Battle Through the Heavens: Xiao Yan, I am your second master.

"Oh, young friend Wang Li, it's been a long time! How have you been?" An aged voice rang out, and Venerable Tianhe walked over with a smile. Beside him was Chixiaozi, who also smiled when he saw Xiao Li.

"Elder Jiang, Senior Chixiaozi, it's been a long time. How have you been?" Xiao Li greeted the two acquaintances with clasped hands.

"Hahaha, I've been unwell. I was not convinced when you defeated me last time. Now my alchemy skills have improved to a new level. Let's have another match later," Venerable Tianhe said with a smile.

"It's nothing. Is Senior Chixiaozi coming?" Xiao Li looked at Chixiaozi.

Chi Xiaozi waved his hand: "I'm not coming. It's no fun competing with you guys. I'll definitely get crushed. I'll just watch."

Venerable Tianhe looked at Xiao Li, then realized something was wrong: "Wait, Wang Li, what's going on with your cultivation level? I can't quite see it."

Xiao Li smiled and said, "Hehe, I am now a six-star Dou Zun. When I was traveling with my teacher, I accidentally entered a secret realm with a different time flow. I stayed there for about fifty years."

I cultivated to the Dou Zun level inside, and my alchemy skills also improved significantly. I even reached the Six-Star Dou Zun level by consuming elixirs.

Wang Ming, standing to the side, was somewhat speechless: 'This lie just comes out of nowhere. When did I ever venture into the secret realm with you? But this story isn't bad; at least it's relatively believable.'

"Oh? Such an opportunity! By the way, young friend Wang Li, has your teacher come? I'm quite curious about your teacher, how could he teach such a talented disciple like you?" Venerable Tianhe continued.

Xiao Li pulled Wang Ming over and introduced him to Venerable Tianhe: "Elder Jiang, this is my teacher, Wang Ming."

Heavenly Crane Venerable looked at Wang Ming, observing his appearance and the powerful aura emanating from him, and asked, "Are you Blood Dragon Venerable Wang Ming?"

Wang Ming nodded: "It is indeed the Venerable Tianhe. I have long admired your name. I hope we can exchange alchemy techniques sometime."

Wang Ming was also very curious about Venerable Tianhe, after all, he was someone who could defeat his disciple at the Pill Gathering, and he was itching to show his skills.

"it is good."

As more and more people gathered here, people from all walks of life came together, waiting for the main hall to open.

boom--

About ten minutes later, the ground suddenly trembled slightly, and the previously silent hall suddenly emitted a loud rumbling sound.

Then everyone saw that the enormous dark red stone door suddenly opened slowly, revealing a dark passage.

Chapter 161 Oh my god, the puppets have merged!

"The gates have opened!"

Upon seeing this scene, the eyes of those who had been waiting for a long time instantly turned red, and some who could not contain themselves immediately rushed to the gate and went inside.

Still a bunch of brutes!

Seeing someone take the lead, the restless crowd became even more agitated, with figures quickly following and rushing towards the passage, as if afraid that their treasure would be snatched away by someone else.

Xiao Li crossed his arms. He always felt that it was unwise to be the first to stick his neck out in the Dou Sheng Ruins, and he had a feeling that something big was about to happen.

Boom——

As Xiao Li expected, the passage collapsed instantly, and all the people who were running in the passage fell down. Of course, that was only a small part. Most of the powerful people relied on flying. Once they reached this level of cultivation, who would still run on two legs?

Before the flying people could rejoice for long, a surge of extremely powerful energy suddenly erupted from below.

boom--

Streams of crimson magma gushed forth from below, but the magma alone was not enough to make these powerful individuals retreat. With their superior agility and cultivation, most of them successfully dodged the magma pillars, while a small number of those with less cultivation were either burned by the magma or burned to ashes.

laugh--

Suddenly, several eerie crimson flames shot out from the walls on both sides of the passage. Any flame that touched the flames turned to ashes, and within just a few breaths, seven or eight out of ten people who had rushed in were gone.

The sudden turn of events stopped those who wanted to rush in, but some stubbornly continued forward, crashing into those who had stopped ahead and causing a stampede involving powerful Dou Zong level experts.

"roll!"

The chaos continued for a while until a Dou Zun expert couldn't stand it any longer and swept away the group of people blocking his way with a wave of his hand.

"A mere fire mechanism? It dares to stop me?" The Dou Zun expert dodged the streaks of crimson flames in an instant.

After seeing that Dou Zun expert go first, many people began to follow. Xiao Li also planned to go and see, but Wang Ming stopped him.

"A Battle Saint's ruin like this clearly only has one path. There's probably something fishy about it. Based on Master's many years of experience exploring secret realms, the magma below has another secret."

Wang Ming stroked his chin and said that he had enough authority to speak on exploring ancient ruins and secret realms. He really enjoyed exploring such places, and for him, enjoying the process of exploration was the true meaning of life.

At this moment, many people had already unleashed their powerful fighting spirit and charged forward.

Wang Ming led everyone to the lava below, then enveloped them with volcanic flames. Xiao Li understood Wang Ming's meaning and used Yang Fire to wrap them up with another layer.

