From Paper Craftsman to World-Suppressing Immortal

"Human sacrifice!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhixuan immediately frowned.

The masked bride continued, "When I awoke from my slumber, human sacrifice had become the norm! The villagers no longer offered sacrifices out of despair, but out of fear! They were afraid of being punished by the Goddess Huai."

"I wanted to stop it, but I suddenly discovered that the locust tree itself had already been tampered with by the evil Taoist. He used this locust tree as the core of the array to set up a great array that sealed off the entire village and refined living souls! My originally pure tree body was turned into a place to raise corpses by him. My demonic energy mixed with the vengeful corpses he brought, which eventually turned me into a monster that was half demon and half corpse."

As the masked bride spoke, her resentment grew increasingly out of control. Suddenly, she pointed to her horrific corpse and said, "This body was originally a bride on her wedding day. Halfway through the bridal sedan chair, she was intercepted by a wicked Taoist. He told the villagers that the Goddess of the Locust Tree had chosen her as her daughter and wanted to sacrifice her to the old locust tree! The child refused and was forcibly tied to the locust tree and hanged to death."

"On her wedding day, she was hanged from a locust tree. The intense resentment of this new bride invaded and impacted my demonic heart, making it increasingly difficult for me to maintain my true nature, and gradually turning me into a tool under the control of evil people."

"After that, my demonic body was controlled by him, and I could only temporarily borrow this rotting corpse."

"Now that everything is almost complete, this evil cultivator has hidden himself within the ancient tree's centuries-old roots, waiting to refine everything, collect all the living souls within the formation, and ultimately become a monster transcending life and death. At that time, no one can kill him!"

Zhang Zhixuan's expression grew even more solemn upon hearing this. He opened his treasure-gazing eye again and looked at the old locust tree and the giant egg beneath it.

Just as the Ghost-Faced Bride said, a figure was curled up inside the giant egg, like a fetus in the womb. The surrounding resentment, living souls, and the demonic energy of the old locust tree all continuously gathered towards the giant egg.

At this moment, Zhang Zhixuan realized that whether it was the Ghost-Faced Bride or the Locust Mother Goddess, the two were indistinguishable, and what they said was indeed true. The root of all the disasters in this village was the evil Taoist inside the giant egg.

Zhang Zhixuan looked up at the pitch-black night sky, devoid of stars and moon, and immediately understood everything. He then turned his gaze to the masked bride: "You want me to help you get rid of him?"

"Yes! I can see that you, sir, are a person with cultivation and skill. I want to join forces with you to kill this scoundrel before he succeeds!"

"Even if this evil person is dead, what has happened has already happened, and you cannot go back to your previous state," Zhang Zhixuan said solemnly.

The masked bride gave a bitter smile: "It doesn't matter. I'm going to die anyway. Even if I'm reduced to ashes, I won't let this evil Taoist get away with it!"

A hint of appreciation flashed in Zhang Zhixuan's eyes, and he said in a deep voice, "Alright, I'll help you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Zhixuan brandished his magic sword, and instantly six paper puppet soldiers lined up, all equipped with exorcising bows and arrows imbued with four talismans.

Six paper puppet soldiers locked onto the giant egg under the tree hole, drew their bows and released arrows.

"Hiss hiss hiss..."

Several arrows shot toward the target with lightning speed. Just then, the old locust tree, sensing the danger, suddenly tightened its complex root system, allowing the arrows to strike it and explode. When the smoke and dust cleared, the effect was minimal.

Zhang Zhixuan had intended to test the waters first, so he ordered the paper puppet soldiers to fire two rounds of arrows. Unsurprisingly, each wave of arrows was blocked by the locust tree roots and could not break through the defense.

Zhang Zhixuan then looked at the masked bride beside him: "Your body, do you have a way to fix it?"

The masked bride looked at the layers of locust tree roots protecting the giant egg, and pondered for a moment: "In a little while, I will use my remaining demonic power to activate the part of the root system that the evil Taoist hasn't fully controlled yet. At that time, I will create an opportunity for you, my lord. Attack fiercely. As long as you break his eggshell, you can damage his essence!"

Before she finished speaking, the ghost-faced bride's aura of resentment surged, and long, black claws grew from her ten fingers. She let out a sharp screech and transformed into a red shadow, lunging towards the roots of the old locust tree.

"what!"

With a piercing shriek, the ghost-faced bride swung her long claws at the roots wrapped around the giant egg, and dense resentment flowed into the roots through her claws.

As expected, the root system that was originally protecting the giant egg became restless. Countless tree roots as thick as bowls suddenly sprang up and coiled around the ghost-faced bride like venomous snakes, instantly surrounding her.

Then, sharp thorns from the roots pierced her rotting body, and dark green venom seeped into the wounds, staining her bright red wedding dress black.

"Now!"

The masked bride's rotting remains, her bones cracking from being crushed by tree roots, cried out to Zhang Zhixuan with her last breath, "Hurry! I can't hold on much longer!"

Zhang Zhixuan's eyes sharpened. Without further hesitation, he drew a lightning-summoning talisman and shouted sharply, "Extinguishing Evil Sword Intent!"

The yellow talisman in Zhang Zhixuan's hand instantly straightened, and the talisman patterns lit up with intense lightning. Then, a pale golden illusory longsword surrounded by lightning appeared in Zhang Zhixuan's hand.

