Under One Person: The Puppet Immortal in the Tang Sect

The reddish glow faded quickly, and the youthful appearance aged at a visible rate.

Wrinkles reappeared on his cheeks, his hair turned gray, and his once straight back hunched over again.

He knelt on one knee and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

The blood mixed with fragments of internal organs was a sign of exhaustion and severed meridians.

But there was no pain on his face, only a hint of relief.

"found it……"

He said in a low voice.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a blade emerged from his chest.

The tip of the demon sword Hirumaru, stained with the old ninja's blood, gleamed with a dark red luster in the dim mountain stream.

Eita stood behind the old ninja, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword.

The manic smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a complex expression.

"Ninja head."

Eita said.

Old Ren looked down at the tip of the knife in his chest and coughed up another mouthful of blood.

He didn't turn around, but with his last breath, he hissed:

"Higanbana... the road ahead... depends on you..."

"You must kill him... only then will you have a chance to escape..."

As the leader of the Higanbana ninja clan who had lived for ninety-three years, he knew all too well the life-or-death situation on the battlefield.

The puppets he shattered and then reassembled, the endless, relentless attacks—all of this illustrates one point.

As long as the puppeteer hidden deep underground is still alive, and as long as he can still control these puppets, then none of the people trapped in the ravine will be able to get out alive.

That's why he set up this scheme.

Previously, the old ninja had transmitted information into Eita's mind through the Ninja Technique: Ripple.

Using the power of the demon sword Hirumaru to accumulate strength, they feigned internal strife, but in reality, they joined forces to force out the enemy from underground.

Therefore, he tacitly approved Eita's killing of Xuduo—Xuduo was already on his deathbed and could not survive, but his Pure Lotus Fire was the key to the plan.

He also tacitly approved of Eita killing the other members of the Ten Demons—in a desperate situation, those wounded would only become a burden.

Rather than letting them be killed by puppets and transformed into human puppets for the enemy, it would be better to let Eita seize their abilities, increasing the possibility of breaking through.

Cruel, but effective.

This is Higanbana's code of conduct.

For the mission, for survival, one can sacrifice everything.

He would even sacrifice himself if necessary, for the demon sword must not fall into the hands of the people of the East!

Old Rentou felt his life slipping away rapidly.

He took one last look at the mountain stream and at the puppets that had stopped moving.

After his punch slammed into the ground, the puppet horde seemed to fall into brief chaos, their movements becoming sluggish.

Then, he closed his eyes.

Eita drew the knife.

The old ninja's body fell forward, blood gushing from his chest and pooling on the ground.

The demon sword Hirumaru trembled slightly, and the old ninja's blood on the blade was quickly absorbed.

The red aura now carries a deep and weighty power.

That was the old ninja's ninety-three years of cultivation, his ninjutsu: Ripple, his control over his aura, and part of his memories of the forbidden technique "Blood Exchange".

Eita could feel a flood of information rushing into his mind.

The techniques for using Ninja Art: Ripple, the precise location of the enemy underground, the distribution of the surrounding puppets, and... the strange outline of a metal construct buried deep underground.

Eita didn't know what it was, but he understood that it was his goal.

He did not hesitate.

Hold the knife with both hands and raise it high above your head.

On the blade, red aura intertwined with white flames, while other colors of light also appeared.

The dark green of Kimura Okataro's snake-controlling technique, the orange-red of the exploding butterfly, the pale gold of Homer's alchemy, and the eerie blue of Lady Kyo's poison...

All the abilities he had seized were forcibly merged at this moment.

This is not a perfect fusion, but a crude superposition.

Each ability resists the others, but under the suppression of the demon sword Hirumaru, they are forced to merge together.

The demon sword Hirumaru also began to tremble, and various colors of energy appeared on its blade.

But in Eita's mind, he only needed one strike.

With all my might, I locked onto that spot underground and unleashed my strongest strike.

Then, live on.

"cut!"

Eita roared and slashed down with his demon sword.

The blade did not touch the ground, but stopped three feet above it.

But all the power gathered on the blade transformed into a massive blade aura mixed with various types of Qi, which detached from the blade and slammed into the ground.

There was no explosion the moment the blade's energy touched the rock.

Instead, it simply "sank" in.

The rocks rippled like water, and the blade's energy penetrated the ground without hindrance, advancing deeper into the earth.

Wherever it passed, the rock strata were torn apart, melted, and vaporized.

The various forces contained within the sword energy clashed underground, creating a chain reaction.

The intense heat of the Pure Lotus Flame melted the rocks, alchemy shattered the rock layers, the power of the Exploding Butterfly continued to blast open the rock layers, and the venom of the Snake Control Technique and the deadly poison absorbed by Lady Jing continued to seep into the rock layers...

Thirty feet underground, Cui Ming had just stabilized his mecha when he saw the rock strata above him pierced through by a multicolored blade of energy.

The blade's aura hadn't arrived yet, but the oppressive feeling was already there.

The light blue patterns on the surface of the Xuanji Armor lit up automatically, forming three layers of shields in front of Cui Ming.

At the same time, Cui Ming crossed his arms to protect his chest and core, and activated his leg thrusters at full power, attempting to dodge to the side.

However, the range of the blade's energy is too large.

The first layer of shield shattered the moment it came into contact with the blade energy.

The second layer held for half a breath before collapsing.

The third layer of shield collided head-on with the blade energy, and blue light and multicolored light clashed fiercely.

Then, the shield cracked.

The remaining 30% of the blade's power slammed solidly into the mecha's chest armor.

Cui Ming was thrown into the ground by the huge impact, but fortunately the earth-moving effect of the Earth Vein Mystic Armor was not interrupted. It only pushed him away, and none of the rocks caused him any injury.

A deep slash appeared on the breastplate, with the metal melting and solidifying at the edges, forming twisted wrinkles.

Cui Ming felt a tightness in his chest and a metallic taste rose in his throat.

He forcefully suppressed it and circulated his Qi to examine himself.

Three ribs were broken, and internal organs were concussed, but it was not considered a serious injury.

However, the damage to the Earth Vein Mystic Armor was quite severe.

The chest armor's defensive layer was breached, seventeen internal energy lines were severed, the right arm joint transmission was damaged, and the leg thrusters' efficiency decreased by 40%.

Moreover, the mech's core energy source was not directly hit.

Cui Ming looked up and observed the ground through his own spiritual power.

He could feel that the attack had exhausted most of Eita's power, and he could also feel that the puppet horde had briefly lost control due to the impact.

However, it was only temporary.

Because from the very beginning, Cui Ming had a backup plan.

This is a perfect opportunity to turn the tables...

On the ground, after delivering that slash, Eita knelt on one knee, using the sword to support himself.

The multicolored aura on the demon sword Hirumaru had dissipated, and the faint cracks that had appeared were gradually disappearing.

Eita Nikaido felt an emptiness within him; all the power he had seized had been exhausted in that one strike, and even his own vital energy was almost depleted.

But he believed that one strike was enough.

The tremors from underground and the sound of rocks cracking indicated that the attack had hit its target.

Moreover, there were also the surrounding hordes of puppets, including shadow spiders, soldier bees, ballistae, and so on.

At this moment, they all stopped moving, like puppets without strings, standing frozen in place.

Successful.

Eita's lips curled into a grin, as if he wanted to burst into laughter.

But he was too tired to even laugh.

He leaned on his knife, slowly stood up, and looked around.

The mountain stream was deathly silent.

The toxic fog is still spreading, but it is no longer being controlled and is only spreading slowly.

The puppets stood motionless, their eerie blue light dimming.