Under One Person: The Puppet Immortal in the Tang Sect

Arrows rained down from the forest once more, targeting the shikigami charging at the front.

Puff puff……

The arrows pierced through the body of the coyote shikigami, which was made of mud and withered vines, leaving holes in it.

But in the blink of an eye, new soil, rocks, and roots emerged from the ground, filling the hole completely, and the shikigami's movements were almost unaffected.

The arrows aimed at the vengeful spirit pierced directly through its translucent body without causing any real damage, as if they had been shot into thin air.

The cracks in the joints of the stone giant shikigami's legs, caused by the leopard-shaped puppet, are now healing at a visible speed.

Rocks and soil surged toward the damaged area as if they were alive, wrapping it layer by layer. In just over ten breaths, his legs had recovered completely, and even looked stronger than before.

It rose again, took heavy steps, and continued to move forward, each step causing the ground to tremble slightly.

The leopard-shaped puppet pounced out of the shadows once more, its claws and metal mouthparts tearing at the shikigami.

The coyote shikigami had part of its body torn apart, but it quickly recovered;

The rock on the giant stone's legs was scratched deeply, but new stone quickly covered it.

The shikigami's counterattack was also very swift.

The hyenas' bites and entanglements, the vengeful spirits' penetrating and corrosive power, the stone giants' crushing blows...

These attacks, however, caused substantial damage to the puppet's metal shell.

One of the leopard-shaped puppets was a little too slow to dodge and was punched in the waist by the stone giant. It twisted and deformed instantly, its internal mechanisms shattered, and it collapsed to the ground.

The venom stored in the abdomen of the Shadow Spider sprays out, and if it lands on a human, it will take half a life, even if the human doesn't die. But it has no effect on a shikigami.

The venom was almost useless against these shikigami, only temporarily slowing down the advance of the coyote shikigami and the stone giant, but they quickly recovered under the Onmyoji's spells.

The puppet's ranged attacks are almost ineffective, and its melee attacks are difficult to damage, while the risk of self-destruction increases significantly.

For a time, the various puppets were at a loss.

It's like a lion facing a hedgehog, unable to find a way to bite it.

The only effect it can have is to harass the enemy with a continuous barrage of arrows, slightly slowing down the speed of the shikigami's advance.

Although the arrows could not destroy the shikigami, they could affect their pace of advance and buy the puppet troops some time to adjust their deployment.

Cui Ming used reconnaissance puppets scattered throughout the mountains and forests to get a clear view of the battle situation at the front.

His gaze remained unchanged.

This operation is a test for the Zhao brothers and Zhang Xuan; it remains to be seen how they will handle it.

Meanwhile, Zhang Xuan, who was on the hilltop, saw how troublesome the Japanese shikigami was and directly issued orders to all the disciples of the Divine Machine Alliance through the communication device.

"Since the shikigami is troublesome, then attack the controller!"

The instruction has been issued.

In the shadows of the forest, several even more slender and swift black shadows moved silently.

That was a "Shadow Blade" puppet specifically designed for assassination and infiltration, shaped like a small black cat.

The entire body is covered with a light-absorbing coating, so it moves silently and can temporarily blend into the colors of the environment.

They avoided the main force of shikigami and, taking advantage of the complex terrain, quietly approached the heavily protected Onmyoji team from the flanks and even the rear.

However, the Japanese had anticipated this.

The ronin and ninja guarding the Onmyoji were extremely vigilant.

One of the ronin's ears twitched slightly, as if he had caught a very faint sound of something cutting through the air. Without hesitation, he swung his sword backhand and slashed at the void beside him!

when!

Sparks flew. A shadow blade puppet was precisely struck by the blade, revealing its form. It staggered backward, a deep gash left on its body.

"There are assassins!"

Ronin shouted.

In an instant, the protective circle tightened even more.

The ninjas threw shurikens and kunai to block any possible angles from which they might attack;

The ronin's blades flashed like a curtain, protecting their vitals.

More importantly, the Onmyoji are not without the ability to protect themselves.

The two Onmyoji did not send all their shikigami to the front lines; each of them kept a small, but exceptionally swift, dog-type shikigami by their side.

And a lantern-shaped shikigami floating in mid-air, its body wrapped in pale green light.

The Shadow Blade Puppet was immediately surrounded and attacked as soon as it appeared.

The dog-type shikigami pounced and entangled, while the lantern-type shikigami cast down bands of light that, upon touching, felt as if bound by vines, instantly slowing their movements.

The ronin and ninja seized the opportunity to attack with their swords.

In a short while, several infiltrated Shadow Blade puppets were destroyed or forced back, failing to get within ten steps of the Onmyoji.

The cooperation between these Japanese soldiers and other strange individuals was quite methodical.

