Upon hearing Yang Kai's transmission, the Elder's expression shifted. He immediately whispered a few commands to the eight Stone Puppets, and in the next instant, all nine members of the Stone Puppet clan scattered and spread outward.
High in the treetops, a Wuhua Hall Elder whose body had been seized by a demonic will carefully retracted his aura, concealing his figure until he merged seamlessly with the surrounding environment. Numerous people flew past above and below him, yet not a single one detected his presence.
He hid there, gazing at a battlefield several li away, controlling over a hundred empowered Demon Folk in a desperate struggle against more than a dozen Emperor Realm cultivators.
Just then, the light before his eyes suddenly dimmed as a massive mountain interposed itself, blocking out the sky above.
The Wuhua Hall Elder seized by the demonic will startled and looked up, only to see a Stone Puppet standing several zhang tall, glaring straight down at him.
He had been discovered!
He had actually been discovered!
And by a Stone Puppets, of all things.
Since when did Stone Puppets possess such sharp perception? He was confident his concealment was flawless — unless a Third Order Emperor Realm expert were deliberately searching for him, detection should have been impossible.
Without a moment's hesitation, he shrank his body and prepared to flee. But just then, his foot suddenly tightened as a pulling force gripped him, as though seized by a giant hand. He twisted his head in alarm, disbelief written across his face. It was not a hand that held his ankle — it was a vine.
He unleashed a burst of Demonic Qi, and the vine instantly disintegrated into powder.
Yet that brief delay was enough for the Stone Puppet to strike. A colossal fist smashed down like a mountain falling from the sky, striking him squarely in the chest. In that instant, the Wuhua Hall Elder convulsed as though struck by lightning, the sound of shattering bone erupting from his chest. His body crumpled like a torn cloth sack, plummeting toward the ground. Before he even landed, fragments of his internal organs sprayed from his mouth and nose. His neck went limp, and his aura vanished entirely.
Even possessed by a demonic will, this man's cultivation was only at the First Order Emperor Realm. Every Stone Puppet possessed terrifying strength — even a Third Order Emperor Realm expert would suffer grievous injuries from a direct blow. How could someone like him possibly survive? He perished on the spot from a single punch.
The Stone Puppet turned and sped off in another direction as a voice like a faint murmur drifted from behind.
Stone Puppets themselves did not truly possess such keen perception, but with the guidance of the Wood Spirits, everything changed. The Wood Spirits and the Stone Puppet clan complemented each other perfectly, fighting side by side in every battle. The Wood Spirits' sensitivity to trees was absolutely peerless. Those demonic wills hiding within the trees might be difficult for anyone else to detect, but the Wood Spirits needed only to commune with the surrounding trees to clearly discern where ambushes lay, providing the Stone Puppets with precise guidance.
Nine Stone Puppets operating in concert, one demonic will after another was dragged from hiding throughout the Wuhua Hall — dead or wounded. Without those demonic wills driving them, the Demon Folk quickly lost all capacity to fight, standing dazed in place and allowing others to knock them unconscious as they plummeted from the sky like raindrops.
Yang Kai swept his cold gaze across the battlefield, his eyes quickly locking onto a particular direction.
That was where the martial gathering's valley lay. When he had departed a day ago, Demonic Qi had been churning there in a pitch-black mass. Now that he had returned, it looked even more violent than before.
And Wen Zishan and the others were trapped inside that very valley.
The situation here was largely under control — the beings possessed by demonic wills had been almost entirely purged, and without their guidance, the remaining Demon Folk posed no further threat. Without hesitation, Yang Kai soared toward the valley.
Midway, three streaks of light shot toward him from three different directions and landed at his side. They were Fan Wu, Cang Gou, and Luan Feng, clearly having noticed his movements and come to provide support. No matter how much they despised Yang Kai — no matter how badly they wanted to slap him dead — that woman stood behind him, and she was the natural enemy of all Sacred Spirits. They had all witnessed the intimacy between that woman and Yang Kai before she entered the Blood Gate, and they knew how important he was to her.
If Yang Kai were to die right under their noses, they would have absolutely no peace once that woman emerged from seclusion.
So Fan Wu and the other two had no choice but to stay by Yang Kai's side and guard against any unforeseen danger.
The four figures raced onward without encountering any resistance and soon arrived at the edge of the valley, alighting on a nearby mountain peak.
At the sight before them, the brows of all three Sacred Spirits furrowed, wariness flickering in their eyes.
The valley was suffused with dense Demonic Qi that roiled and writhed like something alive. No one knew how such qi had been formed, but one thing was certain — falling into it would end very badly.
From the center of the valley, the sounds of fighting could still be heard, as though someone had been besieged within.
"You brat, you think you can ruin my plans? You think you can save them? What a foolish daydream." Lei Gu's voice drifted from somewhere within the valley, drifting and elusive, giving no indication of his true position.
"If you're so skilled, why skulk in the shadows? Face me head-on if you dare!" Yang Kai snorted coldly.
Lei Gu laughed. "How naive. Let me deal with them first, and then I'll attend to you." As his words fell, the Demonic Qi within the valley churned even more violently, and from its center came wave after wave of panicked cries, interspersed with desperate pleas for help.
Yang Kai's expression changed sharply. "Martial Sister Murong!"