Chapter 197: Chapter 196: Ambush and Kill Song Qing (Congratulations to the Silver Alliance!)_1
With Fang Xi’s current divine skills, killing Prime Taoist Huaheng swiftly would be simple, but capturing him alive proved more difficult.
In a newly excavated Dongfu.
"What... what are you going to do?"
Struggling to lift his head, despair filled Prime Taoist Huaheng’s eyes.
Unfortunately, Fang Xi had not the slightest hint of sympathy for this notorious thief lurking outside Baize Immortal City.
"Prime Taoist Huaheng, please relax. I just need your cooperation to cast a magic spell..."
Fang Xi’s face bore a gentle smile as a vine tendril extended from his sleeve, tipped with a Demonic Tree seed.
Based on his experience with crafting ’human puppets,’ he knew that to maintain a cultivator’s magic power to the greatest extent, it was best to begin while the subject was still alive!
Moreover, creating ’human puppets’ from living subjects, using the Demonic Tree as a medium and combined with some secret skills from the Demon Path, yielded fragments of the person’s memories, similar to the legendary ’Soul Searching Skill’!
"You... What are you going to do? Ahhhh..."
Seeing the seed planted in his own body, Prime Taoist Huaheng was initially confused, but as the seed penetrated his flesh, took root, and began devouring his bones... he let out a sharp scream of agony.
Luckily, the Dongfu was surrounded by arrays, ensuring that no matter how agonizingly Prime Taoist Huaheng screamed, the sound could not possibly spread outside.
Meanwhile, Fang Xi kept one hand on Prime Taoist Huaheng’s head, as if watching a disjointed movie.
Sorting through the chaotic memories for useful information required strong divine consciousness and patience:
"So it turns out... back when I was in the Qi Refining stage, the group of cultivation-robbers I encountered outside the big auction were also orchestrated by this wretch Huaheng!"
"This man specialized in robbing Qi Refiners, committed numerous crimes, yet his cultivation remained at the early stage of Foundation Establishment... because the bulk was secretly taken by the Song Family..."
"Later on, wanted by Baize Immortal City and protected by the Song Family... he even dared to occasionally target Foundation Establishment caravans..."
"Hm? Is this... Song Qing?!"
"He has yet to leave Yue Country?"
...
A moment later.
The face of Prime Taoist Huaheng had become completely rigid.
As Fang Xi employed the Demonic Tree, the man’s complexion turned a ghastly shade of blue, and following the loss of his arms, his hands began to form magical seals, emitting magic power just entering the stage of Foundation Establishment.
"Although his magical power has decreased somewhat, it still remains at the Foundation Establishment stage, not bad at all..."
With the ’human puppet’ like this, new ideas sprung to Fang Xi’s mind regarding its use.
Human puppets moved sluggishly, had high offense but low defense, and lacked agility, rendering them live targets if used directly in combat.
Hence, the best approach was to master the knowledge of the Battle Array. Just increase their numbers and form them into an array; Qi Refining versus Foundation Establishment, Foundation Establishment versus Core Formation... such feats were by no means a pipe dream!
A ’Battle Array’ is a type of array, with cultivators serving as the Array Bases and Array Eyes, thus connecting their magic powers to strive for a higher level of force!
Beyond that, having human puppets hold Array Flags, acting as protectors and replenishing spiritual power like a human-shaped Spirit Stone, was also an excellent choice.
With the protection of Array Flags and Arrays, the weaknesses of human puppets could be compensated for.
Of course... the reputation that comes with it might not be the best.
The main reason Fang Xi turned Prime Taoist Huaheng into a human puppet was to glean as much of his memory as possible.
"This old man lied... The bait he laid in Baize Immortal City to trap me... was completely his own idea, having heard that Song Qing detested me, he wanted to kill me to ingratiate himself with the Young Head of the Song Family... heh heh..."
Previously, when the old Daoist was being pursued by Fang Xi, he dared not tell the truth and thus shifted the blame onto Song Qing.
But even then, Fang Xi had no intention of letting Song Qing off the hook!
’According to Prime Taoist Huaheng’s memories, Song Qing is hiding within a Qi Refining family in Yue Country...’
’On him must be the Song Family’s accumulated wealth of many years... as well as their true foundation!’
’Furthermore, he holds a grudge against me, and his strength is still at the early stage of Foundation Establishment... has he reached a bottleneck?’
Although always cautious, Fang Xi did not lack the courage to take risks when it mattered!
’Even if he hides his true power, at most he is at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment... It’s unlikely within a few decades that someone with a superior-grade spiritual root would struggle to reach the late stage of Foundation Establishment, even if he had encountered the late stage, with my secret skills and talismans, I might still be able to kill him...’
After careful consideration, Fang Xi decided... to take action!
While he could use the Mysterious Heaven Sect again to orchestrate another person’s demise, he would miss out on the rich spoils of war.
That was the accumulation of the largest noble family in Yue Country over centuries!
...
The Zeng family of Red Maple Forest.
This was a small Qi Refining family which was not well known even within Yue Country, located southeast of Yue Country, close to the border with Wood Kingdom.
Maple Mountain.
With mountains flooded with red leaves, the scenery was quite beautiful.
In the valley resided a small Qi Refining family, led by a cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refining, who had always directed his people to labor for their survival.
One day.
Wearing a bamboo hat and appearing to be only at the middle stage of Qi Refining, Fang Xi arrived near Maple Mountain.
’According to Prime Taoist Huaheng’s memories, this Zeng family of Maple Mountain is also a pawn of the Song Family... Song Qing is hidden here, not fleeing directly to Wood Kingdom, could there be some hope he’s clinging to?’
Fang Xi muttered to himself, waiting until dark before using his Breath Concealment Skills to approach the Zeng family’s territory.
