I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

"What?!"

Yan Shuming's back suddenly tensed, emitting a faint sound of bones shifting.

He turned around abruptly, his pupils contracted sharply, and his hands clenched unconsciously at his sides, his knuckles turning white, his nails almost digging into the flesh of his palms.

Because Lin Che was standing right behind him.

There were no spiritual energy fluctuations, no footsteps, and not even any signs of aura from three steps away.

He just stood there, as if he had been standing there for a long time, as if he had been there from the beginning, just waiting for Yan Shuming to turn around.

Moonlight streamed into the corridor from the side, casting a long shadow of Lin Che onto the floor tiles beneath Yan Shuming's feet, like a silent boundary marker.

Yan Shuming's back was covered in a fine layer of cold sweat, which spread from his spine to his shoulder blades, and a small patch of the lining of his robe was soaked.

He is now in the late stage of the Golden Core realm, and his divine sense is enough to cover the entire city lord's mansion. No movement within a hundred feet of him can escape his perception.

But Lin Che got within three steps of him without him noticing.

This is not something that can be achieved through concealment techniques; it's a crushing defeat in terms of skill level. The opponent's strength has definitely surpassed his.

He originally thought he could wait for Lin Che to appear and use the power of the war puppet to force the opponent to reveal a weakness.

But at this moment, the man standing behind him, with the Lin family's impressive resources, had made him so afraid that he didn't even have the thought of making a move.

Those golden-core spirit beasts, those hidden powers, that figure that appeared silently within three steps behind him—everything told him that he had never truly understood the Lin family.

"I want to know what your Xuankui Sect is planning." Lin Che's voice was not loud, and it was very calm, showing no emotional fluctuations. However, an invisible pressure began to envelop him, like an invisible mountain slowly descending. "Don't make me ask a second time. You've seen it now. Our Lin family has the power to destroy those three war puppets."

Although the three war golems were still powered by their cores, keeping the defensive runes flowing, they had not yet been defeated.

But if this drags on, given the current state of affairs, the puppet state of war will definitely lose.

The Earth Vein Suppression Domain of the Mountain-Bearing Crocodile Turtle suppressed their speed, the Purgatory Ferocious Tiger constantly tore at their joints from the flanks, and the Cangming Jiao Elder's water column repeatedly bombarded their most vulnerable points.

The cracks were widening little by little, the patterns were fading little by little, the sparks at the joints were becoming more and more intense, and the friction sounds were becoming more and more piercing.

Given enough time, those three puppets will eventually be dismantled into a pile of scrap metal.

Yan Shuming's lips moved, still wanting to argue, wanting to use the Xuan Kui Sect to intimidate others, wanting to use the sect's power to gain a way out.

But Lin Che didn't give him a chance to speak.

A trace of Nascent Soul stage cultivation enveloped Yan Shuming.

It wasn't heavy, but it felt like an invisible mountain pressing down on his shoulders, making his breath catch in his throat, causing his knees to involuntarily bend slightly, and causing his consciousness to completely lose its perception of the outside world for a moment.

This time, Yan Shuming's eyes widened in disbelief.

He had seen Nascent Soul cultivators before, deep within the Xuan Kui Sect, and had stood before that Supreme Elder who had been in seclusion for many years. He knew what kind of oppressive feeling that was.

But when that aura actually landed on him, he felt as if all the blood in his body froze at that moment, and even his heartbeat slowed down.

"You...you've already reached the Nascent Soul stage?"

His voice was hoarse, as if squeezed from the depths of his throat, carrying a final, powerless confirmation.

All the plans in his mind vanished at that moment.

He had no chance of winning against a Nascent Soul cultivator.

He has already lost the entire game of Chuyang City.

He will no longer have any chance to control the city, no chance to turn the tide, and nothing to use as leverage.

With a bitter laugh, Yan Shuming's face lost its usual composure as the city lord, replaced only by desolation.

He shook his head slightly, his gaze fixed on his toes, and his voice lowered, as if talking to himself: "I don't know."

"have no idea?"

"I don't know what the purpose of these war puppets that the sect has placed in Chuyang City is." Yan Shuming raised his head, his once spirited face now showing only a resigned calm. "My orders were just to guard them, but the sect didn't tell me their true purpose."

He paused, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down: "But I know what the ultimate goal of the sect is."

"What is it?"

