Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 665 'Back Door'

Master Chang Le used his object manipulation technique to catch the flying jade slip and placed it on his forehead.

A moment later, he took out a blank jade slip, made a copy, and handed over the original.

"Senior brother, I checked it carefully, and the map's accuracy is quite good."

As for the reason why the magical power in the ruins is consumed too quickly, it should be because all the spiritual vein nodes have been completely polluted by demonic energy, causing the spiritual veins to dry up. In the future, this place will become a spiritually barren land even though it is not a spiritually barren land.

As for the cultivator who rode the silver-white banner they mentioned, that should be our target.

Demonic energy also possesses sentience, but its sentience is poison to cultivators.

They witnessed Ji An controlling the Plain Cloud Banner to enter the ruins, and after tracking him all the way, they concluded that the one who encountered the demon was the target.

Master Xuanji took the jade slip, pressed it against his forehead to examine it, and nodded thoughtfully, saying:

"The reason this cultivator told us this information is probably because he didn't have the courage to turn back and investigate. He was also carrying an unconscious female cultivator, so he was likely ambushed by the demon."

I can roughly reconstruct the scene: after being ambushed, he sought help, and our target kindly helped him intercept the villain, but he simply ran away.

This guy might still be eyeing the target's wealth, so he's secretly deploying some reconnaissance puppets; we absolutely mustn't let them track us.

If you are being followed, it means the other party also wants to get their hands on your target, and you must not let them get away with it.

Master Chang Le landed, and with a flick of his hand released a bluish-black mass. "Understood. What should we do next?"

"Proceed slowly. If we encounter the target's corpse, that would be ideal, as we only need to deal with one demon."

If the target can kill the demon, it will inevitably come at a great cost. We'll see whether to launch an attack directly or take a longer approach depending on the situation.

The worst-case scenario is that the target escapes and we lose track of them, but that's highly unlikely.

The fact that the target hadn't used the puppet made him suspicious. A top-grade puppet made from the Vajra Bodhi tree could emit a precious light that could cause some damage to demons.

The techniques for crafting puppets drew upon the knowledge of Buddhist cultivators. Putting aside other matters, those vegetarian and Buddhist cultivators certainly had better methods for dealing with demonic energy and true demons than immortal cultivators.

He was very worried about making a blunder. His judgment was based on what Han Yan said, that the sect did not have any third-grade high-quality spirit wood. However, he had been paying attention to the spirit plate and there was no sign of the third-grade top-quality puppet being used.

If the target did not use a puppet when facing a demon that can materialize, it is very likely that the puppet is not in the opponent's possession.

This is both good news and bad news.

He feared that Han Yan was lying to guard against outsiders coveting the world fragments, in which case the target might not have them.

But now that we're here, we have to make a move even if there's only the slightest chance.

"Continue forward," Master Xuanji waved his hand, and the two piloted their puppets upwards.

About half an hour later, the Giant Spirit Immortal flew back from afar, riding his magical artifact at low altitude.

His Daoist partner had already woken up and was cautiously observing his surroundings.

"Hehe, the magical artifacts that the cultivators I encountered earlier were wielded with such powerful spiritual energy that it was clear at a glance they were no ordinary items."

The two cultivators who bought the map jade slip were likely disciples of the Golden Puppet Sect, as the puppets they rode were slightly different from those usually sold.

"If we follow behind, we might be able to make a big profit."

"We must be careful; disciples of major sects all have their trump cards."

Changes have occurred within the ruins. Even if some cultivation techniques remained, they've likely vanished. We'd better leave as soon as possible.

"Understood. Let's follow them and find the teleportation point back no matter what."

The teleportation point's array is powered by spirit stones, and normally it looks no different from a mountain of rocks, so there's no need to worry about not being able to get out.

As a last resort, one could find a weak point in the legal barrier and break through it by force. However, breaking through the barrier from the inside out would require more power, so this was the last option.

The two rode away on black water-like clouds. Soon after, dozens of bluish-black grasshoppers flew close to the wild grass and hopped among the grass, adorning the distant ethereal clouds in the sky.

Yellow spiritual light rippled around Ji An's body, the plain-colored cloud banner hovered beside him, and the flame banner above the ground transformed into a sparrow perched on his shoulder.

He walked through the twisted vegetation that covered the cave entrance and emerged from a hidden underground palace, his face full of heartache and gloom.

He found some jade slips inside, but they were all corroded by demonic energy and turned into black powder when touched.

It's likely that the magic array lost the support of the spiritual veins, allowing demonic energy to enter the underground palace. Judging from the degree of decay, it must have been there for over a hundred years.

The golden retriever followed behind its master. Although it somewhat disliked being in this hostile land, searching for spirit creatures was its forte. No other beast tamer could handle this task if it didn't come up with it.

As soon as Ji An stepped out of the underground palace, he looked up and saw two puppets floating in the sky, with two veiled cultivators looking down and examining something.

A coward who hides his true intentions.

