Yao Cheng was stunned.

  “Xiangtu, what are you doing?!”


  She couldn’t believe what was happening was real. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Sima Xiangtu would harm her.

  Sima Xiangtu took in her reaction and burst into laughter.

  “Yao Cheng, take a look in the mirror. There’s not a single person in the Monstrous Spirit Clan who is uglier than you. Why do you think I approached you at all? It’s simply because your naivety and bloodline are useful to me.

  “You might be ugly, but you have the most potent bloodline in the Monstrous Spirit Clan. Even your clan chief pales in comparison to you. My puppet army is constructed using this Celestial Master's Army Seal, but its core is still centered around your clan’s bloodline power.

  “These 32 puppets possess cultivation comparable to a rank six Half-God level cultivator, but I have made them so powerful that I was unable to complete them myself. I require a catalyst in order to push for their completion, and the catalyst is none other than your blood,” Sima Xiangtu said.

  “Were you… lying… to me from the very start? You have never fancied me, not even for an instant?” Yao Cheng asked with tears in her eyes.

  “I acknowledge your talent, but there’s no way I could possibly fancy an ugly freak like you. I pray that you’ll be smarter in your next life.”


  There was a faint smile on Sima Xiangtu’s lips from the start to the end, but his eyes were glowing with viciousness. It didn’t take long before Yao Cheng breathed her last and collapsed to the ground as a withered corpse.

  Through the catalyst of Yao Cheng’s blood, the formation in Sima Xiangtu’s eyes shone with great brilliance. It swiftly fused with the formation shrouding the 32 puppets, and the puppets began emanating an aura.

  It was the aura of a rank six Half-God level cultivator.

  “It’s finally completed,” Sima Xiangtu said in excitement.

  He knew that Chu Feng and the Pill Dao Immortal Sect couldn’t pose a threat to him anymore now that these 32 puppets were finally completed. He could finally continue with his plan.

  However, an old voice filled with disappointment suddenly echoed behind Sima Xiangtu.

  “Why are you here?”


  Sima Xiangtu quickly turned around to take a look, only to see that a middle-aged man had appeared behind him at some point in time. He froze on the spot, for he recognized the middle-aged man.

  It was the person depicted in the stone sculpture worshiped by the Monstrous Spirit Clan, the person who visited the Monstrous Spirit Clan tens of thousands of years ago. He was the true owner of the Celestial Master's Army Seal.

  But based on what Sima Xiangtu knew, the middle-aged man should have died tens of thousands of years ago. It should be impossible for the latter to appear here!

  Realizing that there was something wrong and dangerous with the middle-aged man, Sima Xiangtu quickly took out the military seal.

  Shoosh shoosh shoosh!

  All 32 puppets charged at the middle-aged man right away with overwhelming killing intent. He was intending to take the middle-aged man’s life!

  Whoosh!

  Sima Xiangtu’s pupils dilated in fright.

  Before these 32 rank six Half-God level puppets could reach the middle-aged man, they suddenly crumbled into wooden smithereens and fell all over the ground.

  Sima Xiangtu didn’t see the middle-aged man make a move at all, but he sensed an unprecedentedly terrifying aura the moment the 32 puppets shattered. Not even a pinnacle Half-God level cultivator could release such a powerful aura.

  The middle-aged man was an existence that had far surpassed Half-God!

  “Milord, who… are you?” Sima Xiangtu asked with a subconsciously subservient attitude.

  He had realized that he was faced with an incredibly formidable figure who had likely overcome the limitations of Half-God level!

  “Who am I? Shouldn’t you know where that military seal of yours came from?” the middle-aged man asked.

  “Milord, are you saying that… you’re the man who appeared in the Monstrous Spirit Clan tens of thousands of years ago?” Sima Xiangtu asked.

  He did fathom such a possibility, but it was simply too unbelievable to him. So many years had passed since then, after all. However, based on the other party’s aura, it did seem credible now for him to be the owner of the Celestial Master's Army Seal.

  “You aren’t dumb. It’s no wonder why you could play those fools of the Monstrous Spirit Clan like a fiddle. However, you shouldn’t be the person I’m looking for. Why is the Celestial Master's Army Seal in your hands?” the middle-aged man asked.

