Translator: StarveCleric Editor: Millman97

"Clone!"

Knowing that he would be a goner if this fist were to land on him, Zhang Xuan immediately brought out his clone while his main body dodged to the side.

"Main body, did you find some good stuff again? Ah?!"

The clone had been in the storage ring all along, so he wasn't aware of what was going on outside. When he was summoned, he thought that there would be something for him, similar to how it was with the Cleansing Lake back then but just as he was getting excited, a massive fist was already right before his eyes.

Peng!

Before he could even process what was going on, he was already punched in his head, and his head flattened as though a squashed pancake. His rage immediately flew off the charts.

"To dare to strike me, you're courting death!"

Not expecting to meet with something like this as soon as he appeared, the clone was frenzied. In a moment, the clone's flattened head immediately puffed up back to normal, and he raised his fist to punch the Otherworldly Demon puppet!

As the clone's body was molded out of Nine Hearts Lotus, it had no specific form, thus allowing it to recover even if it were to be reduced to a pile of mud. In a sense, it could be said to be indestructible. This was also the reason why Zhang Xuan used the latter as a shield at this crucial moment.

Hu hu!

Clashing fists with the Otherworldly Demon puppet, 'peng!', the clone was immediately sent crashing into a wall.

Despite its unparalleled physical resilience, the clone's cultivation and true strength were still way too low. As such, it wasn't a match for this monster either.

It was just like how a diamond might be tougher than steel, but a steel hammer could still shatter it into bits.

Hong long!

But while the clone couldn't stand on equal footing with the Otherworldly Demon puppet, it did manage to provoke it with its fist. The furious Otherworldly Demon puppet immediately rushed forward and kicked at the clone.

"This is bad"

Just the fist itself nearly caused his entire body to fall apart, the clone instinctively knew that he wouldn't be able to withstand the might of this kick. Frightened, he swiftly dodged to the side.

"Die!"

At the same moment, Zhang Xuan, who was wielding a sword, immediately raised his sword and cut down on the Otherworldly Demon puppet's neck.

The main body and the clone shared their consciousness, allowing them to work together with exceptional synergy. While the clone drew attention away from the Otherworldly Demon puppet, Zhang Xuan made use of this opportunity when the other party's attention wasn't on him to launch an attack.

Ding!

However, as the sword struck the neck of the puppet, a crisp metallic sound echoed with a burst of sparks.

Zhang Xuan felt a dull pain in his arm. It was as if he had struck a metal pole with a wooden stick; his sword nearly fell out of his hands.

"Isn't he simply way too tough?"

Taking a look, Zhang Xuan realized that he had only managed to leave nothing but a white scar on the other party's neck. His face immediately darkened.

The sword he was wielding was a Spirit intermediate-tier pinnacle sword, and yet, an attack with his full might actually failed to even cut through the other party's skin. How formidable must this fellow's defense be?

"Could it be that on top of the corpse of an Otherworldly Demon, some other materials were used to forge this puppet into a weapon?"

Zhang Xuan's eyes narrowed.

With an immense strength exceeding 9,000,000 ding and the might of a Spirit intermediate-tier weapon, even the head of a Transcendent Mortal 8-dan expert would be easily lopped off. And yet, he barely scraped the other party's skin. That could only mean one thing

This fellow wasn't just an ordinary puppet forged out of a mere corpse. It was highly likely that its body was coated with a layer of some extraordinary alloy, turning it into a weapon exceeding Spirit intermediate-tier.

That was the only plausible explanation as to why Zhang Xuan's attack was rendered ineffective!

"How do I fight against something like this?"

Zhang Xuan's face turned exceptionally awful.

Even his strongest weapon wasn't sufficient to break through the other party's defense. In other words, he was incapable of hurting the other party, needless to say, kill it!

Hu!

While Zhang Xuan was in the midst of despairing, the Otherworldly Demon puppet, infuriated by his backstab, turned around and smashed its massive fist at him.

Its fist seemed to wield strength comparable to a mountain, compressing the air in space with a loud sonic boom. Even before it could reach Zhang Xuan, he could already feel a searing heat in his surroundings, as though he had been placed in a massive cauldron.

Might of a Searing Cauldron!

Legend has it that when one's fist reached a certain strength, the shock wave of one's punch would become reminiscent of a searing cauldron, capable of even melting steel.

Zhang Xuan had always thought that it was just an exaggeration of old legends, but to think that he would experience it himself!

"Retreat"

Knowing that it was impossible to stand against such a powerful punch, Zhang Xuan immediately rushed backward.

Peng!

However, the room was simply too small. Barely after retreating two steps, he felt the cold wall pressing tightly against his back.

"Dragon Scale Amulet!"

Knowing that it would be impossible for him to dodge this attack, Zhang Xuan was left with no choice but to activate the amulet from before.

There were only three uses to this object. He had used it once in the soul oracle tomb, and this was his second use.

A light barrier appeared and shrouded him.

Boom!

As the fist came into contact with the light barrier, an ear-splitting sonic boom sounded, and the latter immediately burst.

In an instant, Zhang Xuan felt an immense force transferring from the barrier and on to him. The stone wall directly behind him was reduced to dust while he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood.

If not for the physical body tempering he had undergone in the Cleansing Lake, his bones would have been shattered by that blow.

"To be able to destroy a barrier that could even withstand an attack from a Transcendent Mortal 9-dan pinnacle, this fellow's strength must have reached Saint realm"

Exhaling deeply, Zhang Xuan swiftly moved aside to create room for himself while driving the Heaven's Path zhenqi within him to heal his injuries.

He thought that as long as he collaborated with his clone, even if they couldn't defeat it, he would at least be able to escape. Who could have known that, on top of being strong, the other party's defensive capabilities would be extraordinary as well?

