Chapter 1608: First Exchange

Facing the combination of Qingyang and Bai Ziqi, no matter how He Xiao resisted, he would only be lingering for a few more days.

If He Lingchuan didn't have a backup plan, what he would feel right now would be deep unease.

But he was just all smiles: "Eh, Chief Bai just arrived in Tianshui City, and he's out again?"

"Correct, he went to Little Peach Shanzhuang, didn't you know?" Qingyang said casually, "Counting the time, he should be back in four or five days."

He Lingchuan said with a smile: "Very good, letting Chief Bai investigate this follow-up is truly professional."

"At that time, perhaps Island Master He will need to assist in the investigation." Qingyang emphasized the word "assist."

He Lingchuan nodded repeatedly: "Definitely, definitely."

Things in a few days, talk about them in a few days. In this vast Yao Nation, perhaps there wouldn't even be a "few days later."

The night was deep and the rain was sparse, drizzling, but the disciples had long since set up a canopy to keep their mentor from getting wet.

Cao Wendao simply took out paper and pen to record everything he had gained today. This was a habit he had developed from years of research; no matter how good a person's memory was, it couldn't compare to a rotten pen.

Time passed slowly, it was the second half of the night.

Tired of writing, Cao Wendao closed his eyes to rest, thinking about the reason Xiao An could live until now. Was it a key point he had missed, or was it thanks to Wei Yishan? The Tiangong's research on humanoid puppets was very secretive, but it was peerless. If a Demon Puppeteer suddenly popped up and could easily solve a problem that had plagued him for years, Cao Wendao felt it wasn't very realistic.

The research of the gods and the Tiangong on the Jiao beasts had lasted for more than two thousand years and had long been subdivided into many categories. Where would a wild Demon Puppeteer from the folk get so much comprehensive and professional knowledge?

Cao Wendao had a premonition that if he could take down Wei Yishan, it would be of great benefit to his own research.

During his contemplation, shadows flickered in the jungle, and two disciples returned to report urgently:

"Master, there is a change at Yongquan Shanzhuang!"

Previously, Cao Wendao had sent them to tail Yongquan Shanzhuang.

"What happened?"

"The villa is in chaos, as if refugees have sneaked in to loot. We saw several refugees being beaten up by people in the villa at the gate and thrown out."

"What's the situation inside?"

The two looked at each other and said hesitantly: "The villa has set up a barrier, and our insect puppets can't get in."

Cao Wendao frowned: "Your reactions are too slow."

If it were his second disciple, Yang Chi, he would have put the insect puppets in before the barrier was set up.

The other disciples were truly much duller.

The two lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound. On this trip, seven disciples had two dead and one trapped; they also knew it was tricky.

Cao Wendao put down his pen and fell into deep thought.

With the change at Yongquan Shanzhuang at midnight, could Wei Yishan still set off as scheduled tomorrow morning?

Would there be any variables? Cao Wendao had always hated variables.

For example, would Yongquan Shanzhuang send people to drive away and clear the refugees around? Then he would have a certain risk staying here.

Just then, a green shadow streaked across the air, circling Cao Wendao with a swoosh.

The Green Coin had arrived.

He grabbed the green coin, pulled out the note, and his face changed.

There was a simple sentence on it:

You've fallen into a trap, leave quickly! These few words made Cao Wendao's back feel cold.

He had one advantage: he was particularly good at taking advice at life-and-death moments, so he rolled up his paper and pen, stood up decisively, and said: "Retreat!"

The disciples were stunned and hurriedly pulled the carriage: "Please, Master, get in the carriage."

"Too slow." Cao Wendao strode over, chopped off the carriage shaft, and intended to lead the horse out to ride away.

But just as the second carriage shaft was broken, there was a loud bang, and the carriage suddenly exploded!

The power of this was immense; the entire carriage was torn apart in an instant, and fragments flew everywhere.

The horse pulling the carriage was blown two yards away and didn't move after landing.

The two disciples closest to the carriage went to heaven without a sound; the other two flew backward three yards and hit a tree directly, unable to climb up for a long time.

Cao Wendao didn't fare well either, blown more than a yard away by the air wave, falling backward.

But just as the explosion occurred, green and red lights flashed around him—his protective magic weapon had been triggered to protect its master.

Most of the explosion's power was carried by the protective magic weapon. Although Cao Wendao's internal organs were shaken, it couldn't be called a serious injury, just a feeling of chest tightness and nausea that was hard to suppress.

But his heart was filled with indescribable horror.

Cao Wendao had always been cautious, and when camping, he would release insect puppets to monitor the surroundings.

Since he arrived at the bank of Peach Creek, he hadn't noticed any abnormal people or creatures approaching, so how did the carriage explode? It couldn't have just exploded on its own, right?

No matter who placed the explosives in the dark, it had escaped the eyes and ears of the insect puppets.

In fact, the trees here were dense, and the carriage was leaning against a tree trunk. Just now, no one noticed a palm-sized little thing sliding down the tree trunk, using the cover of branches and leaves to sneak under the carriage, spitting out a few dark brown pills and sticking them on.

It had special skills, not only able to sense nearby insect puppets but also able to change its body color and blend into the environment. Even when it quietly passed behind two insect puppets and smacked its lips, the insect puppets in front were still oblivious, not even moving their antennae.

