This purple-robed cultivator was the one that had shot that blood arrow. He had rushed there before Senior White and Song Shuhang could enter the forbidden area, and prevented Song Shuhang from stepping inside.

　　Song Shuhang turned around to look at that purple-robed cultivator. Although the opposite party had called him by name, he didn’t recognize them. Other than that, this guy was seemingly very worried that he might get in the forbidden area…

　　After looking at the opposite party, Song Shuhang discovered that the condition of their body was somewhat strange. He couldn’t sense their true qi or spiritual qi, and was thus unable to tell their realm.

　　“Hehe, you finally showed yourself, eh? And here I thought you would wait for Shuhang and me to enter the forbidden area to show up,” Senior White said with a calm expression on his face.

　　From the looks of it, Senior White had discovered the presence of this purple-robed cultivator a long time ago. Even that rune engraved on the wall had been strengthened on purpose.

　　“Exactly what you would expect from a character of the Venerable rank. I was very careful, but you still managed to discover me.” That purple-robed cultivator also had a calm expression on his face.

　　“That’s a given. I live in a place where I’m constantly plotted against… therefore, a person can’t escape my senses if they want to plot against me,” Senior White said smugly.

　　“…” Song Shuhang.

　　The corner of the mouth of that purple-robed cultivator twitched a little. Why was he smug about the fact that he was constantly plotted against?

　　“Anyway, since you appeared, you saved me the time I would have spent to prepare an ambush for you in the forbidden area. Now, I can directly destroy you guys!” Senior White said happily.

　　“Your tone is quite big for someone that has just advanced to the Venerable Realm. In this world where Tribulation Transcenders and Profound Sage are still present, do you really think that Venerables are the strongest?” That heavy voice echoed in the sky.

　　Senior White pondered for a moment, and then looked at Song Shuhang. “I just advanced to the Seventh Stage Venerable Realm?”

　　“…” Song Shuhang sighed, and then said in all seriousness, “Venerable White didn’t just advance to the Venerable Realm. He became a Venerable a hundred years ago, but since he had nothing to do, he kept practicing and came out of secluded meditation only recently.”

　　Senior White turned his head toward that purple-robed cultivator, and said, “Did you hear that? I didn’t just advance to the Venerable Realm. I became a Venerable a hundred years ago. As such, I’m at least a beginner-level Venerable.”

　　That general fellow said, “Keke, it doesn’t make any difference to me if you advanced 100 or 200 years ago. You are just a small Venerable.”

　　“General, don’t waste time arguing with him! The golden disc will stay open for a limited amount of time. Let’s proceed according to the plan,” the purple-robed cultivator said.

　　Too much talk would lead to errors.

　　Each additional sentence would influence future events a little.

　　“Ahahaha, in that case, leave this Venerable White to me. [Mysterious Principles of Space], get sucked inside!” In the sky, that general laughed loudly. In the next moment, a type of energy that surpassed ‘spiritual energy’ headed toward Senior White. The illusory energy wrapped around him.

　　Actually, this technique called ‘Mysterious Principles of Space’ had nothing to do with the power of space. It was just a pseudo-space-type magical technique that could, to a certain extent, attack like the power of space.

　　Senior White didn’t dodge, and allowed the [Mysterious Principles of Space] of the opposite party to wrap around him, making him disappear from his original place.

　　❄️❄️❄️

　　After Senior White disappeared, only Song Shuhang was left at the entrance of the forbidden area.

　　The corner of the mouth of that purple-robed cultivator rose. Everything was proceeding according to his plan, and was entirely in his grasp.

　　All the living things in the world were like pieces on a chessboard. Each step was within his calculations!

　　The purple-robed cultivator didn’t waste time on useless talk. His motto was ‘action before words’. More work, less talking.

　　He wanted to get rid of Song Shuhang before his general friend was finished dealing with Venerable White.

　　The purple-robed cultivator waved his hand, and skin puppets drilled out from all around Song Shuhang, surrounding him.

　　“So it was you…” Song Shuhang guessed the identity of this purple-robed cultivator after seeing the skin puppets.

　　In the past, when he was in the secret room of the Chu Family with Soft Feather, he encountered a certain ‘Mister’ that considered himself a superb schemer. It was the same Mister that had called over the sea urchin warriors and joined forces with the Illusory Sword School to obtain the secret ‘sword technique’ of the Chu Family. When that Mister invaded the Chu Family, he had several similar ‘skin puppets’ with him. These things could move around even though they only consisted in an external layer of skin and blood. They had no bones or internal organs.

　　Unfortunately, that Mister happened to meet Song Shuhang and the fellow daoists of the Nine Provinces Number One Group. His plan failed, and his body, which had been transformed into a puppet, exploded as Venerable White was fiddling with it.

　　Although that Mister fellow was already dead, the person behind him was still alive. That person had quietly transformed Mister into a living puppet, and even on the point of death, Mister didn’t dare to believe the fact that he was a living puppet.

　　This purple-robed cultivator was very likely related to that Mister, or perhaps he was directly the evildoer that had secretly transformed Mister into a living puppet.

　　“It seems like little friend Shuhang remember us,” the purple-robed cultivator said with a smile. However, his attack didn’t stop.

　　The skin puppets surrounding Song Shuhang didn’t attack. After all, their offensive power wasn’t high, and they were mostly used to explore the way or arrange formations… and this group of skin puppets was precisely arranging a formation. The blood in their bodies started to gush out as soon as they appeared, spreading on the ground and instantly forming a binding formation to lock Song Shuhang in place.

