The reason Song Shuhang’s ba— scalp went numb was that this attack was aimed at his private parts, and if a man got hurt there, their life would be over.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Great Northern Emperor had just sent him outside the forbidden area. Song Shuhang had yet to return to his senses, and he was totally caught off guard by this attack.

The enemy had seized the opportunity to launch a precise and ruthless attack.

Still, even if Song Shuhang was caught off guard, the virtuous lamia was protecting him 24/7. As such, she immediately made her appearance as the enemy attacked from below. She wrapped her tail around Song Shuhang and threw him away. Then, she raised the blood bone and met the sharp sword of the enemy.

“Clang~”

That sword imbued with spiritual energy the assassin had used was sent flying after the collision with the blood bone as cracks appeared on its surface.

The strength of the blood bone didn’t decrease, and after sending the sharp sword flying, it hit the head of the assailant.

“Aaah~” the assailant cried out in pain, and their whole body was pushed back into the ground.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

The virtuous lamia gently shook the blood bone. The hardness of the bone wasn’t inferior to that of a godly weapon, and whenever the virtuous lamia was holding it, a layer of golden light of virtue visible to the naked eye shone around it.

The golden light of virtue was different from true qi and spiritual energy; it was unable to amplify the offensive power of a magical treasure, and it couldn’t transform into something akin to sword qi, either. Nevertheless, this same golden light of virtue could display unimaginable power when the virtuous lamia was the one making use of it.

Even something like the Face Slapping Flip-flop could take down a puppet of the Fourth or Fifth Stage rank while the lamia used it. The blood bone could likewise display the power of a godly weapon when in the hands of the virtuous lamia.

In the air, Song Shuhang stepped on black lotus flowers and used them to return to the ground.

Ye Si’s head drilled out of Song Shuhang’s shoulder. “Who is that guy? He attacked you as soon as you appeared!”

“Is it that purple-robed cultivator again?” Song Shuhang immediately thought of that puppeteer. That guy had a lot of puppets at his disposal, and he seemed to never die. In addition, only that purple-robed cultivator had a reason to kill him. After all, Shuhang had stolen his valuable ancestral puppet.

Just as they were discussing, the virtuous lamia floated next to the hole, and hung the blood bone at her waist. After that, she stretched out her hand and inserted it into the hole, pulling out the assailant.

“Crack~”

However, the only thing the virtuous lamia was able to pull out was a piece of clothing and something that resembled a broken safety helmet.

Had the assailant managed to escape…? The concealment skills of the opposite party were truly incredible if they had managed to escape this quickly! Not even Ye Si sensed anything beforehand.

“It’s an assassin-type puppet that excels at traveling through the earth,” Ye Si said.

If an assassin-type puppet failed to kill the target in one blow, it would flee immediately. As such, it wasn’t going to be easy to locate the opposite party again.

But right at this time, the virtuous lamia suddenly turned around and threw the Face Slapping Flip-flop at Song Shuhang’s four o’clock.

The Face Slapping Flip-flop whizzed forward and slammed into a small mound of earth.

After the mound of earth was broken to pieces, a puppet with half of its head missing appeared before their eyes. After getting discovered, the puppet shot out of the ground and headed outside the forbidden area.

The virtuous lamia now had another achievement under her belt.

“Still trying to escape?” Ye Si opened her life-bound golden book, aiming at the puppet.

After the golden book opened, deep blue sword qi resurfaced from within. The sword qi transformed into a thunderbolt that quickly headed toward the puppet.

The strength of this deep blue qi definitely surpassed that of the Fifth Stage!

“Swish!”

On the way to the target, the sword qi transformed into a huge ice-blue sword that slashed at the puppet.

However, that puppet with half of its head left had some compound eyes on the back of its head as well.

After seeing the huge ice-blue sword, the puppet dodged it with much difficulty, avoiding getting divided into two halves. However, a portion of its left side was still cut off.

“Aaaah!” the puppet called out in pain. From the looks of it, the puppet shared its sense organs with its master, and all the pain it was feeling was transmitted back to the puppeteer.

After crying out, the puppet suddenly dove into the earth just as though it was water, disappearing without a trace.

“It still hasn’t given up on running,” Ye Si said. “Let’s catch up to it. I’ve already locked down onto its aura, and I won’t let it escape this time.”

❄️❄️❄️

The speed of the puppet was very high, and even after using the ❮Virtuous Man’s Ten Thousand Mile Walk❯, Song Shuhang could barely keep up with it.

Around thirty breaths later.

“Shuhang, be careful.” Ye Si furrowed her brows, and said, “I feel that this puppet is luring us somewhere. There might be an ambush ahead.”

“I thought the same,” Song Shuhang said.

Aside from the attack it launched when it came out of its hiding, this puppet had done nothing but run. In addition, its speed was neither fast nor slow, just enough to keep a certain distance from him.

Had that purple-robed cultivator prepared a large number of puppets outside in an attempt to ambush him?

“How about letting @#%× change into your appearance and have her explore the way?” Ye Si said.

Lately, Ye Si had been living inside Song Shuhang’s body alongside @#%×, and she wasn’t as scared of her as in the beginning.

“Let me give it a try,” Song Shuhang said.

The virtuous lamia had the capacity to assume Song Shuhang’s appearance, and not even the stone giant was able to tell the difference between the two. As long as Song Shuhang didn’t die, she wouldn’t die, either. Therefore, she was particularly suited for reconnaissance.

