Yellow Spring Great Sage's punch was powerful. It hit Sword Demon Patriarch in the face and knocked him flying backward.
When the onlookers saw him streak across the sky like a shooting star, they cheered excitedly. Soon, however, their voices came to an abrupt stop because they saw a figure step out of the void, all wrapped in black smoke. A hand reached out of the smoke, caught Sword Demon Patriarch, and stopped him from flying.
Sword Demon Patriarch looked somewhat dumbstruck and furious. He was a sword cultivator. Although his offensive ability was fearsome, he was weak in defense, especially his flesh. He never thought that Yellow Spring Great Sage could approach him and punch him in the face. Had the man behind him not appeared and caught him, he would have flown even further.
The power of the punch was simply terrifying.
'So this is his strength after turning bald?' Sword Demon Patriarch thought to himself. He had seen Yellow Spring Great Sage's fearful power, but he did not realize that it was so scary until he suffered it himself. 'Is that bread really so magical? No! It cannot be! How could a piece of bread be better than the Heaven-defying Fortune Wine?!'
The Patriarch lost his temper from embarrassment. He growled, and suddenly, the gourd hanging on his waist soared into the sky, the wine inside rolling and rumbling fiercely like waves. A popping sound could be heard as the cork was removed, then a thin stream of scarlet liquor poured out of it and slithered into Sword Demon Patriarch's mouth like a snake.
He drank greedily, savoring the wine as it went down into his belly. He felt as if a savage monster was roaring inside him, and his emotions were a little out of control.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed the gourd. The black smoke shrouding it faded, revealing the palm. It was a palm made of black metal, and the knuckles were joined with fine and tiny parts.
Sword Demon Patriarch's pupils constricted when he saw the hand. "Let go of that gourd!" he growled. A sword thrust out from him, leaving afterimages in the air as it went at the metal palm.
However, the metal hand ignored the sword, picked up the cork, and pushed it back into the gourd's mouth.
A clanging sound rang out. The sword, which Sword Demon Patriarch unleashed in his fury, hacked the palm, but it only managed to produce some bright sparks. That froze him, and as the gourd was corked, he calmed down. Then, he sucked in a cold breath and gave the gourd a frightened look. His mind was almost seized just now!
The benefits brought by the Heaven-defying Fortune Wine were amazing, but its side effect was dreadful. If he drank too much, he would lose control of himself, turn mad, and might even have a mental aberration.
That was why he almost drank himself to death but did not gain any significant result, and had he not been stopped by someone, his body would have burst apart. At the thought of that, Sword Demon Patriarch turned to look at the figure that saved him.
It was a burly figure exuding pressures that shocked even him. A terrible aura permeated the air and suppressed him, and it felt almost hard to breathe. As he stared at the figure, his eyes went wide, and his pupils constricted. 'This man should be the one who Nether Puppeteer said he would send to help me… But why do I find him familiar?'
Gradually, the black smoke that shrouded the figure faded away, exposing the man to every eye. His appearance immediately stunned the crowd. Every person sucked in a cold breath with a look of disbelief, and some were horrified. They never thought that this man would appear in front of them because he was supposed to be… dead!
He was a big man with a familiar face, and yet he was cold with no emotions at all. Countless black metal rods were stabbed into him across his body, and two larger ones made of an unknown material pierced him from his back to his chest. They made him look somewhat savage and ferocious. However, none of these was their focus.
Sword Demon Patriarch was so shocked that he could hardly breathe. "Nether King Tian Cang?!" he cried out with a frightened look in his eyes. 'Why did he show up again? He had already come back to life briefly in the previous battle, and he's here again? Why can't he just stay dead?!'
He had absolutely no confidence that he could beat Tian Cang. The man had etched too deep a shadow in his heart.
"Nether King Tian Cang?"
As Sword Demon Patriarch's voice rang through the skies, the people down below all widened their eyes and stared incredulously at the figure hovering in midair. A few moments later, they exploded into an uproar.
Yellow Spring Great Sage, with his bald head, looked at Nether King Tian Cang, and his eyes went wide as well. 'Did Er Ha eat the flatbread again? Wait… No, this is not right!' His face grew serious because he could sense a terrible aura from Tian Cang. It was hostility.
"Who is… Nether King Tian Cang…" the figure said indifferently, glancing at Sword Demon Patriarch. His face was devoid of emotion, and if one looked carefully, they could see countless fine lines all over it. Without a doubt, the face was pieced back together by someone.
Suddenly, Sword Demon Patriarch's eyes gleamed with an excited look as if he had thought of something, then he burst out laughing. "No… You are not Nether King Tian Cang! You are Nether Puppeteer's Nether puppet!" He found it hard to believe that Nether Puppeteer Patriarch had not shown this trump card all these years!
