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Chapter 146 The Beast Lord's Recognition of His Master Leads to a Malicious Scheme; The Dragon Butterfly's Broken Chains Form a Clever Plan [Two-in-One]

Tang Hao's eyes flickered upon seeing this.

He said, seemingly casually, "I didn't expect that the [Primordial Beast Lord] also needs the Five Elements Ring to recognize its master."

"Yes!"

The puppet beast chuckled: "This treasure is called the [Five Elements Wheel]. It is not only the natal treasure of the core disciples of [Five Elements Heaven], but also a token for opening various restrictions."

As it spoke, it turned its single, liquid mercury-silver-like eye toward the ring on his wrist.

"Young friend, to have obtained this treasure, I must say, you are destined to be with the Five Elements Heaven, and also with this old man!" it exclaimed.

Beast Eyes looked at Tang Hao and said, "Alright, due to your entry into this place, the Nightmare Dragon may awaken at any time. You should quickly acknowledge it as your master and leave this place."

“Senior, there’s no need to worry. My Nightmare Butterfly can sense its state in the consciousness space.” Tang Hao’s eyes flickered, and he appeared unconcerned.

A smug smile played on his lips as he said, "The Nightmare Dragon is still toying with the cultivators who entered with me."

"Oh? There are other cultivators who have entered?" The puppet beast trembled slightly, trying to stand up, but then lay back down.

Without making a sound, Tang Hao observed it and then said bluntly:
"It's quite a coincidence that the other person also has a [Five Elements Wheel]. Speaking of which, he was the one who opened the entrance restriction."

"That fellow Daoist is truly remarkable, having thoroughly studied the Five Elements Wheel. I only just learned that this treasure can also house Five Elements artifacts, tsk tsk!"

As he spoke, he had already taken off the ring on his wrist and was playing with it in his palm.

"Hmm... When you obtained the [Five Elements Wheel], did you not have a method for refining it? You don't even know how to use it?" The puppet beast's mercury-silver eyes rippled as it probed indirectly.

For a moment, perhaps influenced by his words, the puppet beast was in no hurry to have Tang Hao acknowledge it as its master.

He seemed oblivious, shaking his head and saying, "This treasure was obtained by me in the market. It's just a ring; there's no way to refine it."

"Ahem, those with the Five Elements Spiritual Roots, when refining the Five Elements Wheel with their magical power, will naturally have a refining method manifest. Young friend, you probably didn't notice that?" The puppet beast said after a moment of silence.

After a moment's recollection, Tang Hao realized that there really was such a thing.

He purified the Five Elements Wheel back then.

During the refining process, a piece of information did appear in his mind, as if guiding him on how to do it.

However, with the system's information panel in front of him, he didn't take it too seriously, treating it as a subconscious behavior.

Memories flashed through his mind, but he forced himself not to let them lead him to any thoughts.

He said casually, "Hey, senior, you don't know this. This thing was covered in rust and was tainted by demonic energy. It was probably damaged."

"It took me a lot of effort to clean and purify it," he said, looking like he was taking credit.

"I see, hehe..."

The puppet beast replied awkwardly, its smile somewhat forced.

"Let's recognize each other first..." Tang Hao took the initiative to bring up the matter of recognizing the master, but suddenly felt the ground shake.

The nine women drew their weapons with a clang and firmly protected him in the middle.

"Be careful, Your Highness!"

Tang Hao had already erected a three-colored protective shield the moment the anomaly occurred, covering him and the others.

He squinted at the puppet beast, a look of worry on his face: "Senior, what's going on? Didn't you say there were no other dangers?"

"Young friend, don't worry, it's just an earthquake." The puppet beast stood up again at some point, its beast eyes looking towards the entrance.

"An earthquake? Can an earthquake really occur in a place suppressed by a great formation?"

He looked curious, as if he hadn't read much.

The puppet beast replied dismissively, "Ah, of course, there's still a spatial rift, isn't there? Perhaps the rift has gotten bigger... Hey! Here it comes."

"What's coming?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Hao was taken aback. Following its gaze, he turned his head to look towards the entrance.

This cave is not a pure land either. Even though it is not affected by the black tide, it is still filled with black mist, only much thinner than outside.

Under the illumination of the purifying light sphere, a cloud of black mist was seen rapidly flying towards them, and several figures could be vaguely seen within it.

The black cloud grew denser and denser as it flew, until it was pitch black and completely obscured its contents.

It wasn't until it flew onto the altar that it disintegrated with a "poof".

Several figures suddenly appeared, but with a few "thumps," they all collapsed.

"Senior, what's going on?" Tang Hao's gaze swept over the group before he looked at [Primordial Beast Lord] and asked.

These people were none other than Beishan Ming, Langgan, and several of their subordinates.

