[[[ FIGHTING THE PUPPET MASTER]]]

The man's finger slashed across crudens neck. He reacted quickly and tried to dodge but at such a close distance and the figure's speed. It was useless. Luckily he always kept his darkness power encased around him to take some of the damage or he would have suffered a vicious blow to the head. While Cruden wasn't badly hurt. His body flew back because of the force.

Boom

His body crashed heavily into one of the storage boxes causing it to break.

The man stood up like his neck had not been pierced earlier. Cruden could now see the man's features. He was tall and had dark brown skin. He was dressed in Brown from head to two and he had a mask covering his mouth.

The man stood still staring intently in crudens direction. He still had blood dripping from his neck but he made no move to cover it. Cruden knew this was gonna be a difficult battle.

He slowly got up. He was not one for many words when it came to fighting so he fortified his energy. He jumped in the man's direction. Darkness spread out from his body and rushed towards his back. Three thick whip-shaped shadows like the size of his arms rose out from his back. His body flipped mid-air and the three whips joined together descending with lethal force on the man's head

This was not a skill he created. It was just a useful way for him to use his shadow offensively. He could summon more whips but he did not want to make the same mistake as before and now there were not that many people to replenish his energy.

Boom.

But Cruden was not finished; he continued to unleash a barrage of attacks on the man. The three shadow whips drowned the man smashing him with every whip deeper into the ground.

Boom boom boom boom boom boom

Cruden thought his attack was overkill but Cruden did not stop. he wanted to make sure the man was dead.

Cruden was lost for words. Not only him. Crow was also lost for words. He was still in the shadow watching the whole thing.

Crow knew nothing was immortal in this world. So he silently analyze the situation. He looked around and then at the man. Understanding flashed in his eyes.

He did not want to but he knew if he waited on until the kid lost his energy he would have to show himself and that was not his style.

Is this man immortal? Cruden thought as he calmed down. He realized, other than retaliating earlier the man did not move much. He focused his energy on the room and noticed something surprising.

He was so caught up he did not notice before. A mischievous smile appeared on his face. His body dashed towards the man in front of him punching him while activating his bang skill sending the man away but at the same time the whips on his back rushed out towards one of the crates behind the man.

It was the smallest one of all the crates as big as a head. At that exact moment, the large box behind the man exploded. A huge man about 15 feet erupted from the box. His hand charging towards Cruden threatening to crush him but Crow appeared in the nick of time deflecting the attack.

Crow grabbed Cruden and then retreated.

Crudden hated the fact that he had to be saved by crow but what he did not know was that he had inadvertently saved crow as well

There wasn't time to address that. They were both surprised but it was a different reason for both of them.

Crow had thought that the large box was where the puppet master was hiding. He was prepared to attack the box but to his surprise, it was another puppet, and the reason it showed itself was to protect the smaller box.

What are these things? Crudens asked.

"They are puppets". Crow responded lazily.

"They are being controlled by puppet cultivator. The realism of these puppets and their strengths are on another level."

He looked down at the hand used to deflect the attack and it was still numb. His Qi protection barely held up. There's no way he is taking on another hit from that puppet.

"This means they were made from superior materials. This means we are facing a high-level puppet master. So no more joking around. The best way to defeat a puppet master is to kill the master."

"The one controlling them should be in the small box you were attempting to destroy" Cruden could sense the somberness present in Crow's tone

But he did not understand how such a small box could hold anything human. But a huge road was ahead of him. Cruden did not know what to do but he did not want any more surprises.

His eyes darted around. He clasped his hands and his shadow started to rise from the ground surrounding both him and Crow. Then it transformed into a ring.

He then separated his hands and stretched out aggressively. Causing the ring to widen and charge out at his surroundings.

The two puppets easily avoided the attack but they were not Crudens goal. He wanted to attack all the boxes around him because he did not want anything else jumping out at him.

Loud explosions went off behind him but his eyes never left the enemies before him.

Crow did not pay Cruden's actions a second thought. He was glad Cruden destroyed the box because he did not want any more surprises but he also destroyed his potential cover. Aside from the rubble, they would be fully exposed to the enemy wish gave crow a headache

Crow's eyes moved to the smaller box that the big guy now held in his hands. He should be happy with the puppet master found. The battle should be a lot easier. His worry intensified, only core formation experts had access to this technique but Something was off. Not only is he not excluding the pressure of a core formation expert. He seems to be only defending.

The puppet cultivator was caught off guard. He was trying to lay low key and heal his wounds but this strange assassin had attacked him. He had to use a forbidden technique to escape his dying body and at the moment the only living being around he could possess was this animal.

If crow and Cruden could see inside the box they would see a little white red-eyed rabbit.

He would have long changed but with the backlash, his injuries, and the requirements for the technique were too great for him to bear.

In his prime, he was a core formation cultivator. His name was Long Mo. He was the number one candidate to be the sect leader of the Immortal Puppet Sect. but alas, he strayed from the path to studying the forbidden arts. there was no turning back after that. he was hunted and almost killed and his cultivation had fallen. While he couldn't sense both their cultivation. Well, he could sense Cruden's cultivation at 1st level Qi condensation but he didn't believe the boy was that weak.

He could not see through crow's cultivation because crow was using a concealment technique that the warden had paid a lot of money for.

Any cultivator before the core formation realm could not see through it.

"I can't be bothered with you. Leave this place now or you won't have the chance" the large puppet had spoken. it moved his hand and placed the box in a compartment that opened from its chest.

Crow was 50% sure that the enemy was wounded. He would never rush into a situation without having some assurance. Plus a frontal assault was not his strong suit.

But Cruden was the opposite and not one for analyzing. He charged in and threw out a kick but before he could get close to the large puppet. The one he hand punched earlier got up and meet his attack with terrifying speed but this time it had blades coming out of his arms.

Cruden brought up his shadow to defend but The puppet changed trajectory and appeared behind him

He was very annoyed with these puppets. Even his bang skill didn't do that much damage to it.

They both exchanged a few blows. This puppet is so strange Cruden thought.

The puppet was attacking in unconventional ways. Its posture was that of an animal and its body moved in weird ways that defy physics and they each had power behind them successfully suppressing Cruden.

The puppet was getting more and more aggressive. It was extremely flexible and its speed had increased.

Cruden could barely get a hit in. He had to be circulating his darkness power at top speed to defend

Crow glanced at the smaller puppet. His eyes widened. The puppet was faster than he expected.