Chapter 100: The Puppet
In their first attempt to besiege the puppet, the group lacked experience and didn't manage to inflict any significant damage on it before being repelled.
Fortunately, the puppet's main task was to guard the treasure vault, so it didn't kill anyone among the group nor pursue them.
Learning from their failure, Li Zhan, last night, somehow acquired a large number of talismans, and the group attacked the puppet once again.
Initially, using the talismans to summon a large number of creatures, they barely managed to trap the puppet.
However, after a while, it seemed that they triggered some kind of reaction mechanism in the puppet. Suddenly, the puppet became ferocious and started to slaughter the surrounding attackers.
Zhang Zhanlin was not a member of the Li family; he was brought along by Li Zhan due to his unique vision and ability to identify valuable items after years of training under Li Xuan.
Li Zhan had planned it thoughtfully. After obtaining the treasures in the secret vault, he needed a reliable person to help identify them.
When the puppet unleashed its power, Zhang Zhanlin, being a non-Li family member, was the first one Li Zhan abandoned, using him as a shield.
Severely injured by the puppet, Zhang Zhanlin managed to use his last breath to activate a life-saving secret technique and escape the battlefield.
The Li family members, who were still battling the puppet, paid no attention to him. After reaching this place, Zhang Zhanlin could no longer hold on and fell unconscious.
If it weren't for the timely appearance of Meng Zhang and the others, Zhang Zhanlin would probably have met his end.
After listening to Zhang Zhanlin's account, Li Xuan's face turned grim with hatred towards Li Zhan and the other members of the Li family.
Meng Zhang finally understood the whole situation. The secret treasure vault of the Li family was something Li Shengqi was willing to protect at all costs, and it was also the target of Zhao Family cultivators.
The goal was right in front of them, and Meng Zhang didn't waste any more time. He left Li Xuan to take care of Zhang Zhanlin and continued forward with Jue Ying.
The two of them turned a few corners in the passage, and suddenly, they saw a large hall ahead.
In the center of the hall, a pile of storage bags was stacked together, looking quite conspicuous.
In front of this pile of storage bags, there was a large and majestic lion-shaped puppet, battling a group of cultivators.
The ground was already covered with severed limbs and incomplete corpses.
Five cultivators were still standing in the arena, each holding a stack of thick talismans and facing the puppet together.
They would occasionally release a talisman, and then a wooden puppet, a stone golem, or a fire elemental would appear on the ground.
After a burst of light, defensive spells like Golden Armor Technique, Stone Skin Technique, Golden Light Shield, and Earth Shield appeared on these summoned creatures.
With their enhanced defense, these summoned creatures rushed towards the puppet from all directions.
The Second Rank puppet with Foundation Building level combat strength was indeed extraordinary. It effortlessly tore apart these seemingly powerful summoned creatures with a casual wave of its claws.
The cultivators continued to release talismans, summoning more creatures to attack the puppet.
Among the cultivators, a young man who looked exactly like Li Zhan, as described by Zhang Zhanlin, was leading them. He kept encouraging everyone.
"Hold on, this puppet's movements are getting slower. It's running out of spiritual stones."
"As long as it runs out of spiritual stones, no matter how powerful the puppet is, it will be useless."
"At that time, I will not only obtain the treasures from the secret vault but also obtain a Second Rank puppet."
Under Li Zhan's encouragement, everyone fought with renewed determination against the puppet.
It was unclear whether Li Zhan and the others would exhaust their talismans first or the puppet would run out of spiritual stones.
Another issue that couldn't be ignored was that using talismans also consumed the cultivators' true qi.
Although the true qi consumption for each talisman was negligible, continuously releasing so many talismans was definitely not an easy task for the five cultivators in the arena.
Meng Zhang and Jue Ying had been hiding in the passage all this time, not rushing into the hall.
Such opportunities to watch a tiger fight from the mountain were rare.
They would join the fight only after the result between the two sides was decided.
Moreover, Meng Zhang knew that even if he teamed up with Jue Ying, they might not be able to defeat a Second Rank puppet. He hoped that the Li family cultivators could put up a good fight and consume the puppet's strength.
The five cultivators in the hall had already focused all their attention on the puppet, with no spare energy to notice others, let alone detect Meng Zhang and Jue Ying hiding in the passage.
The Second Rank puppet was no longer just a rigid lifeless object but had developed certain combat skills.
After defeating the summoned creatures of the enemy, the puppet would take the opportunity to attack the cultivators in the arena swiftly.
A scream rang out as the lion puppet pounced and tore one of the cultivators into two. The array of protective talismans on him seemed as weak as paper before the lion puppet's claws, offering little defense.
With one person dead, the psychological barrier of the other cultivators collapsed.
A cultivator shouted, "Everyone, run! We can't defeat this puppet!"
While saying this, he tried to flee outside.
Li Zhan cursed, "Worthless," but he was helpless too.
When one person ran away, the entire situation became chaotic, and the cultivators' side collapsed. All their previous efforts and sacrifices were in vain.
Li Zhan knew that the overall situation was lost, and he was also preparing to escape.
Unfortunately, facing a Second Rank puppet, it wasn't something one could just walk away from.
The cultivator who ran first turned his back to the lion puppet and lost all his responsiveness. He was easily caught up by the lion puppet and torn to shreds. Only Li Zhan and another clever fellow managed to escape to the edge of the hall during the chaos, preparing to enter the passage in front.
Meng Zhang held the Fire Seal and sprayed out a flame.
The two escaping cultivators didn't notice that there were others in the passage. Confronted with the sudden burst of flames, they had no choice but to stop their escape.
By stopping, they sealed their fate.
The lion puppet caught up from behind, and with a few bites, turned their bodies into a bloody mess.
At the same time, Meng Zhang also made his move against the puppet.
He kept injecting true qi into the Fire Seal.
One after another, flames spurted out, turning into thick fire serpents and rushing towards the lion puppet from all directions.
Meng Zhang acted decisively because he noticed that the puppet's movements were starting to become sluggish, indicating that it was running out of spiritual stones.
He didn't need to defeat the lion puppet head-on; he just needed to hold on for a short time, and victory would be his without fighting.
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