What bothered him was that when Beishan Ming activated the restriction, he was clearly exposed to demonic energy and nightmare energy.

Logically speaking, with such dense demonic energy, even a normal person would find it difficult to escape, and should have long since been rendered inhuman.

As it turned out, apart from losing some weight, this guy was completely unharmed, and his complexion even became rosier.

Yes, the situation for the other people is pretty much the same.

Upon hearing this, the puppet beast chuckled and said, "These few of you were fortunate enough to arrive here by chance; it seems your lives were not meant to end here."

They then quickly changed the subject.

"Young friend, is this the person who opened the restriction?" It raised its crystal-clear claws and pointed.

The others had smooth wrists, but Beishan Ming wore a dark, round ring, which it naturally spotted at a glance.

A smile flashed across Tang Hao's lips and then disappeared. He nodded slightly and said, "It is indeed this person. Senior, is there anything you want to ask him? Do you need me to help you awaken him?"

"Hurry up, cough cough, take a rest. Young friend, you're quite tired from casting [Nightmare Butterfly]. I have a solution." The puppet beast waved its paw, telling him not to worry about it.

Then, Tang Hao actually saw a human-like look of pain on its face.

Then, its three-state cycle snake tail swayed slightly, and a splash of icy water, emitting a chilling aura, was poured onto Beishan Ming and the others.

"Tsk tsk, senior's method is indeed simple and brutal." Tang Hao's lips twitched as he stared at the snake's tail for a few moments.

Whether it was his imagination or not, the transformation from steam to liquid to ice seemed to be becoming increasingly stagnant.

The puppet beast was taken aback, then laughed twice: "Isn't this how you wake up an unconscious person?"

"Yes, senior is right. This method is the cleanest and most efficient." Tang Hao casually replied, knowing the real show was about to begin.

"Cough cough..."

"Master, how are you?"

"Where am I?"

"My body hurts so much, what happened?"

It must be said that the method of [Primordial Beast Lord] was indeed effective.

Beishan Ming, Langgan, and the others woke up one after another, got up from the ground, and looked around in a daze.

"Your Highness the Ninth Prince?"

"Could it be that His Highness saved us?"

"Why is there a tattered puppet here... Ah..." The last person to speak was struck by a small bolt of lightning, and fell to the ground again like a leaf, accidentally bumping into Kitayama Ming as he slumped over.

"Didn't I get reborn? How did I end up back here? Quickly, send me back... ah..."

Kitayama Mei, who was looking anxious and muttering to himself, was suddenly jolted by the residual electric current and stopped speaking in a daze.

The way Langgan and the others looked at the puppet beast changed instantly, as if they had just realized that the other party was actually conscious.

Tang Hao coughed lightly to attract everyone's attention, then introduced them with his palm facing upwards: "This is Senior [Primordial Beast Lord], the ruler of this place."

"【Primordial Beast Lord】?"

"The ruler of this place?"

"hiss……"

Upon hearing his words, everyone, including Beishan Ming, Langgan, and the other nine girls of Yaoguang, was shaken.

After Yao Guang and the others arrived at the altar, they listened quietly to the conversation between the two men. They figured out the identity of the enormous beast, but they were not clear about the origin of the puppet beast.

All they knew was that it was related to the "Five Elements Heaven," and as they exchanged bewildered glances, the same thought flashed through their minds: 'If the Broken Puppet is the ruler, then what is the Nightmare Dragon?'

The Primordial Beast Lord was quite satisfied with Tang Hao's introduction and cooperated by standing tall and proud.

Tang Hao smiled and continued, "Now the entire secret realm is occupied by the Nightmare Dragon, and the Black Tide is under its control. If we want to leave here safely, we can only rely on you, senior."

"This prince is about to form a contract with the [Primordial Beast Lord], and since you are all here, please be witnesses." He glanced at Beishan Ming as if to say something unintentionally.

Since hearing the words "ruler of this place", Beishan Ming has been carefully examining the puppet beast in front of him.

Naturally, one would notice the groove in its chest cavity that fits the shape of the [Five Elements Wheel].

'If I just need to use the [Five Elements Ring] to reactivate the power of the Five Elements Cycle, I can make this [Primordial Beast Lord] recognize me as its master?' He was very tempted.

He couldn't help but swallow hard: 'This should be the final reward of this trip—a core puppet beast of a secret realm, with all the spiritual herbs, treasures, and cultivation techniques on it, right?'

From the entrance of the stone gate, Beishan Ming was trapped in an illusion. He was in a daze the whole way and was not clear about the situation along the way, so he naturally guessed this.

But then he frowned: 'No, Helian Chengyu knows so much about this; he must have arrived here long ago. If it were really such a good thing, wouldn't he have finished it already?'

'Even if they didn't have time before, the moment we appeared, they should have acted first to forcibly refine and bind the creature to their master. What's with this talk of having someone witness it? Do they think I'm a fool?'

