The black-robed young man faltered slightly at the sight of Han Li and Zhi Shui's resistance, but a cold smile then appeared on his face. "Interesting! I didn't think that you'd be able to withstand one of my attacks, but your resistance is futile." He then pointed a finger at the two of them, and two balls of black light shot forth from his fingertips, reaching Han Li and Zhi Shui in the blink of an eye.
Blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he was able to determine that the black speck of light was a black pea-sized pill-like object.
Even though it appeared to be completely mundane, Han Li naturally didn't dare to allow it to approach him.
He immediately took a deep breath before opening his mouth to expel a streak of azure sword Qi, which sliced through the black pill in a flash.
In the next instant, the two halves of the pill exploded into two bursts of inky-black flames that immediately inundated Han Li's entire body.
The devilish flames erupted into the sky as a scorching black pillar, and the black-robed young man was clearly very confident in his devilish flames, as evidenced by the fact that he completely lost interest in Han Li after he was swept up by the flames.
Compared to Han Li, he was much more interested in Zhi Shui, who had been able to remain virtually completely unaffected by his initial attack.
Zhi Shui was still expressionless as ever as he raised before grabbing toward the oncoming burst of black flames.
A dull thump rang out, and the black pill exploded into devilish flames that devoured Zhi Shui's body in the instant that it came into contact with his hand.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns was very alarmed to see this, and she immediately activated a mysterious treasure within her own body.
A burst of astonishing energy fluctuations erupted from the treasure, and her body shuddered as he flew up out of the ground.
A series of shimmering golden spiritual patterns then emerged over her skin, instantly spreading over her entire body. These patterns were completely identical to those on Zhi Shui's body, except they were golden rather than silver.
Meanwhile, the Long Family patriarch and the others were still firmly entrenched in the ground. Whenever they tried to muster up some magic power or unleash a secret technique to escape from this predicament, their bodies would immediately go numb, and they wouldn't even be able to lift a single finger, as if there were gargantuan mountains weighing down upon them.
In the instant that the golden patterns appeared over Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns' body, Zhi Shui seemed to have sensed something, and the silver patterns on his own body flashed violently as he opened his mouth before expelling a burst of silver soundwaves toward the oncoming flames.
An earsplitting shriek tore through the entire heavens, and the devilish flames shuddered slightly upon coming into contact with the silver soundwaves before disintegrating into specks of black light.
Following that soundwave attack, the silver patterns on Zhi Shui's body instantly dimmed significantly, and he continued to stand on the spot in a wooden manner.
"Oh? So this is a Faux Immortal Puppet. Hold on, that's not right, it's aura is far inferior to that of a true Faux Immortal Puppet." A hint of surprise appeared on the black-robed young man's face, but that was soon replaced by a cold smile as he extended a finger toward Zhi Shui again.
Judging from what he had just said, this Zhi Shui was nothing more than a mere puppet!
A ball of black light shot forth out of his fingertip amid a sharp screech, then transformed into a thin black needle that reached Zhi Shui in a flash.
In response, the silver patterns on Zhi Shui's body suddenly detached themselves from his skin, then transformed into an antiquated silver shield that positioned itself in front of him.
In the next instant, a resounding boom rang out, and the shield shuddered violently.
A ball of black light erupted before vanishing in a flash, and a small hole that was as thick as a human thumb was left on the shield's surface.
Zhi Shui remained completely still on the spot, but a burst of grey glacial Qi suddenly erupted from his body before transforming into a dozen or so thick grey tentacles.
The tentacles swept violently through the surrounding air, and a bone-chilling howl of fury could be heard coming from the tentacles.
The black-robed young man's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he merely continued to look on with a cold smile.
After the span of a few breaths, the dozen or so tentacles were suddenly vanquished, and the silver shield also vanished in a flash.
Zhi Shui collapsed to the ground without any warning, and a small hole that was identical to the one on the silver shield had appeared on his glabella.
Not only had the devilish needle released by the black-robed young man pierced through the silver shield, it had also run through Zhi Shui's head with ease.
