Chapter163

The shriek was like a piercing sound wave. It instantly swept through everything around the Sect Leader. Even the four guards were forced to retreat.

At the same time, the mother Gu core thrown by the gecko mutated into a terrifying Gu worm under the impact of the sound wave.

If Elara had reached for the fake Gu just now, it would have burrowed into her body the moment it touched her.

Tsk. That sly monster really had too many tricks.

Fortunately, her body contained Sacred Blood. She had exchanged five hundred days of lifespan with System 92 for that power. She also had the golden pill and all kinds of Gu-countering medicines from the Valley of Divine Healers.

The moment the Sect Leader exposed the fake core, Elara immediately saw through the trick. She sensed the plot to confuse her with a fake.

The Sect Leader had never obtained real Sacred Blood, so it didn't know that her blood had a natural connection to the true mother core. Because of that, she could tell which one was real.

So the trick was useless. Everything just now was part of her plan.

On the ground, the final sound wave attack failed.

The Sect Leader's broken body let out an unwilling roar.

It seemed to realize that if it didn't give everything it had now, it would lose its last chance.

Near its head, a faint red glow finally flickered in the dark battlefield.

This was the true Gu worm core.

It had no choice but to reveal it.

Elara's eyes lit up. She patted the black python beneath her and signaled it to dive downward.

At the same time, she used the power of her blood to order all the nearby puppets and guards to stop fighting and rush toward the Sect Leader. It had to be fully restrained.

The true mother core could only be taken by devouring it while still inside the Sect Leader.

And the Sect Leader had to be alive.

If it died, the core would likely self-destruct. That would make all her preparation useless, and two-thirds of the puppet sect's remaining forces would collapse and fall out of her grasp.

So even if it was risky, Elara had to seize the chance. While the Sect Leader was still barely alive, she had to pin it down and begin devouring its core bit by bit.

But just like she wanted to devour it, it wanted to devour her.

Sacred Blood had an irresistible pull to the puppet sect. It was absolute.

Seeing Elara finally approach, the exhausted Sect Leader released one final burst of power. It tried to fight back, to devour her instead.

"Guard Tres!"

Even though the Sect Leader was breaking apart, the two puppet warriors were still locked in battle with Uno and Dos. The rest of the puppet army was still attacking wildly in the chaos.

So Uno, Dos, and the other puppet guards were still busy dealing with the mess. Guard Tres was the closest and highest-ranked guard near Elara.

As soon as she called, Tres appeared behind her, blocking the crazed Sect Leader's attack.

At the same time, Elara's black giant python twisted its huge body. In an instant, it tightly coiled around the Sect Leader's massive frame.

The Sect Leader could no longer move most of its body.

But the liquid pouring from its wounds was highly poisonous.

The moment the venom touched the black python, it began to corrode its scales and flesh.

The python cried out in pain but didn't let go. Instead, it tightened its grip even more.

It gave Elara the stability and time she needed.

She didn't have a second to waste. While the python held the Sect Leader down, she rushed straight toward it.

Even though most of the Sect Leader was restrained, its left hand and right leg were still mobile. In a desperate frenzy, it flailed both limbs and attacked Elara.

"Guard Tres!"

Tres once again flashed to her side. He blocked the heavy and rapid attacks without hesitation.

But after a moment of contact, Tres's skin started to rot just like the python's.

At this point, Elara had reached the base of the Sect Leader's neck, just one step away from the mother core.

So even seeing Tres and the python dissolve from the venom, she couldn't afford to get distracted.

If she stopped now, everything would be wasted. The damage would be worse, maybe beyond saving.

She didn't look at them again. Her eyes stayed on the Gu core that was getting closer and closer.

Then, as the Sect Leader struck with one last blast of strength, Elara raised her hand and plunged it into the disgusting, sticky fluid. She grabbed the dimly glowing red core.

"AAAAAHHHH!!!"

The horrifying, ear-splitting scream shook the Sect Leader's rotting body.

The sound wave was so strong it felt solid. It tore bloody lines across Elara's face and body.

"I've got it! Hold on! Give me ten minutes!"

Elara ignored the injuries on her body. She gripped the core from her subordinate tightly, shutting out all distractions as she activated the Holy Spirit blood within her. Without giving an inch, she began to reverse-devour the mother Gu core.

The moment she took hold of it, the monster sect leader trembled violently and let out a savage, guttural scream while struggling. Filthy, toxic slime spewed out of its body, and its form no longer resembled anything human. It was just a pile of grotesque, collapsing flesh soaked in poison.

Realizing death was near, the monster's frenzied thoughts turned to despair. Poisonous mucus gushed from it in greater amounts, corroding everything near. Black Serpent and Tres, along with nearby creatures, were all burned beyond recognition.

Especially behind Elara, where Black Serpent and Tres had taken the brunt of the attacks, their bones were showing where they had touched the monster.

Still, they did not move.

Even though they didn't know how long Elara's "ten minutes" actually was, they understood that until she told them to stop, they couldn't let go. So, even as the monster's resistance became more violent yet weaker, Elara's hand, buried in the mother Gu core, began to show white bone from corrosion.

The long ten minutes ticked by, bit by bit.

The monster's struggles weakened and slowed until its breathing nearly disappeared. Only its four split eyes remained locked on Elara, filled with rage and unwillingness.

Elara didn't even glance at the monster. She continued using the Holy Spirit blood to reverse-devour until she sensed the mother Gu had nearly been consumed. Then she clenched her hand suddenly.

A cracking sound followed. The mother Gu core, now a pale golden color, was yanked from the monster sect leader's huge body.

"We did it!"

The giant body of the monster shuddered violently the moment it lost its core. A final, miserable wail came from its torn throat, filled with bitterness and fury.

Then, as if losing all support, its massive body collapsed into slimy chunks of bloody meat that spilled across the ground.

Elara held in her hand a golden meat-like orb about the size of half a palm. Guided by the Holy Spirit blood inside her, she watched as the orb slowly cracked open. From inside crawled out a golden insect.

Unlike the monster's grotesque form, this insect looked almost delicate. Maybe because it had been changed by her.

The golden bug affectionately rubbed against her finger. Then it lightly bit her skin and quickly burrowed into her body.

In the next moment, all the puppet troops that had frozen from the monster sect leader's death jolted in unison.

Even the weapon puppets that had been fighting the Wei clan just moments ago stopped moving completely.

Then, the minds of over sixty thousand puppet soldiers, the awareness of all the living puppets, and the few strongest weapon puppet minds all gathered in Elara's head. They sent waves of submission, devotion, and desire to follow her.

Elara opened her eyes. Looking at the motionless flesh of the sect leader all over the ground, she finally smiled.

She had done it.

Completely.

From now on, all forces of the puppet sect belonged to her, including the one hundred thousand puppet troops. And the entire territory of Youdan as well.

Starting today, the Plumera Empire, which had been in decline for hundreds of years, would gain its first piece of expanded land in centuries.

Its territory would increase by 105,000 square kilometers, growing from 155,000 to 260,000 square kilometers.