He recalled his experience in front of the stone gate. Helian Chengyu clearly knew everything and could have waited for him to fail in activating the restriction before taking action.

And what happened? The other party, by using sarcasm, revealed the steps to me.

The final facts proved that this Ninth Prince was a shrewd individual who foresaw the danger behind the stone gate and deliberately placed himself in front to withstand the lightning.

"Wait a minute. Originally, only you possessed the Five Elements Wheel, so you were the only choice. But now that there is another young friend, things can't go on like this."

The puppet beast suddenly changed its tune, appearing to deny everything.

Tang Hao's expression changed, and his face immediately showed exaggerated anger: "How can you do this, senior? We had an agreement..."

"My mind is made up, young friend, there's no need for further words." [Primordial Beast Lord] waved its paw to interrupt him, "Why don't you discuss who should go first?"

Bei Shanming remained impassive, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the two, inwardly sneering: 'Keep acting, keep acting. Trying to trick me into taking the blame again? No way!'

Although he didn't know how the Ninth Prince had persuaded the puppet beast to cooperate with his act, the interaction between the two was full of loopholes, and he couldn't believe a word of it.

Seeing that the two did not move, [Primordial Beast Lord] said anxiously, "Let's discuss it. Although not everyone can pass the verification smoothly, the first to act will definitely have a better chance of winning."

"Alright then, you all discuss this over a telepathic message. I will now shut down my sight and hearing, and I will not listen or see anything, nor will I favor any one person," it solemnly assured.

After speaking, the puppet beast lay down again, its ever-flowing liquid beast eyes solidified and dimmed, its two tiger ears drooped down, and the entire beast became silent.
He thought to himself, 'Even without hearing or seeing, I've memorized their aura. I can't mistake them for someone else; Beishan Ming is the right choice.'

"Tch, that's really laughable," Bei Shanming thought disdainfully. "I'd like to see what you're really up to!"

He relayed the message: "Your Highness, when the stone gate was sealed, I was the one who stood in front. Now, shouldn't it be Your Highness's turn to come first?"

"Okay!" Tang Hao agreed without hesitation and walked towards the puppet beast.

'Uh, could I have guessed wrong?' Kitayama Mei paused, suddenly becoming somewhat uncertain: 'Wait!'

Seeing that Tang Hao had already walked up to the [Primordial Beast Lord], he still couldn't help but send a message.

'If he stops immediately, it means he's just trying to lure me in. If he attacks forcefully because I try to stop him, I'm strong enough to stop him.'

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Kitayama Mei saw the other person stop and turn to look at him.

A voice immediately came through his ear: "Beishan Ming, regretting it? I can give you a chance to choose again."

"What a joke, how could I regret it? I just want to remind Your Highness not to forget to load the Five Elements Treasures into the weapon box." After studying the other party's expression for a while, Beishan Ming smiled.

"Thank you for reminding!"

Tang Hao smiled back, then walked quickly to the puppet beast's chest.

He flipped his hand over, and with a "thud," a mottled, dark ring landed in his hand, which he then inserted into the groove.

"what?"

The moment the ring appeared, Kitayama Mei felt a sudden thought: 'Why do I feel like it's connected to me?'

He glanced at his wrist in confusion; his Five Elements Wheel was sitting there obediently.

Before he could figure it out.

Suddenly, an immense will, following the connection from before, abruptly descended upon his sea of ​​consciousness.

Beishan Ming was terrified, but unable to resist, his vision went black and he collapsed to the ground.

The next moment, his consciousness entered the Purple Mansion of his mind.

Looking at the puppet beast before him, resembling the [Primordial Beast Lord] but covered in twisted, blackish-purple scales, a shiver ran through the depths of his soul: 'I've been tricked again…'

I heard a "thump" behind me.

Tang Hao glanced back and thought to himself, 'This artifact spirit is definitely up to no good!'

Not daring to delay, he activated [Nightmare Butterfly] again.

The secret technique's vision unfolded, and the body of the [Primordial Beast Lord] vanished, replaced by a five-colored radiance.

Beyond that radiant light, wisps of black energy chains were wrapped around it.

At this moment, those chains were coalescing into one, piercing through the void, connecting to the radiance representing Beishan Ming, and rapidly shifting towards that direction.

Soon, only a tiny tail remained, still clinging to the five-colored radiance.

It's now!

Tang Hao focused his mind, and the dragon butterfly was born, its wings spreading out and piercing through the void.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the place of five-colored radiance.

Then, the Dragon Butterfly spread its sharp-edged wings and slashed.

With a barely audible "crack," the black chains were severed at the root.

A mournful dragon's roar echoed from the void.

The dragon butterfly ignored everything and plunged headlong into the five-colored radiance.

(End of this chapter)