Chapter 46 Ju Fan’s Heavenly Tribulation
The cultivators watched as the imperial guardian held the old man by the throat, ripping his arm as black liquid seemed blood sprayed. But unlike the usual reaction when someone loses a limb, the old man didn't make a single noise or react; it was as if he wasn't a living organism.
But then, suddenly, they heard Lu Fan shout. However, his words seem to be directed at the old man; but his initial words confuse the cultivators.
'As the demon god puppet? Was Lu Fan speaking to the old man? And was the old man the demon god puppet?'
Baffling questions circled among the cultivators as they tried to understand Lu Fan's words. But then the surroundings became dark as the sky over the Ju capital became extreme darkness.
Shua! Boom!
Extreme dark energy mixed with other elements burst out. The old man's body burst with energy containing his other elements as it sent Ju Fan distances away due to the explosion. Ju Fan skated backward as he stopped a hundred meters away from the old man. He stood as he watched the old man.
The old man, now called the demon god puppet, stood as his body radiated with darkness; elements of light, lighting, water, earth, and fire also circled him in a spiraling fashion.
His eyes turned dark purple as the elements around him began materializing into multiple tentacles installed on his back. The demon god puppet stood as he inspected his surroundings.
He watched Ju Fan standing distances from him as they exchanged gazes with each other. Still maintaining his dominance, Ju Fan looked at the demon god puppet as he spoke calmly.
"Let me guess, that's your final form?"
"Yes, it has been centuries since I got sealed by that nasty whore; now, I finally get to unleash my full strength."
The demon god puppet said as his ripped arm regrew.
Distances away from the fighting zone, Patrick, Athena, and Anna remained on their occupied stand before the meeting commenced.
Even after all the previous destructions and commotions, their area was still unaffected. Anna and Athena sat with crossed legs as they watched the events.
Patrick was still standing as he spectated the previous battles between the cultivators and Lu Fan's group; he stood hands in his pockets as he had a satisfactory expression.
"Dear, let me speak to our third sister after she finishes," Athena said to Patrick.
Hearing Athena's words, Patrick slightly turned his head to his left as he nodded.
Anna sat with Athena while a little fairy could fly next to her. It was the exact copy of Anna, but tiny. The fairy was Anna's new system embodiment; instead of a robotic female voice, she preferred a cute little version of herself as her system.
Patrick had his hands in his pocket as he returned his gaze on the battle with Thalia and Lu Fan.
Far in the distance, Thalia stood far facing Lu Fan, who was adorned in dark armor; his eyes were all one could see when they looked at him as his entire body was covered in the dark energy armor. The ten rings hanging from his staff circulated with extreme dark purple energy.
Lu Fan dashed at Thalia as his rings produced dark purple explosions that flew at her. Thalia stood with a calm expression as she flipped her palms upwards; the dark energy in her hands materialized into crescent blades as they hovered in her palms.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Pathetic." Thalia's voice came out as she walked through the dark energy explosions, unaffected the least. Her crescent blades were in her hands as she sent them at Lu Fan.
Still dashing at Thalia, Lu Fan heard her words as he increased his speed, but then, he saw two flashes appear from both sides as he instinctively sent dark energy to block the blades. He didn't slow down his speed as he continued dashing at Thalia.
But unexpectedly, the dark energy didn't restrict the blades the slightest as the blades sliced through the darkness like a hot knife on butter.
Lu Fan reached Thalia and sent a kick to her face; Thalia blocked it with a finger as the impact distorted the earth behind Thalia, resulting in an earthquake that reached the other surrounding cultivators.
"Again, Pathetic."
Lu Fan heard Thalia's words as he saw her unimpressed and disappointed expression; this caused rage in his heart as he burst out with more dark energy and spoke.
"Indestructible Puppet Art, devil puppet merage."
Lu Fan's body leaked more purple, dark energy than before as materialized puppets emerged in tens; not long; the puppets multiplied to three hundred.
The puppets Lu Fan summoned were different than the usual black-robed puppets; these summoned puppets had dark purple energy with red eyes, their bodies bigger and muscular than the previous puppets.
