Under normal circumstances, Song Shuhang’s secret appraisal technique would only activate after he had touched the target with his hand. But sometimes, it would also trigger on its own. It was still unknown how or why it triggered.

Now, after the missiles of the heavenly tribulation had blown up the virtuous lamia to pieces, the secret appraisal technique finally activated.

Song Shuhang felt as though the time in the surrounding area had slowed down. Whether it was the explosion of the missiles of the heavenly tribulation or Senior Seven Lives Talisman and the others, their movements all slowed down.

The golden runes that had come out of his eyes touched the missile, and then returned to his eyes.

At the same time, a deep wound appeared on his back, so deep that even his bones were visible. Blood spurted out like there was no tomorrow, and the intensity of the pain he felt was increased tenfold.

Song Shuhang gritted his teeth and endured the sharp pain. The information related to the heavenly tribulation was transmitted to his mind.

The information was short and concise.

[The appraisal of the heavenly tribulation is unavailable.]

F*ck you!

Luckily, the information didn’t end there.

[A missile made of tribulation lightning, a product of the mutated group-version heavenly tribulation. It has—at the very least—the strength of the Seventh Stage, and possesses both the power of a missile and that of the heavenly tribulation. It’s suggested to team up with an Eighth Stage Profound Sage to transcend this type of tribulation.]

It’s suggested to team up with an Eighth Stage Profound Sage to transcend this tribulation? What Eighth Stage Profound Sage?! Where am I even supposed to find an Eighth Stage Profound Sage?

Actually, Senior White Two had that kind of power, but Shuhang had no idea where he was at the moment. Moreover, Senior White Two was originally from the Netherworld Realm, and the heavenly tribulation had the power to restrain him. If he really barged into Song Shuhang’s tribulation, there was a chance that the heavenly tribulation might become even stronger.

“Isn’t there any other method to deal with it? Appraise some method to deal with this mutated heavenly tribulation! It doesn’t matter what kind of price I have to pay, give me this information!” Song Shuhang gritted his teeth and recalled those 88,888 voices, further stimulating the secret appraisal technique.

The wound on his back became even deeper, and the pain increased severalfold.

In the next moment, a method to deal with the mutated heavenly tribulation really resurfaced in his mind.

[First Method: Use the ‘life talisman’, which can grant the user a 20% probability of surviving.]

If there was a 20% probability of surviving, did it mean that there was an 80% probability of dying? The probability of dying was too high! Using this method equated to leaving his life in the hands of fate. Song Shuhang didn’t want to use this method unless he was truly cornered.

[Second Method: Upgrade your light of virtue.]

Upgrade your sister! Whom can I look for at this time to upgrade my light of virtue?

His light of virtue had already materialized—turning into the virtuous lamia—and had basically reached the max level. If he wanted to upgrade his light of virtue further, he would need the corpse of a Ninth Stage Tribulation Transcender to suddenly fly over, with the other party being willing to let him ferry their soul… However, the chances of this happening were even lower than all the missiles of the heavenly tribulation to suddenly become duds.

[Third Method: Open your size-reducing purse and—buzz…]

The appraisal ended here.

The size-reducing purse?

What kind of treasure is there in my size-reducing purse? Lady Onion and the enlightenment stone?

Does it want me to throw out Lady Onion?

Ahem… Speaking of which, Lady Onion was rather pitiful. She had been forced to experience Song Shuhang’s tribulation two times in a row.

If the heavenly tribulation hadn’t come this suddenly, Song Shuhang was planning to move her to his Inner World before transcending his tribulation of the Fourth Stage so that she wouldn’t have to suffer with him.

❄️❄️❄️

Song Shuhang immediately stretched out his hand into his size-reducing purse, starting to rummage through it. Afterward, he discovered that his movements had also slowed down a lot. When he activated the ‘secret appraisal technique’ just now, he had concentrated his mental energy to the limit and also activated the innate skill of his Eye Aperture, Expert Sight, to reach the bullet time effect.

Song Shuhang opened his size-reducing purse with much difficulty, only to discover that Lady Onion inside had already passed out.

If he were to throw her out, she would definitely turn into onion ash under the power of the heavenly tribulation.

As such, what was the thing that could help him?

The golden chain from the Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Sect? No, that shouldn’t be it.

The seed of the Seven Colors Wonder Fruit? No, that thing also couldn’t save his life and protect him as he was transcending the heavenly tribulation.

The silver dragon puppet? This thing could only be used to escape, but he was surrounded by the lightning of tribulation from all sides at this time. There was nowhere to escape.

The Spirit Beast Seal? This gadget was just a supplementary magical treasure that could help him subdue spirit beasts.

Wait a moment… was it talking about this?

Song Shuhang was looking at something he had obtained in the forbidden area last time—that ancestral puppet, the Half Spider Puppet King.

Shuhang had once appraised this gadget, and the result had been:

[Half Spider Puppet King, one of the ancestral puppets of the Jet-Black Sect that Immortal ??? personally manufactured. When in perfect condition, its strength was comparable to the peak of the Eighth Stage, but now, 89% of its body is damaged, and there is no point in repairing it. The technology the core of the puppet uses makes it act as a ‘pseudo-eternal furnace’. The energy core was preserved in good condition, and it can be extracted and utilized.]

Since the information related to the Immortal of the Jet-Black Sect was censored, it meant that they were still alive.

Anyway, although the Half Spider Puppet King had been greatly damaged, its core was a sort of ‘pseudo-eternal furnace’. The energetic core was still intact, and it could be extracted and used.

The core of a puppet at the peak of the Eighth Stage that could be extracted and utilized… He should be able to make use of it as long as it was loaded it into a new puppet!