  “Milord, the Celestial Master's Army Seal has always been in my hands. I never thought that I'd be the person you’re looking for.”


  Sima Xiangtu finally managed to piece together the situation. He had heard that the middle-aged man had visited the Monstrous Spirit Clan back then to await someone, and from the looks of it now, the person the middle-aged man was waiting for was him.

  “Milord, I’ve deeply respected you ever since I laid my eyes on this Celestial Master's Army Seal. I have been wanting to meet you in person even in my dreams, and I felt deep regret when I heard that you’re no longer in this world. I never thought that my wish would actually come true and that you would still be alive.

  “Milord, please take me in. I’m willing to serve you!”


  He could sense just how powerful the middle-aged man was, which was why he was willing to go with the latter.

  “It shouldn’t be you… But that master told me that the person in possession of the Heavenly Army Token when the pendant fills to the brim is the one who’ll aid me in mastering my divine skill. There should be no mistake here,” the middle-aged man muttered under his breath.

  He wasn’t interested in Sima Xiangtu’s expression of loyalty at all. What he was baffled about was why the person standing before him wasn’t Chu Feng but Sima Xiangtu.

  “Forget it. I’ll know once I give it a try.”


  The middle-aged man opened up his hand.

  Weng!

  A small storm brewed around him as a formation appeared on his palm. Sima Xiangtu’s face darkened at the sight of the formation.

  It was the same formation he had used to devour Yao Cheng earlier, just that the prowess of the middle-aged man’s formation was several thousand times stronger than his.

  “Milord, w-what do you mean by this?”


  Sima Xiangtu panicked. Both the formation and the words spoken by the middle-aged man had left him with an ominous feeling.

  “There’s no need to get so nervous. It’s a blessing and an honor for you to become a part of me,” the middle-aged man said with a sinister smile as he slowly walked up to Sima Xiangtu.

  Sima Xiangtu trembled in fear. He had already ascertained the middle-aged man’s intention by now, but he was unable to move at all. The middle-aged man’s strength was so beyond his recognition that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him a god.

  If the middle-aged man sought to take his life, he could only wait for death no matter how reluctant he was.

  “Am I, Sima Xiangtu, going to die here just like that?”


  Sima Xiangtu looked at the sky in indignation.

  Many times he had thought about his future, but it had never occurred to him that he would meet with such an end.

  Boom!

  All of a sudden, a deafening thud trembled the world. Powerful shockwaves rippled downward with terrifying force. It took a long while before everything slowly calmed down.

  The baffled Sima Xiangtu quickly scanned his surroundings to see what was going on, only to stiffen in shock. He found that everything around him had been decimated by the earlier burst of energy.

  He had never seen such great power before.

  Under normal circumstances, there should have been no way he could have survived under an explosion—even the slightest nick could have taken his life—but he still emerged from it unscathed. That could only mean that the person who had made the attack had intentionally protected him.

  Sima Xiangtu quickly looked at the middle-aged man and saw that he was hundreds of thousands of meters away. His arms were crossed in front of him, a defensive posture that suggested that someone had knocked him back.

  Could it be that the earlier attack was directed toward the middle-aged man, and it successfully knocked him back?

  Sima Xiangtu thought it was inconceivable how anyone would have the power to knock back an existence as powerful as the middle-aged man. More importantly, a person who had the power to knock back a god could only be a god himself.

  No one in the Nine Souls Galaxy should possess such capabilities.

  Could it be that the middle-aged man’s mortal nemesis had found it and coincidentally saved him? But how could something as coincidental as that happen out of the blue?

  “Sima Xiangtu, what's with your reaction? Scared witless?” a voice echoed beside him.

  Startled, Sima Xiangtu turned his head over and saw that a person was standing next to him.

  “I-it’s you?!”


  Sima Xiangtu’s eyes widened in disbelief. It was someone he would recognize even if the other party was reduced to ashes, but that only made the situation even more ridiculous. Why would that man possibly save him?

  It was the Ox-nosed Old Daoist.