It was quite unexpected not to see Su Lun at Kama's wedding.
On such an important day as my sister's wedding, if he couldn't make it back, then he must have been delayed by sothing even more significant.
However, since Su Lun had cut off all communications, even the Mirror Organization didn't know his exact whereabouts. They only knew that he had a conflict with a minor lord in the southern part of Luying not too long ago, and rumors had it he killed quite a few people. There's a hefty bounty on him in the black market and from the officials of several southern provinces—it's a big ss.
But Su Lun knew very well his disciple's character; if he killed people, there must have been a valid reason for it.
He also guessed that Su Lun's situation might not be too good.
But after all, it was his disciple's trial and growth. Unless Su Lun personally asked for help, he, as a ntor, would not take the initiative to intervene.
But he didn't expect to et again in this manner.
...
"Dong," "Dong," "Dong"...
The noise from a few blocks away was very loud, as if it were intentionally made to attract people's attention.
Su Lun teleported to the site of the battle instantly and saw a cloaked figure entangled with several unidentified people.
Su Lun didn't rush to take action; he stood on the clock tower at the street corner with the best view, overlooking the entire battle.
The cloaked figure was, of course, Su Lun in disguise.
And the others were neither military police nor sheriffs from Lindon. They were dressed as plumbers, drivers, and municipal gardeners, but Su Lun still recognized them at a glance—these were professional assassins.
Being here was obviously well-planned in advance.
As soon as Su Lun ca over and observed the situation, he understood everything.
He murmured to himself, "Ambushed, huh? It seems they anticipated Su Lun would co to Kama's wedding and thus laid a trap here. Tch tch, daring to cause such a commotion in the heart of Lindon, the employer behind these professional assassins must be very powerful."
He took a glance at the assassins' moves and even deduced that they were from a group known as the "Seagull Professional Assassin League" on the black market.
Whether they succeeded or not, acting here ant certain death.
These assassins were also prepared to die.
So, even if they were killed, no useful clues would be obtained.
Su Lun was very curious, who would spend so much to kill Su Lun?
Why kill him?
But since he had arrived, the problem wasn't a big one anymore.
Su Lun also watched patiently.
The assassins consisted of one sixth-tier, two fifth-tier, and three fourth-tier, cooperating with tacit understanding.
Such a small team could even assassinate a seventh-tier.
However, Su Lun's response didn't disappoint Su Lun. Realizing he couldn't escape, he used threads to pull out several chanical puppets and exchanged blows with the assassins.
Steel cables, hinges, poison spray, flying crescents, mists, and rain of needles... The puppets unleashed a variety of chanisms.
In the vast district, what was clearly a six-on-one fight turned into a small group against small group scuffle.
Both sides fought viciously, each strike aiming to kill.
Su Lun didn't fall behind, and Su Lun watched anxiously.
Such a fight was crucial for the growth of professionals—the experience of not dying.
As a ntor, he even gave intermittent comntary: "Su Lun has already advanced to fifth-tier, huh? It seems his cultivation is very diligent. He's already showing signs of mastering his own domineering aura. Not bad, not bad..."
The combat power of a Puppet Master isn't just about the tier of the individual; the quality of the puppets and the manipulation techniques also contribute a lot to their strength.
Su Lun also admired Su Lun's puppets.
Through his Grandmaster-level perspective, these puppets were already very good.
Not to ntion their high tiers, but the degree of compatibility in battle was already perfect for a fifth-tier Puppet Master.
Moreover, there were several that could use cursed objects, which piqued Su Lun's interest.
"chanical corpse puppets... This kid truly is a born Puppet Master."
Watching this scene, Su Lun felt like seeing himself from the past, using living corpse puppets to transfer the curse rebound from using high-tier cursed objects.
Now, Su Lun had completely learned his ntor's techniques.
And he perford even better.
The living corpse technique was naturally learned from Su Lun, but the puppets in Su Lun's hands were not rely corpses. They were "chanical corpse puppets" modified and infused with Boyle chanism skills.
Such corpse puppets would have greater maneuverability in battle control, a more diverse range of attacks, and various functions to handle different situations.
