyan. She shuddered.

‘Oh no!’ She shouted in her heart. Without a second thought, the puppet’s arm extended and slapped Li Zhaoyan back. Since the Spirit Transformation experts were fighting higher up, and the Nascent Soul circle was below them but above the sect, she had a distance advantage. But by doing so, she exposed a weakness. Her enemy’s meteor hammer turned into a streak of light and struck her.

Boom!

The giant ancient ape puppet was struck in the head. It wobbled, and its head erupted with blinding green light. Although it blocked the strike and its head didn’t shatter, its body began to fall. Bai Rou felt dizzy. The puppet control method she learned from Shuang Qingqing involved merging the person with the puppet to maximize combat power. But it required the Divine Sense and magical power to be fully linked to the array, making the puppet feel like one’s own body. With the strike to the head, Bai Rou’s mind was shaken and her magical power became chaotic.

Seeing his strike land and the troublesome puppet falling, the Nascent Soul enemy blurred and followed. Bai Rou suppressed her discomfort and tried to stabilize herself. The enemy caught up instantly. Seeing the puppet trying to regain its footing, he gave her no chance to breathe. He yanked the chain of his meteor hammer and threw it. The hammer and chain swung around the ancient ape’s legs. The delay in the puppet’s internal array meant its reactions were slow. In a battle of this level, a moment decided life and death.

The chains rattled. Bai Rou felt her legs restricted. The chains glowed with intense light. With a series of grinding sounds, the puppet’s legs were locked. Sparks flew from the friction. In just that moment, the Nascent Soul enemy arrived before the puppet. He raised his arms toward its neck, holding a mass of pale white fire.

Bai Rou’s eyes narrowed inside the puppet. ‘Has this person refined some type of unique fire?’ Though the fire had just appeared, she felt a bone-chilling cold. His artifacts and techniques were only decent, but this pale white fire gave her an extremely bad feeling. He hadn’t used it for the past ten seconds; it was either a trump card for life-saving or a lethal strike, or using it took too much of a toll. Bai Rou was right: he had found this fire during his travels but hadn’t fully refined it. Using it would cause him significant backlash, but with this chance to trap the puppet, he wouldn’t miss it. The person controlling this puppet had started to terrify him. Initially, he had regained the advantage after she took the initiative. But as they fought, her attack power increased. It was as if she had just started using the puppet and was becoming familiar with it. And she was becoming familiar too fast! He wasn’t sure he could win anymore. Now that he had a chance, he had to kill her. He didn’t care about the elder’s orders to capture her anymore.

As he summoned the pale fire, his magical power fluctuated wildly. The fire was unstable. But he knew he could control it; he just needed half a breath’s time. Just then, the puppet didn’t use its hands to attack or summon a spell. Instead, its eyes lit up with green light. Bai Rou saw him closing in, and her puppet was too large for her to block with her hands in time. Thus, she made a decision. She traced a strange rune with her slender finger. But as she was about to release it, another shock occurred.

An attack hit her from behind. The enemy was incredibly fast. With the front attack approaching and her legs locked—and not just locked, but with the chain restricting a small area of space—she realized she had to take the hit.

Thump!

A golden light struck the puppet’s back. It was a section of the golden rope. The front of the rope had turned into a sharp, gleaming spearhead. It was the same rope that had targeted Li Zhaoyan. The Spirit Transformation master hadn’t expected his certain kill to be interrupted. It was a giant puppet. He was momentarily dazed before seeing the puppet struck by the hammer. He was furious. Everything today had been restricted, and he was being blocked by a group of little Nascent Soul cultivators. He abandoned his attack on Zhao Min. With a thought, the Immortal-Binding Rope turned and targeted the ancient ape. Since it was restricted by the chain, he saw no reason to use it for binding.

The Immortal-Binding Rope was as fast as an arrow, its golden spearhead carrying irresistible force. This was a strike from a Spirit Transformation master who was being besieged by four experts and still held his own. Bai Rou couldn’t react in time. She was struck the moment she sensed the danger. Amidst a muffled sound, green light erupted from the puppet’s back, but a hole appeared instantly. The golden spearhead didn’t pass through entirely, but the force was massive.

Bai Rou felt an intense, endless pain in her sea of consciousness. The Canopus Big Dipper Array stuttered. Fortunately, the puppet was made of Thousand-Silk Stone, an extremely rare material. Even a strike from a Spirit Transformation master couldn’t destroy it completely. But the force of the strike seeped in through the hole. Bai Rou’s finger was still holding the rune, but her body had stiffened. With the array interrupted and the shock of the massive power, her mind became a mess. The Canopus Big Dipper Array was powerful enough to fight across realms, but its backlash was equally immense once the defense was broken. As her mind blurred, Bai Rou’s last remaining consciousness drove the rune into the formation before her!