Promise!

Chapter 276, Taking Action

After Zhuang Jin agreed to the plan, he received another 'Super Gang Yuan Pill' that same day.

This was obtained by Shangguan Jinfeng from the Cen and Ge families. The family that didn't contribute compensated the other family with some benefits. This was both a way for Shangguan Jinfeng to expose Li Shicong and Xuanyuan Zhengji's conspiracy to the two families and a reminder of the human element, as well as a shared plan for expenditure.

For Zhuang Jin, this was essentially a reward for participating in the operation.

Afterwards, Zhuang Jin slacked off at Bailu Martial Academy, focusing solely on cultivation, and rapidly accumulated the Three Corpses Realm with the help of the 'Super Gangyuan Pill'.

On Li Shicong's side, after being repeatedly thwarted by the cold attitude of the candidate elder of the Cen family, he turned his attention back to Zhuang Jin.

Zhuang Jin knew that Li Shizong would not give up, but she was too impatient to wait, so she came looking for him again a few days later.

"I still vividly remember the Kui Niu drum that Brother Zhuang used when he captured Bian Zhihao."

Using this as an excuse, Li Shicong invited him to go out, saying, "To be honest, Brother Zhuang, I also discovered a Kui Niu, a beast at the Blood Transformation Realm, in the Funiu Mountains. I intend to work together to forge a Kui Niu drum. Why don't you come with me, Brother Zhuang? I only want its hide, and the rest is all yours."

These conditions are actually quite good, if one ignores his underlying lust for Zhuang Jin's body.

"This... I'm afraid it won't work."

Zhuang Jin had only received the 'Super Gang Yuan Pill' a few days ago, so naturally she couldn't agree. Seeing the strange look on Li Shizong's face after she refused, she softened her tone and reassured him, "I still have some Kui beef here, let's wait a while!"

"Furthermore, I have reached the pinnacle of the Two Corpses Realm and am preparing to break through to the Three Corpses Realm. If I succeed, I will be even more confident in achieving that goal."

'The bottleneck of the final corpse-severing stage in the Innate Corpse-Slaying Realm is no easy feat. Even if you're lucky enough to actually break through, that would be even better, saving me some effort in refining and nurturing it.'

Li Shizong sneered inwardly, but did not show it on his face. Knowing Zhuang Jin's cautious nature, he agreed to avoid arousing suspicion: "Then we'll wait a while. But Brother Zhuang, please hurry, lest that Kui Niu hides or moves."

Zhuang Jin readily agreed and chatted for a while longer. Not long after, when Li Shizong said his goodbyes, he saw him out.

The two chatted and laughed, addressing each other as brothers, but in reality, they each regarded the other as prey, as if he were already dead.

……

Time flies, and another month has passed in a flash.

On this day, in Cangzhou City, on the first ring road, at the Shangguan family residence.

'The accumulation of the Three Corpses Severing Realm is complete.'

With the aid of the 'Super Gang Yuan Pill,' Zhuang Jin felt that after a month of arduous cultivation, his dantian's innate Gang Yuan had reached perfection, achieving the pinnacle of the innate realm, and he was overjoyed.

It could be said that at this stage, one is qualified to attempt to break through to the Yin God realm, but naturally, it is not possible at this time.

Even if one doesn't draw upon the external energy of heaven and earth during a breakthrough, relying solely on the energy stored in the Holy Spirit Pearl, there's still a certain possibility that Shangguan Jinfeng, the Cen family head, and the Ge family head, using their access to the Suspended Sky Mirror, could sense them within the third ring.

Not to mention the Cen family head and the Ge family head, even Shangguan Jinfeng, if she noticed, might not be able to tolerate it and would not interrupt or take action.

Human nature cannot withstand the test!

More importantly, Zhuang Jin has been focusing on accumulating cultivation levels these days. The Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique is currently at the eighth level, and it will probably take another two or three months to advance to the ninth level.