He undoubtedly had his own set of understandings of the Puppetry Technique.
Seeing those strange cursed objects, Su Lun knew that his disciple must have had his opportunities during his ti away.
And his double-unlocked "B-060-Exquisite Heart" was one of the most suitable talents for a Puppet Master.
Su Lun felt that Su Lun's future achievents in Puppetry Technique would certainly be high.
....
Although the enemy's moves were lethal, Su Lun remained calm throughout the entire fight.
Even in the short ti that Su Lun had been spectating, he saw the ambushed Su Lun not only avoid disadvantage but also used hidden steel wires to counter-kill the two weakest fourth-tier assassins.
In terms of both ntal fortitude and strength, he had beco very prominent.
"Not bad at all..."
Su Lun watched with full eyes of satisfaction.
But after all, this was in the central district of Lindon, and it was not destined to be a protracted battle.
Moreover, Yalun had intentionally caused such a commotion in order to attract all parties here.
Su Lun squinted as he surveyed the surroundings, having already taken control of the situation in his heart, he guessed, "Those guys probably know that this group of assassins won't be able to kill Yalun. They must be preparing to send in the top professionals to close the deal."
He muttered to himself, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes.
Su Lun indeed wanted to see who else would dare to co after his disciple at this critical juncture!
As he had expected.
After a few buildings on the street collapsed with a bang due to the commotion, a strange ashen fog suddenly rose in the mist above the street.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't mist but particles of burning ash floating in the air.
Others might not have noticed, but Su Lun sensed soul fluctuations in the ash the mont they appeared.
The newcor was a seventh-order professional.
This ability was rare, and Su Lun imdiately recognized it: "Oh, one of the top ten Legendary Bounty Hunters, the 'Ashen Knight' Teluns E. Yalun. This could be troubleso..."
Bounty Hunters appeared to be neutral freelancers, but Su Lun, who had reached such heights, knew that these top professionals were often secretly backed by so top-tier financial consortia.
Powerful families would also deliberately court these top experts, waiting for the day they might need their services.
Su Lun pondered but could not guess who might be behind this 'Ashen Knight' Teluns.
But since he had co, he was obviously here to kill Yalun.
Seeing this, Su Lun's gaze revealed a hint of mockery.
The burning ash floating in the air turned everything it touched, whether plants or buildings, into ash as if they were charred by fire, and a gust of wind would even stoke up bright crimson sparks.
This was the second form of [A-041-Ash], a rare talent of both fire and wood elents.
Having the ability to elentalize, with a super high affinity for the laws of both fire and wood, it was quite a tricky power.
'Ashen Knight' Teluns's self-comprehended Flaming Ash Domain was an area effect with both physical and magical damage, severely burning the skin and bones of its targets, scorching the insides through the respiratory tract, and its fire poison could even kill imperceptibly.
For a seventh-order taking down a fifth-order, it was almost without suspense for a normal professional.
Against such special abilities of the 'top ten Legends,' a regular fifth-order couldn't even hold on during a brief encounter.
However, Su Lun was still in no rush to take action.
Because he knew Yalun hadn't reached his limit yet.
Having observed earlier, he also knew that his disciple was on the verge of comprehending Dominance.
This kind of life-and-death battle was crucial for Yalun at this stage. If he could comprehend Dominance while still a fifth-order, his future career ceiling would be much higher.
To have a direct confrontation with such a Legendary figure was a rare and golden opportunity.
Besides, with him, the ntor present, there naturally wouldn't be any life-threatening danger.
What remained was rely a matter of chance.
...
The ash in the sky swiftly spread, and knowing he couldn't escape, Yalun decided to engage directly.
He raised his hand and summoned several chanized wooden boxes with silk threads pulled taut by the eight-ard spider spear behind him.
With a series of "click" and "clack" sounds of gears and cogs, the boxes transford and opened, quickly assembling together through various intricate interlocks.
A thirty-ter-tall special puppet with countless chanical arms stood erect before him.
