This Is What a Villain Is Like

Chapter 153: Chapter 89: Jiang Lan, You’ve Hidden Yourself So Well; The Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet is Complete

Just then, a streak of blood-red light shot out from underground. It carried a Human-Faced Banner and instantly pierced through a cultivator’s chest, sending his body tumbling to the ground as his Essence Blood was drained completely.

The Human-Faced Banner then whirled around them, seemingly to verify their auras.

Upon seeing this, the cultivators, who were dressed as Loose Cultivators, felt an aura of the same origin. Their faces lit up with joy, and they hurriedly kowtowed in gratitude.

"May we ask which senior is helping us?"

"We are eternally grateful." Their voices trembled with immense joy.

"The Holy Sect is indestructible, its flame passed on forever. There is no need to ask," a muffled, hoarse, ancient voice replied from within the Human-Faced Banner.

Hearing this, the cultivators’ expressions grew even more respectful and overjoyed. "We understand now," they said, their voices trembling. "It truly is a senior from our Holy Sect who is orchestrating things here."

"Who but a senior from our Holy Sect would have the sheer audacity to ensnare and slaughter so many from the Immortal Sects?"

Their voices were filled with excitement and exhilaration, along with an undisguised reverence and admiration.

The Human-Faced Banner flickered with a bloody light, radiating a sinister, cold aura, and was about to vanish back into the earth.

Just then, one of them quickly spoke up. "Senior, we are eternally grateful for your help. Since we are all of the Holy Sect, is there anything we can do to assist you?"

"Once the Array outside is broken, members from the various Immortal Sects are sure to rush in."

Hearing this, the Human-Faced Banner, which had been about to disappear, seemed to pause. The muffled, hoarse voice then emerged once more. "When the time is right, you may assist the man with the surname Ye. Help him obtain this place’s great prize."

"The man with the surname Ye?"

They were all taken aback. ’With so many cultivators here, how are we supposed to know which one he is?’

"You’ll know him when you see him. Just address him as Senior Brother Ye Ming."

"He will protect you."

With those final words, the Human-Faced Banner transformed into a streak of blood-red light and vanished into the earth.

The cultivators came back to their senses and also hurried away, terrified of being swept up in the battle between those elders again.

"’Senior Brother Ye Ming?’"

"’To be valued so highly by such an unfathomable senior of the Holy Sect... he must be a core figure within our Holy Sect.’"

"’When we meet Senior Brother Ye Ming, we must be extremely respectful. Perhaps we’ll earn his favor, become his trusted aides, and our futures will be set.’"

As news of the appearance of the Purple Mist True Monarch’s Cave Mansion spread, the astonishing phenomena covered an area for thousands of miles.

More and more cultivators began to flock toward Purple Mist Mountain.

However, the Array shrouding the area kept many at bay. Even those who managed to enter later would find themselves trapped, and after much wandering, they would only end up back where they started.

Later, rumors spread that remnants of the Blood Immortal Sect were lurking within, having long ago laid a death Array, just waiting for the younger generation of cultivators to walk into their doom.

Such news terrified many, who could only feel that the Blood Immortal Sect was outrageously audacious and utterly without scruple.

While the Zixia Daoist and a host of other experts were locked in a fierce battle, the originally stable entrance to the Secret Realm began to tear and expand under the impact of their powerful shockwaves.

The entrance, which had been merely a few cracks in space, was ripped open into a canyon-sized rift.

Vast amounts of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi were sucked backward into it, and the purple mist that had perpetually shrouded Purple Mist Mountain also began to surge madly inside.

This prompted many cultivators to throw caution to the wind and rush in amidst the chaos.

Inside the thick purple mist, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.

Even the Zixia Daoist, currently battling numerous foes, could no longer be bothered. His face ashen, he charged toward the rift.

Unfortunately, the Secret Realm only permitted cultivators of the Fifth Realm or below to enter.

The Zixia Daoist was so enraged he coughed up blood. He had no choice but to forcibly suppress his cultivation level. The elders who had been fighting him for so long had to do the same, suppressing their cultivation to enter.

In that moment, all the cultivators who had been waiting at the entrance to the Secret Realm swarmed inside.

"Blood Immortal Sect, this won’t end until one of us is dead!"

Covered in blood, Qi Heng finally broke free from those bizarre Human-Faced Banners and reached the entrance of the Secret Realm, his subordinates having sacrificed themselves to cover his retreat.

Looking at the subordinates he had all but lost, his heart bled.

He hated the mastermind from the Blood Immortal Sect to the very marrow of his bones.

Without his life-saving treasures, he too would have been left behind to perish.

Now, his only hope was to enter the Secret Realm and regroup with Caiyun, Han Yiming, and the others.

「In the Earth Palace of Zixia Temple.」

Atop an ancient altar, a thick, surging mist of blood roiled. A faintly tyrannical aura rose and fell within it.

It was a massive, blood-red cocoon, wreathed in a crimson halo. Strands of a substance resembling blood-red lightning CRACKLED as they coiled around it.

The next moment, the blood-red cocoon shattered and dissipated, and a figure stepped out.

"Finally, it’s a success."

Jiang Lan looked at the faceless, puppet-like, indistinct crimson figure before him and nodded in satisfaction.

After expending so much effort, he had finally refined the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet.

The Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet possessed no consciousness and felt no pain. It would not vanish unless its blood and energy were completely depleted.

Though called a Blood Puppet, it was, in truth, no different from a weapon.

A single Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet could split into numerous Sub-Puppets.

With a single thought from Jiang Lan, the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet dissolved into a bloody wisp and merged into his shadow.

’Using darkness and shadows as a medium, the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet can manifest at any time, so long as it’s within the range of my consciousness...’

’With the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood Puppet, things will be much more convenient for me from now on.’

Jiang Lan was quite pleased with this. He glanced at the altar and the Array but did not destroy them.

’After all, this is evidence of the Blood Immortal Sect’s clandestine operations. Someone will come to verify and destroy it later.’

After leaving Zixia Temple, he erased all traces of his presence and headed for the entrance to the Secret Realm. On the way, however, he was surprised to sense Ling Zhuyun’s aura.

’Compared to the Purple Mist True Monarch’s legacy, she seems to care more about the lives of her junior sect sisters...’

Jiang Lan was not a good person.

But he couldn’t bring himself to feel any malice toward someone as genuinely good as Ling Zhuyun.

Despite these thoughts, for the sake of the Destiny Dao Fruit, Jiang Lan decided to stay true to himself.