Seeing the state of the Blue Corpse Puppet, Lin Xiao couldn’t help but be startled. At this moment, the puppet was enveloped in rolling yin energy, filling the entire room and even seeping outwards.
The exposed skin of the Blue Corpse Puppet had darkened to an extreme degree, almost reaching its limit. The faint aura it emitted had reached the equivalent of an eighth-level Martial Monarch.
To be precise, the Blue Corpse Puppet had now attained the eighth-level Martial Monarch realm.
“With the strength equivalent to a fifth-level Martial Monarch, it could fight an eighth-level Martial Monarch. Now, with the strength of an eighth-level Martial Monarch, doesn’t that mean the Blue Corpse Puppet can fully contend with a Half-Step Martial Emperor?” Lin Xiao said, utterly shocked.
Based on the Blue Corpse Puppet’s combat power, at the fifth-level Martial Monarch strength, it could battle an eighth-level Martial Monarch. At the sixth level, it could fight a ninth-level Martial Monarch, and at the seventh level, it could easily surpass ordinary ninth-level Martial Monarch powerhouses, comparable to experts like Zi Jinchen and Jin Wuhuan, who were very close to Half-Step Martial Emperor status.
Thus, a seventh-level Martial Monarch Blue Corpse Puppet could undoubtedly take on a Half-Step Martial Emperor.
In other words, Lin Xiao now essentially had a Half-Step Martial Emperor as a bodyguard.
“It seems the potency of that Icy Octagon was truly extraordinary!” Lin Xiao couldn’t help but exclaim.
A look of joy spread across his face. “With the Blue Corpse Puppet at Half-Step Martial Emperor strength, I won’t have to sneak around and hide from the powerhouses of the three major families anymore.”
With that, he ordered the Blue Corpse Puppet to restrain all its aura and stored it in his storage ring.
Shaking out his robes, Lin Xiao opened the door, ready to step outside.
However, the moment he opened the door and saw the scene before him, his eyes widened, and he was utterly startled.
Outside his room stood a full twenty people.
Apart from Mei Tianmo, Xiao Mao, Ling Hu, and Zi Ling, there were Zi Huang, Zi Gong, Zi Jinchen, Zi Mo, and other high-ranking members of the Zi family.
These Zi family elders were all ninth-level Martial Monarchs.
And they weren’t standing on the ground; they were all aboard Sky Boats.
One boat held nine people, another ten, with only Zi Ling standing on the ground.
“Lin Xiao, you’re finally out! If you hadn’t come out soon, we were about to head to the Jin family,” Ling Hu said first, his face brimming with impatience.
“I…” Lin Xiao’s heart jolted.
Aside from Xiao Mao and Mei Tianmo, the Zi family had mobilised two Sky Boats, with Zi Huang, the Great Elder with Half-Step Martial Emperor strength, and fourteen ninth-level Martial Monarch powerhouses. Such a terrifying lineup to disrupt the Jin family’s Sky-Stealing Furnace—was this a declaration of war against the Jin family?
“With fifth-level Martial Monarch strength equivalent to an eighth-level Martial Monarch, and now having reached eighth-level Martial Monarch strength, your Blue Corpse Puppet should also have Half-Step Martial Emperor combat power, right?” Zi Huang asked calmly.
“You all know… My Blue Corpse Puppet does indeed have Half-Step Martial Emperor combat power,” Lin Xiao replied honestly.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Mao, aboard the Sky Boat, grinned. “Hehe, Sister Mei and I have also reached eighth-level Martial Monarch strength, with Half-Step Martial Emperor combat power.”
“Both of you broke through to eighth-level Martial Monarch?” Lin Xiao was stunned.
Xiao Mao and Mei Tianmo had gone to assassinate Zhang Tianze, seizing the Jade Clear Pill but sustaining heavy injuries. Afterwards, Zi Huang, to repay them for giving the Jade Clear Pill to Zi Ling, provided them with healing pills.
Zi Ling had said that if they were lucky, they might break through. But Lin Xiao hadn’t expected both to directly advance two levels.
What kind of pill had Zi Huang given them?
While Lin Xiao was shocked, Zi Gong and the other elders were equally shaken. Their shock wasn’t over Xiao Mao and Mei Tianmo but over Lin Xiao’s confirmation that his Blue Corpse Puppet had Half-Step Martial Emperor combat power.