This was the Boyle family's heirloom puppet, the [Thousand Hand Combat Puppet].
The puppet's defense was strong; at least a normal seventh-order couldn't easily deal with it.
But for the 'Ashen Knight' Teluns, this posed a bigger problem.
If it were the fully functional chanized War Devil from a thousand years ago, it would indeed pose no problem. But over the last millennium, the Boyle family had used it countless tis, lacking the ability to maintain high-grade puppets, and certain rare materials were nowhere to be found. In Su Lun's eyes, the puppet was "riddled with holes", full of flaws everywhere.
"Quite the painstaking effort, using a Legend among bounty hunters as an assassin to silence him, knowing well that Yalun has this puppet and specifically choosing an ability to counter it. Is Yalun going to be defeated..."
A glint of purpose flashed in Su Lun's eyes as he carefully observed the battlefield.
He still did not plan to intervene until the last mont.
As he had anticipated.
The 'Ashen Knight' Teluns's elentalized body covered half a street block, everything on the street was incinerated to nothingness.
Even the assassins who had not managed to flee in ti turned into charred corpses in the blink of an eye.
The high-temperature ash that fell on the [Thousand Hand Combat Puppet] crackled like burning bamboo. The defensive runes and coatings on the surface of the puppet withstood the scorching heat, but the fine and perable high-temperature ash slipped through the cracks into the puppet's interior.
The pervasive reach of the Flaming Ash Domain was its most lethal move.
A few monts later, a figure darted out from the puppet like a bolt of lightning.
'Ashen Knight' Teluns seed to have anticipated this, he snorted coldly, and the ash in the air ford a giant hand, swiftly reaching out to grab the figure.
Yalun was also prepared; with a tug at several steel wires, he managed to narrowly fly out, escaping the fatal strike.
But the extre heat instantly lted and deford the steel wires, and with that tug, he didn't land on the intended trajectory but instead crashed awkwardly onto the ground covered with scorching ash.
This ground was within the enemy's domain coverage.
Normally, just a few tumbles on this ground would be enough to badly injure a fifth-order professional.
And the sa went for Yalun.
As he rose, his robes were burnt to shreds, and large patches of skin were scorched. The not-yet-ford domain could not block the invasion of such high-order laws.
However, seeing this, a faint smile appeared on Su Lun's lips, and he murmured, "He did transform himself into a puppet body after all..."
...
How could Su Lun be unaware of his disciple's dream?
At that age, Aberc should have been growing rapidly, changing every year.
But looking at Aberc before him, Su Lun found him almost identical to the last ti they t.
He knew it wasn't that his apprentice's body hadn't grown, but rather that the body was no longer made of ordinary flesh and blood.
It was a chanized puppet, crafted through secret techniques.
Aberc, that rascal, had transford himself into a chanized puppet.
It ant that he no longer had the Puppet Master's most obvious weakness—his body.
As for the "brain," the vessel of consciousness currently incapable of puppet transformation, it could be hidden using spatial devices. It was hard to say in which part of the body it had been placed, but certainly not in its original head.
Aberc's body was extensively burned, yet he showed no signs of pain. Looking at his charred right leg, he even ripped it off and, in a roll, installed another new leg.
At the sa ti, he pulled out three spatial scrolls, tore them open, and suddenly, a multitude of different chanized puppets appeared, imdiately spewing various poisonous gases at the fog.
An elental body was not invincible; there were plenty of ans to counter them.
For example, the special cursed weapon "Austin's Serpent King Sprayer" he held, spitting venom, posed a significant threat even to a seventh-tier combatant.
Even facing an enemy like the top ten Legendary Bounty Hunters, Aberc had never resigned himself to fate and fought bravely throughout.
Seeing this, Su Lun was already very satisfied with his apprentice.
However, with a two-tier difference in strength, Aberc still wouldn't survive in the hands of the "Ashen Knight," Teluns.
The mastermind behind the ambush had obviously calculated the timing.
The low-rank patrols nearby didn't dare to approach, and the high-rank military police who dealt with such ergencies were delayed and had yet to arrive.
