“What? It has such a formidable defence? How are we supposed to fight it like this?” Everyone stared with widened eyes. Even Chen Feng was regarding the humanoid puppet with a serious look on his face.

That earlier stab from the cultivator’s battle lance was enough to create even a hole upon a Human Immortal. Unexpectedly, it could not even break through the defence of this humanoid puppet.

Looks like another batch of cultivators will be eliminated, Chen Feng thought.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

The lance-wielding cultivator was not disheartened by that. Instead, he continued to attack. His cultivation base was quite good while his combat techniques were ever-changing. That was especially true when considering his accomplishments in firing out blast attacks. Many times, he had been close to blasting the puppet down.

Unexpectedly, this fellow is so powerful. Looks like I have underestimated him in the past. If I encounter him next time, I should practice caution. With this display of strength, he can already fight a Human Immortal.

The same thought went through the minds of many of the cultivators there as they observed the battle.

His offensive power is good. Unfortunately, it is all over the place. It is still not quite enough to defeat this puppet. Chen Feng’s eyes stared at the puppet, seemingly wanting to pierce through the barrier to figure something out.

The lance-wielding cultivator unleashed several hundred moves in the span of just one breath. Finally, he paused for a brief moment, his chest heaving up and down. By then, his desire to defeat the puppet in one fell swoop had been shattered.

Kacha! Kacha!

A metallic lustre suddenly emanated out from the humanoid puppet’s arm. Next, its fist blasted forward, striking the battle lance to send the cultivator flying.

Subsequently, the puppet abruptly snapped open its eyes and a wave of tangible ripples spread forward. As a result, the lance-wielding cultivator immediately clutched his head and cried out wretchedly. Then, he fell to the ground. Once again, a spatial ripple came to teleport the cultivator out.

“Sii! It can even utilize soul attacks?” The spectating cultivators grew even more surprised. The humanoid puppet’s near-invincible defence was already a problem for them to begin with. Unexpectedly, it could also utilize soul attacks. How should they fight this puppet? Or were they fated to be eliminated in the end?

The third cultivator was sent into the arena. It did not take long before this cultivator was also defeated and teleported out.

The fourth cultivator... eliminated.

The outside world.

Heavenly Sword Mountain Range…

The Human Immortals there had been getting restless for a few days now. A few days ago, a high number of disciples were teleported out, again and again. Upon questioning, they found out that the disciples were all teleported out while participating in a certain race.

Naturally, not all of them were teleported out. Only a portion of them were teleported out. It would be more accurate to say that it was random.

More and more cultivators were sent out. Amongst the disciples who were sent out, only a small number of them had managed to gain anything. Every one of them had a terribly twisted look on his or her face after getting sent out. They were the geniuses amongst geniuses of their sect, after all. It had not been easy to get a spot for this. And yet, they had ended up with nothing to show for their efforts. It was an unbearably humiliating feeling.

Finally, the Human Immortals from Heartless Heaven Sect proposed once more to have the Human Immortals enter in advance.

In the beginning, they had set a rule which stated that the Sky Human stage disciples would be able to stay inside for one year. Only after that one year had passed would the Human Immortals be allowed to enter. Later, due to the unexpected turn of events, they decided to push it up from one year to half a year.

At present, however, even though only two months had passed, so many disciples had been sent out. It wasn’t just the Human Immortals from Heartless Heaven Sect. Even those from Heavenly Sword Faction were becoming apprehensive.

The two parties quickly discussed the issue before coming to an agreement. They would once again push the schedule forward. In one month, the Human Immortals would enter the Ancient Battlefield of Immortal Humans.

“Sigh! This is embarrassing. I didn’t think that so many things would happen this time around. As I recall, something of this scale had never happened in the past.”

“Yes. Although some disciples did find some Immortal artefact fragments, causing some commotion as a result, it was never to the point of sending them out on its own. Still, pushing the schedule forward is a good thing as well. We can reduce the casualties of our disciples’ side.”

…

Inside the arena, a cultivator finally passed the test. He was the seventh cultivator to enter the arena. He displayed a very profound movement technique to avoid making contact with the humanoid puppet from start to finish. Additionally, he also had a magic treasure, which helped him block the puppet’s soul attacks. Due to that, he was able to face the puppet for one whole hour. It was then that he was announced to have passed, obtaining a Soul Accumulation Pill as a reward.

“That works as well?” All of the cultivators there, even Chen Feng, was shocked at the result. In terms of combat power, this cultivator was below average when compared to all the cultivators present. Unexpectedly, this would happen.

“Ha ha ha! Unexpectedly, the first to pass would be a disciple from our Heartless Heaven Sect!” Sha Qing laughed.

“The cultivator who passed earlier is known as Bai Feng, a disciple of Heartless Heaven Sect. He cultivates the Compliant Movement Technique. His combat power is not that high, even weaker than me. Unexpectedly, he would be able to pass and obtain a Soul Accumulation Pill. Tsk, tsk. Looks like I will need to consider how to deal with the puppet,” Wen Shaoxiu said.

Compliant Movement Technique. It is indeed quite the decent technique. The flow of its movements is smooth and its various changes are seemingly unpredictable. However, when compared against my Longevity Steps, it falls short. Chen Feng thought.

Sou!

Wen Shaoxiu was teleported into the arena. The moment he was sent in, Wen Shaoxiu became dumbfounded. He had been in the midst of considering how he should deal with the puppet. Unexpectedly, his turn would arrive so quickly.

