Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 273 The Killing Team and the Life-Shortening Group Charge into White Cloud City (5,000 words in two parts).
Let's run!

As Su Qing, dressed in tiger-egg attire, looked at the chaos in the city and addressed the cultivators behind him.

Liang Haishun, Helian Xian, Tang Wanqing, Guo Qiaolian... all of them nodded with resolute expressions and followed him toward the east of the Immortal City.

Outside the group of cultivators, five dragon-snake tree spirits led the cannon fodder puppet soul-devouring lizards to explore the way.

There was a lizard general covered in dragon scales, riding a red horse, and leading a thousand lizard knights as his guards.

There were four mountain demon spirits, leading a hundred spirit shovelers guarding both sides.

Inside are two Earth Bear King Shoulder-Resistant Spirit Explosion Flame Cannons.

Three hundred large wood spirits controlled the spirit explosion gale cannons, and two cloud-sky roc ships followed closely behind the group.

This lineup is why the immortal city is now in chaos.

The cultivators also felt more confident.

"Brother 260, are you planning to run away?" Li Hailang asked in a low voice.

"Outside this circle, death awaits everywhere!" Brother 260, riding the Crimson Rainbow Horse specially crafted for them by Su Qing, drew circles around Su Qing's puppet with his hands and said firmly to Li Hailang.

"This boss is the right one to follow!" Li Hailang exclaimed in admiration as he looked at the puppet team, no, the puppet army, that Su Qing had created.

If he had even a fraction of Su Laoda's skills, the once-powerful Langtian Gang would never have ended up in such a state of disintegration!

"Asu, are you sure we don't need to pay attention to the red lanterns in the sky?"

"Don't worry about it, Gao Erqiang has connections with Xiaodao!"

"Then why should we go to the east? The east is full of demonic beasts. Can the Gangjing Pig King protect us?"

"Don't worry, you have connections along that back alley!"

"Do we think we can fight our way out? Should we unite all the independent cultivators in the city?"

"There's no need. Those rogue cultivators might be incarnations of evil spirits. If we join forces with them, we won't be able to distinguish them, and it will only make things worse. We'll just give them some puppets and let them do what they want."

Along the way, Liang Haishun, who thought he had seen many storms in his life, did not expect the storm to be so big today. Although he was surrounded by puppet guards, he still trembled when he saw the evil spirits that kept emerging from the blood mist. He couldn't help but shout at Su Qing, who was riding a flying dragon, to ask her a question.

Su Qing's calm reply not only calmed him down, but also calmed the rest of the cultivators down as well.

"I knew Fellow Daoist Su was extraordinary, but I didn't expect him to be this extraordinary!"

"There are way too many puppets! Where did he get all these spirit crystals to make these puppets? Did they just blow in from the wind?!"

"Having too many puppets isn't good; I'd like him to pull out even more!"

"Stop talking, Fellow Daoist Shao. Do you have any more armor? Give me another set. I don't feel very safe wearing this one!"

"You're lucky you even have one set. I only have one inside, one in the middle, one outside, and one spare. I don't have any more to give you!"

"If anything happens next, don't expect my dogs, leopards, snakes, and rats to charge into battle with you!"

"When I, Shao Delong, charge into battle, I never care whether there are people around me or not!"

"Then look at those strange things up ahead!"

"What kind of beasts are these?!"

With a group of puppets leading the way, the cultivators advanced as if they were in an empty field, pushing forward until they were only a hundred miles away from the eastern city wall.

And right here, in front of Pang Feifan, Shao Delong, and all the cultivators.

Humanoid evil spirits and monsters with bull horns, human faces, and horse bodies appeared!
"Report! Tens of thousands of evil spirits are blocking our army's path!"

"Everyone spread out! Spirit Blast Gale Cannons, aim straight ahead! Thunder Serpents, aim at those Foundation Establishment Evil Spirits! On my command, fire!"

The puppets lined up on both sides, making room for the spirit explosion cannons to float into the air.