If Su Lun didn't take action, the opponent's plot might have indeed succeeded.
He saw Aberc burnt again, vanishing atop the clock tower.
....
After all, Aberc had stood his ground against a top ten Legendary for so long, which was enough to make anyone proud.
This ti, he was burned again, feeling that imminent sense of impending death, his heart ashen as he murmured to himself, "Is this as far as I can go..."
He had previously contacted an intelligence operative, informing the authorities that he had caught an Archbishop of the "Heavenly Eye Sect," and has since been hunted and ambushed all the way.
Looking at the wanted notices from both the black market and the officials, he instantly knew there was a problem with the intelligence network, and there were traitors within the empire's upper echelons.
However, the only ones he could absolutely trust were from the Mirror Organization, but there weren't many there stronger than himself. Soone had to deliver this hot potato, so he hadn't dared contact anyone on the way, personally escorting the recognition, hurrying directly to Lindun.
Yet, he was still intercepted.
Seeing the capabilities of the person blocking the way, Aberc had no doubt recognized a top ten Legendary Bounty Hunter.
The enemy had acted here with the intent to kill, assuredly.
Aberc thought it a pity that despite possessing important intelligence, he couldn't deliver it.
It wasn't that he had been careless; the disparity in strength was just too great.
Leaving too many traces on his journey, he had long been targeted, so the ambush wasn't unexpected.
He looked towards a corner of the street, his sister had already arrived.
But everything was too late.
Even with a seventh-tier expert from the Roberts family appearing on the burning street, no one could stop the "Ashen Knight" Teluns from killing.
The combat capabilities of a top ten Legendary were extraordinary; even if an eighth-tier combatant arrived, it wasn't certain they could stop him.
However, just when Aberc was in despair, he suddenly saw a man in a black suit appear before him.
Appearing out of thin air, elegant, calm, composed, clearly just coming from a wedding ceremony.
Then this man stood in front of him.
Aberc looked at this back figure and imdiately felt an overwhelming familiarity; his eyes went from shock to joy as he excitedly said, "Teacher!"
Su Lun looked back at him, a slight smile playing on his handso face as he said, "Well done."
...
As the mont that almost seed to determine life and death arrived, all parties had reached the scene.
Kama, dressed in a simple white wedding dress, ran over anxiously, a few puppets already by her side, ready to personally help her brother out of the predicant.
And the captain of the Roberts family guard squad, following behind, heard his young master's command to "save soone," the seventh-tier Knight didn't hesitate to charge towards the battlefield.
However, the "Ashen Knight" Teluns's abilities were too unique; at that mont, not just one seventh-tier individual, but even ten of them wouldn't be enough to stop him from killing.
Everyone watched in despair as a tragedy was about to unfold.
But just then, the man in the black suit casually appeared on the battlefield.
As he made his appearance, it was as if the focus of the entire world shifted to him.
Only Kama's eyes widened, her pupils trembling with excitent as she exclaid, "The teacher is taking action!"
...
The "Ashen Knight" Teluns, seeing the sudden appearance of Su Lun, also had a drastic change of expression.
To teleport without being detected right under his nose, he imdiately concluded this was a peak-tier professional.
Fike Regadi?
Teluns recognized Su Lun at once.
However, even as a prince with a sensitive identity, he couldn't stop himself from killing!
Teluns completely ignored Su Lun, his body of elental ash turning into a fla tornado, bypassing him to prepare for a fatal strike to finish Aberc.
However, what the Legendary Hunter never expected was that, facing his domain, the man in the tailcoat didn't care in the slightest, even a trace of a cold smile appeared in his eyes?
Did he actually just see a hint of contempt?
Teluns' pupils contracted with anger welling up in his heart; no opponent he had ever faced had dared to scorn him like this.
Not even an Eighth Order!
His spiritual power surged throughout his body, and the ashes floating in the sky burned with raging flas, imdiately hurtling towards the two of them.
However, the next second, his rage turned into horror.
Teluns watched as the man wrapped in a faint aura of dominance rely raised his hand lightly, and he felt as if the space around him had been imprisoned, the terror of imminent death, as if soone had gripped his throat leaving him completely immobilized, instantly overwheld him.