This doesn’t look good. Brother Wen’s strength is indeed good, something of an expert amongst half-step Human Immortals. However, it will still be difficult for him to defeat this puppet, unless he can activate the Immortal artefact fragment on him. Chen Feng frowned.

Boom!

The humanoid puppet kicked the ground furiously to leap up. Next, both its feet shot down to kick Wen Shaoxiu.

It was a simple move. However, it was fast and domineering. Additionally, this puppet possessed a sufficiently high level of intellect. Due to that, its move also sealed up all other paths that Wen Shaoxiu might be able to take, from top to bottom.

“Bring it on!”

A sky-surging sword intent tore its way forth as the Boltflame Armour on Wen Shaoxiu’s body appeared. Lightning flashed and flames reigned about. Appearance wise, it would seem as though Wen Shaoxiu had grown considerably bigger.

Shua!

The Sacred Boltflame Sword flew out and a sword beam, condensed using the power of lightning and fire, erupted to send the puppet flying.

“Good!”

Jian Zhikong and Jian Xiaotian cheered loudly.

The Boltflame Armour and Sacred Boltflame Sword are both grade 4 Sacred artefacts. If he can unleash their full power, he could even defeat the puppet. However, how much of their powers can Brother Wen push out? Chen Feng nodded as he watched the fight. As Wen Shaoxiu possessed both a Sacred artefact for defence and a Sacred artefact for offence, he had a high chance of making it through this stage.

As expected, despite getting blasted away by the move earlier, the puppet was not damaged in any significant manner. Turning around, it charged towards Wen Shaoxiu once more. It kept jabbing out with its fingers and stream after stream of energy blasts roared forward.

“Finger technique!”

Wen Shaoxiu dared not be careless. He displayed his sword techniques to shatter apart the energy blasts. Although he was wearing a body armour, it couldn’t completely block off all attacks.

At any rate, this humanoid puppet’s combat power was already comparable to that of a Human Immortal.

Finger techniques.

Palm techniques.

Fist blasts.

Kicks.

The puppet was practically the perfect combat puppet, capable of displaying various types of attacks. In fact, the various moves it could unleash left all the cultivators in shock. At the same time, they were also shocked to see Wen Shaoxiu’s performance.

Unexpectedly, Wen Shaoxiu’s strength has improved by this much. The madmen from Heavenly Sword Faction are truly not to be underestimated. Killing intent emerged from Sha Qing’s eyes.

Weng!

Finally, the puppet fired out its soul attack. An invisible ripple – seemingly ignoring the laws of space and distance – shot towards Wen Shaoxiu.

“So fast!” Shocked, Wen Shaoxiu mobilized his own soul power to defend himself while quickly backing away. He wanted to put more distance between him and the puppet.

“Urgh!”

Wen Shaoxiu grunted and a look of pain flashed across his face. Clearly, the soul attack had struck him.

Bang!

The puppet rapidly made its way forward to send a heavy punch down against Wen Shaoxiu, smashing him into the ground.

“Hopefully, he can block the attack,” Jian Xiaotian said gravely.

“Ha ha ha ha! He is going to get eliminated!” Tie Yuanhao laughed.

“Not necessarily.” Chen Feng kept his eyes trained upon the arena.

Boom!

A dazzling white light abruptly erupted from Wen Shaoxiu’s body and the invincible humanoid puppet became like a candle thrown into flames. Instantly, it melted.

After the sword light disappeared, the puppet was nowhere to be seen. Not even a scrap of it remained.

Wen Shaoxiu’s face was pale, but he stood up, a broken object in his hand. That sword light earlier had come from that broken object.

“As expected, he managed to trigger the power of the Immortal artefact fragment.” Chen Feng whispered. Due to the dazzling light earlier, everyone there had been incapable of seeing what was happening. Thus, Chen Feng was the only one to notice that the barrier had cracked in the face of the sword light. However, the small cracks quickly disappeared. In fact, it happened in such a way that Chen Feng wondered if he had been hallucinating.

“That earlier, is that an Immortal artefact fragment?” Seeing Wen Shaoxiu getting teleported out, Tie Yuanhao and the others stared blankly. All of them felt envious, incapable of accepting the result.

“This fellow is so lucky. He actually got his hands on an Immortal artefact fragment.”

Sou!

A new humanoid puppet appeared in the arena and another cultivator was teleported inside.

Sha Qing managed to get through the stage, obtaining a Soul Accumulation Pill.

Tie Yuanhao also passed.

Sha Qing had utilized a secret restraining technique from Heartless Heaven Art, causing the puppet’s speed to drop by a notch. With that, he was able to drag the fight out for one hour.

Tie Yuanhao, on the other hand, chose a more forceful method. He relied on his mighty fleshly body to exchange blows with the puppet, duking it out for an entire hour. The fight was so intense that it stirred the hearts of the spectating cultivators.

Sou!

Jian Xiaotian was teleported in.

Chen Feng shook his head. Amongst all the cultivators present, Jian Xiaotian had the weakest combat power. In the beginning, Jian Xiaotian was able to make use of his Absolute Combat Constitution to endure through a few exchanges. In the end, however, he was defeated by the puppet and was teleported out to who knows where.

“As expected, he was eliminated. Hopefully, he was teleported to a good place.” Chen Feng shook his head.

Next up was Jian Zhikong. As Jian Zhikong was even stronger than Wen Shaoxiu, he was able to utilize his Myriad Swords Assembly Technique to endure – with great hardship – for one hour.

Finally, it was Chen Feng’s turn. The moment Chen Feng entered the arena, light sparked out from the eyes of Tie Yuanhao and the others.