Mao Xun's fight against the construct, or golem, had been going for almost five minutes. And with each passing moment after the first clash, it was apparent that the cultivator was slowly losing his chances for the win.

Although his first 'Golden' attacks, which were the same punch and palm skills that Bai Qi had observed before tore through the sound attacks of the golem and pushed the latter back, they had not dealt any true damage to the construct's body. Not that it was strange, considering that it was made from nothing else than Void Stone. A material considered unsuitable for anything except buildings and bladed weapons, as it lacked the flexibility that any armor or moving construct would require.

At the same time, the Void Stone was best known, at least on this plane, for its almost impenetrable defense qualities. Not only it was barely affected by qi or mind power, but it also was far stronger than one could think, with even the natural rocks resisting hits from Warrior Lord without cracking.

And if the 'Golden' set skills were at least somehow effective, after a few exchanges, Mao Xun had moved to a mix of Water and Earth elemental techniques and skills. Water missiles flew, rock spikes appeared from nowhere, and even his punches had the destructive force of an avalanche behind them. But it was apparent that his mastery, or even more probably affinity with them was far lower than with the Metal element. As even a lucky direct attack had not made the golem react in any way.

The golem itself, a construct not bigger than the petite Zhen Zexi herself, and that looked like carved out from a single piece of Void Stone had limited only to sound waves and a few attempts of close combat. Which had been continuously avoided by Mao Xun with absolute ease. Still, any of its attacks would pose a danger to Mao Xun's body if hit, and it was apparent that one would do so at some point.

Still, the most surprising matter for the observing Bai Qi was neither Mao Xun's strangeness nor the golem's material.

But that the construct had been noticeably improving with each passing moment. From easy dodges, now almost each of its attacks forced the Trade Hall cultivator to spend the effort to avoid them. And some directly gave him no option but to counter them with his attacks.

Initially, Bai Qi had attributed it to the craftmanship, suspecting an inbuilt capacity to learn and adapt against the opponent. But he had been wrong, as even the small amount of senses he could use without revealing himself, allowed him to confirm the lack of any soul, be it natural or not, inside the golem. What's more, the golem did not even have any basic command runes or formations.

"It's not a golem, but a combat puppet?" Bai Qi at first doubted his thought, but several confirmations later, he had no choice but to accept it. After he did, and acting on the condition that any combat puppet would be linked to its user, Bai Qi concentrated on the barely discernible aura leaking from the golem. And by doing so, found a reason to truly be surprised.

"Just what grade of consciousness, what level of talent does the girl have?" Indeed, Zhen Zexi had been controlling the golem since the fight started, but she continued to send and receive qi strands from her summoned beasts! Not only that, but she was also controlling her aura, protecting herself from the aftershocks of the fight just a few feet from her!

Multitasking wasn't anything strange for a cultivator, but managing summons and a fighting combat puppet, all at the same moment, was by far not the same as using two weapons or concentrating on two thoughts. One would have to separate the mind into several parts, each of them looking at a different location, and acting on different timings.

For Bai Qi, it was definitively possible, but only thanks to his Saint realm comparable consciousness. Thus, limited or not by the surroundings or plane, the passive effects from it always remained with him and allowed him feats like this one. Ones that were impossible for any normal cultivator, however talented one would be.

But for Zhen Zexi, a supposedly 12-year-old 1st level Sage? How could she do something that would not be normally plausible? Even for Bai Qi, possible only by taking over his current body with the remains of the soul and consciousness of a True Immortal?

"She is definitively not normal!"

___________________________________________________________________

After having been sent against the cave wall, it took only a moment for Mao Xun to understand that it was no aura explosion. In fact, it wasn't even an explosion, but an actual attack. "The path of the Sound? Or it was the voice?" He struggled to remember the correct name, but it was definitively one of the different methods he had heard about.

Before the next question of who was the attacker even surfaced, the person, no the thing had appeared in his field of view. "A golem?" He was surprised, but it didn't stop him from analyzing his opponent closely.

Finding out that he was against a construct with a strength equivalent to a 2nd or 3rd level Sage, he decided to act proactively. Thus, he launched forward with his destructive golden qi covering both of his forearms.

*Boom* *Thump*

One of his punches deviated because of a small sound wave that came from the small, almost as if modeled after Zhen Zexi, golem. But the other did reach its target, landing squarely on the golem's chest.

"Nothing? Again!" Seeing that his attack did not do anything more than force the golem to take a couple of steps backward, Mao Xun roared and assaulted in full force.

***

2 or 3 minutes, that's all it took him to spend most of his remaining metal qi. And all would be okay, if not for the fact that the golem had suffered no damage!

*Boom*

Dodging another sound wave which explosion reached barely a foot from him, Mao Xun was forced to change strategies.

"I doubt that not even some inner damage has occurred, I have to press on. As soon as I find its weak point..." Deciding to keep a small bit of metal qi, just enough for his trump-card, Mao Xun changed to the other attacking methods he knew.

The 'Roaring Waterfall', a small set that consisted of three different skills of the water element.

