The pitch-black ancient coffin slowly opened. As its terrifying aura gradually unfurled, it caused the entire world to sink into utter stillness.
From within the coffin, a torrent of black corpse evil qi, far more terrifying than Hei Ya's earlier display, surged skyward with overwhelming force. It actually managed to push back the vast, sky-and-earth-submerging chaos blood qi, forcing it to retreat slowly.
From within, an exceptionally burly figure stepped out. It stood a full three zhang tall, twice the height of the Wushi Emperor Lord from before. Its entire body was densely covered with countless pitch-black dao patterns, interwoven across its form, appearing extraordinarily sinister and demonic.
It stood beside Hei Ya like a giant.
Similarly, its eyes were like Hei Ya's—devoid of whites, completely black, and unnervingly eerie.
"A puppet?"
Ye Chen watched this burly figure with grave seriousness. The aura emanating from it far surpassed that of Hei Ya.
If the previous Hei Ya had barely reached the level of a late-stage Quasi-Monarch, then this burly figure was a full-fledged late-stage Quasi-Monarch, and not an ordinary one at that.
Its robust physique gave him a sense of immortal divinity akin to chaos immortal gold.
This level of hardness was likely even more indestructible than the six Giant Divine Soldiers he had forged.
"Hehe, you are correct. This is this old man's puppet. To be more precise, it is a puppet body, and also this old man's original true body." Hei Ya let out a sinister chuckle. A powerful surge of soul force shot out from between his brows and, with a boom, plunged into this three-zhang-tall burly figure.
The pitch-black eyes flickered slightly. The true Hei Ya, the Quasi-Monarch, had appeared.
The black dao patterns on its body flashed continuously. The overwhelming corpse evil qi billowed out even more rampantly, sweeping across the heavens.
If not for the Sun Sovereign's intervention, confining it to a specific area, that level of corpse evil qi would surely have surged beyond the domain, turning millions of miles of land into a lifeless wasteland.
Even so, the countless people within the Ancient Desolate Fortress felt a bone-chilling cold, as if the vitality within their bodies was being stripped away.
The Corpse Immortal Clan was one of the top forces in the Chaos Sea specializing in the puppet path, even considered number one to a certain degree.
The Corpse Immortal Clan's progenitor, the Corpse Immortal, was the pinnacle existence in the puppet path, having forged his own body into a puppet—an ultimate puppet unparalleled throughout history.
Legend had it that it was by relying on this ultimate puppet technique that the Corpse Immortal finally shattered the shackles of the Supreme rank and ascended to become a peerless immortal who stood aloof over all realms.
Similarly, many descendants of the Corpse Immortal Clan followed the path of their Immortal Progenitor, forging their own bodies into puppets, hoping to emulate the Corpse Immortal and ultimately transcend.
Hei Ya was one of them.
The withered, pitch-black old man was not his true body at all, but a Quasi-Monarch he had slain long ago and forged into a puppet.
Usually, his soul resided within it, leading others to mistakenly believe it was his true form. His actual true body had been forged into an indestructible, supreme puppet using a forbidden method from the Corpse Immortal Scripture. It was then placed within a coffin made of Nine Corpse Heavenly Yin Wood to nurture, nourished by the qi of the Chaos Primordial Spiritual Wood, making the true body puppet even more powerful. He hoped that one day it could reach the level of the Progenitor Corpse Immortal, achieving complete transcendence and becoming a supreme overlord.
Normally, he appeared in the form of the black-robed elder puppet. But now, facing Ye Chen, he finally revealed this trump card he had kept in reserve—his true body fully emerged.
Boom—
If the aura of the black-robed elder earlier was like a river, then the true body puppet of the burly giant was like a great river, more than twice as powerful.
"The Battle Saint King might be strong, but it's useless. Hei Ya's true body is far more powerful. Back when he first stepped into the Quasi-Monarch realm, this true body puppet made a move once and successfully slew an early-stage Quasi-Monarch supreme expert—that very elder puppet. Now, after years of nurturing its origin, and with a coffin made of Nine Corpse Heavenly Yin Wood, a peerless divine wood comparable to the Heaven-Connecting Divine Wood, nurturing it, it's probably even stronger than some late-stage Quasi-Monarchs."
The other Quasi-Monarchs shook their heads, well aware of the terror of this clan, especially the Corpse Immortal Clan's puppet path, which was exceptionally fearsome.
Hei Ya, possessing another puppet, was even more terrifying than an ordinary Quasi-Monarch.
Not only could he manifest a supreme dao body, but he also possessed a permanently existing puppet, equivalent to gaining an additional terrifying puppet with combat power at the same level—extremely difficult to deal with.
Even other Emperor Clans and Immortal Clans were reluctant to provoke experts of the Corpse Immortal Clan lightly.
The fearsome burly puppet stood firm in the sky, its body roiling with overwhelming black corpse evil qi, like rolling dark clouds billowing forth, annihilating the firmament. It stood opposite Ye Chen, who radiated boundless chaos blood qi.
One side was ultimate Yin, the other ultimate Yang.
Yin and Yang stood opposed!
Ye Chen's expression returned to calm. What scene had he not witnessed before? He had confronted, even clashed with, true Ancient Great Emperors, let alone a mere Quasi-Monarch puppet.
"Since it's a puppet, then I shall also use puppets to face you."
