What was more exciting was that after taking away the source stone, Whitey laughed triumphantly and shoved the thing into its stomach. Obviously, it was showboating, but it was refreshing with no affectation at all. The corner of Bu Fang’s mouth twitched slightly as he nodded approvingly.
A bestial hiss rang out suddenly as the twelve spider legs frantically smashed around, breaking the ground and leaving holes everywhere. Whenever a spear-like leg swept across the air, the void cracked. It was a horrible sight to behold.
After Whitey ate the source stone wrapped in golden threads, the light in its mechanical eyes was constantly changing. Then, it ran toward Bu Fang, dragging its body riddled by the spears.
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch flew into a rage. With the golden source stone seized, her chest became empty. Golden threads could be seen dangling in it, and the wriggling golden lines on her face also disappeared. Boiling with killing intent, she chased madly after Whitey, wanting to take back the golden source stone.
The stone was her secret, and it was also the secret of all Nether Puppeteers. She could not allow it to be taken away from her.
In the distance, Tian Cang, who was trapped by the spider web, felt the power suppressing him break like a shackle. His eyes lit up, and then flames seemed to surge in them. With a ripping sound, he tore the spider web completely, which turned into pieces and scattered on the ground.
Rumble!
A terrible aura exploded out of him. He raised a palm, and a suction force burst from it.
Er Ha was slightly taken aback when he saw the bent Nether King Halberd rise from the ground and flew toward Tian Cang, which was then clutched by the previous Nether King.
“Little Ha, dad will borrow your Nether King Halberd,” Tian Cang said lightly, his voice ringing through the skies.
Er Ha’s eyes lit up when he heard that. He rose to his feet, flipped his hair, and slapped himself on the chest. “Use it at will, dad. I’ve taken good care of it, except I’ve accidentally bent it just now.”
“Bent?” Tian Cang twitched the corner of his mouth, his voice cold and proud. “It doesn’t matter. What is bent can be straightened again…”
After saying that, he clutched the halberd, put his strength into his hands, and gradually straightened the weapon. The halberd, which was straight again, regained its terrible power. With the weapon that had accompanied him when he attacked Nether Prison in hand, Tian Cang’s strength seemed to grow stronger now.
Looking at Nether Puppeteer Patriarch in the distance, Tian Cang narrowed his eyes. The next moment, he sped across the sky, came in front of her, and thrust the halberd. An oppressive whistle rang out, shaking the hearts of those who heard it.
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch sensed the aura. One of her spider legs jerked up and went toward Tian Cang, poking a large hole in the void as it neared. With a rumble, the leg collided with the halberd. Now that the golden source stone was gone, the Patriarch’s aura seemed to weaken considerably, and the impact of the collision pushed her back.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Tian Cang said coldly. Holding the halberd, he effortlessly swept it out and smashed it at Nether Puppeteer Patriarch. Since his puppet body was no longer suppressed, the previous Nether King was fearless. He took his time, hitting the Patriarch one blow after another and forcing her to move back again and again.
In the distance, Whitey had returned to Bu Fang’s side. When the latter saw its miserable appearance, he sucked in a cold breath.
Its body was covered with holes, in which tiny electric arcs twisted and jumped. To ordinary people, each of the wounds was fatal, but they did not seem to bother Whitey.
Its mechanical eyes were flashing as if it was still immersed in the joy of having robbed the source stone.
Bu Fang did not know whether to cry or laugh. He noticed that Whitey seemed to become more and more human. In the past, it was cold and proud, and was called a clothes-stripping fanatic, but now… Well, it was hard to explain all in just a few words. It had just snatched a stone, and yet it looked as happy as a three-hundred-kilogram fatty.
At the same time, Bu Fang had some doubts. A normal puppet might no longer function after being stabbed a few times. It was the same even for the Earth Nether Puppet. That was because these puppets needed puppet hearts to work, and once their puppet hearts were destroyed, they could no longer be controlled.
Whitey didn’t seem to fit the logic as there were at least a hundred holes all over its body. In other words, it had been stabbed at least a hundred times by Nether Puppeteer Patriarch. And yet, it was still alive and kicking.
Then came the question. What exactly was Whitey’s puppet heart? How could it give Whitey such strong vitality?
Bu Fang patted Whitey’s chubby belly.
Whitey’s mechanical eyes flickered. Then, it stood still, and its eyes went dark. It was as if it had settled into the process of digesting the source stone.
Bu Fang knew that the source stone was definitely a good thing. Since it could make Nether Puppeteer Patriarch mad, not to mention that it could be the template of countless puppet hearts, it must have an extraordinary origin.
Moreover, Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s puppets were so advanced in terms of technology that he reckoned it might be related to the source stone.
Bu Fang was very familiar with Whitey’s current state. It should have entered an upgrading state. As for how long the state would last, he did not know. He thought it should take some time, so while waiting for it, he could watch Tian Cang torture Nether Puppeteer Patriarch.
When the previous Nether King was suppressed, Bu Fang had guessed that it must be related to Nether Puppeteer Patriarch. After all, Tian Cang’s body, which was the Heaven Nether Puppet, was made by the Patriarch, and his puppet heart should be from the golden source stone as well. Therefore, it was normal for him to be suppressed.
