Martial Universe (Wu Dong Qian Kun)
chapter-280

A glowing shadow flickered above the black altar as Lin Dong and Little Marten directly strolled out from that stone pillar. When they emerged, the black swirl instantaneously disappeared and regained its icy cold and solid shape. Subsequently, the unique vibrations that it emitted also completely disappeared.

“The space inside the stone pillar existed only because of his remaining fragment. Now that his remaining fragment has disappeared, the space will naturally collapse. Therefore, the space from before no longer exists.” Little Marten stared at the stone pillar and said.

“Oh.” Lin Dong nodded his head, before suddenly asking: “That elder should have been quite powerful when he was alive right?”

“Not a single one of the people who are able to become owners of Ancestral Symbols are weaklings. I have previously met another person who owned a different Ancestral Symbol. To claim that the power that he possessed was enough to split the heavens will be an understatement, in fact, it would not be too much to say that he may even possess the power to defy death.” Little Marten casually said.

“Such a powerful individual. I wonder what kind of foe killed him.” Lin Dong secretly sighed. Based on the terrifying strength that the black eyed old man displayed, he probably had a long and leisurely life. However, in the end, he was still reduced to such a state. This fact caused one to involuntarily sigh.

Little Marten was silent for a moment, before it finally said: “This world is vast and boundless and there is always a taller mountain. Even the owner of an Ancestral Symbol is not invincible.”

Lin Dong gently nodded his head. For no particular reason, he suddenly remembered that extremely dark and peculiar matter he saw inside the stone pavilion. Perhaps, that terrifying thing was somewhat related to the demise of this powerful and legendary figure.

“Don’t think too much about it. Since we have already obtained the item, let’s leave this area. Once we leave the Ancient Tablet space, we can look for an opportunity to visit the Ghastly Puppet Cult headquarters and obtain the Devouring Ancestral Symbol.” Little Marten waved its claws as it urged Lin Dong.

When he heard its words, Lin Dong released a bitter laugh. Though it was easy to speak of this matter, it was a fairly difficult task to accomplish. There were tons of elite practitioners within the Ghastly Puppet Cult and there were even true-blue Manifestation stage elite practitioners holding down the fort. The difficulty of obtaining the Devouring Ancestral Symbol from that tightly guarded fortress would be extraordinary.

However, even though Lin Dong knew that this was not an easy task, he did not intend to give up. He had painstakingly crossed the country and travelled from Yan City to Great Desolate Province in order to look for this Devouring Ancestral Symbol. Furthermore, throughout this whole journey, he had already been through several trials and tribulations. Therefore, there was no way he would just give up because of a mere Ghastly Puppet Cult.

“Oh, right. What about this guy?” Little Marten stared at the Ghastly Puppet Cult elder, who had fainted on the ground and asked.

“Since we have promised to spare him, we should keep our word. Let him stay here.” Lin Dong grinned a little, before his figure flashed and he directly lept off the ground. Right now, a cold flow enveloped the space above the altar. If one was not a Manifestation stage practitioner or possessed special means like Little Marten, one would naturally be unable to pass through. As to whether the old fellow could successfully charge through it, it would depend on his luck.

When it heard Lin Dong’s words, Little Marten released a weird laugh, transforming into a glowing shadow before it quickly caught up with Lin Dong and dashed upward towards the Symbol Puppet lair.

……

A heated battle continued on the metal net in the upper section of the Symbol Puppet lair. Currently, both parties had evidently suffered some casualties.

“Boom!”

In the middle of the arena, two figures suddenly clashed violently. Immediately, potent Yuan Power and Mental Energy erupted outwards as both figures retreated.

“Mu Qianqian, you cannot defeat me. Quit wasting your time.” After stabilizing himself, Teng Lei stared at Mu Qianqian as he furrowed his eyebrows and said impatiently.

“Humph, even if my Great Devil Sect fails to obtain that high-grade Symbol Puppet, I will make sure that your Ghastly Puppet Cult fails as well!” Mu Qianqian coldly snorted.

“I am afraid your wish will not be fulfilled. Why do you think I stayed here together with my men to halt you? That is because Elder Cao is already down there. If I am not mistaken, he should be subduing the high-grade Symbol Puppet right now.” When he heard her words, a derisive expression flashed across his eyes, as he replied.

“You are actually willing to let someone else subdue that high-grade Symbol Puppet!” When she heard his words, Mu Qianqian’s beautiful face immediately changed as she shouted.

“It does not matter who subdues it. It will ultimately belong to my Ghastly Puppet Cult.” Teng Lei gently smiled, before he promptly waved his palm as a signal flare descended downwards, before it finally exploded and transformed into resplendent fireworks. This was the signal that they had agreed upon. After such a long period of time, Elder Cao should have successfully subdued the high-grade Symbol Puppet. Hence, it was time for him to surface.

“Dammit!”

After realizing she had been tricked, rage flashed across Mu Qianqian’s beautiful eyes. Her lily-white foot tapped against the ground, as her slim figure dashed forward. A black glow glimmered, transforming into a giant palm as it viciously slammed against Teng Lei.