A burst of spiritual light passed through the golden ring on the cannon and suddenly exploded, unleashing a giant wind blade several times larger than a normal wind blade, which then lashed out at the evil spirits opposite.

Su Qing then activated another hundred Thunder Serpents that were stuck in the ground, which emitted a loud whooshing sound as they pierced the air at an angle. The intelligent runes drawn on them then enabled them to automatically search for and hunt down enemies.

Bang!Bang!Bang!
There was a lot of artillery fire.

The Gale Cannon and Thunder Serpent, empowered by the second-tier Spirit Explosion Ring, unleashed a fierce barrage of fire, blasting the opposing evil spirits into a chaotic mess.

"Liang Haishun steps forward, dons the burial cloth, and sets up a third-order formation: the Thunderfire Golden Light Formation!"

Liang Haishun stepped forward as ordered, and Helian Xian thoughtfully draped a third-tier life-extinction cloth over him. The black cloth, once covering his body, signified the loss of fifty years of life.

By sacrificing his own lifespan, Liang Haishun's old tree blossomed, his energy surged, his hair and beard billowed, and with a single raise of his hands, a hundred array flags were planted around the evil spirits—truly remarkable.

Once the Thunderfire Golden Light Array is complete, the cultivator puppets that enter the array will carry purple thunder and yang fire with every move, every Dao technique and combat skill, increasing their lethality against evil spirits by several times.

"General Lizard, step forward! I command you to lead the Lizard Knights and annihilate the enemy advancing ahead!"

The Lizard General nodded coldly, straddling the Crimson Rainbow Horse between his legs, and led the charge, with a thousand riders galloping straight into the formation to fight the evil spirits.

This lizard knight order is well-equipped and has excellent soldiers.

Apart from the Tier 2 Lizard General, who was a Tier 2 Ultimate Puppet crafted primarily from a Tier 3 Dragon Scale, the other Lizard Knights were all Tier 1 Ultimate Puppets, riding low-end Rainbow Horses that he had reverse-engineered from the Crimson Flame Rainbow Horse, which had the ability to briefly take to the air.

With the cover of artillery fire and the assistance of the thunder and fire golden light array, this knightly order entered the evil spirits for the first time. They cleared the way with mounted archery, charged into the enemy formation with lances, and slashed with double swords. They were unstoppable and made seven in and seven out of the enemy ranks.

The reason I was able to go in and out so many times was because there were just too many evil spirits on the other side.

It seems that they can never be completely eradicated; for every evil spirit that dies, a new one crawls out from the ground.

After being caught off guard by the Lizard Knights and experiencing initial chaos,

The evil spirits also organized themselves.

The monstrous bulls and horses blocked the way. These strange and powerful monsters held off the lizard knights' charge, gradually sinking them into the mud and preventing them from fighting.

After the ox-horse monster.

Although the group of humanoid evil spirits could not control magical artifacts and puppets like normal cultivators, they could still use the Taoist arts they had cultivated in their previous lives.

The Lizard Knights suffered greatly from various Taoist arts, including Golden Knife Technique, Poison Mist Technique, Restoration Technique, Spirit Severing Technique, Gale, Blazing Fire, and Thunderclap.

Su Qing frowned slightly, never expecting that this old evil spirit of Yunshan, with most of its power tied up by Gao Erqiang, could still produce so many evil spirits.

He couldn't let the Lizard Knights fight alone, so he lowered his head and shouted at the cultivators:

"Hai Changqing, step forward! I'll give you three hundred dog-headed lizards and three hundred explosive stone golems. Don't be stingy with the golems; blast a bloody path for the Lizard Knights to break through the humanoid evil spirits!"

"Dragon-Snake Wood Spirits, step forward! Divide your thousand Soul-Exploding Lizards and assist the Dog-Headed Lizards in slaughtering the Bull-Horse Evil Monsters!"

"Shao Delong, step forward! I will give you one hundred dogs, one hundred leopards, one hundred snakes, and one hundred rats, and five hundred explosive stone golems. Enter the formation and throw the bombs wherever you are!"

