Chapter 107 - 106: Marionette

Chapter 107: Chapter 106: Marionette

Li Ye saw through their intentions at a glance. ’They just broke through to the Nascent Soul realm a few days ago, and now they’re already scheming against the Demon Sect. It’s like they can’t stand seeing anyone else do better than them!’

’The "Pulling People Down" skill should be attributed to you guys.’

However, what they said did make sense.

The Wenda Alliance had been making a huge scene, and the Three Evil Sects wouldn’t just sit by and watch. Rather than wait for them to attack, it really was better to strike first.

Two-thirds of the Demon Qi for the Team Emblem’s three Derived Skills had been consumed by the "Teammate Sacrifice" skill.

The remaining one-third didn’t affect the skills’ performance.

After all, the Demon Qi was just the fuel; the Derived Skills were the main function.

It was like how a car could still hit 110 mph even with only half a tank of gas.

But Li Ye had no intention of using that buggy "Teammate Sacrifice" skill again. One more use and it would be completely depleted. A car with no gas couldn’t run no matter how much you wanted it to.

However, he had looted the bodies of the three Sect Leaders from the Upper Three Sects, gaining many new Dharma Artifacts and Elixir Pills. His cultivation was about to break through to the Harmonization Realm, so he probably wouldn’t need "Teammate Sacrifice" to take on a single Sect Leader one-on-one.

Having sorted everything out in his mind, Li Ye turned to the former Demon Sect Elder, Lv Jun. "Elder Lv, your cultivation level is the highest. I’ll have to trouble you to make a trip to the Demon Sect and see what’s happening over there."

Lv Jun’s cultivation had already reached the Harmonization Realm, making him the person with the highest cultivation level besides Li Ye.

"Me?" Lv Jun was a bit reluctant. He gained something from every battle he fought alongside Li Ye. A round trip to the Demon Sect would take at least three or four days. In that time, who knew how much the others’ cultivation levels would increase? He really didn’t want to make this trip!

"Yes, you." Li Ye knew what Lv Jun was thinking and smiled. "Don’t worry about your cultivation. When you get back, I’ll give you some special training to make up for any progress you miss."

’If you want the donkey to work, you have to feed it. And whether or not he gets that special training is all up to me anyway!’

"Thank you, Alliance Leader." Lv Jun stood up excitedly. "I’ll set out at once."

"Elder Lei, you make a trip to the Ghost Sect!" Li Ye said, turning to another Demon Sect elder.

’Facts had already proven that against top-tier masters, this bunch around him was basically useless. The remaining members were more than enough to handle minor sects, so it was better to send them out to gather intelligence.’

Lei Yiheng accepted his orders and departed.

Li Ye arranged for another person to go to the Demon Realm before turning to the rest. "Next, our target is the Upper Three Sects. If we can consolidate them, our chances of winning will be much higher, whether we’re attacking the Demon Sect or defending against them..."

The Upper Three Sects were originally Li Ye’s final target. After all, they had deep foundations. Before, for the Wenda Alliance to pick a fight with them would have been like an egg smashing against a rock.

But now that they had even taken down the Sect Leaders, the Upper Three Sects could naturally be defeated one by one.

’If worst comes to worst, I’ll just use the old method again: use the Sect Leaders’ tokens to lure out the Peak Masters and Elders and kill them...’

...

The closest sect to the Wenda Alliance was the Sword Sect.

Li Ye’s original method had been to expand, occupying a territory and then absorbing all the surrounding sects, large and small. The goal was to increase the frequency of battles to raise his own strength.

After two rounds of major battles—first against the Demon Sect’s Fourth Elder, then the three Sect Leaders of the Upper Three Sects—Li Ye discovered that simply increasing his members’ Skill Level didn’t actually improve their combat effectiveness.

He had the aid of Demon Qi, which allowed him to perfectly resolve any issues with fusing different Cultivation Techniques. He could master any technique with ease, facing almost no bottlenecks.

But the native cultivators couldn’t. Even if he forcibly raised their cultivation from the Divinity Transformation Realm to the Void Refinement Realm, their combat effectiveness saw only a limited increase without the corresponding Combat Skills and Dharma Artifacts to match.

For them, Combat Skills couldn’t be mastered in just a month or two.