Two streams of energy swirled around the talisman sword, which then fell with a ruthless command from Zhang Zhixuan: "Slash!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he unleashed a lightning slash. The sword intent of exterminating evil, wrapped in golden lightning energy, left a golden afterimage shrouded in lightning, and slashed down at the giant egg with its gaping hole under the locust tree!

"clang!"

A deafening clang, like metal clashing, rang out as Zhang Zhixuan's powerful strike, capable of shattering all evil, landed on the giant egg but was abruptly blocked.

"Slash!" Zhang Zhixuan took a deep breath and exerted his strength again. At the same time, he summoned the Paper Fairy to control the Four Symbols Puppet and the six paper soldier puppets to attack together!

Finally, a series of cracking sounds were heard as the giant egg's outer shell began to fissure. Simultaneously, a furious roar erupted from within the egg from the lurking evil cultivator: "How dare you ruin my plans! You're courting death!"

"Click...click..."

The cracks on the giant egg spread at a speed visible to the naked eye, followed by a deafening explosion, and the giant egg exploded completely!

Then, thick black mist surged out, and a monster that was half human and half tree emerged from the black mist.

The monster's original robes were already tattered, half of its body was covered with uneven locust tree burls, and two bloodshot eyes were embedded in its bark-like face. With a casual grab, it pulled out a bone whip made of human bone from the locust tree roots.

"You traitor, how dare you join forces with outsiders to turn against me!"

As soon as the half-human, half-tree heretic appeared, his sinister gaze first fell on the ghost-faced bride's mutilated body, which was entangled by tree roots, and without saying a word, he raised his hand and lashed out with a whip!

"Snapped!"

The bone whip, emanating black energy, lashed fiercely at the chest of the masked bride, tearing her already mangled and decaying corpse to pieces.

Two faint, remnant souls, one red and one green, floated out from the shattered corpse. The red soul, disregarding its own exhaustion, still roared as it lunged at the evil Taoist: "Evil Taoist, even if I'm annihilated, I'll drag you down with me!"

"act recklessly!"

The evil Taoist sneered, black energy surged in his palm, and he casually grabbed the neck of the fluttering, ethereal soul that lunged at him.

Zhang Zhixuan immediately unleashed three lightning talismans, and the purple-tinged lightning struck the evil Taoist fiercely, forcing him to withdraw and retreat.

"Orthodox Taoist talismans! Who are you, kid?" The evil Taoist turned his hideous face and asked Zhang Zhixuan fiercely.

"A demon slayer!" Zhang Zhixuan didn't waste any words with him, raised the Demon Extermination Sword in his hand, and slashed down at the evil Taoist's head again.

The evil Taoist swung his white bone whip, and the golden lightning of the talisman sword collided with the black energy of the white bones, resulting in a draw.

Meanwhile, the Paper Fairy stood beside Zhang Zhixuan, constantly directing six paper puppet soldiers and four-way puppet sculptures to harass the evil Taoist. The evil Taoist was not afraid at all, and he was not at a disadvantage against multiple opponents.

"Annoying, annoying! Die, all of you!" The evil Taoist's patience ran out. He swung his white bone whip, scattering all the paper puppets, and leaped into the air, his entire body pressed against the giant locust tree, as if the two were originally one.

Then, the enormous locust tree seemed to come alive, its countless branches and roots swaying and strangling in all directions.

Zhang Zhixuan nimbly dodged while controlling the white tiger puppet, and at the same time ordered all the paper puppets to attack with all their might.

However, the demonic body of the Locust Mother, who had cultivated for a hundred years, was extremely strong, and no matter how much she attacked, it had little effect.

In the blink of an eye, all the paper puppets were destroyed, leaving only Zhang Zhixuan riding the white tiger puppet and the paper fairy. Just as Zhang Zhixuan was thinking about his next strategy, the long-silent Huai Mu suddenly spoke again.

"My lord!"

The voice of the Locust Mother now came from the heart of the tree, her tone filled with a desperate resolve: "I will detonate my natal demon core; you must kill this fiend for me!"

The moment the words fell, a blinding green light shone from the heart of the old locust tree. The locust mother had actually broken through all the restrictions and was about to detonate her natal demon core, which she had cultivated for a hundred years.

The dark green demon core within the massive locust tree grew brighter and brighter, its immense power even distorting the surrounding space.

"You dare to self-destruct your demon core?" The evil Taoist's expression changed drastically. He tried to escape from the Sophora Tree Mother's body, but was firmly held back by the Sophora Tree Mother's trunk.

"You're insane! You've cultivated for a hundred years just to have your soul scattered?"

The mother of the locust tree did not answer, but instead frantically activated her natal demon core, the green light growing increasingly dazzling until finally…

"boom!"

A deafening explosion instantly resounded throughout Luohuai Village. The dark green demonic energy shockwave exploded like a tsunami, shattering the trunk of the old locust tree into pieces, blowing the altar away, and sending rubble and debris flying everywhere.

The evil man let out a miserable scream of resentment, his shattered body blasted away by the explosion and crashing heavily to the ground.

Zhang Zhixuan witnessed the whole thing and saw that the evil Taoist's broken body still had a breath left. He picked up his magic sword and jumped off the back of the white tiger puppet.

"Now!"

As the god of death approached, the evil Taoist let out a final, desperate scream: "I'm not reconciled! I'm not reconciled! I was just one step away!"

A flash of cold light, and the evil Taoist's head fell to the ground with a thud.

"call……"

Zhang Zhixuan breathed a sigh of relief. Just when he thought the matter was finally resolved, a loud noise suddenly came from all around him. He looked around abruptly, and the scene before him made him pale.