　　At the same time, the purple-robed cultivator twisted and removed his right arm, revealing something that resembled a cannon. “Song Shuhang, be reduced to ashes. Your treasures and all the eggs of the invisible sword insects you collected will be mine!”

　　“Boom~” A red-colored beam shot toward Song Shuhang. Song Shuhang could feel that the red beam was strong enough to blow up a cultivator of the Fourth Stage.

　　Why was everyone casually taking out the heavy artillery and opening fire? Big guns, small guns, mother-child-type weapons, and even ring-like cannons…

　　Was this really a battle between cultivators, and not between armed forces of the mortal world?

　　Although he was in the middle of a binding formation, Song Shuhang wasn’t scared. After all, he needed but a thought to teleport to his Inner World and dodge the incoming attack.

　　Of course, things would be different if the opposite party had space sealing methods of the Ninth Stage Tribulation Transcender rank at their disposal.

　　But while facing this red beam, Song Shuhang had a sudden idea.

　　He opened his mouth and activated one of the two demonic techniques he had obtained thanks to the seed of the Sinful Black Lotus. The [strong teeth and good appetite] skill.

　　After he opened his mouth, he generated a strange attraction. His mouth turned into a black hole and swallowed down that red beam that could kill a cultivator of the Fourth Stage.

　　Although Song Shuhang was still at the Third Stage, the intensity of his constitution was forcefully pushed to the Fourth Stage rank thanks to the medicinal baths, body tempering techniques, and demodragon medicine.

　　His constitution of the Fourth Stage—coupled with that demonic technique that could allow him to fire back attacks made of pure energy and the ❮Whale Swallowing Technique❯—allowed him to successfully swallow down that red beam of light.

　　That purple-robed cultivator couldn’t believe his eyes. Although he had accumulated vast knowledge, he had no idea what kind of innate skill of the Mouth Aperture had allowed Shuhang to directly swallow down the beam attack of his puppet.

　　But before he could react, Song Shuhang opened his mouth again, shouting loudly.

　　“Aaaaaaah!”

　　Soon after, a red beam of light with a hint of black inside shot out of Song Shuhang’s mouth.

　　The light beam attack of that puppet had been fired back with the energy of the demonic technique added to it free of charge.

　　That purple-robed cultivator had never seen such a weird counterattack method. He had no time to dodge, and could only get hit.  ( B oxnovel.c om )

　　His body was sent flying. A barrier instantly emerged on his purple robe, however, it was quickly destroyed alongside his robe. The surface of his body also started to melt.  ( B oxnovel.c om )

　　After traveling for around twenty meters, that red beam with a tinge of black exploded, and the purple-robed cultivator was caught up in the explosion.

　　“Boom, boom, boom~”

　　A big hole was created twenty meters away from him.

　　Song Shuhang clicked his tongue.

　　A weak-looking demonic technique such as the [strong teeth and good appetite] skill turned out to be pretty useful at this critical moment! The only problem was the taste, which was somewhat bitter.

　　Next time, he should try it on a different magical technique. After all, there might be magical techniques with a sweet taste?

　　“I’ve underestimated you… Song Shuhang. Although you are at the Third Stage, you are completely different from ordinary cultivators of the Third Stage.” The voice of that purple-robed cultivator echoed from afar.

　　The purple-robed cultivator walked out of the flames of the explosion. At this time, the majority of his body was charred black. But just as he walked forward, the charred black skin fell off his body, getting replaced with new skin.

　　It wasn’t the work of a healing technique. It was the regenerative power of the body of that purple-robed cultivator.

　　“Actually, I’m just an ordinary cultivator of the Third Stage,” Song Shuhang said. “Right, why does it seem that you are worried about me?”

　　“Since you can send back magical techniques… can you counter this move as well?” The purple-robed cultivator spread his arms open, and eight swords appeared in his hands. Then, he stretched out his hands and threw the sharp swords at Song Shuhang.

　　Runes were engraved on the body of each sword. The eight magical treasures were extremely sharp, and they could easily cut Song Shuhang’s body to pieces.

　　[Ye Si!] Song Shuhang shouted inwardly.

　　[Preparations have been completed,] Ye Si replied.

　　[Three Heads and Six Arms.]

　　Ye Si held her life-bound golden book in one hand and the ❮Writing of the Sage❯ in the other as she appeared on Song Shuhang’s left.

　　As for Song Shuhang, he held his treasured saber Broken Tyrant in one hand and that scholarly treasure of the Third Stage rank, the [Heaven and Earth Worshipping Brush], in the other.

　　On his right, the virtuous lamia was holding a flip-flop in her left hand and a blood-red bone in the other one. The last one was a treasure that that pitiful blood demon boss had provided. The problem was that Song Shuhang didn’t have that many weapons with him; the number was nowhere enough to one that Nezha in legends could materialize. Thereupon, he was forced to give the virtuous lamia those two strange items to make up the numbers.

　　Well, they were still magical treasures in the end, right?

　　The eight sharp swords arrived in front of Song Shuhang in the blink of an eye.

　　At this time, the pages of Ye Si’s life-bound golden book gently flipped, and several rays of light shout out of it, falling on the sharp swords.

　　The quickly approaching swords were slowed down, made heavier, had their resistance increased, and so on. Their speed decreased threefold.

　　The corner of Song Shuhang’s mouth rose as he waved his treasured saber Broken Tyrant.