With a wave of his hand, six burly figures flew out from behind him—they were precisely the Six Giant Divine Soldiers. "Allow me to personally experience the true might of the Corpse Immortal Clan's Quasi-Monarch puppet."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under the control of his mind, the Six Giant Divine Soldiers descended like heavenly gods, forcefully charging towards Hei Ya's true body Quasi-Monarch puppet.
Fierce gales tore through the firmament. The puppet bodies, tempered a thousand times over by the tenth Divine King Tribulation, were exceptionally powerful. Even other early or mid-stage Quasi-Monarch supreme experts would be torn apart and shattered to pieces before the Six Giant Divine Soldiers.
"Petty tricks. Daring to manipulate puppets before my Corpse Immortal Clan is truly like showing off one's skill with an axe before Lu Ban the master carpenter."
Hei Ya sneered. The burly true body puppet suddenly moved, shooting out with a whoosh to engage in battle.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
An intense battle erupted, and this was a peak-level clash at the Quasi-Monarch tier.
Hei Ya fought one against six. Once the burly true body appeared, its imposing might was far beyond imagination, possessing the true, peerless divine power of a late-stage Quasi-Monarch. It directly collided with the Six Giant Divine Soldiers.
It was like the clashing of chaos immortal gold. The clanging sounds were incessant, accompanied by flashes of light exploding repeatedly—utterly terrifying.
This stretch of heaven and earth shattered repeatedly.
It was only because of the Sun Sovereign's intervention, limiting the battle area to within a thousand-mile radius, that the fierce collisions did not shatter vast expanses of the world.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Once Hei Ya's burly true body puppet made its move, its power increased sharply. With casual gestures, it could annihilate stars, forcefully blasting the Six Giant Divine Soldiers away and smashing them deep into the earth, creating terrifying craters hundreds of thousands of miles across.
Moreover, clear battle scars appeared on the bodies of the Six Giant Divine Soldiers.
One could imagine how powerful Hei Ya's burly true body puppet was; its physical body had also reached a shocking level.
However, the Six Giant Divine Soldiers were also quite extraordinary. Tribulation light flickered around them, and the battle scars on their bodies were slowly repairing—a very special trait.
"Not bad puppets. In terms of physical bodies alone, they are stronger than these Quasi-Monarchs were in life. However, what truly makes a Quasi-Monarch powerful is their comprehension of Monarch Rule power. Only super first-class Quasi-Monarch puppets can truly utilize the Monarch Rules they possessed in life."
Hei Ya sneered. From the burly true body puppet, streams of Monarch Rules flew out—reaching a total of twenty-two! Carrying the heavenly might of a Monarch, a sky-piercing war spear appeared in its hand, thrusting fiercely towards these Giant Divine Soldiers.
The Six Giant Divine Soldiers erupted violently. Shockingly, numerous Monarch Rules flashed brilliantly on their bodies. Joining forces, they met Hei Ya's true body puppet head-on.
Boom—
The collision instantly shattered space-time, causing a terrifying impact.
The Six Giant Divine Soldiers were merely sent flying backward, suffering little damage.
On their bodies, streams of Monarch Rules were clearly shimmering, astonishing everyone.
"Super First-Class Puppets!?"
Hei Ya was shocked.
Ye Chen said indifferently, "Correct. Using the power of the heavenly tribulation, I tempered them all into Super First-Class Puppets."
The observing powerhouses, even Chi Xue Emperor Lord and the Sun Sovereign, revealed a trace of surprise.
They all understood the particularities of the puppet path. Generally, a forged puppet retaining half the power of its life was already quite good.
To forge a first-class puppet or higher required mastery of extraordinary puppet path techniques.
As for Super First-Class Puppets, within the entire Chaos Sea, probably only forces like the Corpse Immortal Clan, who had cultivated the puppet path to its peak, could forge them.
Moreover, even within the Corpse Immortal Clan, those capable of forging Super First-Class Puppets were absolutely few and far between; there couldn't be many.
It involved far too many complexities; merely possessing a super first-class puppet forging method was not enough.
One could say that forging six Quasi-Monarchs into Super First-Class Puppets—though they only possessed power comparable to their life—was actually even stronger. This was because during the forging process, countless rare metals and divine materials were often added and completely fused into the puppet's body, making its physical form significantly more powerful than in life.
Precisely because of this, they marveled at the Battle Saint King's heaven-defying talent, capable of evolving six Quasi-Monarch puppets to the super first-class level.
Hei Ya's expression turned quite ugly. He hadn't expected the Battle Saint King to be so extraordinary, actually forging six super first-class Quasi-Monarch puppets in one go—even more terrifying than him, a bona fide Quasi-Monarch of the Corpse Immortal Clan.
Moreover, with the Six Giant Divine Soldiers able to utilize Monarch Rules, dealing with them would be many times more difficult.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Under Ye Chen's mental control, the Six Giant Divine Soldiers launched another thunderous assault, charging towards Hei Ya's true body puppet, engaging in a fearsome collision.
The battle quickly fell into a stalemate.
Between them, it was actually evenly matched.
Soon, over a thousand exchanges passed, yet there was still no clear victor. Both sides had sustained some damage.
But both Hei Ya and the Six Giant Divine Soldiers were extraordinary; the wounds on their bodies were visibly recovering at a slow pace.
Finally, Ye Chen spoke. "Is this your strength? I'll finish you off immediately!"
Boom—
He flashed into the midst of the battle like a peerless war god descending. A massive foot stomped down directly, crushing Hei Ya deep into the earth.
The world fell into utter silence!