"Attack!" Lu Fan ordered as he was the first to launch at Thalia, his three hundred dark purple puppets followed as they surrounded Thalia.
"After being sealed by the Sacred Celestial Empress, I suffered extreme torture for centuries, but after that kid freed me using a much powerful cultivation technique. in exchange for becoming his subordinate,
I became the demon god puppet, but using my full power was impossible as there weren't any worthy opponents. But now I can finally enjoy-"
Boom!
"Your boring story is means nothing to me."
Before the demon god puppet could finish, Ju Fan interrupted with a punch. But then, Ju Fan noticed something; his punch didn't create any huge impact.
"It is rude to interrupt a person telling their life story."
Ju Fan heard the old man as he saw his punch blocked by one of the old man's tentacles; he quickly retreated as he stood a few meters back.
"What wrong, scared?" The old man spoke with an evil smile and mocked Ju Fan's action. He used one of his tentacles as he launched himself at Ju Fan.
The two engaged in a close combat battle; the demon god puppet used his tentacles by changing their forms and attacking Ju Fan; Ju Fan dodged most of the attacks as he also threw fists and kicks countering the tentacles.
The surrounding cultivators were amazed as they couldn't decide which battle to watch; on one end was a battle between Lu Fan and the new girl who was casually destroying Lu Fan's puppets with ease while standing in the same spot.
And on the closer end was the Imperial guardian they were familiar with fighting the now proclaimed demon god puppet as one could see the tides slowly shifting to the demon puppet.
Seeing that Ju Fan was slowly losing his stand, Ju Shu closed his eyes as he uttered.
"Looks like he's out of choices."
Ju Han stood next to Ju Shu as he heard Ju Shu's words; he also understood what Ju Shu meant; as the emperor, he knew the secrets of Ju Fan and some other powerful cultivators in the broken world restricting themselves to remain in the lower realms.
If Ju Fan were to expose his full cultivation realm, it would break the restriction and bring upon him the heavenly verdict of tribulation by lightning and thunder.
Ju Fan and the demon god puppet had fought for five minutes as the old man was finally able to pierce through Ju Fan's defense.
'His attacks are too fast for me to predict my injuries,' Ju Fan thought as he blocked and dodged attacks from multiple tentacles while also predicting his injuries.
Due to his cultivation technique, Ju Fan can predict the future outcome of an event. Still, the technique is limited to him only predicting his destiny within a short period, including his death and causes.
Ju Fan flipped back as he created distance between him and the old man; he stood as he ascertained his injuries; he had a massive wound across his arms that pierced his skin and muscles, reaching his bones as one could see white while looking at his blood flowed injury.
"Let's end this nonsense." "Haa!"
Ju Fan spoke as his body began vibrating, shaking the ground under him as he screamed. His voice reverberated as in the surroundings as it even reached the rural districts of the Ju Empire.
The next instant, Ju Fan unleashed a vast amount of Qi as his wound healed instantly, his Qi energy permeating the clouds as it cleared the darkness caused by the demon god puppet.
But just as the darkness cleared, another set of clouds began assembling, sparks of lighting could be seen from the clouds as assembled clouds became bigger; seconds later, the clouds became big enough to cover the entire Ju Capital and even spread further.
Thalia casually sliced the newly summoned puppets like a joke as she noticed the clouds clear and darkened.
"Dark puppet self explosion." Li Fan spoke as he pointed his staff at the puppets closest to Thalia, but before his command was about to be fulfilled.
[Skill Activated: Existence Halting; Can pause the existence of any entity without affecting space, time, or reality]
Lu Fan and his army of puppets about to explode instantly paused in their positions. Thalia raised her index finger in a 'hold on' position as she turned and gazed at the gathering clouds. She was looking at the clouds when her system asked her.
"Does Goddess wishes to eliminate Lu Fan?"
"No, not yet; I still intend to toy with him."
The space sword immortal saw the gathering clouds as he sighed and spoke.
"Looks like it's time we finally face our true fears."