"Lord Yao Cheng, you..."
Looking at Yao Cheng's current state, Wang Yuxian's eyes were filled with disbelief.
She simply couldn't accept this kind of transformation.
"Stay close to me."
Though he was alarmed as well, Chu Feng secretly transmitted his voice to Wang Yuxian, Fairy Dao Hai, and the others, staying more composed than Wang Yuxian.
Yao Cheng's betrayal was already a fact. No matter how shocking it was, they had to accept it.
Right now, the puppet army's might was still formidable, but it was no longer under their control. Instead, they were restrained by the puppet army's power.
Chu Feng could sense that Sima Xiangtu's control over this puppet army was extremely strong.
Even if he still had means to try and salvage the situation, the odds of success were extremely slim.
Under these circumstances, their only option was to flee.
But the puppet army was so powerful, and they were completely surrounded. Normal methods simply wouldn't work.
The only way to escape was one thing: calling upon the Divine Deer.
However, Chu Feng's summons received no response from the Divine Deer.
To buy time, Chu Feng turned to look at Yao Cheng and Sima Xiangtu.
"So from the very beginning, this was all part of your design."
"Before I infiltrated the Nine Soul Holy Clan's dungeon and met the Nine Soul Holy Clan's Patriarch, I had already been discovered by you."
"That day, the one who put the Nine Soul Holy Clan's Patriarch into a coma was you, and the one who controlled the formation to attack me was also you."
"Everything was part of your plan."
"Yao Cheng deliberately saved me that day, then leaked Jiang Kongping's location to me. On the surface it looked like she was helping me, but in reality it was to win my trust."
"The true goal was to use me to go to the Demon Spirit Clan and bring this puppet army here, so it could be put to your use." Chu Feng said.
"Yao Cheng saving you that day was indeed my trap."
"Having you bring the puppet army here was indeed my goal."
"But how did you learn Young Master Kongping's location? How would I know that? Even I myself didn't know where Young Master Kongping was."
"So Chu Feng, today you've fallen here because you weren't clever enough. And now at this moment you think you can play petty tricks, trying to drive a wedge between me and the esteemed members of the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect?"
"Why don't you ask whether the esteemed members of the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect believe you?"
Sima Xiangtu denied that Yao Cheng had leaked Jiang Kongping's location to Chu Feng.
This was understandable, after all. If he admitted it, it would be unfavorable for the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect, and they would certainly hold it against him.
"This puppet army — was it really forged by you?"
At that moment, Wang Yuxian also spoke up.
She was reluctant to believe it.
In her heart, the guest who had entered the Demon Spirit Clan eight hundred years ago should have been incredibly powerful. Otherwise, how could they have forged such a formidable puppet army?
And this Sima Xiangtu — while he was certainly a cunning man — no matter how you looked at it, he didn't seem to possess the strength to forge such a puppet army.
"Miss Wang, why bother asking what you already know? Didn't Yao Cheng already give you the answer?"
Sima Xiangtu replied with a smile still on his face. It was clear that he was very proud of having forged the puppet army, and he wasn't about to let anyone deny it.
"Impossible. If the puppet army was forged by you, why would you go through all that trouble?"
"Why didn't you just summon the puppet army directly?"
"Instead you made us help you bring it out?"
Wang Yuxian raised her doubts.
She felt that none of this made sense.
"Because he couldn't bring it out at all."
Before Sima Xiangtu could answer, Chu Feng cut in.
Hearing this, Wang Yuxian looked at Chu Feng in surprise. Though disaster was imminent, she genuinely wanted to know the specific reason.
"Eight hundred years ago, he used that person's power to forge the puppet army — that much is true."
"But if I'm not mistaken, the moment the puppet army was successfully created, it was sealed away by the power that person left behind."
"The method to break the seal was to destroy a formation, but only the younger generation could enter that formation. This single condition made it impossible for Sima Xiangtu to unseal the puppet army."
"Sima Xiangtu, not wanting to arouse the suspicion of the Demon Spirit Clan, lied and claimed that the formation capable of unsealing the puppet army was something he had created."
"But in reality, it wasn't his creation at all. It was a formation that had spontaneously manifested from the power that person left behind back then."
"And along with that junior-generation formation, there also manifested the barrier that enclosed the entire Demon Spirit Clan."
"At the time, Sima Xiangtu probably didn't know that once you left through the barrier's gate, you couldn't re-enter."
"So after he unintentionally left the Demon Spirit Clan once, he was never able to return — giving him no opportunity to even access the puppet army."
"But fortunately for Sima Xiangtu, while inside the Demon Spirit Clan, he had found someone willing to serve him."