The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

Deacon Lin used his magic to suppress the deadly poison in his body and forced a smile at Yang Qingyuan, saying, "I recognized you the moment you left the secret shop and took off your mask."

"We met briefly in the warehouse back then. Junior brother, you have the talent of lightning spirit root, so I naturally remember you well."

"Now that a formidable enemy is at hand, I urge you, junior brother, to remember our camaraderie and join forces to repel them."

Yang Qingyuan released five beads, which condensed into a protective shield to block a sneak attack arrow. He replied, "But since Senior Brother recognized me, he still wants to force me to buy and sell. It seems that he has no regard for the friendship between fellow disciples."

Upon hearing this, Deacon Lin's lips twitched slightly, and his face turned ugly. He advised, "Junior brother, it was all my fault before."

"After all, the essence in your possession is truly precious."

"You should know that there are very few monsters of level two or above in either Yuanwu Kingdom or Yue Kingdom."

"The more powerful the puppet, the more high-level essence it needs."

"The souls used by the puppets around us are artificial souls created by forcibly combining several, a dozen, or even dozens of weak souls together using the Soul Condensation Technique."

"This kind of soul is nowhere near as good as the level two demon beast essence in your hand."

"Lin is burdened with a blood feud, which is why he has no choice but to force a sale."

"I now know I was wrong. If you are willing to help me, I am willing to pass on the two ultimate techniques, the Great Evolution Technique and the Puppet Scripture, to you as an apology."

"You have also seen the power of this puppet battle. Even if you have a lightning spiritual root and are exceptionally talented, you may not be able to defeat any one of the three protectors of the Thousand Bamboo Sect. If you are not careful, you will be surrounded and killed by these puppets."

"This clearly demonstrates the wonder of the art of puppetry."

"Furthermore, after cultivating the Great Evolution Technique, your spiritual sense will far surpass that of others, and it can even help you loosen the bottleneck in Core Formation!"

Yang Qingyuan, however, remained calm and composed, staying within the Green Wood True Cover and observing.

"Are you an idiot?!" Seeing this, Deacon Lin was furious and urged, "Do you think these three will let you go after killing me?"

"The resources of monsters in the far west are even scarcer, and those three will not let you go."

"If we join forces, we can still put up a fight."

"If I'm poisoned, do you think you alone can hold off so many puppets, plus three cultivators of the same level?"

"Even if a pseudo-core cultivator came, they would surely die."

As he spoke, his face began to turn black, clearly indicating that he was not far from being poisoned.

"Haha." Seeing this, Huanglong, the protector of the Thousand Bamboo Sect, mocked, "Senior Brother Lin, don't put up a stubborn resistance."

"These puppets were specially bestowed upon us by Master Jin to deal with you, and their quality far surpasses that of ordinary puppets."

"Don't even mention this Foundation Establishment stage kid next to you, even if three or four more cultivators came, they would all be doomed."

"Unless you, Senior Brother Lin, can find a Core Formation cultivator, you are doomed."

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, half of Deacon Lin's puppets had already fallen.

Deacon Lin gritted his teeth, took out a mid-grade fire-attribute spirit stone, and installed it into the puppet tiger beneath him.

The tiger-shaped puppet slowly opened its lower jaw, and specks of white light began to gather in its giant mouth.

The next moment, a beam of yellow light, about ten feet long, shot out from the giant tiger's mouth, extending over a hundred feet away and annihilating all the humanoid puppets along its path.

The power of this tiger-shaped puppet is comparable to a full-force attack from a pseudo-core stage cultivator.

However, the three members of the Thousand Bamboo Sect remained completely calm, continuously taking out new puppets from their storage bags to replenish their forces, clearly indicating that they had come prepared.

Seeing this, Huang Long felt even more confident of victory, so he simply sent out a hundred puppet soldiers with broadswords to attack Yang Qingyuan.

These puppets were all comparable to cultivators who had reached the pinnacle of Qi cultivation, making for a truly impressive sight.

Seeing this, Yang Qingyuan showed a disdainful expression, patted the spirit pet bag, and released a snow-white spiritual light.

The white light flew to Yang Qingyuan's feet and lifted him into the air.

Deacon Lin and the three protectors of the Thousand Bamboo Sect all looked over and saw that the white light contained a huge, snow-white dragon.

"A level three monster!"

"It's a demonic beast with dragon blood!"

The three members of the Thousand Bamboo Sect first changed their expressions, then were overjoyed.

"Let's join forces and kill this demon!"

"The essence of this demon is a treasure that appears only once in a hundred years!"

On the grass, more than two hundred archer puppets turned around in unison, nocked their bows and drew their arrows in one smooth motion, aiming at the black dragon in mid-air and firing hundreds of flaming arrows.

Meanwhile, the black dragon swung its body, summoning a large cloud of black ink to envelop its body.

The flaming arrow struck the black cloud, but was deflected, failing to harm the black dragon in the slightest.

This dark cloud is the defensive divine power of the Dark Dragon, "Body Protective Dark Cloud," whose defensive power surpasses even that of the Azure Wood True Shield and the Yellow Silk Umbrella.

Seeing this, the three protectors of the Thousand Bamboo Sect also knew that they could not win by relying on puppets in the Qi Refining stage.

"Use the mountain tiger puppet!"

The Xie and Dai guardians raised their hands and patted their storage bags, releasing two enormous tiger-shaped puppets. They then took out two mid-grade spirit stones and installed them into the giant tiger puppets.

The giant tiger puppet opened its blood-red maw, and white light condensed within it.

Having witnessed the power of the giant tiger puppet, Yang Qingyuan naturally wouldn't surrender easily. He sat cross-legged atop the black dragon's head, patted his storage bag, took out a crimson ancient zither, placed it on his lap, and chuckled to the crowd below, "Gentlemen, please listen to this piece I, Yang, will play!"

"A song that breaks my heart, where in this world can I find a kindred spirit?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he activated the "External King and Inner Saint Technique," releasing all his divine sense and mobilizing his righteous energy, attaching it to his ten fingers and plucking the strings of the zither.

Then, a clear, crisp sound of a piano rang out.

Suddenly, the three protectors of the Thousand Bamboo Sect and Deacon Lin turned pale, felt dizzy, and were terrified.

"Psychic attack!"

"It was a mental attack!"

"How can this person's spiritual power be comparable to that of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator?!"

"Damn it, this person has also cultivated divine sense techniques!"

"Quickly activate the Great Evolution Technique!"

The three protectors of the Thousand Bamboo Sect and Deacon Lin also realized what was happening and immediately activated the Great Evolution Technique to clear their minds.

But before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, their expressions changed again.

Hundreds of puppet soldiers on the battlefield fell backward, their weapons falling to the side, shrinking to the size of a palm, and losing all their previous mystique.

Immediately afterwards, clusters of dark shadows drifted out from between the puppet's eyebrows, splitting into three or even more than a dozen parts amidst the music, before vanishing into thin air.

"Oh no!" Huang Long's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed in alarm, "This person's music specifically targets divine sense."

"The essence of these low-level puppets was made from the souls of mortal soldiers, and they cannot withstand the attack of the zither music at all."

As soon as the words were spoken, the giant tiger puppets also shut their mouths, and a large number of black shadow souls floated out from between their eyebrows.

This remnant soul also broke into several parts, and under the influence of the righteous energy, it was completely destroyed.

"Oops!"

Deacon Lin's expression was strange, and he thought to himself, "Isn't this person a natural counter to the methods of our Thousand Bamboo Sect!"