Only a Saint could possibly possess such capabilities.

At Zhang Xuan's current cultivation, it was impossible for him to defeat the other party.

Unless

" there's a Spirit pinnacle weapon for me to wield!"

Zhang Xuan clenched his fists tightly in agitation.

Due to the other party's overwhelming defense, even though he knew its flaws, with his current strength, it was impossible for him to exploit them against the other party. However, it was possible for him to make up for his weakness through a stronger weapon If there was a Spirit pinnacle weapon here, he might still stand a chance against the puppet otherwise, the only fate that awaited him would be death!

What should he do?

Ever since his transcension, everything had been smooth-sailing. He never thought that a day would come where he would meet with such a dangerous situation.

If the other party was a living being, he might still be able to hoodwink it through his Impartation of Heaven's Will, just as he had done with the Otherworldly Demon back then

But a puppet possessed no sentience at all! No number of words could possibly sway a being whose only purpose of existence was to accomplish the instructions asked of it.

While Zhang Xuan was at a loss, he suddenly heard Luo Qiqi's telepathic voice in his head.

"Teacher, there's a passageway in here, come in"

Many things had happened, but it had only been ten breaths since she entered the stone door. It seemed as though she found something within it.

"Alright!"

Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and exerted another wave of sword qi. At the same moment, he had his clone attack from behind. After all was done, he immediately turned around and fled for the stone door.

His clone was indestructible, so he had nothing to fear, but Zhang Xuan was different. Should his head be caved in by that fearsome fist, he would really die on the spot.

Geji! Geji!

Seemingly sensing Zhang Xuan's intention, the Otherworldly Demon puppet flew into a greater rage. Paying no heed to his sword qi, it charged forward right at Zhang Xuan.

It wanted to use the fearsome might of its charge to smash Zhang Xuan's body!

"Damn it!"

Zhang Xuan gritted with his teeth in frustration.

If it was just a single punch, he could still avoid it with his movement art. However, if it was an entire body this narrow room had no space for him to dodge at all! Once that massive body crashed into him, even if he were to survive, he would be as good as dead.

"Scram!"

At that moment, his clone suddenly charged forward and struck the Otherworldly Demon puppet's side.

Peng!

Even though his clone wasn't sufficiently strong to knock down the puppet, he still managed to cause a slight deviation in the direction of its charge.

What should have struck Zhang Xuan's body squarely ended up sweeping by his shoulder.

Weng!

At that crucial moment, Zhang Xuan activated the last Dragon Scale Amulet, and with a loud 'kacha!', the light barrier broke. Under the immense force of that charge, Zhang Xuan fell through the stone door.

"Clone, come back!"

While Zhang Xuan was flying through the air, he returned the clone into his storage ring before crashing into the wall once more.

A worried voice called out from in front of him.

"Teacher"

Turning around, he saw a passageway behind the stone door. It seemed like there was some kind of mechanism in here which Luo Qiqi had triggered in the time she was in here. The passageway was narrow, allowing only one person to pass through at a time.

The place where he had crashed into was the wall of this exact passageway.

Knowing that the huge fellow could come rushing in at any moment, Zhang Xuan immediately stood up and dashed inward, not daring to hesitate in the slightest.

The passageway wasn't too long, only around ten meters or so. Zhang Xuan came to the end within half a breath, and a vast stone chamber appeared before him.

It was much larger than the room from before, spanning over several thousand square meters.

"This"

Not expecting that there would be such a huge space behind that narrow passageway, Zhang Xuan was taken aback.

While Zhang Xuan was examining the area curiously, Luo Qiqi said excitedly, "Teacher, you're right! These are indeed Grandmaster Wu Yangzi's living quarters. Here are the books and cauldron that he left behind"

Lifting his gaze, he saw the young lady looking at her excitedly.

She was, of course, delighted to see that her teacher was fine, but it was something else that was causing her excitement.

"Books? Cauldron?"

Lifting his gaze, under the illumination of numerous Night Illumination Pearls, there was a row of giant bookshelves behind the young lady. Not too far away from the bookshelves stood a massive cauldron.

Unlike the cauldrons used for pill forging, this one looked like a huge furnace instead. Even though it wasn't lit, one could still feel a violent energy rampaging within it.

With just a glance, it was clear that it was an extraordinary artifact!

"Un. I've examined it, and it's the forging cauldron that Grandmaster Wu Yangzi used back then, the 'Crimson Blaze Cauldron'!" Luo Qiqi said.

A blacksmith's cauldron was equivalent to his pride and his life. The fact that his cauldron was here meant that he had definitely lived here before.

In other words they were at the right place!

The Burying Sorrow Lodge was indeed where Grandmaster Wu Yangzi had lived after he had been kidnapped.

As long as they brought this Crimson Blaze Cauldron back to the academy, it would mean that they had succeeded in clearing their mission!

"Great! Have you found the exit yet?" Zhang Xuan asked.

In truth, he wasn't too interested in the mission. His current priority was to find an exit to leave this damned place!

The narrow passageway could hold back the massive fellow for a moment, but it would only be a matter of time before it charged in there and kills them. Before they could enjoy whatever treasures were in there, they had to ensure their survival first.

"Exit? I I haven't found it yet"

Luo Qiqi's face paled.

In truth, the sight of the Crimson Blaze Cauldron and the books had left her so excited that she had forgotten her current goal.

Furthermore, given the size of the room and poor lighting, it would be hard for them to find it in an instant either.

Boom!

Before she could finish her words, the duo suddenly felt a powerful killing intent assaulting them. The puppet from before walked into the hall.

"This is really bad"

Zhang Xuan's face paled.