Under One Person: The Puppet Immortal in the Tang Sect

This time, he no longer sought out the vital energy of living beings, but rather sensed the presence of all activities on the entire battlefield.

Ripples swept across the mountain stream, sending back a massive amount of information.

The positions of the ballistae on the rock face, the trajectories of the floating cannons in the air, the vibrations of the ground-based golem soldier bees, the friction between the segments of the shadow spiders' limbs and the rocks as they crawl...

There are also those special beings hidden among the puppet horde.

The ripples touched the northwest corner, feeding back a wild, frenzied energy—Fenrir wolves, lurking behind the puppet horde, waiting for their chance.

To the northeast, two streams of energy appeared and disappeared.

The ghostly aura that was hidden almost merged with the poisonous fog was actually Xia, which had been repaired and modified once again.

The other force, as heavy as rock and filled with a greedy, all-consuming nature, is the Taotie.

Due south, an invisible sound wave rippled through the air, leaving the terrifying spirit suspended high in the sky, the sound wave constantly disrupting the battlefield.

And... to the southeast, in the center of the sea of ​​puppets, a fiery aura, as intense as lava and as frenzied as a demon—Eita Nikaido.

He was burning the approaching puppets with the Pure Lotus Fire, the white flames leaping in the red aura, turning the puppets into molten iron wherever they passed.

Old Ninja locked onto all targets, quickly calculating his route of attack.

Once these core combat forces are defeated, the coordination of the puppet group will inevitably decrease, at which point a breakout will be possible.

But just as he was about to act, the edge of Ninja Art: Ripple's perception touched the entrance to the mountain stream, which was the old ninja's current target.

But at that moment, there was someone there.

Someone who...shouldn't be here.

The Qi that Ripple fed back was so familiar to Old Rentou that it was etched into his very being; it was Chubei.

He was the most outstanding genius of the Higanbana clan and the successor he had long recognized, but he had already died in the battle of the Earth Vein Village, dedicating his loyalty to the country.

But now, Chubei's Qi has appeared.

Moreover, Chubei is still active.

It's moving, and it seems to be manipulating something, performing some kind of...surgery?

Old Ninja forcibly expanded his sensory range, and the burden of Ninja Art: Ripple made his temples throb.

But in the end, he saw it for himself.

Behind the rock wall at the entrance, a temporary workshop has been built.

Tools and parts were piled on the ground, and a corpse lay flat on the central platform.

It was one of the first Hira ninja to cross the mountain stream and stand guard on the perimeter. At that moment, it was struck in the chest by an arrow, which pierced through its chest and confirmed its death.

Standing beside the corpse was Chubei.

Or rather, it is a puppet with the appearance of Chubei.

Its face is exactly the same as Chubei's, even the location of the scar on its left cheek is exactly the same.

But his eyes were vacant, his movements were stiff, and there was a faint metallic sheen under his skin.

It held a carving knife in its right hand and pressed its left hand against the corpse's chest, carving intricate patterns on the skin.

With each cut, a pale blue aura flowed from the tip of the blade, causing the patterns to light up.

It's making human puppets!

Using the corpses of the deceased Higanbana ninja as materials, create human puppets similar to Kasumi and Wolf!

Old Rentou's breathing suddenly became rapid.

What chilled him to the bone even more was that "Chūbei" seemed to have sensed the Ninja Art: Ripple's probing.

It raised its head, its empty eyes glancing in the direction of the old ninja.

Then, it did something that made Old Ren's hair stand on end.

It establishes a connection in reverse through the ripples of the Ninja Art: Ripple.

In an instant, all the surviving Higanbana members simultaneously "saw" that scene in their minds.

Workshop, corpses, carving knives, and colleagues being gradually transformed into human puppets.

As Kimura Okataro was controlling the last few black snakes to resist the flanking attack, images suddenly flooded his mind.

His movements froze, and the black snake went out of control.

A limb of a shudder spider pierced his left shoulder, the excruciating pain bringing him back to his senses, but the image was already etched into his mind.

The butterfly exploded in front of her, and in the firelight she saw her sister Kasumi's empty eyes, and then "saw" the scene of Chubei modifying corpses in the workshop.

The overlap of the two factors nearly drove her to a mental breakdown.

Makino Ittosai knelt on one knee, supporting his body with his phantom blade.

