Markan felt a wave of emotions hit him as he looked at the blob of water. He lost his face, lost his elemental energies, lost his cultivation growth and potential, lost his identity and position, imprisoned for a stupid reason.

During this whole fiasco, he slowly lost all hope and decided to live this life normally without any ambitions. He wanted to travel to a lower realm and live a life of peace and quiet, but he was never freed no matter how many days, weeks, and months he waited in the prison.

When he finally lost any hope there, someone offered to free him, and here he was.

He changed the energy circulation and soon it changed to the lightning element, then earth, wind, metal, and finally Dark elemental energy.

He can use all his elements again.

As he was feeling ecstatic, he suddenly felt dizzy and the energy in his hand disappeared. He almost fell off of the bed, but Sam supported him and said.

"Your body has gotten used to not having elemental energy and you are also a bit rusty in terms of control, so take it easy. Just practice slowly and you would be able to catch up to your previous form. It would be better if you don't break through until you master the control in my opinion."

With that, Sam sent Markan off after making sure everything was okay one more time and packed his equipment.

That night, his team spread to different planets and cities within the realm as they looted the mines and other resources of the puppet organization.

This time, Sam paid a lot to destroy the second branch. The formations and the sheer defense were something that he never came across until now and to destroy that he has to let go of a few good puppets in his hands. And this is when he had inside help, he couldn't imagine what would have happened if he didn't have any inside help.

He would have paid a larger price and it would have taken a long time. Maybe, if he used the controlled explosion technique with liquid energy cells, he might have a proper chance, but he cannot be sure that he would be okay facing the well-prepared puppet organization head-on with limited members.

But he doesn't have to worry, with all the information they had on the puppet organization and the fact that they were just destroyed before the other organizations could make a move, he already sent his teammates to collect all the resources.

All the resources under the second branch combined are many folds than his losses, he not only covered his losses, he also made a decent profit.

For the next three days, Sam finally covered all his losses and the team finally moved to the third puppet realm.

Like always, Sam used the ice divine dimension to let his teammates in while he used the dimensional drifter, but since the prisoners are not his long-term teammates, he just let them come with him through the dimensional drifter and they all appeared in a forest a few hundred meters away from the city.

Sam looked at his surroundings and packed his dimensional drifter, as he took out the ice divine dimension, to let out his teammates, he suddenly felt a sense of crisis.

Not just him, the six prisoners including Markan felt it and they immediately dodged to the side.

Sam used his spatial element and blinked away as he reappeared twenty meters away.

*CRASH*

The spot they were in was met with a large boulder. But only when they calmed themselves down that they managed to see that the thing in that spot is not exactly a boulder.

Sam squinted his eyes and used his eye technique as he also let his teammates out of the ice divine dimension.

"Don't ask questions, we were ambushed, as soon as we appeared. Other party's identity was unknown. A late-stage transcendent cultivator of Astral Plane."

He explained briefly and looked at the other party to reveal themselves. Sam could guess what was in the crater, but he didn't say anything and stood there, the most accurate thing he could guess at the time is the cultivation level of the attacker.

As the dust settled, the 'boulder' that suddenly crashed into the ground started moving and it opened up to show a stone golem in a humanoid shape. It looked like an earth elemental being, but Sam is sure that it is a golem because of the person that came out when the golem revealed itself.

It seems like the golem folded itself into a ball in the middle of which the attacker stayed.

An attacker is a young man with long brown hair, robust build. He is at least six and a half feet tall and had eyes matching his hair color.

The other guy looked at the prisoners and Sam with a grin.

But none of them attacked including Sam's teammates.

They all looked past the young man as a few people appeared one by one.

A young lady who has similar cultivation to this young man came on a stone golem which looked like a bear.

A young man came on a stone golem that looked like an ape.

Following him, a bunch of people arrived on bird puppets and within that group, the third branch leader was also present.

Sam was surprised by this sudden turn of events, but he didn't show it on his face, he gestured for the prisoners to come towards and they regrouped.

His teammates, took out their weapons as they got ready as they saw more and more people appear out of nowhere. Soon, another new group of people appeared and this time Markan showed an expression of shock and disbelief.

A few men wearing black cloaks completely covering their bodies and faces came. Only their eyes are visible and a grey embroidered mark of the hexagonal star on their chest is the only indicator of their identity.

They are the Black Ghosts.

Sam looked at Markan's change and he could vaguely guess what the identity of these people is.

As they stood there, they are soon surrounded by a bunch of people.

Apart from the three people with the stone golems, the third puppet branch members and elders including the branch leader are there, even though not all of them had come, most of their core members are here.

Along with them, the black ghost members and finally some people with different golems are also present.

As Sam observed his opponents, the other party also started observing him and the young man who crashed into them spoke.

"You must be Sam. I thought you would be something from all the things I have heard about you. But the reality is quite disappointing."

He spoke with an expression of disappointment. His eyes then shifted to the ice divine dimension crystal, Sam has in his hands and said.

"But the talk about your nerves must be accurate as you are using the property of our sect so openly."

Sam frowned and looked at the ice divine dimension crystal and a thought struck in his mind.

"The Tundra Sect?"

Sam muttered lightly. There is no response from the other side and of course, he is also not expecting one.

He just stored the ice divine dimension crystal into the divine dimension and took out his reaper sword as he got ready to fight.

"Are you sure you want to fight after seeing all of this?" The young man asked mockingly, but Sam didn't care about him looked around before saying.

"Kill as you like, but keep the bodies intact, I need their memories. And for every kill, you will get a glass of heavenly wine."

Sam said to his teammates and their expressions showed clear excitement and anticipation. All of a sudden, they looked at the surrounding opponents with burning eyes as if they are beasts looking at juicy pieces of meat.

Sam then took out a communication device and said.

"I am here."

With that, he put the communication device away and his energy surged.

The opponents didn't want to wait as well and made their move on the command of the young.

"Capture them, do not kill them. You can cripple them, however."

With that, all of them moved.

Sam directly went after the young man that crashed.

He is currently a middle-stage transcendent cultivator of the Astral plane while his opponent is at a late stage. The match is a bit advantageous to the other side and with the added help from golems, this is bound to be a tough fight for Sam.

But Sam is not worried, rather he was excited. Since his breakthrough, he didn't have a proper fight. His teammates are not willing to spar with him. This is the perfect opportunity.

He ran forward with his sword as the opponent also moved along with his golem. The golem and the young man wanted to do a pincer attack, but right before they made contact, Sam disappeared from the spot and reappeared behind the young man with his sword aimed at his throat.