The 'Crushing Avalanche', a set that mixed physical reinforcement with a pair of slow but destructive techniques.

*Swoosh*

*Boom*

*Crash*

Two dozen breaths, almost twice that amount of techniques.

"Damn it, is that golem indestructible?" Mao Xun inwardly despaired, seeing that none of his attacks made the golem react in the slightest.

And although none of the counter-attacks, which consisted only in the silent, explosive sound waves coming from the slow opening and closing stone mouth and a few attempts of punching, had reached him until now... "I will definitively not be able to hold out enough time to discover the weak point!"

*Swoosh*

*Splatter*

*Crack*

He also sent a few attacks against Zhen Zexi's aura cocoon, but the only of the ones that did get past the golem disappeared as it was never there. "Her protection isn't just for show... Just what the demons is going on?!"

*Swoosh*

*Splatter*

*Crack*

Still, if someone asked Mao Xun what was the worst part about the fight, he would point out just one thing. And that would not be the golem's supposed indestructibility, as he was learned enough to say that something couldn't have any weak points. Neither it would be the invisible, practically impossible to sense sonic attacks. But it would be the fact that the golem appeared to be learning!

Each of its attacks was coming closer, quicker, and sharper.

"Just some time more and I will be unable to dodge!" Mao Xun thought, and albeit he controlled his emotions, he still was on the verge of retreating.

*Smash*

It could be because of his thoughts, or the opponent's ability to read his movements, but Mao Xun failed to notice a sudden punch.

*Crash*

A punch that he could only defend with his aura. And albeit he received only a light scrape, he was again sent flying, crashing against the cave wall's protective formation.

"Damn you! Zhen Zexi, why the heavens you have attacked us and now are using this... thing against me?!" Mao Xun roared, but as before, the girl remained irresponsive.

At this moment, his mind was debating between two options. One was to retreat, get to the lakeshore and then gather all of the Sages to catch the girl. This being a shared event, and one where killing was prohibited, none of them would refuse to help him stop someone who was a danger to everyone. And even if they normally would, the weight of the current Trade Hall was just enormous, easily eclipsing most of the families and clans that the participants came from.

The other option was to attempt to rush around the golem and use his trump card against Zhen Zexi. He did not doubt that the 'Heaven-Parting Rampage', the strongest skill of the 'Golden Giant' set would be enough to destroy her aura cocoon. And by having her as a hostage, the golem should stop.

***

Before he decided, the golem pounced forwards, intending to bring the full brunt of its advantage in both defense and weight into the fight.

"Shit!"

*Crash*

Barely avoiding a punch that would otherwise crack his head, Mao Xun infused both of his arms with qi and threw a heavy double punch while roaring "Last Avalanche!"

*Smash*

And forced the golem a step back, just enough for him to quickly jump to the side. And by breaking his jump into a roll, he managed to open almost twelve feet of distance in the span of a single moment.

Mao Xun saw no other way to act now, he had to escape!

But as he got up, and prepared to make a run for it, he found the golem closing in from the southeast, making any attempts at running impossible.

If he did not find a way to make the golem open path, Mao Xun would be cornered between it and the walls. "Screw it!" He exclaimed with anger as a strange-looking, pure gold armored gauntlet appeared on his summon. The 'Arm of the Golden Giant', both a weapon and the repository of the entire set of skills he used.

He had been the only person from the Mao household to be accepted by this Earth-tier weapon, but his cultivation was yet too low to be able to use it as a weapon. But even though it was unusable until he reached the Earth realm, he could loan part of its power, and with it, achieve the usually impossible feat of using a top-tier Martial Skill, one meant to be used by Warrior Lords!

While gathering all of his remaining metal element qi, and infusing almost half of his current qi pool into the gauntlet, Mao Xun lowered himself into a horse stance. The golem moved forwards, and now it was a question if the 'Heaven-Parting Rampage' would be enough to stop it.

"You fool, your trump card will be used for naught. You are not fighting a golem but a combat puppet, if you do not destroy it entirely, it will follow after you anyway while the controller wills it. Use your damn senses, find the connection, and sever it" A strangely detached, somewhat mechanical voice entered his mind. Mao Xun had no idea from where it had come, or who had sent him this qi transmission. But for some reason, he felt that he could trust this person.

And so, Mao Xun took a bet. One with his life at stake.

"Golden Flash!"

In place of activating 'Heaven-Parting Rampage', he spent half of his metal element qi for his movement skill, breaking away from the golem. He had no option but to move backward, basically cornering himself.

Was his escape strategy actually the one to follow? It would be impossible to know, as he had just cornered himself and used up the qi required for his trump card attack.

Still, if the voice was right, then he should be able to solve it right here. Avoiding both the shame of escaping a, at least in cultivation, weaker opponent and the danger of being followed by the golem.

"Oh, Heavens! Let my senses not fail me!" He silently murmured as all of his senses moved from the five feet tall, made of black stones construct itself and concentrated on the slight aura surrounding it...