The Dark Wind Valley echoed with the shrill cries of the dying.
Old Man Han stood calmly amidst the maelstrom of slaughter, sleeves fluttering under the wind.
His eyes, like dying embers, reflected no emotion as ten thousand fine threads of divine sense extended from his sea of consciousness. These divine sense threads burrowed into the backs of the Thousand-Man Bonebreak Guard puppets.
These mechanical beings, like farmers butchering livestock, massacred the cultivators.
Shing! Crack! Rrrk!
Cultivators were ripped apart in the blink of an eye. Some screamed, some begged, and some tried to run away, only to have their skulls crushed, their limbs wrenched off, or their chests pierced by sabers.
"Ahh!"
"What is this madness?!"
The cultivators, caught unprepared amidst the illusion of safety, had only just begun to realize the depth of Old Man Han's betrayal.
"Traitor! You old dog, even death is too kind for you!"
"Han Wuqing, you'll rot in the lowest level of the Nine Nether Abyss!"
"You pretended to be a man of honor? Coward! Fiend! You're not a man!"
Old Man Han sneered coldly. "Honor? Don't make me laugh. In this world, only strength matters. If you can't see that, then you should save your breath to curse your parents for birthing retards."
The sabers of the Bonebreak Guard whistled through the air. Cultivators began responding ferociously. Some rallied, forming temporary formations, their spells blazing.
But it was like trying to stop a flood with their bare hands. The odds were too much against them!
Behind a shattered stall in the secluded area of the battlefield, Wu Ming crouched with a dark expression. His back was against a collapsed cart of spirit gourds, one hand gripping his sword, the other gripping his trembling knee.
His pitch-black eyes rippled. From within those depths, two concentric silver rings glimmered. The Seed of Comprehension operated madly, generating thoughts endlessly.
The Seed of Comprehension had fully activated.
'Think… I must think…' Wu Ming's breath slowed as his mind raced a thousand times faster than before. 'How do I survive this slaughter?'
Without wasted motion, Wu Ming retrieved a talisman glowing with yellow light from his sleeve and slapped it onto his right leg.
A Yellow Rank high-grade Escape Talisman.
A wave of spiritual power rushed through his body as a golden light wrapped around his limbs. His body grew lighter, his movement speed now matched a Yellow Rank high-grade movement technique.
Still, he frowned.
'Just this won't do. From what I've observed, there are two types of puppets…'
He peeked through the gaps in the stall.
In the distance, a puppet with a black saber was cleaving a Sky Ocean Realm cultivator's technique apart. The black saber glinted with thick, sharp spiritual qi.
'The golden-saber ones have strength around the Green Copper Realm, somewhat manageable. However, the ones with black sabers… their auras resemble the Sky Ocean Realm... Thankfully, there's no sign of a Purple-Gold Realm puppet. That's the only good news.'
His thoughts were interrupted—
A puppet had landed behind him without a sound.
Wu Ming's heart clenched.
The puppet lunged.
In an instant, Wu Ming's sword flashed. He summoned a Jade Dragon Phantom, roaring and coiling as it surged toward the puppet.
BOOM!
The jade phantom crashed into the puppet and shattered in the next breath. The puppet staggered, only for a moment, then raised its saber and dashed toward him again.
Wu Ming cursed and leapt back, speed blurring like a bolt of wind. His footwork flowed like water with the boost of the talisman's power, yet the puppet kept pace, relentless and inhuman.
Wu Ming gritted his teeth.
'This is no good. I'll die at this rate!'
Without pausing, Wu Ming abruptly changed direction and grabbed a terrified, screaming cultivator nearby.
"Wh—AHH!"
With a single heave, Wu Ming hurled the cultivator toward the charging puppet.
"NO! NOOOO!"
The cultivator screamed louder, but it was too late. The puppet's instincts locked onto him. It swung its saber.
Slash!
Blood splashed. The scream was cut short. Wu Ming didn't look back once. He simply turned and ran, threading his way through the chaotic battlefield with ghostly speed.
Like a phantom in the night, Wu Ming began circling the battlefield.
But not without purpose.
His mind was ablaze.
He had seen it now.
With his Seed of Comprehension fully active, he devoured the battlefield with his mind. The number of puppets. The number of cultivators. Their movements. Their techniques. Who was fighting whom. Where the corpses fell.
A thousand variables.
A thousand connections.
A normal cultivator couldn't have done it.
But he could.
So he did.
And then, he moved.
Swish!
A puppet raised its blade against a woman trying to shield her child disciple.
"Don't kill!"
Too late. The puppet split her in two with a downward arc.
Even before the puppet could pull back the saber from her body, a shadow flashed by.
Wu Ming didn't pause.
He snatched her storage pouch from mid-air and disappeared again into the haze of battle.
Another puppet decapitated a Green Copper Realm cultivator.
Before the cultivator's head could hit the ground, Wu Ming appeared like a wraith, snatched the storage pouch from the waist, and vanished again.
But the puppet had noticed him and gave chase immediately.
It took a single step.
BOOM!
A crimson flame spear flew through the air, striking the puppet in the chest and blasting it backwards.
Wu Ming smiled faintly, then vanished into the haze of blood and dust again.
He didn't waste breath.
He didn't waste words.
He moved. He reaped. He vanished.
While others screamed, bled, and were just too focused on survival, Wu Ming looted silently. He was dancing on a thin thread between life and death, picking treasures like fruits from a tree.
Yet despite the success, his expression remained grim.
His gaze fell to the Talisman on his leg.
It was disintegrating rapidly. More than half of it had already burned away.
'Fifteen minutes left… No, maybe less. But that's not a problem, there's a bunch of talisman in these pouches I've looted. The main problem is to get out of this cage. But… how?'
He looked around.
Even the Sky Ocean Realm cultivators were overwhelmed.
Some tried to group up and resist, but it was useless. The coordination of the puppets was too seamless.
And above all, there was Old Man Han. He was the biggest obstacle to survival here.
But what Wu Ming didn't know was that Old Man Han had his worries.