The wind in the Withered Stone Forest seemed to grow even stronger.

Mixed into it was an especially nauseating, bone-chilling stench.

"Achoo!"

Qing Jun couldn’t hold it in and sneezed again.

But this time it wasn’t because she missed her Master; it was because it stank too much.

She didn’t even know how to describe this smell anymore.

Anyway.

It was even stronger than the stench of corpses back in the shantytown!

"Be careful, don’t hurt yourself."

Zhiwei said solemnly.

Though their Master had prepared life-preserving Array Plates for them, these plates were constrained by the rules of the Luoxiao Grotto Heaven and could only be used once every seven days.

If they used it today, then if they encountered another powerful enemy in the next seven days, what would they do?

Besides.

Zhiwei hadn’t taken action in a Magical Battle for a long time; she also wanted to test the results of her own cultivation and that of her junior sister.

"Sha, sha..."

The sound of gravel rolling came from all directions.

From the shadows of the previously empty and deathly silent stone forest, one twisted, rigid figure after another slowly walked out.

Some were human, some were Demon Beasts; some were missing arms or legs, some had their heads twisted around to face their backs, and ghostly green flames flickered in their eye sockets.

Judging by their appearance, they seemed to have only recently been refined into Corpse Puppets.

And behind the Corpse Puppets—

Four figures walked out, coldly eyeing the three girls.

All four wore loose, gray-black long robes; they were Cultivators of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect!

According to this year’s Luoxiao Conference rules, a Cultivator team could have at most five people enter, and these four Ten Thousand Puppet Sect cultivators were precisely the ones who had entered together with Yang Qiu.

Though Yang Qiu was hostile toward Lingyin Sect cultivators, he was not a reckless man.

The people of Huayue Mansion had sought him out to kill these three; then these three most likely had some special trait that had drawn Huayue Mansion’s attention.

Since that was the case, it was better to let the Ten Thousand Puppet cultivators probe them first.

If their strength turned out to be mediocre, there would be no need for him to run around personally; his subordinates would naturally take care of them.

If they possessed some astonishing ability, he could at least make preparations in advance, so as not to capsize in the gutter.

This group of four all had Foundation Establishment Middle Period cultivation; their auras were gloomy and vicious, murderous intent coiling around them—they were no mediocrities.

The leader was a one-eyed man, holding a pitch-black banner in his hand. He gave a sinister laugh and said:

"I thought the True Inheritor was making a fuss over nothing, but I didn’t expect them to actually be three Top Grade goods."

"Especially that little one... a Fire Spirit Body... If I were to skin her, pull out her soul and refine it into my Five Poisons Banner, my life-bound Corpse Puppet would gain the potential to advance to Foundation Establishment Late Period!"

This cultivator’s eyesight was limited; seeing the active Fire Element Spiritual Qi surging around Jin’er, he mistakenly took her for a Fire Spirit Body and greed sprouted in his heart.

Spirit Bodies in the Cultivation Realm were exceedingly rare.

Each one possessed extraordinary talent, absolutely not something a cultivator like him could covet.

Yet now, inside the Luoxiao Grotto Heaven, there was actually a Spirit Body!

"Senior brother, these are the ones True Inheritor Yang has his eye on, don’t be foolish."

The hunched cultivator beside him said cautiously,

"You know True Inheritor Yang’s temperament... Even if you fled to the ends of the earth afterward, you still couldn’t escape the True Inheritor’s grasp."

"Ai, forget it, forget it."

Though the one-eyed cultivator was unwilling, when he thought of Yang Qiu’s cruel methods, he couldn’t help but shudder and finally suppressed the greed in his heart.

"Fine then, we’ll just capture these three girls and offer them to the True Inheritor. When the True Inheritor eats meat, we can at least drink some soup."

He gave the Soul-Gathering Banner in his hand a shake, and a stream of black Qi flowed down from the banner into the ground.

"Do it! Life or death, it doesn’t matter!"

"Roar—!"

At the command, the dozen or so Corpse Puppets wandering around them instantly went berserk!

Though their limbs were twisted, their speed was extremely fast and their strength immense, as they pounced at the three in the center from all directions.

The one-eyed cultivator went all out from the very first move, attempting to drown these seemingly delicate little girls in a sea of corpses.

At the same time, the three fellow sect members at his side attacked in unison.

The hunched cultivator on the left let out a creepy chuckle, flinging his sleeve. A millstone-sized bone centipede spider, pieced together from ghastly white human bones, screeched as it charged out, its eight legs like spears as it leapt toward them!

The tall and thin cultivator on the right summoned a vulture-like human-faced corpse bird. With a single beat of its wings, dragging poisonous miasma behind it, it dove from the sky, its target aimed straight at Qing Jun’s eyes!

The last person pressed both hands to the ground; the earth rumbled, and streaks of pitch-black corpse hair drilled up from below like venomous snakes. On closer inspection, they were actually hideous centipede Demon Beasts.

"I’ll do it!"

Qing Jun suddenly stepped forward, her little face, carved like pink jade, incomparably serious.

If their Master saw her now, he definitely wouldn’t recognize his own disciple, and would think she’d been possessed by someone.

She slapped a hand at her waist.

Buzz!

An ancient-looking cyan Token at her waist lit up.

This treasure was called the Wind Manipulation Order!

A Second Tier Middle Grade item, it had been the first-place reward from the Demon Hunting Conference at the Moon Creek Lake District.

It could control thunder and command wind, both offensive and defensive—a fine Magical Treasure.

The Wind Manipulation Order floated up, and the ever-present breeze in the Withered Stone Forest suddenly turned violent, condensing before Qing Jun into a visible cyan wind wall!

Bang, bang, bang!

The five Corpse Puppets charging in the lead slammed straight into the wind wall.

Those five Corpse Puppets, which could withstand ordinary Magic head-on, were actually blasted flying by the terrifying wind pressure, their bodies covered in cuts so deep the bone could be seen!

"What?!" The one-eyed cultivator’s expression shifted. "This is... Wind Manipulation? No! This is the might of a Magical Treasure?! Tsk, a Second Tier Middle Grade defensive Magical Treasure! This girl has such a good treasure on her! Good! It’s mine now!"

"Damn you! That’s Qing Jun’s treasure, not yours!"

The little girl was furious. Her small, fair hand changed through several shapes, forming an intricate and ancient Dharma Seal.

The Nine Great True Seals—Qi Control Seal!