In an instant, Su Qing assembled a killer squad.

Hai Changqing, who cultivated the dual cultivation method of technique and divine power, was the second strongest in spiritual consciousness among all the cultivators present.

From a distance of tens of miles, he controlled three hundred dog-headed lizards. The dogs ran and the lizards ran. As soon as they entered the formation, the evil monsters carrying cattle and horses exploded into a mess.

The Soul-Exploding Lizard controlled by the Dragon-Snake Puppet, unlike the Dog-Headed Lizard which could use its body to blast the Bull-Horse Evil Monster, suffered less explosive damage than the combination of the Dog-Headed Lizard and the Exploding Stone Puppet. However, the Dragon-Snake Puppet, with its thousands of arms and immense strength, could still frantically hurl explosive stones into the formation, bombarding the monsters. Although most of these stones were blocked by the defensive spells cast by the humanoid evil spirit, even a few that landed could still cause some casualties to the Bull-Horse Evil Monster.

When it comes to sheer power, one has to look at the Spirit Beast Killing Team led by Shao Delong. The burrowing rats paired with explosive stones are burrowing bombs, the white pythons with explosive stones are jumping bombs, and there are also dog bombs and leopard bombs. They are flexible and versatile, making those humanoid evil spirits unable to defend against them. In an instant, they blasted a small hole in the Lizard Knights.

Wearing three layers of armor, Shao Delong had the courage to face the artillery fire head-on. With one hand holding a storage bag and the other pulling out a stone-exploding golem, he charged at the humanoid evil spirits behind the bull-horse monster!
"That felt great, so great!"

Although his outermost armor had been smashed to pieces by the stray cannon fire and the monsters, Shao Delong quickly put on his spare armor, so excited and trembling that he never even thought of retreating!

In the past, although he was clad in armor and feared no one, he could withstand attacks but not fight, so no one was afraid of him.

But when dragons are paired with explosive stones, they are like tigers with wings. Standing in the middle of the formation, throwing stones and bombs nearby, the damage they cause is greater than that of the five dragon-snake puppets that are hiding in the distance and throwing bombs stealthily!
The Explosive Kill Squad, composed of Hai Changqing, Long Shekui, and Shao Delong, achieved remarkable results. Shortly after their arrival, they opened up the situation and wiped out all the bull and horse monsters blocking the Lizard Knights' path.

This ignited the Lizard Knights' charge once more. A group of melee puppets charged into the humanoid evil spirits, most of whom were magic users in their previous lives, and instantly slaughtered them, leaving them crying out for their parents if they still remembered them.

A lizard knight pulled Shao Delong, who was caught up in the frenzy of battle, back from the formation to prevent him from accidentally injuring his allies. He was wearing three sets of Tier 2 armor and was not afraid of the aftershocks of the explosion, but the lizard knights could not withstand it.

By this time, the evil spirits blocking the path of the cultivators could no longer cause any trouble.

Tang Wanqing looked up and saw that Su Qing's face showed no joy. She immediately realized something was wrong, but with her spiritual sense, she couldn't perceive anything in the red mist. She simply asked Guo Qiaolian to insert the spirit explosion needle into her, preparing for the unpredictable danger that was about to occur.

A gust of evil wind suddenly appeared before the cultivators, revealing dozens of evil spirits emanating the aura of Golden Core cultivators, followed by a hundred Foundation Establishment evil spirits.

These evil spirits are all elders and disciples of the Yunshan Sect who have died over the years. Whether they died naturally or not is unknown. In any case, they are now like vengeful spirits, the henchmen of the old evil Yunshan.

Tang Wanqing gripped the silver crescent bow in her hand, turned to Sun Yan behind her, and said:

"You stay here and protect Fellow Daoist Qiaolian. I'll be right back!"

Having said that, he strode forward like the wind, drew his bow and nocked an arrow, and the arrow, which was covered with an exorcism talisman, pierced straight into a Foundation Establishment evil spirit.

The arrow's release seemed to sound the charge for the battle between the two sides.