However, Whitey, who was a god-like teammate, had performed amazingly in a situation that seemed hopeless. It had snatched the golden source stone, allowing Tian Cang to break free of the restriction and regain his fighting strength. On top of that, he became more and more violent. Perhaps it was because he had been suppressed for too long and felt a little humiliated. He was just trapped by a spider web, and yet he could not break free. If it hadn’t been for Whitey’s incredible performance, he really didn’t know what would have happened.
If Bu Fang’s head was blown apart by Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s spider leg, Tian Cang would have to bury his face in the wall of a toilet and weep. He had finally come back to life, and it would be miserable if he were to go back to the Transmigration again.
Therefore, Tian Cang was very angry now, and he even used the Nether King Halberd. He was a lot more violent than Er Ha in using the halberd. Every blow he dealt shattered the void. After all, the Nether King Halberd was the weapon he used to fight his foes, so he could use it as his own arm.
Although the golden source stone was gone and the suppression on Tian Cang had disappeared, Nether Puppeteer Patriarch had not grown weak. She was a little weaker in all aspects, yes, but she was still able to fend off Tian Cang’s attacks.
Moreover, Tian Cang could sense that her mind, which had gone mad, seemed to recover a lot at this moment!
Rumble!
He swept out the halberd and unleashed a scarlet crescent, which struck the Patriarch and knocked her far away. As the halberd struck, a clanging sound rang out, and bright sparks flew. A spider leg broke instantly and fell to the ground with a clean cut. It was extremely heavy. Its weight caused the earth to sink and shift, while the leg itself sank deep into the ground.
The blood in Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s eyes finally faded away. After regaining her wits, the only feeling she had was shock, for she saw Nether King Tian Cang and an expressionless Bu Fang. They were not dead!
She had unleashed the fragment of the God’s Heart. Why had she not killed them yet? She had thought that she would lose herself in the supreme power of the God’s Heart fragment and eventually perish together with these guys, but now… she was awake.
She touched her chest. It was empty inside with only a few withered golden threads hanging there.
‘Where is the God’s Heart fragment?!’ Nether Puppeteer Patriarch froze as if she had just seen a ghost. ‘What happened when I lost myself?”
Suddenly, a rumbling sound rang out as Tian Cang threw a cold gaze at her, accompanied by a powerful blow of the Nether King Halberd.
Eight spider legs stacked together and turned into a shield. However, hit by the halberd, Nether Puppeteer Patriarch immediately flew backward, plowing a deep trench across the ground.
In the sky, Tian Cang looked down at Nether Puppeteer Patriarch, who was swept flying away by his halberd. He felt a little disappointed. After losing that golden source stone, she had become too weak.
“You disappoint me,” Tian Cang said with mixed emotions.
The Heaven Nether Puppet’s body made Tian Cang’s strength extremely strong. He grabbed the Nether King Halberd with one hand, then flung it toward Nether Puppeteer Patriarch. In an instant, the halberd pierced through the air as flames burned ragingly at its tip.
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch was stunned. However, she managed to dodge the attack by moving her eleven spider legs rapidly.
The halberd smashed into the ground with a rumble and sliced a layer of earth off it. A destructive power spread in all directions, turning everything within ten thousand miles into ruins except the Black Temple. Even the major cities tens of thousands of miles away were shaking. This was the power of a Great Saint.
Tian Cang didn’t pick up the halberd. Instead, he descended from the sky, landed in front of Nether Puppeteer Patriarch, and grabbed her by the neck. Then, he punched her in the face.
Bam!
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s eyes went wide, and she felt that her beautiful face was twisted once again. ‘A lunatic… Tian Cang is a lunatic! How could he beat such a pretty girl like me in the face?!’
She almost roared. However, what happened next was more agonizing.
Tian Cang, expressionless, grabbed one of her spider legs and ripped it away from her. She howled, and her eyes instantly shot with blood. She was only a half-puppet, so she could still feel pain. The pain of having her spider leg ripped numbed her scalp. When all her legs were ripped away, she was already shaking all over.
The burly Tian Cang grabbed Nether Puppeteer Patriarch’s head with a big hand, his eyes indifferent. He had no mercy for this fellow who had made his body into a puppet. Even though she was a woman, in his eyes, she was just an old hag. He had seen many beautiful girls, and she was nothing to him.
Nether Puppeteer Patriarch never imagined that one day she would end up like this. Her Earth Nether Puppet and Human Nether Puppet were destroyed, and she became a captive.
The way Tian Cang looked at her, as if he was looking at an ant, humiliated her so much that she wanted to go wild again. Unfortunately, she no longer had the strength to do that.
Tian Cang’s palm squeezed harder and harder. Nether Puppeteer Patriarch felt as if her head was about to crush. When that happened, she, the legendary Nether Puppeteer, would fall completely.
“I’m… not willing… to accept this…” Nether Puppeteer Patriarch said, coughing blood.
“From the moment you dared to make my body into a puppet… you are doomed to be punished by me,” Tian Cang said coldly.
The next moment, he put more force into his palm. Nether Puppeteer Patriarch wailed as a line appeared on her head with a cracking sound. Blood trickled down her fair skin. She could only open one eye now, and the blood flowing down from the top of her head soaked her long eyelashes.
At the moment she was about to die, she took a deep breath, and with a weak and trembling voice, she said something as if all her hopes lay on it. “Di… Ting…”