He was panting heavily, the images lingering in his mind.

Those who died, those comrades, will not find peace in death; they will be transformed into puppets of the enemy…

Mrs. Jing and the translator also saw it.

The translator's eyes widened, and he made a hoarse sound in his throat, whether from anger or fear, it was hard to tell.

Lady Jing's hands trembled so much that she could barely grip the iron box handles.

Old Rentou was the one most deeply affected.

He had already lost ten years of his lifespan due to the forbidden technique, and by forcibly absorbing Hirumaru's red aura, his mind was in an extremely unstable state.

At this moment, the image of Chubei modifying the corpse pierced his mind like a poisonous thorn, intertwining with memories of his dead subordinates, failed missions, and humiliating retreats.

The last thread of reason snapped.

"Aaaaaah! Damn it! You all deserve to die!"

Old Rentou roared to the sky, his voice no longer carrying its usual composure, but only the fury and madness of a wild beast.

His eyes turned completely blood red, and a red aura, like flames, erupted from his body, evaporating all the poisonous mist within a three-zhang radius.

He stopped looking for a way to break the deadlock and stopped calculating a way out.

He only wanted destruction.

Destroy all the puppets before you, destroy the enemy who controls them, destroy the ravine that has driven them to this desperate situation.

Old Ninja Head shot out like a cannonball, crashing into the sea of ​​puppets.

In the first row, five Shadow Spiders pounced at the same time.

Old Rentou neither dodged nor evaded, but instead unleashed both fists simultaneously.

The force of the punch was so real that it struck the puppet's chest and abdomen.

The five Shadow Spiders exploded simultaneously, scattering metal fragments and internal parts everywhere.

The second row, eight puppet soldier bees, swooped down.

Old Ren opened his mouth, and red energy transformed into sound waves that shot out.

The eight soldier bees were struck as if by a giant hammer; their thin wings were torn apart, their bodies deformed, and they fell to the ground.

The third row of twelve Shadow Spiders attacked simultaneously from the ground, rock walls, and air.

Segments, arrows, and poisoned needles rained down.

The old ninja's body was enveloped in a red aura that coalesced into a shield, blocking all attacks.

He charged forward, shattering all the puppets in his path.

At a distance of ten zhang, he shattered forty-three puppets.

But at the twentieth zhang mark, the speed began to slow down.

There are too many puppets.

As soon as one batch is destroyed, another batch immediately takes its place.

Moreover, these puppets launch relentless attacks, targeting blind spots, concentrating their attacks on the same areas, and even self-destructing to hinder his advance.

A shadow spider exploded to his left front, sending metal fragments raining down.

The old ninja used his Qi-sensing shield to block the attack, but the impact of the explosion still slightly hampered his movements.

Three crossbow bolts were fired in the gap; two were deflected by the force of the air, and the third grazed his right rib, leaving a bloodstain.

Another shadow spider emerged from the ground, its segmented limbs stabbing at his ankle.

The old ninja raised his head and stomped down, shattering the puppet's limbs, but the puppet's remains exploded at the last moment, the shockwave knocking him back half a step.

The beams of light from the floating cannons shot down from high above at tricky angles.

Old Ninja dodged repeatedly, but the sixth beam struck his left shoulder.

The blue beam pierced through the red aura, leaving a charred wound on the shoulder.

He groaned, and his movements slowed down again.

The sea of ​​puppets surged in like a tide, completely engulfing him.

From behind, Okataro Kimura witnessed all of this.

He had just used the last few black snakes to entangle a Shadow Spider, buying Lady Jing time to adjust her position.

Looking up, I saw the old ninja struggling to advance through the sea of ​​puppets.

Then, he saw something even more terrifying.

The puppet remains that were shattered by the old ninja had not completely lost their vitality.

A lurking spider with its chest and abdomen shattered, its remains scattered on the ground.

Several of the larger fragments began to wriggle, and the pale blue patterns on their surfaces lit up.

The fragments attracted each other and pieced themselves together.

The broken segments reconnected, and the damaged shell was filled with other fragments.

In less than five breaths, a new, slightly smaller Shadow Spider rose again from the wreckage.

Its shell was covered with splicing marks, and its movements were slightly stiff, but its eight limbs were intact, and the crossbow in its abdomen was reloaded.