After clearing the level, the fairies were reborn!

"boom!"

The ground suddenly exploded, scattering dirt and ice fragments everywhere!

Then, a figure burst out of the ground, and the gust of wind it generated sent Mu Qinghe staggering back several steps, landing hard on his backside.

It wasn't just a simple herb! Directly below it was a strange object, a puppet that looked like a mummy.

The puppet's skin was completely rotten, and you could even see the white bones underneath.

Its eye sockets were empty, with two clusters of eerie green flames flickering inside. Several tattered pieces of cloth clung to its body, vaguely recognizable as fragments of some kind of uniform.

The strangest thing is that the "radish"-shaped Earth Spirit Grass actually grew right in the center of its head, as if it grew out of its skull!

Its aura should not be underestimated—

Jindan period!

Although he was only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, his killing intent was as solid as a tangible substance.

"Waaaaahhhhhhh!"

Seeing that she had pulled out a zombie, Mu Qinghe screamed in fright, scrambled to her feet, and ran away.

All notions of princess etiquette were thrown to the winds.

You run, he chases.

The puppet exuded a strong killing intent, especially after Mu Qinghe pulled the [Earth Spirit Grass] from its head, so it chased after her without regard for anything else.

"Human puppet?"

Xu Ze stood still, stroking his chin, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.

He once met a handyman disciple surnamed Liu in the Biyang Sect.

Bai Yuxi had told him that he was refined by a peak master elder of the Biyang Sect at the late Nascent Soul stage, using the body of one of his disciples as a sacrifice.

So after he was created, although he had no intelligence, he could look no different from a normal person, except that he spoke in a robotic way.

Sect Master Wan Yi placed it by Bai Yuxi's side to keep an eye on it, but she eventually found an opportunity to kill it.

Or was it a "corpse" that I disposed of in installments?

The puppet in front of me looks even more advanced than that 'human puppet'.

"It's been buried here for at least tens of thousands of years, hasn't it? Yet it only has skin ulcers, but it can move freely. It's truly unbelievable..."

Xu Ze became interested in 'puppet techniques' again.

But as his thoughts wandered, he suddenly noticed something even more amiss.

Although the puppet is at the Golden Core stage, that little girl is a genuine mid-Golden Core cultivator.

Why are you just running away and not fighting back?

"Whoa whoa-"

Mu Qinghe, who was being chased, was almost in tears. "You big bad guy, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and make your move!"

They got involved with this terrible thing just because they were pulling up radishes for you!

"Can't you beat it?"

Xu Ze finally spoke, his tone tinged with doubt, "Use any spells or supernatural abilities you know to bombard it!"

Xu Ze originally wanted to see what the skills of the cultivators in the Central Continent looked like.

This should have been a rare opportunity for observation.

But Mu Qinghe's face was deathly pale, and it didn't look like she was faking it at all.

His eyes widened, and a guess immediately arose in his mind:

"...Don't tell me you can't do anything?"

Despite this, Mu Qinghe continued running for her life, on the verge of tears, saying:

"My mother forbade me to learn anything, saying that I must wait until I have formed my Nascent Soul before I can engage in cultivation."

"Nonsense, how can you form a Nascent Soul without cultivating immortality?" Xu Ze dismissed her words as nonsense.

Without any cultivation techniques, how could you have achieved Golden Core cultivation?

Do you think you can rely on dreams?

But the next second, Mu Qinghe's answer made his eyes widen.

"Isn't it enough to just eat, drink, and sleep all day?"

"I was born with perfect Foundation Establishment, and the rest of my cultivation grew naturally!"

"I'm telling the truth, please help me!"

……

Ten thousand miles away, in the Immortal Continent of the Central Plains.

Inside the magnificent palace, the space, spanning hundreds of feet, is paved with white jade tiles edged with gold thread, and seventy-two golden pillars with coiled dragons support the dome painted with the sun, moon, and stars.

The person sitting on the majestic dragon throne at this moment is not the emperor.

That's a woman.

A woman of captivating charm and unparalleled beauty.

She looked to be only in her early thirties, with an extremely beautiful face, possessing both the charm of a mature woman and the authority of someone who had long held a high position.

Her black palace dress, embroidered with golden phoenixes, perfectly accentuated her voluptuous figure, making it almost seem as if her breasts were about to burst out of her clothes.

At this moment, she resembled an empress, surveying the court with a half-smile.

"Your Majesty, the Ninth Princess has been found. She is in Donghua City in Beiju Luzhou." An elderly minister dressed in a purple python robe stepped forward and respectfully reported.

He was the prime minister of the court, wielding immense power, yet before this empress dowager, he was as humble as a servant.

"Yes, I am aware of it."

The Empress Dowager's voice was languid yet majestic, like fine aged wine, mellow and intoxicating.

"Should I send someone to bring Her Highness the Princess back?" the Prime Minister asked.

"No need." The Empress Dowager pressed her palm down, a simple gesture that caused the atmosphere in the entire court to freeze. "You don't need to follow up on this matter any further. Just withdraw all the people from the Northern Continent."

There was no dissent in the imperial court.

Who dares to oppose her?

Everyone in the court knew that the true power behind the throne belonged to the stunningly beautiful Empress Dowager sitting on the dragon throne.

As for what the woman was really thinking at that moment, no one could know.

"My little darling, don't say that Mommy is bullying you."

She murmured in a voice only she could hear.

"I'll let you run this short distance for now."

Chapter 78 Go and Come Back

Xu Ze finally made a move.

Without warning, without any build-up, and without even drawing any sword.

He merely raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers forming a sword gesture, and lightly slashed towards the terrifying puppet that was lunging at Mu Qinghe in the distance.

A very faint tearing sound came from the air.

There was no earth-shattering roar, no aftershocks of the burst of spiritual energy. The puppet, which had been brimming with murderous intent and relentlessly pursuing its prey just moments before, was now frozen in mid-air.

Mu Qinghe was screaming and running away a second ago, but the next second, she felt her hair being gently blown by a gentle yet sharp wind, and a bluish light swept past three feet above her head.

And that was the end of it all.

The puppet was neatly divided into two sections at the waist.

Xu Ze withdrew his finger, and the cyan sword light vanished into the air as if it had never existed.

The Azure Cloud Sword Technique he practiced combined speed and power.

To slay beings below this level requires only a single thought.

Then, he slowly walked to the mangled body of the puppet, bent down and plucked the "radish" that emitted a faint spiritual light from the top of the puppet's head.

【Earth Spirit Grass】

[Description: A spiritual plant that has been extinct for tens of thousands of years, it seems to be able to be used to refine some special elixirs.]

"This is good stuff."

He flipped his hand and put it into his storage bag, then picked Mu Qinghe up from the ground like he was lifting a kitten.

Xu Ze raised her to eye level, looked at the still-shaken little girl, and calmly said:

"The first level seems to have a time limit, let's hurry up."

Mu Qinghe was still somewhat shocked from what she had just experienced, her small mouth slightly open and her eyes wide open.

But she quickly realized her embarrassing situation and started acting wildly again:

"Ahhh, let me go!"

Her cheeks flushed with anger. "Who was that so unhurried just now?"

Now that you know there's something special, you're quick to act?

I was chased down there for so long!!

He ran two full laps! And you just stood there watching!

No matter how much the little girl struggled, her arms and legs were too short, and she couldn't hit Xu Ze no matter what she did.

She simply bit Xu Ze's hand, which finally made him let go of his grip.

Xu Ze gasped, not from the pain, but from not expecting the girl to actually bite him.

He subconsciously let go, and Mu Qinghe fell to the ground with a "thud," landing on her bottom, and let out another cry of pain.