"I stored away as many puppets as I could when those ghostly beings attacked, but there are only just over 1,000 of them left," one of the crimson-robed figures replied.

"My situation is even worse. Not only were the ghost monarchs severely wounded by the puppet's self-detonation, all of them remaining profound ghosts were also destroyed by the wind-attribute ability you unleashed," the white-haired beauty sighed.

"What are you saying, Fellow Daoist Lan? Even though we agreed that you had to refine 8,000 profound ghosts, the pure Yin Qi I supplied to you was far more than enough to refine that number of ghostly soldiers, so you must've refined more than the 8,000 that were revealed, right? Now's not the time to be hiding such resources," Liu Zu said as his expression darkened.

The white-haired beauty faltered upon hearing this, and a slightly awkward look appeared on her face.

"I didn't think that you were aware of this, Brother Liu Zu. Indeed, in order to prepare for unforeseen circumstances, I refined 500 extra profound ghosts. Even though that's not a lot, their individual prowess is far superior to that of normal Yin Armor Profound Ghosts."

"Alright, even though there are still several more perilous places we must pass through during the remainder of our journey, those profound ghosts on top of what's left of the puppets should be enough to get us through to the finish line. I know that you may not fully trust me, but once we secure the Divine Infernal River Elixir, we'll be able to split up and you can go wherever you please. However, I advise you not to try any little tricks before that. Otherwise, don't blame me for turning on you." A threatening tone crept into Liu Zu's voice as he spoke.

The other demon monarchs' expressions changed slightly, but none of them responded to his words, as if they hadn't heard him in the first place.

Liu Zu didn't find their reaction to be strange in the slightest. He merely waved a hand through the air, and said, "Let's go."

He then transformed into a ball of black light that flew on ahead.

The dozen or so high-grade demon beasts down below immediately followed suit.

The two crimson-robed figures glanced at one another before sweeping their sleeves through the air in unison, summoning specks of black light from within. Those specks of black light then began to glow with spiritual lights of different colors before transforming into puppets of different shapes and forms.

These puppets had clearly been carefully preserved by the two crimson-robed figures.

Not only were they all in brand new condition, most of them were extremely intricately crafted.

At this moment, the white-haired beauty also raised a hand to hurl forth a palm-sized black leather pouch, and the pouch rotated in mid-air before tipping itself over to expel a burst black Yin winds.

A group of black-armored ghostly soldiers then emerged from within those Yin winds. These ghostly soldiers appeared to be quite similar in appearance to the Yin Armor Profound Ghosts from before, but they appeared to be more sturdy and also larger in stature.

From a distance, they presented quite a formidable sight to behold.

"Go!"

The ghostly soldiers swept toward Liu Zu as a swath of black mist under the white-haired beauty's command. Yuan Yao and Yan Li could only part with Han Li to follow the white-haired woman.

At this moment, the puppet army also rose into the air and flew along at low altitudes with spiritual light of different colors enshrouding their bodies.

The Purpleblood Puppet led the way from the two crimson-robed figures still situated on its shoulders.

Mu Qing glanced at Han Li with an indifferent expression before also flying away with her golden flower beneath her feet.

"Let's set off as well, Fellow Daoist Han."

Han Li turned to discover Jin Ling appraising him with a hint of a smile on its face, seemingly intent on staying with Han Li to monitor his actions.

Thus, Han Li nodded expressionlessly before rising up into the air as a streak of azure light.

The golden ape chuckled before following closely behind him as a streak of golden light...

A few days later, in front of a cave in a set of greyish-white mountain ranges situated deep within the infernal river. There were several ghostly beings of different forms standing motionlessly on the spot.

These ghostly beings were enshrouded under a layer of azure smoke, and among them were faint white shadows as well as massive skeletons that were several tens of feet tall.

The white-robed ghostly woman who'd faced Han Li in battle once before abruptly departing was one of those ghostly beings.

However, all of them were severely wounded, and their auras were extremely feeble.

Even the ghostly woman that had proven to be a very troublesome opponent to Han Li was missing an arm, leaving her as an amputee.

Standing at the very center of these ghostly beings was a puppet clad in a suit of crimson armor.

This was one of the crimson-armored puppets deployed by the Mayfly Race.

From its outward appearance, this puppet was no different from the other normal crimson-armored puppets. However, the ghostly beings around it clearly all wore expressions of awe and veneration, seemingly rather fearful of it.

The puppet stood in a stationary manner among the high-grade ghostly beings, appraising the dark cave before it with faint green light shimmering in its eyes.

After a while, a long sigh sounded from deep within the cave, following which an elderly voice rang out. "Don't you think it's inappropriate for the Mayfly Race to be requesting for my help?"

