Zhao Wuji actually hadn’t died despite suffering a direct hit from the God Extermination Cannon. However, his silver armor was now dull, and there was a bloody opening in his chest. It was even possible to see some of his broken organs.

His face was frighteningly twisted. Just now, it had been extremely dangerous for him. He had activated the runes on his armor to gather an enormous amount of Heavenly Dao energy to activate the God Extermination Cannon.

However, he hadn’t expected Long Chen to possess the first ranked Earth Flame, the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame. Long Chen had instantly incinerated all his nets, ruining his plans and almost killing him.

He really had thought that he would die just now. The only reason he was still alive was because Long Chen didn’t know how to use the God Extermination Cannon.

Normally, when aiming the God Extermination Cannon, one had to aim a bit lower than usual to hit their target. The force exploding out of it was so great that it would cause a huge recoil. Furthermore, Long Chen did not have the corresponding armor to help.

As a result, the God Extermination Cannon had been aiming a bit too high, allowing Zhao Wuji to escape with his life.

The attack had flown right by where he had been, but the shockwaves were enough to almost kill him. If it weren’t for his armor, he would have died a hundred times over.

Although he had narrowly escaped death, he was in a wretched state. His eyes were red with rage at the thought of the God Extermination Cannon landing in Long Chen’s hands.

The God Extermination Cannon was one of the Mechanism Sect’s supreme treasures. There were less than a handful of people in the sect qualified to use it.

The Mechanism Sect had never allowed it to fall into other people’s hands. It was viewed just as importantly as the sect’s survival. If someone did obtain something from the Mechanism Sect and didn’t immediately return it, the Mechanism Sect would immediately exterminate their entire sect. Throughout history, it was unknown just how many powers had been killed to the last to maintain the secrets of their mechanisms. They were willing to pay whatever price necessary.

“Hand over the God Extermination Cannon!” roared Zhao Wuji.

Long Chen had yet to recover from his shock of the impact, but Zhao Wuji’s roar brought him back to earth. He smiled and put the God Extermination Cannon into the primal chaos space. Its runes were dim, and there was no way for Long Chen to activate it again, but it seemed that Zhao Wuji had sent him a big gift.

Hand it over? What kind of joke was that? When something good landed in Long Chen’s hands, no one could make him spit it out.

Seeing Long Chen actually put away the God Extermination Cannon as if it was his battle spoils, Zhao Wuji roared, “Long Chen, do you realize that what you’re doing is a taboo of the Mechanism Sect? You are causing your sect’s destruction!”

If the God Extermination Cannon fell into an outsider’s hands, then they might be able to figure out how it worked and how to counter it. It would be troublesome for the Mechanism Sect if one of their strongest trump cards was taken and studied.

Most importantly, Zhao Wuji could not allow such a precedent, or all the secrets of the Mechanism Sect might be stolen away one by one. It wouldn’t be long before others gained control of them.

“Don’t be so troublesome. I’ll just exterminate you first!” Long Chen shot after Zhao Wuji once more.

“Fine, since you want to die, I’ll make sure you die right now!” Zhao Wuji howled and waved his hand. Eighteen figures that looked the same as him appeared. These figures also each had a set of armor, but it wasn’t made of Heavenly Dao Spirit Silver. Instead, the armor was black and looked the same as the first state of his armor.

Those eight figures were like his clones, and they charged at Long Chen.

BOOM!

Long Chen’s saber sent one of them flying, but what surprised Long Chen was that this figure’s movements were very stiff and didn’t contain any life.

The others immediately collapsed on him. They held various weapons, and their attacking style was very crafty.

Furthermore, as they attacked, the mechanisms from their armor constantly activated. All kinds of sneak attacks came out, and based on the smell, they were all extremely toxic.

“These are the Mechanism Sect’s human-shaped puppets. Since Zhao Wuji brought them, they must be the high level kind,” said someone.

The Mechanism Sect was unrivaled when it came to their specialty. No one could refute that. Their skill in mechanisms was on the same level as their insidious and treacherous character.

These mechanism puppets had no life. They didn’t know what pain was, and they didn’t fear death. They worked together like a formation, and with how they occasionally launched sneak attacks from hidden mechanisms, they were another major factor in why people didn’t like to exchange blows with experts of the Mechanism Sect.

Exchanging blows with Zhao Wuji would be irritating enough to make someone cough up blood. All of their combat experience against others was useless against him.

