213: Surrounded by two puppets, life hangs by a thread

The icy chill of the Northern Territory had not yet left Xiao Chen's bones, and before he could even catch his breath, two terrifying Emperor Puppets, no less powerful than the Xuanbing Emperor Puppet, descended like two sharp swords tearing through the sky, one from the south and one from the east, launching a fierce pincer attack!

"Boom—!!!"

In the southern sky, a vast phantom of an ancient forest of life appeared out of thin air! Within the phantom, a wooden Emperor Puppet, eight hundred zhang tall, stepped through the void! Its entire body was interwoven with countless withered yet incredibly tough ancient demonic vines and mottled bark. A emeraldgreen rune on its forehead flickered with a strange vitality and death qi! The aura it emitted was as vast as a boundless forest, yet it carried a heart-palpitating sense of decay and decline! This was the guardian of the Seventh ancient pagoda—the Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet! Its strength had also reached the peak of Sixth Revolution Dou Saint!

"Whoosh la la—!!!"

In the eastern sea, ten thousand zhang waves surged into the sky! A skeletal sea race Emperor Puppet, clad in tattered bronze armor, roared as it rode a ten thousand zhang water dragon condensed from Weak Water! The tip of its rusty trident, however, exuded an unparalleled sharpness that could tear apart the sea! A heavy, vast Emperor's might, carrying the extreme pressure of the deep sea, enveloped the heavens and earth! This was the guardian of the Eighth ancient pagoda—the Vast Sea Emperor Puppet! Its strength was also at the peak of Sixth Revolution Dou Saint!

These two Emperor Puppets, under the control of Pavilion Master Tianji, had abandoned their respective ancient pagodas, crossing tens of thousands of miles to jointly besiege and kill Xiao Chen!

"Finally... they've arrived?" Xiao Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes as cold as iron. Continuously battling two Emperor Puppets, especially using the 'Primordial Chaos Judgment, Chaos Opening' technique at the end, had severely depleted him! At this moment, his Saint Force and Soul Force were less than sixty percent of their peak! Facing the combined assault of two fully intact peak Emperor Puppets, the situation instantly became extremely perilous!

"Roar—!!!"

"Om—!!!"

The Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet and the Vast Sea Emperor Puppet wasted no words! They seemed to have received a kill order! Their first move was a world-shattering combined attack!

The Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet plunged its arms into the void! Countless thick demonic vines, like living creatures, furiously drilled out from the space in all directions! These demonic vines not only contained terrifying binding power and the ability to devour life force, but also a twisted, chaotic wood-elemental law! It was as if they wanted to transform this entire world into an eternal cage of withered wood!

"Emperor Art... Myriad Realms... Prosperity and Decay... Prison!"

Meanwhile, the Vast Sea Emperor Puppet raised its trident high! All the water vapor in the Northern Territory seemed to be drawn by it, transforming into a torrential flood of Weak Water! Within the flood, there was extreme water poison capable of annihilating souls and corroding all things, along with the immense pressure of the deep sea! It was as if a miniature sea of death descended from the sky!

"Emperor Art... Weak Water... Yellow Springs... Burial!"

One wood, one water, the attacks of the two Emperor Puppets were completely different in attribute, yet they perfectly complemented each other! The withered wood cage sealed space, restricting evasion! The Weak Water Yellow Springs focused on killing, annihilating everything! This was clearly a meticulously designed ultimate killing formation!

"Chaos Sacred Realm... extreme... contraction! Hold fast... to the origin!" Xiao Chen's pupils constricted. He unhesitatingly compressed his five hundred zhang Chaos Sacred Realm to only one hundred zhang! The world barrier solidified to the extreme! It was like a giant gray egg, firmly protecting him at its center!

"Boom boom boom boom boom—!!!"

The next moment, endless demonic vines and the flood of Weak Water fiercely slammed against the barrier of the Chaos Sacred Realm!

An indescribable roar erupted! The entire sky of the Northern Territory violently vibrated! The barrier of the Chaos Sacred Realm, as if being frantically hammered by billions of giant hammers, violently twisted and fluctuated! It was instantly covered with dense cracks!

"Pfft—!" Xiao Chen was struck hard, violently spitting out a large mouthful of golden blood! His face instantly turned ashen! He could feel that the Chaos Sacred Realm was enduring unimaginable pressure! The Prosperity and Decay Law and the Weak Water poison were frantically eroding and penetrating the world barrier! At this rate, it probably wouldn't last much longer!

"I can't... sit still and wait for death!" A fierce glint flashed in Xiao Chen's eyes! He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue, forcefully burning a portion of his life origin! A even more powerful force surged into the Chaos Sacred Realm!

