A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

The Copper Heart Taoist looked at the gleaming golden defensive shield in his hand, his face contorted with pain.

The spiderweb-like cracks on it became even more obvious. This golden tortoise shell shield was a relic left to him by his master. It was a common defensive item with a high cost-performance ratio among low-level magic artifacts.

Unfortunately, after more than a dozen fierce battles of varying sizes over the years, it has already suffered some obvious damage, which has also shielded it from many deadly dangers.

During his close encounter with the Golden Clan War Puppet, Tongxin Daoren keenly noticed the mid-grade spirit stones embedded within its body. This discovery immediately caused him to groan in despair.

If it were just low-grade spirit stones, he was confident that he could end the battle within a quarter of an hour, because this level of battle puppet consumes a lot of spiritual energy, and low-grade spirit stones are not enough to sustain its spiritual energy supply for a long time.

However, mid-grade spirit stones are different; the spiritual energy storage of a single mid-grade spirit stone is almost a hundred times that of a low-grade spirit stone.

Not only can it support the battle puppet in long-term combat, but its spiritual energy output is also more stable, with almost no drawbacks.

According to Tongxin Daoren's initial estimate, even after switching to mid-grade spirit stones, it would take one to two hours to exhaust the core spiritual power of this puppet, provided that he continuously fought against it.

With a flick of his wrist, the Copper Heart Daoist revealed a dull-looking spirit stone in his hand.

Looking at the low-grade spirit stone that he had already consumed most of its spiritual power from, he frowned, then hardened his heart and with another flick of his wrist, the spirit stone in his hand was replaced with a brand new spirit stone full of spiritual power.

Tongxin Daoist glanced reluctantly at the exquisite little pouch at his waist, a ruthless glint appearing in his eyes.

The items in the storage bag, along with the bag itself, represented the last remaining assets of the Tongyang Temple. By his generation, most of it had already been depleted.

You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. If we can successfully capture this puppet today, it will be worth any price!

Tongxin Daoist gripped the spirit stone tightly in his hand, thinking to himself.

Feeling the continuous flow of spiritual energy replenishing his palm, he once again fixed his gaze on Jin Haiming.

Seeing how he was surrounded and protected by everyone after discovering his identity as a cultivator, Tongxin Daoist sighed helplessly.

If he could snatch the puppet disc from its hands, that would undoubtedly be the best option. Unfortunately, with the interference of this battle puppet, he, who was exposed in front of others, no longer had the opportunity to ambush this person.

These battle puppets left by cultivators to their descendants may only execute a few simple commands, but they have one key characteristic: they are all programmed with a core instruction to protect their master!

Once activated, the puppets' command to protect their master will also take effect. Even if these mortal descendants do not issue the command, the puppets will automatically protect them when they are in danger.

By failing to kill the puppet before it was activated, Tongxin Daoist had lost another chance to launch a sneak attack.

You can't blame him for that; no one could have imagined that a mortal could produce such a rare contraption.

Upon noticing the other party's icy gaze, Jin Haiming felt a chill run down his spine and immediately ordered his puppet to kill the man, vowing to fight to the death.

Upon receiving the order, the guardian puppet launched another fierce attack on Tongxin Daoist, with speed and power far exceeding everyone's expectations.

Although its main attack method is physical combat, its tough body, which can withstand the Qi Refining Stage Great Perfection, still poses a considerable threat to Tongxin Daoren.

Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage cannot fly; they can only use the Wind Control Technique and the Lightness Technique to glide short distances at high altitudes and hover briefly.

Faced with the relentless close-range attacks from the war puppets, Tongxin Daoist had no choice but to constantly raise his tortoise-shell shields to defend with all his might, and then look for opportunities to create distance and release some low-level fireballs or ground spikes to hinder and slow down the puppets' attack frequency.

If the opportunity arises, they will also release one or two low-level wind blades towards Jin Haiming's location.

Upon seeing two Jin Clan disciples blocking his path sliced ​​in two by invisible wind blades, Jin Haiming was terrified. He immediately grabbed the puppet disc and hid behind the Jin Clan's gate. After glancing at Mo Liancheng, who was charging towards him with his sword, he hurriedly gave orders.

"Jin Hong! Jin Peng! Jin Xiuwu! The three of you must stop Mo Liancheng together. Do not let him interfere with my control of the clan's sacred artifact!"

When Mo Liancheng saw the three Jin Clan elders rushing up, a cold smile appeared on his pale face.

Is the other party looking down on him because he's injured?

Apart from Jin Hong, who could barely be considered a Grandmaster-level martial artist, the other two were only first-rate martial artists. Even if they attacked together, they would have difficulty contending with him.

With Jin Jingtian and that strange puppet gone, no one in the Jin clan can pose a significant threat to him anymore.

"Jin Peng, Xiu Wu, transfer your Golden Bamboo True Qi to me. Now that we are facing imminent disaster, even if it means death, I will hold him off for a moment!"

Jin Hong roared with a ferocious expression. With his fiery temper, whether it was his discord with Jin Jingtian within the clan or the current invasion of foreign enemies, he had never hidden his dissatisfaction and anger.

Upon hearing this, the two men's expressions changed drastically, but considering the current situation, they stood without hesitation to the side and behind Jin Hong, forming a triangular formation.

Then, two streams of golden true energy, identical to those of Jin Jingtian, surged wildly from their palms into Jin Hong's back.

The three cultivated the same true energy, and the golden true energy entered the former's body without any hindrance.

After the true energy entered his body, Jin Hong's aura surged instantly, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and powerful streams of true energy surged and crashed within his body like a tyrannical dragon.

"Pfft pfft pfft..."

A series of cracking sounds emanated from Jin Hong's body.

After its meridians were subjected to true energy beyond its own limits, they finally broke down under the strain.

"Hehe...not enough, let's have some more!"

With a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, Jin Hong frantically urged the two people behind him to hurry up.

Upon seeing this, Jin Peng and Jin Xiuwu showed a hint of reluctance and indignation on their faces, but their inner energy surged out of their bodies without reservation and flowed into Jin Hong's back.

Mo Liancheng, who was charging from afar, slowed down upon seeing this scene.

He was naturally suspicious and wary of the backlash from the ancestral sword in his hand. After noticing Jin Hong's true energy rising steadily, he immediately became somewhat doubtful and uncertain.

It's no wonder he's so cautious; his experience with the Jin clan today has made him as easily frightened as a bird startled by a bow.

That dark green puppet had caused him severe psychological trauma. Such an evil thing was even more terrifying than the Soul-Devouring Evil Sword of his Mo family.

Seeing that these three elders of the Golden Clan were about to pull something, he felt uncertain and naturally slowed down his attack.

When Jin Hong saw Mo Liancheng's appearance, a mocking smile appeared on his blood-stained lips, and his aura reached its peak at that moment.

Peak Grandmaster Realm!

Feeling the shattered meridians within his body, Jin Hong's entire body turned a strange dark red, with wisps of invisible blood energy rising and dissipating from his pores, making him appear as if his body was surrounded by crimson flames.

Roar!

Jin Hong roared, drew his sword from his waist, and charged at Mo Liancheng like a wild beast.

"You Mo brat, prepare to die!"

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