This drawback wasn’t apparent when they fought opponents at or below their own realm, but it became glaringly obvious the moment they encountered higher-level cultivators.

Ultimately, these quickly-produced experts could never compare to the veteran cultivators who had spent decades, or even centuries, in seclusion to diligently solidify their realms.

To increase the Wenda Alliance’s combat effectiveness, he had to absorb cultivators who were already at a very high realm to begin with.

Therefore, Li Ye changed his original plan. He set a direct course for the Sword Sect, sweeping up all the sects, large and small, that lay along his path.

...

The Ghost Sect Leader, Cangli, had been ordered to probe the Divine Abilities of the Wenda Alliance’s Leader.

Along with ten Ghost Sect Elders, he had been tailing the Wenda Alliance to investigate their activities, just as the Sect Leaders of the Upper Three Sects had done.

They learned of the bizarre growth speed of the Wenda Alliance’s members but couldn’t figure out how they were achieving it.

The combat power displayed by the Wenda Alliance Leader was stronger than that of a Demon Sect Elder, but only by a limited margin.

Cangli didn’t understand why the Ninth Elder had only ordered him to clearly ascertain the Wenda Alliance Leader’s Divine Abilities, rather than capture the man and bring him back.

But after learning of Li Ye’s strength, he had decided to make a move on the Wenda Alliance, capture the Little Alliance Leader, and claim the credit for himself.

Then, he witnessed the battle where the Sect Leaders of the Upper Three Sects fell...

They were watching from a great distance, so they couldn’t hear any of the battlefield dialogue. They could only see the three Sect Leaders, who had initially held the upper hand, inexplicably begin to kill each other. In the end, the Wenda Alliance Leader tore them all apart, reducing them to their Nascent Souls.

At that moment, Cangli and the ten Ghost Sect Elders were utterly shocked.

It was a good thing the three Sect Leaders from the Upper Three Sects had served as their scapegoats. Otherwise, if they had rashly charged forward to capture him, they would have been the ones to die.

Their Nascent Souls had been beaten out of their bodies! The Buddhist Sect Leader, who possessed a Body-Protecting Divine Skill, was pierced through at close range and torn in half. The Wenda Alliance Leader was too savage!

"Did you figure it out?" Cangli asked. "What are his Divine Abilities?"

"The way he suddenly disappears and reappears is a Spatial Technique," said an elder named Zhang. "His physical strength is immense. Beyond that, his other Divine Abilities and techniques seem quite ordinary."

"There must also be a mind-bewitching Magic Technique," an elder named Qian added. "Otherwise, the Sword Sect Leader and the Buddhist Sect Leader wouldn’t have started killing each other. The people who began to follow him after being defeated must have fallen for the same technique."

"A Spatial Technique, a mind-bewitching art, immense physical strength, the ability to raise his allies’ Skill Level mid-battle, and he doesn’t absorb his opponents’ Skill Level either," Cangli said with a frown. "It’s all quite strange."

"Sect Leader, we’ve investigated pretty thoroughly. Should we keep following them?" asked the elder named Zhang.

"How many times do I have to say it? Don’t call me Sect Leader. I’m not the Sect Leader anymore." Cangli glanced at him and said, "Jiu is the Sect Leader now."

"If it weren’t for the Puppet Silk, who would submit to him?" Elder Zhang said resentfully. "I don’t know where Jiu found that bizarre Divine Ability. Otherwise, with his cultivation level, how could he possibly have been a match for you, Sect Leader?"

"..."

Everyone fell silent.

No one was willing to be a puppet controlled by another.

On their way here, they had tried many methods, but none could remove the Puppet Silk that had been implanted in them.

"We keep following. The Wenda Alliance Leader must have had some hidden method to ambush and kill the three Sect Leaders that we haven’t uncovered yet. If we go back now and the Sect Leader suffers a major loss fighting the Wenda Alliance Leader, he’ll inevitably blame us. We keep investigating."

Cangli had originally intended to capture Li Ye and bring him back for a reward. But now, after seeing the Sect Leaders of the Upper Three Sects fall, he changed his mind. He scanned the group and said, "Let’s be careful and observe from the shadows. Don’t let the Wenda Alliance Leader notice us. He fought three Sect Leaders by himself. We’re no match for him."

"Elder Cang is absolutely right," Elder Qian said, understanding the unspoken implication.

