Just as Li Fan was puzzling over the situation, he suddenly sensed something. His expression shifted slightly as he scanned his surroundings.
In the deep sea, tiny points of blue light converged from all directions, flying toward Tian Yang’s cave dwelling.
Li Fan reached out, intercepting one of the blue specks and examining it in his palm.
Pure water attribute spiritual qi...
In that instant, understanding dawned upon him. He immediately made the most prudent decision.
Activating the Shadow Stalk Art, his figure blurred like a phantom as he shot into the volcanic vent.
The others were still marveling at the increasing number of blue specks.
"Water Spirit Body! That Zhang Haobo actually possesses a Water Spirit Body!" Someone finally grasped the situation, exclaiming in astonishment.
"I understand now! Those with a Water Spirit Body have an innate affinity with spiritual qi. As long as he's above this vast sea, he never needs to worry about spiritual qi depletion. No matter how quickly he expends it, the plentiful water attribute spiritual qi surrounding us will rapidly replenish his reserves!"
"Then that means..."
"Dammit, someone beat us to it!"
"Charge, Fellow Daoists!"
The Qi Refinement cultivators who had come to their senses scrambled after Li Fan, rushing headlong into the volcanic vent in their desperate bid to seize whatever opportunities lay within.
Li Fan, who was one step ahead of them, had already passed through the lava and entered Tian Yang’s cave dwelling.
Weaving past the battling mechanical puppets and Zhang Haobo, Li Fan swept the area with his divine sense, searching for any trace of He Zhenghao's remains.
But having been through several intense battles, the place was a wreckage-strewn mess.
The full-powered onslaught of seventeen Nascent Soul mechanical puppets was truly terrifying.
It looked as if some monstrous force had sheared away a layer from the hardened floor of the cave dwelling. There was no sign of an intact body; not even a storage ring could be seen.
There was only some barely identifiable debris scattered on the ground.
Li Fan's eyelids twitched at the sight. Hearing the other cultivators closing in from behind, he didn't hesitate. He swiftly gathered all the debris he could find.
Then he too charged deeper into the cave dwelling, hoping to find anything else of value.
It was at that moment that he heard an ancient, mechanical voice suddenly resonate within the cavern.
"TIAN..."
Li Fan froze, a sense of foreboding welling up within him.
He looked toward the source of the voice. It was one of the mechanical puppets.
While suppressed by Zhang Haobo's Water Dragon's Roar, these dark-red mechanical puppets seemed to be undergoing some kind of transformation.
Rage accumulated within their cores.
Like a volcano abruptly awakening after slumbering for a millennium, cracks began to appear across the puppets' bodies, revealing a faintly sinister darkness within.
"YANG..."
Seeing this, Zhang Haobo increased the ferocity of his attacks with the Sea-Calming Swords. It appeared that he had been holding back his strength even during the previous intense battle.
The puppets were still at a disadvantage, but the unease in Li Fan's heart grew stronger. So he decisively turned against the flow of cultivators, attempting to retreat.
"IS..."
The cracks on the puppets multiplied, like porcelain on the verge of shattering into pieces.
“NOT...”
Boom!
Under the Water Dragon's Roar, the mechanical puppets that reportedly possessed Nascent Soul realm strength shattered one after another.
Like vases dashed against the ground, they instantly fractured into countless tiny fragments.
The countless water swords flying everywhere suddenly stilled.
Zhang Haobo stared dumbfounded at the scene before him.
"How is this possible?"
It wasn't just Zhang Haobo; every cultivator present was shocked by what they had just witnessed.
Their eyes darted back and forth between Zhang Haobo and the countless fragments littering the ground, minds swirling with confusion.
Were these mechanical puppets just hollow shells, all show and no substance?
Or was this Zhang Haobo, who appeared to be a mere Qi Refinement cultivator, actually a mighty expert concealing his true power?
Li Fan was equally stunned by this unforeseen turn of events, halting in his tracks.
He stared at the shattered puppet remains, his thoughts racing.
Amid the dead silence, every single fragment began to vibrate.
“WEAK—..." A mechanical voice emerged once more.
This time, it came from all the fragments simultaneously.
Tens of thousands of voices spoke as one, their combined roar echoing throughout Tian Yang’s cave dwelling.
“—ER..."
Amid this chilling chorus, the black and red fragments trembled, moving and gathering together as if they were alive.
Amid a cacophony of grinding and crunching, the pieces slowly fused into a single mass.
"THAN..."
A powerful sense of crisis screamed within Li Fan's heart.
He abruptly accelerated, shooting toward the cave dwelling's exit.
As he passed the still-stunned Zhang Haobo, he altered his course slightly, grabbing him.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, we must flee!"
To prevent any struggle, Li Fan instantly activated his Insect Binding divine ability, immobilizing him.
Zhang Haobo, who had still been gaping at the bizarre state of the puppet fragments, suddenly heard a voice and then found his body completely paralyzed.
Terror gripped him, but hearing the other's words, he felt a sliver of reassurance.
He looked toward his captor, but the figure had concealed their appearance, and their form was indistinct.
Yet, the fact that they could restrain him so effortlessly with a single gesture, leaving him no chance to resist, meant their strength was likely unfathomable.
A chill ran down Zhang Haobo's spine, and he allowed this mysterious figure to pull him along, through the lava, out of the volcanic crater, and back to the depths of the sea.
“OTHERS...”
As the puppet fragments finished reassembling, a massive, black hand crisscrossed with cracks manifested before the crowd.
A dazzling, sinister crimson light swirled within the fissures of the gigantic hand.
A mechanical yet furious roar erupted from it.
"TIAN... YANG... IS... NOT... WEAKER... THAN... OTHERS..."
Like the roar of a vicious primordial beast, the giant hand clenched its five fingers into a fist.
It swung forward.
Li Fan, who was fleeing at top speed with Zhang Haobo, grimaced and pushed his speed even further.
A thunderous explosion erupted from the volcano.
Amid the violent blast, billowing thick smoke shot upward from the seabed, breaking through the sea's surface and soaring into the high heavens.
After a moment of silence, an even more violent roar erupted from the sea’s depths.
Rolling black clouds surged from the seabed, churning as they spread in all directions.
Waves crashed forward with frantic, wild momentum, like a stampeding horde of beasts.
Explosions rang out incessantly; with every blast, the expanse of black clouds visibly doubled in size.
Within the immense pillar of smoke connecting sea and sky, crimson streaks shot outward, arcing across the chaos.
Li Fan fled desperately, finally bringing Zhang Haobo to a safe location.
He looked back at the raging earthfire, a lingering fear gripping his heart.
Yet, this seemed to be only the beginning.
Heaven and earth shook, and the entire Congyun Sea trembled as if convulsing.
Starting from Tian Yang’s cave dwelling, plumes of volcanic ash erupted in a chain reaction, igniting one after another like signal fires!
Amid this apocalyptic scene, the mechanical puppet's furious roars somehow managed to drown out the eruptions of underwater volcanoes.
" TIAN YANG IS NOT WEAKER THAN OTHERS!!! "
A mechanical puppet, buried deep within the earth’s veins for thousands of years, ceaselessly absorbed earthfire energy, tempering itself.
It tore through the layers of underwater mountains and rose from the Congyun Sea!
Towering between heaven and earth, it roared with defiant pride!