Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

The puppet's only advantage lies in its extremely strong defensive capabilities, thanks to its special refining materials. Ordinary attacks from grandmasters cannot damage it in the slightest. Su Mu even wondered if, if the puppet were powerful enough, it wouldn't have been so easily blasted away like it was when hit by Situ Jing's Overlord Spear.

"Although this silver puppet isn't particularly strong, its overall physical strength is equivalent to a top-grade Xuan-level treasure. It didn't suffer any damage under Situ Jing's Overlord Spear back then, but now its connection has been severed. Could it be that someone else can actually harm it?" Su Mu couldn't help but feel a surge of interest.

He knew perfectly well that the person who could forge this silver puppet was at least a Grandmaster, far stronger than Situ Jing. The puppet's material was also extremely rare, its defense incredibly formidable; ordinary experts couldn't even scratch it. Now that the puppet had lost contact, it must have encountered someone extraordinary.

Filled with doubt, Su Mu quickened his pace and soon arrived at Wild Wolf Ridge. But the fierce fighting that had taken place there was no longer any trace of it; the battle was completely over. No one could be seen in the sky anymore; only devastation remained—broken magical artifacts, scattered corpses, and broken rocks were everywhere.

Many powerful members of the Xiao royal family, including those martial artists at the Innate Realm, put away their weapons and rushed towards the Great Qian Imperial City, clearly intending to return to the city as soon as possible to protect the Emperor and the royal family.

Su Mu's gaze swept quickly across the crowd, spotting Xiao Anran standing at the edge of the Xiao royal family's procession. A trace of lingering anxiety remained on her face, but her aura was stable and unaffected, indicating she was unharmed. However, Su Zhengying, the sixth elder of the Tianwu Sect who had remained at Wild Wolf Ridge, was nowhere to be seen. It was unclear whether he had returned to the Tianwu Sect or gone elsewhere.

Without lingering, Su Mu immediately flew into Wild Wolf Ridge and began a thorough search, leaving no corner unchecked, hoping to find the missing silver puppet. He turned Wild Wolf Ridge upside down, meticulously searching every corner from the bottom of the pit to the surrounding forest, but he still couldn't find any trace of the silver puppet, as if it had never been there at all.

"It seems that this puppet was either completely destroyed and turned into fragments, or it was taken by some powerful figure." Su Mu pondered to himself. Since he couldn't find it, he didn't dwell on it too much. After all, it was just a puppet; losing it was no big deal, and there was no need to waste too much time on it. After thinking for a moment, Su Mu turned around and flew towards the direction of the Great Qian Imperial City.

Meanwhile, over a hundred kilometers away in a desolate wasteland, Su Qingshan, leading a group of members of the Divine Judgment, had already joined up with the Duanmu family team led by Duanmu Rong. The two teams differed in size and number, but both the members of the Divine Judgment and the experts from the Duanmu family were covered in dust and dirt, bearing injuries of varying degrees. Clearly, they had also paid a considerable price in the battle at Wild Wolf Ridge.

"Clan Chief Duanmu, what exactly happened with that Japanese clan team?" A middle-aged man with the power of divine judgment asked first, his face showing a mixture of doubt and anger. His tone was full of dissatisfaction. "We agreed to act together after the treasure appeared. Why did they suddenly act ahead of schedule?"

Before he could finish speaking, Su Qingshan couldn't help but angrily question, "That's right! Why did you let them make a sudden move? Now look what's happened, we haven't gotten much treasure, and we've only created a lot of trouble!"

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Rong sighed helplessly, slowly raised his hand, pointed behind him, and said in a heavy tone, "Don't ask anymore, they are all dead."

As soon as the words were spoken, two powerful members of the Duanmu family immediately carried two corpses from the back of the group and gently placed them on the ground. One of the corpses was relatively intact, except for a penetrating wound in the chest, the surrounding flesh of which had turned black, clearly caused by a sharp sword aura; the other corpse, however, was a gruesome sight, its head missing, the neck a bloody mess, its identity barely discernible from its clothing and build.

Su Qingshan's gaze fell on the relatively intact corpse, his pupils contracted slightly, and then he pointed at the corpse and said in a deep voice, "So, he is the second prince of the Japanese tribe, Mori no Jiro!"

Duanmu Rong nodded slowly, then turned his gaze to another headless corpse and said to Su Qingshan in a solemn tone, "This headless corpse is the Grandmaster who led the Japanese expedition this time, Morikami Ryuta!"

"What?!" Su Qingshan was shocked, his face filled with disbelief. He took two steps back, staring intently at the headless corpse. "Morigami Ryuta? A Grandmaster, plus eight other Grandmaster-level experts—who on earth could have wiped them all out, leaving not a single one alive?"

Duanmu Rong shook his head helplessly, a hint of doubt and apprehension on his face: "I don't know either. When we arrived here, they were all already dead. Only these corpses were left at the scene, with no signs of a struggle. Obviously, the opponent's strength was far greater than we imagined, and their speed was extremely fast, leaving them no chance to resist at all."

"Damn it!" Su Qingshan cursed inwardly, his face growing increasingly grim. They had meticulously planned this, joining forces with the Divine Judgment, the Duanmu family, and the Japanese experts, believing it would be foolproof—as long as nothing unexpected happened, even if they couldn't kill Lin Zhengying, they could still seize a treasure from Wild Wolf Ridge. But now, not only had they failed to kill Lin Zhengying and seize the treasure, but even the Japanese experts had all been slaughtered by someone, without exception.

He knew in his heart that the fall of these Japanese experts was a huge blow to the Japanese. In the future, it would be almost impossible for them to ask Japanese experts for help again. Without the restraint of Japanese experts, it would be a pipe dream for the Duanmu family and the Divine Judgment alone to fight against the Xiao royal family and rush into the palace.

Duanmu Rong's face was also gloomy. After a moment of silence, he sighed helplessly: "Now, the only thing we can do is wait patiently—either wait for Lin Zhengying to leave the palace and lose the protection of the palace, and then we can take advantage of the situation; or we can wait for the barbarian and Northern Desert armies to reach the foot of the capital and tie down the Xiao family's forces, and then we can look for an opportunity to take advantage of the situation."