Now that you have betrayed the sect, who will still pamper you?.

Wang Yanshi had just steadied himself when he felt a chill on the back of his neck. A sharp, cold aura was rapidly approaching from behind, and a sharp pain shot through the back of his head.

Turning his head, he saw Jiang Han suddenly appear, wielding a lightning-struck longsword, and rapidly thrusting it towards him.

The sword tip, crackling with black lightning, rapidly magnified in his eyes. Without a second thought, Wang Yanshi hurriedly activated his oil-paper umbrella, teleporting behind him to block the longsword.

"Boom--!"

A deafening explosion erupted as the umbrella and sword collided, unleashing a massive purplish-red shockwave that churned and rippled outwards from the sky.

This impact was exceptionally violent, and Wang Yanshi could no longer hold back, unleashing the full power of his mid-stage Nascent Soul realm aura.

A bright white light shone from between his eyebrows, blocking and neutralizing the immense force rushing towards him, while he instantly appeared a thousand miles away.

Without any hesitation, he quickly released a puppet the moment he appeared.

Rumble.

A giant black serpent, hundreds of feet long, snaked out of the void, its scales as black as ink, seemingly capable of devouring all light.

As soon as the giant snake appeared, it nimbly swung its massive tail and slammed it behind Wang Yanshi. At the same time, its enormous body coiled into a ring, illuminating a black light shield that protected Wang Yanshi within it.

Just as they finished doing all this, a tremendous force slammed down from the outside, causing the huge snake's body to bend inwards and, in a twisting and trembling motion, fly backwards along with the snake.

Wang Yanshi's body was surrounded by a shield of light. His internal organs trembled from the immense force, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, but he still seized this fleeting opportunity to unleash his divine sense.

A nearly tangible white divine sense instantly spread out, forcing Jiang Han back while simultaneously enveloping the giant snake and nimbly fleeing into the distance, appearing tens of thousands of miles away in a flash.

Taking advantage of the brief distance between them, he made a hand seal with his right hand and placed it in front of him. A burst of white light emanated from between his eyebrows, and a thousand-foot-long gap was instantly torn open in the void around him.

A flash of light appeared within the gap, and three figures, as large as small mountains, emerged at an extremely fast speed.

The four puppets—a black tortoise carrying a green mountain on its back, a blue phoenix with wings like the wind, a white tiger with a fierce aura, and a serpent as cold as an abyss—merged together to surround and protect him in the center.

Only then did he finally relax.

Raising his hand to brush away the strands of hair stuck to his forehead, Wang Yanshi realized that his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

Not only his forehead, but also his back was soaked with cold sweat, which showed how nervous he had been.

"Good lad, you almost tricked me."

Wang Yanshi gently clenched his trembling fingertips, his internal energy surging, quickly calming the fluctuating meridians.

Even now, he still couldn't help but feel a lingering fear, and when he looked at the figure standing in the distance, his eyes were still filled with uncontrollable horror.

This kid's moves were completely unreasonable. He was talking when he suddenly thrust his sword at me, aiming straight for my vital point.

If he hadn't reacted quickly and activated the Hundred Chance Umbrella to block most of the power, he would have been seriously injured by that sword strike.

It was clearly just a quick sword strike, yet the power it exuded was in no way inferior to the power of a strike from a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.

It's ridiculous that such a young body could contain such terrifying power. If it were to unleash its full power, who knows how astonishing it would be? No wonder Ye Wusheng suffered such a crushing defeat.

"Excellent, truly excellent."

After catching his breath, Wang Yanshi praised Jiang Han twice and said:

"You're young, but you're quite strong. You almost hurt me."

With a thought, the four puppets roared and screech, moving forward to protect him firmly behind them.

Four colors of light slowly shone from the enormous eyes of the four puppets. Upon closer inspection, one could see four distinct spirits wandering within them.

Those spirits were full of spiritual energy, and their fur and scales were so lifelike that they seemed to be alive.

However, upon closer inspection, one can see that the four pairs of eyes of the spirit are dull and gray, devoid of any spiritual light. Clearly, their original spirituality has been refined away, leaving only a shell for others to use.

In contrast, the four puppets appeared to be full of intelligence, as if they were alive.

Jiang Han felt strange.

Even though the spirit has lost its vitality, why does this puppet still possess such strong spirituality?

Just then, four powerful auras, some at the peak of the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm and others about to enter the late-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, roared up, transforming into four-colored spiritual lights that shot straight into the sky, stirring up the wind and clouds and causing the surrounding air to quickly become heavy.

"Junior brother, be careful. His four puppets are all made of mid-grade magic material, Hunyuan Qingjin, and are engraved with countless arrays and restrictions. Not only are their attacks powerful, but their defenses are also extremely strong. They cannot be broken without a high-grade True Spirit Treasure. You must not confront them head-on."

Zheng Hanyun called out loudly from a distance.

Although he cannot take action this time, he can still provide some intelligence support.

Wang Yanshi's four puppets were renowned among the major sects of the Upper Realm.

These four puppets are less like puppets and more like mountains of spirit crystals piled up from spirit crystals.

It is said that from the initial creation to the present, Wang Yanshi has invested no less than 500,000 spirit crystals in these four puppets.

Five hundred thousand spirit crystals—that's an astronomical figure.

In any case, given Zheng Hanyun's monthly allowance, he probably wouldn't be able to afford this thing in his entire life. Only wealthy and powerful families like the Thousand Machine Pavilion could afford such an expensive treasure.

But there's a reason why it's so expensive. The materials used for the puppets themselves are incredibly hard, making them impossible for ordinary people to break. Add to that the dense array of formations and restrictions...

Tsk, to be honest, even if these four puppets were just left there for anyone to attack, not many mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators could hurt them.

Just then, Jing and Liang crept over from a distance. After glancing at the direction of the battlefield, Junior Brother Liang asked in a very low voice:

"Senior Brother Zheng, I have a bad feeling about this. Junior Brother Jiang doesn't have a high-grade True Spirit Treasure yet, does he? Could he be bullied by these four spirit crystal puppets?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Who said Junior Brother Jiang doesn't have a True Spirit Treasure?"

Zheng Hanyun glanced at the two of them, then gestured with her chin towards Jiang Han:

“Take a close look at what Junior Brother Jiang is holding. Look at that imposing design, that mesmerizing electric light, and those subtle yet continuous ripples. What do you think that is?”

"Isn't it the Thunderclap Sword? We've seen it before."

Despite their words, the two still craned their necks to look closely. As Junior Brother Jing peered in, he suddenly gasped in surprise:

"This is... a mid-grade True Spirit Treasure?? When did Junior Brother Jiang obtain such a treasure? How come it looks so much like the Thunderclap Sword?"

Mid-grade True Spirit Treasures are extremely precious; only mid-stage Nascent Soul geniuses with abundant spirit crystals can afford to buy them.

These young geniuses in the early stages of the Nascent Soul realm, if they were lucky enough to obtain even the lowest-grade True Spirit Treasure, would treat it like an ancestor and worship it.

It is carefully nurtured and protected in ordinary times, and only when it encounters a truly formidable enemy will it be willing to use it.

As for mid-grade True Spirit Treasures, they wouldn't even dare to dream of them; those things were simply beyond their reach.

Unexpectedly, in just a few days, Junior Brother Jiang inexplicably obtained a mid-grade True Spirit Treasure.

It's even the rarest kind of flying sword with lightning attributes; you can't even come across something like that by sheer luck.

The two looked on with envy, their eyes reddening. They really wanted to ask Jiang Han where he had found this treasure.

They went to dig up the soil again in the middle of the night, hoping to unearth a few more swords.