"Ah!"
A shrill scream erupted from the mouth of a Hall of Souls member as a Protector stood rooted to the spot, blown to pieces by a single punch from the puppet.
As time passed, the Protectors of the Hall of Souls were mysteriously killed off one by one by the puppets. The two two-star Elder Zuns leading the attack on the puppet also showed slight changes in expression. The Protectors they had brought were all skilled members of the Hall of Souls, not outsourced cannon fodder.
"Look, are the Hall of Souls' people really that weak? So many of them have died," Tang Huo'er patted Nalan Yanran's shoulder and said loudly.
Currently, the four of them were the most idle people in the entire main hall.
Nalan Yanran also turned her head to look in the direction of the Hall of Souls. "Indeed. Not many others have died—generally only Dou Huangs killed by aftershocks. But their Protectors have died in such large numbers."
Xiao Huiying glanced at Xiao Jietian, who gave her a slight smile. She instantly understood that this was his secret doing.
Meanwhile, within the battle circle, the two Elder Zuns exchanged glances. "Something's wrong… very wrong."
"All of you, be careful! Don't die again!" They urgently roared at the remaining Protectors around them.
At this moment, the puppet continued unleashing Dou Techniques, striking toward the Hall of Souls crowd. The Hall of Souls members hastily defended and counterattacked.
After a period of entanglement, the puppet had many different marks on its body. Feeling no pain, it charged straight toward one of the Elder Zuns.
This Elder Zun also intended to attack, but just as he was about to act, he suddenly saw the puppet inexplicably appear in front of him. Its fist slammed directly into his old face.
"Damn it! How did he suddenly appear in front of me as if teleporting?!" The Elder Zun's hair instantly stood on end.
Bang!
The Elder Zun was immediately sent flying, performing a perfect human cannonball act.
"This puppet is so strange. It seems to have directly spatial-teleported, appearing so quickly that there's no time to react," Nalan Yanran murmured softly, unable to help but look worriedly at Xiao Yan, who had just sent a puppet flying with a single strike and collected another scroll.
"Could these puppets be divided by strength? Did they choose the strongest ones?"
"Possibly. Who told them to often do inhumane things? This is their retribution. It's just a pity that the old man who took a punch to the face didn't die," Tang Huo'er said, crossing her arms and looking at where the old man had crashed.
Seeing this situation, Black and White Heavenly Venerates couldn't help but curse them as useless. The two exchanged glances and communicated telepathically: "Why isn't Blood River Heavenly Venerate here yet? We can't wait any longer. We must get the Dou Sheng skeleton as soon as possible."
The two planned to unleash their full strength to shatter the puppets in front of them.
Their movements were almost synchronized. Black, cold Qi covered their palms as they struck toward the puppets before them.
But just then, a shimmering glow appeared on the two puppets, forming something like a shield. When their palm prints landed on it, both of their expressions changed drastically.
They felt that their palm prints had no offensive effect on the shield. Instead, they were completely absorbed by it.
Xiao Huiying, seeing this shield, knew it was her master's doing.
The puppets also showed a trace of confusion, but they were ultimately just puppets without any thoughts, only existing to relentlessly attack.
Seizing this opening, both puppets landed a punch on them, causing the two Heavenly Venerates to cry out in pain and fly backward.
Hearing the cries of pain from Black and White Heavenly Venerates, many people in the main hall looked over.
"Seriously, are the Heavenly Venerates of the Hall of Souls that weak? A six-star Dou Zun can't defeat a puppet with the strength of a three-star Dou Zun?"
"They must have used drugs to get there. They're so frail. Did the two of them overdo it?"
After cursing a few times, these people paid no further attention and continued focusing on snatching scrolls.
Several scrolls had already been acquired. Any further hesitation would mean getting nothing.
Xiao Yan also successfully obtained his second scroll. At this moment, eight of the ten scrolls had already been claimed: two by Xiao Yan, one by Burning Flame Valley, one by Ice River Valley, one by Tianming Sect, one by Nine Serene Earth Nether Python, and one by Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan.
Starfall Pavilion, originally located in the Southern Region, had no one present because Venerable Feng was currently mobilizing the entire pavilion's forces to search for Yao Lao.
Under Xiao Jietian's design, Black and White Heavenly Venerates flew in the direction of the Dou Sheng skeleton.
Looking at the Dou Sheng skeleton not far away, the two instantly forgot their pain. Their eyes filled with excitement. Previously, they had been watched by members of other major forces, and their reinforcements had not yet arrived, so they dared not act rashly.
Now, this was truly heaven helping them. They couldn't help but offer a word of thanks to the puppets.
Without time to think, the two directly headed toward the Dou Sheng skeleton.
Seeing the two heading toward the Dou Sheng skeleton, Xiao Jietian's lips curved into a meaningful smile.
Xiao Yan also noticed their actions and remembered Xiao Jietian's reminder that the Dou Sheng skeleton was alive. He was very curious how this Dou Sheng skeleton would revive. He quietly took Venerable Skyfire and slowly moved toward the edge of the main hall, in Xiao Jietian's direction.
Because he had just seen it: one of the skeleton's fingers had moved—a very subtle movement. If he hadn't been constantly watching the skeleton, he might not have even noticed it.
He couldn't help but quicken his pace. A Dou Saint was currently the peak fighting force on the entire continent, capable of wiping out a large city with a casual flick of the hand.
He subconsciously felt that only by staying by Xiao Jietian's side would he be safest. After all, Xiao Jietian had known early on that the Dou Sheng skeleton would revive, which meant he was confident in escaping or resolving the terrifying situation of a reviving Dou Saint.
Others, seeing this, thought Xiao Yan was going to leave with the scrolls. But out of apprehension for the two of them, the Heaven-Reaching Flood Dragon in the distance, and Xiao Jietian's strength, they did not try to stop him.
Black and White Heavenly Venerates looked at the cross-legged Dou Sheng skeleton with fervent eyes. Their hearts stirred with excitement. If they brought this back, the rewards they would receive within the Hall would definitely allow their strength to grow significantly, perhaps even allowing them to officially join the ranks of Heavenly Venerates.
And not like now, where they only had the title of Heavenly Venerate but none of the actual benefits. As for secretly keeping the Dou Sheng skeleton, neither of them had that intention. Betraying the Hall of Souls and being hunted down for a Dou Sheng skeleton whose purpose was unknown was clearly not worth it.
Thinking of promotions and salary increases, the two couldn't help but lick their dry lips. Black Heavenly Venerate reached out his hand, grabbing toward the jade-white Dou Sheng skeleton.
Just as Black Heavenly Venerate's palm reached it, a subtle ripple suddenly appeared in the space there. Then it seemed to transform into countless extremely sharp spatial spikes that savagely pierced his palm.
Suddenly, space rippled again, and an invisible cutting force appeared beside Black Heavenly Venerate's wrist.
Feeling the stinging pain in his palm and the cutting force that immediately followed, Black Heavenly Venerate hastily tried to retract his hand.
"Ah!"