With the protection of two layers of strange fire, it is not afraid even if the bottom is the Red Lotus Karmic Fire.

The group then plunged into the magma, their bodies rapidly descending. Although the magma was scorching hot, it posed no obstacle to them, who were protected by the strange fire.

About a minute later, Xiao Li and the others heard a faint thud, their feet slipped and they slid a short distance before finally landing on the cold floor again.

After landing, everyone looked up and saw that dozens of feet above their heads, crimson lava hung in a ring shape like a river.

Wang Ming sneered: "With this kind of mind-bending setting, people in ancient times must have been out of their minds."

Everyone nodded. Indeed, who would do something like this for no reason? Is it some kind of twisted hobby after death? Just to torment people.

The group continued walking forward, and after a few minutes they arrived at a square where quite a few people were already standing. It seemed that many understood the nature of the ancient powerhouses.

At this moment, many powerful figures gathered in this square, and at the end of the square were several magnificent stone gates, each with four stone statues in front of it, which looked as if they were guarding the gate.

Upon closer inspection, Xiao Li realized that those who had come here were mostly powerful figures from major forces, including the Tianming Sect, the rogue cultivator camp, and the magical beast camp.

What intrigued Xiao Li the most was the red-haired old man who led the group of powerful magical beasts. This old man appeared to be rather short, but he possessed an extraordinary aura.

'This must be the Longevity Turtle Venerable. This is interesting. Most magical beasts are not good at cultivating their souls. Most humans, after reaching the peak of the Dou Zun realm, will basically reach the Spirit Realm in terms of their soul realm, or at the very least, the peak of the Mortal Realm and the half-step Spirit Realm.'

Without any special opportunities, the soul realm of magical beasts is much lower than that of humans. Their cultivation level at the peak of Dou Zun might only be at the late stage of the Mortal Realm, since magical beasts rely on bloodline for cultivation and rarely on their soul.

But this old tortoise actually possesses the soul power of the late-stage Spirit Realm. How interesting! Does it possess some special bloodline of a certain race? Or did it receive some fortuitous encounter?

Xiao Li pondered.

boom--

Suddenly, a loud bang interrupted Xiao Li's train of thought.

Before one of the stone gates, a stone statue shattered with a crash, and then a golden figure burst out from the rubble, a golden fist smashing towards a Dou Zong expert.

puff~

That Dou Zong was instantly reduced to minced meat!

Upon closer inspection, everyone realized that the golden figure was actually a lifeless, empty-eyed, expressionless human figure, resembling an ancient corpse.

"A puppet?" The powerful figures stared in surprise at the golden figure.

Xiao Li was even more astonished: "Heavenly Demon Puppets! So powerful? Heavenly Demon Puppets guarding the gate? Let me see... There are five stone gates in total, and each gate has four stone statues, four Heavenly Demon Puppets? A total of twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets? Impressive!"

According to intelligence, this Thousand Demon Saint likes to refine puppets. So many puppets are made from the bodies of powerful people. If you are not a demon cultivator, then who is?

The sect leader of the Tianming Sect, Tianmingzi, stroked his chin: "Is it equivalent to a three-star Dou Zun puppet? Interesting. I'll take it and play with it."

Tian Mingzi swiftly pressed forward, knocking the Heavenly Demon Puppet back with a single palm strike. The peak Dou Zun Tian Mingzi easily cracked the Heavenly Demon Puppet's chest with a single palm strike, but it seemed to have angered the Heavenly Demon Puppet.

"Roar--"

The Heavenly Demon Puppet, its chest riddled with cracks, let out a low growl, and then the other nineteen stone statues shattered one after another, revealing golden figures.

The next instant, the twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets moved. They charged towards each other as if they were trying to collide with one another.

However, instead of hearing the sound of metal clashing, to everyone's astonishment, the twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets actually fused together after coming into contact!

laugh--

Suddenly, the twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets emitted an astonishing aura, the powerful aura causing a huge cloud of dust.

As the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, the first thing everyone saw was a pair of eyes the size of lanterns, and then a giant, seven zhang tall and entirely purple-gold in color, appeared there.

"My God, the Heavenly Demon Puppet can actually combine? Holy crap, is this still a puppet?" Xiao Li cursed. He sensed an extremely powerful aura emanating from the puppet, an aura he had only ever seen similar to that of the Heavenly Sound Elder.

"Roar! Trespassers shall die!"

Suddenly, the purple-gold giant spoke in human language and then looked at Tianmingzi.

boom--

A lightning-fast punch, moving at an impenetrable speed, struck Tian Mingzi directly, sending him flying.

"Pfft~ Damn it!" Tianmingzi relied entirely on instinct to defend, but his defense was torn apart so easily.

"They are actually puppets at the semi-saint level!" Everyone finally realized that the twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets could actually combine to form an incredibly huge semi-saint puppet!

Chapter 162 Bring it to you

"Hiss~ What terrifying puppets!" Xiao Li gasped. Twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets could be played with like this?

