The devastating explosions combusting his skin beca as mild as a sumr breeze. He inhaled the scalding air, the lded scent of sulfur and ozone an enthralling drug making him roll his eyes as he cracked his neck and clenched his fists.
"Mhh. How many years have passed? I feel weak."
As he assessed his new body, Ye Feng’s voice reverberated in horror and disbelief.
’What have you done?! I never accepted your deals. You can’t steal my body!’
"Deals? Hahaha!" The owl’s head jerked back, his laughter piercing through the deafening detonations. "Did cultivators beco utterly stupid during my sleep, or is it just you? Of course, a demonic artifact would demonise, then manipulate you. And you, my dear, are quite the foolish one. Or did you think you could draw more power without paying the price?"
Adam had repeatedly warned him, but he had thought he had prepared enough, that he was the chosen one who would bend forbidden powers to his will for the greater good.
’N-No... No!’ Ye Feng’s soul almost crumbled.
However, demonic energies filled it, bringing a scalding agony that made him wish he were dead as the puppet’s mocking voice echoed.
"I can’t let my toy crumble that easily, can I? I hope you look forward to the bright future I imagined for you." He licked his beak, his eyes curving. "You’ll beco the hero you always wanted to be—one protecting a realm drowning in blood, fire, and ashes."
He took a second to torture the fool’s soul and force it into silence before he gazed at the dissipating sun several kiloters above.
"Watch. I’ll turn the boy who shad you so much into our dog." He clenched his jaw, his tone chilling as he leapt out. "Then enslave what remains of that pathetic void emperor."
The mont he touched the tomb’s lted slabs and stepped forward, a sharp whistle sliced through the wind. He snapped his head up—just in ti to see a sword’s sharp edges dig into his shoulder.
Adam, embedded in the opposite wall, sighed. "I knew you’d co up. You brought this end to yourself, Ye Feng. I’m just glad you died before the puppet corrupted..."
His voice froze, and an icy shudder ran down his spine as his bones’ demonic attunent roared that only a demon stood before him.
Dread’s icy fingers wrapped around his heart, his lips tightening in a despairing line as he triggered the sword’s chrono tyrant’s enchantnt. "Shit."
anwhile, the puppet tilted his owl’s head as if the sword planted in his shoulder didn’t exist. Even when a temporal sphere ford around him and golden chains shackled his limbs, he scrutinised Adam with sparkling interest.
Against the restrictions, he opened his beak slowly and grinned. "Human, bestial, and demonic traits swirl in an intricate blend inside you. How? Mhh. Decarabia’s authority?"
Adam’s hair bristled as a sadistic grin split the puppet’s face. He had to escape.
Urgency fueling his movent, he shattered the wall and channelled his mana.
But the puppet’s soul-freezing voice cut through the room again as a hurricane of green flas surrounded his body and shattered the temporal stasis like re glass.
"Don’t leave without your sword. Oh! I see. You handed it to so I could cut you open and study how this body of yours works. How kind of you."
Adam’s fist trembled before he hurled it.
BAM
He threw himself inside the folded space before the passage stabilised, too horrified to spend a second in that monster’s presence. Gritting his teeth through the stomach-churning feeling, he closed it without looking back and dashed through the corridor to find Xian Yunxu, his mind rumbling with curses.
’Damn you, Ye Feng. No, damn, you stupid emperor! How do you want to destroy that thing? You should have warned ! I could have let it possess a weaker disciple. Hell, I could have even let it possess . I’m immune to demonic energy. Frick you!’
"You’re immune?! Why didn’t you tell ?" The emperor’s shocked voice echoed in his mind before he coughed to maintain his regal facade. "I an, we could have co up with a better plan had you told ."
Adam flicked his middle finger in rage. "Why didn’t you ask instead of watching? You only care about your freedom, even if we all die. Let guess the next part of your oh-so-grand plan, you bastard. The puppet will eventually escape the blessed land and massacre anything in its path, prompting the other Dao ancestors to stop it, aning the curse would break with or without our intervention!"
"That’s..." The emperor’s voice, laden with guilt, paused. What was the point of denying now? "It’s true. But understand . I sacrificed everything to protect the realm, yet I’m still suffering..."
Adam slamd his fist on a wall, cutting him off. "And you thought the puppet, the sa one who cursed you, wouldn’t take revenge after you sealed it for thousands of years?! Fool, imbecile, pig! How did you reach the Dao integration realm with that rotten brain?"
’I can still help, you know?’ The demonic cleaver interrupted, its whispers dripping with mockery. ’You just have to accept a tiny, little deal. Nothing much, really.’
"Did I ask for your opinion? No? Shut up then!" He refocused on the emperor. "Guide to the library or armory and tell how to brand the guardians. And for god’s sake, move your projection far from the tomb."
The emperor remained silent for a mont. When did anyone dare to insult him this much? Even if they had nine lives, the other Dao ancestors wouldn’t have taken the risk. Yet, a weakling barely equal to a soul transformation cultivator, a boy who hadn’t lived a fraction of his millennia-long life, scolded him like a child?
But... were past achievents, status, or knowledge relevant? They weren’t, not after solitude poisoned his judgent. He wasn’t safe at all. The puppet would co for him!
"Turn left, you insolent brat. The armory isn’t far! I’ll join you there."
Then, his voice rumbled through the palace, filled with horror he failed to hide.
"Gather in the armory, my children! Andras’ puppet revived, and it’s after us!"
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