Chapter 145: The Heavenly Craft Hall and the Wood God Sect

No… perhaps it wasn't coming for him but heading straight for the formation! 

"A humanoid fire beast… or maybe I should call it a Flame Puppet?" 

Li Ye's gaze shifted. 

None of the earlier puppet activity had drawn this creature out. 

It was likely the disturbance caused by the large formation reining in and suppressing the remaining fragmented restrictions that had provoked the flame puppet into action.

Given its distinct form, so different from ordinary fire beasts, Li Ye was convinced this creature might hold unique value. 

His hunter's instinct flared. 

Without hesitation, Li Ye activated the formation, opening a path that allowed the flaming humanoid to charge directly inside.

This formation wasn't elemental-based, nor was it meant for combat. It was one Li Ye had derived himself drawing upon his inherited formation knowledge and the surrounding array restrictions. 

Its core functions were stability and defense, with some trapping capabilities. 

The flame puppet, lacking clear rationality, was even cruder than the other fire beasts. 

Once inside the formation, it did nothing but roar and lash out in a fiery frenzy, its body wreathed in blazing scarlet flames, trying to destroy and detonate the array. 

If not for the stability granted by the branches of the Void Realm Tree Array Flag, the formation here would've likely collapsed under the assault!

"That's… quite the overreaction," 

Li Ye murmured with a frown, though he wasted no time in responding.

The formation whirred to life, drawing in ambient fire energy to conjure illusory scenes fire beasts, cultivators, and other shifting visions. 

Infused with faint void power, its effect was vastly enhanced, confusing the flame puppet into running in circles within the confined space unable to discern what was real. 

It struck again and again at phantoms, only stirring up some molten waves its power wasted on illusions. 

And during this chaos, silver-white threads with a hint of crimson had silently spread out, wrapping tighter and tighter around the creature.

By the time the flame puppet realized something was wrong, it was already bound with limbs and torso encased.

Even as it summoned more intense flames to burn away the silver threads, their regeneration outpaced its destruction. 

It couldn't break free. 

"Go!" 

Standing outside the formation, Li Ye gave a low shout. From his gourd, a wave of yellow sand erupted, transforming into a fierce sandstorm that swallowed the flame puppet whole.

Each grain of sand was an attack relentlessly grinding down the fire puppet. 

Despite its howls of rage and pain, Li Ye maintained unrelenting pressure. 

Though the formation lacked offensive capabilities, and couldn't slay the puppet outright, it had restrained it long enough for Li Ye to deliver the final blow. 

Only after its aura waned to nothing did Li Ye finally withdraw the storm of sand. 

In its place, sharp sand spears formed from the air, piercing the flame puppet and nailing it in place! 

Pfft! 

The creature's furious, twisted expression froze. For just a moment, it revealed a glimmer of relief then, like the other fire beasts before it, its body rapidly burned out and crumbled to black ash. 

But this time, in addition to a dark-red crystal core, a token was left behind!

Seeing this, Li Ye's excitement spiked. He immediately sent a bird puppet to retrieve both items. 

The core was no different from those of other Tier-2 fire beasts, though it held greater spiritual energy and soul power, making it a superior material for pill refinement. 

But Li Ye's attention wasn't on the core. 

As he studied the token in his hand, his expression shifted from confusion to shock.

In the next instant, he snapped his head up to stare at the Lava Palace. 

The token was unmistakably a sect disciple identification token, engraved with the characters "Heavenly Craft Hall" and on it, a relief carving of the Lava Palace itself. 

Upon comparing the carving to the current ruins, he realized that the palace now was barely a third of its original size! 

"A branch hall of the Heavenly Craft Hall… A sect from ancient times, with a Nascent Soul stage cultivator as its overseer and yet it's ended up buried in a place like this?!" 

"And what kind of force could have brought it to ruin?" 

Li Ye murmured, deeply astonished. 

He had already assumed the Lava Palace had an extraordinary origin but this was far beyond anything he had imagined. 

The name Heavenly Craft Hall was one he'd only seen in scattered records and legends. It was said to be a mighty sect from at least ten thousand years ago, renowned for mastering all manner of mystical arts, and possessing overwhelming battle prowess… 

He had never imagined there would come a day when he could personally uncover something like this! 

"Don't tell me… this thing has some damn trap buried underneath too?" 

Excitement surged for a moment, but Li Ye's cautious temperament quickly regained control. His gaze toward the Lava Palace grew visibly wary. 

With such a large number of fire beasts and flame puppets roaming about, there was no way this place hadn't seen massive cultivator casualties in the past. 

And the shattered state of the Lava Palace, with its chaotic arrays and restrictions, spoke volumes about the devastation that had occurred during its fall. 

There was no way this place didn't have something seriously wrong and Li Ye wasn't about to ignore that. 

He still remembered how back then, Daoist Feiyu and Purple Profound Sect Master had explored some secret realm and ended up severing the mother body of the Voidrealm Tree. That triggered the re-emergence of the descending realm passage that was about to close directly drawing in the demonic clan.

He hadn't forgotten that mess. 

The fall of this Heavenly Craft Hall might have been somehow connected to the demonic incursion! 

With that kind of precedent in front of him, no matter how tempted Li Ye might be by profit and gain, he wasn't stupid enough to throw away his stable cultivation path just to go set off a spiritual landmine like some idiot! 

"Tch… What is it with these so-called ancient seniors? Why do they always leave behind traps disguised as opportunities…" 

His expression was complicated. Li Ye swept his divine sense over the token once more, carefully scanning it.

Something caught his attention, and he gave a light exclamation. 

He formed a seal with both hands, channeling spiritual light into his palms, and lifted the token. Then, he injected a bit of spiritual power into it. 

Immediately, the engraved palace lines on the token began to glow faintly, releasing a flurry of tiny script densely packed, all squeezed together. 

"Thankfully, even after ten thousand years, the script hasn't changed. At least I can still read it…" 

Li Ye felt a little relieved. But as he read further, his expression gradually turned odd. 

'Our sect has gone mad in pursuit of crafting a Nascent Soul Puppet so much so that we even cooperated with the demonic clan to betray our fellow Nascent Soul sect, the Wood God Sect, all for the sake of stealing their divine spirit wood from another world…' 

'If we had succeeded, it would've been worth it. With two Nascent Soul cultivators, we would've been unrivaled in this realm. Even the demonic descent could have been resolved…' 

'But alas, we were blocked by the Ice Pole Mountains of the Northern Wastes. In the end, everything failed. Even the divine wood we long coveted was used to seal the descending realm rift no longer movable…' 

'From that moment, news of our betrayal spread across the realm. Our sect's reputation was shattered, and we became a target for all. Now we're under siege by multiple powers…' 

'The sect gates are about to fall. The core members may have already fled into hidden realms to escape disaster. As a mere outer disciple, I'm left to die amidst this chaos…' 

'Hate! Hate! I hate the elders who betrayed humanity and dragged us into disaster. I hate my lack of strength which leaves me helpless to break free. I hate the heavens for letting those arrogant geniuses survive while we perish! Hate!' 

'No matter who you are…' 

"Eh?! Why did it cut off there?!" 

Li Ye raised a brow, clearly annoyed. 

This kind of ancient secret there was no way he could've learned about it before. He was finally getting to the good part, and now it just stopped?! 

"Would it have killed you to write a few more lines?!" 

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