Published: September 8, 2025
Chapter 733: Exposure
"Impossible. Where is the command token? I clearly saw it being put into the storage pouch," the man whispered after a moment.
Then, unwilling to accept the situation, he overturned the storage pouch onto the ground.
A burst of white mist sprayed out from the pouch’s opening, revealing a pile of low-quality magical artifacts and a scant number of low-grade spirit stones scattered on the ground.
Seeing the items clearly, the man’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. A green light suddenly erupted from his body, and without a word, he transformed into a streak of dazzling light, flying toward the palace gates in escape.
A long sigh echoed from within the palace. Suddenly, silver light flickered along the four walls. Layer upon layer of silver light veils emerged like waves, forming a massive light shield that enveloped the man inside.
The man snorted coldly. His light speed showed no sign of stopping. Instead, with one hand he slapped a pouch on his waist. A pitch-black pangolin-like spiritual beast suddenly burst out, charging headfirst at the shield ahead.
With a muffled "bang," the silver shield did not even tremble, rebounding the spiritual beast effortlessly.
Seeing this, the man's heart sank, but he gritted his teeth and spat out a blue flying fork. Instantly, the magical artifact merged with his light speed, forming a thick blue rainbow that struck the shield fiercely.
Another rumbling "boom" sounded. The blue light was ruthlessly reflected several yards away. After circling, it nearly fell to the ground.
"Brother Gu, no need to trouble yourself further. This palace is actually the core of the entire Huanglong Mountain grand formation and the place with the most powerful sealed restrictions. Once you have fallen inside, don't even think about coming out," a calm voice spoke from within the palace. It was extremely familiar—just like that burly man with the bald brow.
"So you really didn’t die. The corpse just now was a flesh puppet, wasn't it? I had long heard that the Nine Nations Alliance has a mysterious cultivator skilled at forging flesh puppets identical to the original person, making it impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood. I never thought this was true," Gu Shuangpu said from inside the blue shield, his light dimming. His figure appeared clearly—it was indeed Gu Shuangpu from the Imperial Spirit Sect.
But now his face was pale, and his eyes dark, though he still barely maintained his composure.
"Brother Gu, you really know a lot about our Nine Nations Alliance affairs. Even the matter of substitute puppets is not unknown to you. Correct. The one you just killed was indeed a substitute puppet I was controlling. Even a nascent soul cultivator like you couldn't tell the difference. It shows that from appearances alone, it can truly deceive," Gu Shuangpu said with a somber expression.
Outside the palace, white light flickered, and the figure of the burly bald-browed man appeared. He looked at Gu Shuangpu inside the light shield and then at the pile of bloodied puppet remains on the ground, speaking coldly:
"Hmph! What use is a similar appearance! If not for fearing you might suspect, I wouldn’t have hesitated to use my spiritual awareness to scan your puppet carefully. A hollow shell like that could hardly deceive me. Moreover, I should have guessed earlier—after all, the twin-tailed jade serpent, cultivated by me for hundreds of years, is indeed lethally poisonous. But it’s impossible for it to easily kill a nascent soul cultivator. I originally planned to use the serpent only to severely injure you. But after one strike, I mistakenly underestimated the serpent’s poison. It seems I was a bit arrogant," Gu Shuangpu said, his face dark with regret.
"Hehe! I, burly man surnamed Lu, only had this puppet made on a whim. Of course, I never really thought such a dead thing could compare to an external manifestation. But just with such a puppet, to draw out a traitor like Brother Gu colluding with the Mulan people—it’s not a waste of so many spirit stones," the burly man laughed instead of getting angry.