"To break free from the control of the Fang family." His voice suddenly became clearer, as if he had finally spoken words that had been bottled up in his heart for too long. "The ultimate goal of our Xuan Kui Sect and the Reverse Fate Demon Palace joining forces is to break free from the control of the Fang family."

Lin Che frowned slightly upon receiving this answer.

It's not that he looks down on these two sects.

Within the territory under the Fang family's influence, the relative strengths of each family are readily apparent from the areas they occupy on their respective mountain peaks.

Those places like Chiyang Mountain and Yunshui Immortal Pavilion occupy the southern plains, where spiritual energy is abundant and resources are plentiful.

Do the Demon Palace of Rebellion and the Puppet Sect not want to occupy that place? Obviously, they can't win the competition!

Of course, there's also the reason that they were rising stars and could only choose to establish their sect in the Black Wind Ridge area, where competition was not strong at the time.

Now they seek independence and no longer be subject to others, but the biggest problem is... they have to face the Fang family above them.

That's a family that has a Nascent Soul cultivator; it's a behemoth with a thousand-year history in the Southern Region.

Where did the Demon Palace of Rebellion get the audacity? Where did they get their confidence?

Relying solely on a large formation and these war puppets?

Information synchronization.

The three people in the command center were also pondering this question.

On the projection array, the red dots of the three war puppets continued to move, while the green dots of the alligator snapping turtles followed closely behind, weaving together a constantly changing dynamic scene on the battlefield.

Lin Xuanqing's gaze was fixed on the moving points of light, his brows furrowed slightly, and his fingertips unconsciously traced patterns in the air, as if he were tracing some kind of trajectory.

The black mask flickered under the light, revealing only a pair of thoughtful eyes.

Just then—

"I see!"

Zhihei and Lin Xuanqing spoke at the same time, their voices overlapping.

The two exchanged a glance, and Zhi Hei spoke first, his voice coming from behind his mask: "This chaos has now swept across the entire Southern Region, and the mastermind behind it is undoubtedly the Rebellious Demon Palace! They only want one thing... to break through to the Nascent Soul stage!"

His voice was lowered slightly, but it became even clearer: "The various forces in the Southern Region are not without the foundation to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, nor are they without cultivators capable of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage."

The biggest obstacle hindering them is only the three Nascent Soul stage forces!

The chaos stirred up by the Demon Palace of Rebellion was intended to keep the three Nascent Soul cultivators in check and prevent them from interfering with each other, thus giving them the opportunity to break through to the Nascent Soul stage!

Once they have a Nascent Soul cultivator, they will naturally have the opportunity to communicate on equal footing with the Fang family, and becoming independent will not be difficult.

The Palace of Rebellion, truly lives up to its name; is its very purpose to defy fate?

Lin Xuanqing also spoke up, her voice a few degrees calmer than Zhi Hei's: "I carefully observed these war puppets and found that they are very standardized, with matching slots all over their bodies, like modules that can be assembled."

The position, depth, and spacing of these card slots were astonishingly precise, as if they were interfaces reserved for some kind of combination. Combined with that Blood Fiend Soul Refining Array, this gave me a bold guess!

Both Zhi Hei and Lin Xuanqi looked over, and Lin Che's thoughts were also drawn to them.

"They plan to create a monster," Lin Xuanqing said softly. "They'll combine several war golems into one as the monster's body, and use the powerful soul condensed by the Blood Fiend Soul Refining Array as its soul, creating a weapon of mass destruction that surpasses even the Nascent Soul stage!"

Lin Che's thoughts were churning.

Is this possibility possible?

Of course!

Despite being made of only Tier 3 materials, these war golems can continue to fight as long as their cores remain intact and their runes are not destroyed.

This is the core characteristic of a war puppet: as long as the driving force is there, the physical body is not a problem.

Moreover, the puppet's body is not the key; the soul condensed through the grand formation is the core.

Death is a constant threat at the Burning Bone Pass.

Cultivators and demonic beasts, every moment brings life to a standstill.

There is also the destroyed Zhensha Secret Realm, which contains tens of thousands of demonic beast souls that have been sleeping for thousands of years, each one brimming with intense resentment and unwillingness.

It's easy to imagine how terrifying a ghost it could ultimately create!

If a physical body is added to allow the spirit to avoid some weaknesses, and the spirit is then used to power the war puppet, the combination of the two would definitely be greater than the sum of its parts.