Strangely enough, there was no blood flowing out of the wound. Instead, it was a type of extremely viscous Yin Qi that was almost in a liquid form.
"I see, so this puppet is being fueled by the devilish soul power of Heavenly Devilish Monarchs instead of Immortal Origin Crystals. With such a farcical combination, it's no wonder that this Faux Immortal Puppet is so weak. Were you the one who placed the devilish soul into this puppet?" the black-robed young man asked as he turned to Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns with a cold expression.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns' eyes were filled with incredulity and horror as she witnessed Zhi Shui collapsing to the ground, and before she could say anything, she also slumped onto the ground as the golden patterns on her body began to blur.
At the same time, her aura began to fluctuate dramatically, and the golden spiritual patterns on her skin began to fade in and out of existence.
The black-robed young man faltered slightly, but then immediately burst into laughter as if he had just figured out something. "You possess a half-puppet physique!"
"Haha, of course it's impossible for a mere Body Integration Stage being to control a Faux Immortal Puppet! Even though you've refined your own body into a half-puppet body to better control the puppet, the backlash from the immortal patterns will be enough to kill you! Having said that, seeing as you delivered this Faux Immortal Puppet right to my doorstep, I'll put you out of your misery."
The black-robed young man swept a hand toward Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns as he spoke, and spatial fluctuation erupted before him as a black dagger that was around half a foot in length emerged.
The dagger was giving off extremely fearsome spiritual pressure, and it disappeared as soon as it emerged.
In the next instant, black light flashed, and the dagger suddenly reappeared at its original spot.
All of a sudden, Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns let loose a bloodcurdling cry, and her body and soul were sliced into two without any warning, while her protective spiritual light, and her defensive treasures were left completely unscathed.
The two halves of her body thumped down onto the ground and burst into devilish flames before being incinerated into ashes in the blink of an eye, leaving only a small translucent coral-like tree with red leaves lying on the ground.
"So your true form is a Thousand Autumns Spirit Tree; no wonder you were able to refine yourself into a half-puppet body. This spirit tree just so happens to be something that I'm looking for." A hint of surprise appeared on the black-robed young man's face at the sight of Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns' true body, but he then immediately chuckled as he made a grabbing motion, drawing the Thousand Autumns Spirit Tree into his grasp.
A pleased look appeared in the black-robed young man's eyes, following which he turned toward the Long Family patriarch and the others, who were still immobilized by the giant devilish hand. A cold smile appeared on his face as he pointed a finger at the black dagger, which repeated the process of vanishing before reappearing twice in succession.
Two more bloodcurdling cries rang out from beside the pond, and Elder Hui and the elderly scholar's bodies were also sliced in half before being incinerated into nothingness.
The Long Family patriarch and the woman from the Ye Family immediately turned deathly pale upon seeing this.
"That's a Profound Heavenly Treasure!" the Long Family patriarch exclaimed in horror.
Aside from a legendary treasure of that caliber, there was nothing else that could kill Body Integration Stage beings like them so easily.
They had already realized that this black-robed young man was definitely a Sacred Ancestor, but they didn't think that he would release a Profound Heavenly Treasure from the get-go. The two of them had originally planned to try and negotiate with the black-robed young man, but those intentions had completely evaporated, and they both began to unleash their life-saving trump cards.
The Long Family patriarch let loose a loud roar as he suddenly laid a hand onto the top of his own head, upon which a five-clawed true dragon emerged amid a flash of golden light.
Initially, the golden dragon was only around an inch in size, but immediately swelled to over 100 feet, before letting loose a thunderous roar.
Meanwhile, the woman from the Ye Family gritted her teeth before expelling a mouthful of blood essence, which formed a cloud of blood mist that instantly disappeared into her five-colored feather dress.
The delightful cry of a phoenix immediately rang out, and countless bursts of five-colored light erupted forth before transforming into an extremely intricate suit of armor that encapsulated her entire body. Even her face was now concealed by a five-colored visor, through which only her eyes were visible.
