Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

Conversely, the corpse puppet's eyes trembled slightly at that moment, and it peered through the gap between Zhang Ruoxue's fingers with a mocking gaze at that extremely gloomy face.

That face contained nothing but rage and hatred.

"That's right, that's right... that's the expression."

The corpse puppet spoke—it was still the voice of the puppeteer hiding in the distance.

It seemed to sigh deeply, saying quietly, "I didn't expect that after so long, the essence of a mad dog hasn't changed. This expression, devoid of any rationality, is as if you've degenerated into a wild beast... tsk tsk tsk."

boom!

The voice just fell.

Zhang Ruoxue flicked her left hand, forcefully pressing the corpse puppet's head into the ground, creating a huge crater. At the same time, the corpse puppet's skull seemed to crack.

Her wide, raging eyes blazed with boundless killing intent. She leaned down, opened her lips, and coldly demanded, "Where are you?"

"I?"

The corpse puppet laughed.

"What? You really want to kill me that badly? Just like before... charging at me recklessly, only to get thoroughly humiliated by me?"

"Come on, even now... you're not qualified to be my opponent. In the end, you're just a mad dog."

boom!

—A more intense explosion than before.

Crack! Crack! ...The bones shattered.

Blood spurted from her fingertips as Zhang Ruoxue increased her pressure, causing the corpse puppet's face to become deformed from her fury, blood flowing from its seven orifices, making it almost unrecognizable as human.

She stared intently into the eyes of the still-mocking corpse puppet, and roared, word by word, in a furious voice:

"Where are you?!"

"..."

The corpse puppet suddenly fell silent.

At the same time, a tall female corpse puppet standing behind Zhang Ruoxue, who had been blown away by the previous burst of waves, suddenly stood up, a wicked smile playing on her lips.

When he opened his mouth, it was a voice unique to men.

"Getting angry at the corpse puppets won't do any good. Even if you kill all the corpse puppets here, you still won't know where I am."

Zhang Ruoxue paused, slowly releasing her grip on the male corpse puppet's head. She turned her gloomy face, which seemed to drip with black water, and looked sharply back at the female corpse puppet, who was striking a victorious pose.

Suddenly, the dead man spread his hands in a remarkably human manner, his face full of helplessness.

"And even if you really knew where I was, would you really come looking for me? Just for revenge?"

Zhang Ruoxue clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, drawing blood uncontrollably: "Isn't that only natural?!"

"I see... So your purpose in coming here was to deal with those Guardian Army soldiers who have infiltrated our camp, right?"

"You gave up on joining them and turned to seek revenge on me... It seems you're not worried about the situation in Brokenwood at all."

"Shattered Wood City..."

The three words fell.

Zhang Ruoxue was startled. Although her anger and hatred had not subsided, a little rationality made her fall into confusion for a short time.

Broken Wood City is probably suffering greatly from the ravages of the Demon Dynasty's army. His senior brother, Gu Xingzhuo, is currently facing his former lover and childhood sweetheart. As the guardian general of the country, Fang Yan will definitely defend the city to the last moment.

How could such a small force possibly stop the 20,000-strong army of the Demon Dynasty?

Unless there's some powerful cultivator hiding in Broken Wood City who might jump out at the last minute to save the world... but that possibility is extremely low.

In other words, the fate of Broken Wood City is still in Zhang Ruoxue's hands.

If she were to seek revenge for personal grudges, regardless of whether she could return alive, even if she could, by the time she reunited with the Guardian Army, Broken Wood City would probably have been completely destroyed.

But if we give up seeking revenge...

Her body trembled uncontrollably, and her breathing was heavy and rapid.

what to do……

Personal grudges and the life or death of Brokenwood City...

Zhang Ruoxue slowly closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then quickly held her breath, remaining silent.

After a moment, she slowly exhaled.

When she opened her eyes again, the hatred and anger were still there, but reason had regained control of her actions.

She didn't want anything like what happened in Jinglin Village to happen again... Revenge couldn't bring the dead back to life, but if she joined forces with the Guardian Army, there would be a chance to save the entire Broken Wood City.

"Oh my..."

The female corpse puppet seemed to notice Zhang Ruoxue's change, curled her lip in disdain, and then laughed, "Looks like even a mad dog can think sometimes. I underestimated you."

Zhang Ruoxue gave the corpse puppet a cold look: "I suggest you shut up now, otherwise after the Broken Wood City incident is over, I'll personally go over and tear your mouth apart!"

