"Lord Yao Cheng, you..."
Staring at Yao Cheng in his current state, Wang Yuxian's eyes were filled with disbelief.
She simply could not accept such a sudden turn of events.
"Stay close to me."
Though he too was shaken, Chu Feng quietly transmitted his voice to Wang Yuxian, Fairy Dao Hai, and the others, unlike Wang Yuxian who was still reeling.
Yao Cheng's betrayal was already a fact. No matter how shocking it was, they had no choice but to accept it.
Right now, the might of the puppet army was still present, but it was no longer under their control. Instead, they had been restrained by the puppet army's own power.
Chu Feng could sense that Si Xiangtu's control over this puppet army was incredibly formidable.
Even if he still had some means he could attempt to turn things around, his chances of success were exceedingly slim.
Under these circumstances, their only option was to flee.
But the puppet army was so powerful, and they were completely surrounded. Conventional methods would be utterly useless.
The only way to escape was a single option — to call upon the Divine Deer.
Yet Chu Feng's call went unanswered by the Divine Deer.
To buy time, Chu Feng looked toward Yao Cheng and Si Xiangtu.
"So from the very beginning, everything was part of your scheme."
"Before I infiltrated the Nine Souls Sacred Clan's dungeon and met their Clan Master, I had already been discovered by you."
"That day, the one who put the Nine Souls Sacred Clan's Clan Master into a coma was you, and the one who manipulated the formation to attack me was also you."
"Everything was planned by you."
"Yao Cheng deliberately saved me that day, then leaked Jiang Kongping's location to me. On the surface it was to help me, but in truth it was to earn my trust."
"The real goal was to use me to go to the Spirit Race and bring this puppet army back, so that it could serve your purposes." Chu Feng said.
"Yao Cheng saving you that day was indeed my trap."
"Having you bring the puppet army back was indeed my goal."
"But as for how Young Master Kongping's location was revealed to you — how would I know that? Even I myself didn't know where Young Master Kongping was."
"So Chu Feng, the fact that you've fallen here today is because you weren't clever enough. And now you want to play games, trying to sow discord between me and the esteemed lords of the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect?"
"Go ahead and ask the lords of the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect if they believe you."
Si Xiangtu denied that Yao Cheng had leaked Jiang Kongping's location to Chu Feng.
This was to be expected, after all. If he admitted it, that would be disadvantageous to the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect, and they would certainly take issue with him.
"Was this puppet army really forged by you?"
It was then that Wang Yuxian spoke up as well.
She was reluctant to believe it.
In her mind, the guest who had entered the Spirit Race eight hundred years ago should have been incredibly powerful. Otherwise, how could someone have forged such a formidable puppet army?
And this Si Xiangtu, while certainly a cunning rogue, by every measure did not appear to possess the strength required to create such a puppet army.
"Miss Wang, why bother asking the obvious? Hasn't Yao Cheng already given you the answer?"
As Si Xiangtu replied, a smile still hung on his face. It was clear that he took great pride in having forged the puppet army and did not appreciate having it questioned.
"That can't be. If you truly forged the puppet army, why go through such roundabout means?"
"Why didn't you simply summon the puppet army yourself?"
"Instead, you had us help you bring it out?"
Wang Yuxian raised her own doubts.
She felt that none of this made any logical sense.
"Because he couldn't bring it out himself."
But before Si Xiangtu could answer, Chu Feng cut in and spoke first.
Hearing this, Wang Yuxian looked at Chu Feng in surprise. Though disaster loomed, she still very much wanted to know the specifics.
"Eight hundred years ago, it's true that he used that great figure's power to forge the puppet army."
"But if I'm not mistaken, the moment the puppet army was completed, it was sealed by the power that figure left behind."
"The method to break that seal was to breach the formation. However, that formation could only be entered by junior cultivators. That single condition made it impossible for Si Xiangtu to unseal the puppet army himself."
"To avoid arousing the Spirit Race's suspicion, Si Xiangtu lied and claimed that the formation capable of unsealing the puppet army was something he had created."
"But in truth, it wasn't his creation at all. It was a formation that had spontaneously manifested from the power that great figure left behind."
"And along with that junior-only formation, the barrier that sealed off the entire Spirit Race had also manifested."
"At that time, Si Xiangtu likely didn't know that once you left through the barrier's gate, you could never re-enter."
"So after he inadvertently left the Spirit Race that one time, he was unable to ever return. He didn't even have the chance to get close to the puppet army."
"But fortunately for Si Xiangtu, within the Spirit Race, he had already found someone willing to serve him."