Wei Debao, Niu Ya, Niu Shisan, and Li Hailang, the four body cultivators, were together. They had second-tier array flags on their backs, wore second-tier battle armor, held second-tier battle tools, had second-tier pills in their storage bags, and rode second-tier puppets.

With the help of professional helpers, they fought a battle they had never fought before, and charged towards the Foundation Establishment evil spirit.

Behind them followed a group of Jiuli body cultivators who had torn off their white cloths.

They were Jiuli body cultivators, and were also once clandestine curse spirit masters. They had suffered greatly from evil runes, but were fortunate to be spared by the Great Wizard (the respectful title of Su Qing of the curse spirit clan), who was able to cleanse their bodies of evil runes. This allowed them to safely mobilize the Jiuli bloodline within them and fight with their physical bodies in a dignified manner, just like their ancient ancestors.

Today they may be buried here, but the Great Wizard Su Qing and the Chief Wizard Yao Fei must not die here. They are the hope for the millions of Jiuli people in the world to escape the entanglement of evil spirits!
"I call upon the spirits of my people, I condense the armor of the Nine Li witches, I follow the ancient covenant, I call upon the Nine Li war beasts, descendants of the Nine Li, Witch Chief Yao Fei, I pray to our ancestors, to help us descendants to break through evil and vanquish demons!"

Similarly, the beautiful and charming Yao Fei tore open the white cloth, stretched out her fair arm, and slashed a gash.

Fresh blood flowed freely, dissolving upon hitting the ground and releasing wisps of bloody aura—a bloody aura entirely different from the black and red evil mist that now filled the entire city.

The moment it materialized, a wild and untamed aura forcefully dispelled the evil mist surrounding Yao Fei, and following her will, a blood-red battle armor materialized around each of the Jiuli warriors, while black and white bear-shaped battle beasts materialized beneath them.

Surprisingly, this ancestral protection, which should only apply to those with the bloodline of the Jiuli, is actually applied to them.

However, the same thing happened to Su Qing, who was riding a flying dragon.

On its body was a Tier 3 Blood Slaughter Armor adorned with countless witch clan totems, and bowing before it was a fully armored Iron-Eating King Beast wielding a long staff!
"Our judgment was correct, our ancestors' guidance was correct, Fellow Daoist Su is indeed a member of my Jiuli tribe, and even has the bloodline of a Great Witch!"

Yao Fei exclaimed in surprise, and the Jiuli warriors who were already riding iron-eating beasts and charging towards the Foundation Establishment evil spirits looked back and seemed to have been pierced by spirit-exploding needles. Their auras surged and they were full of energy.

Su Qing knew in her heart that she did not have the bloodline of Jiuli, or that the Jiuli Dao patterns on her body had played a role, but it was not a bad thing either, so she did not explain further.

Knowing that the Nine Li Armor and the Iron-Eating Beast had limited lifespan, he could not act rashly while maintaining command of the entire army, but he could not waste the Iron-Eating Beast's combat power.

Pointing at a Golden Core evil spirit, the Iron-Eating King Beast, carrying a giant club on its shoulder, nimbly rolled over, stood up nimbly, and with skillful martial steps, confronted the Golden Core evil spirit.

Skilled in the Nine Li combat techniques, he can wield the giant club at will, combining strength and flexibility like the Iron-Eating King Beast. His combat power is comparable to that of a third-tier combat cultivator who has a mid-grade furnace lid.

A Golden Core evil spirit that couldn't use magical artifacts or spirit objects was no match for its staff. With a single powerful strike, it dragged another Golden Core evil spirit into the battle, finally managing to have a proper fight.

Meanwhile, Liang Haishun and the others on the other side were not idle either.

Helian Xian took the Life-Destroying Cloth from Liang Haishun, which shortened his lifespan, and activated the Whale Absorption Gourd, which had already reached the third level.