What was this thing created for?

Undoubtedly, it was reserved to deal with the Fang family's hidden forces, to block those who came to hinder the breakthrough of the Rebellious Demon Palace, or perhaps to be used to deal with the beast tide after their plan succeeded.

Lin Che put Yan Shuming to sleep, tossed him into the Trial Tower, and then ignored him, turning to head towards the clan's territory.

He walked quickly, his robes fluttering in the night wind, and the soles of his boots making rapid sounds on the bluestone ground, like a series of drumbeats on a stone slab.

"I agree with this guess," Lin Che's voice came to their ears. "Now that the situation is clear, what we need to think about is how the Lin family will establish itself after the beast tide."

This is a very crucial question.

After the Lin family demonstrated its strength during the beast tide, will it submit to the Fang family like the major sects under the Fang family, or will it join another force?

The three people in the conference room had been thinking about this problem even before the beast tide began.

But now that the beast tide has grown to this scale, the Southern Region may be in great chaos, and they have a third option—to become independent.

No longer obeying any power.

The Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Demon Emperor's response was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise, giving him more confidence in this decision.

Now that they have seen through the plans of the Demon Palace of Rebellion, can they influence the course of the war, gain some benefits, and bolster their plans for "self-reliance"?

Their gazes all turned to the three war golems and the Blood Fiend Soul Refining Array.

"Could we tamper with these three puppets?" Zhihei's voice came from behind the mask, his gaze shifting back and forth between the projection array and Lin Xuanqing.

Faced with the question about playing black, Lin Xuanqing remained silent for a moment.

Her gaze fell on the three moving red dots on the projection array: "I understand the inscriptions on them, but I have never studied puppetry, so I cannot guarantee success. I can understand the array patterns, but the construction logic and energy conduction system of puppets are fundamentally different from arrays."

As the three remained silent, Lin Che, who had already returned to the conference room, broke the silence.

"Have you forgotten someone?"

Soon, Lin Xuanfeng strode into the command post.

He was still wearing that blue battle armor, with a long sword at his waist, and his face remained as cold and stern as ever.

But when he saw the real-time images of the three war golems on the projection array, something in his calm eyes lit up slightly.

He bowed slightly to Lin Che: "Father, is there anything you need me to do?"

Lin Xuanqi explained the current situation to him.

The origins of the three war puppets, Yan Shuming's confession, the schemes of the Rebellious Demon Palace, and the Blood Fiend Soul Refining Array under construction.

Every detail was clearly stated, without any concealment.

Upon learning the whole story, Lin Xuanfeng's usually composed face shone with a radiance completely different from before.

"I understand." His voice was a little softer than usual, but there was an irrepressible urge in it. "Leave this to me, and I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

Lin Xuanfeng has never neglected the art of puppetry.

Being in charge of the Lin family's personal guard is the family's mission and his own duty, but puppetry is his hobby, and it holds the same status for him as swordsmanship.

In order to create his own puppet, he has spent years alone in the quiet room of the camp deep in Qingze, disassembling, studying, and reassembling the remains of countless puppets.

From Tier 1 to Tier 3, from support type to combat type, he knew the structure of every joint, the direction of every array pattern, and the power supply method of every core by heart.

The wreckage filled the corner of the quiet room. Some of it he bought through legitimate channels, and some he obtained from Burning Bone City through underhanded means. He had disassembled each piece at least thirty times.

"Alright, I'll leave this to you. Once Chi Yan and the others have taken control of those three puppets, you can make your move." Lin Che paused, his gaze falling on his son's face with a smile. "If you need anything, just tell Zhi Hei and the others, and ask them to cooperate with you."

"Yes!" Lin Xuanfeng clasped his hands in acceptance, turned around and strode away, his pace three times faster than when he arrived.

Lin Xuanqing, on the other hand, was pondering the Blood Fiend Soul Refining Array.

Wherever the Shadow Hall of Chuyang City is, and where the Zhao family is, she has the potential to tamper with the grand formation.

The Black Knight also has its own mission—to defend Chuyang City!

Command all forces in Chuyang City to win this war and achieve the conditions for cooperation with the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Demon Emperor.

This is the fundamental principle for the implementation of all plans!

His gaze returned to the projection array, and his fingers moved rapidly across it as he began to redeploy troops from all sides.

At this moment, everyone mobilized for the sake of the Lin family's independence.