The Onmyoji focuses on maintaining the shikigami in front, occasionally casting spells to provide assistance;

The ronin and ninja, however, remained focused and held their line of defense to the death.

Even more extreme, a ninja used his body to block crossbow bolts fired from a tricky angle in order to save the Onmyoji's life.

An arrow pierced his shoulder, and he groaned.

Without pausing for a moment, he threw a kunai with his backhand, knocking down a crossbow puppet in the treetops in the distance.

This fearless, life-risking fighting style made the assassination attempt difficult to continue.

In a short period of time, the puppet troops were unable to effectively hinder the Japanese advance.

Along the way, only various puppets kept emerging from the mountains and forests.

They harassed and blocked the enemy with arrows, surprise attacks, and traps, but no disciples of the Sanyi Sect or the Shenji Alliance ever appeared to engage in direct combat.

This gave the Japanese soldiers a clear misconception.

The Onmyoji leader deflected a crossbow bolt aimed at his face with a wave of his fan, a cold smile playing on his lips.

"It seems that the Sanyi Sect has been severely weakened by this internal strife and external attack, and it can't even muster enough members to fight. It can only rely on these iron lumps to buy time."

A young Onmyoji standing nearby, while controlling a coyote shikigami to tear apart a shadow spider that emerged from the ground, chimed in.

"Your Excellency is wise!"

"The more they only dare to use puppets, the more it shows that the living people on the mountain have little fighting power left, and they may be busy packing their valuables to escape."

"escape?"

The Onmyoji leader sneered.

"Where can they escape to? Today, the Trinity Sect will be wiped out from this world!"

Because the puppets had limited effect on hindering the shikigami, and the attempt to assassinate the onmyoji was thwarted by a tight defense, the Japanese troops advanced at an extremely fast pace.

The entire group of several hundred men spent a day and a night fighting hard before they barely managed to advance to the relatively open platform halfway up the mountain.

This Japanese special forces unit, relying on the ruthless method of using shikigami to clear the way, coupled with the desperate protection of the guards, achieved their goal.

In less than an hour, they set foot on the same land.

Of course, there are costs involved.

In order to protect the Onmyoji and break through the layers of puppets blocking the way, most of the ronin and ninja who followed them up the mountain had already been lost.

There were more than 20 people when they went up the mountain, but now only seven or eight people are standing on the platform, and they are all injured and their breathing is unstable.

Several Onmyoji with slightly weaker abilities were unharmed, but their faces were a little pale.

Summoning and maintaining so many shikigami continuously, especially repairing large creatures like stone giants, consumes a significant amount of their spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, the puppet troops deployed by the Divine Machine Alliance along the mountain path to the platform suffered heavy losses.

The stone lion golems and leopard assault golems, which were responsible for the main blocking mission, have mostly been dismantled into pieces by the shikigami, with their remains scattered along the way.

A large number of Shadow Spiders were targeted by those elusive vengeful spirits, who kept a close eye on the subtle fluctuations produced when the Shadow Spiders moved.

Many shadow spiders had their bodies pierced and their cores destroyed.

The dense rain of arrows gradually thinned out as the Shadow Spiders were continuously destroyed, making it difficult to form an effective covering attack.

Despite paying such a heavy price, the Japanese soldiers finally managed to reach the platform halfway up the mountain.

The traces of yesterday's battle are still visible on that platform.

The ground was pitted and covered with charred burn marks and dark brown bloodstains.

Broken weapons and shattered bricks and stones were everywhere.

The air was filled with an overwhelming, pungent smell of blood.

Although the Sanyi Sect and the Shenji Alliance had already cleared the battlefield and collected most of the corpses.

However, some severed limbs and fragments were still missing, buried under the rubble.

That intense aura of death and resentment was as striking as a beacon in the night for Onmyoji, who were born to deal with the supernatural.

The Onmyoji leader stepped onto the platform, took a deep breath of the deathly air, and instead of feeling uncomfortable, revealed a smug and ferocious smile.

"Hahaha! Good! Such a thick aura of death!"

He opened his arms as if embracing the killing field.

"It seems yesterday's infighting was extremely fierce. Those Easterners are indeed greedy and greedy, which saved us a lot of effort! Heaven is on our side! It really is heaven on our side!"

His eyes gleamed with greed and fanaticism, as if he could already see the accumulated wealth of the San Yi Sect over the past century.

The legendary martial arts manuals and the ingenious puppetry techniques of the Divine Machine Alliance all fell into the Empire's hands.

"Hurry up! Everyone, perk up!"

He turned and roared at his remaining men.

"The Eastern people have exhausted all their tricks and can only rely on these broken puppets to eke out a living! Their main force must have suffered heavy casualties and be cowering in their lair, trembling with fear!"

He suddenly pointed towards the mountaintop, where the main hall complex of the Sanyi Gate peeked out from among the trees, revealing a corner of its flying eaves.