"Chaos... Return to Nothingness... Great Millstone! Turn for me!"

"Om—!!!"

The Chaos Sacred Realm, compressed to one hundred zhang, suddenly began to rotate at high speed! The Chaos Qi within the realm transformed into a gigantic phantom of a millstone! As the millstone turned, it exuded an unparalleled might that could crush all things and return them to chaos! The demonic vines and Weak Water that had entangled it were immediately forcefully drawn into the millstone, making "hissing" sounds as they were gradually ground down and decomposed!

"It's working!" Xiao Chen's spirits lifted! But his face became even uglier! Because burning his life origin was overdrawing his potential! Moreover, the enemy's attacks seemed endless! The speed at which the millstone ground them down was far from keeping up with the speed of the enemy's attacks!

"I must... break this stalemate! Otherwise... I will surely die!" Xiao Chen's brain spun frantically! His gaze was fixed on the two Emperor Puppets outside!

"I've got it!" A determined light suddenly flashed in his eyes!

"I'll risk it!"

Xiao Chen actually voluntarily dispersed some of the Chaos Sacred Realm's defenses! He concentrated most of his power on his right fist!

"Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet... your Prosperity and Decay Law... though strange... its core... lies in... that origin rune... woven with life and death!"

"Vast Sea Emperor Puppet... your Weak Water poison... though overbearing... its foundation... lies in... that trident... that controls all waters!"

"As long as... I destroy... these two things... you... will be nothing more than... two... relatively hard... bones!"

"Chaos... Origin Sacrifice... World-Breaking... Twin Dragons... Kill!"

Xiao Chen roared! He poured all his remaining Saint Force, Soul Force, and even a portion of the origin qi seed's essence into this single strike!

"Roar! Roar!"

Two gray divine dragons, formed entirely from Chaos Qi and Origin Qi, roared out from Xiao Chen's fist! One dragon contained the unparalleled sharpness of world-creation! It shot straight for the emeraldgreen rune on the Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet's forehead! The other dragon contained the meaning of nirvana that returned all things to nothingness! It aimed directly for the trident in the Vast Sea Emperor Puppet's hand!

"Om! Om!"

The two Emperor Puppets seemed to sense the fatal threat! They simultaneously let out angry roars! The Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet's forehead rune burst forth with dazzling green light! Countless demonic vines rushed back to defend! The Vast Sea Emperor Puppet held its trident horizontally in front of its body, drawing upon ten thousand zhang of Weak Water to form layers of defense!

"Boom—!!!"

"Boom—!!!"

Two earth-shattering explosions, almost simultaneous, shook the entire Northern Territory! The destructive energy storm leveled icebergs within a thousand-mile radius!

"Crack... Pfft..."

The rune on the Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet's forehead shattered with a bang under the impact of the Chaos Divine Dragon containing the sharpness of creation! Its massive body trembled violently, and its aura instantly plummeted! Countless demonic vines withered and broke!

"Clang—!!!"

The trident in the Vast Sea Emperor Puppet's hand was fiercely struck by the divine dragon containing the meaning of return to nothingness! Rust peeled off the shaft, revealing shocking cracks beneath! The Weak Water around its body also became chaotic!

"Now is... the time!" Xiao Chen, enduring the weakness that almost made him faint, burst forth with his last surge of vital energy! His figure, like a ghost, vanished from his original spot!

"Chaos... Instant Kill... Finger!"

"Pfft! Pfft!"

Two subtle finger winds, as if traversing space, precisely struck the weak points revealed by the two Emperor Puppets due to their damaged origins!

"Roar..." "Wuwu..."

The Myriad Wood Emperor Puppet and the Vast Sea Emperor Puppet simultaneously let out their final, unwilling wails of sorrow... Their massive bodies exploded with a bang! Turning into fragments scattered across the sky!

The guardians of the Seventh and Eighth ancient pagodas... the twin Emperor Puppets... had fallen!

"Thud..." Xiao Chen also fell from the sky, kneeling on one knee, gasping for breath! Blood continuously oozed from his mouth! He was almost at the end of his rope!

"Is it finally... over?" He looked up towards the direction of the last, and most mysterious, Ninth ancient pagoda, his eyes filled with exhaustion and solemnity.

However, at this very moment—

"Hehehe... what a... wonderful performance..." A cold and familiar voice suddenly echoed in Xiao Chen's ear!

The figure of Pavilion Master Tianji slowly stepped out from the void! This time... it was no longer a projection! But his true body... had personally arrived! A terrifying Emperor's might, far surpassing that of the Emperor Puppets, mixed with suffocating power of destiny, enveloped the entire world!

"Unfortunately... the game... should... end now."