'But Li Shicong certainly doesn't have the patience to wait this long. If he waits any longer, he might find another target. If his three puppets gather together, he might break through to the Yin God realm first, and who knows what might happen then!'

Similarly, Shangguan Jinfeng and others were also worried that delays would lead to unforeseen changes. Their exposure would alert Li Shicong and Xuanyuan Zhengji, so they would not postpone their operation for too long.

Zhuang Jin shook his head slightly: 'Forget it. Right now, I'm caught in the middle of this mess and under immense scrutiny. Once I've dealt with Li Shicong, this threat has passed, I'm out of the spotlight, my personal presence has faded, and I've completed the Nine Transformations of the Golden Body before quietly breaking through!'

The next day, Li Shicong came again. For the past half month, he had been doing this every few days, urging Zhuang Jin under the pretext of moving the Kui Niu. On this day, in order to gain his trust and put pressure on Zhuang Jin, he even brought Ge Zhaoqing with him.

Zhuang Jin glanced at Ge Zhaoqing without making a sound, showing no sign of anything amiss, but he knew that this person had most likely been turned into a puppet by Li Shizong. He asked the two to sit down and ordered tea to be served.

"Brother Zhuang, have you successfully broken through?"

"At the Innate Corpse-Slaying Realm, the final bottleneck was difficult, and the attempt failed."

Zhuang Jin sighed dramatically, "Alright, let's deal with that Kui Niu first. Who knows, after the battle, we might get a breakthrough inspiration!"

"At worst, you can obtain the meat of a strange beast, cultivate the secret techniques of physical cultivation, and slowly wear down the bottleneck by nourishing the body."

"Here you go!"

Li Shizong slammed his right fist into his left palm, almost beaming with joy. He looked at Zhuang Jin with burning eyes, thinking to himself, 'Finally, I've been tricked!' But what he said aloud was, 'Brother Zhuang has finally seen the light. This is the wise thing to do. Shall we go now?'

"good!"

Zhuang Jin gave the man a meaningful look, nodded slightly, and readily agreed.

……

As Zhuang Jin, Li Shicong, and Ge Zhaoqing set off, Shangguan Jinfeng, Cen Chongxuan, and Ge Daoqian, who were secretly watching, also followed them.

The three individuals' cultivation techniques belong to the elements of wind, thunder, and ice, respectively. At this moment, the power of the three altered five elements—cyan, purple, and colorless semi-transparent—merged into a chaotic color, distorting light and obscuring their figures, causing them to disappear completely from sight and perception.

Furthermore, with the combined efforts of the three, they sensed the aura of another wood-attribute Yin God martial artist who had skillfully blended into the environment. Not far away, the aura was also following closely behind, prompting them to send each other telepathic messages.

"As expected, behind Li Shizong is our good governor. What a huge appetite he has!"

"Should we make a move immediately?"

"No rush, no rush. If we force our governor out now, he will most likely try to justify himself by saying he is 'caring for his nephew and protecting him secretly.' Then we can catch him red-handed."

……

The three discussed this in silence, keeping their eyes fixed on Xuan Yuan Zhengji.

……

In the Funiu Mountains, Zhuang Jin, Li Shicong, and Ge Zhaoqing sped away, venturing deep into the mountains.

"Where is that Kui Niu?" Zhuang Jin asked, looking around. "Erchong Pass, near Tianmen Mountain."

Li Shizong showed little interest in discussing this, only saying it casually before suddenly turning to Zhuang Jin and asking, "Speaking of which, Brother Zhuang, are you confident that you will break through to the Yin Spirit realm in the future?"

"How can I be so confident? Brother Li, you know that my cultivation method is the Black Fiend Technique, which is already severely limited. It is already a stroke of luck that I have reached this level today. Furthermore, because I have offspring, I have cultivated the secret physical body technique, the Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique, which has made it even more difficult to break through the bottleneck of the major realm. Not to mention, I have also taken the Super Gang Yuan Pill, which will also increase the difficulty of the bottleneck."