Half-Step Martial Emperor—aside from Zi Huang, who had once reached that level, only Zi Gong in the entire Zi family had achieved it, and both were nearly two hundred years old, having cultivated for over a century.
Yet Lin Xiao, with a casually acquired corpse puppet, had gained Half-Step Martial Emperor strength.
In other words, aside from Zi Gong, none of these ninth-level Martial Monarchs could handle Lin Xiao alone. They might even fall to his Blue Corpse Puppet.
Simply put, they were no match for him.
After cultivating so arduously for so long, they couldn’t compare to a single corpse puppet.
And to think, Lin Xiao, not even twenty, had acquired a Half-Step Martial Emperor bodyguard. How had they never had such luck in all their years?
Of course, Mei Tianmo and Xiao Mao’s strength also shocked them, as these two spirit beasts were also Lin Xiao’s allies.
With this, when Lin Xiao went out, wouldn’t he be accompanied by three Half-Step Martial Emperors? Who would dare provoke him?
Even the Zi family couldn’t offer such treatment to anyone!
Still, knowing that three Half-Step Martial Emperor powerhouses were now acting as muscle for the Zi family, the group felt reassured and even looked forward to it.
“Ling Hu, you broke through too? And by two levels?” Lin Xiao noticed the aura on Ling Hu and asked in surprise.
Ling Hu nodded.
“Breaking through two levels at once… Zi Huang, what kind of pill did you give them?” Lin Xiao couldn’t help but ask curiously.
“Martial Emperor Essence Blood,” Ling Hu and Xiao Mao answered simultaneously, with Mei Tianmo nodding as well.
“What? Martial Emperor Essence Blood?” Lin Xiao nearly jumped in shock.
Xiao Mao, Mei Tianmo, and Ling Hu had all broken through by refining Martial Emperor Essence Blood?
Zi Huang was so generous as to give three portions of Martial Emperor Essence Blood to them?
When Lin Xiao had mentioned wanting Martial Emperor Essence Blood, Zi Huang had grimaced, and when Ling Hu had asked, he’d outright refused. So how had he given Ling Hu Martial Emperor Essence Blood?
Was that black jade bottle Ling Hu had received filled with Martial Emperor Essence Blood?
And a month ago, had he given Xiao Mao and Mei Tianmo Martial Emperor Essence Blood as well?
If it was Martial Emperor Essence Blood, their two-level breakthroughs made sense.
The first time Lin Xiao refined Martial Emperor Essence Blood, he had directly broken through a major realm, even elevating his phenomenon grade.
Xiao Mao, Mei Tianmo, and Ling Hu, all exceptionally talented, advancing two levels by refining Martial Emperor Essence Blood was quite normal.
Still, Lin Xiao felt a pang of regret that Zi Huang hadn’t directly given him any Martial Emperor Essence Blood…
Hearing Xiao Mao and Ling Hu blurt it out, Zi Huang’s face twitched. Even if they were close to Lin Xiao, did they have to be so blunt?
This was his essence blood, and they’d said it in front of so many elders.
Fortunately, only top-tier elders were present; otherwise, the Zi family would have had complaints.
Martial Emperor Essence Blood was something even the Zi family had little of, and giving it to three outsiders at once? The younger generation of the Zi family would surely be upset.
Zi Gong and the other elders also showed pained expressions. Martial Emperor Essence Blood was likely the most precious thing in the entire Zi family.
Though they’d suspected it, hearing Ling Hu and the others confirm it still caused a pang of heartache.
Having three Half-Step Martial Emperors as muscle came at no small cost.
Zi Huang coughed awkwardly twice and said, “Alright, the critical time for the Sky-Stealing Vein Refining is approaching. Let’s hurry to the Jin family.”
Lin Xiao nodded and leapt onto the Sky Boat.
Both Sky Boats were fully loaded. Lin Xiao, Xiao Mao, Mei Tianmo, Ling Hu, Zi Huang, and five other ninth-level Martial Monarch elders were on one boat.
The other was led by the Zi family’s Great Elder, Zi Gong.
“Lin Xiao, be careful!” Zi Ling called out before they departed.
Lin Xiao nodded and waved to Zi Ling. Then, the two Sky Boats activated. A ripple spread out, the void seemed to tremble, and with a “whoosh,” the Sky Boats turned into beams of light, soaring into the sky and speeding towards the horizon.