Given his mastery as an Array Master, sneaking into a basic array posed no challenge at all.
However, just as he was about to delve deeper, he abruptly sensed danger.
’The Song Family conceals a second-order array?’
Fang Xi’s eyes shone bright, but he didn’t proceed to forcibly dismantle it. Instead, he silently retreated and left a wooden puppet outside the Song residence specifically to watch the comings and goings of the Song’s people.
As one blessed with longevity, his patience was plentiful.
To him, spending several years or even decades here with Song Qing was inconsequential.
...
Fang Xi didn’t have to wait long.
A few days later, an escape light flew out of the Song residence, heading in the direction of the Wood Kingdom.
The escape light was originally faint and unassuming... but as soon as it left the Song residence, its speed surged dramatically!
Within the escape light, Song Qing’s expression was exceedingly grim.
"My family... has actually perished... and the Green Wood Sect refuses to send troops!"
He had been hiding in the Yue Country, gathering the Song Family’s hidden forces and persuading the Green Wood Sect to attack Yue Country! He wanted to ignite a war between the two countries’ cultivation worlds to avenge the Song Family!
However, as time trickled by, the Mysterious Heaven Sect’s control over Yue Country grew ever more stable, and the Green Wood Sect showed no intention of acting.
A few days prior, the ’life token’ Prime Taoist Huahe left in his possession had even cracked.
This made Song Qing feel that Yue Country was extremely dangerous and thus he gave up on the revenge plan, preparing to flee far away to the Wood Kingdom.
The original arrangement for the Song residence to serve as a hidden sleeper was due to its location at the border of the two countries, not far from the Wood Kingdom, which was convenient for escape.
In the blink of an eye, Song Qing had flown tens of miles. As long as he crossed a market within the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, he could enter the Wood Kingdom!
"It seems... powerful Divine Consciousness makes fighting quite convenient."
Fang Xi followed behind Song Qing, his Divine Consciousness always focused on this man, yet the man remained completely unaware.
It was evident that his Divine Consciousness was definitely weaker than that of late Foundation Establishment!
However, although the Divine Consciousness and Magic Power presence were indeed that of the same person, Song Qing now appeared to be middle-aged, with signs of premature aging and a gaunt expression.
Fang Xi thought this was normal, as some cultivators do not care about their looks, and with his family annihilated and his spirit crushed, looking haggard and aged was to be expected.
"Even when a lion fights a rabbit, it still uses all its might..."
Fang Xi steadied his mind and suddenly accelerated, emerging from hiding with a cold snort: "Hmph!"
Amidst the cold snort, the Primordial Demon Stab swiftly activated.
A pitch-black needle silently glanced past Song Qing’s Spiritual Power defense and drilled into his Sea of Consciousness.
Divine Consciousness secret skills usually ignore ordinary Spiritual Power shields and artifact defenses, proving extremely troublesome.
But the next moment, Song Qing merely grunted without showing any signs of being affected. Instead, his eyes flashed fiercely, scanning his surroundings. On his left wrist, a purple bracelet suddenly swelled enormously, almost as large as a house, completely shielding him.
Clang!
Almost instantly, the Green Barley Sword, like a streak of blue lightning, viciously stabbed at the Purple Yunzhu Bracelet, emitting a thunderous roar.
"Eh? You can actually resist a Divine Consciousness attack... Your Divine Consciousness is clearly not as strong as mine; otherwise, you wouldn’t have noticed me only now... It seems you have some special artifact or talisman that protects against Divine Consciousness?"
Fang Xi, transformed into a beam of Blue Light, descended from mid-air and summoned with a wave of his hand.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Eight second-order beast puppets appeared, hovering in the air, encircling Song Qing from all directions.
--To confront a formidable enemy, Fang Xi directly withdrew the thread of Divine Consciousness that was surveilling the Fragment World, ordering all eight main battle puppets to make their move!
"You are... Fang Xi?!"
It was only then that Song Qing recognized his attacker, and upon seeing the eight second-order puppets, his expression grew even darker: "A Divine Consciousness attack skill... a Puppet Master... and that flying sword... You’ve hidden so deep! Did you kill Master Huahe?"
He was clever. Aside from the Song residence, only Prime Taoist Huahe, the lone Foundation Establishment cultivator, knew he was here.
However, Song Qing did not understand why Prime Taoist Huahe, clearly bound by prohibition, would dare to reveal his secret refuge.
What he didn’t expect even more was that a mere Great Limit Foundation Establishment whom he never took seriously had such a concealed depth!
"Why should the dead know so much!"
Fang Xi waved his hand lightly.
"Roar!"
The Golden-Haired Monkey King roared, its chest emblazoned with a sigil that shimmered with light. It grabbed a giant rock and fiercely slammed it onto the Purple Yunzhu Bracelet!
When this second-order puppet made its move, the other seven puppets also launched their attacks simultaneously!
If it were an ordinary early Foundation Establishment cultivator, surrounded by eight second-order puppets, they probably wouldn’t last a moment before they were reduced to mush!
"Hmph!"
Song Qing snorted coldly, his hands forming seals.
The next moment, powerful Magic Power erupted from him, astonishingly breaking through the early Foundation Establishment stage, entering the middle phase of Foundation Establishment!
’Indeed, this man has always been concealing his true cultivation level!’
Seeing Song Qing’s true cultivation, Fang Xi did not tense up; instead, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Go!"
Song Qing’s mid Foundation Establishment Magic Power infused into the Purple Yunzhu Bracelet. It immediately made the Exotic Treasure shine brightly, and even when facing the siege of eight second-order puppets, it remained immovable.
He gave Fang Xi a resentful glance and flipped his hand, revealing a dull-looking talisman drawn with a small sword.
"A talisman treasure?!"
Fang Xi’s pupils constricted slightly.