Even the 'Super Gang Yuan Pill' will indeed increase the difficulty of the bottleneck to a certain extent, which is one of the reasons why Shangguan Jinfeng was so generous.

Zhuang Jin's words were not only for Li Shicong's ears, but also for Shangguan Jinfeng, Cen Chongxuan, and Ge Daoqian, who were hiding in the shadows.

"Breaking through to the Yin Spirit Realm is indeed difficult, but I have a wonderful method that can help Brother Zhuang achieve his wish."

"Come! Come! Come! Brother Zhuang, come closer and I'll explain things to you."

Li Shizong thought to himself that he had now penetrated deep into the second layer of forbidden land, a place rarely visited by people. He had Zhuang Jin under his control, and his expression showed some strangeness. The noble young master's demeanor disappeared, and he even looked somewhat sickly.

Even Ge Zhaoqing, after a moment of slight confusion, underwent a change in expression. At this moment, his expression mirrored Li Shicong's, carrying an indescribable eeriness.

"I do know the method Brother Li mentioned. Isn't it just about making me swallow the 'Essence Fruit' and turning me into a human puppet?!" Zhuang Jin suddenly looked over and said.

"Um?!!!"

Li Shizong was caught off guard by Zhuang Jin's sudden remark, which stole his line and revealed his thoughts. He could hardly maintain his sickly expression.

This is like the feeling of the carp spirit Ling Da Wang of the Tongtian River, who came under cover of night, ready to enjoy the young boys and girls, only to hear Chen Guanbao and Yi Cheng Jin say, "I know you want to eat me."

If that's not vivid enough, let's use another analogy: Imagine a ginseng fruit is placed to your mouth, and suddenly the fruit comes to life, shaking its head and tauntingly saying, "I knew you couldn't hold back from eating me!"

That's a truly terrifying story!
For Li Shizong, this was exactly the case. A man who was good at scheming and plotting, suddenly exposed to the sunlight, the feeling he experienced in that instant was so terrifying that he almost lost his soul.

Seeing Li Shizong's reaction, Zhuang Jin shouted even more fiercely: "How dare you, Li Shizong! I can tell at a glance that you have turned Brother Ge into a human puppet. You have committed many evil deeds, and today is your death day!"

Li Shizong was startled by this latest scolding and the exposure of his operation. He shuddered and instinctively looked around nervously.

However, amidst the apparent calm, an unease crept into his heart. This feeling of being out of control filled him with a mixture of shock and rage: "To become my puppet and achieve your Great Dao—what an incredible opportunity! Since Brother Zhuang is so ungrateful and refuses to listen to reason, then don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Swish!
Another person appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. It was none other than Ao Zhiqi, whom they hadn't seen in a long time. At this moment, like Ge Zhaoqing, Ao Zhiqi's expression was strangely in sync with Li Shicong's.

What's even more alarming is that the two puppets, Ge Zhaoqing and Ao Zhiqi, who were originally only at the level of severing one or two corpses, now have auras that seem to have broken through to the level of severing three corpses.

—Ge Zhaoqing, needless to say, had intentionally suppressed his realm before, using a secret method to condense many Gang Yuan Pearls. After being refined into his natal puppet, his bottleneck was only affected by the realm of his master, Li Shizong. He absorbed energy and broke through extremely quickly. As for Ao Zhiqi, he was already at the perfect level of severing two corpses. After consuming the 'Divine Yuan Fruit' and recovering his divine soul, and with the assistance of his master, Li Shizong, breaking through his realm was not difficult for him either.

Even Li Shizong himself, after severing the three corpses, with the 'Super Gangyuan Pill' he received from the state government and the feedback from the two corpse puppets, had also accumulated to perfection in the realm of severing the three corpses.