Xiao Li currently only possesses three Heavenly Demon Puppets, and his fourth Heavenly Demon Puppets are still one more Pill Thunder Baptism away. Yet, he has twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets guarding the gate, equivalent to twenty Dou Zun guarding the gate, which is truly terrifying.

Xiao Li also discovered that the highest level of those twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets was a six-star Dou Zun, and the lowest level was a two-star Dou Zun. And these Heavenly Demon Puppets could actually fuse directly? In any case, Xiao Li's puppets couldn't do that.

"Why don't we give it a try?" Xiao Li suddenly had an idea. He summoned a seven-star Dou Zong level Earth Demon Puppet and then ordered it to rush towards the giant purple-gold human puppet.

The silver earth demon puppet appeared out of nowhere and charged towards the giant human puppet.

It was thought to be a case of an egg hitting a rock, but to everyone's surprise, the Earth Demon Puppet merged directly into the purple-gold Heavenly Demon Puppet after they came into contact.

"It actually fused? Can you sense the soul imprint within my Earth Demon Puppet?" Xiao Li unleashed his full soul power, attempting to sense the soul imprint within the Earth Demon Puppet.

After a few breaths, Xiao Li suddenly opened his eyes, then released all his puppets, and then lightly bit his tongue and spat out more than a dozen drops of blood containing soul power.

"Go, distribute this blood into the puppet's body!" Xiao Li gave the order to his puppet.

"Li'er, have you discovered something?" Wang Ming asked, leaning closer.

"Hmm, it seems I'm quite lucky. That special Heavenly Demon Puppet has the ability to fuse with other puppets. My puppet, being of the same origin as it, will be absorbed and fused. In that case, I'll subdue it from within."

Xiao Li took out a jade bottle and poured out a pill to restore his blood and qi. He had just lost a lot of blood, so he needed to recover.

At this moment, the seven-zhang-tall purple-gold Heavenly Demon Puppet was wreaking havoc, and several three-star Dou Zun had already been killed by this Heavenly Demon Puppet.

Many powerful individuals joined forces to destroy this troublesome puppet.

Whoosh whoosh—

Xiao Li's puppet army arrived, all carrying Xiao Li's special blood. Without the slightest hesitation, they directly entered the body of the Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet.

To everyone's astonishment, the dozen or so gold and silver puppets that entered were all merged into the body of the Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet. As all the puppets entered, the Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet grew another ten feet tall, its body becoming even larger, and its aura becoming incredibly powerful.

Xiao Li closed his eyes and used his soul power to manipulate the soul imprint within the Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet.

boom--

The Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet tore apart the protective shield created by more than a dozen Dou Zun powerhouses with a single punch. Just as the Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet was about to deliver the final blow, its fist suddenly stopped.

"Stop? What happened?"

The Purple-Gold Heavenly Demon Puppet then looked at Xiao Li's position, walked heavily to Xiao Li's side, and then knelt on one knee and bowed respectfully to Xiao Li.

"Hmm~ Not bad, not a waste of effort, a half-saint level puppet is very good." Xiao Li said with a smile.

The others in Yin Valley were surprised that Xiao Li had actually taken over this powerful puppet.

"That kid actually subdued this puppet! How is that possible?"

Suddenly someone shouted, "They're fighting to the death, only to benefit others; this is something they cannot tolerate!"

"That person looks like Master Wang Li, who was second in the Alchemy Competition." Some people also recognized Xiao Li's identity.

"Master Wang Li? He became a Dou Zun in just a few years? That's impossible! He's clearly an extremely powerful Dou Zun."

"Don't you know? After Master Wang Li finished the Pill Tower, he went traveling with his teacher. It is said that he accidentally entered a secret realm with a different time flow and stayed there for more than fifty years."

With his talent, reaching the Dou Zun level after more than fifty years of cultivation wouldn't be unusual. Then, becoming a Dou Zun made refining eighth-grade pills even easier; reaching his current level through eighth-grade pills is perfectly reasonable.

Some people knew about Xiao Li and revealed his information.

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. After all, they found it hard to believe that someone could cultivate from a Dou Huang to a Dou Zun in less than ten years. The fact that they fell into secret realms with different time flow rates made perfect sense.

With a thought, Xiao Li dispersed the eight-zhang-tall purple-gold celestial demon puppet, which then transformed into more than thirty puppets of various colors, including gold and silver, with gold puppets accounting for more than 60%.

"I didn't expect that Wang Li still likes to play with puppets. He used such despicable methods. Back in the Pill Gathering, he always carried a Dou Zun-level puppet with him, which caused a lot of people to suffer."

Some of them were participants in the alchemy gathering back then, and perhaps out of jealousy of Xiao Li's achievements, they spoke ill of him.

However, no one paid him any attention. How could a glib-tongued person compare to a Dou Zun powerhouse and an eighth-grade alchemist?

Xiao Li didn't care about all that; he was just studying these Heavenly Demon Puppets. He discovered that these Heavenly Demon Puppets all shared a common aura, as if they had been made using the same materials. Moreover, all twenty Heavenly Demon Puppets were engraved with special array patterns.