As for why Long Chen was able to fight against him, one reason was that the Heavenly Dao suppression did not affect Long Chen, so he was able to ignore the effect of the Heavenly Dao Spirit Silver. Another reason was the Azure Dragon Battle Armor was strong enough to block the majority of the sudden attacks of the hidden mechanisms. Even if he was injured by them, it wasn’t serious.

Others didn’t have those two abilities, and so they were unable to fight at ease against Zhao Wuji. It could be said that two of Zhao Wuji’s specialties had been suppressed by Long Chen.

The only thing that could have killed Long Chen in one attack was the God Extermination Cannon, but now that had been taken away by Long Chen. As a result, these human-shaped puppets had come out.

These puppets were Zhao Wuji’s trump card. Every one of them was equivalent to a duplicate of himself, and every part of them contained killing mechanisms.

“A group of rotten metal thinks it can stop me?” Long Chen snorted, kicking one puppet away while punching another.

His fist unleashed a burst of flames that enveloped the puppet he punched. The puppet instantly caught on fire, but it didn’t seem affected. It continued fighting just the same.

“What an idiot. He’s using flames against puppets with no sense of pain?” sneered Shi Lingfeng.

“A stone only has a stone’s brain. If you don’t know how to think, then don’t talk. Long Chen controlled the Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame. It’s different from ordinary fire.” Unexpectedly, the previously silent Pill Fairy suddenly opened her mouth.

“You…!” Shi Lingfeng glared at her.

The Pill Fairy didn’t even look at him. Shi Lingfeng’s fury continued to rise until he saw the divine halo behind the Pill Fairy’s head. Thus, he chose to endure it.

BOOM

Long Chen let out a punch once more, but this time the puppet he hit exploded. A mass of flames filled the sky like a firework.

“How is that possible?!” Seeing that, Shi Lingfeng was dumbfounded. Were these puppets really afraid of fire?

“Long Chen’s Inverse Dao Water Spirit Flame can burn away the runes on top of the puppets with its immense heat. The puppet gradually loses its functions, and in the end, it really becomes nothing more than rotten metal,” explained someone.

“Zhao Wuji is in danger then. All of Long Chen’s abilities counter him. It’s like he was born as his bane.”

BOOM!

Yet another puppet was destroyed. Zhao Wuji’s plan had been for the puppets to give him some breathing room as he recovered from his grievous injuries from the God Extermination Cannon. However, he hadn’t expected Long Chen to have set them all aflame in just a few seconds. There was no time for him to work together with them to kill Long Chen.

BOOM!

A third puppet was destroyed, leaving only five. Furthermore, those five were growing unstable due to the flames enveloping them.

“Bastard!” Zhao Wuji was enraged and distressed. It had taken him a huge amount of time and effort to create these puppets. They were his proudest creations and had been made from the best materials.

It could be said that Zhao Wuji was a grandmaster of mechanisms. But the pieces that he was most proud of were being turned into scrap metal by Long Chen. His heart was dripping blood.

“Mechanisms are just an external force, and they can’t last for long. The core of cultivation is the self. The power that your self can control is your true power. The human body is a treasure trove of potential. But your aura is unstable and devoid of power. I don’t see any hint of the will of the Martial Dao. Did you think your external power would be enough to contend against the world’s top geniuses? How laughable. The heavens must really dote on you, or if you were born in my generation, there was no way you would have lived so long.”

Long Chen destroyed another two puppets. Seeing how furious Zhao Wuji was, he couldn’t help feeling a kind of delight.

This bastard had killed the disciples of the original devil race right in front of him. Hence, Long Chen would make him pay the price, or he wouldn’t be able to face Yue Xiaoqian in the future.

“Shut up! The path of cultivation is just to get stronger. The strong devour the weak. As long as you can get stronger, who cares if it’s external or internal power? As long as it’s strong enough, the person wielding it can still dominate. Hmph, the goal of cultivation is to fulfill your desires. Do you really think you’ve beaten me already? Keep dreaming!”

Zhao Wuji suddenly waved his hand, and the world darkened. Countless black figures appeared in the sky.

Those black figures included locusts, bats, sparrows, etc. Not only were they the right size, but the way they flew was also perfect. However, they were actually all puppets made by the Mechanism Sect. They numbered in the tens of thousands.

Dozens of those puppets flew over, and before even getting near Long Chen, they exploded, filling the air with a dark red mist that had a nauseating scent.

“Die! All of you, explode!” Zhao Wuji let out a furious roar, and his army of tens of thousands of puppets charged at Long Chen.