I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

The four corpse puppets seemed stunned for a moment, their soul flames flickering, clearly unable to understand why their attack was ineffective.

In the instant they were stunned, Qin Yuan extended both hands simultaneously, his five fingers slightly spread, and a miniature vortex of spiritual energy appeared in each palm, bursting out with a powerful suction force, accurately grabbing the wrists of the two corpse puppets that were grabbing at him!

The touch was cold and slippery, carrying a strong aura of corpse evil, constantly eroding his palm, but it was firmly isolated by the powerful physical body and protective spiritual power of the first level of the "Undying Body of the Universe Stars".

"roll!"

Qin Yuan let out a low shout, and with a sudden burst of strength, he swung the two corpse puppets whose wrists he had grabbed like sandbags, and slammed them hard into the other two corpse puppets that were rushing towards him!

"Bang! Bang!"

With two muffled thuds, the two corpse puppets used as weapons collided with their charging companions. The immense force sent them flying backward, crashing heavily against the mine's rock wall, sending rubble and debris raining down.

Qin Yuan released his grip, and the wrists of the two corpse puppets he had used as weapons were twisted and deformed, with wisps of dark red malevolent energy seeping out from the damaged areas.

Before they could regroup, Qin Yuan moved like a ghost, appearing before a corpse puppet that had just slid down the cliff and was still unsteady. His fingers, still pointed like a sword, gleamed with spiritual light, and he struck the puppet's brow with lightning speed!

The corpse puppet instinctively raised its intact left arm to block, while simultaneously opening its mouth to spew out filthy blood and ghost fire.

However, Qin Yuan's finger seemed to ignore the spatial distance, and it had already struck before Qin Yuan's arm could be raised!

"puff!"

With another soft sound, the soul fire was extinguished, and the head exploded!

On the other side, Sun Ying and Wang Shan felt much less pressured and their spirits lifted. Sun Ying seized the opportunity, her figure blending into the shadows, and instantly appeared behind a corpse puppet, thrusting her dagger with all her might towards the junction of its neck and spine—often one of the control nodes of such puppets.

"Crack!" The dagger pierced half an inch, but encountered great resistance. The corpse puppet's body was exceptionally sturdy! The corpse puppet felt pain and swung its claws back. Sun Ying retreated in time and narrowly avoided it.

Wang Shan roared and stopped holding back, his fists glowing with a rich, earthy yellow light as he slammed them heavily into the ground!

"The earth's veins are shaking!"

Boom! A powerful shockwave emanated from his fists, spreading out in a ring. The mine floor shook violently, sending debris flying. The corpse puppet charging directly at him was thrown off balance and its movements faltered.

After Qin Yuan dealt with the second corpse puppet, his gaze was already fixed on the remaining three. He no longer used single-target killing techniques; his figure blurred, leaving several afterimages, and he instantly closed in on the corpse puppet that had been shaken off balance by Wang Shan, pressing his right palm against its chest.

From the palm of his hand, a powerful and domineering spiritual force poured out without any frills!

"Nine Revolutions Profound Origin Palm!"

"Bang!!!"

The corpse puppet's chest visibly caved in with a large crater, and the corresponding area on its back suddenly exploded, spraying out dark red fluid and shattered internal organs. Its entire body flew backward like a rag doll, crashing into the rock wall and sliding softly down, completely ruined.

Of the remaining two corpse puppets, one was restrained by Sun Ying, while the other went berserk and pounced on Su Wan, who seemed to be alone!

Su Wan's face paled slightly, but she did not panic. She quickly formed hand seals, and a series of cyan wind blades poured out like a torrential rain to block the corpse puppet.

Qin Yuan's eyes turned cold, and a thought flickered in his mind.

"System, lock onto the target and analyze the precise location of its soul core."

[Scanning... The target soul core is located three inches to the left of the chest cavity, protected by special bone armor.]

[Consumes 50 energy points to generate the optimal strike trajectory.]

Qin Yuan brought his right index and middle fingers together, and a point of extremely condensed, brilliant spiritual light, containing the Daoist essence of exorcising evil, suddenly lit up at the fingertips—it was the optimized "Mysterious Origin Evil-Slaying Finger"!

Without moving, he simply pointed at the corpse puppet that was lunging at Su Wan from a distance of several feet!

"call out--!"

A thin, hair-like, yet extremely refined, pale golden finger strike shot out, its speed exceeding even the perception of divine sense! The corpse puppet seemed to sense a deadly threat and twisted its body to dodge, but it was too late!

The finger strike pierced through its seemingly thick, dark red bone armor on its chest with unparalleled precision, penetrating three inches to the left of its ribcage!

"hiss……"

The corpse puppet's movements suddenly froze, its momentum towards Su Wan abruptly stopped, the soul fire in its eye sockets instantly extinguished, and its massive body crashed to the ground. A small, charred hole pierced its chest, from which smoke was sizzling.

The last corpse puppet that Sun Ying had been holding back let out a terrified howl as it saw its companions being wiped out in the blink of an eye, and turned to flee back to the deep, narrow cave entrance!

"Trying to leave?"

Qin Yuan snorted coldly, raised his hand and made a grasping motion. A semi-transparent hand made of pure spiritual energy appeared out of thin air, carrying the power of capture and sealing, and instantly enveloped and gripped the corpse puppet!

"Crunch..." A tooth-grinding sound of bones grinding together rang out as the corpse puppet struggled desperately in the powerful spiritual force, but could not break free.

Qin Yuan stepped forward, his gaze falling on the dark red runes at the edge of the cave entrance, then looking at the struggling corpse puppet in his hand. He separated a wisp of his divine sense and forcibly probed into the corpse puppet's head, searching for its remaining, chaotic fragments of memory.

Bloodshed, agony, and desperate cries... the negative emotions of countless miners and cultivators dying crashed down upon him. In the dim light, Qin Yuan "saw" some fragmented images: deep within the pitch-black cave, a blurry figure stood before a bizarre array outlined in bones and blood, continuously throwing captured living people into it, refining their essence, blood, and souls... The figure's aura was of the same origin as the mark within the Black Wind Ravine Yin Puppet's soul core!

"They really are in cahoots." Qin Yuan's eyes were icy as he intensified his soul-searching. The blurry figure seemed to sense something, and in the last fragment of memory, it suddenly turned around. A pair of eyes, glowing with a dark red blood-red light, seemed to meet Qin Yuan's gaze through the memory fragment, filled with cruelty and warning.

Immediately afterward, the remnant soul of the corpse puppet shattered completely, leaving no further information.

Qin Yuan released his spiritual power, and the corpse puppet collapsed to the ground, its soul fire dissipated.

Silence returned to the mine, with only the strong smell of blood and a menacing aura remaining.

Sun Ying, Wang Shan, and Su Wan, panting, stared at the remains of the five corpse puppets on the ground, and the more than a dozen dried corpses of Flowing Cloud Sect disciples further away. They were still shaken, and also shocked by the terrifying strength Qin Yuan had displayed. Five ferocious corpse puppets, comparable to those at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, were easily crushed like clay chickens and earthenware dogs before their captain!

"Captain... these evil creatures..." Sun Ying's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"It's artificially created, using the essence and soul of living people as materials." Qin Yuan's tone was chilling. "Deep within this mine, there are probably more than one such breeding farm. The mine disaster at Liuyun Sect is just a cover."

He walked to the narrow opening and carefully examined the dark red runes. The runes were twisted and malevolent, exuding a strong bloody aura. They were ancient, evil runes he had never seen before, seemingly used to gather yin energy, conceal one's aura, and... mark space?