Ji An muttered to himself, then rode the crimson spirit cloud with the golden-haired creature and landed not far away, continuing to extend his divine sense to search.

The discovery of the underground palace gave him some confidence that this palace site must be thoroughly searched.

Master Chang Le turned to look at his senior brother, silently asking a question. Master Xuan Ji shook his head with a solemn expression. Judging from the state of the ruins, it was clear that they had suffered a large-scale attack, and it was an earth-elemental magic attack. The ground had been crushed smooth as a mirror.

In addition, they found a pile of burnt meat scraps.

If the monk who sold him the map wasn't lying, the target should have fought the demon and then the monster.

After two battles, he noticed that the two of them were still able to continue searching the area without fear, and he was unsure whether the target was bluffing or had something to rely on.

At this moment, a bluish-gray grasshopper flew over and landed on Chang Le Zhenren's shoulder.

Having established a mental connection with the puppet, Master Chang Le transmitted his voice:
"The cultivator who sold us the map did indeed secretly follow us, and the cultivator he was holding has now awakened."

"Senior, what's the next step?"

It's certain that those two cultivators had no good intentions.

Upon hearing this news, Master Xuanji realized that the other party was probably not lying and that there really was a demon capable of materialization, which gave the other party the courage to follow.

He transmitted his voice, "Judging from the target's posture, they are obviously searching for something. I estimate that they are most likely carrying out some kind of mission, most likely searching for a legacy."

Mana is consumed very quickly here because a cultivator's body will instinctively resist demonic energy.

When the target's mana is depleted, they will inevitably need to replenish it; we'll simply unleash all our Tier 3 puppets.

Master Chang Le nodded slightly. The plan seemed rough, but upon closer inspection, it was very feasible.

When the enemy needs to replenish their mana, as long as you can surround them and use puppets to deplete their mana, the scales of victory will inevitably tip in your favor.

He thought quickly for a moment, then transmitted his voice:

“Senior brother, we came in a hurry and didn’t have many spiritual items to quickly replenish our mana, but the other party must have quite a few.”

"Junior brother, you are mistaken. We have never experienced such rapid depletion of magical power before. The other party also doesn't have many spiritual items on them."

If we launch an attack, it will inevitably consume a lot of the opponent's spiritual resources. Even if we fail this time, we will still deplete the target's potential.

Besides, we're launching a saturation attack; we might just succeed directly.

After careful analysis, I determined that the wide-area attack unleashed by the opponent was likely Earth's Wrath, a spell that has relatively little effect on our puppets.

"But what if the target summons a Tier 3 top-grade puppet? That would be very disadvantageous for us."

Master Xuanji was silent for a moment, then said:
"I have a secret technique that can temporarily halt the opponent's puppet."

Many of the special puppets crafted by the Golden Puppet Sect have "backdoors" in their magical restrictions, which he can use to paralyze the puppets, although the effect is very short-lived.

This secret technique is known only to a very few high-ranking members, and its purpose is to prevent other cultivators from purchasing puppets made by the sect to use against the sect's high-ranking members.

Master Xuanji immediately instructed, "Now drive away those two bugs that are following us, let them know that we have discovered their whereabouts."

Then you go around to the other side, and we'll act simultaneously.

There are more important things to do now, otherwise I would have taught him a lesson just for following him.

"Yes, sir!" Master Chang Le departed on a cloud.

Once he had flown far away, Master Xuanji made a hand seal and released a rhythmic wave of magical power.

The golden-winged bird circling above Ji An's head suddenly stopped, its lively eyes becoming dull, and it mechanically flew along its original trajectory.

A cold smile flashed in Xuanji Zhenren's eyes. Those who used the Golden Puppet Pavilion's creations in front of him would find that many of them were useless in battle.

Now, the puppets intended for surveillance have become blind.

He will engage in battle with the target later. If the battle becomes too intense, he will detonate several Tier 3 puppets to break the deadlock.

Inside his Void Stone were several high-grade third-tier flying self-destructing puppets, one of his trump cards.

Having already decided to take action, he couldn't hesitate any longer. He never even considered launching a second attack; the outcome would be decided in one fell swoop.

He was mentally prepared to outmaneuver the unprepared, and he didn't think he would lose.

Master Chang Le flew with the Spirit Disc in his hand, which acted as a signal amplifier, allowing puppets to receive his commands from a greater distance.

Upon receiving his signal, the reconnaissance puppets formed a line and flew towards a certain rocky area, where the Giant Spirit Immortal and his wife were hiding.

The increasingly close buzzing sound caught their attention. When they saw the grasshopper puppet hovering overhead, the old man Juling blushed, realizing that his little actions had been monitored all along.

His Daoist partner was equally ashamed and angry. The two exchanged a glance, no longer concealing their presence, and quickly flew back in the direction they had come from.

There's no longer a chance to take advantage of others' misfortunes; it's best to escape quickly.

Master Chang Le coldly watched the two figures disappear into the distance, gave the puppet the order to continue monitoring, and then proceeded to detour as planned.

(End of this chapter)