“Mu Qianqian, don’t think that I really fear you. If it were not for the fact that we do not wish to go to war with your Great Devil Sect, I could have easily finished you off today!” When he saw Mu Qianqian continue to attack him, Teng Lei’s eyes darkened. Promptly, he waved his sleeves, as a black light suddenly emerged from within and transformed into a human figure. It solidly punched the giant black glowing palm, directly shredding it with a terrifying force.

“Bang!”

After destroying the black glowing giant palm with a single punch, the figure stably landed in front of Teng Lei. It turned out to be a greyish black Symbol Puppet with a bright energy glow glimmering on its body. Meanwhile, a powerful aura faintly emerged.

“Humph, you have finally used your Symbol Puppet!” As she stared at the Symbol Puppet in front Teng Lei, Mu Qianqian coldly chuckled. However, a small trace of worry flashed across her beautiful eyes. Teng Lei’s Mental Energy cultivation was at the middle level Symbol Master stage. With assistance from this middle-grade greyish black Symbol Puppet, whose battle potential was fairly renowned, his total battle strength would even exceed even that of an advanced Qi Creation stage practitioner.

When he saw that Mu Qianqian had finally stopped, Teng Lei slowly heaved a sigh of relief. The Great Devil Sect was exceedingly powerful and even their Ghastly Puppet Cult did not want to have any conflict with them now. Therefore, it was best that they were able to resolve this issue peacefully.

“Why isn’t Elder Cao coming up?” While this thought flashed across Teng Lei’s mind, his gaze suddenly concentrated. A split second later, realizing something was amiss, he fiercely shouted: “Everyone stop!”

When they heard his command, all the elite Ghastly Puppet Cult practitioners swiftly retreated and landed behind Teng Lei. When the elite Great Devil Sect practitioners saw this sight, they stopped attacking as well and gradually retreated behind Mu Qianqian.

“Lockdown this area. The rest of you, follow me and head down to look for Elder Cao!” Teng Lei’s face was somewhat green as he viciously shouted.

When they heard his command, the elite Ghastly Puppet Cult practitioners were a little taken aback. However, they still obeyed Teng Lei’s command as they swiftly spread out and sealed off all the exits in the Symbol Puppet lair.

When Mu Qianqian and the rest saw this sight, they were a little stunned. However, when they finally recovered their senses, a tinge of delight immediately emerged in their eyes. Based on their behaviour, it seems like that Elder Cao, who had went down to subdue the high-grade Symbol Puppet, had ran into a little trouble.

“Hehe, Teng Lei. The allure of the high-grade Symbol Puppet is strong. Perhaps, Elder Cao has betrayed your trust?” Mu Qianqian covered her mouth as she laughed.

“Humph, Mu Qianqian, I hope that you are not the ones behind this matter. Else, even if we have to go to war with your Great Devil Sect, I will take your life today!” Teng Lei venomously replied.

“Do you think I am afraid of you?” Mu Qianqian refused to back down as she sneered.

“Go!”

Teng Lei’s eyelids twitched. However, he was now no longer in the mood to waste time speaking to Mu Qianqian. Immediately, he waved his hand before he led troops down to search for Elder Cao.

“Swoosh!”

However, just as Teng Lei and the rest were prepared to move, a wind sound suddenly emerged from the darkness below the meta net. When he heard this sound, Teng Lei instantly heaved a sigh of relief, as his tightly bounded face slowly began to relax.

However, this relaxed expression did not last for long, before it gradually turned green again. This was because he realized that the figure flying up was not Elder Cao, as he had expected!

“Is that kid…. Lin Dong?!”

“Why is he down there? Where is Elder Cao?”

When Teng Lei discovered the figure, the other Ghastly Puppet Cult member also discovered him. Immediately, their facial expression turned exceedingly interesting.

“Hehe, I am truly honoured. I would like to thank all of you for so receiving me in such a serious manner.”

As Teng Lei’s and the Ghastly Puppet Cult practitioners’ expressions turned extremely ugly, a figure slowly flew up from below before steadily landing on the metal chain network as he grinned and said.

“Lin Dong?!”

Nearby, when Mu Qianqian and the rest saw this figure, astonishment filled their faces. Clearly, they had not discovered how he had entered this place.

“Lin Dong, where is Elder Cao?!”

Teng Lei’s gaze was like a wild man-eating beast as he firmly stared at Lin Dong and angrily shouted.

“Oh, below I guess.” Gazing at Teng Lei’s frightening expression, Lin Dong wore a smile on his face as he replied.

“You’ve stolen my Ghastly Puppet Cult’s Symbol Puppet?!” Teng Lei’s hand slightly trembled, as fury burst out from his heart, gathering together like a frantically erupting volcano while he stared at Lin Dong and said word by word.

“Haha, you should it in such a way. The items here are all without owner, why should this concern your Ghastly Puppet Cult?” Lin Dong lightly smiled as he retorted.

Upon hearing Lin Dong’s disguised acknowledgement, Teng Lei’s eyes instantly turned scarlet red. Moments later, he deeply inhaled and soon after, a voice so cold that it cut into the bone together with a boundless killing intent spread out in the air.

“Since that is so,on behalf of elder Hua Gu, this life of yours shall be taken by me today…”