Chapter 661: Whose Puppet Is More Powerful

“Clang! Clang! Clang!”

Xing Tian Fazun wore the Time-Protecting Magical Beads, moving several times faster than an ordinary person. In the blink of an eye, he had already reached Erlang Zhenjun’s side. Swish! Swish! Swish! He swung his axes rapidly, striking Erlang Zhenjun’s neck, forehead, and lower abdomen. After a series of crisp sounds, Tianxing Fazun suddenly leapt back dozens of meters.

“No wonder you’re Erlang Zhenjun! Your physical body has achieved sainthood—truly extraordinary!” Xing Tian Fazun was greatly surprised. Several axe blows hadn’t even scratched Erlang Zhenjun.

Erlang Shen was the foremost warrior among the immortals, bearing many titles: Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun, Qingyuan Miaodao Zhenjun, Zhaohui Xiansheng Renyou Wang, Erlang Zhenjun, and more. Xing Tian Fazun also knew Erlang Zhenjun possessed many formidable techniques—Jiu Zhuan Xuan Gong, Bay Jiu Yuan Gong, San Qing Divine Formula, Zongdi Jinguang, Zhidi Cheng Gang, Fatian Xiangdi, Sadou Chengbing, and the Divine Heavenly Eye, to name a few.

Moreover, Erlang Shen carried many magical treasures, such as the Demon Binding Chain, the Demon-Revealing Mirror, the Eight-Clawed Dragon Patterned Yellow Robe, and the Shanheshenji Painting.

Therefore, upon failing to injure Erlang Shen, Xing Tian Fazun quickly retreated.

Erlang Zhenjun furrowed his brows and said solemnly, “Your movement technique is amazing! How did you do it?”

“That, I cannot disclose!”

Xing Tian Fazun was somewhat of a cunning character, not particularly upright. Seeing that Erlang Shen possessed a saintly body, he shifted his focus to Meishan Qisheng (the Seven Holy Warriors of Meishan) and the Howling Heaven Dog.

“Hu! Hu!”

“Pu! Pu! Pu!”

“Cha! Cha! Cha! Cha!”

“Ahhhhhh!”

Taking advantage of their lack of the Time-Protecting Magical Beads, Xing Tian Fazun fully activated the beads and, at his fastest speed, launched a fierce assault on Meishan Qisheng and the Howling Heaven Dog. Xing Tian Fazun’s axes were supreme immortal artifacts. With each swing, lightning flashed, unleashing tremendous power.

Unlike Erlang Shen, Meishan Qisheng did not have saintly bodies. Under the relentless onslaught, they were quickly chopped into pieces, their heads severed, their deaths gruesome. The Howling Heaven Dog dodged quickly but still received a slash on its rump. It turned to bite Xing Tian Fazun, but he countered with a swift axe strike, cleaving it in two.

Just like that, Meishan Qisheng and the Howling Heaven Dog were dead…

Was it really that easy?

Even Xing Tian Fazun himself felt something was off.

After their deaths, Meishan Qisheng transformed into the corpses of a monkey, a long snake, a wild boar, a goat, a mountain dog, a wild ox, and a centipede—each very small. The Howling Heaven Dog turned into a large wolfhound!

“Eh… They’re fake! Could they actually be transformed demons?”

Xing Tian Fazun immediately leapt back again, staring at the corpses in shock. These were clearly just the remains of ordinary demons.

“You bastard! What have you done to them?”

Erlang Shen was stunned too, finding it hard to believe that his brothers had turned into demons.

Suddenly, Xing Tian Fazun burst into laughter. “I understand now! You are not true ancient immortals. You are all transformed demons—every one of you, including you, Erlang Shen!”

“Daring to slander me! I will make you die!”

Erlang Shen, his heart racing, immediately summoned a magical treasure and flung it into the air. It was none other than the Shanheshenji Painting.

The Shanheshenji Painting was a primordial divine treasure granted by Goddess Nuwa to Erlang Shen to fight Yuan Hong. Its power was boundless, even surpassing the Buddha Tathagata’s divine hand.

As soon as the Shanheshenji Painting appeared, the heavens and earth darkened.

Suddenly, Xing Tian Fazun found himself in an unfamiliar world. Around him were dense forests of towering trees, strange rocks, roaring waterfalls, and howling beasts. He tried to channel his magic to escape but found his powers suppressed. No matter how hard he tried, he could not fly.

“No! This is definitely not the real Shanheshenji Painting. You are a demon, and this primordial treasure must also be fake!” Xing Tian Fazun was not frightened. Roaring furiously, he immediately activated his supreme divine artifact and unleashed the Void-Crushing Formation against the trees and rocks around him. With a thunderous boom, the area was instantly cleared.

Wrapped in a purple glow, the Shanheshenji Painting transformed into a piece of tattered cloth in an instant.

“How could this happen? This is impossible!” Holding the Demon Binding Chain and wearing the Eight-Clawed Dragon Patterned Yellow Robe, Erlang Shen stared in shock at the ruined painting. “Bastard! What did you do? This was a primordial treasure granted by Goddess Nuwa! You couldn’t have destroyed it! How—how—how did you do it?”

Erlang Shen’s thoughts were in chaos.

“Fool! Don’t you see? You all perished long ago. In the last great war between immortals and demons, you were all slain by the Demon Emperor Wu Yazi. But a craftsman named Xuankong collected your souls and used his forging techniques to create your clones, fake treasures, making you believe you were still alive. In reality, you’ve been dead for ages. You are nothing but puppets now.”