Thereupon, Song Shuhang issued an order to the virtuous lamia, telling her to assume his appearance.

However, the virtuous lamia tilted her head after receiving the order and looked at Song Shuhang.

From the looks of it, she was unable to understand the meaning of Song Shuhang’s order.

When she switched with Song Shuhang and took his place in the hand of the stone giant, she had acted on her own initiative without receiving any orders.

Song Shuhang sighed inwardly. From the looks of it, he would need more time to understand the virtuous lamia better and use her freely.

“I can’t do it. I’m unable to make her change shape at the moment,” Song Shuhang said.

“In that case, do you still want to keep following that puppet?” Ye Si asked.

Song Shuhang said, “Perhaps for a little. If there is something fishy, we can immediately return to the Inner World.”

That purple-robed cultivator wasn’t a Ninth Stage Tribulation Transcender, and they didn’t have to worry about him interfering with space.

❄️❄️❄️

Just in this fashion, the two sides quickly passed through several layers of the forbidden area’s periphery. Originally, the periphery of the forbidden area was a dangerous area, but after those cultivators rushed through it, most of the hidden mechanisms and hidden dangers had been taken care of.

Other than that, Senior White had also carved a secure path through the periphery of the forbidden area with his God Slaying Cannon earlier.

Very soon, as he kept following the assassin-type puppet, Song Shuhang arrived in the area with the invisible sword insects.

Then, Song Shuhang suddenly stopped.

Earlier, he had Senior White’s protection, and the invisible sword insects didn’t dare to get close to him. But now, ‘Senior White’ had irresponsibly run away. Therefore, he might get chopped to pieces if he were to barge into the home of the invisible sword insects right now.

On the other hand, that assassin-type puppet excelled at using the Earth Crossing Technique.

The invisible sword insects could still sense and attack the puppet as the latter was using the Earth Crossing Technique. Although Shuhang couldn’t see the insects, he could see that several sword marks had appeared on the surface of the ground. It meant that the insects were attacking the puppet.

However, that puppet was quickly advancing thanks to the cover the Earth Crossing Technique provided, and would soon leave this area with the invisible sword insects.

“Shuhang, how do you plan to proceed forward?” Ye Si asked.

“I don’t have the means. I can’t even see what those invisible sword insects look like.” Song Shuhang shrugged his shoulders. Thereafter, he decided to take a break.

He retreated while keeping an eye on the place and kept his distance from the area of the invisible sword insects. Then, he found an even stretch of land and sat there.

He planned to wait for Senior White here. If Senior White didn’t come over tomorrow, he would directly enter the world of the black lotus and ask Senior White Two for help.

“Ye Si, are you hungry?” Song Shuhang asked.

“I’m not. After becoming a ghost spirit, it doesn’t make any difference whether I eat or not,” Ye Si said.

Song Shuhang nodded. In addition, Ye Si had originally been a Fifth Stage Spiritual Emperor, and could already live without eating.

“But since we have nothing to do, I’m fine with eating something,” Ye Si said.

“Ahaha.” Song Shuhang took out a small table, all sorts of snacks, a tea stove, and tea leaves. He also made Little Cai come out of his Inner World, and was preparing to eat and rest a little.

But right at this time, his phone rang.

He was already on the edge of the forbidden area’s periphery. Therefore, his phone could again get a signal.

Just as the signal recovered, someone called him.

Song Shuhang took out his mobile phone and glanced at the screen. It was a call from True Monarch Eternal Fire. “Hello, Senior Eternal Fire.”

“Little friend Tyrannical Saber, I’ve heard that you are already in the Jiangnan area. What is your current position?” True Monarch Eternal Fire asked with a smile.

“Senior, I’m sorry. I’m on a trip right now, and I’m not in the Jiangnan area,” Song Shuhang said.

“Is that so? Alright, in that case, where are you now, little friend Tyrannical Saber? I’ll come to you,” True Monarch Eternal Fire said. “I’ve finished handling the jurisdiction of those eleven immortal caves, and I’ll hand them over to you when we meet.”

“Senior, I’m also not sure when I am right now… In addition, I’m planning to return to the Jiangnan area anyway. Therefore, how about meeting tomorrow if this matter is not too urgent?” Song Shuhang said.

“That’s also fine. In that case, let us meet tomorrow!” True Monarch Eternal Fire said with a smile.

After chatting a little with True Monarch Eternal Fire, Song Shuhang hung up.

Just as he hung up, he received another call.

This time, it was a call from Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman.

“Hello, Senior Seven Lives Talisman. Were you looking for me?” Song Shuhang asked.

“Yes, there was this small matter… Just now, an old senior contacted the ancestor of my sect, and I’ve heard that little friend Song Shuhang gave that ‘bamboo leaf’ to the benefactor of this old senior,” Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman said.

“Senior, you already know about this matter?” Song Shuhang said. This ‘old senior’ Palace Master mentioned… was it someone from the side of the Great Northern Emperor?

“Ahahaha. Little friend Shuhang, you should come look for me when you have some free time. There are a few good things I would like to give you,” Senior Seven Lives Talisman said with a smile.

After concluding the call with Senior Seven Lives Talisman, Song Shuhang received another call.

This time, it was a call from Venerable White…