The ghostly beings all adopted serious expressions upon hearing this, the crimson-armored puppet replied, "I'm only doing this because I have no choice, Senior. The ones who have encroached upon our holy land are far more powerful than we'd imagined, and there are four of five of them that are even more powerful than our Golden Mayfly Tier beings. Aside from myself, all of the puppets have been destroyed. I've already sent out a signal requesting for assistance, but it'll take at least half a year before reinforcements will arrive. By that time, those people would've most likely fled the scene well in advance. Seeing as you have some ties with our Mayfly Race, I can only request for your assistance, Senior!" The crimson-armored puppet extended a respectful bow toward the opening of the cave.

"Hmph, the agreement I made with your Mayfly Race was that I would only stay in your holy land for a while in order to rest and recuperate; I'm not pledging my allegiance to the Mayfly Race. I've already repaid any debts I owe you, and I even went out of my way to gather all of these high-grade ghostly beings to assist you on this occasion, yet now, you're asking me to fight for you in person? Don't you think that's going too far?" the owner of the elderly voice harrumphed coldly, and the entire cave tremored with his discontent.

"Senior Jiang, I'm not familiar with the details of your agreement with our Mayfly Race, but with your unfathomable powers, taking care of those beings would be an extremely simple task for you. If you're really reluctant to eradicate them in person, then please allow me to borrow your Five Dragon Chopper; that will suffice as well," the puppet replied.

"The Five Dragon Chopper is one of my most prized treasures; why should I lend it to you? I paid a sufficiently heavy price to the elders of your Mayfly Race in order to enter the infernal river." The elderly man seemed to have recalled something an unsavory memory, and his voice cooled even further.

The crimson-armored puppet didn't dare to push the elderly man any further. Instead, it suddenly produced an extremely intricate thumb-sized black vial before proposing, "Prior to my departure, the elders of our race bestowed upon me a small vial of Yin Water Essence. I'm willing to offer this in exchange for your assistance, Senior."

"Yin Water Essence!" The owner of the elderly voice seemed to be quite stunned by this offer.

The puppet was filled with renewed hope upon hearing the shift in the elderly man's tone, and it continued, "It takes over 100,000 years just for a tiny drop of this Yin Water Essence to be formed, and not much of it can be found even in the entire Spirit Realm, making it an extremely rare treasure."

A burst of black light swept forth from within the cave, wrenching the small vial from the puppet's grasp before drawing it into the cave, but the puppet made no effort to stop this.

"This is indeed Yin Water Essence. Looks like those old monsters in your Mayfly Race have got me wrapped around their fingers," the elderly man sighed in a resigned manner.

"Then you've agreed to help me, Senior?" The crimson-armored puppet was ecstatic.

"I have, but I've already made an agreement with the elders of your race to repress the Yin Qi backlash of this space for your Mayfly Race. During recent times, the source the Yin Qi in this place has been rather unstable, so I won't be able to leave this place. As such, I can only lend you my Five Dragon Chopper," the elderly man replied after a brief hesitation.

"Thank you, Senior! With the Five Dragon Chopper, I'll be able to slay those intruders with ease," the crimson-armored puppet said in an elated voice.

"Alright, here's the treasure." The elderly man wasted no further time as a streak of silver light shot forth from within the cave, reaching the crimson-armored puppet in a flash.

The puppet focused its gaze to find a mundane-looking silver chopper hovering before it. Aside from the fact that the surface of its blade was as smooth and bright as a mirror, there was nothing else out of the ordinary about it.

"Senior, is... is this really the Five Dragon Chopper?" The crimson-armored puppet picked up the chopper and carefully examined it with a hint of bewilderment in its eyes.

"Hehe, are you worried that I'm swindling you?" the elderly man chuckled coldly.

The crimson-armored puppet hurriedly shook its head and tried to explain, "I wouldn't dare to think that; it's just that this chopper." However, right at this moment, the chopper tremored and flew out of its grasp, then hovered in mid-air before radiating brilliant silver light. Immediately thereafter, several clear dragon roars erupted from the chopper, following which five massive wyrm projections slowly emerged along its blade, presenting an intimidating yet spectacular sight to behold.

"I refined this Five Dragon Chopper many years ago from the souls and remains of five immensely powerful wyrms I'd slain while traveling on other continents. Back when it was first forged, it was immediately instated on the Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll and even now, it’s still among the top few handful treasures on that spirit roll," the elderly man declared in a proud voice.

"Apologies for my foolishness, Senior. I'll immediately return this treasure after I take care of those intruders!" The crimson-armored puppet was ecstatic upon seeing the wyrm projections manifested by the chopper and it immediately made a hand seal, following which the chopper disappeared up its sleeve as a streak of silver light.