Xing Tian Fazun, having learned Shui Miao’s thoughts and heard much from Chong Yuanzi, could easily deduce that this Erlang Shen was merely a puppet.

“No! You lie! This can’t be true! Watch my Demon Binding Chain!”

Erlang Shen immediately activated the Demon Binding Chain, which flew straight toward Xing Tian Fazun.

Xing Tian Fazun swung the backs of his two axes together, unleashing a bolt of lightning that struck the chain. The chain emitted a puff of green smoke and fell to the ground, transforming into a green snake. The snake writhed a few times before going still.

“Ha! Erlang demon! Now do you believe? You are all mere illusions created by demons. You are nothing but puppets of the demonic craftsman Xuankong. He merely placed a fragment of your soul into these puppets. Now, I won’t kill you. Go back and tell them: a bunch of demons trying to seize the heavenly court is nothing but a dreamer’s fantasy! If you know what’s good for you, leave the heavenly court immediately. If you dare challenge me, come to Jincheng anytime.”

With that, Xing Tian Fazun turned to leave.

“How dare you! I’ll finish you!”

Fueled by rage and shame, Erlang Shen suddenly lunged forward with his three-pointed, double-edged spear aimed directly at Xing Tian Fazun.

“Clang!”

A metallic sound rang out, and Erlang Shen was repelled backward.

Xing Tian Fazun laughed heartily without even turning around. “You, a mere demon, dare harm me? Not in your next life!”

“Whoosh!”

In an instant, Xing Tian Fazun vanished.

“Damn it! How could this happen? Why can’t I remember the war between immortals and demons? Could my soul really be trapped inside this puppet?” Erlang Zhenjun did not retreat but instead sat cross-legged on the spot, activating his Jiuzhuan Xuangong to recall past events and resolve his confusion.

At that moment, a surge of soul-devouring energy silently emerged from the direction of Jincheng, enveloping Erlang Zhenjun.

Inside the Time Tower, Shui Miao had been researching powerful magical treasures.

At the same time, he was multitasking, sensing the outside world.

Seeing Erlang Shen in this state, Shui Miao suddenly had an idea: Why not capture this puppet to study Xuankong’s formations and see how deeply he understood magical artifacts? If possible, he could even forge a replica of Erlang Shen’s puppet and use his enemy’s techniques against them, causing chaos among the ancient immortals. That would be quite amusing.

The soul-devouring energy was indeed released by Shui Miao.

Erlang Shen, focused on cultivation, remained completely unaware of the approaching soul-devouring energy.

Shui Miao originally intended to directly pull the Erlang Shen puppet toward him. But considering that Xuankong might have embedded some mysterious artifacts within the puppet, he specially deployed the soul-devouring energy to handle it.

If even someone like himself could make a puppet self-destruct, then Laozi, the Supreme Elder, might have hidden the Seven-Aperture Spirit Tree inside his treasure bag to monitor information.

Therefore, for safety, Shui Miao had to be cautious.

In an instant, Erlang Zhenjun was enveloped by the soul-devouring energy, and a flood of information surged into Shui Miao’s mind.

“So that’s how it works! It’s forged using Tianyuan Stone mixed with massive amounts of Taiyuan Qi. Various types of Taiyuan Qi were used to create this puppet. The Taiyuan Qi allows the soul attached to the puppet to move more freely, giving it a stronger sense of self, making it less likely to question its own existence. Additionally, the Taiyuan Qi can block external probing and observation. Although this puppet appears very lifelike, its power is weak and of little practical use.”

“Hmm?”

“Indeed, this puppet is very human-like—finely crafted, almost indistinguishable from a real person. Moreover, the materials used in this Erlang Shen puppet seem similar to those of the treasure bag…”

“Wait a second…”

Suddenly, Shui Miao wondered: Could Xuankong have hidden a Seven-Aperture Spirit Tree inside this Erlang Shen puppet as well?

At that thought, Shui Miao immediately gathered all his strength, directly extracting Erlang Shen’s soul from the puppet’s body, and then thoroughly searched it. Soon enough, he indeed discovered the Seven-Aperture Spirit Tree embedded within the puppet.

“Die!”

Upon sensing the Seven-Aperture Spirit Tree, Shui Miao was consumed with rage. Instantly, he unleashed the soul-devouring energy to corrode and destroy it.

From this, Shui Miao deduced that even Laozi, the Supreme Elder, was a puppet of Xuankong. All the ancient immortals were his puppets. Xuankong had been hiding in the mortal world, creating countless puppets—his goal was to completely overthrow the immortal realm and turn the entire immortal world into his puppets!

What a grand plan—to control the entire immortal realm with puppets! He truly dared to dream big!

Possibly, he had done the same to the demon realm!

Then, Shui Miao calmed his mind, continuing to hide while observing Erlang Shen’s memories and thoughts.

Meanwhile, the alchemical furnace inside the Time Tower began to rotate.

Shui Miao started forging—following the same methods but adding his own modifications—to create the Demon Binding Chain, the Demon-Revealing Mirror, the Eight-Clawed Dragon Patterned Yellow Robe, and the Shanheshenji Painting, each embedded with self-destruct formations. Then, he forged an Erlang Shen puppet, along with modified versions of the Substitution Mirror, the Pursuit Light Mirror, the Foreseeing Mirror, the Illusion Spirit Mirror, and other magical treasures, incorporating them all.

A super self-destructing divine warrior puppet was about to be completed.

Previously, Shui Miao had used the puppet of the Nine-Eyed Demon God to confront Wu Yazi. Today, he would use the Erlang Shen puppet to fight Xuankong. This time, his formations were even more profound and intricate than before.