The bidding followed Bai Xiaofei’s old plot of him winning the item for the starting price. However, he frowned.

  “Brother Fei, what’s the matter?” Despite his excitement, Shi Kui grew nervous upon seeing that expression on Bai Xiaofei’s face.

  “Something’s not right,” replied Bai Xiaofei as the auction officially came to an end, but the final item was not sent to him. He decisively launched Blackie’s ability and said, “You guys stay here!” He then disappeared on the spot.

  At that moment, a person sitting on the last row in the auction hall sneered.

  The next second, an explosion shook the hall and shrouded it in flames, killing and injuring the puppetsmiths who were on their way to leave!

  Yet it was only the beginning. Right after the explosion, the ceiling of the auction hall shattered, drawing attention to a figure above. With a wave of the figure’s hand, a teleportation gate appeared and from it poured out a huge crowd of human puppets!

  Everyone recognized them immediately. However, the auction was full of puppetsmiths and not puppet masters!

  “Protect them, I’m going out there!” Tan Xin said to Shi Kui and rushed out. She knew what the puppetsmiths outside meant to Ethereal, and considering the relationship between Bai Xiaofei and Ethereal, she couldn’t sit idly by.

  Although clingy at normal times, Tan Xin always had clear judgment when facing important events.

  Meanwhile, Shi Kui made a bitter face upon hearing her order. Him? Protecting others? When he was also in the ‘needing protection’ category?

  As Shi Kui thought to himself, a human puppet somehow teleported into the room. As it was about to attack, Yan Ran’er quickly stepped forward and shattered it with a punch!

  That’s right, shattered! Into pieces!

  During the past period of time, Yan Ran’er’s abnormally powerful strength that didn’t require her to cultivate had grown greatly. The characteristic to crush that attached to her power was one of that growth!

  “Don’t worry, Brother Shi, you will be fine with me here,” declared Yan Ran’er solemnly.

  However, Shi Kui really didn’t want to answer this, never feeling more helpless about himself…


  “Hit the wall.”


  As Shi Kui and Yan Ran’er were about to rush out, Ni Xue pulled them back and pointed to the wall.

  “The structure of the auction house is very simple. The other side of this wall is the outside. And it’s not like the building would mind having one more hole at this point.”


  Ni Xue’s calm bearing surprised Shi Kui, she was right. Heeding her words, Yan Ran’er smashed the wall to pieces. However, the trio was immediately surprised to find that the whole auction house had been sealed by a formation!

  Catching all the fish in a net?! Someone wants to kill everyone here?!

  Shi Kui’s heart jerked in shock. If everyone here was dead, Ethereal’s puppet forging industry would slide downhill!

  This is… too cruel!

  “Try attacking this barrier.” Ni Xue still retained her composure and didn’t look like a weak normal person at all.

  Yan Ran’er did as told. As her fist met the magical barrier, a wave fluctuated from the barrier and offset her terrifying strength, rendering her punch useless.

  “We can break this formation, and if there is no accident, only we can do it,” said Ni Xue with a difficult expression, but her struggle was quickly replaced by resolution.

  “How?” Shi Kui wasn’t in the mood to care why Ni Xue knew this. He just wanted to get the puppetsmiths out as soon as possible.

  “This is the reverse type of defensive formation used on the city wall, but no matter how it’s altered, its nature remains the same. The formation cores are within, so what we have to do is find and destroy them. It just happens that I’m familiar with this formation. Here, these places are where we are going,” said Ni Xue as she squatted down and drew a simple topographic map on the ground before marking out three positions.

  “It’s a bit far!” Shi Kui looked troubled. If they went through the three places one by one, everyone would have been dead by the time they finished.

  “That’s why we need to split up,” said Ni Xue.

  Shi Kui widened his eyes in disbelief. “That’s no problem for Yan’er, and perhaps feasible for me too, but you…” he stopped in the middle. After all, what he wanted to say was a bit too hurtful.

  “You don’t need to worry about me. While I’m not a puppet master, don’t forget about necessity-type puppets that don’t require origin energy to use. At least I’m still the young miss of a merchant group. Of course I have those things saved up. Besides, do we have a choice now?” Ni Xue asked, rendering Shi Kui speechless.

  “Alright, I believe you!” Shi Kui replied after thinking for a moment, giving Ni Xue the answer she wanted, and then looked at Yan Ran’er solemnly. “Ran’er, if possible, solve yours quickly and go to help Ni Xue. Don’t worry about me!”


  Yan Ran’er’s eyes were clearly reluctant. It wasn’t that she was unwilling to help Ni Xue. She just didn’t want Shi Kui to take risks.

  “This is not about us! This is about the Holy Puppetsmith Mountain, about Ethereal! You listen, alright?! As long as most of the people are fine, it’ll be okay even if something happens to…”


  Before Shi Kui could finish his words, Yan Ran’er pulled him toward her and planted a kiss on his lips.

  “No need to say more, I will use my fastest speed!” she said and rushed out.

  Patting Shi Kui, who was still in a blissful daze, Ni Xue said, “She’s a great girl, don’t miss out!” With that, she also rushed out.

  In the end, Shi Kui, the only man, was the slowest. By the time he set out, the human puppets along the way had all been smashed into pieces by Yan Ran’er. Despite being a non-puppet master, Yan Ran’er’s strength could only be described as perverse.

  Traveling a risky path safely, Shi Kui neared the formation base assigned to him. However, when he saw it, he froze in shock.

  It was a little girl with patterns drawn all over her and she was firmly tied up. Next to her was a man with a pointy mouth and monkey ears who was looking at him insidiously.

  “Tch, I can’t believe that someone actually knows our formation. But I won’t stop you. The formation base is here. Destroy her!” The man’s shrill voice echoed in the air, and then his sneer…