When Cao Wendao and his disciples approached, its master, hidden in the dark, triggered several explosive pills, starting the first shot of this battle! Yes, he knew very well that a few explosive pills couldn't send Cao Wendao to his death. So when Cao Wendao struggled to stand up, he felt the earth shake and the trees rustle, and a behemoth rushed out!

It knocked down two small trees in a row.

Amidst the flying frost and leaves, it also crashed in front of Cao Wendao, a stick whistling with wind, smashing at his forehead without a word! The stick disturbed the air, even bringing out a "humming" dull sound effect. If it hit, wouldn't anyone's brain crack and die?

This was a giant ape, draped in bronze armor from head to toe, its face uglier than a ghost, its red eyes carrying a fierce special effect when looking at people, and two huge fangs protruding—that appearance was a classic underbite.

The full-force strike of a Ghost Ape would make even He Lingchuan retreat, so how could Cao Wendao dare to take it head-on? Before the stick wind hit his face, he kicked his heels and bounced three yards backward.

His movements were exceptionally light, very much like a grasshopper's light leap. And he didn't look back, retreating twice more in succession. The "Swallow Skimming Water" was nothing more than this, not to mention he was skimming backward.

A Demon Puppeteer whose movements could be so agile—if He Lingchuan saw this with his own eyes, he would definitely mock Dong Rui for being a "glass cannon."

Cao Wendao's combat experience was clearly also very rich, knowing that the opponent's bombardment was far more than this.

Sure enough, the Ghost Ape missed with one stick, changed the angle for another, and then a horizontal sweep along the ground. If the opponent blocked or retreated, the next two moves would likely be impossible to block or dodge.

Its "three axes" upon meeting were fiercer than the last. Cao Wendao barely dodged the final horizontal sweep, the wind from the tip of the stick almost shaving off his face.

"Autonomous combat!" Cao Wendao couldn't help but whisper.

Wasn't this Wei Yishan's Ape Puppet? The intelligence he collected was correct; this demon puppet had a particularly high degree of autonomy, indicating that it retained intelligence, and very likely retained its original memories—this was a taboo in demon puppet manufacturing.

The transformation process of a demon puppet is full of distortion and pain, almost every one of them. After the transformation is complete, the Demon Puppeteer usually washes away the puppet's previous memories, otherwise, the bone-deep pain will likely turn into bone-deep hatred.

Being bitten back by one's own work is a nightmare for a Demon Puppeteer, yet there is no lack of precedents.

But the benefits of retaining intelligence and memory are also obvious: the demon puppet itself possesses high growth potential and can even practice and progress like a normal monster, not relying entirely on divine blood distortion.

Most importantly, demon puppets with memories can accumulate combat experience! Just like this big guy in front of him, fighting almost entirely autonomously, Wei Yishan only needed to make minor remote adjustments.

"Madman!" Cao Wendao cursed, but not without envy.

One of his research directions on the Glittering Gold Plain was how to balance the growth and stability of demon puppets. They had to be made powerful, but they couldn't be allowed to go mad and collapse. For example, the Jiao beast "Chenyuan" deep in the Xushan Mountains—it was truly powerful, but it was also truly mad. The Tiangong usually had to let it fall into a long sleep, otherwise, it couldn't be controlled at all.

Demon puppets with intelligence and self-awareness would undoubtedly be more stable than ordinary demon puppets, but the Demon Puppeteer themselves would have to bear high risks.

While observing the Ghost Ape, he wasn't idle, throwing out several soft things while jumping backward three times.

These things were like maltose, caramel-colored and a bit transparent, oval-shaped. After landing, they expanded in a second, turning into huge... soft slugs.

They were equivalent to shell-less snails, soft and boneless, but with amazing stickiness. With a plop, they all stuck to the Ghost Ape, and in just three breaths, they almost completely wrapped it!

The Ghost Ape's first reaction was to shake these slugs off, but they were like fermented dough, with particularly good toughness. It was extremely difficult to tear them off. After finally tearing off a piece, before it could throw it away, that piece grew tentacles and turned into a new slug!

The strength of the giant ape, which could move mountains and fill seas, hit these things as if it had hit cotton, finding no place to exert force.

Instead, these slugs expanded crazily, wanting to wrap the Ghost Ape into a fleshy, bouncy ball. The latter was furious, spraying pale green flames from the bottom of its throat.

This fire was insidious and burned everything, but when it burned on the slugs, it was often isolated by the mucus on their body surface, at most burning a big hole, which the slugs could soon fill.

If this continued, the Ghost Ape's nose would be blocked, and it wouldn't be able to breathe.

Moreover, the mouthparts of these slugs were actually exceptionally sharp, cutting crazily and trying to suck blood on the Ghost Ape.

On their bodies, they also carried the characteristics of leeches.

The Ghost Ape roared repeatedly, unable to do anything for a moment.

Cao Wendao dealt with demon puppets all day long and had his own set of methods to deal with them. Now he had thrown out his own demon puppets to deal with the Ghost Ape, while keeping an eye on the surroundings for any movement.

Wei Yishan must be nearby. ===== CHAPTER 1609 =====