"How is this possible!"
Teluns' complexion drastically changed, and his elental form couldn't even be maintained, reverting back to his human shape in a blink.
Confusion and fear flooded his heart; he had never encountered any opponent who could instill such a profound sense of deathly crisis from just one exchange.
So powerful that he, one of the top ten legends, couldn't find the slightest chance to survive!
How can this be possible...
Just as his mind was completely overtaken by horror, Teluns suddenly felt the hand choking his neck weigh down like a ten-thousand-ton mountain crashing upon him.
Before he had any chance to react, his whole body was crushed by that enormous force, smashing heavily onto the ground.
"Boom!"
A deafening noise, as if a mountain had collapsed and the earth had split open.
Teluns watched helplessly as his head, like a teor falling, created a crater several ters in diater upon impact with the ground.
So swift was the motion that only after the shockwave toppled the nearby buildings did his soul feel like it finally caught up with his body, severely injured in the pit.
A spurt of old blood spewed out.
Teluns felt every bone and muscle in his body as if it had been shattered to pieces, and excruciating pain seized his heart in an instant.
The ability to turn elental proved utterly useless, completely overwheld by a single move from his opponent.
At this mont, the legendary figure realized he had encountered a truly terrifying opponent.
The plan had failed!
There was no ti for shock; in that mont, Teluns' mind imdiately ca to a decision.
Before the fight, he was confident that even if the royal or military's veteran Eighth Order professionals ca, no one could stop him from killing this minor Fifth Order Puppet Master.
But he had never anticipated encountering such a bizarre adversary.
An opponent even stronger than any Eighth Order he had ever envisaged.
After all, he hadn't even understood the technique just now?
His face ashen, he bit his own tongue, the tallic taste snapping him back to a montary clarity.
Teluns already realized his opponent was incredibly strong, but he hadn't grasped just how formidable the foe was.
He still wanted to use a secret technique to escape, to avoid this fearso adversary for the ti being.
Professionals of his level had, more or less, several life-saving tricks; even if they couldn't win, there was still a chance to escape.
However, this ti he miscalculated.
Teluns' incantations were instantaneously conjured, but to his shock, they were completely ineffective!
Why couldn't he escape?
A sense of panic surged within him, a feeling he hadn't experienced since advancing to the Seventh Order; before he could ponder what went wrong, he heard a voice beside his ear, as if Death itself was declaring there was no escape, "Thinking of leaving? Did I say you could go..."
This!!!
Teluns despaired instantly.
Because only then did he realize that the force of the elents around his body had vanished completely, as if nullified by so higher rule's power.
No matter what he attempted, it was as if his actions were fully anticipated by soone else.
It was as if that ghostly figure saw through his final thought of self-destruction, its voice echoing again by his ear, "In my presence, you'd need to ask for my permission even to die."
At those words, Teluns went pale as death.
...
Is it over?!
Austin stood behind his ntor, closely witnessing a battle that, though brief, shook his very core with awe.
He knew his ntor was strong, but to be this outrageously powerful!
The enemy was none other than the "Legendary Bounty Hunter," the "Ashen Knight" Teluns E. Yalun...
An elite professional capable of entangling Eighth Order challengers, beaten in just one exchange?
Defeated by a single move?!
Austin's puppet-transford face, expressionless, but his eyes were riddled with uncontrollable shock and excitent. His mind seed unable to accept what it had seen, standing stunned at the scene.
It was only when the legendary hunter was critically wounded and the high temperature dropped, a cool breeze returning, that Austin seed to awaken.
Just then, the two sentences his ntor had warned the enemy with also reached his ears.
"Thinking of leaving? Did I say you could go..."
"In my presence, you'd need to ask for my permission even to die."
The tone was as calm as water, yet it bore an air of overlooking the world in its dominance.
Austin listened, feeling a boundless pride swelling within him: This is my ntor!
anwhile, a group of reinforcents rushing to the scene were left utterly dumbstruck, unable to move an inch.
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