’Ninth Elder has taken his men to attack the Demon Realm, supposedly to capture some Demon King for a mount. The Demon Realm’s reputation is on par with our Ghost Sect’s. Is it really that easy to conquer?’

’It would be best if Jiu got himself killed fighting that Demon King.’

’The Wenda Alliance Leader is growing at a terrifying pace, defeating the Sect Leaders of the Upper Three Sects single-handedly.’

’If they delay their return by a few days, the Wenda Alliance’s strength will rise to another level. When they eventually face Jiu, it’ll be that much easier to defeat him...’

’The Puppet Silk was too tyrannical. Rather than serve a man like that, they would much rather someone else kill the Ninth Elder.’

’What if Jiu died? Would the Puppet Silk be undone?’

Then, they witnessed Li Ye single-handedly cast the Eight Gates Locking Talisman, the Ten Thousand Swords Spell, and the Buddhist Body-Protecting Dharma Aspect.

Immediately afterward, they captured Lv Jun and the others whom Li Ye had sent out to gather intelligence.

The Ghost Sect excelled at interrogation through torture.

Moreover, they had captured three people. Even if Lv Jun and Lei Yiheng, the two Demon Sect Elders, could withstand the Ghost Sect’s torture, the leader of the other, smaller sect could not. He spilled everything he knew about the Wenda Alliance, holding nothing back.

Star Shifting, Spatial Technique, Wish Power Ascension, the Path of Loose Immortal...

The more they learned about Li Ye’s Divine Abilities, the more shocked they became.

"Sect Leader, why don’t we defect to the Wenda Alliance? After we achieve Ascension through Wish Power, we should be able to escape Jiu’s control, right?" said Elder Liu.

"Wish Power Ascension requires cultivating Wish Power in the Mortal World. Achieving Ascension is easier said than done," Elder Zhang said. "I’m afraid Jiu would kill us long before we could ascend."

"What about the Path of Loose Immortal?" asked Elder Qian. "We would abandon our bodies. Surely Jiu’s Puppet Silk can’t bind even our Nascent Souls, can it?"

"Even if Jiu can’t control a Nascent Soul, there’s no Cultivation Technique for the Path of Loose Immortal. In the early stages, we would have to rely on the Wenda Alliance Leader to grow," said Elder Liu. "That means we’d escape Jiu only to place our lives in the hands of the Wenda Alliance Leader, lose all our Skill Level, and still end up as someone else’s dog."

Elder Qian said, "The Wenda Alliance Leader is from the Otherworld. Do you think he might have a way to sever the Puppet Silk for us?"

Everyone fell silent.

「A moment later.」

Elder Wu looked at Cangli. "Sect Leader, we’ll just be controlled by Jiu again if we go back. Why don’t we just defect to the Wenda Alliance? Jiu is going to fight the Wenda Alliance sooner or later anyway. We can tell Li Hao about the Puppet Silk so he can prepare himself in advance..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Elder Wu suddenly dropped to the ground, rolling and screaming in agony.

Cangli and the others were terrified.

Immediately after, the Ninth Elder’s mocking voice echoed in all of their minds. "What is a puppet? It means your every word and deed is under my complete control. Did you really think I couldn’t do anything just because you were far away? What a lovely thought! All this time, you’ve just been my eyes and my ears!"

"Please forgive us, Sect Leader!" Cangli and the others, their faces deathly pale, all dropped to their knees. "This subordinate was deluded! Please forgive us, Sect Leader! We have already discovered Li Hao’s true capabilities and will return at once to accept our punishment..."

"No need to come back. Go on and defect to the Wenda Alliance," the Ninth Elder’s voice continued.

"This subordinate wouldn’t dare," Cangli said in terror.

They never would have imagined that the Puppet Silk could still control them from thousands of miles away.

Furthermore, the Ninth Elder could even monitor their every word and action.

The thought that the Ninth Elder had seen everything they had done behind his back made them sink into utter despair.

"Just go. The Wenda Alliance Leader’s Star Shifting can help you improve your Skill Level, and I, in turn, can use you to observe that Little Alliance Leader from the Otherworld up close. Why wouldn’t I do it?" the Ninth Elder’s voice said with a laugh. "And if the Wenda Alliance’s leader really can sever the Puppet Silk, well, that would be your good fortune..."