'This is scary… A puppet made with Nether King Tian Cang's body? How insane! I thought Tian Cang's body was smashed and turned into countless pieces when we fought him, and some pieces could not be found at all. I can't believe Nether Puppeteer had the patience to find them all and pieced them back together…'
"I am not Nether King Tian Cang. I am a Heavenly Nether Puppet," the puppet said, his eyes flashing.
A Heavenly Nether Puppet?!
The conversation between Sword Demon Patriarch and the Heavenly Nether Puppet was heard by all the people, and they were deeply shocked.
"Nether King Tian Cang's body was collected by someone and made into a puppet?"
"Who did that… This is madness!"
"Nether King Tian Cang was an expert who had touched that level. How fearsome will the puppet made of his flesh be?"
The puppet did not talk much to Sword Demon Patriarch. He didn't seem to like talking much either. Clutching the gourd with his metal palm, he brought it to his abdomen, where the skin parted and revealed a space. After he put the gourd inside, his abdomen closed up.
The scene made everyone understand that this man was indeed not Nether King Tian Cang, but a Heavenly Nether Puppet.
"You've gone too far…" Yellow Spring Great Sage had figured out what happened at last, and his anger for Nether Puppeteer Patriarch grew stronger. "This is simply immoral!"
Suddenly, he felt cold all over.
In the distance, the puppet looked over expressionlessly and scanned him with glowing scarlet eyes. The next moment, a rumbling sound rang out, and then the puppet had appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye!
"Target detected… Proceeding with the obliteration task now!" said the puppet in an emotionless, almost mechanical voice. After that, he threw a punch at Yellow Spring Great Sage.
Looking at Tian Cang's face, Yellow Spring Great Sage felt anger boil in him. He did not dodge, and he threw out a punch as well. The next moment, their fists collided in midair.
A shocking explosion broke out in the sky. The next moment, Yellow Spring Great Sage was knocked down from the sky and smashed hard into the ground like a cannonball. The earth rumbled and caved in, while powerful waves spread and hit the green barrier.
Bu Fang, sitting in the Black Temple with his gray-green hair, opened his mouth and yawned.
The Heavenly Nether Puppet had knocked Yellow Spring Great Sage to the ground with just once punch. His strength was simply terrifying. Even then, a series of clanging sounds rang out in the sky as he lifted an arm and pointed at the ground. After that, metal plates lifted along the arm, exposing several muzzles.
The next moment, scarlet energy beams shot out of the muzzles, all aiming at Yellow Spring Great Sage. The void twisted and distorted as they passed as if it was burned by extreme temperature. The power was extremely terrifying.
Yellow Spring Great Sage, of course, dared not to get hit by them. Without hesitation, he slapped the ground with both hands and pushed himself out of the energy beams' range.
In the sky, the puppet turned his arm, aiming the muzzles at Yellow Spring Great Sage. The energy beams moved and instantly cut the ground in half. Rocks crumbled while lava pushed through the cracked earth, crawling slowly in all directions. It was a frightening scene.
Sword Demon Patriarch, hovering in midair, felt cold, and he gasped as he looked at the Heavenly Nether Puppet. 'Nether Puppeteer is indeed… a freak. I can't believe he actually copied that man's guardian puppet and made such a formidable existence! This Heavenly Nether Puppet's offensive tricks are somewhat similar to that man's guardian puppet!'
Yellow Spring Great Sage ran as fast as he could, and he felt as if a fire was burning on his buttocks. Suddenly, he kicked the ground, leaped into the sky, and came in front of the puppet. His fist flashed goldenly as he cried out, "Tian Cang boy… I'm sorry!" Then, he threw the fist at the puppet's head.
All of a sudden, Yellow Spring Great Sage felt as if time was slowing down. His fist turned extremely slow, moving like a snail toward the puppet. Meanwhile, the puppet's eyes slowly turned and fixed at him.
"This…" Yellow Spring Great Sage was shocked.
Bam!
The next moment, the puppet's fist struck Yellow Spring Great Sage in the face, knocked him from the sky, and smashed him hard into the ground like a cannonball once again.
His strength was simply… frightful!
The whole ground was riddled with pits and had turned into ruins. The Black Temple was intact, though, as it was being protected by Bu Fang.
The puppet raised his arm, and metal plates lifted again, revealing the muzzles. "Target detected. He will be obliterated." His cold, emotionless voice rang out again, sounding as domineering as the Nether King Tian Cang who had once dominated Earth Prison and Nether Prison.
"Stop it!" Suddenly, a loud cry shook the skies and the earth, and then a shrill whistle grew louder and louder.
The puppet raised his head and saw an object was being flung at him from a distance. Instantly, his arm that had turned into muzzles transformed to its original look and caught the thing with a rumble.
He gave it a look and saw that it was the… Nether King Halberd.
At this moment, Er Ha flew across the sky and arrived, fixing his eyes at the Heavenly Nether Puppet in midair, as well as that familiar face.