Puppet Battle

"Soul-Washing Liquid is most effective only on the first dose, and before forming a Nascent Soul. Its effects diminish drastically after that, so giving you more would be useless." The old man produced two jade vials containing the Soul-Washing Liquid and handed them to the young boy and girl, agreeing with her words. Then, with a casual point of his finger, he tapped lightly on the stone cauldron. The restriction inside the stone cauldron flashed, generating a vortex. The remaining Soul-Washing Liquid vanished, sent who knew where. Clutching the Soul-Washing Liquid, the two youths could barely tear themselves away from their prizes as they carefully tucked them away. "Very well! Junior Sister, we shall part ways from here. You stay on the perimeter and inspect the state of the ancestral restrictions and immortal restrictions once more. I will take the two of them to the Inner Hall and impart the true ancestral teachings to them," the old man said. The old woman nodded, then recalled something, her tone turning grave. "Be careful, Senior Brother. Lingzhuzi, the Demon Lord, and the others are all sly old foxes. It would be best not to cross paths with them. If they discover where our Four Sages Palace is located, they will certainly not let it rest. Ever since our ancestors' time, our Four Sages Palace has steadily declined, forcing us to withdraw from the world. We no longer possess our former glory and cannot afford any turmoil." The old man sighed faintly. "I actually hope that one of them can break through to the Deity Transformation stage and unlock our ancestors' hidden legacy. Perhaps there is a way to leave the Canglang Sea inside. Regrettably, we descendants are too inadequate; not a single one has broken through to Deity Transformation since, leaving us trapped forever in this cage-like place." The old woman fell silent as well. Afterward, the four teleported back to the wooden hall and emerged from the bank of clouds. The old woman departed alone. Meanwhile, the old man led the two disciples and flew toward the depths of the Inner Hall. ... The Trial Realm. Qin Sang stepped through the gate of the Hall of Seven Kills. He grew vigilant, uncertain of what the first trial would be. The instant he passed through the barrier, Qin Sang felt a sudden tightness throughout his body. Darkness engulfed his vision, and all the cultivators around him vanished, leaving him all alone. A moment later, light flared before his eyes. Qin Sang narrowed his eyes and surveyed his surroundings, finding himself inside a circular hall. The area was completely deserted, and beneath his feet lay a circular arena platform. At the rear of the hall, a flight of steps led to an upper level, but it was sealed off by a protective light barrier. *Is this a puppet battle?* Seeing this, Qin Sang's heart stirred as he recalled the information he had gathered earlier. A puppet battle meant facing various puppets on an arena platform until the puppets were completely destroyed or one fought to exhaustion and died; there was no conceding. Though the rules seemed brutal, relatively speaking, the puppet battle was considered one of the simplest trials. Supposedly, the puppets' strength was not overly absurd, and there was resting time in between. If someone daring to enter the Inner Hall lacked even the confidence to pass a puppet battle, they would truly be overestimating themselves. The puppet battle was also one of the most frequently appearing trials among the first three. Of course, that did not mean intruders could let their guard down. Puppets were not all the same, and some possessed strange abilities that could catch someone off guard if they were careless for even a moment. Standing at the center of the arena, Qin Sang looked left and right. The hall remained completely still. Qin Sang frowned slightly, wondering if he needed to trigger some mechanism, when the platform beneath his feet suddenly jolted. Several dark figures leaped out from it, encircling Qin Sang. "Six of them..." Qin Sang scrutinized the puppets. The puppets looked ferocious and completely identical, resembling fierce tigers crouched on the arena platform, baring their fangs at Qin Sang. Qin Sang let out a soft exclamation of surprise, feeling a sense of familiarity. These puppets closely resembled the puppet beasts on the first six floors of Heaven Tower, and even the manner of their appearance was nearly identical. *Puppet beasts on Heaven Tower's sixth floor gave even late Core Formation cultivators a hard time. Are these puppets about the same?* Qin Sang wondered. Just then, Qin Sang suddenly felt a fierce gust of wind rushing at him from behind. Without turning his head, he summoned the ebony sword and slashed out with joined fingers. *Swish!* The ebony sword hovered in midair, dividing into six sword beams that slashed simultaneously toward the six puppet beasts. *Boom!* The sword beams struck true, piercing right between the brows of every puppet beast with ease, punching finger-sized deep holes through their skulls. All six puppet beasts stiffened simultaneously, crumbling into sand and dust before dissipating completely. *They really are similar to the puppet beasts in Heaven Tower—of the same origin. But this didn't start at Foundation Establishment; every single one was comparable to the late Foundation Establishment stage. If the levels above are all like this, with so many puppet beasts appearing at once, ordinary people would truly be thrown into a fluster...* Qin Sang thought to himself. Having entered Heaven Tower twice, he was intimately familiar with the puppet beasts inside and well-versed in countering them, so he naturally felt no pressure. "Do you want to practice your moves, Fellow Daoist? In that case, I can take a rest for a while," Qin Sang said, glancing back over his shoulder. For some reason, Bai had emerged from the corpse puppet bag. Bai replied with little enthusiasm, "Out there, I felt there were still flaws in the fire curse seed. At too close a range, there's a risk of Old Devil Mou detecting it, so I'm trying to find a way to refine the restriction further." Qin Sang nodded, retrieved his sword, and walked toward the stairs. The moment he shattered the six puppets, the barrier over the stairs had vanished. Bai followed behind him, clutching the fire curse seed with a focused expression. Cultivators could regulate their breath on the stairs, but Qin Sang had no need for that and walked straight up to the second level. The second level was largely similar to the first. When new puppets leaped out, their strength had indeed risen by a tier, matching cultivators of the early Core Formation stage. Qin Sang broke through with unstoppable momentum, slaying the puppets with his flying sword without pausing once, clearing two consecutive levels of puppet battles before arriving at the fourth level. Upon arriving here, Qin Sang found there were no further stairs leading upward. *The final stage?* Qin Sang summoned his ebony sword, not daring to let his guard down. *Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!* Six leopard puppets leaped out. At the same time, Qin Sang suddenly sensed something, and understanding dawned on him. The requirement for this stage was not to defeat the puppets, but to hold out for the span of an incense stick under their siege to pass. Qin Sang's gaze focused sharply as he stared at the puppets, immediately realizing that this puppet battle was out of the ordinary. He noticed that the claws of the leopard puppets glinted coldly like sharp swords. Their positioning was also meticulous, not merely surrounding him in the center, but forming a distinct formation. *Swish!* One of the puppet leopards moved abruptly. The others followed closely behind. In that instant, Qin Sang had an illusion that the puppets around him had vanished, leaving behind only sharp, ever-shifting sword beams. "The person who crafted these puppet beasts is no simple character. A pity their power has been restricted, severely diminishing their strength; otherwise, even if you and I joined forces, it might have been perilous." Bai's sigh of admiration came from behind him; even he had been drawn by the spectacle. "It's not a puppet formation! It's a sword formation!" A flash of inspiration struck Qin Sang's mind, bringing sudden realization. The creator of the puppet beasts had used astounding methods to incorporate a sword formation into them. When the puppets attacked, there was even a trace of sword momentum to their movements. Seeing this, Qin Sang felt delighted rather than alarmed. He had long struggled to find a way to comprehend sword momentum, with no senior expert to guide him, leaving him to grope in the dark and piece together an awkward sword wheel. He had initially intended to focus on defense and ride out the span of an incense stick, but now that he had encountered a sword formation, he naturally would not let this opportunity slip away.