"One element, two phases; master and puppet, one body!"

The next moment, amidst this sound, the two puppets, Li Shicong and Ge Zhaoqing and Ao Zhiqi, had their auras intertwined and connected, their essence, energy, and spirit resonating, and their innate vital energy surging and merging. A phantom of a spirit tree, several tens of feet tall, appeared above them.

Centered on it, a strange green light instantly enveloped an area of ​​two or three miles. Within this range, the air seemed to become viscous and filled with a peculiar smell, making people restless and uneasy.

hum!
Under this overwhelming green light, the 'power' of ice and snow formed by Zhuang Jin's divine fusion with heaven and earth was compressed and contracted, appearing precarious.

……

Originally, Shangguan Jinfeng, Cen Chongxuan, and Ge Daoqian, who were hiding in the shadows, found it amusing to see Zhuang Jin utter such shocking words that terrified Li Shicong.

But at this moment, when they saw Li Shizong making no attempt to conceal his presence, revealing two human puppets and summoning the phantom of the giant spirit tree, their expressions turned solemn, and they all began to communicate telepathically.

“Li Shizong is connected with the two puppets, and his power level has already faintly exceeded the limit of the innate realm.”

"Indeed, these are only two puppets. If all three puppets were gathered together, this fiend might actually be able to break through to the Yin God realm... Should we make our move now?"

"No rush, no rush. Young Master Zhuang has his own methods. We can wait until that governor gets impatient and exposes his interference before we make our move."

……

Cen Chongxuan and Ge Daoqian also wanted to see what Zhuang Jin was really made of, and since Shangguan Jinfeng had said so, they were naturally happy to continue watching the show.

But the changes that followed made them freeze in shock.

……

When Zhuang Jin faced Li Shizong revealing two puppets vying for the power of heaven and earth, his face was full of indifference, as if he were watching a performance. He simply activated the jade token in his hand that he had prepared long ago, which could unleash a strike of the half-step Yin God Realm.

The icy and snowy 'force' he had previously formed by merging with heaven and earth crumbled and teetered on the brink of collapse when faced with Li Shicong's combined puppet form. This was not because his raw strength was inferior, but because he had held back.

Zhuang Jin had reached the pinnacle of the Three Corpses Realm, his divine soul was twice that of an ordinary person, and his innate Gang Yuan attribute was at its extreme. His Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique had already reached the eighth revolution. When he exerted his full strength, he himself did not know how strong he was. However, considering that Shangguan Jinfeng and the other two were by his side, he did not intend to reveal too much of himself and make these three great family heads wary.

As it happened, this jade token, which was only effective for a half-step Yin God realm strike, was now somewhat awkward and useless to him. It was useless against those below the Yin God realm and also useless against Yin God realm warriors, so he decided to use it to clear out his inventory.

After the jade token was activated, in that instant, both the summoned phantom of the giant, swaying spirit tree and the fluctuating green light in the field froze instantly, leaving only the jade token transforming into a stream of light that stretched out.

Swish!
Li Shizong was like an insect frozen in amber, his brow pierced by that icy light, his expression still frozen in the previous moment: fear, shock, disbelief.

His last thought was: 'Who the hell uses their ultimate move right from the start? Zhuang Jin is a madman!'

Wow!
The next moment, Li Shizong's figure shattered and vanished instantly, and the phantom of the giant tree spirit tree summoned by the main puppet also collapsed in an instant.

However, in an instant, this person seemed to revive in the two puppet figures: Ge Zhaoqing and Ao Zhiqi, as if he had been brought back to life.

"Zhuang Jin, I want you dead!" The two men glared at each other, their expressions ferocious, and spoke in unison.

'Soul transfer?! No, I didn't sense any mysterious fluctuations in my mental energy, so, personality splitting, memory copying?'

Zhuang Jin thought to himself as he struck the Kui Niu Drum in his hand.

Boom!
……

(End of this chapter)