For ordinary cultivators to nurture their natal magic weapon and refine it into a spiritual treasure, they must first reach the Golden Core stage and have a Golden Core suppressing the magic weapon within their sea of ​​consciousness. Otherwise, if the magic weapon moves even slightly within the sea of ​​consciousness, it will cause damage to the sea of ​​consciousness and the foundation, or even annihilation of the soul and spirit, resulting in death and the dissipation of one's cultivation.

Just as a puppeteer expends less spiritual energy than an ordinary person when manipulating the puppets he creates.

Weapon refiners also have professional benefits. During the process of refining magical artifacts, they can communicate and resonate with the artifacts, allowing the artifacts to blend with their sea of ​​consciousness, and thus be able to refine their own natal magical artifacts at an early age.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for second-tier weapon refiners to forge third-tier natal magic weapons.

Whenever they encounter such an opponent, it's like encountering a puppet master whose storage bag contains countless puppets, or a talisman master whose body is covered with countless talismans. They can only accept their bad luck and have no other options.

Once activated, the third-tier Whale-Sucking Gourd, like a whale swallowing seawater, aimed its mouth at a Golden Core evil spirit, who was unleashing his various Daoist techniques:
The old tree took root, its feet extending spiritual roots to firmly grasp the soil and rocks beneath its feet.

As solid as a rock, it gathers the earth elemental spiritual energy within a radius of a hundred feet, increasing its weight to over 100,000 jin.

The golden spear never falls, its body imbued with the spiritual energy of the metal element, allowing it to stand firm and unyielding.

These Taoist techniques were all used to deal with the terrifying suction of the whale-sucking gourd, but even so, the golden core evil spirit could be seen moving irresistibly toward the mouth of the gourd.

With such results, Helian Xian was already satisfied.

After he established his foundation, he gained three hundred more years of lifespan, but every day he lived was one day less, so he dared not cause any trouble.

Don't be fooled by his previous instruction to have Liang Haishun drape himself in a protective robe and set up an array; don't be stingy with your lifespan.

But since it wasn't his own lifespan that was being shortened, when it was his turn, he had to be careful about how much lifespan he shortened.

In his view, sacrificing twenty years of his lifespan to hold back a Golden Core evil spirit on his own was enough to do justice to his teammates.

He was reluctant to sacrifice another thirty years of his lifespan to unleash the greater power of the Whale Absorption Gourd and directly absorb this Golden Core evil spirit into it.

Let's just maintain the status quo. Once the other teammates have dealt with their respective opponents, they will be able to work together to take down this Golden Core evil spirit!

He wanted to slack off, but Liang Haishun wouldn't allow it.

With a few swishing sounds, Liang Haishun planted battle flags all over Helian Xian's back.

"Fellow Daoist Helian, this is the Nine-Nine Life-Gathering Flag, consisting of eighty-one flags. It is a flag that I, the old Daoist, have refined in imitation of your Life-Saving Cloth."

"With the array flag planted, your spiritual power instantly surged eighty-one times, an incredibly powerful increase! Aside from the fact that each breath of its effect consumes eighty-one days of your lifespan, it has no other drawbacks!"

It has no flaws, but it's incredibly unethical!

Planting so many flags, how afraid are you that I won't die!

Helian Xian dared not waste time or his life cursing Liang Haishun, that despicable bastard. He could only use the spiritual power he had gained at the cost of his life to pour into the Whale Absorption Gourd, hoping to kill the evil golden core spirit quickly, lest he not even have enough time to burn through his fifty years of life.

Su Ji's manager, a lotus spirit, was freed from all debts after a great calamity killed countless creditors.

With fingers pointing, he wielded a flying sword puppet as large as a door panel and shaped like a sword-wielding figure. The puppet moved with his fingertips, its second-tier puppet enhanced by sword control techniques, its crimson flames blazing and its sword aura chilling.

When Qinghe suddenly attacked the Foundation Establishment evil spirits, they were truly unable to withstand it. In just a moment, two Foundation Establishment evil spirits were killed by Qinghe.

However, these evil spirits couldn't take any of their wealth with them when they died, so their deaths were truly meaningless, leaving them with no spoils. This displeased Qinghe.

(End of this chapter)