"What a culprit! Well, it's quite good at barking randomly."

However—

The female corpse puppet sneered, her mockery undiminished.

She crossed her arms and stared with interest at Zhang Ruoxue, who seemed to have made up her mind, as if she wanted to crush that hard-won determination.

She said with a sneer, "Even if you want to find that group of Guardian Soldiers now, it's no use... Or do you think they can go back unscathed after being in here for so long?"

Zhang Ruoxue's expression hardened: "What do you mean?"

You'll understand soon enough~

"Right—"

The female corpse puppet suddenly turned her head. Because she was dead, the angle of her head twisting was extremely strange, exceeding ninety degrees, almost turning to the right rear.

Following the female corpse puppet's gaze, Zhang Ruoxue's pupils suddenly contracted, as if she had seen something unbelievable. Her lips parted slightly, but she couldn't utter a single word.

On the distant horizon, there were figures clad in armor.

None of them carried any magical artifacts, and their bodies were badly damaged. However, their wounds, which should have been bloody, were covered with a layer of dark, shiny spikes, hundreds and thousands of them... innumerable.

Looking around, it should have been an impregnable defensive line, built by the soldiers who were once the pride of the Lantian Empire, a line that could never be breached.

Each of them wore a token symbolizing their identity hanging from their waist.

—The Guardians of Lan.

However, the number far exceeded Zhang Ruoxue's expectations.

Not just a few dozen, not just a couple hundred... their figures were everywhere on the horizon.

Their steps were no longer firm, their eyes no longer resolute, their spines no longer trembled, and their hearts no longer burned with passion.

Nearly a thousand members of the Guardian Army, in the form of an army of the dead... reappeared before Zhang Ruoxue's eyes.

The female corpse puppet laughed.

She smiled as she looked at the man walking at the front, still clad in armor, still wearing his token, holding a crimson spear, his face grim.

With each step he took, a gust of wind swept by, and a powerful aura burst forth from his body.

Zhang Ruoxue recognized this person.

She asked softly, with a doubtful tone, "Lieutenant Lü...?"

The female corpse puppet chuckled: "Watch your words, you mad dog. He's General Lü now, not some adjutant."

"General?"

"Yes." The female corpse puppet squinted her eyes and smiled.

She spread her arms as if to show Zhang Ruoxue the thousands of Guardian Soldiers behind her: "A general of a troop of the dead."

The army of the dead.

That is to say-

Zhang Ruoxue's gaze quickly swept across the area... In her line of sight, not a single one of the Guardian Army soldiers walking by appeared alive.

They are all dead.

They've all turned into corpse puppets! They've become puppets of the Demon Dynasty!

If that's the case, then could it be that Marquis Lü... or his adjutant Lü...?

"!!!"

When Zhang Ruoxue's gaze fell on Lü Chonghou, she suddenly froze in shock.

If you ask why—

At this moment, Lü Chonghou's face was calm, but his skin was not as pale as the other guards of Lan Army. He had no black spots on his body, his soul was intact, his spiritual root was undamaged, and his spiritual energy was abundant and powerful.

And within that spiritual energy... there was even a small amount of sinister substance called demonic energy.

why?

Lu Chonghou... he didn't turn into a corpse puppet?

Even Zhang Ruoxue should have realized what was going on. She pointed at the calm-looking Lü Chonghou in front of her and asked incredulously, "You... Lieutenant Lü... you could it be..."

"Have they sided with the Demon Dynasty?!"

Are you surprised?

Lu Chonghou replied calmly, "And stop calling me adjutant. I am now one of the demon generals under the Demon Lord Qu of the Demon Dynasty. To be honest, I have nothing to do with the Lantian Empire anymore."

"Why……"

"There's no reason why." Lu Chonghou sneered, "The Lantian Empire is already on the verge of collapse and could collapse at any time. Fang Yan is so timid and cowardly that he can't accomplish anything great. Rather than staying there and waiting to die with him, it's better to seek a new way to survive."

"So you betrayed the Empire?! You betrayed your comrades?!"

At this point, Lü Chonghou's expression turned even colder.

"An empire? The empire that promoted a coward like Fang Yan to a general? The ruler doesn't recognize talent, governs haphazardly, and completely ignores my advice, allowing someone like Fang Yan to hold sole command of the military. What reason does such an incompetent empire have to exist? And what is there for me to be loyal to?"

"I will let Fang Yan and that misjudged king know who is more suitable to be the general."