Song Shuhang gave his silver dragon puppet another glance.

Unfortunately, the silver dragon puppet wasn’t a battle-type puppet, and its rank was too low. After all, it was a flying puppet that only cultivators below the Fourth Stage would use. Even if he were to stuff the core of the Half Spider Puppet King inside, how much power could it possibly display?

Then, Song Shuhang remembered that he had another puppet with him.

Back at the Chu Family, during the battle on the Grievance Settling Platform, Shuhang had found a puppet in the immortal cave of that puppetized fellow, ‘Mister’.

In the past, Song Shuhang had appraised that puppet.

The result of the appraisal had been:

[A tailor-made high-quality puppet manufactured for one of the VIP clients of the ancient Jet-Black Sect. It has many wondrous uses and needs 50,000 spirit stones of the Eighth Stage to be activated.]

It was a puppet that would only start moving after it had been fed with 50,000 spirit stones of the Eighth Stage. In other words, its strength should also be that of the Eighth Stage or above, right?

If he could extract the core of the Half Spider Puppet King and put it into this other puppet, would he obtain a puppet of the Eighth Stage rank?

If they could rely on the strength of this puppet of the Eighth Stage, there was a chance they might be able to transcend this mutated heavenly tribulation!

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was hope!

However, there was a problem. The pseudo-eternal furnace core was still in the body of the Half Spider Puppet King, and he would need several complicated steps to extract it and load it into that other ‘high-quality puppet’!

But now, the missiles of the heavenly tribulation had already broken through the defense of the virtuous lamia, creating a hole right beside Song Shuhang and the others. Song Shuhang didn’t even have the time to take out both puppets, let alone performing all those complicated steps!

Just as he was looking for them, a missile of the heavenly tribulation created a hole next to him.

Song Shuhang got to experience the might of the exploding missile from zero distance.

The mighty explosion radiated power capable of destroying the world, and it also had a kind of god-like dignity. The missile of the heavenly tribulation didn’t only aim to destroy the physical body of the cultivator, but to destroy their mind as well.

There really wasn’t any time… Such being the case, would he have to use the life talisman and gamble on that 20% probability of surviving?

Just as he was in deep thought, the Saber Intent Armor on Song Shuhang’s body flashed.

Earlier, the Saber Intent Armor had been attached to the body of the virtuous lamia and had withstood several waves of missiles. Now, it had finally reached its critical point.

Bright saber intent chopped out, cleaving through the explosions.

The strength of this saber intent was only around the Fourth Stage rank, but it was still able to give Song Shuhang the instant he needed.

Song Shuhang seized the opportunity to take out both the Half Spider Puppet King and that other ‘high-quality puppet’, hurling forward the former.

Given the situation, he had no time to extract the pseudo-eternal furnace core, and he could only gamble!

After the Half Spider Puppet King was thrown forward, it kept off in front of Song Shuhang.

The already badly damaged puppet of the peak Eighth Stage crumbled in front of the explosions of the missiles of the heavenly tribulation.

If the Half Spider Puppet King had been in its prime, attacks of this level would have been unable to injure it. But now, 89% of its body had been damaged already, and it started to break right after getting hit by the explosions.

Just like Song Shuhang had predicted, the puppet core in its body flew out.

The crumbling ancestral puppet also bought Song Shuhang some time.

Now was the time to act!

Song Shuhang threw that high-quality puppet toward the pseudo-eternal furnace core.

This high-quality puppet was very strange. When it was in Song Shuhang’s size-reducing purse, it would absorb all the spirit stones it came in contact with.

Therefore, Song Shuhang decided to see if the ‘high-quality puppet’ could absorb the pseudo-eternal furnace core after coming in contact with it, completely activating.

“Boom, boom, boom~”

The missiles of the heavenly tribulation kept flying over and exploding. The tanks that filled the whole sky opened fire once more, and the tank shells and the missiles attacked Song Shuhang from all directions.

Palace Master Seven Lives Talisman placed his hands behind his back, and calmly stood there.

Daoist Priest Horizon sat cross-legged, his face serene.

Eternity gazed toward a distant place, and Immortal Fairy Bie Xue’s figure seemingly appeared before his eyes.

“I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m super dead…” the nameless old man kept muttering.

Song Shuhang tightly clenched his fists, and shouted, “C’mon!”

The high-quality puppet had come in contact with that pseudo-eternal furnace core. When they touched each other, the arms of the high-quality puppet suddenly moved, stretching out and grabbing the pseudo-eternal furnace core, and finally stuffing it into its chest.

Soon after, an incredibly powerful aura resurfaced on the body of the puppet.

The look of the high-quality puppet also started to change.

The body of the puppet was like quicksilver, and it ultimately transformed into a curvaceous woman—its face also changed into that of a woman.

However, the face of the woman was very ugly, just as though it was some kind of evil ghost.

Next, the eyes of the puppet shone, emitting uncanny orange light.

According to Song Shuhang’s secret appraisal technique, the high-quality puppet was a tailor-made puppet that the ancient Jet-Black Sect had manufactured for one of their VIP clients.

If it was a tailor-made puppet… it meant that it already had an owner.

Regardless of its owner being dead or alive, its look and features had been specially set for that VIP client of the ancient Jet-Black Sect.

The hideous puppet moved its eyes, first looking at Song Shuhang, and then at the rumbling tribulation lightning heading toward itself.

The eyes of the puppet flashed, and it issued an awe-inspiring cry.

Exactly what you would expect from a puppet of the Eighth Stage rank, so overbearing!

Song Shuhang felt that there was still hope for him!

But right at this time, the high-quality puppet suddenly held its head and squatted down.

Was it possible that… it wanted to survive by holding its head and squatting down?